The Glen Cove Board of Education will launch the coming school year in an unprecedented partnership forged during the July 2 school board meeting. After two years of volatile campaigns by persons seeking a position on the school board, the two sides emerging from those campaigns have come to a meeting of the minds.

Following the swearing in of newly-elected board members Dr. Kurt Schmeller and Janet Bates-Wilkins, the next order of business for the board was to elect a president and vice president. Returning to the board's helm will be Vito Abbondandolo who won by majority over board member Phil Enright. Serving as vice president of the board of education will be Dr. Rodger Silletti who was nominated by Mr. Abbondandolo and who also won by majority over Mr. Enright. Dr. Silletti's election illustrates the new partnership to benefit the education of the district's children while continuing to be sensitive to taxpayers.

Board member Bill Boeddener deemed the outcome of the vote as being "incredible in view of a May 11 letter to the Record-Pilot by a member of this board." Mr. Boeddener did not elaborate as to the contents of the letter or its author.

The board then made numerous appointments and approved several other commitments. The renewing of a contract with Goldstein and Vecchio, (the school district's independent auditors for many years), was questioned by Mr. Enright. Mr. Enright said, "This firm has missed a lot of numbers in this district. We should look at getting the best CPAs for the money who won't be rubber stamps. And what have they done to save our district money?" Mr. Abbondandolo said the bulk of the work the firm does is to spot check the district throughout the school year followed by a complete audit which is forwarded to Albany. Mr. Enright said he would like the board to pursue getting a new firm. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary Ellen Freeley said the board needs to advertise for Requests for Proposals, (RFP), which can be done, but it is too late for the coming school year. Dr. Silletti said, "If that's the case, for a few years [the firm] missed some big numbers." Board members Enright and Silletti were alluding to a certain pending legal matter involving the school district's former supervisor of buildings and grounds.

The board approved the appointment of a facilities subcommittee which will consider a building conditions survey conducted by the district's architect. The subcommittee will prioritize needs and report back to the board. Resident Glenn Howard offered a detailed opinion regarding the wording and what he said were redundancies contained in the school district's code of conduct. The code was ultimately approved and some of Mr. Howard's suggestions will be included in the code.

Next during the meeting, the board scheduled a retreat for August 4 and slated their next public meeting for August 6 at the high school. Mr. Boeddener, who is opposed to retreats and made a controversial remark about them last year, did not say if he would attend, or not attend, the retreat. At the request of Mr. Abbondandolo, the board discussed limiting practice time for athletic teams to two and one-half hours commencing immediately at the end of the school day. Mr. Abbondandolo said practices currently continue until late in the day rendering the athletes too tired to study and do homework once they get home and finish dinner. He said he realized that games can and do go until late in the day but two and one-half hours would be more than enough time for practice. Mr. Abbondandolo said the board would also look at the after school clubs and theater groups. Dr. Silletti said the board should consider getting input from the staff involved as well.

At the request of Dr. Kurt Schmeller, the board considered the feasibility of hiring a part-time internal auditor. Dr. Schmeller said an internal auditor could routinely check all charges against invoices making it easier for board members to understand the warrants before them for approval as well as to keep certain of the district's financial matters in check. Dr. Schmeller said he had spoken to a person in the state education department who noted an internal auditor was a good idea. The alternative, according to the state education spokeswoman, was for each board member to scrutinize each invoice and purchase order. Mr. Abbondandolo said the funds to pay for that position are not in the budget, however the idea was indeed a good one. Board attorney Carol Hoffman said she would be contacting the Bethpage school district which employs a part-time internal auditor to ask questions about the compensation that position carries. Ms. Hoffman said the concept is a good one considering the fiduciary responsibilities of the board. Larry Blake, the district's interim assistant to the superintendent for business, said an internal auditor verifies everything that goes through the district's business office, matches signoffs on purchase orders and checks numbers and procedures in that office. "It's a great way to have another eye on money matters," said Mr. Blake. Board member Janet Bates-Wilkins said it is a good idea to have an independent look at the district's financial matters but members of the Glen Cove Board of Education should still have the ultimate fiduciary responsibility and question financial reports. Dr. Silletti said he felt the financial reports submitted to the board should be rendered in a better format and include year-to-date totals. He said a board policy might be needed wherein every budget transfer exceeding $10,000 would need school board approval. The board agreed to look into hiring a part-time internal auditor.

Ms. Hoffman discussed a recent decision rendered by Justice Edward McCabe in a proceeding against Nassau County challenging the method by which county taxes are assessed against residents of Glen Cove. The proceeding was commenced by former school board attorney Bob Sapir against Charles O'Shea as chairman of the Nassau County Board of Assessors. Mr. Sapir represented Glen Cove's position that since the residents of Glen Cove did not enjoy the same benefits as other county residents with regard to the county payment of certioraris obligations on behalf of all other school districts, the county tax should be reduced for the residents of Glen Cove.

In his decision dated April 20 and entered June 15, Justice McCabe found that the residents of Glen Cove are unfairly taxed by the county for a service that is not provided to them. In a letter to the school board, Mr. Sapir states, "The Court has ordered that the county establish the amount of tax attributable to the residents of Glen Cove resulting from cert settlements, orders and judgments, and that such amounts be removed from the tax bills of Glen Cove residents. I believe this to be a monumental victory for the residents of Glen Cove."

The county has 30 days to appeal. Board member Mrs. Bates-Wilkins said the decision is sweet because it shows that Nassau County can't have it both ways. She added that on May 7, the county legislature had an agenda item regarding a home-rule message regarding the unfairness for Glen Cove taxpayers in the payment of tax certs. The only legislator voting in favor was Brian Muellers, whose 18 District constituency includes Glen Cove