Averill Park High reports academic gains, expands targeted supports as device‑free policy takes effect

Averill Park High School principal Keith reported to the Averill Park Central School District board that the high school ended the previous year with 92% of students passing all of their classes and has launched a series of targeted interventions this school year to reduce the number of students failing two or more courses.

Keith said the school saw strong results on AP exams and notable improvement on several Regents and entry math exams compared with recent years. “We ended last year with 92 percent of our students passing all of their classes,” Keith told the board.

The improvements informed this year’s priorities, Keith said: the building learning team is focusing on the roughly 51 students who were failing multiple courses at the end of last year. Planned and ongoing steps include expanded common planning time for teachers, monthly instruction/student team (IST) meetings that bring teachers together with counselors and service providers, weekly grade‑book reports every Monday to flag at‑risk students, supported advisories that pair at‑risk students with a caring adult, and structured study halls for students failing two or more classes. Keith said structured study halls have been especially effective: many students assigned to them return to general study halls after the next five‑week grading period.

Summer and recovery outcomes were cited as evidence of progress: Keith reported 30 of 30 students in one summer program recovered at least one credit, 65 students passed exams needed for graduation, and a cohort of at‑risk seniors finished with 14 of 14 graduating by August.

Student engagement and belonging are also priorities. Keith said a student survey baseline moved this year after changing administration to lunchtime distributions; the initial baseline result rose near 69% from prior reported figures of about 61% in October and 59% in March. The district will set a revised growth target after adjusting the baseline. The high school’s student leadership team is leading monthly theme programming and awareness events, and English classes will work with Bard College on diversity lessons integrated into literature instruction.

On digital skills, the principal reported about 350 students finished a pilot digital‑portfolio project and the district aims to systematize a portfolio for every incoming ninth grader next year. On artificial intelligence, Keith said every high school student will receive two classroom lessons this year—one on ethical considerations and one on the district’s chosen tool, Magic School—and staff will receive multiple workshops during faculty meetings.

The district’s personal‑device‑free policy, implemented this school year, has had mixed but largely positive early effects, Keith said. He told the board that teachers uniformly report better engagement: “I can’t find a teacher in the building who will tell me anything other than this is the best thing that’s happened to engagement in my classroom since I’ve been a teacher.” He also said that, at the five‑week point of the first quarter, academic performance was about 5% better than the same period last year. At the same time, Keith said discipline incidents have increased in the early months: “Discipline has almost doubled at Averill Park High School over last year,” he said, and added the administration expects that number to decline as students adapt to the change.

Board members and community speakers asked about parent communication regarding AI and about mentoring programs. Keith said a mentoring program is on the district’s radar and that weekly lists of at‑risk students now trigger immediate counselor outreach and weekly student support team meetings.

The high school presentation ended with a pledge to return later in the year with comparative regional data on test results and with updates on progress toward the year’s goals.