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NEWS

When teaching assistant Robin Cruz was growing up, she remembers the stories a dear family member used to tell her. She remembers the sadness and pain of those stories as if they were her own. That is how Ms. Cruz first identified with the devastation she would come to know as the Holocaust.

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Using lessons from the Holocaust to teach empathy

Robin Cruz helped students understand the Holocaust by reading, “Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary,” by Ruud van der Rol and Rian Verhoeven. The class then discussed the book chapter by chapter explaining the meaning and importance of each section. Many of the students were touched by Anne Frank’s story and created projects to help them feel closer to her and to help them express their own pain of loss and trauma. Students printed the “Faces of Children from the Holocaust” with forget-me-not cards. This helped them understand that vast numbers of children were murdered in addition to Anne Frank. From left, teacher aide Anita Kientzler sits with eighth-grader Christopher Beatty during the lesson.

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Years later while working at the Robert J. Kaiser Middle School, a passing comment from an indifferent colleague would touch that memory and spur Ms. Cruz to action. She knew the only way to enlighten people to the reality and brutality of the Holocaust was to find someone who had lived through it to tell his story. That is how she met Werner Reich. Helping others understand “The sheer ignorance of this person’s comment is what drove me,” said Ms. Cruz, who has worked at RJK for the past seven years. “It is my passion to make others understand the depths of hell the Jewish people suffered. The Holocaust horrors have no boundaries of brutality. You have to see it and hear it for yourself. The fact that the Nazis tried to wipe out a race of people who contributed so much to society is unimaginable.”

Ms. Cruz knew how she was affected by seeing the starving faces of the thousands of little children and babies separated from their families, waiting to be shot or sent to the gas chamber.

Page 2 - Learning about the HolocaustPage 3 - Why we should rememberPage 5 - MCSD business office in action Page 6 - Teaching fiscal responsibilityPage 7 - NYSED officials visit MonticelloPage 8 - Two beloved leaders set to retire

what’s inside

Continued on page 2 Parent Today is an e-newsletter and website that provides parents, teachers, support staff members and school principals with tools and information about important educational issues. Each bimonthly e-newsletter features stories relevant to corresponding academic and developmental stages of children - early learners, elementary, middle years and high school. Sign up for this free resource at www.parenttoday.org or www.monticelloschools.net.

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The Holocaust: Using knowledge to empower students

From left, RJK teaching assistant Robin Cruz with Holocaust survivor Werner Reich. To help her students in Sarah Slinsky’s 6th, 7th and 8th grade special education class understand the atrocities, prejudice and brutality against humanity the Holocaust represents, Robin arranged to have Werner Reich come to Monticello Schools as a guest speaker. The students were stunned to find out that the Jewish people were used as slaves, starved and killed. They learned about the non-Jewish people who risked their lives to save some of the Jewish people. According to Ms. Cruz, during the lesson, “the questions were endless about how anyone could be so cruel to innocent babies, children, women and men out of hatred.” Mr. Reich, 82, and his wife Eva (inset), who is also a Holocaust survivor, live in Smithtown, Long Island. They travel all over New York State together giving free Holocaust presentations to students and training educators how to teach about the Holocaust. During Mr. Reich’s presentation, he included many powerful images and facts about the Holocaust that were startling and poignant. Many in the crowd were moved to tears.

She remembered the heartbreak from the childhood stories she had been told. She knew that sharing the truth and knowledge about these monstrous acts with her students and colleagues would be the only chance she had to help them understand the magnitude of the damage caused by the Holocaust.

Memories of a Jewish boy“What kind of person will you be?” asked the unassuming man with the kind eyes and gentle smile - his calm, steady voice never revealing the horror and pain of his past.

It seemed unlikely that these young minds sitting in the large auditorium would relate to what this man had lived through sixty years earlier. Yet, there was intensity in the underlying emotion that filled the room. As his presentation began and the brutal images depicting the devastation of the Holocaust flashed onto the large white screen, a stark silence came over the crowd.

His name is Werner Reich – a Holocaust survivor – now in his eighth decade he is sharing his story with the youngsters of today in the hope that he can touch their lives and change the course of history – one child at a time. This leg of his life’s journey began with the birth of his grandson. That moment sparked in him a desire to share his first-hand experiences during the Holocaust with the younger generation. He created a photo display and presentation and began visiting schools.

He soon came to realize that his work was even more important than he had imagined when at one of his early presentations a young student asked if a concentration camp was similar to summer camp.

Now 15 years later, Mr. Reich has shared his story with thousands – not propelled by hatred and revenge or the need for pity - but a retelling of an experience designed to empower the listener to believe that he or she can make a positive difference in the lives of others - right here, right now.

“The Holocaust was about more than just

Jewish people,” said Mr. Reich, who is a retired

industrial engineer. “You cannot live your life as a bystander. Someone who does nothing is just as bad as the person who is doing the bad thing.”

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Holocaust survivor Eva Reich

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When good people do nothingAs he began to peel the layers of his life as a young boy in Germany and Yugoslavia, Mr. Reich’s story exemplified “what happens when good people do nothing.” This theme repeated over and over as he showed how history could have been changed if the “good” people had banded together to fight the Nazi “bullies.” He also showed examples of how good people did risk their own lives to save others and how one of those acts of bravery and kindness saved the life of his future wife, Eva. He then weaved this timeless tale back to modern day – to the school cafeteria or gym class – the new student on campus or the one who is somehow different. He made the audience realize how each and every one of them could make a positive difference in someone’s life by being that “good” person who takes action and stands up for what is right. He handed out little white cards which read: “How to be a JUST person (Judge the situation, Understand the problem, Solve and Take action) and do the right thing – Speak up and save a life. Indifference kills.”

