The Herricks School Board honored its retirees at the last school board meeting by presenting them with plaques for their years of dedication and service.

The administrator and teacher retirees present at the last meeting included Susan Arluck, Timothy Gladding, Fred Jaffee, Nancy Lindenauer, William Ma, Nancy Roenfeldt, Patricia Schelp and Madeline Klein.

The board also honored the student board representatives with certificates, as well as their alternative representatives, for their diligence in attending every board meeting during the year. The students present included Sanchita Singal, Michael Han, Neil Patel and Andrew Chen.

After the plaques and certificates were presented, the board took a brief recess to enjoy a beautiful retiree cake supplied by the PTA.

A parent reported that a Middle School baseball team member urinated on another team member's locker and she wondered why it was never addressed by the coaches.

Herricks School Superintendent Dr. Jack Bierwirth said it was the first he had heard of the incident and would most certainly look into it first thing in the morning. He added, "Without knowing any more about the incident, I cannot comment on it until I find out and I will let the board know."

School Board President Peter Grisafi said, "We will follow up on this because it is the first we have heard about the incident and we, too, will get the whole story and then see what we will do about the matter."

Quite a few parents were present at the meeting to inquire as to what the situation was regarding next year's fourth grade classes at Center Street School.

One parent said, "We have been hearing quite a few things about the size of the class. Presently, we have five third grade classes and I believe they are going to be reduced to four classes. I want to see if this is true and if it is, why?"

Superintendent Bierwirth answered, "The cutoff is 109 and there are presently 106 students in the class and we are tracking this very carefully, as well as all of the elementary school classes."

The parent then asked how the special education students are accounted for in the mix.

Bierwirth said, "The district policy has numerical cut-offs, which is a great policy. The board has given us the discretion to take other factors into account and as we watch enrollments, and that is one of the ones we have been watching, we will make a decision on that class either when the numbers move drastically one way or another or before the students are assigned. We won't wait until the middle of the summer unless it is really hanging on the fence. But, we are watching the classes, the things that you are concerned about, we are as well.

"If for example a number of students moved out and the numbers went down to 101, I'd rather not take that class away. We don't have to make a decision right away."

The parent then said, "So, a decision has not been made?"

Bierwirth, said, "No final decision has been made because we are not at the point where we have final numbers, Let's say the numbers went down to 101 and then during the course of the summer jumped back to 110, we would create an additional section. The numerical threshold is at 109, that is the break."

Grisafi said, "But the policy reads that other factors can be considered in determining whether additional classes should be added. So, there is flexibility in the policy. We are monitoring the registration to make sure that the class size doesn't go down, but a recommendation will come to the board of education by the end of the month.

"In the event that this class was at 100 and before September the number exceeds 109, we will automatically add another class."

Another parent said, "You understand our concern. Everybody knows the horror stories. When I went to school I had 32 students in my class. We haven't done that because the board has given us that kind of discretion. We have to monitor a number of classes each year. Some move up and some move down and it's important that we try to let the dust settle a bit, but if those numbers go over the numerical threshold we automatically create that additional section."

A parent then answered, "So basically no decision will be made until August or September."

Bierwirth countered, "No, the likelihood for this class is that we would make a decision before the class lists are made up. Be it the end of this month or the end of July. Because, it is easier to make the decision early. Now, if something happens after we decide and the class, for argument sake, numbers went to 101 but all of a sudden, during the summer, there were 10 more students added, we would just create an additional section, even if they are picked up in the first week of September, we would still add an additional section. We would prefer not to do it then, but we have to watch classes across the district. This is not the only class we are watching. "

Still another parent pointed out that several years ago it was necessary to disassemble the classes in November, due to an influx of six to eight students, and she said she felt that was the concern of the parents, that it would be too disruptive.

Bierwirth said, "We don't want that either but we can't anticipate where or when those possible six to eight students may show up."

Grisafi added, "It wouldn't be prudent of us to make a decision before we have to. Just let's say, which is an extreme case, suppose 20 of the students in that class were to leave, and if we had created an extra class we would look foolish. We are monitoring it and all the factors will be taken into consideration."

The parent replied, "If we have the budget, since it just passed, and we have the space, why would we not just go ahead and make those classes a better size anyway."

Another parent said, "Fourth grade is so important with all of the state testing."

Grisafi said, "We are not saying we are not going to do it, but it has to be done in a prudent manner."

Bierwirth said, "We are not opposed to adding a class if we have to. Another class in the district, closer to this class, has had another class added, but since March we have had classes that have moved up and down. What you can expect from me and from the board is fairness. We have to be balanced."

Grisafi said, "The reality is that our budget passed by 93 votes - not a lot of votes. But next year, if we upset a number of community members this year, you can expect that next year will probably go down. We are going to maximize the benefit from our dollars. Our budget, this year, includes two contingency teachers for the whole district."

A parent wanted to know, "How many teachers do you have allocated to that class (the fourth grade class in Center Street) and he was told that they had four."

