Long Island superintendents speak about issues

SUFFOLK COUNTY

Karen Salmon

Bay Shore School District

New York's public schools face many challenges, but two areas are particularly formidable. First, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act mitigated by the ESEA Flexibility Waiver still holds our schools accountable for eliminating academic achievement gaps among all students, regardless of ethnicity or family income. Research shows that environmental factors such as access to quality health care, nutrition, low-income housing, stability, parental participation and occupation play a significant role in how well children learn and ultimately succeed.

In addition, Bay Shore schools along with schools nationwide are engaged in a major reform initiative, the implementation of Common Core Standards with Teacher and Principal Evaluations directly linked to student performance and state assessment results. Students are being held to increasingly rigorous standards, and accountability for teachers and administrators is at an all-time high. Many educators agree that teachers lacked sufficient time to familiarize themselves with Common Core material before implementing the new curriculum. Students in the upper grade levels were at a clear disadvantage with not having prior instruction in the Common Core Curriculum before being assessed.

How will we survive this surge of expectations? It will be through our continuing leadership, commitment to public education, and advocacy for our children.

Bay Shore School District is committed to ensuring that all students graduate with vital college and career readiness skills. We have an exceptional generation of children in our public schools today who are fortunate to have community support. Through the collaborative efforts among our schools, communities, businesses and elected officials, we will be able to continue the tradition of delivering outstanding educational programs and services to our students.

Patricia Sullivan-Kriss

Hauppauge Union Free School District

A significant challenge facing the Hauppauge School District involves the Common Core Learning Standards curriculum introduced in the 2012-13 school year. Hauppauge joined all other Long Island and New York State school districts in showing a large decline in the number of students deemed proficient in math and English in grades three through eight.

While New York has joined a coalition of 44 other states and the District of Columbia in adopting the Common Core, we are the only state that tested students using these new standards in 2013. Other states will not begin testing until 2014-2015.

While initially the test scores suggest a marked decline in student performance, in reality the scores more accurately reflect the fact that the assessments were implemented prematurely before students could be instructed in the new, more rigorous Common Core Learning Standards curriculum. In fact, New York State United Teachers found that only two of 20 curriculum guides in elementary math promised by the state had been provided to local educators prior to the spring testing.

I strongly believe there is no correlation between these latest statewide assessment results and our students' ability to be prepared for college and careers. My belief is supported by the high percentage of Hauppauge graduates attending some of the country's most prestigious colleges and universities as well as those who are succeeding in rewarding and demanding 21st century careers.

Over-assessment and teaching to the test are issues that conflict many educators. Teaching of content, concepts, skills and assessing them are necessary components of our educational system, but equally important are educators who inspire students to embrace the values of a strong moral character, citizenship, respect, empathy and trust. There are no numbers to quantify these core values.

Steven Cohen

Shoreham-Wading River Central School District

Shoreham-Wading River's greatest challenges in the 2013-14 school year are the same as those of sister districts throughout Long Island and the rest of NYS. Will we find ways to preserve, and where possible improve, valued educational programs without having sufficient resources to cover increasing costs? Will NYSED's demands to implement untested -- and very controversial -- changes in curriculum standards and assessment, called for in the Regents Reform Agenda, help or hurt children?

We do not control increasing pension costs. We have little control over increases in the cost of medical benefits. We have little control over costs associated with state mandates. We are bound by the new tax levy limit. What we do control is the size of our teaching and support staffs. So if we do not get help to meet increases in pension costs, health costs and mandate costs, either we must ask our communities to provide greater resources by a supermajority vote (while the economy continues to sputter), or we must increase class size, eliminate valuable programs, or do both. And while we confront these difficult fiscal problems, we are required to train new teachers and retrain veteran teachers to instruct students according to new, untested, curriculum standards, and assess both students and teachers by methods whose reliability is highly uncertain.

Our public schools are being told to do things that no private schools are forced to do. Private schools have not embraced the so-called benefits of the Regents Reform Agenda (why not?). An entire generation of children is being put at risk of receiving a defective -- and perhaps damaging -- education should these untested "reforms" prove to be what many of us fear: false gods. Will the Regents, many of whom send their own children to private schools that are not hobbled by insufficient resources, or subject to their own "reforms," insist that all children -- whether they learn in public, private or parochial schools -- be forced to benefit from their recommended improvements?

These are the challenges we face in 2013-14.

Paul Casciano

William Floyd School District in Mastic Beach

William Floyd will be challenged this year with the alignment of instruction with Common Core Standards and state testing. The implementation of this initiative was hastily mandated in schools throughout our state, dismissing the elements of a successful change process. The results were subpar student results, which do not accurately reflect the enormous capacity of our students or educators. Despite this setback, we embrace the ambitious goals and direction of what many experts believe to be the most radical reform in the history of education.

The assessments reportedly established a baseline by which to measure growth of students in the future. The results showed that only 31 percent of grades 3-8 students statewide met or exceeded the proficiency standard in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. The learning gap for low-income, African-American and Hispanic students, and English language learners has become more pronounced and more concerning.

When students are told they are not proficient in ELA and math, and 69 percent of the students in our state will be told this, it is very disheartening. Many of these students were told they were performing at or above proficiency in prior years. There was not a decline in student learning. Our teachers were working harder and in a more focused manner than they ever have, and our students demonstrated greater knowledge and skills at each grade level than we have ever seen before.

