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Schools

Sayville Board of Education Announces Appointments

New athletic coordinator and assistant coordinator of special education are named.

Two new appointments were made at the Sayville Public School Board of Education's recent meeting. The Board welcomed Scott Schuster, who was named Assistant Coordinator for Special Education and Dennis Maloney, who was appointed the new Athletic Coordinator for the district .

Schuster comes to Sayville from the Longwood School District, while Maloney hails from Middle Country School District. "I am really excited to be a part of Sayville, and the community here and all it has to offer," Schuster said.

Another order of business was the new Academic Intervention Services (AIS) scores. While Sayville and many other districts were able to resubmit scores from the previous year, under the new system, it appears as though many more students (15 percent) would qualify for AIS services. If that is the case, the district may be looking to add AIS services for the 2010-2011 school year after receiving input from the teachers and principals.

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Students are still enrolling for this school year, while others are still withdrawing, so final enrollment numbers are not yet available. However, kindergarten is sill standing at 228 children, and the district will be reinstating the kindergarten aides for two hours this school year. Teacher orientation will be taking place on August 31, with a training and luncheon on September 1 . Five new teachers will be entering this year.

Sergeant Kevin Peterson of the Suffolk County Fire Marshals presented the board with a fire inspection report. He explained that the reports are conducted every 11 months, so that the buildings can be inspected during different times of the year. In their inspection, the marshals look for life safety issues, fire prevention methods and fire containment. Sayville did very well this year, he said, with the high school looking "the best I have ever seen it."

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In addressing the upcoming budget discussions for 2011-2012, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Walter Schartner told the board not to plan for a pleasant outlook for budget season. "We all need to be realistic in terms of what we want and we have to give up," he said. "I don't know if the community can take another 5.9 percent increase. We have to keep things as low as possible." The board will have an additional meeting to discuss budgetary concerns in November.

The board also discussed the gates that have been put up on the track at the high school. While many members of the board didn't recall specific directives on adding the gates to help preserve the track, others were adamant about having them removed. Some felt it prevented the community from having access to a track that essentially was paid for by their tax money. It was decided that the gates will be removed in the near future.

The board also instituted a new meal charge policy for 2010-2011 to promote responsible student behavior and minimize the fiscal burden to the district. Students who forget their money may be allowed to charge their meals, to be repaid back, but after three charges, a letter will be sent home to parents. After five such instances, the student will only be allowed a sandwich, fruit and milk for lunch.

Sayville schools will reopen on Tuesday, Sept. 7 and the board of education will hold their workshop meeting on the same day at 7 p.m.

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