MEDINA – The Medina Central School District has released the following statement:
“Yesterday, Mrs. Andrea Lonnen, a beloved kindergarten teacher at Oak Orchard Elementary passed away, suddenly. While we are absolutely devastated as a district, please know that the entire Medina Central School District is here to offer support to any of our students who may need assistance as they learn about this horrible news.
“All of our counselors are available to help students. If you feel that your child may need additional help, please have your child talk to a teacher, counselor, or feel free to call your child’s principal.
“As the days progress, please know that we all are here to help your student cope with this tragedy. Please see our website for resources to help your child cope with this loss.”
MEDINA – Medina Boy Scout Troop 35 and Cub Scout Pack 35 sponsored “Canal Clean Sweep” location at Culvert Road tunnel this past Saturday.
Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts along with leaders and parents performed garbage and debris clean up under and around the tunnel, as well as the towpath above the tunnel, both east and west for a half mile. The group removed several bags full of garbage and debris from the area.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 April 2018 at 8:26 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Medina police officers try to track down the shooter in a mass casualty drill today at Medina High School. Officer Christian Navas (center), Sgt. Michael Borrell (left), and Officer Corey Ambrose in back work together to find the shooter.
The police arrived in stages to simulate the response to an incident at a school. The drill focused on tactics in finding the suspect, emergency communications and mass casualty treatment and response.
Local law enforcement have several trainings to improve their response to try to minimize chaos and casualties.
A student pretending to be the shooter wears camouflage and walks past a student who was role playing that he was injured. Today was the 19th anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine in Colorado, where 13 people were killed at a high school.
Sgt. Michael Borrell heads up the stairs looking for the suspect.
Lt. Todd Draper of the Medina Police Department urges security and law enforcement students at Orleans/Niagara BOCES to role play as if this was a real incident.
The students run to first responders when they entered the building. The students were often emotional during the simulation today.
Jake Crooks, a paramedic and firefighter with the Medina Fire Department, rushes to offer aid to students and teachers. He is followed by Officer Ricky Messmer of the Medina Police Department.
Medina police officers Cory Collins, front, and Jacob Reeves are in pursuit of the suspect. School officials from several districts in the county observed the drill.
Lt. Todd Draper, center, goes over details of the training exercise. Law enforcement drilled for about two hours.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 April 2018 at 7:33 am
MEDINA – The school district wants to upgrade its security cameras and has submitted a plan to the State Education Department for about $300,000 in upgrades.
The money would come from the $2,000,222 approved for Medina in November 2014 in a state-wide referendum as part of the Smart Schools Bond Act.
The Medina Board of Education on Tuesday approved sending the plan to the state for approval. The district wants to replace existing security cameras, add more cameras to the campus. The new cameras are higher resolution.
“They can ‘see’ more with a bigger range,” said Mark Kruzynski, the district superintendent.
The project would include new cables and wires, and server upgrades for the cameras.
Medina is making a big push to upgrade its computer technology and make it more accessible for students.
The district is going one-to-one with computers, working towards a goal to have a laptop for every student in grades 4 through 12 in the next three years. The district is leasing Chromebook laptops and students will be assigned one.
The district piloted the program with a few classrooms about two years ago. It expanded this year for one full grade level.
The district will make the computers available to about 1,200 students in grades 4 to 12, Kruzynski said. If students don’t have WiFi or Internet access at their homes, the laptops will have a wireless adaptor that will allow for access, he said.
MEDINA – Medina High School will host a large-scale emergency preparedness drill on Friday. Law enforcement, firefighters and medics will begin staging at the middle school at 11 a.m.
After a safety briefing among the participants and positioning of the team, the drill will begin no later than 12:45 p.m.
The drill will go until 2:30 p.m., with personnel rotated out. The Medina Fire Department will have a command post set up in the bus garage.
The community will see emergency vehicle traffic in the area and is asked to avoid the Medina Central School campus between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 April 2018 at 5:28 pm
File photo by Tom Rivers: Medina will build a campus access road, linking Oak Orchard and Wise schools, that will run where this playground stands by the elementary school. The playground will be removed and a new one put on the other side of the school.
MEDINA – The school district will open bids on May 2-3 from contractors on a capital project that is estimated at $32,588,000 for a slew of improvements at all three school buildings, the bus garage, and Vet’s Park. There would also be a new access road between Oak Orchard Elementary School and Clifford Wise Middle School.
The district last year did an overhaul of Vet’s Park. More work is planned for the park as part of the next phase of the capital project.
The district had a public referendum on Dec. 21, 2016 for two propositions. District residents approved, by a 367-45 vote, spending $1,425,000 to allow for an expansion at Vet’s Park by acquiring 1.6 acres of land south of the park, adding permanent bleachers, more lighting, a new press box in the bleacher system, new fencing and additional synthetic turf in the current press box location.
Proposition 1 also passed, 372-43, and includes $32,588,000. That proposition is the focus for contractors right now. They are preparing their proposals. There was a walk-through this afternoon for contractors to review the buildings and grounds.
