Herald Editorial

Approve the Hewlett-Woodmere budget

Posted

Though the Hewlett-Woodmere School District is proposing the first tax- levy increase in three years — 2.86 percent — which matches the spending uptick in a $119.79 million budget, the school district is using its money wisely.

Administrators are planning to add a literacy intervention program at the Woodmere Middle School to help ensure that students who are having problems aren’t left behind, and are put on the right track before they move up to the high school. Board officials have advocated strongly for this program.
District officials also want to ensure that the school buildings are upgraded.

Proposition 2 on Tuesday’s ballot asks residents to approve the use of $14.76 million from the capital reserve fund for improvements to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, restroom enhancements, masonry work and technology upgrades districtwide.

We encourage voters to support the budget and Proposition 2 on Tuesday.


For trustee, Gates, Menashe and Sheinin
Incumbent Trustee Melissa Gates and two newcomers, Judy Menashe and Debi Sheinin, are running unopposed for three-year terms on the Board of Education. Gates is headed to her third term.

Gates said that there is more work to be done, and that she wants to be sure that the proper amount of money is being spent on programs and services. She is focusing on student mental-health programs and school safety.

Both Menashe and Sheinin are involved in the district. Menashe is the vice president of Hewlett-Woodmere’s PTA Council, and Sheinin, a retired teacher, is the PTA Council president and the secretary for the Special Education Parent Teacher Association. Menashe is also an active SEPTA member.

Gates has done a solid job, and Menashe and Sheinin are eminently qualified to be on the board. We endorse all three candidates.

Say ‘yes’ to HWPL budget
Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library Director William Ferro noted that the facility’s proposed $71,416 budget increase, as part of a proposed $6.43 million spending plan, is “negligible” in a library district of roughly 20,000 people.

We agree, especially because Ferro said that the money would be used to conduct a study to find sorely needed parking spaces and to create more programs for teenagers. Both are laudable goals.

We support that forward thinking. Vote “yes” on the library budget.

Incumbent Trustee Ayanna Lane is running unchallenged for another five-year term. She is part of a board that is helping to run a community-oriented library, and we endorse her.