Many changes await students as they get ready to begin the new school year Sept. 3.
Students at Daly Elementary School will be welcoming a new principal, Sheri Suzzan, who began her position on July 1. Suzzan was most recently Port Washington’s Director of Creative Services, overseeing the district’s music and arts programs.
Suzzan, though, is not new to Daly. Before her most recent district-wide position, she taught second and fourth grade at Daly for 20 years.
Kevin Scully has been appointed to replace Suzzan as director of creative arts. Scully comes to Port Washington from the East Meadow School District, where he was a secondary department chairperson of music. Scully, who will work at the Daly Annex, already started his new position, on Aug. 7.
Schreiber High School also welcomes this fall a new math department chairperson, Bryan Gorman. Gorman comes to the district from Sewanhaka High School.
In addition to Gorman, approximately 35 new teachers will join Port schools this fall, according to Dr. Kathleen Mooney, Superintendent of Schools.
The instructors will replace a combination of teachers who retired and teachers who are on leave. Seven of the new teachers will be at Schreiber High School, in business, foreign language, psychology, math and family and consumer science.
Seven teachers will also join Weber Middle School, in English, math, school-wide enrichment, special education, guidance, and music. Three teachers will join both Manorhaven and Sousa Elementary schools. Two teachers will join Guggenheim and Daly, and Salem Elementary School will welcome a new music teacher.
Student enrollments for the fall are difficult to determine at this time because the district still receives registrations at the end of August, said Mooney. However, there will be close to 400 youngsters entering kindergarten, which is about the same number as last year’s class, she stated.
One of the biggest programs for the district this fall will be the full implementation of the new K-8 math program, Math in Focus. The program was piloted in some classes last year. Since then, some teacher professional development has been conducted, with a more extensive schedule arranged for throughout the school year. The district also plans to run workshop sessions for parents about Math in Focus during the fall.
In terms of the budget, there have been no cuts in programming, athletics, transportation, or otherwise for the new year. However, there has not been expansion of programs either.
As part of the long term plan, the new security systems that were installed in the schools last year will continue to be upgraded, and a new fire alarm system has been installed at Daly. New fire alarm systems are also being installed at Weber and Schreiber.
The same number of security guards will be maintained. Classrooms will continue to be outfitted with smart boards and laptops, incrementally.
The electrical project that was a part of the 2012 budget authorization will be finalized by the end of August. The project entailed putting the electrical wires on Campus Drive underground to better prevent outages during storms and inclement weather.
Although there has been discussion by the Board of Education at a few public meetings about a new bond to upgrade the athletic fields and other facilities, no action has been taken on that proposal as of yet, said Mooney.
Even though classes start a week earlier in September than last year, the 2014-2015 school year ends at the same time, due to the Regents schedule and allotted school breaks. Administrators, staff and teachers are hard at work getting ready for another productive and successful year.
