Albion waives community service requirement for Class of 2020
Photo by Tom Rivers: Caden Crosby, a senior at Albion High School in 2018, helps a plant a bur oak tree on Nov. 1, 2017 as part of his community service requirement for all students at Albion.
ALBION – The school district requires all graduates of Albion Central School to complete at least 30 hours of documented community service.
Some students complete the community service during their freshmen or sophomore years, and often exceed 100 hours of service. But many students also tend to wait until late in their senior year to complete the 30 hours.
There are some students to graduate in June who haven’t reached the 30 hours of community service yet. The Albion Board of Education on Monday decided to give them a waiver on reaching that threshold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many organizations where students could do their community service are currently closed to the public.
Michael Bonnewell, the district superintendent, said the district values service learning and isn’t making the decision lightly about the service requirement. Students who met the requirement and also reached 100 hours will be noted in the commencement program.
In other action at Monday’s meeting:
• The board accepted a bid from P-A-Z Masonry of Albion to construct two dugouts each for softball and soccer. P-A-Z submitted the low bid of $66,100. Thompson Builds of Churchill submitted a bid for $81,531. The project includes a concrete pad for the dugouts which will be cinder blocks with a roof. One of the soccer dugouts also includes a small room for a sound system.
• The board agreed to allow online view of tax bills, where property owners could also print the
school tax bills and receipts. Derek Vallese, the district’s business administrator, said Albion receives many requests from individuals, attorneys, and tax preparers for public access to tax bills and receipts.
Vallese said Albion is the only school district in the county that does not have this service available. Currently an individual has to call the tax collector and request a copy of the tax bill or the receipt.
Vallese said the tax bills are public information. Albion won’t charge to view the bills. The district will grant “view only” access to the tax bills.
