Thursday 6/5 Board of Ed Meeting

[Wantagh Parent]

Please post your summary and impressions of tonight's meeting here.

[ourkids]

Halo- here is a summary of last night's board meeting

1. The money needed for 7th grade supports is actually a little shy of $82,000.00. This is the amount to fundraise if the budget passes on a revote.
2. Concern by some people who are not getting mailings from district. Dr. B asked people to inform district of their locations so they can check with Post Office about certain areas and routes.
3. A resident discussed that contracts are a big part of our budget. Dr. B agreed and said this is common in all districts. The number usually runs between 70-75%. Wantagh's is actually 68% as discussed at last night's meeting. Mr. Christie discussed teacher contracts. The district has been working very hard to have employees give a larger contribution to benefit programs. In fact the teachers this year gave up 5% in health care benefits.
4. A resident asked Mr. Christie about the Newsday article which discussed the contingency budget. It was very confusing and Mr. Christie agreed and said he spoke with the reporter for a pretty long time and the two paragraphs written in Newsday did not cover what they discussed. I think the Newsday article just confused people terribly.
5. A resident wanted the BofE to give a projected number about the budget for the next 3 years. Mr. Michael Cucci said it is hard to give a solid number because so many things go into the budget. He gave a range i believe with 5 being low and 8 being high.
6. A past graduate spoke about the Cultural Arts program being cut from the budget. She was well spoken and said that this program enabled her to receive scholarship money to pursue her dream in music. She felt very prepared going into college because of the program. At the age of 22 she works for the Uniondale S.D. where her music career is no longer a dream but a reality. Michael Cucci thanked her for her comments and complimented her on her words. He said the BofE has tried to get grant money for this program but were not successful. He said this is an area that saddens the board as do all the cuts. They hope it can find its way back into the budget next year. The cost of this program is $13-19,000 per student.
7. Our debt service for this year (2008-2009) from the 3 bonds we are currently paying off will be 2.7%. If this number was not there our budget increase would be in the 5% range. But, work needed to be done and the bonds were passed and now we must pay them off.
8. A resident feels we need to do a better PR job in getting information out to the public and an organized plan to contact our elected officials. Dr. B said that the district is in the process of hiring a PR firm to assist them in this area and info was available to the residents last night about who to write to about our present tax situation.
9. A resident spoke about an issue unrelated to the budget and the meeting ended at about 9:45 pm.

I have some other thoughts to share but i need to get to work. I will log in later.

[forthekids]

To Ourkids, great job in covering last nights meeting. You covered pretty much every point in a way that those who did not attend can understand the information presented. A couple of your points that I would like to comment on are the following.

3. Contracts do account for a very large of portion of our budget as well as every other school budget, and while I do agree that the district has done a good job in getting some concessions from the teachers regarding benefits, I believe there are other items that should be included in their contract, including a provision that requires them to mentor a club or extra-curricular activity at least once during the life of the contract. This might not save us any money but would certainly get us more for our children. This is especially important on the elementary school level where there are not many clubs.

4. The confusion over the Newsday article. If I am understanding this correctly, the way the percentage increase is calculated for an austerity budget is a percentage of the schools spending. Had the district not decided to increase the amount it had originally allotted to debt service the contingency budget would have been in the 3-4% range with the same amount of $1.5 million in cuts. Legally they are allowed to do this due to exemptions given the districts. If this is still not correct, someone please correct me.

5. I believe that Mr. Cucci is correct in his assessment of the future of Wantagh's budgets. We should expect increases in the 5-8% range for the foreseeable future. With the combination of the debt service and ever increasing costs there really is no other way of looking at this, unless the district can come up with alternate sources of revenue.

6. The cutting of the Cultural Arts Program is a shame and I think everyone feels bad, but I'm sure that does not help the children that were cut. Has anyone found out if the money can be raised privately for those children to attend the program?

8. PR, or should I say the lack of PR, is a big problem in this district. It's hard for residents to find out good or bad what is happening. The website is sporadically updated, with some pages of the administration not updated in years. I know that Dr. B. spoke about hiring a PR firm, I don't know where that money is coming from. The PR line in the budget was actually cut $17,000.00.

I also want to clarify a statement that was made by one of the BOE members regarding the BAC and the budget. He stated that the original budget was around 14% and the BAC cut it down to it's current state. That did not happen, the BOE made the cuts and presented them to the BAC.

Feel free to comment on anything that you believe I didn't fairly present.

[voteno]

the point that salaries and benefits make up a major part of the budget is something not to be glossed over. while i realize this is true in almost any organization..it must be addressed. so much of our increases go to this category that not much is left for what the kids really need. paying faculty and administraion more does not give our kids a better education. it only makes their current education more expensive. the BOE does not want to hear this when asked about it. the public needs to vote down the budget over and over again so the BOE can go into negotiations with public support behind them.

