On Aug. 31 Aline Khatchadourian, school board vice-president, made a surprise statement. "Please accept my resignation as vice-president of the Manhasset Board of Education effective Aug. 31. Current employment responsibilities make it impossible for me to devote the many hours necessary to assist the board president and the superintendent in planning and preparing agenda items for board review and action. I look forward to remaining on the board and continuing to serve the Manhasset community as a member of its board of education," she said.

As announced in the July 27 issue of the Manhasset Press Nassau County Comptroller Howard Weitzman appointed Khatchadourian, CPA, to the county position of deputy comptroller for Audit and Special Projects. At the conclusion of the board meeting Khatchadourian said her workload at the new job made it difficult to continue as vice president because the board position involves being accessible during the day, to set board agendas with president Cindy Cardinal, and she no longer had that freedom. In her position at the comptroller's office, Khatchadourian leads a 20-person field audit division.

Manhasset was fortunate to have been Ms. Khatchadourian's focus at such a transitional moment in the district's history. She was elected to the board in 2004, and since that time the board has hired new auditing firms, new architectural firm and reviewed and overhauled district financial policy. Many changes were begun under Thomas Maimone's year-long presidency which coincided with a state audit, and which followed a particularly unsettling period for the schools under the direction of superintendent Lawrence Bozzomo. Since Bozzomo's departure the board has hired a popular new superintendent, revamped the business office-- in fact there is an entirely new central office, the previous "cabinet" are all gone. Khatchadourian's comments reflected confidence in the new hires when she said "now with the new superintendent and central office in place the school district is heading in the right direction."

Patricia Aitken was elected vice president at the meeting and sworn in by district clerk, Carol Catanzaro. Aitken was new to the board last year, new to an already exceptionally young board. Cindy Cardinal, board president, is the "oldest" member with three years under her belt. Cardinal said she will miss working so closely with Khatchadourian, and looks forward to working with Pat Aitkin.

Superintendent Cardillo provided background regarding the need for more classroom space in the high school resulting in the decision to relocate cellular equipment atop the secondary school building. The issue has been on the table since November 2005 without much response from the cable providers, a point of contention at the meeting, with the first day of school looming around the corner. The parties agreed to a meeting Friday, Sept. 1, to negotiate a solution and the three providers, Cingular, Sprint and Verizon were made aware the power would be shut off if the tower was not relocated by midnight Monday, Sept. 4. As of press time the Manhasset Press has learned the meeting did occur, no solution was found, the power was shut off and negations are ongoing with a presentation expected from the cable providers.

Sherrie Goldstein, internal claims auditor, provided an account of "what I do." She stated she had found nothing major to jeopardize the district. She then listed some potential problem areas, for example, purchase orders, and suggested sending a memo to all employees outlining the process. Just as central administration is relatively new, so too are many school employees. This led to a lengthy discussion of purchase orders.

Dr. Jean Kendall, principal of Munsey Park Elementary School said as of 3 p.m. that day (Aug. 31), enrollment was 852 (887 projected). Robert Geczik, Shelter Rock Elementary School principal, stated enrollment was 783 (765 projected). Enrollment at the middle school on Aug. 31 was 473 and at the high school was 802.

The time allotted to public comment was uneventful as prior to the Labor Day weekend, no public was present.