Fall 2006 - Taconic Hills Central School District

Vol. 20 No.1 TACONIC HILLS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICTFALL 2006

2Superintendent’s MessageDear Parents and Friends of Taconic Hills:With so much recent bad news about school safety across our nation,I am sure that you have concerns. Please know that this school district hasplans in place for a variety of safety issues. We practice many of the drillsroutinely. We involve three different police agencies in our drills. Also,many of the police have used our building over the summer as a trainingsite. Additionally, we have a full-time trooper in our building as a SchoolResource Officer, and as you know, we have greeters that require everyvisitor to stop, sign in and leave a driver’s license or keys with us. We takesafety very seriously here for the sake of everyone in the building. Also, wecontinue to try to upgrade our plans. No plan is perfect, but we are vigilantwith our collective efforts.We need your help with a different kind of matter. There is no way thatI can send a letter to every business in our area. However, with your help,I believe if every reader of this page speaks to our local employers, you canassist us. There is a large number of our students with jobs after school,nights and weekends. Sometimes those jobs interfere with students’ abilityto get homework done and with their study habits. Please help our studentsand our efforts by asking our local employers to ask their student workers toshow them their report cards. This way, they can reinforce the importanceof earning a high school diploma to our students.Every so often I will get complaints from some of our citizens that theydon’t know what is going on in their school. If you notice the post officewhere you live, you will find as we did, that often these same individualsthrow away their copy of the Titan Herald right at the post office withoutever opening it or reading it. Please help us to keep everyone informed.This newsletter is one of the few ways we have to communicate directlywith every citizen.Lastly, please be reminded that our Performing Arts Center director hasbeen booking some great performers for your entertainment. The monthlyevents are listed on the district’s website and in the local papers.Thank you for supporting our kids and programs here at the school.We truly have a wonderful community here.Sincerely,David PacienciaSuperintendentON THE COVER Colin Vallee, Raja Pillai and Joseph Bonadonna rehearseda scene from William Shakespeare’s comedy “Love’s Labor’s Lost,” part ofthis year’s Shakespeare & Company Fall Festival. Afterperforming the play in the P.A.C. on November9 and 11, the Taconic Hills cast and crewmembers travel to Lenox to perform atShakespeare & Company’s Founder’s Theatre at3:30 p.m., Sunday, November 19. Professionaldirector Jake Berger, who is based in NewJersey, has directed the TH production.More than 500 students from 11 high schoolsin Columbia County, Berkshire County andWestern Massachusetts participated in thisyear’s Fall Festival. The students gather for afour-day mini-marathon of Shakespeare playsfrom November 16-19.BOARD OF EDUCATIONRobert Garon, President (2008)Paul B. Robertson, Vice President (2009)Tom Bailey (2010)John Mastropolo (2011)Bruce Meyers (2007)John Mullins, Jr. (2011)Hansel Schober (2007)P-L Schroeppel (2008)Richard J. Viebrock (2009)BOARD MEETINGS — The Board of Educationmeets on Wednesday evenings once a monthas noted in the annual school calendar. Themeetings are held in the Board Room at theschool and begin at 7:00 p.m. The Board welcomesand encourages the public to attendthese meetings.PUBLIC FORUM — Two 10-minute “PublicForum” sessions are scheduled at eachBoard meeting, at the beginning and near theend. These times are set aside so that residentsmay address the Board directly onissues of importance. Because the Board hasa great deal of business which it mustattend to during its meetings, the public isasked to confine its participation to thesepublic forum sessions.DISTRICT OFFICE(518) 325-0310 or (toll-free) 1-877-359-5393David Paciencia . . . . . . . . .SuperintendentThomas Buccino, Jr. . . . . . . . . . .Director of. . . . . . . . . . .Organizational DevelopmentMary Grden . . . . .School Business OfficialDavid Paciencia . . . . . . . . . . .District ClerkCarol Curtis . . . . .Food Service CoordinatorOtto Meilick . . . . . . . . . . .Facility ManagerRobert McGhee (325-0335) . . .Transportation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SupervisorHarriett Kane . . . . . . . . . . . . .Tax CollectorPLEASE ADDRESS MAIL TO:Taconic Hills Central School DistrictDistrict OfficeP.O. Box 482Craryville, NY 12521BUILDING ADMINISTRATION• 9–12 High School: 325-0390John V. Gulisane, Jr. – Principal• 5–8 Middle School: 325-0420Steven Drescher – Principal• K-4 Elementary School: 325-0370Anthony Marchesano – Principalwww.TaconicHills.k12.ny.us

