The Board of Education has decided to offer a weekly update on the m= ost recent board meeting, offering a more narrative version of the meeting highlights than what you will get from the meeting minutes

February 24, 2009

Here is your Board of Edu= cation recap of the last night’s board meeting. Please note that the meeting minute= s, posted on the Canfield Avenue School website upon approval, cover all matters discussed and actions taken, so are more comprehensive than this summary.

We continue to work on the development of the budget for the 2009-2010 school year= . The board was pleased to see that = extra efforts to communicate to the public on this process appear to be responsib= le for bringing more people to our meetings, as there were several questions to the board last night regarding our staffing plans for next year.

The b= oard reviewed a proposed budget that would require a total increase to the tax l= evy of $16,390 or 0.30%. This bud= get features the following:

Reduction of one teacher in Grade = 6, through retirement
Reduction of the full-time equi= valent of one Special Education teacher due to a decline in enrollment of classified students
Reduction of three classroom aides= for regular education, maintaining four
$880,000 for capital proje= cts – Fire alarm system upgrade and heat/ventilation system improvem= ents to the oldest wing. Fort= y-percent, $352,000, of this amount is anticipated from a state grant, $205,000 will come f= rom the Capital Reserve account, with the balance coming from the proposed local tax levy. However, this local portion is equivalent to last year’s capital outlay, so has no year-to-year impact.

In or= der to accommodate the state’s budget schedule – primarily the release= of state aid figures – the schedule of March board of education meetings= is being changed:

§ Adoption of preliminary Budget

= § March 30, 7:30 PM Public Hearing on the 2009-2010 School Budget

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Other Action/Discussio= n

A copy of existing board = policy and regulations on Homework was distributed to board members for future discussion.

A new sound system for the All-Purpose Room has been purchased and installed by the Mine Hill Educatio= nal Foundation. While tempting, t= he board will refrain from booking rock concerts in the school, but if we want= ed to, we could now! Be sure to = thank an MHEF member.

Also, the new ballfield will be ready for Little League use this Spring,= again thanks to the efforts of the MHEF and volunteers. We are formulating plans for dedic= ating the field in April.

Thank you for your intere= st. The next board meeting is schedule= d for March 16 at 8:00 PM, and we encourage participation and input.

Paul Breda

President, Mine Hill Board of Education