ESTABLISHED IN 1924
SEVERE BUDGET CRISIS
Major Budget Cuts Looming
9.6% tax increase, $4.9 Million in cuts proposed
by Kyle Peabody
Technical Manager
ARLINGTON–Faced with a $5.5 million
cut in New York State Education Aid, the Ar-
lington Central School District now faces an
immediate fiscal emergency that will threaten
programs and services offered by the district.
According to numbers released by the
District last month, administration is propos-
ing to increase spending by about 3% next
year, with a tax levy increase of about 10%.
Already included in these statistics are the
"Tier One" cuts, which consisted of $4.3 mil-
lion in savings and reductions and were en-
An Original Mind
COPING WITH ASPERGERS
Arlington Alumni Discusses Syndrome In New Book
Arlington graduate Jesse Saperstein.
by Kevin Lei
Staff Writer
An alumnus of Arlington, Jesse Saper-
stein begins his autobiography with “Please
be forewarned that you are about to read the
observations and life lessons of someone who
entertains himself by farting in public and
conversing in gibberish with his cats.” Atypi-
cal: Life with Asperger’s in 20 1/3 Chapters
is set to be published on April 6th and depicts
Saperstein’s perspective in dealing with
Asperger’s Syndrome. A unique individual,
Saperstein was always different at an early age
and suffered difficulties in social interactions.
STRUCTURAL DEFICIENCIES
Maintenance Problems Plague School
Roof leaks, heating issue a main cocern of students
by Angry Student
Staff Whiner
Over the past couple of years, particu-
larly during the fall/winter/spring period,
Arlington students have been subjected to
maintenance problems in both the old and
new wings of the school. They have noticed
entire hallways in complete darkness and
entire ceiling panels missing. Between pe-
riods, throngs of people must dodge waste
bins put in place to catch dripping water.
They must prepare for varying degrees of
heat, and even no heat, from one room to the
next. These problems and others have caused
an annoying inconvenience for every one of
the 3,650 students who attend Arlington High
School each day.
The most serious of these problems is
OPINION PAGE 3
Why fat people should
not be required to
purchas extra tickets on
commercial flights
acted this school year, and the "Tier Two" cuts
proposed last year, consisting of $4.9 million
in new reductions and savings. Additionally,
the administration has listed 29 other items,
totaling $10.2 million in additional reductions
and savings.
Already in the "Tier Two" cuts in the
proposed budget are:
Eliminating the $2 million savings and
conservation funds allocated last year
Increasing K-5 Class sizes at a cost of 6.5
jobs and providing savings of $420,000
Over $1 million in savings by charging
some special education salaries to temporary
federal grant programs
However, he has developed an optimistic view
on life and is a model for coping with the
debilitating effects of Asperger’s Syndrome.
Asperger’s Syndrome is a mild form
of autism that is believed to be caused by
genetic defects, but exact causes remain un-
known. People with Asperger’s Syndrome
are characterized by problems in interacting
with others. They often have trouble with
interpreting emotions, but are not shy and will
readily engage others in conversations. Those
with Asperger’s Syndrome may have a basic
understanding of feelings and emotions, but
are unable to apply this in real life situations.
The failure to express correct emotions and
leaks in the roof. Whenever it rains heavily
or snow on the roof begins to melt, water
leaks into the hallway, catching unsuspecting
teenagers off guard until a trash bin is placed
underneath. These bins have become a staple
of the second floor at Arlington High School,
indiscriminant towards any one section of the
school. Some of these leaks can be attributed
to the new construction projects, but many
occurred before the expansions, as well. As
a result, many ceiling panels in the areas of
the leaks have over time, become heavy with
absorbed water. This weight eventually be-
comes more than the ceiling frames can bear,
and the panel collapses. The debris is quickly
picked up and taken out of the way, but gap-
ing holes remain in the ceiling for differing
amounts of time.
