School board votes to spend some of state aid windfall on middle school guidance counselor, PPS administrator

Riverhead will use an unanticipated state aid increase to restore a guidance counselor at the middle school and hire an assistant director of pupil personnel services.

The board of education voted 4-1 last night to add the two positions to the district’s 2015-2016 operating budget. Member Lori Hulse voted against the measure. (Members Amy Lantz and Thomas Carson were absent.)

Hulse argued that the additional funding should instead be used to reduce the tax levy. She said she thought the board was asking too much of taxpayers and worried that because of that, voters would reject both the budget and a bond proposition on ballot next month.

Riverhead will receive just under $900,000 more in state education aid than district officials had anticipated in their budgeting process, Superintendent Nancy Carney told the board of education Tuesday evening during a special board meeting at Aquebogue Elementary School.

This year officials had to prepare a budget without state aid numbers, which were held up until the state legislature actually adopted its 2015-2016 budget. The numbers were released on April 1 and Riverhead will see an 8.83 percent hike in state education aid next year, an increase of $1,853,145, which brings the district’s state aid total to $22,843,376 for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.

In addition, district officials had projected that the final tax levy cap would be set by the state at about 3.64 percent, but the state set the cap number at 4.58 percent. The 2 percent tax levy cap imposed by legislators is adjusted by certain factors, such as state-mandated pension contributions and the district doesn’t know what the actual cap is until the state sets it.

The questions before the board, Carney said last night, are whether to use the additional state aid to fund additional positions in the district and whether to keep the tax levy at the previously anticipated 3.64 percent or increase it to the maximum allowed by the state.

Carney advocated restoring the middle school guidance counselor as a top priority and asked the board to create the position of assistant director of pupil personnel services.

“Losing the guidance person at the middle school really had a challenging effect on being able to provide counseling services that were needed at the middle school,” Carney told the board.

Also on the table were possible additions of three reading teachers, a nurse, .5 psychologist, math teacher and a clerk typist position, in addition to the positions added previously to the budget. See budget presentation number 3 on the district’s website

“The decision the board has to make tonight is do we want to come in under that levy cap, or do we want to come in at the original we were doing and put that money back to reduce the levy, or do we want to come back someplace in between,” Carney said. Every .1 percent addition to the tax levy is about $100,000, Carney explained.

While most board members were inclined to increase the tax levy to 3.9 percent, they were disinclined to push the tax levy to the 4.58 percent allowed by the state.

“In my eyes, the state aid is finally coming back we can start building back our programs,” Susan Koukounas stated, expressing her preference to use the funds to restore positions lost when the district had to cut staff due to budget constraints.

“I absolutely agree,” board president Greg Meyer said, adding “I’m all in favor of trying to get back to at least where we were.” He said the board of education has had a goal of staying under 4 percent for as long as he’s been a member. That would mean an addition of about $330,000 to the existing budget, he said.

“I think we’re asking our voters for a lot this election, and I agree there’s some things that we can’t live without,” member Christopher Dorr said, citing as an example the guidance counselor at the middle school. “But I think we can do that and stay under the 4 percent,” Dorr said.

“I know we have to come up with a balance between fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers and services we’re providing for our students. I think we’re in a good place regardless of the board’s decision [tonight],” Carney said. “We are able to bring back some of those services and it’s just a matter of how many,” she said.

“Did we explore how many teachers we’d require additionally at the high school if we were to restore the nine period day?” Hulse asked.

“It’s a significant amount, if you think about adding one period a day for kids, it would probably be at least 7 or 8 teaching positions,” Carney answered, noting that additional teachers were added previously to make sure the district could provide more electives. “The bottom line is for 90 percent of the kids, their schedules fit very well in the eight-period day,” she said. High school principal Charles Regan has offered to meet with every single student to be sure that they’re able to take all the course requirements that they need in four years by looking at more flexible schedules, Carney said.

There was immediate consensus on the board that restoration of a guidance counselor at the middle school was essential.

Carney said other priorities, in her opinion, are an assistant director for pupil personnel services, followed by the reading teachers and a nurse.

Hulse questioned whether the district would be receiving any additional federal aid. Carney stated that the district does receive federal funding to help with ESL, but that we wont know until the summer what, if any additional funding can be expected. “We’re hoping that we’re going to get additional money from the federal government,” Carney said.

If federal funding does come in higher this summer, Carney added, the district would be able to fund an existing ESL position with that money, freeing up money for an additional teaching position.

Hulse said she was concerned that the board would be asking too much of district taxpayers. “I don’t want to have a situation where we’re looking at a failed bond because we’ve asked the taxpayer to pay too much,” Hulse said, “and I think that’s what we’re looking at right now.”

Concerns over teacher evaluations tied to student testing

Former board of education president Ann Cotton-DeGrasse expressed her concerns about the recent legislation by New York State to tie teacher evaluations to student testing. If a teacher has two or three years of being rated ‘developing’ or ‘ineffective’ the board is forced to fire him or her. “To me this is just throwing the baby out with the bath water,” Cotton-DeGrasse stated.

