By Scott Brinton
That is, it will not discuss the Mepham High School football sex-abuse attacks of last summer, which prompted the Central District to form the committee. Rather, it will address the district's current character-education and school-trip policies and practices, and examine areas for improvement, said Arnold Goldstein, Bellmore-Merrick's assistant superintendent for instruction.
"It's not an investigatory committee," he said.
The group convened for the first time last Wednesday, and the assistant superintendent, who heads the committee, laid out plans for its future deliberations, which will continue through May. In June the group will issue recommendations to the Central District Board of Education. In part, the committee will examine what other school districts do to teach about character and to ensure student safety on field trips.
During last week's meeting, Goldstein said, "We reviewed the committee's mission and talked about what brought us there and what we have in common. I feel strongly that there is a common core of values, which are stronger than what divided us."
The committee comprises district administrators, teachers, coaches, students, parents and residents from throughout the Bellmores and Merricks. The group will be divided into three subcommittees. One will address trip policies and practices; another, the district's hazing policy; and the third, character education.
Committee member Cheryl Pastuch, of Merrick, mother of a current Calhoun High School senior, said the group's first meeting went well.
"Anyone who asked to be on [the committee] is on," Pastuch said. "We're going to increase the number of students [in the group]. That was the recommendation."
Nicole Hollings, an Advanced Placement biology teacher at Mepham High School and a committee member, said she hopes the group will develop "clear" field-trip policies.
During recent school-board meetings, it was revealed that the district has no real chaperoning policy for teachers and coaches. Currently, they aren't allowed to sleep in rooms with students. Beyond that, there are no guidelines.
Committee member Martin Blum, of North Bellmore, whose two children graduated from Mepham High School, said the district's trip policies, disciplinary code and academic requirements for participation in a sport "must be clearly delineated.
"Participating [in a sport] is not a right; it's a privilege," said Blum.
The lack "of specificity" in the Central District's policies and procedures "resulted in the difficulty that has occurred," said Blum, a retired high-school principal who is now an adjunct education professor at Hofstra University.
Hollings would also "really like the district to have more of an emphasis on character education, teaching our students how to make better decisions, how to be more civil to each other."
Hollings teaches a mini-unit on the Human Genome Project as part of her AP biology and living environment classes. The federal government/private-industry project, which mapped the complex fabric of genes that make humans who they are, has raised a long list of ethical and moral questions and dilemmas.
The project, for example, has been funded in large part with federal tax dollars. Is the U.S. government now responsible for ensuring that its potentially expensive benefits, such as gene therapy, are available to all people, regardless of their ability to pay for them?
In class, Hollings explores difficult ethical questions such as this by dividing classes into pairs and asking them to debate the issues. A lesson plan outlining the exercise can be found online at the Ethics Center for Engineering and Science at Case Western Reserve University.
Teaching about values amid the New York State Education Department's dizzying array of core academic requirements, however, isn't easy. "It's really hard," said Hollings. "It should be a daily conversation. When a student says something to another student, you should say something to the student."
Character education, she also said, should be "infused in all subjects," as well as taught in the home. "It's all about being better people," the teacher said.
Rich Wilen, a Merrick Avenue Middle School science teacher and the school's athletics coordinator, said the district must build in additional time to teach about character education through special programs. "In the classroom," he said, "[teaching about character] is difficult with the academics."
Tim Whalen, of Merrick, who is a football coach in another school district, joined the committee because he's concerned that the Central District will eliminate the traditional, innocent rites of passage that help teams bond.
As a coach, he said he's "never tolerated any type of physical hazing." But he said, "Did my rookies carry the equipment? Absolutely. Nowhere along the line did anyone perceive that as inappropriate or out of line."
Now, Whalen said, "You have [the Bellmore-Merrick] community in arms. Sometimes there is a knee-jerk reaction. I'm hoping this committee is an opportunity for thoughtful contemplation."
Goldstein said that district officials aren't waiting for the committee to reveal its findings before implementing policy changes. Already, the district has revised trip guidelines "to ensure that children's safety is guaranteed." Chaperones, for example, must now meet with students and their parents before overnight trips and review safety practices with them. He added that the district would make sure there is security in the halls wherever students are staying. "Someone will be monitoring," he said.
Also, in November, the Board of Education canceled all sports camps.
"We're not going about business as usual," said Goldstein.
