School Board: School music teacher hired to take hard-to-fill position
The Shelter Island School District hired Jessica Bosak as its new K-12 music teacher at its Monday night budget workshop, the fourth to hold the position since the 2009-2010 school year. Ms. Bosak will take over for Melissa Meadows on March 10.
It’s been difficult for the district to find a permanent replacement for Phyllis Power, who served as the school’s vocal music teacher from 1978 until her retirement in July 2010. The district hired Paul Johnson to fill the position in late August, but he resigned less than two weeks before the start of classes. He was hired by the Shelter Island district after being excessed from the Brentwood school district, but resigned after he was offered his former position back.
The board hired Ms. Meadows at an August 30 meeting. She taught for just over half the school year and the board accepted her resignation at its February 14 meeting.
Ms. Bosak has taught music as a leave replacement in the Greenport School District since September.
Interim Superintendent Robert Parry told the Reporter, “Several people reported to me that she was doing a very strong job over there and that she would be available sometime in March.” He said that after interviewing her and speaking with Greenport’s principal and superintendent, “I came to the same conclusion, that she would be a strong addition to our program. And therefore it worked out — it worked out, I repeat — it worked out that we were able to find a position for her.”
Prior to working in Greenport, she worked in the Mattituck-Cutchogue School District, where she taught General Music to 7th graders and an elective high school course, Music Theory. She was also the 7th- and 8th-grade concert band director and was in charge of the junior high Jazz Ensemble.
“I’ll see you all on March 10,” Ms. Bosak said after being welcomed by Mr. Parry during Monday night’s meeting. She will receive a salary of $49,826, at Step 1 BA+15 of the teacher salary scale.
SPECIAL EDUCATION INCREASE FOR 2011
Board President Rebecca Mundy started the second school budget workshop by saying, “Just remember that this is a work in progress — nothing is written in stone, anything can change.”
The largest expense discussed Monday night, special education, is “student-need driven; the ups and downs are all related to what the students need at that time,” Business Leader Sam Schneider said. The cost next year is expected to go up to $953,827 from what was budgeted for the current year, $925,716.
The district will also see a loss of about $14,000 in federal and state stimulus grants for special education in the next school year, Mr. Schneider said.
It will cost approximately $173,000 to send eight students to occupational education programs, including the cost of tuition and transportation. That breaks down to just under $22,000 per student to attend a BOCES career program, Mr. Parry commented.
The programs that students plan to enroll in are the same as last year: automotive after-market accessories, automotive technology, aviation/professional pilot training and marine and outdoor equipment. The board initially budgeted about $224,000 in occupational education for the current school year (including tuition and transportation), though only seven students enrolled, fewer than anticipated. The school expects to spend about $155,000 this year on the program in total.
The aviation/professional pilot training program was a new addition to the budget last year.
The workshops are being broadcast on Channel 22. Check the Channel 22 tab of the town website to view broadcast times.
To view the Powerpoint slides that were presented during the workshops, click on the business tab on the school website and look for the “Budget Workshop” files at the bottom of the page.
The board encourages those with questions to contact interim Superintendent Robert Parry at 749-0302, extension 408, or by email at [email protected]; or Mr. Schneider at 749-0302, extension 537, or by email at [email protected].
The next budget workshop is set for March 14, when the board will discuss the operations and maintenance of the building, inter-fund transfers, debt service and the capital reserve and bond referendums.
The board needs to adopt a budget by April 11.
