A Publication of the Spencer Van Etten Central School April 30, 2009

Tips on Preventing the Spread of the Flu

Federal officials declared a public health alert Sunday, April 26th in the wake of deaths in Mexico from the swine flu and of at least 20 confirmed milder cases in the US.

It is important to take the same common sense precautions to prevent this illness that you would take with any seasonal flu such as staying home when you are ill. Parents do not need to keep otherwise healthy children home from school unless directed to do so by local school and health officials.

Ordinary seasonal flu, which is still active in New York State, has symptoms similar to swine flu. See your doctor if you have any flu symptoms (fever, aches, chills, tiredness, respiratory symptoms).

Precautionary measures for both seasonal flu and sine flu include:

1. Stay home from work or school if you have flu symptoms and do not return until 2 days after your symptoms are gone.

2. Wash your hands often with soap and warm water. Alcohol based hand cleaners are also effective.

3. Avoid people who are ill. 4. Cover your mouth when you cough, sneeze or spit. Dispose of tissues in a trash can. 5. Keep your hands away from your face. 6. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. 7. Clean shared space more often (keyboards, phone receivers, steering wheels, office

equipment) 8. Refrain from sharing personal items such as forks, spoons, toothbrushes, towels.

You can obtain more information about swine flu and precautionary measures at the Dept of Health’s website at www.nyhealth.gov and the Center for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Superintendent’s Notes

CORRECTION In last week’s issue I noticed a typo in my numbers and I want to make sure to recognize and correct it. I had listed our Special Education Classification Rate as 14.41% and it should have been as follows. My apology for the error. School Age-Students Classified This District All New York State Public Schools Special Education Classification Rate 11.41% 12.60%

“Parenting 101” Nearly all research indicates the critical importance of parents in helping to ensure students’ success in school. However, there is also significant research indicating that this impact begins well before school age. Anna Quindlen, in her recent NEWSWEEK article “A Teachable Moment,” brought into focus the challenges facing parents in helping pre-school children and students become more successful. Below are excerpts from her article.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Psychologist Laurie Miller Brotman spearheaded a study of young children that yielded

stunning results. The kids were from poor and troubled families, the preschool-age siblings of older children who were already acquainted with the criminal-justice system. Brotman tested levels of cortisol, a hormone that usually spikes when human beings are under stress. On average, these kids had flattened cortisol in stressful situations; so do many who have been maltreated or have behavior problems.

So far, so bad! But here's what happened to half the children in this study: their parents were enrolled in a program that helped them learn the kind of child rearing that included discipline without corporal punishment. The intervention used positive reinforcement for good behavior and even how to get down on the floor and play. And the kids' cortisol levels changed. By the time those same kids were 11, both boys and girls were less aggressive, and the girls less obese, than the kids in a control group. Having their parents learn the basics of good child rearing had actually shifted the biology of these kids.

Even in tough neighborhoods, with boys and girls whose background and circumstances would argue for a negative future, a little parent training can go a long, long way. So why is raising kids the most important job we ignore? There are more parenting classes and books than you can count. They tell us, "You'll spoil that child if you pick him up every time he cries." A few high schools give their students a baby doll to carry around and tend, but that seems largely an attempt at libido suppression.

"Parenting is a much more separate, solitary activity than it used to be. It used to take a village to raise a child, but there isn't a village anymore. Instead of extended family, there's a playground where everyone pretends everything's fine, and a computer screen behind which women can say, under cover of mommy blogs, "How come this is so hard for me?"

The prevailing mantra about being a parent is that it's mostly intuitive and uniformly joyful, even though the news, and our own lives show it to be otherwise. Therefore, parents who don't feel happy or competent are often made to feel like freaks and just keep quiet about the fact. Likewise, the media makes everyone believe not only that anyone can be a parent, but also that everyone ought to do it, even those who seem by character or inclination to be ill equipped.

We've so bought into the delusion that the ideal American family is one that's on medication. If raising children is not really so difficult or demanding, the only way to make it tougher is to pump up the numbers, right? So instead of helpful television shows on how to set limits and manage sibling rivalry, the constant examples are about the supersize family, with quads, sextuplets or a kid a year until the house looks like an army barracks.

Brotman's research has led to a program that takes a logical view of all this. It has fostered preschool programs in a small group of public schools called ParentCorps. Parents get together with school staff and ParentCorps counselors and discuss strategies like making star charts for good behavior and ignoring whining and tantrums. They go home to try out what they've learned with their kids, some of whom already have difficult behavior issues and then come back and discuss what worked.

In these families, there are markedly lower rates of aggression among kindergartners whose parents have been in ParentCorps than among the control group. The kids also score higher on standardized achievement tests. It's not even necessary to list the ways in which these results could change the future. Many parents know that if their children fail, they may wind up in prison, or in lifelong poverty.

