School Supe pushes for curriculum, space changes

At a time when money is tight and the Shelter Island School District has undergone a lot of changes in recent years, why is Superintendent Michael Hynes pushing dramatic changes in curriculum and use of space? And will the physical changes in building use result in elementary and young middle school students interacting frequently with high school students?

Those were questions from a parent at the April 17 Board of Education meeting and ones Dr. Hynes was eager to answer.

The plan that will start to be implemented in September will create a “humanities house” in what is now the middle school wing focused on English and social studies and an “MST house” in the current high school wing encompassing math, science and technology.

Other physical moves include relocating the library from its space off the lobby to the current business office so that the room off the lobby can accommodate the administrative and business offices. That’s intended to improve security since most visitors to the school during the day are there to see administrators.

Most critical, the rearrangement of rooms will accommodate a more cohesive curriculum with heavy emphasis on reading and writing skills that will be a part of all courses.

The aim, Dr. Hynes said, is to better prepare Shelter Island students for college and the job market.

More team teaching throughout the school will result in taking advantage of specific strengths of each teacher and providing the best educational experience for students.

And, fear not, elementary school students won’t be taking classes with upperclassmen, but they will be exposed to more team teaching, Dr. Hynes said.

The overall result is that teachers won’t be seeing the same students for four years straight and will be able to refine their specific areas of expertise to give students a better grounding in various subject matter, he said.

The curriculum changes will very much speak to weaknesses in the program identified by Shelter Island High School graduates who responded to a survey about how they might have been better prepared for college, Dr. Hynes said.

“I would never propose this if I didn’t think it was in the best interests of our students,” Dr. Hynes said. “The pros certainly outweigh the cons,” he said.