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Three Village Central School District Board of Education

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From left, Board VP Karen Roughley, President Susan Rosenzweig, Superintendent Scanlon and Dr. Kerman. Photo by William Stieglitz

By William Stieglitz

The April 30 Three Village Central School District Board of Education meeting began with updates on the question of whether to arm school security guards. The district surveyed around 1,400 employees, with 55% saying they were for armed security and 45% saying they were against. Of the 55% in favor, 81% wanted security armed both inside and outside of the school. The board plans to survey the community next and said that, when ready, they will likely make the survey available through either an online link or the student database system Infinite Campus.

The board also announced that the ZeroEyes security system, an artificial intelligence weapons detection software that the district has been looking into since October, is finally up and running. The system connects school cameras to AI that scans the footage firearms and alerts the district and authorities in a matter of seconds if something is found.

“We got a chance to do some calibration and test it at this building and Mount Elementary,” said security coordinator Jack Blaum, speaking from the North Country Administration Building. “And I will tell you, I am absolutely impressed with the system.” He said that while the technology is only one part of a solution, he is confident it will act as a deterrent and that other local districts have expressed interest in implementing ZeroEyes as well.

In school funding news, the board announced that following their April 9 decision to remove earlier high school start times from this year’s planned budget, they were left with $1,014,000 to spend on other programs, as well as an additional $100,000 from savings in the textbook code. The board unanimously chose to use $760,000 from this to restore seven elementary school teachers and thereby reduce class sizes, which left around $340,000 to discuss. 

One option was to use $100,000 to restore fourth-grade science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Unlike the district’s previous STEM program, which ended during COVID and had allowed a STEM teacher in every building for every grade level, this would start smaller by having a STEM teacher go to each school for one day a week. Another option would be to restore the Intellectually Gifted Program, though with $100,000 costs for both staffing and transportation, this would be twice as expensive. A third option was to use an estimated $70,000 to restore summer reading programs, which would also require a new program coordinator.

Following debate, the board voted 5-1 (David McKinnon was absent) for using the funds to restore STEM and summer reading, with the rest being saved for future costs. While funding for fourth-grade IG was also discussed, this only received two out of six votes. “Whereas IG services a smaller number, the STEM program would service an entire grade level,” Superintendent Kevin Scanlon said when weighing the benefits of each. “We’re talking over 400 students being addressed there.”

The board also reviewed the district’s success in programming for Autism Acceptance Month. Schools such as Arrowhead, Minnesauke, W.S. Mount and Murphy elementary schools and Gelinas Jr. High school held assemblies, fundraisers, schoolwide walks and other related activities. “I think it’s important that we recognize all the students that we have in our district,” said Scanlon. “The population of autism has been diagnosed more readily in the more recent years, and I think that’s where we excel in this district, because of our attention to our students with special needs… I think this is a way of recognizing them in a special way.”

Another kind of assembly, exclusive to eighth graders at Gelinas, was a live performance of “From the Fires: Voices of the Holocaust,” which included a discussion with the cast. This was paired with interactive classes, led by Principal Corinne Keane and social studies teacher Christina Cone, on how to identify and combat antisemitism and other hate speech.

One more thing that brought students to school theaters this month was the spring musicals. These included performances of “Finding Nemo Junior” at Minnesauke, “Seussical the Musical” at Mount, “Beauty and the Beast” at Nassakeag Elementary School, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at Setauket, “Newsies” at Gelinas and “Anastasia” at Murphy.

For more information visit the school website: www.threevillagecsd.org.

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Three Village Academy, above, is tucked behind a quiet Stony Brook neighborhood. Photo by Mallie Jane Kim
Trustees praise the budget but urge better advanced financial planning

By Mallie Jane Kim

Three Village Central School District will ask voters to decide on a $236.1 million school budget, a 2.27% increase, May 21. The 2024-25 budget, which was adopted at an April 17 school board meeting with five “yes” votes and one abstention, stays within the district’s 2.84% tax levy cap and therefore would pass with a simple majority of the vote.

Support for the budget at the meeting came alongside calls for continued improvements in planning for years ahead. 

According to Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Carlson, the district was able to cut 15 positions through attrition, thanks to 67 staff retirements, and save $250,000 by restructuring administrative positions.

The district planned the budget as though aid from the state would remain flat — a strategy that worked out well since New York State’s budget, which passed over the weekend, walked back Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) proposal to cut funding to certain districts, including Three Village, which would have lost about $9 million in state aid. Under the finalized budget, state funding to Three Village remains essentially the same, less some expected changes in building aid the district notified residents it had already accounted for. 

District officials and board members have indicated they took the governor’s initial proposal as a warning: Cuts to state aid are likely down the pike, so budget planning should take that likelihood into account.

