By Laura Lane
, he also shared initiatives that district officials believe will improve the educational system for area children.
The new spending plan, which is projected to increase 5.5 percent over the current school year, includes: an introductory science-research program, new mathematics textbooks for third- and fourth-graders, departmentalization in all three Merrick elementary schools, reading support programs and an expanded foreign-language program.
District officials say that Spanish, which this year was taught only to sixth-graders, should be taught to all children in grades three to six. The district would need to hire an additional teacher. The general consensus among school officials is that the sixth-grade program has been a success.
"The program has been wonderful," said Birch Elementary School Principal Rita Ratner, adding that sixth-graders enjoy greeting her in the hallways in Spanish. "We're very eager to bring it down to the younger children too. Research has shown that children do better in foreign language the younger that they are taught."
Levy-Lakeside Principal Dr. John Kohnken agreed. "As a former foreign-language teacher, I'm very happy that they want to expand the foreign-language program," said Kohnken. "When I was over at Birch one day, I started to speak to the children in Spanish and they answered me. I was so impressed. The way our culture has gone, it's good to speak another language."
At Board of Education meetings this year, parents requested that departmentalization be implemented in all Merrick elementary schools. The initiative has been piloted this year at Chatterton.
The purpose of departmentalization, which does not require any funding, is to help sixth-graders adjust gradually to moving from class to class during the school day, a requirement of middle and high school.
Chatterton sixth-graders are also being taught by three different teachers a day in three different locations. The hope is that if children experience these changes in the familiar setting of their elementary schools, the adjustment to middle school will be smoother.
The 5.5 percent increase announced by Melucci is a preliminary figure. Last year's budget included a 5.25 increase when people went to vote, but this number was reached after months of fine-tuning the original budget proposal, which was higher. The board hasn't discussed any items in this year's budget as yet.
"March is budget time," explained Board of Education President Benay Shear. "We will still go line by line. As of now, the board hasn't discussed the budget yet."
Comments about this story? LLane@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
