After a productive summer, the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District is gearing up for another school year.
“We’ve had a very busy summer making plans for the new instructional year and offering many professional development opportunities for our staff,”
Superintendent Robert Katulak said last week.
The summer saw the completion of many projects to improve everything from the school grounds classrooms, which Katulak says have been refurbished “with a luster to match the students’ enthusiasm.”
Hillside Grade School had an additional blacktop area installed behind the playground. Garden City Park School received basic sidewalk repairs. Sections of damaged flooring in the gym of the Manor Oaks School have been replaced and the entire gym floor has been sanded, painted, and finished. The New Hyde Park Road School also received some upgrades to its gym, with fresh paint.
Staff members will be trained in their implementation and other new security procedures leading up to schools opening.
The staff wasn’t the only ones keeping busy this summer; the students were working just as hard.
“Our summer school programs and summer recreational programs were very successful once again this year,” Katulak says.
New York State test scores were released recently, and the district scored above both the Nassau County and New York State averages. The New York State Report Card will be further discussed in a presentation at the October Board of Education meeting.
Prior to the meeting, the board met to discuss and amend the corrective action plan for capital assets with the internal auditor. The changes were approved and adopted by the Board at the meeting.
The corrective action plan serves as guidelines for the district to be used while crafting their budgets, assuring things such as the budget being presented in a transparent manner and a reemphasis on the interactive feedback system established for the taxpayers regarding budget development. Budget information will be available on the district’s website.
The plan also promises to “reduce district property taxes where appropriate and fiscally prudent” through the creation of a reserve plan that will allow for further guidance for the use of surplus funds.
Changes outlined in the plan are expected to fully take effect before June 30, 2015.
