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East Meadow Schools
Page 12 EAST MEADOW GUIDE www.liherald.com
Welcome to East Meadow Schools
Brian Stieglitz/Herald W.T. Clarke High School seniors graduated at one of five socially distant ceremonies on the school’s football field on July 24 and 25. Above, Brian Sullivan accepted his diploma before heading back to his seat with his mother.
East Meadow
Public Schools How to reach the schools
Administrative offices are at the Leon J. Campo Salisbury Center 718 The Plain Road, Westbury 478-5730
Superintendent of Schools:
Dr. Kenneth Card Jr.
Board of Education
President: Matthew Melnick Vice President: Alisa Baroukh
Board:
Alysson Benowitz Scott Eckers Jodi Luce Eileen Napolitano Melissa Tell 876-7516
East Meadow School District
Website: eastmeadow.k12.ny.us Continuing Education For information call (evenings only) Monday-Thursday, 7-9 p.m., when school is in session. 228-5211
East Meadow PTA Council
President: Veronica Nicastro
Special Education PTA
President: Michelle Brandeis
1st and 2nd Vice Presidents:
Donna Goldstein and Denise Michaelis Treasurer: Olga Kalogiannis Corr. Secretary: Kelly Jones Rec. Sec.: Dara Casill eastmeadow.k12.ny.us/barnum PTA President: Jenette Ackerman 641-5373
Bowling Green School (K-5)
2340 Stewart Ave., Westbury Principal: Maria Ciarametaro eastmeadow.k12.ny.us/bgreen
PTA Co-presidents:
Allison McGeough and Christina Tormey 458-0881 205-9544
East Meadow High School (9-12)
101 Carman Ave., East Meadow Principal: Richard Howard eastmeadow.k12.ny.us/emhs
PTA President:
485-0736
McVey School (K-5)
2201 Devon St., East Meadow Principal: Kerry Dunne eastmeadow.k12.ny.us/mcvey
PTA Co-presidents:
Jennifer Pevsner and Sharan Sokhey 510-4494 (631) 988-4242
Meadowbrook School (K-5)
241 Old Westbury Road, East Meadow Principal: Kelly DiScalfani eastmeadow.k12.ny.us/mbrook
PTA Co-presidents:
Lori Brewster and Elizabeth Morgan 581-4623 280-3728
Parkway School (K-5)
465 Bellmore Road, East Meadow Principal: Jamie Mack eastmeadow.k12.ny.us/parkway
PTA Co-presidents:
Christine De Gesu and Annmarie Stivala (631) 988-7476 498-7681
W. Tresper Clarke High School (9-12)
W. Tresper Clarke Middle School (6-8)
Woodland Middle School (6-8)
690 Wenwood Drive East Meadow Principal: James Lethbridge, eastmeadow.k12.ny.us/woodland PTA Co-presidents:Tracy Pulice 817-9574
Parochial
Schools East Meadow Jewish Center Hebrew School
Holy Trinity Diocesan High School
98 Cherry Lane, Hicksville Principal: Gene Fennell www.holytrinityhs.echalk.com 433-2900
Temple Emanu-El Hebrew School
Nursery
Schools Big Chief Nursery School
2427 North Jerusalem Road, East Meadow 781-3900 Directors: Luanne Picinich 516 781-3900
Calvary Nursery School of Calvary Lutheran Church
36 Taylor Ave., East Meadow Director: Pat Giovanniello 520-4067
Community Reform Temple Preschool
Firehouse Cooperative Nursery School
Ilene M. Rubin Nursery School of East Meadow Jewish Center
1400 Prospect Ave., East Meadow Director: Silvia Surazski Kogan 489-3415
East Meadow Schools Coronavirus pandemic updates District adjusts to remote learning, plans for reopening
By Brian Stieglitz
When the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools early in March, teachers and students were thrust into a new environment in less than 48 hours and challenged to seek alternative methods of teaching, learning, studying, socializing and achieving an educational experience in the East Meadow School District.
Kerry Dunne, the principal of McVey Elementary School, began uploading the school’s morning announcements to the YouTube channel “Good Day McVey” for children to watch with their parents at home.
Classes met through Zoom, including one class that was surprised by a virtual visit from Joe Gatto, of the television show “Impractical Jokers.”
And students celebrated birthdays, graduations and other milestones by decorating their cars, driving in front of each other’s houses and honking and cheering.
But as September approaches, dozens of administrators, teachers, parents, nurses and police officers have been working together to determine a plan to reopen.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo mandated that school districts submit reopening plans to the state by July 31. The state is currently reviewing the plans and has yet to determine whether districts can reopen their buildings to students in the fall.
But board President Matthew Melnick said that the district was not given any guidance on developing a plan. And Superintendent Kenneth Card Jr. added that doing so feels like “we are flying a plane in the dark.”
“The best-case scenario is everyone back in school at the same time,” Melnick said. “The question now is if that’s not possible — which it seems like is going to be the case — what is our next-best option?”
Parents have expressed their concerns over remote learning, and Card said that knew it “wasn’t perfect.”
“The reasons why we’re engaging in these conversations now is because, in March, we had to go to distance learning on a dime,” he said. “We had to turn around, in 48 hours, and do something that we’ve never done before. That is why we have committees in place right now that are having conversations about what possible options could be put in place and what are some of the learning gaps we may need to address.”
To develop a plan to reopen, the district formed a School Reopening Committee, which conferred with the School Safety Task Force before creating a plan that was outlined in a PowerPoint presentation avail able on the district’s website. It included the results of a survey that was distributed to district parents. Asked to describe how comfortable they were with their children returning to school, 1,180 said “very comfortable,” 974 said “somewhat comfortable,” 435 said “somewhat uncomfortable” and 280 said “very uncomfortable.”
Presented with a list of potential precautions for sending their children back to school, parents were asked which were most important. The highest-scoring concerns were: The school is cleaned at least once a day, staff and students regularly wash their hands, and hand sanitizer is provided in each classroom.
The presentation also outlined protocol for staff members returning to work. All employees would answer a series of health-related questions before entering a building to prove that they are healthy. Social distancing would be required, and when not possible, staff members would be required to wear a mask or cloth face covering. Students would be encouraged, but not mandated, to do the same.
Staff and students would be asked to avoid sharing supplies and convening in shared workspaces like copy rooms, conference rooms, break rooms and cafeterias.
Throughout the summer, under Gov. Cuomo’s guidelines, the district has been offering courses at Bowling Green Elementary School to special education students who rely on an expanded school year.
Card said that this program is giving the district “a preview of what is possible” and “the opportunity to make sure that our protocols and our systems are tight.”
Christina Daly/Herald Above Photo: East Meadow High School seniors attended one of nine socially distant graduation ceremonies on the school’s football field on July 26. Above, Graduate Ashley Skaria, a member of the EMHS National Honor Society, received a Scholar Diploma and the Susan Satriano Memorial Scholarship.
