Friday, May 7, 2021
Vol. 98, No.36
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Parents question reopening plans, social justice curriculum
COUNTY CHAMPIONS
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
The Garden City High School Girls Cross Country team recently won the Division and County Championships in a memorable 2021 season. See page 68
Board adopts Village budget BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
At a special meeting of the Village Board of Trustees on April 29, Village Treasurer Irene Woo reviewed the amended version of the 20212022 municipal budget with the Board, which then voted to adopt it. The Board was required by state law to adopt a budget by May 1st. The budget for the coming fiscal year, as approved, is $65.056 million, and it will be funded by Garden City’s three revenue sources: $2
million in current year (20202021) village surplus, estimated “other” revenues of $9.715 million and a local tax levy of $53.3 million. The village has maintained an appropriation from reserves of $750,000 in each of the past four budgets, including the coming year’s.
Woo explained that in the trustees’ extended review process, due in part to the village’s March 16 election and the official swearing-in of five new village trustees, there were no substantive chang-
es to the Village’s proposed Operating Budget. However, as the board discussed at its April 22 meeting, the most notable change to the budget came on the Garden City Fire Department Capital Projects line. A proposed expenditure of $7.575 million as part of the proposed budget to cover the Fire Station No. 2 (at Edgemere Road/Stewart Avenue) was more than cut in half to $3.5 million. The Fire Station No. 2 projSee page 51
Though it was a Board of Education special session involving a few personnel items, followed by a public work session and the final budget hearing, a handful of Garden City parents persisted in making their displeasure with some schools’ reopening conditions in the district known during a May 4th meeting at Garden City High School. One parent who stood before the Board of Education to give her public comments was Marie Oliveri, a parent of a Locust School kindergartener. Oliveri commented on the restrictions in-place as the district continued the reopening of primary and elementary schools. She said that during the entire course of eight months she has not gotten the opportunity to be inside Locust School. She told the Board that “the future is in question” for her kindergartener and her young child, a toddler. “I do not have a PhD or law degree and I did not prepare to say anything [at a prior Board meeting], however I’m a mother and it’s the hardest job in the world and I am my son’s most important advocate. Despite all the restrictions he’s having a great year. He is absolutely loving kindergarten, he has many friends and an awesome teacher. However he has to sit at his desk in school most of the day wearing a See page 50
GC Schools: Costs low, compared to other districts BY RIKKI N. MASSAND At its meeting Tuesday, May 4, the Garden City Board of Education reviewed the proposed 2021-2022 school district budget and accepted public comments during the annual hearing before a unanimous vote to approve the $122,381,487 budget. The budget will be voted on by the community on Tuesday, May 18. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kusum Sinha noted that the per-pupil costs in the Garden City School District are low relative to similar See page 52
GCJC students share pandemic experiences PAGE 53 Calling all future kids baking champions PAGE 42