[lilly]

The district has still not responded to information requests regarding the rules for cultural arts fundraising. It's dismal - too little, too late and an afterthought. These kids have been shot down.

These kids should have been in the budget. The board should have applied for a grant last November as other districts do to avoid the present situation and curtail costs in any year.

It's bad planning, bad management and a sad commentary on them.

[bnjasper]

Did anyone challenge the credibility of educators who supposedly teach our students the power of the vote in a democracy? Or the BOE that was emphatic in its "no revote" or "we will honor the will of the people comments?

[wantaghmom]

Lilly I agree with you totally. It is a real shame that the BOE had no foresight to see that lack of funding would cause the elimination of programs, specifically Cultural Arts. Because of poor planning this handful of students will now suffer the consequences. Is is sad that grants could have been applied for, but due to time constraints it is now too late to do so. It is a shame that after students were solicited by WHS for this program and interviewed by guidance (parents were also interviewed) the program is being taken away from them. What a tease to dangle the carrot and then at last minute to pull it away. Totally unfair and brutal for these kids.

[wantaghmom]

RE: ourkids - excerpt of bullet 5
Michael Cucci thanked her for her comments and complimented her on her words. He said the BofE has tried to get grant money for this program but were not successful. He said this is an area that saddens the board as do all the cuts. They hope it can find its way back into the budget next year.

[ourkids]

Ohe point I forgot to list this morning was a resident was concerned that "teachers" are discussing the failed budget with the students. Some residents agreed with him and others by certain comments made feel it is ok for the kids to know. Mr. Michael Cucci made it clear that this was not ok for the district. The problem with this exchange was there were no specific facts stated. The gentleman did not mention a school or specific grade level. Also, the comments made by "teachers" were not stated. I don't like putting all "teachers" into one category.

Forthe kids your summaries were good too. I agree we need to find the answer regarding fundraising for the cultural arts. I will send an email to Mr. Christie about it today and pass the information along when I hear from him.

[wantaghmom]

Re: ourkids Bullet:

6. A past graduate spoke about the Cultural Arts program being cut from the budget. She was well spoken and said that this program enabled her to receive scholarship money to pursue her dream in music. She felt very prepared going into college because of the program. At the age of 22 she works for the Uniondale S.D. where her music career is no longer a dream but a reality. Michael Cucci thanked her for her comments and complimented her on her words. He said the BofE has tried to get grant money for this program but were not successful. He said this is an area that saddens the board as do all the cuts. They hope it can find its way back into the budget next year. The cost of this program is $13-19,000 per student.

After Cucci's statement a parent took the mike and said she had called Fuschillo's office requesting a grant for the cultural arts program, but was told that the deadline for grant requests had passed and that Wantagh didn't request any funds. I believe it was Mr. Spagnola said the requests had to be filed by November at which time the BOE wasn't aware that funding for cultural arts would be needed.
I find this unfortunate for the students affected, they probably had a decent shot of the cultural arts program being funded had a request for funds been placed in a timely manner. Perhaps budgets should be projected for the next two school years to avoid predicaments like this in the future. Mr. Cucci alluded to the fact that perhaps funding will be put back into the following years budget. Unfortunately this means nothing to the handful of students being affected in the upcoming school year. PLEASE DON"T LET THESE STUDENTS PAY FOR SOMEONE ELSES MISTAKE!!!!!!

[sally]

Jun 6, 2008 17:08:52 GMT -5 wantaghmom said:

Re: ourkids Bullet:

6. A past graduate spoke about the Cultural Arts program being cut from the budget. She was well spoken and said that this program enabled her to receive scholarship money to pursue her dream in music. She felt very prepared going into college because of the program. At the age of 22 she works for the Uniondale S.D. where her music career is no longer a dream but a reality. Michael Cucci thanked her for her comments and complimented her on her words. He said the BofE has tried to get grant money for this program but were not successful. He said this is an area that saddens the board as do all the cuts. They hope it can find its way back into the budget next year. The cost of this program is $13-19,000 per student.

After Cucci's statement a parent took the mike and said she had called Fuschillo's office requesting a grant for the cultural arts program, but was told that the deadline for grant requests had passed and that Wantagh didn't request any funds. I believe it was Mr. Spagnola said the requests had to be filed by November at which time the BOE wasn't aware that funding for cultural arts would be needed.
I find this unfortunate for the students affected, they probably had a decent shot of the cultural arts program being funded had a request for funds been placed in a timely manner. Perhaps budgets should be projected for the next two school years to avoid predicaments like this in the future. Mr. Cucci alluded to the fact that perhaps funding will be put back into the following years budget. Unfortunately this means nothing to the handful of students being affected in the upcoming school year. PLEASE DON"T LET THESE STUDENTS PAY FOR SOMEONE ELSES MISTAKE!!!!!!

Budgets are done annually because state aid is recieved annually.The state is not punctual in giving out these amounts.It would be helpful to all if the state did things in a timely matter.But that is not the case.