Herricks High School will have to conduct another search for a principal because it was announced at the last board meeting that principal Mark Scher, has given Herricks Superintendent Dr. Jack Bierwirth his verbal resignation, effective March 1, to take a position in another district. Bierwith said that as soon as he receives Scher's written registration he will contact the search committee and proceed with the search process.

Dr. Bierwirth then addressed a student's question, asked during the last Herricks meeting, regarding auditions for the music program.

Dr. Bierwirth said, "Before I looked into the situation I felt that the process didn't make much sense because why should a student have to try out again for a music program, but I have changed my mind."

Dr. Bierwirth explained why he changed his mind. He said, "There are two reasons. The first: This is a top group and it should be open to competition. Second: Preparing and going through an audition is part of the skills we teach. We expect students to be able to do that and this is an opportunity to use that skill. They have to audition for regional music groups and they have to audition for the many music events they enter. It was a good question and a fair question."

Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Dr. Ronald Barnes was also questioned, at the last meeting, as to when the Terra Nova fifth grade scores would arrive and be ready to be sent out. Dr. Barnes said they were mailed on Monday, Jan. 21 and should be in the hands of the parents by now.

Board president Emilia Sutz then opened the meeting to the public and recognized Richard Rostholder who wanted to know why one group at the school has to audition to remain in a program and others do not.

Rostholder said, "Why not have the same audition process for every group involved in the school. I have had this conversation before with the board. I feel that the STAC program is the most elitist in the school. A lot of money is spent on the group that has a small amount of students. When the kids do audition for this program they are locked in and do not have to audition again."

Rostholder continued, "My question is if the orchestra, chamber orchestra and the jazz band has to audition every year for certain spots why is it that the other performing groups such as STAC which has two dancers, two musicians, two singers, etc. does not have to audition again for these spots. A ninth grade student that is perhaps better than one already in the STAC program does not have a chance to audition because the slot is filled. This is the question I have been asking for five or six years."

Dr. Bierwirth said he was unable to answer the question without discussing it with the head of the STAC program.

Rostholder added, "This is a matter of policy and the same policy should apply to every group that requires auditions, regardless. You can't have one group one way and one the other. If I wasn't here to bring this up you would have gone ahead and required the music program to have auditions and you would never have addressed the fact that to be in the STAC program you are only required to audition once."

Board president Sutz said that Dr. Bierwirth would review all the programs and come back with recommendations.

Another resident wanted to know why a discussion had been held on an open campus in the high school and not on carrying back packs at the middle school.

Dr. Bierwirth said that he is still looking into the subject of back packs and is not ready at this time to make a recommendation.

Head of Herricks Facilities James Brown then introduced Construction Consultant Nick Amaruso who outlined the construction progress as of now.

First, Amaruso said he hoped he wouldn't "jinx" himself by saying he has never seen such wonderful weather as we have had since construction began. Because of this, construction is ahead of schedule. He then gave the following progress school-by-school:

Center Street School:

Excavated all areas, formed and poured all foundations, roughing of underground utilities completed; concrete block work started, new electrical service work started. Look Ahead: Concrete block work will continue (weather permitting); electrical and mechanical installations continue.

Denton Avenue School:

Excavated all areas, formed and poured all foundations; roughing of underground utilities completed, concrete block work started, new electrical service work started. Look Ahead: Concrete block work continues (weather permitting), electrical and mechanical installations continue.

Searingtown School:

Excavated all areas, formed and poured all foundations, roughing of underground utilities completed, concrete block work started, new electrical service work started. Look Ahead: Concrete block work continues (weather permitting), electrical and mechanical installations continue.

Middle School:

Excavation completed-unsuitable soil conditions remediated; forming and pouring of foundations completed, backfilling completed, new electrical service work started. Look Ahead: Concrete block work to begin (weather permitting), underground utility installation to begin, window replacement to begin in the early summer.

High School:

Forming and pouring of foundations completed, backfilling completed. Look ahead: Underground utility installations to begin, concrete work to begin (weather permitting).

Dr. Bierwirth recommended to the board of education that they approve Change Order No. 1 to Stalco Construction, Inc. reducing the contract between Stalco and the Herricks Board by $91, 670. In doing so the following items will be eliminated from the contract documents:

Center Street: Alternate No. 5-Folding Door Area A-$13,620

Denton Avenue: Alternate No. 5-Folding Door Area A-$13, 620

Searingtown Town: Alternate No. 4-Folding Door Area A-$11,620

Middle School: Alternate No. 4 -Computer Stations-$36, 620

High School: Alternate No. 4-Provide Four Exterior Benches-$3, 690

High School: Alternate No. 5-Classroom Case Work-$12,500

The board agreed with Dr. Bierwirth and voted to reduce contract with Stalco Construction.

