By:JOSEPH KELLARD
The petition would lead to a study on the possibility of founding a high school. The study would include population projections and an examination of program, staffing and facilities needs for a school, as well as the financial impact and economic feasibility of the project. The estimated cost of the study is $200,000.
The state requires that such a study be performed before any further action is taken, and Island Park school district officials said that conducting one is the only proper way to proceed, according to Superintendent Dr. Ed Price. "If the people want to spend $200,000 on the study, certainly it's something we will consider," Price told the Herald. "But if there's no community interest in even going that route, why spend $200,000?"
If the 150 signatures were obtained, the petition would be presented to the district. The board would then review the issue to determine whether or not to put the proposition on the ballot, which would give residents the opportunity to vote on whether to spend the money.
Price said he had just completed evaluating the requirements for the district to be reorganized from a kindergarten-through-eighth grade to a K-through-12 district. Among these are an agreement from the community - in the form of the petition - and approval by the state's Department of Education.
In May, Price invited four professors from Dowling College in Oakdale to a community meeting to share their experiences working in both large and small Long Island schools as teachers, principals and assistant superintendents. The professors, school board members and residents discussed taking Island Park's approximately 300 students out of West Hempstead High School, which has hosted the district's high school-aged students since the 1960s, to create a new hometown school housing grades 9 to 12. It is estimated that creating a new high school would take approximately five years, including possibly rebuilding the district's existing two schools, Hegarty Elementary and Lincoln Orens Middle School.
"To answer the questions in a reasonable way that people raised at the last big meeting we had on this subject, we would have to do a study," Price said.
Residents who attended last week's meeting resurrected the same debate that dominated the meeting in May. While some parents argued that they attended West Hempstead High School, received a good education there and believe their children's futures are in good hands there, others argued that an Island Park high school would be good for the community. One parent said that in the past, people bought homes in Island Park in order to raise their families there, but in recent years increasingly more newcomers are buying "investment homes" instead. "If we have a high school, it would be a step toward saving the community," she said.
Newly elected school board member Michael Hastava said, "The people who are leaving Island Park are the upper echelon of the community," but another member of the board, Ellen Levitt, said the town shouldn't look to build a new high school to solve some of its problems.
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