Every Student Succeeds

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December 2009 D I • S • T • R • I • C • T

ialogueElmira City

School District

Inside:

Page 2Important medication reminders

Page 3December calendar

Page 4EFA athlete signs letter of intent

Page 5Career and Technical Education news

Page 6Diven names ‘Super Splash’ winners

Page 7Good news

Page 8Pine City hosts Grandparents/Special Persons Day

Elks Club donates dictionaries to all district third-graders

Representatives from the local Elmira Elks Lodge #62, a fraternal and community service or-ganization, distributed dictionaries to approximately 530 third-grade students at eight elementary schools in the Elmira City School District in the first week of November. This is the fourth year that the local Elks organization has done so.

The Elmira Elks Lodge is located at 300 Gray St., Elmira and includes approximately 600 regis-tered members. The annual dictionary giveaway is national in scope and is coordinated by the Elks National Foundation. Dictionaries are distributed to

Several students in Mrs. Hackett’s third-grade class at Parley Coburn Elementary School pose with their new dictionaries on Tuesday, Nov. 3. In back, from left: Mrs. Hackett; Rich Taylor from the Elks Lodge; Joy Casciotti, Assistant Principal at Parley Coburn; and Flordia Jackson, a teacher’s assistant at Parley Coburn and Elmira Teachers Association member. For the fourth year, the Elmira Elks Lodge No. 62 distributed dictionaries to all third-grade students in the Elmira City School District. In addition, all unions from the Elmira City School District donated funds toward the dictionaries.

school children nationwide by approximately 2,200 Elks Lodges.

Funds for the dictionaries come primarily from Elks members’ donations. In addition, all unions from the Elmira City School District donated funds to help pay for the dictionaries. These include the Elmira Teachers Association (ETA), the Elmira Schools Supervisory and Administrative Council (ESSAC), the Instructional Support Employees As-sociation (ISEA), the Custodial, Maintenance and Cafeteria Workers (CMCW) and the Communica-tions Workers of America (CWA).

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Parents of students who need to take medications should, if possible, administer the medications at home.

However, some students will need to take medication at school. When this is the case, the following requirements must be met:

The Elmira City School District, in com-pliance with New York State Education De-partment guidelines, requires that an adult deliver medications to the school in person. Medications may not be carried to or from school by the student.

• The school health office must be provided with a written order from the prescriber – this applies to over-the-counter (non-

Medication reminders for students and parentsprescription) and prescription medica-tions, such as Tylenol®, Midol®, cough syrups, etc. If the prescriber wants the student to carry and self-administer their medication, this must be specified in the order. (This may apply to older students, for medications such as an inhaler for physical education class.)

• The parent must attach a written consent for the school to give the medication to the student. The parent also needs to note if the student may carry and self-administer the medication.

• Your school’s nurse can give you a form to use, for both the prescriber’s order and parent/guardian consent.

• The medication must be received by the health office in an original container.

• Send over-the-counter medications in the original container, not in a baggie, envelope, etc. Label the container with the student’s name.

• For prescription medications, ask your

pharmacist to supply you with two bot-tles, one for home and one for school.

• Instructions and identifying information on the label must match the prescriber’s order.

• Medications must be delivered to the school by a responsible adult.

• All medication orders expire at the end of the school year; a new order and parent consent are needed each school year.

School health offices are not permitted to keep “stock” supplies of medications, such as Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Tums, etc.

Even a well-meaning child can lose a medication, share it with another child out of good intentions, forget to turn the medi-cation in to the health office, or self-medi-cate (possibly incorrectly with serious con-sequences) to themselves or others. The well-being of your child and other students is our primary concern.

Students are not allowed to bring un-reported medications to school or share medications with other students.

Hendy Elementary third-graders in Mary Fran Troccia’s Readers’ Theater Group gave a per-formance of “The Old Hag’s Leather Bag,” a story from Ireland. .

Southside High School band needs help to fund Gator Bowl trip

The SHS marching band has raised $50,000, with another $19,000 pledged of the $75,000 needed to fund the band’s trip to the Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day. That leaves the band $6,000 short. To do-nate, please send a check to:

SHS Band Booster Club777 South Main StreetElmira, NY 14904

If you have any questions

or suggestions, please contact Kim Henry, at

kihenry@elmiracity

schools.com.

