GARRET MEADE FILE PHOTO | Shannon Dwyer, a pentathlon veteran, working on her hurdling during Mattituck’s practice last March.

The Mattituck school board is expected to announce which track color the district will settle on at Thursday night’s regular meeting, according to the agenda.

Last month, district business administrator Michael Engelhardt said the track color choices include: black, green, red and blue.

Although many school board members’ ears perked up when he mentioned blue was a choice (since the school’s colors are blue and gold), Mr. Engelhardt suggested they go with a different color because the shade of blue the track comes with is more like a baby blue. He added red is the most popular color for track facilities.

[Related: One student’s dedication helps make new track a reality in Mattituck]

In addition to the track color, the school board is also expected to discuss track construction plans.

Voters approved a $925,000 bond in October to replace the defunct cinder track with a new facility suitable for the team to host meets. Since then, the district has been hit with $30,000 in unforeseen costs because the makeup of the soil under the existing track is “not compactable,” Mr. Engelhardt said.

About 2 1/2 feet under the entire length of the track needs to be dug up and refilled before the new all-weather, polyflex track is installed, he said.

Scroll down to view the complete agenda. Check back for an update.

Mattituck-Cutchogue school board meeting agenda, Jan. 16

COURTESY PHOTO | Gov. Andrew Cuomo presenting his 2014-15 executive budget to the Legislature on Tuesday in Albany.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed $137.2 billion spending plan includes a nearly 2 percent increase in aid for local school districts, according to his 2014-15 executive budget released last Tuesday.

Estimated increases in aid for the next fiscal year include: $65,500 for Mattituck-Cutchogue, $36,700 for Greenport, $7,400 for Oysterponds and $230 at Southold, according to a school aid report.

Mr. Cuomo’s executive budget, which represents a 2.9 percent increases in aid for public schools across New York, will now go to the Legislature for approval.

Editor’s note: These figures include aid received for building projects. Some published reports do not include building aid numbers.

Greenport
$1,308,554, up 2.88 percent

Mattituck-Cutchogue
$2,586,303, up 2.60 percent

Oysterponds
$346,516, up 2.18 percent

Southold
$1,595,473, up 0.01 percent

Editor’s note: These figures include aid received for building projects. Some published reports do not include building aid numbers. Scroll down to view the complete school aid runs.

2014-15 New York school aid runs

From right, Mattituck-Cutchogue School District Superintendent James McKenna, board president Jerry Diffley and vice president Charlie Anderson at Thursday night’s budget workshop. (Credit: Jennifer Gustavson)

Mattituck-Cutchogue School District Superintendent James McKenna says he’s confident additional state aid will be available in time to reduce a looming $110,500 budget gap projected for the 2014-15 school year by half.

During a school board budget workshop Thursday night, Mr. McKenna said he believes recent lobbying efforts across New York has made state elected leaders focus on restoring aid lost by a specific budget adjustment formula.

Over the past three years, Mattituck has lost about $1.6 million in state aid through what is known as the Gap Elimination Adjustment, or GEA. In Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget released in January, Mattituck is projected to lose $460,780 through the GEA in the 2014-15 school year, according to Mr. McKenna’s presentation.

In the superintendent’s proposed $39.74 million spending plan, expenditures are expected to increase by 2.29 percent over the current budget. He also plans to use about $1 million in appropriate fund balance to offset next year’s tax levy. He’s expected to give a presentation to discuss the district’s savings accounts at the next budget workshop set for March 13.

Mr. McKenna also said he’s recommending the district maintain its current programs and estimates the proposed tax levy would need to be set a 2.19 percent. The projected $110,500 budget gap is caused by the difference between that percentage and the district’s allowable tax levy of 1.86 percent, he said.

The allowable tax levy calculation is a state-mandated cap on year-to-year increases. If Mattituck decided to adopt a budget that pierces the 1.86 percent tax levy cap, then at least 60 percent of residents would need to vote in favor of the budget in order for it to pass. If a budget reflects a tax levy under the cap, then only a simple majority is needed.

Mr. McKenna said he won’t recommend piercing the cap or cutting programs and extracurricular activities because state lawmakers said during the annual Longwood Regional Legislative Breakfast in Middle Island last month that they’re committed to restoring aid lost through the GEA.

“I believe the gap will be closed because of the increase in state aid,” he said. “I would project it is going to close at least half of that gap through state aid.”

