An Open Letter To The Greenburgh Central School Board

Hello Ms. Darden-Cintron and fellow Board members,

I am writing to express my concerns with the proposed budget and increases.  With the fiscal stress and insecurity many are experiencing due to this unforeseen Coronavirus, it is imperative that the entire Board (and the Administration that answers to you), begin reducing it’s budget to ensure that all of our kid's education, while truncated in these unique times, continues.

The district should implement cutting the swollen budget by scaling down through attrition. It’s becoming apparent that trying to sustain the $73 million expense to educate fewer than 1,600 K-12 students is unrealistic, unprofitable and financially impossible. Like so many businesses and even the Greenburgh Town Board, the district should hold interactive Zoom meetings. (If not Zoom, then Skype or GoToMeeting, etc). 

The budget that was presented on February 27th called for a budget increase of 3.96% ($2,801,301).  Funding this amount calls for a 4.25% tax increase. This Board has proven time and again that it does not respect the mandates and wishes of the community, doing as it pleases. The Board seems to be proving that again with this proposed budget.

The Board needs to come to the realization that there's plenty of non-essential spending that can be eliminated or postponed, and thereby reduce the impact to our communities. This is the perfect time to perform a line by line review of expenses to see what can be cut. I found it astonishing that the Administrative staff was relocated to the High School on the whim of the Superintendent for a cost of $300k (approx), yet could not find this same money for needed repairs. This district had opportunities to work on the mansion, but preferred to allow its buildings to degrade. It’s time for this Board and administration to get back on track!

Now that many Greenburgh residents are being pushed out of work and are facing an April tax bill, this Board needs to take positive action and prove to the citizenry that you are able to put our money to optimum use. You should reverse any plans to exacerbate the difficulties we are currently facing by eliminating any budget increases!

I implore you to do the right thing and we will continue to support you and your efforts when you do.

Stop Greenburgh School Board’s 4% Budget Hike

An open letter to Greenburgh Unincorporated residents:

Dear Fellow Greenburgh Residents:

During this time of crisis in our community the Board of Education is continuing with their budget preparation and deliberation for the 2020-2021 school year.  It is unknown at this time whether or not the Board will be able to have public hearings prior to the budget vote.  It is unknown whether or not we will even be able to have a budget vote in May.  

The budget presented to the community at the Board meeting of Feb. 27 called for a budget increase of 3.95% ($2,801,301).  Funding this budget increase calls for a tax increase of 4.25%.  Knowing that we are all aware of the “tax cap”, we received an exhaustive presentation discussing how the tax levy is calculated.  It was demonstrated that the planned tax levy is at the tax cap.  

While the proposed tax levy is within the tax cap allowed by law, the Board needs to realize that in this time of fiscal uncertainty for all of us, a tax increase will cause severe financial distress and hardship for many members of our community.  A Journal News article this week stated that 65% of workers is the U.S. are HOURLY workers who therefore are subject to total loss of income when the businesses where they work are forced to close. Unemployment benefits do not make up for lost wages.  Anticipated federal government bail-out money will not make up for lost wages. Those whose pensions depend upon their investments in the stock market are seeing their income plunge along with the market. 

I urge you at this time to contact the members of the Board of Education, demanding that they prepare a budget that either does not increase taxes or that actually decreases taxes for the upcoming school year. The Board has been elected to serve both the students and the community who funds the education of the students.  They should not be turning a blind eye to the fiscal realities of this Covid-19 crisis.  

The following are the email addresses of the Board Trustees to whom you should address your concerns:   

Antoinette Darden-Cintron - President 
adardencintron@greenburghcsd.org  

Traci Mairs - Vice President         
tmairs@greenburghcsd.org  

David Warner - Fiscal Committee Chairman  
dwarner@greenburghcsd.org  

Ashley Pineda   
apineda@greenburghcsd.org

Cora Carey       
ccarey@greenburghcsd.org

Tanya Dragic       
tdragic@greenburghcsd.org

Terry Williams      
twilliams@greenburghcsd.org

If you have questions regarding the Responsibility of the Boards of Education to prepare and present budgets, please visit the NY State Department of Education website:  http://www.p12.nysed.gov/mgtserv/budgeting/handbook/legalaspects.html.  

Interestingly, the Board is required to attach to the proposed budget “the salaries, benefits and any in-kind or other form of compensation of the superintendent, assistant or associate superintendent and any administrator who will earn over $138,000 in the upcoming year”.

