The Roslyn Board of Education continued their review of the 2018-9 district budget, which calls for a slight increase in staff.
Due to an increase in students in the elementary schools, but a decrease in students at the middle and high school, it was recommended that 1.36 full-time equivalents would be needed for the coming school year.
Enrollment and staffing numbers were provided by Karina Baez for the elementary schools and by Michael Goldspiel for middle school and high school.
The elementary schools were predicted to need 1.68 full-time equivalents for the coming year due to an increase in students at East Hills Elementary, while decreases in students at the middle and high schools called for a reduction in staff (although the high school is seeking two additional special education TAs, a 0.1 FTE).
Couple with the need for a typist, they recommended a full-time staff increase of 1.36, with any additions to security personnel still to be determined.
Joseph Dragone, the Roslyn assistant superintendent of business and administration, gave the presentation on salaries and benefits, which are expected to be about $87.7 million, an increase by about $3 million.
A little over $1 million in that increase would go toward salaries, which would increase due to additional hires recommended by Baez and Goldspiel.
The rest would go to benefits, Dragone said, with the largest increases going toward the union welfare trust and Medicare reimbursement.
Barbara Schwartz, the director of Pupil Personnel Services, discussed the district’s pupil personnel service and special education.
The budget for this area was $2.6 million, an increase of more than $195,000 over the year before. Schwartz said this was due to the cost of inflation and an increase in the number of local children attending using Roslyn’s special education.
“These numbers are a testament to our program,” said Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy, the board’s president.
The board will hold another budget hearing on April 17 before voting on the budget on May 15.
The board started the meeting with the unveiling of the 2018-19 school calendar. The first day of school will be Sept. 5, and the last day of school will be June 26.
But what attracted the most attention was that school will be in session on the Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb. 5 in 2019.
Numerous parents and students came before the board to speak about their wish to have Roslyn schools closed on the holiday.
But the board said decisions about days off were determined by how many students would miss school, and that the district’s population was only 17 percent Asian-American.
That was not enough students would be pulled out of class to celebrate Chinese New Year to justify closing the schools on that day.
