EAST ROCKAWAY UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT        

East Rockaway, New York

Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

7:30 P.M., March 23, 2010 – East Rockaway Jr./Sr. High School

Preceded by a Presentation on Mathematics and a Public Form



MINUTES

 

Present:  Members of the Board of Education: Marie Girace, Linda Schmidt, Neil Schloth, Michaelene Abbott-Cooper; Superintendent, Dr. Roseanne Melucci; Director of Finance and Operations, Marcy Tannenbaum; District Clerk, Denise Lobascio.

 

1.     The meeting was called to order by Marie Girace at 8:06 pm and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Michaelene Abbott-Cooper.

2.     Upon motion by Linda Schmidt, seconded by Neil Schloth the minutes of the February 23, 2010 meeting were unanimously approved.

3.     Acknowledge Receipt of Financial Reports - None

4.     Correspondence – One


5.     Action Agenda

A.   Personnel
Upon motion by Neil Schloth, seconded by Michaelene Abbott-Cooper the following items

      #1 – 11 were unanimously approved:

 

1.     Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, accept, with regret, the resignation for the purpose of retirement of Arleen Buckley, from the position of library media specialist, effective June 30, 2010.

2.     Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, accept, with regret, the resignation for the purpose of retirement of Arlene Kaplan, from the position of elementary teacher, effective June 30, 2010.

3.     Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, accept, with regret, the resignation for the purpose of retirement of Sheila Orenstein, from the position of special education teacher, effective June 30, 2010.

4.     Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, accept, with regret, the resignation for the purpose of retirement of Margaret Veltre, from the position of elementary teacher, effective June 30, 2010.

5.     Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, approve the request for a child rearing leave of absence of Deanna Mignella from her mathematics teacher position, effective July 1, 2010 through the end of the fall semester of the 2010 – 2011 school year.

6.     Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, accept the resignation of Colleen Bushman from the positions of teacher aide and substitute clerical, effective March 12, 2010.

7.     Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, approve the request for a child rearing leave of absence of Michelle Healy from her elementary teacher position, effective April 22, 2010 through June 30, 2010.   

8.     Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, accept the resignation of Roberto DeJesus from the position of substitute food service worker, effective March 23, 2010, and approve the appointment of Roberto DeJesus to the position of food service worker driver, effective March 24, 2010 at the hourly salary set forth in the East Rockaway Food Service and Monitors Unit contract for food service workers for the 2009-2010 school year.

9.     Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, approve the appointment of John Denny to the position of teacher aide for the ALPSS program, effective March 24, 2010, at the hourly salary set forth by the East Rockaway Board of Education for the 2009-2010 school year. 

10. Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, approve the following temporary assignments at the hourly salary approved by the East Rockaway Board of Education: 

a.     Edward Reicherter, athletic supervisor, effective March 1, 2010

b.     John Denny, substitute teacher, ALPSS, effective March 24, 2010

c.     Jackelinez Perez, substitute food service worker, effective March 24, 2010

d.     Lucia Castro, substitute food service worker, effective March 24, 2010

 

11. Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, approve the continuation of the Òemergency and conditionalÓ personnel appointments for the following individuals pending receipt of notification of their fingerprint clearance from the State of New York, Department of Education:

 

a.     Jackelinez Perez, substitute food service worker

b.     Lucia Castro, substitute food service worker



B.    Other Items
Upon motion by Linda Schmidt, seconded by Michaelene Abbott-Cooper the following items #1 – 11 were unanimously approved.

1.    Approve the Notice of Budget Hearing and Annual District Election of the East Rockaway UFSD and the publication of such notice as required by law in the ÒOceanside, Rockville Centre, East Rockaway TribuneÓ and ÒThe Lynbrook/East Rockaway Herald.Ó

2.    Approve the terms and conditions of the contract with RCP Consultants Inc. for NCLB Consolidated Grant Application Training for the period July 1, 2010 through August 31, 2010 and authorize the Superintendent of Schools to execute the contract.

3.    Accept a donation from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County for the donation of a shade tree valued at $250. 

4.    Approve the following resolution:

BE IT RESOLVED that upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, the Board of Education of the East Rockaway Union Free School district approves the following school-sponsored field trip:

TO:           Venice, Florence, Rome, Pisa, Assisi and Sorrento, Italy
WHEN:     Departing:  March 27, 2010; Returning:  April 5, 2010
WHO:       East Rockaway Jr/Sr High School Students and Two Adult Chaperons
COST:       No cost to the East Rockaway UFSD
TOUR:      Explorica


5.    Declare obsolete for purpose of disposal and/or recycling, the computer equipment more fully set forth on the attached list of Obsolete Computer Equipment.   

6.    Approve the WinCap License and Support Agreement with Capital Computer Associates Inc. and authorize the President of the Board of Education to execute the agreement on behalf of the Board of Education.

7.    Approve the tuition agreement between East Rockaway UFSD and Seaford UFSD for special education services for the period 2009-2010 school year and authorize the Board President to execute the contract.

