District Business Executive Holly Griffith passes out the cookies and certificates of appreciation. P-J photo by Owen Reed

BEMUS POINT – District Superintendent Joseph Reyda took the time to show appreciation, and give a small surprise, to the members of the school board. This comes as a part of School Board Appreciation Week, and gives thanks to the hard work from all the members of the board.

This appreciation took place at the board meeting held on Monday Oct. 6, the only meeting to be held in the month of October. During this meeting Reyda noted that the New York State School Board Association recognized the week of Oct. 13 as School Board Recognition Week. In order to show appreciation for the hard work of all members on the board Reyda and District Business Executive Holly Griffith passed out a treat and a certificate to each member. The certificates were presented to them on behalf of the NYSSBA, according to Griffith. The treats were custom red dragon cookies, to represent the mascot of the school. Griffith noted that cookies were made by PersNikkity Pies in Falconer.

The board is made up of Lauren Ryan, Dr. Margaret Spence, Shawn Hricko, Betsy Healy, Vincent Horrigan, Kathleen Collver, and Eric Martin. Reyda also gave a special thanks, as well as a sweet treat, to student representative Ryan Chambers-Leonard. Reyda noted the importance of the student board member position, as he works with the board and informs them of student issues and concerns.

“This is a time to promote awareness and understanding of the important work performed by local school boards. It takes strong schools to build a strong community, and these volunteers devote countless hours to making sure our schools are helping every child learn and grow to reach their full potential. They make the tough decisions every month, and spend hours studying state and local issues, to provide the kind of accountability and community our stakeholders expect,” said Reyda.

The NYSSBA began this week of appreciation in order to recognize the dedication of board members towards encouraging growth for children. This week ensures a specific period of time which board members will receive thanks for the countless hours of work contributed. The NYSSBA encourages any districts to launch a campaign to show board appreciation, and the organization includes a toolkit of necessary resources online as well. The toolkit includes a certificate of appreciation for members, a press release template, public service announcements, a campaign poster, social media tools, and a governor’s proclamation coming to the toolkit soon. With school board members holding so much importance over the education of children, this appreciation will hopefully give greater public recognition to their work.

To learn more visit nyssba.org/schoolboardrecognitionweek/school-board-recognition-week.