Merrick School Board Talks Technology

With technology becoming so prevalent and widely-used, the Merrick school board discussed the pros and cons to having administrator e-mail easily accessed and available to parents on the school’s websites at its meeting Tuesday.

In a previous meeting, Dr. Ranier Melucci, superintendent of schools, decided to put principal e-mails on the schools’ websites, but then backtracked and said that he didn’t think it was necessary.

Diane Seaman, trustee and member of the Bellmore-Merrick board which was represented at the meeting, said that the school website should have principal e-mails because it makes it easier for working parents to communicate with administrators during the day.

“E-mail is any easy way for a working parent, who doesn’t have access or the time to make a phone call during the day, to get in touch with a principal about an incident or a question that they have,” Seaman said.

There were also concerns for opposition, both from the board and from attendees. Board member Nancy Kaplan was concerned that a response from a principal could be held as the definitive written word or a liability to the district, to which board member Susan Schwartz, also a member of the Bellmore-Merrick board of education, said that a principal should use discretion when answering a parent and could return their e-mail with a follow-up call in order to avoid having to put things in writing.

“I have faith that our administrators can handle e-mail communication,” she said.

One attendee explained that she is striving to teach younger people the value of a personal touch and by putting the e-mail address of principals on the websites of the schools; it will just create further degeneration of communication and interaction.

Schwartz explained that e-mail would actually open the doors to more communication between parents and the school because it would be more convenient for parents to get in touch with the school, to which Seaman echoed her sentiment.

“If one of our goals as a district is to be more open and to communicate more, this is a good way to do it,” Seaman said.

Melucci suggested asking how other school districts handle having e-mail on their websites and returning to the issue when the information was gathered. The board agreed.

“It is an important tool, so we should do our due diligence and talk to other districts about it,” Melucci said.

The North Merrick and Bellmore elementary districts post principals' email addresses on their websites.  North Bellmore does not. 

Another technological topic at the meeting was the use of board software. Board member Sheri Iskenderian explained that the BOCES board started using electronic board software and said that the response from them has been positive. Iskenderian proposed the Merrick board look into using the software as well. Although the board would have to purchase laptops, Iskenderian told the board that the entire system is paperless, which would cut back on multiple costs related to paper during the year.

Melucci suggested asking BOCES if the board would be able to test it for free and added that he would continue looking into the program for the next meeting.

In other board news:

• The board approved the placement of a memorial bench at the Norman Levy Lakeside School for former teaching assistant Shelley Rubin. The bench will be placed in the playground. The Lakeside school student council raised all of the money for the bench itself.

• The board also approved the gift of a Flip camera to Chatterton Elementary School from student Justin Lange. Lange wanted to thank the school for the support and treatment he received after the passing of his mother and will present the camera to the school at a later date.

• Merrick and other surrounding school districts are continuing to fight the tax certiorari and the Merrick board has approved the hire of legal counsel to do so.  Melucci explained that if 20 school districts join in the fight, the legal aid will cost the school board $7,500 and if 30 districts unite, then the cap will be $5,000 for all legal services.