GARDEN CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

On The LineOn The Line E-Newsletter www.gardencity.k12.ny.us Vol. 3 • No. 1

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Calendar Changes

Inspiring Minds, Empowering Achievement, Building Community(continued on page 2)

In response to the emergency brought about by Superstorm Sandy, its aftermath, and the November 8th nor’easter, the Board of Education has added instructional days to the school calendar. Garden City Public Schools will be in session on February 20th, 21st and 22nd. Additionally, March 13th will be a regular school day and February 19th and April 1st are designated as snow make-up days. Click here to access the updated calendar.

Stand By Me

The name “Sandy,” now infamous, is being retired from meteorologists’ handbook - a practice reserved for hurricanes whose destruction is deemed unprecedented. For thousands on Long Island and in the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, however, the memory of the Superstorm will not soon be forgotten. True to form, and with a simple call-to-cause from FEMA, members of Garden City High School’s football team car-pooled to Island Park on Nassau County’s south shore to assist in the clean-up a few days after Sandy reluctantly sput-tered out over central Pennsylvania. “It was devastating to see people ripping out sheetrock and

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Thank you to our parents and residents for your patience as the school district worked to restore full and safe operations after Superstorm Sandy. The district would like to acknowledge all who assisted in the herculean effort required to resume our award-winning educational program. The loss of instructional time does require changes in the district’s calendar, however. Please see below:

Nassau County Champions!

In a turn-around game that raised an ear-busting round of cheering and brought fans to their feet for the last two min-utes of play, Garden City varsity football rallied to capture the Nassau County title at Hofstra University on November 25th. Please join us on Saturday, December 1st, 12 noon,

as the Trojans take on Riverhead for the 2012 Long Island Championship at Stony Brook University - Go Trojans!!

2012 Student Achievement Report Parents and residents are encour-aged to attend the fourth annual Student Achievement Report pre-sented this Thursday, November 29th, at 7 p.m. in the high school library by Assistant Superinten-dent Dr. Teresa Prendergast. Also

presenting are elementary principals Linda Norton and Eileen Vota, the district’s curriculum coordinators and, pictured here, Gina Christel, Director of Guidance. This informative evening is filled with recent and longitudinal student assessment and achievement data across all grades 3-12 content areas.

Giving Thanks

Locust first-graders in Anne Hayes’ class entertained parents with a Thanksgiving song during a classroom feast last Tuesday.

Recent Achievements

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Nat’l Merit Scholarship SemifinalistsCongratulations to Garden City’s 2013 National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists: seniors Jacquelyn N. Seskin and Neil T. Quigley, pictured below with guidance counselors James Malone and Natasha Khan. Since 2009, 17 Garden City High School students have achieved semifinalist status in the program.

Homestead, one of three schools to receive a new addition thanks to the community-approved 2009 School Investment Bond, officially opened its art, music and library/media center with an

October 4th Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. Staff and students gathered for the celebration and were joined by neighbors, PTA, SEPTA, and (in center) Chamber Director Althea Robinson, Mayor Donald Brudie, Board

President Colleen Foley, Superintendent Dr. Robert Feirsen, State Senator Kemp Hannon, Principal Dr. Suzanne Viscovich, and, holding the scissors, Board Trustee Angela Heineman.

bringing all their ruined things to the curb,” Justin Guterding recalled. “They lost everything. It makes you grateful for what you have.” Teammate Kyle Skramko agreed, “It was a reality check. Losing power for six days, you realize you can’t complain.” “You see people who are emotionally devastated,” senior John Walczyk added. ”It makes you grateful for what you have.” The volunteers joined forces for a second time, less than 24 hours after qualifying for the Nassau County finals in a nail-biting playoff game, to distrib-ute much needed supplies to victims in the hard-hit community of Far Rocka-way. Many displaced families waited in line at a community church and soup kitchen to receive bottled water, food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, clothing, and baby items from the students. Other team members spent hours unloading 13,000 donated blankets, thousands of

(Stand By Me, continued from page 1)

Nat’l Merit Commended StudentsGarden City is pleased to acknowledge nine 2013 National Merit Scholarship Commended Students. Pictured here are (back row, left to right): Daniel Finnegan, Matthew Conway, Jonathan Kramer, Nikhil Patel; (front row): Zachary Naglieri, Joseph Ienna, Liza Pititto, Shannon Carman, and Tiffany Liang with Director of Guidance Gina Christel.

