By:JOSEPH KELLARD
This was Price's recommendation at a preliminary, information-gathering meeting on creating a high school held in May. Last week the superintended reiterated that doing a study would be the only proper way to approach this issue and that it would be costly.
"[The study] could cost the district up to $200,000," he said. Price received a quote from a consultant who said the study could be done for $100,000 based on a generic study model, but the superintendent said that he's "counting on top of that quote.
"You know, you just don't use a model," Price said, "because you're going to begin to put together a lot of local stuff to fill in all the blanks in that model, and that's going to take staff time here."
In May, Price said that following spring recess the Board of Education would discuss the findings from the meeting and then announce whether or not it would take the next step in the process. Last week, Price said the district would not go forward with this issue until at least the school board returns in September.
"We now have a new board member in Michael Hastava," Price explained, "and you want to give him a chance to get acclimated before he gets thrown into a decision of this nature." Price added that the issue of creating a high school in Island Park needs to be talked about "because there are valid points on all sides of it."
Price invited four professors from Dowling College to the May meeting to share their experiences working in both large and small Long Island schools as teachers, principals and assistant superintendents. The professors, school board and residents weighed the pros and cons of taking Island Park approximately 300 students out of West Hempstead High School, which has hosted the village's high school-aged kids since the 1960s, to create a new school from grades 9 to 12 in the village.
Price said creating a new high school would require a consensus agreement from the community and approval by the state education department. If approved, the school would take about five years to create, including possibly reconstructing the district's existing two schools, Hegarty Elementary School and Lincoln Orens middle School. He recommended the public referendum to see if residents want to spend the money on the study and want to go forward with the high school project.
Price said last week that the school district's lawyer is researching the legal implications involved in the process and that he will report back to the board with his findings come the new school year.
"If the people come back unanimously saying the heck with it," Price said last week, "then the whole issue I think would be dead... If on the other hand we come back in a positive way, then we will at least go ahead and see if we can answer these questions and whether we want to go any further with it before investing anymore."
