$ 213,129.00 x 3
In July we applied for a State wide grant entitled “School District Management Efficiency Competitive Grant program. On Tuesday I was notified that Mineola is one of 16 school districts across the State that won this grant. We are due to receive 213,129 for the next three years if we can continue to demonstrate our savings. Our application was a narrative of the Mineola School District’s configuration. It documented our journey, our savings to date and the ability to maintain (and add) academic programs. The Board and I are happy to bring this additional revenue to our school district. I will present additional information and some ideas for spending the money at the next Board Meeting on Thursday December 6.
Posted in Around the District 11 years, 12 months ago at 4:40 pm. 9 comments
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A well-deserved congratulations to Dr. Nagler and the Board of Education on this award. This grant application was an exhaustive document which, as Mr. Barnett points out, charted the progress our school district has made to sustain student programs in an impossible economic environment.
I am curious about the other 15 schools and the circumstances of their awards. Is there something we can learn from them? How does our experience compare with theirs?
After reading Perta’s post, I too have had similar concerns this year with Meadow’s facility, especially the library, and now the sing a long as well. Many of us left the city in hopes that our children would receive a superior education to that of their urban counterparts. A huge part of that is feeling a sense of community and family, which is lacking in many urban settings. When I saw where the library was located at Meadow my first thought was of a city school. I myself worked in the NYC DOE and as fortunate enough to not experience teaching in a utility room or closet. However, my sister is a physical education teacher in an overcrowded elementary school and do you know where she holds class for kindergarten students on occasion? A hallway or “multi-purpose” room. I said nothing in September, because as an educator want so badly to give fellow colleagues the benefit of the doubt. My one question is this, when construction was going to be delayed, how come renting a class trailer was not an option? Surely, this would be a better alternative then a library housed in a cafeteria (which can be noisy and disruptive)?
That being said, I reluctantly decided to speak up and I will admit that the sing-a- long was a catalyst for this. As for the sing-a-long I hope that a resolution can be reached so that parents can be included in this great tradition. I am confident my boys are learning and their fantastic teachers are doing a great job. I am just disappointed that my husband and I don’t feel a sense of community from our schools.
Thank you for this forum to air out our concerns. I hope that all of us can work together to create a successful environment for our children.
It was not meant to be an attack on you Dr. Nagler. There are many positive things going on in the District, however, I think that it’s OK to express disappointment when necessary. We all have opinions. Thanks again…..I appreciate your responses and I appreciate the opportunity to post on the blog.
Obviously you believe you can attack and insult me but I am not entitled to respond. It is also easier to be anonymous in doing so. I control whether to post something or not, in spite of your tone I posted your comment. You’re entitled to your opinion and I do not wish to change or debate it. The issues you raise are building level problems that can be managed at the school level. In the first post you state “the reconfiguration has had a negative effect on our children’s overall elementary school experience and will continue to do so until somebody shows they care” You then state- “ I am very happy with the progress my children are making due to the hard work of the teaching staff. The teachers really care” I am happy that your children are having a good experience in school. That is what we are trying to accomplish; it may not be done perfectly and it is certainly not done with malice.
Dr. Nagler,
Thank you for your response. Do we need to include our full name on your Blog? This is exactly the response that I expected. If somebody doesn’t agree with you, you insult them by calling them “angry” and “misinformed”. This is not what I am. I never said that I disagreed with the reconfiguration, I just think that it wasn’t handled well at Meadow and this continues to affect our children’s experience in a negative way. I can honestly say that I am unhappy with what is going on at Meadow. I feel for the teachers who are doing a great job in spite of the many hurdles. I am very happy with the progress that my children are making due to the hard work of the teaching staff. The teachers really care. Contrary to what you think, I am not misinformed as my statements are actually not far from the truth based on your responses. I either attend or watch every Board meeting. Every child deserves to have a “perfect” situation at school and you’re admitting that it is not a perfect situation at Meadow so somewhere things were not handled properly. The fact is that at the end of the day, Meadow does not have a library and there are too many students and not enough room. Classrooms should have been added. In closing, I would think that as the District leader you would be disappointed that the children will not be able to perform in front of their parents as I had as a child attending elementary school.
While I don’t normally allow anonymous posts on my blog this person’s post reflects some misplaced anger at the elementary principal’s decision to cancel parent participation in sing a longs. The post is also filled with many misconceptions.
