Schools

District Sees Increase in Regents Graduates, Decrease in School Enrollment

Number of graduates receiving Regents diplomas slightly increases while enrollment numbers steadily decrease.

Kings Park Central School District showed a slight uptick in performance on Regents math and English tests as well as the overall number of students graduating with Regents diplomas according to the state’s annual “report card” released Thursday by the state Education Department.

 A total of 276 high school students out of 294  received a Regents diploma resulting in 94 percent of the class receiving that distinction for 09/10. This number is slightly up over the 93 percent who received Regents diplomas in 2008/2009 school year. 62 percent of graduates received a Regents diploma with advanced designation that same school year.

Scores on English Regents exams are also up from 96 percent in the 08/09 school year with 98 percent of students scoring above a passing level of 65.

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“We are very pleased with the overall results and this is another indicator that our students are doing well,” said Kings Park Schools Superintendent Dr. Susan Agruso.

 Concern has been raised, however, about continued funding of programs that contribute to the schools high rate of success. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has cut nearly $250 million in aid to Long Island schools leaving many districts with large gaps to fill. Agruso is predicting a $5 million gap for the upcoming budget and says that the school will have to tap into the reserve funds in order to fill the shortfall.

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 “We have put mid-year spending cuts in place in the past. Money is tight and we have to be careful,” said Agruso.

But the superintendent has no doubt that the budget cuts will affect school programs.

“We are doing everything we can to protect these programs and we will be working very hard over the next six weeks to have the least possible impact on those programs,” she said.

School enrollment is also down with the greatest diminishment in numbers at the elementary levels. High school enrollment has declined slightly over the past few years with 34 less students this year over last.

At Fort Salonga Elementary School, which comprises grades K-3, enrollment has decreased from 611 students in 2007-08 to 560 as of last year. The teacher turnover rate for teachers with fewer than five years experience has been unusually high at 50% for last year. According to Agruso, this is largely due to decreasing enrollment numbers as well as normal attrition and performance issues.

“We laid off 42 teachers in the last 2 years, most of which was at the elementary level.” Agruso also said that layoffs would most likely continue given the current economic climate and that average class size may also increase.

“We would like to keep it (class numbers) under 25, the low 20’s is ideal at the elementary level. High school can reach the upper 20’s and may even consist of 30,” she said.

 

School Enrollment 07/08 08/09 09/10 Fort Salonga Elementary
611 596 560 Park View Elementary
605 555 558 School Turnover for teachers with fewer than 5 years experience. 07/08 08/09 Fort Salonga Elementary 33% 50% Park View Elementary 13% 40%


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