I would like to
welcome all of our students, parents, faculty, and staff back from
summer vacation for the start of a new school year. I could not be
happier about all of the exhilarating changes that will soon be
taking place in the West New York public schools.
Three new schools
are opening to serve our children over a two-year period. West New
York’s sons and daughters will enjoy excellent educational
facilities and programs that are second-to-none. All of this
wonderful progress would not be possible without the financial
support of the State Department of Education and the cooperation of
our Mayor and local elected officials.
This year, our
schools will be cleaner and safer than ever before thanks to
rigorous new standards.
The West New York
school district continues to work together in order to maintain our
high levels of excellence. From our teaching staff with a greater
role in decision making, to the administrative team, our goal is to
meet the changing needs that will ensure the academic success for
our students.
Our principals
will be taking on a more proactive role this year by visiting
classrooms on a regular basis thanks to a new emphasis on
educational leadership. A new Open Door policy has made our board
offices much more accessible to the community. The administrative
team looks forward to serving all who come through our doors.
Everyone is invited to take a look at all our upcoming events, as
well as last year’s accomplishments, by visiting our revised and
expanded multi-lingual website (wnyschools.net), which is part of a
new and efficient communications system.
I am also pleased
to announce that our school system will soon be on the cutting edge
of education by implementing Small Learning Communities across our
district in 2009.
Programs like
this, with small class sizes, have been shown to be tremendously
beneficial to student performance and morale. Communication between
students and teachers improves as children focus on topic areas that
they help choose. It’s a truly exciting new concept in educational
achievement and I am very proud to see our school system embrace it
with enthusiasm.
I want to
emphasize the Board of Education’s commitment to fiscal
responsibility and economic efficiency. We spend every tax dollar
carefully and all expenditures are closely scrutinized.
Since I became a
local educator over forty years ago, I can see first-hand how far
this district has come and how much we have already achieved.
However, we will not rest on our laurels. There is always more work
to do to reach our goal of providing the best education possible.
