62 The Great Neck News, Friday, April 8, 2016
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Fund boost will keep G.N. programs afloat Continued from Page 1 “Many of the items that I am going to identify with opportunities for restoration in our program are recurring expenses,” she said. “And it is not a good idea to support recurring expenses with one-time moneys because that money will not be available the following school year.” Prendergast said she was proposing the board use the funds to restore the early morning drop-off program for elementary school students, hours for elementary English Language Arts and Math support programs, a percentage of the Student Index Allocation, which allows school building principals to use supply, material and equipment money “in ways they see fit,” and to continue the district’s technology initiatives. She also said she was proposing the board use the $360,000 one-time payment to reduce the amount of money currently used from the district’s reserve fund to balance the budget. Board Vice President Larry Gross said at the March 14 board meeting after hiring 24 new full-time positions last year the district would need to reduce the number of teachers by 14 in the 2016-17
school year. District Assistant Superintendent for Business John Powell said 21 nonteaching positions would also need to be eliminated to keep the budget under the state-mandated tax cap that this allows the district to increase the tax levy by .17 percent. These employees include one fulltime administrative staff member, nine paraprofessionals, three full-time and three part-time clerical staff members, one buildings and grounds department supervisor and four cleaning attendants. Powell said the district was looking at ways to rehire employees who get laid off. “Through retirements, we are going to be able to consider many of those people for other positions if they qualify for them,” he said. “We’re trying to reduce as much through efficiency and attrition but where possible we will re-employ some of these people in existing openings that were not slated to be reduced.” Matthew Moshen and Andrew Laufer, two parents with children attending Great Neck schools, asked the board if they would consider allowing the public
to vote to pierce the tax cap to combat the need to cut teachers and prevent budget deficits. Board President Barbara Berkowitz said while parents of students who are taxpayers in the district may be willing to pay more in school taxes taxpayers without students in any of the district’s schools may object to increased taxes. “While we would like to be able to afford everything that we can, we also don’t want to see a community that turns against a school district or a budget,” Berkowitz said. “It’s always a major concern of all of us that we need to, unfortunately or fortunately, represent the entire community’s needs and desires.” She added that the school district has received a lot of support over the years from the Great Neck community because they have never pierced the tax cap. The preliminary budget for 201617 school year calls for a $2,229,611, or 1.03 percent, increase to the current year’s budget. Azim Keshwani, Great Neck South High School’s student body vice president, said he did not feel the district was considering the concerns of students dur-
ing the budget process. “Students feel like they are not being represented,” Keshwani said. “They don’t feel like they have a voice in our political process here.” Among students’ main concerns, he said, were the teacher cuts and air conditioning in the district’s buildings. On March 19, the board presented how it intended to spend $19 million of a capital reserve fund established last year after residents voted to approve a 10-year capital plan for infrastructure improvements to the district’s school buildings. If air conditioners were installed in every school within the district in addition to roofing repairs, Powell said, it would add an estimated $12.1 million in costs — something he said he did not think was practical. An official budget hearing and adoption is scheduled for April 19 at 7:30 p.m. at South High School. For registered voters living north of the LIRR, the final budget vote is set for Tuesday, May 17, from 7 a.m.-10 p.m. at E.M Baker School, while registered voters living south of the LIRR are required to go to South High School’s west gym to vote.
Great Neck named top music community Continued from Page 2 to the program’s success. “We have all of our music teachers certified in music and have gone through the process of being selected to be teachers here in the Great Neck district,” Schwartz said. “We’re fortunate to have teachers of this caliber and students that are motivated and interested in learning all aspects of music.” The Port Washington school district received its second consecutive NAMM Foundation designation. The district’s Director of Creative Arts, Kevin Scully, said Port Washington received the designation because of the collaborative efforts of the entire community to promote music education. “We are thrilled that Port Washington is designated as one of the 2016 Best Communities for Music Education in the
United States by the NAMM Foundation,” Scully said. “Receiving this honor for a second consecutive year reflects not only the hard work of our teachers and students, but it also is a direct result of the strong support for music education from the administration, Board of Education and the entire Port Washington community.” Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Mooney said music students in the district exemplify why the district received the designation for a second consecutive year. “We have some of the most talented young performers you will find anywhere,” Mooney said. “The Best Communities for Music Education reaffirms this, and we are proud to help set an example for music educators throughout the country.” The Mineola school district received
the NAMM Foundation’s designation for the eighth consecutive year. District Supervisor of Fine and Performing Arts Joseph Owens said while the district receives the designation, music students are who benefits from the district’s success. “Our students are the beneficiaries of a community that supports music and the arts,” Owens said. “Receiving this award for eight consecutive years is a true testament to our community’s belief in a wellrounded education for all students. This recognition is a true credit to all members of the Mineola UFSD community; students, parents, teachers, administration and the Board of Education.” The Herricks school district also received a 2016 “Best Community for Music Education” designation. About 80 percent of students in the
district are involved in musical performance programs, according to a Herricks press release. Music and Performing Arts Director Anissa Arnold said she was fortunate to head a department supported by the entire school community. “I am proud and honored to be the director of such a phenomenal group of highly talented and passionate music educators, a supportive administration, and of course, outstanding students and parents,” Arnold said. The Manhasset school district was designated by the NAMM Foundation as well. Efforts to reach Manhasset school district officials were unavailing. The NAMM Foundation said research has shown a relationship between learning to play music and the development of
‘Political revolution’ could end up backfiring Continued from Page 13 add that Sanders would be destroyed in the general election by the Koch Brothers and the billion dollars in attack ads that they plan to spend on branding Sanders (New York. Jew. Communist), Angel insists that the Republican won’t win because of social media, which will counter the onslaught of paid media and will bring about the political revolution that Sanders is calling for. What these young people fail to realize is that the only thing standing in the way of a complete reversal of policies — eviscerating climate action, civil rights, voting rights, access to health care, Social Security, Medi-
care, and on and on — has been Obama’s veto. They don’t see the bills that are coming out of the House and Senate as I do. So to suggest that a Trump or Cruz presidency wouldn’t be that bad because it would trigger “the revolution” — as actress and ardent Sanders supporter Susan Sarandon has said — is scary. By the end of a Trump or Cruz first term, we would have the oligarchy that Sanders rails about– voting suppression, gerrymandering, campaign finance, overhaul of tax system to give even more financial and political power corporations and wealthy, overturning financial and environmental
regulations, and Big Brother intrusion into political opponents on the pretext of fighting terrorism (a la Bush/Cheney, Nixon)- all the mechanisms in place to erase any possibility of deposing Republican control. Sanders and Trump may be polar opposites as candidates and what they stand for, but their supporters have more in common than not— a disdain for anything that smacks of being Establishment and a cynical disregard for “lamestream” media and for that matter, facts. It’s not cool to be anything than under the spell of an idealistic utopia in which the meek have inherited the world.
Like Trump, Sanders sows and taps hatred for “Others” — but in his construct, the enemy is Wall Street and Big Business and his tactic is to tar Hillary Clinton as an agent. But if Sanders— and his surrogates— maintain this tone and he is not the nominee, his act of political revolution would be to give this pivotal, transformative election to the Republican, especially if the candidate turns out to be a White Knight plucked at the convention, like Paul Ryan, who would have been subjected to presidentiallevel scrutiny for only a matter of a few months before November.