After attending the Q&A with Dr. Austin Gavin, assistant superintendent for the Manhasset School District, at the Shelter Rock Elementary School, I believe that the community needs to come together prior to this year's school board vote. This is our opportunity to speak our minds and ask the questions that are important to us. After last year's contentious battle, we should have learned that the budget should be debated at the school board meetings and not as a propaganda war in the local newspapers.

The board has changed its meeting format to allow the community the opportunity to ask questions at the beginning of its meetings instead of after the presentations. Therefore, there should be no excuse for the community not to voice its opinion. It is our responsibility to attend the meetings and ask questions. We should not rely on our neighbors, colleagues or the editorials in the local newspaper to be responsible for this important issue.

The board now has the opportunity to lay out the goals for the Manhasset School District. The community needs to know that there is a plan for the short and the long term. The community's questions need to be addressed and our suggestions considered, prior to the new budget vote. Our voice will be heard only if our presence is seen and felt by the school board. If the budget is voted down and we are on austerity again, it would be the fifth defeated budget out of the last six. Even if this is the case, the school budget would still increase by 3.8 percent as mandated by the state under austerity. During the Q&A session, Dr. Gavin referenced a possible 5 percent increase several times; and if the board proposes a 5 percent increase, then this would only represent a 1.2 percent un-mandated increase in the budget. For this 1.2 percent increase, the residents would accomplish several things. First, the community would show a vote of confidence in the board and its ideas for the first time in years. Second, the board can now focus on running the school district instead of cutting programs. Third, the board can start to look to the future. Hopefully a future that includes re-implementing programs that have been eliminated due to the austerity budget and improving its now tarnished image.

I have a daughter in kindergarten; and like most parents, I moved to Manhasset because this school district offers some of the best education programs in the country. I would be hard pressed to believe that our schools should be allowed to wither because of the lack of an additional 1.2 percent increase in the school budget. Please be proactive and participate this year.

Chris Aspinall