Education

Superintendent Skuggevik looks forward to opening day

JULIE LANE PHOTO Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik
JULIE LANE PHOTO
Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik

“I can’t wait for everybody to be back.”

With that, Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik summed up his excitement about the year ahead at Shelter Island School.
Mr. Skuggevik expects to greet 221 students tomorrow, Wednesday, September 7, with the possibility that numbers could change right up to the last moment. If it stays the same, that number will be equal to the students who started school last September.

There are eight students new to the district, some of whom transferred here because their families moved to the Island and others who lived on the Island before, but attended classes off-Island, Mr. Skuggevik said.

Among the anticipated population are six 4-year-old preschoolers. Although the preschool program for 4-year-olds isn’t new this year, this is the first time the district opened the program to all Island 4-year-olds. In the past, the district has held a lottery system to determine who would get the few slots open for preschoolers.

Expansion of the preschool program is “a big one,” Mr. Skuggevik said.

All science, math, social studies and English classes offered in the past will be back for the 2016-17 school year, plus an

Advanced Placement environmental science program is being added to the curriculum.

Mr. Skuggevik said he’s proud there will be no loss of programs or services, noting that’s not the case in a year when many districts have had to cut programs because of budget constraints.

This was the first time since the state imposed a cap on school tax levy increases that Shelter Island has gone above the cap.

The district’s $10.96 million budget, which needed 60 percent approval from voters, squeaked by with 60.3 percent favoring it. The final tally was 311 to 205 and had two votes gone the other way, the district would have been forced to revisit the budget request for a second vote.

Nonetheless, Mr. Skuggevik plans to explore other programs that might be added to the curriculum during the year.

Last month, he announced a dramatic increase in the number of college credits available to high school students. In the 2014-15 school year, the district had arranged for students to earn up to 24 college credits. But in the past school year, students could earn up to 262 college credits.

While many students find all or most of the college credits they have earned are accepted by the colleges where they matriculate, colleges make those decisions on an individual basis, Mr. Skuggevik said.