By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

The Garden City School District and the Garden City Teachers' Association (GCTA) have reached a preliminary agreement, announced School Board President Kenneth Monaghan at Monday evening's meeting of the Board of Education.

Although he said he could not yet discuss the terms of the agreement, Monaghan said that a memo of understanding is expected to be signed by both sides before the adoption of the budget on April 16th. He said that as the sides got to the final stages of negotiation, "there was as much concern about the pedagogical benefits among members of the GCTA of the changes that we were proposing as there was on the impact on their daily schedule. It was nice to see that some of the questions, comments and concerns that were coming back were ones about whether or not the programs or changes we were proposing, and ones we finally agreed on, would be ones that would actually benefit the children."

GCTA President Carlo Rebolini thanked Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen and Assistant to the Superintendent Fino Celano for keeping the lines of communication open during negotiations. He said he hoped it would serve as a model for future negotiations.

In January, Gregory J. Guercio, a partner in the firm of Guercio & Guercio who has served as the district's chief negotiator with the union since contract meetings began in March 2006, announced that since resolution was not achieved through mediation, both sides were going to meet with a fact-finder. This was the next level under the Public Employees Fair Employment Act. However, they were able to reach an agreement before the first fact-finding meeting scheduled for March 22.

In response to letters that have appeared in recent weeks in the "Letters to the Editor" section of the Garden City News, Monaghan said that a number of policies dealing with code of ethics issues were circulated to staff members in January at the suggestion of the district's auditors. The entire policy manual is available online, and staff members were also provided with hard copies of policies dealing with ethics issues.

Students Applauded

Dr. Feirsen and the Board acknowledged several student achievements. Abhinav Rohatgi, a senior at Garden City High School, has been selected as one of 40 2007 Intel Science Talent Search Finalists. Rohatgi studied the environmental effects of the fuel additive methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE). The superintendent also recognized the efforts of science research teacher Steven Gordon, Ph.D. and science research coordinator Gail Bennington.

Julianne Ungar, National Merit Scholarship finalist, was also applauded by Dr. Feirsen and the Board.

Dr. Feirsen congratulated the 24 students who will have their work exhibited at the annual Art Supervisors Association All-County Art Exhibition at the Tilles Center on April 28. Several of the students, representing all grade levels, attended the meeting.

He announced that all winter varsity teams maintained academic averages of 90 or better, which should enable them to receive designations as New York State Scholar Athlete teams.

Dr. Feirsen congratulated high school junior Amanda Gogh, who the Garden City News has selected as the local winner of the First Amendment Contest sponsored by the New York Press Association. Amanda will receive a $1,000 scholarship.

Dr. Feirsen offered congratulations to World Language teacher Sue Weber and her students of German for their results on the National German Exam. Of the 35 students to be honored with this year's Long Island awards, six will represent Garden City High School.

Dr. Feirsen announced that Emily Menges ran the freshman mile at the Nike National Track Meet mile and turned in an outstanding performance, placing third, with only a half-second separating her from the winner. She qualified for all-American honors and a place on Nike's All-American Team. Menges is now ranked in the top five freshmen in the country.

Budget News

The budget is still a work in progress, Dr. Feirsen announced before providing a summary that once again highlighted major initiatives, a review of the numbers and comparisons with other districts. He also provided answers to questions he is frequently confronted with by residents. This week the proposed overall budget totals $90,835,420, which is 6.39 percent higher than last year. The projected tax levy increase is now 6.36 percent.

Safety Issue

Several residents of Raymond Court attended the meeting to make the Board aware of a safety issue affecting their children. Students who attend Stewart School and live on Raymond Court walk on the sidewalk along Stewart Avenue. Parents claim the sidewalk has not been cleaned. It floods easily and is often covered with acorns. Snow from last weekend's storm created another hazard. Parents also requested that their children be bussed so they don't have to walk along the busy road. In 2005, according to parents, there were 43 accidents at the intersection of Clinton Road and Stewart Avenue.

School Board President Kenneth Monaghan said that even though the Village of Garden City is responsible for part of the sidewalk, the district has cleaned the area several times. The district is aware that there was an issue with the recent storm because the snow from the FedEx property was plowed across Stewart Avenue to the sidewalk. The district has contacted the property owner to ensure it does not happen in the future.

The Board will look into bussing, but usually transportation is not provided if students live within a prescribed radius unless they are required to cross a major thoroughfare.