Hebron Dollars & Sense

Large turnout at the RHAM BOE meeting tonight--most wanting to speak in favor of retaining golf, indoor track, and gymnastics programs. Chair said they'd gotten lots of calls and emails, and he does not recommend cutting these sports from the budget. He recommended coming to the next meeting prepared to discuss the middle-of-the-road proposal (1.49%, I believe?), with some other cuts that would bring it down to about 1.21%. They will discuss it from there, in an attempt to come up with something that works.

There was a presentation regarding the day treatment program, which I gathered is for special ed. kids who need a more supportive program than usual. It's new this year, and the way it was presented, it save $53,000 per pupil in costs, because they can be educated in-house rather than sent out of district. It sounded like there are 4 staff involved. Don't know what their salaries are, but assuming an avg. of $50K, the program costs $200K, and with 6 kids currently enrolled, it saves close to $300K. There is room for 2 more students as well.

One resident spoke out about spending $20K per year on curriculum writing. She was a former high school teacher, and said that curriculum prep should be included as part of a teacher's duties. Also pointed out that the teachers always use the fact that they work summers and evenings during arbitration. So she felt that preparation of curriculum should be part of what they are doing during that time in excess of 180 days.

Another resident said she'd been reading the papers lately, and felt the BOE wasn't asking for much. She said "other school districts" were asking for much more--4%, 10%. What papers is she reading? Are there any local districts that have actually had the nerve to ask for 10% in this economy?

A better question ... "What planet is she living on ... not what paper". What a world!! Again ... "comprehension" is the key, not just the reading. WHOA!!

"What planet is she living on"

Mombert--that was actually my first reaction!

What was she Smoking Is RIGHT?

Musta Got Into Sum1's Stash Eh

Comprehesion Of The Myrid Of facts Is Key to Understanding The Bull Being Put Forth by Ellie, Doobie & The Hboe MINUS 2

All They Have To Do To "Comprehend" Is To read The Blogs Here.

At least You Can Put Forth public Comment Here, Not Like A "Our way Or Else" Mtgs Of The HBOE, Which Stifles Public Comment Not Favoring Their Slant On Things.

Keep It Up folks, This Old Political warrior Is Loving This & They way The Opposition To Ellie/Doobie & The Hboe MINUS 2 Have Them Back Into A Corner With COLD SOLID FACTS That REFUTES Their way Of Doing Things

KEEP IT UP!!!!

Now that I have more time to write, here is something that is bothering me about the RHAM BOE meeting. Michael Turner said that they had gotten a lot of emails about the sports programs. That is the only thing he mentioned about the 0 percent budget, which made it sound like based on that alone, they were deciding to focus on the 1.49 percent budget instead. I think someone said they got 12 emails. Not even necessarily from separate individuals. So based on, at most, 12 people, the board is going to ask the entire town to pay for a 1.49 percent budget rather than a 0 percent? And we all know that 1.49 is actually much higher, because of the higher # of RHAM students coming from Hebron next year.

Another question I had--Jim Cherry suggested using the surplus from this year, which I think they expect to be around $50,000, to purchase some of the textbooks and pay for the curriculum writing that would otherwise be cut from the 1.49 percent budget. Can they just do that? Is that money supposed to go back to the town, like with the Hebron BOE? That reminds me of the money that they got back for the flooring repairs at the high school. They wanted to go ahead and spend that as well, even though the floor repairs had been paid for by bonds that the town financed.

Taxpayer, If My FEEBLE Memory Is Correct, The HBOE Had A Surplus Last Yr( $30,000 Or So) & Spent It On Furniture Etc, WITHOUT INPUT From The Electorate, SEW, The RBOE Might/Will Pull The Same Stunt

Off To Pay Taxes