Mineola Board of Ed Notebook: Jan. 20

The Mineola Board of Education held a workshop session on Thursday, Jan. 20. Here are some of the things you may have missed.

Elections

• The annual election and budget vote will take place on Tuesday, May 17. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at , ,  and .
• The annual budget hearing is scheduled for Thursday, May 5 at 7 p.m. at the .
• A special voter’s registration will be held on Tuesday, May 3 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Cross Street School, Hampton Street School, Jackson Avenue School and Meadow Drive School.

Tenure

• The board granted tenure to high school biology teacher Surabhi John. John compiled a tenure portfolio, which serves as a “snapshot of her work in the classroom,” along with a video of her teaching a class.
• Mineola High School Principal Ed Escobar commended John for her creative lesson plans which usually include technology, and  willingness to collaborate with the other science teachers. “The goal is to increase student learning,” Escobar said. “I think that Surabhi John is really a model for what the future teachers are at Mineola High School.”

Contracted Instructional Services

• The board of education approved IDEA Flow-Through Allocations Contracts for the 2010-2011 school year between Mineola UFSD and the following agencies:
  • School for Language and Communication Development
  • Harmony Heights School
  • Cooper Kids Therapy Associates
  • Mid Island Therapy Associates LLC D/B/A All About Kids Services, LLC
  • S.E.E.D.S of the Willistons, Inc.
  • Nassau BOCES
  • Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf
  • Kids First Evaluation and Advocacy Center
  • Variety Child Learning Center
  • Association for Children with Down Syndrome
  • Kidz Therapy Services, LLC
  • Bilinguals Inc.
  • Brookville Center for Children’s Services, Inc.
  • Center for Developmental Disabilities
  • The Hagedorn Little Village School
• St. Charles Hospital and Rehabilitation will provide occupational and physical therapist services to the Mineola Union Free School District, through a contract approved by the board of education.
• A license agreement for WINCAP to provide the district with a finance software program for $22,025 in the 2010-2011 school year was approved.

Other Board News

• The board congratulated Bethanne Bartscherer on being . Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler joked that he had no idea what her project was about and needed an abstract in English just to get the basic concept. “I still don’t know what you did, but it sounds really good,” said Dr. Nagler to Bartscherer.
• The board approved the appointment of five chief election inspectors, nine registrars and 17 inspectors at the rate of $10 per hour, to be set at the four polling sites for the .
• Mineola High School Class of 2009 graduate Muireann Phelan will be. With about 30 other riders, she will complete the 4,000 mile trip in 60 days, visiting cancer patients at different stops along the way. Phelan called out to Mineola residents to donate to her trip at www.4kforcancer.org.