More than 100 cases of water were shipped to the schools for distribution and an impromptu concert took place in the air-conditioned auditorium where the students were held when conditions became unbearable in the school.

While some schools around the country closed due to heat issues, Saratoga Springs City School District remained open. Bus teams were on standby just in case, Superintendent Janice White said during Tuesday’s Board of Education Meeting.

“When you’ve got lemons, make lemonade,” she said of the situation. “It was a good test of our systems and I thank faculty, staff and administrators at all levels.”

The main topic of the school board wasn’t the weather, however. Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Mike Piccirillo presented a comprehensive education plan for Saratoga Springs High School in order to remove the school from the status of “school requiring academic progress” by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Under NCLB, schools are accountable for three areas: English language arts and mathematics performance, a participation rate of 95 percent on students in the school and a graduation rate of 55 percent. Since the 2006-07 school year, the school has not made average yearly progress for English language arts performance or graduation rate for students with disabilities.

“We need to make our best efforts to get students with disabilities across the stage with at least local or regional diplomas,” High School Principal Frank Crowley said.

The SRAP committee consisting of administrators, department heads and teachers came up with strategies to make sure every child is getting the attention and care that they need to meet the NCLB standards.

On a monthly basis, student performance will be evaluated by a pupil services team and students will meet with teachers and parents to ensure students are getting the help they need to succeed.

“We need to hold ourselves accountable for our new initiatives and keep the kids’ best interests in mind,” Piccirillo said. “We are currently in a transition period. We are changing directions in the district.”

New initiatives include integrating special needs children into general education class rooms being taught by a content specialist, getting outside help re-teach the content by a special education teacher and implement more “co-teaching,” in which there are two teachers in a classroom, not one teacher and one student aid.

“It is key that kids can experience the content and learn skills in a regular classroom with their peers as helpers or role models, and then reinforce what they learned with a special education teacher,” Piccirillo said.

The No Child Left Behind Act was implemented by the federal government in 2002 and is built on four principles: accountability for schools for results, more choices for parents, greater local control and flexibility, and an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research. This is Saratoga Springs High School’s forth year listed as a school requiring academic progress.

“We have a problem being on this list, and we need to get everyone on the bus to get us off of SRAP,” Board of Education President Frank Palumbo said.