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The Comsewogue middle school robotics team poses with coaches Steven Nielsen and Jennifer Caltagirone. Photo by Alex Petroski
Steven Nielsen shows off the creation of the Robotic Raccoons, Comsewogue's middle school team. Photo by Alex Petroski
Steven Nielsen shows off the creation of the Robotic Raccoons, Comsewogue’s middle school team. Photo by Alex Petroski

Comsewogue’s John F. Kennedy Middle School robotics team captured the Long Island Championship in the FIRST LEGO Robotics Competition at Longwood High School on Feb. 28, competing against about 150 other teams. They will be moving on to nationals in Missouri in April.

The board of education honored the team for its achievement at the board’s meeting on Monday.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Superintendent Joe Rella said in an interview. “They’ve been working on this project for a while, and that’s great that they have that interest.”

The Robotic Raccoons team, coached by Steven Nielsen and Jennifer Caltagirone, is collecting bottles and cans as a means of fundraising for their trip to Missouri. Anyone who would like to help should bring their recyclables to the middle school’s main entrance lobby.

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Jeff Carlson outlines budget figures. Photo by Andrea Moore Paldy

As school districts begin to move into budget-planning season, the Three Village board will be making decisions with one less board member.

Susanne Mendelson, a trustee since 2010, resigned Wednesday night, saying she wanted to focus on her master’s program in speech language pathology. Her term expires at the end of June.

As far as the budget goes, the forecast looks good and will include staff increases. Jeff Carlson, assistant superintendent for business services, told school board members that there will be no reductions to programs and services in a bid to meet the cap on the tax levy increase.

While the cap for the 2016-17 year is 2.41 percent, state aid will increase by $4.4 million, Carlson said. Of that increase, $2.9 million is building aid that is tied to the district’s construction bond, which was passed in 2014. Carlson said that the final number on state aid usually increases with the approved state budget.

Even so, New York school districts are still losing aid to the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA), a measure that deducts money from aid packages to fund the state’s budget. Though the State Senate has voted to eliminate the GEA, the Assembly has yet to vote on the bill. Three Village expects to lose $2.3 million to the GEA for the coming school year. This is down from last year’s $3.3 million. Since the inception of the GEA, the district has lost $34.7 million in aid, which is about $2,576 for the average taxpayer, Carlson said.

He said the plan for next school year includes decreasing dependency on the assigned fund balance, money left over from the previous year and used as revenue to balance the current budget. Currently, $2 million is being used from the fund balance, a decrease from the previous year. Carlson explained that by decreasing the sum allocated from the assigned fund balance, the district will save more money to handle budgetary issues that might arise due to “tax cap issues.”

At the end of the 2015 fiscal year, the district had $17.4 million in its unassigned fund balance — a “rainy day” fund for emergencies — and restricted funds — money designated for specific uses such as workers compensation and unemployment insurance funds.

The continued decline in enrollment at the elementary level — the district anticipates 110 to 120 fewer students — means that 3.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching positions will be reassigned to math academic intervention services (AIS), based on need, at the five elementary schools, Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said.

The secondary level will see an increase of 1.6 FTE positions to rebuild the business department and put back courses such as virtual enterprises and web design. Those “reflect 21st century learning,” Pedisich said. There will also be a .4 increase for American Sign Language.

Additionally, the district plans to add computer science instruction and writing centers at both junior highs. Pedisich said the approximately 60-student decline will mean that existing staff can cover the new programs. The writing center at the high school will get additional staff, a .4 FTE increase. The district will also bring in a technology lead and a special education mentor/behavioral consultant.  Neither of those positions will require additional staffing.

Other staffing changes include a floating nurse — one FTE — an assistant director of facilities, and an addition of 2 FTEs for clerical staff.

Carlson explained that improvements to buildings and property are excluded from the tax cap so that they don’t compete with educational programs. Proposed projects for the next school budget year include reconfiguring the Setauket Elementary School bus loop for better traffic flow, adding air conditioners to the elementary school auditoriums and junior high cafeterias and a generator at W.S. Mount Elementary School.

The budget is set to be adopted on April 13 and the hearing is scheduled for May 4. The public will vote on the budget and select a replacement for Mendelson on May 17.

Mendelson read her resignation letter early in the meeting.

