Mineola Board of Ed Notebook: Jan. 19

The held a meeting on Thursday, Jan. 19. Here are some of the things you may have missed.

Willis Avenue Rental

• The district has received two responses from the  rental request for proposal.
• Superintendent Dr. Michael Nagler stated that he would arrange for the parties to come and present to the board about their schools, their plans for the building and allow questions to be asked about how the building would be used.
• Both proposals are not for the full space for the first year.
• “They would build into their program because of the timing,” Dr. Nagler said. “So they would look to use a portion of the space the first year to get up and running and then by the second year use the whole (first floor).”

County Guarantee

• The superintendent gave an update on the recent court ruling on the
• which involves tax certiorari settlements.
• These settlements occur when residents and businesses challenge their tax bill and assessments and the county makes adjustments for their mistakes and people are reimbursed for paying an excess amount of tax.
• Previously the county would make up the difference for the schools since it controlled the assessing, yet after the repeal, school districts would have to fund and for any moneys they reimburse on their behalf.
• The last accurate numbers were from 2008, in which Mineola had $800,000 worth of refunds on taxes. The county currently estimates Mineola’s share as $330,000.
• “I don’t know how they went from $800,000 to $300,000,” Dr. Nagler said, “they fixed a lot of things in a very short period of time so I’m more comfortable using the $800,000 number that we would have to establish a reserve fund and fund that in order to have money to pay back the county.”
• In order to pay the settlements, the district would have to take its surplus at end of the year to fund the new reserve.
• The county says it will not bill the district until the next budget cycle.
• The school district is still inquiring about whether it can begin funding the reserve in the 2012-13 budget.
• “The odd thing about it is we don’t control the assessment, but now they want us to pay for the mistakes that they make with assessments so it’s an issue,” Dr. Nagler said. An appeal case is currently in progress.

High School Report

• student Mathias Penaherrera reported that the student organization met on January 19 to discuss their Valentine’s Day carnation and bake sale – complete with a chocolate fondue fountain – in the hopes of raising funds.
• Student organization members also met with the company that runs the lunch program as well as high school principal Ed Escobar to discuss students’ concerns regarding the program.
• Also, “more and more” students are receiving early acceptance letters from colleges. “The general mood around the senior class is positive being that our future is looking brighter and brighter with every college we get into,” he said.

Retirees

• Dr. Nagler added his own sentiments about the district’s recent retirees to .
• “I’ve known many of them for a lot of years, in particular Mr. Barth and Ms. Bernstein. I’ve known them very well, I call them friends,” he said.
• Bernstein’s first administrative job was assistant principal of the high school under then-principal Nagler.
• “I think she’s an asset both as a math teacher for many many years – 28 years in the district – and has turned the corner in our guidance department and she’s going to be sorely missed,” the superintendent said.
• Nagler was hired to take Barth’s position of assistant principal of when the latter was promoted to principal.
• “He’s a great educator, he too will also be greatly missed here,” Dr. Nagler said, noting Barth had been with Mineola for 34 years.

Student Mobility

• Following up on the question of in the district – students who move in and out of the district – Dr. Nagler reported that for the class of 2012, only 62 percent have been with the district for 13 years.
• “It’s very difficult to own the children when they graduate when you don’t have them the whole time,” he said, adding that his next research would be to find the achievement rates of the students they do have for their entire academic careers.
• “My hypothesis is, they’re going to have better achievement,” he said. “I don’t know how Earth-shattering that is, but I think it would fall in line with the logic that if we have continuity in consecutive education for kids, we’re going to have better results for them.”

Other Board News

• A $2,000 donation from the Thomas & Jeanne Elmezzi Private Foundation for the purchase of kitchen equipment in the life skills classroom was accepted by the board. This is the same foundation . “Very appreciative of this organization and the change in the room has really been a wonderful experience for the students,” Dr. Nagler said.
• In response to a parent’s remarks about one of his children being enrolled in the and the other not, despite the two being only a year apart in grade level, the superintendent mentioned that he has “some idea about accelerating some of next year’s third and fourth grades, giving them some exposure” of Spanish immersion. The district chose to this year.