The Herricks School Board will hold its Jan. 4 meeting at Herricks High School at 7:15 p.m. instead of the Community Center which is the location published in the calendar. The board felt the need of the change of venue for this meeting due to the fact that the board will review its philosophy as it relates to free speech and censorship in relationship to the high school newspaper and other matters and board president Emilia Sutz said that the board attorney will be present. It was felt that a large crowd would be in attendance.

The concern of nearly all the middle school students assembled at the last meeting is the projected start of school on Aug. 27 and one of the students wanted to know why this has been proposed.

Herricks Interim Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ronald Barnes explained that there must be 180 days of instruction listed on the school calendar so it is necessary to have 183 days on the calendar to allow for snow days. This 183 days of time must be between Labor Day and June 21 and unless school is started on Aug. 27 that time would not be met in accordance with the guidelines set by the New York State Education Department

President Sutz said that this topic has not been discussed by the board as an agenda item but would be put as a calendar item for Jan. 4 and she invited any student who wanted could attend that meeting with his/her comments at that time.

A student wanted to know what was the status of the recycling program that was proposed. President Sutz said that indeed the district did go out to bid for a recycling program with the carter but the logistics of where to drop the paper has not been worked out as yet.

One of the students on the student council announced that they have set up four committees for various concerns at the middle school.

One concern he said was the improvement of the building and grounds such as the ever-present water closets in the bathrooms. He said that there are also specific concerns. For instance the track around the school is a cement track which he said is medically wrong for the students, especially on their knees and the students would like to recommend that an all-weather track be installed.

Another sports concern is that the school only has one lacrosse and one football team and therefore that does not allow enough playing time for students so they never excel at these sports. The students requested that the board put into the budget a proposal for a C team in the fall and spring. The board promised to look into it as a possibility.

Another request was to have each classroom cable-ready and to have faster Internet service and to be equipped with additional VCRs. Middle school Principal Dr. Seth Weitzman disagreed with the TV portion of the request. He said that he really did not approve of too much TV in the school as there is too much at home. However, board trustee David Stollwerk suggested that cable would be beneficial to students especially if history-making events are taking place. Dr. Weitzman said that there is a common room where the students can watch TV if indeed it has educational value.

The questions of lockers or the lack of lockers was also brought up again and the board as well as Dr. Weitzman are trying hard to accomodate all the students with his/her own locker. Dr. Weitzman said that next year it will be worse and suggested that perhaps the district could rent additional lockers for one year until the addition is completed.

The locker conversation and complaints lasted for quite a long time with each student adding thoughts about the locker situation and how it would be better if the lockers were larger to accommodate more books and in the case of sports the equipment required.

Board President Emilia Sutz said that the board and principal Weitzman are aware of the problem and will discuss what can be done to correct the situation.

Another long discussion was on the use of the lavatories and their condition.

The board thanked the students for their interest and for coming and giving their suggestions.

At the last meeting Interim Assistant Superintendent for Instruction David Helme gave a report on the steps that have been taken to improve the supervision of students in the three elementary schools during the lunch and recess periods.

Helme explained that the investigation into this matter was prompted by the fact that parents and students reported bullying and poor conduct on the playground during lunchtime at the elementary schools. The board also included an amount of $10,000 in the budget to be used for staff development.

Helme said that his report, although midterm, was almost complete. At the outset he created four two-hour workshops; the first one in August and the last in January, to allow the cafeteria aides an opportunity to discuss the issues as they saw them with Helme and with the building principals. Also to provide the aides an opportunity to discuss their needs which included a school nurse, a school social worker. Plus, others will be included at the fourth workshop to share with them help that can be used. Helme explained that prior to his investigation and action the cafeteria aides did not have a good way of communicating to either the nurse or to the mail office in an emergency. Now, through his hard work the school district purchased two-way monitors which are very modern, very small and very effective. One radio is for a monitor inside the cafeteria; one for the nurse and one for the main office. This has provided a regular means of two-way communication in times of emergency, an accident, or an emergency. He also suggested that all lunchroom aides are equipped with CPR training.

