The Herricks Board of Education heard public comments about vaping in schools and class sizes during their meeting on Thursday, Dec. 11, after honoring the varsity boys’ soccer team, who won the AAA county championship.
Four parents approached the board during the meeting’s public comment section regarding class size at the elementary level. “27, to me, is a large student number for one teacher,” said a parent referring to her child’s fourth-grade class.
She has two children in the district, in the third and fourth grades, and expressed concern for both the student and teacher experiences, especially when there is no teaching aide present. Three more parents rose to echo these concerns.
“Are we at least going to address that 28, 27 is a little high?” asked another parent. “I moved here from Brooklyn, hoping for smaller class sizes,” she said.
“I would like to be very candid with this panel, my family and I have considered moving out of this district because of school size,” a third parent said. She then raised the issue of residency, inquiring about how the district ensures that enrolled students reside within the district boundaries.
“We have done a lot of work over the last three or four years to tighten up our residency structures to ensure that people who live here do, in fact, live here,” said Superintendent Tony Sinanis.
He referenced a new hire for a position solely focused on residency and safety in the district. “Short of going into someone’s home, we do other forms of surveillance and investigation,” Sinaris said. “We actively, unfortunately, remove them from our district when we find out they don’t live here.”
Carmela Avena-Woods, who has children in middle and high school, expressed concern for the safety and well-being of students with regard to vaping.
“It’s not just about vaping, because we all know the consequences of vaping, but it’s about every child’s right to feel safe and comfortable in every space within our school,” she said.
She expressed dissatisfaction with the responses from the school administration regarding their plan to address the issue and presented research to the board on the responses of other districts.
Sinanis defended the district’s response.
“We do take measures to address vaping to the extent that we are aware of it,” said Sinanis. “It definitely is something that we take seriously.” He said they have taken steps, including increased hall monitoring, and will take further steps, such as improving communication between the district and parents.
“I expect some type of plan and response, and the response I received was disappointing,” said Avena-Woods in an interview. She said that with more parent voices, there is hope for a better action plan. “We need more people speaking up, and it not being just being brushed under the carpet. We’re a wonderful district, and our reputation is important. But we can’t hide the things that are unfortunately happening.”
Earlier in the meeting, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Elizabeth Guercin presented the school’s New York State Assessment and AP performance results.
According to the presentation, the district performed above state and county averages consistently for the past four years. It was also awarded Platinum honors by the College Board for its AP curriculum, enrollment levels, and test performance.
The board also honored the Herricks High School boys varsity soccer team, which won the Nassau County AAA championship this year. The team and coaching staff were lauded by the board and presented with certificates in recognition of their achievement. This was the team’s first championship in 20 years, according to their Instagram page.
“We have a great group of people around us, said Ibrahim Hammoud, a senior and goalkeeper on the team. “No matter what, we always keep each other to a high standard.” He said it was a happy and sentimental moment when the whistle blew at the championship game.
