Parents Put on the Pressure at Board of Ed Meeting

Elementary parents are not backing down over the and they again voiced their concerns at the Board of Education meeting held recently. To ensure the issue is being taken seriously, parents from all three elementary schools were out in full force at the meeting, many speaking during the public session and attempting to institute a change.

"Since I spoke with the board at the last meeting, I have since spoken to parents to see what concerns are out there," said Jennifer Dolan, a parent. "I have also met with each of the school principals. One of the principals said there is little or no time for recess. In reality, it's not working. I went in and observed the lunch periods. Kids are not getting used to it. They are being rushed and they are tossing their lunches in the garbage when the monitors aren't looking. They are getting 10 or 11 minutes of recess and that is unacceptable." Dolan presented the board with a petition of 500 signatures of concerned parents. "I hope we can work together to fix this."

Tim Southerton, president of the , said the teacher's have clearly made their position known on this subject: it was a mistake. "We don't want to, in any way, take our politeness and courtesy with this as a means that we are in agreement with the decision," he said.

Other concerned parents spoke about how less time for recess takes away from their children's ability to be creative and socialize. Another parent was worried that less recess will affect the way their child performs academically. "We need to preserve and protect recess for our kids," said Susan Keene, who has a first and third grader in . "There are laws for adults to have breaks so we need to do the same for our kids."

The board of education's position remains the same. There's a scheduling issue, the lack of funds and the fear that it will be taken away next year when there are further budget cuts. "If you think it's bad now, wait until you see 30 or 40 kids in a classroom," said Maureen Dolan, vice president, in reference to the tax caps. "I would pass a 10 percent budget but the community wouldn't support it. We need to do something about it now. It's a fact and if it becomes a reality, our schools will not be the same. It's not us doing this. The government tax cap is a reality."

Trustee John Verdone added, "This lunch cut was an unintended consequence. If I had a magic wand and could do it all over again, I wouldn't have cut the lunch. However, the reality is we are losing money next year and we may have larger class sizes and more cuts in programs."

The board invited the public and concerned parents to bring these problems to the newly-elected offiicials and to come to the budget meeting and share their thoughts.

News & Notes:

• Pappas & Co. presented their district financial statement. The district, officials with Pappas & Co. said, is in good financial shape, manages its money well and that the board and the management take great interest in their financial position and that shows on the report. However, the district still has not received the federal jobs money but has already added back social workers, kindergarten aides and other positions. "We have costs of approximately $350,000 to $400,000 that we have been paying out of pocket until we receive that jobs money," said , Superintendent of schools. "Next year there will be and more state unfunded mandates, such as Race to the Top. With the new cut scores, we are going to need extra staff for those students. My goal is to keep what we have. Based on all this uncertainty, on December 1 we should think about freezing the budget with the exception of funds that are necessary to run the classroom. We need to get legislators to understand the ramifications of the tax caps and the unfunded mandates."
• The New York State School Board Association recently held its annual convention and board members Verdone and Norm deVeneau spoke about a few of the programs they attended. One highlight was an anti-bullying seminar, a topic that just was discussed at the this week. The attendance at the cyber-bullying seminar was poor and the board is thinking of other ways to get parents as a captive audience, perhaps PIN night. Heroin in schools is another big concern and William Floyd is attempting to put a drug intervention program in their building.
• There are also new regulations being introduced in regard to concussions in sports. The regulations involve who can clear an athlete to play. Every district needs to have a plan, and Sayville will be one of the first six schools on Long Island to have a plan in place, expected in the next two weeks.