Port education board recognizes students for success

Luke Torrance
The Port Washington School District Board of Education during a meeting. (Photo by Luke Torrance)

The Port Washington Board of Education recognized a middle school student and high school student on Tuesday night for their successes in scholastic competitions.

“This gives me great joy, as a former New York State Math Olympiad champion and former math teacher,” said board member Dave Kerpen. “The Port Washington Board of Education would like to recognize, for first place in Carrie Weber Middle School in the American Mathematics Competition, please join me and give it up for Benjamin Schiff!”

Schiff was on hand to receive a certificate and round of applause from those in attendance. Not in attendance was Paul D. Schreiber High School senior Caitlin Maley, who was named a 2018 Regeneron Science Talent Search scholar.

As she had been announced as a winner only hours earlier, Maley was not at the meeting but was applauded anyway.

“Out of 1,118 entrants, Caitlin was one of approximately 300 students nationwide honored with this distinction,” Superintendent Kathleen Mooney said. “We only found out about it today, which is why she is not here to receive her certificate.”

The board approved over $1 million in upgrades to locker, toilet and vestibule facilities and the auditorium at Weber Middle School. In addition to general plumbing and electrical upgrades for the facilities, the auditorium will receive new video projectors, an improved wireless microphone system and LED lights to replace dimmers, along with other general improvements.

Most of the meeting was taken up with a review of the high school’s consumer science curriculum, which teaches students about sewing, cooking and buying homes.

An update on enrollment showed that there were 12 more students in the district this month than the same time last year.

Board President Karen Sloane took time to clarify a recent announcement by the district that it would more strictly enforce the ban on dogs on school property.

“We are on the news for our policy of not allowing dogs on school property grounds,” she said, referring to a News 12 report. “The story had a lot of interest in dog poop and discussed that a lot, and that is one of the reasons. But also, it’s a safety issue. We have had occurrences of dogs harming our students.”

She added that the district had just spent about $70 million to update the athletic fields and did not want dogs ruining them.

Mooney also provided an update on the school calendar. She said the district was still considering making Diwali a school holiday, which drew approval from several local residents in attendance. But she added that the school year was already running long and that the last day of school for the 2018-19 year would be on June 26, the last week of that month.

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