Oakside Elementary presents reading and math gains; Principal and board praise staff and honor longtime coach
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Summary
Oakside Elementary presented assessment data showing early-grade literacy and math gains, described targeted interventions (additional ENL teacher, small-group instruction, coaching) and the district honored Coach Timothy Murphy after 33 years of service. Board discussion included continued funding for instructional positions after ARPA ended.
Oakside Elementary principal Anna Budds presented the school’s reading and math data at Thursday’s Peekskill City School District board meeting and described several classroom-level interventions the school is using to raise proficiency for scholars who enroll in later grades.
Budds said ARC (American Reading Company) and state-test data for 2023–24 show progress in early grades: roughly 40 percent of scholars who enrolled in pre-K were proficient on the state ELA test and about 41 percent of those who enrolled in kindergarten were proficient; among scholars who enrolled in second grade, Budds reported 35 percent scored proficient. She told the board that among scholars who enrolled in third grade, 14 percent scored proficient on the ELA test. On reading levels measured by ARC, Budds said 92 scholars exited second grade reading at a third-grade level.
In math, Budds reported AIMSweb growth showing an increase of 65 second-grade scholars meeting proficiency benchmarks by the end of the year and an increase of 79 third-grade scholars. She attributed the gains to coaching, small-group differentiated lessons and one-to-one teacher coaching.
To address remaining gaps, Oakside is using targeted reading and math interventions, explicit differentiated lessons for English learners, and added one ENL teacher; Budds said the district will propose additional reading support in next year’s budget specifically for dual-language scholars with IEPs or 504 plans. “I stand here proud,” Budds said as she reviewed the data and the school’s bilingual and writing initiatives.
The board and district leaders also honored Coach Timothy Murphy for 33 years of service to the district; speakers praised his commitment to students and the community and Murphy thanked attendees. Dr. Mauricio publicly thanked Oakside staff and noted that, when American Rescue Plan funds concluded, the board committed in the budgeting process to preserve the math coach, the literacy coach and an additional clinician at Oakside.
The meeting moved on to the consent agenda and adjourned in memory of a longtime district custodian. The transcript segments provided do not include formal roll-call tallies for the motions recorded.
