O'Connor Installed as New Malverne BOE President

The Malverne Board of Education has a new president. Marguerite O’Connor, previously the board’s second Vice President, was appointed by her fellow trustees and sworn in by District Clerk Lisa Ridley at the Tuesday night's annual reorganization meeting at . 

Former President Danielle Hopkins became first vice president and the board's newest member, Trustee Michael Taylor, was sworn in during the meeting and appointed to the second vice president post. 

The board approved 35 other inter-district appointments before the end of its reorganization meeting. Both Ridley and District Treasurer Arthur R. Venezia were reappointed to their current positions. Venezia was sworn in toward the end of the regular business meeting that followed. 

Superintendent Dr. James H. Hunderfund opened his monthly report by relaying some positive news about final academic figures for the 2011-2012 school year. 

Ninety six percent of Malverne seniors received Regents diplomas, a district record, and 66 students graduated from Howard T. Herber Middle School as part of the National Junior Honors Society, according to Hunderfund. 

The superintendent also said that the district saw a rise in the grade point average of both the junior and senior class in 2011-2012.

“Our regents scores this year showed overall improvement,” Hunderfund said. “They were very good in all aspects. We’re very proud of our teachers, students and everyone who contributed.”

The district will be offering summer classes for those seniors who didn’t graduate, according to Deputy Superintendent Richard Banyon

A regents assistance program will also be available for all high school students who failed a Regents exam. This program will run from late July through the summer make-up exams in mid-August, according to Banyon.

“Sometime during the summer, we’ll be running a program for those students who we deemed 'at-risk' based on their grades in both the middle school and high school,” Banyon said. “[This is] to try and get them to have a better transition into school in September.”

Assistant Superintendent for District Operations Spiro Colaitis presented the board with an update on current construction going on within the district. A slide show revealed the finished basketball and tennis courts at the high school. 

“We’re very proud of these courts. They came out wonderfully,” Colaitis said. “It’s one of the jewels of our project.”   

The slides also showed the new brick facing, windows, and bathrooms at and the new brick facing at

“If you go to either building, you’ll see a flurry of activity,” Colaitis said. “Over the school year, we’re only allowed to work on the extension. Right now, we’re ripping up the inside of  the building. A lot of stuff is going on in there and it will be done in five or six weeks.”

As part of new business, the board approved an increase in breakfast and lunch prices for the 2012-2013 school year. High school and middle school lunch prices will increase from $2.25 to $2.40. Elementary lunch will increase from $2.00 to $2.15 for children and $3.23 to 3.40 for adults. Breakfast prices will increase from $1.25 to $1.40, according to the board. 

“The state has required us to, over the next five years, charge an amount that is equal to the amount that [we] receive in state aid,” Business Administrator Thomas P. McDaid Jr. said.

The district receives approximately $300,000 in state aid for a free or reduced lunch program, encompassing about 40 percent of the student body, according to McDaid.