By Kyle Wind
Freeman staff

KINGSTON — Switching to a four-day school week and freezing employees’ salaries were among the more ambitious suggestions offered Monday at a Kingston school budget forum that attracted about 50 district residents.

“They’re extreme measures, but it approaches the actual problem,” said Chris McKeever, who was conveying ideas — not necessarily his own — from one of nine groups into which students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders were divided in the George Washington Elementary School cafeteria.

The problem is crafting a school district spending plan in response to Gov. David Paterson’s executive budget, which proposes a $2.7 million cut in state aid to the Kingston school district.

Another idea McKeever expressed on behalf of his group was keeping the district’s teaching staff proportional to the student body, given declining enrollment. McKeever frequents school board meetings and serves on the district’s Master Plan Facilities Committee.

As the groups discussed a list of academic, sports, and extracurricular programs and activities over which the district has control — about three quarters of the district’s $137 million budget is considered non-discretionary — there was little consensus about expendable programs.

In reporting her group’s recommendations, Margaret Burud, a John F. Kennedy Elementary School teacher who coordinates the district’s Reading Recovery program, suggested the district rotate some of its elective course offerings to every other year.

Reading Recovery was on the list of discretionary programs, but Burud said the one-on-one intensive tutoring program for first graders saves the district millions in the long run by keeping pupils from being held back or classified as special education students.

Though the program actually makes money on paper because the district is a designated training site, Marystephanie Corsones, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said after the meeting that the cost comes in the form of teachers spending time with one student when they could teach more.

Burud’s group also suggested the district rely on booster clubs to raise more money for extracurricular activities, but any cuts to sports, she said, should be temporary until the economy rebounds.

Kingston High School students Katie Ehmann and Sarah Roth suggested the district merge freshman and junior varsity teams and combine similar activities like color guard and twirling. Continued...

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Several spoke strongly in favor of preserving sports and extracurricular activities, including Kingston High School junior Victoria DeStefano, who said participation in sports helps students build a strong work ethic, learn teamwork, and stay out of trouble after school.

Advanced Placement classes, Ehmann and Roth said, should be considered high priority because they are an increasingly important consideration in the college application process. Two areas some groups said should receive relatively low priorities were an expansion of the district’s gifted and talented programs and summer school.

Board of Education President David Fletcher said afterward that he found the event to be “a thoughtful discussion.” Robert Pritchard, the district’s assistant superintendent for business and operations, said it will “help us develop our compass” for crafting the budget.

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