001Give me that right now. Come on. Give me >> [clears throat] [applause] [laughter] >> Good evening. My name is Erica Rucci. Good evening members of the board. It has been a busy season at our school centered around our park celebration. We kicked off our We kicked off our festivities with an assembly featuring world-class BMX rider Chris Poulos. Beyond the stunts, Chris Poulos delivered a powerful message on character, kindness, and discipline required for a successful life. Our park celebrations continued with a poster contest and a community reading night where we honored to welcome guest readers in a number of professions including some of you. Our second graders recently took their learning outdoors with a field trip to Jones Beach Nature Preserve. Back in the classroom, they are immersed in classic literature like Matilda and James and
002the Giant Peach. They are also learning about living things and students are particularly excited to begin their own hands-on plant box. In third grade, third grade is currently traveling the world through an intensive research project. Students are exploring the geography, government, and cultures of various countries comparing them to the United States to better understand global diversity in food, music, and tradition. Our fourth graders have been busily diving into New York City history which has taken on a special significance as we prepare to celebrate our country's 250th anniversary. In science, they are exploring geology and the fascinating physical changes the Earth has undergone over time. Beyond the classroom, all fourth grade classes recently visited the Ronald McDonald House. This was an opportunity for our students to learn about the power of nonprofits and how communities support
003help families during their most vulnerable times. Our ENL students visited the Tilles Center for Performing Arts for a performance of The Great Race which brought the legend of the Lunar New Year Zodiac to life. Additionally, we are proud of the dedication shown by our students in the ENL Academy, a before school program focused on the NYSESLAT state testing preparation. Literacy excitement is high. Our second grade story story time club is thriving with weekly book talks while Mrs. Oschefski's fourth grade book club recently gave The Wild Robot Escapes a unanimous four five-star review. They are currently tackling the riddles of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. All students participated in New York State wide first in math virtual competition using the game of 24 format to sharpen their fluency in all four operations. Our students competed against
004peers across the state and we are eagerly awaiting the final results. Our student reporters in the Cold Spring Harbor Press are looking toward the future by experimenting with AI through the Magic School app. They are interviewing historical figures to report on their paths to success. Learning how to leverage technology for creative storytelling. We'd like to recognize the second grade dance club led by Ms. Hammond-Nubar, Ms. Poolitz, and Ms. Ruccio. The students spent their mornings from January through March exploring different styles of dance. This culminated in a final performance that showcased not just their new choreography, but their growth in confidence and coordination. Finally, we want to highlight the incredible extracurricular life at our school. We are truly lucky on the elementary level to have so many teachers running morning clubs that are enjoyed by so
005of our students. Thank you for your time. >> [applause] >> Hello. I'm Denise from 15 separate and we're from Spark. And we just wanted to say first that it's our pleasure to speak to you tonight on behalf of the dedicated teachers and staff at Spark school. We are a proud We are proud to be a central part of the Island Trees community. Where we It is our true passion to work with these children and it is our responsibility to educate them from the youngest time of their life. What makes Spark unique with unwavering commitment to our teachers who continually go above and beyond the school day to support both our students and the school community. Recently, we've had many events happen for our SEPTA and PTA. But the majority of our teachers at Spark took
006part in the SEPTA Paint Night to help raise funds for the special education program. And just last week, about 16 and teachers and several support staff, who we may have to work with as well, worked together at the list of the PTA's largest event. If you haven't been there, you should really I mean, it's a great event. It was really great. All those proceeds go directly benefiting our school and district. The past week, Spark's special education teachers hosted a math team bringing together more than 10 staff members and Spark families to support SEPTA. Although our math didn't do so well, they did not win. It was a sure win supporting our Spark students. >> [clears throat] >> These moments reflect how deeply our teachers value being active, engaged members in the community. Our teachers and
007students are truly the heart and soul of what makes Spark so special. And we also know that each August we take the time to go through all of our buildings to see all the improvements that have been made during the summer. With the support of you and the Board of Ed, we have been able to implement other meaningful programs such as writing workshop and creative arts in our school. With that in mind, we would be honored to invite you to our Authors and Artists event on May 19th from 5:30 to 7:00. And on that evening, you will see our building come alive with energy and excitement as the students and their families gather to celebrate the year of hard work. For us as educators, there is nothing more rewarding than watching our students proudly read
008the books that they have developed, written, and illustrated. Or share their artwork that they painted, drawn, and created. It is a powerful reminder of why we do what we do. And a meaningful culmination of a year of growth and learning. You will see a very different Spark school than the one you visited during the summer. We invite you to come and see just how much our amazing little Superintendent of Schools, thank you for your continued support of all of our teachers and for recognizing the work we do each day to strengthen our partnership with the Island Trees community. And the entire school. >> [applause] >> Thank you. That was That was terrific. Um so that's a nice start to the meeting. You can have That's going to lead into these strong teachers and the work
