Sullivan West School Scene 2016

SCHOOL SCENE A Special Supplement to the Sullivan County Democrat

A look inside the Sullivan West Central School District

SECTION S, DECEMBER 6, 2016 • CALLICOON, NY

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Babies, scholarship and sports: Sullivan West

BY KATHY DALEY

T

he babies took to the stage like little troupers, their moms and dads clutching them proudly as teachers and other Sullivan West employees broke into spontaneous applause.

The baby-loving event charmed the back-to-school staff convocation in September, after Superintendent of Schools Dr. Nancy Hackett had noticed that a healthy number of newborns claimed school district employees as parents. The superintendent asked the parents, and the kids, to strut their stuff for staff as a way to break the ice, open eyes and make people smile.

“I looked at the babies and thought, 'Here is the class of 2034,'” Hackett said. “This speaks to who we are as a family and where we are going in the

family looks to the future

future.”

Hackett pointed out how the District benefits from a bonding among those who teach, serve and raise students.

And teachers, staff, administrators and parents must hold in mind the kids' future all the while.

CONTINUED ON 4S KATHY DALEY | DEMOCRAT

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Nancy Hackett points out that program review of each academic department takes place each year at Sullivan West, aligning key concepts throughout the grades. This year, social studies and technology will get a close look.

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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

It's been a banner year for babies, and Sullivan West applauded the future schoolchildren at a back-to-school assembly in September. The little ones are all children of school district employees.

“Family and Future” – that is the background theme for this 2016-17 school year, she said.

Ranking highest, of course, is learning: “We push the envelope on academics all the time,” Hackett said.

DRILLING INTO SCIENCE For years, the high school has benefited from Project Lead the Way – a program of curriculum and teacher training that translates into hands-on educational experiences for high school students in computer science, engineering and biomedical science. At Sullivan West, students earn Rochester Institute of Technology college credits while taking the classes at their own school.

This year, the district pilots Project Lead the Way experiences at the elementary and middle schools. The special lessons encourage problem-based and inquiry-based learning that gets students diving into real research as they collaborate on projects like discovering the methods that prevent the

spread of illness.

The Project Lead the Way curriculum is interdisciplinary, interweaving Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Art and Math (STREAM) in handson projects that students love.

“All knowledge is not isolated,” said Superintendent Hackett. “It's not 'this is math, this is science.' Students will have to go out and meld these things together.”

This year, the high school also benefits from a host of new electives. Students may sign up for the brand new Military History course, or a class in Dystopian literature, that is, novels like “Brave New World,” with a dark vision of future society. Other new classes include Culinary Chemistry, Greek Mythology, Guitar, Marine Biology and History Through Rock Music. All are taught by Sullivan West schoolteachers.

“They're fun and interesting and they tap into students' interests and teachers' interest,” the schools chief said.

BRING BACK THE KIDS

back into the District that had been held at BOCES, noted Dr. Hackett.

One is a grade K-3 program for students with multiple disabilities, commonly called an 8:1:2 program because the classes have up to eight students, one teacher and two teaching assistants.

“These are our kids,” Hackett said.

“This is their school. We wanted to keep them with their peers and comfortable.”

The District also brought back a life skills program that is offered to students whose learning handicaps make them eligible for alternative assessments rather than Regents diplomas. Before this year, such students reported to BOCES for a full day. Now they spend a half day at Sullivan West and then report to their career-oriented courses at BOCES. The District hired new special education teachers in order to make the changes, but still manages to save money since BOCES fees no longer apply.

This year welcomes two programs

JUSTUS TIRE & ALIGNMENT

Like most school districts, the everpresent challenge for Sullivan West is the uncertainty of the state aid formula on which schools depend.

Thankfully, the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) enacted years ago to close the state budget deficit is now gone. The GEA deducted money from school districts' state aid. Still, the District has its own tax levy limit beyond which it will not go.

“We won't get (state aid) numbers until January or February,” Hackett said.

But victories like the recent Sullivan West sports successes manage to lift spirits and encourage grins.

“We were the winning girls soccer team in Section 9, for the first time ever,” said Hackett, adding that this year the Bulldogs won their fourth sectional title in boys cross-country.

