Friday, August 11, 2017
Vol. 93, No.47
FOUNDED 1923
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LOCALLY OWNED AND EDITED
Dancing in the street PAGE 32 n Summer fun PAGE 39
School Board vacancy to be filled in spring election
UNDEFEATED SEASON
BY RIKKI N. MASSAND
Last summer, Garden City's B Swim team moved up from Division 3 to 2 after having a 5 meet winning streak and taking home first in the Championship meet. This year, the team powered through Division 2 and continued its winning streak with an undefeated season. This makes for a back to back division win and has led to the B team to join the A team in Divison 1!
Consultant hired for superintendent search BY RIKKI N. MASSAND The search for Garden City’s next superintendent of schools took shape in this week. On Tuesday August 8, the same night Dr. Alan Groveman took his oath of office as the interim superintendent (following a week’s training under the recently-retired Dr. Robert Feirsen), the Board of Education approved a $32,280 contract with consulting firm Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates to conduct a national talent search to fill the position. With Dr. Groveman under contract for the next year, by August of 2018 the school board expects the district to have its next educational leader set to steer the
district. Board President Angela Heineman provided the community with the comprehensive plan and said that next month, at the board’s regular meeting on Tuesday, September 19, the duo from Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates will meet the public, give a formal presentation on the superintendent search, and listen to any questions that come up. “The board is appointing HYAA to assist in its search for a superintendent. Since Dr. Feirsen announced his retirement in April the board has been working diligently through these months to effectuate a smooth and efficient transition process. The new permanent superintendent will be in place
some time during the summer of 2018,” she said. The board and Assistant Superintendent for Business Dana DiCapua developed an RFP (request for proposals), which was released in June. The school board received five proposals in response. “We carefully reviewed those proposals, we evaluated them, and we interviewed three finalists from the five. We conducted lengthy interviews with our list of five and spoke with references who have used the firms. The board is very pleased to work with the search team of Debbie Raizes and Robert Roelle to find the next superintendent of Garden See page 17
The position on the Garden City Board of Education vacated by Trustee Laura Hastings in early summer will remain open until the next district election in mid-May of 2018. School Board President Angela Heineman announced this week that the four school district trustees – herself, Robert Martin, Tom Pinou, and William Holub – now represent the “Core Four,” a reference to four homegrown New York Yankees’ all-stars that led the team to five World Series titles in 14 years. Almost an entire school year ahead and the process of selecting the next superintendent for the school district face the four sitting trustees, as each one agreed that the board’s priorities heading into this fall are cumbersome, leading to less time to consider a fifth board member joining soon. Heineman reviewed the three options the school board has at this time, with Hastings resigning nearly 10 months before the next regular May district election. “We can appoint someone to fill the vacancy and to serve until the next election in May 2018; we could hold a special election to fill the vacancy, and the third option is to leave the seat vacant until the next election and allow the normal nominating and election process to go forth,” she said. School board attorney Bonnie Gorham of the Farmingdale-based firm Guercio & Guercio LLP nodded and offered some clarity about waiting until the next election in May. “In the next annual election the vacant seat will be filled by selection from the voters. The person elected will take office the day after the May election,” Gorham said. At the July meeting Heineman announced that the board would discuss the matter in public on August 8, which it did briefly, after she noted “we have not made any decisions.” Since the decision of former Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen to retire, Heineman has been concerned about the school board being stretched too thin “concentrating on the transition, our focus has been finding a suitable experienced interim superintendent to lead us to the net year (Dr. Alan Groveman).” Evaluating the best candidate to serve alongside the current four members and represent the village may be one task the board isn’t ready to handle. Heineman called the work ahead with search consultants from Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates “another intense, time-consuming process.” She looked at the element of timeliness involved with having to hire a new superintendent, priority number one by summer of 2018.
Two new assistant principals for Stewart and Stratford GCHS students garner top grades on AP exams PAGE 22
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