“I have always valued public education and have worked enthusiastically to help ensure that the students of today and tomorrow will have at least — if not more than — what my peers and I were privileged to experience here in Three Village,” she said as she read her letter.

“I must lead by example, and make my own education paramount at this time.”

Mendelson, who has a son in junior high, promised to remain involved with the district as both a parent and a member of the community.

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Harborfields Superintendent Francesco Ianni. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

Harborfields Board of Education members were unanimous that it is the right time to pierce the 0.37 percent tax levy cap.

At the March 5 board meeting, trustees agreed that the approximate $82.7 million budget, with a tax levy of 2.66 percent, is the best option for the district, because of the programs it would provide, including full day kindergarten, an additional librarian, and a third-grade strong program.

Referred to as Option 3 in the district’s presentation, this budget would require a 60 percent super majority vote and would not include New York State tax rebates for any residents.

“We are not being greedy,” Trustee Suzie Lustig said at the meeting. “We are being reasonable and our government has given us an unreasonable and unfair task of trying to fund this budget. We’re not putting in excessive electives. We are doing what is necessary for all of our children in grades k through 12 and that would be supporting Option 3.”

Option 3 is approximately $1.4 million more than the allowable tax levy budget for 2016-17, and costs include $120,000 for an additional special education teacher and two teacher’s assistants, $70,000 for a BOCES cultural art program and $600,000 for full day kindergarten.

Earlier this month, the district presented three options for next year’s budget.

Option 1, about $81.3 million, stays within the 0.37 percent tax levy of cap and would require cuts, as it comes in below what a rollover budget would cost the district.

Option 2 reflects a tax levy of 0.84 percent, and costs about $289,000 more than Option 1. It provides co-curricular activities at Oldfield Middle School and Harborfields High School, two additional teachers for grades k through six, and more.

Board members also agreed that the small tax rebate for the next year is another reason piercing the cap is favorable.

“Given the smaller amount of rebates that will be available next year, it would be less costly to pierce it this year than in the years that follow,” Trustee Nicholas P. Giuliano said at the meeting.

According to the budget presentation, the state tax rebate for 2016-17 is a uniform sum of $130, regardless of each homeowner’s gross income — with the exception of homeowners in the district who make more than $275,000, who do not receive a rebate.

Option 1 is the only budget where some residents would receive a tax rebate. But board members pointed out that the 2016-17 rebate is hundreds of dollars lower than years past.

“To me this year is the perfect storm,” Lustig said. “We have the lowest tax cap levy we’ve ever had; it’s practically zero. There will be only $130 for the rebate for those who qualify, and perhaps a big portion of our community may not get any type of rebate next year.”

Assistant Superintendent for Administration and Human Resources Francesco Ianni gave the presentation, and said that the district is still waiting to see if they will receive full restoration of the Gap Elimination Adjustment, which would help offset the costs for a budget with all the programs the community desires.

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Northport-East Northport Superintendent Robert Banzer. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

Northport-East Northport school officials are crafting a budget for 2016-17 that would maintain all programs from the current year.

Superintendent Robert Banzer gave an update on the $160 million budget at the board meeting Thursday night, explaining the reason for the $1.8 million increase over the current year’s spending plan.

The rising costs are due mostly to staff changes and inflation, not new additions or programs, Banzer said, calling the budget “essentially” a rollover. But the district is expecting eight teachers to retire at the end of this year, and he expects that will save Northport money moving forward because new hires replacing the staffers will receive lower salaries.

The state-mandated cap on how much Northport can increase its tax levy is only 0.55 percent this budget season, according to Banzer, so non-tax revenues such as reserves and state aid will fund a majority of the budget increase.

Northport’s projection of how much state aid it will get next year, $13.9 million, would not cover that deficit. In fact, the district is expecting a 0.39 percent decrease in overall state aid, because the current year’s total had included funding to implement a full-day kindergarten program — funding that will not be repeated in 2016-17.

And it’s unclear how much the state will restore to the Gap Elimination Adjustment, a deduction it began taking out of all school districts’ aid a few years ago to help close its own budget deficit.

“There has been a lot of discussion that there will be full restoration of the Gap Elimination Adjustment, which for us would be an additional $840,000,” Banzer said at the meeting. “We’re anticipating that by the end of the month, we will have a budget where we know what [the GEA restoration amount] will be.”

Banzer added that the district would hammer out the finer details of its revenue streams “as the picture becomes clearer and we have more information from the state.”

