The auditorium at Munsey Park Elementary school was bustling with student participants of two of the three special presentations scheduled for the Dec. 1 board of education meeting. Science skills development and physical education "circuit training" involved the children, the third was a report exploring solutions to increased enrollment.

Before the presentations were launched it was announced this was to be Superintendent Charles Cardillo's first official board meeting and that Dr. William Shine, who had served as interim superintendent since April, had been appointed assistant superintendent until the end of the school year.

Recognition awards were handed out to students from Munsey Park, Shelter Rock and the middle school and as each name was called they shook hands with board members and Superintendent Cardillo, before accepting their award. Laura Browdy, Munsey Park teacher, was also recognized as one of 15 elementary teachers in New York to receive the New York State English Council award.

The board, administration and community were invited onto the stage to experience first hand what students could do with the sample skill assessments that had been set up for different grade levels. Also, participation in the new circuit training program enabled students to calculate maximum and target heart rates. These presentations concluded around 8:45 p.m.

The transition team summary followed, an exploration of options for short- term solutions at Munsey Park necessitated by increased enrollment.

Munsey Park Elementary was built to house 650 to 700 students. In 2002-03 enrollment was 608; 2004-05 was 799; 2005-06 was 855 and projected for 2006-07 to be 887.

The audience was informed it would be a presentation of "the big picture." Some problems caused by increased enrollment were said to be traffic congestion because drop off and pick up occurs within a narrow space of time, difficulty navigating local streets, overuse of resources-the situation is now "past creative scheduling." Currently, it was said, 10 staff members park on the street, there are only nine visitor spots, and communication between all the staff is more difficult with the increasing number of students.

The Munsey Park School Transition Team then presented their options to address overcrowding-each option was followed by a brief summary of the discussions. It was stated and re-stated that the options are not recommendations. What was discussed was a "work in progress."

1. Rent space in the community. Some churches may have some available space. Zoning precludes using homes. Realtors are making a list of commercial properties that should be available for the Dec. 15 board meeting. Old library building unavailable, to be used for parking space.

2. Convert stage in multipurpose room-architect recommendations. Architect, John Grillo toured the school in November to assess possibilities. His report should be available at next board meeting.

3. Install portables for classroom or office space. Timeline needs to be looked at.

4. Move grade six to the middle school. The secondary complex is at or near capacity; there are social/emotional concerns for sixth graders and no consensus by our parent constituents that sixth grade students should be at the secondary complex. The concept of bringing in a grade six population that will be truly blended into a secondary population, is not recommended.

5. Move grade six (or Kindergarten) to Shelter Rock. Explore implications of this move.

6. Increase class size per MEA contract. Elementary school principals to study square footage in each classroom to determine appropriate number of students and project capacity with increased class size.

7. Relocate central office. Current central office space could house five to six classrooms.

8. Art and music on a cart. Program implications.

9. Gifted and talented program-push into classroom only. Program implications.

10. Assign four 12:1:1 (special education) classes to Shelter Rock; Maintain current 6:1:1 (autism) classes at Munsey Park, they are presently in a shared classroom. Do not want all special education classes at one school. Need further discussion.

11. Half-day kindergarten. Further discussion of pros and cons.

Aline Khatchadourian, board vice president, asked who was on the transition team and how could members of the community get in touch with them.

Cindy Cardinal, board president, offered that a report is due in January from Lloyd Bishop, the district's demographer.

Larry Belinsky, board member, asked if time and effort would be spent on each option, or will the public see only the best two or three options. It was said at the next meeting, Dec. 15, all options would be shown even though some are not as viable as others, so the community will at least be aware of all possibilities. It was said the transition team looked at Munsey Park in 2006 for the short term and the three schools for long term solutions. Belinsky wondered what the last date for a decision was as some solutions require more time and effort than others, such as portable classrooms. What was the time line, Khatchadourian asked, and at what point do you look at cost instead of other factors. Cardinal pointed out that the options presented did not address the impacted areas mentioned at the onset of the presentation.

Dr. Jean Kendall, Munsey Park principal, said whenever a class is added all students have to use the cafeteria, experience the science lab. For a while now, she said, those units of science that can be taught in the classroom instead of the lab are done in the classroom, allowing another class use of the lab. This type of scheduling has been going on for several years, Kendall said, and "big time this year." Kendall added different grades hit the hallways at staggered times to avoid too much bumping into each other. Austin Gavin, interim superintendent for business, offered that the option with the most strength is portables, yet the state considers them a capital project. He elaborated, "If individuals add a deck they must go to the town board, whereas the school goes to the state." The time required to prepare the proposal and the states turnaround time for approval (about two months) are issues. Gavin said "There are 720 school districts in New York State and two architects review the specs." Therefore time is of the essence to decide on portables-however the community must approve the budget and their cost would be embedded in the budget. The only fees that can be paid to an architect before budget approval, Gavin instructed, are for preliminary design work, anything else is precluded by law.

During public comment a resident said in the late 1990s construction at Munsey Park was completed and "we are now back to square one with a space problem." Kendall said at the time it was voted on to provide for 670 students, but that the homes turned over, with empty nesters selling to families with children. That is happening again following the reassessment. Another questioned if the board ratified the teachers contract in mid -September and the teachers had 60 days to ratify it themselves, when would the document be available to the public? The questioner was informed there is a ratified memorandum of agreement that outlines all negotiated changes and the attorneys embedded changes in the contract. It should be signed by the next meeting. Another questioner was told articulation services will be provided.

Another asked since the enrollment numbers at the elementary school are growing what happens when those students hit the middle school-which is not that far away.

Another cautioned the team not to increase class size when going over the options because "the classes are full of children of various needs. Some need to be stretched while others need to be pulled along and it is too much for the teachers." Continuing she said, "It would be brutal to the children themselves because there are one or two in class and depending on the severity of needs, they can bring learning to a standstill."

A woman sought information on redistricting and was told school district lines are set by state law and are not a local option.

Bus transportation pick-up points were a concern and a parent asked why the bus stops at some homes on Manhasset Woods Road, yet her children must cross the dangerous road to reach their stop. Dr. Shine answered saying, "I've visited it and no question it is a dangerous place for children." Shine said he asked the bus company to look at it and their response was that it is a dangerous place for a bus to stop and state regulations mandate "safe bus stops" not a safe way for children to get to the bus stop. Shine continued saying " I tried hard to get them to change and they said if I ordered them to they would, but I'd be responsible and I was interim superintendent and didn't think I should do that."

Following public comment, board members asked if it was possible to know how many children are served by various special education service providers as they approved the contracts and wondered if they can be streamlined in any way. Board members wanted a clearer picture of where the funds are going, how they are being used.