a change to the district’s transportation policy. This would require voter approval at a special referendum.

A policy change at any of the levels – elementary, middle or high school – would have to apply to every school at that level. It is not possible, for example, to modify the policy at one middle school and not the other.

A change that allows more students to be bused would also impact taxes, since more buses and drivers would be necessary. State aid would not increase to offset the ad-ditional costs, since the state also uses dis-tance to deter-mine aid rates.

Six Southside High School seniors, all National Honor Society students, have apparently broken the Guinness World Record for reading aloud as a group for the longest period of time in international history.

In a yet-to-be-published Guinness World Re-cords book, under Human Achievements – Marathon Feats, the listing will read:

READING ALOUD (TEAM)Alise Farr, Channing Koster, Mike McCann, Eric Murphy, Kayla Murphy and Colleen Ren-

Honors students set reading record

Southside High School students break Guinness World Record

Every Student Succeeds

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January 2007 D I • S • T • R • I • C • T

ialogueElmira City

School District

Inside:

Page 2Teachers win grants; Davis band, orchestra combine Page 3A ‘Way Cool’ look at science; Broadway Middle gets grant; First-grader earns special lunchPage 4Honor students help Salvation Army; SHS honors volunteer; Art teacher recognized in national magazinePage 5‘Tech Day’ helps students plan careers; Fire safety notice; County official visits HendyPage 6District awards honorary diplomas; Students donate to Red CrossPage 7School starts fitness program; Good newsPage 8Good news

This year the school district has received many questions and parent concerns regarding busing. Often the topic is why a student at one address is bused to school, while a student at a nearby address is not.

State law says that distance is the only factor that may be used to determine which students will be bused. The age of the student cannot be the determin-ing factor. There are no exceptions – if a student is not eligible, he or she cannot ride the bus.

The school district’s transportation policy states that elementary students who live more than 1 mile from their home school are eligible for busing. The distance for middle school students is 1.5 miles, and for high school students is 2 miles.

The distance is measured along the shortest pos-sible road course, and even if there is extra room on the bus, the state prohibits school districts from transporting students inside that distance.

A change to any of the distances would require

School district busing policy explained

nie, all from Southside High School, Elmira, NY, USA, read aloud for 128 hours, 1 minute and 39 seconds at the Southside High School auditorium, Elmira, NY, USA, from November 15-20, 2006. The record was set to raise awareness of the importance of literacy in their community.

The previously published record was 117 hours, held by a group from Australia. Hopefully, no other group will break their record before it’s published.

Continued on page 2

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SHS Readers, continued

Congratulations to the following teachers in the Elmira City School District for winning 2006-07 mini-grants from the Schuyler-Che-mung-Tioga/Corning Teacher Center.

• Randi Delaney, teacher at Riverside Elementary, for reading instruction.

• Samara Gromer, music teacher at Riv-erside Elementary and Ernie Davis Middle School, for “music and literacy — it’s in the bag!”

• Donna Homuth, English teacher at Pine City Elementary, for “inspiring student success.”

• Catherine Jacobs, art teacher at Beech-er and Riverside Elementary Schools, for “lights, camcorder, action!”

• Kathy Rosenheck, reading teacher at Pine City Elementary, for “inspiring student success.”

• Judy Schaeffler, speech therapist at

Elmira teachers win grants for their classrooms

Riverside Elementary, for auditory pro-cessing in young children.

• Nancy Seward, special education teacher at Southside High School, for soup and salad express, professional cake decorating and foods of the world.

• Courtney Warren, science teacher at Southside High School, for “science is fun.”

• Cathy Westlake, speech therapist at Riverside Elementary and Southside High School, for “inspiring student success.”

• Dinah Vaughan, elementary teacher at Ernie Davis Middle School, for integrating physical science, math and technology in sixth-grade.

The purpose of these grants is to provide local educators with funds to develop in-novative curriculum and learning projects that meet special needs that are not normally funded by basic school budgets.

Ernie Davis Middle School band and orchestra combine for winter concert

This holiday season, students in the eighth-grade band and the seventh- and eighth-grade orchestra entertained their friends and family in a unique and challenging way: They com-bined groups to perform as a full symphony orchestra.

