The Ramapo Central School Board meets Tuesday evening and one item on their agenda is recognition of the Suffern High School boys hockey team’s recent Div 1 NYS Championship run. The Mounties won the state title and were celebrated with a parade down Suffern’s main street. Now it’s the school board’s turn. The board will also officially set May 15 as the voting date for this year’s school budget and school board election.

During last week’s meeting, Superintendent Douglas Adams led the board through a Powerpoint presentation, outlining how the district might approach a rebalancing in some elementary schools, with the goal of having no more than 80 students in each grade per building at the elementary level (with the exception of Sloatsburg, which has fewer classrooms). Ninety-six children have pre-registered for kindergarten at R.P. Connor, but the pre-registration numbers for Montebello are significantly smaller. In order to meet its goal, the district has invited 16 parents of incoming kindergarteners who reside in a portion of the current Connor zone to attend Montebello.

The board continues this week with its series of budget workshops to finalize the 2012-2013 budget. Ramapo Central is widely considered an outstanding school system, with an overall strong curriculum in the arts and sciences. Suffern High School ranked 744 out of 1900 public high schools nationwide in the 2011 Washington Post High School Challenge that measured a school’s quality and overall excellence.

Currently the projected $127.58 million 2012-2013 district budget, if passed, will be within the state’s maximum allowable tax levy of 2.86%, though there will still exist a gap between anticipated expenditures and revenues. Last year’s tax cap was 2.5% and past years saw a tax cap levy increase of as much as 6%. Through the budget workshops, the school board is attempting to narrow projected spending and tax increases. The current 2012-13 budget is projected to increase overall spending by 3.76 percent, though that figure may change at the workshop. The board is due to officially adopt the budget on April 15.

School Board budget workshops are open to the public, though not to public comments.

Superintendent Adams said that employees’ salaries and benefits were the big driver in terms of budget increase.

The East Ramapo School District faces its own trial by fire, facing a proposed $20 million budget reduction for the 2012-2013 year, which would involve staff and program streamlining. East Ramapo will hold a community forum March 28 to discuss their projected budget and any potential cuts.

“In the ’13-’14 year, if we stay on the same glide path, we will face very, very, very significant problems,” Adams said in a recent interview with LoHud writer Mareesa Nicosia regarding the district’s budget. The district projects a nearly $4 million deficit for 2013-2014. Adams added that at that point, “everything would be on the table” as far as layoffs and program cuts.

School Board members up for re-election in May  include William Gonzalez (member since 1999), Teresa Monahan (member since 2005) and Sloatsburg’s Thomas Bollatto, current dean of the board, having served since 1988. The deadline to submit candidate petitions is Monday, April 16.

Last week also saw the continuation of presentations by district schools, highlighting and showcasing programs and curriculum, a sort of early effort to remind board members of the variety and importance of what the district actually provides to students and parents.

Leslie Cooper, representing district school nurses, presented their case, while Steve Walker, head of pupil personnel, gave an articulate overview of restructured district special education programming planned for 2012-2013.

Cooper’s impassioned defense of school nurses as unsung heroes was highlighted by a Powerpoint presentation. A school nurse, said Cooper, “means more than band aids” — they are an essential “link between students and the student’s learning health.” She said nurses provide emotional care for students who suffer from both schoolitis and testitis. But nurses, she cautioned, are also on the front line, providing individual health care to students that they might not otherwise receive. East Ramapo schools currently face the elimination of six school nursing positions due to budget cuts.

The following documents are available for further information at the Central Ramapo School District website: What You Should Know: The Property Tax Cap and What You Should Know: School Board Budget Terms.

Budget Pains For East Ramapo Schools — The East Ramapo School District continues to face a budget crisis. Last year, the district endured a drawn-out budget process that voters eventually rejected.

School Board Recognizes Pine Grove Eagle Scout — Superintendent Dr. Douglas Adams and Board President Craig Long recognized Pine Grove Lakes own Daniel Patrick Green for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout.