Fallsburg School Scene 2016

SCHOOL

SECTION F, JANUARY,

2016 • CALLICOON, NY

A look at activities in theFallsburg Central School District

A S p e c i a l S u p p l e m e n t t o t h e S u l l i v a n C o u n t y D e m o c r a t

SCENE

The goal is an ambitious one: thatby the end of this school year, theFallsburg Central School District

will experience student growth inreading and math skills by 60 percentand 45 percent respectively.

So the District has hunkered downto make it happen.

“I am proud of the ideas generatedand put into place,” saidSuperintendent of Schools Dr. IvanKatz. “They include improving ourstudent assessment and feedback sys-tems, enhancing programs in student

social-emotional health, ensuring thatstudents set and work towards indi-vidual goals in reading and math, andimproving our communication andfeedback strategies with the entireschool community.”

Dr. Katz said that one of the biggestchanges taking place this year is thatteachers engage students “affirmative-ly” and hold them to higher expecta-tions.

“Teachers work with students ontheir individual goals and developindividualized plans on achievingthem,” the Superintendent said.“They hold weekly meetings in theirclasses on classroom management, aspart of our Olweus BullyingPrevention Program. Students areempowered to take an active role inhow their classes operate.”

How do you boost scores? ‘Engage, affirm, empower,’

says Fallsburg superintendent

2F FALLSBURG SCHOOL SCENE SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT JANUARY, 2016

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Dr. Ivan Katz, Superintendent of Schools, hasthe District on the path to improving stu-dent skills in reading and math as evidencedby end-of-the-year Northwest EvaluationAssociation (NWEA) testing.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY KATHY DALEY

STAFF STUDY, TOOThis school year, Fallsburg teachers

have received special training in anumber of areas.

“We have a very diverse school com-munity with students of very diverseneeds,” said Katz, “and these profes-sional development opportunitieswere provided based on students’needs, as well as from feedback fromthe community and our staff.”

Workshop topics included strategiesfor helping students of poverty andstudents experiencing “trauma,” andways to get parents more involved inthe education of their children. Data-driven instructional decision-makingwas a topic, along with specifics aboutthe Teen Intervene program, whichhelps students who have begun exper-imenting with drugs and alcohol.

Continuing staff development willcome from the District's instructionalcoaches, who work with teachers onspecific subjects such as ELA andmath, and from Sullivan BOCES spe-cialists.

TRAUMA CHALLENGESTeachers this year are particularly

attuned to the child experiencingtrauma at home.

“We’ve just begun to improve ourunderstanding of how trauma influ-ences student learning and behavior,”said Katz.

Research reveals that children whoexperience stress, abuse, alcoholismand inconsistency in parental behav-iors carry those toxins to school withthem every day, impacting their abilityto learn and get along with others.

Fallsburg staff received introductorytraining on student trauma in earlyOctober.

“It has caused our staff to begin toprobe deeper when students are notcompleting their work or are behavinginappropriately,” Dr. Katz said.

Furthermore, some staff are beingtrained as “trauma champions,” whowill provide their colleagues with sup-port and strategies for how to helpstudents affected by serious stressors.

“We are also reviewing our internalstructures, such as our Code ofConduct and Positive BehaviorIntervention and Support system(PBIS — a system for encouraginggood behavior), to ensure that theyare trauma-informed,” Katz said.

PARENTS ON BOARDResearch also supports the notion

that when parents have high educa-tional aspirations for their children,the kids do better in school and betterlater in life.

Fallsburg's ongoing partnershipwith the non-profit Every PersonInfluences Children (EPIC) allows forhigh-quality training for Fallsburgparents and staff.

“Our schools developed parentengagement plans based on trainingdone last June,” Katz explained.“These include expanding parent vol-unteer opportunities in the classroomand revising our open house for-mats.”

