The New Hyde Park/Garden City Park School Board held an input session for the public to give the board an idea of what they would like included in this year's budget. However, the auditorium at the New Hyde Park Road School was empty except for a very few parents who bothered to take the time to attend.

Board vice-president Lawrence Montreuil was in charge of the meeting due to the absence of president James Kane who was detained in the city.

Vice-president Montreuil explained that this meeting was just to receive input from the public. Other budget meetings will be held on March 9, a Saturday, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Manor Oaks School. At that meeting the budget will be outlined by Superintendent Joseph Rudaitis and the school board. Another budget meeting will be held on March 25 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the Manor Oaks School for further discussion. The budget vote will be held on May 21 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Manor Oaks School. Please note the date as it was marked in error on the school calendar.

Vice-president Montreuil then opened the meeting to the scant few members in attendance.

The first person to come up to the microphone said she would like to recommend two things to the board to be put into the budget. The first was to expand the Enrichment Program so that it would start in the third grade. She said, "In that way it will provide the extra support needed to the fourth graders who have so much to prepare for because of the testing that takes place in the fourth grade."

Further, she said she would like to see the criteria for the Enrichment Program expanded. She said she would like to have the classroom grades and teacher recommendations considered rather than just the grade of the standardized test. She said, "All the PTA meetings that I attend the goal is to move the children from level three to level four and this might be a way to do that. Further, I have heard that Memorial High is accepting children with B plus marks or greater in their honors program."

She said that her second request was to start foreign language classes in the district utilizing a licensed teacher.

The second person said that she really didn't want to add anything to the budget. She said, "My concern is that cut in state aid and the fact that the state will not be giving back money for building, as originally promised, won't have any bearing on our programs in the elementary schools and that our main courses will remain as solid as they have been."

She continued, "Yes, it would be nice to have a facility with everything, but I think we have to keep in mind that the core of our schooling is what the children learn. When we have budget cuts in state aid we want to make sure that we don't cut from our core programs."

She continued, "What tends to happen is that when the state cuts aid there are a few things that can be taken out of the facilities building fund that can be put into the budget and I don't want to see anything taking money away from our programs. I do understand the need for updated facilities, but not at the cost of our general programs."

Vice president Montreuil then explained that the budget process is ongoing throughout the school year by setting up the framework with the administration.

School superintendent Joseph Rudaitis added, "The budget building process starts with the PTAs, the staff, the BLTs (Building Level Teams and the principals. Then the principals and supervisors go over the budget with their staff. Dr. Thomas Rabb then talks to the SEPTA staff and its parents. In turn Director of Curriculum and Technology Karen Bayerbach talks to her teachers. After that the administrators gather together a list of their priorities in the various areas that they think should be passed along. The administrators meet with me and my assistant superintendent Bonnie Parker and we go over their concerns to determine the priority of their requests."

Rudaitis said, "Then I in turn go over the financial pieces of the picture in terms of the state aid and the various way we receive funding, but also look at the overall district and its programs and what impact those programs will have on the district. "

Rudaitis continued, "I then come back to the board of education and present to them, based on all the information I have received, a financially and educationally sound budget.

Rudaitis said then he and the board will conduct a series of presentations to inform the public of what the budget will include. The first is the Saturday morning presentation and the board listens to the feedback of the community regarding the budget.

Ruaditis added, "To date we have a historically strong record. We have been able to present a budget that the community can support. It will be a tough year there is no question about it because we did not anticipate the high end of state aid reductions. We did, in this district, anticipate a more modest package, therefore the lack of state aid does not put us in a hole. We are in good shape in that respect, but we still have to deal with all the changes that are occurring."

Trustee Suzanne Wenz said, "The current economy is not good and the issue is to submit a budget that people can afford. But, I am wondering if there is a way of creating some kind of endowment that would be acceptable to the community that most taxpayers would support. Perhaps, we could impose a higher tax on those who have children in the district, by setting up an endowment fund and this may be the year to try this or to look into it. In this way we could spend more money on programs that parents want for their children like foreign language courses and in that way it would not burden the other residents."

Trustee Martin Cernese said, "Our basic function is to provide all students with the same education and we will have to wait to discuss this in more detail with our attorney Richard Nicolello to see what we can do legally."

Superintendent Rudaitis said he did not think there was any way to avoid one tax rate for all but he said there are educational foundations that are set up to supplement various programs. He then said he would contact districts that have such foundations such as Herricks and Manhasset to see how they are funded by their communities.

Once parent said that the classes who have children pulled out of them for the Enrichment Program leaves the bulk of the class back with the homeroom teacher and they do not do much until the other children return to the class.

Trustee Cernese said that was not the way the program was setup and that class work is not supposed to be stopped or even slowed down when children are pulled out. He said the main reason that the children are taken out of the regular class for the Enrichment Program is that they can keep up with the regular class work even if they are taken out of the class for an hour or more. Superintendent Rudaitis said he would check into the program.

Another parent commented that she has heard that some classes at the Road School are on the verge of splitting. She said that her concern was that all the classes have teachers. Superintendent Rudaitis said that he is aware of her concerns and that the classes are being watched carefully in case they do need to be split and that no class will be without a teacher.

Trustee Patricia Rudd said she would like to see speech started in a Pre-K program and another parent said that she wanted to praise the board and the superintendent for the wonderful job of landscaping that has been done at the Manor Oaks School as a result of contracting the work out to a landscaper.

The meeting ended with the announcement that the regular school board meeting will be held on Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Grade School.