The Task Force for Equality and Excellence in Education is pleased to present the following recommendations to the Nyack Public Schools Board of Education. We appreciate the opportunity to have met as a community to formulate
responses to the Tulin/Diversiteam Report. Just as the Task Force brought together administrators, teachers, students, and community members for a serious and productive exchange of ideas, so do we strongly urge that such
cooperation continue into the future, so that we can all work together to eliminate achievement gaps and assure a quality education for all of our students. The following recommendations should be read in conjunction with the Tulin/Diversiteam Report and Recommendations. Please note that they are not listed in any priority order.

Staffing:

1. The Districts hiring policies need to be specific, well-publicized, and consistently and fairly implemented. They should continue to include a requirement for a sample classroom instruction lesson that is consistently
   implemented.
2. The District should make diligent efforts to increase minority staff so that it reflects the diversity of the School District in all areas of employment administration, faculty, and support staff. Particular emphasis should be placed on recruiting and retaining men of color.
3. The District should establish policies to assure appropriate functioning of citizen hiring committees for all district positions. The over-all policies and the job descriptions for each position to be filled must be clearly articulated and publicized. If the Administration rejects the committees recommendations, it should provide a written statement of explanation for the rejection and an opportunity for the committee to review the decision before other candidates are submitted to the Administration or Board.
4. The District should establish a comprehensive mentoring program (more extensive than the current one) for all new faculty (example: the NYSUT [New York State Unified Teachers] mentoring program).
5. The District should establish a Code of Conduct for teachers and staff that provides clear guidelines on best practices to avoid cultural, racial, religioius, or gender bias. Racist or biased behavior should be disciplined appropriately.

Curriculum:

1. The District should implement an anti-bias, anti-racist curriculum for grades K - 12 that demonstrates an awareness of the real issues facing Nyacks diverse student body (example: math questions that deal with unemployment, poverty, and gender issues).
2. The District should review and, as appropriate, improve upon the quality of its multicultural curriculum. The new curriculum should be coordinated so that there is consistency within each grade and differentiated material from grade to grade.
3. The District should implement a transitioning program for incoming students in both the Middle and High Schools to improve the probability of success for every student.
4. The District should review the system of coordinators and assistant coordinators to maximize the amount of supervision over teachers and curriculum. Principals should not act as curriculum coordinators in elementary schools. Rather, curriculum coordinators with authority should be appointed, who will share in curricular supervision with the principals.
5. The District should review the Special Education program in all its aspects, so that the program functions with less subjectivity and more uniformity. A committee with significant Special Education parent representation should be established to make restructuring recommendations, thus assuring that the program meets all legal requirements, that referral procedures for admission to Special Education programs are fair and clear, and that all students are treated equally.
6. The District should implement a world language program for grades K - 5. We support the initiatives already underway.
7. The District should implement a full day kindergarten program and investigate preschool programming as well. We support the initiatives already underway.
8. The District should use the high school Center for Success as a model for implementing similar programs in the elementary and middle schools, modified as appropriate for the needs and schedules of those students.

Discipline:

1. The District Administrative Council should undertake a complete review of discipline procedures, assuring that there are both educational and social benefits to all. The Council should establish an overall disciplinary framework, according to which each building site-base team should set its specific policies, all of which must be administered equitably. In this entire process, awareness of cultural and racial issues and their impact on behavior and discipline is crucial. To that end, parents of color must be intimately involved in all levels of policy making. Elimination of in-school supervision (ISS) should be considered.

Communication and Community Relations:

