We are pleased to see the continued improvement in student achievement reflected in the growth in high school graduation rates announced today by the State Education Department. Also encouraging is the continued progress in narrowing the gap in graduation rates between white students and their black, Hispanic, disabled and English language learner peers. 

On Board Online • January 13, 2020

By Ken Goldfarb
Special Correspondent

While waiting for a school bus to take a track team to a meet last spring, a teacher-coach in the Honeoye Falls-Lima Central School District started chatting with a bus mechanic. "If only I could drive the bus, I could drive us there," she said, half-jokingly.

On Board Online • January 13, 2020

Fred Langstaff
NYSSBA President

This isn't the first thing I usually share with people when we first meet, but I'm making an exception here. I was a bit of a cut-up in elementary school. I took every chance I could to joke and socialize, even when it really was time to settle down, crack open a textbook and listen to what the teacher had to say.

My teachers let my chatty tendencies slide for a few years. My classroom behavior did not improve until fifth grade, when our teacher instructed us to quiet down and I kept on kibitzing with my classmates. I finally went silent when I sensed a towering presence standing over my desk in the third row.

On Board Online • January 13, 2020

By Merri Rosenberg
Special Correspondent

On the main road into the Orange County town of Warwick, N.Y., a sign says, "Bring Your Own Bag."

Historically, this portion of New York State near the New Jersey border has been agricultural, and it’s surrounded by forests.

On Board Online • January 13, 2020

By Michael Goot
Special Correspondent

Last spring, 11th-grade students in Buffalo Public Schools read about the Civil Rights movement and the famous march by Martin Luther King Jr. over the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma to Montgomery to fight for voting rights.

Those 70 students saw the famous bridge up close on a four-day field trip last April and even re-created a photo from that historical event.

January 9, 2020

Yesterday, Governor Cuomo delivered his 2020 State of the State address. NYSSBA was in attendance to hear the dozens of ideas and initiatives the Governor plans on advancing in the new year. The speech followed an extended roll-out of proposals from the Governor over the past few weeks.

Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed some laudable goals – such as closing the achievement gap, enhancing school safety, advancing net neutrality protections and expanding pre-K and afterschool programs – in his State of the State address. These are all goals that school board members can rally around, to be sure.

December 13, 2019

On Monday, the Board of Regents released their 2020-21 School Aid proposal. The Regents recommended a school aid increase of $2.0 billion, or 7%, over current year funding levels.

• $1.9 billion in Foundation Aid increases
• $82 million in statutory reimbursement-based aid increases
• $26 million for prekindergarten expansion and inclusion pilot
• The proposal would also put the state on a committed path to fully phasing-in the Foundation Aid formula over a three year period

On Board Online • December 16, 2019

By George Basler
Special Correspondent

Malcolm Greenspun came out as transgender to his parents when he was in eighth grade. When he entered Ithaca High School as a freshman this fall, he asked teachers and administrators to call him by his new first name.

On Board Online • December 16, 2019

Timothy G. Kremer
NYSSBA Executive Director

At the end of this month, I retire. I approach this change with a sense of nostalgia, because working with and for school boards has been very rewarding.

Throughout my 40 years in this business, I have never lost sight of the fact that school boards are principally decision-making bodies, and that what they need most from their association is information to assist them in making well-informed local decisions. My colleagues and I are committed to delivering relevant, accurate and timely information, when it is most needed, in a format that is easily accessible.

A second principle that has guided me is our members need to know NYSSBA cares about them.