Island Trees Board Discusses Prom, Sinkhole

Stealing the show at the Island Trees Board of Education's planning session Wednesday evening were the 2011 senior prom and graduation events.

Nick Grande, principal of Island Trees High School, and Pamela Hostetter, vice principal of the high school, presented the board with options for changes surrounding the event. Grande and Hostetter discussed the best ways to keep the senior class safe and under supervision between the prom festivities and graduation.

According to Grande, the students and the parents of the senior class were polled and had an overwhelming response in favor of moving graduation to a Friday evening instead of the traditional Sunday at noon ceremony.

One of the major concerns that would be eliminated by moving the graduation is the trip to Seaside Heights, N.J. that many of the seniors make after prom and before graduation.

"We've had some kids that have gotten into trouble down there – not serious trouble, but still, then it's up to us to decide if the kid walks at graduation," Grande said.

The board agreed that it would work out to move the graduation to Friday night, and the members said they plan to take further action.

As for the prom, Grande and Hostetter brought up new suggestions about the surrounding events.  The duo proposed that the school host a red carpet pre-prom event at the school, providing refreshments and giving the kids plenty of room to take pictures.

Grande suggested giving the kids a mandatory time to be at prom after the pre-prom photos. He also suggested that the school bus the kids to the prom to prevent pre-partying and drinking at private homes. The board, again in accord, decided the pre-prom would be great for the kids.

After-prom events were also discussed. For the past few years, the PTA has put on a post-prom breakfast complete with raffles, a buffet and a d.j.

Grande and Hostetter suggested possibly moving the post-prom breakfast to 10 a.m. the next morning and attaching a mandatory graduation practice with it.

Split on the decision, the board decided to send out a memo and have an open meeting about it with the parents of the senior class as well as the PTA.

Another hot topic for the board was the discussion of cyber bullying. The Island Trees schools hope to build a stronger policy on bullying for the upcoming school year.  "Bullying will be taken much more seriously," said Charles Murphy, superintendent of schools. "A record of the incident and of the resolution will have to be made and kept and bus driver training will take place in the beginning of the year." 

Grande and Murphy both said the video cameras that have been newly-installed on campus for security have helped catch bullies during the school day and have also helped get the attention of parents.

"Some parents come and tell me that they can't believe that their kid is bullying people, and I can just say, 'Let's cut to the video,'" Murphy said.

Cyber bullying is a gray area, according to the board and Grande, with many parents wanting outside events that happen after school hours and on weekends to be resolved by the administration. According to Grande, they can step in to make sure that what happens at home doesn't carry over into school, but they cannot pursue an incident that had nothing to do with the district.

"It needs to have a true relationship with the school," said Murphy.

Grande explained the only way to show the kids that cyber bullying is serious business is to keep making examples of the kids that violate the rules. "The more we discipline them, the more cooperation that we get," he said.

Another big reoccurring topic this year is the sinkhole below the new Island Trees High School track.  Originally, the board was planning to wait on outside company H2M before appealing the situation with the sand tunnel and further investigating the sinkhole, but at the meeting the board decided that neither issue could wait any longer and both must be moved on immediately.

Rochon and Louis DiPadova, director of plan and facilities, both said that H2M never asked for any plans or blueprints for the field and that it was never brought to the attention of the board that the company needed anything additional to properly do its job.

"We must adamantly dispute these issues with the lawyers," said Ken Rochon, vice president of the board. "These are H2M's problems and they are going to be a major issue."