The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District board of education opened Wednesday’s budget meeting with the news that teachers and administrators voted to decline their contracted raises for the 2011-2012 school year.
According to Superintendent Dr. Henry Kiernan, this will save the district about $840,000.
“We are very proud of what [the teachers] are doing in order to help with this budget,” Kiernan said.
Nina Lanci, president of the board, echoed the superintendent's sentiment. “The board of education would like to thank everyone for their selflessness in these tough economic times,” she said.
Mike Dolber, president, BMUST, also stood up to acknowledge how meaningful it is to the community that board and the teachers were able to collaborate and come up with a plan to save jobs and money.
“We strongly felt that the sacrifice that needed to be made and we needed to do it to save the jobs of our colleagues. We hope that we will be able to continue this collaborative relationship with the board in years to come,” he said.
The board is proposing a 5.8 tax-levy increase for the 2011-2012 school year, which is mostly because of the cuts that the district has taken in state aid. The board discussed some of the recent adjustments to the budget, including increasing fuel costs, which have been affected by the crisis in Japan as well as the Middle Eastern uprisings. To make sure the district has enough to cover any added expenses, the board moved $200,000 into the category to cover any fuel costs or a change in transportation costs.
The board also announced that it plans to authorize the use of the remainder of the capital fund on necessary school repairs. The roof work at Mepham, Calhoun, Kennedy and Merrick Avenue will be completed, the tracks at both Grand Avenue and Merrick Avenue will be re-done and repairs will begin on the roof at Grand Avenue.
As for the issue of the installation of synthetic turf, the board rejected a petition to install the turf because of the wording that was put on the petition.
Although there were about 600 signatures on the petition according to audience member John Pinto, the board was advised to reject the petition by the council because the petition dictated that the money to install the turf would come from funds that cannot be used for capital improvements. Because there are several legalities at this point and pending legislation, it has yet to be seen if the board will motion for a public referendum regarding the turf field.
One of the concerns brought up by an audience member is that if the public is quick to vote down a referendum on the same ballot as the budget, the budget may suffer.
“I know that a lot of people are concerned that if someone goes into the voting booth, there is concern that if they put down no for a referendum, they may put down no on the budget too. Please think about not putting the referendum on the same ballot as the budget,” she added.
The board will adopt a budget at the next meeting, which will take place on April 6 at 8 p.m.
You were discussing special interest groups before - I looked up a Turf Project for one football field - it came in at $700,000 for install; $10,000 to $35,000 for a machine to fluff the turf; and yearly maint fees; As well as need some replacement after 10 years. As one taxpayer - and with all the Albany Budget Cuts that are in the Newspaper the turf special interest project is all but dead. Lets look to keep the teaching happening and save the sports programs. Just one taxpayers comment on an open board that the whole community reads at one time or another.
The smoke and mirrors that they do so well, is get everybody crazy and then tell everyone it all worked out. Ask youself a ? when 11million dollars was stolen from the Roslyn School District many years ago. Did that school district skip a beat, hell no because there is more money in the schools then they want you to know.
Anyone here of course has the right to be angry about what teachers earn. That's the beauty of democracy. Some, however, are out of line in lumping us all together into a generic category as if we were mindless, emotionless robots. We have our share of jerks--as every job does. However, they are far-outnumbered by good teachers who genuinely care about their students and about the impact their job has on the world. We work hard at being creative, at staying current, at getting a feel for each year's wave of children and what will spark their interest. We listen, we counsel, we encourage, we seek help when we see signs that a child is in trouble, and we castigate ourselves when we miss those signs. Investing yourself in 100+ children all day is mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausting. Worthwhile? Absolutely! I wouldn't trade what I do for the world. (If it were about money, I'd have gone into finance like my brother who makes 10x my salary.) But anyone who has never walked in a teacher's shoes has no business pretending that he or she knows what we do all day. If I didn't care about my kids, they wouldn't continue to call and text me for job advice, life advice, encouragement, and sometimes just a cup of coffee, through their college years and into adulthood.
