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Apr
04
2008
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Susan Henne
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Friday, 04 April 2008 |
 I agree with Mrs. Shattuck that these are trying times for Lansing's school district. I also agree that we share some responsibility for the current financial situation. Most of us believe and trust that our democratic process for selecting administrators and electing school board members will, in and of itself, bring what is best for our district. And, I agree with Mrs. Shattuck that the ultimate responsibility for the "school budget and district spending lies with the school board not the superintendent or the business manager." Since the school board works from the recommendations of the superintendent and business manager, trusting our administrators is key.
I listened to Mr. Lawrence, our business manager at the time, at a board meeting last spring. He said that if we made the big sacrifice to use our reserves for the upcoming year, we would be in good shape the following year. We all listened to Dr. Lewis and Ms. Pichette explain and justify the expenses of our budget. There were objections raised and pointed questions asked by a former Lansing business administrator and many other community members. The BOE members (with the exception of one and sometimes two) trusted these administrators and approved the budget. Many community members shared this trust when the budget vote passed. However, now we see that this trust was betrayed. According to the current records, the former administration overspent/and or under budgeted over 100 different budget codes.
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Mar
28
2008
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Christine Iacobucci
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Friday, 28 March 2008 |
I would like to thank the Lansing Faculty Association for their generosity in helping to restore our middle school summer school program and our five o'clock bus run to the district's budget. By giving up the LFA's funding which was contractually theirs, our teachers have demonstrated what many of us know already – that they are dedicated to the welfare of our children.
As I've heard many parents and community members opine, Lansing is currently struggling through a financial difficulty, but it feels so good to be working together to get through it. Thank you to Dr. Grimm, Mr. Klem, our leadership team, our faculty and staff, and the school board for making this positive climate possible.
From: Christine Iacobucci
Lansing, NY 14882
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v4i13
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Mar
28
2008
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Tom Vawter
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Friday, 28 March 2008 |
Ms Shattuck's thoughtful and well-argued guest editorial in the current issue of The Star spoke of "an elephant in the room" with regard to the budget shortfall the Lansing School District now faces. The "elephant" in Ms Shattuck's opinion piece seemed to be that the school district was living beyond its means, and that the community is blaming recent past administrators for the district's financial woes.
In my opinion her criticism was right on. As an interested resident of the School District, I'm aware of the effort the School Board and the community put into hiring the past superintendent. It would be discouraging to think that, after such effort, we, the community and our elected School Board, had made such a big mistake.
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Mar
28
2008
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Dan Veaner
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Friday, 28 March 2008 |
 After more than two years of covering the Lansing sewer project Town officials killed the project because it cost too much. I thought I was done reporting on sewer for the most part. But in covering the Warren Road sewer project this week I discovered that sewer in Lansing isn't actually dead. As they famously said in the Monty Python pet store routine, "It's not dead, it's just resting!"
That is not to say that an all-town sewer project is coming to Lansing any time soon, or ever. But it does mean that people are thinking about where there is a need for sewer and how it could be achieved fairly and sensibly now that the large sewer project is dead. Part II of my sewer article will talk about these ideas in next week's issue, so I won't go into them here. But the Warren Road sewer project is a win-win-win-win... project, and I wonder if it is a model for the future.
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Mar
21
2008
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Gina Shattuck
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Friday, 21 March 2008 |
 I understand the cultural taboo against airing dirty laundry in public. I also understand that sometimes there is a need for intervention to heal and empower hurting families: someone has to stand up and acknowledge the "elephant in the living room." I believe that the Lansing Central School District is a hurting family, and it is time to talk about our elephant.
If you have read a local newspaper or listened to a local radio station, you know that it is projected that the District will significantly overspend its 2007-08 budget before the school/fiscal year is out. We are shocked and appalled that such a thing could happen! The next part of the story tells us that the amount overspent this year will have to be rolled into next year's budget, putting us behind the proverbial eight-ball before we even begin to look at a budget for 2008-09.
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