Because the New Hyde Park/Garden City Park School District is, with the aid of BOCES Erie, reviewing, as a first reading, all their policies, the next few monthly meetings will begin at 7 p.m. and the board will review each and every revised policy as submitted by BOCES. They will stop at 8 p.m. and the regular meeting will begin.

At the last meeting each audience member was provided with the individual policy and they could make a note of any changes made by the board during the review.

This month the board reviewed the following policies:

No. 8260-Programs and Projects Funded by Title I

No. 5530-Petty Cash

No. 6110-Code of Ethics

No. 3420-Anti-harassment in the School District

No. 6120-Equal Employment Opportunity

No. 6121-Sexual Harassment of District Personnel

No. 6121-Sexual Harassment of Students

No. 8130-Equal Educational Opportunities

No. 5621-Accounting of Fixed Assets

No. 1410-Policy

No. 6122-Complaints and Grievances by Employees

No. 5672-Information Security Breach and Notification

No. 5571-Allegations of Fraud

No. 5573-Policy

No. 6122-Complaints and Grievances by Employees

No. 5672-Information Security Breach and Notification

No. 5571-Allegations of Fraud

No. 5573-Budget Transfers

At this time the following policies were held over until the next review. They are:

No. 7750-Complaints and Grievances by Students

No. 1110-School District and Board of Education Legal Status

No. 1110-School District and Board of Education Legal Status

No. 1120-Board of Education Authority

No. 1130-Number of Members and Terms of Office

No. 1210-Board of Education Members: Qualifications

Anyone wishing a copy of the policies may call superintendent Dr. Regina Cohn's office at 352-6257, ext. 221.

The board then opened the regular meeting at the normal time of 8 p.m. and after a musical interlude provided by the New Hyde Park School string students and a welcome from Manor Oaks Principal Diane Weiss, the regular meeting began.

Fire Marshal Bruce Bingham of New York State Inspections and Consultations was the first to give his report and he reported, with great gusto, that there were no violations in any of the schools in the district.

One parent spoke after his report and wanted to know the exact time it takes for the children on the third floor of Hillside Grade School to evacuate from the building during a fire drill. Hillside Grade School Principal Karen Olynk was present and reported that the last time there was a fire drill in that school the entire school was cleared of students in one minute and 50 seconds, which Marshal Bingham said was "absolutely phenomenal."

The next person to speak was Internal Claims Auditor Lauren Agundo, with the firm of Callaghan Nawrocki. She explained that her job was to oversee dispersements, to make sure that the district doesn't pay sales tax when it shouldn't and to compare the invoices with the deliveries to make sure they match. She said that she reports directly to the board. She commended Assistant Superintendent for Business Michael Frank and his staff for all the cooperation they have given her and for having their books and procedures in order.

Board President Patricia Rudd once again went through the procedure that has been set up to enable audience members to speak. They must first sign a book with their name and address and then must fill out a card with their question with their name and address and the card must then be given to the board clerk Diane Biehayn who then reads the question to the board and to the audience. Each person will be given one chance to speak, and unless there is no one else who wants to be heard, another question may be asked. The question, and any comments by the audience member, will be timed by the clerk.

However, in the open portion of the meeting James McHugh said the procedure was so similar to the way the North Hempstead Town Board used to conduct business. He said it was basically done to stifle residents so that they would not bother to speak. He said he felt it was a very bad and dangerous practice and hampered residents from giving their opinions.

Rudd said that the procedure would be followed for a while and if there were too many complaints the board would bring it back to the board table to be re-evaluated.

Manor Oaks Principal Diane Weiss presented a very thorough report on the Social Studies Curriculum which tracks each grade and what part of social studies they are learning in each grade including: world history, geography, economics, civics, citizenship and government. The entire program is getting the students ready for the upcoming New York State Social Studies exams to be taken in the fifth grade.

Superintendent Dr. Regina Cohn then announced, "with deep regret," the retirement of Garden City Park head custodian Douglas Rubano who has been with the district for close to 30 years. She said that he would be especially missed by Garden City Park Principal James Svendsen.

In routine business the board appointed Joseph Wendling to the position of district supervisor for attendance.

The following people were reappointed as CommunityVolunteers for Education: coordinator Carol Burns. Reappointed: Henrietta Armband, Mary Boettcher, Louise Diglio, Laura Eilbott, Linda Gebbia, Connie Graffigna and Catherine and Paul Marcoux, Margaret Milovich, Antoinette Nardo, Beatrice Niemeyer, Amy Oculski, Jeanne Petta, Patricia Rechner, Natalie Smith and Ann Vendinello.

The board approved evening supervision for members of the staff at the Manor Oaks Christmas Concert on Dec. 13 and for the Hillside Grade School Dec. 6 Christmas Concert.

The board also approved the contract with Choice Security Services, Inc. for the 2006-'07 school year.

Because Trustee Curtis Axelsen was not on the board when it approved the other members for the District Audit Committee, Axelsen was formally appointed to that committee at the meeting.

The board accepted a donation from the Manor Oaks PTA in the amount of $1,044 to be used for a cultural arts program through BOCES.

The board then approved the following goals for the 2006-2007 school year:

Improve academic achievement for each student through differentiated instruction:

• Provide professional development for the faculty on the use of diagnostic techniques such as data analysis of New York State English Language Arts, math, science and social studies tests.

• Pilot new program resources in the areas of English Language Arts and health.

• Develop a new writing portfolio (K6) to be implemented in September 2007.

• Implement new curriculum programs in social studies and technology.

Enhance the home-school partnership and communication with the community through:

• Publications of district newsletters and newspaper articles.

• Recognition of students, faculty, and community members at board of education meetings.

• Strengthening the connections with senior citizens, PTA and other community groups.

• District website usage and through public library postings.

Advance pride in school environment through:

• School Beautification committee activities to include Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, PTAs, other volunteer efforts and donations from community groups.

• Securing grants for safety enhancements and buildings and grounds improvements

• Planning for the use of the vacated public library space.

The board announced that the next Audit Committee meeting would be held on Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. in the boardroom and the meeting is open to the public.

Since there was no further business the board called for adjournment. The next school board meeting will be held on Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Manor Oaks School, and as mentioned before, the first hour will be a review of the policies that are being revised. The regular meeting will then begin at 8 p.m.