East Islip
BUDGET
SPENDING $120,334,922, a 2.78 percent increase from the current $117,081,377.
TAX LEVY 0.8 percent increase, from $71,339,779 to $71,910,497. This is within the district's 2.81 percent tax-cap limit, so a simple majority vote is required for approval.
TEACHER PAY / PROGRAMS Salary increases are subject to negotiations later this year. The proposed budget cuts four teacher positions through attrition and are related to enrollment. The spending plan adds seven positions — a social worker; a STEM teacher and a library/media specialist, both at the elementary level; two elementary school teachers; and a cosmetology teacher and a teaching assistant. It adds in-house cosmetology programs, BOCES occupational education and junior varsity boys volleyball. The proposed budget also expands school security through addition of a visitor management system; provides funding for flexible classroom furniture and seating to encourage collaboration and research; and provides for certain building renovations.
PROPOSITIONS
Proposition 2 authorizes creation of a repair reserve fund, to be funded initially with up to $400,000 of unreserved unappropriated fund balance from the 2018-19 fiscal year and afterward by budgetary appropriation and/or application of unreserved unappropriated surplus. Approval of the proposition will not affect the tax levy.
WHEN | WHERE
6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Early Childhood Center, Islip Terrace. www.eischools.org
CANDIDATES
Charles P. Kalinowski and Christopher R. Nicolia are vying for the position, elected by seat. Incumbent Steven Behan is not seeking re-election. The term is three years.
Charles P. Kalinowski
BACKGROUND Kalinowski, 47, has lived in the district for 45 years. He has been a public school teacher in New York state for two decades. Kalinowski has a bachelor's degree from Stony Brook University and a master's degree in education from Dowling College. He also holds a school district administrator license from Stony Brook University. Kalinowski is a member of the Science Teachera Association of New York State and of Disabled American Veterans. He has three children in schools in the district.
KEY ISSUE Kalinowski's main issues include maintaining "open lines of communication between the community and the district. Maintain a safe and secure environment that has zero tolerance for all forms of bullying." The district also must continue to "provide faculty and staff with the resources needed to prepare all students for a rapidly changing world." He also highlighted the need to "try to minimize any tax hikes in order to keep current residents and businesses here," while attracting new families and businesses to the community.
Christopher R. Nicolia
BACKGROUND Nicola, 32, has lived in the district for more than four years. He is an attorney and holds a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University and a juris doctor degree from Touro College. He is a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association and a member of the Town of Islip Zoning Board of Appeals. He has three children who are not yet school-age.
KEY ISSUE Referring to district voters' authorization last year of a bond issue for new construction and repairs throughout the district, Nicola said he plans "to help formulate policies that will maintain quality education through the long construction process while protecting the interests of the taxpayers through fiscal responsibility. … My other key issue is to make sure that the current students are provided choice in programming to reflect varying interests and abilities. I want to make sure that all students leave the East Islip school system enter college or the workforce prepared to make decisions as to what they would like to do, what their strengths are, and ready to be active and productive members of modern society."
CORRECTION: A previous version of this entry referred incorrectly to where Charles P. Kalinowski has worked as a public school teacher for two decades.
