At the regular meeting of the Farmingdale Board of Education held on Feb. 2 in Howitt's Middle School's east cafeteria, parents of local students let their voices be heard when it came to the issue of changing student busing standards. More welcome were changes in the school budget preparation procedure, which should see more community interaction and better contingency planning.

The meeting began with trustee Jane Rubenstein's board committee report. She first made a call to female community members with non-traditional jobs to take part in an upcoming tea to highlight alternative careers, like construction and carpentry.

The next item up for discussion was decidedly less positive. Board Vice-President Tina Diamond talked about the recent state education meeting she and Rubenstein had attended, calling it "an extremely frustrating evening." According to Diamond, a new K-12 math curriculum and testing structure is being proposed. More disconcerting than the budget strain of approximately $55,000 for new testing material was the fact that "they don't know what they're doing yet," said Diamond.

Despite the changes, Diamond remained positive, saying that students, parents and faculty would continue to perform well. "Farmingdale has always been proactive and ahead of the game," Diamond said.

The first public participation opportunity of the evening began with the president of the Farmingdale Youth Council, who bemoaned the changing of closing times at Farmingdale school buildings from 10:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., calling it a "burden on organizations." Along with the curfew, the president asked the board to re-examine the gym and field usage fees. Noting that the prices had tripled, he commented that the council "may be put out of business."

Next to speak was Terri Morrison, who queried the board on several topics. Along with the availability of defribulators in school buildings and the state of the bathrooms in the girl's locker room at Howitt, Morrison spoke about the lack of snow cleanup at Northside Elementary School. During a week in which students were hard at work studying for the English Language Arts (ELA) test, they were unable to enjoy recess because the playground and blacktop remained buried under snow.

Resident and business owner Butch Starkie called for closer collaboration between the board of education and local community members. In a statement that was echoed and applauded by many of the other public participation speakers, Starkie said, "this is an opportunity to turn over new ground."

After Starkie's speech, the topic of discussion moved to the possibility of changing the bus regulations for sixth-graders. The sixth-graders had moved from the elementary school buildings to Howitt, but were still being bused at the elementary school level. At the board meeting, a sheet circulated by the board showed the amount the district would save by pushing back the walking distance for sixth graders from a half-mile to a full mile.

One resident decried the suggestion, stating that he would never let his two daughters carry their large bookbags a mile, with two registered sex offenders in the district. He also mentioned that the change would lead to more parent drop-offs, and only worsen the traffic trouble at Howitt in the morning. Board President Anthony Vitale noted the concerns of residents, and assured the bus handout was strictly a "what-if" proposition.

After the business reports, items for action, and superintendent's reports were summarily passed, the board began discussion of policy changes, which were presented by Assistant Superintendent Barbara Horsely. Among the changes discussed by Horsely were allowing retraction and rejection of gifts from the public, and adding restrictions to faculty members being hired to work with students outside of class. The topic of school curfews once again came up, with Assistant Superintendent John Lorentz noting that the budget would not allow a change in time, but Horsely added that it could be changed with the next budget.

After the policy changes, Horsely presented the tentative 2005-2006 school calendar. Rubenstein was concerned with the amount of days off in the beginning of October, but noted that nothing could be done since they were all holidays. Horsely commented that the schedule currently lacked built-in snow days, and hoped to fix it with later revisions.

The board then spoke more in-depth about the sixth-grade transportation issue. While Horsely stated that no figures would be available until later in the month, the board agreed that the inevitable increase in bus contracts would make an even tighter budget squeeze. Board members then brought up their own problems with the issue. Trustee Robert Guarino, Jr. said "I'm uncomfortable with sixth-graders walking a mile in this day and age." Trustee Russ Catanzaro voiced his concern with students having to cross the busy streets and railroads within the mile radius. Trustee Charles Russo suggested creating a committee of board members and local residents to discuss the issue further. An Internet survey was also proposed so more community members could weigh in about the topic.

Lorentz then presented the Superintendent's Community Update. Lorentz brought board members and attendees up to date with the budget preparation proceedings. Lorentz presented the budget workshop calendar, which included numerous meetings where residents could voice their concerns about the budget. Lorentz disclosed that the contingency budget would be planned simultaneously with the proposed budget, so that the board is better prepared in case the community doesn't pass the budget.

The meeting closed with the second round of public participation, which brought more suggestions for the busing situation. Starkie suggested shortening bus routes by having more students at fewer stops. Morrison suggested changing the board election process. The current process has members run against a specific opponent, with the winner getting a seat. Morrison wished to have the top vote-getters win seats, without having opponents. One Farmingdale resident pointed out that just because a home is at the mile radius does not mean that the student has that distance to travel - the safest route may require a much longer walk.