I’ve been attending meetings around the community lately to present information about the bond referendum and school budget.
One of the questions that comes up frequently is whether we are budgeting adequately to meet the educational needs of our students. In an era of dwindling state support for public schools, tax caps and slow economic growth, we have little choice but to focus intently on keeping our fiscal house in order. In fact, we’re very proud of our record of fiscal restraint.
But we’re even more proud of the progress we make every year on our instructional programs. Perhaps the message doesn’t get through clearly enough that, over the same six-year period in which the board of education has kept the tax levy to an average increase of less than 1.3 percent, the school district has successfully introduced a number of important educational initiatives. In fact we are most proud of the time and energy we spend working on our instructional and co-curricular programs.
In a very fruitful partnership with Columbia University Teacher’s College, we have intensified our efforts in enhancing literacy education. We have expanded our offerings in languages and have begun a foreign exchange program.
In technology, we are the first high school on Long Island to put an iPad into the hands of every high school student, and next year are poised to expand this program into the elementary grades. We are continually re-evaluating and upgrading our informational technology systems to ensure that we are providing high quality access and support for teachers in the classroom. Next year, we are introducing a new engineering curriculum at the secondary level, in keeping with a national emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. Our college acceptances continue to be the envy of most high schools in the State.
It is worth repeating that Roslyn has not had to lay off a single staff member over the last five years for budgetary reasons. Regrettably, few of our neighboring districts can make the same claim. We are seeing some decline in student enrollment, which has meant that the number of staff is also declining, but this has no impact whatsoever on the quality or depth of instruction, or on class sizes. The Board’s long-term fiscal planning has provided administration with the ability to implement new programs even while the budget remains steady year after year.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the expansive opportunities that students in Roslyn have in athletics, the arts, research, and a wide range of extra-curricular clubs and other programs. Just last week, the board recognized several students for their outstanding achievements in the visual and performing arts. It is my firm conviction that these offerings are what give our schools their richness and unique character. It is imperative that we enable high school students to take many Advanced Placement courses and help them to achieve at high levels across all academic areas, but that is not the sole measure of what makes Roslyn a great place to get an education. The ‘ranking’ of high schools that are published in the news magazines are, in my view, largely meaningless attempts to define high schools on arbitrary and narrow measures of success. Roslyn is about much more than how many students sit for AP exams. We have always provided a broad array of opportunities for individual achievement, and are determined to stay that course.
This board of education and administration never lose sight of the fact that all of the attention to fiscal management is for one purpose only: to provide an excellent education for the community’s children. As we seek to renovate and upgrade our schools through the bond referendum, and fund our educational programs through the school budget, we remain continually focused on what our decisions mean for our children and their future.
We hope you will keep the same in mind when you vote on May 20 at Roslyn High School.
