At the outset of the last Herricks School Board meeting trustee David Goodsell, newly elected Nassau County District Court Judge, read his letter of resignation to take effect on December 21. Goodsell said, "Life changing events have a way of causing us to reflect and I have been reflecting a lot since last Tuesday night. I owe a debt of extreme gratitude to the Herricks community to entrusting me to become a member of the school board, twice. Without that support I believe the opportunity to fulfill my personal dream would not have arisen. I have a great deal of difficulty expressing how much I appreciate the words of encouragement, the support and most of all the votes from the members of the community which helped elect me as a district court judge. My election now requires me to transition from my professional and personal life by ending associations that may lead to a conflict in my future role as a judge. I am therefore announcing my resignation as a member of the Herricks School Board of Education. It is not a decision I make voluntarily since my time on this board has been rewarding beyond all expectations. Since legally I am required to resign, I must resign. Therefore, I submit my letter of resignation."

Later on in the meeting it was decided that the board would appoint a candidate to take the place of Goodsell, rather than to leave the seat empty, until the school board election that will be held on May 20, 2008.

It was decided by the board any member of the community that is interested in becoming a member of the Herricks School Board of Education must submit a letter of intent to the board no later than December 10. It is hoped that from the letters a candidate will be chosen, appointed by the board, and sworn in at the January 10 '08 meeting.

Herricks Superintendent Dr. John Bierwirth announced that there was a student with MSRA reported at the high school. His doctor has been contacted by the school doctor and he is receiving all the best treatment, including oral antibiotics and is doing well and has no siblings in the school.

Bierwirth said that the entire school has been wiped down and sanitized with special attention given to the bathrooms, gym and locker rooms.

He pointed out the best way to avoid such a staph infection is to wash hands frequently with soap and hot water and cover any open wounds or cuts. Further, he pointed out that anyone, attending the school who contracts MRSA, to notify the district as soon as possible.

Herricks Music Department Chairman John McNeur announced that the music department has decided to focus on becoming, "even better." It was just announced that for the 6th time the Herricks Music Department has been named a Grammy Finalist and has been named one of the top 100 schools in the USA in music.

McNeur said that his entire department met and decided on a self-evaluation program to focus on the following:

• To update and coordinate music curriculum.

• To develop a common musical language.

• Develop common and meaningful assessments.

• Develop ways to better meet the needs of special learners.

• Develop better ways to engage non-performance students.

• Develop a long-term facilities strategy.

McNeur announced that the district would also be implementing, on a trial basis, a program called Smart Music, where the teacher has an actual digital assessment of every student in his or her group. He said they also needed to develop the needs of "special learners" and better ways to engage the non-performing students both at the middle school and at the high school.

McNeur said, "The music program is not going to shrink, it's growing larger. We are teaching on a stage in one elementary school. We are teaching in hallways at the middle school and high school and we just don't have enough rehearsal space. We need to talk about this because we can't have students learning in hallways. I would say that both the middle and high school are shy of one rehearsal space that they need."

Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Dr. Deirdre Hayes announced that Steven Michelin has been named a national Hispanic Scholar from Herricks. This honor is based on his junior year PSAT/NMSQT test scores and grade point average.

She also announced that the College Board announced that 171 Herricks High School students have earned the designation of AP Scholar in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the AP exams.

Further, 15 Herricks students qualified for the prestigious National AP Scholar Award (average grade of 4 or higher on all AP exams taken and grade of 4 or higher on 8 or more of these exams and that is on a 5 point scale.) Sixty students are named as AP Scholars with Distinction, 26 qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award and 76 qualified for the AP Scholar Award.

Dr. Hayes also announced that this fall, more than 21,000 students across 188 institutions participated in the Collegiate Learning Assessment and affiliated programs. Herricks High School was the first public high school to do this, and along with Bronxville, the only public high school in the United States to participate in this program. All Herricks freshman participated in this project, which will allow the district to benchmark itself against the 188 institutions and thousands of students who participated this semester. The results of the assessment will be announced sometime in late February.

The Herricks School Board approved the following new courses for 2007-'08:

• Social Studies: Social Science Research II

• Business: International Business

• Art: Three-Dimensional Art-Advanced Placement

The board then approved the appointment of McDonald & Montrose of New Hartford as the Herricks District architects for the proposed Capital bond Project to be voted on in the May '08 election.

