Our senators better get together realize we mean business on school and property taxes and get the 4% tax cap moving. They have made promises long enough, and then get elected and forget all about us. I for one have to pay my own co pays, medication, etc. I am tired of payin for everyone that works for the school system. It was ok for them to have the welfare fund and all the perks when the salarys were lower, but now they can afford to support themselves.. Also, the people that argue about rental apartments with children that are going to our schools and not paying school taxes, why should senior citizens that havn't had children in school for over 25 years have to pay school taxes? Has anyone noticed the for sale signs? Has anyone lost their babysitters to another state? How long can the grandparents afford to stay here? With the price of gas how can they afford to take and pick up the grandchildren from school, and take them to dance, karati, baseball, soccer, etc. With the price of fuel oil doubling food and gas, how much longer can you afford to send them? Call or send an email to our legislators to cap our taxes now.

Phillps they give her that great job to judge cakes!!!THATS all she can do right and that great teachers contract!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Smarty...Please read below.

Dear Friend:

Skyrocketing property taxes are the most important issue in our area. Many of you have probably heard about a property tax cap plan recommended by a special commission appointed by the Governor. This tax cap plan would allow your school district propery taxes to increase by 4% a year, every year - in 10 years, that's a total tax INCREASE of almost 50%!! And it takes away your right to vote on school budgets.

I don't want to just cap your school taxes, I want to ELIMINATE them. The STOP TAXING OUR PROPERTY (STOP) plan, passed by my Senate collegues and I yesterday, would cut your property taxes by 20% right away, and completely eliminate them after five years. School districts would receive additional state aid to replace the lost propery tax revenue.

After five years under the tax cap plan offered by the Governor, you'd still be paying over 20% more in school taxes than you are now. The STOP plan would eliminate your property taxes in five years. The difference could not be more clear.

A 4% tax cap may be a good first step, but eliminating your property tax burden is better. Please take the time to read more about our plan and sign my online petition to "join the fight" to drastically reduce your property taxes.

Sincerely,

 

Caesar Trunzo

NY State Senator

3rd Senate District

Click on the following web address to read more and sign the petition.
http://nys3.lpmedia.net/3/news.aspx?nid=17954

INFO, Check out bill S6119, passed Senate 6/13/07, sent to assembly 6/13/07, died in assembly 1/9/08. They bring this up every election and nothing gets done about it. At least we should try to get the 4% cap. They are afraid of the unions to pass anything, for fear of not being elected. They don't understand we can't afford it anymore. Had Maloney had his way we would have had a 27% increase instead of the 12% austerity budget we paid 2 years ago. I also received Sen. Trunzo's emails. The senate makes up the bills knowing they will go down in the assembly. Then they blame it on the assembly. In the meantime we suffer with the cost of living. Wonder what the cost of living raise will be for the seniors on soc. sec. this year. Last year it was 2 and a half percent. Wonder where they live. I guess oil, gas, food, medicine, and co pays are cheap in Washington.

Does anyone know if a new Superintendant has been selected for the district?

I can never get a straight answer from anyone in administration at the district. Some people at Admin. say that there is a new Super. but can't say who it is.

Anyone have anything on this?

After spending $30K for a national search, we found a local candidate (although we did have to cross some water to get him). His name is Wendell Chu and he is from the Fire Island School District. I can not discuss his credentials as I do not know anything about him. Although I am willing to give him a chance, and wish him all the luck, I do have my reservations IF his only experience as a Superintendent has been from a 56 kid district that only goes up to 6th grade.

Here is a link to their web site.

http://www.fi.k12.ny.us/index.cfm

Looks like the new super will fit right in. Pay close attention to paragraph six.



Revote Showdown: School Budget Passes
Written by Shoshanna McCollum
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

They walked on foot. Some rode by bicycle or golf cart, others traveled by ferry or water taxi, and, yes, there were absentee ballots. They assembled to vote. This time the school budget passed. On Tuesday, June 19 at 10:30 p.m. the results were in. The Fire Island Union Free School District Budget Revote Election went down as follows: Out of 286 votes tallied, the budget won by a margin of 184 to 99, the total includes three void and 44 absentee ballots. The proposed budget originally failed on May 15, 2007 by a margin of 91 to 84 votes.

