Huntington School Board Notes
Huntington School Board members have approved creation of two privately funded scholarships honoring members of the school community who recently passed away.
The Friends of Phil scholarship fund is being created to recognize the remarkable life of Phil Antonucci, the former president of the Blue Devil Marching Band Parent Assn. A second scholarship honoring former Assistant Superintendent Steven Tribus is also being developed by his family.
Mr. Antonucci passed away last August from cancer. His family is planning to sponsor a $500 scholarship in 2013 and again in 2014. The scholarship would go to a deserving music student in each of the two years.
Mr. Tribus was felled by a stroke in January. He retired from the district in June 2000 after a long career as an English teacher and administrator. His family would like to award an annual scholarship to a student interested in pursuing a college major in English and a career as a high school English teacher.
Trustees also took the following actions:
• Approved a petition seeking permission from the New York State Board of Regents to register the Jack Abrams STEM Magnet School to operate in the 2013/14 school year. The petition indicates grades 3-5 would initially be served with an expected enrollment of 150 students.
• Authorized long-term substitute Woodhull Intermediate School librarian Peggy Gallagher to work through approximately March 18. (She was previously approved to work through March 4.)
• Appointed Ralph Carino as the Huntington High School boys' junior varsity assistant lacrosse coach.
• Approved Ignatius Asaro, Cynthia Persichilli-Bergmann, Shari Campbell, Rosemarie Canino, Steven Davis, Carol McGovern, Cynthia Vitulli, Lisa White, Krystle Canino, Maria Canino, Melissa Mock and Hugh Norton to work as athletic event supervisors. They will be paid $31.70 per hour.
• Approved health services contracts with the Cold Spring Harbor, Commack, Deer Park, East Meadow, Elwood, Glen Cove, Half Hollow Hills, Harborfields, Hauppauge, Locust Valley, North Babylon, Northport-East Northport, Oyster Bay-East Norwich, Plainview-Old Bethpage, South Huntington and Syosset school districts.
• Approved three bids for surplus items, including ones submitted by Mid-Island Salvage for a 1996 Chevrolet Suburban ($517) and a 20'x17' trailer ($1,200) and G. Brown for a 1996 Chevrolet pick-up truck ($1,200).
• Awarded bids for 600 academic awards night booklets, 2,000 annual commencement exercises booklets and 2,000 commencement cards to Island Pro Digital. The items will be used at Huntington High School.
• Approved a contract with the Jericho Public Schools for physician, nurse and psychological services during the 2012/13 school year.
• Approved a health and welfare services agreement with the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District for the 2012/13 school year.
• Approved a consultant services contract with Paul Sachs for an "economic reform presentation accompanied by music." He will be paid $200.
• Approved a consultant services contract with Gary DeFrancesco. He will provide assistance with the development of a magnet school assistance program grant application. Mr. DeFrancesco will be paid $13,000 upon Huntington School Board approval of the grant application submission to the US Department of Education and another $14,600 if the grant is funded.
• Approved contracts for health and welfare services with the Great Neck, Uniondale and Half Hollow Hills school districts for the 2012/13 school year.
• Authorized science teacher Rosario Lorenza to receive mileage reimbursement for travel between school buildings.
• Renewed an agreement with SCOPE Education Services for a before and after school child care program during the 2013/14 school year.
• Awarded bids for 200 copies of Et Cetera literary magazine, 14,000 copies of the district's budget notice, The Dispatch newspaper, the district's transportation guide and 14,000 copies of the adult education program brochure to Tobay Printing, Inc.
• Authorized Kailene Abt, Emily McGibbon, Jennifer Mullen and Colleen Thompson to be added to the district's substitute teacher list. They will be paid $90 per diem when their services are needed.
• Authorized Russell Tillman (custodian), Elizabeth Brown (aide), Megan Doyle (aide) and Tyquan Pearson (security) to work as substitute employees.
• Approved teachers Luz Marotta, Lori Kenny, Joseph Cohen, Kimberly Schiller, Joanne McGuinness-Tures, Christine Lofaro, Claude Masear, Allison Muradyan, Jeffrey Dicker, Miriam Engle, Jennifer Marsh and Paula Gasparino to participate in the district's National Board Certification initiative. They will each receive stipends of $1,000, to be funded through a state STLE (Strengthening Teacher & Leader Effectiveness) grant.
• Authorized teachers Silvia Gilbert, Luz Marotta, Joan Aurilia and Glenn Edwards to attend the New York State Association for Bi-Lingual Education Conference in March. The teacher's participation is funded through a Title III LEP grant.
• Authorized the placement of 1,192 books on the district's surplus bid list. The books include a 1954 edition of Help Yourself to Better Handwriting, a 1957 copy of The Hidden Persuaders, a 1960 edition of Be a Better Reader, a 1961 edition of Vocabulary Workshop, 1963 and 1965 copies of Guide to Modern English, a 1964 edition of Understanding Media, a 1965 copy of Two Roads to Greatness and a 1967 edition of Word Wealth.
• Authorized the placement of about three dozen pieces of obsolete or broken technology equipment on the district's surplus bid list.
• Authorized teachers Silvia Gilbert, David Schmid and Eileen Gonzalez to participate in ESL grade 7-12 parent meetings. They will be paid $48.97 for up to two hours each. Secretary Anne Connell was approved to assist at the meetings. The work is funded through a Title III grant.
• Appointed Nancy Wilson as Saturday Institute administrator. She will be paid $2,000.
• Approved Federal Part B flow-through-allocations contracts with Anderson Center for Autism, Ascent: A School for Individuals with Autism, Bilinguals, Inc., Brookville Center for Children's Services, Building Blocks Developmental Pre-school, Cleary School for the Deaf, Cooper Kids Therapy Associates, Suffolk County Dept. of Health Services, Developmental Disabilities Institute, Inc., Madonna Heights, Marion K. Salomon & Associates, Inc., Metro Therapy, Mill Neck Manor for the Deaf, Nassau-Suffolk Services for the Autistic, New York Therapy Placement Services, The Opportunity Pre-school, South Huntington UFSD-SHIP, The Summit School, United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Suffolk and Woodward's Children's Center.