For the second consecutive year, two of Deer Park’s schools – Robert Frost and JFK – were recognized by the Better Outcomes organization for their outstanding work in boosting the achievement of economically disadvantaged students via the “Beating the Odds and Building Opportunities” study of New York State demographic data and ELA assessments. Out of 1,128 New York State public schools that had 40 percent or more economically disadvantaged students, Frost and JFK had 25 percent or more score 3 or 4 in 2016 ELA and 65 percent scoring 2, 3 or more.

The district honored both schools at the March 27 Board of Education meeting, presenting certificates to the principals of both schools, Susan Bonner of JFK and Dr. Eliana Levey of Frost.

“My congratulations to both principals for achieving this, it’s quite a feat,” said Superintendent of Schools Eva Demyen. “My thanks to the teachers, also.”

“We are humbled to be honored and recognized for the hard work our students and teachers put in every day toward success,” said Levey.

“At JFK, we have increased our Academic Intervention Services in reading and mathematics, where necessary, to service more students,” said Bonner. “Teachers in the building have also increased extra help time and some of our AIS teachers now push into classrooms, which also provides opportunities to reach and support a larger amounts of students. Classroom teachers have large leveled libraries in their classrooms to support the diverse reading needs of students. These libraries allow for students to be reading on their level and in a topic of their choice.”