Warwick Valley schools to go wireless
By Abby Wolf
WARWICK — The Warwick Valley School District board approved a Smart Schools Investment Plan (SSIP), enabling the district to install high-speed broadband and/or wireless connectivity in the school buildings.
Schools Superintendent David Leach announced a new initiative, saying this will be the start of a long-term process to “ensure we meet the needs of every student.”
According to the Smart Schools Investment Plan, high speed wireless cabability will be brought to the middle school and high school beginning for the 2016-17 school year. Smart Schools Investment funds would be use to:
Switch to AC wireless cabling to the wireless access points.
Buy switches and moving the two buildings to 10GB internal connection.
Purchase a large storage area network ro store instructional content.
“In addition, we will be providing a 1 gigabyte line to the district," the plan reads. "The monthly charges will come from the district budget. The initial build out would be paid for by SSBA funds.”
The SSIP continues: “By moving to a 1GB pipe out to the Internet and providing wireless that is at AC speed, we will providing an unprecedented opportunity for educational experiences for our student body.
"With ubiquitous access to the Internet, teaching and learning will be significantly changed and has already made an impact," the plan reads. "We hope to provide more devices and more opportunities of digital connectivity in the upcoming years. We have purchased several online databases to provide guided information as well. This is at all levels but especially at the elementary level. We utilize the online resources to truly support a data driven culture and also support the Response to Intervention (RTI) process. We allow the learning to happen outside the walls of the school and at any time.”
What to expect in the next 18 months
Leach said that the initial phases over the next 18 months will be:
Building a shared North Star:
According to Leach, this is based on a presentation to the district K-12 by Grant Lichtman on November 4, and is “founded in a simple guiding concept: Great learning for each student. From now through March, we’ll gather input from faculty, administrators, parents, students and community members on the hopes and dreams we have for our students. This will determine areas of focus, which will allow us to imagine, design and implement innovative programs, and to align our resources in support of those programs.”
"Rapid Launch" prototyping:
“Teams of stakeholders will develop solutions that can be initiated at a pilot level in September 2016. These teams will receive training in the process of rapid design, and time to collaborate, research, develop and then implement approved solutions.”
Design teams:
"We will delve into the basics of pedagogy, instructional practice, curriculum assessment, professional growth, use of time and physical space, and more. Design Teams…will prototype solutions and propose plans for implementation in September 2017.”
Building a culture of Innovation:
“To create a culture of success, we will engage in on-going professional development during the next 18 months. Through this professional development, we’ll build a culture of success and innovation that will allow us to evolve in the best interests of our students.”
Superintendent’s reportAccording to Leach, Warwick Valley High School students earned the highest overall Regents scores in Orange County, across “all subgroups.”
“These impressive marks,” Leach said, “along with the high school being acknowledged as the only NYS Reward High School in region (now for three consecutive years), deserve recognition and appreciation of the high school community.”
On the other hand, Leach said, the New York State Department of Education is requiring the middle school to “develop a plan of action to further support the special education subgroup based on 2013-14 school year results on state exams in ELA. It was deemed that this subgroup ‘significantly underperformed’ their non-disabled classmates on the state ELA exams.”
Capital projects updateLeach said that contractors have begun to repair sections of the roof, flashing and drainage of the Administrative wing, repairing 3,000 square feet. Also, contractors will begin repairing expansion joints, flashing and gutters at Sandfordville next week.
Public relations staff honoredThe district also announced that its communications staff were recognized by the New York School Public Relations Association with its 2015 Annual Communications Awards Award of Excellence, for publications produced by communications specialists Maureen Westphal and Louise Hutchison.
Westphal and Hutchison were also given the Award of Excellence 2015 for Publication and Electronic Media by the National School Public Relations Association.
Board member resignsBoard member Shannon Hockswender informed the BOE that she is resigning, as she is re-locating with her husband due to a job change. School Board president, Lynn Lillian, said that Hockswender “will be missed.”
Leach said the district is researching costs of a potential election to fill Hockswender’s seat.