March 2025 HR/Business Office Blog

 

 March 2025 Human Resources and Business Office Update

Congratulations to our 2025 retirees!

The Retirement & Service Awards Celebration will be held on Friday, June 27, 2025 at 12:45 p.m. in the High School Auditorium. All are welcome to join the luncheon prior to the celebration, which will start at 12:00 p.m. in the High School gymnasium. Join us in celebrating our retirees and colleagues!

Hilton Educators Association

Jennifer Ames	Michele Ariola	Colleen Conley	Tamara Endulovski
Andrew Forman	Carl Hansen	Carol Jones	Tait Loe
Sandy Mayer	Andrea Mrugala	Linda Wolf

Hilton Central School Employees Association

Sandra Rockafellow	Kellie Berg	Sandra Boddy	Diane Boothe
Eileen Hagen	Elaine Iabone	Karen Reynolds	Lisa Valder

 

Hilton Central School Food Service Association	Non-Represented
Sue Anten	Betsy Forjone and Rob Steinorth

 New Child Abuse Identification/Mandated Reporter Training:  For those staff members that were required to meet the new mandate by April 1st.   Your certificate must go into your TEACH account.  Click here for the link to have step-by-step instructions from NYSED about how to have their training reported if they took it through the NYS Office of Children & Family Services website. It appears many staff skipped the last step – After completion, they will receive an e-mail with their certificate, but must ALSO read the instructions in the email and click on the link provided in the email. From there, they will need to input the information required for “Teacher Certification” (not “Professional License,” unless our Social Workers, etc. also need to report it to both places). This includes their DOB, License State, Country, and selection of Office of Teaching from the dropdown.

YOGA & WELLNESS CLASS OPPORTUNITY  March 4 – April 9, 2025

The Hilton Central School District’s Health and Wellness committee is offering 9 yoga classes, free of charge, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between the first week of March and April break. Classes will be held from 4 – 4:45 in the Board and Staff Development Rooms at West Ave.

Judy Fuller, a recently retired HCSD teacher, will lead each class. She earned her 200- and 300-hour certifications in Yoga and Wellness through Breathe for Change, an online community dedicated to educators. She started teaching her QUEST colleagues in April 2023 and is excited to widen her circle to include people who work in all areas of the District.

The classes are open to anyone with no previous practice to a wonderful amount of yoga experience. All you need is a yoga mat and an open mind!

Please sign up for the individual dates you plan on attending. Click here to sign up for yoga classes.  Space is limited to 20 people per lesson. 

Feel free to contact Judy with any questions at JudyAnnb4c68@gmail.com.  

Cancer Screening Leave:  The topic of how, when, and why staff can request time off for cancer screenings prompted us to write a Question and Answer document for everyone to access.  The law allows employees up to four hours of time as needed, annually, to seek a cancer screening.  Any additional time beyond four hours requires staff to use their sick accruals.  For example, if an employee underwent a mammogram in October and utilized their Medical Screening allotment, that employee would need to use their own sick time to undergo an upcoming colonoscopy procedure scheduled during that same school year. The Q&A document with accompanying form has been updated and is on the Human Resources SharePoint site, as well as the HR Intranet Site (you may need to be logged in to access the links).  Please reach out to the Office of Human Resources with questions.

Pathway to Teaching: The Pathway to Teaching program allows TAs and substitutes with some college credits to complete their Bachelor's Degree and become initially certified in a concentration of their choice and Special Education in all grades. As a Corporate Partner, Hilton employees are entitled to 25% off tuition. Reach out to Justin Pretko, Assistant Director of Admissions and Recruiting via email at pretko_justin@roberts.edu.

Justin will be on campus on Friday, March 28, from 11:30am-1:30pm during Superintendent's Conference Day. He will set up an information table at the High School outside of the auditorium during this timeframe.

Workplace Violence:  New York State Department of Labor has mandated that schools have a policy statement and Workplace Violence Program.   The staff injury report form is available in all nurses' offices, as well as the HR Intranet site.  Hilton's Workplace Violence Program is also available on the HR intranet site (see below).

See Something and Say Something:  Hilton Central School District has a Safe School Helpline® to help prevent threats of violence and drugs that endanger public schools. It is designed to assist our learning community in reporting any wrongdoing that impacts our schools, our students and/or our staff – anonymously, so as to protect one's privacy. Just call from a touch-tone phone to 1-800-4-1-VOICE, ext. 359 (418-6423) to leave the information. Or TEXT: 614-426-0240, then type: TIPS. The message will not be traced, and the caller/text will not be identified. The Safe School Helpline® team will transcribe and fax the message to school officials, so appropriate action can be taken. Safe Schools Helpline

Planning for retirement in the near future? Contact HR and we can perform a comprehensive review of your employment history with the District (ex: Hilton CSD years of service, rate of pay, accrual balance, medical insurance eligibility, contractual entitlements, etc.) to provide you with detailed information regarding what to expect based on your anticipated retirement date. For pension figures and calculation of total years of service with New York State, TRS members can contact the NYS Teachers’ Retirement System (1-800-348-7298 ext. 6100), and ERS members can contact the New York State & Local Retirement System (1-866-805-0990) for more information.

Need to buy back prior Hilton CSD time with the New York State Retirement System? Please contact Sherri DaMore in the Business Office (ext. 7032) to obtain information. New York State’s processing time for buying back time is currently upwards of two years..

Employee Assistance Program:  Work Stress?  Home Stress?  Caring for an ill family member?  We know that everyone needs help at times.  All active employees may now seek the support from Employee Assistance Program.  This is a free and anonymous service.   We have received excellent feedback and appreciation about our EAP program.  

Please call 585-663-0025 to schedule a completely confidential appointment!

Who do I call in Human Resources?

Benefits Specialist:  Wendy Radford, Ext. 7094

HR Assistant for Certified Staff (Teachers and Admins): Debbie Palmeri, Ext. 7015

HR Assistant for Classified Staff (SRP Staff): Mindy Leckinger, Ext.7001

Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations:  Brittany Nasradinaj, Ext. 7023

Asst. Superintendent for HR: Ned Dale, Ext. 7021

From Our Friends in the Business Office

Mileage Reimbursement:  Just a quick reminder that the mileage reimbursement rate has changed effective January 1, 2025.  The IRS approved rate is now $0.70 per mile and you can find the mileage form here.  We recommend that you save this file to your computer for future use.

Payroll Tips:  Please continue to check your Bi-weekly payroll advice in MUNIS Selfserve for accuracy.  Remember that any changes you need to make to banking information for direct deposit need to be submitted in person to Human Resources before they can take effect in your check.  If you need to make any adjustments to your W-4 information, please complete the online form in MUNIS Selfserve.  No changes to your deductions will be made without a document completed and signed by you for auditing purposes.  The 2025 limit for 403B contributions made by the employee is $23,500 for anyone under age 50.  The limit for employees who will be 50 by the end of 2025 or older is $31,000.

W-2:  Your W-2 is available for you to download from Munis Selfserve!  Please login to access your W-2.  If you have any problems logging in, please reach out to Sherrie DaMore in the business office.

Who do I call?  Contact Information

Payroll Specialist:  Sherri DaMore, Ext. 7032

Accounts Payable: Lisa Vincelli, Ext. 7096

Accounts Payable/Grant Assistant: Alisa Leach, Ext.7035

Purchasing: Michelle McCue, Ext. 7033

Budget Director:  Jim Barrett, Ext. 7097

Asst. Superintendent for Business: Adam Geist, Ext. 7034