At the beginning of the last New Hyde Park/Garden City Park School Board meeting, in keeping with the new format to let the members of the public comment before the meeting, and prior to the appointment of new teachers, a member of the community wanted to know why the district was hiring only teachers with bachelor's degrees, rather than master's degrees.

Superintendent Joseph Rudaitis explained that there is a state regulation guideline to follow in order to be included in the teacher retirement incentive program. Rudaitis said, "The stipulation is that we had to show a certain financial savings. Therefore, for the six retirement positions, we had to show, on paper, that we are meeting those financial guidelines. This meant we could not hire all teachers with masters and all teachers with a lot of experience. However, we worked closely with the principals, with Dr. Raab and with the candidates that came from the BLTs. Some we hired have masters and some have BAs, but we only hired those who are qualified and who will serve the district well and we will show a savings. The main thing is that we did match the teacher to the position."

The community member then wanted to know if the teachers would be given incentives and Superintendent Rudaitis said that they have been given them already. The woman said, "According to my information, we give them pay incentives for 30 credits on their master's and other districts give their teachers incentives to go on for 45 to 60 credits. We need our teachers to stay; we need stability in our schools. We need to know that our kids are going to go from one teacher to another and that they will be good solid teachers. We are all here for the same reason, we want quality education for our children."

Rudaitis countered, "Please understand that the teachers that I have recommended to the board of education, have come through the BLTs, with recommendations from the principals, I have interviewed them and I am fully confident that we are bringing to New Hyde Park the same caliber of teacher that we have. I will add that our experience has been, that while certainly a master's does show more education, and that is critical and the law requires that teachers obtain masters during their teaching time, the staff that we have here in New Hyde Park, I will match against any staff, anywhere. They are excellent!"

The audience participant came back with, "I'm not arguing with you, I agree, I want the teachers that are in the district to stay and I don't want them to use this district as a stepping stone because we are limiting them financially, nobody wants to be in a dead end job. If teaching gets to be a dead end job, just like any other, they come into our district, get their experience, get their master's and then go on to another district. I don't want to have to move because the board decides to cut costs here and there."

Rudaitis said, "As long as you understand that this board would never say hire teachers at lower salaries, that we don't want MAs vs BAs. That is not the case. I was charged to hire the best possible people, but because of the retirement incentive I indeed did have to ensure that we complied with state guidelines."

Then the board approved the hiring of the following teachers effective Sept.1:

Karen Franz, Elementary Teacher, Garden City Park

Stacey Yorkes, Elementary Education, New Hyde Park

Kim Stromstedt, Elementary Education, Manor Oaks

Marilyn Salierno, Elementary Education, Garden City Park

Antoinette Campbell, Reading, Garden City Park

Tina D'Ambrosio, Vocal Music, Manor Oaks/Hillside Grade

Lora Balsamo, Elementary Education, Hillside Grade

Maria Petallides, School Psychologist, Full Time as per grant.

Marianne Vetter, .5 Special Education Resource, Parochial Schools

Dr. Susan Oliviera from .8 Social Worker to .4 Social Worker

Dr. Gloria Lane to .4 Social Worker

Leave Replacement Teacher: Linda Pumillo, Garden City Park

Resignation-Substitute Teachers: Rosemary Wright and Ranata Peruc

Appointment: Substitute Teacher: Lois Larkin, who just

retired and is returning as a substitute teacher.

Rachel Bono was rehired as the Technology Teacher.

It was also announced that Al Reinhardt, the head custodian at New Hyde Park Road School retired, effective July 31.

A gift of $200 was accepted from the VFW, G. and E. Linder Post for the school bands that marched in the Memorial Day Parade.

It was also announced by President of the Sewanhaka Central School Board, Martin Cernese that the negotiations for the purchase of Alva T. Stanforth School by the Elmont School District have broken down. The Elmont School Board has notified the Sewanhaka School Board that they cannot live up to the obligations of the current contract and they have asked that the current contract negotiations be reopened. The announcement was made a very late date and special meetings have been called. It will be the topic of the next Sewanhaka Board meeting to be held on Aug.25 at the Sewanhaka High School, Tulip Avenue, Floral Park.