As for the remaining shortfall, Mr. McKenna said he’s looking to make changes in the district’s technology and capital repair budgets.

Only one resident spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting and asked if the board would consider adopting a new tax exemption for war veterans.

School board president Jerry Diffley said the exemption will be discussed at an upcoming Board of Education meeting.

Board vice president Charlie Anderson said the board didn’t have enough information to make a decision in time for the March 1 deadline. Southold and Shoreham-Wading River are the only local school districts to have adopted the exemption in time for the 2014-15 fiscal year.

jennifer@timesreview.com

The Mattituck-Cutchogue School District held a Common Core meeting Wednesday at the elementary school. (Credit: Jennifer Gustavson)

About 60 people attended Mattituck-Cutchogue School District’s presentation Wednesday evening about how Common Core standards are being achieved inside the classroom.

During the meeting, assistant superintendent Anne Smith and high school principal Shawn Petretti discussed how students are learning to become independent learners and how teachers are working collaboratively across subjects and grade levels.

Students are not only reading more non-fiction, they said, but are answering questions about what they’ve learned based on reading materials.

And in math, there’s an enhanced focus about teaching students how to throughly demonstrate their work instead of simply arriving at the correct answer.

When some parents expressed concern over the new curriculum, Ms. Smith said she believes the best way to craft lesson plans moving forward is through continuous dialogue with students, teachers and parents.

Scroll down to view the presentation. Pick up the March 27 issue of The

Mattituck-Cutchogue School District Common Core Parent Night, March 19, 2014

Mattituck-Cutchogue School District assistant superintendent Anne Smith, center, at Thursday’s budget adoption meeting. (Credit: Jennifer Gustavson)

The Mattituck-Cutchogue school board adopted Superintendent James McKenna’s proposed $39.67 million spending plan Thursday night, which carries an estimated 1.8 percent increase to next year’s tax levy.

The district was able to close a looming $200,000 budget gap while finalizing a budget under the state-mandated allowable tax levy rate — which represents the increased amount the school can collect from property taxes with a simple majority vote — through a combination of delaying a capital improvement project and securing additional state aid from the Legislature.

Mattituck is expected to receive about $2.67 million in total state aid next fiscal year, which represents a 6.36 percent increase.

During the school board’s regular meeting Thursday night, district business administrator Michael Engelhardt said the additional state aid also allows the district to move forward with a $25,000 renovation project for the high school’s computer lab.

Although all current programing is maintained in the 2014-15 spending plan, Mr. Engelhardt said a $40,000 roof project for the Laurel Annex wasn’t put back into the 2014-15 tentative budget.

School board member Doug Cooper — who chairs the school board’s buildings, safety and grounds committee — said the Laurel project has been put off for several years and must be addressed at some point in the near future.

“Its not leaking yet,” he said. “We should get by another year.”

The district is expected to publish the adopted budget on May 6. A public hearing to discuss the tentative spending plan is set for May 13.

jennifer@timesreview.com

A group of Cutchogue East Elementary School students have submitted a petition to the school board requesting a reduction in the temperature requirement for outdoor recess. (Credit: Katharine Schroeder, file)

A group of Cutchogue East Elementary School students have petitioned the Mattituck-Cutchogue school board to reduce the temperature requirement for outdoor recess.

During the school board’s regular meeting Thursday night, second-grade teacher Lisa Salvatore presented an audio slideshow created by students explaining why they believed the current temperature requirement of 32 degrees is too high.

The presentation included students explaining why they don’t mind the cold and included a slideshow of pictures they drew of student having fun during outdoor recess.

After board members said they were under the impression the 32-degree limit was a state mandate, assistant superintendent Anne Smith said the district is in charge of setting temperature restrictions for outdoor recess — not the state.

She later suggested the board consider lowering it to 30 degrees.

The school board’s wellness committee is expected to review the students’ request.

jennifer@timesreview.com

Residents will head to the polls Tuesday to vote on their local school budgets. (Credit: Katharine Schroeder, file)

Taxpayers in the five Southold Town school districts will vote on the 2014-15 spending plan for their schools Tuesday. There are no contested school board races.

Polls open at 3 p.m. and close at 9 p.m. Tuesday, except for Greenport where polls are open from 2-8 p.m.

For complete guides of each North Fork school district, click through the following links: 

The Mattituck school board hopes to elect a president during a special meeting Thursday (Credit: Jennifer Gustavson file)

After the Mattituck board of education was unable to choose a president at its July 10 meeting because one member tried to participate via Skype, the board will be holding a special meeting next week to resolve the matter.

