Last night's Board of Education meeting was anticipated to proceed smoothly. It commenced with the Curriculum Advisory Council presenting their year-end summary, which included positive developments in student assessments, noting gains in certain areas. Unfortunately, the absence of handouts and a blurry projection screen marred the dissemination of this information. The scores are set to be published soon.
It’s important to highlight that these academic improvements are a beacon of hope, especially considering they were achieved prior to the budget cuts. The challenge now lies in sustaining this upward trajectory in student performance amidst the forthcoming reductions starting this September. The prospect of larger class sizes and diminished resources is a pressing concern for the Board.
During the Board’s actions, routine appointments and tenure recommendations took an unexpected turn. Ms. Canestro raised questions about the retroactive dating of appointments, deeming it unacceptable. Tenure was awarded to all listed personnel except for one—the Principal at EWMMS, whose tenure decision was deferred and not voted upon. This public oversight is astonishing, given that the School Board’s role in granting tenure is significant.
Canestro pointed out that the external auditor admonished the board on retroactive appointments. Canestro voted no to 2 grant funded retroactive appointments going back to January.
Canestro recused herself from the tenure vote citing they received a 2 inch binder in executive session and not having enough time to read through it all in the short amount of time and amongst other business discussed. She did wish all recipients well in their tenure and congratulated them.
Witnessing the Principal exit with a bouquet of flowers was a poignant moment, underscoring the expectation that when a Superintendent endorses tenure, the process should be seamless and transparent. A community member spoke fervently against the tenure denial, c
Wendy Canestro was immediately sworn in to the open seat tonight and will begin work as a member of the board. Caroline Fanning and Megan Messman will begin their terms on July 1st.
‼️School budget/trustee vote happening NOW‼️
⏰Polls open until 9pm.
✔️Vote for Champions for Change -
Canestro, Fanning and Messmann
🗳️Vote YES to Prop #2 - At Large - to take the ugliness out of school board elections.
🎥: Video Shot/Edited by @cherrellecrews
@crewscontrolent
Message from school board candidate, Caroline Fanning.
TOMORROW IS ELECTION DAY!
Vote for Champions for Change
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
✔️Canestro
✔️Fanning
✔️Messmann
Polls open 7am-9pm @ HS & Northeast.
Vote YES to Prop #2 - At Large
Message from school board candidate, Megan Messmann.
TOMORROW IS ELECTION DAY!
Vote for Champions for Change
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
✔️Canestro
✔️Fanning
✔️Messmann
Polls open 7am-9pm @ HS & Northeast.
Vote YES to Prop #2 - At Large
Message from school board candidate, Wendy Canestro.
TOMORROW IS ELECTION DAY!
Vote for Champions for Change
👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
✔️Canestro
✔️Fanning
✔️Messmann
Polls open 7am-9pm @ HS & Northeast.
Vote YES to Prop #2 - At Large
Message from school board candidate, Wendy Canestro.
🗳️Vote Canestro, Fanning & Messmann on May 21st
✔️Vote YES to Proposition #2 - At Large
Meet Amityville School Board Candidate Wendy Canestro.
Ever since attending her first school board meeting in 2020, Wendy has been a constant fixture at meetings advocating for students and tax payers.
As a guest contributor to Amityville Magazine, Wendy has made it her mission to keep residents and parents in-the-loop by requesting and reviewing documentation from the school district and pushing it out to the public via the magazine. Every post she’s written has been backed by documentation from the district.
As a former school board member of two high-performing districts, Wendy is no stranger to student-centered decisioning. She believes all students deserve a strong educational foundation. Over the past four years, she’s watched as the current school board over spent the budget by millions leading teachers to resign or be excessed, ultimately harming the quality of Amityville Student’s education.
As a trainer for the NYS School Board Association, Wendy knows the role, rules and procedures of a Board of Education. She brings experience, professionalism and transparency to the Board.
With her many years of experience, Wendy is ready to roll-up-her-sleeves and get to work. No longer able to stand on the outside, she’s ready to bring her strong budgetary and institutional knowledge to the Board of Ed and get to work on day one.
The Amityville School District is in crisis, and Wendy is well-equipped to turn it around.
🗳️Vote for Wendy Canestro on May 21st.
Vote for Champions of Change
✔️Wendy Canestro
✔️Megan Messmann
✔️ Caroline Fanning
🎥: Video Shot/Edited by @cherrellecrews
@crewscontrolent
Meet Amityville school board candidate Caroline Fanning.
Caroline is a lifelong resident of Amityville who has two children attending the Amityville schools.
After hearing the devastating news that 47 teachers/staff were being cut due to a $3.6 million deficit, she knew she had to leap into action.
Caroline immediately built a website amityvilleschoolvoters.org as a one stop resource for parents and residents to gather information on the catastrophic financial issue facing the district. Little did she know, an additional $4.6 million short fall would soon be coming down the pike. Her website became an invaluable guide to many yearning for more information.
17 years ago, she built a farming business from the ground up where she manages volunteers and budgets daily. In farming, there are many unknown factors where planning and budgetary forecasting is necessary to ensure success.
Caroline believes in the Amityville schools and knows with her strong leadership style, she can help right the ship.
🗳️Vote for Caroline Fanning on May 21st.
Vote Champions for Change
✔️Wendy Canestro
✔️Caroline Fanning
✔️Megan Messmann
🎥: Video Shot/Edited by @cherrellecrews @crewscontrolent
🎥: Video Shot/Edited by @cherrellecrews @crewscontrolent
Meet Amityville school board candidate Megan Messmann.
Megan is a lifelong resident of Amityville and currently has 2 small children in the district. She’s had a steady presence at school board meetings advocating for not only her kids but all kids.
She is an engineer and certified project management professional. She brings her professional experiences of budgeting, managing people and problem solving to the role of trustee.
Megan has proved a valuable voice to parents in the district and has been a driving force to rally parents to meetings.
She will be a welcomed new voice on the Board. She has consistently displayed a calm, controlled demeanor at meetings when questioning the Board.
🗳️Vote for Messmann on May 21st.
Vote Champions for Change
✔️Wendy Canestro
✔️Caroline Fanning
✔️Megan Messmann
🎥: Video Shot/Edited by @cherrellecrews @crewscontrolent
🎥: Video Shot/Edited by @cherrellecrews @crewscontrolent
The ducks are beach ready.