Mark Kruzynski, the district superintendent, said the size and scope of the project has numerous contractors interested from Buffalo and Rochester. That should result in very competitive bidding, he told the Board of Education on Tuesday.
“There are a ton of builders interested so that’s a good thing,” he said. “The project can guarantee 2 years of work for people, because some of the work will be continuous.”
The State Education Department still needs to approve a building permit for the project. Kruzynski said that was expect last month, and then earlier this month. He has been assured by state Education officials it will be granted.
Here is a breakdown of project estimated at $32,588,000:
• Health, Safety and Code Compliance – $7,691,000
The district will replace aging bus lifts, upgrade the fire alarm systems, door hardware and toilets.
The roof, ceiling panels and wall panels will all be upgraded at the swimming pool.
Windows and a generator will be replaced at Oak Orchard Elementary School. Those windows are more than a half century old.
The project expenses are broken out to $3,637,300 at the elementary school, $2,562,400 at the middle school, $892,800 at high school, $561,500 at bus garage and $7,000 at concession stand.
• HVAC – $13,596,300
All three school buildings, as well as the bus garage, will have HVAC totally overhauled with $4,728,200 planned for the high school, $4,115,200 at the middle school, $4,103,000 at the elementary school and $649,900 for the bus garage.
The district also will add air-conditioning for the high, middle and elementary schools at $285,600 per building or $856,800 total. The HVAC and air conditioning projects will be funded 98 percent by the state, school officials said when discussing the project just before the public vote.
The boilers are all about 25 years old and are nearing the end of the their useful lives. If the district tried to fix a boiler or install air-conditioning outside of a capital project, Medina would have to pay 100 percent of the costs.
• Information Technology – $380,000
The district wants to move the network operations center from the basement of the district office to Oak Orchard Elementary School.
The project will also add fiber optics to handle future needs as Medina moves to more electronic devices and on-line testing.
• Academics/Programs at High School – $2,408,900
The project will include upgraded science rooms, renovations in library (by knocking out a wall and expanding to a next-door computer lab), replacing windows and renovating toilet facilities.
A pole barn will also be built for storage for marching band equipment (so no longer have to rent at Olde Pickle Factory).
The gym bleachers will be renovated, and JV softball and baseball fields will be upgraded. There also will be renovations in Ag Classroom and greenhouse.
The high school opened about 25 years ago and needs some work, especially with HVAC and to meet new state codes and technology needs, Kruzynski said.
This map of the campus shows where the new access road and parking lot (in white) would go, shifting some traffic from West Oak Orchard Street.
• Academics/Programs at Middle School – $1,028,000
The project includes renovations to the auditorium with stage floor, carpet, houselighting, some lighting and sound, and also some toilet renovations.
• Academics/Programs at Elementary School – $2,085,600
The project includes auditorium renovations – carpet, seating, general, and improvements to toilets, new drinking fountains, classroom storage units with sinks, upgrades to the playground, and provisions to abate hazardous materials if any are found inside walls during the construction project.
• Site work for track – $896,000
The track has already been resurfaced six times and the state won’t pay for another resurfacing but will aid a reconstruction of the site. The rebuilt track will have six lanes, event area, a scoreboard, and fencing and paving.
• Site work for road from elementary to middle school – $3,012,700
A campus road will be constructed between Oak Orchard Elementary and Wise Middle School for bus traffic. The road will be heavy duty for buses.
The project includes demolition, removal and grading, as well as new sidewalks, stormwater management, parking and road lighting, removal of playground and construction of a new one for younger elementary-age students, and restored landscaping.
A new parking lot with room for 70-75 vehicles also will be added.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 April 2018 at 12:36 pm
Former mayor was influential in establishing Business Park
Marcia Tuohey
MEDINA – One of the new roads leading into the Medina Business Park may be named in honor of the late Marcia Tuohey, who was Medina’s mayor for eight years in the 1980s and pushed to develop the park and welcome companies to the site.
The Orleans Economic Development Agency worked to have two roads built in the park in the past two years, on each side of the Pride Pak vegetable processing plant. One of the new roads will have Pride Pak’s name. The other road hasn’t been named.
Medina Mayor Mike Sidari told the Orleans EDA board of directors today that the Village Board is strongly considering naming the road for Tuohey, who died on Aug. 7, 2014.
The Village Board last month voted to accept the roads from the EDA. Medina needs to formally name the roads.
“We’re looking at Marcia Tuohey Way or Drive because she had such influence,” Sidari told the Orleans EDA this morning. “Some people want Marcia Tuohey Way because she always seemed to get her way.”
Sidari laughed when commenting that Tuohey had a strong will. She was first elected as a trustee in Medina in 1979, and in 1982 she became the village’s first woman mayor.
Provided photo: In this photo from 1985, Marcia Tuohey is out inspecting flood damage in the village of Medina.
