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Newsletter
BUDGET NEWS 2015
PROSPECTIVE
CANDIDATE FORUM
Thursday, May 7, 2015
7:00 p.m., High School
BUDGET HEARING
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Immediately following Forum
BUDGET VOTE AND
ELECTION OF BOARD MEMBER
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
11:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m., High School
Absentee Ballots
Applications for an Absentee Ballot are available from
the District Clerk or can be downloaded from the
District Site: www.eldred.k12.ny.us
Dear Community Members,
The Eldred CSD will be presenting their budget for the 2015-2016 school year for
public approval on May 19, 2015. Our spending plan is $ 205,015.00 dollars less
than it was five years ago in 2009-2010. The budget increase is a modest 0.83%
over the amended 2014-205 budget plan.
The budget does not reduce programs for our students but rather adds opportunities
for them. The budget incorporates a second full day Pre-K class, it provides money
to support the school lunch program, money to replace the driver’s education car,
sets aside money for buses and provides money to do necessary repairs to our
facilities that have been long overdue.
The Board has made every effort to be fiscally conservative while maintaining
current levels of programming. The budget being presented is within the allowable
tax levy limit with exclusions. State aid only increased by a paltry $ 75,000.00 over
the previous year. However, by reallocating line items the Board has been able to
develop a budget which is programmatically and fiscally sound and prudent.
You are encouraged to come out and vote. There will be a public hearing on the
budget and meet the candidate forum on Thursday, May 7, 2015 at 7:00 PM at the
high school. The actual budget vote is Tuesday, May 19, 2015 from 11:00 AM –
9:00 PM at the high school.
Sincerely,
The ECSD Board of Education
Douglas Reiser, President, Amador Laput, Vice-President, Linda Bohs, Member,
Carol Bliefernich, Member, James Burns, Member
May 13th: Deadline for obtaining an absentee ballot
application if ballot is to be MAILED
May 18th: Deadline for obtaining an absentee ballot
application if ballot is to be picked up in PERSON
May 19th: Deadline for accepting absentee ballots by
5pm at polling place (JSHS)
Qualifications for Voting
•Must be a citizen of the United States
•Must be 18 years or older
•Must be a resident of the school district for 30
days prior to May 19, 2015
•Must be registered with the school district or
registered for general elections
Missy VanSeggen was the winner of the “I’m Not a Replacement... “ Contest sponsored by
the following organizations ; TFAC Tobacco Free Action Communities of Ulster, Dutchess and
Sullivan; Public Health; Kick Butts Day and Reality Check of ny.com.Shown above are Mr.
Dufour, Melissa VanSeggen, Teacher Maureen Petkus and two members from the council.
**Due to an error, we are reprinting the Honor
Roll information for the sixth grade from
Mackenzie Elementary School for the
Second Marking Period.
Sixth Grade: - Bodin Stutz, Daniel J. Giglio, Ty
Theodore Smith, Christopher John Lilly, Erin C.
Brown, Gabriella DelRio, Matthew A.J. Bieler,
Katie L. Innella, Maddison P. Wong, Mark Everret
Edwards, Jr., Louis C. Innella
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Budget Initiatives
Expands Universal PreK to two full day classes
Maintains current staffing and programs for students
Includes funding to support the school lunch program
Includes funding to replace the driver education vehicle
Includes funding increases for technology updates
Funds planned maintenance on projects considered health & safety priorities
Funds a replacement maintenance/plow truck
Includes funds to purchase used school buses to replace vehicles that have reached the end of their useful life
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www.eldred.k12.ny.us
Eldred
Central School District
Budget Format
In accordance with Chapter 436 of the Laws of 1997 and the Commissioner’s regulations
[Educational Law section 1716(4)], school districts are now required to present their budgets in
three separate expenditure components:
1. Administrative
2. Program
3. Capital
In addition, employee benefits are to be distributed in all three components so that the cost of
benefits follows salaries (both current and post-retirement).The 2015-2016 Budget has been
distributed into the three required expenditure components.