The Sullivan West “family” honored the athletes at an awards assembly, delighted to celebrate today's achievements and to inspire success for its young people.

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Up close and personal

with parents and kids at SW elementary STORY AND PHOTO

BY KATHY DALEY

A

Kevin Carbone's fast-paced, multi-tasking job is as Assistant Principal for Sullivan West Elementary School. Here, he sports a letter sweater in honor of a special 1950s day at the school.

rewarding kids who are doing the right thing by engaging them in the process: they'll go into classrooms and fetch the donated items.

“They love doing it,” he says with a smile.

Carbone has a long history of working with children, serving for 14 years as a seventh and eighth grade science teacher for the Middletown school district. He earned his degree in biology and a certificate in secondary education from Mount St. Mary's in Newburgh. His Masters Degree is from New York Institute of Technology, and he holds a certificate of administration from Long Island University.

He grew up in Bloomingburg but is no stranger to western Sullivan County.

Carbone's parents lived in Lake Huntington and ran a general store, and his mother worked as a teacher for Sullivan County BOCES. After moving to Bloomingburg, they maintained their western Sullivan connections with friends. Carbone grew up coming to fund-raising dinners, hunting and enjoying the outdoors.

He now lives in Wurtsboro with his wife Carri and two young sons.

As for Sullivan West Elementary School, “It's great. I love it,” he said. “I can't speak enough about it. I go home with a smile on my face.”

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t first, Kevin Carbone spent a good deal of time at recess just to build up relationships with students. Then he began working on an incentive program to reward problem kids when they actually began behaving.

As Sullivan Elementary School's new Assistant Principal, Carbone's job is about helping the principal in the overall running of the school, but school discipline and developing relationships with students and families are uppermost.

“On any given day, I call about five parents in the community,” said Carbone, who took over this September for retired Assistant Principal Susan Barsky.

The calls might be over discipline problems with specific children or phoning just to ask if all is well.

“When I see a student walking down the hallway not looking like they're in a good mood – I call the parents just to talk over what might be happening.”

Carbone works closely with the school social worker, counselor and psychologist along with Principal Rod McLaughlin and the two school secretaries, who are often on the front lines of knowing what's happening with kids.

Then there's Carbone's new reward system.

“One student kept getting into trouble,” he related, “and I told him that if he got through an entire week without trouble, I'd host a pizza lunch for him and a couple of friends.”

The student tried really hard, was successful and got to enjoy pizza with his friends and the Assistant Principal. He hasn't been in trouble since.

Carbone also asks some students to check in with him each morning to establish a one-on-one connection that then benefits them throughout the day.

Carbone is in charge of the school's sixth grade Food Drive and he's

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Students attracted to new elective courses for fun and future STORY AND PHOTO

BY KATHY DALEY

Question: How do you get students out of open study periods and into more productive elective courses?

Answer: Run an electives fair, where teachers can “sell” the classes they would love to teach, and kids can sign up for the new offerings that attract them.

That's what happened last year, and this school year opened with eight new elective courses in place, said a delighted Sullivan West Secondary School Principal Mark Plescia.

“We wanted to offer something to keep kids interested, to help them explore different interests and possible careers,” Plescia explained.

The new electives run the gamut

from Marine Biology taught by Suzanne Andrews to Guitar taught

by Michele Krentz; from Greek Mythology by Marianne Hegge to Culinary Chemistry by Michael Ellmauer. An SAT prep course is being taught by Dorothy Grecco and Amy Hellerer.

There's History Through Rock Music by teacher Dan Parisi and a class taught by Donal Henke in Dystopian literature – dystopian being a futuristic society that is unpleasant and dehumanizing (think “1984” George Orwell).

Social Studies teacher Catherine Hillriegel has enlisted the expertise of colleague Russ Johansen, who teaches science, for her elective course entitled Military History.

“While I was brainstorming the course,” Hillriegel said, “I knew I didn't have the scientific background to teach the physics of

weaponry, so I asked Russ if he would help out. He's done an incredible job.”

The course encompasses warfare from antiquity to today.

“I've found the topic that always excites interest among the students is the weapons used in war, battles and technology,” she noted.

