The Port Jefferson School District announce that Mr. Brian Walker has been named assistant principal. In his new role, Mr. Walker will work with Port Jefferson Middle School Principal Dr. Robert Neidig and Edna Louise Spear Elementary School Principal Mrs. Amy Laverty.
Walker joins Port Jefferson after his most recent role in the Middle Country Central School District as an assistant principal at Selden Middle School. He was also a special education teacher for various grade levels for more than a decade in Middle Country and served as principal of the district’s Extended School Year Program for three years.
“I am honored to be in this position, and I am looking forward to assisting Mrs. Laverty and Dr. Neidig in continuing to develop students who are independent, lifelong learners, in a challenging and nurturing environment,” Walker said. “I believe that as a school, we play a fundamental role in positioning students for future success. I am committed to working closely with teachers, parents and community members to ensure our children achieve their full potential and are prepared for the next phase of their educational career.”
Walker earned a Master of Arts in liberal studies from Stony Brook University and a Bachelor of Arts in child study and students with disabilities from St. Joseph’s College. He holds a certification in school building leadership and professional certifications in early childhood/childhood and students with disabilities. He also received an educational leadership advanced certificate from Stony Brook University.
“Mr. Walker’s educational philosophies fit perfectly with our Port Jefferson School District’s core beliefs and dedication to student success,” said Superintendent Jessica Schmettan. “On behalf of our entire school community, we look forward to his enthusiasm and professional commitment to our students.”
The Port Jefferson Middle School Science Olympiad Team placed first at the Suffolk County Regional Division B Science Olympiad Competition, held as a virtual competition this year.
Students in grades 6-9 competed against 22 teams in events which tested their study skills in the categories of biology, chemistry, earth science, engineering, physics and scientific problem-solving.
Photo from PJSD
The students had a dominant performance and received medals in every single event. The team will compete on April 17 in the virtual state competition. The team is coached by Adam Bouchard, the Middle School Earth Science and Science 8 teacher.
“Every student was highly motivated and showed a lot of hard work in preparing fortheir events despite the circumstances and hardships to overcome,” Mr. Bouchard said. “I applaud their efforts and cannot wait to see how they do at the state level.”
The crime scene outside Dunkin' Donuts in the village. Photo from Margot Garant
It was a tragedy, but local officials say all the right protocols were in place which led to the quick arrest of a Port Jefferson Station man in the fatal shooting of 25-year-old David Bliss Jr. of Shirley.
The incident occurred on Wednesday, March 24, at approximately 3:35 p.m., when Bliss was shot in front of 122 Main St. in the village.
According to a Suffolk County Police Department spokesperson, police from the 6th Precinct were on the scene within 2 minutes, 32 seconds after the victim was hit.
Mayor Margot Garant said the whole incident itself took less than 10 seconds, from the argument between the two men to the duo in the car driving off.
“Upon learning of the incident, our code enforcement chief and I immediately headed to the scene,” she said.
But the police were already there, and once the SCPD steps in, they take the reins on any incident. Upon assessment, the police spokesperson said, the detectives on the scene immediately determined that it was a targeted incident.
“Upon arrival at the Port Jefferson shooting scene, police knew the shooter had left the area in a vehicle immediately following the shooting and a lockdown was not necessary,” the police said in a statement to TBR News Media. “Each incident presents specific circumstances that are assessed by responding personnel to determine if a lockdown is warranted and what radius needs to be covered.”
Village trustee Kathianne Snaden said that although some people are curious and are upset over the protocol, the village did everything within their ability to keep their residents and children safe.
“Everybody wants to know why a lockdown didn’t happen, and the last answer is we do not have that authority,” she said. “We confirmed that with our attorney and we don’t have that right.”
Garant reiterated the same, that although people may think the local government has more ability to shut down a village, they do not.
“As soon as Suffolk is on the scene, it is their game,” she said. “I do not have the authority to put the village in a lockdown situation. Under New York State law, I do not have that authority.”
Thanks to the village’s street cameras, police were able to get a license plate number and began tracking the vehicle which was already headed into Smithtown.
“The police officer on the scene confirmed the community is not in harm’s way,” Garant said. “He said they are tracking the vehicle in Stony Brook, heading to the Smithtown area and this is very much a one-on-one attack.”
And because investigators on the premise knew right away that the shooting was not a threat to the rest of the village, schools were not put on lockdown.
Snaden, who was watching her daughter’s tennis game at the school, got the call from Garant and immediately asked if a lockdown was needed.
