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The lottery, announced Wednesday, less than a week before classes start, will be held at the administration building located at 105 South Madison Ave. in Spring Valley.
There are 156 spots in the program, which has four new full-day kindergarten classes.
Wortham released a statement Wednesday to say that the district had “officially enacted” the 2016-2017 school budget that had been approved by voters in May.
The district is adding art and music enrichment programs, Wortham said.
Fifth- and sixth-grade band and orchestra will be added this year as well as fifth-grade art and sixth-grade chorus, the superintendent said.
“We are very excited about this upcoming school year additional classes as well as student and teacher resources will mean a higher quality education for students throughout the district,” Wortham said.
The district plans to continue work with the “monitors, elected officials and the community to turn East Ramapo into a model district,” she said.
According to the superintendent, Kakiat Elementary School will be transformed into a STEAM (Science, Technology Engineering, Arts and Math) academy and Lime Kiln Elementary School will become an American history focused academy school.
School board president Yehuda Weissmandl pointed to the “tremendous progress” made by the district and said the new budget will “result in added classes and oppo rtunities our students will benefit greatly from.’
The troubled district is in better “fiscal condition,” Weissmandl added, thanking the state for providing additional funding “that will help us moving forward.”
Wortham said the district is working with the new monitor, Charles Szuberla, to set the date for a public hearing on the allocation of $3 million the state provided for school programs.
After the district gathers “insight” from the public and guidance from the monitor, it will adopt an expenditure plan and submit it to the commissioner of the state Education Departments, Wortham said.
Szuberia, a retired state education commissioner, was appointed in August to be the state’s oversight of the school district, according to a report by lohud.com.
He reports to state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia and is assisted by John Sipple, a Cornell University professor, the lohud.com report said.
To read the lohud.com report, click here.
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