The Lynbrook Board of Education held its regular meeting in the Lynbrook High School cafeteria on Oct. 13 where student accolades were celebrated and the board was praised for New York State’s Board of Education Appreciation Month.
With the help of their building principals, some of Lynbrook’s youngest students from the Kindergarten Center, Marion Street, Waverly Park and West End elementary schools showed their appreciation for the members of the Lynbrook Board of Education through poetry, large thank you cards and small treats. One of the cards featured the words “thank you” in more than two dozen languages which the board received a sample of in the student’s presentation. Marion Street students thanked the board in languages such as Albanian, Chinese, Hebrew and Polish.
Following the thoughtful presentation, four members of the Lynbrook High School Student Government Association presented a $2,725 check to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. The funds were raised through the SGA’s Sept. 11 20th anniversary commemorative T-shirt sale. During the meeting, the SGA members presented the check to Tom O’Connor, a retired member of the FDNY and a representative of the Tunnels to Towers Foundation. O’Connor shed a light on the great work that Tunnels to Towers does and thanked the SGA for their generous donation.
Along with the SGA’s achievement, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Melissa Burak recognized several students for their recent academic or athletic accomplishments. She congratulated Lynbrook’s 81 Advanced Placement Scholars and honored Lynbrook High School senior Olivia Vuotto for being the first female kicker on the high school’s football team. In addition, Lynbrook High School senior Emma Ward was recognized as a Semifinalist in the National Merit Scholarship Program and five high school students were commended as All-State musicians. This included Dylan Baltes, Rachel Edelstein, Andrew Director, Jaden Harvin and Manaka Ogura.
Board President William Belmont recognized the retirements of teacher assistant Lori Gus and teacher aide Leeanne Mahr. He thanked both individuals for their service to the Lynbrook Public Schools. Mr. Belmont also acknowledged teacher assistant Jennifer Nickich who successfully completed her probationary period and received tenure.
During the meeting, the board offered its sincere thanks to Phil Hammarberg for donating seven Medify Air Purifiers, valued at approximately $4,524.24, to be utilized in each school building.
The board also discussed the possibility of purchasing the medical building that is for sale across from the Lynbrook Kindergarten Center/Administration Building. The purchase would expand educational space for Lynbrook students. The board agreed that more details would be needed before the community could possibly vote on whether or not the purchase should be made.
During the Superintendent’s Report, Dr. Burak reminded the community that Oct. 20 is Unity Day. Everyone is encouraged to wear orange. She also spoke about the student contact information form and asked all Lynbrook families to make sure that they have updated their emergency contact information through Parent Portal.
Dr. Gerard Beleckas, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and assessment, provided a curriculum update which focused on student instruction during quarantine. Elementary students who are isolated or quarantined due to COVID-19, not related to travel, will be offered two hours of daily academic support from their school’s certified teaching assistants. Students at the secondary level who are isolated or quarantined due to COVID-19, not related to travel, will be offered up to two hours of home instruction in English language arts, foreign language, math, science and social studies. Those services are typically outsourced to an agency and are provided by certified teachers.
To conclude the meeting, Dr. Paul Lynch, assistant superintendent for finance, operations and information systems, provided his monthly capital projects update. The work at Lynbrook High School is not fully complete and an extensive punch list is being done. At Marion Street Elementary School, the elevator work is in progress. The district had to remove the school’s oil tank that was installed in 1986. When the oil tank was removed, another oil tank was discovered from before that date. This also needed to be removed, leading to work on Marion Street’s foundation which has since been completed. Dr. Lynch hopes that construction will now move along at a smooth pace. The goal is to have the elevator installed and ready by February.
Due to the complexity of these two projects, Dr. Lynch commended the Lynbrook High School and Marion Street teachers for being so flexible and patient during the construction process. Aside from the work at Lynbrook High School and Marion Street is the boiler project at the Lynbrook Kindergarten Center. This project is moving along nicely. Moving forward, the facilities committee plans to meet on Oct. 27 to evaluate what projects should be presented for voter approval during the 2022 budget season.