It is with great pleasure, a sense of heightened expectations, curiosity, and excitement that I welcome all to the 2010-11 school year. I share these sentiments with the members of our Board of Education, administration, faculty and staff as we focus our attention on the challenges of the upcoming year.
Over the last decade, student performance on mandated standardized tests, created and administered by the New York State Education Department, has been viewed as an indicator of student, school and district success. We have been proud of our performance and results each year as confirmed by the recognition from the State Education Department that all of our schools have been identified to be in good standing for the last five years.
With the New York State Education Department changing its scoring scales for performance standards, we will modify our resources allocation to better serve our students, as we continue to provide the New Rochelle community with the finest quality education possible.
Clearly our school district does not define itself simply on the basis of test scores. We are proud that, first and foremost, we recognize our obligation to develop student skills in areas that include performing and visual arts, athletics, Science Research, creative writing, and foreign language acquisition. The New Rochelle School District remains proud of its efforts to recognize student individuality and diversity while working to educate the whole child.
Our World Language commitments will see significant expansion. Our introductory Chinese Mandarin language program was a resounding success last year and for the upcoming year, we will be offering beginning Mandarin classes in some of our elementary schools. Every school in our District will finally be able to offer exposure to World Languages beginning in kindergarten and extending through high school.
As we have noted in previous years, our schools offer a great debt of gratitude to the entire New Rochelle community for its support and belief in our schools. For the 2010-11 school year, rest assured we will work diligently to demonstrate the value of that support.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Richard E. Organisciak
Superintendent of Schools