Upcoming Budget Meetings and Vote
Additional budget meetings are scheduled for:
• Monday, March 30 – 7:30 p.m. – Final Budget Deliberations and Special Meeting for the purpose of Adoption of Budget & Property Tax Card – in Wheatley Room 450
• Monday, May 11 – 7:30 p.m. – Public Budget Hearing – in the Wheatley Auditorium
• Tuesday, May 19 – 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. – in the Wheatley Gymnasium
Budget Update
At the March 19 Budget Workshop the Board of Education held a line-by-line review of the budget. The board and public had the opportunity to ask questions regarding individual budget lines to obtain further information.
At next Wednesday’s Budget Workshop, the Board will begin their deliberations on the budget and will also review what is called the “trace” document which keeps tracks of any additions, deletions or changes that may have been made to the recommended budget throughout this budget workshop process.
The recommended budget maintains our class sizes and current programs and adds staff in reading, math and English as a New Language support, as well as funding the second year of our new Project Lead the Way Engineering program, among other initiatives.
A Click Away
You should have received an email invitation to the PTO Coordinating Council Districtwide Grant Dinner this week. I just secured my tickets with basically just a click of the keyboard.
If you go to the following link, you can order and pay for your tickets right now, online. The Districtwide Grant Dinner is Thursday, April 30 at 7:00 p,.m. at the Chateau Briand. It is a fun night of shopping, dinner and dancing. Hope to see you there! Click here to pay online or to pay by check and/or make a donation, print the Response Card from the email invite sent on Wednesday.
Books Alive!
What a fun event! This North Side tradition is a highlight of the year for our students. It is a great opportunity to bring our staff and parents together, collaborating once again, to help our children appreciate the joy of reading.
At this yearly event, part of the North Side Parents as Reading Partners program, the students are the audience; staff and parents are the performers.
This year’s Books Alive theme celebrated multiculturalism in alignment with the Educational Advisory Committee’s goals of raising awareness of how the cultural diversity of our community enriches our students’ and families’ learning experiences.
Performances of We Are the World, the Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie song, along with the following storybooks and poems – The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, You Be You by Linda Kranz, Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match by Monica Brown, We All Sing with the Same Voice! By J. Phillip Miller and Sheppard M. Green, The Only One Club by Jane Nakiboff and The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi – came alive today, performed with costumes and props in a reader’s theatre style. (They are great stories that you may enjoy reading aloud to your children).
Each story centered on themes that celebrated diversity of ideas, working together in harmony and an appreciation of differences. I had so much fun playing Marisol, in Marissa McDonald Doesn’t Match, a little girl who comes to treasure her creativity and uniqueness.
Director and North Side speech teacher Bonnie Klein and teaching assistant and art director Kiki Kyrou deserve a standing ovation for the tremendous job they did putting together this production. Their work was just outstanding! Special thanks to all the parents, teachers and administrators who participated and helped out. A special thank you, as well, to stage manager parent Dina Thaler and her wonderful crew.
The District Technology Fair –
STEM Experience
On March 11, a great time was had at the revamped District Technology Fair for students in grade K-7. This year, as a result of recommendations from the District Technology Committee, the yearly fair was expanded to include STEM events and classes.
Staff from the New York Hall of Science brought 10 STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities to our district for our students in grades 2 – 7. Students participated in the following: Rocking Rockets, Dowel Structures, DNA Extraction, Ski Jump Shake, Whirlygigs, Glo Rocks, Brain Dissection, Bug Station, Sound Exploration, and Water Striders. These New York Hall of Science events were available through generous donations from the North Side and Willets Road PTOs.
Our district teachers offered STEM classes for grades 2–7. Classes for grades 2-4 included the following: Is It Solid? Is It Liquid?
No … It’s Oobleck with North Side third grade teachers Kelly Donohue and Holly Conklin; Become a Weatherperson with North Side instructional technologist Rochelle Sroka and Instructional technologist assistant Joanna Schrager; Owl Pellet Dissection with Wheatley science teachers Jim Abdale and Steven Finkelstein; Shape Up with Origami with Wheatley math teachers Andrea Abidore and Maryrose Ambrose; and Pasta Race Cars with Wheatley science research teacher Mary Alexis Blondrage and members of the winning Wheatley Science Olympiad Team. Classes for grades 5 – 7 included: Gamestar Mechanic with Willets Road and Wheatley instructional technologist Audra Beberman; Is It Magic or Science – Why Do Muffins Rise? with Wheatley science teachers Allison Chanin-Bermudez and Christine Perinelli; Bridge Building with Willets Road seventh grade science teachers Matthew Gottlieb and Bridget Lennon and technology club students; Get Some Cosmic Perspective with North Side enrichment teacher Henry Kupstas and fourth grade teacher Robert Owen; and Bowling Is Science! with Wheatley science teacher Mindie Schwartz.
