Mineola Board of Ed Notebook: Feb. 16

The  held a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 16. Here are some of the things you may have missed.

2012-13 Calendar

• Mineola Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler reported that as of the meeting he was for June 2013, causing the adoption of the 2012-13 calendar to again be pushed back.
• “They just released the Regents schedule for June 2012 so they’re a little behind,” he said.
• If the district does not get relief from the requirement that it hold its between September 1 and the last day of regents, “we’re going to have a very odd calendar next year.”

Club Moderators

• The district finally has a , one of which started after the winter break and the other starting March 1.
• Two high school teachers have volunteered for the positions and will receive pro-rated stipends based on the time frame.
• Lindsay Spanhake will be the advisor of the mathletes club with a stipend of $898.
• The board directed Dr. Nagler to have the positions of club moderators going forward.
• “We shouldn’t be waiting until February of any calendar year to have a club filled,” board vice-president William Hornberger said.

2012 Budget Vote

• The district’s annual budget hearing will be on Thursday, May 3 at 7 p.m. at the Willis Avenue School, with the budget vote scheduled for Tuesday, May 15.
• Polling places will be located at the Williston Park Village Hall, , and the .
• A special evening registration of voters will take place on Tuesday, May 1 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hampton Street School, Jackson Avenue School and Meadow Drive School.

High School Report

• Student representative Matthew Moro reported that the senior class is going to hold another “kids night” for the younger grades, setting up activities at the high school as they did last year. “It was a real great success last year, we had a lot of fun, the kids had a lot of fun,” he said.
• Student Rachel Martinez gave a short presentation on the Mineola Rockettes Color Guard, which includes learning movement skills, characterization and how to spin batons, flags and rifles. “It takes hundreds of hours of practice to pull a production together... yet guard in itself is a reward,” she said. “It is striving to be the best that you can be, it is getting along with other people no matter how much you don’t want to, it is spending every Saturday performing your heart out just for the sake of knowing what life is truly all about.” In April the Mineola Red team traveled to Dayton, Ohio to compete against 101 teams in the world championships, earning fourth place and earned the eastern regional title the weekend of February 11-12 in Connecticut and are currently the top-ranked color guard in their class. The winter guard has tripled its size in the last 5 years according to Dr. Nagler. “The ladies really work hard at putting on a show that’s incredibly complicated,” he said.

Donation

• The district received a monetary donation in the amount of $1,124.95 from the Mineola Teacher’s Aides Association in memorium of Lucy Knowles, who passed away in January.
• The association would like to memorialize her with a chair and loveseat.
• “I know Lucy was kind of a fixture in the lobby at the end of the day, so I think a chair – she used to sit on the benches and converse with kids and adults – so I think it’s a very nice gesture on their part to put that in place for her,” Dr. Nagler said.

Other Board News

• The board labeled the with a SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) resolution along with a negative declaration.
• Mineola assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Patricia Burns will be running a parent university on the common core curriculum on March 20 at 7 p.m. “It’s going to really highlight all the work that Pat has been doing with currently getting ready for the common core and what we plan to do next year,” Dr. Nagler said, recommending it for parents of children in grades three through six.
• The Spain exchange left on February 14 for their two-week trip to Spain. In the fall semester for their portion of the exchange program.
• The district’s choral night has been changed from February 29 to March 14 at 7 p.m.