Gator Bowl

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Congratulations to the following Di-ven Elementary students who recently were awarded with Super Splash awards from the Diven Dolphin, the school’s mascot, for out-standing academic effort.

Kindergarten: Kayleigh Baynor, Donner Bean, Olivia Blye-McQuaid, Tiarah Brown, Alexia Donahue, Mark Ellsworth, Astazia Fitzgerald, James Harler, Zhjzasha Law-rence, Logan Magee, Ja’Leah McNeal, José Molina, Adrian Mundy, Elizabeth Pace and Zamori Sayarath.

First Grade: Jazmon Augustine, Maleah Brooks, Gabriel Coats, Anthony Elledge, Hannah Ellis, Damani Jones, Syairra Jones, Aaron McCracken, Juan Miranda, Hannah Spradlin, Mylisia Stephens, Austin Timmerman, Nyssa Thompkins, Malik Weems and Connor White.

Second Grade: Faith Dunlavey, Arieana Edwards, Shamar Greene, Deja Mundy, Quentin Reese, Elias Rounsville, Hizaha Tyler, Presley Walker and Olivia Zerbe.

Third Grade: Phoenix Andrews, Keyshawn Brooks, Jhamir Brown, Lexi Donaldson, Destiny Frazier, Anthony Giampavolo, Sa-vannah Hartford, Matthew Hetherington, Jahkia Hilliard, Emanuel Juarez, Makay-lee King, Kirstin Laird, Joseph Mahood, Lillie Moore, Jade Munson, Jamil Pace, Tejana Rainey, Kynyiah Ravenall, Divin-ity Richardson, Riley Simpson, Jalexis Stevens, Janelle Thomas, Shania Watson and Shaquan Wright.

Fourth Grade: Lauren Austin, Jacob Battle, Jaquan Carson, Kathryn Casablanca, Ryan Case, Dakota Coats, Nyeisha Cooke, Kendra Davis, Sara Dodson-McGovern,

Diven students win super splash dolphin awards

Diven students were honored with Super Splash awards at November Town Meetings for consistently demonstrating positive actions with the school pledge, The Dolphin Way.

Kenny Ellsworth, Damien Frazier, Leah Hall, Cheyenne Harkins, Chris Harris, Robert Horne, RayShawna Howard, Sha-nia Kennedy, Kandee Kugler, Jessica Lentz, Rose Lovely, Michaela Lyburd, Breanna McKay, Pearl McKinley, Alanna Pittman, Ishante Quilez, Hailey Rice, Mason Rios, De’Asia Rocker, Zhamari Seals, Nauda-kis Sessoms, Devon Simpson, Caitlyn Snyder, Makennah Stowe, Kieara Tadder, Selene Terkoski, Ebony Thompson, Hailey Walker, Amir Wiggins, Rachel Wolcott and Reese Wood.

Fifth Grade: Alexis Allsopp, Daisy Casa-blanca, Joshua Coddington, Charlene Dong, Tarryl Garner, Autumn Grant, Autumn Halling, Brittany Jefferson, Lotus King, Edawna Kinsey, Levon Loyd, Kieran McCloe, Caleb McKibbin, Lindley “PJ” Nickens, Tacara Ortiz, Nasaiya Rainey, Gabrielle Reese, Braydon Rice, Harley Sly, Octavia Smith, Allister Tronchin, Rebecca Whitman, Nicholas VanGorder, Jackson Welfel, Vahnjordon Woodruff and Jasmine Wright.

At Diven Elementary School,I respect myself, others and my environment,

by listening, helping and caring.I am responsible

for what I say and do.

The Dolphin Way

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EFA senior Jeff Mathers, 18, an out-standing baseball player, signed a letter of intent on November 24 to play baseball with Manhattan College in New York City.

Jeff Mathers has played varsity baseball at EFA for three years as second-baseman and shortstop, and was named STAC for two of those years.

Jeff currently has an 89 average aca-demically, is involved in Key Club, provides statistics for the baseball team and is Student Council treasurer for his class.

Manhattan College is a Roman Catho-lic liberal arts college in New York City that offers undergraduate programs in the arts, business, education, engineering and sci-ence. Graduate programs are offered for education and engineering. Notable alumni include former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Manhattan College fields 19 Division-I athletic teams for men and women, includ-ing basketball, soccer, baseball and softball, tennis, lacrosse and volleyball. The school’s men’s sports teams are called the Jaspers.

