The Herricks Board of Education is monitoring updates on registration at the district’s elementary schools before it determines where it will add two teaching positions restored to the 2013-14 budget.
Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth said last Thursday that the board is withholding a decision on the two positions because “the picture changes week to week” in elementary school registrations. He said there are several grades at the three elementary schools where class sizes already exceed district guidelines that were suspended three years ago.
“The [school] board continues to get updates from us every week or two. We’ve got more classes that are above the old caps than we have positions budgeted,” Bierwirth said.
The district had previously capped class sizes at 22 children in kindergarten, 25 children in grades one through three and 27 children in grades four, and five, Bierwirth said.
Parents have frequently raised concerns about class sizes at Herricks school board meetings over the past several months.
The school board allocated $220,000 in the 2013-14 budget to restore two teaching positions after the district received an increase in state aid. That reduced the number of teaching positions to be eliminated by the school district to 14.
The teaching positions represent the bulk of budget cuts made to keep the $104.40 million proposed budget to a 2.98 percent increase.
In late April, the board also decided to create a first grade teaching position to keep the Spanish language immersion program in the Denton Avenue School going.
In other developments at last Thursday’s school board meeting:
• The board approved special education contracts with the Hicksville, Port Washington and Long Beach School Districts. It also approved special education contracts with the Brookville Center for Children’s Services and the Henry Viscardi School.
• The board approved a four-year lease agreement with the American Dance Theater Workshop for office space in the Herricks Community Center. The agreement starts at a 3 percent increase for 2013-14 over the 2012-13 school year to $4,867, increasing 3 percent each year through 2016-17, when the lease will be $5,318.
• The board approved a five-year lease with the Young Indian Culture Group for office space in the Herricks Community Center. Rent in 2013-14 remains the same as the current year, at $13,532. The rent increases 3 percent in the final two years of the lease, rising to $14,356 in 2017-18, the final year of the lease.
• The board approved a five-year lease with the Long Island Advocacy Center in the Herricks Community Center. The rent increases by 3 percent in 2013-14 to $25,434 and rises annually by 3 percent through the final year in 2017-18, when it will be $28,627.
• The board approved a trip for the Herricks High School Model UN class to McGill University in Montreal, Canada in November at a cost of $250 per student. Model UN students usually take trips once or twice annually for international competitions with their peers at other high schools.
