by Melissa Bykofsky
The Sewanhaka-Central High School District saw their 2009-10 budget cut at least $2 million from last year, causing the district to cease many programs including summer school, drivers education, and late bus transportation for the public, private and parochial schools attended by students in the area. Although these programs will be revisited and possibly added back into the budget in future years, many parents are unhappy about the changes.
Discussion of budget cuts first began in February when school officials announced plans for the 2009-10 budget, and alerted families in the district of possible cuts. According to Maureen Kenny, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and operation, the actual budget was written in April, including a $140,000 transportation cut that would end the service of the 21 late busses previously provided by the district.
“Any items we eliminated we made very clear that we will discuss and reevaluate everything the following year,” Kenny said. “We had budget meetings and hearings discussing the potential cuts with the public, but nobody voiced their concerns until after it was too late.”
In past years, Sewanhaka Central High School District, which includes schools in Elmont, Franklin Square, Floral Park and New Hyde Park provided late bus transportation service bringing students from public, private and parochial schools home after extracurricular activities. These late busses had designated times and routes different than those followed by the regular buses, which the school still provides in accordance to law.
“A lot of the surrounding areas including Franklin Square and Garden City don’t even offer late busses,” said Jean Fichtl, Sewanhaka School Board President. “We weren’t happy with the cuts we made, it wasn’t a pleasant situation, but we thought this was something we could cut that would hurt the students the least.”
According to Fichtl, alternatives regarding the transportation cut were offered to affected parents.
At a board meeting in late June, many parents with students in the district came out to speak against the cuts that were made. “We had an official from Kellenberg Memorial High School speak at a meeting in late April or early May to raise discussion about the issue,” said David Fowler, vice president of the Board of Education. “Some parents said they knew nothing about the cuts, but there were parents at the meetings before the budget vote [who] were made aware.”
According to Fowler, issues were raised about the cutting of summer school and driver’s education, as well as requests for additional programs such as an honors track, but he could not recall anyone bringing up the issue of late busses before the budget hearings, though it did come up at a civic presentation in April before the cut was made.
“[These cuts] are not unique to the district,” said Patrick Nicolosi, a schools advocate. “Outrage comes from parents, and I am deeply disturbed as a taxpayer. The cuts are not affecting the teachers and the superintendents yet they are cutting programs. If the programs are so unimportant to the school why did we pay for them all of these years? There needs to be cuts, but cuts across the board.”
Nicolosi said that there are too many board members, superintendents and too many school districts, and that the county executive gave a perfect plan to consolidate this problem all under one roof.
“People need to be aware of what is going on, don’t just blindly vote in these budgets,” he said. “ Find out what you are paying for. This is no fault to the school district, they hid nothing. People blindly pass the votes then scream after. We are wasting money on Long Island and there needs to be a change.”
