| On Board Online • March 2, 2015 By Cathy Woodruff State legislators heard from 41 candidates, including five incumbents, seeking appointment to the state Board of Regents during three marathon interview sessions at the Capitol in February. Seven seats on the 17-member board are up for appointment, including those of Harry Phillips, who is retiring after representing the 9th Judicial District in the lower Hudson Valley for 15 years, and Geraldine Chapey, who resigned in June after representing the 11th Judicial District in Queens for 16 years. Ten candidates are vying for the Phillips seat, and two were interviewed for Chapey's seat, which has remained vacant since her resignation. The incumbents seeking re-appointment are: James C. Dawson, a SUNY Plattsburgh geology professor who represents the sprawling 11-county 4th Judicial District; Robert M. Bennett of Erie County, who represents the 8th Judicial District and served as Regents Chancellor for seven years; Lester W. Young Jr. of Brooklyn, a retired educator and at-large member of the board; Roger Tilles, an attorney who represents the 10th Judicial District on Long Island; and Kathleen M. Cashin, a retired New York City teacher and administrator who represents the 2nd Judicial District in Brooklyn. |
| On Board Online • March 2, 2015 By George Basler As a second-grade teacher, Barb Durkot has helped students cope not only with English and math but also with personal grief. Over the last years, she's had students who have lost a parent, a grandparent or a best friend. Even the death of a pet can be emotionally tough for a youngster, noted Durkot, who works for the Maine-Endwell Central School District in Broome County. It's part of her job to deal with that, she said. "As a teacher I handle the whole child," Durkot said. "If their emotional well-being is not good, it's my job to fix it." But bereavement was not something covered in any of her coursework in college or graduate school. Instead, she had to use her own judgment about what to say. |
| On Board Online • March 2, 2015 By Gayle Simidian Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said repeatedly said that New York spends more per pupil than other states in the nation but doesn't perform up to par. A recently published comparison of states supports the first contention but not the second. Vermont spends the most per student ($18,882), according to Quality Counts 2015, an annual review of national education performance data by the research arm of Education Week. At $17,326 per pupil, New York was ranked fourth among the states in spending per student. In overall performance, New York was ranked ninth in the nation. Quality Counts named Massachusetts the nation's educational leader, followed by New Jersey, Maryland and Vermont. Mississippi was ranked last. Based on a variety of financial, social and achievement measures from preschool through adulthood, including employment statistics, New York got an overall grade of B-minus. No state got an A. The highest grade was Massachusetts' B-plus. |
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| On Board Online • March 2, 2015 By Kimberly A. Fanniff School districts may wish to review how they disseminate information about sex offenders living in the community in light of a ruling by the state's highest court. Many municipalities across the state have adopted laws prohibiting registered sex offenders from residing within certain distances from schools, as well as day care centers, parks and other places where children congregate. However, the Court of Appeals has stripped school districts of protections provided by such local laws. In People v. Diack, a sex offender challenged the validity of Nassau County's law. The Court of Appeals ruled that adoption of such local residency restrictions is prohibited by the state's "comprehensive and detailed statutory and regulatory framework for the identification, regulation and monitoring of sex offenders." |
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| On Board Online • March 2, 2015 By the New York State Association of School Attorneys Amid concerns about the education of unaccompanied youth who have been sent to New York State communities by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, the state Board of Regents adopted emergency amendments to existing regulations on student residency and enrollment at their December meeting. Although designed with undocumented youths in mind, these amendments apply to all residency determinations. The amendments were adopted on an emergency basis with no opportunity for public comment. Officially, they are temporary; they went into effect on Dec. 16, 2014 for a 90-day period. However, the amendments are expected to be presented for permanent adoption at the March 25 Regents' meeting, following a public comment period. NYSSBA and the New York State Association of School Attorneys have submitted a joint letter to the Regents expressing concerns about the revised regulations, which have provisions that could result in school districts educating non-resident students tuition-free. This article includes a summary of the amendments and an analysis of their likely impact in their current form. |
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| FOR RELEASE: February 12, 2015 CONTACT: David Albert
School board members are divided over Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposal to expand state-funded prekindergarten to three-year-olds, with slightly more opposing the plan than supporting it, according to a recent poll by the New York State School Boards Association. Forty-eight percent of board members responding to the poll said they were opposed to the governor's proposal to spend $25 million to expand prekindergarten to three-year olds in high-needs school districts. Forty percent supported the measure, while 12 percent were not sure. "This proposal presents school boards with a classic conundrum: whether to support a growing state investment in early childhood education or whether to demand that scarce state funds be used to shore up funding gaps in K-12 education," said NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer. Kremer pointed out that many school districts do not have enough resources to provide the desired educational opportunities at the kindergarten through grade-12 level. That's largely because of the state's gap elimination adjustment (GEA) – which is currently withholding more than $1 billion in state funds from schools – and a frozen Foundation Aid formula, which provides basic operating aid to school districts. |
| On Board Online • February 9, 2015 By Merryl Tisch New York State has some of the best teachers in the country. However, for far too long, those best teachers haven't had the opportunity to share their talents and experience with their colleagues. In New York, we're changing that with a bold initiative to energize and empower our very best educators, with the ultimate goal of increasing student achievement. Schools improve when experienced and highly effective teachers share their knowledge with colleagues and help administrators ensure that professional development is addressing the right topics. Since 2011, the Board of Regents has encouraged that kind of collaboration through a grant program called Strengthening Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (STLE). STLE is a labor-management partnership that has committed $83 million in federal funds to transform practice across more than a third of the state's school districts. |
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| On Board Online • February 9, 2015 By Paul Heiser While computers and technology are common in the lives of youngsters, the nation's high school students spend relatively little time studying computer science. Few are taught to write code, or take classes that delve into the workings of the Internet or explain how to create an app. "I think schools don't do enough to instruct students in computer science," said Matt Hladun, director of technology in the Queensbury school district in Warren County. Two years ago, Queensbury's high school began offering two courses in computer science. "I found a statistic last year from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed that by 2020, there will be 760,000 jobs in IT (information technology)," Hadlun said. "However, we are only graduating 40,000 students a year with a computer science degree." Computer programming is among the least popular Advanced Placement exams in New York. In 2014, only 1 percent of the 256,910 Advanced Placement examinations taken were in computer science, roughly on par with Physics and Mechanics, French Language and Culture; Studio Art: 2-D Design and Human Geography. |
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