International Baccalaureate
Candidate School
“Westbury High School is a Candidate School* for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Westbury High School believes is important for our students.”
*Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme (DP), or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit www.ibo.org
IB MISSION STATEMENT
The International Baccalaureate Organization aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
WESTBURY HIGH SCHOOL MISSION AND VISION
What is an IB Education?
Our Global Minded Dragons Journey to World Class Status
As we continue our pathway to world class status the Westbury UFSD has embarked on a journey to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme at our High school. The first step was taken in the spring of 2021 where we submitted our interest to the International Baccalaureate Organization. As our next step, in the early fall of 2022 we trained our high school administration team along with district leadership which included our superintendent of schools and our assistant superintendents. Upon finishing the training we submitted our application for candidacy which was granted in October of 2022. Throughout the winter we worked in conjunction with the International Baccalaureate Organization to register our teachers for officia IB training. A team of 20 teachers in various courses attended training in the spring and summer of 2023. We also created school wide policies that include academic integrity and honesty, language, assessment, inclusion and admissions. These belief statements were created with the input of the whole school community which included staff, students, administrators and community members. Throughout the spring our faculty continued to work collaboratively on specific course outlines along with curriculum writing for their respective courses. Over the summer our faculty continued to gather resources and information which will help them plan to effectively teach the International baccalaureate diploma programme Starting in the Fall of 2024. On September 14th and 15th we had our consultation visit at Westbury High School. Throughout the two days our IB consultant sat down candidly with our faculty to guide them through the process of writing curriculum along with discussing the implementation of the diploma programme at our school. Soon after we completed our application for authorization which was submitted on October 30, 2023. This is a significant milestone in our journey to authorization to become an IB world school. Furthermore, our staff is continuing to expand our IB network consulting with teacher colleagues from across our region.
Meet the Staff
Group #1 - Studies in Language
Language and Literature HL- Shahana Khairoola
Group #2 - Language Acquisition
Spanish HL- Sandra Salazar
French SL- Catherine Singleton
Group #3 - Individuals and Societies
Business Management SL- Michelle Voigt
History of the Americas HL- Rachel Searles
Group #4 - Sciences
Chemistry SL- Vicky Kanellis
Environmental Systems and Societies- Marie Bettine Fantal-Pinckombe and Michael Fodera
Group #5 - Mathematics
Applications and Interpretations SL- Shannon Baxter
Group #6 - The Arts
Visual Arts SL/HL- Sarah St. John- Natasha Korzeniewski
Music SL/HL- Michael Costello- Nadine Schalk
TOK teacher- Michael Villanti
CAS Programme Coordinator- Nicolette James
Extended Essay Coordinator- Amy Kahn
Library Media Specialist- Linda Grisafi
School Counselor- Drew Harrison- Rachel Castillo- Abby Archdeacon