School board adopts budget, maps realignment

The Baldwin Board of Education voted unanimously last week to adopt a draft of the 2012-13 budget, which totals just under $119.5 million. The budget represents a reduction of $494,000 from the current spending plan.

The budget will allocate savings from the

closings of the Shubert and Milburn schools to the Lenox, Brookside and Steele schools, which will absorb the displaced students.

The principal revision in the budget was a decision to use the money saved as the result of a last-minute compromise with the Baldwin Teachers Association to preserve full-day kindergarten, which was to be reduced to a half-day.

A line-by-line version of the budget is now available for public review on the district’s website. www3.baldwinschools.org.

“The board gets two shots at passing this budget,” said Dr. James Mapes, the district’s superintendent. “If it fails after that, we’ll have to cut another $2 million.” Mapes suggested that if the spending plan is voted down, the district could lose sports, club activities, arts, music and the restored kindergarten program.

The budget vote is scheduled for May 15 at the Baldwin Senior High School.

New map for students

At the board meeting, the district announced that it had mapped out a realignment of the Shubert Elementary sub-district to the Lenox and Brookside schools. A similar remapping was not undertaken for the Milburn sub-district because, according to a posting on the district’s website, “All of the current Milburn Elementary Sub-District will be incorporated into an enlarged Steele Elementary Sub-District.”

The posting went on to say that the district realignment plan was developed to “impact the fewest number of students possible, make geographic sense, and fit within the capacities of Brookside and Lenox.” At the board meeting, Mapes said that “families of students who will have to move can see a map on our website, but will also be individually informed.”

The bulk of displaced students will move, along with their classmates, into Brookside Elementary. Because of transportation logistics, however, some students will be reassigned to Lenox Elementary. Below is a list of the blocks included in the reassignment. For more details, see the accompanying map or the district website.

Grand Avenue, from Woodside Avenue to North Williams Street

Edward Street

Wesley Street

Sprague Street

Everett Court

Centennial Avenue, from Grand Avenue to Woodside Avenue

East Carl Avenue

Ronald Court

Woodside Avenue, from Grand Avenue to Scott Place

Anna Place

Eva Court

Inn Court

Shubert Street

DeMott Avenue, from Woodside Avenue to Centennial Avenue

Tanwood Drive