Others have been affected by heating
APRIL 2010
Lowering estimates for employee
pay and benefits allocations totaling just
under $1 million
Eliminating all district after-school buses,
saving $143,000
Reducing K-8 Intramural Programs:
By half in middle schools, saving $30,000
Completely in K-5, saving $26,000
Eliminating the MORE program and AIS
extended day, saving about $90,000
About $100,000 in cuts to administration
including:
Reducing Vail Farm Assistant Principle
Position to 10 months, from 12
Please Turn to Page 2
JESSE SAPERSTEIN/THE ARLINGTONIAN
display correct behavior is one of the aspects
of the social awkwardness that those with
Asperger’s Syndrome face. Also, Asperger’s
Syndrome causes people to develop narrow
interests in obscure subjects or show repeti-
tive body movements. These interests may
vary, but are always focused on one specific
topic. Speech and language is affected by
Asperger’s Syndrome to cause difficulty in
understanding figurative language although
children with Asperger’s Syndrome are accrue
a complicated vocabulary, but are only able
to use words in a literal sense. Saperstein has
evaded this part of Asperger’s Syndrome and
has developed an acute sense of humor.
problems. On a normal day, the classrooms in
the ‘100s and ‘400s aren’t the same tempera-
ture because the school is uniformly heated
from a central source; there are no thermo-
stats for each room. For students, this means
they almost have to carry around a jacket or
another extra article of clothing because they
do not know how hot or cold an individual
classroom will be. But sometimes, especially
during the winter, there can be little or even
no heat in the older wing of the school. On
one memorable day this past winter, the heat
effectively broke in several classes in the
upper 2100s, forcing classes to change their
location to escape the 40 degree temperatures.
The maintenance issues do not end there.
Some lockers in the main locker rooms do not
work, forcing students to scramble to find a
place to store their belongings during gym
SPORTS PAGE 14
Controversy regarding
upcoming FIFA World Cup
FEATURES PAGE 8
Recapping the most popular
celebrity prom memories
ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
INSIDE
Breakdowns
Local resident
Luke Reed of
LaGrangeville
of where addresses the
the cuts are Arlington
Central School
targeted. District Board
How the cuts of Education
will affect regarding the
proposed tax
you.
increases and
Information budget reductions
on Commu- at a Community
nity Budget Budget Forum at
Arlington Middle
Forums. School March 17.
PAGE 2
KYLE PEABODY/THE
ARLINGTONIAN
JAZZ FESTIVAL
Arlington
takes title
Second straight win for Admirals
by Matthew Kranis
ABOUT ASPERGERS Staff Writer
-I don’t want to do this. On March 13th the Arlington High School
-Really, someone else do it. Jazz Machine, under the direction of Richard
Guillen, competed at the 42nd Annual Berklee
-You can even just find data or College of Music High School Jazz Festival.
whatever and I’ll make it look The Berklee Jazz Festival is the largest high
school jazz festival in the nation, with over
really nice. 200 groups and 3,000 musicians performing,
-Seriously, someone else type including many of the country’s top jazz
ensembles. In addition to competitions in
stuff up for here and I’ll format it vocal jazz, jazz combo, and large ensemble
so it looks cool. classes, the festival included performances
by some of Berklee’s top ensembles, clinics
-You’ll probably need about 15 by professional musicians, open jam sessions
lines or so. for festival participants and much more.
Arlington’s Jazz Machine has competed at
-Doesn’t have to be bullets. the festival multiple times, including a first
-Make sure its short and sweet place showing at the 2009 festival. With high
hopes for success the band did not disappoint,
though. successfully defending their title of Large
-Mention aspergers awareness Ensemble Class I Champions.
For the competition, the group prepared
month too. a set of four contrasting songs. They opened
their set with Astor Piazolla’s “Tres Minutos
Saperstein graduated from Arlington High Con La Realidad,” a high energy, up-tempo
School in 2000 and has a Bachelor of Arts de- chart featuring solos by drummer Matt
gree cum laude from Hobart & William Smith Please Turn to Page 7
Colleges in Geneva, New York. While in
college, he majored in English and part of the SOMETHINGELSE
Another
Orange Key Honorary Society. He remains
a beacon of hope to others with Asperger’s
Syndrome and is an important speaker of the
autistic community.
In 2005, Saperstein began hiking the
Headline
Appalachian Trail. The purpose behind the
2,000 mile trek is to fund raise $100,000 for
the Joey DiPaolo AIDS Foundation, a non-
profit organization that helps teens AIDS And accompyaning sub-headline
Please Turn to Page 5
by Staff Writer
Staff Writer
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INDEX
News..........................5-7,10
SuDoku...............................4
Television...........................13
Entertainment...............13-14
Features...........................8-9
Crossword........................10 Sports...........................15-16 Curious George...................2
Movies..............................14 Opinion.............................2-4 Captain’s Corner................16
Arlingtonian
THE
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