Three Village school district restructuring unlikely by 2024-25

Proposed structural reorganization for Three Village Central School District is likely to happen later than originally targeted, according to Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon in an update to the Board of Education June 14. The update comes amid an ongoing internal review on the matter by a staff committee working alongside a school start times subcommittee, which is open to the public. 

“Currently the committees feel that the changes for the sixth and ninth grades will not be able to occur for the 2024-25 school year, however final determination will occur in September,” he said at the meeting.

A survey earlier in the year revealed community and district stakeholders prefer moving sixth and ninth grades up to middle and high school, respectively, but the board did not adopt the plan outright. Rather, the trustees tasked district administration with researching costs, logistics and potential impacts of the plan first. They also asked the district to figure out how to include in the change later secondary school start times, per health and academic concerns. 

Scanlon has said at previous board meetings that such structural changes are extremely complicated with a lot of moving parts and, even before the board asked for the review, he had indicated the 2024-25 school year was an aggressive target date.

One sticking point is the need for additional mental-health support in the schools if younger students are moving up to the bigger schools, an issue that has percolated among some district parents, and came up during the recent board election. Scanlon said the internal committee agrees and is looking into options on how to provide that support effectively. 

According to Scanlon, one of the options on the table is a “house plan” for middle school, in which students would be grouped and rotate through the same set of teachers for core subjects, a program Scanlon laid out at a restructuring subcommittee meeting earlier in the school year as something that would allow teachers to better collaborate to recognize and address student needs.

At a previous board meeting, Brian Biscari, assistant superintendent for education services, indicated the district is already planning to expand its “departmentalization” trial for fifth and sixth grades next year to all five elementary schools, meaning students in those grades would change classes for core subjects to allow teachers to specialize and to help prepare students for secondary school.

Cellphone policy due for review, insubordination at events

Scanlon also informed the board the district is setting up a committee to explore changes to its cellphone policy in schools following a recent Newsday article laying out the potentially harmful effects of cellphones and social media on students.

In Three Village, there have been cellphone-related “acts of bullying and disrespect throughout the district, but especially at the secondary level,” Scanlon said. “We need to reexamine the use of cellphones by students under the code
of conduct.”

The code of conduct currently available on the district’s website prohibits the use of cellphones or other electronic devices during class, as well as the use of recording devices on school property or buses without permission.

In a separate item at the meeting, Scanlon addressed what he called “entitled, enabling and inappropriate behavior” by some students and spectators at district events. He said these behaviors have increased alongside the increase in use of cellphones as recording devices. “We have witnessed acts of insubordination and disrespect to not only our own staff, but also to police and other parents. This is a reminder that there is a code of conduct for students and for spectators at events, and the administration will enforce those codes.”