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Post by vetmann on Jun 20, 2008 7:24:39 GMT -5
taxed2death and sally, Thanks for the PTA meeting update- was anyone from admin or the board present?
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Post by sally on Jun 20, 2008 7:26:25 GMT -5
Vetmann, I believe the board and admin were in a meeting of their own,with the attorneys for the district.
Thats it for now,anything else is speculation. Any info at the meeting was given from the PTA president.I believe they had a meeting with admin. on Wednesday and all PTA presidents throughout the district.They were given the info to be stated at the meetings,I believe it to be factual,but you can always call admin. yourself to clarify.I do appreciate your want for only the facts. Thats all for now,have a nice day.
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Post by vetmann on Jun 20, 2008 7:40:31 GMT -5
taxed2death/sally, Your meeting summary states that while not final $ 770,000 will most definitely be cut from sports and 239,000 from extras and the teacher cuts. sally you clarified fundraising. What are your sources for these statements? I don't want to act on information that cannot be confirmed. Thanks
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Post by hightax on Jun 20, 2008 9:19:08 GMT -5
What does the PTA know about the budget? Do they know what every line in the Budget is for and do they review it?
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Post by vetmann on Jun 20, 2008 9:31:31 GMT -5
Many members of the BAC are PTA participants. ( They were, in many instances, required to join by the BOE) I asked taxed2death and sally for a source for their statements and will wait for an answer. I am hearing rumors everywhere I go, the community needs to know the facts.
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Post by dotherightthing1 on Jun 20, 2008 9:39:57 GMT -5
I have been told by someone who supported the budget that " we know who organized the no vote and put out the flyers" and then gave me a name and street address. What purpose does this serve? To those who were passionate about supporting the budget, is this how you want to spend your energy? Do those that voted no have to watch over their shoulder? Was this discussed at the PTA meeting, either during the meeting or before/after the meeting in the parking lot?
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Post by lilly on Jun 20, 2008 9:51:25 GMT -5
Is anybody noticing that the kids seem to be better behaved than the adults these past few days? The facebook group they established already (as wantaghinmyheart mentioned on another post) has the rule no negativity and they have been industrious brainstorming ideas. I'll gladly take a tomato for that comment. C'mon folks. Please can't we do better than this? It seems we have bigger real problems beyond the fund raising that has to be done (which we will need to work side by side on). If we can't let it go and move on, how are we going to fix those bigger real problems to prevent this situation again in the future and HELP the kids now?
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Post by dotherightthing1 on Jun 20, 2008 9:59:43 GMT -5
lilly, I agree. Lets move forward, however, why assume we will need to fund raise? It's ok to talk about it, but until we know the cuts I think it's premature to discuss in detail. Also, if the community shows the BOE we are willing to fund raise, they may choose to not make the cuts in admin and elsewhere that could fund sports, clubs etc. Most of the kids are behaving better that some adults, but I am concerned about the sources of their information.
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Post by lilly on Jun 20, 2008 10:07:37 GMT -5
lilly, I agree. Lets move forward, however, why assume we will need to fund raise? It's ok to talk about it, but until we know the cuts I think it's premature to discuss. Also, if the community shows the BOE we are willing to fund raise, they may choose to not make the cuts in admin and elsewhere that could fund sports, clubs etc. Maybe I jumped the gun, maybe not. And, you're right, it's all speculation. It looks like the same reports of the same cuts are trickling out to the high school kids and the PTA's these last two days. They also seem to be the same cuts that were stated by the BOE before the revote. So, none of this looks promising. I agree that the community should come out with strong opinions at the next board meeting bc this situation absolutely stinks, elected officials and all that. It also shows that once again, the BOE is not doing a good job of listening, reflecting the kids and taxpayers' best interests (lots of strong opinions there whatever side of the fence). The past two votes divided the community. The BOE and admin now has had ample opportunity to make things right. I'm not sure the ability is there to make things right. I've lost faith in that and am into pragmatics lately. And the admin & BOE has a huge communication problem on top of all this garbage. Oh and btw, are us parents being better than the BOE right now? What meetings and parent groups are forming? Who is communicating that? Are they going to include the entire community or one interest only? They have an opportunity to build bridges and work side by side here too. OK, now, I'm being negative.