Trustee Regina Pisacani asked the superintendent if any suggestions the Athletic Facilities Citizens Advisory Committee — a group she spearheaded — gave in December are being considered for inclusion in the 2016-17 budget. Proposals for capital projects ranged from turf fields to updated lockers.

“I can’t help but think about the Athletic Facilities Citizens Advisory Committee, and the recommendations that they just made,” she said at the meeting. “Were those things looked at and recommended for this budget?”

Banzer said the projects would all be discussed, and that savings realized from the upcoming retirees’ salaries could possibly be used toward projects like those.

The district will have further budget meetings on the next few Thursdays in March, including March 10, 17 and 31, the last of which will provide an opportunity for public input.

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By Judith B. Greiman

With the new year comes a new policy at Stony Brook University, and we hope it will inspire some resolutions for 2016 — all campus locations including Southampton and Manhattan are now 100 percent tobacco-free.

Stony Brook strives to maintain a respectful, safe, healthy and clean community. We’re following the lead of more than 1,000 colleges nationwide, including several SUNY schools that have already implemented tobacco-free policies. Our new policy is also consistent with the greater cultural shift toward smoke- and tobacco-free public places, such as restaurants, hotels, parks, airplanes and sporting venues.

The tobacco-free policy applies to all students, faculty and staff as well as visitors on campus, including vendors, volunteers and contractors, attendees at all our events (such as Seawolves football games and shows at the Staller Center for the Arts) and families and friends of students, faculty and staff.

Products that may not be used on campus include, but are not limited to, cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos, pipes, hookah-smoked products and oral and smokeless tobacco.

The University started researching and developing best practices for implementing a tobacco-free policy in 2013. Working groups and an advisory council involving a cross-representation of campus, including students, contributed to the new tobacco-free policy and initiative.

Our new initiative, An Air of Respect, addresses going tobacco-free with a supportive approach that recognizes not only the negative health and environmental effects of using tobacco products but also the real challenge tobacco users face when trying to quit.

Judith B. Greiman is Chief Deputy to the President and Vice President for Government and Community Relations at Stony Brook University.

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Harborfields Fair Start members Marge Acosta, Rachael Risinger, Jenny Post, Jennifer Rogdakis and Natalie Mason in Albany on Monday, Feb 29. Photo from Rachael Risinger

The fight for full-day kindergarten at Harborfields was taken to Albany this past week.

Members of Fair Start: Harborfields Residents for Full-Day Kindergarten, a group established about a year ago, traveled to the state capital this past Sunday and Monday to speak with legislators and work toward a solution to bring full-day kindergarten to the district.

Rachael Risinger, a member of Fair Start, said the group decided to go to Albany to try and increase public discourse.

“We want to bring awareness and come up with a solution with the state,” Risinger said in a phone interview. “And see what we can do with legislators.”

Risinger said the group has a total of 34 legislative meetings involving New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Deputy Secretary of Education, members of State Sen. John Flanagan’s (R-East Northport) staff, Assemblyman Andy Raia (R-East Northport) and others.

“It was very successful,” Risinger said of the meetings. “It was a great experience, we got a lot of support and had a lot of really good meetings where we felt like we were heard.”

Raia said the conference with Fair Start was also a positive experience and added that he fully supports full-day kindergarten for the district.

“They [Fair Start] knew what they were talking about and were very passionate about the issue,” he said in a phone interview. On the issue of Harborfields not having full-day kindergarten, Raia said, “I don’t think it’s fair — a child with full-day kindergarten will learn more than one without it.”

Risinger said the group has come back to Greenlawn with two important pieces of information that could help ensure the change in the district.

The first is assurance from multiple Republican and Democratic legislators is that the Gap Elimination Adjustment will be fully restored. Since the 2010-11 fiscal year, the GEA has reduced every school district’s budget in New York to combat a fiscal crisis in the state.

Risinger said restoration of the GEA will help finance full-day kindergarten.

Jennifer Rogdakis, founder of Fair Start, agreed that the group got a lot of positive information about the GEA.

“This is great news for our district,” Rogdakis said in a phone interview. “It could give Harborfields the push it needs to get full-day kindergarten.”

