Meeting of March 19, 2007 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church

Minutes

Present: Helen Greene, Helen Kotzky, Lorri Prince, Don Scarl

The Coalition Spring Brunch is scheduled for 9 o’clock Saturday morning, 21 April, 2007 at Page One in Glen Cove. The cost will remain $25. Leslie Whitely suggested combining the school Real Estate Breakfast with the Community Leaders’ Breakfast. They will both be held on Thursday, 26 April.

The school district Meet the Candidates night will be on Thursday, 3 May. We will invite the school board candidates to speak at the Coalition meeting on Monday 30 April as a kind of rehearsal for the Meet the Candidates night.

The proposed 2007-2008 school budget has been set at about 1.5% below the budget that would be allowed under austerity if the proposed budget is defeated. Increasing the proposed budget by 1% would give the district an additional $600,000. The Coalition could propose a list, in order of priority, of ways the money could be used. Some of the suggestions were:

• A science research coordinator. Helen Greene will ask her contacts about good people for this position
• Extending the Academics Plus program which now covers the third, fourth, and fifth grades, but then stops
• Starting a study skills curriculum for students who need experience with the kind of writing done in college, including things like footnoting
• Helen Greene mentioned that Robert Mannheimer, who is dean of the school of education at C. W. Post University, lives in Glen Cove. We will invite him to join the Coalition.