The Roslyn School District's budget process is continuing with a Thursday, March 13 meeting planned at the Administration Building on Harbor Hill Road.

The meeting will include presentations by Thomas Mohrman, assistant to the superintendent for Operations; David Shoob, supervisor of Transportation; Dr. Mark Rosenbaum, Principal, East Hills School; and Regina Colardi, principal, Heights School.

That meeting will be followed by a Thursday, March 27 Board of Education deliberation on the budget a Thursday, April 3 adoption of the proposed budget by the BOE and a Thursday, May 8 budget hearing. All of the above meetings, including the March 13 meeting, will begin at 8:30 p.m. and take place at the Administration Building.

The vote on the budget will take place Tuesday, May 20.

In a recent statement, Dr. John Richman, the district superintendent, said that the starting point for the 2008-09 budget would represent a budget-to-budget increase of about 7.85 percent.

"I am well aware that this is neither a realistic nor an acceptable increase to present to the voters," he acknowledged. "It is important to remember that this number is no more than a benchmark for the start of budget deliberations. The effort is well under way to go back over hundreds of budget items in order to achieve greater efficiencies throughout our operations, eliminate wasteful spending, maximize revenues and find better ways of delivering a high quality program. The end result will...be a budget that reflects both the educational progress and fiscal responsibility that the community expects."

Dr. Richman added that the budget draft focuses on teacher instruction and student learning, including initiatives designed to improve literacy, language arts, and mathematic skills for school district students. (See "Superintendent's Column" on page five for the entire statement.)

The BOE has already held two meetings on the budget draft. At its Feb. 14 meeting, presentations were made by Dr. Stuart Grossman, director of Pupil Personnel Services; Dr. Mira Martinich, director of Physical Education, Athletics & Recreation; and Art Mandel, director of Guidance, K-12. The Feb. 28 meeting featured presentations by Roslyn High School Principal Kevin Scanlon, Jack Palmadesso, principal of the Roslyn Middle School; Dr. Dan Brennan, assistant superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction; and Dr. Edward Salina, Jr., assistant superintendent for Administration.