Click for Agenda
Click to Access Meeting Video
Submit comments to our District Clerk Melody LaRocca at laroccam@mahopac.org NO LATER THAN 3 p.m. on 5/28
Click for Agenda
Click to Access Meeting Video
Submit comments to District Clerk Melody LaRocca at laroccam@mahopac.org
AGENDA ITEMS: NO LATER THAN 4 p.m. on 5/21 using subject "Agenda Item"
NON-AGENDA ITEMS: NO LATER THAN 4 p.m. on 5/21 using subject "General"
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Please read Superintendent DiCarlo's 5/16/2020 Budget Message to Community here.
If you have any questions about the 2020-2021 budget which you would like the Board of Education and Administration to address at their meeting on Tuesday, May 19th, please send them to District Clerk Melody LaRocca at laroccam@mahopac.org or call her at 845-745-3722 by 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 19.
The Board of Education will meet via videoconferencing technology and immediately motion to enter a virtual executive session to discuss a personnel matter. Due to technical difficulties, it will not be possible to begin or end the meeting with a virtual public session. Please be advised that the Board of Education will take no action prior to or after executive session, other than to ask for a motion and a second to enter executive session, and to adjourn, and then to ask the members to vote on those motions. A record of the time the motions are made, and the result of the votes taken will be made by the District Clerk and included in the minutes of the meeting.
Please be advised that the Safety Committee will meet virtually on May 11 at 7 p.m. For additional information please contact Melody LaRocca, District Clerk, laroccam@mahopac.org.
Please be advised the Board of Education will meet virtually on Thursday 5/7 at 8 p.m. via videoconferencing technology. The Board is expected to immediately motion to enter a virtual executive session. Due to technical difficulties, it will not be possible to begin or end the meeting with a virtual public session. Please be advised that the Board of Education will take no action prior to or after executive session, other than to ask for a motion and a second to enter executive session, and to adjourn, and then to ask the members to vote on those motions. A record of the time the motions are made, and the result of the votes taken will be made by the District Clerk and included in the minutes of the meeting.
Retiring Principal Jim Gardineer and Newly Appointed Principal Bryan Gilligan stand together earlier this year. "We were such a team here at Austin Road," said Mr. Gilligan
Travel Channel personality and local resident Don Wildman spent National Read Aloud Day with his friends at Austin Road.
Author Wendy Mass surprised students with a visit to Austin Road to congratulate them on completing the One Author One School reading project.
Career Day!
When Dr. Seuss' birthday and the 100th day of school coincide Austin Road celebrates!
Dear Parents,
I hope that all of our Austin Road families remain healthy and safe during this experience. Please be assured that we will continue to work hard to provide our students with remote learning and some type of normalcy during these abnormal times. Your efforts to assist your children, especially as you juggle all of your other responsibilities from home, have been truly remarkable. I thank you for your extraordinary support! We miss your children tremendously, and can’t wait for the day when we all step back into Austin Road as a school community again.
Respectfully,
Mr. Gilligan
Interim Principal Austin Road
At the Board of Education meeting on May 21, Bryan M. Gilligan, Austin Road’s Assistant Principal for the last five years and acting principal from February to June 2019 and March to May 2020, was named Austin Road Elementary School’s new principal. He takes the reins from Mr. Jim Gardineer, who will retire on May 29, 2020.
“I speak for the entire administration in saying that I am pleased that The Board of Education selected Mr. Gilligan as Austin Road’s new principal. We look forward to bringing his many ideas and plans to fruition as he builds on the sturdy framework that Mr. Gardineer so carefully constructed during his years as principal,” said Superintendent of Schools Anthony DiCarlo. “Bryan is an elementary-years expert who is child-centered. I look forward to working with him as he leads Austin Road forward with passion and dedication.”
As assistant principal, Mr. Gilligan attended Teachers College Reading and Writing Institutes with a team of his teachers, was a member of the District Teachers College Reading and Phonics roll-out team, and facilitated a K-5 Writing Committee to develop a district-wide writing program. As a member of the District’s Response to Intervention (RTI) team, he worked to help struggling students through skills and lessons designed to help them succeed in the classroom. He also facilitated the renovation committee for the new Learning Lab and was instrumental in a variety of professional development and safety committee initiatives.
“I am honored to be named Principal of Austin Road,” said Mr. Gilligan. “For the last five years, it has been a pleasure and privilege to work closely with Mr. Gardineer and all of our dedicated teachers, staff, and families. I am incredibly grateful that I had the opportunity to learn from Mr. Gardineer’s leadership. In my new role, I am determined to continue building on his strong foundation to ensure that our students have a wonderful Austin Road experience. Truly, it is the commitment and enthusiasm shown by our teachers and staff that motivates me to do my best every single day. I work with such an amazing community! I cannot highlight enough how thankful and humbled I am by their support.”
