K-L Officials Set Four Goals for Year

Katonah Lewisboro school officials plan to study the district's physical space and educational infrastructure this year as part of a multi-year effort to identify the resources and facilites needed for its academic programs.

At a study session last week, school board members and the district's administration hammered out four goals over a three-hour meeting that touched on such topics as high school class sizes, world language and full-day kindergarten.

School officials have stated the potential need to downsize given the current trend of declining enrollment and last week set as a first step the definition of programmatic priorities.

"It's not just dividing enrollment by a certain number of classrooms," Assistant Superintendent for Business Michael Jumper told the board. If the board were to consider any new programs—full-day kindergarten or foreign language for the elementary schools, for example—or modify existing plans, such as lowering class size guidelines or changing the structure at the middle school, facilities become a factor.

The board's talk around program goals was spurred in part by a discussion of the district's world language program, in particular, the content of middle and high school Spanish classes. Board member Stephanie Tobin said she raised concerns last spring (prior to her election to the board) about the transition from middle to high school Spanish.

Tobin said some ninth graders were starting the high school course Spanish II after taking the language for three years in middle school and had a more advanced knowledge than others in the class—for example, sophomores who had only one year of Spanish I under their belts. She said she was concerned for students who had to "wait for their classmates to catch up," and for teachers who had to teach "beyond normal differentiation." She also said she had heard that the distric's solution was to place a "ceiling" on what middle school students were taught in Spanish so they would not be ahead of their peers starting Spanish II in high school. 

"I find that unacceptable," she said.

Alice Cronin, assistant superintendent for instruction, said after the concern was raised last spring they worked on the issue over the summer. It was her understanding, she said, that enriching activities such as the reading of Spanish novellas were added to the middle school curriculum. Board President Mark Lipton and member Janet Harckham said their children—who were both taking Spanish—found the material appropriately challenging.

Cronin also said she was glad the issue had come up and suggested that in addition to looking at the issue of entry points for language courses, the board might consider studying the program as a whole.

"If we are looking at an infrastructure goal, this might be a good time to address world language as a system—where are we in terms of philosophy, leveling courses, developing honors options? The other thing we are feeling is the lack of instructional leaders and academic directors after budget cuts. This is what happened without staff working closely with departments. Let's study this...instead of fixing that one problem," she said.

The board and administration agreed and also decided to integrate previously developed district-wide plans—including a strategic plan that's about five years old, and a long range plan adopted by the school board in 2010-11 school year—into a new unified programmatic vision statement by the end of 2013.

That vision will inform the other goals developed by the board, officials said, around collective bargaining agreements, budget and facilities.

Superintendent Paul Kreutzer also emphasized that without successor labor contracts, none of the other goals would be achieved. "Those are paramount," he said. "You can't add, move things around, or take ground unless we have known expenses."

After the board adopted its four goals (below) with a 6-0 voted (board member Peter Treyz was absent), Lipton said thanked everyone for their patience.

"We don’t necessarily all agree when we discuss things," he said. "This is the most difficult meeting every year, but it populates every meeting agenda from now until the end of the year."

School Board Goals 2012-13 

Collective Bargaining

By June 30, 2013, successfully negotiate contracts with the support staff association (KLSSA), teachers' association (KLDTA) and administrator's association (KLASS) that consider the current tax cap environment and are sustainable.       

Programmatic Vision

By the end of the calendar year, articulate a programmatic vision that establishes priorities related to educational resources, programs and tools that will position the district and its students for academic success.

Budget Adoption

Adopt a fiscally responsible 2013 – 2014 budget, that to the maximum extent possible,

(a)  Maintains and, where feasible, enhances district programming and
(b)  Achieves spending levels within the property tax cap mandated by the
State of New York.

Facilities Assessment

By June 30, 2013, develop and make public a comprehensive assessment of existing school district facilities.