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Post by Chris_Wendt on Mar 8, 2011 6:52:20 GMT -5
High School Cafeteria (south)
Marty Abrams will present the Facilities Budget
(Budget Codes 1620-1621).
Chris Wendt
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Post by lilly on Mar 9, 2011 11:29:44 GMT -5
I am perplexed by some of last night's events as well as a Beech PTA email distributed this morning.
The BOE/admins are reinstating two 4th grade sections next year, one in Mandalay and one in Beech. They did not mention reinstating the 5th grade loss of sections.
These positions will presumably be funded by cuts in buildings and facilities staffing and building projects. With the exception of the new sportsplex in the back of the HS, has no one noticed the condition of our secondary complex? That, there is merit to the idea of spending $ on basic maintenance so we don't have to float bonds every few years for repairs and updating?
The key looming financial issue still is not resolved. So, it is business as usual in Wantagh with those screaming the loudest getting BOE/admins to easily reverse decisions (is it a BOE election year?) like # of 4th grade sections. Business as usual in decreasing $ spent on maintaining our aging infrastructure. Business as usual in whacky priorities - no RtI spending until the very last minute (the old "let's just say we have it and those parents have to believe us" trick), no parity in programs for our HS'ers, prioritizing elem and MS sports over academics or that parity for our HSers, putting bonds in front of the community for a new gym when we had inoperable decade+ old technology. And, continuing the trendline of a decreasing teaching supplies budget. I've said this before publicly in a BOE meeting and was only half kidding - 'at the rate we're going, next up we throw recycled paper clips and a roll of scotch tape at the teachers and tell them make do and just teach'.
I'm not sure what the right answers are exactly, but continuing our same old budget tricks is not the way to go. All this and increased (unaffordable) taxes yet again too.
Here's the Beech PTA email. I don't think they have it right. The BOE did formally adopt class size changes, so those didn't go away. For whatever puzzling reason, as of this morning there are NO CURRENT BOE AGENDAS on the district website to cite the recent date revised class sizes were adopted. So not exactly sure how the Beech PTA got their info or who their BAC liaison is but the wording in the email is off. I would politely suggest that although there is no need to 'storm' tomorrow night's BOE meeting, that you attend them regularly anyway like the author of this PTA email does. I do agree that information is power.
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GOOD NEWS FROM OUR BOE - MUST READ!!!
Before you attend the BOE Meeting on Thursday March 10th; congratulations, the BOE has listened to what Wantagh El. has said. As of tonight's meeting, please note the following.
Dr. Begley has informed us that the BOE has taken off the proposed increase in class sizes for the elementary school from the agenda for Thursdays meeting. This means at this time, they will keep the same standards for the classes as in the past.
As of tonight's meeting at the BAC, we have been informed that the BOE has reinstated two teaching positions that were going to be eliminated.
Please keep in mind that ALBANY needs to hear from us still. Please write letters to all of our legislators. Their addresses can be found on the district website under the "parents" drop down menu. Please reiterate that Wantagh cannot afford state aid cuts. We are going to lose programs and teachers and most of all change the education that our children in Wantagh are accustomed to receiving and DESERVE. We CANNOT do this alone. We rely on State Aid to make theses programs available to our students. The BOE will also accept any letters at the meeting on Thursday night as they are meeting with Senator Fuschillo Friday morning. Your letters already impacted the BOE's decision making ... imagine if we can make an impact in Albany's decision on what state aide Wantagh will or will not be receiving.
We would like to take this time to thank everyone for the letters to the Board of Ed. It was a job well done and without the dedication from our Board of Ed, this would not have been possible. Dr. Begley, Jean Quinn and Michael Cucci have gone above and beyond in their commitment to your child's education and the needs of the district that they commit themselves to.
It is still important to attend BOE meetings. Knowledge is power.
