By KAREN RICE
The board work session was attended by many community members, although the board did not open the floor to public comment.
The board also acknowledged a petition it received from Peninsula Public Library officials, who have collected about 1,000 signatures from community residents. They are requesting that the board consider relocating the library to the Number Five School in Cedarhurst should it become necessary for the district to repurpose one of the elementary schools.
The library suffers from inadequate parking, a dangerous driveway and an outdated building, according to Michael P. Fried, library board president, and would greatly benefit from relocation.
Lawrence Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Rosenbaum also addressed some resident concerns raised at the last public meeting about the drawbacks of possibly closing a school building. Public comment will once again be welcome at the board's next meeting, said Frank Parise, board president, after residents have a chance to review the report at home.
Rosenbaum, who has worked with the committee throughout its year and a half of research, promised residents that even though two of the six options the committee offered for the board's consideration involved closing a school, no child's education would be compromised.
[The committee is a] fact-finding group that [looked at] the alternatives that are possible to maximize the use of space within the district without doing any harm to our educational program, he said. There is nothing that the committee has brought forward that does anything harmful to the instructional program that we currently have for our youngsters.
There is no inherent increase in class size in this proposal, Rosenbaum went on. There is no reduction of services to children from what they currently receive as part of any of these options. So those of you who have said in public, ÔWe won't stand for larger class sizes,' etcetera, we understand that. We appreciate that. We recognize the value of what we have as a school district right now, and nothing that the committee is recommending would be contrary to those feelings that you have.
The six options are: to make no changes; to use natural boundaries, such as roads or train tracks, with no other changes; to combine natural boundaries with alternate use of existing school buildings; to use natural boundaries and create an alternative use for the Number Four School; to use existing boundaries and create an alternative use for Number Four, and to use natural boundaries and create an alternative use for the Number Five School.
Trustee Anthony Licatesi asked the committee's chairman, trustee Dr. Asher Mansdorf, if there was a particular recommendation that, as chairman, he would endorse. Mansdorf responded that he had an opinion but he wouldn't share it because he still wanted to hear the board's and community's questions to make sure it is based on solid reasoning.
Licatesi also wanted to know, What happens if our [student] population is not stagnant or [if] it may not be declining [as the district predicts]?
Mansdorf explained that the committee did extensive research and has estimated that over the next several years there will be a slow decline in enrollment. We were careful to plan for the future, he said. No school building should be sold, and whoever gets use will go in understanding that if space were needed . . . they will have to give it up. We were very clear. [None of the listed options] alter the current educational standard in this district. We will retain that identity, that character, without change.
He added that, if needed, the district will still have the capacity to grow under each of the options because previous bonds have allowed for a second floor to be added to the Number Two and Number Six schools, and the latter has room for expansion.
Kathy Raquet Barry, vice president of the board, questioned the report because there was a discrepancy in the number of classrooms that the elementary-school principals said could be made available in the current elementary schools next year. A total of 13 classrooms were identified in the four elementary schools on one page of the report, while 23 classrooms were identified on another page.
The principals feel that closing a building would be ill-advised and would have a devastating impact on the instructional program and climate of Lawrence Public Schools, according to the committee's report.
Rosenbaum acknowledged the discrepancy, adding that he had doubled-checked and that 23 was the correct number.
Parise wanted to know why the committee considered the Number Four and Number Five schools better options for repurposing than other schools. Mansdorf pointed out that location, facilities and aesthetics were all considered in the determination of which schools were the best choices. The Number One School is the most logical location for Atlantic Beach students and has a better auditorium facility and fields, according to the report. The Number Two School's recent addition is more modern and allows for a second floor to be built, if needed. The Number Six School is the newest, is handicapped-accessible and has space available for expansion.