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Siemens Science SemifinalistSenior Devan Oodal was recently named a Siemens Science Semifinalist. Devan, one of 1,900 students who submitted entries to this year’s competition, was honored at the November 13th Board Meeting and is pictured here with President Colleen Foley, teacher Dr. Steven Gordon, and Superin-tendent of Schools Dr. Robert Feirsen. q

Young Scientist National FinalistSeventh-grader Brandon Gong, pictured here at the October 20th Board of Education Meeting with President Colleen Foley and Dr. Robert Feirsen, was selected as the fifth-place winner of Discovery Science’s 2012 Young Scientist Challenge. Last month, Brandon was flown to St. Paul, MN, to com-pete at the national level. q

NHRP ScholarsSelected from a pool of 253,000 students nationally, three high school-ers were named Scholars in the National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP). Pictured below are (left to right): guidance counselor Natasha Khan, Brian Sclafani, Thomas Mage, guidance counselor Jeanne Kennedy, and Principal Nanine McLaughlin.

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A New GC Record for AP Scholars!Advanced Placement (AP) assessments taken by Garden City students in May of 2012 placed 201 students in the highest achievement cat-egories recognized by The College Board. Pic-tured here are four seniors (juniors at the time of the APs) with his/her guidance counselor (left to right): Joanne Meyer-Jendras, Meagan Herlichy, Matthew Conway, Patrick Doyle, Nikil Patel, Michael Padala, and Natasha Khan.

Homestead Ribbon Cutting

(continued on page 3)

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which were distributed to families who lost everything in the storm surge that pushed the ocean and bay together in the Rockaways. Still others worked tire-lessly to reorganize an entire warehouse of donated supplies. “Plenty of people there are not living in their homes,” Matt Leto said. His parents coordinated the volunteers for both trips. Sandy hit close to home, too. Like Irene, heritage trees across the district were toppled by the high winds, some landing on homes. Neighbors lent a hand in the clean up, strung extension cords and shared generators to power essen-tials during the week-plus outage, and, in a practice repeated on sidewalks and in backyards across Long Island, came together to share information and their experiences riding out the storm. Sadly, over two dozen Garden City staff members were displaced by Sandy, several with homes totally destroyed. The Garden City Teachers’ Association

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All-State MusiciansEight high school students were named as 2012 All-State musicians. Pictured above are (back, left to right): Coordinator Dr. Nina Prasso, Jonathan Kramer, Joseph Losecar, (middle) teacher James McCrann, Justin Gong (2x), Alexander DellaRatta, and (front) teacher Stephen Mayo, Gabrielle Nastasi, Annie Foxen. Absent: Victoria Liu, Teresa Pietromonaco.

School of DistinctionFor the seventh time, Garden City received the Scholar/Athlete School of Distinction Award from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. To qualify, all 32 varsity teams needed a collective GPA of 90 or higher. Accepting from Executive Director Nina Van Erk (left) were Athletic Director Nancy Kalafus and Dr. Robert Feirsen. q

Suburban Diversity Essay ContestSabrina Singh, pictured below with teacher Marie Nuzzi, recently won Hofstra Univer-sity’s Celebration of Suburban Diversity Essay Contest. Sabrina is the third student of Ms. Nuzzi’s to capture the $3,000 first prize. Over 98 essays were submitted to this year’s contest. Additionally, junior Kelly Tierney received an Honorable Mention.q

Adelphi Leadership PrizeEight high school students were awarded Adelphi University’s Leadership Prize for aca-demic excellence, public service, and volun-teer leadership. Pictured here with Director of Guidance Gina Christel (left) are (back, left to right): Joseph Ienna, Brendan Quinn, Jonathan Kramer, Nikil Patel, and Elizabeth Kane; (front): Jennifer Itty, Liza Pititto, and Shannon Carman.

Scholar AthleteSenior Daniel Finnegan was named Garden City High School’s newest Capital One/News 12 Scholar Athlete. He is the 37th Scholar Ath-lete to be named from the high school. Dan, a three-season athlete who maintains a GPA of 98, is pictured with (left to right) Assistant Principal Kevin Steingruebner, Capital One Bank Senior Vice President Erin Bauer, and Athletic Director Nancy Kalafus.

