For about the fifth consecutive meeting residents flocked to the Herricks School Board to trash, malign and insult the members of the school board for their decision to relocate the administration offices to the second floor of the Herricks Community Center. The majority of the members of the audience requested that the board wait a year before finalizing any plans to move so that a definite plan could be formulated.

Prior to the meeting there was, apparently, a flyer sent out to every resident in the district to attend the meeting to protest the move so the meeting was changed to the auditorium. About 70 or 80 residents attended, and many of them came to the microphone to give his/her opinion about the situation.

Therefore, for the next three and one-half hours resident after resident came to the microphone to give his/her negative opinion about the move and some even resorted to name-calling of individual board members. Only one resident, at the end of the three and one-half hours, got up to say that he was in favor of the move, or rather in favor of anything that would save money in the district, especially with the arrival of the notice of increased tax assessments and the proposed Nassau County tax increase.

The decision voted on by the board, in July, with a four to one vote, is to move the administrators from their current building into the community center on the second floor. The board will then hire a real estate agent to see if they are able to rent their free-standing building with a long-term lease.

Even though the board has assured the folks that use one room or another in the building for Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, for the Youth Council or for Indian Culture, just to name a few, that they will be relocated to another building with comparable space, these facts did nothing to allay the anger in the audience.

The reason behind the move is to consolidate the administrators into a building where many of the staff have already moved and to then take the monies accrued from the rental to help defray the cost of running the community center and to make repairs that are necessary at the center.

None of the long-term tenants at the community center will be disturbed and only the following adult education classes have been eliminated: Basic Boating, Beginning Bridge, ESL for Newcomers, Intermediate Spanish Conversation; Calligraphy, Italian Conversation, Scrapbooking, Stress Management, Bridge Beginners I and Aerobics. The remaining adult education classes will be held, in the evening, at the Herricks High School. Daytime classes will still be held at the Herricks Community Center, further, no senior programs run at the center will be interrupted.

Finally, at the end of three and one-half hours at approximately 11:15 p.m. the board moved to the items on the agenda including:

Strategic Planning - Superintendent Dr. Jack Bierwirth explained in detail that the Strategic Plan is to plan for the next five years where the district is going in regard to academics as well as overall well-being. He has asked that community members come forward and become actively involved in the planning meetings.

The policy of Parent Involvement was passed and finally, after much discussion, the music department trip to San Francisco, which is very costly for each student, was agreed upon by the board.

The board also signed a contract with Sutton & Edwards, of New Hyde Park, a real estate agent who will handle the rental of the administration building.

The approval of a roofing architect was tabled by the board and the board approved a special education contract with the New York League for Early Learning to serve as behavioral consultants for students on the Autism Spectrum.

The next board meeting, at 7:15 p.m. has been set for Oct. 3 at the Center Street School, where there will be a public hearing on the goals and objectives of the district.