Community Update
June 15, 2012

As we begin to wind down to the end of a terrifically successful school year, I want to share some exciting news from our elementary schools.  Last month we announced that Joan Babcock, Daniel Warren principal, is retiring as of June 30th after fourteen years in Rye Neck.  The Board of Education has officially appointed an interim principal, Jane Scheinman, for the 2012-13 school year. Ms. Scheinman comes to Rye Neck with rich and vast experiences as a local school administrator.  She has already had the opportunity to meet and talk with the Daniel Warren staff. In addition, Ms. Scheinman and Mrs. Babcock have been communicating with one another as they put plans in place for the new school year.  Mrs. Babcock is working diligently to ensure that everything is left in perfect order to ensure a smooth transition.  Ms. Scheinman will be working with the administrative team during the summer on our own professional development as well as putting the final pieces in place for the September 2012 opening of school.

During the budget hearings, I mentioned that I have been meeting with the Kindergarten teachers, on a regular basis, to develop a new master schedule that will increase students’ instructional time.  We have also been discussing how to best utilize parent volunteers for some of the tasks currently handled by the Kindergarten assistants. As a result of some teaching assistant retirements, we have been able to retain the teaching assistants who were scheduled to be excessed. Those assistants have been reassigned as we matched skill set with student needs.

With the new state mandated APPR (Annual Professional Performance Review) requirements, we have been discussing how to maximize our personnel resources to ensure that our teacher teams are well balanced, utilizing each staff member’s strengths to meet the needs of our students. Based on these discussions, we are reassigning some elementary staff to different grade levels.  Attached is a list of elementary classroom teachers and their September 2012 assignments, as of today. In addition, Daniel Warren and Bellows’ staff have been working on class placements for next year, focusing on balancing classes by carefully analyzing data and their knowledge of the individual students.

The Bellows’ and Middle School’s Moving Up ceremonies are right around the corner, leading up to the high school graduation which is scheduled for Thursday, June 21 at 5:30 p.m. on the HS football field, weather permitting.  This will be our 117th graduation and it speaks to the long tradition of excellence our school has enjoyed.  It is always such a special night, and I invite you all to come, see the ceremony and share in the excitement.

Thank you for your continued support. I hope that you and your family will have a wonderful summer.

Peter J. Mustich, Ed. D.
Superintendent of Schools


Elementary Schools
Proposed Staff Roster
2012-2013

Kindergarten - Blaney, D'Alesandro, Levin, Santoro, Welsh, TBA
1st Grade - Beigen, Drace, O'Shea, Wagner, Kelemen, Schumer
2nd Grade - Cortese, Golio, Lenehan, Lewis, Oakes, TBA
3rd Grade - Cullagh, Bonitatibus, Kessler, Aronson, Losito, Russo
4th Grade - Spedafino, DeLucia, Burnstein, Speros, Tosi, Wooten
5th Grade - Pezzola, Kubaska, Combs, Wolman, Offner