“We can’t say it enough — as soon as the call came to me, my first question to the mayor was, ‘Are the kids safe?’” she said. “Margot was standing with Suffolk police who confirmed ‘yes.’”
Snaden, who is also the community liaison between the school district and the village government, began tracking down Port Jefferson Superintendent of Schools Jessica Schmettan who was already aware of the situation and rerouted the buses to avoid Main Street.
“Everybody was fully aware, and the school was already doing whatever protocol they do in these situations,” Snaden said. “Superintendent Schmettan had already, long before, already known about it and was acting on their behalf.”
Schmettan told the mayor that once she heard of the incident and bus reroutes, she communicated with the SCPD and verified that a lockdown was not needed — all within less than 10 minutes of the actual shooting.
Snaden said that upon learning of the incident, students were brought into the building out of an abundance of caution at the discretion of the athletic director and coaches who had kids outside.
“Upon notification of an emergency situation, our district immediately enacts our safety and security plans to help safeguard our schools,” Schmettan said in a statement.
“These plans have prescribed actions specific to various potential scenarios and are often guided by the unfolding details of the events transpiring. As the safety of our students and staff remain our top priority, we are thankful to our partners in law enforcement and our village officials for their continued partnership with regard to our safety efforts and for their open lines of communication along every step of the way.”
The next day
Garant said that the next day the village had a debriefing and decided to begin using their CodeRED system for situations like this.
Criticisms have been made that the village should have used the system to let residents know what happened, and Garant said normally CodeRED is used for villagewide emergencies, like natural disasters.
“If we had used CodeRED in this instance, because of the initial information and the lack of information from Suffolk at that point, the CodeRED would have just said that there is police activity on Main Street, please avoid the area, period,” Snaden said. “It wouldn’t have said lockdown.”
She added, again, the village does not have the authority to lockdown. Only the governor or county executive can make those decisions.
Garant said that the social media hysteria that happened along the way could have caused more harm than good.
“It’s dangerous, because what happened was parents rushed to the school, there could have been a traffic accident, there could have been who knows what,” Snaden added. “The rumors were extremely reckless.”
Some of the rumors claimed that a student from the Port Jefferson School District was the culprit, another was that it was an active drive-by shooter. Both of those claims ended up being false right away, but the threads kept going.
“It didn’t really matter what we did or didn’t do that day,” Garant said. “My job is to keep this community as safe as possible, and not create more chaos or danger to them.”
But Garant said she did have the executive decision to give the community statements on what was going on.
“This is because of who we are as government officials that we choose to do,” she said. “Because we feel it’s important. We’re not required to have this line of communication with the district.”
Garant added the CodeRED system currently has 4,800 subscribers and, after last week’s event, they will now use it more consistently.
“I think the thing that we learned from this is that we’re going to use our CodeRED and you need to be on our system,” she said. “You can get a text, you can get a voicemail, you can getan email. And that’s how you’re going to get alerted from us from this point forward.”
Catching the culprit
“The good news is because of their thorough investigation, they caught the shooter within 72 hours,” Garant said. “That’s exceptional.”
Snaden said the cameras that are throughout the village are state-of-the-art devices, which are hooked up to the Suffolk County Real Time Crime Center — the first village within the county do so.
When the code officer was on the scene, a doctor and nurse bystanders were already tending to the victim, as police headed over.
“There were good people that did help,” she said.
Snaden added that the village has 37 code officers, plus the chief, who monitor the area, and who work alongside the police. Two more hires are planned for this month.
“We have a good working relationship with the SCPD,” she said. “The code officer that was there was the supervisor at the time and secured the scene. He did what you are supposed to do as an officer.”
On March 27, SCPD arrested Joseph Garcia, 19, of 11 Market St., Port Jefferson Station, and charged him with 2nd degree murder.
He was arraigned on March 28 and pled not guilty.
The investigation is still ongoing and details about the altercation between the two men have not been released.
The SCPD encourages anyone with information about a crime to report it to 911 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS (8477).
This week, Long Islanders acknowledged the one-year mark since the coronavirus hit officially hit and impacted the area. In March 2020, schools began to close, as stay-at-home orders were put into effect.
Throughout the remainder of the school year, districts had to figure out new learning models in a virtual world and create a socially distanced environment when schools opened back up nearly six months later.
Now, many districts in the area have opted to bring students back in-person all five days a week, hoping to give children, teachers and families a sense of normalcy.
Rocky Point Union Free School District
Rocky Point school district has been back full time for K-5 since September, according to superintendent of schools, Scott O’Brien.
