Frost Valley Committee Asks Malverne School Board to Float Aid

"Time is of the essence," Trustee Gina Genti told her fellow members of the Malverne Board of Education Wednesday night as she urged them to consider a request from the Save the Frost Valley Committee.

Genti was speaking on behalf of the committee, which is comprised of parents (herself included) who have been exhausting all measures in its attempt to fund the $44,000 sixth grade field trip to Frost Valley YMCA that was cut from the Malverne school district's 2012-2013 budget.

For the past 42 years, the district has paid for its sixth graders from Howard T. Herber Middle School to spend a few days at Frost Valley's sprawling 6,500 acre campgrounds located in the Catskill Mountains, where they learn about the environment, participate in team-building activies and develop leadership skills. Last year's three-day trip cost $44,000, of which the Malverne school district paid for $35,000, after receiving a reimbursement in the form of aid from Nassau BOCES 12 months later. But when crafting the 2012-2013 budget, the board decided that it could no longer afford to fund the trip and it was cut.

Hoping to preserve this experience for the students, the Save the Frost Valley Committee was formed in May soon after the budget was adopted. They held their first fundraiser on Aug. 15 at the Wendy's in Lynbrook, , route: {:controller=>"articles", :action=>"show", :id=>"wendy-s-fundraiser-will-help-save-malverne-field-trip"} -->where they collected $464, 15 percent of the proceeds from all purchases made at the restaurant from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. that day.