Lindenhurst PTA Council Names New Officers

The Lindenhurst Council of PTAs has a new president for the  school year.

Julie Cicchetti will be president next year while the current head of the Council, , will become past president.

Nominations and elections were held at the most recent Council  at .

 was elected first vice president while Eileen DeBitetto was named second vice president.

Current Lindenhurst Board of Education Member  was made recording secretary while was appointed corresponding secretary.

Debbie Winston received the nod for treasurer.

Since the  - and the associated PTAs from each of the elementary and secondary schools along with  - works closely with , Superintendent Richard Nathan is also a part of the board.

And he was there at the monthly meeting where the took place.

Meet the Candidates and Budget Presentation
Up next for the Council is its meeting tomorrow night, April 25, where the community will get to ask questions of the - and Trustees and - running unopposed for re-election this year.

The will begin at at .

Nathan will also the newly adopted Lindenhurst Schools 2012-13 $141.7 million , which features a 2.45 percent tax-levy increase that's less than the 3.55 percent cap it was allowed by NYS law.

(Read more about that .)

This will be one of the first in the superintendent's annual budget presentations to the community at various venues. Information could be found on the district's website.

Save Long Island Schools
On a related note many members of the Council and the individual Lindenhurst elementary school PTAs - including Chapter, Thomson and Cuffaro - are involved with the newly formed Facebook group, Save Long Island Schools.

The group - now almost 6,000 strong - continues to pressure Albany and their local legislators by calling and writing in an effort to increase funding for local Island schools, including Lindenhurst.

According to Chapter, members of the group would like to see implemented a  formula by New York state so more money comes back to Long Island schools instead of being funneled away, especially in this economy.

She believes in this group's efforts and has also gotten other Lindenhurst parents, and PTA members on board, such as Regina Cuffaro and Ann Marie Thomson.

The group held a on , which was attended by several local legislators and several Lindenhurst BOE members and civic leaders.

It also executed an advocacy campaign via phone, e-mail, Facebook and Twitter to put pressure on Albany to restore more state aid to the school districts on the Island.

The online group continues in that mission, although   throughout NYS and on the  - including  - have already adopted their 2012-13 school budgets to make the state's April 20 deadline.

Editor's Note: Don't forget to weigh in with your thoughts and concerns about this year's budget process for the with Lindenhurst Patch on the site by taking these two polls by clicking and , and by sharing your thoughts in the comments section of articles about the topic, and on Facebook and Twitter, and by e-mailing barbara.loehr@patch.com with an opinion piece like these: