Huntington parents unhappy with sixth-grade center idea

A controversial plan by the Huntington school board to turn the Jack Abrams Intermediate School into a districtwide sixth-grade center was defended Tuesday by the board president as a solution that will unify the district - even as it drew a mix of criticism and cautious approval from parents.

After safety concerns drove a wedge through the district, the board voted 4-3 Monday night to send all fourth- and fifth-graders in September to the district's other intermediate school, Woodhull, with all sixth-graders attending Jack Abrams.

"I think you are going to find a lot more people getting more involved," board president Bill Dwyer said, "being much more interested now that they have a stake in that community."

Michele Paton, the mother of a fifth-grader at Woodhull, said she is looking for other options for her son next year because she is not happy with the plan.

"I walked into the meeting with the Board of Education talking about safety of the children," Paton said Tuesday. "Three hours later, I left the meeting with Jack Abrams Intermediate as a sixth-grade center for over 300 students. Did I miss something?"

Rebecca Sanin, a parent at Jack Abrams who proposed the idea, said it was a compromise.

"Crime has occurred across the community and not just at Jack Abrams," she said. "Now we can all work toward a goal of safety for all children and the community."

The district has two options. The first is to include in its proposed budget the use of $355,000 in capital reserve funds to lease and install three modular classrooms at Woodhull for special education, art and music.

If that budget were to be voted down next month, the district would have to go to Plan B: Allow parents of Jack Abrams fourth-graders a one-time opportunity to keep their children there for fifth grade. That would have no budget impact.

In either case, all sixth-graders would attend Jack Abrams.

Before Monday's vote, Town Supervisor Frank Petrone spoke about ongoing efforts to improve Huntington Station.

"I think the town is working with us and I want them to keep it up," school board member Christine Bene said Tuesday. "Uniting the district is a wonderful idea. It's a short-term solution."

Lyndia Agrillo, the mother of a fourth-grader at Woodhull, said the decision defies logic: "The whole reason that the town and the board of ed were engaged in a dialogue to begin with was because Jack Abrams was deemed to be an unsafe area for a school. If the reason we wanted to move students out [was to make them safe], why are we keeping any students there?"

School board member Rich McGrath, who voted against the move, said he thinks the majority of parents do not want their children at Jack Abrams.

"They don't want to abandon the school but they want the kids out," he said. "Ultimately, you can't make people go to a place they don't want to go to."