School Board Meeting

I attended a Board of Education meeting for Rockville Center School District, on March 4th, 2020. The meeting was held at South Side High School and began at 7:30 pm and lasted over 3 hours. The meeting was filled with parents, students, teachers, and other school officials. This was not the first school board meeting I have attended but with each meeting/experience interacting with schools outside of the norm, I learn something new about how a school and school district operates. There were many items on the agenda to be presented the main two were the budget, and the process of creating a new program, which was the reason for such a large turnout, and the boards plan for how to handle the Corona Virus. Before the meeting began packets of paper were handed out, including, the agenda, a copy of the budget, and a pamphlet containing the names of everyone on the board and the roles they play.

The meeting commenced with the Pledge of Allegiance and a general welcome. After this, students from the Wilson Elementary School who participate in the student council presented to the group and school board about their accomplishments and goals for the following school year. These students were honored and recognized for their work on the student council and were excited to present to the board about what they were able to do in their school. The Principal and Advisor also spoke on the students’ behalf highlighting the fundraising, leadership skills, and positive impact, the students were able to spread and gain through processing. I loved that the students were able to participate in their school at a higher level from such a young age, it is a great way to build leadership skills and get to know their school community better. 

Following the highlighting of students from the elementary school the creation of a new program was discussed. With in the past two years, a tragedy struck at the High School involving the suicide of a student, in return, The Ryan O’Shea Foundation, named for another passed student, donated $18,500 to Southside High School to create a new program, Sources of Strength. The new program is a suicide prevention organization. The mission is to bring awareness to mental health and to provide education to students in order to try and prevent suicide. This is just one of the new additions to the school’s ongoing efforts to find solutions to the students’ bullying and mental health problems.

The next topic of discussion was the Coronavirus, and the boards plan on how to deal with the pandemic moving forward. It was announced that the administrators had been regularly meeting with the Health Department Officials of the County, State Education Department Officials, and with the New York State Department of Health. The board announced that they had two main priorities, the safety of the students while they are in school and the schools’ ability to maintain continuity and instruction for all students in the case of the school closing. They spoke about the need to emphasize good hygiene, for the students and staff, as well as the sanitation of the schools and the property in the schools. They announced there that they were creating a plan to be put in place in the event of the school closing due to the virus. (This plan has now been put in action with the school closing).

Lastly, the board began the discussion of the budget, with a new tax cap that would vary district to district depending on what is occurring in that independent district. To be honest, I had a hard time following this part of the discussion, but it showed me what I should be looking into more before I become a teacher. At this point, they also discussed what needed to be fixed or improved, as well as the need for more classrooms and new playgrounds. There were several arguments that took place during this time over items that were not fixed properly or in a timely manner.

I am grateful I was able to experience the board meeting, especially because I watch several children, on a daily basis, who attend Rockville Center schools. It was interesting to get a look behind the scenes on how everything was run and see that they were actually discussing virus and what they were going to do about it. It was an overall great experience.