There is also a bill co-sponsored by Raia at the capital right now that would provide five-year funding for schools that are transitioning from half-day to full-day kindergarten. This legislation was originally introduced by Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski (D-New City) and Assemblyman James Skoufis (D-Orange and Rockland Counties), who are representatives from other areas in New York where some districts do not have full-day kindergarten.

Risinger said this piece of legislation could bring full-day kindergarten to Greenlawn.

“Our children at Harborfields deserve what 99 percent of other kids in the state have,” Rogdakis said. “They need more time to love learning — a half day is not enough time to learn and socialize.”

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Superintendent Jim Polansky. File photo by Rohma Abbas

Huntington school district has begun preparing for budget season.

Superintendent Jim Polansky discussed the state of the 2016-17 budget on Feb. 11, and said the district will have to work hard to create a budget that stays within its 1.68 percent cap on its tax levy increase.

A rollover of programs from the 2015-16 budget would put the district above that cap, and would cost about $2 million more than last year’s budget. That figure comes from an increase in health insurance costs for the district and other personnel items, despite an expected savings of almost $1 million in pension costs, according to Polansky.

As of Feb. 29, the district’s $122 million working budget was still about $132,000 over the allowable limit, meaning that costs need to be cut or additional revenue needs to be found to close the gap. Polansky has said that the district’s goal is still to adopt a budget that comes in below the cap on the tax levy.

“These are decisions that have to be made by the board as we move forward over the next couple of months,” Polansky said at the Feb. 11 meeting.

Piercing the tax cap, which requires a super majority vote of 60 percent from the community, is probably not an option.

“I don’t think that the board is interested in piercing the cap at this point,” Polansky said. “I will state that on the record even though we haven’t discussed it.”

To help matters, the district is also expecting an increase in state aid, due to a partial restoration of money lost to the Gap Elimination Adjustment, a deduction enacted several years ago that cut into state aid for New York school districts in an effort to close a state budget deficit.

The district has additional budget meetings coming up on March 14 and March 21. The vote to adopt a 2016-17 budget will take place on May 17, at which point the budget will be sent to residents for approval.

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Miller Place Superintendent Marianne Higuera and Board of Education President Johanna Testa discuss the proposed budget for the 2016-17 school year during the Feb. 24 meeting. Photo by Alex Petroski

Miller Place Superintendent Marianne Higuera presented her proposed budget for the 2016-17 school year. The proposed budget of $70,602,887 would be $596,007 higher than the budget for the current school year. All instructional and non-instructional programs from the current school year would remain intact.

“We expect some things might look a little bit different, but we’re not looking to eliminate any programs,” Higuera said following the presentation, which was made by school business official Colleen Card. “We’re not looking to eliminate any teams, any clubs; and we’re going to be able to maintain all of our programs from this year to next year.”

Though the budget would increase by a small amount, the school board unanimously approved a tax levy decrease of 0.14 percent on Feb. 24. That means that the district will have about $62,000 less revenue from tax dollars in 2016-17 compared to the current school year.

Despite less tax revenue, the proposed budget would be balanced by a $3.5 million fund balance and additional state aid thanks to a partial restoration of money lost to the Gap Elimination Adjustment, which deducted about $13 million from funding to Miller Place since its inception several years ago. The adjustment deducted money from districts across New York State as a means to eliminate a deficit. Higuera’s proposed budget accounts for about $20.5 million in state aid.

The district will also benefit from a small amount of required retirement payments this year, Higuera said.

Johanna Testa, president of the board of education, heaped praise on the district’s administration after the presentation.

“Keeping all programs and being able to propose a budget that keeps all of our academic programs and increases our capital project funding when we’re in a negative tax levy cap, that’s really amazing,” Testa said.

The school board and administration will convene again on Mar. 2 for a budget workshop meeting at Miller Place High School. Budget adoption will take place on Mar. 30.

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Louise Pizzuto has taught in Mount Sinai for 28 years. Photo from the Pizzuto family

Saying Louise Pizzuto was born to teach is an understatement.

Pizzuto, 62, started working as a special education teacher at Mount Sinai Middle School in September 1988. After 28 years, the mother of two is retiring to spend more time with her family. The Mount Sinai Board of Education announced Pizzuto’s retirement from her current position in the high school’s Special Education Department. Her last day is June 25.

The Smithtown resident became an integral part of the school district early on in her career.

After seeing some special needs students continuously fail and repeat classes, only to drop out of school after the government passed the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, Pizzuto pushed for courses to accommodate her students. No Child Left Behind set higher standards that her students couldn’t reach on their own.

