SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS

[davinci]

***MALLOW HAS GOT TO KIDDING******

We can't afford to have this fool on the board any longer. Thank god Dick is gone, now it's time for Mallow to go.

****VOTE HIM OUT****

[rinx]

unfortunately he's not kidding.
heave ho mallow's gotta go...
C_P_R_
It's time for change. It's about the kids!

[davinci]

- TOP TEN REASONS WHY MALLOW HAS TO GO

1. HE LIED TO THE COMMUNITY IN ORDER TO GET ELECTED. COST - AN ADDITIONAL 7 MILLION ADDED TO THE BOND REFERENDUM
2. HE OPENED THE TEACHER CONTRACT BEFORE IT ENDED AND GAVE MORE SALARY AND BENEFITS THE FIRST YEAR HE WAS ON THE BOARD.
THERE WAS NO REASON FOR THIS.COST HUGE
3. HE CHANGED THE FORMAT OF THE BOARD MEETING SO THAT NO ONE, IN THE COMMUNITY, WHO DISAGREED WITH THE BOARD OR THE SUPT. COULD BE HEARD.
4.HE ALLOWED THE SUPT. TO CONTROL THE BOARD, INSTEAD OF THE BOARD CONTROLLING THE SUPT.
5. VOTED TO OPEN UP THE SUPT. CONTACT RIGHT AFTER HE GOT ELECTED AND GAVE HIM A HUGE INCREASE AS WELL AS OTHER PERKS.
6. ALLOWED THE SUPT.TO HIRE MORE ADMINISTRATORS THEN WE NEED .
7. HE DECIDED HE WAS GOING TO NEGOTIATE THE CONTRACTS, INSTEAD OF HAVING A PROFESSIONAL NEGOTIATOR HANDLE THEM.
8. HE PROCEEDED TO NEGOTIATE THE LATEST TEACHER CONTRACT, GIVING THEM A 4% INCREASE PLUS ADDITIONAL STEPS AS WELL AS MORE BENEFITS.IN A TIME WHEN THIS DISTRICT COULD LEAST AFFORD IT.
9. REFUSES TO LISTEN TO THE COMMUNITY.
10. ALLOWED THE BUDGET TO FAIL AND HURT THE KIDS.
IT IS DEFINITELY TIME FOR A CHANGE
MALLOW HAS COST US MILLIONS.
I'M NOT SURE PLAINEDGE CAN RECOVER FROM ALL OF THESE MISTAKES.
IT SCARES TO THINK OF HOW MANY MILLIONS OF DOLLORS HAVE BEEN WASTED AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE WASTED IN THE FUTURE, BECAUSE THIS FOOL WAS ON THE BOARD. ALL AT THE EXPENSIVE OF THE CHILDREN.

[justfacts]

THE PLAINEDGE COMMUNITY

Pride
Loyalty
Action
Intelligence
Newness
Energy
Dedication
Guts
Enthusiasm

All the ingredients that revived a Community ~ now can revive a District!

On Tuesday - Vote for the team that started us on that road - C_P_R!

The Good Candidates that joined the fray late, can be appointed to the Board later - when the less effective BOE members are requested to leave along with Richman! Remember - The Board is the boss - it CAN ask for resignations!


Ed.

The children deserve more of the Budget share than 70¢ on the dollar! Let's give it to them!

[techie]

MAYBE this is a little "OUT THERE", but,......

We have hours left.
In the morning, when you go out to start your car, instead of saying "Good Morning!" to your neighbor, say "Good Vote!".

When you stop to get the paper and a cup of coffee, tell them you want a cup with 2 sugars and a "Good Vote!".

If you are in the Supermarket and they ask you, "paper or plastic?",... tell them "Good Vote!"......

In MLM Marketing there is a "3' RULE".
ANYONE WITHIN 3', 360 degrees of you is a person to speak with.

THIS, if not any other day is the time to use this rule to get as many people out to vote.

Don't tell them HOW to vote, (at this point it would turn Non Voters against), Just tell them to get out and VOTE!

IMHO, though,.... CPR, CPR, CPR,.

We seem to have 4 candidates that should ALL be on the BOE for the Kids and the Taxpayers.

Now we need the ones that will hold down the Superintendent, and change the BOE to work for the Kids and Taxpayers, and set the wheels in motion for the people that are "Good with the Numbers" to have the freedom and information they need to succeed.
If we get the BOE to switch the BOE votes in the next terms to "any" seat instead of "a" seat maybe we can change the BOE quicker to help the kids.

