Huntington to Host State Education Commissioner
The Huntington School District will host New York State Education Commissioner Dr. John B. King, Jr. and Board of Regents member Roger Tilles on Thursday, September 20 at 3 p.m. in the School Heritage Museum at Huntington High School. The event is co-sponsored by Senator Carl L. Marcellino.
Attendance at the meeting is by invitation only and will be limited to the superintendent, school board president and teacher's union representative from each of the respective school districts within Senator Marcellino's legislative district.
"The meeting will provide local educational leaders with the chance to express themselves directly on recent state initiatives," Huntington Superintendent James W. Polansky said.
Senator Marcellino believes the meeting will be "greatly beneficial" to school district leaders. "There is a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty in regard to the requirements of the common core and the new teacher evaluation system that could be eased by a constructive and open conversation between the State Education Department and you and your colleagues," Mr. Marcellino wrote in a letter to local superintendents.
The School Heritage Museum contains artifacts chronicling the long history of public education in Huntington, which dates back more than 350 years to when Jonas Holdsworth was hired as the community's first teacher. The first day of public education was February 11, 1657. The first school was built around 1660 somewhere near the Town Green, probably along what is now Park Avenue.