Community to Meet BOE Candidates, Hear Specifics of $140.2M School Budget

The Lindenhurst Board of Education has approved the for the 2011-12 school year, and the Lindenhurst School District is now preparing to present the specifics to the public tonight at the Lindenhurst Council of PTAs meeting at elementary school.

The meeting, which starts , will also provide an opportunity for the community to meet the six candidates – – who’ll be running for three seats on the BOE:

• Ed Murphy, Jr.
• Charles Clyne
• Robert Spero
• Julie Bartolomeo
• Valerie McKenna
• Phil Renna

The BOE is the official policy-making body of the district consisting of nine residents elected by the community to serve overlapping, unpaid terms of three years.

It approved the 2011-12 budget on April 13 after in with the teachers’ union, TAL, could be reached. The BOE and TAL are .

The new budget includes a 6.89 percent tax increase, and represents a 2.23 percent year-over-year increase. The BOE approved it while preserving programming included in The notable exceptions are cuts to the sixth grade study skills (home economics) and JV2 (9th grade) athletics.

Cuts to phases two through five – while not part of the proposed budget that will go before voters on May 17 – could still be considered by the board if the budget does not pass. Phases two to five included more than 10 programs, such as full-day kindergarten, ALC, Orion, JROTC and sixth grade world languages, at risk of being cut, and as many as 49 teaching positions at risk of being excessed in June.

“We’re not living under an illusion that a 6.89 tax levy would pass, but we’re hopeful that this community, which has been so generous in the past in supporting our schools, will put a 6.89 ahead,” BOE President Murphy told Lindenhurst Patch on April 13.

also told Patch, “I describe this as a conundrum, or puzzlement. If you cut, you hurt the kids. But it’s not about the teachers. It’s about the programs. And the most important thing is the kids.”

Tonight Nathan will present the specifics of the budget. This marks the first of several presentations to the community the superintendent will make ahead of the , noted the district.

The six candidates running for the board got their petitions in by the April 18 deadline, and were able to pick their position on the ballot, said the district. It gave Lindenhurst Patch the specifics.

Spero is a current BOE member, and Bartolomeo is currently the second vice president of the Lindenhurst Council of PTAs. They’re running for seat one, said the district.

Residents McKenna and Renna are running for the seat vacated by former BOE Member Robert Brandenberger. He resigned last September, said the district, and the BOE decided to keep it open until the May 17 elections and budget vote this year. They’re running for seat two, added the district.

Clyne, a long-time Lindenhurst resident who lost his wife in 9/11, is running against Murphy for seat three, noted the district.

All six will be given the opportunity to introduce themselves to the community and explain why they’re running. They will also take questions from the community in a moderated format.

“Doris Fischer, Suffolk Region PTA, has agreed to moderate Meet the Candidate. Each candidate will be introduced and asked to tell their brief bio. Index cards will be available for community to write down any questions,” Laura Chapter told Lindenhurst Patch. Chapter is the president of PTA Council.