Enhancements for Beacon City Schools: More 1:1 Learning, Chromebooks, Smaller Elementary Classes & PE

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Matthew Landahl, Superintendent of Beacon City Schools, started off the new school year by getting in touch with parents and guardians of children in the district. His email to the Beacon school community spoke to his plans for the future, and enhancements to the programming that are happening this year.

They are as follows:

  • Fourth-grade instrumental music will begin for the first time ever later this fall, as a result of the grant we won last June.

  • Elementary students will experience Physical Education class every other day instead of two out of every six days.

  • Elementary class sizes are further reduced with the addition of three additional teachers.

  • Rombout Middle School will have a fully 1:1 learning environment with every student receiving a Chromebook this fall.

  • Interactive teaching screens will be added to Rombout Middle School and Beacon High School.

  • Further planning and development of the Capital Project (A Little Beacon Blog covered those details here) with construction the summer of 2019 on the Turf Athletic Field behind Beacon High School.

His goals for the upcoming year, as posted at the District website:

  • Create and facilitate a student advisory council for the district.

  • Create and facilitate a strategic planning process including forming a strategic planning advisory committee.

  • Increase and improve the quality of district communication in a variety of formats.

  • Help to create building and department leadership teams including the participation of parents and community members.

  • Facilitate equity leadership work in the district.

  • Maintain a high level of community and staff engagement through open forums, individual conversations, and online tools.

Already, parents of elementary students have been invited into the Parent Portal, which is an app that lets the parent and child log in to see homework and comments from the teacher. Older students used to be the only ones with access to this.

In terms of communication with parents at least, Dr. Landahl has been busy emailing updates about pesky mold that has been springing up in the Beacon High School and at J.V. Forrestal Elementary during these 100% humidity days, and steps the district is taking to remove it and prevent future problems.