The Three Village Central School District Board of Education will put its rejected budget up for a second vote. At its May 25 meeting, the board elected to resubmit the failed budget unaltered for taxpayers’ approval.
“Since this is what the majority supported, this is what we should put forward,” said Jeff Carlson, deputy superintendent for business services, during a phone interview last week.
Although 57.7% of taxpayers voted in favor of the $222.6 million budget — 2,286-1,677 — it failed to pass. That was because the proposed budget pierced the 1.37% cap on the tax levy increase, necessitating a supermajority approval, or 60% of the vote, to pass.
The failed budget has a tax levy increase of 1.85%, which officials say would bring in an additional $777,000 in revenue and represents a tax levy difference of $58 per year for the average taxpayer.
“We want to get back on track” and position the district for long-term financial stability, Carlson said of the decision to pierce the cap.
After spending close to $7 million from district reserves to enable a full reopening last September, the district needs to start paying itself back. It has budgeted about $800,000 to do so in the coming year.
Carlson added that the district needs to have flexibility in its budget in case there is a resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall. After a year of having schools open to all students every day, “we don’t want to go backward,” he said.
The district is receiving $1.85 million in federal aid, which is earmarked for COVID-related expenses. While some districts received much larger allocations and must spread out their spending, Three Village does not have such restrictions, Carlson said. District officials would like to use the money over the next two years. Carlson explained that a one-time use would create a gap in the budget that would then need to be filled in the following year.
If the budget fails again, there will be no increase to the tax levy. That would mean a shortfall of about $3 million and that major construction or improvements to district property would not take place. Carlson said during the interview that it would not be disastrous, and the district would “make it as painless as possible for the kids.” He also said the district would then use all of the federal money for the coming year.
Cuts would likely be made to some electives, and class sizes might increase on a district level, Carlson said. He added that funds budgeted for capital projects, which under a passed budget could only be used for building repairs and other maintenance and improvements, could be shifted to other areas of the budget.
“Our buildings are in good shape,” he said, and it would be better to put capital projects on hold for a year rather than adversely impact academic programs.
The budget hearing was due to be held Wednesday, June 2. The revote will take place, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday, June 15, at Ward Melville High School located at 380 Old Town Road. The vote will take place in one location to make it easier for community members to knowwhere to go, Carlson said.
Ward Melville High School. File photo by Greg Catalano
By Andrea Paldy
Three Village Central School District residents will vote on the 2021-22 budget and select three school board trustees when they head to the polls next Tuesday, May 18.
Next year’s $222.6 million budget requires supermajority approval since it exceeds the 1.37% cap on the tax levy increase. Deputy superintendent, Jeff Carlson, has said that opening schools five days a week to all students cost the district about $6.5 million this year. Speaking at the most recent school board meeting May 5, he explained that with most of the money coming from reserves, the district has to pay itself back while also keeping current safety protocols in place for the upcoming school year.
At a previous meeting, Carlson said the 1.85% tax levy increase will generate close to an additional $800,000, roughly the amount the district will use to pay back its reserves. The average increase to taxpayers is $222 a year — about $58 more than they would pay per year under a 1.37% levy increase. State aid will increase by $1.8 million in the coming year, but because the current year’s aid package was less than the previous year, the net gain will only be about $200,000, Carlson said.
The district has budgeted for the restoration of health education for kindergarten through third grade, math labs at the high school and electives in the secondary schools. That will mean the addition of three full-time health teachers and an additional math teacher at $90,000 (including benefits) for a total of $360,000. In an email, Carlson said the cost will be covered through savings from retirements.
The district will also add a social worker for the elementary schools, an elementary chair to manage 504 programs, which provide support for students who need learning accommodations, and a music technology teacher. Carlson said each position is budgeted at $90,000 with benefits and will cost about $270,000.
If the proposed budget doesn’t pass, the district can either put the same budget up for a second vote, present a revised budget for vote or go straight to a contingency budget. A contingency budget would mean no increase to the tax levy and would require the district to cut $3 million, Carlson said. A failed second vote would also result in a contingency budget.
COVID safety protocols
During the public participation portion of this week’s board meeting, a group of parents spoke of being concerned about the “negative social, emotional and academic effects” of plexiglass barriers that have been erected as part of COVID-19 protocols on the desks of elementary students. They demanded that they be taken down “immediately.”