In 1990, she became Orleans County’s first female county legislator, and then was picked by her peers on the seven-member body to serve as chairman of the Legislature from 1996 until 2006.
Prior to serving as a local elected official, Tuohey had an active business career in Medina for 30 years as the co-owner and operator of a nursing home, motel and restaurant, mobile home park, and rental properties.
County Legislator Skip Draper worked with Tuohey on some of the economic development projects when he was Shelby town supervisor. He currently is an EDA board member. He was pleased to hear Tuohey is being considered for one of the new roads.
Press Release, Orleans Community Health and Rochester Regional Health
File photo by Tom Rivers: Medina Memorial Hospital will stay independent but will also be part of a new affiliation with Rochester Regional Health.
MEDINA – Orleans Community Health, the parent organization of Medina Memorial Hospital, is entering into an affiliation with Rochester Regional Health. Through the agreement, Orleans Community Health will contract select health care services from Rochester Regional Health and its hospital in Batavia, United Memorial Medical Center.
“We’re excited about this new affiliation,” remarked Dawn Meland, board chair of Orleans Community Health. “It gives us more attractive options when we decide how to bring new services to the area, which is a great thing for our patients. Additionally, as we identify opportunities to reduce costs, improve efficiency and make health care more sustainable in this part of the region, we now have a partner ready to help us better take advantage of those opportunities.”
Shortly after the start of the new year, Rochester Regional Health began to expand its primary care offerings through this agreement. Market research has identified a shortage of primary care providers in Medina and Orleans County. In January, a full-time primary care office began to operate at the United Memorial Medical Center’s Medina location on Maple Ridge Road. Orleans Community Health is also looking to expand this office space to support future growth. UMMC joined the RRH system in 2015.
Orleans Community Health will remain its own independent organization under the terms of this agreement.
“Orleans Community Health is a critical asset to our community and they share our commitment to delivering great care close to where people live and work,” said Dan Ireland, president of United Memorial Medical Center. “It’s a natural partnership. It’s also an important partnership for the future. Together, we’re making care more accessible in a model that can adapt as the needs of patients continue to evolve.”
(Update at 2:51 p.m.) Medina Mayor Mike Sidari posted this statement on Facebook this afternoon:
“With a working relationship between these three hospitals I feel it will benefit all of Orleans and Eastern Niagara Counties,” Sidari said. “We should be seeing more specialized services here in Medina so area residents will not have to travel to Rochester. I encourage residents to be in touch with the hospital and take advantage of the services they will be able to provide.”
Provided photos: This photo shows the members of the three Winter Guard units at Medina.
Courtesy of Kathy Dreyfus, Medina Mustang Band Publicity Chair
The North East Color Guard Circuit (NECGC) celebrated its 30-year anniversary on Saturday when the Gates Chili school district hosted the championships. Thirty-five guard units from western NY and Canada performed in competition followed by the Heritage Hurricanes and ARC of Yates, two guards for adults with disabilities. These two guards received standing ovations and tied for “Grand Champions.”
Median students compete in the Novice class on Saturday.
In the Novice class, Medina came in fourth. In the Cadet class, Medina won first place with a score of 76.75. In Scholastic A division, Medina’s Varsity won first place with a score of 80.88.
Instructor Diana Baker commented that all 3 groups did well. “Remember how far they’ve come and not how far they have to go. The guards may not be where they want to be but neither are they where they used to be.”
Medina took first in the Cadet class.
Band Director Jim Steele is well aware of all the work the students in these three groups put in since coming together in November. He is pleased with their determination and motivation to improve their skills and demonstrate them in their performances.
Other winners include: in Regional A, Gates-Chili with a score of 83.71; in A1, Corning Painted Post at 80.71; in SR, Magic of Scout House at 82.31; in Independent A, Gates-Chili at 87.81; in Scholastic Open, Victor with a score of 89.20; and in Independent Open, Lancaster at 89.40.
With the Winter Guard season closing, the Mustang Band is preparing for its spring street show and practices have begun.
Medina’s Varsity won first place with a score of 80.88 in Scholastic A division.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 3 April 2018 at 9:27 am
MEDINA – A GoFundMe has been established to raise money for the new dog park planned in Medina, next to the former compost plant on North Gravel Road.
The GoFundMe went live on Monday night. The Friends of the Dog Park Committee has a $20,000 fund-raising goal for the new dog park, which will include three fenced-in areas, one for small dogs, one for large dogs and an agility area.
The Medina Village Board last week voted to set aside about 1 acre of the land at the former compost plant for the dog park.
“This park will allow a large public place for dogs to not only exercise, but work on training and social skills,” Alaina Wilson, the park organizer, stated on GoFundMe. “This will be the first public dog park in Orleans County and we hope that it will also bring in visitors or even future residents, which will help boost the local economy.”
Besides donating through GoFundMe, supporters of the park can also send a check made out to “Village of Medina Dog Park” and it can be dropped off or mailed to the Village Clerk’s Office at 119 Park Ave., Medina, NY 14103.