EFA athlete signs letter of intent with Manhattan College

An EFA senior signs an official letter of intent with Manhattan College to play baseball next year. Seated are his parents, Chip and Sue Mathers, and standing is Jason Manwaring, the EFA varsity baseball coach. When asked by the media whether he ever dreamed this day would come, he said: “Yes! I always dreamed of this day. I worked very hard for this, and all my hard work has paid off.”

Seventh-graders at Ernie Davis Middle School baked applesauce bars, pumpkin bars and ba-nana muffins to take home to their families for Thanksgiving. This was a lesson from Michelle Jenkins’ Family and Consumer Science class. As part of the lesson, students were creating a statement of thanks to go home with the freshly-baked treats.

District staff raise $20,000 for United Way

Many thanks to all the Elmira City School District staff who raised approxi-mately $20,000 for the United Way of the Southern Tier.

Each building or school held its own fund rais-ing activities, which included individual pay-roll pledges, raffles, bake sales, a pet beauty pageant and dress-down days. The building that raised the most – as ranked by percentage donated to number of staff – was Coburn Elementary. In sec-ond place was Broadway Elementary.

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Information provided by Shelley Bailey, Career and Technical Education Coordinator

A new partnership has been created be-tween the Chemung Valley History Museum and the EFA Social Studies department.

Beginning this year, all students in elev-enth grade U.S. History will tour the muse-um. It is the vision of this program that this continues each year.

The next step in the partnership is to have museum staff visit the ninth grade Global Studies classes. “This partnership enables students the ability to connect what they are learning in their social studies classes to what actually happened in Elmira during those time periods. Teachers and students also learn about Elmira’s dynamic history and gain a deeper appreciation for their hometown,” said Shelley Bailey, dis-trict CTE Coordinator.

Career and Technical Education NewsEFA creates its own history at local history museum

Seven local medical professionals were career panelists on November 17, 2009 at EFA. Highlighted career areas were phar-macy, laboratory, dietary, occupational and speech therapy and nursing. The students listened to the panels speak about their career and education paths, salary ranges, rewards and challenges, work skills and what a typical day looks like in their career. Students also asked questions about college and other medical careers not represented.

All participants had a great experience. More panels will be scheduled for later in the year at EFA and Southside High School.

Local medical professionals talk about their careers with EFA students and staff.

Kerry Lippincott, Chemung Valley History Museum Education Coordinator, gives a museum tour to EFA 11th grade US History students.

Tim Tobin, EFA Social Studies Depart-ment Chair, said, “Our goal is to help stu-dents see the rich history of the Elmira com-munity and to utilize a great local resource. We hope to expand this initial visit into an ongoing program that incorporates the re-sources and history of the community into the classroom wherever possible. We would love to see a local history course come out of this endeavor.”

“The Chemung Valley History Museum is excited about the partnership with EFA. There are several ways to explore history. Yet it’s the artifacts – the stuff of history – that makes museums different. In coming to the museum I hope history becomes more per-sonal for the students,” said Kerry Lippincott, Education Coordinator for the museum.

When asked what her favorite part of the museum tour was, one student replied, “The fact that this is about Elmira. It helps

us to better understand Elmira, which you always hear such negative things about, but this shows you more than that.”

EFA hosts medical career panel

For schedules, go to: www.elmiracityschools.com> For Parents

EFA and SHS:Boys Varsity BasketballBoys JV BasketballBoys Freshman BasketballGirls Varsity Basketball

District winter sports schedules onlineGirls JV BasketballBoys & Girls JV & Varsity BowlingDistrict-Wide Sport Teams:Boys JV & Varsity WrestlingBoys Modified SwimmingGirls Freshman BasketballBoys and Girls Indoor Track

Ernie Davis & Broadway Middle Schools:Boys 8th Grade BasketballBoys 7th Grade BasketballBoys Modified WrestlingGirls 8th Grade BasketballGirls 7th Grade Basketball

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Dec. 8Riverside PFCO, 6 p.m.

Ernie Davis Winter Concert #1, 7 p.m.Broadway Middle Symphonic Concert,

TBASHS Choir Parent Group, 7 p.m.

