Public hearing on school budget set for March 19
BY CHRISTINE VARNO Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH - The city Board of Education is scheduled to host a public hearing March 19 on the proposed school district budget for the 2008-2009 school year.

The hearing is set to be held in the auditorium of the Long Branch Middle School on IndianaAvenue at 7:30 p.m. and a budget fair is planned for the same evening at 6:30 p.m.

City voters rejected the $84.1 million school spending plan at polls last year, marking the fourth consecutive year that the budget was voted down.

Registered voters in the city will have the opportunity to vote on the 2008-09 school budget on April 15.

Three incumbents are running unopposed in the Long Branch School District Board of Education election.

Incumbents Violeta Peters of Wertheim Place, Joseph Sirianni of Community Place, and Rose M. Widdis of Hulick Street are seeking re-election to three-year terms on the nine-member board.

Sirianni has been serving on the board for 19 years, Peters for 18 years, andWiddis for 12 years, according to Peter E. Genovese, school board administrator.

The Long Branch school system comprises some 5,000 students and 11 schools and is designated as an Abbott district by the state.

The designation qualifies the school system to receive additional state funding to provide a "thorough and efficient" education to its students.

The polling places for theApril election are as follows:

Districts 1 and 4, Elberon Fire House on LincolnAvenue; Districts 2 and 3,West End Fire House on Second Avenue; Districts 5 and 8, Operation Life building on Second Avenue; District 6, Long Branch High School on Indiana Avenue; District 7, Oceanic Fire House on Norwood Avenue; District 9, the Morris Avenue Elementary School on Willow Avenue; District 10, Neptune Fire House on Branchport Avenue; District 11, Long Branch Senior Center on Second Avenue; District 12, Long Branch Public Library on Broadway; District 13, Independent Fire House in Union Avenue; District 14, Anastasia School on SeventhAvenue; Districts 15 and 17, Lenna Conrow School on Long Branch Avenue; and District 16, Oliver Byron Fire House on Atlantic Avenue.