By Dr. Elaine Kanas,
East Williston School District
The calendar for the 2016-17 school year was adopted by the Board of Education at the January meeting.
Sharing a quick overview, classes for students start on Sept. 1, 2016 and end on Friday, June 23, 2017. The last day of school, before the winter vacation is Friday, December 23, 2016 with students returning to classes on Tuesday, January 3, 2017.
February break is from Monday, February 20 through Friday, February 24, 2017. Spring vacation runs from Monday, April 10 through Tuesday, April 18, 2017 with students returning to school on Wednesday, April 19.
This year, there is an additional student day off on the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Day. Staff will be engaging in staff development, in one of the three contractual Superintendent Days provided for curriculum articulation and staff learning.
Like East Williston, several school districts are once again starting school before Labor Day in order to accommodate the 2016-17 legal and religious holidays, accommodate districts’ required student days and staff development days and finish by the required Regents Rating Day deadline.
This was midterm week at Wheatley, but it was also so much more. In addition to students taking their midterm exams, there were many opportunities for students to see that what they are learning in school has real life application and importance to their lives and the world.
While they took midterms in their other subjects, 9th and 10th graders, instead of taking a paper and pencil for their English midterm, participated in a midterm experience. Many special thanks to Secondary ELA Chair, Steve Collier and Library Media Specialist Jo Beth Roberts and all of the members of the English department, for putting together such a great opportunity for our students.
Another exciting part of the week was the first, and hopefully annual, Career Fair that took place on Thursday. Organized by Wheatley English teacher Natalia McMillan with help from Director of Guidance Greg Wasserman and social worker Dawn Muscarnera and the support of Wheatley staff members, 11th and 12th graders had the opportunity to sign up for two career workshops with visiting career professionals. In each of these sessions, students got the chance to get an in depth look at these careers and the preparation necessary to support them. The Career Fair is one of the actions in support of last year’s goals: Expand student awareness of opportunities for post-secondary study to include career readiness and technical careers.
I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Ed Bellomo who is our new Interim Assistant Principal at North Side. Mr. Bellomo is a retired elementary school principal, spending many years at neighboring Herricks School District, as well as in New York City. The district is planning a search, this spring, for a permanent Assistant Elementary School Principal to begin in the 2016-17 school year.