(GCTA) held a benefit at Tin Alley Grill in Garden City on November 14th to assist these victims. So many turned out for the event that the restaurant could not hold them all. “Thank you to the Garden City community,” stated Kevin Pollitt, GCTA President, “Our students, parents, neigh-bors, friends, businesses, PTA, SEPTA, TMA, GC PBA… the list goes on and on. Your generosity has been overwhelm-ing… with your support we were able to raise over $30,000, which will be used to assist school district employees who have suffered severe losses from Hurricane

Sandy.” Stewart Principal Linda Norton (center), As-sistant Prin-cipal Susan

Kenny (left) and Dr. Suzanne Viscovich, Homestead’s Principal (bottom, right), are pictured here with staff members lending

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Scholar ArtistsSeniors Liesl Jaye and Kylie Mara were named as Scholar Artist (a Garden City first!) and Award of Merit recipient, respectively, in the Long Island Arts Alliance Scholar Artist pro-gram. Pictured are (left to right) Coordinator Dr. Nina Prasso, teacher Shawn Uttendorfer, Kylie Mara, Liesl Jaye, teacher Stephen Mayo, and Principal Nanine McLaughlin.

their support at the benefit. The PTA “helped parents and teachers make connections at the Garden City Ho-tel, local churches and with local realtors when they were looking for homes to relocate to,” said President Cris Kilberg. In true Garden City style, the schools are pitching in to help with donations from students and parents to assist Sandy victims. Below, kindergartners in Ms. Crofton’s class at Locust are pictured with some of the items they collected. The district extents its thanks and ap-preciation to all those in our community who are “standing by” those in need.

Recent Achievements

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Colleen E. FoleyPresident

Barbara TrapassoVice President

Angela HeinemanTrustee

Tom PinouTrustee

Robert MartinTrustee

Robert Feirsen, Ed. D.Superintendent of Schools

Catherine KnightCoordinator of Public Information

Garden City Public Schools56 Cathedral Avenue Garden City, New York 11530www.gardencity.k12.ny.usInspiring Minds, Empowering Achievement, Building Community

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District Student Achievement ReportThursday, November 29, 7 p.m., High School Library

High School Music Addition Building TourTuesday, December 11, 7:30 p.m.

(Prior to Board of Education Regular Session, 8:15 p.m.)

High School Music Addition Ribbon CuttingMonday, January 7, 3:30 p.m., Music Addition

Middle School Gymnasium Addition Ribbon CuttingWednesday, January 9, 3:45 p.m., Gymnasium Rotunda

Concerts (all begin at 7 p.m.):

Important Upcoming Events:

Middle School:December 5: Winter Concert I (Chorus)

at the High SchoolDecember 12: Winter Concert II

(Band; p.m. Jazz) at the High SchoolDecember 17: Winter Concert III

(Orchestra; a.m. Jazz) at the Middle School

High School:

December 10: Winter Concert I (Chorus; Orchestra)

January 10: Winter Concert II (Bands)

Snow Removal ReminderLocal law mandates that a property owner must clear his/her sidewalk within 24 hours after the end of a snow-fall. Property owners whose property abuts a school bus stop must clear the

area to ensure student safety.

2012 Spirit Week & HomecomingAlthough it seems like a lifetime ago, this year’s Spirit Week & Homecoming were a smashing success!

Below are just a few of the memorable moments from the October 20th event. Click here to view more photos.

Homecoming King Andrew Morra & Queen Erin Vierengel

Board of Education Members & Administration with Grand Marshal

Assemblyman Edward Ra

Garden City’s Award Winning Marching Band The Class of 1982

Trojan Fans

GC Wins the Homecoming Game

Nassau County #1 Ranked Kickline

Cheerleaders Raise Team Spirit

New York State ArchivesSix students were acknowledged with Certifi-cates of Merit in the New York State Archive Research Award competition for papers they submitted as eighth-graders on the topic: Immigration and the American Dream. Pic-tured here are (left to right): Elizabeth Reiger, Keyin Lu, Hannah McDonald, Esteban Ortiz, Alana McAndrews, and Olivia Giarraputo.

Recent Achievements(continued from pages 2 & 3)

Kindergarten Registration Registration for kindergarten-aged

students entering school in September 2013, will be held

January 22-25, 2013.Details will be available soon on the

district’s website.