At the last meeting of the Herricks School Board, The Early Childhood Committee, presented its comprehensive report on its study for both a full-day kindergarten and pre-kindergarten program in the district.

The report summarized the instructional advantage of a full-day kindergarten program while acknowledging the value and strengths of the program currently in place at Herricks.

In the beginning, it was the hope of the committee to recommend to the board a full-day kindergarten program at the Herricks Community Center as the first step in establishing an Early Childhood Center at the Community Center.

However, John Grillo, the district's architect, after an extensive inspection of the building, is of the opinion that the rooms at the community center are not large enough to accommodate a kindergarten program. A typical room at the community center is approximately 660 square feet, significantly less than the 900 square feet of the current kindergarten classroom. Grillo questioned the wisdom of incurring the significant cost of renovations and creating a center with small rooms.

Based on Grillo's concerns, the committee reconsidered its position and decided to recommend construction of new classrooms, of adequate size, to accommodate a full-day kindergarten program at each elementary school. The full report, available at the Herricks Administration Office, details the advantages of this option as well as some of the partial costs. The committee is aware that this is a costly undertaking, but feels strongly that the instructional disadvantages justify the expense.

The Review of updated Demographic Data was also presented to give the board and the public a projection of what is projected for school enrollments for the future and that very detailed report may also be obtained at the administration office.

Phase II of the kindergarten project, would be the implementation of a Pre-K program in the year 2001/2002, the first year that district would be eligible for the anticipated state funding for the program.

The early childhood report was a result of the fact that in August of 1997, the New York State Legislature included in the fiscal year budget incentive funding for Universal Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs. Each district was required to form a Pre-K Policy Advisory Board to study whether or not offering a Pre-K program was in the best interest of the community.

New York State School Board Commissioner Richard Mills regulations defined that constituencies to be represented on the committee appointed by the district superintendent. Although the Pre-K Advisory Board was not mandated to be formulated until the year prior to the anticipated year of initial funding, in the case of the Herricks District, the year 2000/2001, the Herricks Board of Education agreed to form an expanded Early Childhood Committee to study both the Pre-K and Full-Day Kindergarten programs.

At the open portion of the meeting suggestions were made as to the location of such programs and it was mentioned that the administration building could be used for the kindergarten program and that the 5th and 6th grades could be moved to the community center.

At the end of the very long and involved discussion, Herricks School Superintendent, Dr. Sidney Freund asked for a directive from the board and the board requested that he come back to the board in February or March after the Early Childhood Committee reconvenes with a committed proposal that will include the educational philosophy of an all day kindergarten program and where it might be housed. It was felt that the committee could receive assistance from the capital plan committee in this proposal. In an open portion of the meeting a resident expressed concern as to where the money paid to the district for a film shot at the high school would be directed. The recommendation from the resident was that the money be put into the general fund not just to the STAC and Theater Arts Program. Another resident expressed concern about the condition of the fence around the vacant property that abuts Center Street School, stating that he thought a sidewalk and fence were supposed to be constructed. Dr. Freund reassured the resident that he had spoken to the developer and if there is no satisfaction soon on the matter the district will take appropriate action.

A discussion took place about the amount of stress and apprehension the students have about taking the new standardized test. Both Dr. Freund and Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Dr. Ronald Barnes explained that the tests are so different from the past, that focus on the test was meant to be helpful to the students. Social worker Dr. Cheryl Finkelstein has been attending workshops regarding stress reduction and Searingtown School Principal Nancy Lindenauer said that such a program should be held in the district.

A resident wanted to know if a districtwide meeting of teachers, board members, administrators and parents could be held to go over the format of the test. Dr. Freund explained that this was being done at the individual school level and at different PTA meetings.

Another parent was very upset about the head lice outbreak at the Center Street School and asked if something can be done to avoid a reoccurrence. Principal Marvin Kreutzberger outlined, in detail, what procedures were taking place to avoid the problem and also spoke of preventative steps that could be taken by parents at home to avoid the problem. At the 6:15 p.m. Routine Business portion of the meeting Trustee Keith DiMarco questioned two checks in the warrant. A check for $450.77 for supplies for a fish tank at the high school and a check in the amount of $4,000 used for First Aid supplies used in all the nurses offices in the district, which was taken from a bid. After a brief discussion the checks were approved and nothing was held in the warrant. Members of the Herricks School District were presented with Certificates of Recognition at the last meeting of the Herricks School Board. Only two members of the staff were personally on hand to receive the certificates presented by Superintendent Dr. Sidney Freund and Assistant Superintendent for Business, Arline Visconti. Custodial staff receiving certificates include: L. Cannalongo, T. Canner, B. Waller, T. Zdebel, E. Szkolak, R. Lauck, J. Hickey, T. Gordon, M. Donnelly, F. DePalma, D. DeFina and T. Warden.