ESTIMATED SCHOOL TAXES 2015 - 2016
2014-2015
TAX RATE
TAX RATE
ESTIMATED
DEERPARK
23.372513
24.045571
HIGHLAND
14.918624
15.348236
LUMBERLAND
14.023506
14.427342
TUSTEN 25.613709
26.351308
TAXABLE VALUE TAXABLE VALUE TAXABLE VALUE
$100,000.00
$150,000.00
$200,000.00
$2,404.56
$1,534.82
$1,442.73
$2,635.13
$3,606.84
$2,302.24
$2,164.10
$3,952.70
$4,809.11
$3,069.65
$2,885.47
$5,270.26
* Per $1000 of Assessed Value
Based on July 1, 2013 Tax Roll Assessment
2015-2016 Proposed
Revenue Breakdown
State Aid
Other Revenue
Real Estate taxes
5,466,429
1,257,872
9,873,684
Total Proposed Revenues 16,597,985
Revenues
Real Estate Taxes
59%
2015-2016 Proposed
Expenditures Breakdown
Program Expenditures
Capital Expenditures
Administration Expenditures
11,863,460
3,098,736
1,635,789
Total Proposed Expenditures
16,597,985
Expenditures
State Aid
33%
Other Revenue
8%
Administration
10%
Program
19%
Capital
71%
Shown left: On Monday, March 23, the
Eldred Key Elements were invited to the
State Capitol building in Albany by Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther to be recognized
for their participation and achievement of
performing at Carnegie Hall in New York
City. The group was given a private tour of
the Capitol, and was invited to sing in the
Assembly Chamber by the Sgt. Of Arms,
Wayne Jackson. The group performed for
assembly members as they were filing in
preparing for their afternoon session. The
students were then later recognized on the
assembly floor during session.
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The Mackenzie “Coding Academy” is
reaching out to a selection of students
in 5th and 6th grade to learn the basics
of computer programming (coding).
It is being implemented using a coteaching model with Michael and Maria
Nealon. Over the course of 10 weeks,
the students, on Friday afternoons,
will learn the basics of computer programming using Scratch. Scratch is
a design-based learning approach to
creative computing developed by MIT
to teach the basics of coding without
the actual code but concentrates on
the logic of programming.
Creative computing supports the development of personal connections to
computing by drawing upon creativity,
imagination, and interests. The activities in the Scratch curriculum guide are
designed to explore computational
thinking concepts (sequence, loops,
parallelism, events, conditionals, operators, data), practices (working iteratively and incrementally, testing
and debugging, reusing and remixing,
abstracting and modularizing), and
perspectives (expressing, connecting,
questioning).
The Academy is also incorporating a
Quest Based Learning (QBL) environment to engage and motivate students
to help with assignments (quests).
Scratch will serve as the core curriculum of the Academy while 3D GameLab
will assist with the management of
the program. Students are also learning how to create and upload assignments using Google Drive and Google
Classroom. They are researching the
origins of computer programming and
pioneers of the field.
www.eldred.k12.ny.us
Budget 2015
Eldred
THE BALLOT
YES
NO
PROPOSITION 1
Shall the following resolution be adopted to wit:
RESOLVED, that the Board of Education of the Eldred
Central School District is hereby authorized to expend
during the 2015-2016 school year $16,597,985.00 and
to levy the necessary tax therefore.
YES
NO
PROPOSITION 2
Shall the following resolution be adopted to wit:
RESOLVED, that the Board of Education of the School
District is hereby authorized to levy taxes annually in
the amount of fourteen thousand five hundred dollars
($14,500) and to pay over such monies to the Board of
Trustees of the Sunshine Hall Free Library.
YES
NO
BOARD MEMBER
Vacated seat of James Burns
5-Year Term
July 1, 2015 – June 30, 2020
James Burns
What do you get when you put kids
and a dog together? A photo filled
with cuteness! Please welcome River,
our therapy dog. Follow her blog on
Ms. Lombardi’s school webpage. You
will learn all about the creation of this
program thanks to our school leaders
who believe in kids and know the educational and emotional benefits a fourlegged critter can offer.
www.eldred.k12.ny.us
Brian Siegel
Eldred High School art students
viewed the Catskill Art Society
Sullivan County High School Art
Show this past month. Our students placed first and third in
Digital Art, second place in color photography and first place
in black and white photography and first place in ceramics.
Shown left are Samantha Laput
and Catherine Nicholson enjoying the show.
