The View From Here: A Recap of Monday's BOE Meeting By Trustee Candidate Adam Spector

Monday's Board of Education meeting lasted just over five-and-a-half hours and School Board Trustee candidate Adam Spector was there until the end.

He was also up and out of the house Tuesday morning in time to be present at 8 a.m. for the selection of the order on the ballot by District Clerk and Secretary to Assistant Superintendent, Finance and Management Services David Grackin Elizabeth Troffa. (Yes, she assured me Monday night--actually Tuesday morning--that she was expected to be at work at her regular time and planned to be.)

The order of the candidates for Board of Education Trustee on the ballot will be as such: Adam Spector, Richard McGrath, John Paci.

Here, Spector  recaps Monday's meeting:
Frank Petrone and the Town Board presented a slide show outlining Town plans and perceptions. He asked the District leadership to partner with the town to help clean up Huntington Station.

Roger Smith, the district architect, presented findings regarding Town Hall highlights:
 51,000 of the 73,000 usable square feet require renovation at a cost of nearly $5 million.
 The 3.5 acre facility is far shy of the 11 acres required by NYS, requiring a waiver of sorts.
 The Gymnasium in the basement requires renovation. (not included in cost)
Technical, Communications infrastructure required. (not included in cost)
 District will wait for Town Feasibility Study before deciding where to go next.
A unified 6th grade center at Jack Abrams was approved in a 4-3 vote (Paci, McGrath & Black voted no).
In this configuration, a unified 4th and 5th grade center at Woodhull will exist as well.

Paci suggested letting JAI students going into 5th grade stay in the school (motion tabled).

Administration added budget lines giving the BOE the option to spend $900,000 as they see fit (possibly for portables at Woodhull costing $650,000 in year 1 and $300,000 annually thereafter). No tax impact on community as money is left over capital reserves. Portables would take 16-20 weeks to prepare.

The budget was adopted by the board in a 4-3 vote (Paci, McGrath & Black voted no).

If the budget is rejected by voters, (and again at a re-vote,) the district will go on a contingency budget.

This will result in approximately $3,000,000 in additional cuts to the presented budget.

Impact of rejected budget:
More staff positions eliminated
Programs will be cut
 No portables for Woodhull, resulting in Art-in-a-Cart and Music-in-a-Cart
Long recovery period

Regardless of whether or not the budget is passed, the 6th grade center at Jack Abrams will commence in September 2010.

In the event the budget is not passed OR the district chooses not to use capital reserves for portables, the district faces the decision as to what to do with 5th graders.

Options include:
Housing some 5th graders at JAI
 House all 5th graders at Woodhull

Finally, Brown suggesting considering floating a bond in the future which will build on to Woodhull enough to house all 3rd, 4th and 5th graders resulting in alleviating overcrowding at the primary schools. This will be discussed in the future.