One fascinating example were the zeppelins, a type of rigid airship, used in World War I. “We go over the invention and the use of zeppelins, but the question posed was why couldn't the British shoot down the zeppelin? What was unique about its construction that made

conventional bullets worthless?

This is where Russ steps in to teach about the physics and design of the airship and the invention of a new type of bullet that would be successful and ultimately makes the airship obsolete.”

Another piece that students find fascinating is the ethics behind the warfare.

“What mindset or motivation must the leaders and generals have had?” Hillriegel questioned. “Is there anything that is off limits in a war? Is sacrifice that brings victory worth the sacrifice or the victory – for example, the

The new electives join a varied array of courses on the Lake Huntington campus, 13 of which offer college credits for the high school students taking them.

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Sullivan West High School Principal Mark Plescia is all smiles about eight new high school electives that are drawing raves from students.

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The Rochester Institute of Technology-sponsored Project Lead the Way program gives students credit for taking Design & Drawing for Production, Digital Electronics, Principles of Engineering and Introduction to Computer Science, all taught on the Lake Huntington campus.

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atomic bomb, the bombing of civilians, and so on? â&#x20AC;&#x153;This study of warfare has always interested me,â&#x20AC;? said Hillriegel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It's not about the chronological sequence of this battle and that battle. It's about the whys. This course isn't about judgment of war or its technologies. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s about the facts and the technological innovations that were and are made each and every day. These innovations both take and save life simultaneously.â&#x20AC;?

The new electives join a varied array of courses on the Lake Huntington campus, 13 of which offer college credits for the high school students taking them.

Those courses include a chemistry

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Acting up! Elementary School to launch student drama club STORY AND PHOTOS

BY KATHY DALEY

S

tudies show that students involved in the arts perform better academically in class, as well as on the standardized tests of elementary and middle school and on the high school SATs. To those benefits, Lucy Arzilli adds that drama and music, specifically, “react with your brain flow.”

“They also help your listening skills and your eyesight,” Lucy said. “And if you're doing a speech in school, they definitely help with that.”

Lucy is in fifth grade.

The Sullivan West Elementary School student was so positive that a drama club would benefit her school that she lobbied Assistant Principal Kevin Carbone.

“I saw him in the hall and asked him if he had a second. I thought if the high school has a drama club, why not the elementary school?”

Lucy is no stranger to the stage. She

studies hip hop dancing at the Janice Center in Jeffersonville, which mounts dance recitals each year at the Villa Roma in Callicoon and in the theater at SUNY Sullivan in Loch Sheldrake.

Lucy attended an acting camp this past summer at Bethel Woods Center for the Performing Arts and wound up being asked to sing a solo at the awards ceremony. She sang “Soldier”

by Gavin DeGraw, a haunting tune “about being there for someone when they need it,” the student said.

She hails from a music-loving family. Her parents Theresa and Lucas – he is the president of the Sullivan West Board of Education – study guitar. Brother Lucas plays drums. Lucy performs on the oboe.

So she was delighted when Assistant Principal Carbone said she should take the idea of the drama club further.

“I asked her to gauge interest to justify the club,” said Carbone.

Lucy brought a piece of paper and a

pencil to the school's fourth and fifth grade lunch period and asked students to sign if they might be interested. She got 22 signatures.

“We also sent out an email to the 4th through 6th graders and got another 50 students,” said Carbone.

Some liked the idea of actually performing, while others said they would prefer to do “back stage stuff” such as costume making, set making and working the curtains, Lucy said.

In November, the assistant principal and the student presented the idea to the Board of Education, which gave its approval.

The drama club will meet once each week, targeting activities towards the mounting of a play at the end of the school year, said Carbone. He himself performed in the pit band during his high school years, and worked on sets when he taught in Middletown.

Lucy, who loves the arts but wants to be a marine biologist, is thrilled.

“It's amazing,” she said. “It took a long time, I didn't give up and now

Fifth grader Lucy Arzilli jump-started the idea of a new club at the elementary school that will mount a theatre production at the end of the school year.

it's really going to happen. It makes me very proud, and I think my parents are proud too.”

