School Board: Take Out the $80Grand Parking Lot BEFORE the Vote

G has left a new comment on your post "Bone Marrow Donor Drive Is Still "On"- Come and sa...":

Suzala, please make this a new post titled Proposed school budget.

Proposed school budget

I attended the Board of Education meeting a couple of weeks ago in which Dr. Lewis was introduced to be the new Superintendent of schools in Plainview. During this meeting, the budget was discussed and I learned that the district has approved $80,000 to build a parking lot at a school that is NOT a Plainview-Old Bethpage school where our children attend. I take exception that the board would want to spend this much money on a parking lot that in no way benefits the children of the Plainview - Old Bethpage school district. This money could be spent in many better ways that would benefit OUR children. It could be spent on replacing windows in POB Middle, fixing the leaky roof in Mattlin's wrestling room, upkeep or upgrade of the athletic fields, air conditioners in over a hundred classrooms district wide, a part time teacher position, the possibilities are endless. It seems very irresponsible to spend this much money to build a parking lot for teachers and assistant teachers who are not part of our school district. When this was questioned by a couple of people at the meeting the reasoning was as follows. The current resident (ACDS)of the building's lease expires in a few years. The school board felt a new parking lot would entice them into extending their lease and therefor bringing in revenue for the rent. While I do follow this, the logic is flawed. If we spend $80,000 that should have gone to our kids there is no guarantee that they are staying when the lease is up anyway. All we have if they leave is $80,000 wasted and a vacant parking lot that will be a magnet for kids to hang out in late at night. If it is so important, then the lot should be built contingent to ACDS signing a long term (10 years or so) lease so we are guaranteed this was not a waste of money. There is no need to put the horse in front of the cart when that money could benefit our children. I also wonder are the parking conditions that bad that an additional parking lot is needed. I do not think it is unreasonable if people have to walk a half block to get to their job. This is money that should be going to benefit OUR kids, the kids of Plainview - Old Bethpage, and if this budget is approved as it stands the money will instead go to teachers from an outside school. You can email Ryan Ruf (Asst Superintendent of Business) or call his office to express your concerns about this topic if you wish.
RRuf@pob.k12.ny.us
516 937 6310
I don't think any of us wish to see the budget fail. With that being said I will not vote yes to approve this budget if this is not taken out. On May 7 at 7:45 there will be another school board meeting and the budget will be addressed. It is open to the public if anyone wishes to attend. The actual vote is May 15. Just so everyone has the facts as I understand them, if the budget is defeated they can amend it and a new vote would take place. We would not automatically have the default budget. This comes with a price however. Mr. Ruf said a revote would cost the district about $15,000 dollars. I hope this is taken out of the budget before the vote. I have spoken to many people who plan on voting no to the budget on this point alone. If the budget is defeated, amended and then passed it is still a net of $65,000 going towards our kids. It would just be easier if it were taken out before the vote took place.

Bone Marrow Donor Drive Is Still "On"- Come and save a life.

Please forward the attached flyer to everyone you can.  We have spoken with Jeff and we would like to continue with our plans for the bone marrow drive to honor Spencer's memory.  We will not have a big carnival as planned but would like to still have some raffles and food to sell for the fundraiser.  Since we are now going to have to act quickly to complete this in a timely manner, please email us if you are still available to volunteer to help out on the day of the bone marrow drive.  Also, if you have obtained items for the raffle or if you can still obtain items for the raffle baskets, please email us right away and let us know so we can set those up for the day of the event.

Together, we can show our support by registering donors in the bone marrow registry program to help save lives!  Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.  Thank you!  

BECOME A LIFESAVER!

BONE MARROW DONOR DRIVE
Sunday, May 6, 2012
10:00 AM-4:00 PM
Driftwood Day Camp
331 Mount Misery Rd.
(take to the end)
Melville, NY

Another Hour of Testing? Another Hour Not Teaching and NOT Learning

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/10-year-old-i-want-to-know-why-after-vacation-i-have-to-take-test-after-test-after-test/2012/04/10/gIQA1sOz8S_blog.html#pagebreak

10-year-old: ‘I want to know why after vacation I have to take test after test after test’

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Carol Corbett Burris, principal of South Side High School in New York. She was named the 2010 New York State Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York State.

By Carol Corbett Burris
My 10-year-old neighbor stopped by for a visit. She likes to talk school with the “school lady’ whose dogs she loves to pet. From the look on her face I could tell that this was not going to be the usual school story.  She looked far too glum for that.
 “I want to know why after vacation I have to take test after test after test,” she asked. “I know what math I’m good at. My teacher knows the words I can’t spell. My mom knows I’m a fast reader…. So what’s the point?”
 I punted and answered a question with a question: “Why do you think the tests are important?”