Members of the group said that since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends the barriers and district secondary students weren’t using them, the district was “keeping the most severe district protocol in place for the least vulnerable students.” They called the protocol “unacceptable.” Some also declared the use of masks and barriers “redundant.”
Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich explained that elementary students eat at their desks, while secondary students do not.
“I hear the emotion, and it’s heartbreaking,” she said.
She also said the district had tried hard to “create as normal an opportunity” as possible for students, and that the district’s “layered approach” was part of its effort to keep students in school and keep everyone “safe and healthy.”
Pedisich said she also hears from parents “who feel very differently” and want the safety measures in place until the end of the year.
The superintendent acknowledged that “COVID fatigue is real,” but said that after speaking with the school governance committee and other superintendents, the prevailing sentiment is to “stay the course until the end of the year.”
“I don’t want to make imprudent decisions that in any way would jeopardize the health and safety of our students, and I think the board feels the same way,” Pedisich said.
The vote
The vote for the budget and school board trustees will take place Tuesday, May 18, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the district’s secondary schools, P.J. Gelinas and R.C. Murphy junior highs and Ward Melville High School.Candidates for three trustee positions are David McKinnon, Sue Rosenzweig, Shaorui Li, Karen Roughley and Deanna Bavlnka.
See tbrnewsmedia.com for last week’s article about the candidates.
With three board seats up for grabs and only one incumbent in the race, one thing is certain: the Three Village school board will seat at least two first-time trustees this year.
The candidates, profiled below in the order they will appear on the ballot, responded to questions by email, including about the district budget, declining enrollment, student programs, community engagement, and diversity and inclusion.
David McKinnon
David McKinnon
David McKinnon, a professor of neurobiology and behavior at Stony Brook University, is running a second time, after last year.
Along with his running mate, first-time candidate Karen Roughley, McKinnon is an advocate for proportional representation on the board.
“Last year, independent candidates received over 10,000 votes from the community, 43 percent of the total vote. There were three open positions. No independent candidate won a seat. Forty-three percent of the vote, zero percent of the seats,” he said.
The lack of independent representatives — those not represented by a union —results in “an extraordinarily closed system,” he said.
McKinnon wants the district to be more “parent-friendly” and said if he were elected to the board, he would encourage board participation by “opening up the flow of information,” and making decision making more transparent. He would also make himself available to parents after board meetings, “to give feedback on their proposals.”
Founder of the Three Village Parents Alliance, he credits his profession with giving him “a good overall perspective on how the school education system works for its students and how demands on the education system have changed over time.”
Revamping the elementary math curriculum is a priority for McKinnon. He suggests an opt-in program, similar to the local enrichment program, School Nova, which uses “specialist” math teachers to introduce basic algebra concepts to students early in their education.
The curriculum would make math “seem more natural to more students” and easier to learn computer languages earlier, he said. It also would “significantly improve employment prospects for many students,” McKinnon said.
To address declining enrollment, the researcher said the district needs to control costs to make itself more affordable and attractive to young families.
McKinnon supports his running mate’s proposal for more social emotional learning and inclusion and also believes the district should add ethics to the curriculum.
McKinnon’s three children have attended district schools. He still has one child in junior high.
Sue Rosenzweig
Sue Rosenzweig
Sue Rosenzweig, a former news anchor at News 12, says she’s running so she can “continue to advocate for allof the children in our district.”
This means doing her part to ensure that taxes are spent “in the most efficient way to deliver the best possible academic experience for each student,” she said.
Rosenzweig has served as president of the board of trustees at Play Groups Preschool, and PTA president at Setauket Elementary, Gelinas Junior High School, Ward Melville High School and the Three Village Joint Council of PTAs.
In these leadership roles, she said she has been called to collaborate, “include and respect all opinions,” manage budgets and “keep the needs of children paramount.”
She is confident in the district’s budget and its management of funds that enabled schools to reopen fully last fall, but Rosenzweig did express concern about the impact the pandemic has had on district families. “Jobs have been lost, savings accounts depleted, many people have suffered terribly. We will need to be ready to continue to support students whose families have been negatively affected,” she said.
In response to calls for more diversity, equity and inclusion, Rosenzweig, a member of the Gelinas Anti-Racism and Social Justice Task Force, said, “I hear these calls, and I validate them.”
She said she is inspired by the community — “especially the students” — which seems ready for change and opportunities to have “difficult conversations about biased behaviors, hurtful language, and marginalizing practices;” a staff that looks more representative of the district’s diverse population; literature that “reflects many realities;” and “textbooks that give a more accurate picture of the world and its history.”
