RIPLEY - Support for creating regional high schools is growing among state legislators, Ripley School Board members learned at their regular meeting.
Board President Robert Bentley reported on two meetings members of Chautauqua County schools had with New York State Senator Catharine Young and New York State Commissioner of Education John B. King Jr. - both of whom indicated increasing support for regionalism among state schools.
Bentley said Senator Young indicated at a Dec. 2 meeting regionalism was gaining support in the legislature. At a Dec. 9 meeting with Chautauqua County School Board Association, Dr. King expressed a great interest in regionalism, not just in the rural, western schools, but even in Long Island, Bentley said.
"He spoke very highly of regionalism in schools," Bentley said. "He seems to have a handle on problems in education."
In other matters, Superintendent Karen Krause said the financial information regarding the possibility of tuitioning students to Chautauqua Lake Central School had been submitted to auditors who would make a presentation at the January board meeting.
Principal Lauren Ormsby gave a presentation to the board about the changes in education coming about through the Common Core Learning Standards and the Annual Professional Performance Review.
The APPR will evaluate teachers on a 100-point scale. Twenty percent will be based on student growth through assessments; 20 percent will be from teacher-submitted data, such as lesson plans and self-reflections; and 60 percent will be based on observations, both formal (announced) and informal.
Ripley school began initiating the Common Core standards in 2010, Ormsby said. The key change will be in the way students are taught math, English and language arts, she said.
"Instead of being a mile wide and one inch deep, the curriculum is much more in depth," she said.
Ormsby said both programs will work together to improve the educational process.
"This is a work in progress and we are going to keep progressing," she said. "I believe in the process. I love it."
