Year Off To Good Start
Our year got off to an excellent start on the Wednesday and Thursday before Labor Day. All staff convened together at the New Hyde Park Road School for our professional opening and listened to research findings from myself and keynote speaker, retired Superintendent Diane Scricca, addressing the fact that the single most important factor that influences student achievement is a highly effective teacher. Teachers were then given an opportunity to review the Common Core Standards in ELA and math. We spent the following day giving an overview of the Danielson’s Frameworks for Effective Teaching which will be used this year as our professional evaluation tool. This will bring us into alignment with one of the requirements of the APPR and Race to the Top initiatives.
Our school enrollment remains stabilized over the past few years. We lost some students who moved but gained an equal amount of students who moved into the district. Whenever warranted, our attendance office, Joseph Wendling, continues to investigate all new families who register to be sure they are legally residing in the homes they own. Our enrollment as of the beginning of the 2011 – 2012 school years is:
Garden City Park School 286
Manor Oaks School 367
NHP Road School 472
Hillside Grade School 498
Current Total 1,623
These figures continue to change on a daily basis dependent upon new enrollments or notifications of relocation. Students returned to school on Tuesday, Sept. 6, all ready and enthusiastic to learn new things and meet new classmates for another school year. We will be ever diligent in working as a team to ensure the three-way partnership is especially strengthened this year due to the new Common Core Standards and the new statewide assessments. Our district goals emphasize the progress monitoring in this regard to help students meet district and state benchmarks across the subject areas.
This year we will be updating the public at the board meetings each month regarding the developmental progress related to the different components of our Five Year Plan. Tonight Judy LaRocca will give you a status report related to technology. Although our students on the elementary level were either very young or not even born, all four schools took pause last Friday and this week to remember the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001. Students read poems, sang songs, performed community service or outreach to one another and honored the fallen and current heroes and community workers we are grateful to. As a school community, we realize that everyone plays a major role in keeping our community safe and country in a state of peace and those building blocks begin at elementary school.
We are well aware of the financial challenges we will face in this budget year, and we will be starting our budget planning as early as October. This will be a very difficult year due to the 2 percent tax cap, diminishing state aid and rising costs. We will have to make some difficult decisions regarding staffing and programs next year, and we will continue to look to our constituency for input and support.
So as we begin the year, I would like to share the four district goals this year:
Goal 1 – District Goal: To increase the levels of fluency and comprehension on students in all grades by 5 percent as measured by performance on NYS ELA assessments in grades 3 – 6 and locally selected assessments in grades K – 6.
Goal 2 – District Goal: To increase student proficiency in all grades in the areas of computation and problem solving in mathematics as measured by performance on the NYS Math Assessments in grades 3 – 6 and by locally selected assessments in grades K – 6.
Goal 3 – District Goal: To implement the Phase I work on the Capital Reserve Project approved by the voters in October 2010. Objective – Central administration working in connection with the architect John Grillo will lay out a timeline for Phase I renovations and repairs.
Goal 4 – District Goal: To implement the new Annual Professional Performance Plan as per 3012C statue in order to improve student academic achievement. Objective – Through a districtwide committee and through collective bargaining achieve a new evaluation system for teachers and principals by June 2012.
