Last Night's Meeting & Now What

Last night's meeting was pretty much as predicted:

• They showed transportation data, the flaws were pointed out and it was determined it was currently not useful without revisions to be done for Monday.
• They showed a cost-savings analysis for closing a school, the flaws were pointed out and it was determined it was currently not useful without revisions to be done for Monday.
• They showed a count of available classrooms with an idea of how many kids would be in each classroom given different enrollments, the flaws were pointed out and it was determined it was currently not useful without revisions to be done for Monday.

Now the advisory board must somehow get all of the revised and absolutely correct data by Monday in order to come up with their "empirically driven" assessment of the pros and cons for either RES or MES to close for the BOE to decide on (by Tuesday???- who knows).

This is crazy as we are yet to see data that has been fact checked, that has not been sent back due to often hugely erroneous errors. It is hard to image that the advisory committee could feel comfortable saying much of anything on Monday but we will see. They are most certainly doing their best working through this process.

Here is a hint Rosario - FACT CHECK before giving the new data, before making it public. I would like to believe you are not intentionally creating barriers to this process but I find it amazing that you keep publicizing poorly formulated information.

Now what?
If a building closes it will not be rented or sold - it will sit and rot. PICTURE THAT
Houses near this building will lose value - PICTURE THAT
If we close a school we will have 100 to 120 more kids filling the two remaining, leading to increased problems in building wear and tear, safety, special programs - PICTURE THAT
If we close a building, it appears we will not save more than $250,000, likely closer to $200,000 - about the cost of one administrator (including fringe). If the economy recovers and we need to hire back the administrator, we could - but it would be hugely problematic to move back onto a school - PICTURE THAT

Got the picture? Let the BOE know that closing a school would be a poor decision that we simply can't accept.

For Tonight's (3/2) Advisory Meeting

Tonight expect to see data related to transportation costs plus information on renting or selling the empty buildings and a revised cost analysis. My comments are based on the latest information. It is possible (likely) Rosario is addressing some of these issues and will have something to present tonight - allowing us just a few seconds to process.

Things to consider:
1. The preliminary data that was provided to advisory board was a bit confusing as it was presented that by adding the 5th grade back into the elementary schools, somehow we would need 11 fewer buses.

• If this is based on an improved transportation model why can't that more efficient model be applied to the k-4 scenario as well? 
• If this is just a data error, what other data errors are there?

2. The transportation estimates shows that there will HAVE to be a redistricting otherwise KES is way overcrowded. Even after the redistricting these models show that there will be 100 more kids in each school. I tend to trust these estimates as an average projection (it could be a bit lower or a bit higher over the years).

• What impact will 100 more kids have on: emergency evacuation, cafeteria, scheduling, assemblies, wear and tear on the building?

3. We will also likely be shown a summary of meetings between Rosario and commercial realtors. It seems clear that the empty school buildings will not sell or be rentable. They will just sit and rot like Tillson. There are mixed feelings about the rentability of the district office but this is based on there being existing, similar, unrented buildings in Kingston.

• Are the Kingston vacant buildings the same potential rent for comparison?

• What is the potential to rent to district based businesses (who would not be in Kingston) such as Brookside for universal pre-k, senior groups, and others who seek to be on this side of the County. 

Cuomo Proposes Superintendent Salary Cap

By: YNN Web Staff

Sources said that Governor Andrew Cuomo will propose legislation to cap school superintendent's six figure salaries.It is a move aimed at saving school districts and their taxpayers $15 million. Sources said that his bill would provided for a salary of $125,000 for the smallest rural districts and $175,000 for the largest districts.
Cuomo's bill would make superintendents subject to the cap once their current contract expires.
Currently, 31 percent of superintendents make over $179,000. Jean-Claude Brizard's salary last year was more than $248,000.

for the full story click here

WHY Can't They Just Tell Us WHY?

WHY?

WHY do we have a Deputy Superintendent plus 4 Chairs when Onteora with as high a certified population as ours has one Director of Pupil Personnel and 3 chairs?

WHY do we have a Director of Technology when most other schools in our County do not? Who would do the job if this position was cut? Are these people doing this anyway?

WHY do we have 2 Assistant Principles in both Middle and High School when the other schools in our County have none or one per Middle or High School?

WHY doesn't the BOE tell the Administration that they need to do an audit of their positions?