Meadow’s Library- I am incredibly disappointed this project hasn’t begun, but to state that it wasn’t planned is inaccurate. Last summer (2011) we decided to expand the library scope of work and build an extension rather than enlarge a classroom. The Board and I felt strongly that Meadow’s library should be the same size and scope as Hampton. We added additional monies to the May 2012 budget for this expansion. We filed plans with the State Education Department immediately after the budget approval. We targeted a November opening if the plans were approved within 6-8 weeks. The plans were not approved until September.-14 weeks after submittal. We went out to bid and every bid came in over budget. We cannot award any project that will cost more money than we have. We modified the job by removing cosmetic interior finishes. We did not change the size of the space. By rebidding we were able to get a price within our budget. After we awarded the contract the contractor decided to withdraw his bid. We could have taken legal action; but that would have only delayed the job even more. Instead we were able to get the second bidder to lower his price and the job will start before the end of the year. While the current accommodations aren’t perfect children are still exchanging books and having classes with a full time school librarian. Something Meadow didn’t have before reconfiguration.
Space- Enrollment is not “continuing to climb” for the last 10 years we have been with 100 students more or less. Meadow and Hampton do have 125 more students in the building than the year before. With more students procedures must be modified and changed. The sing a long is a good example. If the principals chose to have parents attend they would have change the way it was done in the past. Stagger grades and change schedules to accommodate the increase in students. It easily could have been done if that is what they decided. Ultimately they decided the disruption to the school day was not warranted and they changed tradition.
Blaming reconfiguration is a convenient scapegoat for the fiscal reality facing schools in Nassau County. We have reduced close to 4 million dollars’ worth of expenses in the last few years. If we tried to accomplish that without reconfiguration we would be in a worse place. Look around and see what is being eliminated in our neighboring districts. They have and will continue to eliminate staff to present the public budgets within the levy tax cap.
To imply that I don’t care about children is a cheap shot and an uninformed statement. The Board and I, despite personal attacks, have delivered a school system that has maintained and added programs in the worse fiscal period in recent history. Other districts look to us on how we are accomplishing it. It is ironic that some of our residents don’t share that sentiment.
While I am happy that the District received this grant I would like everyone to know that the reconfiguration has affected the students at Meadow Drive tremendously. Our students have been without a library all year. It amazes me that the District waited so long on planning for what is such an important aspect of any elementary school. Enrollment continues to climb and this will eventually affect class size because there is not enough classrooms at Meadow. This was poor planning. Everything at Meadow is jammed into a small area. The music room was doubling as a computer room for the first half of the school year. There is no room for the students to congregate in the morning because the gym can no longer be used. Many of the students now have to stand in the hallway every morning. The latest is that parents cannot attend this years Holiday singalong because of “high enrollment” as stated in a letter that was sent home to parents. My family and many other families have chosen to live in the suburbs because of the close community feeling that you normally get in Long Island school districts. This District is beginning to become more like the city schools. There will be overcrowding and because of this parents will begin to lose touch with their community schools as they won’t be permitted to attend school events. The library fiasco is mind boggling to me. The Board rejected all of the initial bids so we had to scale down the plans and go through a second round of bidding. We’ll be lucky to see this Library completed for the start of the Sept. 2013 school year and our children will be deprived of a decent library for another year. There is no way that this construction can be done during school hours.
I feel that everyone needs to know that even though we received this award, the reconfiguration has had a negative effect on our children’s overall elementary school experience and will continue to do so until somebody shows that they care.
Well said, Artie. Congratulations!
Dr. Nagler is being a bit too modest in this announcement. Indeed this grant is the State’s recognition of The Mineola School District’s actions over the past few years to rein in spending and at the same time add to and enhance its program. It is amazing to see how many districts around the State have come to see and try to emulate what Mineola is providing its students. While the road to our current configuration was rocky at times, receiving this Management Efficiency grant, to me, is an endorsement of the direction we have taken.
To Dr. Nagler’s credit, a key piece of the grant application was having an APPR agreement with our teachers association. He managed to hammer out that agreement not in the 11th hour but in the 11:55th hour….literally.
This grant will, no doubt, allow us to further expand and enhance the 21st century skills our students are developing. Congratulations and thank you Dr. Nagler, this recognition of your vision is well deserved.