I am a parent in the East Islip School district, in September our PTA council formed a Legislative Action Committee. Several weeks ago we had a meeting with one of our local politicians and he said that to be heard in Albany we needed to be so large and loud that we cannot be ignored. We also attended a presentation at Eastern Suffolk BOCES with our Superintendent of schools, our Assistant Superintendent for Business and  a BOE trustee. There were over 200 people in attendance and we viewed several presentations outlining the fact that essentially Albany has decided to shortchange Long Island schools, again. It does not matter to them that our taxes are outrageous, in Albany they think we are rich. It does not matter to them that  Long Island graduates more children than the rest of the state, they will punish us for getting done here what they have failed to do in NYC, no matter how much money they give them. They think we can afford to foot the bill for the rest of the state. I believe in Public Schools and public school education, but I believe that the distribution of education funding is inequitable and Long Island suffers as a result.
 
    At BOCES we also saw a presentation urging schools to get on board with the social media known as  Facebook, to use it as a tool to communicate with the community. Well I am on Facebook, often. On February 11,  I formed a group, Save Long IslandSchools, by that night we had 1000 people. As of today, March 6, we have over 4600 members.  However,  in order for it to really be noticed in Albany it must be tens of thousands of people. So here is the link  to Save Long Island Schools http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/329796000396554/ 

     Save Long Island Schools is a grassroots movement to force Albany to eliminate unfunded mandates that overly burden our schools and to take a good hard look at the funding formula and give our children their fair share, nothing more nothing less. It is a movement to get as many people as possible to tell our Governor, that we are tired and we are not going to sit idly by while he destroys our schools.  

    In the coming weeks we will be organizing an education rally on March 18,  here on Long Island, it is imperative that thousands of parents, children, community members attend. We will also be starting a letter writing campaign. all of this information and more is available on Save Long Island Schools on Facebook. I urge you to join us, to spread the word to all of your family and friends on Long Island. Please don't hesitate. Many voices can make a difference.

Regards, 

Bonnie Buckley

bonnief.Buckley@gmail.com