In the end it became a showdown. Year-rounders pitted against seasonal residents, and parents or employees versus those without families with no investment in the school system. Yes, the revote is now over, but at what cost beyond dollars and cents?

Public-at-large programs like public library hours and adult education will now continue without interruption. The use of district property for summer basketball tournaments, the Ocean Beach Youth Group, and Golden Wagon Film Festival will also go on as before without being levied charges for facilities use based on a square footage formula as was feared. Extracurricular school activities such as clubs and fieldtrips of students will not be threatened. Still, things will not be as they have been before.

“They are putting themselves above the constitution,” said an indignant Cindy Klein, seasonal resident of Ocean Beach and wife of Village Trustee Kenneth Klein. “We are not people who rent out our house all summer and stay out here a week or two. They pick and choose who they will allow to vote.”

Over in Fire Island Pines (FIP) were other angry sentiments.

“Wendell Chu and his merry band of thieves has used tax payer money to keep people from voting,” said former FIP Association President, Alan Brockman. “They have harassed people, they have been nasty on the telephone. Their position is totally wrong. We have entered into litigation with the school on this before and we have won.”

There was a group action lawsuit against the Fire Island School by a collection of Fire Island Pines residents in 2002. It resulted in a sealed out-of-court settlement.

“The school is charged with the responsibility of running an election which is legal, and that includes issuing absentee ballots only to qualified voters of the District,” maintains FIUFSD Superintendent Wendell Chu, who contends that there are many myths and misunderstandings that have surrounded the school for decades.

There are presently 81 children enrolled in the Fire Island School District, which includes secondary grades. The passed $5,841,805 budget for 2007-08, less reserve funds, averages out to $63,046 per student. However, these numbers can be skewed by several factors. Fire Island School District must pay out-of-district tuition for all secondary grade students attending mainland schools in Bay Shore or Islip. Out-of-tuition rates begin at $10,000 a year per student and up. The tuition of just one special needs student can cost the District upwards of $200,000 a year. Then there is the small number of the students themselves, which leads to a smaller mathematical disbursement of certain set costs for any school district, regardless of size.

“A businessman may go into New York City and spend $200 a night for a hotel room, it will cost him $200,” explained Chu. “If a family of four used the same room for the same price, it will cost $50 per person. Did they save money? The room is still $200.” Scrutiny of the 2007-08 budget on its own merits did not necessarily agree with Chu’s example:

“I am a retired schoolteacher, and know what the deal is,” said Cindy Klein as she examined the school’s budget brochure. “This $151,427 for curriculum development, what are they using it for?”

However, most observers, regardless of what position they take, see this as an argument that goes beyond items in a budget, or how the vote went.

“You can poke holes in just about any school budget,” said FIA Board Member and Saltaire Village Trustee Hugh O’Brien. “This notation that [summer people] are hostile and against the school? I don’t think it’s the case. We realize that if we merged with a mainland school district, our taxes would soar, but the school has capriciously prevented people from exercising their right to vote.”

For now, Fire Island School may have dodged a bullet, but the election issue will most likely linger as a source of mixed feelings for some time to come.“We breathed a collective sigh of relief after the vote, but the landscape is forever changed at how the District will look at the budget.” Said Chu.

Perhaps this is one statement everyone can agree with.

You know, I really was trying to be optomistic about this.

I was a little taken aback when I couldn't get information from the district but did not immediately think anything negative about it. But, in retrospect, I guess the powers that be in our district will continue to be obstructive.

The only one who is probably being optomistic is our local realtor Mark Hannigan. As long as he can sell his snake oil to brainwash people into thinking that high taxes makes a house's value go up he'll enjoy taking his realty commisions.

Does anyone have any new info regarding the new superintendant?

It seems like the district has been very tight lipped lately?

It would appear that if nothing else, East Islip School District is consistent. Once again the 8th grade English scores are atrocious. The Suffolk County average is higher! (See Newsday)

We are left wondering, as usual, what the district is doing with all the money it receives from the community. Obviously, the district isn't spending anything in the English department!

One of these days (maybe) this community will wake up and realize that more money does not equal better education in East Islip.

