Home Education

Collaboration is FIRST for Port Jeff robotics team

by Press Release - April 17, 2023

0 704

PJ Robotics — Earl L. Vandermeulen High School robotics team. Photo courtesy PJSD

Members of the Earl L. Vandermeulen High School robotics team took part in the recent FIRST competition at Hofstra University, putting their knowledge to the test against 50 other New York high school teams and six international teams from as far as India and Taiwan.

This year, Port Jefferson was joined by Mount Sinai High School students. Their combined efforts helped the team make it to the final rounds to place seventh overall — an extremely challenging event to win, given the level of international competition.

Students used their math, science and engineering abilities and took months to design and build their robot, following strict rules, limited resources and an intense time limit. The teams were challenged to raise funds, design a brand, hone teamwork skills and program their industrial-size robots to play a complex field game against like-minded competitors.

“We call FIRST Robotics Competition the ultimate sport for the mind,” Port Jefferson’s technology and engineering teacher and robotics team adviser Brian Chalmers said. “Applying skills learned in the classroom during competition is always a positive opportunity for our students. It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get.”

He added, “We are proud of our students and grateful for our professional volunteer mentors who shared their time and talents to guide these students to success.”

Port Jeff students inducted into Tri-M Music Honor Society

by Press Release - April 15, 2023

0 755

PJ Tri-M — Earl L. Vandermeulen High School Tri-M Music Honor Society students. Photo courtesy PJSD

The Earl L. Vandermeulen High School Chapter 2172 of the Tri-M Music Honor Society hosted its 16th annual honors recital and induction on April 4.

This year’s inductees are students Thales Cheng, Caitlin Dickhuth, Kenneth Dixon-Lanza, Mari Fukuto, Iris He, Andi Kelly, Kay Moran, Fiona Reichers, Samantha Reichers, Alice Snyder, Emily Snyder, Kristina Shterengas and Madison Testa.

Requirements needed to become a member of Tri-M are based on the society’s five points of distinction: scholarship, character, cooperation, leadership and service.

Lindsey Steward-Goldberg appointed TVHS Education Coordinator

by Press Release - March 30, 2023

0 564

The Three Village Historical Society has announced the appointment of Lindsey Steward-Goldberg as Education Coordinator. Ms. Steward-Goldberg comes to the Historical Society with a Master of Arts degree in Public History from Central Connecticut State University.

Her experience in connecting multiple audiences to an organization’s resources and values comes from her work at a number of institutions that vary in size, audience and resources. Further, her background in history and education will be pivotal in developing more varied public programs that encourage a wider audience to appreciate local history.

Steward-Goldberg is no stranger to museum education. She is the creator and author of Looking Back, Moving Forward in Museum Education!, a blog that researches and discusses future trends in museum education. Before volunteering with the society’s education committee in 2017, Ms. Steward-Goldberg gained experience as an educator and interpreter at museums across Connecticut and Long Island, preparing her well to enhance the docent program at the Three Village Historical Society. Her experience at these small non-profit institutions has given her the basis for a solid understanding of the wide-ranging needs at TVHS.

“I am looking forward to continuing my work with TVHS as we share our educational opportunities with the public. I hope our programs continue to grow and expand to fit the needs of our community” said Ms. Steward-Goldberg.

“With Lindsey’s energy and enthusiasm, I’m confident that she will build upon the Society’s accomplishments by expanding our educational footprint throughout Long Island and beyond and inspiring young children’s inquisitive spirits and the community’s lifelong love and interest of history and learning,” said Mari Irizarry, TVHS Director.

Newfield High School students inducted to Art Honor Society

by Press Release - March 28, 2023

0 501

Newfield High School held an induction ceremony for 18 new members of its National Art Honor Society. The purpose of this organization at Newfield High School is to inspire and recognize students who have shown outstanding ability in art and support students’ creative abilities and talents.

The Art Honor Society advised by Sal Berretta, besides supporting its membership, looks to promote the love of the arts in the greater Newfield High School student body.

