BY ILANA GRATCH AND LAURA LUBBEN
On Nov. 30, the School Board held an open meeting at Hommocks Middle School to discuss the upcoming budget cuts due to the current financial crisis. Significant budget cuts will be made during the second half of this school year.
The decrease of funds can be attributed to an unstable economy, escalating state deficit, the weak stock market and rising pension costs.
More than 150 people attended the meeting to give their input on the situation, hoping they could contribute to finding a solution. For many, it was the first budget meeting they had ever attended.
“Though I had never been to a budget meeting before, it was very informative and welcoming to all,” Alon Gratch, community member who attended, said.
The beginning of the meeting was informational, including a slideshow and speeches from Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations Meryl Rubinstein and Superintendent Dr. Paul Fried.
Fried clarified why some common suggestions for allocation of budget money is not possible. He described contractual increases, pension cost increases, health insurance premium increases and unemployment benefit increases.
Following the informational segment, community members broke into smaller focus groups to brainstorm possible solutions to the crisis.
Some ideas that resulted from this were having parents volunteer to replace paid aids in classrooms, an energy audit, reusing material, limiting the use of paper, trying to alter teacher contracts and searching for possible grants. “Many good ideas were presented, but there is no easy solution,” Gratch said.
Other attendees, who wish to remain anonymous, dissented. The meeting was described as “useless and uninformative” by one. Others present at the meeting said they were dissatisfied with the way in which the meeting took place.
On March 16, the superintendent’s recommended budget will be presented to the board and to the community. Until then, members of the community and School Board will continue to brainstorm possible solutions to this prevalent problem.
