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 380
staff members join together for Opening Day
First day of school year welcomes 77 new employees
HFM BOCES Board President Robert Townsend kicked off the
2007-08 Opening Day program by asking those who were not
here for last year’s opening day event to please stand.
About 20 percent of those in attendance rose – welcomed by
applause from their new colleagues.
The number of people standing is a testament to the growth
that HFM BOCES has witnessed in the past year, Mr. Townsend
said, including growth in enrollment for both Special
Education and Career & Technical Education programs, as well
as HFM’s substitute calling service that will now be
providing assistance to the Greater Amsterdam School
District.
“This is a historic occasion,” said HFM BOCES Superintendent
Dr. Geoffrey H. Davis in his welcoming remarks. “Last
Wednesday, our Board of Education hired our single biggest
cohort of employees since we started in 1967. Fifty
employees were hired at one time, for the first time ever.”
These latest hires bring the total HFM BOCES staff to 380
people – far more than double the 118 employees who worked
for HFM when Dr. Davis first took on his role as
superintendent in 1996.
“The ‘old’ HFM BOCES was a family,” he said. “Of those 118
people, probably 80 percent knew each other by name. I think
I was the only one who didn’t know everyone else. Our intent
is to try to keep that sense of togetherness, that family”
even though it may no longer be possible for current staff
members to know all their colleagues.
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