On behalf of the Board of Education and the entire faculty and staff of our school district, I would like to thank the Port Chester and Rye Brook residents who voted in support of our 2012-2013 school budget.
As you know, this was an extraordinarily difficult budget process. We were forced to find millions of dollars in savings and the budget went through several iterations this year. Finding ways to cut expenses was difficult because we had already pared our programs to the bone in past years due to cuts in state aid.
This process gained a lot of public attention. As a result, significantly more residents came out to vote this year than recent years. I would like to think that our efforts in keeping the public well informed of our progress was one reason that the budget passed with such a significant margin, along with the advocacy efforts of our PTA/O Presidents council and their respective members.
Finally, I would like to congratulate our newly elected Board of Education trustees, Jim Dreves and Tom Corbia, who will be sworn in at the Board reorganization meeting in July. While there will be plenty of time during the coming months to thank Blanca Lopez, our current Board president, for her diligent service to our district, she deserves recognition for her leadership in policy development, contract negotiations, working with the PTA/O Presidents council, and dealing with one of the most difficult budget processes in years.
Edward A. Kliszus, Ph.D., Superintendent of Schools