1. The District should clarify and publicize the enrollment process for advanced classes, with the aim that all students take appropriately challenging courses.
2. The District should clarify and publicize the process used to evaluate students for placement in Special Education programs. Parents must be kept informed and involved all through the process.
3. The District should conduct a complete and thorough review of all District communication vehicles. The following should be considered amongst other initiatives:
   • A team approach with shared roles between teachers, parents and community, including outreach between guidance counselors and families
   • Programs to help parents understand what their children learn and how they can assist the schools in that process
   • Promulgation of essential communications from the district in multiple languages
   • Student access to information to empower them for decision-making
   • A user-friendly handbook for all parents and students, which would include all curriculum, placement, and discipline policies
   • Student buddy system
   • Parent welcome committee
   • Building events hotline available in multiple languages
   • Back-to-school block parties
   • More informative back-to-school nights
   • Better publicizing the existing district website and maximizing its use for up-to-date communication
4. The District should develop new and strengthen existing community alliances to assist in the goal of more effective communication with all stakeholders (examples: youth groups, not-for-profit organizations, cultural groups, houses of worship, the chamber of commerce, town boards, fire, police, etc.).
5. The District should immediately implement an open door, open office policy to promote and encourage open communication and dialogue and to build trust. Such a policy should be clearly articulated in order to create an environment in which parents and students feel free to discuss any and all issues and concerns.
6. The District should make every effort to assure that parents understand the Individual Education Plans (IEPs). They should be made available in a language other than English when appropriate.
7. The District should clearly publicize all of its policies including the (new) Policy on Discipline, Special Education procedures, academic placement procedures, etc. to all students and parents.

Training:

1. The District should commit to the Undoing Racism Workshop offered by the Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond, to train all teachers, guidance, staff, administration, board members, and PTA officers. It is strongly recommended that this training be provided annually as part of each new employees staff orientation. New staff should receive the training during the first year of employment; the entire district should be trained within three years. The board, central administration, and key personnel should be included in the first round of training to be held in March 2000. It is further strongly recommended that funding be allocated to send several district and/or board representatives annually to the Peoples Institute for Undoing Racism Advanced Training in Mississippi.
2. The District should substantially increase funds for staff development in order to implement the programs contained in this report. We strongly recommend an increase each year for the next seven years in the staff development budget, until that budget reflects at least 7% of the school budget, an amount required to effectively address the needs of all students. Additionally, we recommend that courses used toward scale increases be directly related to methodology, to the content area of that teachers assignment/s, or to the professional advancement of the teacher.
3. The District should train all teachers in varied instructional techniques aimed at responding to the different learning modes and needs of individual students. Such techniques should be applied to all disciplines (examples: multi-sensory learning, computer instruction, varied reading techniques).
4. The District should examine the implications and effects of tracking and detracking in all grades, K - 12.
5. The District should provide training for teachers in alternative discipline methods.
6. Teachers should explore and be trained to use various means of measuring student performance, including nontraditional assessment tools (example: portfolio assessment) and not rely solely upon number and letter grading.

Leadership:

1. The District administrative leadership should assume the position of change agents, proactively leading the way in encouraging and modeling change-oriented actions and initiatives.
2. Student leaders should be continuously identified and trained as Diversity Champions in all schools, to develop programs to improve the school climate and relationships between students of various backgrounds and to evaluate progress in all areas touched by this report. The Diversity Champions might organize school-wide diversity activities, suggest out-of-school programs, and play a role in developing the discipline, anti-bias, and other protocols called for in this report. They might also devise welcoming programs for incoming ninth graders and other students and recommend ways to involve parents in the educational enterprise. They can also serve as models for underachievers.

Accountability:

1. In order to model good communication and assure the cooperation and assistance of all segments of the community, the School Board and/or Administration should:
   • Make a public report responding to these Task Force recommendations no later than April 25, 2000. This public report should clearly indicate which items are already in progress, which are being given priority, and what timetable is envisioned for implementation of the various recommendations.
   • Devise a system of record-keeping that will afford timely and accurate statistical data broken down by gender and race. Statistics should be kept in the areas of discipline, enrollment in advanced and special education classes, graduation rates, staffing, and others areas deemed appropriate.
   • Provide for regular reporting by the Administration to the Board and by the Board to the public on those actions they have implemented or intend to implement.
   • Call regular community meetings to address the issues contained in this report and to respond to community feedback regarding progress.
   • Keep a record of the names and addresses of members of the Task Force for Equality and Excellence in Education and of the Steering Committee in order to reconvene the Steering Committee in the Spring of 2002 to assess progress on the recommendations in this report and other programs undertaken to meet the issues raised by the Tulin/Diversiteam Report. The Task Forces assessment should include a review of relevant policies then in place and of statistics regarding the achievement gap. It should assess the climate in the school environments and the reactions of the community to the Districts responses to change and progress. The Steering Committee should issue its own report of findings to the entire Task Force, which should then determine how to best utilize those findings.
     

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