Sound Shore

MAMARONECK — A presentation on the school district’s “Response to Intervention,” or RTI, initiatives for struggling learners will headline the agenda at a Board of Education study session, to be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Mamaroneck High School library classroom, 1000 W. Boston Post Rd.

RTI programs generally seek to address the needs of students with learning difficulties without placing them in special education.

Also at the study session: The Mamaroneck Schools Foundation will present its grant awards; and the school board will discuss “a crew team proposal” and Memorial Field user fees, organizers said.

LMC-TV is scheduled to televise the meeting live on Channel 76 Cablevision and 35 Verizon. It will be re-played on the same channels Friday at 9 p.m. and then again on Sunday at 9 a.m.

Mamaroneck school officials will kick off budget season next month with a “community engagement” meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, at the Hommocks Middle School library, 1000 Palmer Ave., Larchmont.

Superintendent of Schools Robert Shaps will give a brief synopsis of the current budgetary situation and the challenges the district face, officials said. Participants will then divide up into groups to explore “guiding questions” and compile feedback.

Additional meetings for the public include: a presentation of the superintendent’s proposed budget at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, at Mamaroneck High School, 1000 W. Boston Post Rd.; a line-by-line review at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 19, at MHS; and a Citizens Budget Advisory Committee discussion with the school board at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, at MHS.

Residents vote on the 2011-12 budget at their neighborhood elementary school on Tuesday, May 17.

From the Mamaroneck school district:

“As you’re probably aware, the weather forecast is predicting heavy snow coming our way beginning tomorrow late morning or afternoon — Friday, Jan. 7 — creating the possibility of an early dismissal.  We will continue to watch the developing storm and provide additional correspondence if we need to close schools early.  Stay tuned.”

The Mamaroneck Schools Foundation is celebrating its 15th year as a non-profit dedicated to providing grants to fund new educational programs in the Mamaroneck Union Free School District, the organization recently announced.

Since it was founded in 1996, the foundation has funded pilot programs such as anti-bullying training in the district’s middle schools. It has also supported the purchase of new equipment such as interactive white boards known as Smartboards.

The foundation said its annual grant program has grown from $67,000 in 1996, to $275,000 in 2010, awarding, altogether, more than $2.5 million to date.

For more information, visit www.mamaroneckschoolsfoundation.org.

The Mamaroneck public schools will begin holding bi-monthly “work sessions” from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month when evening meetings are not scheduled, the district has announced. The work sessions are in addition to the Board of Education’s regular, televised meetings held on the first and third Tuesday evenings of each month.

The informal public sessions, part of a pilot program, are designed to give board members the opportunity to discuss issues that do not require immediate action. On occasion, the board may go into executive session to discuss confidential matters out of the public eye, according to the district.

“The board is adding these open public meetings because we find we need more time to discuss district matters than allowed by the current bi-monthly meeting schedule,” said Board President Rick Marsico. “We are holding the work sessions in the morning to accommodate the schedules of board members whose employment would make it difficult to attend four evening board meetings each month.”