Boards of education must also append to the proposed budget an annual report card prepared by the NYS Education Department which measures the academic performance of the district on a school by school basis. The report card must compare academic performance to statewide averages for all schools of comparable wealth and need. (Education Law §§1608, 1716 and 2601-a).

County Center to Be Coronavirus Field Hospital

The Army Corps of Engineers has recommended four initial sites in New York for temporary hospitals to deal with a coming surge of patients infected with new coronavirus — the Westchester County Center, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and locations at SUNY Stony Brook and SUNY Old Westbury. The County deployed their last Western Shelter to the former Mt Vernon Hospital on Saturday morning.

Over the past days, an inspection team led by the Army Corps of Engineers, and including state officials from the Office of General Services, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the Department of Health and the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, visited more than a dozen sites to review for temporary hospital use, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in an afternoon news briefing. He'll give them the final list today.

There are now about 50,000 hospital beds in New York, and public health officials want a minimum of 75,000 beds to deal with the surge.

"We told the hospitals we're going to be ending elective surgeries. We are now working with hospitals to reconfigure the space in the hospital to get more beds and to find more staff to manage those beds," Cuomo said. "We're working on building new beds. We're going to go out and review a number of sites today ... That would give us a regional distribution and a real capacity if we can get them up quickly enough."

When the decision is finalized, the Army Corps is expected to immediately begin work to construct the temporary hospitals. The governor is also requesting FEMA designate four field hospitals with 250 beds each for the state, intended for use in the Javits Center in addition to the temporary hospital to be constructed by the Army Corps.

There are 10,356 confirmed cases in the state, Cuomo said, including 1,300 in Westchester. The Westchester cases rose from 798 on Thursday. The goal is to find more cases to help get a handle on the virus' spread, Cuomo said. Doctors estimate between 7.8 million and 15.6 million New Yorkers will be infected by the virus by the time it runs its course, he said.

Greenburgh School District Budget Meeting Announced For Monday Night

Please note that there will be a special BOE meeting on Monday, March 9, 2020 at 6:30PM at Woodlands HS to address the 2020/21 school budget. Come to listen, speak and share your ideas. Invite your friends and neighbors to participate as this affects us all. Please keep in mind…

A little over a year ago the Greenburgh School District began a campaign to push a bond of $114 million, whose final cost would have exceeded $200,000,000 to consolidate two schools in the district onto the Warburg campus. There were several factors that contributed to the bond not passing.

Over the years, the Greenburgh School District has neglected the buildings that house the staff and the students. The residents found their tax dollars disappearing without an explanation. Please keep in mind most people usually vote to support the education of our children as the primary goal. Education is the best investment in our future – when it’s actually used for the children. Sadly, when the 2019 school year began, the week before the GSD staff was to report to work, the Warburg mansion was deemed unsafe for staff to occupy by Superintendent Chase. The district had the entire summer to deal with building maintenance, but again neglected to do so, hence, "the sky is falling" and maybe the roof.

The slate roof on the Mansion has been left in disrepair, neither covered, nor protected, nor any effort made to preserve it. We’re told now the leaking roof has contributed to “structural damages” throughout. Paint and plaster has fallen onto the floors and we’re told again that the mansion is no longer usable. No future plans to repair the Mansion have been put forth as of the February 28th date. The Superintendent announced on March 3 that the engineering report gave an estimate of $829,000 to repair the mansion EXCLUDING roof repair. 

The slate roof sits uncovered, exposed to rain, ice, wind and further deterioration. To anyone who owns a car, you know that if you do not change the oil, the life of the car is usually shorter. The result of voting NO on the bond seems to indicate that little or no action to preserve or maintain the Mansion will be offered. The district didn’t have money for maintenance, but they suddenly had the money to move the administration into the Woodlands High School and build an office suite for the superintendent and the administrative staff. 

What is supposed to be a temporary move, had generated a price tag so far of $267,346.79. Is it any wonder the district can’t find the money needed to repair the roof? The locksmith costs are $34,577.40. for electronic locks to accommodate the new offices. Other expenses the public should be aware of: wiring for phones and computer system $26,300, shades for the superintendent’s office $8,652. The list is long and may ultimately exceed $300,000, As tax payers eager to support the education of our children, our future leaders, we find the lack of maintaining the district office and surrounding schools one of the primary reasons we have wasteful spending and a distrust of the current Administration and Board of Education.

Join in by coming to the meeting Monday night and let them know what you think.