Rye City School District Board of Education Meeting Notes – 11/24/2009
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A Summary of the 11/24/09 Rye City School District Board of Education Meeting
Superintendent's Report
At the beginning of every meeting the superintendent of schools, Dr. Shine, provides a report to the Board and community. At this meeting Dr. Shine shared information and achievements in the following areas of student life: high school cross country and swimming successes, a master class and elementary assemblies led by renowned clarinetist Anthony McGill, Once on this Island, author Tedd Arnold visit to Osborn and Midland schools, Osborn's Diversity Day and other school activities.
Open Topic Forum
A full hour of last night's meeting was devoted to the annual Open Topic Forum. In small groups, residents are able to raise topics of interest and/or concern with members of the Board. The topics from each discussion group were shared at the end of the Forum. Some of the topics were: FLES, Latin at the middle school and high school, traffic and safety, SmartBoards, indoor and outdoor recess, middle school/high school beatification, AP classes in Spanish and French, middle school lunch, and food and candy as a reward.
The requests for information or Board action, comments and suggestions will be compiled from the small group notes. They will be reviewed at the next Board meeting for any potential further follow up or action. All questions will be answered, sent to all in attendance via email, and posted on the District web site.
Projected and Actual Enrollment
Superintendent Shine presented data showing the current enrollment and the accuracy of recent projected enrollment.
Total enrollment has grown from 2,450 students in 2000-01 to 3,097 students this year — a 27% increase. Elementary school enrollment is projected to decline over the next 5 years. Middle school enrollment will increase from 704 in 2009 to 769 in 2010 and 781 in 2011, then hold steady over the next 5 years with some decline in 2019. High school enrollment will increase to 1,042 in 2014 from the current 885 and remain at about 1,000 students through 2019.
Having these projections helps the District plan for classroom space and teacher deployment. At the high school, for example, 4 portable classrooms will be installed over the summer on the tennis courts to accommodate the projected enrollment increases.
