HCDS Trustee Tidbits - Fall 2022

HARBOR COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

FALL 2022

Trustee Tidbits News, views and announcements from Tulip Knoll

In This Issue

A Message from the Head of School It has been an absolute pleasure to get to know some of you and be a part of such a caring, dedicated group of volunteers. Harbor is incredibly fortunate to benefit from your leadership, and I am grateful to be a part of this school community.

A Letter from the Board Chair HCDS Receives Accreditation from NYSAIS The Campaign for Harbor Country Day School Update Capital Campaign Fundraising Update Building Maintenance Updates Harbor Happenings Trustees Honor Mr. Cissel at April 2022 Brunch Reception 2022-2023 Event Calendar Harbor Fund & Enrollment Updates Current Trustee Listing Former Trustee Listing

Harbor Country Day School 17 Three Sisters Road Saint James, New York 11780 631.584.5555 www.HCDSNY.org

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The start of the 2022-23 school year has been filled with enthusiasm and joy! Seeing the children re-acclimate themselves to their academic and social routines has been deeply satisfying. The transition for the students has been smooth, which, of course, is a testament to the abundant talent of the faculty and staff here at Harbor Country Day School. I have witnessed this firsthand now and recognize them genuinely and often – deservedly so. The teachers at Harbor are simply extraordinary! They are forward thinkers and sincerely committed to professional growth. As a group, they collectively set a nurturing tone combined with high expectations. Kids feel safe, known, valued, and stretched each and every day. It is no surprise that one of my goals as a Head of School is to continue to support and empower the faculty.

Tulip Knoll exudes warmth and charm. And while the campus has been polished recently, there is much to contemplate and address as we embark on our future endeavors together. As I shared in our first full meeting, my attention to detail is based solely on my drive to create the conditions in which Harbor can (and will) thrive for years to come. It is an honor to be leading the way with the new facilities plans, the parking lot enhancements, and our academic program. The more I collaborate with my peers, meet families, and connect with our kids, the more I realize that we have already created a solid foundation upon which to build.

It is my hope that we are motivated by the question, “What are we truly known for?” as we carve this road ahead. With the gift of a STEAM Center and new modern learning spaces, our students have an opportunity to become authentic critical thinkers who are guided by empathy and problem-solving. We are wellpositioned to answer this reflective question by inspiring the faculty to further design a sophisticated curriculum rooted in inquiry while ensuring that children are able to ponder, prototype, ideate, design, and solve complex issues.

Moving forward, I ask that we keep the children at the center of each decision we make. HCDS is in incredibly strong hands with your support and guidance. And we are poised to amplify our mission in ways that those parents who founded the School back in 1958 may simply never have envisioned!

With admiration, Andy FALL 2022

A Letter from the Board Chair, Alex Doboli, Ph.D. Dear Harbor Trustees, It has been four months since Harbor Country Day School welcomed its 12th head of school, Andy Sperling, and what a busy and productive four months it has been!

Upon his arrival, Andy immediately took part in the intensive Head’s institute hosted by NAIS. This training provided Andy with information, tools and resources, and a network of fellow new and seasoned heads to effectively transition from his role as Head of Upper School at Lake Forest Country Day School to Head of School here at Harbor Country Day. Andy’s experience and passion for education, along with a tremendous number of meetings with members of Harbor’s Board and Leadership team prepared him well to have an amazing start as Head of School.

In addition to familiarizing himself with the building, community, and his new role, Andy spent a significant portion of the summer working alongside Harbor’s Director of Facilities, Dave McClure, to give the building and grounds of Tulip Knoll a much-needed makeover in time for the first day of school on September 7. The results of that makeover can be seen on page 4 of this publication.

Now that school is back in session, perhaps the most notable observation is the return to ‘normalcy’. After more than two years since the start of the COVID pandemic, Harbor Country Day School and its faculty, staff and students have resumed their traditional classroom assignments, lunch and recess protocols, P.E. and sports activities, and in-person events. Of course, great care is still being taken to sanitize and disinfect the building and COVID case numbers in the surrounding community continue to be monitored.

In many ways, a new chapter has begun for Harbor: (1) We have a new head of school, (2) the pandemic is just about behind us, and (3) plans for a building expansion and modernization are ahead of us. It’s an exciting time to be a part of this community and I, for one, look forward to reading the next pages in this chapter as they are being written!

I wish everyone an amazing Fall!

