At last week's Hicksville Board of Education meeting, board members announced they are planning to hold an education forum to open the lines of communication with the public and interact with community members on a number of issues.

Superintendent Maureen Bright stated that the district recently hired Syntax Communications, Inc., a Sayville-based public relations firm which has worked with approximately 300 school districts throughout New York State. "They have experience in facilitating these types of meetings with communities throughout Long Island," said Bright.

Mike Conte, CEO of Syntax, said, "I think one of the things this board should ask itself is exactly why it wants to do this, beyond the notion of just simply opening the lines of communication." Conte offered caution to the board, telling them "there is a great deal of expectation the community offers up when you invite them to tell you what they think."

Trustee Augustine Tornatore, in favor of the forum, said, "I appreciate that the community members here tonight have come out ... and it is extremely important that we continue to have that relationship with the community." As a longtime resident of Hicksville, he added, "I would like to meet more people in the community ... and not just as a board member."

Tornatore, who was elected to the board earlier this year, added, "To be perfectly blunt, I thought that when the district calendar came out [with] the district's numbers listed in there, that I would be receiving phone calls from people; I have yet to receive a single phone call. If we could have an open dialogue where we could hear what the community has to say, we could offer our concerns and our voices ..."

Trustee James Pino agreed, saying, "Bottom line: I just want to see more people."

Trustee Caryn Calabrese added, "I think it's very valuable to get the opinions and the views of the community and have everyone feel that they have at least some type of voice in what goes on ..."

Pat Love, school board secretary, said she would like to see parents get more involved. "We have done a lot of things in this community and I feel that it hasn't been communicated to the parents as best we could do," she said. "I would like us to present to the community what we have already done ... To me an education forum should be based on not only what can be done, but what has been done."

The board suggested topics, such as the Regents examinations and the new bond referendum, which would attract members of the community to participate in the education forum. Board members were also in favor of making the forum informal so that residents would be more inclined to present their opinions.

Richard Pfaender, president of the school board, recommended holding the forum on a trial basis, using a topic of discussion to maintain organization. "I personally would like to start with some structure but make folks feel comfortable even with that structure," he said.

According to Bright, working in small, informal groups will allow for more effective communication, rather than the larger, more formal setting found at the board's regular meetings.

"One of the things that this board of education and administration are looking at doing is certainly increasing that involvement with the community, with the parents in our school district, having people know who we are and what we do here and taking that pride in our schools that we certainly feel," Bright said.

The next regular meeting of the Hicksville Public Schools Board of Education is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 23 at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the administration building's board room.