Rosenzweig, who is running with Shaorui Li and Deanna Bavlnka with the endorsement of the Three Village Teachers Association, is the mother of two Ward Melville graduates and two children currently in the secondary schools.
Shaorui Li
Shaorui Li
Shaorui Li is a principal engineer and research group manager at a national laboratory, as well as an adjunct faculty member at Stony Brook University. She has managed advanced research projects funded by the Departments of Energy and Defense and NASA and was a Long Island Society chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She will serve as chair of the 2022 International Nuclear Science Symposium.
Li, who has one child in elementary school and another in junior high, said she plans to use her background and professional network to provide opportunities for STEM education, funding and additional resources for student career-building. “It is my passion to expand career-building resources through collaboration with the universities, national laboratories, STEAM museums and studios for our students,” Li said.
She also cited the district’s proximity to world-class institutions as yet another advantage that can help students “to advance their career growth through effective district-led collaborations.”
Also important to Li is teacher training. She said she wants to continue to provide teachers with opportunities — such as the training they received in remote teaching during the pandemic — to continue to directly benefit students.
Founder and president of the Asian American Association of Greater Stony Brook, Li is also an executive director of the Long Island Chinese American Association, a board member of Fermilab Asian and Pacific Association and a member of the Gelinas anti-racism task force. She commended the district’s “excellent effort to improve diversity and inclusion” and said that the effort, along with a school board with diverse members, would boost the district’s reputation and attract families from diverse backgrounds.
Li, who ran for the board last year with McKinnon, said that the “positive and constructive involvement of the whole community” and “transparent communication between the administrators, the board, and district families during the pandemic” have alleviated the misunderstandings and misinformation of the past. She added that she would like to build on this foundation as a board trustee.
Karen Roughley
Karen Roughley
Karen Roughley, running mate with McKinnon, said her motivation for running “is to guide the District to become even better in the face of the new challenges and to give parents a truly independent voice.”
Roughley, who was a vice president of business continuity and crisis management in investment banking before adopting her daughters, added that district students with special needs, along with their families, teachers and therapists, also deserve representation to make sure their voices are heard.
Like McKinnon, she believes that parents should be represented by board members who have not been endorsed by “special interest groups” and that board meetings should be places where the community can have “real-time discussions on what is being voted on.”
She also wants to ensure “an open line of communication between the district, the parents, and the community,” so parents can be part of the decision making process as they were with the reopening of school in the fall.
In addition to advocating for world language instruction in elementary school, Roughley would like to see the expansion of vocational education in the district, with the district offering vocational courses in-house. This could save the district the money it pays BOCES, and it could also bring in revenue if classes are open to neighboring districts, she said.
Having served on the executive board at Arrowhead Elementary, and as current co-president of both the Special Education PTA and Murphy PTO, as well as vice president of the PTA council, Roughley said she’s familiar with district policies and has acted as a liaison between parents and educators.
Roughley, a 10-year resident with one child in elementary school and one in junior high, proposes “containing or even decreasing” property taxes to both attract new families and keep current families in the district.
Though she has seen educators “doing their best to be inclusive,” Roughley believes bullying is a problem in district schools. “Inclusivity and respect for diversity — however it manifests — need to be taught to our students in the classrooms,” she said.
Deanna Bavlnka
Deanna Bavlnka
Deanna Bavlnka, a corporate director of human resources, is the only incumbent in the race. A board member since 2011, she is district chair of the Presidential Service Awards and maintains the community Facebook page, Three Village Connection.
A Ward Melville graduate herself, she wanted to highlight “sometimes overlooked” district strengths such as the “cutting edge” technology and teacher training that were crucial to this year’s instruction.
She added that the district’s Three Village Academy, prekindergarten, special education and intellectually gifted (IG) programs, along with student scholarships and the number and diversity of clubs and electives “set Three Village apart from the rest, every school year.” She also wanted to recognize the addition of mental health staff and guidance counselors to grades 6-12 over the years.
Even while noting the district’s strengths, Bavlnka said she would like to bring vocational studies to the district through Career & Technical Education (CTE) and EMT classes to the high school students. “With Stony Brook University Hospital in our backyard, I would like to significantly expand and add to our current health and medical courses,” she said.