By November, secondary schools began attending in-person classes four days a week, and now have implemented five days as of last week. “Reopening our schools this year and embracing a phased-in approach to safely bring our K-12 students back to school full time was a truly collaborative effort, and I can’t thank all of our stakeholders enough for their unwavering support,” he said. “Our elementary students have been thriving, learning in person full time since the start of the school year and our district was able to successfully and safely increase our in-person learning days from two to four by November for our secondary students.”
He said that “it was clear pretty early into the increased learning plan how much this move tremendously benefited our students, not only academically but socially and emotionally as well.”
O’Brien said that the district is continually working to ensure their learning environments remain safe.
Middle Country Central School District
Roberta Gerold, superintendent of Middle Country school district, said that pre-K through grade 8 will be returning to five days April 5.
For grades 9 through 12, it was be a slower process to ensure everyone’s safety.
“By the end of the school year, the goal is to be back to five days,” she said. “We want kids to have muscle memory of what it was like to be in school.”
Gerold said that bringing kids back to schools was the goal all along.
“Kids are missing the classroom experience,” she said. “The interaction, the energy and it’s good for teachers, too.”
She said that they are following all the necessary precautions, including barriers and mask requirements. Due to space limitations, she said that the 6-feet social distancing rule is unobtainable, but desks and distances are closer to 5-feet apart.
She said it’s exciting to see how happy her students are at slowly coming back to school.
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s neat to see how excited the kids are and it’s good to start feeling a sense of normalcy again.”
Middle Country is still offering a full virtual option for families who declared so early on. Gerold said right now about 20% of the student population is virtually learning.
SWR Central School District
Superintendent Gerard Poole said that since September, Shoreham-Wading River has been back full time, five days a week, and there have been no problems for all levels.
“We have a fully remote option, but about 97% have been attending in person,” he said.
By following all the correct protocols and by reopening a vacant elementary school to help with distancing, students and parents have been thrilled.
“It’s been fantastic, a huge success,” he said. “It’s good for the students’ mental health, and helps the parents get back to work.”
He said that it takes a collective effort to make things like this happen.
“It can work,” he said. “It does work, and all the other health and safety protocols work. So, I think the fears of COVID are real, but so are the effects of students not being in school every day.”
Comsewogue School District
Superintendent Jennifer Quinn said that beginning April 6, after spring break, high schoolers will be returning to a normal week. Grades K-6 have been back since September.
“Nothing replaces live instruction,” Quinn said. “The [COVID] numbers are low at this point and we’ve watched from some of the surrounding districts that their numbers are not significantly different than ours. … We want the students to be in school. Live instruction is the best way to learn.”
She added that the district’s teachers and the community as a whole have done “an amazing job during this difficult situation.”
“It’s a hard decision, people are afraid,” Quinn said. “It’s not right for everybody, but the key is this was the plan, and we were working toward this for a long time.”
Comsewogue will still have an option for families to remain virtual.
“One size doesn’t fit all,” said Joe Coniglione, assistant superintendent.
And while it’s still a difficult time, Quinn said that everyone is excited to be going back to five days.
“We’re going to be as safe as we can possibly make it, and we need students to feel that this is their safe place,” she said. “Overall, the kids are suffering. It’s not normal to be home every other day and not being able to see their friends.”
Port Jefferson School District
Since Jan. 18, the Port Jefferson School District transitioned students in grades six through 12 back to in-person learning four days a week.
“Thus far, we have not seen a rapid rise in our positive COVID cases in our middle school and high school,” Superintendent Jessica Schmettan recently wrote in a letter to parents. “Unfortunately, it has become evident that during this pandemic, our students have not been as successful academically and are struggling with their mental health. We have seen an increase in social and emotional needs similar to those reported in the news across the country.”
She said that from a health perspective, mandating masks, cleaning procedures, hand hygiene and distancing when possible have resulted in minimal transmission within the school. With that in mind, the board of education voted on returning secondary students to in-person learning five days per week beginning on March 8.
“We as parents are thrilled about that and we as a community are thrilled about that,” Port Jefferson Village trustee Kathianne Snaden said in a virtual board of trustees meeting on March 1. “There’s nothing going to be better for our kids, and then to get them back into school with their friends and teachers and all the things they need in school, we’re so happy about that.”
Schmettan added, “Currently, students very easily shift in and out of the remote environment. Although convenient for parents and families, this irregular pattern of instruction is disruptive
and unfair to teachers and students.”