“Our goal is to foster excellence and a dedicated spirit among our Art Honor Society members as well as bringing awareness of art to our community, our high school and other areas of the school curriculum,” said Scott Graviano, principal of Newfield High School. “Welcome to our new inductees, and we are confident our existing members will give them support and resources to thrive.”

During the ceremony, guest speaker Shay Steuart, a senior at SUNY New Paltz majoring in Art Education and Art History and minoring in Evolutionary Studies and Social Justice Educational Studies, spoke to the Art Honor Society members.

She is a visual artist, primarily working in acrylic and oil paint and just finished her student teaching at New Lane Elementary School. She will begin student teaching at Newfield High School.

New inductees include the following:

Shariq Ahmad
Tahsina Akbar
Anjali Alexis
Mya Barry
Faith Burns
Devi Das
Vicky Das
Abigail Daniels
Phenisha Dulnuun
James Keenan
Payton Martin
Jessica Mcllree
Amtul Naqvi
Daiana Ramirez
Samantha Sayers
Caralena Schwartz
Ella Sharrock
Isabella Warner

For more information regarding the Middle Country Central School District and its students’ many achievements, please visit the District’s website: www.mccsd.net.

Renaissance School of Medicine students celebrate Match Day

by TBR Staff - March 27, 2023

0 3969

1 of 4

As the U.S. faces challenges with health care delivery systems and shortages of physicians will likely continue in the future, the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University continues to produce new crops of physicians for the workforce each year. This year at its annual Match Day, 121 graduating students matched to residency programs around the country, from New York State to 19 other states and Washington, DC. More than one-quarter of these students (26%) matched to residency programs at Stony Brook Medicine.

Match Days are held nationwide each year, a celebratory event when students learn of their residency training assignments. Administered by the National Resident Matching Program, this year more than 40,000 positions were filled — a record for the NRMP’s 70-year history.

“Congratulations to all of you, and remember that things are going to work out regardless of where you have matched to,” said Dr. Peter Igarashi, dean of the RSOM, who waved his own residency notice letter that he received years ago from his Match Day, one which revealed a choice that he did not expect and was not his first choice. “You have accomplished this at a time when a worldwide pandemic was at the center of your medical school training, an impressive feat.”

A majority of the matching students will stay in New York State for their residency training — 59%. Of that portion, 55% will be employed on Long Island, and 45% at Stony Brook Medicine.

The top residency training programs matched to included Anesthesiology (21), Internal Medicine (16), Psychiatry (12), and Emergency Medicine (11). A solid portion of the students (21%) matched to primary care specialties, such as Medicine and Pediatrics. This is an important portion entering primary care fields, as the country faces primary care shortages ranging from 21,000 to 55,000 practitioners over the next decade, according to an Association of American Medical Colleges 2021 report.

In addition to students matching at Stony Brook and other hospitals across New York State such as Montefiore Medical Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering and University of Rochester, they also matched to residencies at nationally recognized institutions such as Tufts Medical Center in Massachusetts, the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland.

Suffolk County Community College sees enrollment jump

by Press Release - March 22, 2023

0 650

SCCC-e1490204380232 — The Selden campus of Suffolk County Community College. File photo

For the first time in nearly five years Suffolk County Community College is experiencing an enrollment increase, due in part to an increase in the number of students returning to the college from the fall 2022 to spring 2023 semesters, according to preliminary census data reported today to SUNY administration.

“Suffolk offers not only the lowest college tuition on Long Island but also an engaging and supportive on-campus environment that welcomes every student,” said Suffolk County Community College President Dr. Edward Bonahue. “By focusing on what students need from their college experience — whether it’s transfer to a bachelor’s degree or career-facing opportunities — our faculty and staff are committed to helping students achieve their goals.”

“We also know that many of our students balance college courses with work and family obligations, and we want to do everything we can to offer flexible options that meet their needs,” Bonahue said. MicroMesters are a great way to earn credits in a compressed time frame, he said.

