By Marisa Iati, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY At Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Education approved a resolution detailing how additional state aid will be used in the 2011-2012 school year.
According to the resolution, the school district was notified July 14 that it will receive $709,531 of additional state aid for the year. The district can use the money for additional cost items for the 2011-2012 school year or for community tax relief in various years.
Business Administrator Thomas Venanzi said the board’s Finance and Budget Committee met with the district administration to discuss the needs for the 2011-2012 school year. The administration met with the school principals. The committee then endorsed a recommendation for the use of the additional funds.
”These were the items that were identified as critical needs for the current year,” Mr. Venanzi said.
The resolution calls for bringing three part-time RNs to full-time status.
”Prior to our budget defeat for the 2010-2011 budget, we had employed a certified school nurse and a registered nurse full-time in each of our schools,” said Mr. Venanzi. “When our budget was defeated, we had cut back RNs to just below half-time at Village, Lower and Upper, so that left us with two full-time nurses at the High School and Orchard and just under one and a half at the three other schools. This restoration will bring us back to two RNs at each school.”
The resolution also lists leasing a new computer network core switch as an item to be added to the budget.
”It is a major issue for the infrastructure of our technology,” said Mr. Venanzi. “The core switch that we’re looking to replace has outlived its useful life. It’s been in the district for seven years at this point; the average life of technology is four. The $80,000 that we’re putting in at this point would be the maximum amount we would commit. The other option we’re going to explore is whether we would get it for a lower cost if we rent it. It would either be a lease purchase or a lease.”
The lease purchase option would allow the district to purchase the network core switch at the end of the lease term, said Mr. Venanzi.
The other items specified in the resolution are hiring a full-time academic support teacher at Village School, hiring a half-time academic support teacher at the Lower Middle School and restoring the Upper Middle School athletic program.
The aforementioned items will add $350,362 to the 2011-2012 budget. The remaining $359,169 of additional state aid will be used for tax relief for the 2012-2013 school year.