The Technology Fair also featured a variety of demonstrations of how technology is being used in our classrooms as well as presentations of different technologies from the New York Institute of Technology and the Microsoft Store. District teachers demonstrated the following: PowToons in Foreign Language with Secondary Chair of Foreign Language Joan Anderson and Wheatley foreign language teacher Angel Rivero; PowToons in Social Studies with Wheatley social studies teacher Gena Topping; Just Google It with Wheatley library media specialist JoBeth Roberts; Quizlet with Willets Road special education teachers Jessica McGee and Kirsten Donaghy; You Can Find it Free with Willets Road special education teachers MaryBeth Devine and Alison Butler and Willets Road fifth grade teacher Jennifer Taggart; Prezi with Willets Road seventh grade teachers Patrick Shanahan and Antonia Laruccia; Adventure Iditarod with North Side library media specialist Karen Homer; Google Docs Collaboration with Willets Road and Wheatley English teachers Dr. MaryBeth Collins-Cook, Rick Leidenfrost-Wilson and Wheatley special education teacher Jenna Stein; Hit the Deck with Match with Willets Road teaching assistant Katerina Skiadas; QR Codes and Book Reviews with Director of Secondary Curriculum Services and Social Studies Dr. Danielle Gately and Willets Road library media specialist Diane Ilkiw; Chromebooks and Students with Disabilities with Wheatley special education teacher Joseph Crotty; Quia with Wheatley foreign language teacher Susan Vasselman; and Podcasts in the English Classroom with Secondary Chair of English Stephen Collier and Wheatley English teacher Colin McKenna.
Throughout the evening, students from Wheatley’s Technology Club, Key Club and National Honor Society helped out by taking students to the different events, babysitting and working the registration desk.
Organizing this event is a huge task and was spearheaded by our District Director of Science and Technology David Casamento with the assistance of the entire technology team from all three buildings.
A tremendous thank you to Mr. Casamento, Mrs. Beberman, Mrs. Sroka, Wheatley instructional technologist assistants Kim Kelleher and Erik Larsen, Willets Road instructional technologist assistant Jerry Pokrywka, North Side instructional technologist assistant Joanna Schrager and BOCES network technologist Nick Furci, for all their efforts putting together this evening in celebration of our districts many STEM initiatives. As Mr. Casamento stated at the end of the evening, “This could not have been accomplished without the team effort each and every one of these people contributed.” A special thank you to the faculty and staff for helping to make this evening a success.
Many people attended what surely looked to be a great night of learning and fun for students, parents, and staff. Many thanks again to the North Side and Willets Road PTOs that enabled the expansion of the event to include the New York Hall of Science activities during this pilot year. The recommended 2015-16 budget includes full funding of this event for next year which provides such a rich learning experience for our students.
Reminder – April 1 Deadline
for Transportation Requests
If you plan on having your child(ren) attend a private or parochial school for the 2015-16 school year, the Special Transportation Request Form must be completed and received by the East Williston School District Business Office/Transportation Office at 11 Bacon Road, Old Westbury, New York 11568 by April 1. You can download a request form by going to the district website at www.ewsdonline.org > go to the left side navigation bar > hover over Transportation and click Transportation Form Private/Parochial or call Virginia Davis at 333-2826.
Still Time To Register
There’s still time to register to vote. To vote in the school district budget vote and board candidate vote on May 19 you must be a citizen of the United States, 18 years of age, a resident of the East Williston School District for a period of 30 days preceding the election and registered to vote with the school district or appear on a Nassau County Voter’s Registration List.
Only residents, who have not registered or voted in a school district election or a general election in the last four years, must register.
To register, you may do so through May 8, 2015 at the Nassau County Board of Elections at 240 Old Country Road, 5th Floor in Mineola, from 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. daily (see website Nassau County Board of Elections).
You may also register to vote for the school district vote, in person on May 7, 2015 between 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 Noon or on May 12 between 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. in the lobby of The Wheatley School, 11 Bacon Road, Old Westbury.
