Minutes
Coalition for Glen Cove
February 3, 2003
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
A photo of the officers of the Coalition appeared in
a recent issue of the local papers.
Don Scarl will write two more articles for the local
papers, one on our meeting with Dr. Freely, Superintendent and the other
on Diane Scricca, the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and
Instruction.
Don also interviewed Francine Santoro, Principal of
Gribbin School and will be submitting an article to the local papers.
Francine insisted on giving Don a tour of Gribbin, which gave him a first
hand opportunity to see many young children learning and thriving in one
of our fine primary schools.
Interviews are a great way for the community to get
to know our educators. Please contact Don if you would like to conduct an
interview or suggest someone to be interviewed.
Our website was down recently because of a break-in
at our website host and the ensuing investigation. It is now operating
again.
A meeting of those who will run or might run for
school board now or in the future will take place February. A vote will
take place by mail-in ballot. Thus far, Rich Tortorici and Liz Brasiello
have expressed an interest in running. We need someone to handle the
voting process...mail out ballots, tally votes, etc.
Our annual fundraising letter will be going out
soon. We need someone to take on this responsibility since Chuck Kutruff
is no longer available to take care of this. This involves sending out
the mailing to members and prospects, recording contributions, and sending
thank-you letters to contributors.
Sophie Zimmerman has again volunteered to help
organize our brunch which will take place this spring.
Don suggested that the Coalition lobby the school
board to propose a fair budget. We would like to see the board hold budget
hearings with opportunities for community input while the budget is being
created instead of after the school board has approved it. It was
suggested that all input should be in writing as well as being presented
at a meeting publicly. It was also noted that a flat budget is not really
flat if enrollment is growing in a particular area. A flat budget actually
means a decrease of services to the greater number of students in a
program. We risk falling behind if we view everything in this way. For
example, our flourishing music program has been growing with at least 600
middle and high school students involved, yet the staff has remained the
same. Another teacher is needed at the high school level to ensure the
quality of the program.
Don Scarl has received a number of e-mails concerning
the lack of attention given to academically gifted children in the
district. At this time, there is a program called Academics Plus at the
3rd and 4th grade level, but no similar program exists at the middle
school for these students in 5th and 6th grade. Descartes math begins in
6th grade and honors classes begin in 7th grade. Anyone interested in
forming a coalition committee to address these concerns can contact
Helen
Kotzky. There is also a concern about the size of
honors and AP classes at the high school. If there is to be "open
enrollment" then we may need more sections of each class, not class sizes
of 30 and over.
Coalition member Lucille Cutler has received a
$10,000 grant from Verizon for Project Literacy. The organization will be
able to train 70 more tutors. Lucille is also being honored as an
"Everyday Hero" in an upcoming issue of Newsday. Congratulations,
Lucille!
Minutes submitted by Helen Kotzky |