Alex Doboli, PhD Chair of the Board

Harbor Country Day School Receives Accreditation from NYSAIS After an exhaustive process and self-review, undertaken by Harbor's entire faculty and staff, Harbor is proud to announce that we have been accredited for another 10-year period. As shared by NYSAIS's Visiting Committee, following their on-site assessment of the school, 'Harbor Country Day School is a vibrant, purposeful, decidedly authentic place. Its students are talented and considerate and energetic; its professionals are skilled, dedicated, and compassionate. It is a lively community, a proud community, and an exceedingly decent community that does right by the children in its charge and the adults who take up its cause'.

NYSAIS serves its members in many ways, not the least of which is to administer a process of evaluation and accreditation. The key element in this kind of accreditation is to involve its members in a process of self-evaluation. If this process is undertaken conscientiously and insightfully, it can reflect the past, the present, and a look into the future through a critical analysis of all aspects of the school resulting in an informed sense of strategic goals for the future.

As such, accreditation attests to a school’s quality in terms everyone readily understands. To say that a school is accredited is to say that it has met many tests without having to explain at length the nature of those tests. Accreditation attests to a school’s quality by first applying the viewpoint of the school’s mission and culture. Additionally, to say that a school is accredited is to say that it has been held accountable by an assessment based on a unified standard of excellence reflecting best practices.* *Source: NYSAIS Manual for Evaluation and Accreditation

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FALL 2022

The Campaign For Harbor Country Day School Update As we continue to celebrate the strength of our partnership and our collective commitment to supporting Harbor Country Day School, I wanted to share some additional information with you around the progress we are making related to the building expansion project. Since the end of the 2021-2022 school year, we have met with our project manager and lead architect, Michael Mark, on several occasions to take the necessary next steps which include obtaining construction bids for the new facilities.

While we are excited to be moving forward with the project in its entirety, we have run into a few hurdles along the way. With supply chain challenges, as well as inflated costs for materials, our initial bids were considerably higher than expected. Currently, we are exploring prudent options including lining up additional qualified construction bids as well as determining ways in which we can meaningfully reduce costs while maintaining the integrity and scope of this exciting project.

We are confident and optimistic that we’ve made considerable strides, and are now progressing with intentionality. Our hope is certainly to hire a construction firm in the near future so that we can procure permits and forge ahead with shovels in the ground. We appreciate all that you have done and continue to do to support Harbor’s bright future. It is in these moments in Harbor’s history that we are able to reflect upon and cherish the generosity of such an incredibly caring and thoughtful community.

With the school year in full swing, it is our hope that we will continue to build on the fundraising momentum we’ve gained to date. This vision could not have become a reality at this high level if not for the giving from so many. Thank you again for your continued support and dedication to Harbor Country Day School. We will continue to keep you updated along the way.

With an abundance of gratitude, Andy Sperling, Head of School

Capital Campaign Fundraising Update As of October 1, 2022

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Campaign Snapshot

Funds Breakdown

Campaign Goal $10,000,000

Building Modernization Phase 1 Goal: $3,500,000 Funds Raised: $3,503,856

Total Funds Pledged/Received $7,468,603

General Endowment Goal: $2,000,000 Funds Raised: $1,170,369 Remaining: $829,631

Funds In Hand $6,198,297

John R. Cissel Faculty & Staff Endowment Goal: $2,500,000 Funds Raised: $1,717,054 Remaining: $782,946

Funds Remaining to be Raised $2,531,397

Tuition Assistance Endowment Goal: $2,000,000 Funds Raised: $1,079,054 Remaining: $920,177

FALL 2022

Building Maintenance Updates August of 2022 proved to be an unusually busy time at Tulip Knoll. Once Camp Harbor wrapped up for the season, a number of improvements and updates were made to the school building and property. Thanks to the vision of Harbor's new head of school, Andy Sperling, and an enormous amount of effort and coordination from Harbor's Director of Facilities, Dave McClure, Tulip Knoll received beautiful updates including, but not limited to, fresh paint, new carpeting in second floor classrooms, landscaping in the front of the building and new pavers and grass off of the back patio. Below is a selection of some of those improvements.

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FALL 2022

Harbor Happenings The first weeks of school brought with them a number of memorable occasions and events. We look forward to making more memories over the upcoming school year!

First Day of School Handshakes with Mr. Sperling

Mandarin Students Perform at the Port Jefferson Dragon Boat Festival

New Parent Social & Community Welcome Back Picnic

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FALL 2022

Trustees Honor Mr. Cissel at April 2022 Brunch Reception Harbor Country Day School's current and former board of trustee members recognized and honored Mr. Cissel at an April 30th brunch reception.