Carney told Cotten-DeGrasse that a teacher would have to be rated ineffective overall for three years in a row before the termination comes into play.

“If a teacher is rated developing there is no consequences as far as the state is concerned,” Carney said.

“We’re all incredibly frustrated with this political process that has gotten involved in education,” Carney responded. “My optimism is that maybe educators in this commission will come up with a process that will be simplified and that really works.”

“My optimism is that they’re going to come out with a very fair system,” Carney continued. “Teachers are not going to be rated ineffective unless there’s a really serious concern going on.”

“Now you’re going to have to bring in outside evaluators,” Cotton-DeGrasse asked.

But Carney told the former president that wasn’t correct.

“We don’t have to,” Carney said. “As a district, we’re fortunate; our directors qualify, as do I and as does Mr. Wicks, because we’re not in a specific building. We qualify as that other person, so we really already have that system in place. Because most of our teachers are evaluated by a director and a building principal. That’s one nice thing about being in a bigger district.”

“You’re not going to have a lot of teachers being affected by ineffective ratings,” Carney said. “We’re just trying to take that fear away from the teachers because it’s one assessment. You just ask kids to do the best that they can. I really don’t think that teachers are going to be rated differently than they were this last time around.”

“The fact that we’re asking our students just to do the best that they can is now affecting their teacher’s job. We’re telling them that this test doesn’t matter but now we’re having a whole classroom of kids who think this test doesn’t matter. We can tell them it doesn’t matter, then they will go down ccccc,” Dorr commented.

“We never say it doesn’t matter. We say do the best you can. Everything is how you present it to kids,” Carney responded. “As a teacher you just say to your kid this is an assessment so that we know what we need to strengthen as teachers in our curriculum. You’re not going to know everything on the test. You do the absolute best you can and it helps us to determine what you know and what you don’t know. It’s no different than the old NCLB tests.”

“The teachers don’t get the results until after they’re going and the kids are gone. They can’t improve learning on this test because the results come way too late,” Dorr said.

“Chris, you’re absolutely correct,” Carney responded, “that’s something that has to be worked on.”

This information needs to be made available for teachers Carney added, stating that it is something that needs to continue to be advocated on with the SED. Teachers need access to the exams to see exactly how the kids have done, that’s the purpose of it, Carney said.

“Teachers need to be evaluated on what they do in the classroom not what our kids can do on a test,” Dorr said, adding that he has received calls from two teachers are afraid they will need to look for new jobs in two years.

“No, they need to be evaluated absolutely on different measures, multiple measures, not just one measure,” Carney responded. “You’re supposed to be looking at what growth occurred from September to June. You hope that through different assessments you see what kids have learned. The purpose of assessments is when kids haven’t learned something you go back and figure out how to teach it to them.”

“Data should be used to strengthen instruction, not to evaluate teachers on a score,” Carney said.

“For a new teacher if they get a developing in their fourth year they can’t get tenure, they have to be effective or highly effective in their fourth year,” Door stated.

“Chris, I actually agree with you that the new teacher piece needs to be addressed because they need to be rated effective 3 out of the 4 years, and obviously you could easily be rated developing and be an excellent teacher, but it could be based on numerous things that occur. So I think that’s something that I’m hopeful that SED is going to look at, because I see that actually as one of the greatest flaws in what’s come out because it’s not realistic.”

“I would like, and this is I guess just my opinion, but I would like us to start pushing back like some of the other districts on Long Island and across the state have done with how dissatisfied we are with what’s come down,” Dorr said.

“That’s your right,” Carney replied.

Renovated bathrooms at Roanoke

The special meeting began with a public hearing regarding expending $156,924 to repair the first floor bathrooms at Roanoke Avenue Elementary School. With no questions from the poorly attended meeting, the motion passed. The repairs are an add alternate from the current bond, and a decision had to be made by April 10 for the contractor to keep the quoted price in place Carney explained.

Future Budget Presentations
• April 14 – BOE adoption of the proposed budget
• April 21 – Roanoke PTO budget presentation at 6:30 p.m.
• April 22 – Riverhead Rotary Budget Presentation at 12:15 p.m.
• April 29 – Pulaski PTO budget presentation at 7 p.m.
• April 30 – Riley PTO budget presentation at 7:30 p.m.
• May 1 – Bayview Pines Civic Association budget presentation at 6:30 p.m.
• May 4 – Middle School PTO budget presentation at 7 p.m.
• May 6 – Phillips PTO budget presentation at 6:30 p.m.
• May 9 – Jamesport Civic Association budget presentation at 10 a.m.
• May 11 – Flanders, Northampton, Riverside Civic Association budget presentation at 7 p.m.
• May 12 – Public Hearing on the proposed budget
• May 13 – Greater Calverton Civic Association budget presentation at 7 p.m.
• May 14 – HS PTSO budget presentation at 7 p.m.
• May 18 – Aquebogue PTO budget presentation at 7 p.m.
• May 19 – Budget Vote (6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at local polling locations)

Correction: Due to an editing error, this story as originally published misstated the location of the April 7 special meeting.