News Item
Firehouse Chats for the 2009-2010 school year
In an effort to continue the open
dialogue among school administrators, parents and the general
public, the Monticello
Board of Education and Superintendent of
Schools Dr. Patrick Michel will once again host the Firehouse Chat
series of talks with the community.
These open forums will be held at various locations throughout the
district. They will be informational meetings that include a
presentation by district officials and a Q&A
session.
Wurtsboro Chat brings out dozens of concerned citizens
On January 13, dozens of community
members packed into the Chase Elementary School library to
listen to district officials explain about this year's budgetary
challenges. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Michel opened
the meeting with a video (linked
below) that highlighted the need to keep students in the
United States updated and educated with knowledge, skills and
technology of the 21st century. Conversations included the
district's plan to consolidate its business office into a
central business office run through Sullivan County BOCES - an
initiative that is being enacted throughout NY State as a way to
save schools money. Questions about proposed tax increases were
asked with Dr. Michel clearly stating that until the Board of
Education knows how the NY State budget will address school aid,
all preliminary figures were just speculation.
Other topics discussed included the completion of the
EXCEL-funded projects, the energy performance contract, the wind
turbine installation at the high school, replacing old computers
with laptops, replacing printed textbooks with CDs, corporate
donations, advertising in schools, the benefits of establishing
a close relationship with community organizations such as the
YMCA and the Boys & Girls Clubs, the new regional bidding
process that has saved the district money, further exploration
of shared services between Sullivan County school districts, the
International Baccalaureate (IB) program and its costs and
benefits and the pending release of the demographic and capacity
studies that were conducted by an outside agency.
When all was said and done, Dr. Michel, on behalf of the Board
of Education, expressed that at this point in time "nothing was
off the table" as far as possible cuts for the upcoming budget.
For continued discussions, all are welcome to attend future
Firehouse Chats and Citizens' Advisory Budget Committee (CABC) meetings.
LINK to VIDEO
Firehouse Chat series forum for realistic discussions
The recent Monticello Firehouse
Chat, held at the Cooke Elementary School on October 26, was
attended by about two dozen people including community members,
parents, Board of Education members and school administrators.
The meeting was facilitated by Superintendent of Schools Dr.
Patrick Michel.
During the two-hour meeting, many issues were discussed in an
honest and open manner. These included ideas to decrease the
district’s drop-out rate, increase students’ math skills and the
necessity to mobilize to do something about the huge amount of
land that is off the tax roles. One parent in attendance
commended Dr. Michel for increasing student learning and
achievement by making some important changes to the structure of
the district schools.
“Your schools are better than fine – I took my children out of
parochial school and enrolled them in Monticello Schools and I
truly believe they are getting a better education here.”
The biggest conversation of the evening was about the upcoming
school budget and some of the challenges the district is going
to face over the next few months. These include a $1 million
mid-year cut in state aid, a possible zero percent budget cap
and the increase in the district's contributions to the State Teachers
Retirement Fund – from 6 percent to 9 percent.
Some suggestions for saving money included reorganizing bus
routes even further and consolidating certain services with some
of the smaller districts in the county. The Firehouse Chat
series will continue over the next few months with meetings in
other geographical locations throughout the district (see
below). All community members are welcome and encouraged to
attend and share their ideas and thoughts.