The Herricks School Board is in the process of holding a series of budget meetings.

The first was on Feb. 27 when the board of education heard the members of Special Education or Pupil Services explain what they needed to be put into their budget.

Director of Pupil Services Mehri Fyzel led the discussion. She said, "The development of a budget for Herricks Pupil Services is influenced by many variables. Determining the services needed for our students is dependent upon the assessment and planning for each individual student each year. Students with severe disability may be small in number, but these students require the most highly skilled specialized support. One additional student added to this group could have an enormous impact on our tuition account or contract services. It makes predicting the different amount in each budget account difficult at best. With this in mind, the important factors that will impact the budget for next year are that during the 2006-'07 school year, the number of school-age students classified with disabilities has decreased slightly from 542 to 514 while the number of students with significant disability continues to increase."

She noted that the number of preschool education students has deceased slightly from 56 to 44 this year and she said it is expected that approximately 37 preschools will transition into school-age services for September and some of the new kindergarten students will require extensive specialized supports.

Fyzel said, "Students with disabilities continue to be integrated into general education classes in very high percentages. Ninety-one percent of Herricks students are educated in our local school programs. This option continues to reduce tuition spending, while providing high-quality options for our students, in less restrictive environments."

Fyzel then distributed a chart of special education students listed by disability and enrollment numbers from 2002 to 2006.

Classification '02 '03 '04 '05 '06

Autism 7 16 17 21 23

Emotional

Disturbance 37 40 45 35 32

Learning Disability 203 214 223 204 171

Mental Retardation 3 2 6 6 6

Deafness 2 2 3 3 4

Hearing Impairment 4 8 7 7 6

Speech or Language

Impairment 111 125 105 92 93

Visual Impairment 5 5 4 4 3

Orthopedic Impairment 3 1 1 1 1

Other Health Impairment 98 106 113 125 139

Multiple Disabilities 49 46 40 43 36

Deaf-Blindness 0 0 0 0 0

Traumatic Brain Injury 1 1 2 1 0

Total School Age 523 566 566 542 514

Preschool Disabled 50 59 66 56 44

Grand Total 573 625 632 598 558

The anticipated costs for BOCES services needed to meet individual needs vary from student to student. BOCES tuition rates are now differentiated by program and range from a 5.7 percent to an 8.2 percent tuition increase for 2007-2008.

As more students with complex disability are returning to district programs, some of the specialized services needed for them are provided through contracts with providers or agencies. The Herricks Committees on Special Education recommend related services such as occupational therapy and physical therapy, applied behavioral analysis therapy, specialized reading instruction and parent training. In addition, some Herricks students have extensive and intensive related service needs such as behavioral consultation/intervention services during and after the school day.

The New York State requirement for all school districts to pay 20 percent of the maintenance fees for residential placements continues to significantly impact the Herricks budget. The requirement, for Herricks, totals $130,346.

In order to reduce the costs of specialized services, students from neighboring school districts, whose needs and profiles are similar to students in the Herricks programs, are screened and accepted for enrollment when there is space and at Herricks discretion. The costs to provide for these youngsters is paid for by their home school district. The revenue gained from tuitions has remained somewhat steady the past year and it is anticipated to continue during the 2007-'08 school year. Currently Herricks services 10 non-resident students in the special education program and three attend Shelter Rock Academy.

Fyzel then presented the numbers for the June 2006 graduation.

Fifty -four students with disabilities graduated and/or aged out of the Herricks District in June '06. Forty-seven graduated from Herricks High School and seven graduated from out-of-district placements.

• 21 graduated with a Regents Diploma and were accepted to a 4-year college.

• 11 graduated with a Regents Diploma and were accepted to a 2-year college.

• 4 graduated with a local diploma and were accepted in a 4-year college

• 11 graduated with a local diploma and were accepted in a 2-year college.

• 2 graduated with a local diploma and were accepted in the military.

• 4 graduated with an IEP diploma and entered a vocational program.

• 1 graduated with an IEP diploma and entered a day habilitation program.

The 2007-2008 Tuitition Accounts that supports out-of-district students is $2,681,084. The 2006-'07 budget was $2,392,879.

Students struggle academically for many different reasons. As the Herricks Instructional Support Teams/Pupil Personnel Teams in each school evaluate students having difficulty individually, they prescribe a course of action to assist students who do not meet New York State classification criteria. The Pre-referral/Academic Intervention procedure is mandated by the New York State Education Department. Herricks has been supporting these students long before it became a requirement. The programs available to non-classified students include:

• Speech/language Improvement

• English as a Second Language

• Remedial Reading/Writing

• Academic Intervention Services (at risk resource room)

• Fine/Gross Motor Development (O.T. consultation and physical education)

• Counseling Support (Banana Splits for children of divorce; Second Steps Bully Prevention and social skills development)

The next Herricks budget to be reviewed was done at the board meeting of March 1 when Principal Joseph Lecesse presented the middle school budget.

Lecesse started off his presentation by noting that last year he quoted a Rolling Stones song and this year it was only too appropriate to incorporate the theme of Bob Dylan, The Times They Are-A-Changing. He was referring to the SMART Board now secured in the boardroom for board presentations.

Lecesse said, "Presently the Middle School has 41 SMART Boards which is about 15 shy of having a SMART Board in every room. I believe that the high school has 20 or 25 which is a grand total of about 65 to 70 SMART Boards which amounts to about $221,000 worth of technology which we have managed to eke out of our budgets through grants and PTA donations. We started off having a five-year plan, now it's down to three.

He continued, "In all the years I have been here, the SMART Board has been the single item that has the most impact that I have seen. This is the one thing that has excited new teachers and invigorated veteran teachers. And, as far as the reaction to students, I have never seen anything like it. I have lived through many new math, through whole language, but nothing has had the impact on both teachers and students that this item has. So, if you can it would be very much appreciated.

