Roslyn Times 4.24.15

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Serving Roslyn, Roslyn Heights and Old Westbury

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Friday, April 24, 2015

Vol. 3, No. 17

Troupe, station to do radio play

HEALTH GROUPS WOO WINTHROP

GIFT OF LIFE TURNING 40

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Students opt not to sit for state exams

SPRING SCEnE

More than 32 percent in Roslyn refuses to take ELA assessment B Y B ILL SAN AN T ONIO North Shore school district officials said students who recently opted out of the state assessment in English Language Arts reflect the concerns of parents and school administrators with a teacher evaluation system that relies heavily on student test scores and a fumbled rollout of the Common Core standards. About 15.7 percent of students eligible to take the exam in the East Williston, Herricks, Manhasset, Mineola, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park and Roslyn school districts refused to take the exam, according to figures obtained by Blank Slate Media, joining more than 65,000 students on Long Island and more than 100,000 throughout New York, according to various published reports. “What we need to see are substantive changes in the assessment and teacher evaluation system

that allow for local districts to play a more prominent role in what needs to be done in those areas. Right now, we’re working with a very top-down approach,” said Manhasset school Superintendent Charles Cardillo, whose district had 56 of 1,554 eligible students (3.6 percent) opt out of the exam. Of the North Shore districts that reported students opting out of the English-Language Arts assessment, Roslyn had the highest percentage — 32.5 percent ­— with 480 of the eligible 1,475 students choosing not to sit for the exam. Less than 20 percent of eligible Herricks students (228 of 1,771 eligible, 12.9 percent) and Mineola students (229 of 1,254 eligible, 18.3 percent) opted out of the exam, while 21.1 percent of the 810 East Williston students refused to take the assessment. “The New York State tests tell us very little we don’t already know in a lot of other ways — and Continued on Page 52

PHOTO BY MARTHA GORFEIN

Ducks return to Gerry Pond as spring weather hits the Village of Roslyn.

D.A., county lawmakers act following Skelos probe By Ja m es G a l l o w ay

tract sent shockwaves through Nassau County last week as officials scrambled to plug proNews that a federal in- cedural loopholes and uncover vestigation into state Senate what went wrong. Acting District Attorney Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Center) centers Madeline Singas opened an inon a county public works con- vestigation Thursday into the

county’s contracting practices. And on Tuesday, Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, a Republican, and Democratic members of the county Legislature introduced competing legislation to increase transparContinued on Page 65

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