The annual school budget will be
held next Tuesday, May 18th from 1 pm until 9 pm in the high school
gymnasium. We encourage everyone to exercise your right to vote on
the school budget and we will have parking available for visitors in
front of the high school. Construction on the new Library/Media
center and in the gymnasium area will not impact the voting. We will
have signs up in front of the high school to help direct voters to
the polling areas in the gymnasium.
The high school spring music concert will start at 7 pm on Tuesday,
May 18th in the high school auditorium. The Liberty Faculty
Association (LFA) will be hosting their annual spaghetti dinner
prior to the concert and this will be held in the high school
cafeteria. The proceeds from the spaghetti dinner provide
scholarships for graduating seniors from our high school.
The art department will also have displays of student artwork in the
cafeteria on Tuesday evening and the athletic department will be
sponsoring a sports carnival at 4 pm on the varsity football field
for all students’ ages 5 to 15 years old.
The annual school budget hearing was held last evening in the high
school auditorium. The school budget hearing must be held after the
Board of Education adopts the budget and must be conducted at least
seven days prior to the annual vote, but not more than 14 days
before the vote. The purpose of the budget hearing is to provide the
community with an opportunity to learn more about the upcoming
budget that will be voted on May 18, 2010.
The district budget newsletter was mailed out to all community
residents today and this document will have detailed information
about the 2010-11 budget. The school budget newsletter will also
include the school budget notice document that is required to be
sent to all Liberty residents. The property tax report card has been
filed with the State Education Department and is available online
and we have distributed copies of the proposed budget to various
locations and school buildings throughout the district.
The Board of Education
adopted the 2010-11 school budget on Tuesday, April 20, 2010. The
proposed budget of $39,053,693 represents a 2.4% increase in the
budget from 2009-10, and the tax levy increase will be 1.7%.
Unfortunately, the State Budget hasn’t been adopted so the revenues
used in the tax levy calculation come from the Governor’s Budget
that was unveiled in January. The Governor’s Budget included a $1.2
million cut in state aid for our district so we needed to cut $1
million from the budget to get to the amount that was adopted by the
Board of Education last evening. We looked to reduce expenditures in
the budget without impacting academic programs for students. This
approach required us to look at becoming more efficient and looking
for ways to become more cost effective whenever possible. In order
to minimize the impact of the budget cuts, we looked to consolidate
classes reduce staff through attrition whenever possible. The school
budget newsletter will include specific details of the cuts in the
proposed budget and this document will be mailed to all Liberty
residents on May 5, 2010. There is also an electronic version of the
budget newsletter on our website under the budget section on our
homepage.
Board of Education Candidates There will be four candidates running
for three Board of Education seats this year. District residents
will be asked to select three candidates on May 18, 2010 when they
vote on the district budget. The top three candidates earning the
most individual votes will each fulfill a three year term on the
Board of Education starting July 1, 2010. The candidates running
this year are: Joyce Teed (Incumbent), Dr. Phil Olson (Incumbent),
Andrew Kavleski (Incumbent) and Boise Sellers III.
School is closed for
spring break this week, and I have received some calls and emails
about why we didn’t extend our spring break into next week like some
of the neighboring school districts. Although we work hard to
develop a common school calendar for all districts in Sullivan
County, there are times when the school calendars will not match due
to contractual obligations and the observation of religious holidays
and traditions in certain communities. Each school district also
determines how many snow/emergency days to include in their calendar
and the amount varies from district to district. All students are
required to attend school for a minimum of 180 days. The state
education department allows for four Superintendent’s Conference
days to be counted towards the 180 days of attendance and credit is
also given for attendance during Regents testing week. We scheduled
six snow/emergency days this school year and five Superintendent
Conference days for the 2009-10 school year. We have used five snow
days and have one day remaining that can be used as a “give back”
day for students, faculty and staff members. The calendar states
that if we have one snow/emergency day remaining, we will extend the
“Memorial Day Weekend” and school will be closed on Friday, May
28th.
As I mentioned last week, we will not have an on-time State Budget
so we are proceeding forward and using the revenue projections from
the Governor’s Budget projections for State Aid. We also learned
yesterday, that the Governor is going to hold back State Aid
payments for school districts that were supposed to arrive on March
31, 2010. The actual payment is called the “Spring Advance” payment
and it is really the June payment for school districts that we
typically receive at the end of March. We have received this payment
almost every year in March (except for 2003), so this does cause
districts to look carefully at cash flow for the remaining three
months of the fiscal year. We anticipated that this might be a
possibility and we have made the necessary provisions to make sure
we don’t experience a cash flow shortage before the end of the
fiscal year on June 30th. We do expect to receive our State Aid
payment for June, but it looks like it will arrive until the end of
our fiscal year.