_____________________
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Post by lilly on Mar 9, 2011 12:17:14 GMT -5
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Mar 9, 2011 13:12:01 GMT -5
Someone at Wantagh Elementary PTA wrote in an email blast:
"...Jean Quinn and Michael Cucci have gone above and beyond in their commitment to your child's education and the needs of the district that they commit themselves to." Nothing like grandstanding before the election. It would be considered really bad form, if either Jean Quinn or Michael Cucci had anything to do with that pointedly biased email, which I doubt either of them did. Regardless, the board's reversal on their 4th Grade teacher cuts smacks of gutlessness, but not by just two "heroic" board members, but the entire lot of them, or at least a 3-member majority. Gutless board actions are also considered really bad form, far worse form than petty political grandstanding. A gutless board action taken in secret smacks of a violation of the Public Open Meetings Law and demonstrates a serious lack of regard for their oath of office by any board members who participated or who acquiesced in that coup. I hope if this comes before real vote in the public board meeting tomorrow, the individual board members can find the "guts" to stand up and be counted. As pleased as Tom Vereline should be over the restoration of his two teachers (I get that), I can only imagine how much more perplexed he and the WUT negotiating committee must be over what can now only be read as a fractured board flipping on some things, but holding fast on others. Waiting for the other shoe to flop.... "Intrigued" Chris Wendt |
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Post by annemarie on Mar 9, 2011 16:52:55 GMT -5
With all due respect, when you quoted the email that was sent out at WES, you left out quite a bit. Here is the rest as we thanked the community, the entire BOE and Dr. Begley.
We would like to take this time to thank everyone for the letters to the board. It was a job well done and without the dedication from our Board of Ed, this would not have been possible. Dr. Begley, Jean Quinn and Michael Cucci have gone above and beyond in their commitment to your child's education and the needs of the district that they commit themselves to.
It is still important to attend BOE meetings. Knowledge is power
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Mar 9, 2011 19:23:32 GMT -5
Thank you for your input. I have no quarrel with you or the WES PTA.
However, no one should believe there is a way out of our financial predicament, this emerging crisis, which way out does not involve pain and suffering yet to come in many quarters of our district. pain that will not always be made to stop or to go way through what can best be taken by some as "heroics" before angry constituents.
The issue in Wantagh transcends two or four excessed teacher positions.
I do believe the "anger quotient" in Wantagh has just been elevated by this clandestine move, pretty much as my blood pressure has been elevated by it. Sorry, but I really feel a need to vent and vent good about this one.
Still intrigued by the midnight machinations.
Chris Wendt
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Post by lilly on Mar 10, 2011 11:46:58 GMT -5
Chris, my initial reaction when I read your post yesterday was to chastise you for your choice of biting adjectives and kid you about your very apparent lack of a subtlety gene but decided to wait that out. A good night's sleep later, I don't think you were too far off the mark.
Can you answer this? If new class size guidelines are adopted by the BOE, don't they still have discretion or flexibility on calling when to adhere to those maximums or not?
You won't have the opportunity to poll the BOE trustees tonight, there will be no public voting. The Wantagh PTA email was right. The second reading was taken off the BOE agenda that was posted on the district website yesterday afternoon. The unanswered question is is that temporary or permanently off BOE agendas.
Sometime between 10:05 when the BAC meeting ended and 10:44 Tuesday night, Lydia Begley had that knowledge and communicated it to the Wantagh PTA. That is after sitting in a room of 30-50 BAC'ers for two whole hours and failing to mention that key piece of information. Very interesting observing which questions/issues our fearless leaders pick & choose to respond to (and how fast) and those they do not.
Similarly, Bill, Bob and Mike were at that same meeting. As BAC liaison, Bill was visible at the front of the room. (I don't remember seeing Jean or Ann Marie at that meeting.) Whose place was it, BOE or super, to communicate that info? Regardless, there was plenty of opp'y to mention it to the BAC as a basic courtesy. The end result is the BAC was issued a budget draft that is pretty much unusable since it doesn't reflect the changes, delaying timely accurate info in this critical budget season and spreading some ill will.
