William J. Stark Superintendent of Schools

Dear Members of the Blind Brook Community,

At the start of each school year it is customary for a school district to put forth a set of goals to be achieved over the next twelve months.  Having participated in this process as both a teacher and an administrator over the course of many years I have noted some enduring characteristics of this process.  Most notable is the desire to bring something new to the table.  As refreshing as this may sound the pitfall in this approach is that very often that which was the latest and most fashionable ideas put forth just  last year are relegated to the storage area of the educational school house.  In that regard schools are not much different than other institutions in our society that look for “new and improved” versions of the same old thing.  What also gets lost in the process is the failure to bring to culmination the achievement of the goals so recently set forth in the previous year.

Fortunately, the Blind Brook – Rye school district is blessed with an enlightened Board of Education.  It is one that realizes that not everything that is meaningful can be fully achieved in the course of a year.  It has adopted a longer term approach.  With the understanding that the district faces financial, facility and instructional challenges over the next several years it has developed a long range view of goal creation and achievement.  It recognizes that although much has been accomplished in the completion of goals that were set forth last year fine tuning is now in order.

To that end it has supported the concept of addressing the same goals as last year with emphasis on areas that require just such fine tuning.   The goals are as follows:

Monitor and Support the Implementation of the Middle States 5 Year Strategic Plan – Creation of a unified Character Education program that meets both community needs as well as Federal and State mandates:  As part of this initiative the District will provide a response to the Drug and Alcohol Survey that was conducted in the last year.  The D.A.R.E. program that has been in the elementary school for many years will be extended to the middle school.  A new program called Project Success will be introduced with outside agency support staff and a Leadership Skills Course is being offered at the high school to give students the tools to serve as role models for appropriate behavior.

Development of a rubric for recruitment and retention of clerical, teaching, and administrative staff: - Last year the recruitment and retention committee developed such an instrument for the hiring of the principal of the Bruno M. Ponterio Ridge Street School as well as rubrics for the hiring of teachers.  This year that protocol will be used to have a permanent high school principal in place by the end of the school year.  Further work will be done by the committee to create other job classification protocols as well as directing greater energy to retention strategies. 

Establish protocols and enhance processes of communication between the various constituencies of the school district including students, parents, teachers, administrators, support staff, the Board of Education and district residents:  Here the emphasis will be on strengthening the chain of command and improving formal and informal communication between parents and faculty.  The goal here is to have parents and faculty work as a team in providing the highest quality educational program possible for the students.

The re-establishment of Shared Decision Making Teams at all schools in the district:  These teams have been created and now will be trained in an effort to improve the quality of student life throughout the district. They will be up and running early in the school year.

The establishment of a long range planning committee to assess the financial future and well being of the district:  Last year this committee was formed.  We are fortunate to have so many talented members of the community who wish to give service to the school district.  Skilled in the area of finance they spent much of last year learning the intricacies of school finance which has its own jargon and often its own set of rules.  This year their goal is to provide analysis on such issues as the district’s strategic plan and the BMP Ridge Street School construction initiative.

Continuation of the K-12 Science Curriculum Review:  The district spent the past two years developing a premier science program designed to meet the needs of our student body over the next several years; however, we now are in an implementation phase that will require the development of assessments, field testing of the new 8th grade science course that could serve as an exemplar for new courses and the creation of new mini science courses in the high school. In addition, a review of the feasibility of securing a science staff developer at the elementary school will take place.

Initiate an educational learning community where there exists on-going professional development and interaction between faculty and amongst stakeholders:  As part of the implementation of a five year instructional plan the focus this year will be on English Language Arts serving as an exemplar for future endeavors in other curriculum areas.  Character Education and Interdisciplinary Studies will also receive attention.  The goal is to create professional learning communities that will take a holistic approach to the educational program setting forth an integrated core instructional program for the district.
As you can see there is much to be done.  Given the extraordinary complement of resources available within the district, a Board of Education with a vision for the educational future of the student body,  a dedicated professional staff, supportive parents and motivated students, I am confident that these goals can be achieved.

William J. Stark
Superintendent of Schools
wstark@blindbrook.org