Schools

Despite District Turmoil, PTA Council Sticks to Business

PTA representatives from each school gathered for their final meeting of the year.

The Huntington School District's Council of PTAs held its final meeting of the year Monday morning and, despite the mixed emotions surrounding the Board of Education's recent decision to create a district-wide, sixth-grade center at the Council President Denise D'Attolico said she wanted to focus how the decision affects the district's PTA units only.

"There are lots of changes and we have to focus on how to deal with that," she said.

The council is made up of representatives from all eight of the district's schools plus the Special Education PTA (SEPTA),  the executive board which is D'Attolico, vice presidents Mary Ann Smith and Marilyn Maggio, Recording Secretary Julie LaBella and Treasurer Laura Montefusco.

Sharon Glazier, Southdown Elementary School's council representative, said that Southdown's most recent PTA meeting was a joint meeting with both Woodhull Intermediate School and Jefferson Primary School and that there was a high level of tension and anxiety among parents.

Find out what's happening in Huntingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"The agenda was pretty much pushed aside by unhappy parents because it took place the day after the Board of Education meeting when they decided to make that change. The only board member in attendance was [President] Bill Dwyer and he was literally besieged."

D'Attolico said she feared the same thing would happen at a hastily scheduled meeting between the council and PTA presidents'  the Friday after the vote so that each school's PTA's could be reorganized.

Find out what's happening in Huntingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"My goal was to stick to business," D'Attolico, who is finishing her second and final year as council president, said. "We have to put aside how we feel individually about the Board of Education's decision because there's nothing we can do about it at this point. We needed to focus on contracts for fundraisers and pictures and whether there are conflicts and getting the calendar in order. Everyone has a pasta night so we have to figure out when do you have yours and how is it handled. We have to figure out the budgets for those two buildings. We're really starting from ground zero so we wanted to make sure that in September there is a smooth transition. We want to make sure the kids are happy and they see some familiar faces. It's all going to be good and we're going to be positive and enthusiastic."

The council also had to determine who would sit on the Woodhull and Abrams nominating committees to determine the PTA officers for each school. Abrams will have five members on its committee and the Woodhull committee will have seven. The slate of nominated officers must be in by May 22.

"My word of the day is sensitivity," D'Attolico said. "We want to be sure everyone is represented well."

She reminded everyone that the 'meet the candidates' event was scheduled at Abrams Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. and that the Suffolk County Region PTA's director Doris Fischer will be the moderator.

"With Doris, there will be no nonsense," D'Attolico said, adding that a community member had called the regional PTA office to ask if the PTA is required to advocate for the budget.

 "So I, in turn, got a call asking, 'what is going on in Huntington?'"

She reported that a PTA council or unit can take an opposing stand on the budget, but the process can be lengthy.

"Every delegate would have to go to the general membership and vote and then come back to council and vote again. So by the time everyone has their meetings, it could take a while," she said. "Is it good to do that? I don't know. What if you have two units who want it and two who don't and then the council is divided. We chose, as we usually do, to provide general information. We're just voter education."

Bari Fehrs, who will take over as council president in June at the end of D'Attolico's term, said that she had heard some parents say they thought a recent mailing from the council detailing what would be cut under a contingency or austerity budget was meant to intimidate parents in to voting for the proposed budget.

"There's been a lot of conversations going back and forth with how the budget process works and people are not sure what happens if the budget gets voted down but there are those who think this was put out by the administration or the Board of Education as a threat," Fehrs said.

D'Attolico said that is indicative of the current state of mind of many parents and community members.

"There's a high-sensitivity level," she said. "We have been lucky the last few years where the contingency budget wasn't really going to be as drastic. It was very close to what a passed budget would look like. That is not the case this year. But it was not meant as a statement either way. It was simply to be informative."


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