By Dan Israeli
Budget's pass; Elmont welcomes new trustees
All three local school budgets passed yesterday, and two new trustees were elected to the Elmont Union Free School District's Board of Education, Anthony Maffea and Deniece Parker. In Franklin Square, Jean Fichtl, running unopposed, was elected to her fifth term on the school board.
The Franklin Square Union Free School District's 2008-09 budget - totaling $31.6 million in spending, a 3.87 percent increase over the current year - passed by a vote count of 938 to 584. The district's tax levy will rise by 6.9 percent, after decreasing by 2.3 percent this year. A budget referendum was also passed, allowing the district to reallocate up to $700,000 from the repair reserve fund and budget surplus into the capital reserve fund, to help pay for the Washington Street project that will include a new roof and ball fields at the school.
The Elmont 2008-09 school budget, which increased spending to $68.9 million, a 5.1 percent increase, passed by a vote count of 1,028 to 619. The budget included a zero percent increase in the tax levy. Superintendent Al Harper thanked the community for it's support.
The Sewanhaka Central High School District - which comprises H. Frank Carey, Elmont Memorial and Sewanhaka high schools - adopted a 2008-09 budget of $147.9 million, with a 4.8 increase in spending and a 2.8 increase in the tax levy. The budget passes by a vote count of 3,422 to 2,447.
Newly elected school board candidates Maffea and Parker will both begin their first terms in Elmont later this year. Maffea, a consumer compliance officer, said that he hopes to shake up a board, which he felt was losing focus on the children. "Lately, the board has been bogged down with some nonsense," he said. "It's taken attention away from the kids. The focus isn't where it needs to be."
Parker, a former medical assistant, said she felt she could make a difference on the board with her input. "I am community involved," she said, referring to her work with the Elmont Coalition Council, among other groups. "We must become active across the board."
