LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — The Sullivan West Central School District board of education voted unanimously at its April 16 meeting to extend the closing date of the Narrowsburg School building and grounds sale to Brendan and Kathleen Weiden. At the Weidens’ request, the new closing date will take place between July 1 and July 10. The extension became necessary when the due diligence period allowable by law ended recently. Renewed once already, the due diligence period has been used by the Weidens to conduct extensive inspections of the aging building’s structure, plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical and mechanical systems.

Proof of inspection thoroughness came when the board passed unanimously a resolution authorizing the execution of a contract between the district and FeelSafe Monitoring, a company that will monitor emergency calls from the school building’s only elevator, operational since it was reactivated for inspection purposes. In response to a question from board member Rachel Brey about the duration of the contract, business manager Lorraine Poston said that the district would be responsible for the contract only until the sale closing, at which time it will be assumed by the Weidens.

There were three other main orders of business at the meeting: the upcoming 2015-16 budget vote, the search for a new high school principal, and common core testing opt-out.

On May 19, from 12 noon to 9 p.m., voters will pass judgment on the district’s $36,336,227 budget. District superintendent Nancy Hackett delivered the good news that some of the state aid diverted from education in recent years to cover state shortfalls in other areas has been restored, and is tentatively slated to account for 41% of this year’s budget, or $14,751,203. Tax levy will account for 49% of the remainder, or $17,533,573, and a fund balance of $2,263,389 plus local revenues of $1,588,062 will round out the total budget figure. A public hearing on the budget will take place on May 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the high school; voter registration will take place May 13 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Delaware, Jeffersonville and Narrowsburg election district venues.

Hackett said that the search for a high school principal to replace Margaret Tenbus, who retires on June 30, has narrowed to two candidates. After interviewing both, Hackett will make her recommendation to the board, which will then vote either to approve or reject it.

Reporting that the countywide opt-out rate for Common Core New York State English language arts testing conducted the week of April 13 was 20%, Hackett said that it’s important for parents to understand fully all consequences of opting in or out before making that decision with, or for, their children. Hackett also said she hoped that the tests would soon align more closely with teaching materials, which has not necessarily been the case so far. Math testing will take place the week of April 20.

Surprising as it seems, Hackett announced that there is a two-day surplus of snow days that will be deducted from the end of term, making the last day of school Wednesday, June 24.

For complete meeting minutes and full text of resolutions, visit www.swcsd.org/index.cfm.