RSS 2.0 FeedAugust 19, 2010, Freeport-Baldwin Leader
Welcome back, from Freeport Superintendent Dr. Kishore Kuncham
Among other events, Freeport High School has a major college fair scheduled.
As we look forward to the 2010-2011 school year, it is my pleasure to welcome parents and students back to our schools. I hope your summer was restful and rewarding.
On behalf of the Board of Education, PTA Council, your school PTA and the administration, faculty and staff of the Freeport Public Schools, I invite all parents to attend school with their children on the first day of classes, Tuesday, September 7. This is a marvelous opportunity for parents to become acquainted with their child’s teacher, the curriculum for the year, and with the teacher’s expectations and methodologies.
This is a PTA-sponsored event in collaboration with each school administration and faculty. Its purpose is to begin the process of communication between the home and the school from the very first day. It is more important than ever for the schools to partner with parents in order to optimize each student’s opportunity to succeed.
Looking back at 2009-2010 The 2009-10 school year was productive in so many ways. Our Smart Scholars Program was successfully launched this July. This program, run in partnership with Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, gives high school students an opportunity to earn up to 27 college credits, at no cost, before the completion of 12th grade. You may have seen it featured in a recent Newsday article.
We have completed a Strategic Plan for the district. This will serve as a guiding document for the next several years, clearly defining our goals and priorities. We have also completed a long-range planning study of projected enrollments over the next 10 years. As a result of numerous grant applications, Freeport was awarded a variety of grants that support our educational programs. More than a million dollars in funding has made its way to programs, support services, and improved instruction. We are proud of the fact that our graduation rate is on the rise.
This past June our graduating seniors were awarded several hundreds of thousands of dollars of scholarships and many have gone on to some of the finest colleges in the country. Our football team and our cheerleaders each won a Long Island Championship. We have fully completed $8.6 million in energy performance contract projects.
Our Excel bond was originally approved for $17 million of capital projects. All of those projects have been completed, but as a result of the timing and market conditions, we were able to add approximately $4 million in other projects at no additional cost to taxpayers.
I am pleased with the accomplishments during my first year as superintendent. I am especially grateful to the community for their overwhelming support in our successful budget referendum this past May. Looking ahead to the coming school year We are well into planning many new initiatives to be implemented in the 2010-2011 school year. Freeport has made tremendous strides in the number of students in grades 3-8 scoring at Levels 3 and 4 on state assessments, but you may have read that the State Education Department (SED) has now increased the score required to demonstrate “proficiency” (sometimes called “passing score”).
This means that students need to answer more questions correctly in order to be considered “proficient.” The state has created the new base in order to make “college readiness” the ultimate proficiency standard. It is important to recognize that this redistribution decline in passing rates is not a reflection on our students’ performance nor on the work of our wonderful teachers. Rather, it is attributable to the raised standard. The district will continue to focus attention on all students needing support. We have already met with key administrators to develop a plan to ensure that our students will meet the new proficiency standards.
At the high school level, we will also focus on increasing academic rigor. As a result of our Smart Scholars Program, many students will enroll in higher level courses for which they will earn college credit.
For the first time in recent memory, a major college fair has been scheduled to take place on the evening of October 28, which will include representatives of over 100 colleges and universities nationwide. This will broaden student awareness of the four-year, post-secondary opportunities available to them. We are working hard to continue the upward trends of the Freeport Schools and to provide an outstanding education for all of our students. I am looking forward to the continued support of the community, parents, staff and students alike throughout the coming school year.
