At the March 13 Budget Workshop, the Athletics, Special Education and Technology Departments presented their budget details for next year. These presentations can be found on our website at www.ewsdonline.org > click on District tab > Departments > Business & Finance > Budget Info > 13-14 Budget Info.
All budget information provided to date, including the initial budget overview presentation presented at our first budget workshop on Feb. 27 and updated at each subsequent meeting, can be found on the website as well. If you have not been able to attend the budget workshops, or had a chance to visit the website, I recommend you look at the overview presentation which provides an important framework and context for the building and program budgets.
This year, the district needed to reduce the budget by $2 million in order to fall within the property-tax-levy cap. Through the restructuring and reallocation of district resources, as well as leveraging grants and cost-sharing with other districts, program and class sizes are being maintained, with some new class offerings at Wheatley.
Highlights of the budget workshop included a celebration of the growing list of our students’ athletic achievements and recognitions, the continuation of our K-12 special-education programs whose successes are recognized in the data presented regarding our special-education students’ successful performance on Regents exams and the technology enhancements made to our academic program this year as part of the District’s Five Year Technology Plan.
These enhancements include the pilot iPad program in 6th grade, as well as the second year of the iPad Model Teacher Training Program, the completion of wireless capability in all buildings and new computers in all Information Media Center classrooms. Discussions included the role of the middle school athletic program in supporting students’ continued and growing involvement in high school athletic programs. In addition, the board discussed the unfunded mandate and districts’ possible challenges inherent in ensuring sufficient infrastructure and hardware to meet the future requirements of the proposed New York State computer-based assessments.
The next Budget Workshop is April 3 at 7:30 p.m at Wheatley. At this meeting the board will engage in budget deliberations with a plan of adopting a budget for voter approval at the April 8 board meeting.
If you have any questions regarding the budget, please do not hesitate to contact Jacqueline Fitzpatrick, Assistant Superintendent for Business at 516-333-1794 or fitzpatrickj@ewsdonline.org or me at 516-333-3758 or kanase@ewsdonline.org.
March 18th Board of Education Monthly Business Meeting
At this meeting, the Board of Education and district recognized the achievements of our Boys Varsity Basketball Team, the Nassau County Champions. We will also be honoring the Boys Varsity Indoor Track team who will receive the New York State Scholar Athlete Team Award. The Indoor Track team had the highest average GPA of all Boys Varsity Indoor Track teams in New York State.
Strategic Planning
We are almost ready to roll out the essential community priority survey. The Strategic Planning Committee met last week and approved the final version of the survey, pending one more test piloting of the electronic version. The committee members include Michael Porges, co-facilitator, Jim Bloomgarden, North Side principal, Jamie Cutinella, PTO Coordinating Council, Meryl Fordin, teacher, EWTA, Stephan Leccese, BOE Financial Advisory Committee, Burt Roslyn, BOE Capital Facilities Advisory Committee, Christine Hogg, BOE Educational Advisory Committee, Patrick Gillespie, BOE Audit Committee and Joseph Jacobs, Wheatley student.
The survey has been simplified based on feedback from those of you who participated in our original test-drive. It is meant to give a snapshot of your priority areas as we plan for the next five years. After we gather this information there will be further opportunities for the community and instructional staff to provide more detailed input. It is our intent to proactively address the reality of declining or flat levels of resources, while committing to maintaining and growing an excellent East Williston Educational Program. The survey asks you to identify the most critical areas for emphasis and growth as well as areas that may be de-emphasized as we face significant fiscal restraints now and in the future.
The survey will only take a few minutes of your time and you will have the option to take it electronically or through hard copy. We plan to roll out the actual survey in April. Please, please when you do receive the survey, whether through the mail or by email, take the few minutes to fill it out. We are aiming for a very strong return rate so that we truly have a significant representation from our community regarding OUR district.
In the meantime, can you help?
• Are you able to test the electronic version of the survey sometime next week? You can complete it from your home or office. Along with the survey we will send you a brief questionnaire regarding the ease of filling it out and accessing it online.
• Can you help us with our mailing/distribution of the survey and/or in helping us with the roll-out of our Survey Campaign? Volunteers to help with banners, posters, etc. are welcome, as well as any of you who might be interested in helping to coordinate the roll out campaign. We have a Wheatley student (Joseph Jacobs) on our Strategic Planning Committee and we are hoping for some student volunteers as well.
• Can you help us collate results at the end of April?
If you would like to volunteer for any of the above, please email me at kanase@ewsdonline.org or call 333-3758. Thank you!!
Long Island Science and Engineering Fair Winners
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Wheatley’s continuing development of its Science Research Program. Four Wheatley students moved on to Round 2 of LISEF with exciting results. Wheatley junior Aakash Jhaveri won first place in the Cellular and Molecular Biology category, earning him a spot to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Arizona in May.
ISEF is known as the largest international pre-college science competition where over 1,500 high school students, from more than 70 countries, present their independent research projects. The students compete for more than $3 million in awards.
Congratulations are also given to junior Lauren Perry who received the National Society of Professional Engineers Award, Yale Science and Engineering Association Award; junior Allison Chowdhury who received the ASM Educational Materials Award; and senior Jamie Brensilber who received the Mu Alpha Theta Award. Aakash also received the Department of Health and Human Services Award. Lauren, Allison and Jamie all won honorable mention in their respective categories, electrical engineering, chemistry and mathematical sciences.
More exciting news from the science research group: senior Tiffany Truong has been invited to present her research at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology . Tiffany will join eye and vision researchers from all over the world as she presents her first-author project titled “A comparison of methotrexate and mycophenolate in the treatment of chronic uveitis.” Tiffany completed the project this past summer with her mentor, Dr. Michael Sampson, at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary in New York City. The ARVO Annual Meeting takes place this year in May in Seattle, Washington. In addition to her individual research, she will also be presenting as a second-author with Sampson regarding additional research performed in conjunction with her mentor and his group.
Updates
On March 21 I was a guest-presenter in a National Education Week Leadership Forum – Road Maps to Common Core Success in White Plains. Ken Slentz, deputy commissioner for the Office of P-12 Education, New York State Education Department was on the panel with me where we discussed the challenges facing PARCC assessments, (Common Core assessments) scheduled to be in place in 2014-15; why state leaders decided to make the changes they did; how those changes will affect districts; and how districts can better prepare for the assessment transition. I was also able to attend a dinner held for the presenters, with the Commissioner of Education John B. King, Jr.
As always, please give me a call 333-3758, or email me at kanase@ewsdonline.org with any questions, suggestions, etc.
