NHP-GCP Board Discusses Improvement, Bullying, Budget

The New Hyde Park-Garden City Park board of education discussed how the board can improve as a whole, new bullying and cyber-bullying initiatives and budget planning during its work session on Monday night at Manor Oaks School.

Superintendent explained the three areas where the board has improved.

“You’ve improved on the public visitor section of the meeting, you don’t enter dialogue with the people, you say you’ll get back to them and you get back to them and that has improved the efficiency of your meetings," Katulak said. "Your meetings run like clockwork now, you do not have a lot of debate, you do that at the work session, so you run a very tight and functional meeting; and you have a growing respect for one another. When one person on the board is speaking another is listening, and that was an issue if you remember four years ago.”

Trustee Alan Cooper thought the survey which this information was based on was poorly constructed and pointless.

“This is one of the most atrocious surveys I’ve ever read in my entire life," Cooper said. "Almost every single question is double, triple or quadruple barreled…It’s the cardinal sin.”  

Instead, the board looked over the bolded headings of that survey and went around the room saying what they think should be improved. Trustee Patricia Rudd said she thinks one problem is getting all the board members together at once.

“I think we’ve gotten better at that,” Cooper said. “Personally, if I wasn’t here for a meeting, even if I totally disagree with what we’ve done, I will accept it…If we’re not here it’s our fault.”  

Another issue Rudd brought up was to forget the side conversations and to stay on task, which President Ernest Gentile said is very important to do especially during a work session.

“My biggest complaint is, if you have a point to make, think it out clearly and make your point clearly and concisely," Trustee David Del Santo said. "We don’t need five minutes of dialogue to get to a point."

Trustee Frank Miranda said he just wants to make sure the community feels comfortable and relaxed enough that they can come to the board with any problems.

“It’s not us against them, we’re all in it together, we all pay the same taxes and we’re all in it for the kids,” Miranda said.

After everyone’s insight, Katulak suggested the board members write down a list of goals as an entity for the next re-organization meeting.

“I think we’ve gotten better as a board, but obviously nobody is perfect and there’s room for improvement,” Cooper said.

In Other School Board News

• Katulak discusses a packet that included outgrowth of the bullying cases across the state and a way for the board of Regents to address it. “It states what a district has to do and they define terms so people are clear between bullying and harassment," he said. "So our charge as a board of education is that you will have to create a board policy with the New York State’s School Board policy that we will approve.” Gentile said he thinks it is more about parental education rather than student education when it comes to bullying. “They grew up in a different time period and it’s not that bullying is accepted, but maybe they don’t even know how to handle it,” he said. Katulak said he and the school social worker or psychologist can attend the PTA meetings to educate the parents.
• In terms of the upcoming budget process, the board is still deciding on class sizes and Katulak said he will be sending out a press release explaining that the two percent cap is a two percent cap on the school’s budget spending, not on the community’s tax bill. “Everybody is thinking that when they get their school tax bill next year it’s only going up two percent, so we have to educate them now, slowly,” Katulak said. Be sure to look out for that press release on Sunday night and to attend the Nov. 14 meeting, which will include a presentation on the budget from Assistant Superintendent for Business Michael Frank.