At the request of the Farmingdale Board of Education, Farmingdale Schools Superintendent Gerard W. Dempsey recently delivered what he referred to as a "state of the district report" in order to update both the school district trustees and community on the new school year's current issues. The presentation was made at the Oct. 7 regular school board meeting.

Many of the subjects covered in the report centered around the opening of the school year, as well as student achievement assessments, and the superintendent noted that there will be more extensive discussion of them during the course of the school year.

For example, enrollment is an issue that he briefly talked about, adding that there will be an extensive presentation on the topic at the November regular school board meeting. This will address enrollment growth, and projections and impact for future years.

He also touched on the issue of school report cards, noting that the State of New York has increased the number of them this year. This, he said, will be addressed further in February, when report cards are published by school and by district throughout New York State and comparative numbers are therefore available.

He added that special meetings on curriculum are upcoming. One, which will take place on Oct. 21, will address the academic goals the district had last year, and how it has progressed toward those goals. Another curriculum meeting is planned for January.

On enrollment, Dempsey noted that the district's current student population is 6,130. "That's a thousand more students than we had here at the beginning of the 1990s. That's a substantial increase, and throughout all of last year's board presentations, we had five presentations about enrollment, about the need for new classrooms, and about the potential impact of those additional students as they progress into our middle school and into our high school," he said. Remarkably, he noted, an enrollment projection made by Assistant Superintendent for Administration Barbara Horsley was nearly perfect - 6129. "That's an extraordinary closeness, of actually a single body," he said, adding however, "The bottom line is that district-wide enrollment numbers are within one, but there are some variations within schools."

Woodward Parkway, the largest elementary school in Nassau County, has 49 students less than what had been projected. "It's a very large school, and if in fact, any place we needed a little bit of relief in terms of enrollment, Woodward Parkway was one of the places where that needed to happen," Dempsey commented. East Memorial's enrollment increased above projection by about 30, and Howitt was above projection by about 25 students. "In each of those cases, those are substantial numbers, enough to look at and to affect our planning," he said, adding that enrollment will be a factor in discussions of capital projects during the school year.

Another topic of Dempsey's report was a discussion of the Grade 3 and Grade 6 PEP tests in Math and Reading, a long-maintained New York State testing program which was administered in the district for the last time in 1998. In all of those tests, 95 percent of Farmingdale's students, at a minimum, scored above the minimum state expectation. "When we analyze this in detail, we'll talk about the mastery scores as well, because we're not always looking for just who meets the minimum expectation, but in fact where are we moving in terms of our progress along the way. But we will not have a comparison in the future, with those test scores, because this year, for the first time, we'll be giving new tests in grades four and grade eight in Reading and Math, and those tests will be not only differently designed, they will be more rigorous," he said, adding that the new exams will require much more effort on the part of both teachers and administrators to prepare students, and in terms of scoring and reporting of results. "So this is a very big and important school year for the new assessments and their impact on students," he said, noting that, this year, students in 4th, 8th and 11th grade will really see the impact of the new, higher state standards the district has been talking about and working on for the past few years.

For example, the Preliminary Competency Tests (PCT) that used to be given in the middle school will no longer be given, he said, because there will be new tests in grades 4 and 8.

Regents diplomas this past June, he remarked, hit the figure of 62 percent in the district, the highest its been in the last eight years. "It's a result of a lot of effort on the part of students, parents, teachers and administrators to get more students into Regents courses and to have them be successful," Dempsey said. "There were times in the early '80s, various times in the 1980s, when the figure was higher than that. But, in the 1990s, 62 percent is the highest that it's reached, and we have been moving in that progression upwards."

Dempsey also commented on two of the exams where he said the district has set high goals - the English Regents and the Math Sequential I Regents exams.