There will only be a few reasons for virtual learning, including students who opted in for the remainder of the year, students mandated to quarantine due to COVID-19, or students who have a significant documented medical event that will not allow them to attend school for a long duration of time.
Comsewogue School District
Superintendent Jennifer Quinn said that beginning April 6, after spring break, high schoolers will be returning to a normal week. Grades K-6 have been back since September.
“Nothing replaces live instruction,” Quinn said. “The [COVID] numbers are low at this point and we’ve watched from some of the surrounding districts that their numbers are not significantly different than ours. … We want the students to be in school. Live instruction is the best way to learn.”
She added that the district’s teachers and the community as a whole have done “an amazing job during this difficult situation.”
“It’s a hard decision, people are afraid,” Quinn said. “It’s not right for everybody, but the key is this was the plan, and we were working toward this for a long time.”
Comsewogue will still have an option for families to remain virtual.
“One size doesn’t fit all,” said Joe Coniglione, assistant superintendent.
And while it’s still a difficult time, Quinn said that everyone is excited to be going back to five days.
“We’re going to be as safe as we can possibly make it, and we need students to feel that this is their safe place,” she said. “Overall, the kids are suffering. It’s not normal to be home every other day and not being able to see their friends.”
Earl L. Vandermeulen High School student Natalie McGuigan is one of this year’s six inductees in the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Photo from PJSD
The Earl L. Vandermeulen High School Chapter 2172 of the Tri-M Music Honor Society virtually hosted its annual honors induction ceremony.
This year’s six inductees are Natalie McGuigan, Julia Perrotta, Ruby Ray, Anna Rebic, Sierra Welsch and Michelle Wu.
Each student performed virtually after the ceremony, which included an introduction from Principal Eric Haruthunian, and encouraging words of achievement from Director of Music and Fine Arts Dr. Michael Caravello and chapter adviser Ed Pisano.
Caravello commended the students for their continued commitment to creating music. In addition to outstanding musical achievement, students are selected into the honor society on the basis of five points of distinction: scholarship, character, cooperation, leadership and service.
From left to right; Edna Louise Spears Elementary School Students Clara Pearce, Kemp Garrett and Nina Gnatenko. Photo from PJSD
Fifth grade students in Port Jefferson’s Edna Louise Spear Elementary School have been learning the engineering design process. They have used their skills to construct pompom launchers with a set number of simple objects including straws, popsicle sticks, tape, string and plastic cups to see how far their experiments could go.
As engineers, they examined the materials they could use, came up with their designs and moved on to building, testing, modifying and testing again.
The students in Kari Costanzo’s class conducted an informal contest to see who developed the simplest and cheapest one (Nina Gnatenko), the sturdiest one (Kemp Garrett) and the one that went the farthest (Clara Pearce).
Students in Michelle Landetta's class. Photo from PJSD
It’s no wonder Port Jefferson Middle School students have been treating one another with more empathy, compassion and acceptance.
Students in Michelle Landetta’s class read R. J. Palacio’s bestselling book “Wonder” together, discussed its theme and steps they can take to promote kindness to others. Students and staff decorated and wrote inspirational quotes, positive affirmations and words of hope on the popsicle sticks that were provided to them.
They then created a “PJMS – We Stick Together” bulletin board right in a hallway of the school for all to not only admire their creative work, but to share in their refreshing ideas and promote everyone’s appreciation for the simple and joyful act of friendship.
Earl L. Vandermeulen High School’s Brian Veit and Brennyn Veit with News 12’s Kevin Maher. Photo from PJSD
Earl L. Vandermeulen High School freshman Lucy Kwon and art teacher Lauren Lewonka took part in the Suffolk County Art Leaders Association annual Invitational Show, which celebrates the very essence of art education.
The online exhibition was an opportunity for member art teachers and their selected students to exhibit alongside them, potentially highlighting a creative path and/or link between them.
Kwon’s graphite pencil still life was showcased with Lewonka’s “Grandma’s Recipes” acrylic paint over collage.
As part of its mission, SCALA recognizes the importance of highlighting the physical manifestations that develop out of the mentor/mentee relationship from both perspectives. The exhibit is an opportunity to give visual voice to imagination, exploration and discovery.
Superintendent Jessica Schmettan. File photo by Kyle Barr
Port Jefferson Middle School and Earl L. Vandermeulen High School had to go fully remote this week, after parents begged the district to allow their children back in four days a week.
Up until recently, the district had students come to the high school and middle school twice a week. Parents, concerned about how the lack of in-person learning would have on their children, began asking why the district would not add more days.
