Letters

Letters to the Editor: East Rockaway, Lynbrook

Aug. 28-Sept. 3, 2014

Posted

Embarrassed by East Rockaway schools

To the Editor:

Schools reflect the community. If this statement is true, why do East Rockaway residents tolerate the yearly underachievement of many students?

Pick any year, and District 19 ranks very poorly among Nassau County districts. East Rockaway third- to seventh-graders ranked in the bottom quarter among all Nassau County districts in nine of 11 grade-level tests given by New York State in English Language Arts and math — and in the bottom quartile on six of the new tests.

Furthermore, in 2013, more than 45 percent of graduating seniors opted for two-year colleges, the second-highest percentage in the county. According to national statistics, approximately 60 percent of these students will be taking remedial courses because their basic skills fall below minimum competency standards.

East Rockaway schools are an embarrassment. The school board and superintendent are clueless about raising student achievement. The only thing they’ve been good at is hoodwinking residents with doom-and- gloom consequences unless taxes are raised yearly to support their failures.

Residents need to wake up and rid themselves of the school district albatrosses.

Steven S. Corbin, Ph.D.

East Rockaway