South Orangetown Central School District
160 Van Wyck Road • Blauvelt, NY  10913 • (845)680-1050 • Fax (845)680-1900

September, 2009

Dear Parents:

Welcome to the 2009-2010 school year! This is the time when we again set aside the pleasures and relaxation of the summer to begin a new school year. Teachers and administrators have been working and learning throughout the summer in preparation for what has the potential to be an exciting year for our students.

Beginning my second year as South Orangetown Central School District’s Superintendent of Schools, I am looking forward to continuing some of the projects that were identified in 2008 or continued from previous years. Our website has information about such work, and I encourage you to visit it for periodic updates about various school initiatives.

While 2008-2009 was fraught with significant fiscal challenges, the Board of Education, administrators, and staff collaborated in order to develop a fiscally responsible budget without seriously impacting the quality of instruction. I want to assure you that such an approach will continue.

In 2008, I had indicated that the district had identified four priorities:

• Provide Students with Skills for the 21st Century

• Address the Diverse Needs of Learners

• Foster a Respectful Learning Environment

• Enhance Student Literacy

While it is true that we should always be preparing students for the future, ensuring that they are equipped with the fundamentals of civility and literacy, and meeting the learning potential of all of our students, it was determined that the district needed to develop a set of formalized goals with a more systematic approach towards enhancing the nature of the work that we do in these areas. As a result, we have developed K-12 multi-year action plans that are addressed in various ways at each school and articulated across the system. Drafts of the action plans can be found on the district website, along with related information.

As part of this work, in the fall we will be asking the community to provide us with their perceptions about the quality and ways in which the district educates its students. Additional information about an on-line survey will be made known to all in the next several weeks.

During my first year, I have learned that with few exceptions this is an active professional staff that is engaged in an ongoing effort to develop their instructional skills, create an exceptional curriculum for our students, and assess current programs and practices to support student learning. I have also learned that the community places a high value on the reputation and quality of its school system and wants to ensure that its excellence will be maintained.

Last year, I wrote that “our future as a country and as members of a global community will be contingent upon the success of our graduates; hence, it is imperative for all that we provide them with a robust foundation that includes curricular flexibility and challenges that will prepare them to be creators and innovators who are ready to tackle life’s challenges.” This will continue to be the case. We cannot overemphasize the importance of having an education that will provide our students with those skills that have been identified for success in an assortment of rapidly changing environments (e.g., technological, political, ecological, economic, etc.):

• Critical thinking, problem solving skills

• Collaborative leadership skills

• Adaptability and the ability to use a variety of tools to solve problems

• Initiative and entrepreneurialism

• Effective oral and written communication abilities and presentation skills

• Ability to access and analyze information and process this information

• Curiosity and imagination

These attributes suggest that students graduate with the abilities to be ready to change, adapt, and create throughout their lives when there is such unpredictability and rapid change. Assuring that all of our students leave the South Orangetown School District with such a preparation is a daunting responsibility. But we are not in it alone, and operate with the assumption that parents, teachers, and all of the system’s educators are partners in making this happen. While there may be times when we may all not agree on the ways to achieve this goal, it is safely assumed that there is agreement about the outcomes that we want for our children.

Once again, I ask you to join us in this partnership and wish great happiness, success, and health to all students, teachers, and district families as we begin the 2009-10 school year.

Ken Mitchell, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

 

Tappan Zee High School    South Orangetown Middle School    Cottage Lane Elementary School

Tappan Zee Elementary School    William O. Schaefer Elementary School    Early Childhood Program