PTA President Recommends Citizens Committee to Review Defeated Bond

By Amy Edel

As almost everyone knew by Wednesday morning, Nov. 19, the school bond was defeated in the Nov. 18 vote. There were 2,721 votes against the bond and 1,445 votes for the bond. With 65.3 percent of the voters casting their votes against the bond, it is the belief of many that the Board of Education should now form the Citizens Committee many felt had been missing from the process before the vote. The committee would review the Capital Improvements Master Plan and evaluate what could be modified to meet the needs of the schools and satisfy the voters.

At the Nov. 19 work session held by the Board of Education many residents turned out hopeful that this would be a topic of discussion by the board. Many were surprised (as openly stated in after meeting conversations) to find the subject not listed on the agenda for the night's discussion and that no discussion of a non-agenda item would be permitted. PTA President Maureen Cornacchia bravely ventured to use her time to address the board during an open floor period to violate the ban on the subject and speak up. She congratulated the board on all of their hard work and did express regret to see that the bond did not pass, but urged the board to now work to meet the demands of the voters who defeated the bond. She appealed to them to form the Citizens Review Committee to re-examine the entire Master Plan and then come back to the public and the board with suggestions for improvement or modification. Board of Ed President Morano thanked Cornacchia for her comments and returned the meeting to the agenda items.

Before the meeting Mort Yuter distributed a fact sheet providing a historical perspective of the bond. Yuter made the connection between this bond vote and the vote of March 19,1964. At that time the bond was to fund the new math wing at the high school and the construction at Hemlock, Stewart, and Locust to accomodate more students. The bond totalled $775,000 and was defeated by 1,473 votes against the bond and only 921 votes for the bond. Then on October 27,1964 a re-vote was held which was for a "modified" bond which still totalled $775,000. On that day the bond passed with 1,944 votes against and 2,878 votes in favor of it. The total votes on the first vote in 1964 were 2,394 and in October the total jumped to 4,822. On Nov. 18,1997 the bond total was $50,012,023, a significant increase from the 1964 numbers. A total of 4,166 people voted. The percentages for and against are very similar to those of the 1964 vote. Yuter points out these similarities to suggest the possible future outcome. As he stated at the Village Board meeting the next night, the voters could very well pass the bond in a future vote. Some might argue, however, that this time the board will have to make significant changes in order for the bond to pass. Only time will tell, but as one parent said after the meeting, "the ball is back in the board's court. Let's see what they do now."

What was on the agenda was the report from Administrator Planz on the teacher hiring committees that worked on the interviewing process to hire the new teachers for this year. One of the biggest problems the committee faced was the late notification by retiring teachers which left the district scrambling to fill vacancies as late as July and August. With the new teacher retirment incentive the teachers must notify the district by March 1. This will eliminate last minute vacancies from retirements.

One point of contention was the issue of classroom evaluations made by the committee of prospective candidates. The teacher is asked to conduct a lesson in a class while committee members observe. The question of how many adults watching is too many became a point of debate. Trustee Leone suggested video taping the lesson so that the whole committee could view the tape later. President Morano said, "First Ammendment, that's what I'm hearing." She stated that she felt the district could face law suits from the candidates and the parents of the children, "especially if those children are special ed kids." She cited two pending suits by teachers where polaroid photos were taken of two candidates to help committees remember who was who. Trustee Rudy said they ought to get an opinion from counsel and then decide. Morano said, "I would have a real problem with video taping no matter what counsel said."

One suggestion was to limit the number of adults in the room, but then the deiscussion of who would be included came under debate. Trustee Ryan said he felt that at least one person should have to be an administrator and then there should only be two other adults allowed. Morano said, "I don't care what we decide so much as we decide across the board. I think maybe we could come to some understanding about consistency on the committees."

Then whether or not to specify that PTA and SEPTA lists would be used to supply the names of parents for the committees came under fire. Morano commented, "I do not believe in codifying parents. A parent is a parent." Maureen Cornacchia said, "We're [PTA] not looking to have our name mentioned in your policy. What we really want is to see parents remain in the process and the parent be a parent of child at the level for the school where the position will be filled." Trustee Rudy argued that this would be "pigepon-holing" the parents, but Cornacchia pointed out that teachers on the committees only serve on the level on which they themselves teach and so the same principle specified in the policy should apply to the parents. Marge Kulessa also pointed out that parents of special education children lend the search for a teacher who will need to be well versed in inclusion methods a special kind of expertise. She asked that special education representation be maintained. Kathy Auro pointed out that often it was the PTA who provided a "warm and capable" body on a committee when teachers and administrators weren't even in attendance. It was the PTA and SEPTA that was at the ready to provide lists of reliable volunteers who would serve and Auro urged the board to continue to use these lists. She also asked that parents get equal time to review resumes as teachers and administrators.

Joseph Calamari argued that tax payers should be allowed to participate in the hiring process whether or not they have a child in the schools now or not. President Morano said the policy was to use parents, but the board would take it under advisement.

The Board also agreed to disapprove any request to use the playing fields before 1 p.m. on a Sunday out of respect to the clergy in Garden City who have requested this on numerous occaisons. Standardized testing will be reviewed. A report by the board will go to Director of Testing Emma Pendleton who will be asked to report back to the board on the subject. The Board also approved the purchase of yellow vests for attendants on the playgrounds at the elementaries and primaries to help the children and staff identify the adult aids.