SCENES FROM THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL School monitorPam Van Alphen helped Julia Zamboni follow her schedule in theTH hallways on her first day of high school. At right, attendance officerEd Jacklin welcomed three-year-old Hannah Ball, who accompaniedher older brother, Eric to school on September 6.HOMECOMING 2006 On September 29, Taconic Hills played its homecomingfootball game and welcomed back former TH students and their families. Thehomecoming court made its appearance at halftime. The court included (left to right)Joshua Piper, Elizabeth Kading, Jonathan Jefferson, Sierra Hotaling, Robert Bailly,Amanda Burns, Louis Snow, Megan Hay, Colin Vallee and Lee Anna Bradway.REACHING OUT As part of her highschool health class curriculum, Mrs.Amie Moore talks about stress and stressmanagement. Once a semester, she hasher students work out with a trainedyoga instructor. Above, Mrs. Moore’sstudents stretched out on mats in theVeterans Community Room withinstructor Roberta Roll.3

ON A MISSION:TEACHERS BEGIN A “T-9 TRANSITIONTO SUCCESS” TEAM PROGRAM4Last year, at one end of a hallway in the high schoolarea of Taconic Hills, four teachers got into a runningconversation amidst a hectic schedule of teachingclasses, keeping order and otherwise managing amass of energetic 9th grade students. A global studiesteacher, a math teacher, an English teacher and a scienceteacher, the four found themselves sharing perceptionsand concerns about the young people around them. Insnippets of conversation, a single question began toemerge: “What if we did this a little differently?” Thisyear, due to their own initiative, they are finding out theanswer to that question.“We saw certain patterns of behavior,” global studiesteacher Barry Emberlin said. “And we could see that alot of those behaviors were getting in the way of a successfultransition from middle school to 9th grade.”“In our running dialogue last spring, we realized wewere seeing the same things,” science teacher MatthewFuller said. “We thought that there had to be a way tomake an impact on these students.”Starting last spring and during the summer, the fourteachers sat down and formulated a plan. They wouldask the 8th grade teaching teams for a list of studentswho might be at risk in 9th grade and who might benefitfrom closer attention. The four teachers already had adjacentrooms. Now, they would gather a group of studentsto share this space with them. These students would havetheir four core classes—English, science, math and globalstudies—in one area of the building and they would allhave these teachers in common. In turn, the teacherscould compare notes, monitor behavior, modify lessonplans and break this group of students into smallergroups—or create a combined group if need be—in orderto help them succeed. The idea was to create an environmentwhere no student could fall through the cracks andthe maximum amount of attention could be paid.Principal John Gulisane was immediately supportive ofthe teachers’ novel plan when they presented it to him.“I didn’t know if it would work,” he said. “But I feltthat the fact that it was coming from them was reasonenough for me to get behind it. That doesn’t happenvery often.”Superintendent David Paciencia also supported theidea. “I’m very impressed with the leadership that theseparticular teachers have taken to address the needs ofspecific students,” he said. “I feel fortunate to be partof a district where kids will be given this kind of uniqueattention for the enhancement of their skills and knowledgebase.”The students in the T-9 Transition to SuccessProgram—the teachers came up with the name aftersome deliberation—were chosen carefully. Ms. Hilbrandtdescribed the type of student the team was looking for.“Many of these students have been blending into thebackground, doing just enough to get by. For the mostpart, they don’t have major behavioral issues, nor arethey at the top of their class. They stayed under theradar and hoped for the best.”One of the things the four teachers agreed upon wasthat this kind of “under-the-radar” attitude might haveworked in earlier grades, but it could lead to disaster in9th grade.“Because of the increasingly rigorous New York Statestandards, the once common practice of social promotionis no longer permissible,” Mr. Emberlin pointedout. Students who entered 9th grade doing just enoughto get by could easily find themselves failing by the endof the school year.With their parents’ permission, 38 students were chosenfor the program. While the students may havechaffed at first at the amount of attention they werereceiving, the teachers think they are beginning torespond and that their parents are behind the program.“We’re constantly watching them and talking aboutthem with each other,” Mr. Emberlin said. “If a studentlooks ‘off’ in my class, I’ll talk to the others and findout what they’re seeing. And then we’ll address ittogether, four on one. It’s going to be hard for them tofail here,” Mr. Emberlin said.Mr. Fuller said that for him the attraction of the ideawas the teamwork and the commitment he sensed fromthe other three teachers.“We’re really in this togetherbecause we want to be,” he said. “With that kind ofcommitment, a student can’t play one teacher off againstthe other. There are no excuses for them or for us.”

