Collaboration, technology key in C-A action plans
Objective: All students must surpass state, federal standards
The Daily Mail
Aug. 27, 2009

COXSACKIE — Coxsackie-Athens School District Superintendent Dr. Earle S. Gregory presented this year’s strategic plan at a sparsely attended Board of Education meeting.

The plan, Gregory told the Board and members of the district’s administration and faculty who attended the BOE meeting at the Coxsackie-Athens Middle School, that they would be moving ahead with various action plans in each of the district’s four schools toward completing the district’s overall strategic plan for ensuring that students exceed state and federal standards.

Gregory said faculty will begin to implement programs developed last year and monitor how students respond.

Middle school math lessons will continue to be integrated with core subjects so students can link information between subjects, he said.

“That is what we have to do. Kids need to see connections,” Gregory said.

Gregory responded to a question posed by board member Joseph Cardinale that Web seminars for teacher development are becoming increasingly accessible and already substitute teachers are required to go through an online presentation before they are allowed to teach.

“There are all sorts of opportunities for us in public education for us to capitalize on online learning,” Gregory said.

He said the state Education Department is in the process of developing a technology plan that could enable more Web sessions.

Other aspects of the action plan include looking into new options for long-distance learning classrooms and continuing reading study group exercises for elementary students and those in special education programs.

Gregory said district Chief of Curriculum Maureen Long might investigate this year how teachers could receive national board certification through a process he called rigorous, cumbersome and long-winded but is awarded to the highest quality of teachers.

“It is a very high level of certification,” he said.

He said the Board will hear in the coming months presentations regarding possible facility upgrades and the creation of an educational foundation. The action plan calls for the adoption of a BOE resolution for a proposed building project early next year.

Gregory thanked the members of the implementation team for their work since the strategic plan was approved in 2007.

“Ultimately all these things come out of the action plan,” he said, “that will lead us to realize our mission in always keeping in mind that Coxsackie-Athens Schools will provide a comprehensive education program for all students to compete successfully and to contribute to a global society,” he said.

“All of our administration has done a great job sticking to the strategic plan and going forward and developing these [ideas],” BOE President Joseph T. “Seph” Garland III said.