Now that the winter weather is behind, the new Willis Avenue School can enter into the last stages of construction so that the building can be ready for the start of the 2003-2004 school year. The Mineola School District fully expects the building to be ready for education for the quarter day pre-kindergarten program and the full-day kindergarten program.

"We have all the assurances that Willis Avenue will be ready for occupancy in August," said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lorenzo Licopoli.

Although the building should be ready for the start of the school year, Dr. Licopoli doesn't expect members of the central administration to move into the offices on the second floor of the building until late October.

Dr. Licopoli feels the district should devote its efforts to preparing the children for the school year. The superintendent believes the district should focus on the curriculum for the students and not on whether the central office is ready to be occupied.

Dr. Licopoli also announced that the school day at Willis will begin at about 9:15 a.m. and end no later than 3:15 or 3:18 p.m. The morning session of pre-kindergarten students will be at the school for two and a half hours. There should be an hour break and then the afternoon pre-kindergarten students will come in for two and a half hours in the afternoon. The kindergarten students will be at the school for the whole day.

Bus transportation is expected to be provided to all students who live over a half mile away from the school. Assistant superintendent for business and operations John Jackson believes the district should be using approximately five buses to service the school.

In the design phase of the project, parking was thought to be a potential problem. The district helped to relieve some of the potential parking problem as it agreed to lease 25 spaces from nearby Odd Fellows.

Another area the superintendent is attempting to address is security. Dr. Licopoli said the district is looking into the feasibility of having professionally trained security present at the building since the school is located in a busy area and will have windows that are near the sidewalks.

The superintendent pointed out that the neighborhood of the Willis Avenue School differs from the other schools in the district. "When you have the proximity of the public right by the school, it's not a bad idea during the school day to have professional security available for the building. It's not like you have an armed guard. It's a person who is trained and gets to know our kids and our parents and becomes part of the building. They have a specific job which is to ensure that all of the issues relative to the safety and security of the site aren't compromised," Dr. Licopoli said.

Another possible problem is the traffic flow around the building. Dr. Licopoli said the district hopes to work with Mineola Mayor Jack Martins in trying to reach a system of traffic flow that will be best for the school and for the area.

Dr. Licopoli said the district is not set on a traffic plan and is considering different options. One option would have buses turning down Jackson Avenue, proceeding to the driveway in the back of the property and then following the driveway around to the Lincoln Avenue side of the building and dropping students off at the Lincoln Avenue entrance/exit of the building. The district would then also consider having a drop-off point designated for parents and guardians who wish to drive their children to school, perhaps on Jackson Avenue.

However, no plan has been finalized yet. Dr. Licopoli said he has had initial conversations with Mineola Mayor Jack Martins. "We know we are going to have to address the flow of traffic around Willis. It's certainly not going to be insurmountable but we need to put our heads together to ensure the safety of the residents in the area and our kids," he said.

Possible problems could involve the position of the building, which is close to Willis Avenue, Jackson Avenue and Lincoln Avenue. Jackson and Lincoln, which appear to be the options for dropping children off and picking them up, aren't particularly wide blocks. In addition, when formulating a plan, the village must also take into account how it will choose to implement parking on those blocks. Also, the district must consider an area for children to stay in case of an emergency and the building has to be evacuated.

Mayor Martins plans to fully cooperate with the school district for plans for the area. The mayor said he is looking forward to working with Dr. Licopoli on viable solutions to the problems. "It's something that both Dr. Licopoli and I inherited. There are circumstances and conditions that were placed here before we came on board. We are fully prepared to deal with it in any way possible to create as little impact to the community as possible," Mayor Martins said. "I think it's important for people to realize that as difficult as it is, there are ways of dealing with it. The building is there. Now, it's up to us to come up with a way of handling this problem. We didn't create it but certainly have an obligation to make sure it's resolved appropriately."

The Mineola School District and the Mineola Teachers Association agreed to terms on a new four-year contract. The agreement comes before the current contract was due to expire on June 30.

"We've settled the contract before the expiration date, which is something that hasn't happened here in a long time," said Dr. Licopoli. "We used a real collaborative approach to negotiations. We tried to look at the big picture, the problems at hand and the issues in maintaining the teachers in competitive positions in terms of their salary along with increasing the time at the secondary level in grades six to 12."

Dr. Licopoli said the district is happy with the settlement. "I think both sides are pleased. We did a lot of hard work. We have a settlement which is in the range of settlements in Nassau County. We have long-term stability," he said.

The contract calls for an increase in meeting times with students by 15 minutes two days a week for the first two years of the contract, three days for the third year and four days for the fourth year.

"There was a good sense of working in the spirit of collaboration," Dr. Licopoli said.

The contract calls for an average salary increase of 3.4 percent per year for the length of the contract. Dr. Licopoli said the increase is consistent with the increases in Nassau County.