Sachem East TD Club Hosts Budget Meeting

Sachem Central School District administrators continue to make their way to various buildings and talk about the numbers behind this year’s budget, or more importantly, what will happen if the budget is not approved May 17.

Armed with a cut sheet and a microphone, Sachem Superintendent James Nolan and Assistant Superintendent Bruce Singer spoke to about 150 people at Sachem High School East for another informational budget meeting sponsored by the Sachem East Touchdown Club Tuesday evening.

“We’re sharing information,” Nolan said. “It’s important that people are informed.”

Sachem North hosted a similar arts budget meeting Tuesday evening as well. .

Audience members posed a handful of questions from issues about the Gifted And Talented Education (GATE) program to the JV9 sports cuts.

Yes, there will be modifications to G.A.T.E in terms of an overall third grade enrichment opportunity and less out of class time for fourth and fifth graders.

Yes, all JV9 sports will be cut no matter what and it’s because of a lack of programs across Suffolk County to compete with.

Other parents asked for clarification about extra curricular activities, especially since they could all be cut if the district has to operate with a contingency budget. If the budget passes, building administrators will have the final say on which clubs stay and which clubs will be dormant until more funding is accessible, according to Nolan, who has stated this multiple times at many district meetings.

And, of course, one attendee Tuesday asked about the finances regarding on-going law suits between the school district and contractors responsible for construction issues at Sachem East.

“We can’t comment on that because of on-going litigation,” Nolan replied to the gentleman.

One person asked about the district’s reserve funds. Singer said the district is trying to minimize staff and program reductions with the use of reserves, the same reserves that will not be as plentiful for the 2012-13 school year when they might be more useful with unknown cuts to state aid still looming for the future.

The meeting, though, was called to shed light on sports cuts. The district has already released information saying that half of the middle school teams will be cut, on top of JV9.  All middle school sports will be lost if Sachem’s budget fails.

“Let’s put things in perspective here,” said Jim Murray, a Sachem East Touchdown Club member and parent. “They combined [middle school teams], but kids are still playing. No body is going to be happy. You have to vote for what is right.”

“We’re trying to keep as many things in place as possible,” added Nolan.

The final rallying cry from the audience was to keep in mind the dollar value change between the passed budget and a contingency budget.  It’s roughly $100 per household.