From the desk: NHP-GCP district to mentor others

Robert W Katulak

The New Hyde Park-Garden City Park School District was one of the only five districts in the state to be selected for the Commissioner’s Dissemination Grant. The purpose of the grant is to allow reward school districts such as ours, to share our expertise, strategies, and materials with other districts in the state that are struggling. 

The Commissioner of Education in conjunction with the governor, created this award so as our district mentors others, we also have the opportunity to improve our own practices and strategies as well. Most of these opportunities come through renewed staff development opportunities. 

This fall our teachers, along with teachers from Long Beach Middle School, Yonkers Lincoln High School and Rochester Elementary Schools 50 and 15 will be working in a series of full day trainings on the areas of reading styles modalities, balanced literacy strategies, and the regular education and special education collaborative partnerships. 

The training and the materials associated with the trainings, enable our students to be on the receiving end of the research based practices that meet their needs, and increase their proficiency and mastery of the Common Core Learning Standards that New York has chosen to implement. Students will also benefit from additional technology, software programs and educational applications.

Although our district is the mentor, we will also be learning new and exciting innovations from other districts. The two collaboratives in Rochester we are partnered with have infused technology in many Common Core Units they have developed. Teachers involved in the trainings are from across all schools and all grades. 

Students will also benefit by having many additional materials and manipulatives paid for through the grant. We are pleased and proud that we can play this leadership/mentor role for others. Our entire character education program for students is rooted in service to others and paying it forward. It is a great thing to be able to model that philosophy to our students as a united district and pay it aforward to other school districts.

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