New school year brings excitement

As the doors to learning open once again at Lynbrook and East Rockaway schools, there are a host of initiatives and programs to keep students busy and on their toes.

Looking forward in Lynbrook

The district is awaiting “another exciting year that is filled with wonderful educational opportunities,” according to Superintendent Santo Barbarino.

Though the district has no major administrative changes, they have added a new position of elementary curriculum specialist, to which Allison Curran was appointed at an Aug. 11 Board of Education meeting. Curran will work closely with the Marion Street, Waverly Park and West End Elementary school principals and assist in implementing curriculum.

In addition, the district’s supervisory model will be modified this year. The supervision of various disciplines at the high school and two middle schools will occur under new chairpersons, who will tackle each academic area. Up until now, the district had curriculum coordinators who oversaw programs districtwide in their respective disciplines.

For the fourth and fifth graders, there will be a modified one-to-one computer instruction program, which students will use laptops as their main tools to interact in class. Elementary level students will receive computer skills development to prepare for using laptops in the future. And in the middle schools, more math, science or technology exposure will be open to students. “We are very excited about the technology program,” said District Director of Communications Dr. Paul Lynch. “With the idea of a hands on program, kids can show remarkable improvement in writing.”

New Advanced Placement courses in psychology, global markets, music theory and applied mathematics are now open to high school students when school begins soon. All of these new initiatives will be more financially feasible for the district with the Board’s recent approval of a tax levy that was reduced from 5.42 percent to 4.82 percent — a move which Barbarino said is a significant change that brings relief for the schools.

And as far as building renovations, North Middle School has a new roof and insulating air conditioning for students to enjoy. The renovations were a big summer project for the district, according to Barbarino.

“While we celebrate the reduction in our tax levy, we also anticipate a great year for students and staff of the Lynbrook School District, one that will bring even more pride to our wonderful school community,” Barbarino said.

The first day of school kicks off on Tuesday, Sept. 7.

Revving up in East Rockaway

Three new teachers are joining the district — Ashley Cole at Rhame Avenue, Kate Masterson at Centre Avenue, and Marissa Paides at Rhame Avenue.

Since the budget passed with a second-time vote of 990 to 548 in June, many curriculum change-ups will occur in the district’s instructional program. At the elementary level, the Health Smart curriculum will expand into grades 4-6. And the district plans to spearhead a new initiative, Activity Works, which is a program to intensify physical education instruction to follow SED guidelines for grades K-3.

And this year, the district will take full advantage of new technologies like adding SMARTBoards — interactive whiteboards that display video and use touch detection — and replacing classroom computers. Each of the district’s servers will become virtual to centralize all the server hardware in one location.

In the classrooms at Junior/Senior High school, there will be two new courses — Advanced Placement Language, and Composition and Business Skills for the 21st Century — available for students. The language course will replace the current English 11 Honors course, while the business course replaces the Keyboarding and Computer Applications course. Students will learn keyboarding skills in the “context of authentic projects, including business letters, reports, resumes, and bibliographies,” according to the district’s website.

You can also expect to see a new prevention program, Too Good For Drugs, for students in all three schools. And with funds from the Facilities Reserve, the district is planning on replacing exterior doors and gym windows in the schools. And to top off those major renovations, new parking lots are coming to Centre and Rhame Avenue schools.

“[We are] looking forward to a new school year...we will be able to maintain all of our programs and services and introduce new initiatives,” Melucci said.

So students get ready to get the show on the road on the first day of school, Tuesday, Sept. 7.