So what are the three stooges doing to save money????????????? Thats all they worry about is to give the teachers union a fat contract!!!!!!!!!! Dump the three stooges !!!!!!!!!!

the three stooges are still looking for mold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These kids are able to graduate because this district is more concerned with protecting high paid child molesters than educating its students.

So the question is, how were these kids able to graduate? This did not happen in their senior year, these kids could not read for several years. So now we have to pay for their education twice while the kids are paying by spending their college years on this instead of college courses!

In this district, see posts 1322 and 1323.

This was an article I found in Newsday today, it proves a point I have been making for years. We need to concentrate on the core reading to help out kids.

It's a tough lesson for millions of students now arriving on campus:
Even if you have a high school diploma, you may not be ready for college. In fact, a new study calculates, one-third of American college students have to enroll in remedial classes. The bill to colleges and taxpayers for trying to bring them up to speed on material they were supposed to learn in high school comes to between $2.3 billion and $2.9 billion annually. The group Strong American Schools is issuing the report today.

So the question is, how were these kids able to graduate? This did not happen in their senior year, these kids could not read for several years. So now we have to pay for their education twice while the kids are paying by spending their college years on this instead of college courses!

How can we expect higher English scores when the principal Mr. Bernard at the Middle School fumbles his way through the morning announcements? I thought my son was exaggerating when he said how Mr. Bernard mispronounces words, and forgets the lines to the pledge of allegiance. Well I was wrong. I went in to drop off his sneakers, and I heard Mr. Bernard stumbling his way through some "words of wisdom" that make him sound like a fool! I asked the secretary if this was normal, and she just laughed. Bernard is a disgrace, and I heard he only got the job because he is Alise Becker-Sanata's brother-in-law.

In the world of espionage it is always prudent to get rid the main culprit. At times once this person is removed all the other underlings fall into place. So let's not mince words, Alise Becker-Santa must be fired!!!!!!!!

There are 4 reasons why she should be gone first. Firstly, she is the highest ranking administrator who sucks. Secondly, all the other administrators will see that Chu means business. Thirdly, everyone will see that incompetence will not be tolerated anymore and Lastly, she will be the last remaining person who was mentored by the king of incompetence Dennis Malone.

A good place for Mr. Chu to start is weeding out the dead wood in administration. There are some very good administrators in the district, but there are also some that are really holding this district back, preventing this district, and our children,from reaching their true potential.

FINALLY, A person in charge who is reaching out to the WHOLE community. Not just the teacher's union and Queen Nancy.

The importance of building relationships

Wendell Chu seeks to speak with everyone

By JEFFREY BESSEN

ISLIP TERRACE — Building relationships and
sharing the identical information with all parties
appears to be two hallmarks of Wendell Chu, the new
superintendent of the East Islip School District.

Chu eases into the educational leader chair with 35
years of experience behind him, but plans for the district’s
future squarely in front as he eyes technology,
the curriculum and transitioning students from one
level to the next as his priorities.

Though dressed casually—no tie—Chu is workmanlike
in his ability to dissect a question and
respond. One of the keys for successful superintendents,
he noted, is processing information quickly.

“Another is that you are thorough in terms of your
own information gathering and your solution building
skills,” Chu said. “That you don’t reach for the
quick answer, but you make sure that answer has
long-term stability and long-term usefulness.”
In less than two months on the job, Chu has
already determined that there has been a pattern of
success at East Islip and there is a potential for
greater success.

Besides the athletic achievements, he noted the
Mock Trial Team’s success and was impressed to
learn that a group of students and teachers were
meeting through the summer for a fall event at the
Islip Pavilion (formerly the Islip Movie Theater).

Speaking with people from all walks of life, he noted
that his wife will say he talks to everyone, is the
method he applies to get to know someone and as a
superintendent impart that he works with a team of
talented people and he values everyone’s work.

“There is not a single job being done in this district
that isn’t directly impacting students and is valuable,”
Chu said. “And when you help people to understand
you value the work that they do, I think a relationship
begins to develop.”

In addition to building relationships with his
administrators, community members, and the board
of education, Chu has met with officers from For The
Kids, a district fundraising group and Guy Edwards,
director of the East Islip Public Library, and looks
forward to meeting with the PTAs, students and even
critics of the district.

“Certainly, I am willing to meet with all and want to
meet with those who have issues with the district,
who want to talk about how to improve the district,”
said Chu, who added that he views a large part of the
superintendent’s job is about building relationships
and a willingness to engage them in conversation
regarding what is best for the district.

Technology is going to be the topic of one of those
conversations as Chu seeks to make upgrading the
district’s technology a priority line item in the budget
due to the cost and the manner in which such hardware
and software changes in rapid succession.

He thinks the best approach is to replace onethird
of the equipment every year as most technology
last three years, if state-of-the-art equipment is
purchased. Chu is aware that this is a huge
expense, but noted technology is an ongoing
expense, not a static one.

“You don’t suddenly replace every piece of technology
in one year and then not have to replace it again
for ten years,” he said, noting that though he disagrees
with establishing a capital reserve fund, as
was floated earlier this year, it is an option that could
be considered.

For that he needs to spend more time in the community
listening to residents. One issue Chu thinks
strongly about is the proposed tax cap, which, as of
press time, was approved by the New York State
Senate.
He thinks that districts such as East Islip that are
below the state average in combined wealth ratio,
following an austerity budget (2006-’07), will be
placed in a “less than advantageous position” by a
tax cap.

