Strong community turnout for special school board meeting
The Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District’s aquatics center will remain open in the 2011-12 school year, following a decision by the Board of Education this evening to strike its closure from a list of budget reductions.
The decision was made during a well-attended special meeting of the school board convened to discuss budget reductions proposed by Superintendent Daniel Teplesky. Among those $1.1 million worth of cuts was the removal of more than 10 teaching positions. The board also instructed the superintendent to look into ways to save a few of those jobs so foreign language studies can continue to be offered starting at seventh grade instead of being pushed back a year.
While there were many topics under consideration, the aquatics center was clearly on the mind of many attendees. The district had proposed last week to shutter the facility for a savings of $77,000.
That cost is eclipsed by the value of the facility, said school board member Sarah Hafensteiner.
We don’t live in the middle of a city where we have easy access to a lot of facilities and advantages, she said. `This is the only facility that’s here for everybody.`
Several of her colleagues echoed those thoughts. Many of the perhaps 200 people who filled the RCS High School auditorium cheered, hooted and hollered whenever the topic of keeping the pool open was raised.
Keeping the pool open will mean an increase in the probable tax levy, to about a 3.8 percent hike. The district’s state aid was cut by $900,000 in the proposed state budget. It now appears some of that money will be put back in by legislators. Details will emerge in the coming days and could affect the tax levy.
Teplesky said the district could well have made the tax levy flat if school aid weren’t cut this year.
`Prior to what the governor took out, we had you at zero,` he told the audience.
Board deliberations took well over an hour, and then the floor was opened up to the public. A line of speakers quickly queued up and several thanked the board for keeping the aquatics center open.
`It’s not really a school fixture, it’s a community fixture,` said girls varsity swim team captain Jess Cooper, who also spoke of the many programs for the young and old at the pool. `I see longtime friendships built there.`
Others were decidedly more critical of the district, with administrator numbers and salaries being the most frequent point of contention.
John Allen handed the board a petition with `several hundred` signatures demanding a more thorough, line-by-line look at the budget, and railed against what he said were senselessly numerous and overpaid administrators.
`A lot of us think it’s a cheap shot,` to put athletics, clubs and teachers on the chopping block, `when you don’t look at the heavy burden of administrative costs,` he said.
Allen and others questioned why the middle school has more than one principal and made other criticisms of the administrative structure. The top three RCS administrators ` including Teplesky ` agreed to a pay freeze in next year’s budget, for a $16,000 savings.
The school board will meet again on April 5, when it is expected a budget will be adopted.
For more on this story and the latest on state budget impacts on local schools, check back to www.spotlightnews.com or read the April 6 edition of The Spotlight.
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