Superintendent Presents Update On Goals
By Stephanie Mariel Petrellese

As his second year as superintendent draws to a close, Dr. Feirsen had staff members provide an update on goals which have not yet been fully reached at the Garden City Board of Education meeting on June 18th.

In November, 2005, Dr. Feirsen presented a list of district goals that covered curriculum and instruction, special education, business and finance, facilities, personnel, technology, transportation and organizational culture and climate.

"We have made good progress on them," he said. "We wanted to give you a sense of where we are so that when we pick up again in September we have the basis upon which to grow," he said.

Assistant to the Superintendent Fino Celano spoke about the Annual Professional Performance Review Committee, which has been working on establishing guidelines for the evaluation of professional staff, including observation and evaluation procedures. This is required by the state education department, he explained. A committee comprised of administrators, teachers and parents met twice a month since January and looked at other districts and best practices. A plan will be presented to the Board in the near future.

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Teresa Prendergast has been studying the Advanced Placement examination currently in place and the possibility of implementing the International Baculaureate program in the district. Many teachers in the district attended the College Board's Advanced Placement Course Audit seminar in the winter.

The College Board is auditing all AP classes in schools across the country. Teachers are required to submit a form and syllabus for the board to review. After evaluation, the board will decide if the course can receive the official AP designation. So far, the district's foreign language AP classes, with the exception of Latin, have been approved. The district is waiting to hear from the board about the Latin, math and English AP courses.

The IB program is a rigorous series of courses that a student would be required to take which includes a Humanities component and an exam. Dr. Prendergast said a committee is looking into the issue and will visit districts which offer the program in the fall.

Dr. Feirsen announced that Dr. Rita Melikian, director of educational technology, is leading a committee working on the third goal: revising the district's technology program. The committee first worked on the application necessary to qualify for e-rate funds, and is now expanding to revise the entire program.