The Herricks Public Schools Board of Education last Thursday discussed implementing increased security at its athletic fields, a move that both would allow residents more opportunities to utilize the facilities as well as reduce wreckage of district property.
Newly installed Herricks Superintendent Fino Celano, who previously served as assistant superintendent for schools in Garden City, said the school district received $16,000 in revenue for field usage during the 2014-2015 school year.
Trustee James Gounaris noted that the figure represented a 50 percent reduction in revenue from what the district received for field usage four years back.
Gounaris said the board originally decided to employ a field-permit system to raise funds that would help preserve the schools’ teams and coaches.
“As we’ve gotten past the financial hurdles and now restored our teams, I think that this money is a good source to make sure that outside groups don’t come onto our fields,” he said. “I think we can calibrate this money to work in conjunction with security on Saturdays and Sundays to make sure people who are on the fields are residents, and people who are not supposed to be using the fields are politely asked to find another place to play.”
Celano suggested looking into the cost of using the school district’s security company to patrol the fields to ensure that fields are not being used by groups without permits.
“We have to protect our school district property,” Celano said. “It’s doing two things –– it’s taking away the opportunity from residents to use our fields, and also putting a lot of wear on our fields.”
At the board meeting, Celano also alerted members of the board and public of changes to standardized testing for the upcoming school year.
He said the state Education Department has decided to award the contract for the English Language Arts, or ELA, assessments for grades three through eight to Questar Assessments, a Minneapolis-based testing company.
The contract was previously held by Pearson, a company that Celano said has been “highly criticized” for the quality of their assessments.
“There were inconsistencies in how the test were constructed –– the questions were poorly worded and the readings were not appropriate in terms of grade level,” he said.
Celano said that the new commissioner of education, MaryEllen Elia, wrote in a press release that teachers will now be involved in every step of the test development process.
“When Pearson was doing assessments, teachers were very far removed, and I think that was one of the reasons why the assessments were maybe not aligned with what they should have been,” he said. “So the fact that now, teachers who are in the field, who know the kids and are working with the kids, are now involved, according to the new commissioner, in the creation of the assessments, I think is very positive.”
Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Christine Finn also mentioned that the state Education Department will be reviewing the Common Core Algebra Regents exam, which she said was significantly harder than the old version of the Algebra Regents exam.
“Despite it being much harder, we only experienced a very slight, 1 percent decrease in the number of students achieving proficiency,” Finn said. “I think its a credit to our students and also our teachers, who are well versed in the Common Core, that our students are very prepared for the Algebra Regents.”
The board will hold its next meeting on Aug. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Board President Nancy Feinstein said the board will be setting the tax levy at this meeting.
