Nassau BOCES to trim administration

The regional Nassau BOCES school agency has announced a $500,000 savings in salaries next year through elimination of several top administrative jobs -- savings that will be passed along in part to local districts.

Posts to be eliminated include three executive directors in three areas: Mary M. Quinn, in communications and agency planning; Robert P. Neumann, in financial and information systems; and James F. Wilde, in preschool programs and special projects. Quinn has resigned, while Neumann and Wilde have retired, according to agency officials.

In addition, the agency's 10 existing departments will be reorganized into three divisions.

"These changes will keep Nassau BOCES' services affordable, while helping schools rise to the international challenge," said Thomas Rogers, superintendent of the agency, which is based in Garden City.

For the next school year, BOCES' proposed administrative charges to Nassau County's 56 local school districts will drop to $17,514,321 from the current $17,693,387 -- a reduction of about 1 percent. That's because salary savings will be partly offset by higher costs in other areas, such as insurance.

Boards of Cooperative Educational Services provide programs to local schools, including occupational training and special education.

In recent years, because of the tight economy, many local districts have reduced -- or at least considered reducing -- the number of services they obtain from BOCES on a fee basis.