Student Placement

Syosset Central School District Walt Whitman School  

Dr. Thomas L. Rogers 482 Woodbury Road

Superintendent of Schools Woodbury, NY  11797   

516-364-5823

FAX 516-692-9103 Dr. Theresa Curry

             Deputy Superintendent of Schools

    516-364-5656

Mr. Chad Snyder

      Principal  

March 13, 2024

Dear Parents/Guardians:

The purpose of this letter is to provide our parents and guardians with the process associated with class placement at Walt Whitman Elementary.

Every year, I receive an inordinate number of requests for teachers and friends with regard to placing children in classes for the following school year. While I greatly appreciate the input, it is not rational, nor possible to take into account the number of requests made in reference to specific requests. 

Our process is rich with variables associated with balancing educational/social/emotional needs as it is; compounding the process with requests makes this task virtually impossible to make everyone happy. I will accept written communication with your feedback and take the contents of your letter into account, but your letter will NOT be a binding agreement to honor any of your requests. If you wish to share your feedback with me, please submit an email to me by no later than April 1st. Emails regarding placement will not be taken into account after April 1st.

All placement letters from parents expressing their feedback will be shared with the placement team consisting of classroom teachers, related service providers, and special area teachers.

Consider the following scenarios below that we deal with every year:

Examples of requests that complicate our process include:

• Placement with certain friends/group of friends:

  • I get requests from Family (A) to place their child with Family (B), but Family (B) requests their child NOT be placed with Family (A). This happens more often than not and the school becomes the mediator between families. Please do not put us in this situation.

• Please do NOT place my child with…:

  • I get requests from Family (A) to separate their child from Families (B), (C) & (D). Followed by a request to place with Families (E), (F) & (G). However, Families (B), (C) & (D) all have their own requests. Confusing, right?

• Teacher Placement:

  • Please place my child with Teacher (A), I have heard great things about Teacher (A) and not Teacher (B). Also, please include the following friends: Families (A), (C)& (E).

I know many of you will have conversations with your classroom teacher and trust me, the teachers advocate for you, your child, and your requests. In the end, I can’t just consider the placement of one child, but the placement of an entire class/grade; attempting to balance the educational and social emotional needs of ALL our children. Inevitably, some families are not happy with the placement of their child in September. We try our very best to make the most appropriate choices for ALL of the children.

This brings me back to the word, resilience. We need to begin to teach our children how to persevere and make the best out of situations that are completely out of their control. We need to teach our children to recover quickly, to adapt so that when life offers a speed bump, they can deal with the obstacle and be the change they want to see in this world.

So my “request” is this, please partner with me and understand placement is complicated and not perfect, but done with the greatest of intentions to support ALL children. Please do not tell your child that you will get their placement changed; yet, help them to understand that making new friends and rising to a challenge will only make them stronger…resilient! 

I will not change children out of classes. I will certainly listen to your concerns and even complaints in August when some of you call and are unhappy with your child’s assignment, but I will NOT change the class.

Have a healthy Spring!

Sincerely,

Chad Snyder

Principal