UPDATE: District Sets New Budget Adoption Date, Remains Vigilant after Terror Threat

The Lindenhurst Board of Education for the 2011-12 school budget expenditures on Thursday afternoon: April 13, 8:30 p.m. at the auditorium.

This came after the BOE President Ed Murphy, Jr. and Superintendent Richard Nathan noted at Wednesday night's meeting none was set. Finalization and adoption was postponed as of the March 31 meeting, after receiving word that the district was getting a little more than $1 million back in restored state aid.

The BOE also cited on March 31 that it was postponing as it was still in talks with the teachers' union, TAL. The talks are still on-going, according to the .

At last night's meeting Nathan also addressed the safety statement put out by the district late Wednesday following a .

That by the New York State Department of Homeland Security. However, after reading the statement – which is posted on the district’s website and posted by Lindenhurst Patch – the superintendent assured the community that students will be kept safe.

“Sometimes we receive notices about these terrible things, but we have to take it as real,” said Nathan. “It was found to be not credible, but we are being vigilant. And we wanted the community to be aware of that.”

This statement came on the heels of a previous statement the district posted on its website following on school grounds Monday.

The superintendent later commented on the impending adoption of expenditures, noting, “It must be set within the next two weeks.”

Nathan was referencing the New York legal requirement for school districts across the state to adopt a budget by the third week of April.

Compounding the urgency of having to meet the NYS legal requirement, Lindenhurst schools will be on spring recess from April 18-22.

“Once we have a date for the expenditure adoption, we will have it posted on the website, and will be sending out a ConnectEd message,” Murphy said last night.

Last week the BOE announced its , pushing back the whole budget process.

According to the district, next year’s school budget is usually adopted by this time each year, allowing some time before the budget vote in May to bring the final budget to the community.

However, this year’s budget process has been fraught with drama, with many parents, students, teachers and community leaders and residents speaking up about the various cuts the superintendent presented the BOE for review at the March 23 workshop in the form of a .

It’s similar to last year’s plan when the district faced millions lost in state aid for the 2010-11 school year.

However, with the district facing roughly $3.1 million in lost aid for the 2011-12 school year, this year’s plan shows there are more than 10 programs at risk of being cut such as ALC, Orion, JROTC, dance and media; approximately 49 teachers among other school employees who may be excessed this year; and a full-day kindergarten program that may be cut to half-day.

One portion of phase one, as voted on last year by the BOE, is already in place: the closing of E.W. Bower elementary school this June.

These cuts have been proposed as the district tries to reconcile the lost aid, and they may still be necessary .

The money received came as a result of the state’s , which included $272 million in restored school aid, and the district received word of the amount from Albany right before the March 31 workshop.

Murphy also noted at that workshop that the board was still in talks with the teachers’ union, TAL, following the March 23 meeting where after Murphy appeared to TAL President Rose Russo to be negotiating in public. He told Lindenhurst Patch then, “A true zero [taken by the teachers] for next year would save phases two through five.”

And following the March 31 meeting Murphy told Patch, “We are hopeful negotiations will be producing something soon. We postponed in hopes we don’t have to cut phases two through five. And if we cut all of them, including full-day kindergarten, the tax levy will still be at four percent.”

As of the Thursday afternoon , there was no word on whether or not a deal has been reached between the BOE and TAL. As of Friday, they were still in talks, according to the district.

In the meantime, the four percent number is one that makes the board and administration very nervous. And it’s one Murphy and the BOE is worried the community may vote down based on the comments made at the month-long series of in March.

The budget vote is set for May 17.