State Ed Commissioner Meets With Students, Staff at Kings Park High School

The students of Kings Park High School had an opportunity to speak with top education officials and local politicians in a meeting held at the high school Thursday morning.

State Education Commissiner, John B. King Jr., paid a visit to the school along with state Sen. John Flanagan, Assemb. Michael Fitzpatrick and Board of Regents member Roger Tilles

King sat with about 20 junior and senior students before visiting two classes that were in session.

King chatted with students regarding their college hopes, favorite books and advice they could offer incoming students.

The visit, organized by Flanagan, comes on the heels of the school’s recognition as a model for teacher evaluations. Flanagan said he wanted the commissioner to see “how valuable Kings Park is as a school district.”

Tilles, in an interview following the meeting, said he hoped King would take back with him “the different needs between urban and other districts such as Kings Park.”

“Bringing the top down is helping districts like this,” said Tilles in an interview following the meeting.

 “What is exciting about schools like these is the activities that take place outside of the classroom. I hope we can continue that,” said Tilles.

King said to Patch after the meeting that it was encouraging to see a range of course offerings.

“We see low wealth districts cutting down, I would like to see dance, theater available to all young people,” he said.

Both Flanagan and King took note of the district’s use of block scheduling, where students attend 80-minute classes instead of the usual 45 minutes in most schools. Officials said that it was an idea that they would take back with them and look at further.

“I’d like to see more thought given to this. It is an interesting model to talk about,” said King, who also remarked on the school's graduation stats, regents and advanced regents diploma stats. “Their academic results are impressive.”

King's schedule Thursday also included visits to  Huntington, route: {:controller=>"listings", :action=>"show", :id=>"huntington-union-free-school-district-administrative-offices-2"} --> and