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Post by taxed2death on Jun 20, 2008 10:46:40 GMT -5
In response to many questions about the PTA posted update: First, thank you for clarifying that the Aug 1st deadlines represents fall sports only. I missed that part and am relieved to hear that the $ amount for Aug deadline is less, although still very ambitious deadline. In terms of the info and where it came from. The PTA President made it very clear that she had a conversation with Dr Bonuso prior to the PTA meeting and he gave her a status of the cuts but that they had not been finallized. It was announced that the teachers that will be let go have been notified. Due to privacy issues there names have not been announced. These teachers still have another week with the students and I'm sure it will be very difficult, so we need to respect this. In terms of the meeting on Thurs 26th, I wrote down 8pm. Yes, it was discussed that yes votes write a check and all agreed. I myself would be happy to write a check for twice as much if necesary if it means keeping the teacher and sports/ activiites, orchestra/band in the elem school, however would not do so if I had to leave the decision on what stays and goes to others. Bottom line is that the cost of outside activitiets could quickly add up to $500, but the value in the school environment and the smaller class size is worth every penny. People were ready to meet at the park if necessary to get started on fundraising ideas, feeling the clock ticking. It was made clear that we can't start until we know all the details and what the rules are. It is likely that we will not be able to meet on school property since anything off school hours are a problem. Again, this is a recap based on what was announced at the meeting. IF anyone else was there and could embellish, please do so.
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Post by taxed2death on Jun 20, 2008 10:57:08 GMT -5
Also the question was asked about the impact on outside sports that use the school fields and facilities. The answer is not clear, but expecting costs to increase.
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Post by Wantagh Parent on Jun 20, 2008 11:10:20 GMT -5
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Post by forthekids on Jun 20, 2008 12:04:03 GMT -5
Lilly - I don't think you're jumping the gun on this. Anyway you look at it, fundraising will have to be done to replace what will be lost. Have we forgotten about the Cultural Arts Kids and 7th grade sports that people wanted to raise money for? That's approx $170,000 added to whatever else is cut. Also, in terms of the administration forgoing their increases, that's an idea to present to them, but I don't know if I would be that noble in their position and give up my raise, and if my spouse came home to me and said he was declining his raise I don't know how happy I'd be. Don't get me wrong, if anyone volunteered to do it, I would applaud them, but I think we need to be realistic about this and start thinking about how we are to go forward.
And to Lilly's point, that means working together as a community, because if we can't do this together our problems will only get worse.
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Post by lulubell on Jun 20, 2008 14:49:03 GMT -5
Everyone on this message board has a valid point and we are all very passionate about the various issues that need to be resolved, (and hopefully will be before our next budget vote) but right now we need to get our sense of community back! There is so much anger among both sides and I'm afraid we are not setting very good examples for our children. I have heard some people say they are going to move, others are putting their kids in private school, apparently some people are giving out names and addresses of people that voted no........what is our town becoming. We need to come together, like someone posted "when a family member is hurting you pull together". Let us not get pulled further apart. The vote is over and done with. We need to find out EXACTLY what is being cut and figure out a way to provide our children with the best possible school year on a austerity budget. I know Pt Washington had a pay to play program when they're budget didn't pass; Seaford and Plainedge raised enough money so none of their teams would be affected. Let us show our kids "when the going gets tough the tough get going!!" Let us use our energies in a positive way and start thinking of how we can allow the current juniors to have a great senior year, and how we can fix this so the rest of the children are impacted as little as possible!
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Post by wantaghinmyheart on Jun 20, 2008 17:18:36 GMT -5
I am glad to hear that some of you are ready to move foward and I hope by next week more of you will join in. One easy way for us to raise funds is to maximize what we already have set up Wantagh Middle School and the three Elementary PTA's participate in BOXTOPS 4 EDUCATION. If you go to www.boxtops4education.com you will see all of our missed opportunities it's not just 10 cents a top but contests and cash back for shopping. Each school could get up to $20.000.00 a year. I BET there is MONEY in almost every closet in this town. So, clip the logo's and save them. You will be surprised how fast this can add up!!!!!!!!
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