With less than a month until the budget needs to be adopted, nearly 200 concerned parents and residents attended Thursday night's Union Free District of the Tarrytown's public hearing at John Paulding.

At the start of the session, board president Mimi Godwin acknowledged the air of concern and tension in the room.

"We've received numerous letters on the budget, the cuts and the school closure," she said. "We will take everything you say under advisement."

Superintendent Howard Smith's presentation that followed reiterated the formerly announced hot button issues, including a hike in property tax across both towns and class size increase.

Smith cautioned that reconsidering the budget might mean compromising personal ideals, especially in terms of class size and walking distance.

"The real issue is getting at the standard that drives the expense," he said.

He also reminded the audience that the budget called for a cut in approximately 5 percent of the total district workforce, or 27 people.

"There's no way to cut back without laying off people," he said. "We don't take that lightly."

Then, the superintendent introduced a new twist—he asked audience members to divide into 26 groups of seven strangers, address the following three questions and come to a mutual consensus:

1. Should Tappan Hill be closed as called for in the proposed budget?
2. Should the district's class size guidelines be increased and Teacher Assistant support ratios be decreased as called for in the proposed budget?
3. If the budget needed to be reduced further, what additional cost cutting measures should be explored?

To guide discussion of the third question, Smith provided a list of possible cuts that included elementary and secondary band, orchestra and chorus; Middle and High School summer school; bus monitors; full-day for kindergarteners (1/2 day was proposed as an alternative) and sports programs.

There were varying levels of enthusiasm about the group discussion, which were expressed in the general comment portion of the hearing.

Parent David Hodgson, the first to address the board, garnered significant applause from the audience.

"I have a general impression that a number of things [we discussed] are the same questions…administration is a huge budget. We didn't see that on the list. I would like to reiterate that there's got to be more choices," he said.

Michelle Gonzalez, a Sleepy Hollow parent of an eighth grader, agreed, citing the "$200,00 salary of the assistant superintendent."

"We're all adults here; we're ready to do what needs to be done. We have to make the cuts," she added to applause.

A few other parents also expressed their concern with the administrative salaries, but Smith continued to reply, "We just can't do certain things," pointing to employee contracts that have yet to expire.

Jeanne Naughton-Carr, a Tarrytown resident and mother of a fifth and eighth-grader, suggested a different cut.

"I think the [elementary] dual language program is a luxury," she said. "The board should seriously consider eliminating that program."

Sleepy Hollow resident Gina Lamparella, whose children have yet to enter the program, disagreed.

"I've heard students not in the dual language program suffer in their Spanish education," she said.

Overall, it did not appear audience members could come to any sort of true consensus, although a few did seem to warm to the idea of closing Tappan Hill. Some parents expressed that they would prefer to keep buses and teaching assistants over keeping the school open.

Smith argued that closing the school would save the district $670,000; and the cuts involved would not include teachers, teaching assistants and programs for students.

Sleepy Hollow resident David Rudofsky has a 5-year old son poised to enter first grade in the fall.

"I don't think this is something Dr. Smith would recommend if it wasn't workable," he said during the group discussions.

The board members collected sheets from each group to review for new ideas and invited email requests from audience members who has been unable to adequately express their ideas during the hearing.

There will be a general budget discussion open to the public on Saturday, March 20^th.

The budget will be formally adopted by the Board of Education on Thursday, April 15^th.

Residents of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow will be able to vote on the proposed budget, as well as nominated board members, on Tuesday, May 18^th.