Levittown BOE Notebook: Welcoming New Faces

Tuesday's Levittown Board of Education meeting was the first for new Superintendent Dr. James Grossane.

Both Dr. Grossane and new trustee Frank Ward were sworn into their new positions by the school attorney at the July 5 meeting. For Dr. Grossane, the meeting fell on the fifth day of his tenure, as he began serving as Superintendent on July 1.

After congratulating Dr. Grossane, board president Michael Pappas asked the audience to trust the board's decision in hiring him.

“It’s been a rough year, guys, but we really need to throw our support behind this man here,” he said. “I am very confident, as is this board and anyone who knows Dr. Grossane, that he will do equally [as well] if not a better job than anyone who’s worked in this school district.”

Grossane didn't say much when he was first introduced, but was able to lighten the mood later when his Superintendent report was introduced to light applause. “Soon you’ll stop clapping every time you hear my name,” the Superintendent joked. "But I do appreciate it."

In his report, the Superintendent told the public that he was meeting with central office staff to review programming and identify adjustments that need to be made. He also noted that he visited each of the district’s schools during the month of June, something he said he plans to do a lot of during his tenure.

“That has been a hallmark of my administration,” he said, “being out and about, being noticed, someone who’s around, knows my kids, knows my teachers. [There’s] a lot of names to learn, but we’ll get there.”

The board also agreed to increase to school lunch prices for the 2011-12 school year. With whispered chants of "do it" coming from some of the members of the crowd, the board approved a 15-cent raise in lunch prices at both the K-5 and 6-12 grade levels. Prices for kindergarteners through fifth grade students were raised from $2.10 to $2.25, while prices for sixth through twelfth grade students were raised from $2.35 to $2.50. The 15-cent change was popular with the board because it rounded out the prices.

In addition, three athletes and one team in the district were recognized by the board for their achievements on the field this season. All-State Division Avenue track star Kristen Stuart, Macarthur’s Jesse Tuozzo (a pitcher who won one of two Diamond Awards given by Nassau County coaches; he was not at the meeting), and Macarthur’s Kristen Brown (an All-Long Island softball player) were presented plaques by the board, as was the Class A and Long Island champion Division Avenue baseball team.

Division Avenue head coach Tom Tuttle reminisced about the high points of the team’s season in a speech at the meeting, calling John Cruz’s catch in the Class A title game “the greatest catch I’ve ever seen”. But he was proudest that his thirteen seniors will all attend four-year schools in the fall. “We’re educators first and [coaches] second,” he said.