Schools Ready To Open

By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

Students may not be excited to begin classes in a few weeks on September 3rd, but administrators in the Garden City School District are ready for a new school year.

"We are at the present time fully staffed for September. We are ready to open," announced Fino M. Celano, the district's assistant superintendent for personnel, at the August 12th meeting of the Garden City Board of Education. Twenty-three teachers are scheduled to attend orientation next week. There are 10 teachers replacing those who resigned, four replacing teachers who retired, four teachers who are replacing those on leave and five new teachers.

Superintendent Dr. Robert Feirsen said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will finish drilling a test well next week in the field adjacent to Stewart School and will secure a metal plate to cover the area. The agency is cleaning up the Old Roosevelt Field Contaminated Groundwater Area Superfund site, which is located on the eastern side of Clinton Road at the intersection of Old Country Road, and includes a thin strip of open space along Clinton (known as Hazelhurst Park), Roosevelt Field Mall, and several office buildings in Garden City Plaza. The groundwater in that area was contaminated by trichloroethene (TCE) and tetrachloroethene (PCE), two chlorinated solvents which were widely used for aircraft manufacturing, maintenance and repair operations, some time during and after World War II. The EPA will use the test well to periodically check the area groundwater.

Dr. Feirsen provided a few examples of other work that has been done around the district during the summer. At the primary schools, playground surfaces have either been repaired or replaced. Smoke doors have been installed in the corridors so that in case of a fire, smoke can be prevented from permeating the entire building. At Hemlock, new fencing has been installed and some landscaping work has been done.

The high school track has been resurfaced. Dr. Feirsen reminded the public that the track is for human use only. Bicycles, strollers, mopeds, skateboards, etc. significantly damage the track's surface and are prohibited. Also at the high school, the patio adjacent to the cafeteria has been repaired and the concrete has been replaced. Interior work has been completed in the building to make better use of space.

Dr. Feirsen referred to the tardy release this week of "report cards" by New York State showing graduation rates and academic performance from 2006-07. Even though he said he had not finished evaluating the results and comparing them with other districts, he was proud to say that the district was in the top half of all schools in their comparative group with the exception of one category, mastery level on the English Regents. The district was in the bottom third. Back in 2007 when the English Regents exams were graded, administrators realized the results needed to be stronger so they worked to improve student performance in the 2007-08 school year. This year the mastery rate is 77 percent.

In eight categories the district was either first or second, which Dr. Feirsen said is a "terrific accomplishment."

Dr. Feirsen stressed that residents should be concerned about Gov. David A. Paterson's tax cap bill, which was recently adopted by the State Senate and is waiting to be voted on in the Assembly. The bill allows for a four percent cap on annual increases in school property taxes. "Certainly from my point of view, there are significant issues to be concerned about here," he said.

In other news, eight staff members will attend Level 1 training over the next school year for the International Baccalaureate Program in order to gain a better understanding of what it entails. The IB Program began in 1968 and consists of either a certificate program for students who take individual courses, or a diploma program for students who complete core requirements. The district has not been accepted into the program and is under no obligation to continue the process after the first level of training is received.

Students explore six academic areas, as they also work to complete three central core elements. The six areas include two modern languages; a humanities or social science subject; an experimental science; mathematics; and one of the creative arts.

The core elements are mandatory and include a 4,000-word essay on a topic of student interest; the study of the theory of knowledge and creativity, which provides an opportunity for reflection on how we know and what we know as it makes connections to other disciplines; and creativity, action and service, which allows students to earn credit for participation in extra-curricular activities such as athletics, drama and music, as well as for service to the community.