And lastly, Mr. and Mrs. Clare, I have taught inclusion classes with wonderful Special-Ed teachers for the past ten years. I know how important your time, effort, and dedication is, and I thank you for it.
"Our incomes get recycled right back into Long Island..." As I said, I am not taking sides on this issue. However, I will comment on illogical or poor arguments and yours above is especially so. I could argue that any money I save in taxes from a reduction in your salary gets recycled, goes into the Long Island economy ultimately improving the prospects of teachers. In fact a thief could make the same claim.
Perhaps you truly “work hard at being creative, at staying current, at getting a feel for each year's wave of children and what will spark their interest.” But how can you say what other teachers do? In a system that grants tenure (something no other job gets) teachers are exempted from any performance requirements and just continue to get raises as they accumulate seniority. Some may have 20 years’ experience and some may have one year’s experience repeated twenty times. As previously documented, we don’t really know how many hours teachers actually put in because under the contract: “Teachers shall not be required to indicate the time they sign in or out but shall sign their initials only to indicate that they have arrived for work or left for the day.” Why is that in your contract? Why would you dedicated teachers not want anyone to know how many hours you work?
Also interesting in Charlie Allnut comment "The teachers will never volunteer for the salary and benefit cuts needed to save Long Islanders." Clearly he did not read the article he comment on above WHICH SAYS "with the news that teachers and administrators voted to decline their contracted raises" saving $840,000. Congratulations to the Teachers and Administratiors who have stepped up to LEAD Long Island in combating BUDGET Cuts.
These teachers received a15% salary increase over the last 4 years, while inflation was up 8% over the same period, and Long Island wages went down 3%. The result, in 2009, there were 15% fewer 25-to-34-year-olds on Long Island than there were in 2000, a larger decline than in any other part of the New York metropolitan region and in contrast to a 5% gain for the nation.
Jerry when are you going answer my questions about the fields.
And if you disagree - that is ok. Vote or run for office - I look foward to seeing your names in the local paper running for the public positions on the Board of Education.
2nd) The Nassau and Suffolk Police Departments salaries are way off base and they get paid way too much, plus they negotiated a 3 day work week and make $130,000 to $150,000 a year as a Police officer that’s not including the benefits and retirement we pay. 3rd) The Fire Department Volunteers, these over the top fire houses, members are volleys but they get Retirement pensions, Free College, and a 25% reduction in property tax. Other tax payers make up the $25% different they do not pay. Enough is enough on Long Island. Merge fire houses and stop the spending of unneeded fire equipment that never gets used and the building of these over the top fire districts. Most towns have 4 or 5 fire houses in a 5 mile radius, merge them.
You and your wife are real mouth pieces for the school district. either you are connected to the schools or you have family working for them. Read the post about my connection to field turf. You and your wife are really out of touch with the student Athletes of Bellmore/Merrick. We will get Turf one day, and you will pay for in a bond, because the school board has there head in the clouds. As for me I served on the North Merrick school board for 12 years and three on the High School. You are what I call, the what's in it for me group. I will help but I need a favor for my kids, I see hundreds of people like you come and go. We will never agree,I am here for the kids.
While Forbes reports that Nassau County residents pay average property taxes over 600% above the national average, only 3 Long Island High Schools were rated in the top 100 by a U. S. News and World Report study; only 2 in Nassau County. U. S. News and World Report looked at more than 21,000 public high schools in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Only 3 Long Island High Schools were in the 100 schools that performed the best in their three-step America’s Best High Schools ranking analysis, and the highest was only ranked 48th. These were Jericho High School ranked 48th , Great Neck South High School ranked 61st and Cold Spring Harbor Junior/Senior High School (Suffolk County) ranked 85th. If after paying the highest property taxes in the nation, your High School can’t even make it into the top 100, what does that say about the prevailing teacher union argument that these disproportionate teacher salaries are “for the children.”
How about a Long Island wide freeze for all Superintendents salaries for 5 years and a give back by them? Time for a teacher salary freeze for 3 years min!
Read the posts, its about the kids