Cross Street Lease
At Wednesday’s Board meeting a large group of people attended and asked questions about the lease with Solomon Schechter Day School. A lot of the misinformation has been generated by a FOIL request made by a non-resident of the district. He based his assertions on a preliminary proposal that was approved by the Board knowing that many things still needed to be worked out in the final lease. Without any knowledge of Cross Street or the Mineola district he offered his opinions about the cost of capital work and the profit the district will receive. His opinions are NOT factual. The revenue generated from the lease absolutely helps our programs and dwindling State aid. To put it in perspective, the revenue is equal to 75% our entire budget for clubs. I urge residents to get facts and understand the issues before jumping to conclusions. More importantly, ask questions rather than make things up.
Here are some facts about the Solomon Schechter Day School (SSDS)
- There are approximately 250 students in their 6-12 program. This has been confirmed with SSDS, the number on their website is incorrect.
- They currently have 1 large bus, 27 smaller buses, and 8 vans transporting all of there students. The total is 36 not 53. The proposal listed a greater number then currently exists
- The smaller buses and vans make is easier to navigate the streets
- Since they are dependent upon ‘sending’ districts to coordinate buses the exact number or sizes of buses changes year to year
- Our proposal is to expand the existing parking lot to accommodate 78 parking spaces and a bus lane for small buses and vans inside the parking lot
- They have 69 staff members (6 travel between buildings)
- The playground will remain open for all community members
- Field usage: In April and May, the WP Little League may use the field Monday, Wednesday, Thursday after 7:30, Tuesday After 6:30, Friday after 4:00, all day Saturday and after 12 on Sunday
- From May 28 to June 25th the fields will be available after 4 and on weekends
- Fields available the summer months exclusive of the last two weeks in August
- I have spoken with a representative from WP little league and they inform me that they can run their program within these parameters
This is an accredited school of academic students; in some respects it is very much like Chaminade on a much smaller scale. Chaminade has 1400 students and 90 buses come into small streets on a daily basis. Hundreds of student drive and park on the streets. Add to that Jackson Avenue elementary school of 450 students and Mineola Middle School of 600 students- somehow for over 75 years they have co existed and thrived next to each other.-
Representative from Solomon Schechter will join me at the Village meeting on the 21st.
Mr. Nagler,
Yes it does. Thanks for your articulte and prompt reply.
Bill
The total reduction of all personnel is 19. Of those 15 will be teachers. The reduction is possible because of two factors. One- we eliminate ‘bad class size numbers”. For example we typically have 200 students per grade but have no control over what school they attend. Therefore one school can have 28 students on a grade while another has 40. The first school would have two teachers with class sizes of 14; the second school would have 2 classes with class sizes of 20. When you put all of the students in the same place you get 68 pupils with 3 teachers and a class size of 23. So you get a reduction of one teacher and still get a manageable class size. The second factor is the ‘economy of scale” we get when moving eight grade into the high school. By placing another grade that is departmentalized (specific teachers for specific subjects) we avoid duplication we had when the 8th grade was in the middle school. We also do not have offer special classes for 8th grade honor students since they can take the same classes with 9th graders. Does that answer make sense? .
Dr. Nagler,
I have a question on the budget. Mr. Schumacher of the Finance Committee has stated that the elimination of 19 teaching positions related to closing Cross Street School would save $2.3 million dollars. If there are 19 fewer teachers who will teach the children who will be transferred out of Cross Street?
Thank you,
Bill
Thank you, I hope everyone watches and sees questions answered and ignored and can get a feel for the tone.
It is currently on the Mineola website under Board of Education
Dr. Nagler, I will ask again. Why is the March 16 meeting not yet on the local channels. So many people are making assumptions about the true tone of the public comments. They need to see it for themselves.
If we are going to use this access to media, it needs to be current. I think a 48 hour turnaround should be standard. 30 days is simply not acceptable
If it is turn-around time on finished video is the only thing that’s delaying televising meetings and the District can do something to improve it – great. I’m all for it.
If that is the case, then maybe we can have the best of both worlds: quicker turn-around resulting in more contemporaneous broadcasts, as well as a video archive of all meetings hosted on the website that citizens can access at any time.
Currently the VOM meetings are aired within 24 hours. I doubt it’s a scheduling issue. More likely the turn around time of the finished video.
I agree with Mr. Barnett. Getting the Board meetings on TV quicker would be great. It would help those who are unable to attend meetings keep up to date, and really reduce the spread of misinformation. However, as Dr. Nagler has no control over Cablevison, FIOS, etc., I don’t know how much he can do about their scheduling.
Perhaps a better alternative would be for for Dr. Nagler to post the full videos of all Board meetings on the website. This way, interested citizens would be able to access them whenever they want. Doing so would go a very long way in enabling community members to educate themselves, understand the issues, and form their own opinions about what this District is facing – instead of relying on hearsay and some of the political rhetoric circulating around town.
Is there any way to get the meetings aired on the local access channel quicker? The way issues keep arising, by the time they air, it’s old news.
Dr. Nagler ,
Is there a formula that you may have used for deriving at the lease amount for SSDS ?
• 36 buses, many of them vans, compared to at least 36 mini vans and SUV’s belonging to parents dropping off or picking up their children.
• I don’t believe Dr. Nagler ever stated that there were NO issues with bus, parent, student, and staff traffic, while not always convenient; he simply stated that it has worked for 75 years.
• I have a child in Jackson and one in the Middle School, and travel those roads twice a day, every day. Sayville Road is not exclusive to bus traffic.
• Emory Road which many Chaminade buses travel down is a residential road, as well as Marcellus Road which the Jackson Avenue buses use.
• To reiterate, between Jackson, the Middle School and Chaminade there are over 3,000 students arriving and departing from 3 schools within 10 minutes of each other. To date, and to the best of my knowledge, no child has been hit by a bus.
• Agreed that the residents have a right to be concerned, however, this is reality when you purchase a home near a school. You can’t buy a house with train tracks behind you and then complain about the noise.
It all comes down to change.
Dr. Nagler,
A couple of things come to mind while reading this. First off, 36 buses is scaled down from the 53 that someone came up with; however, it is still up immensely from 4 buses that currently go to Cross Street. Whether they are small buses or large buses, i do not think it makes a difference. Second, you mention Chaminade having no issues with with their 90 or so buses. I would like to know the last time you tried traveling on Emory Road at 245 when the schools are letting out? I know that I have travelled on this road multiple times and with parents picking up their children at the Middle School and all 90 buses at Chaminade it can cause chaos on some days, especially snowy ones in the winter. Still on the topic of Chaminade, let me make it aware to you that the 2 streets the buses Chaminade uses have no residences on them. The area surrounding Cross Street school is all residential. There are no streets strictly for buses to travel down, such as Sayville Road in Mineola and Jackson Avenue between Sayville Road and Emory Road that Chaminade uses. Buses travelling to Cross Street must make their way either down Meagher Place or down Winthrop Street in order to make it onto Cross. All three of these blocks are residential. The people who live there have a valid point that should be further looked into and a traffic plan should be designed. Lastly, St. Aidan’s elementary school also has buses travel down Winthrop Street and Cross Street a little earlier than when Cross is dismissed. If Solomon Shechter gets out earlier this will cause even more mayhem on these streets.
Thank you,
Todd