8.    Accept the recommendation of the School District Architect to reject all the bids received on February 25, 2010 for 2009-2010 Capital Improvement Program, SED No. 28-02-19-03-0-001-029, East Rockaway High School and SED No. 28-02-19-03-0-003-014, Centre Avenue Elementary School, and authorize the Director of Finance & Operations to take the necessary steps to explore other means to complete the work.

 

9.    Approve the contract with Rolling River Day School and Camp for the rental of parking spaces for the 2010 summer camp season and authorize the President of the Board of Education to execute the contract.

10. Approve the contract with Vincent DÕAmico for accounting services for the period March 24, 2010 through June 30, 2010 and authorize the President of the Board of Education to execute the contract on behalf of the Board of Education.

11. Approve the following resolution:

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the Board of Education of the East Rockaway Union Free School District approves the terms of the Memorandum of Agreement dated March 18, 2010, between the District and the East Rockaway Teachers Aides Association regarding the terms and conditions of employment for the DistrictÕs teacher aides unit employees for the period July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2012.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Superintendent of Schools is authorized to execute the resulting collective bargaining agreement on behalf of the Board of Education.



C.    Budget Transfers

1.     Upon motion by Michaelene Abbott-Cooper, seconded by Linda Schmidt the following budget transfers were unanimously approved:

a.     Transaction No. 10-0019

b.     Transaction No. 10-0023

c.     Transaction No. 10-0024

d.     Transaction No. 10-0025

e.     Transaction No. 10-0026

f.      Transaction No. 10-0027

g.     Transaction No. 10-0028

h.     Transaction No. 10-0030

i.      Transaction No. 10-0031

j.      Transaction No. 10-0032

k.     Transaction No. 10-0033

 

 

Upon motion by Michaelene Abbott-Cooper, seconded by Linda Schmidt the following items D&E were unanimously approved:

 

D.   Approval of CSE Recommendations

E.    Approval of CPSE Recommendations

6.     Policy Matters:

1.     For Review: 
Policy No. 4321.2 a/k/a 6.3193
School-Wide Pre-Referral Approaches and Interventions

7.     SuperintendentÕs Report.

HereÕs what is happening in our schools. 

At the elementary schools, our Enterprise students participated in a field Trip to Boston yesterday and today.  The grade 6 Science Fair will be at Rhame this Friday and the Science Fair for Centre Avenue will be on April 8th at 7PM.  This is a change from what is listed in the calendar.  Grade 3 students are studying butterflies.  Steven Fratello, butterfly expert, met with our students for an on-site demo of butterflies from South America and Africa.  In grade 2 students are beginning animal research projects and creating trioramas.    The entire 5th grade at Rhame is working on a Famous Woman Project. This project requires research, using the 6+ traits writing program and is an interdisciplinary project with art.  Projects will be presented at Special Visitor's day on Friday.  Science, grade 4 is working on chemical and physical changes through lab experiments. The experiments were Mystery Liquid Lab and Alka-Seltzer Lab. 

At the secondary school, some of our second language students will be travelling to Italy over the spring break.  This trip is being chaperoned by Mr. Fortgang and Mr. Cracolici.  East RockawayÕs version of March madness is underway with students writing poems and submitting their entries in the poetry competition.  The winners will be selected in April.  In the high school the students are currently reading: To Kill A Mockingbird; Macbeth; A Streetcar Named Desire; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; and Hamlet.  The 3rd annual Family Science Night is scheduled for Tuesday, June 9th.  Students in various middle school math classes celebrated Pi Day (3/14) by solving Pi-based mathematical problems.  Also math related, thirty-two students in the seventh grade participated in the St. JudeÕs ChildrenÕs Hospital Marathon. They completed math problems and raised $1116 by getting sponsors and donations.  On Thursday, April 8th, our AP Biology students will visit, for the second time, the DNA Dolan Center in Cold Spring Harbor to conduct a lab on DNA Restriction Analysis.  In social studies our students are studying about WWI and WWII as well as the Renaissance Era.  In the Economics classes students are planning for their future and considering dream jobs and evaluating good resumes and cover letters.  On Thursday, our 8th grade students will be traveling to Washington DC to continue their learning of history in our nationÕs capital.  They will return on Friday.

From the athletics department, students and faculty raised $2,486 for the American Heart Association during the Jump Rope and Hoops for Heart programs that took place in Physical Education classes at Rhame.  Congratulations to Karin Leary who won the honor of Conference Coach of the Year for her coaching efforts in Girls Basketball.

March is music in our schools month.  Students celebrated by participating in the World's Largest Concert sponsored by the Music Educators National Conference on Tuesday, March 16th.  In this school-wide assembly, students watched a concert of eight songs on a DVD and sang along with the student performers.  The Music in our Schools assembly for Centre Avenue will be this Friday.  Our elementary chorus students, under the direction of Mrs. Lalama, sang at the NY Islander game on Sunday, March 14th.  High School students did a great job singing, dancing and acting during last weekÕs Rock Rivalry performances.  The Senior Band is preparing for a competition and performance at Disney next month.  Rhame Avenue School celebrated its 20th birthday.  Part of the celebration included an art project for a school-wide tie-dying event.  With the help of some of our PTA parents (Michaelene Cooper, Jill Cote, Carrie Stern and Jackie Murphy) every class had a tie-die shirt in either black or orange.  Students learned the process of tie-dying while showing their school spirit.  The high school has put together a Did you Know card for Art.  It is available on the back table and will be posted on our website.