“There are two 7.5-week MicroMesters within a traditional 15-week semester. MicroMester classes are faster-paced, meet more often and may appeal to recent high school graduates who are accustomed to attending classes five days per week and completing daily assignments in a shorter time frame,” Bonahue explained.

“Community College state funding is tied to enrollment” said College Board of Trustees Chair E. Christopher Murray. “Enrollment increases our revenue and fees as well as New York State’s contribution to our College,” he said. “Over the last 18 months, the college has made a focus on the students’ experience its highest priority, has expanded outreach to Hispanic students and families with bilingual marketing materials, and has raised the visibility of career-facing programs and short-term workforce certificates and the college is now seeing the benefits in terms of growth.”

“At Suffolk, there are signs of a promising enrollment recovery, particularly with the number of first-time students enrolling at the college and students who are continuing their studies at Suffolk,” said Suffolk’s Interim Vice President for Planning and Institutional Effectiveness Kaliah Greene. “This mid-semester snapshot shows enrollment increases at every campus and in nearly every student category, including new students, continuing students, and transfer students.” The college also expects to report increases in the number of high school and non-credit workforce students being served.

According to institutional enrollment data, year-over-year spring enrollment grew by nearly three percent or 367 students, from 13,982 to 14,349 students. The college’s full-time equivalent, a measurement that converts all enrollment into a common standard, also increased one percent.

“The real story is the shift in persistence of students we’re seeing,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Patricia Munsch. “More students chose to continue their studies from the fall ’22 semester to the spring ’23 semester as compared to last year.” Nationally, retention and persistence are indicators of whether students will progress and ultimately complete their college education. “The entire college is focused on engaging students in ways that encourage their persistence, and we are working hard to extend this enrollment momentum into the fall and next spring.”

“The increase in enrollment we’re seeing right now is a credit to our employees,” added Bonahue. “Every single employee, every office in the college is committed to serving our students, and the enrollment increase we’re now seeing shows how we’re focused on that mission every day.”

Shadow Day at Middle Country Central School District

by Press Release - March 20, 2023

0 696

1 of 5

Approximately 75 eighth grade students at Dawnwood Middle School and Selden Middle School in the Family and Consumer Science and Technology classes participated in the annual Shadow Day event, sponsored by the Middle Country Business Advisory Board. This was the first such event after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Students worked alongside or shadowed a family member or friend of the family and had an opportunity for a behind-the-scenes look at an average workday in a variety of careers, including paralegal, teaching, nursing, small business owner and corporate executive.

The students saw firsthand how the education they are receiving at school, including 21st century skills such as time management, communication, teamwork and problem-solving, are directly connected to future employment.

“I observed in person and through participation in virtual meetings how a cohesive team works,” said Angela Patalano, an eighth grade student at Selden Middle School who shadowed a senior vice president of data and systems integration at Lifetime Brands. “I took a showroom tour and learned a great deal about product categories and branding.”

Port Jeff school board advances capital bond for May 16 referendum

by Mallie Jane Kim - March 17, 2023

0 399

By Mallie Jane Kim

Port Jefferson School District residents will have another chance to vote on a capital bond to fund school improvement projects, this time for $15.9 million.

This vote — scheduled for Tuesday, May 16 — comes just after the community rejected a pair of proposed bonds totaling $24.9 million last December. The district’s Board of Education approved putting the bond up for community approval at a meeting Tuesday, March 14, with the support of all six members present — trustee Ravi Singh was absent.

If the current proposal passes, taxpayers will pay for the bond in installments over several years. The vote will take place alongside the vote to approve next year’s annual district budget.

School officials suggest the proposal is more modest than the pair of bonds voted down in December, making no mention of replacing the high school’s grass sports field with artificial turf, a point of contention last time.

This bond would fund improvements to, for example, locker rooms, heating, cooling and ventilation systems, and alterations to some interior spaces. The details of this plan are on file for public review in the district clerk’s office, and the district will post more information about the new bond under the “Bond Project” tab of its website.

