Photos by Tom Rivers – Kim Zarpentine, one of nine full-time Orleans County dispatchers, works in the 911 Center last week at the Orleans County Public Safety Building.

ALBION – When people are in distress in Orleans County and then call 911, they talk to a dispatcher who will collect the information and activate a response, whether from police, the fire department, an ambulance or animal control.

Sometimes, while help is on the way, the dispatchers will give instructions on performing CPR, delivering a baby or removing a choking obstruction.

The job can go from being fairly quiet to life-or-death situations within seconds.

“There’s so much we have to do,” said Allen Turner, a dispatcher for 23 ½ years and communications coordinator for the 911 center. “We’re basically the lifeline in Orleans County.”

Allen Turner, the communications coordinator for the dispatch center, started as a dispatcher 23½ years ago.

This week is “National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week,” an effort by government officials to recognize the important and critical work by dispatchers. In Orleans County, there are nine full-time and four part-time dispatchers.

They receive about 80,000 calls a year. Last year that included 23,447 police calls, 5,773 ambulance calls, 2,541 fire calls, and 1,490 animal control calls. In addition, there were another 57,924 calls to dispatch.

“Dispatchers need to be patient and remain calm when people are in a very heightened state of emotions,” Turner said.

When Turner started as dispatcher in October 1992, he remembers there was little training for the job. That is not the case today. The dispatchers have three days of in-house training and refresher courses throughout their careers.

Many of the dispatchers are also firefighters and involved in emergency services. Four fire chiefs in Orleans County – Pete Hendrickson of Holley, Mike Schultz of Kendall, Jerry Bentley of Barre and Jon DeYoung of Clarendon – work in dispatch.

One dispatcher, Bill Oliver, was an Albion police officer before switching to dispatch 24 years ago.

Kevin Colonna, an Orleans County deputy sheriff, looks for information from dispatcher Bill Oliver.

Kim Zarpentine was a firefighter, EMT and CPR coordinator for the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Company. She has worked as a dispatcher for 12 years.

“It was a natural transition,” she said about the job.

Sometimes when there is a frantic caller, dispatchers will need to use “repetitive persistence” to draw out the details and determine the problem, the address and which emergency responder to send.

If it’s a police call, dispatchers will try to give it to the closest car outside the villages with police departments. A call in Albion, Medina or Holley is dispatched to those police departments, while calls outside those villages are sent to state police and Sheriff’s deputies.

Zarpentine said callers sometimes aren’t sure of their whereabouts or the extent of the problems. The dispatchers will work to get the most relevant information for responding police, fire departments or ambulances.

Bill Oliver, a dispatcher for 24 years, talks over the air about an emergency call last Friday.

The dispatchers are essential to the emergency services in Orleans County, said Chief Deputy Tom Drennan.

“That’s the start of whole process,” he said. “Getting the right information is critical for officers’ safety and the individual’s safety.”

Drennan said the dispatchers are professionals determined to work quickly and accurately.

“They have to draw out the information and the get addresses, and then pass it out to the right jurisdictions and people,” he said.

ALBION – James DeFilipps, the Orleans County deputy who was shot twice on March 21, is recovering from his injuries and is expected to return to work “in probably a few more weeks,” said Chief Deputy Tom Drennan.

DeFilipps was wearing a bullet-proof vest when he was shot twice in the abdomen. That vest may have saved his life. DeFilipps still suffered deep bruises from the gun shots.

He has undergone a stress debriefing and remains in good spirits, Drennan said.

DeFilipps was working the east end of the county when he was in a shootout at about 3 a.m. on March 21 with James Ellis.

Ellis lived in Wyoming County. He allegedly pulled a handgun on an ex-girlfriend in Shelby. Ellis was then chased by law enforcement before crashing his vehicle into a telephone pole on Route 31A in Clarendon.

Police say Ellis open fired on responding officers, including DeFilipps. After DeFilipps was shot twice, he fired at Ellis, killing him.

Drennan said evidence from the incident will be presented to a grand jury soon and he expects DeFilipps will be found 100 percent justified in the shooting.

Photos by Tom Rivers
KNOWLESVILLE – There are 30-plus vendors at the Home and Garden Show this weekend at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds on Route 31 in Knowlesville. The Orleans County Chamber of Commerce organizes the annual event.

In the top photo, Chamber Executive Director Kathy Blackburn, left, greets a woman attending the show on Saturday. Blackburn is joined in the Chamber welcome booth by administrative assistant Samantha Roskowski, center, and board member Greg Piedmonte.

Cindy Smith, right, of Batavia eyes the wine choices by Vizcarra Vineyards at Becker Farms in Gasport. Mindy Vizcarra, left, served up wine tastings throughout the day.

David Sevenski, a real estate agent at Zambito Realtors, is among the vendors at the Home and Garden Show, which continues today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

4-H members, including Natalie Mrzywka of Holley, have hot dogs and hamburgers for sale.

School leaders acknowledge controversy, say ‘Common Core’ tests provide important data

Photo by Tom Rivers – Michael Bonnewell, Albion Central School superintendent, speaks at the Albion Rotary Club on Thursday. He said student standardized test scores count too much on teacher evaluations.

Local school superintendents are urging parents to have their children take standardized tests that begin next week – and not join the “opt out” movement.

