First of Two School Budget Presentations to be Held Tonight

Administrators of the New Milford School District will be at D.E.O. Middle School Tuesday night to make the first of two public presentations of the proposed 2011-12 budget.

"We are hoping for a large turnout," said Michael Sawicz, business administrator for the district, at Monday's BOE meeting. "We have an exciting and dynamic presentation this year and we'll share all the good news about what is going on in the school district."

The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the middle school cafeteria. The district will also hold the public budget hearing, as required by law, during a Board of Education meeting on March 29 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school auditorium. The presentation at the middle school and high school will be identical, Superintendent Michael Polizzi said, so residents only need to attend one.

Back in December, the Board of Education discussed how it could better communicate its message about the school budget which did not pass in 2010. The failure of the budget let to more than $125,000 in cuts.

"We failed in getting the message out to the community about why they should vote for the budget," said BOE President Dan Conner at a December meeting. "We need to get more positive promotion of all the great things going on in our schools."