The board is scheduled to meet in person on Thursday, July 31 to pick a president. Until then, the board’s vice president Charlie Anderson is charged with running the meetings until a president is elected.

The meeting follows a heated argument between board members over accusations of breaking the state’s open meetings law at the July 10 reorganization meeting.

School board member Laura Jens-Smith objected to fellow board member Sarah Hassildine participating from Rochester via Skype, because the public notice for the meeting failed to include Ms. Hassildine’s location. Ms. Jens-Smith said she believes a district must notify the public 72 hours in advance if a member is going to participate from another location.

Ms. Hassildine later told The Suffolk Times that she supports current school board president Jerry Diffley and would have voted for him Thursday if she had been allowed to cast a vote.

She is expected to cast the deciding vote to re-elect him during Thursday’s special meeting at 6 p.m. in the Mattituck High School library.

The board is also scheduled to discuss staffing and hiring changes at the meeting. A full agenda is expected to be posted on Monday.

The newly completed Mattituck High School track features six lanes. (Credit: Garret Meade)

Mattituck-Cutchogue school board members have officially decided against naming the high school’s new track after former Superintendent James McKenna, but decided to name the auditorium after him instead.

During the board’s Thursday meeting, members voted 6-1 to approve rescinding a previous resolution to name the track in honor of Mr. McKenna, who retired at the end of the 2013-14 school year.

But shortly afterward, trustee Laura Jens-Smith said she felt it was “a little disrespectful” to the former superintendent to rescind the track renaming without also making a motion to discuss naming the high school auditorium after him instead.

“It feels bad. It feels very bad,” she said.

Trustee Jeffrey Smith disagreed with Ms. Jens-Smith and told her he had recently spoken “at length” to Mr. McKenna about the decision not to name the track after him — an idea Mr. Smith said at last month’s board meeting had been met with opposition from numerous residents.

On Thursday, Mr. Smith told the board that Mr. McKenna didn’t seem comfortable with having the track named after him in the first place, and that he was much more amenable to the idea of having the auditorium named after him instead.

“He’s not the kind of person who really cares when something is named after him or not, but when I brought up the auditorium he kind of lit up because the auditorium was his baby,” Mr. Smith said.

School board president Gerard Diffley said there was “no rush” as far as naming the track or the auditorium and that he thinks the district should seek community input before making a decision.

“I think we need to just take a breath and let some time pass,” Mr. Diffley said. “If it’s appropriate in a couple months to do something, I think we should do it. I just don’t want to rush into it.”

Ms. Jens-Smith then made a motion to name the auditorium after Mr. McKenna. That motion passed 4-3.

The lone community member who spoke about the issue was Judy Thilberg, who scolded the board for talking about naming the auditorium after Mr. McKenna without printing it on the agenda.

She said it was wrong of them, and added that she doesn’t feel bad for Mr. McKenna because he “gets a good retirement check.”

“I think [the auditorium] should stay like it is,” Ms. Thilberg said. “I talk to a lot of people in this town all the time and they all feel the same way. We pay the taxes here. Maybe it should say ‘The Taxpayers of Mattituck-Cutchogue Auditorium.’ This is our auditorium. Mr. McKenna lives in Southampton.”

The school will celebrate the official opening of the track Friday, Sept. 26 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the high school, board members said.

“It’s been a long time coming and we want to thank the community,” Superintendent Anne Smith said. “I know our student athletes are going to have a place they’re really proud of and I know our community will have a place they can work out.”

According to the district, a “blue and gold rally” will be held during the school day and will be followed by a flag football game at Mattituck High School at 2:45 p.m. After the ribbon-cutting, which will feature a commemorative lap by the district’s graduating class and its kindergartners, there will be a 7 p.m. bonfire and pep rally. The high school’s “Tucker Bowl” will begin at 8 p.m. The boys and girls soccer teams will play a doubleheader the next day, beginning at noon when the boys take on Center Moriches. The girls then will play Southold/Greenport.

ryoung@timesreview.com

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that the Mattituck school board passed a motion to discuss naming the auditorium after Mr. McKenna at a later date. In fact, board members passed a motion to actually name the auditorium after Mr. McKenna at their Sept. 18 meeting.

