NY State Education Department Visits MVCSD

MOUNT VERNON – Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Demario Strickland, met with several individuals from the New York State Education Department to present the District’s strengths and challenges last Thursday morning.

The purpose of this meeting was to strengthen working relationships between State Education Department area leaders and their district counterparts, while establishing next steps to assist the District out of academic and fiscal distress.

The morning started off with introductions, where individuals formally presented themselves to the group before Dr. Jeffrey Matteson, NYSED’s Senior Deputy Commissioner for Education Policy, gave his opening remarks.

“The goal here is to recreate the foundation so that we can use the talents around this table to build an outstanding school district,” said Dr. Matteson. “We’re hopeful about that.”
Dr. Strickland proceeded to present a summary of the highlights and lowlights within the District. District achievements the Superintendent noted were that academics have consistently improved despite fiscal challenges and that graduation rates have improved over the years.

He shared additional accomplishments within the District, such as establishing communication protocols, improvement with transparency and an assembled executive leadership team.

Moving forward with challenged areas, Dr. Strickland emphasized the significant fiscal distress, statewide declining enrollment, and lack of standardized operating procedures.
After the presentation, individuals broke into small groups to discuss school improvement and academic plans, as well as special education, facilities, transportation, staffing processes and budgeting / fiscal management.