Knowing they would be dealing with several major issues, the Garden City Board of Education began 2009 with a call for more public input and discussion. Taking a look back in The Garden City News archive, these are the top 10 issues that garnered the highest level of both school board and resident attention.

1. School Improvement Bond Approved

By a vote of 1140 to 829, voters approved Garden City School District’s $36.5 million bond referendum on October 27th. Work will now proceed on improvements at all nine of the district’s buildings.

“On behalf of the Board of Education and administration, I want to thank all of you for your support,” stated Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen. “We appreciate that approval of this bond reflects the community’s commitment to the improvement and preservation of our schools.”

As a result of the ‘yes’ vote, upgrades will be made to facilities district wide to meet basic safety and code requirements, as well as reclaim learning space for academic program growth. “Garden City residents spoke loud and clear,” commented Board of Education President Colleen E. Foley. “They respect the tradition of excellence in our schools and want to ensure that we remain a top-performing district able to compete with the best districts in the country.”

The district chose to hold the bond referendum now to leverage the current state of the economy. “We expect to realize the best returns on our investment by doing the necessary repairs while interest rates are low and construction firms are eager for work,” said Dr. Feirsen. Additionally, the proposed repairs and renovations will decrease the rate of deterioration of the district’s physical plant.

Superintendent Feirsen applauded the work of the district’s Facilities Committee, whose members worked “extensively to put together a conservative, cost-effective plan” and thanked them for their efforts.

Work on some projects will begin in the summer. A timeline and regular updates regarding the bond projects will be posted on the district’s Web site.

2. Transportation Policy Changed

In July, the school board officially adopted changes to the student transportation policy, affecting the transportation status of 118 students.

“This is a difficult thing that we are not looking at lightly,” said Superintendent Feirsen at a school board meeting where a group of parents voiced their displeasure. “We recognize the challenges that it will pose to parents... Believe me, the Board and administration would like to continue things as they are.”

The policy change was necessary because the old policy was not consistent with New York State law at the primary and elementary school levels. School district counsel Bonnie L. Gorham said the board was legally required to correct the error once it was discovered.

The superintendent first sensed there was a problem after receiving numerous requests from parents for re-evaluation of their child’s transportation status. District counsel was instructed by administration to research the policy. After they found an issue existed, the Board of Education directed the administration to study the topic and make recommendations.

A 13-member transportation study committee was formed in January 2009, comprised of representatives from the four Village property owners’ associations, as well as the superintendent, assistant superintendent for business and finance, Inspector Kenneth Jackson from the Garden City Police Dept., the principals of Hemlock, Stewart and Homestead and St. Joseph’s Schools, and the district’s transportation supervisor and assistant transportation supervisor. Robert Mangan, the Village’s director of Public Works, also assisted the committee.

Dr. Feirsen said that the committee studied all possible options. He recommended that the transportation department revise routes to end the busing of students who live less than one-half mile from Hemlock, Homestead and Stewart Schools, with the exception of the areas he proposes be designated as Child Safety Zones.

These zones, which are explained in the Child Safety Transportation Act of 1992, provide the one exception to the district’s mileage-only criterion. School districts do not have to follow a mileage-only criterion if the area in question is designated a Child Safety Zone due to extremely hazardous conditions. Points are assigned to various types of hazards, which fall into three types: highways without sidewalks or adequate shoulders, highway intersections and highway-railroad grade crossings.

The Board followed Dr. Feirsen’s recommendation and established the following areas as Child Safety Zones: the area within the Stewart Avenue walk-in zone located south of the Stewart Ave./Clinton Rd. railroad crossing (St. James South through the “tree streets”); the area within the Stewart School walk-in zone located west of the school and south of Stewart Ave. (which includes Butler, Coventry, Emmet and Devereaux); and within the St. Joseph’s School walk-in zone located north of the Franklin Ave. railroad track crossing.

3. Parents Fight For Crossing Guard

In September, Dr. Feirsen acknowledged that an unanticipated problem occurred at Stratford School when the transportation policy was nearing implementation. When David C. Murphy, Jr., the district’s transportation supervisor, was conducting his final routing with updated GPS software, he discovered that there was a section of the Village that should not receive busing under the newly revised policy.

Twenty-two students who live on a section of Brixton and Kilburn Roads running north and south from Stratford Road, as well as two homes on Stratford Road, were affected. Murphy hand-delivered letters to those families affected and said he would try to assist them in any other way possible.