One of the most useful parts of ParentCorps is the dialogue among the parents about how hard raising kids can be. It's almost like AA for parents: "Hi, I'm Anna, and I repeatedly ignored demands for juice and then snapped because the whining was driving me insane." Parenting can be a great job, but it would be nice if everyone could be more honest about how overwhelming the job can be, and more willing to support and inform the people who are trying to do it.

However, while the primary developmental nurturing of pre-school children falls to the parents, we as an overall community have a role to play in the growth and development of our local youth. As always, it is by working together that we can achieve the maximum for our children, our school, and our community.

Have a Great Week !Steve Schoonmaker

Science Day in Room 157

On April 9th we had a very exciting and fun filled hour and a half. Mr. Barnes decided to visit our classroom and bring 6 different types of animals into our room. Mr. Barnes is a science teacher at Union Endicott as well as Mrs. Barnes’ husband. He had the 9th off from school and was kind enough to bring almost all of his critters to our room so we could ask him questions about them and have the opportunity to hold some of them. The following are the animals he brought in: Nora (a ball python), Elvis (a tarantula), Crested Geckos, Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches, 2 Giant Millipedes and a Hermit Crab. The kids had the opportunity to hold Nora, the geckos, the cockroaches, the millipedes and the hermit crab. There were four stations which the kids rotated through every 10 minutes and then we had a question answer period, with Mr. Barnes, sitting on our rug. Some of the questions asked were: Where did he get all the animals? (Some from a pet shop going out of business), what do millipedes eat? (Decaying matter found outside in the woods – thanks Cullen for bringing in some nice loose wood!), and the biggest question of all was if he could come back again with the critters. Unfortunately he won’t be able to make it this year, but he said he’ll come back next year and that this year’s kids are more than welcome to come down and help my new students learn about the animals. As an extra special treat many other third grade classes came in to check out the animals and also had lots of questions for Mr. Barnes. A huge thank you goes out to Mr. Barnes for taking his day off and spending it with our third grade students!

Important Dates

May 6th – SVE Elementary PTO Meeting - 6:30 p.m. May 8th – 15th – Lights, Camera, Read Scholastic Book Fair

May 19th – SVE Budget Vote – High School – 12 p.m. – 9 p.m. May 25th – No School – Memorial Day

S-VE Middle School

Mary Caitlin Nickerson Wins $1,000. Scholarship Mary Caitlin Nickerson, an 8th grade student who participated on the varsity soccer team this year, found a creative way to combine her talent on the field with her abilities in the classroom. She participated in a project that challenged students to connect math to a passion in their lives. Mary wrote an essay describing the algebra, statistics, and geometry involved in many different aspects of soccer; including financing, coaching, refereeing, and playing the game. Mary is one of only 150 middle school students across the country who won a $1,000. scholarship offered by the Raytheon Company. 1,662 middle school students created presentations to illustrate the importance of math in their daily lives by answering the questions, “How does math put the action in your passion?” Mary’s scholarship was part of Raytheon’s celebration of April as Math Awareness Month. Mary can use the scholarship to attend a summer camp featuring math, science, or technology or it can be saved for college. In addition, Raytheon will give a matching grant of $1,000. to the middle school. Raytheon is awarding scholarships to students across the country as part of its MathMovesU program, an initiative designed to engage middle school students in math and science. When asked about the Mary, her math teacher, Ms. Tiffany Henry, said the following: “I'm so proud of Mary. She is such a self-confident young woman who holds herself to high standards and works hard to achieve her goals. This scholarship is one example of the incredible results of her efforts. As an eight grade student, she already has an impressive resume!”

Hills Brothers Concert Brings Enjoyment with a Message The entire middle school participated in a music assembly presented by the Hills Brothers, a musical group who tour New York State and the Northeast. Two performers, Judd Sunshine and Susan Rozler, shared their music and stories, encouraging our students to pledge to help each other and their teachers to have a safe and supportive school. The students and faculty enjoyed the performance as both observers and participants, joining the Hills Brothers in doing motions to accompany the songs. One of the favorites was a song, “We will Help You!” written by Revzin, Rozler, and Sunshine. The song included a call and response, giving Susan Rozler the lead singing role, and the audience a chance to respond, “We will, we will help you!!” We are grateful to have Arts in Education funds that support professional artists in our schools. This assembly is one part of an ongoing initiative to teach and reinforce our core beliefs of respect, responsibility, safety and problem solving.

An Invitation to Parents: May 4th Presentation/Discussion on Cyberbullying

Where: Spencer-Van Etten Middle School Auditorium When: 7:00 – 8:00

Why: To help our children be safe and happy! Questions? Call Alan Miller, School counselor, 589 3009 or almiller@svecsd.org

SVE High School

The 2009 Spencer – Van Etten Prom

The senior class at Spencer – Van Etten had a chance to celebrate their senior year at The McKinley in Endicott on April 25, 2009. As always, our students had fun and behaved impeccably. This is the second year that the prom has been held at The McKinley, and the caterers stated that our students are their first prom of the year and their favorite. We have a lot to be proud of at SVE! Below is the 2009 Prom in pictures.