Amherst School District outlines goals
Budget vote Tuesday

Caro sellaLackner

The Amherst Central School District outlined some upcoming goals at the May 6 school board meeting.

Superintendent Laura Chabe said the district will be applying for a four-year literacy grant for $75,000 in cooperation with the University at Buffalo.

"We want to take our existing mentoring program and infuse the concept of literacy in the process, so new teachers can still maintain the integrity of learning about special outlets and good classroom instruction along with trying to balance the literacy initiative," said Chabe. "The idea generated a lot of enthusiasm with the members of the literacy committee."

Chabe also wants to take a look at research-based initiatives for math for all district buildings.

Chabe also said Windermere Early Childhood Center principal Mary Lavin wants to expand the district's pre-K program by 40 students.

Assistant Superintendent Mark Whyle said the district's employee handbook has been revised and should be available for staff by September. He's also looking to see if it can be placed online.

Lane

District Business Manager Greg Kern said he's looking at cost-saving measures for future school budgets.

The board also held a public hearing for the 2008-09 budget. No district residents raised any questions.

At its April 22 meeting, the School Board adopted a $42.7 million budget, a 5.6 percent spending increase from the current year and a 4.57 percent increase in the property tax levy.

It's the largest tax levy increase in at least 15 years. The average tax levy over the past 11 years has been 1.25 percent.

This year's School Board race is uncontested. Ann Marie Carosella Lackner and Illana Lane are running for the two open seats.

Carosella-Lackner has her doctorate in social psychology from Princeton University and is working at the University at Buffalo Department of Medicine.

She and her husband, Jeffrey, have lived in the district for 14 years and have two children, Rachel, a seventh-grader at Amherst Middle School, and Benjamin, a fourth-grader at Smallwood Elementary School.

For the past five years she has been on the Smallwood Leadership Team and for the past eight years has been a Smallwood Reading Center volunteer. Carosella-Lackner is also active in the middle school and Smallwood PTAs.

Lane, an educator for 19 years, is an associate professor at Medaille College where she is the program director for the Teacher Education Program. She holds a doctorate in education and received her Master of Science in education from the University at Buffalo.

She and her husband, Darrell, have been residents of the community for six years and are the parents of two children, Darrell, who is in the fourth grade, and John, in third grade. Both attend Windermere Boulevard Elementary School.

She has been on the Windermere Leadership Team for two years, is a member of the PTA and has served on the Pre-K Advisory Committee.

The budget vote is from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, in the high school gym.