The board also plans to allocate more money toward capital improvement projects in the annual budget, according to Deputy Superintendent Sean Leister, which would help to pay for some facility update priorities and better plan for future needs.

“Seeing how difficult it is to go out for a bond and how hard times are, we were talking about gradually increasing the allocation,” he said while presenting the second draft of the district’s 2023-24 budget to the board. He added that he hoped this plan would mitigate the need for additional capital bonds in the foreseeable future.

Leister explained that updates to school infrastructure, health and safety — including security — and instructional classrooms would all be considered in school budgets moving forward.

“We thought by trying to incorporate those three things in future budgets, we can help bring up the level of our areas and the learning of our students,” he said.

Immediate plans for these funds include creating an ADA-compliant bathroom at the elementary school, installing a stop-arm security booth at car entrances to the middle school and high school, beginning a window replacement plan at the high school and refitting some classrooms.

Leister also noted science and computer labs would be due for remodeling, adding that “all the different areas that are functional but are maybe [from] the ‘70s or ‘80s and need to be brought up to current levels.”

Furthermore, Leister said stop-arm security booths are necessary because some GPS mapping apps list school driveways as regular roads and the administration wants to limit cut-through traffic.

The current draft version of next year’s school budget has a shortfall of $222,547. Superintendent of Schools Jessica Schmettan said this would be filled by staffing reductions to be decided before Leister presents the final budget to the board in April.

The board plans to increase the tax levy by 1.98%, just under the 1.99% cap set for the district by state regulations

Staff cuts on the horizon for Three Village school district

by Mallie Jane Kim - March 15, 2023

0 624

WardMelvilleHighSchoolw — Ward Melville High School. Photo by Greg Catalano

By Mallie Kim

Three Village Central School District plans to cut 30 full-time positions, primarily instructional staff, according to Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon.

The cuts are a result of declining enrollment — district data shows the student population dropped by more than 1,500 over the last decade — and the need to stay within the 2.65% tax levy increase cap the district has calculated based on state regulations for the 2023-24 budget.

“It’s unavoidable,” Scanlon said at a March 8 Board of Education meeting, noting some 75% of the school budget is payroll. “We simply don’t have enough money to sustain where we’re at right now, financially.”

Scanlon said that cuts would not lead to larger class sizes or affect programs already in place, but rather bring staffing more in line with student population levels. Excess positions will be both in elementary and secondary, he said, adding that instructional staff will be most affected because they make up the majority of employees, and the administrative team already made cuts last year.

The meeting was a step in the process of developing next year’s school budget in advance of the May 16 community vote, which will take place in Ward Melville High School’s gymnasium.

Cost increases due to inflation have added budget challenges for the school district, according to Deputy Superintendent Jeffrey Carlson. The part of the tax levy pegged to inflation can only increase by 2% but inflation in the United States at the end of last year was 6.5%.

“It’s killing us, everything is costing so much more,” Carlson said. “We’re really going to learn the difference between ‘we need something’ and ‘we want something.’”

But, Carlson said, at this point that won’t mean taking away aspects of Three Village that make it a desirable district. These include special education services, a topic that often comes up in budget conversations since the district educates students with special needs in-house as much as possible. According to Carlson, this makes the district’s per-pupil cost appears to be higher than neighboring districts, because costs associated with sending students to BOCES programs are not figured into a district’s per-pupil expenditure numbers, while costs for in-district services are.

Carlson said at the meeting he is often asked why Three Village provides more special education services than legally mandated.

“Well, of course we do,” he said. “We give more than is mandated to all of our students,” adding that pre-K, sports, clubs and universal busing are also not mandated. “I don’t think we’d be proud of ourselves as a district if all we did was the bare minimum.”

The board is advocating with local politicians for the inflation-based cap to reflect real world inflation, Scanlon said, out of concern the rates might continue to soar.

“We are lucky for next year where it’s not going to affect programs,” he said. “But if it continues at this [rate], it will.”