Jeffrey Davoli, a certified public accountant with Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Co. in Happauge, said Thursday the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District demonstrated 96.4 percent accuracy in preparing financial statements. (Rachel Young photo)

The Mattituck-Cutchogue School District’s expenses were 96.4 percent in line with its projections for the 2013-14 school year, an external auditor told district school board members at their regular meeting Thursday.

Jeffrey Davoli, a certified professional accountant with Albrecht, Viggiano, Zureck & Co. in Hauppauge, said during a presentation that the district’s financial statements from the past year had been “fairly presented.”

Mr. Davoli added that the district, whose external audit ended June 30, “was in compliance” for the 2013-14 school year from a fund balance standpoint.

“You’ve been able to keep the tax levy within the 2 percent law,” he said. “There are reserves — reserves are there for a reason, for rainy days. I think your spending plan — and this is my opinion — your spending is pretty close to your budget.”

The district adopted a $38.85 million budget for the 2013-14 school year.

According to Mr. Davoli, the district’s expenses “across all programs and functions” were $39.3 million this year as opposed to $39.2 million last year.

In addition, the district had a general fund balance of $9.3 million at the end of the 2013-14 school year compared to an $8.9 million balance at the end of the 2012-13 school year. It currently has $5 million in reserves, a figure state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office called “excessive” in January, creating an undue burden on taxpayers.

The district’s unassigned fund balance was $1.6 million this year, which Mr. Davoli said represents four percent of the 2015 spending budget — a figure he said is “in accordance with the New York State property tax law.”

Also during Thursday’s meeting, board members approved scheduling a public hearing to discuss a tax exemption for veterans on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. The hearing will take place just prior to the district’s next school board meeting at 7:30 p.m. While the BOE discussed the exemption earlier this year, it did not pass it for the 2014-2015 school year.

Mattituck-Cutchogue board members have until the beginning of March to decide whether to approve the exemption, which would extend property tax benefits to veterans living in the district who served during wartime.

Trustees Jeff Smith and Laura Jens-Smith were absent from Thursday’s meeting.

Note: A previous version of this story stated the public hearing for the veteran tax exemption would take place Nov. 30. It will actually take place Nov. 20.

ryoung@timesreview.com

Mattituck fans at Middletown High School for Sunday’s state championship game. (Credit: Michael Lewis)

To the editor:

On behalf of the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District, I would like to formally thank the Mattituck-Cutchogue community for its support of the Mattituck student athletes as they competed this fall. 

Whether the student athletes were competing in Canton running cross country, Glens Falls playing volleyball or Middletown winning the New York State Championship in soccer, there were familiar faces for our athletes to look up to.

The support for our student athletes was evident by the number of fans that packed the stadiums, bleachers, sidelines and streets at these long-distance competitions, parade escorts from the fire department and the celebrations at the high school when the Tuckers returned home. We are proud of our student athletes and are happy that we were able to share their accomplishments.

On behalf of our athletes and our school, we thank you!

Greggory Wormuth, athletic director

Mattituck Superintendent Anne Smith, center, with school board president Jerry Diffley, right, and trustee Jeff Smith at Thursday’s meeting. (Credit: Jen Nuzzo)

The Mattituck school board is expected to vote next month on a new tax exemption program for war veterans.

While property tax exemptions for veterans have been in effect statewide since the 1980s, they have until now only been applied to the county and town portions of a veteran’s tax bill. Last year, the state Legislature approved an amendment to expand the program to school districts, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law in December.

Four people spoke Thursday during the Mattituck Board of Education’s public hearing on the exemption. Each one, including Mattituck resident Suzanne Connell, asked the school board to provide veterans with tax relief.

“No one does more to protect our freedoms than our service men and women,” she said. “Here on the North Fork, our veterans have done this with unspoken pride. They are the ones that paid the ultimate price for our fundamental freedoms.

“Home is where help is.”

Southold and Shoreham-Wading River are the only local school districts to have adopted the exemption in time for the current fiscal year. In Riverhead, the school board approved an exemption in April and it will go into effect in 2015-16.

Mattituck school officials said in February the Board of Education didn’t have enough information to make a decision in time for the 2014-15 deadline.

Once a school district approves the new exemption, homeowners that don’t qualify for the exemption will see an increase in their school district portion of property taxes.

Following the Mattituck school board’s public hearing Thursday, trustee Laura Jens-Smith proposed the school board consider a “basic maximum” exemption, which is expected to increase property taxes for all other district residents by about $17 annually.