The following was the first reading of the Herricks Assessment Philosophy Policy:

Assessment is an integral part of the teaching and learning process. To the extent possible assessments within the control of Herricks staff should utilize best practices and be grounded in the most current research, evaluating what students can do as well as what they know. Generally, superior assessment practices share certain characteristics:

• Attempt to address learning on all levels-evaluation, synthesis, analysis and application, as well as understanding and knowledge.

• Are varied in both form and approach over a period of time.

• Recognize difference in learning styles as well as different type of intellectual capacity.

• Are based on clear and explicit expectations which are shared with students.

• Are appropriate to the level of the class and the students.

• Are an integral part of the teaching and learning process for both teachers and students.

• Encourage critical reflection on the part of both students and teachers

• Provide accurate and consistent information to all parties-students, parents and teachers in a timely manner.

If the board approves the policy they will adopt it at the next meeting

The board then accepted a gift, with thanks, of a VCR/DVD player and art easel from the Herricks Art Boosters Club to be used at the Herricks Middle School.

The board also accepted a gift, with thanks, of a glass display case with locking sliding glass doors, electric fluorescent lighting and glass shelves and support brackets from William Johnson, owner/president of Royal Cards & Gifts of Plainview to be used at the high school to display awards.

The board met with the members of the Herricks Teachers Association. The biggest concern expressed, by the president Mary Ellen Guarini, she said, "Is class size. It is an issue that affects the teachers, particularly on the elementary level were inclusion classes. There is a cap, and part of the issue is that the special education students that are included in the class are not considered as part of the number of students in the class. It becomes an issue in art because sometimes there aren't enough seats and the computer labs because sometimes there aren't enough computers and they come with another adult because they often have a one-on-one and it only becomes more crowded."

Guarini continued, "That is probably the biggest concern that has been expressed to me that the teacher's wanted me to talk to you about. "

School board president Christine Turner said, "Surely we can understand that and it depends on how many students you have in your class during the day it changes the whole complexion. I have to agree that is something that has to be looked at."

Guarini said, "Because Special Ed has become such an important proponent in the way we teach we certainly do not want any of these students to feel that they are outsiders and we want them to feel very included in the classrooms they push into and when everything has to be moved to make room for them it is not the welcoming atmosphere we would like. We hope that when the time comes those things will be taken into consideration."

Guarini added, "In terms of the high school, it is pretty much at full capacity and we understand that the present 8th grade is much larger than the class that is graduating. There are periods where every single class is filled and what is going to happen to the class sizes at the high school. Another issue, at the high school, is the discrepancy of the number of students in a classroom. You might have a teacher that is teaching five sections and one section has 17 and the other sections have 30 and that's because of the students schedule and where it fits, but that's where it becomes unfair when one class is almost half the size of the other, those children can't help but get more attention. We all know that the research shows that a smaller class size is advantageous.

"Our last concern," Guarini said, "Has to do with the fact that aides and monitors do not have a contract and we are concerned that we have spoken about that in a while."

She then read the following statement:

"It is very unfortunate that we have been unable to reach an agreement. The aides and monitors who work under this contract provide instructional support to our special education students. This district is committed to main-streaming students and this would not be possible without the well-trained and caring support staff who help our students achieve their potential. And, our students do succeed. Last year 26 special education students graduated from the high school. Nineteen of those received Regents diplomas, seven with advanced standing and 24 went on to attend college. These accomplishments would not be possible without the support provided by these dedicated employees. This district has a wonderful tradition of settling contracts, fairly, in a timely manner. I hope that we will be able to reach an equitable and fair agreement for our caring aides and monitors very soon."

Turner said, "We agree with you and now all the parties involved are back now so it is my hope we can schedule something and get this under way. We will be getting together and working on this."

Guarini concluded by saying, "I think the fact that we were invited here indicates that we have a very open communication and I hope we will be able to continue that through the school year and in the future and I am confident that our relationship will be able to solve any problems that come up."

Both trustee Peter Grisafi and Rich Buckley said that they were both so glad to have such an open, working relationship with the teachers.

The board then adjourned the meeting and set December 6 at the Middle School for the next meeting. The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. and will include a discussion of the possible New York State Pre-K Program and at 7:30 p.m. will break to meet with the middle school students.