The students are also expected be part of a team. “If astudent says ‘I don’t get this,’ we stop right there,” Mr.Fuller said. “We’re all working together here. I think thekids are starting to get the implications of that.”Ms. Hilbrandt said that the T-9 Transition to SuccessProgram offers them more control. “In the past, we sometimesfelt that we were losing kids and couldn’t do anythingabout it,” she said. “Now we feel that we can dosomething about every single student in this program.”The teachers know that for many of their students,9th grade is still going to be a serious challenge. But byturning to each other for support, by being proactiveand getting more involved in their students’ lives, theteachers are taking a radical stand against failure.“This isn’t about being bad students,” Mr. Fullersaid. “It’s about future success. It’s about trying to makesure that these students identify their skills and build onthem and don’t get sidetracked or lost. We want themto realize that they all have the ability to achieve excellencein their own right, in their own way.”Even a seemingly small detail such as having the students’lockers near their four core classrooms has madea difference, the teachers said, eliminating the classictime-waster of “I left it in my locker.”“If they left it in their locker here, it’s twenty secondsaway,” Mr. Fuller said.Since devising the program themselves, the teachershave seen studies that confirmed many of their earliestobservations, most notably that students who fail 9thgrade are highly likely to fail high school eventually. Inaddition, they have found at least one other example ofa program similar to theirs in another part of the country.But this program’s existence is mostly based on thefact that these four teachers found themselves bondingin the hallways of their school, that they share a senseof humor and a sense of commitment. Most haveworked in difficult school situations in the past. Mostare fairly new to Taconic Hills and all four were willingto take a chance, to propose something different andthen make it happen. There have been many surprisesalready, from moments of insight into individual studentsto the amount of work they find themselves doingas they give every student more attention. As studentsturn in more work, the work gets better.“When a student puts more quality time into a paper,I’m going to put more time into grading it,” Mr.Emberlin said. “We’ve never worked harder.”“We tell each other and tell the kids that we’re likethe Marines or Navy Seals,” Mr. Fuller said. “We’re inthis together for the long haul. And we’re not leavinganyone behind.” ▲STANDING TOGETHER English teacher Donna Hilbrandt, global studies teacher Barry Emberlin, math teacherNeil Eggleston and science teacher Matthew Fuller saw an opportunity to help high school freshmen succeed byworking together as a team.5