The mother of two secondary school students said the district has answered calls for attention to diversity and inclusion with the creation of the Anti-Racism and Social Justice Task Force that includes, administrators, teachers, parents and students. She added that the district is looking at culturally responsive programs from the State Education Department and is discussing curriculum and professional development to enhance anti-racism, social justice and inclusion.
Bavlnka said that even with declining enrollment, large costs such as healthcare and retirement “rise expeditiously” every year.
A particular point of pride was the district’s full opening in September to all students five days a week, while also offering a remote option. She praised “teachers and staff who showed up every day to provide quality instruction to our students, accommodated our students, and put the students ahead of their fears.”
Board elections and the budget vote will take place on Tuesday, May 18, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Gelinas and Murphy junior highs and Ward Melville High School.
Though much is still uncertain about the coming school year, Three Village plans to build on the success of this year’s full September reopening.
To achieve this, the administration has forecast a 2021-22 budget that will pierce the 1.37 percent cap on the tax levy increase. At last week’s school board meeting, Jeff Carlson, deputy superintendent for business services, outlined a proposed budget of about $222.6 million, based on a tax levy increase of 1.85 percent.
The deputy superintendent said that in opening schools to all students five days a week last September, Three Village managed something that “almost no school district anywhere — not just on Long Island or in New York” has been able to do. “And it wasn’t that we just happened to get lucky.”
Pointing to the work of staff, students and parents, he added, “It was a real team effort, and it also cost a lot of money.”
That led the district to spend $6.5 million in COVID-related expenses this school year. About $4 million covered additional instructional staff for smaller classes, allowing students to keep six-foot distancing within classrooms, Carlson said. It also meant that over time, entire classes did not have to quarantine when someone was diagnosed with the coronavirus and that the district did not have to close down any buildings. The school district also increased spending for cleaning supplies, additional custodial staff, desk shields, Chromebooks and personal protection equipment, Carlson said.
The district also offered fully remote instruction for students who weren’t ready to return to in-person learning this year. The administration plans to offer “some sort of” remote program at least at the beginning of the upcoming school year, Carlson said.
Though the state aid package to the district decreased this year, state legislation allowed school districts and local governments to borrow from their reserves to pay for pandemic-related expenses. However, this same legislation also requires that the funds be repaid within five years. So next year’s budget also includes funds to pay back about $800,000 to the district’s reserves, Carlson said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) preliminary budget for next year proposes another reduction in state aid to Three Village. District officials hope, however, to receive an allocation of funds from the federal stimulus. Even so, the school board and administration are planning beyond the stimulus money, Carlson said. In the past, federal money has been temporary, he said, citing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. What followed from 2010 to 2016 was New York State’s Gap Elimination Adjustment, which took money out of school aid to help plug the hole in the New York State budget. Carlson said Three Village lost $32.4 million in state aid over those years and had to make a number of costly cuts to staffing and programs.
Carlson also explained that because the school board wanted to cover the costs of a full reopening and prepare for the future, it was willing to go above the cap as long as the increase remained below 2 percent.
The cap on the tax levy increase has often been called the “2 percent cap,” because the law was meant to cap tax increases at two percent, or the consumer price index — whichever was lower. However, the cap varies year-to-year and district-to-district, because it is based on a formula that also takes into account other criteria such as a district’s tax base growth factor and allows for certain exclusions that can push the increase above 2 percent.
While a budget within the tax cap would cost the average taxpayer an additional $164 a year, the proposed budget would add about $222 — $58 more — to the average tax bill, Carlson said.
Because the budget is above the cap, it must receive a supermajority, or 60 percent approval, to pass. The budget vote will take place Tuesday, May 18.
Policy
Inger Germano. Photo from Germano
In other news, the board updated a number of policies in compliance with the state. Among them, said Alan Baum, executive director of human resources and secondary curriculum, is a policy making all public single-occupancy bathrooms gender neutral, as well as one that shifts learning standards to the Next Generation Standards and includes provisions for equity, inclusion and diversity. The new policies also provide guidelines for selecting textbooks — which now include resources that are not physical — that fairly represent the many ethnic, cultural and religious traditions that contribute to American heritage, Baum said.
Also adopted is an updated policy for safety plans to ensure continuity of instruction in case of events like a pandemic, as well as a new policy for pandemic planning. Professional development will shift toward “professional learning.” The policy also includes a provision for “culturally responsive professional learning” for staff.
Board president Inger Germano will resign at the end of the month to take the position of Three Village school district clerk. She is replacing Kathleen Sampogna, who is retiring.
