The Half Hollow Hills Newspaper

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HALF HOLLOW HILLS Copyright © 2009 Long Islander Newspapers, LLC.

Online at www.LongIslanderNews.com VOLUME THIRTEEN, ISSUE 2

N E W S P A P E R

LONG ISLANDER NEWSPAPERS TELECOMMUNICATIONS/MEDIA BUSINESS OF THE YEAR 24 PAGES

THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010

HALF HOLLOW HILLS

It’s ‘The State Aid Guessing Game’ Hills proposes 2.97-percent budget increase, calls for cuts to staff and sports teams swalsh@longislandernews.com

Half Hollow Hills presented its proposed budget for the 2010-2011 school year with heavy concerns about the potential changes in funding based on Governor David Paterson’s budget. “This is the state aid guessing game. We have no idea what will end up being approved by April 1,” said Victor Manuel, the assistant superintendent of finances and facilities. “We all know, there’s not much focus up there in Albany at this point.” Hills’ Board of Education has proposed a 2.97 budget increase for 20102011 to $207,881,882, a $6 million increase over this year’s budget. A budget committee chaired by Trustee Ann Marie Sorkin has suggested cutbacks in staff, sports teams and equipment to offset the impending loss of state revenue.

“We’re trying to run an efficient system without negatively impacting programs for students,” Manuel said. “[We face] the economic crisis is still upon us, the gap elimination plan from the governor’s budget proposal reduces state aid to Half Hollow Hills by $2.7 million, as well as some of the unfunded mandates the governor proposes – which boggles my mind.” In addition to the governor’s gap elimination plan, the assistant superintendent of finances said the district faces rising contractual costs. The budget increase will fund over $3 million for a state mandated increase in the Mandated Employer Contribution to the Teacher’s Retirement System, up 33 percent, and $400,000 for the MTA payroll tax. “We face real difficulty with a tremendous increase of contribution rates to employees,” said Superintendent Shel(Continued on page A17)

Half Hollow Hills Photo/ Sara-Megan Walsh

By Sara-Megan Walsh

Half Hollow Hills Assistant Superintendent of Finances and Facilities Victor Manuel presents the board’s proposal for a 2.97-percent budget increase in 2010-2011 at Sunquam Elementary School on Monday night.

HALF HOLLOW HILLS

Hills Sued For Eliminating Christian Club Legal alliance slaps school district with lawsuit after budget cuts squeeze out student group By Sara-Megan Walsh swalsh@longislandernews.com

Half Hollow Hills is being sued to reinstate a Christian club it discontinued this school year – for budgetary reasons, officials said – by a group calling it an act of

Spring Ahead

The snow is melting and spring is in the air. Daylight Saving Time begins at 2 a.m. on March 14, so don’t forget to set the clocks ahead an hour.

religious discrimination. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a legal alliance defending Christian values, filed a lawsuit against the Half Hollow Hills School District and its superintendent on Feb. 10 claiming discontinuing the Ichthus Club at Hills High School East is a violation of a student’s constitutional rights. Hills officials said eliminating the club was a budgetary decision and they offered students the option to attend Hills West’s chapter of the club, but efforts to find an agreement have led to court. “With a $200 million budget, I doubt this one club is going to make much of a financial impact,” said ADF Attorney David Cortman. Cortman said a Hills East student reached out to ADF after the four-year Ichthus Club was discontinued last September due to budget cutbacks. The student claims no notice was given to her or the other 55 students on the club’s active roster list, a sign-in sheet used continuously – not for weekly attendance. In doing so, the attorney said the district violated First and Fourteenth Amendment

rights under the U.S. Constitution. “Who has the right to pick and choose which club’s speech is expressed and who can meet?” Cortman asked. The lawsuit also cites the federal Equal Access Act of 1984 that, he said, requires schools with non-curriculum clubs to allow religious clubs. “The reality is that the clubs are determined based on student interest and the availability of advisers,” Superintendent Sheldon Karnilow said. “There were very few students in the club over the past 2008-2009 school year, so it was recommended not to run the club, but offer anyone who wanted to participate in the club at Hills East to attend the Hills West club.” In the Hills East 2008-2009 activities handbook, Ichthus club was listed as a “student run club.” The superintendent said less than a dozen students regularly attended its weekly meeting. Two other clubs, Model UN and the Step Team, were also eliminated at Hills East for 2009-2010, in addition to four clubs at Hills West. Cortman confirmed the plaintiff was offered the option of attending Hills

West’s Ichthus Club, which currently has over 100 members, but claimed it would require her leaving class early and finding her own transportation home. However, school officials stated in a letter dated October 2009, prior to the lawsuit, that transportation would be provided for the 5-minute ride to Hills West and then bring Hills East students home. The letter also said if the plaintiff could raise enough interest in Ichthus, Hills East would be willing to reinstate it for the 2010-2011 school year. “They could have had all clubs that meet weekly, meet three times a month. They would have saved more money then canceling a handful of clubs,” Cortman said. “Budget cuts have to be implemented in a manner respecting the Constitution.” Hills East did reduce five clubs from weekly to bi-weekly meetings, including the French and Spanish honor societies. Similarly, four clubs’ meetings times were reduced at Hills West. Cortman said ADF is moving forward with preparing to file for preliminary injunction that would allow the Ichthus Club to begin holding meetings immediately.

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