Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District’s Media Communication Specialist Tom Gould received a 2013 NYSPRA (New York State Public Relations Association) award at the school board meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 19. It was an award of merit for the video “The Pearls of Oyster Bay” that he produced last year, along with an accompanying CD.
“We put together a sort of music video that focused on all of the great things in our school district,” said Gould. “Making the video was a lot of fun for both the students and staff.”
School Superintendent Dr. Lauren Seinfeld said she was very proud of Gould’s achievement and that, “he was very deserving of the honor.”
Dr. Seinfeld and Board Trustees Maryann Santos and Jennifer Romeo accepted the award on Gould’s behalf when they attended the annual conference for the New York State School Boards Association in Rochester on Oct. 25. The CD has been made available as a fundraiser for the PTAs, the OBHS School Store and the Booster Club.
Gould has been working for the Oyster Bay Schools for 24 years and counting. He began as a computer lab manager at OBHS when there was just one computer lab with 16 computers and one server. Gould recalls his first week of work when the Math and Technology Supervisor, E. Lee Boyer, announced that he had just purchased a new hard drive for the server that could hold one hundred megabytes. The feeling at the time was that there would never be a need for more memory.
For the past eight years, Gould has been the Media Communications Specialist serving as the school’s first full time Webmaster. The job also includes the work of the Public Information and the AV departments. In his first year in the position, Gould created the district’s online newsletter, The OBserver, which is now in its eighth season and was honored with an award from the National School Public Relations Association.
Earlier this year he was honored by the PTA with an Honorary PTA Life Member Award, and on Wednesday, Nov. 20, Gould was recognized for his life as a musician with an Honorary Induction into the Oyster Bay High School Chapter of the Tri-M Music Honor Society.
Other News:
Fire Marshal Tim Green issued a ‘clean’ fire inspection report of the district’s school buildings after a walkthrough he performed on Oct. 15. The 20-year veteran of the fire department did not issue any citations or identify any concerning conditions and will submit a report to the State Education Department on his findings.
Interim Principal Bonnie Epstein started her first day of work at the Teddy Roosevelt Elementary School on Wednesday in place of long time principal Gina Faust. Faust, who has been the principal for more than 20 years, served out her last day on Friday, Nov. 22.
Most recently, Epstein has been the principal of the Franklin Early Childhood Center in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District.
The search process for a new principal is underway as Superintendent Dr. Seinfeld told the board that a recently formed school committee is currently interviewing qualified candidates.
“I am anticipating a start date of Feb. 10, 2014 for our new principal at the Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School,” said Dr. Seinfeld.
The next Board of Education business meeting will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 8 p.m. in the Oyster Bay High School library.
