NNCS holds final community budget forum
NORFOLK – The Norwood-Norfolk Central School District will hold its third and final community forum at 7 p.m. tonight in the elementary school cafeteria.
Superintendent Elizabeth A. Kirnie said the session will focus on avenues that can be taken if the district’s budget in 2012-13 falls short.
“We’re basically going to start with an informational slideshow. It’s all going to be factual, leading into a discussion of, if it hurts enough, which of the remedies to high taxes would you consider? We’ll discuss things like mergers, annexation, shared services and regionalization,” Mrs. Kirnie said.
The question and corresponding information is available at the district’s website, www.nncsk12.org . Among the links is one that takes visitors to a recent consolidation study done by the St. Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative
Educational Services.
“We’re asking, if these were the remedy, which one would you consider? We’ll try as best as we can to put out the pros and cons with the data we have,” she said.
The district has compiled an extensive list of data from their first two forums, and some of that information is also posted on the website.
Because of the amount of information they’ve received from participants during the two forums, Mrs. Kirnie said they won’t be able to address all the comments in their final 2012-13 spending plan.
“That’s one of the things that (board of education Vice President) Jon Hazen is going to address in his closing remarks. We have a lot of information, some of it conflicting, and we want to hear from everyone. But we can’t do it all,” she said.
“Another good reason is getting a diverse group of people together from the community is to help them understand there are other points of view, other needs and values out there. By mixing people up at the table, they realize they may speak for certain people, but there are other views out there. That in itself is productive,” the superintendent said.
In addition to the community forums, board of education members have also set up forums for staff members to share their views and concerns. The next session will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the board room.
“After that, I think the talking and listening is over” as they approach Feb. 15 and their first board work budgeting session, Mrs. Kirnie said.