Parent leadership training inOctober resulted in participants serv-ing on various shared-decision mak-ing teams throughout the district.More training sessions for parents onthe Common Core Standards, appro-

priate homework support and othertopics are planned throughout theschool year.

All the hard work has resulted in afurther decline in the number of stu-dent disciplinary referrals atBenjamin Cosor Elementary School,which has witnessed a slowdown inbad behavior for the past nine years.At the Junior-Senior High School, arecent increase in referrals, particu-larly at the ninth grade level, hasschool administration and PBISteams reviewing data to try to deter-mine why.

“This is why we’ve established inter-nal data systems that regularly reviewthese trends,” Katz said. “I expect thateach school’s administration andPBIS teams will respond with appro-priate strategies that will minimizeinterruptions to instruction, improvestudent behavior, and, ultimately,improve student learning.”

JANUARY, 2016 SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT FALLSBURG SCHOOL SCENE 3F

School Scene: A Look at Activities in

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Hector Garcia thinks it's verycool that his high school sci-ence teacher wants to learn

Spanish and that she's doing it by sit-ting in a class of all Spanish-speakingstudents.

“It's good for a teacher to knowSpanish and communicate with us,”said Garcia, a senior, who cheerilygave advice to the new Spanish learn-er, science teacher Molly Ollive.

Ollive said she wanted to expandher ability to really reach all of herstudents.

“I wanted to learn Spanish, and Iwanted to know what my studentswere going through,” she said.

Almost half of Fallsburg studentshail from Spanish-speaking coun-tries, Ollive pointed out. Some havelived in the U.S. for many years and

speak English well. Others are brandnew to the country, but are quicklythrown into high school classeswhere only English is spoken. Theycan get lost academically.

“One of our students came here (tothe U.S. and to Fallsburg) only amonth ago,” said Spanish teacherAngela Hist. “His Spanish is absolute-ly beautiful, but his English is non-existent.”

Another student left his nativecountry in the fifth grade but,because of his age, was placed in theninth grade, where he was totally lost.

On top of the disorientation, stu-dents often arrive in the U.S. brandedby the fears of gang violence that isthe norm in urban areas back home.

“In some places in Central America,a child can be killed walking intoschool,” said Hist.

Fallsburg's English as a New

Language class (ENL), taught almostentirely in English, does help newstudents get a leg up. But anotherclass — taught by Hist and attendedby Ollive — also improves thechances of the newcomers succeed-ing.

Ollive, surrounded by Spanish-speaking students, studies in Hist'sHome Language Arts (formerlyNative Language Arts) class. Thecourse brings students up to date ongrammar, punctuation, reading, his-tory, geography and literature, all intheir native tongue.

That, says Hist, then helps them inall their other subjects and givesthem an added boost in the ENLclass.

“Once they are learning their ownlanguage well, they can start makingconnections between Spanish andEnglish,” said Hist. A Fallsburg

Science teacher to students: ‘May I learn Spanish, por favor?’


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teacher for two and a half years, shetaught in her native country ofColombia and serves as adjunct pro-fessor at Mercy College and PaceUniversity, both in WestchesterCounty.

“Research has shown,” said Hist,“that if a student has a good basis intheir own language, they can learn asecond and third language.”

Colleague Ollive recounts that incollege, she took a Spanish language

course “where I learned colors, num-bers and days of the week.”

Then she arrived at Fallsburg a yearand a half ago, where she teachesgeneral physical science, environ-mental science and marine biology.Ollive was bothered by the fact thather students often struggled in herclasses.

“I would give them a 22-minutevideo on, say, the adaptations of ani-mals to their environment and it

would take them so long to completea report on it. I couldn't figure it out,”said Ollive. “Now I'm sitting in thisclass, and Angela gives me a two anda half minute video (in Spanish) andit takes me two and a half hours to getthrough it. I understand how it is formy students.”

Hist noted that her Spanish-speak-ing students are delighted withOllive's presence in their classroom.

