Summer school won't be lost

Whether students like it or not, summer school isn't going anywhere in the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School district. Superintendent Henry Kiernan announced at a March 24 budget review meeting that the summer session will not be removed from the budget, as was announced last month.

The district announced that it was considering cutting summer school due to its inability to pay the $170,000 yearly operational cost of the session. Kiernan now says that summer school will be offered to high school students with the elimination of the phys. ed. program. Middle school students will not have regular summer school, but will still be able to attend the district's extended-year program.

In order to alleviate the high cost of the summer session, Kiernan said, the administration is looking at a program to help cover the expenses. "We may invite non-resident students on a tuition basis to attend summer school," he said.

The possibility of eliminating the session was first announced when the district learned that its state aid was to be cut by more than $2.2 million. But the Board of Education evaluated all options to best serve students, said Cynthia Régal, deputy superintendent for business. "The board looked at all the options they had and, really, for the high school level, they would prefer to not cancel summer school," Regal said.

While summer school has been penciled back into the budget, the administration is still planning to trim other areas to keep the budget increase as low as possible. The proposed $127 million spending plan for 2010-11 is a 3.58 percent larger than the current budget. Athletics would be hit hard if the proposal is approved. District officials are looking to cut $100,000 from the sports budget, which would mean the elimination of several assistant coaching positions. Some $86,000 in cuts from the buildings and grounds budgets and $45,000 from the technology budget have also been proposed.

Régal said that the district did not expect the state Assembly to finalize its budget by its April 1 deadline, and administrators do not know what to expect in state aid. "The revenue side [of the budget], unfortunately, is totally out of our hands," she said.

Régal noted that budget expenditures have remained relatively steady, with minimal changes here and there. She stressed that the proposed budget increase is relatively low, and that the board is first and foremost concerned with students' needs. "They definitely do not want to hurt programs," she added.