That is in essence the message the Herricks community gave to the Herricks School Board at its last week's meeting when a pool was proposed on Herricks property by Long Island Swimming, Inc.

The residents of Moore Street, the residents surrounding the Herricks Community Center and many other concerned community members flooded the board room to vehemently protest the proposal.

At the outset of the discussion many of the community members felt that the discussion should not have been conducted at this time of the year when so many people are on vacation. Others questioned the board closely as to when they were apprised of the proposal and one community member wanted to know why this particular meeting was not listed in the latest Date Line received in the mail by the district last week. Others said they would never have known about the meeting if it had not been for an anonymous letter sent to them announcing the meeting.

School board president Peter Grisafi said that this was the first meeting that the board was discussing the proposal. He said, "This could be the first and last meeting, or the first of many, many more meetings."

Dr. Bierwirth said that he was approached by the Long Island Swimming, Inc., folks in June. At that time they told him that Herricks was one of several districts they were considering for the pool. Dr. Bierwirth said he merely mentioned it to the board but because there was no firm proposal presented that was all that was said.

Now the group has come back to the Herricks district, because they said it was the district they most wanted to further pursue. Dr. Bierwirth added, "If it meant that the district would have to spend any monies for this project the district would have rejected it immediately, However, since this is not the case we asked the Long Island Swimming, Inc. folks to come tonight and explain the project to the board. If the board is interested we will then contact the entire community by way of Dateline and our website and let everyone know about the project and another meeting will be held."

He then turned the meeting over to Steven Festa, one of the organizers, who explained that Long Island Swimming, Inc. is a not-for-profit that supports the swimmers in the Long Island Aquatics Club (LIAC). LIAC have been pioneers in the sport of swimming on Long Island for 25 years in various venues. Festa said they operated out of a makeshift building at Christopher Morely Park, Searingtown; outdoors at the Manorhaven pool in Port Washington; at Adelphi University, Garden City and for the past six years at Nassau County Aquatic Center in Eisenhower Park. He said that 100 percent of all the swimmers in the LIAC have gone on to college; 95 percent of them to swim in college and 50 percent attend Ivy League or the nation's most prestigious colleges. He added that over the years $250,000 in scholarships have been awarded to LIAC swimmers.

Festa went on to explain that the group now feels it is necessary to establish a final home for the Swim Club to train children of middle and high school age, a trend, he said that is prevalent in New Jersey, Arizona and Minnesota.

Festa went on to say that the proposal was to use approximately two acres, to be leased by the district for the next 50 years, located parallel to Shelter Rock Road and Moore Street. On the two acres the group would build, with no cost whatsoever to the district, a steel structure with a metal 32' peak roof, which could be any color, with about 45 skylights. The facade of the sides of the building would be glass that would enclose an eight lane, 50 meter swimming pool, plus a 20' x 40' three foot pool, used for teaching swimming to young children, senior aerobics, senior walking and arthritis classes. There would be locker rooms and what they called a dry land training facility, which is another word for an exercise room. Along the side of the building there will be parking for the pool and additional parking for the baseball and soccer fields. It was stressed that the building would not be an "eyesore" and could be "dressed-up" as much as the school board requested.

Festa added that a unique feature of the pool is that it could be collapsed and moved, like the pools being used in the Olympics in Greece and the developers would then restore the land to the way it was originally.

The swim club would have use of the pool from 6 a.m. to 7 or 7:30 a.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. on weekdays and on Saturday from 7 to 10 or 11 a.m. and the rest of the time, including all day Sunday, the pool could be used for the children from the Herricks community, who would not be charged. He pointed out that right now, since the facility has been in Garden City (Aquatic Center) 70 percent of the team is composed of children from Garden City. Festa also pointed out that it is a known fact that wherever the pool is constructed children from that area make up the majority of the members of the team and therefore reap the benefits of becoming better swimmers, able to compete in swim meets throughout the area.

However, it could also be used by anyone else who would be interested in joining the pool and paying because it was pointed out that without community support the pool could not be run properly. A fee would be charged to the parents and to the rest of the community and others and those fees would run from $200 to $400 per person depending on how much of the facility was used and Festa said that was in line with the municipal rate currently charged.

Further, the Herricks school children would have use of the facility, only when it was not in use by Long Island Swimming and the Aquatic Club.

Trustee David Goodsell asked how many swimmers would be utilizing the building on a daily basis. Festa said that the daily usage is usually 800 swimmers and about 200 to 300 on Saturday and would go up to about 1000 per day in the summer.

That answer drew a great outcry from the community and President Grisafi had to quiet everyone down before they could go on.

Goodsell asked if the parking space amount quoted, about 65, was in keeping with the codes of the Town of North Hempstead and the developers said they would have to look into that.

Goodsell also wanted to know about funding and he was told that before any construction is started it is expected that 80 percent of the money will be raised.

Dr. Bierwirth wanted to make sure that if somewhere down the road the funding failed, that the building, which is pre-fab along with the pool, could be disassembled and the land restored as had been mentioned before and he was assured by Festa of that fact.

