Audience members were told to fasten their seatbelts as Valley Central School District Superintendent Dr. Richard Hooley prepared to read through a six-page list of potential reductions for the 2010-2011 school year during the district’s second Citizens’ Advisory Budget Committee meeting Monday night.

“What I’m about to talk about will break your heart,” Hooley told the hundreds of concerned parents, teachers and community members present at the meeting, adding that while none of the cuts were palatable, the district needs to come up with approximately $5.2 million in savings to compensate for state aid reductions and expenditure increases.

“We would not have a six-page list if we weren’t looking at $3.6 million in state aid reductions,” Hooley said. “This is the hardest thing any of us have ever done but we have to do the best we can with the hand we were dealt.”

Before going through the list line by line to discuss specific savings, the superintendent stressed that each item was open for discussion and that there were no done deals. Among the options named was the reduction of certified staff members at the elementary, middle and high school levels; the elimination of extra-curricular activities, music and sports; cutting programs such as evening high school, the Trinity program and Link Crew and converting to half-day kindergarten.

“I never thought I’d have to stand in front of a group of people and suggest eliminating things like athletics and music which are tied to good academic achievement,” Hooley said. “These are things that our students can put on their resumes and college applications. But how can you suggest cutting instructional programs without also looking at extra-curriculars?”

Next, the superintendent reviewed those options listed in the, “general,” category, which included cutting back to a four-day work week in the summer, canceling all remaining district-funded field trips, prohibiting building use on weekends, reducing textbook purchases and using only electronic messages to parents rather than paper.

“Some of these choices are easier to make than others but unfortunately they don’t make up enough money,” said Hooley, explaining that when all is said and done, the total savings if each item on the list was reduced would be $7,121,998.

“We obviously overshot our goal but I didn’t want to be accused of not putting it all on the table,” Hooley said. “Any of these cuts would undoubtedly be devastating for our district but this is meant to be a brainstorming session. I’m not sugar coating anything; these are worst case scenarios.”

Before ending the meeting, the superintendent turned the microphone over to audience members and asked them to help school officials and Board of

Education members prioritize by naming the one thing they’d like to preserve. Among the most common answers were small class sizes, full-day kindergarten, middle and high school teachers and extra-curricular activities.

The district will specify possible plans for restructuring elementary schools at the next CABC meeting, which will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 4 at Valley Central Middle School.

By JESSICA McALEESE
jmcaleese@tcnewspapers.com