Dec. 9HALF DAY for Grades PreK-5,

Dismissal at 11 a.m., Parent-Teacher Conferences

Riverside Book Fair Night, 5-7 p.m.Pine City Winter Program, 7 p.m.

Dec. 10Broadway Elementary Caroling at

Woodbrook, 6:30 p.m.EFA Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble,

7:30 p.m.SHS Holiday Extravaganza with Broadway

Middle Students @ SHS, 7 p.m.

Dec. 11Broadway Middle Dance, TBA

SHS Madrigal Feast, Hamilton Hall, Elmira College, 6:30 p.m.

Dec. 12Pine City Santa’s Workshop, 9 a.m.-

NoonSHS Madrigal Feast, Hamilton Hall,

December 2009 1 2 3 4 5

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December 2009 calendar See the district Web site for school calendar details: www.elmiracityschools.com.

Elmira College, 6:30 p.m.

Dec. 14Fassett PFO, 6 p.m.

Broadway Elementary PFO, Library, 6 p.m.

Dec. 15HALF DAY for Grades PreK-5,

Dismissal at 11 a.m., Parent-Teacher Conferences

Diven DSO, 6 p.m.Pine City Grade 3 Program, 6:30 p.m.Ernie Davis Winter Concert #2, 7 p.m.

Dec. 16Coburn PFO, 2:45 p.m.

Hendy Winter Arts Concert, 7 p.m.School Board Meeting 7 p.m.,

EFA Community Room

Dec. 17Coburn Winter Concert, 6:30 p.m.

Riverside Grades 1 & 5 Holiday Performance, 6:30 p.m.

Broadway Elementary Winter Concert, 7 p.m.

Dec. 18SHS Winter Vocal Concert, 8 p.m.

Dec. 19Riverside Winter Wonderland Craft

Night, 5-7 p.m.

Dec. 21Beecher Concert, 6:30 p.m.Fassett Concert, 6:30 p.m.

Dec. 22EFA Winter Vocal Concert, 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 23High School End of Marking Period

Dec. 24 – Jan. 1NO SCHOOL –

WINTER RECESSJan. 4

School resumesHendy PFO, 7 p.m.

Jan. 6School Board Meeting 7 p.m.,

EFA Community Room

Changes to school calendar approved

The Board approved the following changes to the school district calendar:

The conference day on February 1, 2010 is for high schools only. Elemen-tary and middle schools will remain in session.

There will be a conference day on May 3, 2010 for all students.

There will be a Conference Day on May 13, 2010 for elementary and middle schools. High schools will be in session.

The changes were made to accommo-date new state testing requirements.

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Broadway Middle School held a “Healthy Relationships Awareness Day” for seventh- and eighth-grade students on Nov. 19, which featured a visit from singer/song-writer Christine Baze, an Elmira native who has survived cervical cancer. As the execu-tive director of The Yellow Umbrella Orga-nization, she uses her story, her voice and her music to raise awareness about HPV, cervical cancer and prevention strategies. Baze talked to students about her diagnosis and recovery, giving students a message of encouragement and hope.

Broadway Middle School hosts ‘Healthy Relationships Awareness Day’

Students attended a series of workshops presented by community agencies and dis-trict personnel. Topics included:

How to talk with parents

Fitness and healthy eating

Teens and abusive relationships

Internet safety and

Safe texting.

The awareness day was part of the school’s new, year-long “Healthy Futures” initiative.

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Good newsFassett gives students Falcon awards

Congratulations to the following stu-dents from Fassett who won Fassett Falcon awards recently for academic excellence:

Pre-Kindergarten: Donovan Chorney and Alex Mosher.

Kindergarten: Ryan Baxter, Noah Bennett, Cody Kelly, Erika Phillips, Ciara Sanchez and Freedum Smith.

First Grade: Malorie Buckley, Solo-mon Gray, Naliq Jones, Meghan Oakley, Ana Powers and Brianna Zuke.

Second Grade: Catherine Cantando, Gabby Chapman, Caleb Cicora, Destiny Coats, Alexandria Ogozaly, Jasmine Scott, Anthony Stilson, Storm Wildrick and Des-mond Williams.

Third Grade: Anthony Cantando, Makenzie Chapman, Damien Ehrhardt, Ma-hogany Freeman and Jakob Spaziani.

Fourth Grade: Gabriel Amisano, Tay-lor Daugherty, Abbie Finnerty, Isabella Ru-gerio, Robert Smith and Kelsy Wilson.