Band director Lansing Dimon and orchestra director Brett Holton decided to try something different by having all three groups merge to create a 76-piece full orchestra for the final piece of their winter concert in December.

It’s difficult to find full orchestra music that can successfully be performed at a middle school level. After searching for the right music without success, band director Dimon de-cided to arrange the music himself.

The piece, entitled “A Triumvirate of Carols,” was written specifically to showcase the students’ talents while depicting the spirit of Christmas Eve day.

Rehearsals for the performance became a true learning process, as students struggled with the difficulties of putting together a full orchestra, which included strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion performing together for the first time.

The Ernie Davis Middle School symphony orchestra also performed at the Corning Museum of Glass Holiday Open House on December 3. Members of the Ernie Davis choral program sang at that same event, under the direction of choral director Heidi Hoover.

In the meantime, however, these six seniors are still basking in the glory, and remembering the extraordinary effort it took to accomplish this feat.

Why did they do it? It started as a challenge from principal

Christopher Krantz to the school’s Honor Society adviser, Barbara Wilbur, an English teacher. Krantz brought a copy of the 2006 Guinness World Records to Wilber and asked the group to consider the challenge.

Six volunteers stepped forward. “We all got to know each other really well,”

Kayla Murphy said. “We really gained a bond, and we got a lot of support from our school and community.”

Eric Murphy was pleased that their non-stop reading event generated positive publicity for their school, including making the Associ-ated Press as a featured story. They did it to focus attention on the need for better literacy rates in our community. It’s estimated that 20 percent of Chemung County adults read at or below a fifth-grade reading level.

The read-a-thon all happened on the SHS auditorium stage. After months of research, planning and arranging approximately 160 volunteers, witnesses and spectators, the six students read in shifts for five consecutive days. They never left the school. Food was brought in, and students slept on air mat-tresses in tents on the stage.

Each shift had to last between two minutes and three hours. As soon as one student was done, another started. Each student read, on the average, one hour on, five hours off.

After a few days, the readers started to feel isolated, said Wilber, who coordinated the entire event. Tuned in to the students emotional and physical needs, near the end she urged volunteers to interact with the readers to keep them enthusiastic about their accomplishment.

“We lost a bit of sleep, but we could sleep in between our turn to read,” Channing Koster said. “We raised literacy awareness in our community, and we’re proud that our names and school will be put into the Guinness Book of World Records.”

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The “Science Guy” discusses his soap bubble monster during Way Cool Science Night at Ernie Davis Middle School.

A ‘Way Cool’ look at scienceMore than 25 Ernie Davis Middle School sixth-graders and their parents explored several

science topics at Way Cool Science Night on November 2.The event included 10 experiments designed to show students that science can be fun. As

research teams, students and their parents answered such questions as: • Does temperature affect the rate of a reaction?• What enzymes are used for digesting starch? and • How fast are your reflexes?

They investigated color changes in chemical reactions, paper and ink chromatography, the physics of launching balls at different angles and perception. Attendees also had the oppor-tunity to hold amphibians and arachnids, and watch a soap bubble monster be created.

The event was coordinated by Elmira College professors and education majors, and members of the Tri-Beta and Pre-Health clubs.

Broadway Middle receives $500 grant, thanks to local business owner John Cox

Broadway Middle School has received a $500 grant from the ExxonMobil Educa-tional Alliance Program.

The grant will be used to purchase mate-rials that will enhance the sixth-grade social studies curriculum.

John Cox, owner of John Cox Mobil Service Station in Elmira, worked with sixth-grade teacher Julie Biviano to secure the grant. This educational alliance pro-gram gives Mobil and Exxon retailers an opportunity to invest in the future of their community through educational grants to neighborhood schools.

“It is my pleasure to work with the stu-dents of Broadway Middle School,” John Cox said.

For the past seven years, ExxonMobil has provided grants to schools across the nation to help educators engage today’s tech-savvy students.

This year, they awarded 4,000 $500 grants totaling $2 million to K-12 schools in the United States.

This is the third consecutive year that Broadway Middle School has received this $500 grant.

Madison Glover (center) a first-grader at Broadway Elementary, enjoys a special lunch with Pam Davis-Webb, principal, and Stephen Boyce, assistant principal, for earning 10 “Good Kid Patrol” tickets. Students are rewarded for doing their best with tickets and special coins that they can turn in for stickers, pencils, books and lunch. Madison was the first student at Broadway to earn lunch with the administrators this year.

