Second Phase of Lynbrook Strategic Plan Revealed at BOE Meeting

The Lynbrook School District’s Strategic Planning initiative focuses on a lot more than just improving facilities - the plan also seeks to improve staff development techniques and maximize academic achievement.

Those two areas were presented at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting at A large part of the academic portion of the plan will concentrate on “increasing the rigor,” or difficulty, of instruction, as the district hopes to develop high school regents courses that go ‘”beyond the required New York State curriculum,” according to the presentation.

The ultimate goal is to teach at an “instructional level.” Instead of reinforcing prior knowledge, the instructional level pushes students to strive for a degree of achievement that is slightly above their current threshold, according to Gerard Beleckas, Lynbrook Assistant Superintendent for Instruction and Assessment.

Beleckas noted that an increased level of difficulty does not indicate a desire to frustrate kids, citing the documentary shown by the Lynbrook PTA in November, .

“One of the things that we’re going to be cognisant of as we move forward is to try to teach children at the appropriate instructional level,” Beleckas said.

The plan also calls for an enhancement of literacy and english skills for all students. That enhancement will transcend all subjects. English and literacy training has already begun at the middle school and will continue throughout the coming years, according to Beleckas.

Still in its developmental stage, the plan will be revisited in more concrete terms during the August Board of Education meeting, according to the board.

Earlier in the meeting, Superintendent Santo Barbarino sought to clear up confusion regarding the amount of state aid the district will receive next year. The district is slated to receive $6,000 less than it did last year. This is contrary to a Newsday report that claimed the district would receive an additional $20,000, according to Barbarino.

Lynbrook is one of only 10 school districts in Nassau County scheduled to receive less government money, according to Barbarino.

The district will meet with Assemblyman Brian Curran on Feb. 16 to discuss the issue.  

“All we want to ask is ‘why Lynbrook?’" Barbarino said. “Why was Lynbrook selected not to receive at least the same amount of aid we are receiving this year?”  

Later in the meeting, the Board of Education approved a one year contract extension for Barbarino, running through June 30, 2013.

Barbarino told Patch that he plans to retire at the end of the extension.

“We are in the beginning phases of our discussions regarding the future of leadership of the school district,” board President Catherine Papandrew said. “The board and the Superintendent will work on that over the course of the coming year.”