Wollin Re-elected President, Hochman Reviews Initiatives

Bedford Central school board members displayed confidence in Susan Elion Wollin for another year as they re-elected her as president of the board.

"She's been an outstanding servant to board, and as our representative on the Westchester Putnam School Boards Association, and continues to do us proud," said Eric Karle, who was installed as vice president for another year.

"I guess it's out with the old and in with the old," Wollin quipped, as she thanked the board and welcomed , to her first meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Jere Hochman greeted the board for the fifth year as the district's chief of schools and presented an overview of the district's major initiatives and areas of focus for 2012-13.

"We don't go in without a plan," Hochman said. "And we check to make sure it’s working well."

The district's list of the six major initiative areas and associated objectives is posted with this story.

A few highlights: 

• This district will assess college entrance practices this year. Hochman said they've had positive feedback from parents about guidance counselors but they planned to "zero in" on the application process and supports to ensure the district was on track.
• The district plans to submit its plan to the state for a teacher evaluation system (known as APPR) by the start of school and is currently reviewing with the state some possibile methods for assessing teachers who cover subjects for which there is no state test.
• The district will continue to look at the process for subsitute teachers and explore ways to reduce the amount of time a teacher spends outside of the classroom on other tasks including required Commitee on Special Education meetings.
• Work will be done on the high school schedule, with planned visitations with a master scheduler.
• The district will focus on ways to incorporate bi-lingual and dual language programming.

Board members thanked Hochman for the "streamlined vision" document and asked for a periodic review of the goals throughout the year.

Committees

The board discussed committee assignments for the coming year.

The Finance sub-committee will be chaired by Andrew Bracco, with Susan Elion Wollin and Suzanne Grant as members; the policy sub-committee will be chaired by Jennifer Gerken with Lee Goldstein and Eric Karle as members and the communications sub-committee includes Suzanne Grant, Jennifer Gerken and Susan Elion Wollin. A full list of the committee responsibilities can be found on the district's website.

The school board also announced they are seeking members for its "citizen advisory committees," whereby community members may sign up to participate in an advisory capacity to the school board on one of six panels: health, sustainability, curriculum, capital projects, budget and communications.

Click here to find out how to join.

The next board meeting is Wednesday, Aug. 8 in the morning.