SCHOOL SCENE
A Special Supplement to the Sullivan County Democrat
SECTION T, FEBRUARY, 2016 CALLICOON, NY
A look at activities in the Tri-Valley School District
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TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE
SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
FEBRUARY, 2016
A vision, goals and ideas: Tri-Valley starts strategic plan process
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re our kids college and career ready?” That's the question at the heart of Tri-Valley Central School District's efforts, and the raison d'etre behind the District's newest initiative: crafting a road map for the future, that is, a strategic plan. “I compare it to an architect needing a blueprint in designing a building,” says Superintendent of Schools Thomas Palmer. “We are responsible for preparing kids for the 21st century,” he emphasized. “What do we want our students to be able to know and do when they leave here?” Of course, the District already is doing much of that important work. One example is its robust working relationship with SUNY Sullivan in Loch Sheldrake that, among other benefits, has allowed Tri-Valley students to examine and learn from the college's own math entrance exam. This school year's broadening of Tri-Valley's after-school efforts reflects an awareness of how a more relaxed setting for learning can contribute to student success during the regular school day. Meeting after the 3 p.m. dismissal bell are 60 students divided into a vigorous array of learning experiences that fall under the acronym of STEAM: science, technology, engineering, art and math. Courses include a robotics workshop, two Odyssey of the Mind teams, “Camp Clay” that gives students an artistic outlet and implants a creative mindset, and Student Council gath-
STORY AND PHOTO BY KATHY DALEY
erings that teach civics, citizenship and volunteering to benefit the wider community. The Tri-Valley Parent Teacher Organization's after-school Mad Science program invites students to delve into the doings of a crime scene lab, whereby students create, collect, and analyze evidence. “There are things that you can't do in a regular day that you can do after school,” explains Palmer. “We want to give kids opportunities to find out what they do like or what they don't like,” thus helping them plan for the future, he said. COMMUNICATION & PLANNING Ramping up his own communication efforts, Palmer holds monthly community forums that have addressed testing, communication, sports and extracurricular activities and other issues.
School Scene: A Look at Activities in Tri-Valley Central School Published by
Catskill-Delaware Publications, Inc. Publishers of the
(845) 887-5200 Callicoon, NY 12723 February 16, 2016 • Vol. CXXV, No. 70
Superintendent of Schools Thomas Palmer says the strategic planning process will give sharp focus to the District's work of preparing students for the future.
But the quintessential communication effort might be the Strategic Plan process – a review and planning endeavor to develop thoughtful decisions for the future – led by Assistant Superintendent Janine Carpenter and the District's administrative team. Included on the 33-member Strategic Planning Team are Board of Education members, District teachers and support staff, parents, businesspeople and community members. Divided into subcommittees, they will work on defining the District's direction, informed by the school board's four goals: create academic success; communicate effectively; maintain fiscal responsibility and a good program; and ensure a safe and
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healthy environment for student learning. One of the first activities was to study community response to a District survey that asked for public opinion on challenges faced by the District, financial priorities, and what skills and abilities students should gain before they graduate. The Strategic Planning Team will eventually make recommendations to the Board of Education on how to allocate funds in order to “live out” the plan. Palmer said the hope is to begin incorporating the Strategic Plan's concrete suggestions during the 2017-18 school year. “The (Strategic Plan) outcomes will, in part, drive decisions made for the future,” he said.
Fred W. Stabbert III Dan Hust Carol Montana Ken Cohen Willow Baum, Kaitlin Carney, Kathy Daley, Alex Rau, Richard Ross, Jeanne Sager, Autumn Schanil Liz Tucker Sandy Schrader Cecilia Lamy, Barbara Matos Susan Panella Susan Owens Patricia Biedinger, Joanna Blanchard Michelle Reynolds Janet Will Nyssa Calkin, Petra Duffy, Elizabeth Finnegan, Ruth Huggler, Rosalie Mycka, Tracy Swendsen Billy Smith, Richard Stagl
SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
FEBRUARY, 2016
TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE
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STORY AND PHOTO BY KATHY DALEY
Round and round:
Tri-Valley sixth graders Connor Rafferty and Erik Franson learn programming by studying robotics in an after-school program called Sphero.
