Rocky Point Honors Achievements Amid Budget Concerns

Budget concerns were on the minds of administration and the public attending the Rocky Point Board of Education meeting Monday night and those concerns were adressed in a budget workshop prior to the board meeting, an evening filled with honors for special achievements by those in the school community.

At the meeting, Board member Diane Burke reminded everyone how big of an issue the cuts are.

“People should be aware that it’s more serious than even the press has been making it," Burke said.

Superintendent Michael Ring urged those who want all the particulars to visit the school’s website, where the district's "Budget Workshop" is broken down into all the pertinent categories.

Based on the budget Governor Andrew Cuomo has presented, for the third consecutive year state aid will be cut to Rocky Point, in the amount of $1.9 million. The district also faces a 16.7 percent rise in benefit costs, as well as a 4.9 percent increase in mandated special ed services. BOCES services make up 77.38 percent of the special ed budget, excluding teacher's salaries.

To combat this,  the school may access certain reserves up to $1.4 million and in addition, the use of monies in undesignated funding. Among the cuts the districts has proposed are a 49 percent to co-curricular supplies and a 7.5 percent cut to supplies for music and fine arts. Again, all of the numbers and information can be found in the Budget Workshop on the district's website.

While the cuts loom, talks of the budget gave way to recognizing recent accomplishments by student and faculty after the budget workshop concluded. Superintendent Ring began by presenting William Puricelli, head custodian, and Joseph Nowaski, maintenance crew chief, plaques on their retirement. Both have served the Rocky Point Schools for 38 years.

“We are a small school but we do great things here," Nowaski, said. "We’re a family.”

Certainly one of those “great things” is the 2011 National Championship recently achieved by the . The team, along with varsity coach Anna Spallina and Middle School coach Donna Collier, received special citations from the district. Spallina has also been selected by the Long Island Cheerleadering Coaches Association for a lifetime achievement award.

“When I first interviewed for this job and I was asked what I knew about Rocky Point, I said, ‘I know you have an awesome cheerleading team,’” said Rocky Point’s director of  health, phys-ed and athletics Amy Agnesini.

Spallina said that there is a motion to have both the New York State Senate and Assembly honor the cheerleaders.

Music Director Amy Shecher was there to honor four students who had performed in the All County Music Festival: Mark Infranco, Zach Krase, Anne Schindler and Megan Viglione.

Carol Tvelia, principal at , introduced phys-ed teacher Maria Amoscato, who spoke about the “Jump Rope for Heart” fund drive (for the American Heart Association) in which the school regularly participates; this year $7,700 was raised. In the past ten years the school has raised some $70,000.

Amoscato in turn introduced third-grader Kenneth Massa, who had raised the most money of anyone this past year. He received a citation—and a new jump rope.

At any rate, school activities such as arts and athletics, the same programs receiving accolades at the meeting, stand to be cut to some degree; how that will play out with music and team sports remains to be seen.

“You basically have two choices: cut programs and services or try to push on the taxpayer to make up for the cuts," Ring said. "Neither is a very good choice. We eagerly await the legislature’s response to the governor’s budget.”