New Paltz Central School District voters supported a $63,640,000 budget with 782 casting a ballot in favor and 320 opposed. Voters in the Highland Central School District also approved the budget proposed to them, with 629 votes for and 197 opposed to a budget of $44,442,937.
Members of the public gave the board an earful about their decision to eliminate the positions of four “sys-ops” employees; systems operation specialists who work as technology assistants to the teachers and who, according to several of the speakers at last Wednesday’s meeting, are the people who do the real heavy lifting in the schools when it comes to technology issues.
Superintendent Thomas Bongiovi said that after receiving a complaint regarding an employee last week, “the district did a prompt and thorough investigation, and the employee ultimately resigned from the district.” He added that the New York State Department of Education was also notified.
Trustees were asked to notify parents more quickly of threats to their children and to be more proactive about responding to incidents of racism and anti-Semitism, of which there have been 10 reported in all four schools in recent months.
When Delores Angelillo-Ward opened Concept 1 Unisex Beauty Salon in 1969, it was only the third hair salon in New Paltz. The others, “Powder Box” and “William’s,” are both long gone, but her establishment still thrives despite the considerable competition in town these days.
May 17-19: Bethel Woods celebrates 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 with Lunar Weekend’s sleepover in the museum and Deep Field symphonic film filled with Hubble Telescope imagery. What effect did space travel have on the 400,000 young people who descended on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm just weeks after the Moon landing?
The Ulster County Poorhouse opened in New Paltz in 1828, at the site on Libertyville Road where the Ulster County Fairgrounds and county pool complex are now located. The facility closed in 1976 after having housed thousands of people in the intervening years. Some were classified as “insane” or “intemperate,” but the records show just as many who were admitted because of old age, sickness or disability. There were unwed mothers, “debauched” women, abandoned wives, babies and children, former slaves and recent immigrants injured while employed building the Catskill Aqueduct and D & H Canal.
Incumbent Sophia Skiles is running to retain her seat for a second term and Bianca Tanis is a first-time candidate running for the seat of Matthew Williams, whose term ends on June 30.
The New Paltz Regatta returns for its 64th iteration on Sunday, May 5. With any luck, the sun will shine, but even if it rains again as it did at last year’s event — and the event the year before — the show will go on.
The New Paltz Central School District will ask voters to approve a $63,640,000 budget for the 2019-2020 school year. The vote will be held at the high school on Tuesday, May 21. The budget reflects a 2.98 percent increase over the current 2018-19 budget and includes a 3.98 percent tax levy increase.
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