The importance of building relationships

Wendell Chu seeks to speak with everyone

By JEFFREY BESSEN

ISLIP TERRACE — Building relationships and
sharing the identical information with all parties
appears to be two hallmarks of Wendell Chu, the new
superintendent of the East Islip School District.

Chu eases into the educational leader chair with 35
years of experience behind him, but plans for the district’s
future squarely in front as he eyes technology,
the curriculum and transitioning students from one
level to the next as his priorities.

Though dressed casually—no tie—Chu is workmanlike
in his ability to dissect a question and
respond. One of the keys for successful superintendents,
he noted, is processing information quickly.

“Another is that you are thorough in terms of your
own information gathering and your solution building
skills,” Chu said. “That you don’t reach for the
quick answer, but you make sure that answer has
long-term stability and long-term usefulness.”
In less than two months on the job, Chu has
already determined that there has been a pattern of
success at East Islip and there is a potential for
greater success.

Besides the athletic achievements, he noted the
Mock Trial Team’s success and was impressed to
learn that a group of students and teachers were
meeting through the summer for a fall event at the
Islip Pavilion (formerly the Islip Movie Theater).

Speaking with people from all walks of life, he noted
that his wife will say he talks to everyone, is the
method he applies to get to know someone and as a
superintendent impart that he works with a team of
talented people and he values everyone’s work.

“There is not a single job being done in this district
that isn’t directly impacting students and is valuable,”
Chu said. “And when you help people to understand
you value the work that they do, I think a relationship
begins to develop.”

In addition to building relationships with his
administrators, community members, and the board
of education, Chu has met with officers from For The
Kids, a district fundraising group and Guy Edwards,
director of the East Islip Public Library, and looks
forward to meeting with the PTAs, students and even
critics of the district.

“Certainly, I am willing to meet with all and want to
meet with those who have issues with the district,
who want to talk about how to improve the district,”
said Chu, who added that he views a large part of the
superintendent’s job is about building relationships
and a willingness to engage them in conversation
regarding what is best for the district.

Technology is going to be the topic of one of those
conversations as Chu seeks to make upgrading the
district’s technology a priority line item in the budget
due to the cost and the manner in which such hardware
and software changes in rapid succession.

He thinks the best approach is to replace onethird
of the equipment every year as most technology
last three years, if state-of-the-art equipment is
purchased. Chu is aware that this is a huge
expense, but noted technology is an ongoing
expense, not a static one.

“You don’t suddenly replace every piece of technology
in one year and then not have to replace it again
for ten years,” he said, noting that though he disagrees
with establishing a capital reserve fund, as
was floated earlier this year, it is an option that could
be considered.

For that he needs to spend more time in the community
listening to residents. One issue Chu thinks
strongly about is the proposed tax cap, which, as of
press time, was approved by the New York State
Senate.
He thinks that districts such as East Islip that are
below the state average in combined wealth ratio,
following an austerity budget (2006-’07), will be
placed in a “less than advantageous position” by a
tax cap.

“To create a property tax cap would exacerbate
that gap … and I think that the legislators are not
really considering that aspect of their proposal,” said
Chu, who noted that he is sympathetic to the tax burden,
but lawmakers need to focus relief toward individuals
that truly need it.

Chu played a little golf in Wisconsin, but is ready
for the challenges of the new school year and looks
forward to the first day of school. “I like to be where
the action is … after 35 years in the business, I’ve
been at the school door on the first day of school
watching the buses come in every single year,” he
said. “I can’t imagine not being there.”

FINALLY, A person in charge who is reaching out to the WHOLE community. Not just the teacher's union and Queen Nancy.

A good place for Mr. Chu to start is weeding out the dead wood in administration. There are some very good administrators in the district, but there are also some that are really holding this district back, preventing this district, and our children,from reaching their true potential.

In the world of espionage it is always prudent to get rid the main culprit. At times once this person is removed all the other underlings fall into place. So let's not mince words, Alise Becker-Santa must be fired!!!!!!!!

There are 4 reasons why she should be gone first. Firstly, she is the highest ranking administrator who sucks. Secondly, all the other administrators will see that Chu means business. Thirdly, everyone will see that incompetence will not be tolerated anymore and Lastly, she will be the last remaining person who was mentored by the king of incompetence Dennis Malone.