At the Thursday, Jan. 13 meeting of the North Shore School Board, Board President Tom Murphy announced that negotiations with the teachers should come to a closing soon. "We have reached an agreement in principle," said Mr. Murphy.

During past meetings more than 100 teachers have stood behind Jay Ehmer, representative for the North Shore Federation of Employees, as he read statements that urged the board to make favorable negotiations with the teachers. The agreement should be reached this week and presented to the faculty.

When the meeting was opened to public comments, a resident of Sea Cliff mentioned an article published in the New York Times about the North Shore LIPA tax issue. The article, "A Tax Dispute Poses a Threat to LIPA Rates," (Jan. 2) has caused some residents of Nassau County to say North Shore is putting its interest before the county's. Superintendent Dr. Ed Melnik said the North Shore Schools' website will have a "Question and Answer" sheet on LIPA up soon, which can be used to answer concerns raised in the article.

Trustee Brennan also said The New York Times has a Letters to the Editor section for Long Island, where North Shore district residents can write in.

The North Shore School District has been actively working to receive owed tax money from LIPA. On Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004, the Nassau County Assessor's office issued a ruling that the Keyspan generators in Glenwood Landing will be taxed. Based on the assessment and current tax rates, LIPA should pay more than $4.7 million per year to the North Shore School District.

It was announced that 81 North Shore High School students were accepted for early decision at colleges this year. Some universities include Harvard, Columbia, Chicago and Georgetown. The guidance department also worked to have some New York colleges come to the high school and interview students who were interested. Fifty of the 55 students interviewed were accepted on the spot. Dr. Melnik expressed his gratification to the guidance department, which worked with admission officials and let them know what constitutes a North Shore education.

A major portion of the meeting involved a mid-year assessment of the district's goals. The first goal, which includes "a well-articulated curriculum," dominated most of the discussion.

Assistant Superintendent Robert Chlebicki demonstrated the new curriculum-mapping software to which the district is migrating. The software will keep track of every single course offered in the district by each teacher and will include a content, skills and assessment section for each record. When the software is fully set up, a teacher will be able to type in a topic, such as 'probability,' and the program will show every course and period of time that probability is taught. According to Dr. Melnick, if one group of students seems to excel in a specific advanced topic, the teacher can go back and see how it was presented beyond introductory concepts. The administration hopes this will foster communication between teachers, as they share effective learning techniques.

Overall, the software helps the district detect weaknesses in the curriculum, increase productivity of the curriculum and allow for additional cross-referencing and reinforcement among varied subjects.

The board also discussed a needed change in the finance management software that the district began using six years ago. This software, developed by Andy Miller of the firm Miller, Lilly and Pierce, is no longer being updated. A number of districts, including Roslyn, used Miller, Lilly and Pierce for both their financing software and as their auditors, which led to a problem since developers can shut down internal controls.

North Shore district's auditors are not among those from Miller, Lilly and Pierce, and there has always been a segregation of responsibilities at the district's financial level, so transactions could not be changed via this loophole.

The board discussed plans to set up a capital reserve fund for the purpose of developing a transportation facility. Every member of the board agreed that there are major benefits to be gained by not outsourcing buses, but rather having in-district busing. This includes safer standards, safer bus drivers, and saved finances. The district has a tax certiorari fund with $2.5 million in it that ends this year, and this money has been purposely left in hope of funding a transportation facility. To use this money, the residents of North Shore must vote to establish the fund, and then after a year has passed, they can vote again to spend the fund on the specific site for the facility.

The board decided to put this vote as a referendum on the same day residents will vote on the budget. They hope to communicate that money is not being budgeted but rather shifted from one fund to another. Trustee Genovesi said, "This makes sense for safety reasons, and it makes sense financially."

A final discussion for the meeting involved the Bishop Report on demographics in the district. The report concludes the district has adequate space, but the middle school will need to be watched over the next few years. This is particularly true considering there are current plans for the development of single-family houses and townhouses within the district. Residents in larger homes may downsize to townhouses, and their houses may then be open for families with children. "That is the wild card," said Board President Tom Murphy.