Public Apathy Frustrates PTA Members

of five North Fork school districts and one on , available for public scrutiny and ready for public approval (or not) on May 17.

But a few members of the Parent-Teacher Associations of andsaid that they are disappointed in the lack of interest regarding school budgets and general apathy they’ve been seeing toward the process on the North Fork.

“Our school board is working hard, but they don’t see many people at the board meetings,” said Sandy Martocchia, Greenport School’s PTA secretary, a substitute teacher at the school and a frequent contributor to North Fork Patch. “But the public doesn’t come to the meetings — so they’re going to vote on a budget in a month … but how can they vote yes or no when they haven’t heard discussions on what went into all the decisions?”

Cuts to field trips in the 2011-12 budget for Greenport School also concern Martocchia, a 1989 graduate of Greenport High School and a mother of girls who are also in the Greenport school system.

Fundraising to make up for these cuts, she said, is no small task.

“As a parent, I just think about all the work that would go into that,” she said. “You know, what do you expect the kindergarten class to do to raise money? They’re not going to do a car wash or a bake sale.”

"Money rules everything,” said Southold High School’s PTA president Tina Koslosky. “”I feel that’s the hardest thing that administrators and teachers face.”

Koslosky said that she thinks teachers at Southold are doing a great job, but that no one is getting educated in the lap of luxury.

“Every year [the school board] decreases money, they decrease services,” she said.

Superintendent David Gamberg and staff members of the Southold School District have turned down raises for two years in a row, which Koslosky said she thinks is tremendous.

But, like Martocchia, Koslosky is frustrated about the lack of participation in the survival of schools on the part of the public.

“Less than 15 percent of parents vote on the budget,” she said, adding that she wished the school board would present to the public each year what percent of the budget can actually be altered by public vote.

“People don’t realize how little can be touched,” she said. “There is so much that is contractual through federal and state mandates. It’s just something we have to do.”

Sharon McHugh of Southold, a Southold PTA member and former vice president of the special education section of the organization, said that she too was frustrated by the lack of engagement from the public during school budget season in recent years.

“I don’t know if it’s just that people are too busy, trying to make ends meet in this economy, but I used to be very involved and now I just feel disillusioned,” she said. “And I feel apathy from the district — it just seems that their hands are tied.”

McHugh recalled a big turnout at a school budget vote a few years ago — when local musician Brady Rymer put on a concert to get people out to vote.

“We need more people like that to motivate people,” she said.

But, Martocchia said that, due to the tight-knit community, she believes Greenport School will be alright —  despite the general lack of public interest.

“Greenport comes together really well — when there are families in need there are all sorts of fundraisers,” she said. “ And you know what? Greenport School is going to have a . How many schools on Long Island have a windmill?

“There are going to be great changes in Greenport next year, and I really hope more parents will participate in the decisions of the future of the school.”