By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

As has become the usual routine at meetings of the Garden City Board of Education, Tuesday evening began with district and student accomplishments, and then became more subdued as school administrators and board members dealt with several district-related issues.

The school board and administration extended a warm welcome to Janet Gonzalez, who will begin as assistant principal at Stratford School after the holiday break in January, and Patrick Mehr, who has accepted a position as director of school facilities and operations and is slated to begin in the district within the next 30 days. Gonzalez has been teaching in the Valley Stream school district, where Dr. Feirsen said she is an expert in staff development and technology.

Mehr has been working in the Roosevelt school district as facilities director. Superintendent Dr. Robert Feirsen thanked Al Chase, assistant superintendent of business and finance, who also handled the responsibilities of facilities director since the position was vacated in September.

School Board President Colleen Foley announced that she and the superintendent met with Matt Whalen, vice president of development for AvalonBay. She said both sides exchanged demographic information. Foley emphasized that the school board is not taking a position at this time on the controversial St. Paul's main building issue.

Dr. Feirsen said that the district has been very pleased with the new student database known as SchoolTool, and announced that grades were recently posted. He stressed that the only way parents can access data is to provide the district with an e-mail address. Parents can submit e-mail addresses via an online form by visiting the district's Web site, www.gardencity.k12.ny.us. For more information, call the district's technology department at 478-1060.

School Board Trustee Angela Heineman said an ad hoc committee, formed earlier this year to study the possibility of issuing a bond to fund capital improvements in the district, will meet with an architect next week to begin the task of prioritizing projects. The committee will present a preliminary plan to the school board in January.

Garden City resident Thomas Ryan asked the board for the district's holiday decoration plans. Last December, Ryan and his wife said at a school board meeting that they were outraged by the decorations and song selection at Locust School, which they claim favored Judaism. Mr. Ryan said a Jewish song was sung, but no Christian or Christmas songs. The program cover featured an image of a menorah and candy cane, as well as a border of Christmas trees. Mr. Ryan argued that no Christian symbols appeared on the cover to balance the menorah, which he said is a symbol of the Jewish faith.

In addition, he said no Christian symbols could be found in the room where the festival was held. Instead, the room was filled with student artwork that included menorahs and snowmen. He said the front foyer, which had a Christmas tree and a menorah, also lacked a Christian holiday symbol.

On Tuesday, Mr. Ryan argued that the district should display a créche alongside a menorah. School district counsel Bonnie L. Gorham explained that the courts have held that school districts are not constitutionally required to display a créche. The Supreme Court established a three-prong "lemon test" to determine if any action by a governmental entity violates the First Amendment Establishment Clause, more commonly known as the separation of church and state. The practice or policy must have secular legislative purpose; the primary affect of the practice or policy must not advance or promote a particular religion; and the practice or policy must not foster entanglement with religion.

"The court did not say that it's impermissible to have a créche," she said. However, she said the district does not want to take a chance of running afoul of the Constitution and becoming a test case. "There is no court case out there which has held that the display of a créche is constitutionally permissible in a school setting." Gorham said that the Court of Appeals has held that a menorah "has significant secular dimensions to it."

School Board President Colleen Foley said the board took the Ryans' concerns seriously last year and sought counsel's advice. "We have come to the determination that we are going to look at the lemon test as the direction in which we are probably going to go in."

Superintendent Dr. Feirsen said the purpose of a primary school concert is to provide an educational experience for children. "We don't want to get the board entangled in an extraordinarily difficult legal argument," he said. "We do, however, want to preserve the purpose of holiday celebrations, which is educational." He sent a memo to staff members to ensure that all holiday displays and programs are educational in purpose, that there are a variety of symbols provided and that there is a reasonable representation from different cultures.

Garden City resident Ellen Moynihan said she believes there is reluctance by the district to use the word Christmas, and as an example mentioned a sign posted on district property in mid-December last year which read, "Happy Holidays and Happy New Year." Hanukkah began last year on Dec. 9, and ended before the sign was posted, so she wanted to know why the word Christmas wasn't used. Dr. Feirsen said there is no prohibition on the word Christmas and anyone who visited the buildings last year during the holiday season would agree.

"This is what struck somebody from the outside," she responded.