RP School Board Notes: District Makes $2,500

Thanks to a recent donation and award, the Rocky Point School District’s general fund is now $2,500 richer. 

The district’s board of education approved both a donation from the Friends of Music for $2,300 and an essay award from Hofstra University for $200 at its meeting Monday night.

The board approved all motions on the table at the meeting unanimously, including the establishment of the Owen Cassidy Memorial Scholarship and the addition of the Long Island Business News as the school’s official newspaper to replace the North Shore Sun, which recently switched to web-only content.

The board and attendees discussed at length the issue of in-school field trips, which the lower-grade-level schools have been hosting for about four years.

Board members said they get many calls from parents about the cost of these events, which they said some perceive as part of the educational program.

“On the surface it looks like we’re charging kids to go to an assembly,” said Superintendent Michael Ring, adding the school is really eliminating the cost of transportation of an actual field trip off school grounds. Board members said the in-school programs usually cost between $7 and $10.

Ring assured attendees the school has a mechanism in place for any student whose family can’t afford such an event. A member of the district’s PTA also said that organization was willing to help any family in need.

Ring said the bigger issue is if the schools should host in-school field trips that aren’t subsidized by the district’s general fund. He added that’s a discussion that will take place within individual schools in the near future.