At the last Herricks school board meeting it was announced that high school Principal William Sigelakis will be retiring at the end of the school year. Board President Paul Ehrbar and the board thanked Sigelakis for the work he has accomplished as principal.

The death of Lewis Gastman, dean of students, who died as a result of complications arising from lung cancer, was also announced.

Quite a few parents of second-grade students were on hand to request the retention of a substitute teacher during the absence of the regular second grade teacher. They wanted to know if there was some way the teacher could be left in place because they feel the children have had her since the beginning of October and have become accustomed to her teaching methods. Basically, the parents feel it would be too much of a trauma for the children to change teachers at this juncture.

However, Superintendent Dr. Sidney Freund said that he feels strongly that it would only take a few days with both teachers in the classroom for the children to make the transition. He said that children at this age are very flexible and resilient. Further, he explained that it is in the teacher's contractual agreement to hold the position open for a teacher when he/she is out on sick leave and not having that position open would lead to serious legal ramifications for the district.

Superintendent of Personnel Dr. Ronald Barnes said that they would gladly employ the teacher in another position if that position was open, but there are no openings at this time.

Dr. Freund also said that in some cases there are classrooms that have several teachers, but they are only in classrooms where there are children with special needs, which is not the case in this second grade.

Students from that second grade then recited a letter they had written to the board asking to keep the teacher they now have.

The parents also wanted to know if that class required a substitute teacher and would the teacher now teaching the class be hired? Dr. Freund commented that she would be most welcome as a substitute for that class if the need should arise.

Dr. Freund said, "I can only tell you that we are sensitive, caring people. We have been in this business a long time. Principal Mrs. Nancy Lindenauer is sensitive and very caring and we will all do what is right for the children."

The discussion continued for more than an hour and the parents were assured that everything would be done to make sure that the transition of the original teacher back into the classroom would be as smooth as possible for the children.

Effective in February, based on the analysis of the Herricks Adult Education program, and those of surrounding districts and in an effort to maintain the self-sustaining nature of the program, the following increases are recommended by Director of the Herricks Community Center Mae Timer:

Aerobics Class from $32 to $35; Bridge from $49 to $52; Computer Classes from $50 to $55; Dance Ballroom, per couple, from $76 to $80; Golf from $34 to $40; Keyboarding from $37 to $40; Language from $37 to $40; Piano from $37 to $40; Stained Glass from $43 to $45; Tai Chi from $32 to $35; Yoga from $40 to $45. When no fee is charged a $5 registration fee will be required for processing and handling.

June 1 has been designated as the first snow makeup day. However, the State Education Department has just designated it as a standardized testing day for the fourth grade math exam. Therefore, the district voted that the first snow makeup day be switched from June 1 to May 27.

Since the state Education Department announced that the standardized testing results will not be received by the Feb. 25 report, the CAR report will be presented on March 18 and the March 18 portion of the budget portion of the meeting will be held on March 16.

It was announced that Norman London, of New Hyde Park donated various items of photo equipment to the district; an anonymous donor presented a gift of $328 to the district and Marvin Kreutzberg donated a Lexmark IIC, mode 4076 inkjet printer and a Mustek 600111, EP color scanner and OCR software to the district.

At the Feb. 23 meeting of the board, to be held at the Community Center, on the agenda, the budget will be presented along with early childhood recommendations for the elementary schools and pupil personnel services. The meeting will start at 6:15 p.m. and then after the first portion of the meeting will go into executive session. The second portion of the meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m.