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rik Franson likes robots, period. “I really like it that robots are mechanical and that you can make them do what you want,� said the sixth grader. “You can control them freely and program them yourself to your liking.� At home, Erik owns a Meccanoid G15, which is a two-foot-high robot with hundreds of moving parts and the ability to dance, exercise, tell jokes and answer questions. At Tri-Valley after his regular school day, Erik remains at school, along with 21 other sixth graders, for a twice-aweek class called Sphero that revolves around a very different kind of robot. Sphero is a white orb the size of a baseball. It's wrapped in polycarbonate plastic and capable of rolling around when controlled by a computer device. The Sphero uses an internal gyroscope to move right or left, change color, revolve in a circle or a triangle or go straight head. At about 3:30 p.m., student Connor Rafferty is employing his iPad to make the Sphero circle around on the classroom floor. Connor echoes Erik's sentiments about the joys of tinkering with robots. “You are basically making them do what you want,� said Connor. “You're learning about math, technology and science.� Students are also exposed to engineering, programming and information technology, note Sphero workshop leaders Jeremy Stephens and Jared Ratner. Both are graduates of
SUNY Sullivan in Loch Sheldrake, and Jared is an alumnus of Tri-Valley High School. The two are robot experts and software engineers who will be presenting in March at an expo hosted by the video game development company Epic Games, Inc., which is headquartered in North Carolina. “We'll be presenting a quest-based learning system for college students, teaching them how to use the programming engine,� Ratner explained. But at Tri-Valley on Mondays and Wednesdays for Sphero's three-week session, they are leading young students into the future. “Robots are a way of teaching programming,� said Stephens. “And there's a lot of work out there for programmers.� Plus, he said, “learning programming helps in logical thinking, and logical thinking is helpful in everything we do in life.� The two have taught other workshops at Tri-Valley, including one that taught students to build Darwin minis – 10-inch high “humanoid� robots that are capable of headstands, rolls and picking themselves up from the ground. Ratner explains that Tri-Valley students gain from the hands-on nature of robotics. “It's physically handling a device versus sitting at a screen with blank text,� he said. “It opens their creative side, the right brain. It allows them to be more independent thinkers.�
TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE
SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
FEBRUARY, 2016
Principal brings enthusiasm and skill to classrooms, hallways STORY AND PHOTO BY KATHY DALEY
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ndrea Klevenger is passionate about education, and, as TriValley Elementary School Principal, she reveals that zeal in frequent exchanges with students: “Tell me one thing you learned today,” she suggests to kids. Sometimes the answers are noncommittal. “Math,” said one student. So Klevenger digs a little more. “I learned my number bonds,” the student responds, referring to the pairs of numbers that make up a given number. Or another student will look up at Klevenger and tell her “I learned about the habitat of a frog.” As principal for the past year, she is all about making a very good school into a great school. It began with setting a welcoming tone, recounted Klevenger, who signed on as top leader of the pre-k to 6th grade school in January 2015. “My first big purchase,” she said, “was Tri-Valley Elementary School tee shirts with an emblem of gears working together, symbolizing how all of us need to work together for students to be successful.” Then Klevenger turned to building trust and relationships, and beefing up communication. Each Monday, she emails out to staff a full document with upcoming school and district-wide events, a quote for the week, dates of faculty meetings and breakfasts, and items to think about. For example, the school focuses on a good character trait each month; January's was perseverance. Right now, Klevenger and Assistant Principal Jennifer Jessup-Rushton are beginning work on a comprehensive three-year plan to boost successful teaching practices. Beginning next September, the two school leaders and trained teachers will begin “instructional rounds,” an educational practice inspired by the medical-rounds model used by doctors. They will visit classrooms “with
Principal Andrea Klevenger relishes her leadership position at Tri-Valley Elementary School in Grahamsville. Here she meets with two of the school's 557 children, second graders Ariona Zeininger and Grace Deyo.
the goal of observing teacher and student behaviors related to content,” Klevenger said. That is, are students engaged in the classroom? Are their tasks rigorous enough? Are the questions teachers ask students low level questions or higher? The answers will fuel special staff development training sessions to help teachers do their job even better, always with the goal in mind that students must master new ways of acting and thinking in a global and competitive world. Klevenger herself began her teaching career in Pine Plains as an elementary school teacher. Then, for three years, she served as assistant principal in charge of seventh and eighth grade for the Poughkeepsie City School District. She is enjoying Tri-Valley immensely. “I make it a point to tell the kids I'm always glad to see them. I want them to know me,” she said. “I greet them in the morning, I visit them at lunch time, I say goodbye to them in the afternoon.” At dismissal, she invokes the timehonored teacher reminder: “Don't forget to read!”
SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
FEBRUARY, 2016
TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE
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TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE
SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
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The Odyssey of the Mind provides teams with open-ended problems that appeal to a wide range of interests. From left, sixth grade Tri-Valley Odyssey team Angel Beltram, Andrew Cox, Brian Kelly, teacher/advisor Brian Heller, Ethan Mentnech, Brandon Kaplan, Samantha Morgan, Alexandra Cossack.
