Public Comment Sparks Back and Forth at CM School Board Meeting

Residents, taxpayers and students crammed into the Canon-McMillan School Board meeting Monday to find out details for—and question directors about— the proposed budget cuts and expected $2 million budget shortfall.

A number of students expressed their concern that arts could be eliminated as part of the budget process, and said they will be less competitive and less prepared than students from other districts if that would happen.

“The point of school is to go and learn and prepare students for the future, and I don't think you can do that without the arts," Canon-McMillan High School senior Maria Perez said. "It teaches us how to see the culture and everything around us. They are just as important to us as our math and sciences."

Victoria Scoumis, an art teacher for Pittsburgh Public Schools, and her daughter, Brittany, a freshman at Canon McMillan, echoed those sentiments.

According to Scoumis, she has witnessesed  programs in her district dwindle year after year; leaving entire sections of the building shut off. She said she doesn't want to see her daughter's options become as limited as those of her own students.

She was thrilled when her daughter brought home the course selection booklet, and planned not only her freshman year, but through until eleventh grade. Now, all of those options may have to be revisited.

Lack of choices is only a part of what worries Brittany, though, as she looks down the road.

“The other thing I fear is the growing population we get each year. I don't want to see the classes get too large. I had a chance to be in German, but I didn't want to be the 34th student in the class,” Brittany Scoumis.

Public comment wasn't limited to just the pleas of the current student body, however. Some residents wanted immediate answers from the board regarding their concerns.

“If you don't want to answer questions, that's fine, but the people asking the questions are the taxpayers. They're the ones footing the bill,” said resident Bill Angotti.

Angotti wasn't alone in his frustration with the board's policy of not answering questions and engaging in conversation with residents during the public-comment portion of the meeting. Former board president Nick Cianelli pressed the board for answers, which resulted in sparks flying between he and board member Joe Zupancic.

Cianelli questioned the legality of how the administration has presented the board with information regarding the fund balance and what he referred to as a “surplus.” Cianelli also became enraged when no member of the board would answer when he asked when the next budget meeting was to be held.

“If somebody in the audience is going to come to these meetings and accuse any member of this district of illegal activity, you better have the facts to back it up or you're going to get sued for slander,” Zupancic shot back.

The board is required by law to ratify its 2011-12 spending plan by June 30.