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March 2009 Volume 12, Issue 2

www.sidneycsd.org

District Newsletter

Central Schools

SIDNEY

Calendar Change forSidney Schools

On Monday, February 9, the SidneyCentral School District was forcedto close for the day to repair a watermain break on campus. Thanks to thequick response from the village, districtemployees, and local contractors, thewater main was repaired by late morningwith no damage to the district facilities.The understanding and cooperationfrom the community, as well as theefforts of all of these people are sincerelyappreciated!As a result of the unexpected day off on February 9, the Sidney School Districthas now used five out of six allottedsnow days. Therefore the Sidney SchoolDistrict Board of Education has revisedthe original school calendar for themonth of March. As previously planned,there will be a half-day of school onFriday, March 20. The afternoon of thatday will be for district-wide parentconferences. On Friday, March 27, therewill also be another half-day of school.The afternoon of this day will also be fordistrict-wide parent conferences. Friday,March 27, was previously planned for aSuperintendent’s Conference Day, whichhas been cancelled. Parents are asked toplease change their calendars to reflectthis change and make sure students arein attendance on March 27.This change will give the schooldistrict one more snow day, for a totalof two days available for the rest of thewinter. If Sidney CSD needs to use morethan two days, they will have to look atthe spring break in April to make up thedays missed.

Ms. Pallischeck’s 5th gradeclass enjoying their physical education unit oncross-country skiing.

Pets at Work

In January, the kindergarten-ers learned about pets and pets atwork! Trooper Brian DiLorenzo brought his police dog, Pit, to kin-dergarten for the children to learnabout dogs that work. The childrenlearned about Pit’s job and TrooperDiLorenzo answered the children’squestions. The children also hadthe opportunity to pet Pit!Michael and Roberta Barnard from Sidney brought in their seeing-eye dogs, Stella and Ivy. The kindergarteners enjoyed learning aboutStella and Ivy’s training and the tasks that Stella and Ivy do to helpMr. and Mrs. Barnard at home and in the community.We would like to thank Trooper DiLorenzo as well as Mr. andMrs. Barnard for taking the time to visit the kindergarteners.The children enjoyed learning about pets!

Winter Fun

Sidney Central School District2

Superintendent's MessageFinding Balance

The administrative team has looked at the ExecutiveBudget Proposal from Governor Paterson to identifyhow to balance the anticipated revenue and neededexpenses to provide for our educational program.We looked closely at our budget from last year andcreated a rollover budget using estimated increasesfor elements such as benefits, petroleum, contractualprovisions, etc. Now that we have more specific num- bers, we have identified a gap between anticipatedexpenditures and anticipated revenues.The Executive Budget Proposal proposes a $546,887state aid reduction from last year’s allocation for theSidney Central School District. We know that NewYork State is facing one of the largest budget deficits inhistory, and the Governor has been very specific about“shared sacrifice” for every state agency. However, ourstate aid reduction was larger than we anticipated. TheState legislators are working on the budget daily andlooking closely at all of the cuts Governor Patersonis proposing, but we must move forward with theExecutive Proposal as we prepare the school budgetfor 2009-2010.A first look at the rollover budget resulted in anestimated tax levy increase of over 13%. We exam-ined class sizes, enrollment projections, and programprovisions closely. Since last year, our elementaryenrollment in grades K-5 has decreased by 10, ourmiddle school enrollment has decreased by 12, andour high school enrollment has decreased by 4. Wehave added a Universal Pre-Kindergarten program,which is being funded 100% by state aid. We alsohave looked at a demographic study which predictsthat our enrollment will continue to decrease over thenext several years.As a result of our study, the administrative team hasmade recommendations to the Board of Education thatwould result in reducing the budget by over $400,000.These recommendations include the following:

Proposed Reductions

1. Lay off two

teachers (English and Math) - due todecreased enrollment and current class sizes2. Reduce one district office account clerk to .5 FTE3. Reduce field trip costs by 50%4. Eliminate meals for Monday Instructional Tech-nology courses for staff 5. Reduce number of athletic contests (eliminatea total of 20 contests)—will be implementedthroughout New York State

Other Sources of Revenue

1. Bring home 5 BOCES students to create 15:1 classat the high school2. Move teacher conference budget line from thegeneral fund to the Title IIA federal grant3. Contract with BOCES for Network Support Ser-vices and Teacher Substitute Registry4. Move two special education positions to IDEAgrant (anticipated income due to FederalStimulus Package)

Proposed Budget Reductions = $447,648Budget Additions = $47,000(one LTA and one teacher aide)Total Proposed Budget Reductions = $400,648Estimated Tax Levy = 7.32% (3.85%)

(First number is estimated tax levy which includesMeadWestvaco, which was on the PILOT program inthe past (Payment in Lieu of Taxes). They are comingoff that program this year. Number in parenthesisindicates estimated tax levy to community residentsand small businesses.)We have scheduled a community forum and pre-sentations at Board of Education meetings in thefuture, and the community is encouraged to attend.There will be budget presentations at each Board of Education meeting in March, and we will also put the budget presentations on STV so everyone has accessto the information.