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Eldred Central School District
Meet the Candidate: Mr. James Burns
Meet the Candidate: Mr. Brian Siegel
My wife Joan, and I decided years ago to
raise our family in the Eldred Central School
District. Joan is a graduate of Eldred Central
School, and this was the foundation for our
decision. We built our home 30 years ago in
Yulan, Town of Highland and it is here that
we raised our five children. Ryan, Matt, and
Craig experienced grades K through 12 at
ECS; while Jenna and Sheila are currently
juniors.
As planned, all of our children took full advantage of every opportunity that
ECS has to offer; including academics, sports, art, music and clubs. They
were surrounded by outstanding teachers, staff and coaches that truly
cared and delivered the goods that make each of them successful today.
As a family we have been fully engaged in the Eldred Youth League, Boy
Scouts, Girls Scouts, and community volunteerism. Along the way we have
meet so many of the outstanding individuals that comprise our school district, and formed lasting relationships with them.
I am a graduate of Delaware Valley High School in Milford. PA. I am a
United States Marine Corps veteran. I attended Arizona Western College,
and graduated from King’s College Wilkes-Barre, PA with a Bachelor’s
of Art degree in Criminal Justice/History. I have been employed by the
United States Postal Service for more than 30 years. I am the A/Manager
of Post Office Operations in Orange, Rockland and Westchester Counties.
My responsibilities include customer and employee safety, employee development/mentoring, budget preparation, budget performance, revenue
generation and protection, customer relations, labor relations, and facility
care and maintenance.
I have been a School Board Member at the Eldred Central School since
2010. As a member of the Board of Education I represent all members of
the Eldred Central School community. Each member of the community,
including taxpayers, parents, students, teachers and administrators have
a voice in the process. If re-elected, I will actively seek and respect the
opinion of all of those involved in the public education process. I am excited
about my re-election, and look forward to serving the school district for another 5 year term. Trust experience and vote for me on May 19th.
PROSPECTIVE
CANDIDATE FORUM
Thursday, May 7, 2015
I’m running for School Board to represent
the interests of ALL members of our community. As parents and taxpayers, we are
partners in our children’s future. The longterm success of our school district requires
a careful and respectful balance of the
needs of our young families with the financial reality of our broader taxpayer community.
As a father of 3 young children in Eldred’s
graduating classes of 2024, 2027 and 2031, our school is very important to
my family. I feel it’s my responsible to help provide a first-class education
for all of Eldred’s kids – today, and for many years to come. Even in a small
school like ours, we owe our children the very best academic, athletic
and extracurricular programs.
I’m also a taxpayer and concerned citizen. I’m a neighbor and friend to the
many people in our community who do not have children in our school but
certainly have a stake in its success. I appreciate the challenges faced by
our taxpayers, particularly our working families and fixed-income seniors.
We’re all in this together. Our school budgets and capital plans must
align with the financial reality of our community.
I fiercely opposed last year’s $5M bond proposal because I feared the
additional debt and tax burden would threaten the long-term fitness of our
school. We need to be careful planners – fiscally responsible, realistic,
respectful of our taxpayers, compassionate, and always mindful of the
long-term outlook.
I created the “Eldred Parents & Taxpayers Forum” Facebook page to
shine a light on various issues affecting our school district and to encourage public input and participation. As a member of the School Board, I
will find new ways to encourage people to interact with the School Board
and participate in the process.
Finally, I believe education decisions should made by parents, teachers
and locally-elected school boards. Unfortunately, the state and federal government have accelerated their takeover of public education, with highstakes standardized tests and one-size-fits-all curriculum schemes. I will
fight to keep the politicians, bureaucrats and corporations out of our
classrooms, and regain local control of our schools.
To inspire some real positive change, please vote for me on Tuesday May
19th. Thank you!
7:00 p.m., High School
Central Administration
Superintendent of Schools
Robert M. Dufour
District Clerk
Bonnie Robertson
District Treasurer
Ruth Luis
Board of Education
Douglas Reiser, President
Amador Laput, Vice-President
Linda Bohs, Member
Carol Bliefernich, Member
James Burns, Member
www.eldred.k12.ny.us
Administrative Offices
600 Route 55
PO Box 249
Eldred, NY 12732
Non-Profit
Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit No. 324
Port Jervis, NY
12771
TO LOCAL POSTAL PATRON
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