Oyster Bay High School Science Teacher Craig Marlow teaches a course open to juniors and seniors called Environmental Studies and Natural Resource Management. This course is designed to familiarize students with the natural environment of the Long Island area. Emphases include identification, morphology and interactions among local flora, fauna and their respective habitats. Concepts in ecology, population demographics, conservation, waste management and wilderness survival are highlighted. Field work is an integral part of the course.
This spring, students were given an assignment to work together to investigate alternative sources of energy. Two teams developed proposals that could be implemented at Oyster Bay High School to benefit the environment and the school.
On May 18, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Laura Seinfeld, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Dr. Lisa Mulhall and Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Stephen Valente were invited to the high school to hear the two proposals.
Wendy Finn, Grace Wygand and Kiera Scognamiglio explored the economic and ecological advantages of putting solar panels on the roof of the high school. Finn and Scognamiglio were on hand to pitch their ideas to the superintendents.
Charlie Lublin and Angela Fazzalari spoke about how the high school had a recycling program in place until the company the district was dealing with went out of business and no recycling was being done this year. They met with representatives from carting companies and got quotes and developed a plan for bring the recycling program back to OBHS.
The superintendents were so impressed by the scope, depth and professionalism of the presentations that they invited Lublin and Fazzalari to present their proposal to the Board of Education at the May 26 public meeting. The board members said they were excited by what they heard and are anxious to implement their plan as soon as possible.
In fact, the CEO of one of the companies being considered was at the board meeting and got up during the public commentary period to say that he was so impressed with Lublin and Fazzalari’s presentation that he offered to do the program free of charge for the first year. Valente commended the girls for having quotes to give him in order to pursue the next course of action.
The board will hear from Finn and Scognamiglio in the fall.
