BOE Eliminates $2,819,975

As of February 28th, Trustees continued to diligently work to provide relief in school property taxes for our district residents by eliminating a total of $2,819,975 from the initial budget proposal presented by Superintendent Dr. Edward Melnick on January 17, 2008.

This reduction to the budget is in addition to the $2.7 million previously eliminated by Superintendent Melnick prior to his initial budget presentation to the Board. Trustees will continue their line by line review of the budget at meetings scheduled during the remainder of March, seeking to make further reductions where possible.
 
On March 27th, Trustees will officially adopt the final 2008-09 budget proposal, to be voted on by district residents on May 20, 2008 from 7am -10pm at North Shore High School.

In addition to the budget review, Bob Wihnyk, Director of Technology, reported on the area of computer instruction and technology. This included updates on North Shore’s SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards and Videoconferencing capabilities. He stated that, “he hoped to have a SMART Board™ in every class by the end of next year.” Dr. Melnick reiterated that if the 2008-09 budget fails to pass or if the district is forced to be on a contingency budget, North Shore would not be able to maintain its current direction in technology.

Additionally, Middle School Principal Marc Ferris and Tom Korb, Director of Special Education, and Barbara Cooper, Administrator for Special Education Instructional Programs, gave a presentation on the Middle School Foundations in Learning (FIL) Program. This report is available at the Central Office located at North Shore Schools at 112 Franklin Avenue, Sea Cliff, NY 11579.

We welcome you to attend all upcoming budget meetings on the following dates at the High School Alumni Room at 8 p.m. (unless noted otherwise): 3/6 (Budget Review), 3/27 (Budget Adoption), 4/10 (at GWL), 4/16 (BOCES Budget Vote), and 4/29 (Meet the Candidates Night). If you have any questions regarding the budget, please contact Superintendent Dr. Edward Melnick at 516-277-7801 or email him at melincke@northshoreschools.org (new email address) For the latest budget news, please visit www.northshoreschools.org.

Flyer: 2.8 Million Eliminated from Initial Budget Draft
Postcard: Upcoming BOE Meeting Dates