The Nassau County Association of Mathematics Supervisors is hosting a panel discussion on “Optimizing the Common Core in Mathematics: Where Are We Now? Where Do We Need to Go?” at its 20th annual spring luncheon.
North Side Principal James Bloomgarden and North Side Math Support teacher and elementary math content leader Lisa Minerva have been invited to join this panel, which includes Roger Tilles, member of the New York State Board of Regents, to share their insight on this topic with other educators.
Upcoming Staff Development
The District Professional Development Steering Group and the District Leadership Team (consisting of building and district administration and curriculum chairs and directors) work hard, in a variety of venues, to successfully align our professional development with our district instructional goals, in direct support of student achievement.
Over the next two months, our elementary and middle school staff will be involved in several key District training initiatives in the area of ELA/literacy in preparation for the next school year.
Earlier this year, all of our K-5 elementary classroom and support teachers received training in Fountas & Pinnell benchmarking, which provides an opportunity for staff to assess student reading one-to-one and obtain an understanding of each child’s reading level in order to know how to best address students’ needs for support and/or challenge, on an individual basis.
Next year, this process, which provides a consistent district standard to measure student progress over time to ensure students are being most effectively supported in reading, will move into the sixth grade program as well. Later this month, sixth grade teachers and support staff will receive training in Fountas & Pinnell literacy benchmarking.
Special education teachers, reading teachers and other instructional staff that provide specialized support to 7-12 graders who struggle with reading will also receive this training.
In June, our Middle and High School reading and support teachers continue to build their strategy toolbox with training in Leveled Literacy Intervention currently being successfully used as an intervention at North Side.
Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention is a small group, supplemental literacy intervention designed for students who find reading and writing difficult. Through systematically designed lessons and original, engaging leveled books, LLI supports learning in both reading and writing and helps students expand their knowledge of language and words and how they work. The goal of LLI is to bring students to grade level achievement in reading.
Building on the literacy training in reading and writing workshops that our fifth grade teachers participated in this year, which supported the transition to an elementary model, fifth grade teachers, along with other interested staff members including building and district administrators, will participate, after school finishes, in guided reading training. Guided reading training is designed to help us best support a literate community in the classroom while still meeting the needs of individual readers.
School Budget and Board Candidate Vote – May 20
This is a reminder to exercise your right to vote on the school budget and board candidate vote on May 20 between the hours of 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. in the Wheatley Gymnasium at 11 Bacon Road in Old Westbury.
Proposition 1: The school district budget vote. For the third year, the proposed budget falls under the New York State allowable tax levy cap, resulting in a budget to budget increase of 2.52% and a tax levy increase of 2.43 percent.
Proposition 2: At last year’s budget vote, the community supported the establishment of the 2013 Capital Project Reserve Fund to enable the district to save funds for identified capital projects without incurring additional costs associated with borrowing funds. While last year’s passage of the proposition established the fund, as required by law this year’s Proposition 2 asks the community to support spending $1 million of those saved funds, for some of the identified capital projects:
•Emergency backup generator at Wheatley
•Repair & improvements to asphalt, pavement, storm drainage, concrete curb and sidewalk replacement at the south lot and bus circle at Wheatley
•Refurbishment and/or replacement of exterior wood cornice and trim at North Side
Budget Information
A budget newsletter has been mailed to your homes and you should be receiving it this week. The newsletter presents information about the proposed 2014-15 budget, which falls within the property tax levy cap and is the lowest tax levy increase in more than a decade. The proposed budget maintains class size, extracurricular and support programs, as well as provides some new programs and course offerings, through continued efficiencies in service deliveries and realignment of resources to support identified community priorities.
If you have any questions or would like further information please do not hesitate to give Mrs. Pirro a call at 516-333- 1707 or email her at pirroj@ewsdonline.org or call me at 516-333-3758 or email me at kanase@ewsdonline.org.
Wednesday’s Board of Education Work Session/Wrestling Team Topic
At this week’s Board of Education work session one of the agenda topics for board discussion was about the Wheatley wrestling team.
While the proposed budget for 2014-15 supports our Wheatley team, discussion was centered on our student-athletes gaining more advanced skills with a larger number of participants. Interested team members and parents suggested that the district consider the possibility of combining our wrestling program with another school district.
Athletic Director Tom Fitzpatrick has been exploring possibilities with other school districts. The Carle Place School District has expressed an interest in combining our teams, which would come at no additional cost to our district.
The Carle Place Board of Education will now discuss this proposal as our board did at the work session, in anticipation of moving forward.
Presently, Carle Place and East Williston successfully share a combined football team and boys’ lacrosse team.
Technology Plan
At the end of June, the district will be completing the last year of its three-year technology plan. The District Technology Committee, led by director of science and technology Dave Casamento, comprised of parents, teachers and administrators, just completed its recommendations for the next three years. Mr. Casamento presented the plan to the public and the Board of Education during the Superintendent’s Report at the school board’s monthly business meeting on May 12. It is anticipated that the Board will act on the three-year technology plan at its June Board Meeting.
