Phase 2: Plan

Students with Exceptionalities

With the input from the Students with Exceptionalities department, a tentative plan has been drafted to support students with exceptionalities in the new reconfiguration.

Careful consideration was made to ensure that students had a continuation of services and opportunities for less restrictive environments without a change in location.

Based on this draft, Morse would have programming for SSTAR students, behavioral supports programming, Integrated co-teaching, and 15:1 classes. Krieger would provide services for Life Skills students, Integrated co-teaching, and 15:1 classes as well as the dual language program in grades PreK-2.

Smith school would serve Life Skills students and dual language programs. Warring would service SSTAR students, Integrated co-teaching, and 15:1 classes, and Clinton would have integrated co-teaching, 15:1, and behavioral support classes.

Transportation & Zoning

Poughkeepsie City School District has partnered with BusRight and Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES to conduct a demographic study in order to provide necessary information reagarding the creation of Child Safety Zones and attendance lines for the reconfiguration. The District took into account a variety of factors including current resident populations, future developments, socio-economic status, and aidable busing costs to establish these school boundary lines. The Child Safety Zones will enable PCSD to receive state aid (a return on expenditures) for busing for children in grades PreK-5 living more than .5 miles from their assigned school.

School Start Times

To maximize the use of buses, the reconfiguration is proposing two start times: 8:30AM for Krieger and Morse, and 7:45AM for Warring, Clinton, and Smith. Originally, the district was proposing the primary schools to open first so they would have support in the morning; however, after conversations with parents, staff, and administration and in response to the concerns of after school which appeared to be a greater concern and hardship for families, the district switched the start times so that primary schools (Krieger and Morse) will start at 8:30, which is in alignment with the current start time at Smith Early Learning Center. Clinton, Smith, and Warring will now start at 7:45.

This will enable parents to have supervision for younger students after school. This staggered start time also enables buses to have two rounds of pick up and drop off with ample time in between to drop students off and start the route again.

Equitable Programs

All programs will continue to be provided at the elementary buildings, including music, library, PE, and extended learning opportunities. PCSD will continue to work with our community-based partners to provide high-quality enrichment programs throughout the school year.

Every effort has also been made to equalize class sizes across the district, with an average class sizes at Morse and Krieger of 19 and an average class size of Smith, Warring, and Clinton at 21.

Teacher Placement Preference Survey

The following procedures were utilized to determine teacher and staff placement after a review of the teacher and staff placement preferences survey:

Review of certification and tenure area
Review of teacher preference for first choice
Review of current opening at preferred building and grade leel
Each building principal reviewed the assignments and made recommendations to the Superintendent
Tentative assignments will be provided

Special care was provided to ensure that teachers were placed no more than one grade level from their current assignment. Priority of schools was given first to Krieger and Morse due to the specialized certification required for primary grades, then Smith as it is a brand new school configuation, and then Clinton and Warring.

Principals were asked to provide feedback and recommendations based on specific criteria, including student data, teacher evaluation, co-teaching teams, and building needs as related to program constraints and/or compliance.

Teachers and staff will be informed of their assignments by mid-May. Once the list is finalized, principals will continue to assign teachers to their classrooms and plans for packing will continue.

Logistics of Moving

The Division of Instruciton meets regularly with Buildings and Grounds, Technology, Data, and the Office of Students with Exceptionalities to ensure that all logistics of moving are covered.

Currently, lists of what is to be packed and what is to be disgarded are being created, a contract with a moving company to support the moving of furniture and boxes is being drafted, and work on systems changes (such as NVision, Google groups, Infinite Campus, Frontline, etc) are being prepared for the change.

Page updated

Report abuse