Following the annual New Hyde Park/Garden City Park School Board Reorganizational meeting the board held its regular meeting and it was announced that the board accepted a $100,000 payment from the Hillside Public Library, which has been housed at the Manor Oaks School for many, many years, for the restoration of the space used by the library.

It was suggested by board members that perhaps it would be a good idea for the district to talk to BOCES to see if a mutual agreement, for the space, could be reached. One by one, outraged parents came to the microphone protesting such a proposal. Their opinion was that the space once used by the library should be used only for the children attending the Manor Oaks School.

An initial meeting on the subject was attended by school board trustees Florence Raihl and Joan Romagnoli. The entire New Hyde Park/Garden City Park School Board was scheduled to meet with Dr. Mapes of BOCES the night after the meeting. It was stressed, by board members that the meeting was only to discuss the matter to see what possibilities might be considered.

One parent raised a very legitimate concern regarding the amount of traffic that would be created around the school area. The BOCES children, using the school, would be bused in from other areas.

A resident reminded the board that the library bond was passed mainly to alleviate the space problem that was facing the district. The space occupied by the Hillside Public Library was to be restored and then used by the children attending the Manor Oaks School. It was pointed out that the $100,000 from the Hillside Public Library was to be used to defray the cost of returning the space to classrooms and if it was used for any other means it would be a "slap" in the face of the taxpayers who supported the Hillside Library Bond.

Trustee Martin Cernese, who was on the board at the time of the bond proposal, pointed out that the board was only "talking" to BOCES and that no decision would be made at that time.

A resident addressed the board expressing her disappointment that she was terminated as a classroom aide. She said she has had five years of service in the district. She said that other aides were also terminated, but others were not. It seems the aides were promised that if the budget passed they would not lose their positions as aides.

Another resident wanted to know why the aides who had been in the district the longest were terminated and New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School Superintendent Dr. Regina Cohn said that the aides with the longevity were let go instead of the ones with less years of service. She added, "Their services were no longer needed."

Another topic of concern to parents was the approval of a hot lunch program at the schools to be handled by an outside Pennsylvania vendor based on a survey conducted in the schools. The food would be shipped in icebox containers to the schools where the frozen foods would be housed in the vendor's freezers and then heated in the vendor's oven. There would be two employees per school handling the food with one supervisor for all four buildings who would double as substitute if a handler were not available. The program would be a self-sustaining program based on 60 percent student participation. The contractual agreement would run for one year. If it didn't work out Dr. Cohn said the contract would not be renewed.

Parents expressed concert over the food processing methods because of their children as well as others who are allergic to peanuts or peanut oil as well as other allergies.

Dr. Cohn said she would look into what type of oil is used in cooking and then said that children with allergies should bring in their own lunch from home just to be on the safe side and not to buy it at school.

Manor Oaks PTA president said that the survey Dr. Cohn was referring to was only received from 30 parents at a PTA meeting and it was not distributed to the total population of parents and pointed out that it wasn't representative of all the parents in the district.

However, Dr. Cohn said that she would do a more thorough poll of the parents on the subject during the summer.

In Sewanhaka Central School Board news it was announced that Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Warren Meierdiercks has been appointed as Deputy Superintendent from Sept. 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007. He will also act as interim superintendent until a new superintendent is appointed.

The summer school program, housed at Hillside Grade School, has already started and is doing well.

A Before School Day Care was approved for September. It will be handled through the YMCA in Glen Cove. The program would be self-sustaining and it would start at 7 a.m. at the New Hyde Park Road School. Youngsters in kindergarten would be transported to the Road School by the YMCA. YMCA is certified by New York State.

There was a revision to the Inter Municipal agreement between the district and the Town of North Hempstead regarding the use of the Department of Public Works.

It was announced that former New Hyde Park Road School Principal Mrs. Joanne Cicero, who resigned, is being paid an hourly wage for the summer.

There was a salary adjustment approved for Assistant Superintendent for Business Michael Frank.

The meeting finally adjourned. The next meeting is set for Aug. 14 at 8 p.m. at the Manor Oaks School. (Details of this meeting obtained by use of a tape recorder.)