All in all, I know some do not like or agree with my posts, but.
in the past year I have seen and HEARD,(much on the fields) that parents and students are paying alot more attention to what goes on around them.

When the Polls open, go out, VOTE!, get everyone you see and talk to to take the 5 min. to go and vote.

We can change the BOE with part of this vote, and change the rest later,...VOTE TO HELP THE KIDS AND COMMUNITY!!!

[justfacts]

************************************************

ELECTION RESULTS

School Budget____YES 3337___NO 2044 (5381 Total)

At Large Vote ____YES 2881___NO 1872 (4753 Total)

F Cantatore ____1737
MA Capone_____3037 (4764 Total)

F Presuto______ 2279
S Lassman _____2277 (4556 Total)

R Raymond_____2226
A Fox _________2346 (4572 Total)

Library Budget___YES 3262___NO 1756 (5018 Total)

Library Trustee
L Oden-Bell_____5
R Mallow_______4

*************************************************

Of the 29,044 levers pulled down by 5,381 voters in six contests the average total is 4,841 levers pulled per contest.

Ed.

[justfacts]

From the Newsday Review of District elections:

Plainedge

VOTING
6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Plainedge High School, Wyngate and Peony drives, North Massapequa.

THE BUDGET
The proposed budget for the 2006-07 school year is $63,555,795, which would increase spending 10.55 percent over this year's $57,492,449.

Much of the increased spending is due to the district's decision to restore services cut in this year's contingency budget, after voters rejected a larger spending plan last spring. Among services restored are all varsity sports, many sports at the middle-school and junior-varsity levels, field trips, clubs and other student activities, including honor societies, drama and the newspaper.

In addition, Plainedge is restoring money to maintain athletic fields and to place a nurse in each school building. This year, schools are sharing nurses.

Another expense is a five-year teacher contract, signed last year, which raises salaries about 3.5 percent a year, plus annual step increases based on seniority. The district says that, in exchange, it obtained a teachers' agreement to devote more time to training.

Plainedge says costs of the proposed budget to taxpayers would be held down with the help of $953,000 in additional state aid, and through a decision by the district to apply $1 million from this year's fund balance to next year's budget.

If adopted, the budget would raise the local tax levy, which is the amount raised through property taxes, by 8.82 percent, to $46,450,747. Plainedge says this would raise actual taxes on an average house assessed at $422,000 by $320 a year, or 5.26 percent. That's assuming taxpayers get tax-rebate checks that have been approved by the State Legislature but that could be blocked in the courts, due to financial and legal objections by Gov. George Pataki. The district did not make available tax figures that did not take into account the rebates.

THE CANDIDATES
Three school trustees will be elected. Allan Fox is running against incumbent Ralph J. Raymond. Incumbent Richard Mallow is stepping down, and Mary Capone and Felice Cantatore are running for that seat. Frank Presuto, appointed to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Thomas Dick, is being challenged by Steve Lassman. Terms are three years.

Allan Fox

BACKGROUND: Fox, 47, is vice president of human resources for Loews Cineplex Entertainment in Manhattan. This is his first run for the school board. Fox and his wife, Theresa, have two children attending district schools. Fox earned a bachelor of arts degree in communication studies and music from SUNY Oswego. Fox took graduate courses in business, accounting and human resources at Adelphi University. He is a member of the Eastplain Elementary School PTA.

ISSUES: Fox said the district needs to pass a budget this year to get off austerity. "We can't afford to have a budget fail this year," Fox said. "It's important that the budget pass so that we can restore programs such as sports, art and drama." As a board member, Fox said he would look at "every single expenditure and every category of expenditure on the budget and look for ways of saving money or being more efficient so that we can restore more programs... . I simply believe I can do that because that's a large part of what I do in my day job. I was able to save a lot of money in our Loews benefits program by talking to our vendors and finding creative ways to save costs without taking benefits away from employees. I want to save money without taking anything away from kids."

Ralph J. Raymond

BACKGROUND: Raymond, 43, is a fire district manager for the North Massapequa Fire Department. Raymond and his wife, Linda, have five children, three of whom are district students, and two of whom are district graduates. He has been a resident of Plainedge for 22 years and a self-employed Long Island business owner for 25 years. Raymond has coached community sports teams.

