At the June 22 board of education meeting, it was expected that Dr. Martin Brooks, an educator in the Plainview School District, would be announced as the next superintendent of the Roslyn School District.

However, in a surprise move, Dr. Brooks' name has been removed from consideration to that post.

In a short statement, Stanley Stern, the BOE president, said: "I regret to inform you at this time that Dr. Brooks has withdrawn his candidacy for the position [of superintendent] because of lack of unanimity regarding the terms of the contract with the board."

Even before the announcement, the rumored hiring of Dr. Brooks had stirred some controversy, since the recently approved 2006-07 budget included a provision allowing for $100,000 in "extra expenses" for the superintendent's position. There was even talk that total compensation for the new superintendent would reach as high as $400,000.

Stanley Stern has defended the provision by noting that the district has been operating for the past two years with an interim superintendent who works without benefits. State law, Stern has claimed, mandates that school boards write in certain benefits to a superintendent's contract. He acknowledged the $100,000 provision, but declared that all other compensation talk "is just a rumor."

The Roslyn district has been without a permanent superintendent ever since Dr. Frank A. Tassone resigned from that position in June 2004, following new revelations in the embezzlement scandal. During the past two years, David A. Helme has served as interim superintendent and he may be on the job a while longer.

Meanwhile, attempts by the Roslyn School District Board of Education to reduce spending in its revised budget paid off as local voters approved a 2006-07 school budget.

The budget passed by a 1,574 to 1,279 vote. On May 16, the initial budget was defeated by a 1,928 to 1,764 vote.

In selling the budget to the public, district officials noted that $1,409,100 had been cut from the defeated budget. The approved budget totals $85,400,446 in expenditures. The budget-to-budget increase of the approved budget is 6.12 percent, down from the proposed 7.87 percent increase in the defeated budget. The proposed tax levy will increase 7.22 percent in the new budget, compared to 9.14 percent in the defeated document. The average estimated tax increase will be 7.85 percent, down from 9.79 percent in the May 16 budget.

If the June 20 budget had been defeated, then the district would have been forced to operate under a contingency budget, one where spending is capped according to a formula established by New York State. For many years, school budgets were approved in Roslyn with little opposition. However, for the second time since the embezzlement scandal broke, local voters rejected a budget only to approve a second one, thus foregoing the contingency option.

"On behalf of the board, I am pleased that the budget has passed," said Stanley Stern. "We have a strong educational program, and we are moving toward our former excellence."