They flunked.
A concerning amount of Long Island public school districts were identified by New York officials for underwhelming academic performances, according to a Newsday report.
The outlet found that 11 individual schools and their 11 districts on the Island — all of which were in Suffolk County — were noted in the state’s accountability ratings for underperforming in student attendance, test achievement, and graduation rates from 2023 through 2024.
Although that number is down from 29 out of LI’s 125 districts last year and two Nassau districts are reportedly in better shape, Patchogue-Medford and its South Ocean Middle School and both Westhampton Beach district and its middle school were listed as newcomers with bad marks.
The district of Riverhead, which was on ranking from the year prior, saw its Phillips Avenue School newly added, joining its Roanoke Avenue Elementary School.
Other districts and schools remaining on from the 2022 to 2023 school year include Brentwood and its Hemlock Park Elementary School, Central Islip and its Cordello Avenue Elementary School, and Longwood district and its middle school.
Middle County District and its New Lane Memorial Elementary School, South County District and its Bellport Middle School, and William Floyd District and its Learning Center, an alternative elementary school, also stayed on the list from the year prior.
Both the districts of Wyandanch and Greenport were also in the report without any individual schools mentioned.
However, many of these districts say that there needs to be a learning curve in the statistics.
Westhampton Superintendent Carolyn Probst said in a statement that the low ranking came in an unfair context, stemming from test results of fewer than 20 students who were still learning English.
“State assessments are disproportionately difficult for students who are acquiring English language skills,” Probst stated. “But the district is proud of the hard work and progress of this student population and looks forward to continued growth and achievement.”
Central Islip assistant superintendent Jessica Iafrate reiterated a similar sentiment, telling Newsday that their poor performance only came from a small, confidential group of students that make up only 9% of enrollment.
William Floyd district spokesman James Montalto also defended the district’s Learning Center and said the state was comparing the test scores of 24 students with disabilities to those of other schools.
“We wholeheartedly believe, despite this designation, that the William Floyd Learning Center should be held up as a model school across the state for successfully integrating students with disabilities into mainstream classes,” he told the outlet.
Brentwood’s superintendent, Wanda Ortiz-Rivera, also said she is confident that new spring testing will remove her district from the list as a hallmark of recent improvements.
Since being named last year, two Nassau County districts, Hempstead and Valley Stream District 24 have fought tooth and nail to get removed from the ranking.
Specifically, Valley Stream’s Brooklyn Avenue School had since been placed in good standing.
In Suffolk, two other districts on the 2023, Amityville and West Islip, list have shown significant improvement and are no longer of concern.
West Islip’s Manetuck Elementary School was also placed in good standing. And, although Riverhead is a work in progress, its Pulaski Street Intermediate School was also placed in god standing as well.
“Long Island schools continue to show progress post-COVID with regards to academic growth,” executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association Bob Vecchio told Newsday.
“We also know there is work that still needs to be done, but this data shows our districts are moving in the right direction.”
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