By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 February 2019 at 2:48 pm
Photo courtesy of Albion Central School
ALBION – Adam Burlison, an Albion sixth-grader, is congratulated by Middle School Principal Brad Pritchard after Adam won the Albion Middle School spelling bee on Wednesday.
Adam topped 20 students in grades 6 through 8 in the Albion competition. He correctly spelled the word “writhing” for his final word to win the spelling bee.
He advances to the regional contest on March 23 at 10 a.m. at Batavia High School.
Adam in 2017 won the Western New York spelling bee in Grand Island, which featured 46 of the top spellers in WNY from grades 4 and 5.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 February 2019 at 9:15 am
1,800 cookies, 30 cakes and 500 cupcakes among the items
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Gotta Dance by Miss Amy on Saturday hosted a cookie and dessert stroll, and nine “pop up shop” vendors, all selling Valentine’s Day-themed items. Proceeds from the event will go to Pat Levandowski, an Albion elementary teacher recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
This group is pictured at a table with merchandise to raise awareness about breast cancer. They are from left: Tina Page, Amy Zaccaglino, Stephanie Rustay, Katie Rustay and Amy Luft.
Amy Luft puts some of the desserts in a box for Andrea Neal and her daughters, Kasey and Adelynn.
Amy Luft and her friend Amy Zaccaglino baked and decorated 1,800 cookies, 500 cupcakes and 30 cakes, with the proceeds going to Levandowski.
There was also many baskets to be raffled off in one of the dance studio rooms.
Cole Schmitt was one of the nine pop up vendors. He makes frames, shadow boxes and other items out of repurposed wood.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 February 2019 at 9:18 pm
Upcoming 2-day tourney is named for Kirby, an RIT student who was killed in a car accident
The Albion Soccer Club is using this logo to promote the Ben Kirby Memorial Tournament.
ALBION – A two-day indoor soccer tournament later this month will honor Ben Kirby, a long-time Albion soccer player whose family has been dedicated to the program at Albion.
Ben Kirby
Kirby was a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology when he died in a car accident on Nov. 6, 2017, on Route 531 in the Town of Gates. He was 21 at the time, in his senior year majoring in software development.
The Ben Kirby Memorial Soccer Tournament will be Feb. 22-23. There will be 72 teams competing in nine different divisions.
Cole Schmitt, the tournament director, expects about 600 players, from elementary, middle and high school levels, as well as an open division for adults.
The tournament will be at the school district using the gyms. The Albion Soccer Club organizes the event. The Soccer Club wanted to name the tournament in honor of Kirby, who played youth soccer for Albion and also on the school teams.
His older brother Aaron also was a key defensive player for Albion many years. Ben and Aaron’s parents, Dennis and Wendy Kirby, also have been active volunteers for the Soccer Club, working in concessions, even after their kids graduated. Mrs. Kirby always could be counted on to have homemade cookies for the players after a game, Schmitt said.
“The family has been so prevalent in the soccer community,” Schmitt said. “They have given so much to the program and we wanted to recognize that.”
Photo by Tom Rivers: Albion school buses head north of Main Street in this photo on Jan. 4, 2018.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 February 2019 at 12:14 pm
ALBION – The costs are going up 30 percent next school year to transport Albion students on buses.
School officials say rising minimum wage is the main reason for the increase by Student Transportation of America (Ridge Road Express), the district’s transportation provider the past 30 years.
For many years, Albion would just renew the contract each year with STA at a cost of living rate. But STA wasn’t willing to do that for next school year. The contract was re-bid, and STA came back with a proposal for a 30 percent increase. (Another company also submitted a proposal that was about double STA’s bid.)
Under Andrew Cuomo, who is starting his ninth year as governor, the minimum wage in Orleans County has gone from $7.25 to $11.10 this year. In 2020 it will be $11.80 and then $12.50 in 2021.
Student Transportation of America submitted the four low bids for the following contracts: $1,199,928 for the main student contract; $923,612 for the out-of-district contract; $105,000 for the student charter contract; and $97,740 for the summer school contract.
The out-of-district contract includes busing students with disabilities to schools in Rochester, Buffalo, Lockport and other sites outside of the county.
The higher minimum wage has pushed up the personnel costs for drivers and aides on the buses.
State aid covers about 90 percent of the transportation so the increase won’t be a direct hit to Albion school taxpayers.
Shawn Liddle, the district’s assistant superintendent of business, said that even with the increase Albion’s transportation costs are lower than similar-size districts.
Under the new contract, Albion will spend $1,094 per pupil for transportation costs. A nearby similar-size district spends $1,443 per pupil, Liddle said.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 February 2019 at 11:13 pm
Theresa Norton
ELBA – A mother and her son who were killed in a car accident on Feb. 2 in Elba will be remembered with a vigil at the crash site on Sunday.
The vigil will be at 5 p.m. for Theresa Norton, 53, and her son, Thomas, 22. Family friend Kamryn Nickel urges family and friends to attend the vigil and light a candle in their memory. Nickel said she will bring the candles for the vigil.
Thomas Norton
A GoFundMe on-line fundraiser also has been established to assist the family during this difficult time. Karen Zok sent up the GoFundMe and said Theresa’s husband Roger was in intensive care at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester for several weeks prior to the accident in Elba.
Teresa Norton was driving a 2008 Suzuki northbound with her son at about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in Elba. State Police say Norton lost control on the snow-covered roadway and slide sideways into the path of a 2011 Chevrolet pickup truck. The Chevrolet struck the passenger side of the Suzuki.
