Board of Education to Vote Tonight on School District Budget

Rochester Board of Education members will meet tonight to discuss and approve the 2011-12 school year budget. The budget has been the subject of two months of discussions, as the district faces a shortfall and school leaders have been working to find the best solution to balancing the projected deficit.

Borrowing from the district's fund balance, in addition to across-the-board cuts to school budget operations and cuts to the paraprofessional and media assistant programs, have been offered as solutions.

In addition to the budget, the following items are on the board's agenda tonight.

• Approval of the district's policy on the use of medications.
• Approval of lunch prices for 2011-12; they will remain unchanged, and school leaders say this is the third consecutive year without an increase in prices.
• The appointment of assistant principals for two middle schools. From 160 applicants, Ali Hamka will be appointed to Assistant Principal and Daniel Mooney will be appointed to assistant principal.
• The appointment of Robert Prill to Transportation Operations Coordinator.

Board members will also be asked to accept resignations of the following teachers:

• Frank Accavitti, an English/Language Arts teacher at .
• Bethany Halterman, a Language Arts teacher at .
• April Sprunger, a kindergarten teacher at .
• Laurie Tomaszewski, a kindergarten teacher at .

The board meets at 7 p.m. in the Harrison Room of the Administration Building; a required truth-in-budget hearing precedes the meeting at 6:45 p.m. Both are open to the public.