Helme said, "The buildings and grounds department, at my request, instituted a daily work log that provides for a daily check of the grounds to make sure they are cleaned on a daily basis especially in regard to broken bottles and debris sometimes left after a week and I think that has helped to improve conditions."

Helme continued, "I discovered in talking with some of the aides that some of them were not sure of their responsibilities and that bewildered me and I discovered that there is no job description. With the help of the principals we wrote a job description which has been distributed to each of the cafeteria monitors and will be each year."

He said a set of guidelines has been developed regarding the conduct of students on the playground which he said he felt common sense dictates what you do and don't do when you are eating and outside playing. He said, "Sometimes the youngsters are hyperactive, immature and sometimes need instruction on what those rules are. Therefore, a written set of guidelines has been drafted and they will be made available to parents on a regular basis which will be posted in large print in the cafeteria."

Helme said he also established a modest fund for each school of $200 for the schools to purchase playground equipment such as balls, bats, etc. to keep the youngsters busy.

Saftey measures were also included such as in reviewing the schools it was noted that the schools had not conducted a fire drill during the lunch hour, which is not required, but a good test if there are problems either on the playground or in the cafeteria.

Helme also developed a study of the regional rates of cafeteria and it was discovered that the district fell below the rates of surrounding districts and perhaps that is why nearby districts are having no trouble finding cafeteria monitors and Herricks is.

Helme also pointed out the workshops have been very good for the aides. He said he would like to have them continued either to review their personal skills or to instruct them because they describe their role as "the bottom of the professional ladder"- almost the dregs but he said that the Herricks district does not feel that way about them.

Helme also said that he suggested that the principals hold some form of in-school meetings. He pointed out that they do not have to be formal or elaborate but he said he felt it was important to get the cafeteria monitors together as a group. He said it helps the aides resolve a lot of issues before they become something big and it helps the principals develop the kind of relationship with all of the staff so that they can feel good about the school. In that way he said the aides' productivity will increase.

Helme said that the playground conditions must be looked at as well in terms of improving the resources. He said, "I'm not talking about an expensive rehab, but just assuring that small things are done to protect the children from injury such as making sure that basketball poles have proper padding; that the resources for setting up games are available, etc. and it would give the youngsters a positive challenge for that energy that they are trying to get rid of."

Helme also said that he thought it would be productive if the PTA held a parenting meeting for the purpose of discussing how youngsters use bullying tactics to get their way. He said, "This happens even at the best schools. Here at Herricks the children are usually well-behaved but in a time, like a lunchtime, when the students are allowed a little more freedom there are some students who feel they have license to misbehave. I feel that we need to deal with that at the parent level as a form of education."

Helme said, "One of my recommendations is one that is not easy because it could incur additional expense for the district and that would be to appoint a lunch monitor coordinator. It would be a professional person who would have districtwide responsibilities. I think we do need some kind of professional coordination. What we could do is take the physical education teacher in each school and give them the responsibility of the inventory and supplies of the playground during lunchtime and to organize some kind of games during that time. The cost to the district would probably be the equivalent of a full instruction period which would be an automatic increase of 6/10ths of a physical education teacher. It's a big expense, but if the board is looking for long-term and positive, I feel there would be dramatic improvement and this would be much better than a lunchroom coordinator."

He said, "Conditions have improved, but we have a long way to go. Finally, another recommendation is to look at the number of cafeteria aides because it is my feeling we don't have enough. I want to thank the board for its support and even though this is not an educational issue I am a firm believer that everything that happens in the school has the potential of being educational."

In other matters:

The Herricks Board approved a five-year lease with the Harbor Child Care from July 2000 to June 1, 2005. Further, the board approved a Poetry Club for the more than 33 students who are interested.

The board urged that the community become involved and with the progress of the sidewalk situation on I. U. Willets and to attend the North Hempstead Town Board to be held on Jan. 2 at 7:30 p.m. on Plandome Road, Manhasset. At that time the board is presenting the petitions to the members of the town board when they vote on the funding to install sidewalks on both sides of I. U. Willets Road.