“To create a property tax cap would exacerbate
that gap … and I think that the legislators are not
really considering that aspect of their proposal,” said
Chu, who noted that he is sympathetic to the tax burden,
but lawmakers need to focus relief toward individuals
that truly need it.

Chu played a little golf in Wisconsin, but is ready
for the challenges of the new school year and looks
forward to the first day of school. “I like to be where
the action is … after 35 years in the business, I’ve
been at the school door on the first day of school
watching the buses come in every single year,” he
said. “I can’t imagine not being there.”

It would appear that if nothing else, East Islip School District is consistent. Once again the 8th grade English scores are atrocious. The Suffolk County average is higher! (See Newsday)

We are left wondering, as usual, what the district is doing with all the money it receives from the community. Obviously, the district isn't spending anything in the English department!

One of these days (maybe) this community will wake up and realize that more money does not equal better education in East Islip.

Does anyone have any new info regarding the new superintendant?

It seems like the district has been very tight lipped lately?

The only one who is probably being optomistic is our local realtor Mark Hannigan. As long as he can sell his snake oil to brainwash people into thinking that high taxes makes a house's value go up he'll enjoy taking his realty commisions.

You know, I really was trying to be optomistic about this.

I was a little taken aback when I couldn't get information from the district but did not immediately think anything negative about it. But, in retrospect, I guess the powers that be in our district will continue to be obstructive.

Looks like the new super will fit right in. Pay close attention to paragraph six.



Revote Showdown: School Budget Passes
Written by Shoshanna McCollum
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

They walked on foot. Some rode by bicycle or golf cart, others traveled by ferry or water taxi, and, yes, there were absentee ballots. They assembled to vote. This time the school budget passed. On Tuesday, June 19 at 10:30 p.m. the results were in. The Fire Island Union Free School District Budget Revote Election went down as follows: Out of 286 votes tallied, the budget won by a margin of 184 to 99, the total includes three void and 44 absentee ballots. The proposed budget originally failed on May 15, 2007 by a margin of 91 to 84 votes.

In the end it became a showdown. Year-rounders pitted against seasonal residents, and parents or employees versus those without families with no investment in the school system. Yes, the revote is now over, but at what cost beyond dollars and cents?

Public-at-large programs like public library hours and adult education will now continue without interruption. The use of district property for summer basketball tournaments, the Ocean Beach Youth Group, and Golden Wagon Film Festival will also go on as before without being levied charges for facilities use based on a square footage formula as was feared. Extracurricular school activities such as clubs and fieldtrips of students will not be threatened. Still, things will not be as they have been before.

“They are putting themselves above the constitution,” said an indignant Cindy Klein, seasonal resident of Ocean Beach and wife of Village Trustee Kenneth Klein. “We are not people who rent out our house all summer and stay out here a week or two. They pick and choose who they will allow to vote.”

Over in Fire Island Pines (FIP) were other angry sentiments.

“Wendell Chu and his merry band of thieves has used tax payer money to keep people from voting,” said former FIP Association President, Alan Brockman. “They have harassed people, they have been nasty on the telephone. Their position is totally wrong. We have entered into litigation with the school on this before and we have won.”

There was a group action lawsuit against the Fire Island School by a collection of Fire Island Pines residents in 2002. It resulted in a sealed out-of-court settlement.

“The school is charged with the responsibility of running an election which is legal, and that includes issuing absentee ballots only to qualified voters of the District,” maintains FIUFSD Superintendent Wendell Chu, who contends that there are many myths and misunderstandings that have surrounded the school for decades.

There are presently 81 children enrolled in the Fire Island School District, which includes secondary grades. The passed $5,841,805 budget for 2007-08, less reserve funds, averages out to $63,046 per student. However, these numbers can be skewed by several factors. Fire Island School District must pay out-of-district tuition for all secondary grade students attending mainland schools in Bay Shore or Islip. Out-of-tuition rates begin at $10,000 a year per student and up. The tuition of just one special needs student can cost the District upwards of $200,000 a year. Then there is the small number of the students themselves, which leads to a smaller mathematical disbursement of certain set costs for any school district, regardless of size.

“A businessman may go into New York City and spend $200 a night for a hotel room, it will cost him $200,” explained Chu. “If a family of four used the same room for the same price, it will cost $50 per person. Did they save money? The room is still $200.” Scrutiny of the 2007-08 budget on its own merits did not necessarily agree with Chu’s example:

“I am a retired schoolteacher, and know what the deal is,” said Cindy Klein as she examined the school’s budget brochure. “This $151,427 for curriculum development, what are they using it for?”

However, most observers, regardless of what position they take, see this as an argument that goes beyond items in a budget, or how the vote went.

“You can poke holes in just about any school budget,” said FIA Board Member and Saltaire Village Trustee Hugh O’Brien. “This notation that [summer people] are hostile and against the school? I don’t think it’s the case. We realize that if we merged with a mainland school district, our taxes would soar, but the school has capriciously prevented people from exercising their right to vote.”

For now, Fire Island School may have dodged a bullet, but the election issue will most likely linger as a source of mixed feelings for some time to come.“We breathed a collective sigh of relief after the vote, but the landscape is forever changed at how the District will look at the budget.” Said Chu.

Perhaps this is one statement everyone can agree with.