The Southold Town Assessor’s Office has recently estimated Mattituck has 683 veterans living within the district that could qualify for the program.

If Mattituck approves the exemption, it will go into effect for the 2015-16 fiscal year. The school board is also expected to vote on an exemption for Gold Star parents living within the district. The designation is given when a child dies in the line of duty while serving in the Armed Forces during a period of war, according to online state documents.

The Mattituck Board of Education has scheduled to vote on the exemption at its next meeting on Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school.

jnuzzo@timesreview.com

Kindergarten registration for the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District will be held at Cutchogue East Elementary School Thursday, March 19, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., and Friday, March 20, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Children must turn 5 on or before Dec. 1, 2015, to be eligible for kindergarten in September.

Forms have been mailed to parents of children whose names appear on the Mattituck-Cutchogue census list. If you did not receive the forms prior to registration and have a child eligible for kindergarten, contact Cindy Sabat at 734-6049.

Parents are asked to bring to registration a copy of their child’s birth certificate; health history; proof of residency (example: utility bill printed with physical location of the home); and, if legally separated or divorced, proof of custody stating where and when the child is living within the district.

State law requires that immunization against measles, German measles, mumps, diphtheria, tetanus, polio and hepatitis B must be completed before entrance to school.

The Mattituck-Cutchogue Athletic Booster Club hosted its annual bonfire and Tucker Bowl at the high school Friday night to kick off homecoming weekend. 

Under the watchful eyes of the Mattituck Fire Department, a 10-foot tower of wood and hay was lit and burned for about 20 minutes as students, faculty and parents looked on.

After the bonfire, students participated in the annual Tucker Bowl in which freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors competed in games such as blind volleyball, tennis ball relay and an army crawl.  Competition was fierce, as was school spirit with many of the students sporting face paint and waving banners.

Today, the Mattituck girls soccer team will host Southold/Greenport at noon. The boys will then play Southold at 2 p.m.

The number of students opting out of state-mandated math assessments this year increased across the board on the North Fork, mirroring a trend seen last week with the required English Language Arts tests.

In the Mattituck School District, nearly 46 percent of students who were expected to take state-mandated math assessments declined to sit for the tests, which are in progress through Friday. Last week 42 percent of students decided not to take the state mandated ELA exams.

Mattituck-Cutchogue School District:

Grade 3: 80 eligible, 28 refused
Grade 4: 78 eligible, 30 refused
Grade 5: 85 eligible, 42 refused
Grade 6: 80 eligible, 41 refused
Grade 7: 87 eligible, 43 refused
Grade 8: 96 eligible, 48 refused

In Southold, 202 out of 360 eligible students — or approximately 56 percent — refused to take the test.

Southold School District:

Grade 3: 55 eligible, 26 refused
Grade 4: 69 eligible, 31 refused
Grade 5: 59 eligible, 36 refused
Grade 6: 64 eligible, 40 refused
Grade 7: 62 eligible, 42 refused
Grade 8: 51 eligible, 27 refused

Last year 40 percent of students opted out of the math assessments in the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District and 50 percent of eligible students at Southold refused to sit for the exams.

In Greenport, nearly 72 percent of students opted out of the first day of math testing this year. In 2015 approximately 68 percent of eligible students declined to take the tests.

Greenport School District:

Grade 3: 48 eligible, 36 refused
Grade 4: 34 eligible, 26 refused
Grade 5: 42 eligible, 20 refused
Grade 6: 52 eligible, 34 refused
Grade 7: 45 eligible, 38 refused
Grade 8: 47 eligible, 41 refused

In Oysterponds, which teaches students in pre-k through sixth grade, 18 out of 38 students — or 47 percent — declined to take the exam this year. In 2015 about 31 percent of students opted out.

Oysterponds School District:

Grade 3: 13 eligible, 3 refused
Grade 4: 6 eligible, 6 refused
Grade 5: 9 eligible, 5 refused
Grade 6: 10 eligible, 4 refused

Some additional eighth graders were also eligible for the state-mandated assessments, but because they are in an advanced math class they also qualified to take the state Regents exam and decided to take the Regents test instead.

Last week, schools administered the state-mandated ELA assessments, which had similar opt out numbers across the board. Forty-two percent of  Mattituck-Cutchogue students, 55 percent of students in Southold, nearly 65 percent of eligible students at Greenport and 34 percent of students at Oysterponds declined to sit for those exams on the first day.

