August 31st, 2023 - Riverhead Back-To-School Supplies Giveaway This Sunday

A blue-ribbon advisory group is scheduled in November to recommend changes to high school graduation requirements, including Regents exams. With the 2023-2024 school year starting, Newsday asked superintendents across Long Island their hopes for change. Brian Doelger, Superintendent of the Shelter Island Union Free School District responded as follows: Changes to high school graduation requirements must take into account what is best for students. What is best may not always be what is easiest. The ultimate goal of any graduation requirement should be that each student meets his or her own unique potential. How do you implement a system like that while maintaining standards and rigor? It is difficult because the target of achievement will always move and remain different for each student. A mix of accountability with flexibility is in order. The Regents exams should remain in place, holding all districts to a standard. The state education department can allow local districts to grant students who may not reach the Regents requirements latitude to still graduate if they meet local standards. The school and district must determine a local method to ensure the student has achieved their unique potential. On Shelter Island, all seniors are required to pass an oral comprehensive exam as a local graduation requirement. Students work on a research paper in the first semester. In the second semester, they must defend it to a panel of administrators, teachers, and fellow students. Some graduate with distinction if they perform well on the local rubric. This demonstrates true learning and local control while adhering to state standards. That’s Brian Doelger; Superintendent of the Shelter Island Union Free School District responding to a Newsday inquiry regarding high school graduation requirements and changes that might be implemented in New York State. ***An Eastern Suffolk BOCES teacher had sex with a 16-year-old female student on multiple occasions in 2020 at the Riverhead campus and elsewhere, according to court documents filed yesterday, as he was arraigned on four counts of third-degree rape and other charges. John Asbury reports on Newsday.com that William Sperl, 60, of Deer Park, pleaded not guilty in a Central Islip courtroom to the rape charges and seven counts of a criminal sex act in the third degree. Sperl, the student's audio production teacher, "wanted the victim to believe they were dating," prosecutors said. Court records show the alleged incidents also occurred at Sperl’s home and at Tiana Beach in Hampton Bays between June and October 2020. Sperl was ordered held on $200,000 bail or $300,000 bond and left the courtroom in handcuffs. He was ordered to stay away from the alleged victim and to have no contact with her. Prosecutors said he posed “a serious flight risk.” Sperl's attorney, John LoTurco, contested that. He said Sperl is "not a flight risk whatsoever," and has been married for more than 30 years. He is the father of four grown children and a grandfather, LoTurco added. "Right now, we're going to thoroughly investigate these allegations, receive all discovery and have a course of action accordingly based on the evidence against my client," LoTurco said outside court. "He has the cloak of the presumption of innocence over him.” Sperl is also listed as a deacon at Saints Cyril and Methodius Roman Catholic Church in Deer Park.***Community members are invited to a back-to-school supplies giveaway hosted by LIR Clothing on Sunday, Sept. 3 from 2 to 6 p.m. at Doctors Path Community Park in Riverhead. The giveaway includes school supplies and LIR Clothing t-shirts to children. As reported on