DiGeronimo elected to fourth term as M-W School Board President

Central Valley - Dr. Michael DiGeronimo was elected to his fourth term as president of the Monroe-Woodbury School. Erich Tusch was re-elected as vice president of the board as well. Also sworned in for three-year terms were incumbents Wayne Chan and Jennifer Trumper and new board member Dr. John MacDonald. Eleni KikirasCarter also was sworn in to complete the final year in former school board member Ray Rivera’s term. She finished fourth in the school board election. During DiGeronimo’s presidency, increases in school spending - now at $149 million - have gone steadily down. There also are 42 fewer teachers and five fewer administrators. There also are fewer teaching assistants as well as support staff. These have come through attrition or retirement incentives. What this has meant is that there have been no large-scale layoffs or program cuts as experienced at so many other school districts in the area as the economy turned south in the last several years. But as DiGeronimo has said over and over again in recent months, school districts can no longer rely on largese from Washington and Albany. That new reality now includes a 2 percent cap on spending as ordered by Albany. That new reality also includes the fact that in a district considered by many for its array of academic, artist and sports program s as wll as its affluence, more than 180 students are classified as homeless. In other business DeGeronimo and Tusch were re-elected by 8 to 1 votes. Theresa Budich was the lone dissenter, although she did say to DiGeronimo, “Michael, I appreciate your work.” Her opposition is not surprising, considering that the board publicly scolded her for her comments about Rivera back in March when she noted that Rivera had sold his home in Highland Mills and moved to North Carolina. She wanted to know whether the public would be voting on three or four seats in the May school board elections. The district is currently reviewing applications for the position of school security supervisor. Frank Squillante, a retired officer with the New York City Department of Corrections, had held the position for the last year under a one-year waiver from the state. Since then, a Civil Service test has been given. The district will begin interviewing candidates from this list, per state education law. In other appointments: John Donoghue was retained as school attorney. District Clerk Leah Schifano was re-appointed records management officer and records access officer. TD Banknorth was appointed as official depository for district funds. The Times Herald-Record and The Photo News were appointed offical newspapers.