For all three days combined, approximately 67 percent of all students eligible in grades 3 to 8 at Greenport refused the ELA assessments and nearly 56 percent of all eligible students in Southold refused.

Mattituck and Oysterponds didn’t immediately have ELA numbers available.

 nsmith@timesreview.com

While most North Fork board of education candidates will run unopposed next month, Mattituck-Cutchogue will see seven candidates competing for three open seats. 

In Oysterponds, Southold and Greenport, incumbents are running unopposed.

Mattituck-Cutchogue Board Member William Gatz is the only incumbent in the district who filed papers to run for BOE this year. Jeffrey Smith resigned last fall and moved to Florida and after longtime president Jerry Diffley resigned last summer, a seat to fill the rest of his term is up for grabs as well.

The following individuals filed petitions to run for BOE in Mattituck-Cutchogue: Edward Hassildine, MaryLynn Hoeg, William Gatz, Brian Mealy, Tonya Kaiser-Witczak, Barbara Talbot and George Haase.

The top two vote-getters in the May 17 election will earn the full three-year terms, while the third-place winner will serve the rest of Mr. Diffley’s term, which will run through June 30, 2017.

In Southold, Judi Fouchet will run unopposed.

Incumbents Dorothy-Dean Thomas, Thomas Stevenson and Krista de Kerillis are running in Oysterponds.

And in Greenport, Tina Volinski and Heather Wolf are running unopposed to hold onto their seats.

It was not immediately clear who, if anyone, will be seeking office in the New Suffolk School District. Requests for comment from the district were not returned.

In response to the large numbers of students who have opted out of state-mandated testing in previous years, New York State education officials recently compromised by agreeing to hold off until 2020 on tying test results to teacher ratings.

This concession, however, has not reduced the opt-out rate among local students.

Across the North Fork, where the tests were administered earlier this month, 51 percent of 4,543 third- through eighth-graders refused to take the English Language Arts exams and 49 percent of 4,657 declined to sit for the math exams. (Some districts don’t count a small percentage of eighth-graders as refusing the tests because they chose to take math Regents exams instead.)

For the past few years, parents and educators have rallied against the state’s latest system of so-called high-stakes testing, which ties teacher evaluations to the controversial Common Core standards. Their principal strategy has been the opt-out movement, under which students refuse to take mandated assessment tests. 

[Scroll down to view map]

[Related: Local superintendents’ predictions on the future of state testing]

The Oysterponds School District, which runs a pre-K through sixth-grade program, recorded the highest increase in test refusals among local schools, with 13 out of 38 students refusing to take ELA assessments — a 16 percent increase — and 18 out of 38 declining to sit for the math exam, a 15 percent jump.

Oysterponds Superintendent Richard Malone described the state’s rushed approach to implementing new standards and a lack of teacher input on the testing design as the main reasons many people see little value in New York’s student assessment model.

“I think once that’s accomplished, you’ll see a number of the students back taking the tests,” he said.

In the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District, Superintendent Anne Smith said refusal numbers rose over last year by 11 percent for ELA and 6 percent for math, with 249 out of 506 students opting out of ELA and 233 out of 506 students refusing to take the math exam.

Dr. Smith said the district will continue to support the Suffolk County Superintendents’ Association in its collaboration with the state Department of Education on changing testing, standards and the teacher evaluation process.

In December, the state Board of Regents, which drafts education guidelines for New York public schools, responded to high-stakes testing concerns by imposing a four-year moratorium on using student test scores to evaluate teachers and principals.

Jonathan Burman, spokesman for state Department of Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, said there’s been an ongoing campaign to reach parents, teachers and students to explain to them “the improvements we’ve made to the state assessments and the important role they can play in improving instruction.”

“The decision of whether a student should take the state assessments is ultimately for that student’s parent or parents to make,” Mr. Burman said. “But we want to be certain that everyone has all of the information they need to make an informed decision.”

Click on image to enlarge: (Credit: Times Review Media Group illustration)

Some who oppose the state’s direction in education say the recent changes aren’t enough. They include David Gamberg, superintendent for both Greenport and Southold school districts, who has been an outspoken critic of Common Core.

“My sense is that concerns regarding testing will not diminish,” Mr. Gamberg said. “No, I do not advocate for the elimination of testing in schools. However, we must look at the evidence of what testing should look like and how it should be used effectively.”

In Greenport, 188 out of 278 students refused to take this year’s ELA exams and 197 out of 281 students declined to take the math test. The numbers reflect increases of 7 percent and 3 percent, respectively, over last year.