WHY doesn't the BOE apply the same zero sum approach to the administration that they are doing for the rest of the jobs?

WHY are all these really high paying administrative jobs more important that the teachers and teaching assistants?

WHY wouldn't the administration want to show us on paper how necessary each of these high paying positions are and what would happen should any get cut?

I firmly believe if we are provided thorough, intelligent, and FACTUAL information answering all of these questions, we could move ahead. WHY can't we be provided with these answers?

I am not saying these positions all must go. I am just wondering why the administration is not cooperating in making it clear WHY these positions are completely necessary and could not possibly be cut or reduced or combined when so many people are walking around and asking WHY, WHY, WHY???

In Preparation of Wednesday's Meeting

This Wednesday will be an important, potentially defining meeting in regards to school consolidation. If you can come to only one, perhaps this one should be it. I encourage you to present to the board some qualitative data to go with their quantitative data. In other words, tell some good stories:

1. Did you or a child you know experience the elementary schools in the late 1990's early 2000's when enrollment was much higher? What problems existed that we might not be aware of now? How was it different? If you have a story, please tell it.

2. Do you have a child with special needs? How would a more crowded school and how would larger classrooms impact him or her. If you have a story please tell it.

If you prefer to not tell your story in public or can't come on Wednesday, e-mail you story to me and I will happily tell it for you (anonymously or not as you wish).

What Can I Do? You Ask....

Pick an issue or two or three or four from the post below and send a message to one or all of the links below. I provide some background on each issue. If you want more information you can look through the blog at other posts, post a comment or e-mail me and I will try to help or direct you to someone who can.

You can keep your messages succinct but we need the BOE and Rosario know how many people are concerned and the only way is to tell them. Please make your voice heard and ask all of your friends and family members (of all ages) to do the same.

IF YOU DON'T EXPRESS YOUR CONCERNS WITH THE BUDGET NOW, IT WILL SOON BE TOO LATE.

Post your message on the BOE comment page by clicking here
Gail Hutchins ghutchins@rondout.k12.ny.us
Rosario Agostaro ragostaro@rondout.k12.ny.us, 687-2400 x 4802/4803

Keeping Track of it All

For those who are just coming into this or who can't get to the meetings I will try to provide a simple synopsis of where we are so far. I am by no mean infallible so if you see an error please let me know. These are in no particular order.

Issue	Background	Why this is a concern
Closing of an Elementary School	Currently there has neither been a selected school for closing nor has there been a final decision that a school will close. However, this has not been taken off of the table either.	Besides the obvious emotional ties parents, children, teachers and staff have to their schools. This is problematic for other reasons. If there are only two elementary schools, the remaining schools will increase in capacity by over 60% resulting in likely overcrowding, potential problems with emergency evacuation, reduction in opportunities such as all school assemblies, lengthy bus rides for up to 200 kids, redistricting, to name a few concerns
Bringing 5th Grade Back	Again, this is neither agreed upon or off the table.	The only apparent question is how this can save the district money. If the 5th graders move back, the district could move into the 5th grade wing and the district office could be rented. This is revenue as opposed to savings but we do not know what the true potential revenue is in renting this building.
A High Tax Levy	We do not know what they final tax levy will be because no final budget has been determined. If you heard 17% these are just speculations.	There are still questions as to how much is in the reserve and how this can be used to lower the tax levy. Also, the tax levy option need to be converted into real dollar amounts so that people understand how much more they would need to pay given different scenarios.
Cutting of teachers and teaching assistants.	Based on enrollment projections, the district is already making decisions to make considerable reductions in teaching staff.	Enrollment projections are highly flawed and are even then using the lower end of possible enrollments. This reduction means larger class size which is empirically proven to worsen student’s outcomes both in test scores and in feelings toward their education
Cutting of special education, life skills, ESL	The district is already making decisions to make considerable reductions in these areas.	Our district has a high percent of children who are certified with special needs. Cutting these positions will mean the district cannot fulfill their obligations to serve these children in any reasonable manner.
Consolidation of administration	The currently proposed budget includes only two reductions in administration, the Nurse Practitioner and one Assistant Principle. Our district is particularly top heavy still but we were informed that they felt they could make no more reductions.	If we are to make concessions given the restricted budget, they need to be made everywhere, including administration whose salaries are quite inflated. Instead of bearing a reasonable burden, the administration is selecting instead to make the schools take on the burden almost solely.