Budget Advisory Committee representative Shari Fontana praised the administration for making strides toward fiscal stability and prioritizing the educational, social and emotional needs of students.  

“We realize that no budget will ever be perfect,” Fontana read, in a statement from the BAC, a committee of board-appointed community members and district stakeholders. “Our district is truly doing the very best they can under the circumstances.”

Fontana added that the committee recommends the BAC convene earlier in the school year and receive an advance copy of the budget with time to ask questions. She also said the committee would prefer to have a multiyear outlook on budget planning rather than advise for a single year. 

Trustee David McKinnon abstained from the budget adoption vote, voicing similar concerns. “I remain concerned that without a clear and strict financial plan to represent everybody’s interest, we’re just kicking the can down the road,” McKinnon said. “We know our costs are increasing faster than our revenue. That’s going to be a recipe for a problem, if it’s not already here.”

 McKinnon also lamented the fact that the board has not yet committed to making secondary start times later in conjunction with the plan to restructure schools in fall 2025. If a time change is not solidified, sixth and ninth graders that year would have to start school even earlier than they would have done if those grades had not moved up to the junior high and high school, respectively.

Yet he acknowledged the 2024-25 budget plan, which increases district spending just over $5 million from the current year, is an improvement. “I agree that we’re headed in the right direction,” he said. “I know how hard everybody works here.”

Trustee Karen Roughley, who has also pushed for more advanced planning, praised the district for the budget effort, especially in light of increasing expenses that are outside of district control, such as staff contracts and vendor agreements. “To be able to present a balanced budget that takes all that into account while not excessing any staff or cutting any programs is pretty impressive to me,” she said. “Do I think things can be tweaked over the next couple years? Absolutely. But this is a great start.”

Voting takes place at Ward Melville High School on May 21 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and this is the first year voters can opt to vote early by mail. Information on early and absentee voting is located on the district’s website by clicking on the Board of Education drop-down menu and selecting Budget Information. 

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Ward Melville High School. File photo by Greg Catalano

By Mallie Jane Kim 

The Three Village Central School District Board of Education will have only six members this year, as one member resigned due to a career change making participation impossible.

At an Aug. 23 meeting last Wednesday, BOE president Susan Rosenzweig announced the change, explaining that the former board member in question, Jennifer Solomon, would not be replaced during this term. A special election would cost an estimated $25,000 to $30,000, diverting funds allocated to serve the school children, she explained. 

“Each of those dollars that we would have to use for something like that is taken out of the pocket of a child, so that didn’t interest any of us in any way,” she said, adding that appointing someone didn’t seem fair.

The chosen option is to do nothing, keeping the board at six trustees as they aren’t concerned about gridlock. “We all work very collegially and collaboratively together,” Rosenzweig added. “We’re not too worried about the even number.”

Last year was Solomon’s first year of a three-year term, but at a board meeting on April 26, she shared that this outcome was a possibility. During that meeting, a board member read an emailed public comment that mentioned rumors a board member planned to resign after the election, and suggested that person should step down before the election instead to allow the community to choose someone in their place. 

At the time, Solomon spoke up. “I suspect the author of that letter is referencing me,” she said, and explained the school district she was working for had cut her position, so she was forced to look for employment elsewhere. “Being on the Three Village Board of Education is a role that I care about deeply, and it’s my intention to continue on the board, provided my circumstances allow me to,” Solomon said.

As Rosenzweig shared at last week’s meeting, Solomon “has taken a position that precludes her from continuing her service to the board.”

Five excessed teachers recalled

The administration recalled five of the teachers whose positions were previously eliminated due to budgetary issues, according to Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon, in some cases to keep class sizes low in each of the primary schools. 

Teacher contracts require the district to keep the average class size in each grade below a certain number, but individual class sizes can vary within that average. 

“We don’t want there to be an imbalance between one school and another school,” Scanlon said. 

But the administration had to get creative to find that balance. “In order to get to those numbers, it’s not as if there was a magic pot of money,” he said. “We actually had to make cuts in some areas.”

For example, the administration cut three permanent substitute teacher positions — a year-to-year appointment — to make room in the budget to reinstate one section of second grade at Setauket Elementary as well as to help cover costs for special areas, such as physical education, art, health and music.

Scanlon also mentioned the district’s declining enrollment, a concern that spurred ongoing considerations to reorganize the schools, is still happening — but at a slower pace. He said there are 77 fewer students enrolled this year compared to last year; last year’s decline was 140 students and the year prior was over 200.

A major factor in enrollment fluctuation is families moving in and out of the district. According to district data, there are more families in the district this year compared to last, but fewer kids. 

“That’s a very unusual thing to contemplate, but it’s just that the families are having less children,” the district superintendent noted. “A family used to have three or four children. They’re now having maybe one or two children.”

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