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Interim superintendent reports sharp gains on regents and higher graduation rates; district expands summer programs and hires staff
Summary
Interim Superintendent Anna Velusco and district staff reported preliminary Regents exam gains across core subjects, higher graduation rates for both high schools, expanded summer learning offerings and active hiring for teaching assistants and monitors; staff also said they would follow up on outreach and registration gaps for summer programs.
Interim Superintendent Anna Velusco told the Board of Education on July 1 that the district will prioritize student‑centered work during her interim term and outlined expanded summer programs, hiring needs and preliminary student‑assessment gains.
Velusco said the district has multiple summer programs this year — Jumpstart for incoming kindergartners, kindergarten through sixth‑grade programs at Summit Park, a middle‑school STEM enrichment at Pomona, a Freshman Academy, and credit‑recovery and Regents preparation at Spring Valley High School — and that 739 high‑school students had expressed interest in the high‑school program though not all had completed registration.
Dr. Gonzales, who summarized preliminary Regents results taken from the New York State Education Department data warehouse, said the district saw improvements across five commonly required Regents exams from 2024 to 2025: algebra increased across the district by about eight percentage points; English language arts rose by 25.6 percentage points; living environment rose by 1.7 percentage points (the district noted the state introduced a new biology assessment that may affect direct comparisons); global history improved by 7.4 percentage points; and U.S. history rose by 4.1 percentage points. Dr. Gonzales characterized the results as preliminary and said the district will conduct a deeper instructional review and present fuller analysis at the July 29 board meeting.
Separately, the district reported graduation‑rate gains. At the meeting staff said Ramapo High School’s graduation rate rose from 85.7% to 89.7% year‑to‑year, and that preliminary district reporting placed the overall district graduation rate at 85.3%; a presenter said Spring Valley High School showed a large increase and that Spring Valley’s preliminary rate is now being reported at 85.3%. Officials said they will present more detailed, validated graduation‑rate data at the July follow‑up meeting.
Velusco and human‑resources staff announced active recruitment for roughly 40 teaching assistants and multiple monitors, noting that the district needs bilingual candidates and that teacher‑calendar positions provide benefits. The board also approved continued assistance from two outside HR consultants who have been helping with high‑volume hiring tasks; administration said the services are budgeted.
Trustees and staff discussed outreach and registration for summer programs. Dr. Gonzales said counselors would continue targeted outreach and personal phone calls to students who had not completed online registration and that some technical issues with the eSchool registration system had been noted and were being troubleshot. District staff said elementary summer programs were full and that much of the outstanding registration was concentrated in secondary programs.
No new instructional mandates were adopted at the meeting. Trustees requested further detail on how the district plans to use instructional technology such as the Desmos platform in Algebra I and asked for a follow‑up on program enrollment numbers, outreach steps and an instructional deep dive at the July 29 meeting.
The board’s next steps include a fuller presentation of validated Regents and graduation data to the board on July 29, continued outreach to enroll students in summer programs and continued hiring activity for teaching assistants, monitors and other positions.
