School Board Sets Goals for 2012-13

Members of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Board of Education agreed on a game plan Monday night for the current school year, a set of goals designed to guide the district's actions.

Plainview has done this in the past, setting out a written document intended to guide their collective objectives for the coming year.

While its primary goals remain focused on students, the outline presented Monday also included coming up with a "sound financial plan" for the 2013-14 school year, ongoing improvements to the district's facilities and better overall communications with parents and the public at large.

The first goal listed is "maximize student performance," including making student achievement and staff performance the district's priority. Specifically, that means improving the district's proficiency and mastery rates on all state and national assessments and offering a "rigorous course of study," matched to the ability of each student, according to the document.

The list of performance goals referred specifically to academic achievement. Trustees, led by Gary Bettan and Angel Cepeda, urged the members to adjust the wording to include ongoing efforts to promote the arts, as well. 

The goals also focus on a "safe school climate" and improving technology with a long-term goal of making progress toward becoming wireless at the secondary level and paperless throughout the district.

The document also seeks to develop an "affordable five-year facilities plan" to address ongoing renovation needs in the district that is beginning to show signs of wear and tear.

Improving communications between the district and the community rounded out the goals. To that end, the district announced a community forum scheduled for Nov. 19 at the high school. Dr. Lorna Lewis, Plainview's superintendent, asked that community members fill out an online survey of their concerns and issues at the district's website.

That survey can be found here.