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O'Neill Makes Presentation to Parents of Incoming Freshman and School Board
Garrison School's 2008 -10 Technology Plan Reviewed and Adopted
by Margaret Sternberg
As it does annually, the Highland Falls - Fort Montgomery School District made its presentation to the Garrison School Board and parents of students about to choose which high school to enter. Their March 12, 2008 presentation came shortly before Garrison 8th graders are due to make the choice of O'Neill or Haldane, having been postponed due to weather.
Guidance counselor Nancy Kolewe gave the greater part of the mostly slide presentation, assisted by O'Neill High School Principal Louis Trombetta and Interim District Superintendent Harvey Hilburgh.
Starting with statistics from the Class of 2007, Hilberg said that 61 percent of graduates had entered four-year colleges, 23 percent twoyear colleges, 12 percent the workforce, 3 percent had gone into the military and 1 percent had pursued other education.
Of the 131 graduates, three had earned National Merit commendations, one student was named a National Hispanic Recognition Program scholar, and there had been one semifinalist and two "outstanding participants" in the National Achievement Recognition Program. Hilburgh added that this year the school has two finalists in the National Merit Scholarships.
In the area of SAT mean scores results, O'Neill exceeded the national numbers in all three areas (no numbers were provided for New York State,) with critical reading 543 versus 502, Math at 552 versus 515, and writing at 529 versus 494. Seventy-seven percent of the Class of 2007 took the SAT, and 24 percent took the ACT.
There were 110 Advanced Placement exams last year for 66 seniors; 31 juniors sat for 37 AP exams, and 22 sophomores sat for 23 AP exams. The exams were in Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Computer Science, English, Environmental Science, Physics, Studio Art, U.S. History, and World History. Scores "3" or higher, and therefore eligible for college credit, were at 72 percent.
Colleges 2007 O'Neill graduates were accepted to included MIT, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Albany, SUNY Binghamton, Pace University, Ohio Wesleyan, Goucher and about 80 others.
This year O'Neill offers nine AP courses as well as the option of earning Syracuse University or SUNY credits through Orange County Community College.
Honors courses are offered in all academic areas except science, in which there are all of the Regents courses and up to four AP courses. Honors courses are offered in English 9 - 11, Social Studies 9 - 11, Math (except Math A or Algebra,) French 4 & 5 and Spanish 4 & 5.
O'Neill also offers an extensive list of sports, including football, soccer, basketball, hockey, skiing, track & field, tennis, volleyball, cheerleading, crew and lacrosse, among others.
Band, chorus, carpentry, video production, journalism, computer applications, JROTC, and social psychology are among optional courses offered. The school also offers clubs and activities that include a literary magazine, student council, chess club, drama club, newspaper and nearly 15 other choices.
Closing the presentation, Interim Superintendent Hilburgh said that Dr. Debra Jackson, formerly superintendent for the Bedford District, will start as the Highland Falls - Fort Montgomery District's new superintendent July 1, 2008.
In other business, an update on the Technology Committee highlighted goals met over the past year, but focused primarily on what the committee is hoping to implement in the near future, including the replacement of 23 computers. The new computers will go into the lab, and the lab computers will go into the classrooms. The district is also proposing to upgrade the operating system. The prospect of these upgrades had been discussed last year, and the funds, $68,170, are available in the district's 2007-8 budget.
As part of many initiatives undertaken in the technology implementation plan and achieved between 2006 and 2008, Superintendent Gloria Colucci said that the SMART Boards had been installed and were being used successfully, also reporting that the K - 12 Emergency Alert System for the district and the video surveillance system at the school door entrance had been installed.
Technology goals for 2008 - 10, were approved by the board that evening and include installing three or four SMART Boards in special area classrooms, upgrading and replacing outdated workstations, software and hardware, researching costs related to retiring inkjet printers and replacing them with Laserjet printers, researching costs related to upgrading existing equipment to Windows Vista and Office 2007, introducing the Platform for Podcasting/Publications/Photographic and Video purposes, and purchasing equipment to ensure that classrooms have access to DVD/TV/VCR playing, writing and recording capabilities, among numerous other goals.
A brief discussion on the instruction portion of the district's 2008-9 budget revealed that the current negotiations with the district's unions meant that the district could only estimate salary increases. Also unknown was the tuition for 2008-9 for Haldane, which the majority of Garrison students are expected to attend. State aid is another unknown, as are costs related to the anticipated special education student. Garrison will also resume sharing costs with Haldane for a special education summer program that the two districts had jointly sponsored in the past, but that Garrison had not participated in recently.
The district has also budgeted for a part-time English as a Second Language teacher for 2008-9, and the board has discussed the need for additional technological support now that Nancy Romano, former technological support, has become a teacher.
The preliminary full 2008-9 school budget is expected to be presented at the March26 school board meeting.
In a School Forest Committee update, President Anita Prentice said the committee is considering updating the map of the School Forest and putting in directional signs. A closer affiliation with the Philipstown Greenway was also discussed, but no decision reached. Prentice noted the Greenway has a good process for obtaining rights of way that might be helpful to the school in improving access to the forest. Also discussed was money to be put into the budget to clear and mow the meadow habitat area, which is overgrown due to lack of upkeep for several years.
The negotiations between the district and its unions played a small part in the night's meeting, with one parent reading a prepared statement exhorting the district to come to terms with the teachers and staff, whom she extolled for "going above and beyond their professional duties." Mary Foppiano, Vice President of the teachers' union and a Social Studies teacher, again iterated that the district did nothing more than adhere to the requirements of the Taylor Law in according the teachers who require them their "step" increase.
The next meeting of the Garrison Board of Education will be Wednesday, March 26, at 7 pm.
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