In Southold, 210 of 361 students — the same percentage as last year — opted out of ELA. But the opt-out rate for the math exam dropped by 8 percent, with 204 out of 361 declining the test.

Riverhead Charter School executive director and principal Raymond Ankrum described the rollout of the new standards as flawed since the progression didn’t start with a cohort of kindergartners.

At his school, 31 out of 220 students opted out of both assessments, representing a 2 percent increase for ELA and the same as last year for math.

Currently, federal law requires schools to achieve at least 95 percent student participation in the standardized tests or risk losing federal funding. However, such action has yet to be taken against any school district by the U.S. Department of Education.

Mr. Ankrum said that although he hopes the state will make the necessary adjustments to get “superintendents back on board and advocating for accountability and growth measurement,” he believes the fear of losing federal aid remains a concern among poorer schools districts.

“My prediction is that in affluent areas around the country, the opt-out movement will continue to grow,” he said.

jnuzzo@timesreview.com

Top photo: (Credit: Flickr/dcJohn)

You’d have to go back more than 25 years to find the last time a budget was rejected by voters in the Greenport School District.

But with administrators proposing the second largest tax levy percentage increase in Suffolk County, there was a wave of uncertainty surrounding the district heading into Tuesday’s budget vote.

Then they announced the results, and like just about every year, the spending plan was approved by a wide margin. 

Despite being the only North Fork District to ask voters to pierce the state property tax cap, Greenport joined each of its neighbors in having their 2016-17 budgets approved on the first attempt Tuesday evening.

“I am ecstatic,” said Greenport Superintendent David Gamberg. “I am so grateful to the people of Greenport and for what it means for the school district. It really is a statement to the community and in how much they believe in the school system.”

Greenport was one of nine districts across Long Island attempting to pierce the cap; only Elwood and Tuckahoe failed to muster enough support.

It was the second time Greenport residents elected to pierce the tax cap since it was enacted in 2011. The district’s spending plan calls for an 8.52 percent increase in the levy amounting to about a $1 million hike. The average Greenport homeowner will pay about $420 dollars more in school taxes next year.

Under the cap, the district was only allowed to raise the tax levy by 0.77 percent, or $98,320, next school year, an amount Mr. Gamberg described as “insufficient.”

The approved $17.9 million budget allows for the restoration of numerous staff positions that have been eliminated over the years, school officials have said, including converting the librarian and psychologist positions from part-time to full-time; adding a part-time social studies teacher and adding full-time teachers in math, reading, special education and English as a Second Language; as well as the restoration of aides and clerical staff.

The district also plans to create a new part-time science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) teaching position for grades K-8. That teacher would work with the school garden, conduct labs and more, Mr. Gamberg said.

The proposed Greenport budget needed to receive approval from 60 percent of voters to pass. In total, 320 voted in favor of the spending plan and 160 voted against, marking a 66 percent approval.

“This district, I think, is probably the best in the country,” said school board member Heather Wolf, who along with Tina Volinski was elected to a fourth three-year term Tuesday after running unopposed. “Year after year [we receive] the support of the community with everything we ask for and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

While budgets passed and unopposed incumbents were also re-elected in Southold, New Suffolk and Oysterponds, a Mattituck-Cutchogue Board of Education race made certain the night would not be free from drama.

A seven-person race for three seats, ended with a trio of newcomers being elected to the board.

Brian Mealy is sworn in to a one-year term on the Mattituck-Cutchogue Board of Education Tuesday evening. (Credit: Jen Nuzzo)

MaryLynn Hoeg (468 votes) and Barbara Talbot (365) were the top vote getters and were therefore elected to full three-year terms. Brian Mealy (310) will serve the final year of former board member Jerry Diffley’s unexpired term.

Ms. Talbot said improving educational opportunities and addressing a decline in the student population will be among the focus’ of her first term.

“We’re going to have to look at concerns about a decrease in enrollment and also look at how we can bring in enrichment programs into the district,” she said.

“I want to be as supportive as I can — supportive to the students, supportive to the staff and supportive to the taxpayers,” Mr. Mealy said after being immediately sworn in to his one-year term Tuesday night. “Hopefully I can be a part of the positive changes happening in Mattituck.”

Among the candidates the three newcomers defeated was incumbent William Gatz, who has served on the board since 2010. He fell just two votes shy of Mr. Mealy.

