After a beautiful summer in the Village with Gazebo concerts, Wonderful Wednesdays, Summer Athletic Youth Camps run by the Recreation Department (everything from tennis to basketball), Arts and Crafts directed by Christine Trenkle through the Recreation Department, and the season filled with parties, Teens and Tots Storytime, and Swim Meets at the Garden City Pool, it's going to be tough convincing the Village's student population that Sept. 8 is a day which they should view with happy anticipation. The school district has had a difficult job before it planning a year filled with enriching learning experiences and enjoyment, one the students will look back on fondly when the school year ends, rather than spend waiting for its conclusion, but it seems that the district has come up with a plan that just might meet the challenge.

The entire district will benefit from the addition of a new staff member, a new director of music, who will help coordinate the musical education program throughout the schools. Students will have a new resource in the district to hear their input in the continuing evolution of the Garden City Schools' Music Program. With all of the schools' musical groups' accomplishments, such as the GCHS Band's performances at Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida and Stewart School's choral performances at Barnes and Nobles, among other locations, during the holiday season, Garden City has already attained recognition for the excellence of their musical program. This tradition will be upheld and advanced in the future.

The computers in the classrooms program in the elementary schools has been expanded from just the fifth grade classrooms to include the fourth graders, allowing the children the opportunity to develop their computer skills even earlier. The technology programs at the middle and high school have been updated to include contemporary demands for computer languages in use today, and help prepare the students for the demands college life will put on their computer skills, where many college classes now incorporate computer labs into the curriculum and all library work is tied to computer use. Technology is also going to be a major issue in the upcoming bond, according to representatives from the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee, who have said that the goal date for the bond is Dec. 10.

The work at the middle school gym will commence on or about the Labor Day weekend, and will be done on weekends to ensure the safety of the students. Once the roof work has reached a point at which leaks are no longer a concern, the floor work of the gymnasium will begin. The hope of the Ad Hoc Committee and the architectural firm, Peter Gisolfi and Associates, is that the gym will be usable by mid-late fall this year, thus providing the students a place for physical education indoors.

The science program at the high school continues to grow with DNA labs and guest lecturers speaking to students who volunteer to attend and hear discussions on physics, biotechnology, and more. The science program in the schools begins early with children in kindergarten studying the basics of biology and the world around them. Children in the primaries have had visits from snakes and other reptiles and begun to study how things work. Fun projects that incorporate scientific exploration and artistic creativity, like the making of silly snake creatures, help make learning fun.

This year will be filled with field trips, art projects, puppet shows, poetry readings, baking projects, interaction between the schools and the various age groups as high school students spend time helping in primary and elementary classrooms as they study early childhood education, and more. Concerts, peer group workshops, Quest projects, science fairs, and of course daily recess will make the year fly by.

This year the school day schedule will be as follows:

Garden City High School: 7:45 a.m. to 2:40 p.m.

Garden City Middle School: 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Stewart and Stratford Schools: 8:10 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Locust, Hemlock, Homestead Schools: 8:30 a.m. to 3:05 p.m.

Extended Day Kindergarten: 8:30 a.m. to 12:40 p.m.; lunch and small group instruction 12:40 to 3:05 p.m.

Also, the annual school census will be mailed on Sept. 15. Census information assists the Board of Education in updating records for projected enrollment and planning. Return the census form to the Administration Building at 56 Cathedral Avenue in Garden City. Call 294-3000 if the census does not arrive or pick one up at the Administration Building.