Fifth Grade: Matthew Bonsignore, DaeJaun Campbell, Alexandria Graham, Cameron Perry, Skyelar Sancomb and Court-ney Townsend.

SHS art teacher wins a ‘Who’s Who’ award

Congratulations to Debb VanDe-linder, an art teacher from Southside High School, who will be listed in the 2010 edition of “Who’s Who in American Art,” which lists any-one who’s anyone in the visual arts in the United States. VanDelinder was selected for this honor from among thousands of artists in the country.

“I feel quite honored to be included in this particular publication,” said VanDe-linder, who is both an outstanding art educa-tor and an outstanding artist. She is a digital artist and photographer, formally trained in art with a focus on two-dimensional design and printmaking, VanDelinder studied at Mansfield University where she earned a BA in Studio Art and a MA in Art Education. Her post-masters work has focused primarily on digital imaging and photography. She is also an Adjunct Art Professor at Elmira College. She has been instrumental in the develop-ment of digital art coursework.

VanDelinder’s work is most notable for her large scale flower images and is strongly influenced by the works of Georgia O’Keeffe. You can view her work on her Web site: www.debbvandelinder.com.

Health educators recog-nized by AIDS Task Force

Congratulations to the district’s health education teachers who received the 2009 Community Partner Award from the Chemung County AIDS Task Force. The teachers are: Lisa Phillips and Laura Davis from EFA Dar-rell Wright and Sarah Jones from Southside

High School, Alise Hoffman from Broadway Middle School and Dan Yager from Ernie Davis Middle School. Over the years these teachers have done a number of things to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS in our com-munity, including:

Selling red ribbons in their schools and donating the profits to the Chemung County AIDS Task Force,Discussing HIV/AIDS with students and in their schools on World AIDS Day, andEncouraging students to attend local World AIDS Day events. They organized student volunteer activi-

ties such as decorating the shrubs in front of Steele Memorial Library with red ribbons for World AIDS Day, handing out programs and candles for local World AIDS Day events, and participating in the Reading of Names remembrance.

According to the nomination, “the best way to reduce the stigma and discrimination for people who suffer with HIV/AIDS is to ed-ucate people on the facts, and these teachers are taking steps to do just that.”

Two students attend national FFA event

Congratulations to two Southside High School students who recently traveled to In-dianapolis to take part in the 82nd National FFA Convention.

Edward Hansen and Allen Reeser, both from Southside High School, are enrolled in the GST BOCES Career and Technical Educa-tion program in their Conservation program.At the convention, the FFA members took part in the 2009 National FFA Forestry Career Development Event, in which participants answered questions about trees and equip-ment, took a general knowledge exam and completed interactive forestry applications. The National FFA Organization, formerly knows as the Future Farmers of America, is a national youth organization with 500,000 student members, all preparing for careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture.

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Debb VanDelinder

“Altercation,” ~ VanDelinder

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District D

ialogue is published monthly

by the Elmira C

ity School District

for its employees and patrons.

Superintendent:

Joseph Hochreiter

Board of Education:

Larry McG

overn Jr., President; Lynn G

rottenthaler, Vice President;

Daniel H

urley, Dianna Jackson,

Sara Lattin, Ted Lax, C

olleen McC

all, Rodney Strange and M

ary Tucker.

Editors:

Kathleen C

ostello, 735-3091, and Pam

Haw

thorne, 735-3026.

Non-profit org.U

S postage

P A

I DE

lmira, N

YP

ermit no. 39

Elmira C

ity School District

951 Hoffm

an StreetElm

ira, NY 14905

Grandparents visit Pine City Elementary on Nov. 9

A third-grader at Pine City Elementary School reads the classic children’s story “Where The Wild Things Are” to her grandparents, Elaine and Tom Hintz, during the school’s Grandparents’ Day celebration on Nov. 9. The day included musical performances by the fourth-grade chorus, the string and brass ensembles and entertainers from Southside High School.

Lonnie Wida shares a smile with his grandson, a second-grader at Pine City Elementary, on Grandparents Day. “Everybody shares the history of going to school,” said Rhonda Baran, principal. “While some things have changed, the common purpose remains the same. The students were so excited to introduce their grandparent or special person. The entire day was simply priceless.”