Board of Education Meetings

High School Library, 7:30 p.m.Tuesday, March 10Tuesday, March 24

Community Forums

High School Cafeteria, 9:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.Wednesday, March 18

—Sandra M. Cooper,

Superintendent of Schools

SIDNEY CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICTENROLLMENT PROJECTION

07-08 08-09 09-10 10-11

Elementary School 475* 489* 486 475Middle School 276* 256* 248 246High School 402* 425* 396 383

District 1,153* 1,146* 1,130 1,104Demographic Study 1,184 1,171 1,140 1,113

*Actual total (all others are estimates)

Sidney Central School District3

Board Corner

In our last column, we noted the African proverb thatsays

It takes a village to raise a child

. We also noted that giventhe economic challenges facing all of us today, it will takeour entire school community working together to find the

balance

that Superintendent Cooper often references in her budget presentations.As of this writing, there are still a great many unknownsfacing us as we begin to formulate this year’s budget.How deep will the cuts be in New York State aid? What will be happening to many of the components of the budgetthat are beyond our control from energy costs to healthcare? What will the final elements of the proposed Federalstimulus package mean to our educational programs andthe mandates that are also beyond our control? All of thesequestions come amid a backdrop of job reductions and cutsnot just nationally, but throughout our region as well.Even though many of these questions remain unanswer-ed, we cannot sit and wait. We must continue with ourefforts to recommend a budget to the taxpayers of ourdistrict that is as equitable as possible without significantlyimpacting the programs that are essential to our childrenand their future.

Transparency

is a buzzword in government these days.Again, Sidney was ahead of the curve with last year’s budgetprocess. From the countless community presentations to thevideos running on STV to the radio call-in shows that took place, there was a sincere attempt to communicate as manydetails as possible to the entire community at every stepin the process.Best of all, the dialog that resulted from those effortswas invaluable in helping to shape the final budget thatthe voters overwhelmingly approved. As suggestions weremade by staff or community members, those suggestionsoften found their way into the revisions that were beingmade. Rather than being a static document that changedvery little over time, last year’s budget was what wecharacterized as very

organic

.The Board of Education encourages you to attendone of the upcoming budget presentations that will betaking place over the next month. With so many revenuequestions remaining unanswered, there will be as manydifficult decisions as last year—perhaps even more.The more firsthand knowledge we all have as participantsin this process, the better we can all work together to finda budget that the community can support. And the moreparticipation and input we share, the more perspectivesand ideas there will be to help shape the final budget thatwill be submitted to the voters in May.All of us can certainly agree that our children are ourfuture. We owe it to them and to ourselves to make decisionstoday, even in the midst of adversity, that will enable themto have a tomorrow where each one can realize his or her fullpotential. Please join us in helping to shape that future.

—Gary Schoonover

, Board of Education

Board Member CompletesSchool Board AcademyProgram at BOCES

The ChenangoCounty School BoardsAssociation andthe DCMO BOCESrecently recognizedCatherine Treffeisenat a Sidney Board of Education meeting forher completion of the jointly sponsored School Board Academy.The two-year, six-session program includessessions on higher standards, finances, board-superintendent relationships, special education,BOCES and personnel issues.Catherine completed the program andreceived a certificate of high honors fromDCMO BOCES Assistant Superintendent forInstructional Services Marki Clair-O’Rourke atthe January 27 regular meeting of the SidneyBoard of Education.The higher standards facing schools andstudents today require increased knowledgeand skills of school board members. The SchoolBoard Academy is designed for school boardmembers who want to develop a basic under-standing of the board’s role as a policy makerand educational leader in a time of change.The School Board Academy is targeted at thoseindividuals who have begun their board termwithin the past two years. As a result, programofferings will deal with the fundamentals of school board service. Check the BOCES websiteto see program offerings at

www.dcmoboces.com/ dcmoboe/BOEMain.htm

Substitutes Needed

The Sidney Central School District is inneed of the following:

•Substituteschoolnurses,RNrequired,

$18/hour

•Substituteteachers(certified—validNYS

teaching certification; non-certified—preference 2-4 year college degree)