Pleasantville School Board Pleased with Budget Committee

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – The Pleasantville Schools Planning and Advisory Committee held its kickoff meeting Tuesday evening at Pleasantville High School to begin planning and strategizing how to construct the upcoming budget.

“The level of enthusiasm I saw was very inspiring,” said Lois Winkley, board of education president.  “We almost had to kick the people out of here to start our regular board meeting.”

Nearly 50 members of the Pleasantville community are participating in the committee, which is broken into eight subcommittees in order to better manage the many aspects of the district.  The subcommittees include one for each of the three schools, and specific departments such as special education, athletics, facilities, technology, and central operations.  Members who wished to participate in the committees applied through the district’s website and the board said it made decisions on those who are serving based on experience and other aspects.

Winkler said the board is very pleased with the diversity of the committee.

“We have a great representative from all over Pleasantville,” Winkler said.  “We have people that have children in the district, parents of children that have passed through the system and some that are just regular residents.”

The initiative is an effort that the district is taking to seek public opinion on matters within the budget.  With the recent 2 percent tax cap in place, the new budget may be the most difficult and crucial budget the district has comprised in years, the board said. 

Although the meeting was private to only committee members, board members encouraged the public to continue sending feedback and concerns to the district.

“People should avoid not speaking up,” said Thomas Exton, vice president of the board of education.  “If we don’t hear of something from the community, we may think the community doesn’t care or the community doesn’t want it.  Every issue and aspect is important in this process.”

Following the committees meeting, the board held its regular meeting in the high school.  The board agreed to make a change to its next scheduled meeting, on Nov. 8.  Instead of a regular meeting, the board will hold a work session on preliminary budget information, which will be open to the public.

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