The New Hyde Park/Garden City Park School Board held its second budget hearing at the New Hyde Park Road School last week. The hearing is just that, a forum to hear what the parents have to say about what they would like to see in this year's budget, when it is presented to the board.

A resident of North 5th Street was the first to come to the mike and she made the following statement: "As we talk about the things we wish to have new in our budget and the things we would like to have put back or taken out, I want to remind the board of the things we should keep because they help to maintain a complete learning experience that is both educational and enjoyable: music, art room and science lab. School and classroom projects that help to teach our children how to work together cooperatively; fun and educational assemblies and 'buddy day' programs between the grades to help teach compassion and tolerance of our differences."

She continued, "An item added last year, which should be kept, worked with great success and seems to have gone smoothly for our children, is the extra sub teacher list to be scheduled for state test grading, done by our staff. Also, please don't ever cut full day kindergarten. Further, I know it is sometimes up to the individual principals and school staff, but I feel it is important that the 'just for fun' stuff should not be inclusive of one school versus the other and I know the PTAs try to stay similar in their activities. Examples of what I'd like are classroom/school parties, parades and calendar event celebrations. I'm not sure if this is a budget concern or a policy concern, but it is just my opinion."

The next person to the mike said she had just moved from Brooklyn and that she objected strongly to the different times the school starts depending on the grade. She said that a huge bulk of parents gather at 8:30 a.m. for their children to start and the next group starts at 9 a.m. She said that by the time the 9 a.m. children start school they are not 'happy children' because they have been either sitting in a car waiting or going back and forth at home to wait. She strongly urged the board to hire three part-time teachers so that all the children could start school at the same time. She did praise the district, however, for having both a lunch program and an after-school program for the children.

A resident of North 11th Street said he would like to see pre-K put back into the budget. He also suggested that in order to protect identities of those speaking everyone should have a card with a screen name with a password. He also mentioned that the parking lot across the street from the library has many cars parked in it during the day and the library is not even open. School board president Patricia Rudd said she would take that up with the library board to make sure the cars in the lot should be there.

Another parent said that she, too, would like to see gym, art and music introduced in kindergarten. She said they are all important subjects for the children and gym most especially for the boys who need an outlet for their energy.

The Cultural Arts chairperson for the Hillside Grade School PTA wanted to know if the cultural arts budget would be cut this year. New Hyde Park/Garden City Park Superintendent Dr. Regina Cohn explained that each school starts out with $7500 and the programs are booked through BOCES so that there will be a reimbursement back from BOCES when the amounts the PTAs donate are calculated. It was also explained that the greater amount given by the PTAs the greater amount is received by each school.

Another resident said she supports the starting of all classes at 8:30 a.m.

A resident wanted to know why special elections have to be held at schools why aren't they held at churches and fire houses so that they wouldn't disrupt the schools. Further she said when there is a special election there is no way to control who is in and out of the school and it is definitely a security risk. The same resident said she would love to see pre-K reinstated.