$6,000 donated for new bleachers

Chris Adams

Manhasset Secondary School’s Memorial Field will receive new stadium bleachers and team benches through a $6,000 gift from the Manhasset Booster Club.

Joshua Mulholland, president of the booster club, attended the July 28 school board meeting to officially announce the donation for the Manhasset Indians’ home field.

“These aren’t just aluminum benches,” board President Regina Rule said. “These are really nice, powder blue-coated benches. I think it’s going to look elegant.”

Board members discussed the possibility of establishing a maintenance reserve fund for the upkeep of the new bleachers.

The Manhasset Booster Club is a parent-run organization that aims to promote the district’s athletic programs and support athletes and coaches. Through donations, the organization funds projects to improve athletic facilities and provides scholarships to senior athletes.

Some of the contributions the booster club made in the past include returfing of the baseball and football fields at Manhasset Secondary School, a new sound system for the stadium, a recognition wall outside  the field house, and a Hall of Fame celebration last year.

In other business, board members addressed class sizes throughout the district, making an adjustment to adhere to target size limits.

The district will be adding another sixth grade section to Munsey Park Elementary School for the 2016-17 school year, which will reduce the class size from an average of 26 to about 22.

Superintendent Charles Cardillo said the district is in good shape overall, with most of the schools falling in the range of 21 to 24 students per class, accepted sizes by school guidelines.

Rule said  the board will continue to monitor class sizes as it does every year, but right now there is enough flexibility that it is not a pressing matter.

Typically high schools are more volatile when it comes to enrollment, with students’ changing schedules and new enrollments, Cardillo said.

The head of curriculum writing, Charles Leone, discussed some of the program changes for the coming school year, which include updates for the science, math and art curriculums.

“The studio art curriculum hadn’t been revamped or revised since 1996,” Leone said. “Although it’s an incredibly strong program and our schools do very well, it needed to be updated.”

Leone said one teacher at the high school had been teaching the course, but with an expansion of the program the course will now be offered by three teachers.

The high school will also now offer two new art courses, digital photography and animation, Leone said.

In math and science, some course writing was updated to reflect New York state standards. Leone said these changes are a part of regular curriculum maintenance to make sure classes are teaching material that reflects the constantly modernizing scientific landscape.

The next public school board meeting will take place on Aug. 25 at Manhasset Secondary School.

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