The tests provide important benchmarks for measuring student and grade level progress, school leaders said.

They acknowledge the controversy with high-stakes tests, and the state’s push to make the tests count 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation.

“While I respect a parent’s right to make decisions that they believe to be in the best interest of their child, the district is without authority to excuse a student from this state requirement,” said Robert D’Angelo, superintendent of Holley Central School.

There is no “opt out” option for students in grades 3 to 8 to miss the tests, superintendents said. Parents can have their children “refuse” the test and they will likely remain in the testing room, quietly reading.

The districts could face negative consequences, including reduced federal aid and more expenses, if they don’t have 95 percent or more of their students take the tests, said Julie Christensen, Kendall Central School superintendent.

If there is a drop in student participation on test days, it will be reflected in the district’s overall report card.

“As a district, our State School Report Card will reflect a decreased rate of student performance and possibly a designation of not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress for student participation (95%) and schools could become a District in Need of Improvement,” she said in an email. “Lastly, we understand we will lose funding if we don’t meet AYP and the consequences as being a School in Need of Improvement could become costly.”

Jeff Evoy, the Medina Central School superintendent, said Medina needs at least a 95 percent participation rate or it could be required to submit a plan for increased student participation and face other penalties.

The state’s teacher evaluation rates teachers as either highly effective, effective, developing and ineffective.

If a teacher was rated less than effective for two years, districts had the option of holding a hearing to dismiss the tenured teacher. If teachers are rated ineffective for three years, districts must now move to dismiss that teacher.

“I read that and my blood was boiling,” Michael Bonnewell, Albion school superintendent, told the Albion Rotary Club on Thursday.

He said the teacher evaluation law has taken some of the local control from districts.

“New York State shouldn’t tell us which teachers to hire and fire,” he said.

He also doesn’t support having so much of a teacher’s evaluation based on the standardized tests.

However, Bonnewell wants to see students take the tests. If 5 percent or more refuse, the district could lose some federal funding.

Refusing the tests poses a challenge for teacher evaluation scores, as well as the district, Christensen said.

“Currently, a portion of a teacher’s score is based upon growth shown on student exams,” she said. “Depending upon the number of students in a given classroom if the student participation is reduced, the growth value of each remaining student is actually increased.”

D’Angelo, the Holley superintendent, sees positives with Common Core in the district’s curriculum, for raising the rigor in the classroom. But he acknowledges the controversy in using the tests for evaluating students and teachers.

“It is the assessment piece that I personally believe to be what parents find objectionable and hopefully very soon everyone can come to an agreement on assessments,” he said.

Jason Smith, superintendent at Lyndonville Central School, said parents have valid concerns in the pressure the tests put on children, families and faculty.

“Learning is measured and demonstrated in so many ways and it is dangerous to overemphasize one test in Math and ELA,” Smith said in a letter to district residents.

However, Smith said the district supports the tests as a way to identify groups of students that may not be doing as well as their peers and school programs that may need additional attention when compared to others.

“The state assessments also allow us to benchmark our instructional programs against other districts from across New York State,” Smith said in his letter. “Without these data points, we lack a context to ensure that we are providing your children with the best possible education.”

The teacher evaluation standards were just changed in the new state budget and Gov. Cuomo wants to make the tests count for 50 percent of a teacher’s grade, up from the 20 percent placed on the test results.

The New York State United Teachers said changes in teacher evaluation and tenure laws are a “sham” and disgrace.

“NYSUT rejects this evaluation system,” the United Teachers said on March 31, when the budget was passed. “It is an unworkable, convoluted plan that undermines local control, disrespects principals and school administrators, guts collective bargaining and further feeds the testing beast. It does nothing to help students and will do nothing to foster the professional dialogue and collaboration that is essential to helping New York’s already strong teaching force become stronger. Ironically, this will only make it harder for school districts in impoverished communities to attract and retain the excellent teachers that students need and deserve.”

Testing has been in place in public schools in New York State since 1865, said Christensen, the Kendall superintendent. The original intent was to assess students for high school entrance and end-of course completion, she said.

“In 1966, we assessed students in grades 3, 6 and 9 on the Pupil Evaluation Program tests,” Christensen. “In 2006, students in grades 3-8 began yearly assessments in ELA and Math to gather data so teachers could provide specific interventions and instruction based upon student needs.”

The current state assessments are meant to measure growth in learning, she said.

“Some of the tests are new in their implementation, taking these will provide an opportunity for our students to become familiar with an increased level of rigor,” Christensen said.

Some teachers are outspoken against the tests, even urging parents to have their children refuse them.

“We have received messages from the state indicating possible repercussions to educators, up to and including loss of certification, if they are believed to have fostered civil disobedience and the opt out movement,” Christensen said. “Kendall Schools employ fantastic teachers that provide quality educational services to our children, the student results on the NYS assessments have demonstrated our teachers proficiency over the years.”

The tests will be given from April 14-16 and April 22-24.

“Our goal is not to incite anxiety in your child, but rather, instill an overall disposition of perseverance and confidence to tackle tasks that may be challenging,” Smith, the Lyndonville superintendent, said in a letter to parents. “These, we believe, are the lifelong lessons that can be learned from this assessment event. We believe that it is best to help students understand that although tests are an important challenge to be aware of, they are meant to be an opportunity to show others their personal best.”