The Nortons were both declared deceased at the collision scene by Karen Lang, Genesee County coroner. The accident happened on Route 98 between Edgerton Road and Batavia Elba Townline Road.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 February 2019 at 6:21 pm
Ben Franklin, Sally Ride, King Tut among the featured personalities
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Brianna Trejo portrays Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor during a living wax museum at the Ronald L. Sodoma Elementary School today. Sotomayor was confirmed as Supreme Court justice in August 2009. She is the first Hispanic and Latina justice on the nation’s highest court.
Students in Cheryl Rightmyer’s and Shani Faraci’s classes did the presentations on about 40 famous people, most of them esteemed Americans. There were a few people portrayed from outside the U.S., including King Tut, Queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare, Anne Frank, Jesus and some others.
The students also helped make their costumes and brought along props to highlight their character.
The students would sit still almost like statues. After someone pressed a button, the students came to life and portrayed an influential person, either in the past or present. This is the first year the fourth-graders have tried the wax museum. Cheryl Rightmyer, one of the teachers, said she was impressed with the students, how they took on the roles of the characters and built their confidence in delivering a public presentation.
Nicholas Luft is Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a leading author, politician, inventor, civic activist and statesman. As a scientist, he made many discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals and the Franklin stove.
Brittany Lewis portrays George Washington Carver, an American agricultural scientist and inventor who is best known for his work with peanuts. While a professor at Tuskegee Institute, Carver developed techniques to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, as a source of their own food and to improve their quality of life.
Loralei Gailie is Sally Ride, an astronaut, physicist and engineer. She joined NASA in 1978 and became the first American woman in space in 1983.
Albion parents, school staff and teachers gather round Yaritza Fernandez Perez to hear her portray Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate.
Analiah Figueroa Fuentes picked Julia Child, an American chef, author and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her cookbook and television programs.
Kamryn Simmons is Gloria Steinem, a feminist, journalist and political activist. She became a nationally recognized leader for the American feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 February 2019 at 4:43 pm
Photo by Tom Rivers: Michael Bonnewell greets students after the final school bell today at about 2:20 p.m. Bonnewell is filling in as principal while the district looks to hire an interim for the remainder of the school year.
ALBION – The school district’s superintendent is spending the school days out of the district office and at the high school as the principal.
Michael Bonnewell has been serving as principal since Jan. 14. Matthew Peterson left Albion to start as principal at Oakfield-Alabama Central School. That school is closer to Peterson’s home.
Albion is looking to hire an interim principal for the rest of the school year with a new permanent replacement to start in July. The search for the next permanent principal will start in March.
Until then, Bonnewell is doing two demanding jobs. He said he enjoys being in the school with the 550 students in grades 9 through 12. He high-fived many of them when they headed out of school today after the final bell of the day at 2:20 p.m.
“I love being with the kids,” he said today.
He usually stops by the district office before getting the high school around 7 a.m. He is back at the district office at 3, and often works late into the evening.
Bonnewell also is available throughout the day when he in the principal’s role if there is an issue for him to handle as superintendent.
He might be doing the two jobs for a while. The potential interim candidates for principal are retired and many are spending the winter in Florida or don’t want to return to full-time work.
Bonnewell said the district isn’t rushing to have an interim principal in place.
“We have to have the right person who is appropriate and beneficial to our school,” he said. “The principal needs to support kids and teachers and make sure the building operates as a benefit to kids.”
Bonnewell is in his ninth year as Albion superintendent. Before Albion he worked at the Schroon Lake school district in the Adirondacks. That district only has about 200 students. Bonnewell was the district’s superintendent, K-12 principal and also served as the business administrator.
Before Schroon Lake, he was principal of Honeoye Middle-High School.
Bonnewell said he has enjoyed getting to know many of the Albion High School students better the past month.
“Our students are vibrant and caring, and being with them reminds me how privileged I am to work with them each day,” he said in a letter to parents.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 February 2019 at 11:49 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – This pine tree toppled at about 10 a.m. on Caroline Street in Albion today. High winds have taken down several trees, including that landed up against a house on Taylor Road in Clarendon.
Dawn Voorhees of 310 Caroline St. had just put a flag out on her front porch when the pine tree fell. It pulled the electric and cable wires off her house. She was thankful the tree didn’t make a direct hit on her house or porch.
National Grid reports that 493 customers in Orleans County have had their electricity knocked out due to the high winds. That’s out of 19,423 National Grid customers in Orleans. The company is estimating power will be restored at 3:15 p.m.
The county is under a high wind warning until 5 p.m., with some gusts expected to hit 60 miles per hour.
Here is another photo of the pine tree that fell on Caroline Street in Albion this morning.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 February 2019 at 10:15 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Some crab apples by the western entrance of Mount Albion Cemetery are pictured today. The ice-coated landscape has proven popular in photos on social media in the local community.
Warming temperatures overnight should melt the ice. Here are some more ice photos. (I couldn’t resist.)
These branches at Mount Albion are hanging in there with the Ingersoll Fountain in the background.
Icicles hang off the Ingersoll Fountain.
The stone dog at Mount Albion has a coating of ice (and a nice collar).
These big trees have held their ground at Mount Albion, Albion’s historic cemetery on Route 31.
There were a lot of branches down at the cemetery.
The street signs at the cemetery have icicles hanging down.
Down the road from Mount Albion is St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery. This bench was hit with freezing rain which turned into icicles and ice.
The statue of Jesus at St. Joseph’s also was covered in ice.