ISSUES: Although Plainedge is on austerity, Raymond said, the community is "unique" because it "pulled together all of its resources to pay for programs so that the children would not feel the full effects of a district on contingency." He said the community has "lost trust and confidence in the board. If elected, one of my main goals is to restore that confidence and trust while still focusing on academic excellence."

Steve Lassman
BACKGROUND: Lassman, 48, is a first-time school board candidate. He is vice president of sales for Creative Leisure International, a wholesale travel business. Lassman earned a bachelor of arts degree in geography from the University of South Florida in Tampa. He and his wife, Lauren, have two children in district public schools and one child who is a district graduate. Lassman coached the Plainedge High School roller hockey team from 2000 to 2004, and was a volunteer for the annual Halloween dance and a field trip chaperone when his children were in John H. West Elementary School.

ISSUES: "Plainedge is a small community, where approximately 11.4 percent of tax revenue comes from the commercial sector," Lassman said. "This means the tax burden is placed squarely upon the homeowner.

"With rising costs in every aspect of our daily lives, our homeowners want to ensure that every tax dollar that they pay to educate our students is spent wisely, and that the board of education has a long-term vision to not only contain the tax levy, but also use whatever means possible to contain costs.

"I will use my 20 years of budget planning and cost containment experience to ensure this is done," Lassman said, adding, "I am a guy that digests data, and I will be looking at the budget with a fine-toothed comb to find out where there are opportunities for savings."
Felice Cantatore

BACKGROUND: Cantatore, 41, is director of sales and marketing for the Long Island Press. He was born and raised in Queens and graduated from St. John's University with a bachelor of science degree in communication arts.

Cantatore and his wife, Chrissy, have two children who are attending district public schools. Cantatore is a member of the Plainedge Tax Relief Association, a community organization that seeks to reduce the tax burden on homeowners.

ISSUES: Cantatore said he's running "to help restore academic and athletic programs, clubs and activities for our children and students."

"I believe that our children should have many available programs and activities in order to have a complete educational experience," Cantatore said. He is a member of the Plainedge Tax Relief Association to help the community gain increased state aid.

"I plan to continue my work and help motivate additional community participation this coming year for increased state aid," he said. "The Plainedge district lacks commercial property, placing the tax burden directly on the community; increasing state aid will be an important issue to help bring tax relief to the district."
Frank Presuto

BACKGROUND: Presuto, 36, served in the U.S. Air Force from 1988 to 1990 and held the rank of airman first class. He was appointed to the school board in November to fill out the term of Thomas Dick, who resigned. Presuto is a critical issues manager for AT&T. He and his wife, Denise, have two children, one of whom will be attending elementary school in September. Presuto is a manager of Plainedge Baseball League Tee-Ball and a Plainedge Soccer Club Munchkin team (5-year-olds).

ISSUES: Presuto said that one of his main objectives on the school board will be "to continue the community awareness and interaction that were created when funds [lost through austerity] were raised to reinstate programs including high school football." Presuto noted that the Plainedge football team went on to win the Nassau County championship last fall.

If elected, Presuto said, he will "dissect every budget item to ensure we are providing the most we can to as many children as we can." As a result of researching this year's budget proposals, he said he was able to cut more than $40,000 from the unemployment insurance line item. "That stopped us from having to cut another program out of this year's budget."
Maryann Capone

BACKGROUND: Capone, 53, is a certified financial planner and an instructor in business courses at Molloy College in Rockville Centre. She also is an instructor at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University in Brookville. Capone has a master's of business administration in accounting from St. John's University and a bachelor of arts in education from Queens College. Capone and her husband, Donald Huebner, have a child in a district school.

ISSUES: "The most critical issue facing Plainedge is how to continue our commitment to educational excellence and keep our budget reasonable," Capone said. Noting that the district is currently on an austerity budget, she said, "There are very few commercial properties to help defray the school tax burden." Capone said that if elected she would "review our current spending to find ways to decrease discretionary spending and to utilize our funds in a more creative way. I would look to maximize every dollar we spend, and possibly look to make short-term investments that yield long-term savings." Capone said she has worked for companies "that were going through fiscal crisis" and that she "worked to resolve their problems."

"I believe my business experience and budgeting acumen would be an asset to the board."

[justfacts]

News of just another record breaker in the District!

First of all -Thank You one and all in Plainedge that turned out to vote! That set the major record!