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Not just the facts, Ma’am, in Creative Writing Class and Club

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Advisor to the school's Writers Club, Billy Templeton teaches 10th grade English and Senior Composition, which is a SUNY Sullivan college course.

want to be.”

So explains Sullivan West teacher Billy Templeton, with sentiments echoed by colleague Bethany Hamilton. Both teach English at the high school, and both are also knee-deep in fostering creative writing, defined as writing that expresses ideas and thoughts in an imaginative way rather than focusing specifically on facts alone.

Hamilton teaches Creative Writing as an elective. Together, she and Templeton launched a Writers Club at the school that he now advises.

“Creative writing uses language to unleash the imagination so that we can express thoughts, ideas, emotions or stories in such a way that makes us realize that we are in this thing together,” explains Templeton.

CREATIVITY IN CLASS

Bethany Hamilton's creative writing class takes place in third period, where students have been studying memoir, otherwise known as autobiography, along with first person narrative fiction. Later, they will also analyze poetry and short stories.

“We read exemplars of each genre, identify the characteristics of the genre, then practice writing our own,” Hamilton said. “We write in class and then share with each other.”

Each student listener writes comments on a feedback form, which gets shared with the student writer.

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“Teenagers love writing about themselves and their experiences,” Hamilton said, “so we get that out before we start creating fiction.”

Writing is important both now and in the future, the teachers point out.

“I think the ability to express themselves in new and creative ways is incredibly important regardless of what field they go into,” Hamilton said.

“It's also an important skill to be able to articulate feelings. That will benefit them not only in the academic and professional worlds, but in any relationship they develop.”

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A CLUB FOR CREATIVITY Templeton notes that writing is liberating, particularly for young people. At Writers Club, they find a home.

“Teenagers are often confused and lonely,” he said. “Not only does the club offer a physical place where they can spend time with each other, but it also teaches them that they can write about their experience and share that with others.”

“Teens are often in a position where they are on the receiving end of information,” he continued. “Adults tend to bombard kids with stuff they should know and understand. Rarely do we ask them about their experiences or to share their perspectives with us. It's unfortunate. Teenagers have so much to offer.”

Writers Club takes place each Wednesday from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.

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Kids explore, discover, take on new challenges at school STORY AND PHOTOS

BY KATHY DALEY

A

rise, young scientists, technologists, readers, engineers, artists and mathematicians of Sullivan West Elementary School – the school has a plan and a program just for you!

As more and more districts focus on STREAM – science, technology, reading, engineering, art and math taught through collaborative approaches – the K-6 grade school is piloting the program called Project Lead the Way (PLTW) to do just that.

“In real life, there's nothing that says 'Right now is math time,'” says teacher JoAnn Mullally. “In real life, everything is together.”

Project Lead the Way is a nationwide non-profit organization that provides science programs to schools.

In New York State, the affiliating university is Rochester Institute of Technology, which has partnered with Sullivan West High School to offer college courses that are accepted for credit at RIT. Now, the university is linking with the elementary school.

Computer technology teacher JoAnn Mullally and cohort Susan Mullally, who as an AIS teacher helps struggling learners, reported to RIT

CONMTINUED FROM PAGE 9S

spend the first half hour studying a published writer's work and then go on to author their own piece.

Poetry, creative non-fiction, fiction, graphic novels, short stories are all explored.

“I like to KATHY DALEY | DEMOCRAT

Bethany Hamilton teaches ninth grade English at Sullivan West High School, along with a course in Creative Writing.

Carter Doeinck and Gracyn Halloran prepare to successfully “rescue” a trapped orange plastic tiger from a pretend moat at a zoo, utilizing science, technology and engineering skills to do so in their third grade classroom.

reflect the interests and passions of the students attending the club, and that changes frequently,” said Templeton.

“There have been stretches of time when members were much more interested in graphic novels, so we spent quite a bit of time reading, writing and illustrating our work to create our own.”

The Internet has opened up many doors for kids, who find a place where their work can be “published” and appreciated.

“Members publish work in On My Mind and, in the near future, in a Writers Club Blog,” Templeton said.

Because their work is not graded at the club, students are able to open wide their creative expression. They can experiment freely.

