Schools
Board of Education Work Session Highlights
Board members discuss school openings, the IB program and green initiatives.
In case you missed Tuesday's night's Board of Education public work session, here are some of the highlight's from the meeting.
School Openings
- Superintendent of Schools Dr. William Johnson said he was pleased to see how well school openings went on Sept. 7, and he credited the janitors for their preparation in the buildings and school grounds, as well as district teachers. He noted that there were some glitches in transportation, but those issues were rectified within 24 hours. "It was a pleasure to see things open so smoothly," he said.
- Johnson and other board members also discussed the transportation consortium that he is involved in, and are looking into sharing services with other districts to reduce costs.
Going Greener
- Chris Pellettieri, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, said the district is experimenting with putting the Parent Handbook on the district's Web site, rather than printing out thousands of copies. He said the move could save the district money, and that it plans to inform parents of the switch during its upcoming Back to School nights. He noted though that parents can still receive a hard copy of the Parent Handbook.
IB — The Middle Years
- Pellettieri added that the district is looking into expanding its widely-successful International Baccalaureate program into the middle school. Though the idea is still in the nascent stages, he explained that the program could be available in sixth through eighth grade, and would be a prep course for students who are interested in taking IB courses at the high school level. As of now, IB courses are only available for high school juniors and seniors. The district has offered IB since 1981.
- Pellettieri noted that the only other district to offer the IB program in middle school is Commack. Pellettieri, along with other district officials, will meet on Oct. 16 for an orientation on how exactly the program would be implemented at the middle school level. "We're real excited about the potential of this program," he said "...this wouldn't be structured like at the high school."
Other News
- The board accepted four basketball rims from the Rockville Centre Basketball League. Two rims will be installed at and the other two will be placed at the middle school.
- The board approved two trips for middle school students. One is for the Foreign Language Club to take 43 eighth-graders to Quebec from Oct. 19-22 at a cost of $660 per student. Students will be placed in groups of two or three with host families while there.
- The other trip is for 150 eighth-graders in the National Junior Honor Society to go to Washington, D.C. from Oct. 20-22 at a cost of $425 per student.
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