Grisafi said, "If we need five extra teachers we will hire them and put five extra classes in place. If, in the guidelines of our policy, it is necessary to add other classrooms, we will and we will make budget cuts in other areas. But there is a process that we must go through before we can make a decision and that is what we are doing. We are not saying we will not add another class."

Bierwirth said, "I was just discussing it with Center Street Principal Edward Bellomo, and he said that he is planning for both four and five classrooms. But, I don't know where the additional students are going to fall. They may fall in any of the grades, so I have to monitor those as well. There are also those who move out. But, we are not going to wait until the middle of August or until September. In other years we went to the board and there were five or six on the boarder and we said let's create the class now and we didn't have five contingency positions."

A parent added, "If the numbers stay as they are now at 106, the decision will be to have four classes that are maxed out?"

Grisafi, "Not necessarily."

Parent, "How will you make a decision if during the summer the numbers are increased and how will you decide which child will go into which classroom and what happens if a child doesn't want to move into a new classroom with a new teacher?"

Bierwirth, "We try to work it out to everyone's satisfaction. This year for the first time in many years our registration is flat."

Grisafi added, "We can only say that in the last five to ten years every similar decision to this the parents always have been happy with the ultimate decision that was made. We have the same feelings as you do. We just have to make sure our decisions are correct."

One parent said, "I have never before been unhappy with anything my children have received here. But I have to tell you that I am disgusted thinking that there will be 27 children in a classroom because fourth grade is a lot of tests and a lot of pressure. With all the work load, it's too much."

Grisafi, "That will all be taken into consideration."

Bierwirth added, "I have to tell you the flexibility that this board gives its administrators is better than most, so we will work it out. Over the last six years we have been the fastest growing district in Nassau County, but during the last year, we have pretty much stopped dead in growth. However, as houses begin to sell, we could pick up a lot of students very fast. Either from the Chatham, or from the community as a whole. If that happens we will make the necessary adjustments."

The discussion finally ended regarding the fourth grade at Center Street with the parents adding that it would be better to have smaller classes than larger ones.

Trustee David Goodsell announced that recently he and board president Grisafi attended a meeting of the Nassau/Suffolk School Boards Association in which New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli was the guest speaker.

He said, "The most encouraging part of the address by DiNapoli was the degree of cooperation that he anticipates particularly with the school districts. In the auditing process, as we go forward, he explained that it wasn't going to be a "gotcha" kind of situation but more of a cooperative venture to make sure that the school districts are in fact fine with the financial regulations and good accounting principals. Which have consistently been demonstrated by this board.

"It is encouraging to see a comptroller reaching out and advising the school districts that his office is as much a resource as it is a means to make certain that everyone's money is being well-spent, which they will be doing. He is certainly stepping off on the right foot and offering a lot of very interesting innovations which should be helpful."

Grisasfi added, "He was one of the youngest school board members of the Mineola School District, so he has his roots in school districts and has been a good friend of Herricks over the years."

In other reports to the board various trustees reported on the events they had attended including the music program and the dedication of the grand piano; the sports awards; the DECA dinner and STACK night.

The board approved an agreement with the Teacher Registry to perform services of finding substitute teachers to work in the district. Prior to working in the district, each substitute teacher meets with Assistant Superintendent of Personnel Dr. Deidre Hayes. The cost of the service is $11, 250 and it represents no increase over the current year.

The board approved a donation from Rudy and Lorraine Vecchio of New Hyde Park to renovate and resurface the tennis courts at the high school.

A five piece Pearl Export drum set, with 14 and 16 inch hat cymbals and a 20 inch ride cymbal, plus hardware and accessories, was donated by Dale L. Stein of Baldwin Harbor. Mrs. Stein is the mother of an English teacher at Herricks.

The board also accepted checks in the amounts of $1,400 and $700 from the Time, Inc. Time to Give Back Campaign to the Searingtown School as matching funds to donations by David Daniels. Daniels is a parent in the Searingtown School community. The use of the funds have not as yet been decided.

The board further accepted gifts of two 77" Smartboards & Lumens SVGA, Projector and related equipment from the Denton Avenue PTA valued at about $12,000.

Debbie Beers, the president of the Herricks PTA Council, cautioned that gifts from PTA must have an accompanying letter so that the board is in no way liable for any problems with any of the grants.

Dr. Bierwirth assured her that all the donations were properly filed.

Michael Eichler was present to announce that the second 5K Race in honor of Harry O'Neil will be held on June 16 at 9:30 a.m. at Herricks High. The race starts and finishes at Herricks High and goes mainly through Williston Park. Last minute registration begins at 7 a.m. in the high school cafeteria. All proceeds will go to Herricks Athletics for a Harry O'Neil Memorial Scholarship given to a senior each year. For further information, please go to the website at harryoneil5k.com.

The board was reminded that Herricks graduation will be held on June 21 at 6 p.m. on the Herricks High School football field.

The meeting was then adjourned into executive session. The next meeting will be held on June 28 at Center Street School at 7:15 p.m. when the board will meet with the internal auditor.