New York leads the country in demanding higher standards for student performance. We believe in the mission and will continue the work to align our instructional capacity, resources and supports. We will not be satisfied until all of our students are college- and career-ready.

NASSAU COUNTY

David J. Flatley

Carle Place Union Free School District

The 2013-14 academic year promises to hold many significant challenges for Long Island school districts. The New York State Education Department has put forward an ambitious schedule of curriculum modification and assessment revision that redefine our expectations for students and teachers. Technology-based testing requiring considerable capital investment is on the near horizon. New accountability measures for teachers and principals are only beginning to come into focus. Safety and security procedures must be enhanced. These challenges must be placed in the context of continuing economic pressures that force districts to consider cutting programs and services. This year that economic picture includes a Consumer Price Index below 2 percent. This is great news for consumers; however, school boards and district administrations may be challenged by a concomitant reduction in the tax cap to 1.5 percent or less.

Carle Place will continue to address these challenges by balancing the needs of our children with the ability of our community to provide support. We are proud of our traditions of strong character development and academic excellence. We are equally proud of our history of community partnership. We will maximize that support as we explore new opportunities for the conservation of resources by leveraging our inter-district and inter-municipal agreements.

The challenges have never been greater, yet the mission endures. Our students deserve to learn in safe, supportive and challenging environments. I am confident that our elected representatives in Albany and Washington agree and will work hard to provide the required resources.

Al Harper

Elmont Union Free School District

As we move into another year of dealing with effects stemming from the implementation of the rigorous Common Core Learning Standards and subsequent state assessments, our district continues to face numerous concerns, questions and worries regarding this new, unifying curricular program and the assessments, the results of which are utilized as baselines in the Annual Professional Performance Review.

We've gotten past a large hurdle in implementing the new standards into the everyday classroom curriculum through extensive discussion, training and collaboration. Now we are faced with the implications that have been caused by this monumental shift in educational learning standards, as well as acclimating educators and students to the demanding assessments.

This transitional time has made many parents and educators apprehensive -- an emotion that often travels down to students, who feel like they have been under increased pressure over the past year. Since the beginning of the new assessments, many of our students have shown an intensified anxiety and stress level from the rigidity, complexity and time involved with the assessments. The recently announced drop in statewide test scores due to the change in curriculum is another testament to the problems we will persistently have to tackle over the coming years.

Regardless of any changes still on the horizon, as educators, we must first and foremost remain dedicated to our students, advocating for what is in their best interest right now and in their bright futures, so that they will be competitive in the ever-changing global workforce.

Bill Heidenreich

Valley Stream Central High School District

School districts are navigating through challenging times. The amount of aid distributed to individual districts has been limited by budget deficits. A property tax cap compounds these challenges and places educational programming at risk. As funding struggles continue, school leaders are being asked to implement tougher Common Core Learning Standards and sort through a myriad of mandates and state education laws. The challenges associated with producing equitable spending plans, ensuring students are meeting/exceeding state learning standards and keeping principals and teachers informed of increasing expectations have grown significantly.

Public education is in a transformational period. Significant changes are in motion related to evaluation, standardized testing, the use of data, public opinion, and the property tax cap's implications on collective bargaining, compensation and benefits, and more. Moving forward, it is my desire to lead an organization that adapts well in a timely and thoughtful manner while also embracing the history and traditions that have served Valley Stream well for nearly a century: student-centered schools, high-quality teaching and learning, collaboration and mutual respect and understanding among many other things.

The advent of a seemingly unrelenting series of reforms has caused even the most devout educators to question their purpose and the direction of public education. As we face these challenges, we must be determined in our desire and ability to seek a broader view of our work. We must continue to look at the "big picture" and create time and space to ensure the success of our students.

Laura Seinfeld

Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District

Oyster-Bay East Norwich Central School District is a caring learning community committed to maximizing each student's personal potential for tomorrow's world. The challenge for this and other districts is finding the connections among the numerous state and federal mandates and balancing these mandates with our ongoing mission to provide meaningful learning experiences that truly prepare each student for his/her future.

The Regents Reform Agenda presents several challenges in the area of changes to curriculum and associated state tests, as well as teacher and principal evaluation. Our teachers and administrators have worked tirelessly to align curriculum with the Common Core Learning Standards and to develop a plan for teacher and principal evaluation that supports all professionals in reflection and continuous growth. As we begin the 2013-14 school year, we strive to help all members of the learning community see connections among these and other mandates, always with an eye toward improving learning experiences.

The OBEN leadership, including members of the Board of Education, is committed to maintaining and improving district programs in a fiscally responsible manner. Working toward this continuous improvement within the confines of the tax levy limit and balancing program enhancement with our community's ability to provide support are additional challenges we face this year.

I am confident that we are prepared to face these seemingly daunting challenges. Oyster Bay's own Theodore Roosevelt is credited with stating, "Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care."

Robert W. Katulak

New Hyde Park-Garden City Park Union Free District

The biggest challenge for the New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District for the 2013-14 school year is the full implementation of the Common Core Learning Standards with a property tax cap restricting the expenditures needed for materials and professional development.

Our district has an outstanding teaching and administrative staff that rises to every academic challenge put before them and produces high-performing elementary school results. This challenge is heightened this year with additional rigor, high benchmarks and cut scores on the New York State Assessments. Our teachers, administrators, students and parents are the best in the county, and we will return to our high schoolers once again. We will make sure that the focus remains on a well-rounded education and not a "teaching to the test" philosophy.