By Jennifer Marino
When Rockville Centre children return to school next week, besides the new administration at the middle school, there will be some changes to the buildings and the curriculum.
McGinn was promoted from vice principal to principal. Cammarata was a special-education teacher at the middle school, and D'Elia a fourth-grade teacher and academic facilitator at Wilson School. "I'm looking forward to joining a dedicated and hardworking staff," D'Elia said soon after accepting the position.
The new administration has already been making some changes to the music and art curricula because of student interest in the studio-in-art class and the performance classes in music. There will be six sections of studio in art instead of the usual four. Due to a lack of interest, some music electives in seventh and eighth grades have been eliminated this year. A new class will be added for sixth-graders, however. It will integrate music, technology and home and careers.
South Side High School will also see a change in curriculum this year. In the 10th-grade history and English classes, there will be one level instead of two, the former Regents and advanced levels. Parents expressed concern over the change at a June Board of Education meeting. They were worried that high-performing students would be bored and struggling students would only struggle more. SSHS principal Carol Burris maintained that this "leveling up" had been done in other classes, like biology, with great success. "It's in the best interest of all the children," she said. After consulting further with the curriculum committee, the administration decided to go ahead with the changes and encouraged parents, teachers and administrators to keep a close eye on the students.
Some schools have been buzzing with construction throughout the summer. The biggest change occurred at Covert School, with the addition of two new classrooms, a new heating system and a new playground. The classrooms, added to the first-grade wing, will be finished by the opening of school, and much of the work on the heating system will also be done, according to assistant superintendent Robert Bartels.
Wilson, Watson, Hewitt, and South Side Middle School and High School also got some sprucing up. The south field at Wilson was renovated, with new drainage added as well a re-grading to help with drainage. The playground surface was repaired at Watson. A brick walkway with inscribed bricks was installed next to the playground to celebrate Watson's 50th anniversary this year. Hewitt got a new playground.
At South Side Middle School, air conditioning was added to the library, and the main office and principal's office got new carpet and paint. The high school has new art classrooms in the former maintenance garage, which has allowed for the shifting of the English and social studies offices to create additional classroom space. The portable classrooms have also been renovated, with new lighting, windows, doors, roof, vinyl siding and a new air-circulation system.
