On Jan. 4, a vehicle went through the Baker Street at Hazeltine Avenue intersection straight onto the lawn of the School.

“When it comes to the safety of children, I 100% believe that there should be guardrails, signs, flashing lights – whatever it takes to alert drivers who are coming down a hill,” Whitaker said Tuesday at the school board meeting.

Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large and chairman of the Public Safety Committee, brought the issue up again at a recent City Council meeting, noting that he has discussed this issue before and that he and Mark Roetzer, city public works director, have a difference of opinion on whether or not the guardrail needs to be put back. While Russell said he would like to see it go back, he said Roetzer’s professional opinion was that it does not need to due to the redesign of the intersection last summer. The guardrail was removed following the renovations done to Baker Street and the corner around the school over the summer. Russell reported that Councilman Joseph Paterniti, R-Ward 4, also brought up concerns during the Public Safety Committee meeting.

“I’m very much in favor of a guardrail, signs and anything else we are willing to, of course, by a board vote supporting whatever is legal and necessary for us to participate in that process. So I know that the board members care just as much about student safety as I do,” Whitaker added.

From left, Jamestown Public Schools Board Member John Panebianco, Vice President Joe Pawelski, and President Paul Abbott conduct business Tuesday at a meeting at Bush Elementary School. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

The board also approved fielding a girls modified (grades 7 and 8) flag football team to begin league play in the spring.

The board approved hiring a coach for $3,035, an assistant coach for $2,076, and providing transportation to games. Uniform and supplies will be covered by a $3,000 grant from the Buffalo Bills Foundation.

In a written statement, Buffalo Bills Senior Director of Youth Football and Programs said gameplay will be 7 on 7, and the team will supply NFL flag belts, practice footballs, and an equipment package. The team also will host a coaches training clinic in the spring.

“We are overjoyed to support this kind of thing in our district,” Whitaker said.

The board also OK’d a memorandum of agreement between the district and the Jamestown Teachers’ Association.

The new MOA stipulates that the district can hire long-term substitute teachers at a higher level.

Whitaker said that the district was having trouble finding long-term subs because the contract called for paying subs at the lowest possible level.

Also, Whitaker gave an update on the PowerSchool cybersecurity incident that occurred on Jan. 7. According to jpsny.org, PowerSchool informed the district leadership team that the company experienced a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to certain PowerSchool student information systems. Jamestown Public Schools was among PowerSchool’s many worldwide clients affected. A threat actor used a compromised administrative PowerSchool credential belonging to a sub-contractor to access data stored in the global PowerSource management system.

Whitaker said PowerSchool notified the district that the data accessed included student, parent, and staff contact information such as name, address, and phone numbers.

“Nothing financial, nothing personal, no Social Security numbers or anything like that (was included),” Whitaker said.

Whitaker said PowerSchool again notified the district that the threat actor had deleted the data and no copies exist, and the data won’t be shared or made public.