Education

Shelter Island School School Supe proposes ‘New Teacher Induction Academy’

JULIE LANE PHOTON| Shelter Island School teacher Walter Brigham engaging students in the classroom. At Monday's School Board meeting, Mr. Brigham spoke about new challenges of using technology in teaching.
JULIE LANE PHOTON| Shelter Island School teacher Walter Brigham engaging students in the classroom. At Monday’s School Board meeting, Mr. Brigham spoke about new challenges of using technology in teaching.

Shelter Island Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik proposed Monday night that the Board of Education support his plan to extend the mentor program for new teachers into a fuller program of professional development.

The New Teacher Induction Academy would not only include the existing mentor program, but provide for ongoing group meetings of teachers.

It’s part of the district’s professional development effort meant to ensure that new teachers have guidance with any problems they may encounter, Mr. Skuggevik said. That often may be issues with classroom management, he added.

While board member Kathleen Lynch questioned if more meetings were necessary for new teachers in a such a small district, other board members embraced the idea.

Brian Becker, president of the Shelter Island Faculty Association — the teacher’s union — asked that the organization be involved in development of the new program and Mr. Skuggevik agreed.

Among the issues that board member Elizabeth Melichar-Lechmanski hoped the program would address is the “sharp decline” in teachers leaving the world of education. Ms. Melichar-Lechmanski said she hoped the program would enhance the commitment teachers have to the district.

Shelter Island has four educators leaving the district at the end of the school year because they are retiring and those four will be replaced, Mr. Skuggevik said.

Technology
The board approved a plan to use $57,876 in state money for the purchase of smart boards and computers. The money comes through Governor Andrew Cuomo’s $2 billion Smart Schools Bond Act of 2014. In the current school year, the district was able to purchase iPads for students and other technology equipment.

The school’s technology expert, Walter Brigham offered an overview of how technology is being used in the current school term and spoke about goals for next year. Mr. Brigham discussed security measures in place to keep material within the district, but acknowledged that if, for example, a student copied documents from the system and emailed it, the original material then could be accessed by others.

Building a secure system that allows a smooth transition among many programs has been “a lot of work with a lot of challenges,” Mr. Brigham said.

Among those challenges has been implementing the program at the same time a new filtering solution was being adapted; keyboard access for those who do extended typing; and access to Adobe Flash and Java-based content.

Going forward, Mr. Brigham wants to increase student access to curricular content; improve communication and interaction between students and teachers using technology; evaluate and integrate systems for exchanges of materials between students and teachers for assessment of students’ work; and increase opportunities for teachers to share effective use of technology.

In general, the system is working effectively and programs are being used well, Mr. Brigham said.
English teacher Lynne Colligan said that while she appreciates the technology, her students are “preserving the art of reading on paper and writing on paper.”

Surveys
Two surveys appear on the school district’s website:
• One is the ongoing effort to identify students who may have interest in pre-school classes for 4-year-olds. Parents are being asked to indicate whether they will have a child turning 4 by September,and whether they have younger children who could be in preschool classes over the next several years.
• The second survey is designed to create a network of students who have graduated from Shelter Island High School so their accomplishments might be highlighted and they potentially could serve as mentors to current students.

Outreach
Ms. Lynch spoke about an initiative she and teacher Laura Mayo have created to reach out to the Island’s Spanish speaking community by holding meetings with parents whose English may be limited. The aim is to improve communications and involve them in the school community, Ms. Lynch said.

In other business, the Board of Education:
• Unanimously approved the senior class trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, for May 11 through 15. Ms. Melichar-Lechmanski voted to approve the trip, while expressing concerns about the potential $1,000 per student cost and that not all seniors were planning to participate. Ms. Melichar-Lechmanski said she was troubled by the expense at a time when many families are dealing with tight finances and the Board of Education is struggling to keep spending down.
• Approved holding the prom for the junior class at Gardiner’s Bay Country Club on May 21.
• Took under consideration a request for the 2017 senior class to take its trip to Washington, D.C. to attend the inauguration of the next president. The trip would be from January 18 through 21 and include visits to Washington museums and monuments. Board members praised the idea, but under a new policy, delayed formal action on the request until the April meeting.
• Scheduled the reorganization meeting for Tuesday, July 12, at 6 p.m.
• Appointed Christian Napolitano as an additional substitute teacher for the remainder of the current school term at the rate of $110 per day.