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along with examples of their work.“...VanDelinder pushes the bounds of

photography,” the article states. She scans photos of flowers, digitally manipulates them, then makes large digital prints which “reveal the secret inner reality of the flowers.”

Two of her prints – Life is like an Onion and Float Above like Angels – were published in color in the national magazine.

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Southside High School art teacher’s talent recognized in national art magazine

Art teacher Debb VanDelinder, who teaches photography and design at South-side High School, was featured as a talented upstate New York artist in the November 2006 issue of American Art Collector magazine.

In an article titled “There is Art Beyond the Grid,” by John O’Hern, executive direc-tor and curator of the Arnot Art Museum in Elmira, seven artists from the Corning-Elmira-Binghamton area were featured

Photo at left: Debb VanDelinder,art teacher at Southside High School.

Broadway honor students help Salvation Army

National Junior Honor Society rang bells for the Salvation Army December 2 at the Arnot Mall.

They returned the next Saturday for an-other shift.

Photo at right: National Junior Honor Society members pose with friends after ringing bells for the Salvation Army.

SHS honors long-time volunteerOn November 21, Southside High School teacher Stacey Graham and her students said

good-bye to a friend and teacher. Elizabeth Gibson, affectionately known as “Grandma,” began volunteering in the class-

room through RSVP of Chemung County in September 2005. Her focus was on helping students with their reading and writing.

Mrs. Graham said Grandma made a great impact during her time at Southside. “She is the connection to the second generation that our students need,” Mrs. Graham said. “Her absence will be felt for a long, long time.”

Mrs. Gibson has since moved to the Thousand Islands area to live with her son, but hopes to stay in touch with the Southside students and staff.

Photo at left: Teacher Stacey Graham (right) tears up as she talks about the impact volunteer Elizabeth Gibson (left) had on her students.

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District is in compliance for fire safety inspections

Notice is hereby given that the annual inspections of all the buildings owned by the Elmira City School District for fire hazards that might endanger the lives of students, teachers and employees therein have been completed.

The reports thereof are available for inspection by all interested parties at the district’s Maintenance Building, 733 Benja-min Street in the City of Elmira.

This notice is published in compliance with local, state and/or federal regulations by Tony LaSorte Jr., Elmira City School District’s health and safety hygienist.

Chemung County legislator visits Hendy Elementary

Chemung County Legislature Chairman Cornelius Milliken visited Maureen Maloney’s and Jennifer Crout’s classrooms at Hendy Avenue Elementary in December to teach the students about local government.

The second-graders have been studying local, state and national government. Mr. Mil-liken enhanced their learning by presenting a PowerPoint presentation and answering questions about the various legislative bodies of government.

“Thank you, Mr. Milliken, for taking the time to share your knowledge of government with us,” Jennifer Crout said.

CTE News

High school students, teachers attend first ‘Tech Day’ to help with career planningBy Shelley Bailey, Career and Technical Education Coordinator

Approximately 55 students and several counselors, business and technology teach-ers from Elmira Free Academy and Southside High School attended “Tech Day 2006: In-novations and Ideas of the Southern Tier” at Corning Community College on November 21.

This event was sponsored by Central Southern Tier Tech Prep, GST BOCES, the Career Development Council and Corning Community College.

The featured keynote speaker was Dr. Mark Vaughn from Corning Inc. Dr. Vaughn discussed the global economy in which we currently live and work and the necessary skills and knowledge to be successful in this economy not only today, but in the future.

This was followed by panel discussions on engineering, tech-nology and informa-tion technology led by local professionals in these fields.

Lunch was provided and students spent the afternoon attending workshops on topics such as nanotechnol-ogy, computer foren-sics, network design, aircraft design, au-tomobile racing and emissions control and

and Technical Education staff are already making plans to facilitate this event again next year, with even more participants.

manufacturing at Synthes. Attendees received a wealth of information

regarding regional technical careers. Career

Randy Newcomb from the New York State Police Computer Crime Division gives a presentation on his career field on November 21.

Photo above: An EFA student is placed on a backboard during first aid training. As part of their studies, students in Officer Dave Holmes’ Freedom and Law class completed first aid training and saw demonstrations of techniques used by paramedics.

