High school students made a plea to save a play, a parent made an appeal to save the Gemini program and a school aide asked that her job be saved at the Herricks school board meeting last Thursday night.
The fall high school drama, which was budgeted to cost the school district $13,866, is among the $3.19 million in cuts proposed by district administrators to ensure that the 2013-14 budget does not exceed the state-mandated tax cap.
A group of current Herricks High School students and recent graduates presented their case to board members for keeping the fall drama production in place along with the spring musical.
“It gives students who don’t know singing and dancing to do something,” Herricks High School 2012 graduate Jonathan Ghandforoush said.
“It’s something good. It’s something that takes me away from the stress of school,” added Sarah Robinson, a junior at Herricks High School.
Matthew DeNicola, a Herricks senior who described himself as “very quiet and anti-social,” said acting in the fall high school drama had marked a change in his school experience.
“I found something that I loved and this is something that brought us together,” DeNicola said.
The $3.19 million in proposed cuts include the elimination of 17 teaching positions districtwide, which school officials said could save $2.1 million in salaries and benefits. Two Gemini teaching positions are among the proposed cuts. The average teacher’s salary in the district is presently $125,000 per year.
Lisa Tokar, parent of a fourth grade student, made a plea to “keep the average kid in mind.”
“Large class sizes in fourth and fifth grade don’t allow for our children to get everything they need and are expected to get out of their class lessons,” she said.
Navneet Agarwal, whose son is in the Gemini program, said the board would be “abdicating” its own policy goals to encourage students to achieve at their best if the Gemini program is eliminated.
“The Gemini children are in serious danger of underachievement if they’re not challenged in the classroom,” Agarwal said.
The board trustees have directed district administrators to provide options to save the program.
Herricks Superintendent of Schools John Bierwirth said he would present the options to retain the Gemini program at next week’s school board meeting on March 7.
At the outset of the budget discussion, board President Christine Turner said, “If we have to remove anything, it hurts us as well because we put them there in the first place.”
Turner also said that a recent story in the New Hyde Park Herald Courier and the Williston Times incorrectly said the board had restored the program after it had been cut from the budget district administrators initially presented. The headline of the story was inaccurate, saying the program had been “saved” by the board. The story itself reported that the board had directed the school administration to consider ways the programs might be saved.
“We’re hoping we can keep the district’s high quality in place given the constraints we’re under,” Trustee Dr. Sanjay Jain said in reference to the Gemini program.
Mary Barrientos, a door monitor at the Denton Avenue Elementary School, made an emotional plea to save her position. Positions of school aides like Barrientos are to be eliminated at the end of the school year, with security guards now in place at the respective elementary schools, according to board trustees.
Barrientos, who said she has been a school aide at Denton Avenue for 26 years, told the board she has established relationships with parents and their children. She said she also does pre-kindergarten screening.
“All I’m asking is if you want to take our jobs away, at least know what I do,” she said. “My heart is for the children.”
Board Vice President Jim Gounaris commiserated with Barrientos, saying he considered all school aides in the district “priceless.”
After the meeting, Gounaris said the board was following the advice of local law enforcement officials by putting security guards in place. He said the school aides would be able to apply for other jobs in the district.
“We don’t want to cut them if they meet the criteria,” Gounaris said. “We feel pretty comfortable that they’ll be able to find another position.”
In other developments:
• The Herricks Indo-US community presented donations of $2,521.24 for improvements at the middle school cafeteria and $300 for the high school organic vegetable garden to Turner.
• Herricks Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Deirdre Hayes made a brief presentation about changes in English language arts instruction to meet the state-mandated “common core” standards for classroom instruction.
Hayes said major shifts include students reading as much non-fiction as fiction in fourth grade progressing to a balance of 30 percent fiction and 70 percent non-fiction in 12th grade. She said greater emphasis is being place on building knowledge by reading more challenging material closely and increasing academic vocabulary.
“We’re moving away from teachers summarizing for the students,” Hayes said, adding that students are expected to be able to read and interpret material on their own.
