The Mineola Board of Education met Thursday night and it turned out to be an eventful night. The board first paid tribute to longtime board member RoseAnn Buglione, who decided to retire after 12 years of dedicated service to the Mineola School District.

Buglione is thought of fondly by her fellow board members and by community members who praised her dedication to the students of the district over the years.

Board Vice President Donna Strein said that it was with a heavy heart and great sadness that the board will bid farewell to Buglione. Each of the board members then paid tribute to their fellow board member.

Trustee Steve Siwinski said five years ago when he was elected to the board, he had a conversation with Buglione. He said he came away from that meeting with pointers he uses everyday as a board member.

Trustee John McGrath said it was his privilege to know Buglione as a human being and called her a friend. Trustee Mary Ellen Williams expressed her deep admiration for Buglione. "I have nothing but admiration for you. When I grow up, I want to be just like you," she said.

Mineola Middle School Principal Mark Barth told Buglione she has been a friend to Mineola. "You embody service to this community," he said.

Community members such as Janet Ross and Linda Doell expressed how much they would miss Buglione.

The longtime board member was awarded a rocking chair symbolic of her retirement as she received a loud ovation, but she wasn't alone. Her husband Fred also received an ovation for sharing his wife with the district for so many years.

Dr. Licopoli recalled when he first met Buglione in upstate New York where he was serving as a superintendent. He said he got a terrific feeling from her and called her very special. "There's no one who tells this wonderful woman what to do," Dr. Licopoli said.

A teary eyed Buglione addressed the audience and her colleagues. "It's so hard to leave. All I ever wanted is for the children to reach their potential. There are some wonderful things that are happening here. I'd like to think I played a small part in the change," she said, referring to the progress the Mineola Schools have made.

She mentioned that when she became a board member 12 years ago, 39 percent of students went on to four-year colleges. Now, Mineola students are not only graduating with Regents diplomas, they are going on to college and some of the finest in the nation. "All that has changed because of hard work and dedication from everyone in the district. Everyone working together has made that happened," Buglione said.

She then thanked the community for the opportunity to serve, her husband Fred for all the support and her fellow board members, giving them each a token of her appreciation.

Buglione's seat on the board will be filled by Lawrence Carroll, who won the election last May. Buglione even gave Carroll some summer reading material to assist him on the board.

Board Approves Cuts

The board of education approved cuts that were necessary in order to adopt the contingency budget. However, the board did not vote unanimously on those cuts.

After the budget failed last month, the board of education voted to adopt a contingency budget. In order to do that, the board had to cut $1.8 million from the proposed budget that had failed. The cuts have come to programs that will impact students. Those cuts include the elimination of the following services/programs for the 2005-2006 school year:

* K-8 Intramurals

* Modified B Team

* Outward Bound

* Pre-K transportation mid-day to and from school

* Late Buses

* Swim Program

* Summer School

* Summer Sports Program

* Summer Music Program

* High School Fall Play

The board also proposed the following programs be self-funded for the 2005-2006 school year so that the program would not have any cost impact on the general fund budget:

* Adult Education ($60,000)

* Driver Education ($50,000)

* Summer Music ($17,924)

* Summer Sports ($23,468)

* High School Fall Play ($5,500)

* Summer Band Camp ($31,052)

As the board was getting ready to vote on the program reductions and forcing the other programs to be self-funded, which means they carry on tuition for those who wish to participate, McGrath questioned whether money designated for capital improvements could be used to offset some of the reductions.

The district has a capital repair plan for 2005-2006 that requires $454,671 in funding. The plan calls for the following repairs at their costs:

High School

Replace Stage Floor $43,000

Camera Security $15,000

Maintenance Paving $35,000

Middle School

Upgrade 2nd Floor $75,000

Clean/Repair 3rd Floor $25,000

Paint Auditorium Ceiling $25,000

Emergency Money Based

on Renovation Work $100,000

Tile Floors (8) (In-House) $8,000

Cross Street School

Repave Parking Lot/Stripe $15,000

Cross and Hampton Street

Playground Surface $45,000

Hampton Street

Nurse's Bathroom (In-House) $3,000

Selected Concrete $7,000

Jackson Avenue

ADA Toilets and Parking $10,000

Heating - Music Room $5,000

Reception Area $2,000

Selected Concrete $3,500

Front Entrance/Side Steps-

Brick Repairs $5,000

Meadow Drive

Bathrooms $11,000

Refinish Classroom Doors (10)

(In-House) $2,000

McGrath argued that some of the projects such as the camera security in the high school and the bathrooms and doors at Meadow could perhaps wait a year. The board could then reallocate that money out of the capital repair plan and use it to fund some of the items that were cut such as the busing for pre-kindergarten during mid-day and the late buses.

The other board members argued that the board must keep its commitment to the capital repair plan so that the buildings do not further deteriorate. Strein said that the cuts were difficult to make but the public, in voting down the budget last month, mandated that $1.8 million in cuts be made. "I know I was elected to make tough decisions and this is the toughest I have had to make," she said.

Buglione pointed out that the community had been asking the board why capital repairs hadn't been made all along so the board doesn't want to fall back on its plan.

McGrath said he wasn't saying the capital repairs shouldn't be done. He said he was asking whether some of the repairs could be held off for a year so that the district could fund its transportation. The opinion of the other board members was that the community expressed disappointment that the capital repairs weren't made over the years.

McGrath in a previous meeting voted against adopting a contingency budget because he wanted to study whether the district could reduce the budget and put it back out for a vote. Buglione stated that the community would have been insulted if the district went back out for another vote.

When it came time for public comments, some expressed concern over the transportation cuts. One parent expressed concern about how safe it would be for parents to be dropping off and picking up pre-kindergarten students in the mid-day. Dr. Licopoli said that the issue is not being treated lightly and the district could create an orderly drop off plan.

Another parent expressed concern that not having late buses may dissuade some students from participating in some of the district programs while another expressed concern that since the district did not have late buses, some students may try to walk home.

Brian Bradley, who ran unsuccessfully for the school board, raised the question of whether, according to law, $900,000 of the cuts for the contingency budget had to come from administrative costs.1