The Frankfort-Schuyler Board of Education held its regular meeting on Tuesday evening.
Dr. Paul Seversky, from the Advisory Solutions component of the New York State School Boards Association, presented them with some of the preliminary findings of the Elementary Program Analysis which the board has undertaken.
The Board of Education, along with school administrators decided in December 2008, to begin a study designed to assess the district’s K - 5 program in order to help the district identify and weigh options that could lead to more efficient ways of implementing the K - 5 program.
The study has been designed to assess the following areas: Capacity analysis of the elementary schools, which examines all of the K - 5 space and determines if and how it meets the needs of the New York state guidelines for building operation; an enrollment projection study; an analysis of the existing staff resources and how they are being utilized; and identification of options and recommendations.
Seversky presented a thorough update of the project as it stands now and sought feedback from the board, welcoming their questions and insights as the process continues to move forward. While still in the data collection phase of the project, there was still a great deal of information received by the board on Tuesday night. In this initial phase of the project, data was collected from the district and the county’s live birth records over the past few decades, which help analysts to project population growth trends. By comparing these numbers with the figures from Kindergarten enrollments over the same time frame, they have determined that while the live birth rates have dropped slightly, but steadily over the course of the past two decades, the kindergarten enrollment has declined at a slower rate. This means that each year, there are students enrolling in kindergarten that were not born within the district. Thus, the district now knows that each year, new young families are moving into the district. Figures like these help the board be able to anticipate and plan for the future of the K - 5 program. While there is no way to know specifically how the district enrollment will change in the future, by analyzing the data from previous years, administrators are given the tools needed to at least what to expect from the coming years. “There is no crystal ball method for determining with certainty how things will unfold,” said Dr. Seversky, “but this study will help you be able to more adequately anticipate the future enrollments in the district.”
Dr. Seversky toured both West Frankfort and Reese Road Elementary Schools in order to determine how adequately they are prepared to handle the number of students enrolled. With the younger grades, K - 2, the smaller the class size, the more adequately the children are prepared to meet the challenges of their academic career. Ideally, the board concluded, for these grades the optimal size would be 20 students per class or less. As the children advance through the system, grades 3 - 5, the optimal size would rise a little to 25 students per class room. Seversky praised the forethought of previous boards when they planned out the two schools. “Normally, when we look at a situation like this, one school in the district proves to be inadequate,” he said, “But here in Frankfort-Schuyler, both facilities are right up to standard, and even exceed the standards.” The State Education Department has guidelines for determining class room sizes, based on grade levels, for example, kindergarten class rooms should be between 900 and 1000 square feet, in order to accommodate the tools needed for teaching that grade level. These numbers drop as the students progress through the system. Beyond the kindergarten year, the class room sizes drop to 770 square feet. In every aspect, both elementary school buildings exceed the guideline qualifications.
The project remains in the data collection process, and the board will be making decisions based on the information gathered when the study is completed. “Time is the best element to plan for the future,” said board member Dominick Bellino, “We have a lot to think about for both short and long term planning. We need to determine how efficient we can make the district without a detrimental effect on the students.”
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The Frankfort-Schuyler Board of Education held its regular meeting on Tuesday evening.
Dr. Paul Seversky, from the Advisory Solutions component of the New York State School Boards Association, presented them with some of the preliminary findings of the Elementary Program Analysis which the board has undertaken.
The Board of Education, along with school administrators decided in December 2008, to begin a study designed to assess the district’s K - 5 program in order to help the district identify and weigh options that could lead to more efficient ways of implementing the K - 5 program.
The study has been designed to assess the following areas: Capacity analysis of the elementary schools, which examines all of the K - 5 space and determines if and how it meets the needs of the New York state guidelines for building operation; an enrollment projection study; an analysis of the existing staff resources and how they are being utilized; and identification of options and recommendations.
Seversky presented a thorough update of the project as it stands now and sought feedback from the board, welcoming their questions and insights as the process continues to move forward. While still in the data collection phase of the project, there was still a great deal of information received by the board on Tuesday night. In this initial phase of the project, data was collected from the district and the county’s live birth records over the past few decades, which help analysts to project population growth trends. By comparing these numbers with the figures from Kindergarten enrollments over the same time frame, they have determined that while the live birth rates have dropped slightly, but steadily over the course of the past two decades, the kindergarten enrollment has declined at a slower rate. This means that each year, there are students enrolling in kindergarten that were not born within the district. Thus, the district now knows that each year, new young families are moving into the district. Figures like these help the board be able to anticipate and plan for the future of the K - 5 program. While there is no way to know specifically how the district enrollment will change in the future, by analyzing the data from previous years, administrators are given the tools needed to at least what to expect from the coming years. “There is no crystal ball method for determining with certainty how things will unfold,” said Dr. Seversky, “but this study will help you be able to more adequately anticipate the future enrollments in the district.”
Dr. Seversky toured both West Frankfort and Reese Road Elementary Schools in order to determine how adequately they are prepared to handle the number of students enrolled. With the younger grades, K - 2, the smaller the class size, the more adequately the children are prepared to meet the challenges of their academic career. Ideally, the board concluded, for these grades the optimal size would be 20 students per class or less. As the children advance through the system, grades 3 - 5, the optimal size would rise a little to 25 students per class room. Seversky praised the forethought of previous boards when they planned out the two schools. “Normally, when we look at a situation like this, one school in the district proves to be inadequate,” he said, “But here in Frankfort-Schuyler, both facilities are right up to standard, and even exceed the standards.” The State Education Department has guidelines for determining class room sizes, based on grade levels, for example, kindergarten class rooms should be between 900 and 1000 square feet, in order to accommodate the tools needed for teaching that grade level. These numbers drop as the students progress through the system. Beyond the kindergarten year, the class room sizes drop to 770 square feet. In every aspect, both elementary school buildings exceed the guideline qualifications.
The project remains in the data collection process, and the board will be making decisions based on the information gathered when the study is completed. “Time is the best element to plan for the future,” said board member Dominick Bellino, “We have a lot to think about for both short and long term planning. We need to determine how efficient we can make the district without a detrimental effect on the students.”
