The paintings Mineola High School seniors Natalie Leitman and Vincent Tullo brought to the Mineola School Board last week turned out to be examples of both the best the school has to offer and the challenges sometimes faced by students,
Leitman explained that her paintings, which had been featured with Tullo’s at a high school art show Tuesday, were based on her feelings of being bullied.
“I was bullied a lot,” said Leitman, who will be majoring in studio art the College of St. Rose in Albany following her graduation. “I have always used art as an escape. Art has been a release for me.”
Leitman, who was invited to present her work at the board’s workshop, praised her high school art teachers and, said she hopes her college professors are as good.
“I’m really upset I’m leaving,” she said.
Tullo, who will major in photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, doesn’t normally paint. In fact, the painting he brought to meeting was just `the second painting he’s ever done. He credited the high school art department for inspiring him to create the piece he made.
“If it wasn’t for the high school art department, I would never have been able to create this,” he said. “The art teachers are amazing. I’m definitely going to miss them. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to make the portfolios we have.”
He said that what he will miss most is “the constructive criticism” he received from his teachers.
In other developments:
•During the open forum, Williston Park resident Fred Otto brought up the issue of young children and traffic safety. He said while driving down Hillside Avenue, he saw two young school children crossing the street onto incoming turning traffic.
“Is there an age group where you feel comfortable where the whole grade gets together and you have the police department you let them know how these traffic lights operate?” Otto asked the board. “This takes education like everything else.”
Mineola Superintendent of Schools Michael Nagler said the school start educating kids about traffic safety when they are five-years-old, adding that the elementary schools have safety patrols.
“We used to have crossing guards all the time,” he said.“Unfortunately, we’ve had some cutbacks in our crossing guards.”
Nagler said that the police have taken up some of the crossing guard duties.
“Part of the problem is, now if there is an emergency and a patrol car is not there, you have no one,” he said.
• Nagler said he is “thinking about introducing” Rosetta Stone as a tool in language courses. He said he is as yet “unsure” how it could be figured into the curriculum.
“Do we require it? I don’t know how many school children will do it voluntarily,” he asked.
Board president Christine Napolitano, supported the idea, saying that it would help students learning second languages, including students studying English as a second language. She said the software can be “pricey,” costing as much as $400.
“It’s something I would like to discuss further,” Napolitano said.
