Numerous parents packed the Mineola Middle School music room on Thursday to object to a proposal to do away with the Mineola School District's universal pre-kindergarten program. The proposal was being considered as a cost cutting measure by the Mineola Board of Education as the board tries to adopt an operating budget for the 2003-2004 school year.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Larry Licopoli explained that factors such as a 10 percent reduction in state aid, a reassessment shift from a commercial tax base to a resident tax base and an economy that is less than booming has made it more difficult to come up with a fiscally conservative budget. Since the Mineola Board of Education challenged the administration to be fiscally responsible, the school district studies its spending patterns and programs. In addition, the school district is supporting a full-day kindergarten program when the Willis Avenue School opens in September.

In order to keep a budget increase to a minimum, the board considered eliminating the district's pre-kindergarten program, which is a quarter-day program for 3 and 4-year-olds. By doing away with the pre-kindergarten program, the district would be able to save at least $250,000. The proposed budget without the pre-kindergarten program reflected a 4.98 percent increase over last year's budget, one of the lowest in Nassau County. The proposed $62,376,459 budget for 2003-2004 without the pre-kindergarten program would reflect an estimated tax rate of $128.11 per $100 of assessed valuation.

The district felt that there was no research to support the benefit of a quarter-day pre-kindergarten program since schools generally do not provide a quarter day program for all students. In that respect, Mineola is unique. Also the district felt transportation costs are prohibitive and will require free and public transportation for pre-kindergarten children attending private pre-kindergarten programs. In addition, the current Mineola pre-kindergarten program is not supported by aid.

The district recommended to the board of education doing away with the current pre-kindergarten program and looking into adding a pre-kindergarten program that targets children with special needs and could be funded by aid instead of being funded by taxpayers.

While eliminating the pre-kindergarten program may save the district money in its 2003-2004 budget, many parents that attended the last week's board of education meeting objected to the idea.

Mineola resident John Dougherty said he has had 9 children go through the Mineola School system and the pre-kindergarten program has proved to be beneficial. The program, Dougherty pointed out, gives children the opportunity to get a head start in their academic lives, which enables them to do better in kindergarten. "The program they have now is amazing," he said.

Former board of education president Dennis Mortensen said he was on the board when it developed the universal pre-kindergarten program. "Shame on you," he told the current board for considering its elimination. Mortensen suggested there were other areas in the budget that could possibly be cut instead of doing away with a program for children.

Some parents were upset that the district was considering doing away with the program after many parents registered their children for the program already. Kerry DeStefano said she registered her child for pre-kindergarten on March 3 and was not told that the district may be doing away with the program.

A main argument for the program was the bond that was passed in 2000 that has given the district the new Willis Avenue School. When a bond was presented to district voters in 2000, a big portion of it was the construction of a new school building to house kindergarten and pre-kindergarten classes. Many parents who attended last week's board meeting said they supported the 2000 bond referendum with the understanding that the pre-kindergarten program would be a part of the new school and feel taking it away after the bond was passed is unfair.

Some parents feel as though they were deceived into passing the bond if the pre-kindergarten program were taken away. "We fought for that bond for pre-kindergarten. This is a betrayal," said one parent.

"It's looking more and more like this is a building for administration," said another parent, referring to the new Willis Avenue School, which will also house administrative offices.

Taking away the pre-kindergarten program may even leave empty classrooms in the new Willis Avenue School.

A parent asked what it would take for the board to keep the pre-kindergarten program. One board of education member said it would take a convincing argument that the program is educationally sound and that it is the responsibility of the residents of the communities within the district to pay for the education of 3 and 4-year-old children.

"I think the taxpayers said how committed they are to educating 3 and 4-year-olds by passing a $25 million bond [in 2000]," responded one parent.

Dr. Licopoli said the district hasn't been able to come up with substantial research on the effect of Mineola pre-kindergarten program because it's unique.

The parents' message to the superintendent and the board was heard as the board went into executive session to discuss the reaction to doing away with the pre-kindergarten program. The superintendent and the board came back with the decision to keep the pre-kindergarten program for the 2003-2004 school year. The vote was unanimous. The district will now commission a committee to study whether it is feasible and beneficial to continue the pre-kindergarten for all students in the future and will make its recommendation by Oct. 31. Whether it is the school community's responsibility to educate 3 and 4-year-old children with tax dollars is a question that will have to be answered. The committee will act in much the same way as the committee that was formed to study the feasibility of the full-day kindergarten program.

As a result of the district keeping the pre-kindergarten program, an additional $250,000 will have to be added to the budget to satisfy staffing needs. The additional $250,000 will increase the tax rate by additional $0.30 per $100 of assessed valuation. The proposed budget for the 2003-2004 school year now stands at $62,376,459, although the budget has not been adopted by the board yet. The district will also study transportation for pre-kindergarten and get back to the community at the April 24 or May 1 board of education meeting on whether transportation will be provided to pre-kindergarten students and if so, to what extent.

The board of education accepted the resignation of Dr. Ari-Zev Anolic, director of technology and communication, for the purposes of retirement. Dr. Anolic has been extremely involved with the district's technology initiative.

The 2003-2004 budget will address needed repairs to the Mineola High School auditorium seats as well as the roof at the Jackson Avenue School. A water leak at the library has been a chronic problem.

The board also made a commitment to change the one mile district rate for grades three to five to a half mile, thereby creating a uniform transportation system for grades K-five.

The district received a legislative grant and will use $25,000 to improve the acoustics and sound system for the Mineola Middle School auditorium and $100,000 for furniture for the Willis Avenue School.