Italian National Exam Competition
Congratulations to Rene Venable, a freshman at The Wheatley School, who earned 2nd place in the National Italian Exam competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Italian. Rene will receive a check for $200 from the Association for her outstanding performance on the exam.
An additional four students placed in the top ten positions within their respective levels: Daniel Singh (eighth grade), Olivia Suppa (ninth grade), Anthony Graffigna and Samantha Leong (10th grade). Susan Vasselman, Wheatley’s Italian teacher, was extremely pleased with this year’s results, noting that an additional 12 Wheatley students placed within the top 20 positions in this national competition. To see a complete list of our successful competitors, view the district website news items next week at www.ewsdonline.org. Congratulations!
Gold Medalists: National Spanish Exam
Eight students from The Wheatley School will be honored for their outstanding performance on the National Spanish Exam on the evening of Friday, May 30.
This year’s gold medal winners include: eight graders: Jacob Chimerine, Alex Kasparian, Emily Wang and Anne Yan, freshman Ashley Nussbaum and sophomores: Kayla Barroca, Julian Nathan and Jaclyn Stroud.
In order to earn a gold medal, students’ scores must place within the top 5 percent of all exams taken nationally.
Jaclyn Stroud placed in the 99th percentile, the highest level of performance on the exam. This year’s winners will receive gold medals and checks at the Long Island Chapter’s Annual Award Ceremony on May 30. In addition, 25 Wheatley students received silver certificates for their efforts, 23 received bronze and 51 received honorable mention.
“Attaining a medal or honorable mention for any student on the National Spanish Examinations is very prestigious,” said Kevin Cessna-Buscemi, national director of the exams, “because the exams are the largest of their kind in the United States with over 154,000 students participating in 2014.” Joan Anderson, chairperson of the foreign language department in the East Williston School District, added that, “Wheatley has a history of outstanding performance in both national and local language competitions. Our foreign language teachers continue to encourage their students to perform beyond the classroom and the students accept the challenge.”
To see a complete list of our medalists, view the district website news items next week at www.ewsdonline.org. Congratulations!
Long Island Math Fair Medalists
Wheatley students competed at the Long Island Math Fair held on May 2nd at Hofstra University. Some of our math students attained great success.
Congratulations to our gold medal winners: Ana Ainechi (12th grade), Michael Braunstein (11th grade), Ari Jain (10th grade), Mohammad Khanzada (10th grade), Jeffrey Poomkudy (10th grade), Andrew Zuckerman (10th grade).
Congratulations to our silver medal winners: Joseph Jacob (12th grade), Jessica Perry (12th grade), Ziv Lotzky (11th grade), Seung min Yi (11th grade) and Lindsay Mosca (9th grade).
Congratulations to our bronze medal winners: Matthew Huhn (12th grade), David Fisher (11th grade), Hebah Hassan (11th grade), Ron Aldad (10th grade), Krista Chen (10th grade), Arvin Jadonath (9th grade) and Steven John (9th grade).
Wheatley Winter Athletic Department Highlights
Congratulations to the 17 student-athletes who were recognized by Section VIII-Nassau County Interscholastic Athletic Association for their exceptional performance in athletics, scholarship and leadership qualities for the Winter 2013-14 season. The boys and girls winter track, fencing and basketball teams were recognized as NYS Scholar/Athlete Team Award winners. The girls basketball team was crowned New York State Scholar Athlete Team Champions. For the second consecutive year, the Varsity Boys Basketball team won the Nassau County Class B Championship.
Throughout their high school career, these student-athletes demonstrated outstanding athletic and scholastic abilities that have earned them a well-deserved reputation as leaders among their peers.
Varsity Boys Fencing – New York State Scholar Athlete Team: Kuan Yu – All County – 2nd team; Ben Goldbaum – All County- Honorable Mention
Varsity Girls Fencing – New York State Scholar Athlete Team: Gabriella Leccese- All County – 2nd team; Samantha Siegler – All County- Honorable Mention; Hebah Hass – All County- Honorable Mention
Varsity Wrestling: Erik Rodriguez – All County, Nassau County Champion; Shawn Mosca – All County; Mark Perrone – All Conference
Varsity Boys Basketball – NYS Scholar Athlete Team – Nassau County Class B Champions: Kevin Martins – All County; Sam Fieldman – All Conference; Andrew Tripi – All Conference; Joshua Hyon – All Conference
Varsity Girls Basketball – NYS Scholar Athlete Team Champion: Allie LaMonica – All Class; Jamie Sellinger – Scholar Athlete
Varsity Boys Indoor Track – Scholar Athlete Team
Varsity Girls indoor Track – Scholar Athlete Team: Morgan Hanel – All Conference; Katie Keller – All Conference; Krista Chen – All Conference
Have a Good Weekend
As always, please e-mail me at kanase@ewsdonline.org or call me at 333-3758 with any questions, suggestions, and or any topics you would like to see in this newsletter.
