Nuns Concerned Over Special Ed. Partnership With HHH

The audience at Half Hollow Hills Board of Education meeting resembled a church choir Monday night as about 20 nuns dressed in black and white habits and veils filed into the Fran Greenspan Administration Center.

Sisters of in Melville assembled at the Board of Education meeting to discuss concerns over a budget cut, which may affect the private Catholic school.

A district-wide psychologist position, currently held by Leslee Nickel, has been eliminated from the 2012-13 school budget. In addition to serving the students of Half Hollow Hills, Nickel has also been a liaison to St. Pius V for the past six years, conducting special needs testing for students. Her work at the St. Pius is a legal responsibilty of public schools to students who have been referred to special education services within private schools. According to school budget documents, the elimination of the position will save the district $110,000.

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Sister Mary Agnes who spoke during the meeting said that before Nickel came along, the special needs programming and testing through surrounding public school districts, including HHH, had “unfortunately been an experience not pleasant” for families entering St. Pius. She went on to say that Nickel made the process enjoyable for parents who had previously been frustrated with roadblocks to programming that families are legally entitled to. She “overturned the damage done,” the sister said.

St. Pius V currently enrolls 33 resource room students. The school is planning an expansion, which will likely triple its special needs enrollment, Sister Mary Agnes said. As it is anticipated that more students will be using the testing services, the nuns expressed their concern that the level of care within the special needs program would be lessened by the budget cut.

“We hope that you can continue the standard of quality,” Sister Mary Agnes said.

Assistant Superintendent for Districtwide Administration Patrick Harrigan said that Nickel’s duties within the private school would not be lost, but reassigned to existing faculty members.

“We remain as committed as ever,” he said. “We try to treat them the same in every way as our students.”