Mourners line streets in protest by Carol Kinney
Herkimer high-school senior, Daniel Adamek, son of Lisa and Jason Adamek, led the funeral procession late Thursday morning. About 50 local dignitaries, teachers, students and community members gathered together in the park across from Herkimer Central School District’s Junior-Senior High school to pay their respects. The mourners waved signs that read “Fair Funding Now” and “RIP Herkimer CSD” and shouted “Hey, hey go home. Cuomo’s cuts have got to go!” RIP Herkimer CSD Mock Funeral is just one community event Herkimer High School students have been holding in recent months to protest what Student Council President Dan Adamek says is “New York State’s [and Governor Cuomo’s] blatant discrimination against poor school districts.” Adamek is passionate about this cause. He was the student speaker at a BOCES sponsored rally held on March 6 at HCCC, traveled to the state capital on March 12 to join students from across NYS to protest education budget cuts, and started Students for Fair Funding student advocacy program. The administration, board of education and teachers of Herkimer CSD support the students’ peaceful protests and moderate student interviews with the media. Mrs. Laura A. Scalise, Grade 12 Social Studies teacher at Herkimer CSD, says “this funeral is not about teachers’ salaries, it’s more about getting fair funding for school districts all across NY State for the kids and their education.” While the students waved their signs and encouraged passers-by to honk to support their cause Scalise handed out flyers stating the students’ concerns. Herkimer Junior-Senior High School Principal, Mary Tomaso is quoted on that flyer as saying “I don’t see how we can close our district’s projected budget gap without losing teachers . . . It’s a shame that the students of impoverished school districts like our get shafted in the state aid game.” In a media interview earlier this week, School Superintendant Robert Miller says at least five [teaching] positions will be either eliminated or reduced to part-time status for the coming 2014-2015 school year. Even though Adamek’s days are numbered attending Herkimer CSD, he is worried how the distribution of NY State education funding will continue to affect the students he leaves behind, including his sister McKenzie who is in 8th grade. After graduation in June, Adamek will attend Middlebury College in Vermont, the No. 4 ranked National Liberal Arts College, where he will study International and Global Studies, Middle Eastern Studies and French. He feels “particularly shorthanded” during high school and does not look forward to having to admit to his college classmates that his high school “only offers two Advanced Placement courses, no honors courses and [few] elective courses.” When asked if he will continue to be involved in this cause after graduation and moving out of Herkimer, Adamek answers “Absolutely.” The mock funeral came to a climax as Adamek called for “a moment of silence for our dying school.”