Next - The Plainedge Public Library Budget was approved by 3,262 voters! A record for Libraries in Nassau County. That amounted to 65% of the voters saying yes to its Budget - an all time high! The number of YES voters exceeded the NO voters by 1,506 Votes - another high point!

For comparison to the wonderful results of the School Budget vote - it won with a margin of 1,293 more YES voters than NO voters. It's winning percentage was 62%. Its YES voters totaled 3,337, that's more voters saying YES to the School Budget when compared to the Library Budget.

And the remarkable thing is that each had more YES voters this year than the usual total turnout of all voters!

A disappointment for the Library was the persons who attended the Library Budget hearing! They consisted of the five Trustees, the recording Secretary, the Director and her Husband. No other residents. But then, what can you expect when the spending increase was 3.35%?

Ed.

Now on to setting a record for the amount of the budget money that goes to the children! Seventy cents on the dollar is not enough!

[justfacts]

Here's what happened in another District!

--------------------
E. Islip district plans deep cuts Will lay off teachers, cancel sports
--------------------

BY JOHN HILDEBRAND, Newsday Staff Writer, May 20, 2006

After a resounding budget defeat, the East Islip school district is proceeding with plans to cut next year's kindergarten sessions from full-day to half-day, lay off 45 teachers and other staffers, and cancel interscholastic sports, extracurricular activities and dozens of high-school courses.

Schools Superintendent Dennis Maloney said Friday that he had notified 29 teachers and other staff they face layoffs next school year and was preparing to deliver the bad news to another 16 staffers.

"It's one of the most difficult things I've had to do, because we are losing some of the best teachers on the Island," Maloney said.

He added that the district was seeking financial help from state Sen. Caesar Trunzo (R-Brentwood), who did not return a call Friday.

Maloney said a majority of school board trustees decided not to hold a revote because the district's proposed $88.2 million budget was decisively rejected Tuesday by a vote of 3,938 to 2,581. That plan carried a spending increase of 6.41 percent and a tax hike of 14.86 percent.

Without an approved budget, the district must operate on an $86.2 million contingency plan, which will raise spending 4 percent and taxes 13.25 percent.

Among classes facing elimination are five college-level Advanced Placement courses in math and science, along with dozens of other electives in English, social studies, foreign language, art, music and business.

While East Islip had warned of potential cuts before Tuesday's vote, the swiftness of the district's decision caught many residents by surprise.

East Islip's original budget plan outraged both parents of young children, because it reduced the length of kindergarten sessions, and older residents, because it imposed double-digit tax hikes.

"They have to bring their payroll down just like any business," said one budget opponent, Andrea Vecchio, who is active in the local watchdog TaxPac group.

With the district's teacher contract expiring in June, many residents worry that any new raises could require further cuts in student services. Both candidates elected to the school board Tuesday are viewed as sympathetic to teachers and one, Gary Lamm, is a school technology administrator in another district.

Nancy Close, president of the East Islip teachers union, did not return a call to her office Friday.

Copyright (c) 2006, Newsday, Inc.

[Go Plainedge!]

In this particular case I think both the BOE and community are being "penny wise, pound foolish".

The contingency budget is only 2 million less than the proposed. However, the BOE should be ashamed of themselves that they didn't look to make minor adjustments to the budget and put it up for a second time.

In this case it was a bad decision on both parts.

[justfacts]

goplainedge!

I concur!

Until School District Budgets are brought under knowledgeable civilian control, "silly-assed decisions" like this will prevail. They seem more emotion and ego driven, rather being driven by brain cells!

There was $2.0 Million cut from a $88.20 Million Budget - that comes to a 2.27% reduction. Probably most of the dollars cut came from the Programs portion of the Budget, which serves the children well.

When making up the spending increase from last year's $82.88 Million Budget - they probably hid, in pockets of padding, about 4% to 6% of the Total Budget increase into several "cash reserves" for Teachers raises that knew were coming in June. That allows for about a 5% to 7% raise for Teacher Salaries and Benefits.

So, a 1% or 2% reduced "padding reserve", with the Million+ dollars of money going directly into an enhanced Program part, (allowing for longer Kindergarten Classes and other increases) could be put out for a second vote - without going to Contingency levels!

The second budget approach they didn't try would have the same Budget dollar, or maybe just $1/2 Million less or so, - but it would also include the restored services that were key to the public and more! Novel idea?

Ed.

Let's get to our own problem - getting more than 70¢ on the dollar into the Programs part of the Budget!