Voters give West Hempstead school budget failing grade

    Despite the rain, close to 3,000 West Hempstead taxpayers ventured out to the polls on May 18 to decide the fate of the school district budget and board.
    The budget, which proposed a tax levy increase of 9.4 percent, failed with a vote of 1,738-1,080, and the Board of Education got two new members. Taxpayers also voted down Proposition 2, the Resident Initiated Referendum to extend transportation throughout the district, with a 2,1080-601 vote.
    The voters were heard loud and clear. “A 700-point difference between no votes and yes votes is a significant difference and one that the school district is not going to ignore,” said Superintendent John Hogan. “The residents clearly made their sentiments known ... and we take the voice of the people very seriously.”
    But the $54.5 million budget’s failure “does not mean that our residents do not support our schools and public education,” said board member Martin Kaye. “They do, within limits. And our offering exceeded their comfort level.”
    This was made clear at a public session the BOE held on Thursday, May 20, to discuss its options. More than 200 community members — residents, administrators, faculty, staff, parents and students — attended the meeting and voiced their concerns. It was, according to Hogan, a “healthy conversation.”

    As a result, the board and administration agreed to revise the budget before presenting it to voters a second time on June 15. “Under the circumstances, it is the proper strategy to offer another budget plan, as we do not want to saddle ourselves with a contingency budget with its many forced restrictions and limits to our ability to direct funds to areas that we deem important,” said Kaye, who lost his seat to challenger Cynthia DiMiceli in a 1,240-944 vote.
    As for losing his seat of 19 years, Kaye had no hard feelings. “Cynthia DiMiceli will make an excellent board trustee and she will learn quickly. I ... appreciate the way her campaign handled issues in such a positive way. We will all support her success,” he said.
    DiMiceli had kind words to share as well. “Thank you to Martin Kaye for the many years of service to our community and for being a gentleman throughout the election process,” she said. “I want to thank all the people who gave me great words of encouragement and supported the ‘It’s Time for a Change’ campaign. I appreciate all your confidence that together as a community we can have a shared vision for our children of West Hempstead. I look forward to working in collaboration with the other board members in building a stronger bridge between the students, parents, teachers, administrators and the community.”
    Kaye believes that is what’s ahead. “Our district is special and the sharing culture that our BEE has created over the years will continue,” he said. “With our two newest members joining the board team, I can only see good things happening for us.”
    Rudolph Schindler topped seven-year incumbent Davis Whelpley and candidate Nathalie Crosland with 818, 802 and 543 votes, respectively.
    “All the candidates running for the board worked very hard to get people out to vote and support the school budget,” said BOE President Pam Lotito. “The newly elected members are very enthusiastic about their new positions.” DiMiceli and Schindler will be sworn in at the Board of Education Reorganization Meeting on July 6.
     Board member Anthony Brita, who ran unopposed for his second three-year term, was re-elected with 1,566 votes.
    A revised budget will go before the community for a vote in mid-June. If it fails a second time, the district will have to adopt a contingency budget which, this year, allows no increase over the 2009-2010 budget. Visit the West Hempstead Union Free School District’s website, whufsd.com, for more information.

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