The world of college admissions and the teaching of the Chinese language were topics of discussion at the first Roslyn School District Board of Education meeting of the new year.
Art Mandel, K-12 Director of Counseling, discussed his recent college visit to Duke University in Durham, NC, while Karina Baez, chair of the World Languages and ESL Department, gave a presentation on her visit to Los Angeles, CA.
Baez represented the district at the 7th annual National Chinese Language Conference in Los Angeles in May, where plaques were presented to recently established Confucius Classrooms. The Asia Society’s Confucius Classrooms is a national network of 100 exemplary Chinese language programs. The network serves as model sites for developing the field of Chinese language teaching in American schools.
Each Confucius classroom, Baez said, is linked with a partner school in China to enhance opportunities for language learning and to provide students, teachers and administrators with opportunities to conduct exchanges and joint projects.
Mandel spoke about his recent trip to Duke University, telling the board that he got to sit in with Admissions Officers at the school.
“I was able to sit in with the Admissions Officers and see the whole process they go through,” said Mandel.
The board approved a recommendation to allow Mandel to attend the University of Miami Annual College Counselor Conference in Miami, FL from Feb. 5 to 8 at an estimated cost to the district of $730.
In other news, the board approved a recommendation to allow Board President Meryl Waxman Ben-Levy to attend the 2014 Winter Law Conference on Thursday in Islandia at a total cost to the district of $295.
The board also approved a recommendation to allow Ben-Levy and fellow trustee Adam Haber to attend the NYSSBA Conference, “Stand Up 4 Long Island’s Public Schools!” on Jan. 29 in Melville at a cost to the district of $185.