“They [kept] raising the bar, but my students didn’t have their academic abilities raised,” Pizzuto said. “In order to meet [the requirements] and close the gap somewhat, we had to really start putting in place some programs.”

The addition of more leveled classes or self-contained classes allowed these students to be taught and learn at their own level. More residents started moving to the school district when these programs were established. They were also incorporated into the high school after it was established in September 1991. Pizzuto was no stranger to going above and beyond for those who needed her help.

“When given students with special needs, she would give up her lunch period to audit a class so that she could learn different methodology to teach her students,” said longtime friend Gloria Musto.

Pizzuto also dedicated whatever free time she had, before, during and after school, to help her students.

Before working in Mount Sinai school district, Pizzuto worked at Concord High School in Staten Island, and stumbled into special education because there was a shortage of special needs teachers at the time. She was able to get a second masters in special education while she worked at the high school.

Pizzuto’s daughter Amanda Pizzuto-Montemarano said her mother goes above and beyond for her students, recalling a time her mother took a student to the doctor for an examination. The student was abusing drugs at the time, and was getting sick. Pizzuto paid for the visit, and helped other students similarly, while giving them the tools they needed to succeed.

Although the high school wasn’t the only educational facility she worked for prior to Mount Sinai, Pizzuto said she fell in love with the program because of the kids she helped.

While her career at Concord differed from her experience in Mount Sinai, making a difference in people’s lives is always the priority for Pizzuto. As a special needs teacher, Pizzuto put her students before the lesson, and by learning their strengths and weaknesses, provided background information on a subject to help them learn the curriculum at their grade level.

Her daughter said going into retirement is a big step.

“She is going to miss teaching terribly,” Pizzuto-Montemarano said. “But now she has grandchildren and they’re going to have the greatest teacher, like me and my brother had.”

Pizzuto’s son Paul-Eric has dyslexia, and used to sneak books home from school. She started spending hours helping her son grasp material from school. He said growing up with a mother who was not only a teacher but a special education teacher, was a gift.

Longtime friend and co-worker Michele Gaffney, of Baiting Hollow, said Pizzuto motivated her to get her masters in teaching when Pizzuto and her family moved to the Island. The two started working in the school district on the same day.

“She really optimizes what a teacher is,” Gaffney said. “She goes the extra mile. She’s just fabulous. Mount Sinai will never have another one like her.”

But Pizzuto hopes for the best.

“I told the principal when I handed them my retirement papers that I just hope that they replace me with another teacher that remembers the students before the curriculum,” Pizzuto said.

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Superintendent James Grossane file photo

The Smithtown school board voted to close Branch Brook Elementary School at a board of education meeting Tuesday, effective June 30, 2017. Five board members, including President Christopher Alcure, were in favor of the closure. Gladys Waldron, the board’s longest tenured member, was responsible for the lone “no” vote.

“For four years we’ve made cuts to the program, and it is not a proposition that I would like to continue,” Alcure said following the meeting. “We have declining enrollment. We have space in other buildings. Due to the fact that Branch Brook is one of the smaller buildings, and in my mindset we needed to close a building, and if we kept that open and closed one of the other ones and we had a sudden, unexpected uptick in enrollment, Branch Brook could not accommodate being one of seven schools. If we have an uptick in enrollment in two or three years when Branch Brook is closed, we’ll be able to absorb about 1,200 kids, and that was my deciding factor.”

Closing at least one elementary school has been an intensely debated issue between the community, the school board and district administration since the middle of November when Superintendent James Grossane presented the findings of a housing committee that was assembled earlier in 2015. Grossane presented the board with five options as cost saving measures.

Closing Branch Brook was a part of four of the five options. Tuesday’s vote sealed the fate of Branch Brook, though Grossane will take his time in selected one of the four options from his November proposal, he said. More debate is still to come about what happens to students in the seven elementary schools that are not closing to make room for those leaving Branch Brook.

With emotions running high and a filled-to-capacity auditorium in the New York Avenue building that serves as district headquarters in Smithtown, the vote was received with anger and sadness from the community.

Katie Healy has been one of the most outspoken Branch Brook parents throughout the process.