A Day in the Life of…First Year Math Teacher… Liza Cope6You’re young. You’re new on the job in a buildingwhere you’ve never worked before. You might bea little scared. A little nervous, right? To a visitorstepping into the classroom of first year math teacherMs. Liza Cope, she appears as if she’s been doing thisjob forever. In fact, she’s hit the ground running in moreways than one.“She’s got a lot of energy,” one of her students says.Ms. Cope laughs. She says that at the end of theschool day, she often looks up at the clock and thinks:Where did the time go?“I think it goes by really quickly,” she says.After a day of working with 7th and 8th grade classes,she runs three to five miles with a group of teachers.One of her running companions is another first-yearteacher, art instructor Ms.Kate McGowan.“We met on our firstday here and hit it offright away. We both liketo stay active.”The school environmentseems to invigorateMs. Cope.“I’ve always likedbeing in school,” shesays. “I liked being inschool when I was a student, and I like it as a teacher.I always knew I wanted to be a teacher.”Initially, she thought she wanted to be an art teacherand started college at SUNY New Paltz, known for itsarts program. Then she decided that art really wasn’t forher and transferred to SUNY Albany to get her B.S. inmath. In the fall of 2005 she began a masters degreeprogram in secondary education. She’ll receive her mastersin December.Although she is young, she didn’t feel inexperiencedwhen she got to Taconic Hills.“I was used to long hours in graduate school. I did mystudent teaching, and then I took a position as a longtermsubstitute for three months. That was boot camp.”She worked at an inner city middle school in theAlbany area with students who often did not want to bethere. When she got to Taconic Hills, she says that shewas shocked.“I was shocked by how the place looked. By how nicepeople were. By how well behaved the students were andhow strong the teaching staff is. And I’m still shocked byhow well structured Taconic Hills is, especiallycompared to my previous school.“She does not like disorganization. Over the summer,she planned her first two units, or six to seven weeksworth of classroom work, for her five sections of middleschool grade math. Then the plan met reality, and on theweekends she finds herself busily reworking her lessonsto get them right for her classes.“I’m not a last minute type of person,” she says.“But some things you have to find out for yourself.Also, I’ve gotten great advice from other teachers, especiallyfrom Jamie Keenan,She does not like disorganization.Over the summer, she planned herfirst six to seven weeks worth ofclassroom work for her five sectionsof middle school math. Then theplan met reality.Rebecca Sawyer and SueSchreck, my mentor.Sometimes it’s somethingas simple as using a biggeror different font onthe guided notes. Thingslike that make a difference.”Ms. Keenan is a7th and 8th grade Englishteacher. Ms Sawyer is a7th and 8th grade specialeducation teacher andMs. Schreck is a middle school remedial educationteacher.Ms. Cope arrives at Taconic Hills at 6:45 a.m. to setup her room for the day. She makes sure that there is adaily puzzler on hand for every class, so that studentswho are more advanced can have something extra towork on if time allows.As do all teachers, Ms. Cope works with manydifferent kinds of students. Each of her five sections hasa different pace and requires a different presentationstyle. She knows that some students find math moredifficult than others. She meets with students for extrahelp after school, allowing the students the time to workthrough problems on their own and then patientlyreviewing them one-on-one. Her talent seems to be theability to stay consistently upbeat.She laughs at that description.

