Glen Cove Board of Education President Richard Tortorici opened the board meeting of Monday, Sept.19, with an announcement and a smile. "I am very happy and proud to announce," he said, "that the Glen Cove Select Chorale will be at Shea Stadium on Sept. 29, singing the national anthem before the Mets' game." It was the audience's turn to smile...and applaud. Mr. Tortorici said he hoped some Glen Covers would be at the game, so they could say to the people next to them, "That's my school."

Keeping school spirit alive, he also announced that this weekend is Homecoming 2005 at Glen Cove High School. Pre-game festivities begin at 1 p.m., the Big Red football game against Floral Park begins at 2.

Former board president and present board member Janet Bates-Wilkins was presented with a Developmental Achievement Citation from the New York State School Boards Association recognizing her for attaining 40 credits of "leadership development opportunities." Over the past few years, Ms. Bates-Wilkins has taken classes and seminars on Long Island and in Albany related to school law, educating students with disabilities, legislative networking and other subjects.

In more customary business, the board went on to approve the district goals for the year presented at last week's meeting. The board also voted on the formation of a Leadership Academy for Aspiring School Leaders. The program had been presented to the board at the last board meeting, and reported on in last week's Record Pilot. Prior to the vote, President Karen Ferguson requested the board table the decision, as she said she had not been "privy to any discussions" relating to the academy, adding that "the academy impacts the members of the GCTA."

Schools Superintendent Dr. Laurence Aronstein explained that he had distributed handouts to every teacher in the building asking anyone who was interested in further information to contact him. He said a number of teachers had approached him with interest. The board voted to approve the academy.

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Technology Dr. Shari Camhi gave a report on fourth- and eighth-grade ELA and math scores. Over the past five years, the fourth-grade scores in both subjects have moved almost steadily up, the highest percentage to date being achieved in the last year graded, 2004-05. The percentage of fourth-graders passing the ELA exam was 88 percent, and those passing math reached 95 percent. Eighth-grade scores waver more, the highest ELA percentage being 63 percent in 2000-01; next highest 54 percent in the last year graded, 2004-05. The eighth-grade math score in 2004-05 was 55 percent passing, down a bit from the last two years' marks of 60 percent.

Dr. Camhi said, "When we compare year to year, we are comparing a different group of students and a different, sometimes very different test. It makes much more sense to compare the same group over time, and now, with testing for grades three - eight, we will be able to do that." She added that the district is introducing new strategies for test taking, such as time management into some courses, not just by teaching students what they need to excel on exams, but skills and tools they will need for the future.

Dr. Camhi then went to the subject of how Glen Cove High School ended up on the state SINI (schools in need of improvement) list, for the second consecutive year. Starting with a little background, Dr. Camhi explained that every summer each district is required to file with the State Education Department a STEP report, which covers secondary education statistics and a LEAP report, which covers K - eight statistics.

"When those were filed last summer, for the 2003-04 school year, the reports had incomplete or inaccurate data. For example, we had 175 seniors enrolled, but data showed an additional 50; across the board in high school, information on between 150 and 200 extra students was sitting in the database, some for a number of years, " she said, adding that this was caused by duplication of names, students who had left the district not being remove and duplication by address for students who had moved within the district, among other things. Information went in, but the information it replaced was very often not deleted.

In order to make adequate yearly progress, a requirement of the No Child Left Behind legislation, a district must meet two criteria. One is the number of students taking the test who pass, and one requiring 95 percent of students to sit for the exam. According to Dr. Camhi, with the inflated and inaccurate number of students in the database, Glen Cove did not appear to have met that goal. She said, "In easy numbers, if we had 100 students in the senior class, we would need 95 to sit for the exam in order to meet the requirement. But if we appeared to have 200 students and 95 sat, we would be far off the required number."

On the first run of the school management system that handled this specific information, 6,000 errors were discovered at the high school level. After numerous runs of the system, this database now has just 35 and these will be cleared before long. Dr. Camhi said, "We are looking at the entire data system, from the bottom up, not just the content, but examining the ways of putting data in and taking it out, checking the process for transfers, the system for retaining data...everything." Another possible way of cleaning out the database would be to do a total re-registration of the district. Dr. Camhi emphasized that this particular database handles test scores only, not financial or any other aspects, but the district is examining all databases in the entire system.

Assistant to the Superintendent for Business Kevin Wurtz gave a report on the effects of rising fuel costs on the district. While he expressed a "deep concern about the escalating energy costs," he added, "This is where the energy performance contract the district is undertaking this year comes in...as soon as the State Education Department approves it." Those nine words have been the bane of the performance contract. Mr. Wurtz attributes the delay to things out of the district's control, such as bureaucracy and understaffing of the department. He added that this enterprise is the "second largest energy performance contract undertaken by a school district on Long Island," amounting to $8 million and encompassing nine buildings: six school buildings, the Carriage House, Thayer House and the transportation building.

The energy performance contract will affect the district's efficient use of electricity, natural gas and heating oil. Mr. Wurtz said, "We have been paying about $2 a square foot for energy, due to things like poor insulation, inefficient lighting and 50-year-old boilers, all of which will be addressed. The average expenditure for energy should be around $1 per square foot, which Johnson Controls, the general contractor overseeing all the work for the performance contract, feels is attainable when all the work is done." He added, "Lighting is where we will see the largest savings, and lighting will be replaced in all nine buildings. The new lighting will save us about $167,000 of a total savings of $468,000 per year." The district is also introducing new energy management systems, which will include night temperature setbacks. Dr. Aronstein called the current situation "20 or 30 years of inattention to the physical plant."

During the public comments section of the meeting, PTA Council President Marion Voegtlen expressed a feeling of déjà vu, stating that she recalled a presentation last year by then Superintendent Jerry Cicchelli regarding the possible re-registration as a solution to the erroneous data. Maureen Pappachristou remarked she remembered high school principal Joe Hinton making a presentation at a board meeting explaining Glen Cove High School's SINI status, and a suggestion by either Dr. Cicchelli or then Assistant Superintendent Dr. Griffin that re-registration this summer would be a productive thing. "And of course, it hasn't been done," said Ms. Pappachristou.

Rick Smith inquired more than once as to who was responsible for the erroneous data, but Mr. Tortorici closed the discussion by saying that "the board is looking into what went wrong and will report to the public when we know."

The board of education meeting originally scheduled for Oct. 3 has been cancelled due to the Jewish holidays. The next regular meeting will be held Monday, Oct. 17, 7:30 p.m. at Deasy School.