Fri news roundup: School district mergers, drugs, tall ships
Photo: Ollie Crafoord, Creative Commons, some rights reserved
Happy Friday! It seems to be sunny today, at least in Canton, and it looks like we may at least see sun for the next couple days to come. So hooray!
Lots in the news today: I blogged earlier this week about Canton and Potsdam’s tentative discussion of the possibility of merging districts, and as WWNY-TV reported this morning, Hueveltown, Morristown and Hermon-Dekalb are considering mergers as well. At the St. Lawrence and Lewis BOCES meeting last night in Canton, a consultant presented some possibilities for the struggling districts.
One of the options would combine all three at Huevelton Central School, which Philip Martin said would increase the number of electives for students, while costing as many as 12 teachers their jobs. School athletics would likely be more competitive, though.
Before the districts could merge, WWNY reports, each board of education would have to approve the idea. It would, again, ultimately be up to residents to vote yea or nay on any potential merger.
In Canton, an Amish couple from Oswegatchie is waiting to see if child neglect charges against them will be dropped, after they refused open-heart surgery for their newborn daughter last year on religious grounds. They released the baby for surgery after a family court judge ordered it in April; doctors performed the surgery in May. That’s according to the Watertown Daily Times.
In Watertown five people have been indicted on charges of cooking methamphetamine, the Watertown Daily Times reports. Not a lot more to say about that, really. In a thematically- but not explicitly-related story, the neighboring Village of West Carthage voted at Monday night’s Board meeting to increase the size of its police force by hiring Peter R. Barnett, who’s retiring as of today from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.
And if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, the Tall Ships 1812 Tour is on in Brockville today through Sunday. Here’s the schedule of events, including a beer garden, a performance by Great Lakes Swimmers, dinner cruises, sail outs, fireworks and a lot more. Should be a good time.
Tags: amish, boating, drugs, education, outdoor recreation, religion, schools