“For the first few classes, Megancame in, and the students wonderedwhat she was doing here,” recountedHist. “I told them 'she wants to knowand to learn what you guys are say-ing. She is making an effort to learnabout you and your culture.'”

The kids responded with a collec-tive “awwwwwwww,” signifying theythought that was really sweet.

Now, said Ollive, they cheer her on.“I love it,” she said. “They tell me,

“Mrs. Ollive, you're doing it!”

Fallsburg senior Hector Garcia makes a pointwith Spanish language teacher Angela Hist,right, and with teacher Megan Ollive, who isimmersing herself in learning Spanish at thehigh school.

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STORY AND PHOTOSBY KATHY DALEY

At last, Suzanne Lendziandecided she was ready tomake the leap northward

from New York City.She'd worked for the New York City

Department of Education as a phys-ical education teacher and coach, asdepartment chairperson forPhysical Education and Health, andas athletic director for a buildingthat housed six public schools.There, she also served as Dean forstudent life, culture and discipline.

But, raised in Warwick, Lendzianbegan to dream of green space.

“I was interviewed for AthleticDirector at Fallsburg, and they hadtheir own field, own teams and ownfacilities,” said Lendzian. “I wasready to make the jump.”

“Students to administrators toteachers — everybody's been verysupportive,” said Lendzian, whoarrived in April. “The Phys Ed staffhas gone out of their way to assistme.”

Charged with reinvigorating theDistrict's athletic department,Lendzian has hit the court running.

“I'm working to improve the ath-letic program overall,” saidLendzian, “hiring new coaches, cre-ating and supplying coaches with ahandbook and emergency actionplan, and informing them of profes-

sional organizations and develop-ment that's available.”

Coach vacancies for the modifiedgirls’ and boys’ basketball teamsallowed her to pick up two goodhires: Kirsten Jacobsen for girls andDarius Dramos for boys. Neitherhad experience coaching, butLendzian worked on training andgetting them certified.

“They are passionate and knowl-edgeable about basketball,” shesaid. The new coaches are alsoyoung, which makes for good con-nections with the players. Plus, bothcome from families active in theDistrict and community; their indi-vidual mothers work for the Districtas teacher aides.

Drawing more potential athletes isalso a must for the AD.

She's developed an “Athlete of theWeek Program” and mailed lettershome to inform parents of theirchild's accomplishment. She rou-tinely pops into classrooms to letstudents know about upcominggames and team tryouts. She speaksat elementary school assemblies toencourage younger kids to get intoathletics.

Boys modified football coach Scott

New sports chief uses team approach to invigorate athletics


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Fallsburg's Athletic Director SuzanneLendzian is a new fixture at most homegames and at non-sports events like con-certs, dinners and scholarship meals.


Whitehead, saidLendzian, will serve asa special bridgebetween the Districtand the community —Whitehead is the PopWarner football coachfor the Town ofFallsburg.

“He's part of usreaching out to lowergrade students, gettinga feeder programgoing,” said the AD.

It's no secret thatFallsburg athletics havestruggled for wins inrecent years. Bolsteringprowess and teamwork,Lendzian is making leadershiptraining available through the NewYork State Public High SchoolAthletic Association, which willassist team captains and other teamleaders.

She gets out to practices on courtand field to add activities that polishskills and encourage teamwork. Forexample, volleyball requires a gooddeal of communication on thecourt, so Lendzian teaches an activ-ity that asks one blindfolded partnerto follow the directions of another inorder to find a hidden object in thegym, such as an orange cone usedfor traffic control.

From that activity, teammateslearn to listen to each other's voices,to trust and to work together for acommon goal.

“Working on skills — honesty,trustworthiness, dependability,

knowing your role on ateam, dedication to thetask at hand — all makefor more rounded peo-ple. It makes them con-tributing members ofsociety.”