009that they do with students. Uh and we're going to recognize the work students do and that's why the crowd is so big tonight. So we'll first call up see if Mr. Burns is here. And I see Mr. Bid. Coach Winberg is here. And I see Coach Garcia. Is he like a So Coach Winberg, are you going to come up too cuz we're going to recognize the first And uh nice school principal assistant principals, so Dr. Messina-Arias and Mr. Davis, you can come on down. We'll recognize the first honoree of two. Having us As the product life director of Island Trees, I'm always very happy to stand up in front here and brag about our kids. And this past winter uh we had some county champions that we'd like to honor. Uh being a county champion
010is extremely hard thing to do. Uh extremely competitive. And these uh these players, these student athletes have represented Island Trees very well in achieving the ultimate success. I also want to thank Coach Winberg uh who is our wrestling coach, one of our three wrestling coaches, uh who helped lead our lead our young men to uh the title of county champion. So I would like to acknowledge the following two wrestlers. MAX STEIGMAN. >> [applause] [cheering] >> HE WAS THE 190 LB county champion in our wrestling season this year. And John Magliano. >> [applause] [laughter] >> John is also a repeat county champion. He's a county champion as a freshman and he ends his career at Island Trees as a senior county champion. These two young men are not only fantastic on the wrestling mat, but they
011excel in the classroom. When they really, really put the student in student athlete. So I'm very proud of them. Coach Winberg, thank you for all of your hard work. And thank you boys for a great career at Island Trees. >> [applause] >> We're going to get a nice photo. And then this is being great wrestlers. These two guys are among the top students at Island Trees High School. So they're still athletes. They're still students. They do just as important. So congratulations to these THESE TWO FELLAS. >> [applause] [applause] >> I'M NOW GOING TO PROBABLY INTRODUCE our girls bowling team and COACH BRIAN HAYES. >> [applause] >> I'M REALLY PROUD TO SAY THAT THIS IS the first time in Island Trees history that we have a girls bowling team achieve the title of Nassau County champion.
012THAT'S GOOD. >> [applause] >> IT'S AN ACCOMPLISHMENT. THESE GIRLS WORKED SUPER hard and they now can say to themselves and to everybody at Island Trees that they are county champions. Their title is already hanging outside of our high school on our county championship sign. And over the summer we're going to add them to our banners inside. It is incredible accomplishment. Uh they compete in a very, very tough conference. Uh they compete against Seaford which is one of the repeat champions year in and year out. There are four teams out of the six that qualified. They were the fourth team to get in. And they took advantage of it and in the county championship they rolled with it and they took first place becoming county champions. So when it really, really counted, they stepped up and
013they did an absolutely fantastic job. So I would like to call up the following wrest- following bowlers. EMMA FIGUEROA. >> [applause] >> UH DANICA LAMBRIGHT COULD NOT BE HERE TONIGHT, but she was one of our county champion wrestlers. Caitlyn Lessing. >> [applause] >> Krisha Mehta. >> [applause] >> AND LAST IS ANIYA. >> [applause] >> SHOULD BE NOTED THAT this Lessing also qualified for the individual tournament championship and went up to the states to compete. So we're very proud of her as well as all these girls here. Oh, congratulations, girls. Very proud of you. >> [applause] [applause] >> NOW EVERY YEAR NEWS 12 IS A scholar athlete >> [clears throat] >> contest in which they honor 30 students in Nassau County who not only excel in whatever field of play that they participate in, but also
014in the classroom. And we apply every year. And we are very proud that this year we have one of the 30 young ladies and young men that were recognized by News 12 to receive a $1,000 scholarship. Uh and she beat out the competition and it's rightfully deserved. She was submitted by Coach Johnson, one of our winter coaches, and Coach Carroll. And Coach Johnson, I do want to thank you before you come up here because he rushed over here from our boys track meet where other coaches are currently at just uh highlighting again his work for our student. And this young lady excels at cross country, winter track, track and field. She even used to be a basketball player for us, but she really found her niche in track world where uh she excels in a
015number of events. Um winning the county championship in winter track last year, correct? And a constant finalist in all the other contests that she competes in. So I'm very proud to call up Nyla Roberts. >> [applause] >> Nyla was profiled on News 12 back in early March. They even did an interview with her. And she was on News 12. You can check it out on News 12 now. So check News 12. And that has been honored by the board. I think probably 10 times. Help me to vote. Thank you, ladies. >> [applause] >> Will SPTA school administrators come on up to help out with the support from the PTA council to help with the next set of recognitions. And you want to do this. Should I have Mr. Keegan follow me up here? Absolutely. All
016right. Good for you. If not, great job. Yeah, uh we're so excited to be here tonight recognizing our high school award recipients. Um I understand there's a lot of younger students here tonight and many, many middle school students. So it brings me great pleasure to introduce our middle schoolers to you. These are the recipients of the PTA Reflections contest um for all different areas of the arts and we're super excited for you to meet them. We thank our teachers for their support. Um the teachers really uh stand behind the children throughout school year in designing and coming up with their um their uh initiatives. So thank you to the teachers. I know Miss Piscatelli is here with us tonight. Um I'm sure I'm missing others, but thank you for being here and supporting your students.
