Collective Effort Earned Technology Award

The Clarkstown School Board thanked Director of Technology John Krouskoff for leading the district to achieve third place in a national ranking of school districts’ technology usage.  

“Our district runs on technology,” said Krouskoff. “It’s really our oxygen.” 

The annual Digital School Districts Survey placed the Clarkstown Central School District in the third place ranking for mid-sized districts across the country.  The ninth annual survey focuses on school boards and districts’ applications of technology. 

Krouskoff told the board at Tuesday’s meeting that a collective effort goes into the district’s successful use of technology. He listed several examples such as operating Boards Docs, which is the online program with information about school board meetings, requesting maintenance repairs and budget items and advancing student learning. 

The Center for Digital Education (CDE) and the National School Boards Association (NSBA) conducted the survey. Clarkstown placed third in the category for districts with student populations of between 3,000 and 12,000. 

Additionally, Trustee Diane Hoeneveld suggested the board look into increasing usage of the planetarium at Clarkstown South High School. She described it as a mini Hayden Planetarium and said it could be possibly be utilized by school groups from out of the district on class trips to teach them about the stars and planets. 

“I would like to see it to be put to better use,” said Hoeneveld, who added that additional programming could bring more revenue into the district. 

Assistant Principal Deb Tarantino, who was appointed as the new principal of South to replace retiring Principal James Vitale, said the planetarium could be used for power point presentations and other programs. 

Board President Joe Malgieri said the board should contact Rockland BOCES about expanding the usage.  Board members agreed to form a committee to discuss ideas for presentation to the full board in the future.

In other business, the board approved the donation of 25 tickets to the Anti Bullying Day Program at Provident Bank Park for the SPIRIT Class from Trustee Mike Aglialoro. A donation was also accepted from the Clarkstown North High School PTSA to beautify the HOPE Garden area. The contribution included four to six planters, six clematis plants, three trellises, pavers, a marble slab and butterfly bush valued at $1,775.