A group of parents who realized their children must now cross the busy intersection of Nassau Boulevard and Stratford Avenue immediately mobilized their efforts to get a crossing guard at the location by forming the group the Nassau Boulevard Safe Passage Initiative. For three months, members notified their property owners’ association, wrote letters and attended meetings of the Village’s Traffic Commission and Board of Trustees, as well as school board meetings, as the Village argued with Garden City School District administrators and school board on whether the area qualified as a Child Safety Zone.

In December, after the state department of transportation said the intersection does not qualify as a CSZ, the Garden City Board of Trustees approved the assignment of a crossing guard at the intersection. A crossing guard was reassigned from the Garden City High School to the busy intersection after the holiday recess.

4. Difficult Budget Year

As the economy struggled during the past year, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen acknowledged it was very difficult to develop the budget and keep a balance between the resources the district needs to accomplish its mission and goals with the cost.

On April 21, the Garden City Board of Education officially adopted a budget totaling $95,215,587. This is a budget to budget increase of .75 percent. Residents faced a tax levy increase (with STAR) of 1.57 percent.

There were no new programs being proposed in the adopted budget. Dr. Feirsen explained that expenditure increases were driven by an increase in costs for mandated special education programs; contractual salary increases and related benefits; and an assumed increase in the Social Security ceiling from $106,800 to $111,400.

The district has been able to keep costs down by instituting strong controls on overtime, utilizing more efficient payroll processes, expanding the use of cooperative bids, automating the district’s attendance system and tracking of receivables in the district’s business office, reducing print advertising for staff recruitment and adopting more environmentally friendly initiatives to reduce energy consumption. The district’s budget included use of worker’s compensation reserves to help alleviate taxpayer burden.

5. Commencement Change Made

This year the Garden City High School commencement ceremony was held on a Saturday morning instead of a Sunday afternoon, a controversial change the school board decided to make in January after errant behavior was exhibited by some students and audience members at the 2008 graduation. The school board and many parents were especially concerned about the problem of underage drinking and were disturbed by a student trend of extending the prom celebration, which is on Thursday, through the weekend.

“It wasn’t an easy decision but everything worked out beautifully,” Dr. Feirsen said at the July, 2009 school board meeting.

In September of 2008, Superintendent Feirsen, with the full support of the school board, asked a shared decision making, high school-based management committee to take a look at the way the district handles commencement. The group, which is comprised of administrators, high school students, parents and faculty, considered the 120 responses they received from an online survey and looked at commencement ceremonies at 25 other Long Island high schools as they worked to make their list of recommendations for changes to the ceremony.

6. H1N1 Worries

In the spring, the H1N1 virus, more commonly known as the swine flu, was a top local and national news story. Locally, Superintendent Feirsen sought to calm nervous residents concerned about possible cases in their own school district.

Then, when concern began growing once again in the fall as a concerned public was left to wait and see if the H1N1 virus would spread among school populations as quickly as it did six months earlier, the superintendent reassured parents that the district would continue to closely monitor the situation.

“Since the spring, when the virus first occurred, we have been in constant contact with health organizations to give us guidance and inform us of best practices,” Dr. Feirsen said at the Sept. 10th meeting of the Board of Education.

He said it is not uncommon for him to receive two to three communications a day from one or more of these organizations, which include the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the state and county Health Departments and BOCES health and safety consultants. The district has also participated in conferences, Webinars and phone conferences. District officials now have a weekly phone conference with the county’s department of health.

Dr. Ronald Feinstein, the district’s physician, and Patrick Mehr, the district’s director of facilities, attended the Board meeting at Dr. Feirsen’s request to address the issue and answer questions.

The primary prevention method the school district advocates is vaccination. Dr. Feinstein said that the district emphasizes “respiratory etiquette” to help control the spread of infections. This includes practicing good hygiene by washing your hands, and covering your mouth and nose when sneezing into a tissue. The district will send home any student who develops a fever of 100 degrees or higher.

Mehr said all common areas are being disinfected every evening, including but not limited to computer keyboards, doorknobs, light switches, water fountains, telephones, hand rails, desk tops, bathrooms and locker rooms. The district uses four different disinfectants registered by the Environmental Protection Agency which appear on the state department of education’s list of approved cleaners proven effective against influenza. However, Dr. Feirsen reminded the public that it is impossible to keep a school building sterile.

Many hand sanitizer dispensers are located throughout the district, and 15 have recently been added. They all contain a 60 percent alcohol-based sanitizing product.

