Herricks residents eye cuts

Timothy Meyer

A Herricks School board meeting called to discuss suggestions residents have made to close a projected $3.7 million shortfall in the district’s 2012-2013 school budget drew a standing room crowd on Thursday night.

“We’ve put out a list of suggestions collected from previous meetings and by e-mail,” Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth said. “This is not a list of things that have been accepted or even vetted. I don’t know anybody who was suggesting these ideas necessarily saying they were great ideas, but suggested them saying we’re looking at $3.7 million in cuts that need to be taken to come under the 2 percent tax cap. Before we make changes we wanted to go before the people of the community.”

Included were suggestions to eliminate or shorten kindergarten, to count varsity sports for gym, to raise class sizes and eliminate the first period in high school and to make the school day shorter.

A major concern residents brought up was the contractual salary increases to district employees that account for $3.2 of the $3.7 million in cuts that are needed.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Marianne Jiliberto, a 17-year district resident. “There goes your answer to the problem. I love my district, I love the teachers, but none of us in the community have gotten raises in the last six years, and some are working two or three jobs. The teachers would look like heroes if they opened up their contracts for us.”

Helen Costigan, assistant superintendent for business, had previously said that the teachers are currently in the third year of a five-year contract that calls for a 2.75 percent increase in salaries this year, with 3 percent increases guaranteed in the final two years of the current contract. The average state-mandated “step” salary increases in addition to those increments are 1.8 percent each year.

If the school board could persuade the teachers association to forego the 3 percent salary increase scheduled to take effect next year, the total saving would be approximately $1.5 million, Costigan said. Even then, she said, the district would need to cut further to bring the budget in line with the state tax cap.

Responding to the suggestion of eliminating kindergarten was Maria Bono.

“As someone who had the kindergarten experience and as a parent of a future kindergarten student, I find the idea of eliminating it just unfathomable,” Bono said. “I am even annoyed that this was a suggestion on the list. For children not to get the kindergarten experience is ludicrous. That would be 400 students who won’t get a chance to experience benefits of kindergarten.”

Local resident Anthony Stiglino suggested that a lot of people in attendance may not have been in last year’s budget meetings. He said the board should make available a list of programs suggested at least year’s budget meetings that might be cut.

“I think some people are living in a vacuum, said Stiglino. “With providing that list, people would be able to see those cuts as an example of the kinds of things that you are likely to come up with again.”

One resident asked whether he was correct in his assumption that a sports program would be cut before an AP program, and why one would have more value over the other

Herriciks School Board President Christine Turner said nothing is more important than anything else.

“Things that are currently in place are all things this board, previous boards, superintendents, civic members and so forth believed were important to the education of students,” said Turner. “We still believe that they are important to education or we wouldn’t have them. However because of the restraints we’re going to be held to with the 2 percent cap we have to reevaluate things because we have less money to work with.”

Fellow board member Jim Gounaris echoed Turner’s response.

“There is nothing that is not on the table,” Gounaris said. “Everything is on the table, including athletics, music, arts program, language immersion, and kindergarten. No reason to presume that one program is valued over the other. There is no determination that has been made.”

Gounaris continued, “Our goal by starting this process is that we have everyone involved and everyone gives us some type of input. We’re trying to do our best job with the way the state has tied our hands on controlling the education of our children and our community.”

Reach reporter Timothy Meyer by e-mail at meyerj.tim@gmail.com.

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