Sandpebble Lawsuit: Jury Selection Soon
Sandpebble Lawsuit: Jury Selection Soon
The East Hampton School Board unanimously adopted its 2016-17 budget proposal, in the amount of $66,721,301, during an eventful Tuesday night meeting in which it granted tenure to several teachers, hired a teacher for what had been a difficult-to-fill position, hired a transportation consultant, heard about the long-standing Sandpebble Builders lawsuit, and learned that four candidates will vie for three open school board seats at the district’s annual meeting on May 17. J.P. Foster, Rich Wilson, and Wendy Geehreng, incumbent board members, are seeking re-election, with Alison Anderson the fourth candidate.
If approved by voters, the budget would raise spending by less than 1 percent, and stay within the state-mandated cap on tax increases. The tax levy, $48,986,823, would be .68 percent higher than this year’s. The final figures were the result of weekly workshops the school board held since January in which it went over each section of the budget line by line. Richard Burns, the superintendent, said district administrators were sensitive to the constraints of the tax cap law, which this year kept increases near zero for most South Fork school districts.
“In one way, it’s almost like we’re getting used to it,” Mr. Burns said. “We know we can’t have outlandish proposals. We’re lucky in that we didn’t have to cut any programs for students. We’re very fortunate that way.”
About 20 veteran teachers and staff members who had decided to retire boosted the budget outlook. Their positions are expected to be filled by those who are younger and make less money. As a result, the district will save nearly $422,000 on salaries, a decrease of about 1.3 percent. The payroll will be about $32.17 million, which accounts for the bulk of the district’s tax levy. Board members said retirements left room in the budget for more equipment, new sports uniforms, and the like.
The teachers who were tenured on Tuesday were Cara Nelson, a middle school social studies teacher, Nicholas Finazzo, a middle school math teacher, Devon Parkes, a high school social studies teacher, and Erik Hamer, a high school foreign language teacher, along with Robert Hagan, the district’s director of learning, technology, and instruction.
The board hired Urban Reininger as its computer-coding teacher, a position the board had been trying to fill for about two years. Mr. Reininger has 17 years experience as a coding teacher in private schools and is awaiting final certification from New York State to teach in a public school. Robin Jahoda, a part-time high school English teacher, was made full-time.
The school board also hired School Source Technologies to examine its bus routes to make sure they are as efficient and as cost effective as possible. The firm will be paid $30,000, and the work is expected to be done by September. “This guy’s incredible,” Robert Tymann, the assistant superintendent, said. “He has done work with many other districts. . . . I’m looking forward to seeing the results. I’m sure we’ll see a significant savings.”
With regard to the Sandpebble lawsuit, Mr. Burns announced that May 9 had been set for jury selection. There have been several delays in moving the case to trial, including one due to the assignment of a new judge toward the end of 2015. Sandpebble, which is based in Southampton, is suing the district for $3.75 million, alleging East Hampton wrongly terminated its construction contract in 2006. East Hampton claims that it hired a different builder because the scope of the construction increased.