After vote, Valley Stream school districts and new trustees look ahead

After taxpayers approved Valley Stream’s school budgets on May 17, administrators and newly elected Board of Education trustees are planning for the years ahead.

“We basically have our marching orders based on the budget vote,” said Bill Heidenreich, superintendent of the Valley Stream Central High School District. Since the district’s budget for 2016-17 is “status quo,” he said there is less for the district to do than there would be if it was adding new programs.

Heidenreich said that the district would be piloting two new programs in September that weren’t discussed at budget meetings, as they didn’t cost anything. A new virtual enterprise course will allow students to create their own business venture and compete against other students in Nassau County and the state, and a new advanced placement computer science course will be implemented in September.

“We’re always trying to make sure that we’re delivering a curriculum or courses to our students that will help them be the most prepared for college,” Heidenreich said.

As for capital projects, Heidenreich said he’d hoped to be able to complete work this summer to add computer labs to each school, which would be determined at the board’s June 14 meeting. Before requests for proposals can be sent out to start the competitive bidding process for other approved projects, such as the air conditioning system for Memorial Junior High School’s cafeteria, the state Education Department must approve the plans. Heidenreich said that the process often delays work until the summer of the following year. A project scheduled for this summer to replace ceilings in Memorial’s gymnasium was approved by voters in May 2014.

“I’m hoping that we’ll be able to have Memorial’s air conditioning in the cafeteria this summer, but that’s going to depend on how quickly some of the agencies can move on approving the project,” Heidenreich said.

Similarly, work authorized by taxpayers in 2015 will begin this year in District 30 with the Clear Stream Avenue School construction of an elevator and two additional classrooms. Superintendent Nicholas Stirling said that the project was recently approved by the Education Department. As for the expenditures approved last week, Stirling said the district has begun ordering supplies and new iPads, but payment won’t be issued for the materials until July.

In District 24, Superintendent Ed Fale said that the passed budget bought the district more time to deal with capacity issues that have become a primary concern in the last few years. Fale said the district now has the authorization to order new textbooks, and will be able to focus more attention on dealing with increasing student enrollment.

“What we have to decide now is how we want to deal with our needs for space,” Fale said. “Once we decide how we want to deal with it, then we can decide on what the best means would be to proceed.”

The district shifted its attention away from space concerns in the spring to focus on informing the community about the budget, and can now revisit those discussions again.

Kim Wheeler, who was elected to the District 24 board, said that she felt her experiences as a parent would allow her to make the Board of Education’s operations more accessible to busy parents.

“I’m also a large advocate for communication,” Wheeler said. “I was a parent who, at the time, was unable to attend every Board of Education meeting. Then there are others that work nights, so it makes it impossible. There should be a way for these parents to become more informed and continue to be knowledgeable about our district.” Wheeler said she wants to be a board liaison to parents to help explain the details of complicated topics like budget expenses.

Trogel, who has served on the board for 15 years, said he was content with the turnout of the election.

“It’s democracy,” he said. “It’s the way it goes. I can be in the audience instead of behind the desk.”

He stressed that District 24 could face a serious space issue next year with the opening of Sun Valley Towers, particularly at the Brooklyn Avenue School since “there is no space there at this point.” Trogel said he’d be following the issue as a District 24 resident, and that it was likely the board would have to discuss options with the community next year.

“I congratulate Kim, she did a great job, and Tony and John — I hope everything keeps going smoothly,” Trogel said.

District 13’s newest trustee, Milagros Vicente, said she didn’t have a specific platform that drove her candidacy.

“I have a child who has a disability and I know the struggles of parents with students with disabilities,” she said. “My experiences with my son and the things I’ve been through have made me who I am, which is an advocate for children, for children with special needs and for the community.”

Vicente said she couldn’t point to specific conduct by the District 13 Board of Education that she’d aim to improve on, but noted that she was interested in the managing of taxpayer dollars.

“Within District 13, I think that is something that is very important, because we don’t have a lot of commercial [businesses] here and [homeowners] end up paying a lot more taxes,” Vicente said. She added that she was interested in assuring the community, through direct communication, that the quality of all students’ education would not be compromised.

“When I see something that I don’t feel is right, I will voice my opinion,” she said. “I think that is an asset.”