The weather has been cooperative for the most of the winter and we
are on schedule with our $35.8 million construction project. The
retaining wall at the elementary school is moving quickly now and
the new construction for the eight classrooms and cafeteria are also
on schedule. The library/media center at the high school is also
moving along without delays. There is asbestos abatement being
conducting in the high school locker rooms while school is closed.
This project will be completed by the time we return to school next
Monday. The boys and girls locker rooms at the high school will not
be available for the remainder of the school year due to the new
construction in this area. The construction crews will continue to
work this spring and throughout the summer and we are looking
forward to moving into some of the new areas when school opens next
September.
As we approach the end
of March, it looks unrealistic that we will have an on-time State
Budget on April 1st as required by law. Unfortunately, we need to
proceed with our budget plans and the Board of Education must still
adopt the 2010-11 school budget in April so we meet all of our legal
obligations. The lack of a State Budget means that we don’t know how
much State Aid our district will be receiving. Governor Patterson
released his Executive Budget in January with significant cuts in
State Aid for education. Our district will lose $1.2 million dollars
in State Aid under the Governor’s proposal and without a State
Budget; we are going have to use these figures in our budget
projections. The common vote for all school district budgets will be
held on May 18th this year. Voters will be asked to approve our
expenditure plan and not our tax levy, but it has become a common
practice to factor in the projected revenues to determine the tax
levy so voters have a better understanding on how the budget will
directly impact each homeowner. The Board of Education is cognizant
of these difficult fiscal times and we have worked hard to reduce
expenses. At our last Board of Education meeting, I was asked to
make further reductions to the budget and lower the projected tax
levy increase from 2.5% to 1.5%. We will be discussing how to
accomplish this goal at our next Board of Education meeting on April
13, 2010.
The high school presentation of “Grease” the musical was very
special last weekend. Students have been working on the production
for several months and found out just nine days before the
performance that they needed to replace the lead character in the
musical. Rather than cancelling the show, the students and advisors
reached out to Sullivan West CSD and asked if the student who
performed the lead in “Grease” for their high school musical earlier
in the month would join the Liberty cast. The show was a big success
and thanks to everyone who participated and found a way to make this
happen. I also want to thank our friends at Sullivan West for coming
to the performance and supporting the cast.
We have cancelled the Superintendent’s
Conference day scheduled for Wednesday, March 17th and this will
become a regular school day for students.
We have been working on the 2010-11 school budget the Board of
Education reviewed the Non-Instructional portion of the budget at
the last Board of Education meeting. We will continue to have public
budget presentations at our school board meetings and we will also
have the required Budget Hearing on Tuesday, May 4th at 7 pm in our
high school auditorium. All statewide budget vote for all school
districts will be held on Tuesday, May 18th in the high school
gymnasium.
We are cognizant of the fiscal climate and we are also facing a
reduction in State Aid by $1.2 million dollars for next year. The
Board of Education approved a retirement incentive for current
employees, but we are still facing large increase in pension
obligations and health insurance premiums. As a result, we will be
discussing how we can reduce expenses through attrition but we are
also looking to eliminate some positions. Our enrollment has
declined in recent years, but we have now leveled off at about 1,620
students. We will recommend potential layoffs (if needed) to the
Board of Education and discuss them as part of our budget
presentations in public at the next few Board of Education meetings.
Our goal will continue to be to promote our academic programs and we
will look to minimize our financial cuts whenever possible.
We were approached by the Roscoe Central School District to see if
we could combine our baseball and softball teams this season with
them. Roscoe is a very small school and they didn’t have enough
players to field a team in either sport this year. The Board of
Education accepted this proposal and we are glad to have one
baseball player and three Roscoe softball players participating with
our teams this year. This is another great example of working
together and sharing our Liberty Pride!
I would like to welcome our students, faculty
and staff back to school today after a short recess for winter
break. As we enter 2010, I would like to update everyone on some
changes that recently occurred in the district office. Ed Rhine
officially “retired” from the district on December 23rd, after
completing his second tour as our Interim Superintendent (August
2006 – June 2007) and then as our Interim Assistant Superintendent
for Business (June 2007 – December 2009). Ed was an instrumental
educational leader for our district and he will truly be missed. I
personally want to wish Ed well in his retirement and thank him for
all the great things he did to make our school district better for
kids.
We restructured some of our central administration positions with
the retirement of Ed Rhine and I am pleased to announce that Carol
Napolitano will now be our Assistant Superintendent. Carol has been
with the district since 2008 and served as our Director of
Curriculum before being promoting to Assistant Superintendent.
Lorine Lamerand has been our District Treasurer for several years
and she will now oversee the finances for the district and she has
been promoted to the position of Business Manager.