He said at the primary levels, soap and water is available in every classroom, which has been proven to be the best way to clear hands of germs. Hand sanitizers are available in areas where soap and water is not accessible, but Dr. Feirsen said he recommends that children at this level use soap and water since they are more prone to touching their eyes and mouth. Dr. Feinstein noted that the average adult touches their face an average of 47 times in three hours.

7. SAT Improvement Needed

Garden City administrators are seeking ways to help students achieve higher SAT scores, announced Dr. Teresa Prendergast, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, at the December 15th meeting of the Garden City Board of Education.

The discussion was initiated by Garden City resident Denise Menelly, who asked how parents, teachers and administrators can work together to help students increase their SAT scores. She was unable to attend the Student Achievement Report presentation in November, but upon reviewing the statistics provided at the meeting believes the scores can be improved.

“I think things like SAT scores, when compared to a lot of other school districts, felt like it was quite low compared to what I think it should be for Garden City,” she said.

Dr. Prendergast admitted that administrators expected SAT scores to be higher since enrollment in Advanced Placement courses, as well as scores on AP exams, have seen “tremendous growth” over the past several years. Of the 448 sophomores, juniors and seniors enrolled in AP courses, 1,003 AP exams were administered in May; 72 percent received a score of 3 or higher, and 42 percent received a score of 4 or higher.

When last year’s student Math and Critical Writing SAT scores are compared to those of students in eight other districts (Cold Spring Harbor, Herricks, Great Neck North, Great Neck South, Locust Valley, Manhasset, North Shore and Roslyn), Garden City ranks eighth. When Critical Reading SAT scores are compared, Garden City ties with Great Neck North for the next-to-last position.

The average Garden City Math SAT score was 574; Great Neck South had the highest average Math SAT score out of the nine districts, with a 625, and Locust Valley had the lowest, with a 536. The average Garden City Critical Reading SAT score was 543; Cold Spring Harbor had the highest score with a 584 and Locust Valley had the lowest score with a 522. The average Garden City Writing SAT score was 546; Roslyn has the highest score with a 592, Locust Valley had the lowest with a 517.

Administrators will continue to research ways to raise student SAT performance, including examining if a correlation exists between SAT Subject Tests and the SAT.

8. IB Program Shelved

In May, the Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate Committee recommended to the Garden City Board of Education that the district not implement the IB program at this time.

The economy was the primary reason provided by Dr. Teresa Prendergast, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, during the committee’s presentation at the May 11th school board work session. “Certainly the economic climate is something we couldn’t ignore,” she said. “The cost factors are prohibitive. We recognize that the economic climate is somewhat grim and perhaps this might not be the right time to allow for the additional expenditures, particularly in the high school.”

The projected cost of implementing the IB program is $200,000. The costs include $9,000 for additional Level I training; $39,500 for initial start-up fees and Level II training; $35,000 for annual budget items including an annual fee, postage, staff development, a summer conference and dedicated copy machine; ancillary fees, such as the $88 fee per course, which the student would assume; and the cost for curriculum writing projects, textbooks and library materials. Additional full-time positions would also be needed, including a coordinator and secretary support. More teachers would possibly be hired depending on student course registrations.

The school board allocated funds in the 2008-09 budget to cover the cost for eight teachers and administrators on the AP/IB committee to attend a three-day IB Level I workshop during the fall and winter. These workshops and related expenses totaled $14,000, $4,815 of which was offset by a federal grant.

The AB/IB Committee, comprised of more than 20 administrators, teachers and parents, conducted a comprehensive study of the current AP program and researched the possibility of implementing the IB program. Committee members were fully aware that with 22 courses being offered, the district’s AP program is highly regarded and affords students the opportunity to participate in an array of AP courses. However, the need to explore the IB program existed because, “ultimately we’re looking for the best programs for our students,” Dr. Prendergast explained. “We recognize the fact that we’re preparing our students for a completely different world than we lived in.”

Besides the economy, Dr. Prendergast cited other reasons why the committee believed it best to shelve the program for the time being. Facility constraints, especially in the art and music department, would make those IB programs difficult to fully implement as designed. On May 26th, the school board will hold a special work session to further discuss the possibility of asking the public to vote in the fall on a bond to fund capital projects, which may include a new music wing at the high school.