“Jim Gardineer’s kindness, understanding, dedication, and love of learning have benefited all of us in Mahopac. It is inspiring to realize the impact he has had on the entire community as both a teacher and administrator,” Mr. DiCarlo said about Gardineer who began in September 1991 as a teacher and in 2008 became an assistant principal and a principal in 2010. “We will miss Jim, and we wish him well as he embarks on his retirement.”
Mr. Gilligan, who lives in Ossining, NY, earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, in elementary education and special education respectively, from Manhattan College. He went on to Bank Street College in 2006, where he earned his certification as a New York State School District Administrator. Before joining Austin Road in 2015, Mr. Gilligan served as a fourth grade teacher, literary coach, and assistant principal at P.S. 8 Briggs Avenue Academy in the Bronx.
Austin Road teachers and staff made a music video made for our students. "We miss you, we think of you, and we hope to see you back at Austin Road soon!"
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj7yxuKNMzA&app=desktop
Thank you to those who participated in the Guidance Survey.
Participants will be contacted individually as the District moves forward with the formation of the Guidance Council.
For the second year in a row, Greg Tang, Jr., math guru, and international mathematics-thought leader, facilitated Family Math Night at Mahopac High School earlier this month.
Students in all elementary schools have been exposed to “Tangy” activities and challenges throughout the course of the school year, which promote an excitement for math while encouraging students to think critically and creatively.
Throughout the day (Tuesday, Feb. 11), students at Lakeview Elementary took part in activities led by Tang and their teachers (last year this event was held at Austin Road and next year it is scheduled to happen at Fulmar Road), before all the elementary school students headed off to the main event at the high school.
The evenings’ activities were coordinated by 70 Mahopac teachers, led by Sharon Foreman and 40 members of the MHS Math Honor Society (Mu Alpha Theta) and helped provide parents with a peek inside the Mahopac math program and a chance to see exactly what happens in the classrooms.
During the lead up to the event, Tang posted a comment on Twitter regarding Math Night saying, “I have never seen a district so excited about math. Students, teachers, administrators, parents, and siblings! The world needs more of this excitement, encouragement, teamwork, community. It’s just terrific!”
There was even a special edition of Spotlight on Mahopac Schools taped all bout the evening. It can be viewed online at https://youtu.be/e52PD3gL1UQ.
Does you child turn five years old on or before 12/01/2020? Then it's time to register!
Registration is by appointment only on January 13, 15 and 30; February 5 and 13
Please contact the Office of Central Registration at 845-621-0656, ext. 13506 or 13905 to schedule an appointment and request a registration packet. Registration packets are also available on the District website under Departments/Registration/Registration Packets/Grades K-12.
The Office of Central Registration at The Falls District Office is located at 100 Myrtle Avenue Mahopac, NY.
Austin Road Elementary fifth graders elevated their status from students to field scientists earlier this fall when teachers Mary Jean Cerbini and Beth Doré tasked their classes with conducting a water-health study of the Water Pound Ridge Reservation stream in Pound Ridge, NY.
More than 50 students examined the stream water and surrounding area for macroinvertebrates to determine if whether there were signs of pollution. “Macroinvertebrates are creatures that do not have a spine like a crayfish, snail, and insects like dragonflies,” said Paige Bonder, a student in Mrs. Ceribini’s class. “Many macroinvertebrates cannot survive if the water is polluted,” she added.
The testing was done by kicknetting. A kicknet is a square mesh net about one meter wide and long with a pole handle on each side that is used to collect aquatic macroinvertebrates in a stream. “The students then classified them right in the stream by using placing their macrovertebrate findings in ice cube trays and using dichotomous keys and to determine what level indicator species they are,” said Cerbini.
The students were able to determine that the stream water was not polluted, and the trout eggs could be released when they reach the fingerling stage in the Spring. “I found a Dobsonfly in the stream which confirmed the water was healthy for the trout. By just finding one Dobsonfly out of 100 macroverabrates means the stream is not polluted,” said Sully Hunter, a student in Mrs. Dore’s class.
A crawfish with a missing claw was one of the many macroverabrates the students found and examined. “We learned that crawfish are somewhat sensitive to pollution and often time will fight with each other over territory,” said Hunter. Cerbini kept the injured crawfish as a pet for her classroom which her students named “Captain Hook.” “We get to see the claw back a little every day,” said Bounder.
The students’ study supports a grant from the Candreva Environmental Foundation. This New York state-based organization provides funding for local environmental education initiatives and projects that involve young people in environmental service.
The foundation was created in 1974 in memory of Dr. George Candreva, a Yorktown educator, journalist and visionary environmentalist. Since then, thousands of students in the region have participated in grant-supported activities that range from studying forest and aquatic ecosystems to developing a hands-on and student-run weather station.
