GC Students Applauded For Achievements
By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

As has become the usual routine at meetings of the Garden City Board of Education, Monday evening began on a lively note as students were applauded for their achievements on and off the athletic field, and then became significantly more subdued as school ad-ministrators and board members dealt with several district-related issues.

Fino Celano, assistant superintendent for personnel, announced that a committee comprised of parents, teachers, administrators and high school students will begin interviewing candidates for the high school principal position next week. He said they have a "strong pool of candidates" coming from different parts of New York State, as well as California, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Georgia.

Twenty students from Singapore will be meeting with Garden City High School science research students for three days in early March, reported Dr. Teresa Prendergast, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Besides exchanging science research findings at the high school, the students will travel to museums including the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City and the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, where they will have a special tour given by a paleontologist. They will also visit the Dolan DNA Learning Center. In addition, students will visit the physics department at Hofstra University and have dinner with an astronaut from NASA. Dr. Prendergast is looking into the possibility of having the Singapore students stay in local students' homes during their visit.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen reminded residents that Dr. Mel Levine will speak to faculty and para-professionals at Superintendent's Conference Day on February 29th. The night before at 7:30 p.m. in the Middle School auditorium, Dr. Levine, a pediatrician and co-founder and co-chair of All Kinds of Minds, will offer a workshop for parents. He helps parents, teachers and students appreciate differences in learning. For more information, visit www.allkindsofminds.org.

Dr. Feirsen gave an update on his inquiry into why Garden City did not make a recent U.S. News & World Report list of the top high schools in the country. He has been told by the editors that Garden City was competing against a specific category of schools the maga-zine deemed to be on a similar socio-economic level, not every high school in the United States. When AP exams and Regents scores were compared to these schools, Garden City fell just under the 85th percentile cut-off. However, when Garden City took the information from the schools used in the comparison and did their own analysis, the district did as good or better.

Dr. Feirsen submitted their findings to the editors and is still waiting for a response. He cautioned against using any list as the "be-all-and-end-all" and will possibly post the district's analysis on his Web page.

Dr. Feirsen congratulated the 42 students whose work was selected for the All-County Art Exhibit to be displayed March 9th at Adelphi University and the 80 students who were selected to par-ticipate in the All-County Music Festival. The district has never had so many students selected for these honors. He also announced that an article about Garden City High School students and their efforts to help rebuild New Orleans was the focus of a FutureCorps article in a recent edition of Newsday. Dr. Feirsen also commended the local Rotary Club for their Dictionary Project, through which every third-grader will receive a new dictionary.

Homestead kindergarten teacher Kristen Thompson accepted a $1,000 mini-grant from Nassau TRACT Teaching Center. The money will be used for primary school software designed to help teachers track students' reading progress.

School Board President Kenneth Monaghan announced that the district has retained another law firm to handle litigation against 34 retirees who have either refused or neglected to repay the district after it was revealed they were not paying the correct amount. The district is attempting to collect a total of $119,600. Chase reported to Superintendent Dr. Robert Feirsen and the Board of Education last year that staff members opting for family coverage were not paying the 10 percent that applied to the individual portion. In total, 67 retirees were involved, including staff who retired at the end of the 2006 school year.

Monaghan said the district switched to Ingerman Smith LLP after attorneys from Guercio & Guercio, who were handing the matter, realized they had a conflict of interest. Guercio & Guercio represent several other Boards of Education and it was discovered that a member of another school board also happens to be a retiree being sued by the Garden City School District. The lawsuit has been filed and the serving process has begun, according to Mona-ghan

Garden City resident John Delany asked the Board to consider changing the name of the winter festival concerts and adding two Christian and two Hanukkah songs. The music selection and decorations were criticized as being anti-Christian last month by a couple who attended the winter festival on December 7th at Locust School.

Monaghan said since the issue was raised at the Dec. 17th meeting, the school board has requested the programs from the holiday concerts at all schools over the past three years. They are also waiting for more information from the district's attorneys. He said the board will not make any decision on music selection or concert name changes until all materials are received.

"I understand the concerns of the community," he said. "I can tell you that we're not trying to take Christmas or eliminate Christmas or Christian music out of any of our concerts in any way, shape or form, but we're trying to provide a balance."