Hamilton weighs in on the value of Writers Club: “Students get to see their

writing develop into a final, or closeto-final, product. That experience of sharing, critiquing, editing and revising is such a valuable practice. They eventually get to see their final products in publication. This is something that not many writers, young or old get to experience often, if at all. This vali-

Sullivan West High School student Leah Jacobson explores emotions in this powerful piece.

The Long War

by Leah Jacobson I cry hysterically then fall numb Confusion strikes my chest, shoots down into my bones, Slithers into the tributaries of veins and finds a home in my bloodstream.

I wake at the brink of dawn and stare at the dim walls;

this summer for three days of training in order to supervise the effort.

PLTW taps into the exploratory nature of kids, said Mullally, engaging them in learning that feels like play and that encourages them to keep on discovering as they grow up.

“It's about critical thinking, handson problem solving, thinking outside the box, being creative,” said Mullally.

The school purchased several PLTW “modules,” or lessons, which the teachers follow as the students make their way through 10 hours of fun and learning.

For example, a kindergarten module walks students through designing a paintbrush that can do more than paint. In sixth grade, students work on a module devoted to exploring the transmission of infection and the mechanisms the body uses to stay healthy.

Third grade teacher Michele Brockner has just finished a module on the principles of stability and motion.

“We worked on the module part of every day for four days last week and three days this week,” Brockner said.

The modules all begin with an engaging ebook story featuring characters Mylo, Suzi, and Angelina, who introduce the task that the students will work together to solve. Then, in u dates their hard work, as well as all of the emotion they pour into the work.”

“This has become a place where all students feel respected, valued and important,” Templeton adds. “Our members feel safe. They encourage each other to explore new ideas and emotions.”

The slow rise of the sun is my only solitude.

The quick paced sunset is the first shot of the long war, When the memories flood my mind, and shoot arrows into my soul.

The darkness of the room is unsettling.

The sense of sorrow seeps into the room, like an overflowing sea.

And the harsh quiet is perilous, a shark stalking its prey.

Now I am accompanied by the presence of sorrow, remorse, And the cruel, relentless, and unforgivable cancer.

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reflecting.â&#x20AC;?

In addition to the eight hours of training that classroom teachers must undergo, the adults also benefit from continual online training through PLTW, and from assistance and support from the educational organization.

Sullivan West Elementary is in the process of outfitting a large room in the school as a special STREAM lab to enrich the interdisciplinary learning further. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Teachers can choose to use the modules in their classroom or in the lab,â&#x20AC;? said Mullally.

It's a win-win for everyone, she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You find out how creative kids can be,â&#x20AC;? the tech teacher noted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They love doing hands-on things. And if you see one student getting frustrated, you can pair him or her up with another.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;And why not teach problem-solving skills early?â&#x20AC;? she added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Later on in life, if you're faced with some difficulty, it's good to have some strategies to work things out.â&#x20AC;?

A look at activities in the

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Third grade teacher Michele Brockner helps Chase Hendrickson with his research.

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a series of activities that build upon each other, students are challenged to become confident in trying new things, learning from mistakes, and applying what they know to find solutions.

In the case of Brockner's class, the students â&#x20AC;&#x153;watchedâ&#x20AC;? Angelina, Mylo, and Suzi go on a field trip to the zoo, where the class was then challenged to help the characters rescue a trapped tiger.

Students investigated the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object and applied their knowledge to devising a way to rescue the tiger while keeping it safe throughout the process. Working individually and in teams, the students were charged with building a compound machine, that is, two or more machines operating together, in order to lift the tiger from a moat on which it was trapped. They also had to use a magnet to do so, and had to be successful in lifting the tiger at least four inches out of the moat.

Each PLTW module is rich in scientific, engineering and technological learning, and is aligned to Common Core standards, said Mullally.

Brockner's class and all others in the school have special access to computer tablets to research the Internet and to access specific programs or software for their PLTW work. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They also use the tablets to reply to questions, and the teacher can see where the student is and where everybody else is,â&#x20AC;? said Mullally.

Writing is a part of the program, too. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The students write writing pieces after each activity,â&#x20AC;? said Mullally. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They answer questions about what they did. They reflect on what they might do differently next time â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they are writing and thinking and

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