‘Odyssey’ invites 5th and 6th graders on a mind’s creative journey
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STORY AND PHOTOS BY KATHY DALEY
he best things you learn happen after school.” Many wise adults would agree with that reflection on lifelong learning, in this case voiced by TriValley fifth grader Michael Geraine. Michael is one of 14 students participating in Tri-Valley's two Odyssey of the Mind (OM) teams, which, indeed, meet after the regular school day and involve compelling learning. In Odyssey, “You help other people at the same time as you are doing the work you need to do, and you work on your creative side,” said Michael. Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students. Team members apply their inventiveness to problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the regional and state level. The Tri-Valley teams of seven students each will compete in a regional tournament at Orange-Ulster BOCES
in Goshen on March 12. A statewide competition for the regional winners will take place on April 2 in Binghamton. “It's a wonderful opportunity for students to learn collaborative skills, to problem solve and to have fun,” said one of the Tri-Valley team leaders, teacher Lucretia Gilles. Each year, five new competitive problems are presented for the teams to solve. The long-term problems are solved over weeks and months. Some of the problems are more technical in nature, while others are artistic or performance based. The second half of the tournament asks teams to solve a spontaneous problem. The school's team is taken into a room, given the problem, and must work out the solution, all without their teacher/advisor. After trying out in November for the much-sought after OM spots, the Odyssey teams – one for fifth grade and one for sixth grade – meet two days each week after school. Each team writes a script, designs and builds sets, makes costumes, and comes up with music and dialogue. Gilles' team chose to write and perform a skit about the fable “The Thief
and the Innkeeper.” According to Odyssey rules, the fable must go “viral,” that is, it spreads out among the community somehow. “It must be done through sound, visuals and one lost form of commu-
nication, such as hieroglyphics or pony express, for example,” said Gilles. Tri-Valley's second team, advised by teacher Brian Heller, is working on a skit about animals who have to solve a problem in a humorous way, explained student Alexandra Cossack. In the performance, the animals must encounter a door but they are unsure as to where the door will lead, adds Samantha Morgan. The team has finished the skit and is now working on costumes, background and on assigning roles. Sixth grader Brandon Kaplan is looking forward to the tournament. “We know we'll be learning stuff about ourselves, others and solving problems,” Brandon said. “This is a nice experience for me,” he added. “I always enjoy coming here, planning the play and talking to my friends.” Student Ethan Mentnech said he values the after-school learning time. “When you're in school, you're serious all day,” said Ethan. “Here you get to create, to think outside the box.”
Teacher Lucretia Gilles advises Tri-Valley's fifth grade Odyssey of the Mind team, two of whose members are Brook Delaney and Michael Geraine, above. Students learn how to identify challenges and to think creatively to solve those problems, Gilles said.
TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE
SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
FEBRUARY, 2016
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Younger kids learn democracy through Student Council
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tudent Idris Encarnacion learns how to be a leader. Dylan Poley learns responsibility. “Everyone here learns more about teamwork,” said Brianna Torrens. “We all have to work together to make the student body and the school better places.” Tri-Valley Elementary School Student Council “is an activity where homeroom representatives, and the president and vice president of the Student Council talk about problems, fund-raising, games and sports,” said Dominic Plescia, fifth grade homeroom representative. But Student Council is also a lesson in democracy and in serving as role models for others. “Students look up to us,” said Idris. “They ask us questions. You can have experience in Student Council that will help you later on.”
Although only fourth, fifth and sixth graders participate, they do represent the entire elementary school, notes teacher/advisor Lauren Rosenberger. Fundraising for local and regional worthy causes is a big part of student government's work. “The fundraisers change each year, depending on the ideas of the students,” Rosenberger said. “ A majority of the funds they bring in is acquired through our Sneaker Nights that are held monthly, and through our annual talent show in April. The students come up with various other activities throughout the year and discuss if they are suitable fund-raisers for our student body.” Student Council Officers are President Andrew Cox, Vice President Brian Kelly, Treasurer Theresa Conway, Recording Secretary Samantha Morgan, Social Chairperson Alexandra Cossack, Service Chairperson Brandon Kaplan, and Historian Brianna Torrens.
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At left, fifth grade homeroom representative Dominic Plescia prepares to make a point at a meeting of the Student Council, for which teacher Lauren Rosenberger (above) is advisor.
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STORY AND PHOTOS BY KATHY DALEY
TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE
SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
FEBRUARY, 2016
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