A Message From Your Superintendent

Dear Residents,

Since my last message, many things have occurred both in our school community and abroad that are cause for reflection.

We continue to find ourselves in a trying economic time, which was recently made increasingly difficult when Governor Paterson announced his plan to reduce school districts’ State Aid allocations. Although Three Village does not benefit from a large allotment of State Aid, any cut to our funding means that we need to seek alternative ways to finance our regular operations or identify ways in which to reduce costs.

In the upcoming months, the District’s Board of Education and administrative team will work toward developing a proposed budget for the 2010-2011 school year that not only strives to preserve our strong educational program, but is also mindful of the impact doing so puts on our community taxpayers. With the uncertainty of the changes in Albany and the current state of the economy, I am sure that this will be one of our most difficult budget years in recent history. I encourage all residents to stay informed of the development process by attending the District’s regularly scheduled Board meetings (which are listed on the calendar) and by visiting our website. 

Despite these trying times, I am extremely pleased to announce several outstanding accomplishments achieved by our students.

In early December, Ward Melville High School senior Ruoyi Jiang became the first Long Island student to win the individual prize in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology. Additionally, in the area of science research, seven Ward Melville students have been named Semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search, which represented the highest number of Semifinalists on Long Island – quite an impressive feat. Lastly, at a recent Board of Education meeting the District announced that three Ward Melville seniors, Georgia Holland, Noelle Morrison, and Quinn Raseman, have been named Newsday Long Island Athletes of the Year, and Girls Swimming coach, Chris Gordon, was selected as the Coach of the Year.

Not only do our students and staff members continue to excel in the classroom and on the athletic field, it is their community service initiatives that perhaps bring our District the most pride. In the wake of the recent natural disaster in Haiti, our students and staff members have quickly rallied together to coordinate a vast number of collection drives. From clothing to monetary fundraisers to organizing a garage sale, the Three Village Central School District has shown that not even an ocean can stand in the way of the desire to help others.

I hope you can join me in congratulating the students listed above and take pleasure in hearing about the great things happening in our District.

Sincerely,

 

Donald F. Webster
Interim Superintendent of Schools