Jae Hartzell, a parent in the district, said she was one of a dozen who voiced their concerns.
“We really worked, and fought, and emailed, and studied, and provided stats, and really researched to make sure we were fighting for the right and safe thing to do,” she said.
And their wishes were granted at the latest board of education meeting on Jan. 8, when the board agreed on a vote to let middle and high schoolers back in four days a week.
But just two days later, on Sunday, Jan. 10, the district sent out a notification that the four days will not happen, and instead, those two groups would have to go remote.
The notice said that as of that day, there were 26 staff members, including teachers and teaching assistants, who are subject to quarantine due to COVID-19, for a variety of reasons related to their own health, in-school and out of school exposures, and positive family members.
It continued that after careful examination of the school’s schedules and their available substitute coverage, they determined they do not have the staff to cover the middle and high schools this week. That being said, grades 6-12 will go remote Jan. 12 through Jan. 15, with no change to the Monday, Jan. 11 schedule as this is an asynchronous remote day in the district’s hybrid schedule.
The notice did not affect the elementary school, which will still be open for in-person learning, and staff coverage for the district’s 8:1:1 special education students have not been affected, as the in-person class schedules for these students remains the same.
“As a parent, you see your child go from super happy and over the moon to be able to go back to school, and then flattened a bit with that disappointment,” Hartzell said. “We all have to understand this is very complex and complicated and we don’t have the information, but it’s disheartening.”
Port Jefferson School District Superintendent Jessica Schmettan said the district understands this is difficult news to hear after the highly anticipated return to four days per week of in-person instruction.
“This determination is only for the remainder of this week and we expect to begin this next phase of our reopening plan on Tuesday, Jan. 19 – as long as circumstances permit – when we look forward to having all of our students back in our classrooms,” she said.
From left, Frank Franzese, Dr. Don Heberer and David Rebori are Comsewogue’s tech team responsible for transitioning the school into online/hybrid learning. Photo from Heberer
Sometimes it takes a village – sometimes it takes a whole district.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, workers in North Shore school districts had to buckle down and create a new game plan from early on. March saw the closure of schools and the introduction of distance learning. September brought a return to in-person, but a host of new issues.
With constantly changing guidelines, they had to reconstruct their plans. Superintendents had to lead their districts to continue learning and to keep their students safe, while teachers, librarians, custodians, librarians and so many more worked and sacrificed to do the best they could, often exceeding what was expected.
Gerard Poole, superintendent of Shoreham-Wading River school district, said it was a collaborative effort.
Superintendent Gerard Poole. Photo from SWR school district
“So much had to happen for all of this had to be in place for the start of the school year,” he said. “Administrators who didn’t take any time off this summer, to teachers who had to move around classrooms. There were a lot of things that had to be done.”
One of those things that were applauded by community members was the reopening of the vacant Briarcliff Elementary School in Shoreham, which helped increase social distancing and lower the class sizes.Poole said that in June, after they learned the 6-foot requirement between students and their desks was going to be in place, by opening up the formerly closed school they could have every student in five days a week.
But the superintendent stressed they couldn’t have done it alone. The school board was instrumental in making this happen, maintenance workers helped move supplies and nurses were there early on ready to work.
“It was an easy academic decision to make, but equally as important socially and emotionally,” he said. “This year seems now like a major win.”
And while SWR had to implement a plan to reopen a closed school, Cheryl Pedisich, superintendent of Three Village school district, said early in the spring the district formed a committee that would look at the narrative, and implement a school opening plan with the ultimate goal to go back to school, as normal, five days a week.
“The issue of health and safety was most important,” she said.
Pedisich said they initially developed a hybrid model, but the more she and her colleagues discussed it, they became concerned of the lack of continuity, also the mental, emotional and social impacts being on a screen would have on students.
Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich. Photo from Three Village Central School District
“We wanted to bring our students back to school,” she said. “What we experienced during the spring were a lot of students’ mental health [issues]. The children felt very isolated — it was hard to connect. There was a lot of frustration in terms in the remote learning.”
By creating an education plan early on that opened the school up to five days a week head on, the district was able to hire more staff, and prepare for socially distanced learning.
“Even though they’re wearing masks, they’re happy to be there,” Pedisich said. “We’ve had cases like anyone else, but no more cases than districts that went hybrid.”
And schools that run independently also had to figure out how to cope with these unprecedented times, including Sunshine Prevention Center in Port Jefferson Station, a nonprofit that offers an alternative education program. The CEO, Carol Carter, said they had to work with staff to handle the change.
