Some Fight Against Proposed Cut of Nanuet Teacher

In order to close the Nanuet School District estimated $4 million budget gap, the board is cutting staff and dipping into reserves. Last week, the board held two budget workshop meetings, one to look at their and the other at. This past Tuesday, the board had its final budget review.

At the March 12 board meeting, Superintendent Mark McNeill presented his recommended staffing cuts:

• 9.6 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) Teaching Positions

• Art .4
• Elementary 3.0
• English 1.0
• Library Media Specialist 1.0
• Music 1.0
• Physical Education 1.2
• Science 1.0
• Technology 1.0

• 4.8 FTE Teaching Assistant Positions
• 2.2 FTE Clerical Positions
• 2.0 FTE Custodial Positions
• 2.0 FTE Monitor Positions
• All Freshman Coaches
• Assistant Varsity Coaches (except for Wrestling and Football)

Some spoke up during the public forum asking the board to reconsider the proposed elimination of Music Teacher Alex Fung.

Highview Elementary third grader Josh Bottitta, 9, had a letter prepared and read it to the board:

“I really like learning cello from Mr. Fung. He made it fun. And I would play cello again if Mr. Fung was the teacher. I really want Mr. Fung to be here so he can teach me and other kids how to play instruments better and make music. I don’t want him to have to leave. If there’s some other way to save that money, I hope we look into that.“

Alex Fung, a Nanuet music teacher, was granted Tenure back in January 2012. Here’s a look at some concerts he’s been involved with:

• 6th Annual Stringfest: Tchaikovsky to Lady Gaga 
• Nanuet’s 7 & 8 Graders Play Annual Winter Concert (VIDEO)

Nanuet Parent Eileen Wamsley also spoke up in support of Fung.

“If this man is at the bottom of the rung, is there some other way to offer someone an early retirement or look at young teachers that might want half days, or some other way to salvage that salary,” she said. “We have an outstanding music department … if we lose that uniqueness, then we’re just another school district. We should be doing a better job of (protecting that uniqueness). They’re very lean, this music department. I hope that there is some other way to come up with that salary.”

Wamsley added that her tenth grade daughter asked her to mention that when she was in seventh grade and attended Fung’s first concert to watch her sister, “she was amazed and said, ‘Mom, what he did with his students and what they were learning, she was just learning in seventh and eighth grade.”

Related Patch Articles:

March

• Budget Workshop I: Nanuet Schools Break Down the Budget
• Budget Workshop II: Nanuet Schools Talk Staffing Cuts

February

• $4M Gap In Draft 2013-14 Nanuet School Budget
• McNeill Requests Tabling of Grade Reconfiguration

October 

• Future Nanuet School Budget: "Going to be Survival"
• Nanuet School Budget: Possible Depletion of Reserves
• Superintendent McNeill Explains Proposed Changes
• Nanuet School Budget: Breaking Down the Numbers
• Nanuet Schools 2013-14 Budget: $3.5M Budget Gap
• Nanuet School Board: Federal Call to Action