Uniondale School District Provides 21st-Century Tools to Scholars

Uniondale, NY (January 19, 2019) – The Uniondale Union Free School District recently announced that Northern Parkway Elementary School has entered the 2019 Follett Challenge for the opportunity to compete for over $200,000 in prizes to support educational programs at the school. Northern Parkway Elementary School submitted written and video materials explaining and demonstrating how its program, The Dreamkeepers, is preparing children to meet the demands of the 21st century. Voting for the Follett Challenge opens to the general public from Monday, January 21st to Friday, January 25th. The website link for voting is http://follettchallenge.com/videos/1190. The site will go live for voting on January 21st.

“The Uniondale Union Free School District is excited to participate in the 2019 Follett Challenge,” said Dr. William K. Lloyd, Superintendent of Schools. “Our District takes a great amount of pride in the exceptional educational programs provided to our scholars, and we hope that members of the Uniondale community will support the enrichment of these vital programs by visiting the Follett website starting on January 21st and voting for our most deserving scholars in this contest.”

Research has shown that when students are supported and encouraged by teachers and school faculty in conjunction with support in the home, they understand and are able to better relate to the needs of a community, and perform better academically... In Northern Parkway Elementary School, the Dreamkeepers program was implemented at the school by Assistant Principal Dr. Sheila Jefferson-Isaac, and is based on research from esteemed pedagogical theorists Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings and Vanessa Siddle Walker.

“This program really dives into the issue of children lacking the support systems in today’s increasingly modern world,” said Dr. Jefferson-Isaac. “We often times underestimate the profound impact teachers, school faculties and administrators can have as role models in the lives of students. What the Dreamkeepers program does is open the communication channels between our school staff and students and provide support to those who need it. We are excited to participate in the 2019 Follett Challenge and hope our community will support the hard work of our Uniondale scholars by voting for our program on the Follet Challenge website (http://follettchallenge.com/videos/1190) starting January 21st.”

Follett —a national contest designed to recognize the most unique and inventive K – 12 educational programs teaching 21st-century skills—will provide the competition’s overall winner with a $60,000 prize, plus a celebration at the school featuring New York Times Bestselling author and NEWBERY medal-winner, Kwame Alexander. One overall winner will be announced in addition to semifinalists at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Submissions will be judged by a panel of judges on the basis of critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration between students and among teachers and school staff. Semifinalists will be announced in February 2019 with the overall winner announced in April 2019.

For more information about the Uniondale School District please visit http://district.uniondaleschools.org.