A Message from Richard Burns, Superintendent

Dear Community Resident: I would like to offer gratitude and congratulations to our community today. On behalf of the administration and the Board of Education of the East Hampton School District, I want to thank everyone who took the time to come out yesterday and show their support for our 2013-14 budget, which passed by a large margin. School budget results are often viewed as an indicator of community confidence, and I am grateful to have that confidence from so many of our citizens. Because of you, we will continue our commitment to Excellence in Education by providing quality educational programs, while concurrently maintaining attention to fiscal responsibility. Schools and their budgets have become increasingly complex. Understanding the jargon of mandates, often referred to by acronyms or short phrases such as Common Core, APPR, AIS, IEPs, ELLs, SLOs, etc., is a challenge. There are more tests than ever. Now we have so-called 2% tax levy caps that are actually a different number that is calculated separately for each school district. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we try, in our open budget workshops, to make sense of all of this for you. Please come to the many meetings we schedule on different topics. We look forward to your input. A fond farewell to Alison Anderson, who has put enormous time and effort into her three years on the board. Her commitment to the students of this district is much appreciated. Welcome to Wendy Geehreng, Rich Wilson, and JP Foster – I look forward to us working together as we continue to move the district forward. Again, thank you. Sincerely, Richard J. Burns Superintendent of Schools