By Mike Schnitzel
As it stands, the district¹s waivers policy allows incoming seventh-graders to attend the high school of their choice, provided they submit their requests prior to the Feb. 15 filing deadline. "This policy allows people to select the schools they want to attend when they first enter our school district," said Superintendent Dr. Marc Bernstein. "Right now we have reasonable flexibility [to allow that]."
But there is concern that North High School could reach its functional capacity within the next few years. Functional capacity is the maximum number of students a school can accommodate while providing equal educational opportunities to all of them. The number of rooms, their size and use are taken into consideration when calculating that capacity, Bernstein explained.
There are 1,180 students enrolled at North, which has a functional capacity of 1,225. "As long as there's room, students should be allowed to go to the school where they're most comfortable," said Trustee Bill Stris. "But pretty soon [North] will be full."
In light of that fact, Policy 5110 was developed to establish a procedure by which Bernstein will determine which waiver requests to grant as a school¹s projected enrollment nears and exceeds its functional capacity. All requests for students with siblings in the school will be approved unless the number of those requests exceeds that capacity. If it does not, the remaining requests will be granted based on a lottery selection, whose procedure is yet to be determined.
Some of those who attended the meeting expressed concern about the new policy, which they felt was unfair. "We believe that the students of [James A.] Dever [Elementary School] should be allowed to attend North to give them the support system that they need going into seventh grade," said Ann Marie Paraszczuk, president of the PTA at Dever. Under the current system, Dever students are split between North and Central. Seven of the 10 elementary schools in the district are split between two secondary schools, according to Bernstein.
District 13 parent Joe Iraneo worried about the impact that the new policy would have on his children. "Historically, kids from Malverne have been allowed to go to North," he said. "You claim that the board has the best interests of the children at heart. I don't think this is in their best interests."
School Board President Dr. Frank Chiachiere thanked the residents for their concerns, and said that they would be taken into consideration by the board. "We have a policy committee and we are constantly looking at policy," said Chiachiere. "They are living, breathing documents."
Policy 5110 will take effect after it is read to the public for a second time at the next Board of Education meeting on Dec. 13.
Comments about this...? MSchnitzel@liherald.com or 516-569-4000 Ext. 265