For additional information, go to the district website at www.ewsdonline.org and go to Voter Registration/Absentee Ballot Info on the left side navigation bar.
Congratulations and Commendations
Willets Road Librarian – A Judge
Congratulations to Diane Ilkiw who participated in the Long Island Regional National History Day Competition at Hofstra University as one of the competition judges.
Board Member Recognized
At Monday’s Board of Education Monthly Business Meeting, Board Trustee Leonard Hirsch was recognized by the New York State School Board Association with a Certificate of Board Achievement Award for his participation in Board developmental activities and workshops.
Congratulations Mr. Hirsch.
Italian Poetry Contest
Congratulations to eighth grader Cecilia Jozef who took 3rd place in Level 1 today at the American Association of Teachers of Italian 31st Annual Poetry contest at SUNY Old Westbury.
NYSBDA Honor
Band Performance
The New York State Band Directors Associatio accepted three Wheatley students to perform as part of the NYSBDA Honor Band. Wheatley oboists, seniors Emily Black and Arjun Kapoor attended the NYSBDA Symposium in Liverpool, New York with Wheatley music teacher Dr. Peggy Ho. Unfortunately, senior Gabriella Schwartz, who was selected on piccolo, could not attend due to illness.
Students rehearsed Friday night, all day Saturday and gave an amazing performance on Sunday with conductor Robert Spradling, retired conductor of bands from Western Michigan University.
The repertoire included music of collegiate level and the world premiere performance of Joel Puckett’s Emory’s Barcarole which was commissioned by NYSBDA for the 2015 Honor Band. The performance was presented with Avelynn’s Lullaby, also by the composer.
Both pieces were written for the composer’s two children. Mr. Puckett is a professor of composition and theory at Peabody Conservatory. Congratulations to Emily, Arjun and Gabriella. Congratulations also to Wheatley junior Andrew Zuckerman who was named an alternate for the alto saxophone.
Wheatley Artists Shine
Wheatley senior Priya Prasad received four awards at the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers – Scholastic Art and Writing Awards Contest. Priya received a Silver Key in the Drawing and Illustration category and three Honorable Mentions in the Painting and Mixed Media category. Wheatley senior Nancy Zhang also received a Silver Key award for one of her paintings. Congratulations Priya and Nancy!
The Drexel Photography High School Competition, Drexel University, has recognized Wheatley Junior Alexa Georgeton.
Congratulations Alexa!
Wheatley junior Brianna Clarfield was recognized by the Photographer’s Forum Contest, Photographer’s Forum Magazine. Congratulations Brianna!
Wheatley had 10 students participate in the Cleveland Institute of Art 2D3D: National Art & Design Competition. The following seven students received Honorable Mention: for Visual Arts –seniors Priya Prasad and Nancy Zhang and junior Nikki Koch; for Digital Arts (Photography) – senior Alana Leahy and juniors Kelsey Beresheim, Erin O’Kelly and Jordan Shaked.
The following Wheatley students have artwork currently being exhibited at the Broadway Mall in Hicksville at the Long Island Art Teachers Association Celebrate Youth Art with the 6th Annual Art in HeART Exhibit: juniors Keziah Chung, Brianna Clarfield, Ali Giordano and Erin O’Kelly; sophomore Michael Constrastano; and 9th grader Giavanna Papavero. Congratulations!
A special congratulations to Keziah and Michael who recently received Awards of Excellence. The exhibit runs through April 19.
Some of our students’ artwork will also be exhibited in the 25th Annual New York State Art Teachers Association (NYSATA) Legislative Exhibit in Albany. Congratulations to juniors Dean Mattioli, Erin O’Kelly and Zara Shaikh and ninth grader Naomi Schlesinger.
Willets Road Scrabble
Teams Successful Once Again
The recent Scrabble tournament took place at Southside Middle School in Rockville Centre. Other schools that attended were the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County and Roslyn Middle School. The following student team members competed: Jace and Emily Yagoda, Alex and Tyler Horowitz, Costa and Teddy Koutsoftas, Nadeem Al-Okla and Ansh Jhaveri. The team of Emily Yagoda and Alex Horowitz won second place and the team of Jace Yagoda and Teddy Koutsoftas won third place. Congratulations! We will be hosting the next tournament at Willets Road on April 28th.
Have a Good Weekend
As always, please email me at kanase@ewsdonline.org or call me at 333-3758 with any questions, suggestions and/or any topics you would like to see in this newsletter.
