Community Views

The meeting started at 7:02 pm with the Board of Education voting to approve a referendum on how the NYS excel money will be spent.  This is state aid ($485,000) other than the regular state aid that the district will spend on replacing the remainder of the windows in the middle/ high school and technology upgrades at the middle/ high school.  The Superintendent is proposing a 6.95% increase to the budget.  The $485,000 represents an additional 1.35% increase to the budget so the district would really be getting an 8.3% increase, but of course the Superintendent does not put the two figures together in this way.   By keeping them separate it gives the appearance that the district is only receiving a 6.95% increase in funding.   A vote was taken by the board to approve a teacher’s retirement incentive of $30,000 in the hope that it will save the district some money.   Results will depend on how many choose to participate.  The vote passed with Mike Smith and Debbie Sicuranzo voting no.  

Can someone please tell me what she is talking about?  It sure sounds cosmic to me. Though not as adept as our previous Superintendent at what we have come to know as “edu-speak”, it is still hard to understand what the heck she is talking about. I’ve been listening to our Superintendents give their budget presentations for seven years now and I doubt there are more than a hand full of people who come away understanding what was said.  I believe that is their intention.  Part of my purpose for posting this review is to try and cut through the crap.  I will touch upon some of the more interesting points made by the Superintendent but I will not be analyzing all of what she said. She is basically reading from the literature provided at the meeting which you can view here, but not on the Valhalla School District web site.

The Superintendent then talked about space constraints and enrollment increases. These two should be grouped into one. Without enrollment increases there are no space constraints.  The Superintendent stated several times how accurate the enrollment projections were.  At one point in her presentation Superintendent Ramos-Kelly said enrollment predictions were 97% accurate.  Later in the presentation she bragged again about the accuracy of the enrollment projections as being about 95% accurate. This in not an exaggeration or half truth.  This is a bold faced lie!  Click on this link and read my email to Superintendent Ramos-Kelly concerning the enrollment fraud the district has been cashing in on, and click here to view the chart that tracks the real enrollment increases that the district is not showing this year.  

There will be new course offerings at the high school with no additional staffing. What does this tell us?  Certainly we are not getting the teachers to do more than what they are being paid for contractually.  So this leaves two possibilities, both bad. Either there were teachers last year who were not working or the enrollment in the high school has decreased to a degree where there would be teachers not working this year.  Both these scenarios reflect the enrollment scam the district has perpetrated on the public.  

The Superintendent finished her presentation and asked the board if they had any questions. Board member Mike Smith asked about some special education numbers that didn’t appear to add up.  I was not given the same material as the board so I cannot verify Mr. Smith’s special ed. numbers.  Mr. Smith did convey to me in a telephone conversation that he was concerned with what appeared to be unusually high special education expenses.  I suggested that comparative statistical information concerning special education be compiled to see how we compare to other schools, and verify his concern. I know that if I don’t do it myself, this comparative analysis will never materialize.  For those of you who are unaware, it was John Fitzgerald and I who compiled the only list that shows how many students from each of the three municipalities attend Valhalla Schools.  The school district itself does not keep this data. 

The meeting progressed to the Business Administrator, Brian Wolfson, who presented an explanation of employee benefits and debt service.  Remember, this is the man who negotiated a five year extension of his contract with yearly raises averaging 7.5% per year. It is alleged that the board, at the time of renegotiation, was compelled to grant Mr. Wolfson’s extension and generous increases because under a threat of yet another lawsuit.  To view Mr. Wolfson’s contract click here. To read his presentation at this meeting click here.  

 Mr. Wolfson pointed out that we are still paying for a bond from 1991 and another from 1999.  We are also still paying $37,000 a year for the lease on the turf football field. For those of you who don’t remember, or would rather choose to forget, this is the same football field that was supposed to be provided for free of charge in the “Fill for Fields” debacle.  It is the same field that is referred to in the NYS Comptrollers report that is described as being illegally acquired because the district did not put it to a public vote.  At this point in time it would be fiscally irresponsible to incur another bond debt.  

