MEET THE BAUMANN SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS
SCHOOLS
090100 Meeting challenges: middle and high school growth, state testing
By Robert Lichten
feldThis September, the Katonah-Lewisboro School District is expected to open its doors to more than 4,000 students. This represents the largest enrollment in the district in over 25 years. The enrollments at the four elementary schools appear to be level for the third year in a row; however, the enrollment at the secondary level continues to grow, as anticipated. Both the middle school and the high school are expected to top one thousand students this September.
This year, the work of the district demographics commit-tee will result in recommendations to the board of education for options to explore to accommodate the continuing increase in the secondary schools' enrollment. John Jay High School is expected to increase to 1,400 students over the next five years. John Jay
Middle School is expected to increase 20 percent in enrollment over the same period of time, to 1,200 students.
The new school year, as always, will see a number of new faculty faces — over 20 — to complement the increase in staff and the retirements and/or resignations of 15 faculty members. The only new administrator to join the district is the new director of physical education, health, and athletics, Rich Beckley.
The district will also be examining the impact of the change in school times as a result of the return to "double-tripping." The middle and high schools are now on the same time schedule, beginning 35 minutes later than was true for the past 10 years. Three of the elementary schools will begin the day at 9:20. The board of education will determine the success of this change and make recommendations to the public for its continuation and/or modification.
Robert Lichtenfeld
and the high school
are expected to top
one thousand
students
this September.
The schools will continue to respond to the challenge faced by standardized testing. The elementary schools will be implementing an academic intervention services after-school program for students who are at-risk of not passing the . new state accountability tests. This program is intended to provide extra-support for students on a selective basis, while not sacrificing important class time. Such assistance is already provided at the middle and high school levels in other formats.
The school district
will also be introducing new standardized tests for students in the elementary and middle schools to complement the state testing pro-gram. The test results will assist teachers and administrators in focusing on possible areas for curriculum revision or differentiated teaching strategies.The district also expects to complete its curriculum map-ping of the social studies pro-gram K-12, and to begin curriculum mapping of the math
ematics program. Curriculum mapping is a process where skills, content, assessments and concepts are aligned from kindergarten through 12th grade to ensure a seamless and comprehensive curriculum.
Later in the year, the district will be conducting a review of the special services programs. An evaluator will be hired by the board of education to examine programs, services, and criteria for classifications, among other things; to seek ways to improve programs and efficiencies; and to validate the fine work already being done by the department.
Each year brings its own challenges. Our greatest academic challenge is to seek ways to ensure that all students will meet the higher New York State standards for graduation while providing a rigorous program for more advanced students.
We look forward to a productive and exciting year.