A vital necessity forLendzian is supportingthe hard work of coach-es. This year, Phys Edteachers were trained inteaching cardiopul-monary resuscitation toall students in grades 9through 12, along withAED (AutomatedExternal Defibrillation)operation, both of

which are now mandatory skills forstudents in New York State.

Lendzian makes herself availableby cellphone or mail, “giving coach-es a level of administrative presencein a supportive way, building abridge of trust between me and thecoach.”

The sports chief, who played soc-cer, basketball and softball atWarwick High School and also lovesgolfing, kayaking and swimming,keeps a special bulletin board at thefront of the high school, encourag-ing students to take hiking opportu-nities at the Fallsburg Rail Trail or totry outdoor activities at Frost ValleyYMCA in Claryville.

“Action time out of the classroomgives students the serotonin tomake them more focused in theclassroom,” she says. “I want stu-dents to be active and healthy.”

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Charged with reinvigoratingthe District’s athletic department, Lendzian has hitthe court running.

walk-in museum to honorGeorge Washington, AbrahamLincoln and Dr. Martin Luther

King Jr., will soon grace a hallway atBenjamin Cosor Elementary School,thanks to the creative efforts of thirdgraders in the school's Extended Day

Program.Children are building the walls out

of wrapping paper tubes and packingthe museum with research and infor-

mation about the three Americanheroes. The plan, said fifth gradeteacher Christine Decker, who coor-dinates the Extended Day Program, isto teach the students to eventuallyoffer tours of the museum.

The exciting project is part of theDistrict's after-school emphasis onProject-Based Learning (PBL), an ini-tiative that encourages powerfulhands-on learning experiences.

“It's a teaching and learningmethod in which students gainknowledge and skills by working toinvestigate a specific topic, questionor problem for an extended period oftime,” explained Decker. “Studentsuse multiple modalities to gatherinformation — virtual field trips,videos, books, exploration — andPBL incorporates various academicareas.”

The children produce a productthat actually reveals the learning thattook place all along the way.Exposure to working as part of a teamis also a plus.

“We are also trying to get our stu-dents to see beyond the school andtheir hamlets, and to see how inter-dependent the world is,” Decker said.“They have very limited opportuni-ties to explore, visit, or experience lifeand we are trying to bring theseopportunities to them.”

Opportunities abound in theExtended Day program. Some 360students from grades K-6 meet after

After-School kids absorbed in project-making and team building

STORY AND PHOTOSBY KATHY DALEY

A

Fifth graders Jose Martinez and Nelson Brizuela Paz agree with Extended Day Program Coordinator Christine Decker, above, that projectbuilding makes for fun learning.


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school from 4 to 5 p.m. on Mondaysthrough Thursdays.

An important focus is on helpingstudents complete their homework,but there is play time as well. There'san art club, a journalism club, a Bigand Littles Mentor Club, which pairshigh school students with youngerkids to work on homework, andthere are games and a Zumba pro-gram.

But the PBL emphasis is new thisyear and creating quite a buzz.

“I'm working on a rainforest proj-ect,” said fifth grader Madison TorresMartinez, with excitement sparkingin her eyes. “I researched snakes, bigcats, monkeys, birds and boa con-strictors!”

Nelson Brizuela Paz and JoseMartinez, also fifth graders, haveteamed up to build a soccer field andstadium, and are researchingNeymar, the famous Brazilian soccerplayer who goes by his first name.

“Making a replica of a soccer field isreally fun,” said Nelson. “You learn towork together.”

Decker says the children's teachersplay a role in the after-school learn-ing as well.

“We have asked their teachers totake 15 to 20 minutes daily to focuson a long-term project for students,”which is then furthered after school,Decker said. “We have also askedclassroom teachers to give no home-work on the third Thursday of each

month so that groups can devote theentire hour to their PBL project.”

Even better — many of the stu-dents' teachers, teacher assistantsand teacher aides actually work withthe kids after-school as part of theExtended Day Program.

“They are very dedicated,” Deckersaid.