“We provided support to the staff and a strong leadership to the staff, so the teachers felt comfortable,” she said. “Then we did training on it. They had to learn along with us as we’re learning — they’re learning how to run classes online, how to put homework online and how to communicate with the students.”
While their school has a very small staff, they continued to help kids who were struggling at home.
“We would try and reach out to students and their families almost daily,” Holly Colomba, an English and science teacher at Sunshine said. “We were trying to check in, whether it’s with their mental health or educationally, just trying to keep in contact with them and let them know we’re still here — and that we were there to help them.”
And technology was huge in every district as the COVID pandemic was navigated. Joe Coniglione, assistant superintendent at Comsewogue School District, said the district wouldn’t be running smoothly without the help and initiative from the technology department.
“These guys made it possible with going remote and doing hybrid instruction,” he said. “They orchestrated training every teacher in the district and worked around the clock to make sure kids were learning. They went way above and beyond to help us operate in time.”
From left, Frank Franzese, Dr. Don Heberer and David Rebori are Comsewogue’s tech team responsible for transitioning the school into online/hybrid learning. Photo from Heberer
Don Heberer, Comsewogue district administrator for instructional technology, said he remembered the day well. It was March 13 and he was at John F. Kennedy Middle School, scrambling and making sure every student had a device to use at home. They delivered about 300 Chromebooks to families who didn’t have devices.
“I relied on my staff,” he said.“And our number one focus was how can we make learning possible.”
Heberer and his colleagues — Jan Condon, David Rebori and Frank Franzese — made sure that communication was getting out to members of the community, students and their families. Teachers were constantly being trained and students were able to access their work online.
“We were in the middle of a crisis,” he said. “We have to remember people are losing their jobs, their lives, their entire livelihood. It’s important to be empathetic to that and doing everything we can to make it a little easier — students, teachers, parents and the community.”
He said they kept people in the loop using the districts app, which has roughly 7,000 people logged in.
School librarians, too, had to change shape to keep kids reading.
Monica DiGiovanni, a librarian at Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School in Rocky Point, said she and her colleagues focused this year on teaching students Sora, a reading app by OverDrive.
She said that Sora is an electronic version of their library, so kids would still be able to access books and read them on their Chromebooks.
Along with DiGiovanni, Rocky Point librarians Jessica Sciarrone, Catherine O’Connell and Bettina Tripp have been responsible teaching students how to use the system since the school library cannot be used due to the pandemic.
Monica DiGiovanni, the school librarian in the Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School, was instrumental in getting kids e-books during COVID. Photo from DiGiovanni
“As librarians, we were like, ‘Oh gosh we can’t give them books?’ That was a huge issue,” DiGiovanni said.
After researching platforms to get them e-books, all four librarians decided to devote most of their library budget to the electronic reads.
“There’s so much that books provide that children get out of it,” DiGiovanni said. “They enjoy going to other places — fantasy worlds — so they can get that now with e-books.”
She said they’re definitely utilizing the service.
“Some kids prefer them,” she added. “They like to be able to finish a book and go onto something new right away.”
At Port Jefferson high school, the Varsity Club is traditionally a group that inspires a sense of community involvement in student-athletes. Teachers and advisers to the club — Jesse Rosen and Deirdre Filippi — said that what their students usually do to get involved with the community was altered or canceled because of the pandemic.
“As a result, some new events were created by our students and we found alternate ways of giving back to the community,” Filippi said. “We were especially impressed by the fact that our students saw this phase of their life as an opportunity, rather than an obstacle.”
Along with reading programs paired with the elementary school, Edna Louise Spear,and hanging of flags on 9/11 and Veterans Day, the club hosted a Halloween trick-or-treat drive-thru event at the elementary school.
“Oftentimes, when we feel somewhat helpless about our own situations, the best thing we can do is help those around us,” Filippi said. “This event was a perfect representation of our club´s mentality.”
A good part of the community came to the school to experience a unique and safe trick-or-treating experience.
Students from the Port Jefferson Varsity Club during their drive-thru trick or treat event. Photo from PJ School District
“The idea was simple, the communal impact was overwhelming,” she said. “This speaks to what we try to achieve as educators. Our students recognized an opportunity within our community and they developed and executed a plan perfectly.”
The impact the club and its students made was overwhelming for Rosen and Filippi.
“As educators, the actions of our students often inspire us,” Filippi said. “It is rewarding to see our students take the initiative and do whatever they can to put a smile on the face of their fellow students and community members.”
Prev