Snow Days, Two-Hour
Delays and Early Dismissals
Winter has arrived and school was closed earlier this week for our
first snow day of the 2009-10 school year. Since winter will be with
us for the next several months, I decided I would write about snow
days this week.
We have six snow days built into our 2009-10 calendar. Students are
required to attend school for a minimum of 180 days in New York
State so we take this into account when building snow days into the
master calendar. We have contingent plans if we need to cancel
school for a 7th day, but after that, we are required to make-up
days in the calendar. If we don’t use all six days then we provide
give-back days. The first give-back day on the calendar is May 28th.
Our district calendar can be found on the main page of our website
and information about snow days is posted on the bottom of the
calendar.
We monitor weather reports and receive information from a weather
service to help keep us informed about possible inclement weather
moving into our region. Safety is our number one priority and we
collect and review as much data as possible before making decisions
to close school. If it looks like the weather might improve later in
the day, we will often call a two-hour delay. The reason we call a
two-hour delay is to allow the state, town, village and our own
custodial staff time to work on plowing and removing snow; sanding
and salting the roads; and cleaning parking lots and sidewalks. If
your child rides the bus and we are on a two-hour delay, the bus
will arrive two-hours later than it does on a regular school day.
When we have a two-hour delay, our schools run a modified schedule
during the day and we will dismiss at the end of the day the same
time as usual.
One thing I have learned over the years is that sometimes the
weather is unpredictable and on rare occasions we need to close
school early. We try and avoid this whenever possible because of the
logistical problems it causes many families but it is also extremely
important that we get students home safely from school. We also
might cancel after school activities on a day when we have a regular
day of school due to inclement weather.
We make every effort possible to provide the public with information
about school cancellations and delays. We continue to use our
website and other media outlets such as television and radio
stations to provide this information. We also have information on a
recorded phone line at school so if you dial 292-5400 and listen to
the greeting, you will know if school is closed or delayed.
As we enter into the Thanksgiving break, I
wanted to remind parents that Report Cards for the first quarter
have been distributed. Our elementary and middle schools conducted
parent-teacher conferences last week and if you didn’t get a chance
to meet with your child’s teacher, I would encourage you to
communicate with them by phone, Email or in person. The more a
parent is involved, the better the chance a student has to succeed
in school.
We are very excited about the new Parent Portal that allows parents
to monitor grades, attendance and assignments from our student
management system. Our school newsletter will be mailed home this
week and I encourage you to read the article about the Parent Portal
to learn more about this great tool. We also have more information
about this on our website.
We continue to make progress on the construction project at both the
elementary school and the high school. The roads and parking are
nearly complete at the elementary school and the foundation for the
new classrooms and cafeteria have been poured. Steel arrived at the
elementary school yesterday and if the nice weather continues, they
will be able to start installing the steel without any delays. The
foundation for the new Library/Media Center at the high school has
also been poured and we expect steel to arrive for this new building
in early December. We are on budget and on time with the project so
far and continue to move forward with the project.
This weekend, our high school will be the host of the New York State School Music Association (NYSMAA) Zone 9 Area All-State music festival. There will be over 450 students from 42 districts from 5 counties traveling to Liberty to participate in this event. We are thrilled and honored to host this prestigious event and we are looking forward to hearing some of the most talented students musicians in New York State performing at our high school. The dedication of our music department, led by Mr. Gary Siegel (Music Director), Mr. Dan McConnell, Mr. Tim Hamblin, Mr. Scott Glasser, Ms. Emily Ford and Mr. Steve Rovitz is apparent and they have spent countless hours preparing our students for this weekend. We will have six students from our high school participating in band, chorus and orchestra performances. I would like to congratulations to Zanada Reynolds, Cherice Wallace Hill, Taylir Lorino, Danielle Strassman, Christine Lazar and Dillon Cerullo for all being selected to participate in the NYSMAA Area All-State music festival this year. I know they will display their Liberty Pride and make us all proud.
I attended the Section 9
Class C football championship game yesterday at Dietz Field in
Kingston and I was extremely proud of our football team for making
it to the finals this year. Despite a tough loss to Ellenville, our
team bestowed pride and class before, during and after the game. The
resiliency of a team that started off with a record of 1-4 and made
it all the way to the Sectional Finals is something that makes us
all proud. Liberty was very well represented at the game by the fans
and it is always great to see the students and community members
joining forces in support of a common cause.