The next construction updates will be held on March 7, May 2 and June 6, which is the last registered board meeting while the board is still in regular session.

The next topic discussed was that of the student representatives on the Herricks School Board. This year, for the first time, there have been two representatives on the school board, without voting privileges, senior Kathleen Healy and junior Anthony Tisei.

Both representatives are members of the Herricks High School Student Government and were voted to their positions by the members of the student government and according to the guidelines two alternates were also appointed, but have never been necessary due to the fact that both Healy and Tisei have almost perfect attendance at the board meetings.

In introducing the subject Dr. Bierwirth said that he had gone over the guidelines for a student representative and felt it should remain the same as it is now. Namely, that representatives be members of the student government and be appointed by the members of the student government for a one-year term from June 1 to May 30. Further, student representatives are mandated to report regularly to student government in order to keep students informed of current issues and to secure the opinion of the student body on issues.

There were some members of the audience who felt that representatives should also be included on the board who are in the Middle School, but Dr. Bierwirth said that at this time he felt that the representatives should be just from the high school and he also felt the selection process should remain as it is.

A lengthy discussion initiated by those who advocated that the student representatives be voted on by the entire student body instead of restricting the representatives to just members of the student government.

Student representative Katherine Healy said that at first she thought that was the procedure to be followed. However, after having been on the board she said she felt that the student representative on the board must have accountability since sitting at the board table is such a commitment. She said, "Anthony and I can go to the 44 members of the student government and report to them and then each one of them will go back and take our report to the students they represent. If we were not members of the student government we would have to try to report to each and every class in the school. Further, having the student government appoint board representatives is good because they know who has done the work; who has the background to come to the board meetings and who will understand the general focus of what the board is trying to accomplish through a high school perspective. I feel it is important that the student government be the ones to appoint a representative."

School board vice president David Stollwerk said that the student representatives on Site Based committees are elected in a school-wide election so why not the same type election for representatives on the school board.

Healy said, "The commitment is so much different. Site based meetings are held once a month for about an hour or just a little more. The board meetings are twice a month, we receive paper work that has to be examined ahead of time and the meetings can last until 11:30 p.m. to midnight. Then we must go back and report on the meetings. Student government representatives understand how the process works. They must attend mandated meetings that instruct them on the fundamentals of how government works."

Stollwerk said, "I don't think the number of hours is a significant rationale as to why it should be a different policy."

Healy answered, "Having done both, I knew what I was getting into by signing up for the school board. I think it would be very unfortunate if someone signed up for this and was overwhelmed by the responsibility which could very possibly happen."

The discussion lasted for a very long time, but at the end it was decided to follow the recommendation of the superintendent and to limit representatives to high school students who are members of student government and appointed by the student government.

Dr. Bierwirth went over the schedule of budget meetings and the procedure to be followed. First of all the overview budget will be presented on Feb. 14. The following meetings are set for Feb. 28, March 5, March 7, March 14 and at that date, if ready, the budget will be adopted. March 21 is an added date just in case the budget is not adopted on March 14.

However, some members of the board had misgivings about the date of the overview of the budget since it is Valentine's Day and they were afraid that many people would not be in attendance. However, after a very long and very involved discussion it was decided to leave the date as it is on Feb. 14 at 7:15 p.m. at the Community Center.

Dr. Bierwirth did, however say that a budget printout will be available on Feb. 8 which will include an overview of the whole budget; critical issues; items to be considered; responses to questions and research.

The board will be supplied with ring binders of the budget on Feb. 1. Further, on Feb. 8 copies of the entire budget will be available for pickup in the individual schools, community center and central office and reference copies will be in each school, the community center and the central office.

Dr. Bierwirth praised the following:

Herricks English Department Chairman Victor Jacccarino for receiving the Fellow Award from the New York State English Council. The award in recognition of "his dedicated service, leadership and educational vision."

He also mentioned English teachers Barbara Hoffman and Ted Cannone who were recognized as "Educators of Excellence" based on a portfolio of teacher's work, letters of nomination and student work.

Further Dr. Bierwirth also lauded the Intel Semi-Finalists Jonathan Cook and Yu (Mimi )Yan and described briefly what their experiments entailed.

The next Herricks School Board meeting will be held on Feb. 7 at the Herricks Community Center at 7:15 p.m. The agenda will include: Language Immersion; Graduation 2003; At Large Elections and Procedures for Tenure Review.