Special projects include insect andbat studies by first graders, and spi-ders and owls in second grade. Third

graders work on maps, countries andcultures, while fourth graders buildreplicas of famous landmarks aroundthe world. Rainforests are thepurview of fifth graders, and sixthgraders focus on the Middle Ages.

The after-school group of Englishas a New Language students is mak-ing small-scale versions of the TajMahal, the Statue of Liberty, andShakespeare's Globe Theater inLondon.

Decker said the school hopes toshare its after-school projects withthe Fallsburg community at large inthe springtime. Meantime, thehands-on learning is reaping signifi-cant rewards.

“Since the introduction of PBLprojects, we're noticing that studentsare motivated to do their homeworkin a timely fashion so that they can goback to work on their PBL project,”she said. “Plus, PBL is fun!”

Student Madison Torres Martinez hasresearched rainforests and is working on adiorama that includes a pretend boa con-strictor.

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Diego Lemus was one of the 12-year-olds who, from timeimmemorial, pushed back

when someone pushed first. But atschool, that kind of comeback is notpermitted.

So Diego is part of a program atBenjamin Cosor Elementary Schoolcalled Buddies that gives studentsstrategies for calming down and notresorting to retribution.

“Before, I would get frustrated andnot think positively,” said Diego. “Imight say mean things. This hashelped me to get friendships and tounderstand that by hitting or yelling,you hurt the other person's feelings.

“I have learned how to get alongwith people,” he said. “There was akid I didn't get along with in thirdgrade. Now I am giving it a chance.”

Created by instructional mathcoach and veteran teacher PeterDworetsky, “Buddies” gathers stu-dents from first through sixth grade

to meet once a week from 8 to 9 a.m.,before the school day starts. Workingwith Dworetsky on the project arekindergarten teacher Scott Perstenand school psychologists KatrinaUhrig and Gabriella Calvello.

“We try to target students who arein need of extra support in somearea,” said Dworetsky.

Some students have trouble withbehavior or academics. Others havesocial or emotional issues.

First, the group of about 15 stu-dents run through some ice-break-ing activities — such as a cup-stack-ing challenge that teaches how tolose and what to do, gracefully, when

one experiences frustration.One strategy is to count backward

from 10 to 1, taking deep breaths,rather than reacting immediately.

“That has helped me,” said Diego.From there, Buddies students and

adults break into small groups to dis-cuss any problems the students areundergoing. Goal setting comes next— one student might promise thathe will complete his homework.Another might have trouble gettingto school on time, and her strategymight be to work more to get ready inthe morning, without worryingabout what siblings are doing.

Twenty minutes of physical activi-

ty in the gym caps the Buddies hour.“We play kickball because it's team

building,” said Dworetsky. “We areseeing that some kids who didn't getalong with others are really improv-ing, and you see the older kids help-ing the younger kids.”

During the regular school day, thestudents know that they can turn toany of the four Buddies’ adults forassistance or advice.

Students are selected for Buddiesbased on teacher recommendationor parental request.

Perks are included. To rewardBuddies' kids for meeting their goalsand improving behavior, the group

enjoyed a recent tour of the New YorkState Museum in Albany, where theyalso engaged in a bird-drawing work-shop that fascinated them.Afterwards they ate at Pizza Hut.

Dworetsky said the Buddies' hourof calm attention is nurturing for thestudents.

“All day long, this building is teem-ing,” said Dworetsky. “But for anhour, we are a small group and areable to give really good attention tothe kids. Hopefully they will benefit.”

Diego Lemus says he already has.“My mother told me she is proud

of me,” said the student. “That wentright to my heart.”

Best ‘Buddies’ at elementary school make for positivity and peace

Sixth grader Diego Lemus, at right, says he's benefited from a new program designed by veteran elementary school teacher PeterDworetsky.

‘Before, I would get frustratedand not think positively, Imight say mean things.’

Diego LemusStudent |




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