“If I choose to stay, I will hold each and every one of you accountable and likely pushing one of you out,” Healy said to the five board members who voted yes. “I will be okay, and I will fight for those that will have a tough time but I will be there to show you that your losses are greater than your gains. If I choose to stay in this state I will hold you accountable…shame on you.”

School board meetings and public work sessions had taken on some added emotion leading up to Tuesday, though emotions boiled over following the vote. One parent was removed by security after the meeting was over after yelling at members of the board. One was warned twice by Grossane for using profanity during her allotted public comment time.

Peter Troiano was one of the parents responsible for the Save Branch Brook movement on Facebook and an Internet petition.

“I’ll keep this quick,” Troiano said Tuesday as he addressed the board. “You’re all incompetent. You shouldn’t have signed up for this job if you couldn’t do it right. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. I don’t know how you sleep at night. You disgust me. And rest assured, this isn’t over. We plan on taking further action so get ready.”

Troiano dropped the microphone to the ground and exited following his comments. He did not immediately respond to a request to elaborate about his future plans.

Waldron defended her position to oppose closing Branch Brook to applause from the hundreds in attendance. The idea of selling the administration building on New York Avenue has been a rallying cry for the Save Branch Brook community members, though little progress has been made.

“The only reason why I am not in favor of closing a school, whether it be Branch Brook or any other school, is that I think our energies and effort of administration and board should be placed right now on the selling of this building,” Waldron said.

The necessity to close a school, according to Grossane and his administration, can be attributed to declining enrollment and revenue. Andrew Tobin, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and operations, has said in the past that a deficit is on the horizon for the district.

“I can’t tell you that 2017-18 will be the deficit year, but it’s becoming more and more likely as we look out ahead that 2017-18, maybe 2018-19, if we don’t get those type of increases, we know our expenses are going to go up, we’re going to certainly be facing it at some point,” Tobin said at a public work session on Jan. 19.

Grossane responded following the meeting to claims from some community members that the decision to close Branch Brook has been inevitable since his presentation in November.

“This decision wasn’t made months ago,” he said. “It was very careful. It was very measured. The committee did a lot of work. They brought the material. I reviewed it.”

Grossane said that a lot of time and work went into the decision, and that it bothered him that some in the community perceived it differently.

Grossane’s November report estimated that closing an elementary school would save the district about $725,000 annually. Tobin said that Tuesday’s decision should relieve some of the financial trouble that the district is anticipating in the future, though their work is not done.

School board meetings since November have been well attended by parents wearing blue Save Branch Brook T-shirts. They submitted their own sixth option for the board’s consideration, which was assembled by parents in the statistical analysis field. Option 6 concluded that Branch Brook made the least sense for closure of the eight elementary schools, based on projected enrollment decrease over the next 10 years, building occupancy, square foot per student, students per usable classroom and utility cost.

Grossane defended his suggestion that Branch Brook made the most sense for closure at the Jan. 19 work session. Closing Branch Brook would do the least damage to the discrepancy of elementary students being on track to attend either High School East or High School West when they reach ninth grade, according to Grossane’s data. Additionally, because Branch Brook is the smallest of the eight schools in terms of capacity, its closure would leave the district least vulnerable to overcrowding if there were a future increase in enrollment.

Closing Branch Brook should increase average class size, though Grossane called instances where any classes would reach a district implemented maximum of 28 students “outliers,” on Jan. 19.

“Every school has a grade level that runs almost to maximum,” Grossane said. “If we close a building and we operate with seven, those outliers would smooth out. They’d shift. There would still be an outlier occasionally in every building. I’m not going to tell you there isn’t going to be a class in fifth grade that doesn’t have a 28 at some point within the next six years after we close a building, because there definitely will be. But it’s usually one grade per building. Most times, the class averages even out across the district.”

School board member Grace Plourde presented discussions on Feb. 9 from an earlier business affairs meeting regarding the budget for 2016-17. The deficit that Tobin suggested to be on the horizon was not expected to occur for the 2016-17 school year, mainly due to a low number of retirement payments. Tobin said Tuesday that the district is in “golden years for pension reprieve,” though he expects that to change in the near future.

“We may find that we’re not in the kind of trouble that we have been in in prior years,” Plourde said. “Our preliminary budget is looking pretty stable. We’re anticipating that at this point we’re not going to have to make the kinds of painful cuts that we’ve had to make in prior years, but again it’s not because we’re getting the kinds of revenue we need to get.”

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