017Our first honoree is in the area of music composition, Grace Pereira. >> [applause] >> Also in the area of music composition, QUINN BENEDETTI. >> [applause] >> IN THE AREA OF LITERATURE, WE have fifth grader Anaya Khandakar. >> [applause] >> ALSO IN THE AREA OF LITERATURE, fifth grader Lucas Spizzirri. >> [applause] >> Visual arts, fifth grader we recognize Anaya Omar. >> [applause] >> IN THE AREA OF LITERATURE, WE HAVE a seventh grader NINA ZHANG. >> [applause] >> ALSO IN LITERATURE, WE HAVE AN eighth grader who went on to state level competition and recognition, JULIANA BARTOLOTTA. >> [applause] [cheering] >> IN THE AREA OF VISUAL ARTS, we have sixth grader Sawyer Keely. >> [applause] >> AND FINALLY IN THE SIXTH GRADE, also in the area of visual arts, Patricia Hoyos. >> [applause] >> And I would just
018just like to finish by saying uh special thanks to our our PTSA, to our district PTA for all of your support. Mrs. Ford, there you are, Mrs. Ford. And all all the leadership PTA council, we get great support from our PTSA. Thank you very much and congratulations ALL OF YOU. >> [applause] >> WHAT WHAT THE HIGH SCHOOL DID RIGHT RIGHT ON OUR SIDE. FOR THE HIGH school we also have some students we'd like to recognize. In the area of music composition we HAVE AUDREY VALDEZ. >> [applause] >> FOR LITERATURE WE HAVE KAYLEE CHASE. >> [applause] >> FOR LITERATURE WE ALSO HAVE ERICA MALTESE. >> [applause] >> IN THE AREA OF VISUAL ARTS, PETER DESTEFANO. >> [applause] >> AND ALSO FOR VISUAL ARTS, CHLOE ANN. >> [applause] >> I'LL COVER THE BOARD AND THE BOARD WILL
019TAKE THE PICTURES. You'll be on the website tomorrow. Brand new website. Looks great. >> [applause] >> On that note, any visitors want to address the board on any agenda items? Anyone? Okay. I'll make a motion to accept the minutes as presented. Second. All those in favor? Aye. No. Any abstentions? Action item number one. Approval to authorize use of consent agenda. Second. Any questions? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? >> [clears throat] >> Approval of the consent agenda for action items number three through 23 and the January and February 26 financial reports. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion Any visitors and old or new business? On that note, before we close, I just want to I want to thank Ms. Carr and Ms. Sabatino and Ms. Fulton. You guys did a fantastic job. We
020love hearing your updates on what's going on in the buildings. You know, the board loves hearing about all this stuff on a daily basis. We love hearing about all the great stuff. And and the fruit of that is what you see up here. When you see so many students, you know, receiving awards of recognition for stuff like that, that's all from the hard work that, you know, that everybody puts in collectively. And I always say it, the students are the community's most valuable possessions. And [clears throat] you know, we trust them with you. So, fantastic job by everybody. So, that was a really great meeting. And it was great to get to see all the recognition. Thank you so many people for coming out, parents and family members, friends for coming out and supporting the
021students. It's fantastic to see a packed room. It really really is. So, thank you guys so much. Thank you everybody. Um >> [snorts] >> Make a motion to adjourn to executive session. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion carried. And congratulations to all the students. If you want to get your pictures, >> [applause] >> there's some signs outside where you can get some photo ops where you can pick out your favorite teacher from your your schools and take a picture with >> [laughter] >> them. Thanks for the hard work. Get home safe. And from what I heard, all the parents are going to carpool tonight. I don't know.