Mike Crawford, newly appointed Hamburg School Superintendent, is going to hold a public meeting on October 24th so citizens can voice their concerns and help decide how wade through the 1.8 million dollar deficit. Mike has just started his job and now he has probably the toughest assignment in his career to get through. 1.8 million bucks is nothing to sneeze at and he knows it.
How Mike handles this issue will set the tone for years to come in that district. Will taxes be raised to overcome the shortfall or will spending be cut? One thing is for sure, not one administrator in Hamburg or Frontier has ever stood up to the unions so you can bet that the school staff will not have any benefits effected. That is the only way to show the community that the school district is taking the blame in this mess, cut staff and benefits and the town may forgive those who got them here.
OK, time to wake up, that will never happen!
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/southernsuburbs/story/186124.html
New superintendent presides at first meeting
Superintendent Mark Crawford presided over his first meeting in the Hamburg School District on Tuesday, expressing his relief that the transition is complete.
“I’m awful glad to be here,” he said. “I thought it would never come after it was announced in August. This is a great school system, and I’m glad to be home.”
Crawford, a former resident of Hamburg, was superintendent of the Dryden Central School District in Central New York for the past three years. He succeeds Peter Roswell, who retired Sept. 1.
One of Crawford’s first assignments as head of Hamburg schools will be a challenging one: to steer the district through an unanticipated $2 million dollar budget deficit announced earlier this month.
To that end, the district has planned a community meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 24 in Hamburg High School, 4111 Legion Drive.
Crawford said the first phase of the meeting will be a factual overview of the district’s finances. The second phase of the meeting, a question and answer period, will be facilitated by Erie 1 BOCES Superintendent Donald Ogilvie, who is a former Hamburg School superintendent.
At a news conference two weeks ago, district officials said the shortfall is likely to affect next year’s budget and other facets of the school district as well.
