Two students at West Islip Kirdahy Elementary School at Captree made a presentation at the district’s regular school board meeting recently asking that the board consider rolling back a 25-cent increase in school lunch costs. The students, Peter DeMicco and Andrew Renfroe, fourth-grade students, said that the increase meant that many students did not have money to buy snacks. They collected 200 signatures on a petition asking for the rollback, and presented it to the board.

Effective Jan. 4, the elementary lunch price increased to $1.75 and secondary lunch increased to $2.25. Similar increases were reflected in the elementary and secondary meal plans.

Thestudents went to the Kirdahy principal, John Mullins with their petition, asking if he could rescind the price increase. He told them that he did not have the authority to do that and seized on the issue as a learning opportunity to the students.

“I didn’t want to tell them that I could not do anything and simply send them on their way,” said Mullins. “I told them that this was not my decision, but that they could go to the school board.”

Mullins then explained the role and responsibilities of a school board and noted that the district was holding a school board meeting at their school that week.

“They took it from there,” said Mullins, “writing their speech and presenting it to the school board members.”

"The boys felt that the increase, while only 25-cents, could be a hardship to families with two or more siblings in school, and they wanted to bring that to the attention of the school board," said Theresa DeMicco, Peter's mother. "Since both boys are Webelo Scouts with Pack 279, this was a great experience, and added benefit for the two of them because they just completed their citizenship badge."

In other news, the school board:

•recognized its athletes;

•tabled a motion to approve special education contracts after a board member raised questions about the timeliness of the contracts which dated back several months. Thequestion asked for clarificationon whether any of the individuals listed had been paid for services rendered. That information will be provided to the school board in time for the next meeting;

•accepted donations to the district from VanAcker Scholarships, $1,400; Bayview PTA Arts in Education, $2,450; Staff members including $5,000 for the School Superintendent, $25,000 from administrators and $249,000 from West Islip teachers; Box tops, PJ Bellew, $961;

•announced that the search for a new superintendent, being conducted by BOCES, continues and that residents have until Jan. 31 to complete a district-wide survey, which is available online.