The district is also seeking additional revenue streams, according to Scanlon, like renting out portable buildings to BOCES and taking on more tuition-based students from other districts. Carlson added that the district would raise rates for after-school care, enrichment programs and facility rentals for private programs.

“We certainly have not kept pace with inflation over the years,” Carlson said, adding the district has seen these programs as a kind of community service. “But those items, too, are costing more and more and more.”

The budget conversation comes just over a month after the district was labeled “susceptible to fiscal stress” by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (D). Carlson said this designation did not come as a surprise and reflects too little money in district reserves. Three Village spent nearly $7 million in reserve funds to keep schools open full time during the 2020-21 school year, with a virtual option.

Carlson expressed pride that Three Village was one of the few districts nationwide to maintain full-time, in-person learning during the pandemic, and said refilling the coffers is a priority. He added the district is in the middle of a plan to replenish this rainy day fund over several years.

“We would love to be in a position where hopefully nothing like that ever happens again, but if it does, we could do that again if we wanted to,” the deputy superintendent said.

The board opened its meeting with a moment of silence to remember R.C. Murphy Junior High student Qamat Shah, who was struck and killed by a car while riding his bike on Thursday evening, March 2. He was 14.

Three Village stakeholders prefer moving up sixth, ninth grades

by Mallie Jane Kim - March 15, 2023

0 804

By Mallie Kim

The results are in. Across stakeholder categories, the clear favorite in Three Village Central School District’s restructuring survey was Option B, moving up both sixth and ninth grades to mean the two middle schools would house sixth through eighth grades, and the high school would house grades nine through 12.

Option A represented maintaining the current configuration with kindergarten through sixth grade in elementary school, seventh through ninth in junior high, and grades 10-12 in high school; Option C would have moved up only ninth grade; and Option D was the Princeton Plan, which would have split elementary schools and placed upper and lower grades in separate buildings. All four options, including Option B, left open the future possibility of closing or repurposing an elementary school.

Among district parents, staff, secondary students and the community at large, the data followed very similar trends, with the status quo coming in a distant second place when all four options were ranked against each other. “We’re so often told that different groups are in conflict with one another — schools and parents and teachers and politics,” said Deirdre Rubenstrunk, the district’s executive director of technology, at a special meeting to present survey results to the Board of Education on Monday, March 13. “But here we got to see in this data a real alignment of where people want to go, and as a school district administrator, that was really reassuring.”

The strategic planning committee recommended the board adopts Option B, but BOE president Susan Rosenzweig said they would take their time making a decision.

“We are not in a rush to make this vote; there’s a lot to consider,” she said, pointing out that there were many helpful comments and concerns written in the survey responses, especially from some forward-thinking teachers who had suggestions from the front lines. “We’re going to do what’s absolutely the very best for the kids but while remaining within our fiduciary responsibilities.”

Restructuring plans are separate from the budget planning currently in process for the 2023-24 school year, but restructuring is under consideration because of declining enrollment trends and other budget concerns.

Even if the board votes to adopt Option B in the coming weeks, that would mark only the beginning of the work, according to Superintendent of Schools Kevin Scanlon. Whatever the board decides, he said, “the work then begins for the employees of the district — the administration, the staff.”

If Option B moves forward, Scanlon said, district staff would need to go through all the nitty gritty details to figure out logistics, such as moving instructional staff, adjusting curriculum and planning to have enough guidance counselors in the right school buildings. That work, Scanlon said, would need to be finished by next December to make implementing changes for the 2024-25 school year possible. “We want to do this properly,” he said. “We don’t want to rush at this.”

Scanlon mentioned that making secondary school start times later, the part of the strategic planning committee process that wasn’t included in the survey, was still high on the administration’s priority list, but they have not yet figured out logistics and finances.

The district plans to schedule four informational meetings in coming weeks, two at night and two during the day, to explain the survey results to interested parents and community members. In the meantime, the results — including comments — are posted on the district’s website and can be found by clicking on the “District” drop-down menu and selecting “Committees.”

Prev 1...414243...196 Next

Page 42 of 196