New faces, new spaces to greet kids as school bells ring
New faces and new spaces will greet students when they arrive for the first day of the 2011-2012 school year on Shelter Island on Wednesday, September 7. A new superintendent/principal, business manager and maintenance person, as well as a revamped lobby, gymnasium and FIT Center will be ready when the 246 new and returning students walk through the doors.
In addition to Superintendent Michael Hynes, School Business Official Jessica Mack joined the administrative staff this summer and Greg Sulahian was hired as maintenance mechanic reporting to Facilities Manager Mike Dunning.
As Dr. Hynes began his tenure on July 1, his official first day of school will coincide with the 19 students who will be entering the Shelter Island Schools’ kindergarten. That head count is “a little above the norm,” said Dr. Hynes, “but certainly very doable in one class.” Only the 10th grade, as a result of the 1996 “baby bubble,” will continue to be split into two classes.
Overall school enrollment is down by a net total of three students from a year ago because eight moved away, according to the superintendent’s assistant, Jacki Dunning.
Ms. Mack, who lives in Manorville with her family, comes to Shelter Island from the Hauppauge school district where she was a purchasing agent for two years, and before that, a school district claims auditor for a CPA firm. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in applied mathematics and statistics from Stony Brook. She is currently enrolled in a combined program at Dowling College that will lead to an M.B.A. and a school district business leader certificate.
So far, she loves her job, she said. “There’s so much to do; there are so many challenges, it’s impossible to be bored,” she said. Ms. Mack replaces Sam Schneider who, according to Board of Education President Stephen Gessner, has moved on to the Riverhead School District.
PHYSICAL PLANT CHANGES
The school’s physical plant received a significant overhaul this summer, with construction work taking place on the lobby, gymnasium and FIT Center, along with some re-configuring of office and classrooms for space utilization. The gym floor has been refinished and the old bleachers, deemed unsafe by the Consumer Products Safety Commission, are being replaced with new ones.
The lobby has been shored up with new steel and painted a welcoming light blue. The FIT Center, which was temporarily relocated to St. Gabriel’s for the summer — much to the delight of its members, who loved the waterfront panorama — will be back in operation at the school. Despite some earlier construction delays, Dr. Hynes and Ms. Mack say that all projects were on schedule and would be completed by the first day of school. “We meet with the architects and construction firm constantly to keep the projects on track,” declared Ms. Mack.
Ms. Mack and Dr. Hynes said that plans are already being drawn up for the wide-ranging list of building projects that were included in the $2.237 million bond issue that was approved by voters this past May. The scheduled renovations include fixes to the exterior of the building, including re-pointing the brick work and repairing mortar, keystones and parapets, some of which were found to pose structural concerns. The school’s 40-year-old water tank is also destined for replacement and the building will get new electrical wiring, an overhaul of its HVAC system, new carpeting and asbestos abatement in the elementary school, replacement windows and doors, a new gas system in the cafeteria, as well as changes that will bring the building’s fire alarms into accordance with state standards.
The work was originally planned to take place over the course of two years, beginning with the summer of 2012. But Ms. Mack and Dr. Hynes said they are hoping all the projects can be accomplished next summer, in time for the 2012-2013 school year. “We’ve been told by the architects and contractor that it’s feasible and more cost effective to do it all at once,” said Ms. Mack. “Getting people in here to do the work once instead of twice is going to be less costly and disruptive.”
LEANER STAFF
The overall school staff will be a little leaner this year as the position of school librarian was eliminated and three other teaching positions — teachers in business education; mathematics; and family-consumer science and home economics — were reduced to two-thirds staffing levels. According to Dr. Hynes, he is “waiting for more direction from the state to find out what we need to have in place in the library for the new school year. Once I get more direction, I’ll inform the board.”
With the countdown to September 7 underway, Dr. Hynes said that he and Ms. Mack “are in the relationship phase; we’re trying to get to know everyone so we can hit the ground running in September.” He said he was certain that he had far exceeded his goal of meeting “100 people in 100 days.”
In talking about the upcoming school year, Dr. Hynes returned to two of his core objectives: building on the history of Shelter Island School and engaging the community in the life of the school.
“I was at the Shelter Island Historical Society the other day and came across a report card from 1896. That is simply amazing. I can’t believe how much history we have here and we should celebrate it,” he remarked.
He said he was also determined to draw more community members into the school who either didn’t have a reason to be there or had graduated but never returned. “In particular, I’d like to see those graduates of the ‘50’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s return in sort of a homecoming.”
The superintendent also spoke of his desire to begin tracking students, from kindergarteners to graduating seniors, in order to learn where they go, how they progress and what becomes of them and then using that information to better educate and prepare the current students.