Last year, the district set a goal of trying to increase by at least 2 percent the number of students taking the English Regents, as well as a minimum 1 percent performance improvement. "We more than accomplished the participation increase. We actually increased it by about 7 percent. Ninety six percent of all of our 11th grade students took the English Regents last year. That's the highest percentage, by far, that we've ever had at any point in our school history," he said. "But our passing percentage was 81 percent, which actually was a decrease. So we didn't meet the goal of the increased performance. But it sets a standard for us. For example, this year, when the 11th graders take the English Regents, if 19 percent of them fail, that's the 19 percent that's most in jeopardy for high school graduation."

On measuring the Sequential I results, he noted that at the end of 10th grade this year, 91 percent of the district's students had taken this Regents, and 90 percent had passed. This is the best news for the exam in the last five years.

Dempsey also noted that in the last 5 to 7 years, the district has been working on getting more students into Regents courses, and revising curriculum to prepare them for more rigorous exams associated with the new, tougher state standards. For example, he said, this year, as in previous summers, the board has supported summer curriculum writing projects. This past summer, the district undertook 51 such projects. Professional development programs have complemented these efforts, he noted.

On the subject of capital projects, he said, "The capital projects during the 1990s have supported our enrollment growth," adding, "During the 1990s, within budget, we've been able to maintain or create the new classroom space needed to provide for that thousand more students that we've seen." For example, he said, additional classroom space was made available during the summer at East Memorial through modifying rooms, and at Woodward Parkway through moving Head Start to a refurbished facility at the high school. These have been accomplished without incurring any debt, he said.

In addition to those projects, he noted, the district has a roof project ongoing at the high school, an auditorium project, heating and ventilation projects, the athletic field renovations project funded by a voter-approved proposition, as well as major cable and wiring needed for putting computers in the district's classrooms.

Dempsey also noted that in the last few years, the district has hired a substantial amount of new teachers. This year, 44 new probationary teachers were hired, as well as 11 part-time teachers and 22 regular substitute teachers. The district's total number of teachers is now at 501, the largest faculty in recent years. "And 50 to 60 percent of that faculty has been with us less that 10 years. That's sort of a dramatic change from the 1980s, when in fact, the new staff that we had hired during the 1980s was a limited number of people," Dempsey said.

He also commented on collaborative projects in the works, such as Partnership for Change, a state-grant-funded effort to get students involved in work and career oriented opportunities.

He announced that the district has also been the recipient of a Goals 2000 grant, $200,000 in federal money that is channeled through the state to local districts. In each of the district's six schools, it supports projects such as Booster Club, an after-school program to prepare students for Regents examinations.

Operation SOS, he noted, a district-wide effort to inform the community about the new state standards, is also well under way.

He added that there are major issues facing special education this year, such as the ones stemming from requirements of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDA). The IDA, he said, will require changes in special education students' education plans and assessments, with the aim of helping them achieve equity. The state is also asking school districts to consider, in their planning, access for special education programs. This would be in order to integrate special education students who are currently in center-based settings.

Dempsey's presentation stressed that enrollment growth, the higher state standards, as well as technology expansion will continue to be issues of focus in the district.

For example, on the standards, he said, "The whole issue of higher standards is something we've been talking about, but this is the year when the rubber hits the road. We're going to have new assessments. The first new assessment will take place in January, and will continue in June for the other elementary schools, and we will have the new Regents exam in English in June of 1999."

A safety net for students who are in danger of failing the new Regents is a concern of the state, he noted, adding that he is serving on a state committee which is making recommendations on how to prevent this.

Teachers and administrators have been working vigorously, he added, to prepare students for the tougher Regents examinations, such as through upgrading grade level expectations to conform to the new higher standards.

At the same meeting in which Dempsey gave the state of the District presentation, the school board voted to approve a transition period to protect students in danger of failing the new Regents examinations, which would prohibit them from graduating. The adopted policy states the following: "Grades between 55 and 64 will be included as passing for the year beginning Sept. 1 and ending Aug. 31, 1998."

Also at the meeting, after debate among board members and public participation, the board adopted a motion to further explore moving the district's 6th graders from the elementary schools to Howitt Middle School. A public hearing on the matter is to be announced.