DATES TO REMEMBER“I’ve always been that way,” she says. “I have never cometo a dead end with anyone I’ve ever met. Maybe it’s the wayI was raised. I had a very positive home life, and I had a lotof great teachers when I was growing up.”As a math teacher, her number one priority is to deflatewhat she calls “the stigma that math is this terrible subject.”“I want every student to believe that he or she can succeed.They have to be willing to ask questions and get overthe notion that math is too hard. Hopefully I can instill thatconfidence in them.”“These years are really critical for students. This is thefoundation. If they don’t get a solid math foundation, it willbe very difficult to do well in high school.”Now living in Chatham, Ms. Cope hopes that her careerat Taconic Hills is a long one.“I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do, in a placeI love, with wonderful people.” ▲November 9November 9, 11November 10November 14November 15November 17November 21November 21November 22–24December 1December 7December 14December 15December 16December 17Veterans Day AssembliesWilliam Shakespeare’s “Love’sLabor’s Lost,” 7:30 p.m.Veterans Day — No SchoolNational Honor SocietyInduction, 6 p.m.Fall Athletic Awards Banquet,6:30 p.m.Valerie DeLaCruz “Songwritersin the Round,” 8 p.m.Unplugged Concert, 7 p.m.Middle School Dance, 7 p.m.Thanksgiving RecessHalf Day of School, ParentTeacher ConferencesGrades 5–12 Vocal Concert &Art Show, 7 p.m.Grades 5–12 InstrumentalConcert, 7 p.m.Middle School Dance, 7 p.m.Elementary Drama Production“101 Dalmatians,” 7 p.m.Hudson Vagabond Puppets“The Snow Queen,” Saturday,2:30 p.m.7

ON STAGE: MEET NEW PERFORMING ARTSCENTER DIRECTOR Sharon Hulett-Shepherd8To Sharon Hulett-Shepherd, the TH PerformingArts Center is a school facility, a communityresource, a challenge, a blank slate and an opportunity.As the new director of the P.A.C., her goal is tomake this performance center—the largest venue in thearea—work on a variety of levels across the spectrum ofthe Taconic Hills community, from country music fansto Tanglewood devotees, from people who visit the areaseasonally to those who have lived here for generations.“My vision is to introduce the space to the communityand to make it clear that the Performing Arts Centeris open for business,” she said. “The P.A.C. is open to awide variety of acts, from folk to classical music, film,theater and dance.”Unlike other performing arts centers in the area, suchas the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington or the renovatedColonial Theatre in Pittsfield, the Taconic HillsPerforming Arts Center serves a dual purpose as both acommunity and regional venue and a place where studentsgather for school events and performances.“The goal is to strike a balance,” Mrs. Hulett-Shepherd said. “The Performing Arts Center will be forkids and school families. But it will also be for the largercommunity. It can be a space where diverse and interestingcultural events happen year round.”One of Mrs. Hulett-Shepherd’s jobs is to schedule theP.A.C. for the school year, so that in-school and out-ofschoolactivities do not conflict.When outside acts come to the P.A.C., students willhelp run the show. Mrs. Hulett-Shepherd is organizingstudents to work as greeters and ushers, to staff theconcession stand and help gather the addresses ofconcertgoers to begin a performing arts newsletter.High school senior Dylan Keenan will be doing thelighting for some of the events.Mrs. Hulett-Shepherd’s background is in the visualarts, but she also has considerable experience in marketingthe arts to communities through her work at theSouthern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, whichwent from a small gallery to a year-round campus forartistic events during the time she worked there as acoordinator.A resident of Craryville—Mrs. Hulett-Shepherd ismarried to local contractor Thomas Shepherd, who isalso an accomplished sculptor—she is happy to be workingin her own community.“I have extraordinary support from the administrationand the school board to make this a space thatpeople will want to come to,” she said. “I think in thecoming year and beyond there will be a wide range ofperformances that people will enjoy and remember.”So far this year, the P.A.C. has hosted a performanceby a popular, Albany-based quartet, The True Tones, aswell as a headline-grabbing performance by music legendLivingston Taylor on this past October 7. ▲

▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲EYE-POPPING New York City-based Hudson VagabondPuppets bring larger-than-life puppetry and dazzlingchoreography to Taconic Hills on December 17.WHAT’S ON TAPAT THE P.A.C.Thursday and Saturday, November 9 and 11, 7:30 p.m.“Love’s Labor’s Lost” by William ShakespeareAs part of the annual Shakespeare & Company Fall Festival, TH students will stage Shakespeare’s comedy “Love’sLabor’s Lost.” The Taconic Hills cast will perform their version of the play as part of Shakespeare & Company’sFall Festival in Lenox on November 19. Free admission at Taconic HillsFriday November 17, 8 p.m.Valerie DeLaCruzAward-winning country music songwriter Valerie DeLaCruz will host “Songwriters in the Round,” featuring RobbyBaier and Rosanne Raneri. The three songwriters will tell personal stories about their songs and perform one another’smusic, creating harmonies, improvisations and a unique experience between friends, musicians and audience. In 1997,Ms. DeLaCruz’s song “Happy Ending” won first prize in the USA Songwriting Competition in the country category.That same year, she received her first Songwriter of the Year Award from the Northeast Country Music Association.In 1998, the Northeast CMA recognized her as a double winner as Songwriter of the Year and for Song of the Yearfor “Hey! That’s My Kiss.” $8 adults/$6 studentsSunday, December 17, 2:30 p.m.Hudson Vagabond Puppets “The Snow Queen”This remarkable troupe of professional dancers, actors and choreographers borrow from a traditional Japanese styleof puppetry, creating larger-than-life dancing puppets to perform a story based on the work of Hans ChristianAnderson. The New York City-based company has performed around the country, from the Brooklyn Academy ofMusic to the California Institute of Technology. The performance of “The Snow Queen” is a narrated ballet set tothe music of Archangelo Corelli. $12 adults/$10 children and studentsSaturday, January 27, 7:30 p.m.The United States Military Academy Band, Jazz KnightsPast performances by the Air Force jazz band have been very popular with TH audiences. This year, the P.A.C. ispleased to host a proud salute to American music from the U.S. Military Academy, whose musical heritage goes backto 1817 and whose bands have played at historic occasions around the country, as well as such venues as CarnegieHall. The 18-member Jazz Knights will perform classic big band numbers by such composers as Duke Ellington andGlenn Miller, as well as a mix of contemporary big band music and some pop. Free admission9

WHAT IS A SUPERINTENDENT’SCONFERENCE DAY, ANYWAY?10You see them on the calendar: two days in the fall, afew dates highlighted during the school year. Onthese days, marked “Superintendent’s ConferenceDay,” students stay home. Everyone else comes to school.“These days give us an opportunity to maintain consistent,continuous staff training,” Superintendent DavidPaciencia said. “Repetition is really the key—you can’thave true staff development with a one-shot trainingsession.”The first two superintendent’s conference days happenedbefore school opened for students, on August 31and after Labor Day on September 5. Four half days arescheduled throughout the school year—from Novemberthrough March.The first conference day gave Mr. Paciencia a chanceto address the entire staff at once. At the same time,many teachers and staff members were in the buildingagain for the first time in many weeks. Rooms needed tobe set up and logistics coordinated. Mr. Thomas Buccinooutlined the upcoming schedule of training and reviewsessions. Emergency procedures were reviewed and awide range of group sessions were held, from reviewingthe Early Literacy Implementation Plan in the elementaryschool to transportation department meetings in the busgarage. Amidst the back-to-school work was some scheduledphysical activity as the high ropes course wasopened to adventuresome teachers and staff.Custodian William Rogers opened the first day sessionby leading the crowded P.A.C. in the pledge of allegiance.Board of Education President Robert Garon welcomed thestaff back to school and spoke about continuing on a roadto excellence. “We want to make every child feel welcome,equal and successful,” he said. The principals introducednew teachers. Marriages, births, and a recent death werementioned. Besides discussing specific housekeeping issues,from setting up voice mail accounts to taking communalresponsibility for the building, Mr. Paciencia took theassembly through a series of targets for the year and alsospoke about his overall vision for the school.“This is not about me telling you what to do,” he said.“We are all professionals here. This is about being one unitworking together. Every family sends us their best childrenand we have a duty to do nothing less than our best.”“Nothing can stop us from being an exceptionalschool,” he said, using the analogy of a titan. “Let’smake this the year of the Titan,” he said. “A year ofenormous energy, strength, effort, pride and intellect.”Mr. Paciencia talked to the staff about his retirementin the spring, He acknowledged that this would be hisGETTING BACK TO WORK Superintendent David Pacienciaand school board member Tom Bailey looked over theirbusy calendar before school opened in September.last time doing this. And he vowed to be working as hardon his last day as his first.