Category Archives: Policy

Conferences are for growth I (NYSSBA)

Malverne School District Community Posted on by

NYS School Board Association conference This post consists of bits of info shared at the annual NYSSBA conference October 14th, 2017. One always learns something new or delves deeper into something already known at a conference. The conferences are for growth. If attending is not possible, one can follow the conference online and read reflections of bloggers. The presenters, educators, administrators, and school board members share their thoughts on issues they are facing at … Continue reading →

School board committees —publicly accessible for a reason

Malverne School District Community Posted on by

Every year at the beginning of the school, parents and school staff ask themselves how the new year will go. The parents ask where they can help and the administrators ask how to get more parents involved in life of the schools. Where there is a will there is a way. Both groups can find answers in the form of shared-decision and board committees. Although the both types of committees have been around for a long … Continue reading →

NYS ESSA Plan comments

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On Saturday, June 10th, I attended a public hearing on the NYS ESSA plan. Next to the last of the 13 hearings scheduled across the state. Each state has to submit to the federal DOE how they envision to meet the federal requirements. The plans have to be submitted by September 18th. The NYSED worked out a 159-page draft. The first draft at this time. I did my part as a parent participating in … Continue reading →

USED proposed regulations your child, school are facing

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The summer has just started. Few parents are thinking about the school at this moment, but bureaucrats do. They are paid for doing so. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed into the law last December, replacing the No Child Left Behind (NLCB). The new law assigns more responsibilities to individual states, shifting more power to them, and away from the federal department of education (USED). In May, the USED chief, John King, … Continue reading →

Safety, local STAR, APPR discussed at PTA meeting

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The parents of the M.W. Downing school met with the building principal, Mrs. McDaid, on Tuesday, April 5th, but without a teacher representation. About an hour was dedicated to the safety and security measures at the school. The review of guidelines was triggered by a recent post and comments on a FB page. The principal explained the situation in question and used the meeting to review other, related regulations, e.g. morning dropoffs, afternoon pickups … Continue reading →

New York’s Educational Agenda, Part 1

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The SOS Agenda Governor Cuomo barely finished his State of the State speech on January 8th when the first reactions to his speech started appearing in social media. The following day, there were two petitions drafted regarding the merit pay and $20,000 bonuses for teachers the governor mentioned. … Continue reading →