Bill & Ruth Garthe with Angela Moll

George & Joan Bubaris

John Cissel

John with wife Peggy Harwood, Therese DeAngelis in background

Dave Essex* & Adrienne Owen*

Tehmina Haque & Corinne Hammons*

*Denotes former board chair 07

FALL 2022

Harbor Country Day School - 2022-2023 Event Calendar

November 3 @ 6:30pm - Meet & Greet with Andy Sperling Madiran The Wine Bar, East Setauket, New York November 17 @ 7pm- State of the School Address Harbor Country Day School Gymnasium March 24 - HCDS Spring Benefit The Harbor Club at Prime, Huntington, New York June 10 - Commencement & Moving Up Harbor Country Day School Campus June 11 - HCDS End-of-Year Community Barbecue Harbor Country Day School, Back Field

Harbor Fund Update

2022-2023 Enrollment Update

2021-2022 Harbor Fund Goal: $215,000 Total Funds Raised: $262,403 Percentage to Goal: 122.05%

Total Enrollment 154 Students Early Childhool: PK2 - PK4 36 Students

2022-2023 Harbor Fund* Goal: $250,000

Lower School: K- 5th Grade 81 Students

*To donate to the 2022-2023 Harbor Fund, please visit www.hcdsny.org/giving/ or contact jtaggart@hcdsny.org. Thank you!

Upper School: 6th - 8th Grades 37 Students

2022-2023 Harbor Country Day School Board of Trustees Alex Doboli, Ph.D., P'17, P'20 (Board Chair) Cynthia Wong Lippe, Ph.D., P'21, Current Parent (Vice Chair) Nancy Langdon Hickerson, Ph.D., P'12, P'15 (Secretary) Mike Lauri, C.P.A., P'21 (Treasurer) Neal Mellert, Esq., Current Parent (Member at Large) Robert Antonacci, M.D., P'17, P'17 Garrett Bergen, Current Parent Seema Bhansali (Venkatesh), Esq., P'19, '21 Monica Bugallo, Ph.D., Current Parent Ariya Lapan, Ph.D, Current Parent Adrienne Owen, P'20, Trustee Emerita 06

Marina Polonskaia, Ph.D., Friend of Harbor Ned Puchner, Ph.D., Current Parent Andy Sperling, Head of School, ex officio Jennifer Tona, Current Parent HP Wei, Ph.D., Current Parent

FALL 2022

Former Harbor Country Day School Trustees William Adkins Oakes Ames Rose Antilus Donald Baker II John Bardsley Mindy Berger Jennifer Berlingieri Michele Berti Mitchell Birzon Arlene Boscarino Matthew Bradley William Brennan Paul Broder George Bubaris Heidi Cacciabaudo Katharine Clancy Richard Clarke Frank Clemente Michael Commins Glenna Craw Martin Crowley Therese DeAngelis Vincent Della Pietra Michael DiSabello Robert DiStefano Paul Edelson David Essex Richard A. Evans Agnes Ferro Michele Filosa David Fischler '62 Eileen Gaeta Robert Gaffney '76

Susanna Gamaldi Leyi Gao Tagi Garbizu William Garthe Debby Graber Doreen Greenblatt Corinne Hammons Tehmina Haque David Hicks Leith Hill John Hurtado, Jr. Ekambaram Ilamathi Michael Irvin Theodore Jospe Roy Kahane Vicki Katz Lois Kuhlke Robert Lazar Harvey Lerner John Libaire Christine Little-Meyer Mary Longabardi Robert McCarroll '78 Thomas McMillen David Merzin Bruce Meyer Charles D. Miller, Jr. Evelyn W. Miller Lawrence Mincer Steven Moll Michael Morrell Robert Morris Lynne Nowick

Peter Nowick, Jr. Michelle Nuti Emma Hicks Pearce '88 Nathaniel Peirce George Penza Gary Porcano Edward Porter Judy Proctor Gary Rubio Eric Russo Sue Ryan Mary Sanders Herman Schecter Priscilla S. Schecter Sanford Scheman Richard Scheyer Elizabeth Schwartz S. Lytton Scott Malcolm E. Smith, Jr. Maria Sorrentino Alan Spielberg Jack Squire Marisella Staller Jack A. Swain David Swift John Toomey, Jr. James Verdi Kevin Vesey Thomas Vulpis David Waechter Frank Wieland Carrie Zuckerman

Thank you for helping to make a difference in the lives of all of our students.

Please contact Jennifer Taggart at jtaggart@hcdsny.org if...

- you have changed your mailing or email address.

-you know of other board members who may be missing from this list.

-you have updated contact information for a trustee who is not receiving our communications.

Harbor will update our records accordingly.

Thank you!

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FALL 2022