At the December meeting of the Farmingdale Board of Education, administrators and board members discussed their plans and concerns regarding the new wing at Howitt Middle School which will house the district's sixth-grade class starting in September. While adequate parking has been a concern for quite some time, some board members are now more worried about the fact that instructional space is being "lost" because the building wing was simply not made large enough. Administrators, however, call the "loss" of space a trade-off, in order to meet the requirements of the sixth-grade program.

Assistant Superintendent for Business John Lorenz explained at the meeting that some space was being converted in the new wing to accommodate the technology program, which requires the use of two classrooms. After much analyzing, administrators, together with the school's architect, decided that the best place to put the technology classroom would be where it used to be many years ago, where there are currently offices. In addition, he explained that the offices for special education would also all be located on the first floor of the building, instead of on both the first and second floor as they are right now.

"It's not a problem and I wouldn't describe it as a problem because there's continual analysis that has to be done," Lorenz said, noting administrators naturally found that they may not have necessarily planned for everything while they've been refining the sixth-grade program.

"We've been lucky enough to do very well with the bids in the process so we have some flexibility in some additional funds that we could dedicate to doing possibly some additional work at our middle school," he said. "What we've been focusing [on] is what the sixth grade program is going to look like as far as music, art and technology. What we've [chosen] to do is look at how the building is used and see how it could be best modified to suit our needs."

The assistant superintendent noted that many years ago there was a shop in the Howitt East building that was converted into office space.

"Shops are generally the size of two classrooms - and they also have a different kind of construction for the floors, for heating and ventilation, because the electrical power in a shop area is much different from what it is in a regular classroom," he said. "When the sixth grade program called for technology what we started to do was evaluate where that technology should best take place. In consultation with our architect, who knows the building better than any of us at this point because he's been with us for a long time, [he recalled] when the shops were converted into offices and [suggested] we convert it back."

Lorenz added that now those who are in those offices would be displaced.

"It's always very difficult to realign office space in a building because it's conversion of classroom space," he said. "So one of the scopes of work that we have is converting that back into a technology room and then find space for the people who occupy that area."

Lorenz added that looking at the plans may make one think that space is being lost, as he feels was the concern of board members at the meeting.

"It creates a problem because it looks like we're decreasing space for administration but in fact we're not because to create a technology room requires two classrooms because of the space required," he said. "So whether we took two classrooms and converted it to a technology room or we convert the old technology room and then use two classrooms to replace the office space is really a wash.

"The decision is really whether or not you're going to do the technology. And of course that kind of change appears as though you're decreasing space for children but we're decreasing space in one regard so that we can increase it in another regard."

Lorenz added that regardless of the space issue, administrators are confident that the program will certainly be met and that no instruction will be taken away from students, as they are the number one priority. As far as the space issue concerning board members, Lorenz said it was a "trade-off."

"It's very difficult for them to see the trade-offs when we're sitting at the board table. I know that - exactly what Dr. Gerald said is what's going to happen - we will deliver programs in the appropriate settings and she guarantees that as the superintendent and we will make whatever adjustments we have to make in order for that to happen."

The other issue concerning space at the middle school is the movement of the special education offices downstairs.

"That is something that's long overdue," Lorenz said. "The people who have to visit the special education office oftentimes are handicapped people. So it is our goal to move that set of people downstairs - the people that deal with the Committee on Special Education and all of the files and administrative duties associated with classifying students, evaluating students, working with the teachers and the parents to find the proper assignment for students is all currently done upstairs in an area that's not appropriate for that."

He also noted that moving the offices downstairs will not only comply with legalities but will also benefit the security of the building.

"The 400 wing is one that has parking right outside, is readily handicapped accessible and is more accessible to the public in general because you don't have to walk through the Howitt East building in order to get to an office space," he said. "So from a security standpoint, we don't have people who don't have business in certain parts of the building being in other parts of the building ... As a matter of fact, I think there are legal issues that would require us to put the special education downstairs."

Lorenz, echoing Superintendent of Schools Dr. Roberta Gerald's words from the meeting, said that the sixth-grade program will be met regardless of what may have to be done.

"We will not do anything to interfere with the program and what we are doing is a room-by-room analysis to see how the rooms are used," he said. "What we're going to do is analyze each space of the building - storage space, all spaces, every space. We'll gather that information and make sure that we utilize it as we prepare any of our scheduling for the students next year."

He added that at this point, both in terms of time and finances, administrators don't have much choice but to work with what they have.

"What we should all know is that Farmingdale has always done the right thing and this administration will do the right thing by our students right now too. We're not actually planning the schedule for students next year so a lot of it is in the planning stages yet so the actuality hasn't been realized," he said. "The main thrust will be that students will have the proper setting for the instruction and we will never sacrifice the students in order to do anything. That's why we're here; that's our primary mission."