The New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Board of Education has begun negotiations to renew contracts with district employee units whose contracts expired on June 30.
At Monday night’s school board meeting, New Hyde Park- Garden City Park Superintendent of Schools Robert Katulak said the school board has entered into negotiations with three bargaining units of district employees, including the teachers, monitors and clerical units. Contracts expired on June 30.
“We are continuing negotiations to reach settlement with all bargaining units in these financially challenging times,” Katulak said.
Asked to comment on the state of negotiations, he said that talks had just recently been initiated and said “Everything is still unknown.”
During his report to the board, Katulak said the district’s capital reserve projects, $9.67 million in projects previously approved, are underway. A total of $8.3 million in contracts have been awarded to date for work in all of the district schools.
Those projects include: replacement of fixtures and tiles in the boys and girls bathrooms and replacement of the kindergarten playground safety surface in the Manor Oak School; sidewalk repairs outside the Garden City Park School, and renovation of the nurse’s office, installation of new corridor ceilings and lighting, replacement of the gym ceiling and lighting and gym showers and replacement of basement heating units; ceiling repainting and new light fixtures in the Hillside Grade School, where the exterior fascia of the building is also being replaced; new corridor ceiling and lighting, and replacement of library ceiling lighting and heating fixtures in the New Hyde Park Road School.
Details of the progress of these respective projects are available on the district Web site at https://www.nhp-gcp.org.
During his report to the board, Katulak announced that three district schools, the Garden City Park, Hillside Grade and Manor Oaks schools, have been recognized by the state Board of Education as Reward Schools based on performance of students on New York State tests during the 2010-11 school year. They were among 230 of 4,520 schools that earned the designation statewide.
He also reported the school district’s administrative staff had completed two days of additional teacher evaluation training with administrators from the Franklin Square and Floral Park School Districts. The collaborative training sessions were a cost-saving measure, he said, in preparation for the state-mandated Annual Professional Performance Review that takes effect this fall.
Katulak also noted that the district’s summer school special education, English Language Learners and Kindergarten Reading Programs began on Monday. The district’s Summer Recreational Camp, which is being held this year at the Manor Oaks School, also started on Monday.
During the reorganizational meeting that preceded the regular board meeting, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Board of Education Trustees Frank Miranda and David Del Santo were sworn in for new three-year terms of office.
Del Santo and Miranda were both re-elected in uncontested races in the May school district election. Del Santo is serving his third term on the board. Miranda served on the board from 2004 to 2007 and was appointed to replace Annette Giatani, who stepped down due to illness, in 2011. He ran for a one-year term last year to fill out her term before running again this year.
School board president Ernest Gentile and Vice President Joseph Bongiorno were both unanimously elected to continue serving in their respective positions.
