With the new school year looming, the Bellmore Board of Education held its last public meeting before their district's doors open to welcome back students fresh from their summer vacation.
Among topics covered at this meeting, presided over by new board of education president Marion Blane -- former president Jay L.T. Breakstone remains on the Board as a trustee -- were the finalization of 2011-12 district budget figures and some shuffling around of current staff members into new job positions.
The main item in the report of Deirdre Gambino, assistant superintendent for business and technology, was in regards to the establishment of the overall Tax Levy for the 2011-12 school year.
According to Gambino, this year's budgets for the Bellmore and Bellmore-Merrick Central High School districts had been previously approved at $31,503,146 and $131,355,672, respectively. Also, the Bellmore Public Library's approved budget had been approved at $2,513,712.
Therefore, based on these budget figures, Gambino reported that the school tax levy for Bellmore and the CHSD this year will be $22,131,592 and $22,810,057, respectively. The tax levy for the Bellmore Public Library will be $2,453,062. All three combined will result in an overall tax levy of $46,665,712, a figure which was unanimously approved by the board.
Gambino also reported that the board had accepted the 2011-12 contract with Nassau BOCES for the amount of $805,880.80.
Other items in Gambino's report included bids from vendors for the district, dealing in things such as ice cream, water, snacks and beverages, all of which were awarded to the lowest responsible bidders meeting district specifications.
In the report of Bellmore Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Famularo, it was revealed that several members of the district's staff are changing jobs for the upcoming school year. Examples are former full-time Shore Road reading teacher Katherine Tully stepping down to a part-time position and Lisa Esposito of Shore Road transitioning from school monitor to teacher aide.
Famularo also reported that a revised code of conduct was going into effect for the upcoming school year.
"There are no major changes," he said. "However, the revised conduct rules will be mailed to parents and explained to students. They're also available on the website."
The next regularly-scheduled meeting of the board of education is set for Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 8 p.m.