"In line with that, the budget for the Middle School is basically the same as last year and you might notice a drop in text books. Not because we don't need textbooks, but we are trying to funnel money for SMART Boards. Plus, we are taking time to find textbooks that come with a CD. The CD costs about $6 for a $45 textbook. What that allows us to do is instead of buying 120 textbooks, we only need to buy 30 for a class set and then we can buy the students a CD, at $6, for them to take home with them. I would also surmise that the textbooks companies will all start adopting this method of supplying CDs.

"Further, we experimented this past year with a language immersion situation with Chinese classes. The reason for that is that our Chinese teacher is also certified in art. So we thought it would be a good idea for her to follow the students into their art classes while speaking the language and the students have reacted very well to do that. Therefore, we are asking for an increase of about three-fifths of a teacher in Foreign Language so that it will allow us to expand that program to French, Spanish and Italian.

" You may remember, in the sixth grade the students have three quarters of everyday language and one quarter is every other day art. What we are proposing is that the language teacher mimic what the Chinese teacher is doing and go into the art classes so that the language instruction maintains its continuity. This is especially critical in the first quarter and in the fourth quarter. We really think it's the answer to the debate when we started language in the sixth grade and we didn't want to lose art so this is a way of combining them both.

Lecesse also commented that the furniture that the teachers are using is from the original site of the United Nations in Lake Success that was taken over by Sperry Rand. He said that 15 years ago, when they abandoned the site, a math teacher took us over and one of the men in charge said, "Take what you want" so, Lecesse said, "We took all the desks. But they date back to the 1950s so it's time to perhaps replace those desks. Further, we are doing some reconstruction which will allow us to put more teachers into that big faculty room and that is very important for discussion among teachers."

Board President Peter Grisafi then questioned Lecesse on the use of the SMART Boards and he said that they could do any number of things with them, but to expand out costs money. He also commented that the bulbs should last for at least two years if filters are changed and it was also determined that replacement bulbs are about $250 and they are starting to drop in price.

Superintendent Dr. Jack Bierwirth commented that over time more software would be purchased for the SMART Boards.

Principal of the High School Dr. Jane Modoono started her presentation off by thanking the board for the budget they had last year. She said that this year's budget would not be that much different but that she, too, wanted more SMART Boards. She said, "The advantage is that the students don't have to hover over a computer screen, rather they just have the SMART Board and it's bigger and easier to read. Further, because the technology is so unique, students who would never volunteer in class are coming to the board and are participating because the SMART Board is almost like a magnet.

"It's opened up a whole new world. If you teach a class first, second and third period you just save and the next day go back to that spot instead of erasing a board and starting all over again. Further, the notes can be printed out or print it to a webpage and the students can go home and review the lesson.

"Next year we are asking for 13 SMART Boards and if we get what we are asking for there will only be eight teaching spaces in the high school without SMART Boards.

"If the students are coming from the middle school and used to this technology it is hard not to have in the high school. I agree, it's an amazing teaching tool."

Dr. Modoono then turned it over to the Foreign Language Chairperson Lori DeRamirez who said the use of technology has been invaluable and they do this by using iPods. She also explained that the students are able to Podcast and hear news reports in various countries around the world. She then showed several new features of the iPod and one was a microphone that drops right into the iPod so that students can record their own voices right into the iPod. She said, "The students can hear their voices back and hear their own accents as they are speaking various languages and this is so helpful when learning languages."

She said that the students are also involved with writing poetry in various languages and they attend the Hofstra Spanish Language Poetry competition every year. She then played back some of the students reciting their poetry on the iPods..

Chairperson of the math department William Ma took over and explained that this year the state has mandated that all Honor Math Students must be supplied with what is called graphic calculators. Ma said, "They are powerful calculators. They can do graphics, solve any equations and they are wonderful tools. Each machine costs anywhere from $120 to $150 and hopefully if purchased through BOCES they might be cheaper. They may be used for graphs, may be used on the SATs and in AP exams."

It was pointed out, since it is mandated, it must be included in this year's budget. Ma pointed out that the life of the calculator is probably no more than five years.

Other items were touched on as to the needs of the high school, but the main items were the SMART Boards, the iPods and the Graphic Calculators.

Other matters discussed at the March 1 meeting included an announcement that applications for transportation to private and parochial schools for the 2007-'08 school year must be received in the Transportation Office by April 2.

Further petitions for trustee on the Herricks Board of Education are available in the office of the district clerk.

Two students have been named, out of 250, in the Coke Scholarship Contest. They are Ronak Amin and Matt Seigerman. It is the first time two from the same school have been named. They have already won $10,000 in scholarship money and they will compete for $20,000 at the second round from April 12 to 18.

The Herricks Team competing in The News 12 Challenge have reached the semifinals.

Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Dr. Deirdre Hayes announced that Herricks was selected as one of the nation's best school districts for music.

Dr. Hayes also announced that the following teams were awarded scholar athlete status: Boy's golf, boy's soccer and cross-country. Girl's soccer, tennis and volleyball. She added that the students are not only great athletes but are also honor students.

Finally, she announced that a senior wrestler, Magic Joachim, will be competing in the New York State Wrestling Championship in Albany.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Helen Costigan announced that the Bus Committee, looking into changing the start time at the Denton Avenue School to an earlier time and the high school, asking for a later start time, needs more time to review the various ramifications of what the changes will mean.

The March 8 Budget Deliberation meeting will be reported in next week's issue and the next meeting will be held at 7:15 p.m. at the Herricks Community Center, 999 Herricks Road, New Hyde Park and it will be a continuation of budget deliberations and the adoption of the 2007-'08 budget.