Germano first ran for the board in 2011 and was pro tempore district clerk for nine years. In a statement she read to the board, Germano said it has been a great privilege to serve and that she looks forward to continuing to serve the community and the district in another role.
R.C. Murphy Junior High School students in Stony Brook are exploring the history of animation and its basic principles as part of their participation in the buildings’ art and amination class, which is taught by art teacher Brian Baker.
Above image by Chloe S.Above image by Morganne P.
To date this year, the students have worked hard to create different animated projects. They made thaumatropes to illustrate a simple two step action or change between two related images. Each picture was drawn and attached to a circular disc. When spun at a certain speed, each picture blends into the other, creating the illusion of movement.
Students also worked on making digital flip books. They first used note cards to create the different pictures needed for their animation. After they finished drawing, they used a registration to line each image up in their camera. After shooting their photos, students used the google slide program to make a digital version of their flipbook.
Finally, students have recently completed different designs for original cartoon characters that they will be using to create Disney Studios style cell animation.
Images courtesy of the Three Village Central School District
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was preparing to release its recommendations for the nation’s schools to safely reopen, the focus of the Three Village school board meeting Feb. 10 was on sustaining its in-person learning. Seating was limited in accordance with current distancing guidelines.
Even as parents and students expressed gratitude for the district’s September in-person reopening, there was general acknowledgment of the emotional and financial challenges associated with opening schools every day in the middle of a pandemic.
“It costs a lot of money but the message we had gotten going back to last summer was, ‘Do what you need to do to get our kids back to school and do it safely.’ And we’ve done that,” said Jeff Carlson, deputy superintendent for business services.
But there is a continuing cost. Carlson prepared residents for a 2021-22 budget that would pierce the cap on the tax levy increase. He said Three Village spent about $6.5 million in COVID-related expenses to support last fall’s reopening to all students who wanted to return in-person every day. The school district also provided fully remote instruction to students whose families requested it.
More than $4 million went to hiring more teachers to decrease class sizes so that classrooms would be less crowded, and students could maintain a distance of 6 feet, the deputy superintendent said. The attention to social distancing also meant that as the school year progressed, the New York State Department of Health did not require entire classes to quarantine when someone contracted the virus.
Funds also went toward paying for masks, janitorial staff, cleaning supplies, Chromebooks and desk barriers, Carlson said.
Next year’s budget anticipates similar costs to keep the same protections in place. Though the increase to the budget would be below 2 percent — 1.85 percent — it would exceed the district’s tax cap of 1.37 percent, Carlson said.
The deputy superintendent said the district was able to cover the expenses this year, in part, because Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a bill allowing school districts and local governments to transfer money from their reserve funds to their operating budgets to pay for pandemic-related expenses. He added that Three Village will have spent between $4 million and $5 million from its reserves, and in compliance with the bill will need to pay back the funds within five years.
In the coming year, the governor’s preliminary budget shows a small decrease in aid to the district.Additionally, Three Village will begin repaying about $800,000 to its reserves. Carlson said that these pandemic-related expenses, along with the usual increases in health insurance and employee retirement funds, also contractual increases, will make it impossible to put together a budget that stays within the cap.
Since the budget will be above the tax cap, it will need a supermajority — a vote of 60 percent in favor — to pass. The last time the district exceeded the cap was in 2012, the first year such caps were put in place. At that time, $1.95 million in cuts had to be made, because the budget was not approved by a supermajority.
“It’s a different time,” Carlson said of the upcoming budget. “We want to keep schools open. If not for COVID, we wouldn’t even be talking about this.”
Student life
At the same time that parents and students thanked the district for a full reopening, they also voiced frustration about some of the losses in the past year.
Speaking to the board about allowing spectators at sporting events, one parent noted that too much has already been taken away from students.
Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich assured parents that they have the support of the school district, which has registered a vote with Section XI in favor of allowing spectators at sporting events.
And while “school in person was a huge win,” said Jesse Behar, a Ward Melville senior and student representative to the school board, seniors are looking at lost milestones such as homecoming and Senior Day. They are also concerned about whether there will be a prom or “any modified in-person events,” as well as celebrations for students moving up from the sixth and ninth grades, Behar said.
“I feel positive you will make graduation happen, because last year, when many districts threw their hands up, you guys made graduation happen,” he said.
