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A yes vote for N-N budget for one more year

Posted 6/1/11

To the Editor: NNCS Board of Education Members and Administrators, I wonder if the NNCS budget had failed 188 to 186; would this school district have a different outlook about how this school budget …

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A yes vote for N-N budget for one more year

Posted

To the Editor:

NNCS Board of Education Members and Administrators,

I wonder if the NNCS budget had failed 188 to 186; would this school district have a different outlook about how this school budget voting process was accounted? The machines that are being used for this vote are machines that New York State decided were no longer reliable for local, county, state and federal elections.

Why do we not use paper ballots? Would it be that hard to tabulate less than 400 paper ballots with only two options on them. When I voted, there were four polling attendants being paid to work these antiquated machines.

I will admit that when I drove to school to vote, I was voting “NO.” I’m on a fixed income. This past year I haven’t enjoyed hearing or reading all the negative things about our school district, its’ Superintendent and the Board of Education.

I sat in my car wondering if my vote really mattered. I graduated from NNCS in 1969. I am fortunate enough to have lived my whole life here and have my 3 children attend this same school. They received a good education. Even though they could not find locally decent jobs and now live outside of St. Lawrence County, this was not due to the education that they received from NNCS.

I read that the NNCS teachers union finally agreed to participate in financing their own health insurance. Because I am on a fixed income paying $428/mo. for health insurance for my wife and I (over $5,000/annually); I feel that it is time that everyone should help themselves with this issue.

This is not something any employer can totally afford; $750 annually for individual and $1,750 annually for family coverage doesn’t seem like much but it is a start. This bit of information helped me to decide to vote “YES” for the 2011-2012 NNCS budget.

To the present Board of Education (I know most of you personally) and to Superintendent Kirnie: you have my support for one more year. I do not want to read or hear that my school district is considering acquiring land from Barrett’s for a possible golf course or that we are paying our Superintendent to try to acquire a $1 million grant for a walking trail from the school to Norwood. I only ask you to use my tax dollars and my vote of support wisely.

Please try to keep our local school district viable even if it means a merger. I along with 400 other voters are watching and waiting for results. Without positive results I promise that I will be a “NO” vote on next year’s NNCS annual budget vote. I made a difference this year with my vote. Next year I will do the same.

Robert C. Haggett

Past President of NNCS School Board of Education