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Four local veterans recently received their high school diplomas from the Elmira City School District at two special ceremonies.

James Kelsey, Larue Seeley and Douglas Wolfe each received diplomas from South-side High School in a November 7 ceremony led by principal Christopher Krantz. All three are Vietnam War veterans.

Charles Slater received his diploma from Elmira Free Academy in a December 6 cer-emony during a School Board meeting at

Students give up birthday gifts to raise funds for the Red Cross

Marley Kingsbury and Brooke Mitchell held a joint birthday party in September. They asked their friends to bring donations for the American Red Cross rather than two gifts.

The girls raised $165 at the party, and after sending a card and the money to the Red Cross, were invited to be honored at a luncheon No-vember 15. There they received a certificate of appreciation and were invited to join the Red Cross Youth Club.

Both girls said it was worth giving up gifts to raise money.“It feels good to be able to help others in need,” Marley said.“If everyone else could help out just a little but, the world would be

a better place,” added Brooke.

Left: Marley Kingsbury (second from left) and Brooke Mitchell (second from right), pose with local American Red Cross Board Chair Kathy Stickler and Executive Director Joel Robinson.

Elmira school district awards honorary diplomas to four Vietnam veterans

(Left to right): Southside Principal Chris Krantz poses with the school’s three newest gradu-ates — Douglas Wolfe, Larue Seeley and James Kelsey — all veterans of the Vietnam War.

Pine City Elementary School. Slater received a standing ovation from the

Board and others at the meeting. In thank-ing the Board, he said he was proud to have served his country and would do it again, and that receiving his diploma is one of the best moments of his life.

Veterans who served in World War II, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War are eli-gible to receive high school diplomas through New York State’s Operation Recognition

program. The program is free to any veteran who attended a New York State school and was unable to complete his or her education for any reason.

Interested veterans should contact the school they attended immediately prior to joining the military.

For help obtaining documentation of ac-tive duty, contact the New York State Division of Veterans Affairs office at 733-2178.

Charles Slater holds his new Elmira Free Academy high school diploma.

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Good newsStaff, students volunteer for Arctic League

The Arctic League Kids Chorus set a new record this year with 185 students from eight local elementary schools participating in this fundraising telethon. The students filled Pow-ers Theatre at the Clemens Center during the December 3 broadcast, joined by families and staff. Thanks to the following Elmira City School District teachers who prepared their students for this television performance: • Bonnie Lindquist, Pine City Elementary; • Kathy Fernan, Broadway Elementary; • Jessica Ossiboff, Diven Elementary; • Ruellene Seymour, Beecher Elementary; and • Mary Jane Eckel, Hendy Avenue Elementary.

Also, Pine City Elementary fourth-graders organized a used book sale and raised a total of $515, which was presented to the charity at the telethon. The Arctic League provides Christmas gifts for needy children in our community.

Ernie Davis Middle School students receive character awards

The following Ernie Davis Middle School students were inducted into the Express Club in December for demonstrating strong character:

Grade 6: Daniel Berg, Christopher Mathew, Molly McInerny, Dominic Parfianowicz, Brionna Rafferty and Rachel Reynolds.Grade 7: Josh Guerrero and John Kinner.Grade 8: Alexander Coon and Stefanie Ruggiero.

Students perform at Elmira WegmansCongratulations to the Ernie Davis Middle School All Star Band, directed by Lansing

Dimon, and the Hendy Avenue fifth-grade string students and chorus members, conducted by Donald Webster, and music teacher Mary Jane Eckel, who performed at the Elmira Wegmans Open House on December 7. Wegmans invited these students and staff to play and sing holiday cheer to the grocery store patrons.

Two EFA art students win awards in logo contest

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Above, Students walk laps at Broadway Elementary as part of the new Morning Mile-age Club.

Broadway Elementary physical education teacher starts fitness program

Thanks to physical education teacher Diane Wieziolowski, Broadway Elementary School now has a new Morning Mileage Club to get the students walking in their idle time.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday morn-ings, instead of sitting in the gym and waiting to be dismissed to classrooms, students and staff are now walking the hallways for fun and fitness.

“The students benefit by getting exercise and not just sitting around,” Wieziolowski said. “Some students are even coming to school earlier than usual to participate.”