Pedisich responded to these concerns by saying,“We know that those are significant milestones for our seniors and also our ninth-graders moving up, as well as our sixth-graders. We are not giving up hope.”
She added that the governor’s pending approval in March of weddings of 150 people is a good sign and reason for optimism.
“We are looking at options that will make this as special as it can be for our seniors,” Pedisich said.
P. J. Gelinas Junior High School was transformed for the Gelinas Theatre Company production of the play “High School Musical Jr.” which will be streamed Feb. 5 and 6. Photo from Three Village Central School District
By Kimberly Brown
P. J. Gelinas Junior High School in Setauket will be putting a new twist on the Gelinas Theatre Company production of the play, “High School Musical Jr.”
In efforts to comply with COVID-19 guidelines, Gelinas will be livestreaming the performance Feb. 5 and 6, giving everyone the opportunity to see the play from the comfort of their own home.
Despite the pandemic, the middle school has created innovative ways to keep students involved in after-school activities. Numerous modifications have been made for the students and teachers who participated in directing the play, in order to follow social-distancing rules.
In just a mere four weeks, the director of the play, Brendan Meier, coordinated the musical, to follow COVID-19 protocols. One upside was that the musical was prerecorded, so Meier was able to use the entire Gelinas school as the set and edit it together later. He explained how the process of making the new changes worked.
“In order to sing, we had to be 12 feet apart, so we had to record all of the audio separately and sync it up while doing all the dancing, where we had to be only 6 feet apart,” Meier said.
Ninth-grader Eve Rosengard, who stars in the play as Sharpay Evans, explained how performing distanced choreographed dancing was challenging, as the students were not able to interact with each other as much as they’d like. However, Rosengard stayed positive and was not deterred by the obstacles.
“It’s really, really amazing how all the dances were super easy to learn but were still able to be done while 6 feet apart,” she said. “The school has been incredible with making this happen because none of us thought this was going to happen. It was really an incredible experience and I’m so thankful to be a part of it.”
Parents of the students were overjoyed Gelinas was able to make this production happen, especially after the abrupt cancelation of the play, “The Addams Family,” last March.
Eighth-grader Brian DeGorter, who also stars as Ryan Evans, said his parents couldn’t have been happier that he was once again able to participate in his favorite after-school activity.
“My parents were super excited about the show and they were really grateful,” DeGorter said. “I think they know that every time I walk through that building, I always have a giant smile on my face.”
For more information on viewing the play, visit www.showtix4u.com (search “Gelinas”) and www.threevillagecsd.org/gelinas. Tickets are $10 per device.
Students take a career DNA test before talking to professionals. From Three Village Central School District
The Three Village Industry Advisory Board didn’t let a pandemic get in the way of its annual career fair for secondary school students in the school district.
Business owners, such as Michael Ardolino of Team Ardolino/Realty Connect USA, answered students questions virtually during the annual career fair. Photo from Three Village Central School District
On Jan. 14, the board, a partnership between the district and local businesses, presented its third annual career fair. The event gave students the opportunity to talk to local professionals after they took a “career DNA” test analysis to discover their strengths. However, instead of stopping by tables set up by business representatives, the teenagers checked into Google Meet sessions to take part in 20-minute seminars where professionals presented a quick overview of what their careers entailed and then gave the students a chance to ask questions.
To help participants to choose which sessions to attend, the career DNA results assigned each student a color for various strengths and businesses were also assigned the colors.
Ilene Littman, 3V-IAB coordinator and Ward Melville High School business teacher, said the fair provided students in grades 7-12 an opportunity “to explore and learn about careers in a virtual format.” This year 308 students registered, and 21 businesses participated. Students had the opportunity to learn about banking, real estate, dentistry, the medical and financial fields and more.
“Students navigated the virtual career fair based on their career DNA, which was matched up to businesses that shared similar traits to ensure those occupations/professions are uniquely suitable for each student,” Littman said. “Using this online platform to interact with business professionals was also excellent practice because it is most likely how today’s students will be screened in the initial stage of the interview process once they are ready to embark on their job searches to enter their chosen fields.”
Alan Baum, the school district’s executive director of Secondary Curriculum and Human Resources, said he was grateful for the work Littman put into organizing the event that he described as “tremendous.”
“Orchestrating such an event is difficult enough but bringing it to fruition during the pandemic and reimagining it as a virtual career fair was a herculean task,” he said.
