West Hempstead UFSD

Mid-Year Update to the Board of EducationJanuary 20, 2015

Mr. Richard Cunningham, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction

Mr. John O’Keefe, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Operations

Richard CunninghamAsst. Supt. for Curriculum & Instruction

• Joined the District in August 2005 Hired as Asst. Supt. for Business and Operations. Promoted to

Deputy Superintendent in July 2009

• Prior roles included: Science Teacher in Hicksville SD High School Science Chairman in North Babylon SD Assist. Principal and Summer School Principal in Kings Park SDAdministrator for Finance and Admin. Services in Kings Park SD

• Education and CertificationsMasters in Curriculum & Instruction (M.Ed.) – Teachers College;

Columbia UniversityMasters in Teaching Earth Science (M.A.T.) – SUNY Stony BrookSchool District Administrator (SDA) – NYSEDTeacher of Physics/Earth Science/General Science - NYSED

Goals

Primary Goal: To listen to the members of our school community in order to deeply learn about our ever changing educational needs and to provide leadership in determining West Hempstead’s pathway to sustained improvement.

Improve academic performance at all grade levels and all subjects to Nassau County average.

Develop a programmatic process for the implementation of new initiatives, curriculum updates and staff learning opportunities.

Increase parental and community involvement in academic initiatives.

Support our ELL program as it grows and new regulations are implemented for 2015 – 2016 and also improve our means of communicating with parents who speak languages other than English.

Goals 2014 - 2015

Challenges Thus Far …• Learning the District through “new eyes”There are things happening in West Hempstead that I could not see in my

former role. Likewise, there are things being ably handled by the Business Office that I cannot see from my new position

• The personnel tasks of the position overwhelm the curriculum and instruction responsibilities

Hiring, supervision, reporting and personnel communications monopolize time

• Leading instructional improvement in a time of thin financial resources

Staffing, materials and supplies and equipment budgets have been reduced since 2008. This puts limitations on our ability to provide “learning recovery” opportunities along with our ability to offer a more enriched curricula

General Observations• The West Hempstead learning community works very hard• The West Hempstead learning community cares about student

growth and success and consistently shows that its members are life-long learners• The learning community knows that school improvement means

“people improvement”

• We need to develop a common language K – 12. There is a lot of confusion about terms we thought were common such as: differentiated instruction, response to intervention, formative assessment and collegial circle• We need to limit new initiatives. There are many strong pieces in

place along with good, partially implemented initiatives. We need to move forward and weave them together

John O’Keefe, Asst. Supt. for Business & Operations

• Joined the District July 17, 2014 Replacing Mr. Richard Cunningham who held the position

since 2005.• Prior roles included Business Official position in:

Sag Harbor UFSD Cleary School for the Deaf

• Education and CertificationsMasters in Business Administration (MBA) – SJCNYMasters in Educational Leadership (MS Ed) – LIU PostCertified School District Business Leader (SDBL) – NYSEDCertified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) - HRCI

Goals … Continued

• Collaborate with the Board, Administration, and the community to develop and successfully pass the 2015/16 school budget.• Join with the Board, Administration, BBSC, and the

community to develop and successfully pass a comprehensive bond proposition.•Work with the District’s auditors to develop

process improvements to limit future citations. • Continue to observe operations and implement

change where needed, with an appreciation for efficiency and cost control.

Challenges Thus Far …• Closing out fiscal year ended June 2014

Over $2.8M decrease in net position Shrinking Fund Balance

FY-2014 ended with $5.9M – a $2.0M decrease from FY-2013 Unassigned FB - $1.91M – only 3.34% - Below 4.0% Threshold

• General Operations within constraints of 2014/15 Budget Current budget has minimal contingency monies Continued depletion of fund balance

$960K Appropriated Fund Balance $939K from ERS Reserve $50K Unemployment Reserve

Challenges Thus Far …• Development of the 2015/16 Budget

Growth is controlled by a very constrained 2014/15 budget Consumer Price Index for 2014 is 1.6222% - Controls Tax Cap Working with all stakeholders to balance the needs of

Program with aging District Infrastructure

• Limitations of current Administration and Support Staff We all “wear a lot of hats ”

District Office Administrators often weighed down with tasks that could be handled by clerks or clericals

District-Level and Building-Level Administrators have to share the focus of their energies in distinctly different areas