Bob May’s presentation ended with quite a long discussion concerning the installation of security cameras in the buildings. 

At this time all the presentations were done and the meeting was open to questions from the board.  Mr. Rosenberg had questions about whether the new Mac computers purchased this year at the Kensico School were paid with Westhelp money and why there is $90,000 dollars in this year’s budget for new Mac computers.  The superintendent told him that the Westhelp money did not pay for Kensico’s Mac computers and that the $90,000 was to pay for new Mac computers in the middle/high school.  There is something that was not discussed concerning these Mac computers that needs to be said.  The Mac computers are an unnecessary replaced of perfectly functioning PC computers. Now the next question is what the district is going to do with all the PC’s they are replacing. Most of the computers that are being replaced are only used to get on the internet and send emails.  You don’t need a Mac to do that.   

 Mr. Rosenberg seemed agitated at the fact that no other board member seemed concerned regarding his allegations of waste by the district and asked the other board members if anyone cared?  Good question.  Are our board members adhering to their fiduciary responsibilities to the taxpaying public, or are they just a rubber stamp for the Superintendent?  In a phone conversation I had with board member Brian Macken, we both agree that as abrasive and arrogant as he may be, Mr. Rosenberg does make very valid points.  The forward and blunt way in which Mr. Rosenberg makes his point may very well be what this board needs to jolt them into the realization that this district is misspending and overspending.   

When it seemed clear that the school’s spending, according to next years budget proposal, was being seriously challenged, Superintendent Ramos-Kelly stated that an alternate stream of funding provided by parents had been discussed. This needs to pass from the discussion phase into the reality phase.  Much like the Westhelp funding itself was deemed unconstitutional because it was not a town wide benefit, more and more of Valhalla’s spending does not benefit the majority of the students, only a select few. When relatively large expenditures are benefiting only a few students and fall into the extra curricular or enrichment category, then it is time to ask the parents to provide the funding themselves.  Board member Christine Petrillo made an attempt to justify the doubling of the funding for the play in just one year by saying the quality of the production has improved significantly.  With all do respect to Mrs. Petrillo, I must say that if you want to see a professional production, go see a Broadway show. I’m quite sure the primary purpose of having students put on a musical is not to produce a top quality production, but to introduce students to a particular form of entertainment, to experience how hard work can be rewarding and fun, and to share a sense of team work and camaraderie with their classmates.  The quality of the production, for all intents and purposes is negligible. I speak from experience.  I was involved with three musicals at Westlake High School as a Westlake Player. Mrs. Petrillo also asked for explanations about special education and transportation expenses. 

The topic was changed when board member Mike Smith asked about a $200,000 increase to boces op. ed. which appears under the category of instructional.  The Business Administrator Brian Wolfson answered by stating there was an increase in students. There were a few more random budget questions which were also answered by Mr. Wolfson. He displayed a certain amount of sarcasm in his answers effectively diminishing the possible importance of the question.  

   I would like to now show you proof how you are being dishonest. Last year during the budget cycle I demonstrated to you, the Board of Education, and the viewing audience, with documentation from the district itself, how for the last six years the Valhalla School District has been exaggerating enrollment increases by 44% per year. You and the board chose to ignore me. At that meeting I made my own prediction. I asked everyone to remember the 56 student increase that the district was forecasting for this year, because I was confident that the enrollment would fall far short of that number. I did not realize how correct I would be. The increased enrollment from last year to this year was only 7 students in the entire district, not the 56 students projected last year. I see that the statistical data provided this year conveniently excluded last year's enrollment numbers. There is also now proof that these completely inaccurate predictions are driving up the budget. If you look at last years Virginia Rd. School (K-1-2) enrollment numbers, you can see that an additional section was added to accommodate a projected increase of 12 students for a projected total of 407 students. As you look at this years current enrollment at Virginia Rd. School, you can see there was an increase of only 1 student for a total of 396 students. I would also like to point out that no adjustments were made for next year's Virginia Rd. School section count, as there is one section deleted but also one added for a net of zero. I am scared to think how many times this has happened in the past. It's no wonder our student to teacher ratio is 6.5 to 1.