Elwood Might Provide the Spark That Ignites Improvement on LI

Every now and then we read about issues impacting school districts in our State, but more often we read about such issues on Long Island.

As noted in an Op Ed piece in Newsday on November 23^rd, Dr. Marc Bernstein, Superintendent of the Valley Stream Central High School District, pointed out that there are 124 school districts out of the 700 in all of New York State.

So, that would be 124 school districts in just two out of the sixty-two counties in the State, which means that there are 576 school districts in sixty other counties in the State; if you asked for a numerical comparison (which is really far from ideal, but useful as a broad indicator) that would be a distribution of an average of 9.6 school districts for each of those other sixty counties, versus an average of 62.0 school districts for each of Nassau County and Suffolk County.

But, even if you were to adjust for single county school districts, or in the case of the City of New York a single school district for five counties, it is clear that there is a gross inefficiency in the structure of school districts in both Nassau County and Suffolk County.

While this inefficiency is usually identified as solely a cost inefficiency, it also has an impact upon curriculum diversity for students of small or medium sized districts since some districts might eliminate electives where the class size is either shrinking, or has been relatively low (contrasted with most electives) for a number of years.

After all, in an era in which school property taxes have been rapidly escalating for many years, many districts can no longer afford to cover the cost of personnel in classes with very low average sizes. But, to simply eliminate those classes would diminish the education opportunities for many students, and one way to retain the opportunity, while reducing costs, is to create a larger pool of students which could generate an economy of scale in class size.

Still, even for larger school districts, and certainly for all others, cost containment itself is an important consideration and the proliferation of school districts means that taxpayers are effectively subsidizing duplicative administrative costs, and some staff costs, that are in desperate need of reduction as other expenses keep rising.

Dr. Bernstein is not the first responsible adult to suggest that consolidation of school districts is something that will ultimately need to take place on Long Island, yet it has not happened with great frequency. State Law allows districts (as long as they are contiguous) to merge, if the voters of both (or more) districts approve such a merger.

Like many things, you need consenting parties, and to determine whether that might be possible, you need school district management and boards of education with the vision and creativity to explore such a possibility.

After all, no auto mechanic would go an replace parts on your engine to “fix” your car without first examining the computer codes from your Engine Control Module and Engine Management System.

Similarly, no attorney would offer you advice on a particular complicated issue which you might present, without first researching both New York statutes and case law on the matter.

And no financial advisor would give you a specific investment strategy without first understanding your economic circumstances and then researching the stock and bond performance data on instruments which might be suitable for you.

Study, research, investigation, and then dialogue, are the requirements for the prudent manager or technical advisor, and that includes, for matters such as potential district consolidation, superintendents of schools and their boards. Nobody would pretend that anything like this is a “slam dunk,” or a “no brainer,” as there are many related issues that would arise with consolidation.

But, to go on in life by metaphorically sticking one’s head in the sand, and ignoring potential options for each school district which could have favorable impacts on both students and taxpayers of a district, would be no more than profligate irresponsibility.

The Long Island school districts are, as a group, heading toward either massive cuts that would irreparably damage education for our children, or massive increases in costs that really can no longer be sustained (even in good economic times) and would effectively force many people from their homes.

That is why I was greatly impressed by the Elwood Superintendent of Schools, Peter Scordo, who has announced that he and the Elwood Board of Education will host a special Consolidation Workshop for the public on January 6^th, in the Elwood Middle School Auditorium.

His announcement, which is available from the Home page of the Elwood School District, also indicated that the Elwood Board of Education has decided to send exploratory letters to the boards and superintendents of the contiguous school districts (Commack, Half Hollow Hills, Harborfields, Northport-East Northport, and South Huntington) “…to ascertain interest in holding joint meetings to explore the issues surrounding possible consolidation.”

Dialogue is the first step in any rational investigation, and Elwood has now sent a spark which could generate, over time, profound effects for Long Island students and taxpayers.

Elwood's John Glenn HS Wrestling Won County Championship

For nearly two months, Newsday has continued to rank the Varsity Wrestling Team of John Glenn HS as Number 1 in all of Nassau and Suffolk, among all HS teams of all winter sports. Given the fact that Elwood is the second smallest school district in the Town of Huntington, and one of the smaller school districts on Long Island, that is a notable achievement.

Last month Newsday's Gregg Sara noted that "The Knights won their second straight Suffolk championship with 213.5 points." What he could not say, in the relatively small space allotted, was that the runner-up team, Hauppauge, scored 166.5 points, and that the third place team, Longwood, scored 161.0.

Just look at that spread: 47.0 points above the Number 2 team, and 52.5 points above the Number 3 team, with only 5.5 points separating the Numbers 2 and 3 teams.

On the individual front, Mr. Sara wrote: "Nick Meinsen (130 pounds) and Nick Terdick (152), the Knights' only two finalists, each won Suffolk titles. It was Meinsen's second title in as many seasons."

