School Board Briefs: HS Goes Green, Interviews Set in Super Search

In addition to offering up an early view of the upcoming budget challenges, Babylon school officials provided updates of curriculum decisions and board committee news during Monday’s school board meeting.

Go Match is a Go

Just weeks after deciding to pull in the Go Match program, curriculum training for all third to sixtth grade teachers will be held Friday, and elementary staff and faculty will get training next week. The plan is to start teaching ‘Go Math’ next September. The district hopes it will help boost student achievement levels and state standardized test scores.

HS Goes Green

Babylon Junior Senior High School Principal Al Cirone is going green when it comes to communications with parents about school news and events. He sends out an electronic monthly newsletter on what’s happening in the schools and he, along with all school administrators, are making greater use of the district’s voice mail announcement and e-mail messaging systems. “We trying to use electronic technologies and media as much as possible,” said Cirone.

School Chief Rebuts Governor’s Statement

In his recent State of the State address Governor Andrew Cuomo said he was appointing himself the ‘lobbyist’ for students, noting that all participants in the educational system hire lobbyists to promote their interests. But the students, he said, don’t have a true lobbyist to represent them. Interim Superintendent Peter Daly rebuts that contention.

“We all took offense to that comment as we are all here for the students,” he said during Monday’s board of education meeting. “We got into this business to have a positive impact on students and education,” added Daly, who then showed a videotaped message featuring New York State School Boards Association Executive Director Timothy Kremer. “School board members are lobbyists for students…they spend nights, weekends that are unpaid… they believe in public education,” said Kremer in the video message. Daly said that while it’s good that Cuomo has students’ needs on his agenda, every school board and school administrator was already serving as a lobbyist for students before he made his address.

Search for New Chief Moving Forward

While the district declined to provide specifics of candidates under consideration for the school chief role , Patch has learned the school board will be interviewing candidates on January 28.

Budget is Focus for Finance Committee

The next meeting of the board of education finance committee will be on January 23 at 7 p.m. The focus will be budget evaluation and review. Committee leaders said, “no stone will go unturned” in assessing costs and next year’s spend. The public is invited to attend the meeting.