The old Willis Avenue School was nearly leveled as of last week as most of the structure was reduced to a pile of rubble. After the remaining piece of the structure is torn down, the rubble will have to be removed.

The project is on schedule, according to Assistant Superintendent John Jackson. The completion of the demolition project is scheduled for the beginning of April. Restoration of the site so that the new school can be constructed is scheduled to be completed by April 29.

Although the project is on schedule, the district still must wait for the approval of the plans from the New York State Department of Education (SED). Mr. Jackson said the SED is lagging behind because it had been flooded with plans.

However, the district hopes to get approval by May 1 and then break ground for the new school in mid-June. If all goes according to plan, the new Willis Avenue School for all district kindergarten and pre-kindergarten students will be opened in Sept. 2003.

The March 14 business meeting of the Mineola Board of Education was held at the Hampton Street School.

Hampton Principal Mark Barth introduced an activity currently taking place at the school in which students are using technology to enhance learning.

The fourth grade students studying the Revolutionary War, made a video of a news magazine covering the war. The project came after the students finished the book, The Fighting Ground, which deals with the Revolutionary War.

The students then made a video with a student acting as an anchor and others acting as reporters in the field and soldiers off to battle. The reporters would interview the soldiers for the news show on the Hampton News Network, and then throw it back to the student anchor who would introduce the next interview.

The project enhanced the students' learning of the unit. Later, the students showed the board of education members and visitors how they made the video. The students who participated under the leadership of Mrs. Paganini and Mrs. Nordmann are:

Lauren Tretolo

Erika DaCosta

Alexa Vojvodic

Michael Byrne

Billy Gille

Jonathan Reis

Emily Bohack

Hanna Jachowicz

Emily Marino

Patricia DePinho

Joe Attard

District Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Dr. Deanne Gerstel will be retiring on August 30. The school district is currently seeking an assistant superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.

The board of education approved an additional coaching position and the establishment of a second baseball team at Mineola Middle School.

Board of education member RoseAnn Buglione announced her intention to run for re-election in May. "I'm so excited about the changes that have taken place in our district," said Mrs. Buglione, adding that she would like a chance to see through the projects that have been started.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Larry Licopoli announced that he would be among six superintendents meeting with Senator Michael Balboni to lobby for state aid funding for education as it related to Nassau County schools. The concern is that state aid will continue to be cut, putting more of a burden on taxpayers.

The new roof on Mineola High School is complete except for some punch list items.

The administration decided to pull the renovations of the Mineola Middle School Library, Cross Street Library and Hampton Street Library. The middle school library renovation was scheduled to start in May and be completed in September. The Cross Street and Hampton Street libraries were scheduled to begin in June 2003 and be completed in September 2003.

However, the construction phase for clearing space for library media centers at those schools has been deleted from the 2000 bond referendum due to the American Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements mandated by the State Education Department.

According to Assistant Superintendent John Jackson, because the district planned on putting the newly renovated libraries on the second floors of Cross and Hampton, ADA requirements mandate elevators. Since there is not enough money in the referendum to build elevators, the project is being withdrawn from the bond referendum. Also, the middle school library renovation is also being postponed since it was originally slated for the annex area of the middle school, but officials are going to seek a more centralized location.

These three projects will be revisited once all referendum bids have been opened to determine if ADA requirements can be addressed with any remaining funds. Should funds not be available through the referendum, these projects will be addressed as part of the district's five-year capital improvement plan.