I also want to congratulate all of our fall sports teams for a great
season. The season might be over for tennis, volleyball,
cross-country running, soccer, cheerleading and football but the
sportsmanship, pride and student effort displayed this fall will not
soon be forgotten. I encourage all students to participate in as
many extra-curricular activities as possible. Our goal in providing
athletics and extra-curricular activities isn’t about winning and
losing but rather to provide students with experiences that will
allow them to grow and learn about participation, commitment,
teamwork and leadership. It is my hope that these experiences will
help provide the foundation for productive and well-rounded
graduates in the future.
Today marked a very
special day for our school district as we held an official
“groundbreaking ceremony” to celebrate our $35.8 million capital
construction project. This was a great event and I was very pleased
that we were able to have our students participate throughout the
program. Students in Kindergarten through 4th grade contributed
items to a “treasure chest” that was created by our high school
technology and art departments. The treasure chest will be on
display in the new lobby of the elementary school and will be opened
in June each year when a class that participated is preparing for
graduation. Our band provided a festive environment during the
ceremony and all students were able to enjoy a piece of cake that
was designed and created for the celebration. Senator Bonacic
provided some inspiring words to the audience and our Board of
Education President, Mr. David Burke shared a little history as to
how the building project came about.
Thanks to all who made this a historic and memorable day for our
school district.
Announcement: We will be conducting an
official “groundbreaking” ceremony to celebrate the start of
construction on our capital project. The event will take place at
the Liberty Elementary School on October 7th at 9 am and we are
inviting the community to join us for this historic event. There
will have additional information and details about the ceremony on
our website and in the local newspapers. If you have any questions,
please feel free to contact Allison Ruef or Linda Etess in our
district office at (845) 292-6171.
Liberty Elementary School Open House: There will be an “Open House”
at the elementary school on Thursday evening at 7 pm. This is a
great time for parents to meet our faculty and staff and learn about
the dates for state assessments, classroom expectations, homework
and grading procedures. I would encourage you to take time to meet
your child’s teacher. There has been a great deal of research
focusing on the link between parental involvement and student
success. I will be attending the Open House and will have a table
setup in the cafeteria to answer any questions you might have about
the building project.
We have completed our
second week of school and students have quickly adapted back into
their school routines after enjoying a well deserved summer break.
Liberty Pride is a phrase that can be heard throughout our buildings
and has become part of our school culture. Our athletic teams are
off to a good start this fall, but more important than the records
is the strong support from our fans and the sportsmanship displayed
by our athletes. Our football team lost their home opener this
afternoon to a tough Eldred squad, but they continue to work hard
and show improvement. Our boys’ varsity soccer team had impressive
back-to-back shutout wins this week and our varsity girls’ soccer
team defeated Roscoe, but lost a tough match to Sullivan West. The
boys’ cross country team also had a big win this week, and this
program continues to grow and compete, while our girls’ tennis and
volleyball teams also had competitive matches this week.
We are in the process of finalizing the installation of our internal
and external security cameras throughout the district and we will
also be installing electronic card readers to the main access doors
for each building on campus. The purpose of the cameras is to ensure
a safe environment for our faculty, staff and students and to
protect the investment the community has committed towards our
facilities.
The middle school conducted their annual Open House on Thursday
evening and this was a great opportunity for parents to meet our
teachers very early into the school year. We also had an outstanding
turnout for the 5th grade breakfast this morning. The importance of
parent involvement can’t be stressed enough, so I personally want to
thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to attend
the Open House and 5th grade breakfast.
The potential health risk from the H1N1 virus is something we are
taking seriously. We have a brochure and letter to help inform
parents, students and community members about the H1N1 virus and
this will be sent home next week and we will also have a copy posted
on our website.
I would like to welcome all of the faculty,
staff and especially our students back to school today. I am very
excited about the start of the 2009-10 school year and it is our
goal to provide students with a quality education and provide them
with the necessary skills, tools and support needed to succeed
academically. We also encourage students to become well-rounded
citizens and participate in one of the many extra-curricular
activities, clubs or athletic teams we provide. If you would like to
learn more about any of these opportunities for students, please
browse our website or feel free to call one of our schools.
I also wanted to provide you with an update on our $35.8 million
dollar building project that was approved by the voters in November
2008. We have created a page on our district website that will focus
on the building project that will include pictures and other
important information. Bids were approved at the end of the 2008-09
school year and construction began on the project in July and will
continue for the next 18 months. There will be no disruption of
educational time due to construction and we will continue to monitor
the project closely to ensure it is completed “on time and on
budget.” At the elementary school, the playground has been moved to
the front of the building and site work to install the new drainage,
parking lots and the retaining wall are well underway. At the middle
school and high school, contractors are replacing the roofs and we
expect construction to begin on the new additions at both buildings
in a few weeks.
LIBERTY CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
115 Buckley Street, Liberty, NY 12754 • (845) 292-5400
Mr. Michael Vanyo, Superintendent of Schools