The SEDL words of the month are:

Centre grade 6: Arrogant, Attitude, Devastated and Impulsive

Rhame: grade 6: Scapegoat, Alienate, Empathy

Grade 7 words are: Identify, Enthusiasm, Loyalty, Envious

Grade 8 words are: Prejudice, Compromise, Intimate

Cold Spring Harbor School District and PS MS 124 visited our 7th and 8th grade classrooms and spoke to our students and teachers about our SEL program during the month of March.  The peer group started a big buddy/little buddy in Mrs. Hiller's 1st grade class at Rhame.  Each peer group member has an assigned group and each week there are activities focusing on anti-bullying, positive strategies and self-talk.  March and April will be Kindness Counts months at Rhame Avenue School. Each class will receive strips of paper.  These strips will be used to record acts of kindness by the students. When a student behaves in a kind or caring manner, he or she will write down or illustrate what he/she has done. The strips will be joined to form a paper chain.  The paper chains will be linked together in the hallway to show our school's caring connection and how "kindness causes a chain reaction." 

Keeping up with facilities, we have installed a new light pole by the front sign at the high school, motion lights have been installed in the cupola; the baseball fields dragged and lined; and the fields have been aerated.  At Centre Avenue a new piece of playground equipment was installed.  This was paid for from a grant from Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (S-Loop Horizontal Ladder and bench by the swing sets).  Also five new security cameras were installed.

Just a reminder that kindergarten registration and screening will begin in April.  At Centre the dates are April 12-15 and at Rhame the dates are April 19-23.

By now you should have received the census in the mail.  Please remember to fill it out and mail it back as some Federal funding for schools is attached to the results.

We received a $15,000 technology grant from Senator Skelos and that enabled us to remove $15,000 from next yearÕs proposed technology budget.  Thank you to the Senator.

There is one more BAC meeting on Monday, April 12th.  At the April 20th Board of Education meeting, the Board will adopt the budget that will be brought to the community for a vote. 

The elementary schools just completed Parent /Teacher conferences.   The high school conferences are this Thursday.

Just a reminder that schools will be open on Friday, May 28th to make up for the third snow day.  This has been updated on the calendar on our website.

Five students from Rhame Avenue School have been selected as winners in the essay contest sponsored by the East Rockaway Progressive Care Facility.  The students were asked to write an essay using the sentence, ÒWhen I grow up I want to be like my grandmother/grandfather/older person becauseÉÓ The winning essays were from: Christopher Levins; Zane Zeilberger; Jillian Weinclaw; Snoi Ultsh; and Dean Cooper. 

I also want to acknowledge that Mrs. Guggino was recognized last night at the SCOPE Awards Banquet for an Administrator Service Award for her work with our students with disabilities and their families.  Congratulations Mrs. Guggino.

That concludes my report.

 

8.     Privilege of the Floor

One community member questioned who was financing the trip to Italy.

Some community members shared their concerns with the cancellation of the MTA bus route to Kellenberg.

The Education Foundation announced a fund raiser ÒSeeds of EducationÓ.

A community member asked if more information could be given regarding the budget transfers.

Another community member questioned the rejection of the bids in item B8.

A few community members voiced their opinions regarding the Enterprise Program.

9.     Board Member Comments

 

Michaelene Abbott-Cooper – Thank you for a great presentation.  Congratulations to Dylan Gross as new Long Island SW District Lieutenant Governor of Key Club. Everyone have a great recess – see you in April.

 

Neil Schloth – Thank you Mr. Cangemi for the presentation. Mr. Cimorelli and Mr. Howard thank you for the new robotics club. The kids love it and the teamwork it creates shows. I am very glad to see that Rock Rivalry went smoother this year. I believe it creates a great learning environment. I just returned from Albany with other members of other boards to allow our voices to be heard regarding the restoration of state aid. We were told that letters written from community members to the officials will help.  Please address your letters to Bob Barra, Dean Skelos and Harvey Weisenberg. Thank you all for coming.

 

 Linda Schmidt – Thank you to the robotics club and the math teachers for your presentations. Congratulations to all classes for Rock Rivalry. Thank you parents for sharing your concerns. We take them very seriously. There is not one thing that is more important than the other.  Thank you all for coming.

 

Marie Girace – I would like to echo my colleaguesÕ comments. I am very happy to see that the new Rock Rivalry changes created no dastardly results. Thank you to the robotics club. Happy 20th Birthday to Rhame Avenue School.  It is a wonderful place with a wonderful staff.  Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We look into all of them and make note of options. Our job is to listen.

After 17 years of service I have decided to retire my position on the Board. Please think about running but it has to be taken seriously. There are many important decisions to be made and made fairly.  Thank you for coming.

10.  Upon motion by Neil Schloth, seconded by Michaelene Abbot-Cooper and unanimously approved the meeting was adjourned at 8:07 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

Denise Lobascio

District Clerk