New York State Council of Catholic School Superintendents meets for the very first time in Buffalo. (Patrick McPartland/Managing Editor)

For the first time in memory, the New York State Council of Catholic School Superintendents has assembled in Buffalo for two days of meetings, according to Sister Carol Cimino SSJ, Superintendent of Catholic Schools. "Normally we meet in Albany and I said 'you have not seen Buffalo lately', so I invited everybody to Buffalo and they all said 'yes."

 Superintendent of Catholic Schools. "Normally we meet in Albany and I said 'you have not seen Buffalo lately', so I invited everybody to Buffalo and they all said 'yes."

It is one of four gatherings scheduled for the Council each year, and Sister Carol says there is plenty on the agenda for Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. "We've been discussing strategies for the education tax credit for the last several years, so we'll talk about that. We have on our agenda a lot of regulations and legislation from the NY State Legislature. Some of the things we have to do are pretty onerous, and there's no support for those. However we are reimbursed for some of the things we do like taking attendance and giving tests and inoculations."

There are eight dioceses across New York State. This two day conference at the Catholic Center, in downtown Buffalo, will help the superintendents share ideas about the challenges they each face.

"The one big thing this year is that, finally, the New York State Education Department agreed to reinstate an office for non-public schools." The office existed through the 1980's and 90's but Sister Carol says that when the people who operated the office retired, the State eliminated that particular office which provides a voice for Catholic and other private schools. "So, when we have a question to call Albany about an issue affecting a Catholic school, there's been nobody there to answer that question. We now have to examine a list of responsibilities and authority that the office will have "