I'm also curious about the wording of the PTA email. If the entire BOE was thanked with specific call-outs to Lydia, Jean and Mike, I wonder exactly how the reduction of sections was positioned to the Beech parents. Those very same people that were thanked are the original decision-makers who reduced the sections. And, to be clear, as for thanking the community, the community in this situation is limited to Beech parents, not necessarily the rest of Wantagh. I'm going to resist making any comments about what I can only speculate how the 'name of the BAC' was used in this situation, if it was, and none of it is favorable.
Every action has a reaction and based on this very bad form, I suspect we're going to be a victim of our own culture in the next 6 or so weeks. Those who scream the loudest indeed...
Heads up for the Beech parents. When your kids leave the comfy, pretty confines of Beech for the MS, be prepared for culture shock. Your 6th grader, new to the secondary complex and changing classrooms each period, may very well be sitting in a class of 30 (and that is before this horrible budget year) anyway, making the jump from 4th and 5th grade class sizes all the more stark. I don't know if the locker replacement plan is in jeopardy (is it now a 20 year plan? lolol) with this action, but if it is, at the MS orientation picnic be sure to have windex/409, a roll of paper towels and some rubbermaid shelf liners waiting in your car in case your kid is assigned one of the ancient (original?) lockers. As a mother you will feel much better if you clean the ink, lead and petrified gum off the interior, or have shelf liners to shield your kid's new winter jacket from rust. And be sure to thank the custodians that seem to always be present for the picnic, they are very adept at un-jamming these lockers. And all that is pre this year's budget crisis, the whole questioning of how your (high) tax dollars are spent.
It is really important that we get the list of building projects and know what was reduced to make sure basics weren't left off. You know, falling bricks and all at that complex is a safety concern.
That said, my locker rant was being totally over dramatic. As a mother, one of my kids does well in any sort of classroom environment, whatever the class size and teaching style or temperament. My other kid absolutely "needs"/benefits from and sometimes requires smaller class sizes and certain teaching styles. So, weighing that in with my budget mindedness, I'm really "agnostic" or betwixt about it.
Lastly, I truly thought we had turned a (good) corner on BS in this district. The actions of Tuesday night set us way back. Apparently, I was very wrong.
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Post by Chris_Wendt on Mar 10, 2011 13:48:12 GMT -5
In a calm and collected manner, I would like to respond in part to what Lilly wrote: Can you answer this? If new class size guidelines are adopted by the BOE, don't they still have discretion or flexibility on calling when to adhere to those maximums or not? Yes, the Board of Education retains the authority to make exceptions to the class-size "guidelines", and the Superintendent and Principals all know that to be the case, in theory as well as in practice, in the district. You won't have the opportunity to poll the BOE trustees tonight, there will be no public voting. The Wantagh PTA email was right. The second reading was taken off the BOE agenda that was posted on the district website yesterday afternoon. The unanswered question is is that temporary or permanently off BOE agendas. Depends upon how close they hew to their own bylaws and parliamentary procedure. Since the first reading has been held and voted in the affirmative, the proper parliamentary procedure would be to leave the second reading on the agenda and entertain a motion to table ("lay upon the table") the agenda item. That motion to table carrying would put a requirement on the Board at the next monthly business meeting to take up this item from the table and vote on it. If this item does not appear on tonight's agenda as old business or unfinished business, then the agenda would technically be out of order. That would presume someone cared about procedural rectitude. Thanks Lilly. Chris Wendt |
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Post by kathyt on Mar 10, 2011 14:21:14 GMT -5
"And, to be clear, as for thanking the community, the community in this situation is limited to Beech parents, not necessarily the rest of Wantagh. I'm going to resist making any comments about what I can only speculate how the 'name of the BAC' was used in this situation, if it was, and none of it is favorable."
Just to be clear, this email was sent to Wantagh Elementary School PTA Parents. If you were a Wantagh Elementary School parent that provided the PTA with an email address, this email was sent to thank you for taking the time to write letters to the BOE to express concern over increased class size.
Thanks
Kathy Tariche
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