“I don’t intend to be a lame duck,” he said. ▲TARGETS FOR THE 2006/2007 SCHOOL YEARTARGET #1: To consistently build capacity for all students toachieve grade level proficiency and ultimately, mastery.How do you improve achievement on state tests? “First youmake the commitment,” Mr. Paciencia said. “In our business,you can’t have a bad year. It’s unacceptable, because if yousay you’ve had a bad year you’re saying kids are disposable.”The key to this consistent improvement, Mr. Pacienciabelieves, is constant staff training with all the support andvision the administration can offer.“It’s a very demanding job. We are expected to have theskills and knowledge to turn on a light bulb in every child’shead every year. That’s what we intend to do.”Taconic Hills is aiming for a minimum of 5 percent increasein proficiency levels this year on state tests.TARGET #2: To improve yearly student attendance.Taconic Hills had an average attendance rate last year of91.3 percent in the high school, 94.3 percent in the middleschool and 95 percent in the elementary school. The schoolboard and administration believe this figure can beimproved. School Resource Officer Trooper Anthony Pierroand Attendance Supervisor Ed Jacklin will be more visibleduring the first hour of school, particularly making sure thatstudents who have driven to school make it from the parkinglot into the building on time. “They will be more proactivethis year,” Mr. Paciencia said. “And driving privileges may be

evoked.” During his address to thestaff on superintendent’s conferenceday, Mr. Paciencia urged all teachers totouch base with students who havemissed a class or a day. “Make surethey know you noticed their absence,”he said.Taconic Hills is aiming for a onepercent improvement in all threeschools.Target #3: To develop a “SchoolClimate Improvement Plan.”School is a complex social environmentthat works better for some peoplethan others. Bullying, teasing, tensionsand social issues are constantly beingaddressed. Taconic Hills continues itseffort to make the environment safer,friendlier and more productive for allstudents and teachers at all times.Taconic Hills is aiming for a detailedinitiative created by staff and studentsthis year.MYSTERY GUEST When not conferring with colleagues, Mr. Paciencia welcomedthese elementary school students back to school in September. (He’s the one wholooks a lot like Winnie the Pooh.)Target #4: To devise and implement aplan for staff growth and continuousimprovement.This is an ongoing effort under theguidance of Mr. Thomas Buccino.In accordance with state regulations,Taconic Hills will be offering continuoustraining during the year.Mr. Buccino is spearheading a professionaldevelopment planning team sothat staff members get the real-worldtraining that works best for them.Taconic Hills is aiming to achievegoals established by the professionaldevelopment planning team.WELCOME Taconic Hills welcomed new teachers to the campus in late August. Pictured from left to right in the front roware Lynda Akerman, Katie McGowan, Laura Ann Cammisa, Valerie Delaney, Liza Cope and Kimberly Shyer. In the back roware Robert Murdoch, Ann Marie Farrell, Joanna Whitman, Virginia DiPalma, Cybil Howard and Shannon Foster. Beforeschool began, the teachers were welcomed by Superintendent Paciencia, Board President Robert Garon and school principals.First day activities included a tour around the building, an introduction to each teacher’s mentor, a visit to the schoollibraries and a bus trip around the district. A few days later, the new teachers went to work.Taconic Hills Welcomes New Teachers11

READY FOR LUNCH It doesn’t take long for TH students to get reacquainted after the summer off.These lunch buddies were ready to eat in the cafeteria in September.Correction: In the last issue of the Titan Herald, an inductee to the TaconicHills chapter of the National Honor Society was misidentified as ElizabethMalloy. Her name is Beth Malloy. The Titan Herald regrets the error.12THE TITAN HERALDis published by theTaconic Hills Board of EducationEditor: John SlotePhotographer: David LeeDesign: Ron ToelkeToelke AssociatesPlease address correspondence to:The Titan Heraldc/o Taconic Hills School DistrictP.O. Box 482Craryville, NY 12521TACONIC HILLSCENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICTP.O. BOX 482Craryville, NY 12521Please deliver to…BOXHOLDER—ORRURAL ROUTE RESIDENTof the Taconic Hills Central School DistrictNON-PROFITORGANIZATION U.S.POSTAGE PAIDHUDSON, NY 12534PERMIT #211