The two main concerns expressed by the community and neighbors were traffic and parking. Since Moore Street is such a narrow road and is already highly traveled by the traffic going to and from the high school the residents felt it would be an unbearable burden to build a facility on that particular corner and resident after resident spoke expressing just those sentiments. They urged anyone to come and sit on that street and watch the cars "speed" down that road in an effort to go to Hillside Avenue or to cross Shelter Rock Road to go to the high school. They remarked it was just a "nightmare" and further traffic and parking would only make it worse.

One resident asked of the board members, "Would you want such a monstrosity built across the street from your home?"

Time and time again residents pointed out that a swimming pool in this area was not needed since there was one at Christopher Morley Park in Searingtown; another at Michael J. Tully Park, off Denton Avenue, New Hyde Park and one at Clinton Martin Park on the corner of New Hyde Park Road and Marcus Avenue, New Hyde Park.

One activist senior stressed that the land in question was not the Herricks school board to "give" away. She said it was land owned by the Herricks residents who paid taxes on the land. But, the developers pointed out that the land would not be given away merely leased for 50 years.

At the end of the very long discussion it was brought back to the board table for a vote on whether or not to move forward with the pool proposal. Trustee Karin Filippi said that as far as she was concerned, "the public has spoken" and she voted no and the rest of the members of the board agreed and voted not to move forward with the proposal.

The members of Long Island Swimming, Inc. packed up their various charts and information and President Peter Grisafi wished them all the best in the future in finding a home for their pool.

Prior to the pool discussion one of the senior citizens said that she was sick of hearing community members saying to her and to other seniors, "if you don't like a proposal that would undoubtedly increase taxes, then move." She said that she has lived in the district and has supported it for the last 55 years even through she said her children graduated from the district years ago. She added, "Now, I am seriously thinking of moving."

Dr. Bierwirth said that the community would be well served if when they heard such comments to stop them because they serve no purpose.

Superintendent Dr. Jack Bierwirth said that at the last meeting a question was asked regarding transportation to private and parochial schools. Based on a log kept by the Transportation Department Head John Conklin, most of the complaints were logged when there were substitute drivers or non-regular drivers. Usually, it was a bus that was late because the driver was lost.

Further, Dr. Bierwirth said any bus company that had consistent complaints about them and didn't respond were dismissed.

Voter registration hours for the district vote were questioned at the last board meeting. He said the district did what was required of them. There must also be one evening registration and one Saturday registration and he said the district fulfilled that requirement. A list of all the voter registration dates was handed out and the cost of the registration may be obtained at the administration office at the Herricks Community Center.

A community member wanted to know the amount of legal fees the district has incurred to date. Assistant Superintendent for Business Helen Costigan reported that in '03/'04 the fees were $194,338 and with an additional $5,000 to date. It was also established that the budget line for

legal fees is $109,200 and the monies to cover those fees comes from transfers from other budget lines that have excess funds.

Trustee Karin Filippi commented on the minutes of the Aug. 5 meeting. She said at that meeting she asked Dr. Bierwirth the extent of the damage to Center Street made by a claw hammer by students in the district who were arrested. She said she wanted to know if the students were suspended and she said that Dr. Bierwirth said no, because school was not in session at the time. She said she told Dr. Bierwirth that board policy does not distinguish between in and out of school session.

Dr. Bierwirth countered by saying, "Mr. President if the statement is going to be put on the record then another statement that was made at the same meeting, prior to trustee Filippi's question, should also be included which is that the students arrested were minors and since they are minors we do not have their names. We have found out by the grapevine who they are but we cannot suspend students whose names we do not have. The checks we receive from the parents through the probation office are cashier checks, they are not checks from the family."

The "whistleblower" policy was tabled because trustee Filippi felt that the name was not appropriate for the policy. The policy encourages employees to disclose violations of the law, without fear of reprisal. The board will vote on the policy when a new name is chosen.

The tax levy for the district was set at $62,630,297 or 10.41 percent.

Chairman of the Nassau County Board of Assessors Harvey B. Levinson sent the following letter to the district.

"The Board of Assessors would like to bring to your attention additional revenue that is available to your school district for the 2004/2005 tax year. This revenue represents taxes restored to the rolls on a pro rata basis for property which has recently undergone a change from partially or wholly exempt status to taxable status. We will be certifying these pro rata taxes for the upcoming 2004/2005 school tax levy and forward them to the Nassau County Legislature for inclusion in the 2004/2005 school tax warrants. The following is the amount of pro rata taxes that will be added to the school tax levy for your school district:

2004/2005 Pro Rata Taxes-$15, 030.64

Hopefully you will be able to consider this additional revenue as you finalize your spending plans for the 2004/2005-tax year. In the past school districts were not notified of the amount of pro rata taxes that was added to their levies. To rectify this situation we will be notifying school districts on an annual basis of these taxes so that they may be considered by school districts in their budget deliberations."

On Sept. 2 the traditional building tour by the school board and any members of the community who wish to attend will begin at 1 p.m. at the Herricks Community Center, 999 Herricks Road, New Hyde Park. The night of Sept. 2 the regular board meeting will be held at 7:15 p.m. at Center Street School. The main item on the agenda is the appointment of legal counsel.