Ten of the eighteen qualifying Glenn wrestlers placed in the top six thereby earning All-County honors in their respective weight classes: Mike Bosco, Matt Fusaro, and Joe Giaramita (all taking 3rd); Jarid Cheatham and James Dekrone (who placed 4th); Matt Gannon and Vin Punzone (who placed 5th); and Kevin Massa (who placed 6th), .

As a team the season concluded with the Knights finishing undefeated at 21-0, which makes their dual meet win streak 59 victories and dates back to 2007. They were efectively ranked the Number 1 HS wrestling team in all of New York State (imagine, such a small school district being able to achieve this position) and are recognized as the 2010 New York State Dual Meet Champions

The team was honored during the NYSPHSAA Championship tournament at the end of February, during which the qualifying individual wrestlers competed for titles in their weight classes, and Nick Meinsen won the State championship in the 130 pound class, while Nick Terdick took 3rd place in the 152 pound class.

This was clearly an outstanding achievement for the Glenn team, and even more amzing given the size of the Elwood School District.

This Article Should Frighten Any Truth-Oriented American

In the magazine section of the Sunday Times, there is an article that is both revealing and frightening. Those who remember what America's Fifth Column concerns were, in the years in America leading up to World War II, might find parallels with the way that certain religious ideologues are trying to re-write the textbooks in American schools.

Speaking as a Christian, and a very committed one at that, you should not misunderstand the title given by the Times, "How Christian Were The Founders?," and sub-tilted "History Wars: Inside America's Textbook Battles." This is not a matter of "Christianity, Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down."

This a matter of a narrow-minded group trying to change facts, and put their own spin on different elements of history, with an eye toward altering the perceptions of America's youth in order to re-write the future of this nation.

It is a battle of extreme ideology against the facts of history, and we should be as wary of these extremists as we should be if such efforts were coming from extremist Muslims, or ultranationalist Jews, or Hindu fundamentalists, or any other extreme religious group trying to change facts and alter perceptions to suit their philosophies.

We have to be concerned about the possibilities of the institution of what would amount to an American Taliban, whether Christian, or Jew, or Muslim, or whatever, with all of the control-freak single-mindedness, and perversion of reality, which is the hallmark of such groups.

I would urge all of you to read the full article, which is available at the NY Times website:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/magazine/14texbooks-t.html?pagewanted=print

School Budgets In a Time of Economic Crisis

I would find it hard to believe that any American would not realize that we have been in an economic crisis for the past two and one-half years, or that this is a time of extreme hardship for most families in America.

The only blessing is that the massive interventions in the economy in the final months of the Bush Administration, as well as the interventions since the Obama Administration came into office a bit more than one year ago, have at least prevented the United States from plunging into a second Depression whose severity has not been witnessed for nearly eighty years. The return to stability will not be remotely instantaneous, just as the causes of this crisis did not happen overnight.

Personally, I understand this crisis, and have had my own income negatively affected by it. Similarly, two of my three children, who are now out of college and in the work force, have also been negatively affected by this. Most of you have either been affected by this crisis, or have other family members who themselves have.

That is why, at a time when all school districts on Long Island are in the process of developing their budgets for the 2010/2011 School Year, it is particularly helpful to read an insightful commentary in Friday's Newsday by Marc Bernstein, the Superintendent of the Valley Stream Central High School District.

On a number of past occasions I have quoted Mr. Bernstein, who occasionally writes commentaries on school-related matters. I don't always agree with everything that he writes, but I always find Marc Bernstein to be insightful and sometimes even provocative.

With regard to helping school districts to cope with the "double whammy" (I think that's the sophisticated economic term) of reduced State Aid and reduced personal incomes, Mr. Bernstein tells the State to make various structural changes to reduce the expense of a number of mandates from the State, and he also notes that now is the time for other sacrifices on a local basis.

In such a time of crisis, nobody should expect taxpayers to sacrifice, nor expect students to sacrifice, unless the teachers (and anyone else with salaries that increase merely with the passage of time) begin to sacrifice equally.

Mr. Bernstein wrote:

" First, the legislature should revise the 1972 New York State Court of Appeals "Triborough" decision, which requires school districts that have not yet renegotiated expired contracts to give employees "step movement."

Teachers (and many other public employees) receive automatic salary increases by advancing up a salary "step" based on their accruing another year of service - regardless of whether they are working under contract.

Certainly, districts should not be able to unilaterally change expired contracts for vital items such as health insurance. But automatic salary increases shouldn't be mandated. "

At last, a breath of fresh air from an education insider.

We need to consider many options for coping with school district expenses -- with wages and benefits vastly more than any other category of expense -- that have escalated faster than wages and benefits of the property taxpayers who cover most of the cost of funding school districts, and Mr. Bernstein is helping us to start that process.

For those of you who are either Newsday subscribers, or who are Optimum Online customers, you can access Mr. Benstein's full commentary at:

http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/opinion-if-you-re-going-to-cut-aid-cut-mandates-1.1754906?print=true

Let Mr. Bernstein's clarion call be the start of a creative and responsive process to prevent an implosion of financial instability that will destroy our school systems, and drive down home values even further.