Manor Oaks PTA Draws the Budgeting Line

Kathy Wong,  Parent Teacher Association co-president, was the only person to address the Board of Education during the Monday night public budget workshop community input time.

In her speech to the board, Wong said the Manor Oaks School PTA members did not want to lose the following programs due to potential upcoming budget cuts: The Odyssey and math enrichment programs, the science program and the strings, chorus and band programs.

"In this current day of technological advances, the challenges of the global market, and discoveries in science and medicine, it is not enough to just adequately prepare our children for the future," Wong said. "We must be able to give them an education that challenges them and causes them to reach higher and strive for more. We cannot go with the status quo approach or a bare bones education- this is not how a school in Nassau County can be characterized. These programs that were mentioned help to shape our children's analytical and critical thinking, stimulates creativity, and broadens their educational experience."

In November during an Interschool Parent-Teacher Association meeting at the Manor Oaks School, Superintendent told the parents at the meeting they should of programs that they want to hold on to and things that could potentially be cut. When asked after the public comment period what programs Wong would possibly sacrifice to save the ones the Manor Oaks PTA wants to keep, she noted that that question isn't very easy to answer.

"I can't choose anything that easily," she said, noting that she doesn't want the children to have an education that is down to the "bare bones."