Mr. Gatz left shortly after congratulating this year’s winners. In an interview after the results were announced, Mattituck-Cutchogue Superintendent Anne Smith described Mr. Gatz as a “team player” and said she’s grateful for his service and to the all the candidates who volunteered to serve.

“He’s such a highly valued board member and it’s challenging for us to lose someone with who has that history and knowledge of the goals of what we’ve been trying to accomplish over the years,” she said.

Top Caption: Greenport superintendent David Gamberg celebrates the district’s budget approval Tuesday. (Credit: Nicole Smith)

Note: See full results and more reaction on the next page.

A sea of orange filled the Mattituck High School library Thursday evening as teachers wore matching shirts to show a unified front as they face their third year without a contract.

The shirts featured the words “strength” and “solidarity” written in the center of a circle of “Mattituck-Cutchogue Teachers Association.” About 20 teachers were in the audience for the Board of Education meeting.

“We wanted to show strength and unity among us,” union president Donna Finnigan said. “It’s to bring everyone from the different buildings together and show a better stance for our contracts.”

After the previous teacher’s contract ended in June 2014, the school board and teacher’s union was unable to come to an agreement on a new contract — an agreement that nearly three years later has yet to be made.

During the school board meeting, vice president Charlie Andersen, who also heads the boards negotiations and personnel committee, said he board hopes to “have good news to announce” at the next meeting.

He said the board has had “productive sessions with MCTA” over the past few weeks, and is in the process of going over the finer details of the new contract at a meeting later this month.

“I’m really hopeful we’ll go through the finer details and get this hashed out and hopefully we’ll announce it in March,” he said. “It’s been a long, drawn out [process], but right now I think we’re in a good place … I think we’re doing really well, so I appreciate that.”

Board president Laura Jens-Smith said in an interview Friday that the board and teacher’s union reached the fact finding stage of negotiations, but ultimately hit an impasse and decided to sit down together again over the past few months to go over the document.

“It can be a challenge when negotiating a contract,” she said. “But we’re coming very close at this point … I’m very happy that we’re getting closer to reaching an agreement.”

Ms. Finnigan echoed their positive outlook about the future of the teachers contract.

“I’m happy we’re moving forward a bit,” she said.

Although teachers have been without a contract for almost three years, the board signed a new seven-year non-teaching staff contract in October 2015, which extended the previous contract by seven years and carried an annual salary increase of 1.25 percent.

Their previous contract expired in June 2015, leaving those staff members without a contract for only a handful of months.

nsmith@timesreview.com

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Mattituck-Cutchogue school district officials have announced they’re preparing a $40.48 million budget that calls for a minimal increase in next year’s tax levy due to cost-saving measures and declining enrollment.

The district is allowed to raise the tax levy by about 1.32 percent in 2017-18 without piercing the state-mandated cap, Superintendent Anne Smith said during her budget presentation meeting last Thursday night.

However, she said, she’s only increasing the levy by 0.00489 percent in her tentative spending plan, which is about $480,000 below the district’s allowable limit.

If approved by voters, property owners can expect to see their school taxes increase by about $2, the superintendent said.

“Last week, you saw an increase range of about $43 to $53 per household,” Dr. Smith said, referring to the 2016-17 school tax increase. “Now we’re at about $2.”

Three departing staff members — a part-time social worker and a secondary-level English teacher who will retire and a special education teaching assistant leaving the district — won’t be replaced for next year, she said.

The planned cost-saving measures include limiting the amount of new purchases for SmartBoards and audiovisual equipment.

The tentative budget calls for a spending increase of about $148,580, which Dr. Smith said will provide for new programs.

In health and athletics, the district is expected to maintain its 53 sports teams and hopes to make some improvements to its fields, such as preparing for track renovations.

The district plans to offer a new elective in 2017-18 called Introduction to Sports Medicine, athletic director Gregg Wormuth said.

Due to a continued decline in enrollment, the high school will reduce English classes by one section and social studies offerings by half a section. However, additional math sections and new classes — including math support labs, visual languages and biology classes for English as a New Language students — are proposed for next year, high school principal Shawn Petretti said.

Reinstated art and music coordinator positions are also included in the tentative spending plan, he added.

Complete budget presentations are on the district’s website and the board is expected to adopt the budget at their meeting on April 20.

nsmith@timesreview.com

Photo: Mattituck school district superintendent Anne Smith at Thursday’s meeting. (Credit: Nicole Smith)

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