Long Lake Central School Newsletter is published irregularly by Long Lake Central School, PO Box 217, Long Lake NY 12847-0217
June
2008
Dear
District Residents:
I would
like to thank everyone from the community who took the time to attend our May
Board of Education meeting and budget hearing.
I certainly recognize the fact that the Long Lake School is of the
utmost importance to the community and I, along with the Board of Education,
encourage your attendance at our meetings.
At our May meeting I heard concerns regarding
our elementary education program and concerns regarding personnel issues.
With any
personnel issue I can assure you that the Board of Education and myself are
diligent in following all contractual agreements and upholding the policies of
the school. However, we can not comment
in public, or private, on personnel issues that are discussed in executive
session.
The
elementary situation is not being taken lightly, nor being rushed into. Our students are released one period early
every Tuesday so the teachers can have a faculty meeting. I do not know of one
other school in NYS that does this. We have been doing this the entire three
years I have been here. We are in a
position where we have 6 full time elementary teachers for 26 kindergarten
through sixth grade students. We also
have a full time special education teacher, a full time teacher assistant, a
full time school guidance counselor, a full time library media specialist, a full
time physical education teacher and a full time art and music teacher. We also
have a half time speech therapist. We contract for school psychologist and
occupational therapy services. I applaud
the district taxpayers for consistently supporting our school budget and
providing us with a full compliment of staff to work with all of our children.
We are
in a position where our anticipated enrollment in our elementary school is
going to be around thirty students for years to come. With this in mind, I am working with the
elementary staff to develop flexible classrooms that will meet the needs of all
students. This is called multi–age or
multi–grade grouping. This is not a new concept and is used in many classrooms
across the country. It is used here currently.
-Continued-
There is
a lot of research that supports this type of configuration for learning. In
years to come, students in a certain age / grade range will be teamed up with
their peers and the teaching of the respective curriculums will be shared and
individual. This provides the
opportunity for children to work in a group and also to work at the top of
their ability level. It also allows
teacher flexibility to move children around for remediation. This method is not new to LLCS, some form of
shared teaching has been implemented in recent years and is currently used in
our lower grades.
In order
to continue this project we have visited Lake George elementary school, Newcomb
Central School and other area schools that have these types of successful and
creative classrooms. We have made visits
to other programs on our own and in groups. We have used our BOCES for staff
development and had teachers from Guilderland Central School District come to
one of our Superintendent conference days and explain how they develop
curriculum and map it out in their district. Curriculum Mapping is a method of
aligning curriculum across various grade levels and subjects. It helps identify
gaps in learning and provides teachers insight to specific needs that will guide
instruction. Our teachers are also
encouraged to attend conferences that focus on enhancing their knowledge of the
latest trends in education.
The
desired outcome of this undertaking is to come away with a sustainable usable
model that will last for years to come and give our parents and teachers a
clear vision of what we will be doing on a yearly basis.
I hope
to have our plan in place by this June. I have talked to parents in the
community with young children who will be entering our school over the next few
years. Based on these conversations I plan to hold an informational meeting at
the school to explain our programs answer questions and allow parents to be
informed as their children approach school age.
Communication
to the Board and Superintendent is encouraged.
Understanding proper protocol is equally important. By school policy, all communication to the
board passes through the Superintendent. The superintendent is obligated to
share each and every item with the Board.
The Board is then charged with taking action or not taking action.
When a
board member is approached in public, they are a member of the board and a
member of the community. By school law and professional ethics, board members
are held to a different standard. Only
when a board is convened and a quorum is present, are board members allowed to
take action.
Throughout
the past two weeks, I have received two phone calls from community members
regarding the school. Please be
reminded, my door is open and the phone number is 624–2147 ext 206. With such a large turnout at our meeting, I
am hopeful I will receive more calls so I can answer questions and pass along
accurate information.
I also
am aware our retired community does not feel as informed as they should be and
I will make an effort to respond to them.
Starting in July there will be a new column in our newsletter, the
Senior Corner. I look forward to
collaborating with our senior community on this effort.
-Continued-
As the
new school year starts I will look to find ways to encourage participation in
our school. Perhaps a coffee hour or
grandparents as reading partners.
Someone suggested to me having students visit senior citizens who do not
get out and interview them for the oral town history project.
There
are many good ideas in this community.
Please, share your thoughts with us and stay involved.
Sincerely,
Kevin
Crampton
News Notes and Reminders:
Please
attend the moving up ceremony Tuesday June 3, 2008
School
Exams start June 12 and Regents start June 17
Graduation is Friday, June 27 in
the Gym @ 7:30 PM.
Anyone
interested in the community garden project?