Baum added he was also grateful for committee co-chair Michael Ardolino and all of the participating businesses that helped with the virtual career fair. Ardolino is also the founder and owner of Team Ardolino/Realty Connect USA.
“I am thrilled that we were able to provide our secondary students the opportunity to engage with a diverse representation of the business community in our continuing effort to help the students explore future career paths,” Baum said.
Ardolino said it was interesting to see the conversations that were going on in the different sessions and how well the virtual platform worked and could possibly lead to smaller presentations in the future such as a business owner talking about how to manage the company’s money and more.
Mike Lawton of Element Energy LLC noted there were more participants than he thought there would be, and the virtual format was perfect.
“I had some excellent questions from the students, and I enjoyed every minute of it,” he said.
How libraries look during COVID times. Photo from Comsewogue School District
Nine months into the coronavirus pandemic and schools are still adjusting. The school library, a place of solace for elementary schoolers and high school seniors alike, has had to adhere to the new and ever-changing COVID-19 protocols.
Local districts, however, have embraced the changes and have implemented new services that they never would have started if it wasn’t for the crisis.
A silver lining, school librarians across the North Shore explained how the changes have impacted them, their schools and their students.
Alice Wolcott, librarian at Elwood-John Glenn High School, said that COVID changed the landscape of public education, meaning they had to reimagine their space.
“This year we transitioned the book loan program to a digital platform, which will continue to support students’ pleasure and academic reading while still observing COVID restrictions,” she said. “Students can browse the collection online via Follett Destiny [a library management system], and if they find a title they’d like to borrow, they can request that book through our book request form.”
To adhere to COVID rules, the books are delivered in a Ziploc bag to first period teachers.
Since some students are not physically in their first period classes, the district also increased their digital library as a main focus.
Shoreham-Wading River High School librarian Kristine Hanson and Albert G. Prodell Middle School librarian Ann-Marie Kalin created an initiative to meet the need for printed books while reimagining the online presence in concert with OPALS, the open-source library system.
They created a book delivery service at their schools called BookDash, which allows students to electronically submit requests with their student ID. Then, physical books are either delivered to students at Prodell or picked up at the high school library doors at the end of the school day. The initiative is promoted through English classes, and a multitude of book recommendations are available via the OPALS pages, blogs and links.
“Kids are reliant on what’s in the catalog, books that never went out before are going out like wild,” Kalin said. “For the time being we’re making the best of it all.”
With the BookDash initiative, Kalin said students are excited to get their hands on actual books.
“So many kids are so tired of being on the screen and are desperate for that interaction with each other,” she said. “I’m seeing readers I never saw before, and there are so many requests for books. It’s very successful.”
Along with Shoreham-Wading River, other districts across Long Island are using an e-book platform called Sora, including Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School in Rocky Point.
Monica DiGiovanni teaches Sora to third graders in Rocky Point. Photo from RPSD.
Librarian Monica DiGiovanni has been visiting classrooms, having students log into their Chromebooks. She is teaching them how to check out library books with the new service, which enables students to borrow a book and read it right on their devices. Another program, Destiny Discover, enables students to find a physical book in the library and have it delivered directly to them since their libraries are currently not open.
DiGiovanni said that their school libraries have become break rooms for teachers and classroom spaces to accommodate kids in a socially distanced way.
“The library has become an interactive thing,” she said. “Students are definitely utilizing it.”
Although Rocky Point school libraries had to reshape themselves and close the doors to students, Elwood school district was able to open the doors at the high school last week. Wolcott said that right now 15 students are allowed in the library at a time, with designated seating and other stipulations in place.
“The students are really responsive and they’re following all the protocols,” she said. “It’s great to have them back.”
She even sees students, who were not her typical regulars, interacting with the library catalog more than they did before.
“Now it’s nice they’re browsing the shelves,” Wolcott said. “They’re picking books they would not have chosen otherwise.”
Donna Fife, library media specialist at Elwood Middle School, said that early on, the district was keeping library services running smoothly, while her younger students are opting to read more.
“I am seeing names I never saw before requesting books more frequently,” she said. “I know how I feel at the end of the day — I would have a hard time playing video games after screen learning.”
Fife said she thinks students are looking for something tangible now that some are looking at a computer all day long.
“They’re requesting to hold a physical copy instead of looking at another screen,” she said.
Nicole Taormina, librarian at Boyle Road Elementary School in the Comsewogue school district, said that new regulars have blossomed throughout the pandemic.
