At a very poorly attended "input" meeting, the members of the New Hyde Park/Garden City Park School Board discussed in detail how to handle the funding of the next phase of school reconstruction; not before, however, Peg Fumante lodged a complaint on behalf of the Park Civic Association residents in New Hyde Park. Fumante said, "I just wonder why there was no official notification about this meeting to every taxpayer, and there wasn't. You don't have a large crowd mainly because very few people knew about it. People who read the Illustrated did."

Superintendent Rudaitis answered, "Let me tell you what we did. At the last board meeting the board thought it would be appropriate to have a discussion in a work session about the bond possibilities. The fact is the board held a public work session and it was poorly attended and then the board decided to hold another work session to gain input on the bond. We notified both newspapers, on relatively short notice, and asked them for coverage and we thank the Illustrated for doing that. We also posted notices on the doors of all the public buildings in the district, as we always do and I think we did a very good job in notifying the public."

Fumante retorted, "Well I think you did a very poor job."

Rudaitis continued, "I want to thank all of you who did come to attend this meeting. It will not be the last public session that we will hold on this subject and board will not take action. We just want this to be a public input session."

Rudaitis went on to say that thanks to the public voting for the bond, all four of the buildings have been enlarged and renovated but there is still some work that has to be done.

Rudaitis continued, "The bond was for $21 million and the renovation so far has amounted to well under $18.5 million, which is the good news. Now, do we go ahead and borrow the rest of the bond money or do we put the items still to be done into the coming budget. In other words should the board go forward with the bond and if so what direction should it take?"

Rudaitis mentioned that in the audience was the bond counsel for the district and that the board would be in discussion with him, in executive session, regarding the legalities involved.

"But," Radaitis said, "Tonight, what we want to do is present the overall of what the capital needs are in the district. What work still needs to be done and then hear from the community as to what their thoughts are as to how it should be funded."

He then introduced architect John Grillo, of A. Grillo and Associates, and representatives of the School Construction Company, President Nick Amaruso and Vice President Michael Peck, who made sure John Grillo's plans were followed out appropriately through the entire process.

John Grillo was the one who spoke regarding what still has to be done in the district and whether or not to use the remaining $2.5 million that is left from the bond to finance those projects. Incidentally, School Board President James Kane explained to the audience that money has not been borrowed as yet.

Grillo said, "In Garden City Park School masonry and window replacement is needed. He said over the years in both Garden City Park and New Hyde Park Road School when there was crack in the masonry it was filled up somehow which only then caused the masonry to crack even more. In both GCP and the Road School where the old building was connected to the building you can see the paint starting to flake off and unfortunately that paint is lead-based so instead of just scraping and repairing all that paint must be removed. Plus, there is a large skylight, at Garden City Park, that leaks that either needs to be replaced or closed up."

Grillo went on to say, "A percentage of lighting in the new additions are emergency lights. However, in the Road School and in Hillside Grade School they do not have emergency lights. So if the power goes out the building would be dark. The game plan would be to remove every fourth light and in its place put in an emergency light and to tie it into the electrical system so that if power goes down the emergency lights will go on."

Grillo said that there really is a masonry problem district-wide in all the schools because of their age. "Further, " Grillo said, "you see at most of the schools what appears to be water, but it is actually corking that is bulging. Another project is the cupola at the Hillside Grade School that needs to be upgraded. Also at Hillside Grade School, along with needing emergency lights the ceilings are probably in the worst shape in the district. They are all 12 x 12 tiles and are very difficult to replace. The master clock system also needs to be upgraded at Hillside Grade School.

Further, the safety surface of the kindergarten playground at Hillside Grade, that was basically installed by the community as a result of a donation by Amy and Horace Hagedorn, is sand and will have to be replaced with the same safety surface that was put in the other buildings along with a new asphalt liner material off to the left to provide a place for the kindergarten students at Hillside Grade to line up.

Grillo continued, "The door, off the parking lot and the main doors at the Manor Oaks Schools are the only ones not replaced and they should be replaced. A playground handicapped accessibility material has also been proposed. It looks like wood chips and is a new product. At the Road School, again the masonry is a problem and waterproofing could be a solution.

Further, a new ceiling at the Road School auditorium is proposed, along with new seats. If a new ceiling for acoustics is installed the facility could then be used as a Community Center.

Superintendent Rudaitis explained that as much as the board would like to go forward with all these projects they must still look them over and choose their priorities, but they did not want to make those decisions without input from the public. After the meeting, however, it was said that the board would meet with the bond counsel and he would tell them what can be included within the bond. The meeting was then opened to the public.

Community leader and President of the Lakeville Estates Civic Association, Katherine Seyfried, wanted to know how much of the suggested repairs is covered by aidable funds from the state. Assistant Superintendent Bonnie Palker said that reconstruction is usually 34.8 percent state aidable. Palker said that a $2 million project would be paid back at $110,000 a year and would cost the average taxpayer an additional $11.22; but she added, $110,000 does very small projects these days.

"However, " Palker said, "The state has changed its aid formula and would like districts to gather together their small projects and then bond them as one project."

The rest of the audience asked questions regarding various phases of the construction, but then the board ended the meeting and went into executive session to meet with the bond counsel. They did say they would

report the findings of the bond counsel at the next board meeting, which was set for the following Monday.

At the most recent meeting of the New Hyde Park/Garden City Park School Board after meeting with the bond counsel the following construction cost can be included under the current bond:

Garden City Park School

Lintel replacement and masonry reconstruction-$125,000

Lead encapsulation at exterior cornice and door surrounds-40,000

Subtotal-$165,000

* Contingency-$29,700

Total Garden City Park School-$194,700

Hillside Grade School

Lintel replacement and masonry reconstruction-$140,000

Corridor ceiling and lighting replacement-$225,000

Subtotal-$365,000

* Contingency-$65,700

Total Hillside Grade School-$430,700

Manor Oaks/William R. Bowie School

Lintel replacement and masonry reconstruction-$150,000

Exterior door replacement-$32,000

Subtotal-$182,000

* Contingency-$32,760

Total Manor Oaks School-$214, 760

New Hyde Park Road School

Lintel replacement and masonry reconstruction-$165,000

Viewing stations (2) on upper gym landing-$18,000

Lead encapsulation at exterior cornice-$55,000

Auditorium wall treatment, stage and window curtain replacement-$50,000

Interior renovation of existing kindergarten room-$55,000

Asphalt pavement, concrete curb, and drainage at front bus circle-$75,000

Subtotal-$418,000

Contingency-$75,240

Total New Hyde Park Road School-$493,240

District-wide

Exterior building mounted lighting to match new additions-$98,000

* Contingency-$17,640

Total District-Wide-$115,640

Total Projects-$1,449,040

(* Related contingency expenses include bond fees, legal fees, architectural and engineer fees-includes 7 percent for unanticipated conditions that arise during construction-18 percent of total)

At the meeting it was explained that the cupola at Hillside Grade School and the emergency lighting throughout the schools is not included in a bond and will have to be included in a new 5-year plan that will be proposed by a task force to be put together in the near future.

President of the Parks Civic Association Catherine Guder wanted to know why the above items were not discussed and voted on in public. School board president James Kane said that the board operated solely on the advice of bond counsel who called the board into executive session to discuss what could be included in the current bond authorization.