Week in Review: MP Residents Want Modules Eliminated, Halloween Wrap-up

MP Residents Wants Math Modules Thrown Out

Parents spoke for over two hours at a board meeting on Oct. 30 asking the Miller Place Board of Education to consider changing the implementation of the common core curriculum.

Although parents seem on board with the common core standards, many complained that the modules, also known as lesson plans, that are being used to teach students are too confusing, that parents can’t even understand them.

As part of the implementation of Common Core, the New York State Education Department provided curriculum modules for both ELA and math that can be adopted or adapted locally in a district. Miller Place has chosen to adapt the modules and use them as a new teaching method for students. However, parents say this new way of teaching is not working, specifically for the math classes.

During Picketing, PJSTA President Says High-Stakes Testing is "Child Abuse”

On Nov. 1 hundreds of parents, teachers, and community members lined the streets in front of State Sen. John Flanagan's office chanting that high-stakes testing needs to change.

Educators define high-stakes testing as an exam that has important consequences. Many teachers feel the amount of testing that is being done to children through the new standards is just unacceptable. 

Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association President, Beth Dimino, said what is happening right now is child abuse. "We are here because high-stakes testing and the common core hurt children, so it has to stop. The APPR (Annual Professional Performance Review, a new standard used to evaluate teachers) has to stop. [John] Flanagan, [Kenneth] LaValle, [John] King, and president Obama hurt public education. They have to go," said Dimino. 

NCRMS Raises $575 In Donations For The American Cancer Society

The North County Road Middle School hosted it's first dance of the year for seventh and eighth graders this month. Working hard to honor breast cancer patients, the student government decided to take all of the funds from the dance and donate them to the American Cancer Society.

In addition to monetary donations, students donned pick outfits to show their support. All in all, it was a successful night as the district was able to raise $575.

Halloween Week Wrap-Up

Children from all over Long Island eagerly awaited the end of school so they could come home, get into costume, and go trick-or-treating. This year, there were events everywhere including: Miller Place High School, Benners Farm, Comsewogue High School, and the Harbor Square Mall down port.