School Budget, Tax Updates Top This Week's News

The Three Village Central School District could receive thousands of dollars in tax payments from Stony Brook University for property that was previously taken off the public tax rolls and from the new Hilton Garden Inn. That was among the revelations at Tuesday's school board meeting, during which board vice president Jonathan Kornreich led a discussion about the significance of both the hotel's lease and a piece of state legislation enacted in 2005 concerning SUNY's annexing of Gyrodyne property via eminent domain that year.

Chabad 'Friendship Cirlcle Seeks Teen Volunteers

In a Detroit suburb a decade ago, a teacher wanted to encourage a teenager to get involved in the community. The Friendship Circle – an organization which pairs teen volunteers and youth with special needs to facilitate fun and friendship – was born. "The teacher thought that if he would give the teenager a chance to volunteer it would encourage him and lift his spirits," explained Rabbi Shalom Ber Cohen of Chabad at Stony Brook. It worked wonderfully and since then, the Friendship Circle has inspired 100 other branches of the program around the country, including a program at Chabad at Stony Brook established seven years ago.

Transformer Failure Causes Power Outages in Setauket

A transformer failure in the Setauket area caused more than 200 power outages late Tuesday morning, a LIPA representative said Tuesday afternoon. Power went out at approximately 11 a.m. at Gelinas High School and the surrounding area; however, a school spokeswoman said that there was no interruption in the school day because of the outage.

School Budget Situation Still Looking Grim

One more piece of the Three Village school budget puzzle fell into place this week – though it did not necessarily fall in favor of the district's ability to close its budget gap. The Consumer Price Index, which measures changes in the prices people pay for typical goods and services, was determined by the federal government to be 2.4 percent for the year ending February. According to the most recent contract agreement with the Three Village Teachers Association, the level of the CPI accounts for between 1.75 percent and 2.5 percent of the teachers' contractual salary increases. Since the CPI came in at 2.4 percent, that means the teachers' average salary increase comes to 6 percent out of a possible maximum of 6.1 percent. With the average salary increase at 6 percent – though not all teachers will receive that, due to variations in salary tiers and education credits – the district will spend $4,082,000 more on salaries in the 2013-14 school budget than it did in the 2012-13 school budget.

Some Foreign Language Options May Be Cut in Upcoming Budget

The foreign language program as it currently exists in Three Village schools cannot be sustained, according to school administrators, and so the district is considering a number of changes to the foreign language programs offered. Kevin Scanlon, assistant superintendent for educational services, and Vincent Vizzo, principal at Murphy Junior High School, broke down the changes that would be made to the program at Tuesday's school board meeting. The American Sign Language (ASL) program, for which the community fought hard to protect in 2012, is once again the chopping block, as is AP Latin. In the German program, class levels that follow the CERC exam (a "Regents equivalency" exam) would be eliminated.