“They really love browsing online,” she said. “It’s a different experience — they are really excited now because they use their Chromebooks and have their own accounts.”
Taormina said that while the changes have been different, she’s looking forward to some normalcy in 2021, and is grateful for what 2020 helped her with.
“I’ve been able to tweak things,” she said. “And the students have been able to learn things that they may have not been able to learn before.”
Also in Comsewogue, Deniz Yildirim, a librarian at Terryville Road Elementary School, said that teaching her library classes has been different compared to years past.
“It’s been a huge change,” she said. “We can’t hand out worksheets anymore, and we do a lot online to cut down on contamination. No other class can come in other than what’s assigned in this room.”
When Yildirim visits classrooms at her school now, she will deliver books that children ask her for.
“It breaks my heart that they can’t browse,” she said. “But we’re making it work.”
And she said that all school libraries have made progress in 2020 than the past 10 years.
“Publishers, authors and librarians are working very hard to make sure kids are reading,” she said. “It’s the least we can do for them during these trying times.”
Taylor Kinsley, a librarian at Minnesauke Elementary School in the Three Village school district, said their schools have been allowing browsing within the libraries.
She said students have to use hand sanitizer before and after touching the books to be sure they have clean hands, and they reorganized the setup of the library, featuring no reading carpets on the floor.
“Elementary students are always excited to have the freedom to pick the books they want,” she said.
The district sanitizes the used books and quarantines them for about a week before putting them back on the shelves.
“I think normalcy is really important for them,” Kinsley added, referring to her students. “We’re being supercautious so why take that away from them?”
Writer Stefanie Werner, right, and her mother, Diane. Photo from Stefanie Werner
By Stefanie Werner
My mother, Diane Werner, was by far the most influential person in my life. She was a teacher for more than 30 years, most of which was spent in the social studies wing of Ward Melville High School and was the inspiration behind my career choices. During her tenure in Three Village she was a highly respected educator and mentor with a passionate nature that empowered even the most resistant student to not only show up for class, but more importantly, achieve to the best of his or her abilities. Her sudden death only five years into her retirement produced an immense outpouring of love and compassion that exemplified how much she meant to her students and the community at large.
Fast forward 14 years and we find ourselves at a crossroads in the Three Village community. In these unprecedented times, my mother’s voice echoes in my head a trillion times a day. I hear her telling me to fight for what I believe in, to advocate for my child and to use my voice to defend that which I believe to be just. As we debate the guidelines for our return to school in September, I wish that my mother was here to add her two cents —more like twenty — to the on-going deliberations. She would be confounded by the dissension that has arisen in the community regarding the safety protocols required for our school reopening plan. Her mind would be awhirl with thoughts of how parents, teachers and community members should be united in this cause, creating a universal practice, not drowning in a “you do you, I’ll do me” mindset. Mrs. Werner would be feverishly scribbling lesson plans in her college-ruled spiral notebook, all the while remaining vigilant in her pursuit to educate her students despite the nonsensical squabbling of parents over mask mandates and plastic shields. Social distancing and face shields would be no match for the force that was Diane Werner at the head of a classroom, and no one would be more determined to keep kids safe and learning.
Although most of the old guard is gone from the halls of Ward Melville High School, many of my mom’s former students are now parents in this district. A handful of her former colleagues are now administrators making the most important decisions that have ever confronted Three Village Central School District. Nineteen years may have passed since Diane Werner blissfully strolled into the sweet land of retirement, but she left behind a legacy of strength and determination the likes of which this district needs to channel right now. The students of this community, including the grandchild my mother never met, deserve a comprehensive, rock-solid plan that exemplifies the need for a safe and secure learning environment during this global pandemic. In her day there would have been no flip-flopping on mask enforcement, and no questions left dangling at board of education or district meetings. Of course, she would have appreciated the debate, she did teach You and the Law and Mock Trials after all, but in the end, the result would be the same. Mrs. Werner would pull on her orange mask (her favorite color), walk into room 239 (her footsteps were distinct), make sure that every desk was 6 feet apart and students were masked, sign-in to Google Classroom (although she preferred chalk) and rock this place like nobody’s business. I am my mother’s daughter, and I will accept nothing less than 100% for mine. And mom would have given nothing less for yours. Miss you mommy!
Stefanie Werner is a mother, teacher and social worker. She is a lifelong resident of the Three Village community and a graduate of SUNY Oneonta, Long Island University and Stony Brook University.
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