Archive: News

	Key 2008 School Stories Budget Passes, District Looks to the Future Lansing Schools Will Get More Dollars From AES Cayuga PILOT School District Office Moves to Elementary School Business Office Features Student Art Lansing Voters Approve School Projects

After years of tumult, it finally looked as if the Lansing Central School District might get its act together.  With budget problems worse than anyone imagined, buildings falling apart, and a constituency that had lost its trust in the district's fiscal handling, Stephen Grimm had a lot on his plate from his first day as Lansing School Superintendent in his dingy little district office last January.

A year later, Grimm has some impressive achievements under his belt.  His efforts to get the community involved in the tough decisions that had to be made bore fruit as he got his first budget passed, despite more than a million dollars of cuts that could well turn out to be only the first round.  He found money to build a new district office on a shoestring budget, moving from a dingy, unhealthy, ramshackle old restaurant building to professional looking, spacious offices in the elementary school.

The district was faced with another crisis when long-time Athletic Director Ed Redmond left for a job in the Ithaca school system.  The administrative staff somehow managed to get the fall season started, and to hire Redmond's replacement John Taylor.

Meanwhile Grimm  worked with stakeholder groups to develop two capital projects at zero additional cost to taxpayers, and explained them effectively enough to get them both passed last month. 

All this time Grimm was commuting from Marathon, where his family was staying with relatives until they could sell their Rochester home and build a new house here.  He optimistically insisted that his family would be moved into their new house within walking distance of the school campus by Christmas, and somehow managed to make that happen as well.

That move gives the community confidence that something very unusual for Lansing has happened -- that the schools finally have a superintendent who will stay for the long haul and provide consistent, visionary leadership over the next several years.  The scope of this year's challenges is no less daunting than last year's were, but Grimm seems ready to take them on in his low key, thoughtful, friendly, inclusive manner.

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