She also said that there is no clear indication that IB is more valued than AP in the college admission process. Another reason Dr. Prendergast cited for not recommending the IB program is that it would mean the curricula in several content areas would need to be changed, primarily in mathematics, biology and Spanish. The IB math curriculum offers a theoretical approach to math and contains minimal statistical content. In biology, the existing Garden City curriculum would need to be realigned to accommodate the placement of IB Biology in junior and senior years. The Spanish curriculum would need to be changed so that students finish all grammar in the tenth grade if they want to enter the Spanish IB program.

Also, the IB Organization has said it will re-evaluate the Spanish and English program in 2013, which is problematic since it will occur just as the program was being firmly established in the district.

School Board President Colleen Foley supported the committee’s recommendation and said the board should look at the issue again, perhaps as early as next year. “The economic climate is driving what is happening to us right now,” she said. “The economic climate, the facility constraints and that curriculum requirement for 2013-that’s a real deal breaker at this point in time. I would rather us develop more our curriculum for the middle school, some of the plans that you’ve outlined here, and honestly, I would like to revisit this at another time. I’m just not sure that now is the time for us to go forward with this.”

The committee further suggested that the district integrate some of the IB program’s strengths, such as its emphasis on research and writing. Recommendations include requiring a “meaningful” research assignment to all students in grades six through twelve that would require the development of critical thinking skills. One possibility offered is to add a required writing and research course for all ninth graders. Currently, a research committee and library research committee are exploring these suggestions. The committees will provide an update at a school board work session on June 9th.

When it comes to the AP, the committee would like to see increased opportunities in science with the addition of an AP environmental science course. Dr. Prendergast said the committee would also like to see more opportunities for students to earn college credit through high school offerings. For example, the school district will offer qualified high school juniors and seniors who would like to continue their Italian language studies the opportunity to earn college credit through the St. John’s University College Advantage Program.

9. State Aid Delayed

The Garden City School District will have to wait to receive $47,000 in money due from the financially-strapped State of New York, as state officials began last month implementing Gov. David A. Paterson’s postponement of $750 million in state payments.

“We did not lose any general aid at this point,” explained Albert Chase, assistant superintendent for business and finance, at the Dec. 15th meeting of the Garden City Board of Education. “The money that we’re losing is what’s called Public Excess Cost Aid, which are funds provided to the school district for special education students, as well as lottery aid. The delay in payment for us was $47,000. It was not anything that significant. It does not put us into any financial distress.”

Chase said he expects to receive the money after January 1st, after the state begins receiving tax revenue. “We do trust that we will get that payment,” he said.

10. IDA Rescinds Tax Break

In March, Superintendent Feirsen announced that the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency had officially rescinded the tax abatement it granted in June of 2008 to Allen Rosenberg, who had been the proposed buyer of the Garden City Hotel at the time.

“We feel that this is a very important precedent because they just didn’t let that tax abatement sit there on the records,” he said.

The school district was very pleased with the action, even though it was considered by many to be a non-issue since the deal between Rosenberg and the current hotel owners was never completed. In December 2008, Nassau State Supreme Court Justice Stephen A. Bucaria decided that Rosenberg defaulted by not closing on time.

“Justice Bucaria’s decision to invalidate the contract for sale made the matter moot and the IDA board moved, at its meeting on Wednesday, January 28, [2009], to rescind the resolution,” said Fred Parola, the agency’s chief executive officer, in an announcement posted on the IDA’s Web site.

In June 2008, the IDA approved a deal with Allen Rosenberg of the Alrose Group which froze the property’s current $1.7 million total for school, county and village taxes for three years. The corporation was to make payments in lieu of taxes, known as PILOTs, which would increase modestly over the next seven years. The hotel would have been required to pay its full share of real estate taxes beginning in the eleventh year. The agreement also included sales tax exemptions for the hotel renovation and exemption from a one percent mortgage recording fee. Albert Chase, Garden City School District’s assistant superintendent for business and finance, estimated that the district would experience a loss of $2.8 million in tax revenue over the 10-year period.

“We’re delighted at the outcome because it means we are back in a position where those kinds of gifts of tax abatements will be looked at and scrutinized very carefully, we hope, for the future,” Dr. Feirsen said. “I thank the Board for its support of that initiative, and congratulate the Board on its courage and its persistence in pursuing that issue.”

Although the Village and school district’s lawsuit began in July of 2008, months after Justice Bucaria claims Rosenberg was in default, he credited the village and school district with “derailing” Rosenberg’s attempt to secure tax breaks from the IDA with their legal action against the agency.