At the Annual Reorganizational Meeting of the Herricks School Board the board elected Richard Buckley as its president and Peter Grisafi as vice-president. Further, Assistant Superintendent for Business Helen Costigan, administered the oath of office to new board trustee Kevin Dunn.

On stepping down from the position, Christine Turner said, "It was a pleasure to serve as your president and I know that Rich will do a great job. I just also wanted to add that there were so many wonderful events at the closing of school. The Middle School Graduation and the High School Graduation were all wonderful events and we even 'lucked' out with the weather at the high school graduation. We now look forward to a great year."

The board then went through the Regoranizational portion of the meeting by naming all the various appointments to the board including: Helen Costigan as district clerk, Rosanne Corso as district treasurer, Lorraine Guerra as deputy treasurer, Judy Miehling as assistant district clerk, Lydia Pettinato as acting district clerk and Jim Brown as project manager for the Capital Project approved by voters .

The board also appointed Jaspan Schlesinger Hoffman as its law firm, Hawkins, Delafield and Wood counsel for the Capital Project, New York Municipal Advisors appointed fiscal advisors for the Capital Project, Dr. Bagdid Baghdassarian appointed chief school physician; R.S. Abrams & Co. appointed district auditor, Pappas and Company internal auditor and Naworcki Smith LLP as internal claims auditor.

The entire list of appointees may be obtained at the office of Herricks Superintendent Dr. John Bierwirth at Herricks Community Center, 999 Herricks Road, New Hyde Park.

Due to the fact that Herricks School Superintendent Dr. John Bierwirth has been notified by New York State Sex Offender Registry that a Level 3 Sex Offender is living within the boundaries of the Herricks School District, a Megan's Law Workshop has been set for July 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Herricks Community Center. It is hoped that many in the community will attend in spite of the fact that it is being held in July.

Therefore, to this end, Dr. Bierwirth issued the following information, "Sex offenders fall into three different categories-level 1, 2 and 3. Notification is not permitted with level 1 offenders. With level 2 and 3 the amount of information to be provided and the radius of the circle of districts to be notified are determined by the police department on a case-by-case basis depending on the individual's legal record. We will follow this procedure for all notification to be sent to all the members of the Herricks Board of Education, PTA officers, principals, all Herricks staff and all Herricks community organizations. No notices will be sent home with children.

"In setting up this system we worked closely with the Parents for Megan's Law Organization. They have a helpline which is 631-689-2672. They have also established an e-mail alert system which anyone may sign up for. The alert system informs subscribers of the presence of a new sex offender registrant. It directs subscribers to a place on the Megan's Law website where a copy of the full notification can be viewed. To sign up, go to www.parentsformeganslaw.com.

"It is unfortunate, but necessary, that we take the time to review safety rules with children and remind them to avoid circumstances which increase their vulnerability. Please keep this in proper perspective for your children by reassuring them that we do have a safe community but that they need to be alert and careful.

"Should anyone have any questions or concerns, please feel free to call 305-8901 or email me at jbierwirth@herricks.org."

Dr. Bierwirth also announced that of the 32 students in the senior class that have been classified, 30 graduated in June and the other two will graduate in August. Thirty-one of the 32 will go on to college and 25 of 32 graduated with Regents diplomas. He added, "So, hats off to them, to their parents and to all the staff that worked with them." Dr. Bierwirth also displayed the Math Magazine and he said that it is absolutely "wonderful to show off" when he takes it along when visiting college admission departments. He said, "Like any good salesperson you want to have a wonderful 'leave behind' and this is a wonderful 'leave behind.' The quality of the magazine is very high."

Dr. Bierwirth said, "Christine Turner, Helen and I met with the state auditors and they found no violations of law, no violations of regulation. There will be three areas they will talk about; one which they commend us for and two of which they will ask us to change practices and/or policies. Not that we are in violation. One of them we knew about before they even arrived and that has to do with special education services where we contract services. We couldn't go backwards because it was already in place for this year, but it is already in motion for next year.

"They also made recommendations regarding internet security and we told them we would follow their suggestions.

"It was nice to have Christine Turner there since she could assure them that the board would follow their recommendations."

President Buckley added, "Ever since the Roslyn situation hit, we have been working very hard to make sure we solve all problems and deal with all situations. In the last five years we have been really working hard. I remember in the beginning we put out a list of 22 items of things that they did that we didn't do. For example, they had credit cards and we didn't. Also, we went through every single policy to make sure we adhered to them all. We even told our lawyers to go through everything so that we would be in compliance with everything."

Costigan added, "There really was a district-wide effort to make sure everybody, whatever their positions, really worked hard to make sure everything was all right."

At a previous meeting, a resident raised questions regarding the Summer Reading Books. Dr. Bierwirth said, "We checked it out and the books are available and you just need to contact the school." Dr. Bierwirth said, "This trip to the annual American String Teachers Conference competition from March 18 to 21, 2009 is a very prestigious event to be invited to and Herricks was selected as one of the top high school string orchestras in the country. In addition to the competition, the Herricks students will have the opportunity to participate in master classes with some of the top college string teachers in the world. Thirty students will be taken to Atlanta at a cost not to exceed $1,000 per student." The board approved the trip. The board approved cooperative bids on the following: Interscholastic athletic supplies; furniture for classrooms and offices; industrial arts and welding supplies and roof maintenance and repairs. The board had a first reading of policy No. 9115 entitled Employee Computer and Internet Acceptable use Policy. Formal adoption will take place at the July 17 meeting. In question was the users password and vice president Grisafi said he would like the password to expire the first time a user logs in and the user would put in his/her own password so that if anything goes wrong it will only be the user that is held responsible. Dr. Bierwirth said he felt that was part of the policy.

The board approved an agreement with Fleetcor Technologies, in Norcross, GA to provide Fuel Access Cards for diesel and regular gasoline.

The board also approved a bid for Uniformed Unarmed Guard Services from Choice Security Services; a bid for transportation, facilities and cafeteria departments to Uniform Images. Last, the board approved a contract with Manhasset Schools for services rendered to a special needs child.

The board adjourned the meeting and the next meeting will be on July 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Herricks Community Center, 999 Herricks Road, New Hyde Park.