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Overcast and Breezy District preps for another year
New technology, security measures top list of changes
As the East Meadow School District welcomed students back on Wednesday, school officials geared up for another year that will see changes on a number of fronts. Technological and security upgrades, new personnel and the continued implementation of the Common Core curriculum are among the new measures students will see. The Herald asked Superintendent Louis DeAngelo to preview the upcoming year, and how those changes will come into play.
While all of the district’s principals will stay put, both high schools welcome new assistant principals: Nicole Hiken at W.T. Clarke, and Michael Barracato at East Meadow High. There are also two new department chairs: Cinthia Serowik, for middle school English Language Arts, and Debbie Langone, for the East Meadow High science department.
DeAngelo said that district officials also reviewed security measures during the summer, and added a new camera system that will better enable staff to monitor the schools. On the technological front, he said, the district will continue its expansion of Smart Boards, with the eventual goal of having one in every classroom.
A new addition is Smart Tables, interactive play tables equipped with computerized screens. Developed by Smart Technologies, maker of the Smart Board, they are designed to improve student literacy and math skills through educational games while also encouraging group play. This year the tables will be used only in elementary schools.
The Common Core curriculum has been a hot topic of conversation for weeks, in the wake of a historic drop in standardized test results in districts across the state. The decline was expected, given the fact that the 2012-13 math and ELA assessments were the first to incorporate the more rigorous, state-mandated standards. East Meadow’s scores dropped significantly from previous years, though the district’s results remained above both the state and county averages. “Our kids are not doing worse; our teachers are not doing worse,” DeAngelo said. “It’s just that the standard was raised much higher.”
