This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Concerns Raised Over Fundraising Fairness in Herricks

Donation from Denton Avenue raises issue of whether each district school receives equal resources.

A donation of more than $17,000 to be used toward the purchase of iPads and related products that was approved at Thursday night’s Herricks Board of Education meeting at the brought the issue of whether each of the schools in the Herricks School District receives the same amount of resources.

The Denton Avenue Parent Teacher Association raised and donated $17,640 toward the purchase of at least 30 iPads, cases and related materials.

Before the item was approved by the board, newly-elected trustee Brian Hassan noted that as a parent in the district, while he appreciated the donation, that this donation could “set a bad precedent” because Denton Avenue is the only school that will receive these iPads.

Find out what's happening in New Hyde Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A Searingtown parent and council member agreed with Hassan's idea, noting that it appeared Searingtown could not seem to raise the same amount of funds as the other elementary schools despite similar efforts. She wanted this issue to be addressed before things get “visibly excessive.”

Trustees James Gounaris and Peter Grisafi noted that it is very difficult to have complete equality or a perfectly level playing field with each school. Grisafi said that he would like to see the iPad program used as a pilot program for the school.

Find out what's happening in New Hyde Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We don’t want it to be a competition between schools,” he said.

Superintendent Dr. John Bierwirth encouraged the various PTAs in the district to open up a dialogue about issues such as donations and their appropriateness. He also said that these discussions could be mediated within the district if necessary.

A resident attending the meeting made the suggestion that perhaps the various PTAs could be combined into one to potentially help with this issue.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?