A Message From Your Superintendent:

Dear Community Residents,
       
At our December Board of Education Meeting, Mr. Jeff Carlson, Assistant Superintendent for Business, gave a statistical overview of the 2012-13 school budget.  The tax-cap budget (2%) limits revenues and did not provide time for existing collective bargaining agreements (CBA) to expire.  As such, district expenditure obligations due to these CBA’s, health insurance, and pension system contributions, far exceed the anticipated revenues from a 2% tax cap.

I truly feel that if the Governor and the legislature wanted a tax cap, then it should have been phased in over a three to four year period, so that the CBA’s could expire and new agreements negotiated with a cap in mind.

The result of the immediate introduction of the cap is a significant gap between anticipated revenues and known expenditures.  The result will be reductions that will impact our instructional programs.  Even with an anticipated increase in state aid, the use of reserve funds, and the Board of Education considering offering a budget above the tax cap, the reductions that will have to be made are significant.

Mr. Carlson’s presentation is on the website, and I urge you to read it.  In addition, in January I will be posting a video to our website that offers more information on the 2012-13 budget.  As the budget evolves, I will update the video.  At each of our future Board Meetings, the budget will be a major topic of discussion.  I urge you to attend the North Country Meetings (8PM) so as to stay informed of budget developments.

The district has formed a bully prevention task force.  It is my hope that this committee, made up of a diverse group of members, will research and develop a K-12 curriculum-based program that can be implemented in our district.  Needless to note, bullying and cyber-bullying can be extremely detrimental to a child’s well-being, self-esteem and education.  Although all of our schools address this issue, there is a need to develop an articulated K-12 program that teaches the same values and themes.  As many of you are aware, this is a Board of Education goal and I am quite optimistic that this excellent committee, led by Ms. Cathy Taldone, will be successful in both developing and implementing a program.

The committee members will undergo training in New York’s recently enacted Dignity for All Students Act (DASA).  This training will assist task force participants in gaining insights into the causes of and potential strategies to correct bullying behaviors.


Respectfully,
Neil Lederer
Interim Superintendent of Schools

Coming soon...