In addition to the fitness benefits, many students enjoy socializing while walking. And for some of the older students, the Morning Mileage Club has become a healthy competition.

Students keep track of the laps and miles they travel and will be recognized for distance milestones. The popular fitness program started with fourth-graders, and has been expanded to include grades 3 and 5.

“Now I’m trying to come up with a system so that students can earn laps during lunch recess this spring,” Wieziolowski said.

Congratulations to two EFA students from June Gordon’s art class who received top awards in a recent logo contest. Britney Whit-man was the grand prize winner, receiving a $100 savings bond. Lindsay McCracken was the winner in the 16-and-under age category, receiving a $50 savings bond. The contest was held by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Chemung County. Its goal was to create a logo that depicts Elmira’s Juneteeth Celebration and the importance of Rosa Parks.

Lindsay McCracken (left) and Britney Whit-man (right) won awards in a recent commu-nity logo contest.

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Elmira C

ity School District

951 Hoffm

an StreetElm

ira, NY 14905

District D

ialogue is published monthly

by the Elmira C

ity School District

for its employees and patrons.

Superintendent: D

r. Raym

ond Bryant

Board of Education:

Robin Long, PresidentD

aniel Hurley, V

ice PresidentM

ichael Crim

mins, Anthony Fisher Jr.,

Barton Graham

, Ethel Stroman,

Mary Beth Turner and Robert W

oods.

Editors: K

ristin Butler, 735-3026, andPam

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thorne, 795-2240.

Good news

Non-profit org.U

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EFA varsity girls soccer team wins awardCongratulations to the EFA varsity girls soccer team, led by coach Michelle

Cavalier, for winning the 2006 Wilson Sportsmanship Award from the Chemung Valley Soccer Officials Association.

EFA honor society welcomes new membersEighteen Elmira Free Academy students were inducted into the National

Honor Society at a special ceremony November 7. They are: Emily Booth, Kari Anna Eide-Lindsay, Ashley Frantellizzi, Julia Frisk, Christopher Graham, Rebecca Hartnett, Michael Krueger, Michael LeClair, Sara Janeski, Grennan Milliken, William Moore, Molly Poes, Katherine Raymond, Stephanie Richards, Angelina Rios, Molly Rogers, David Stamp and Malory Wheaton.

Students selected as top musiciansTwo Elmira high school students have been selected to perform with music

groups representing the most outstanding high school musicians in the state and in the East.

Southside’s Amanda Vallet has been selected for both the Conference All-State Wind Ensemble and the All-Eastern Band.EFA’s Kari Anna Eide-Lindsay was chosen for Conference All-State Women’s Chorus as well as Area All-State Chorus.The following students were chosen for Senior High Area All-State en-

sembles:Band: Laura Ackerman, Billy Bower, Lyndsay Doyle, Julia Frisk, LaShonna Machmer and Adam Sandore.Orchestra: Nellie Bennett, Danna Bohman, Elizabeth Buck, Katelynn Cooper, Kristen Cooper, Rebecca Crimmins, Christi Eckel, Susan Gold-man, Jessica Greger, Thomas Jacobson, Kassie Kimball, Erica Peckham and Danielle Van Wie.Chorus: Tim Abrams, Dan Bates, Sarah Doty, Jacob McCullough, Jen Morris, Josh Murphy, Steven Ostrander, Katy Parker, Sara Petzke, Isaac Quattlebaum, Catherine Sentigar, Becca Stugart, Cory Swingle, Katie Thompson, Mark Wheeler and Carly Wood.The following students were chosen for Junior High Area All-State en-

sembles:Band: Jacob Coons, John Otero, Emily Forman, Megan Kelley, Ben Linchuck, Marlyn Moore and Julie Rohr.Orchestra: Shontae Cole, Megan Frisbie, Brittany Girardi, Alyssa Man-chester, Ellen Moore, Jarod Parker, Emily Qualey, Hannah Qualey, Jessica Roupp, Maegan Sheets and Sarah Snyder.

Three teachers win WETM-TV recognitionThree Elmira teachers were featured by WETM-TV recently as an “Educator of

the Week” – Maureen Nicolo, Coburn instructional support teacher; Mary Olson, Diven music teacher; and Mary Silata, Alternative High science teacher.

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