As he continued, Mr. Reich recounted how the German secret police aka the Gestapo “beat the living daylights” out of him on more than one occasion – just for being Jewish. How he had to hide for months in a small room with a family who was supporting the Nazi resistance. He recounted some of the brutal images that were burned into his memory when he told of being taken from his own family by German soldiers and locked in a jail cell filled with millions of fleas. He spoke about being transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp where he was starved, beaten and taunted by the prison guards and how he was one of a handful of “lucky” people not chosen to be killed. He quietly spoke of the last time he saw his mother before she was murdered by the Nazis.

For more information about the Holocaust, visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum at www.ushmm.org.

Eleven-year-old Diego Gonzalez picked Hannah Hajek as his Holocaust child. Hannah was sent to the gas chamber with her mother and grandmother when she was just four years old. “This assignment made me so sad,” said Diego. “I will remember it forever and try to keep the people who died alive in my heart. We need to be grateful for what we have now.”

Always remember, never forgetIt is difficult for some people to understand why a Holocaust survivor would want to re-live the horrors of his experiences over and over again. How could one bear to look into the eyes of the dying children and see the faces of the thousands of people as they were led onto the trains of death and into the gas chambers. For Mr. Reich, it is unfathomable to allow the devastation and injustices of the Holocaust to fade with time and distance. He knows that as new generations grow, the reality and the pain become less vivid. He knows that if people become complacent, it can and will happen again. Every day the news is filled with stories about dictators and governments that are committing atrocities against their citizens. When we watch how people all over the world are fighting for freedom and their human rights, it helps us understand why we must remember. For knowledge is power and empowers us to change the future. It also makes us ask ourselves, in Mr. Reich’s words, “What kind of person am I?”

“A Child of the Holocaust”Remembering

Hannah Hajek

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For more photos and information about the Holocaust, see page 4.

The Holocaust Remembrance Day - April 19, 2012

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Anne Frank was one of the most renowned and discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world’s most widely read books. Born in Germany, Frank lost her citizenship in 1941 when Nazi Germany passed the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws. She gained international fame posthumously (after her death) when her diary was published. It documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. (Wikipedia.org)

Students created Anne Frank booklets that included an analysis about how she must have felt while she was in hiding and what her parents had to do to stay strong. The lesson included an explanation as to why it is extremely important to talk about such a horrific time in history and that it took place not really that long ago. Discussions also tied the Holocaust to events in the world today, including terrorism and the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. From left, RJK students Isaiah Madden and Alithea Bolden display their work.

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The Holocaust: Teaching tolerance and compassion

The Holocaust was the genocide (murder of an entire ethnic, national or religious group) of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a program of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler. Of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust, approximately two-thirds perished. In particular, more than one million Jewish children were killed in the Holocaust. Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis’ genocide of millions of people in other groups, including Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, Polish and Soviet civilians, homosexuals, people with disabilities, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other political and religious opponents. This occurred regardless of whether they were of German or non-German ethnic origin (including new born babies and infants). Using this definition, the total number of Holocaust victims is between 11 million and 17 million people. The persecution and genocide were carried out in stages. Various legislation to remove the Jews from civil society - including the Nuremberg Laws - was enacted in Nazi Germany years before the outbreak of World War II. Concentration camps were established in which inmates were used as slave labor until they died of exhaustion or disease. Where the Third Reich conquered new territory in Eastern Europe, specialized units called Einsatzgruppen murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings. The Third Reich required Jews and Gypsies to be confined in overcrowded ghettos before being transported by freight train to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, the majority of them were systematically killed in gas chambers. Opinions differ on how much the civilian population of Germany knew about the government conspiracy against the Jewish population. The historian Robert Gellately, however, claims that the government openly announced the conspiracy through the media, and that civilians were aware of its every aspect except for the use of gas chambers. Significant historical evidence points to the idea that the vast majority of Holocaust victims, prior to their deportation to concentration camps, were either unaware of the fate that awaited them or were in disbelief. They honestly believed that they were to be resettled. (Wikipedia.org)

Seventh-grader Kirsten McCarthy was deeply touched and awed by this lesson. She went home, independently researched information and images, and worked all weekend to create a visual time-line about Anne Frank, the Holocaust and the Nazis. Later in the week, she shared her finished work with her classmates.

World War II was a global conflict that was underway by 1939 and ended in 1945. It involved most of the world’s nations - including all of the great powers - eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million military personnel mobilized. In a state of “total war,” the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Marked by significant events involving the mass death of civilians, including the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare, it is the deadliest conflict in human history, resulting in 50 million to more than 70 million fatalities. (Wikipedia.org)

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Hard work and dedication make this office much more than just “business-as-usual”

At the helm, sits Denise Cedeira-Thornton, a numbers-savvy business administrator who knows how to tap into the plethora of talent and experience of her staff members. At her side is administrative assistant Chris Rice, who after more than 14 years of maintaining special education grants, coordinating district and student insurance claims, managing state reporting requirements and weathering a dozen-plus budget seasons, has become one of the district’s best resources of historical information.

Accountant Elizabeth Terwilliger begins and ends her days with the finer details of every number that comes across her desk. This includes monitoring all aspects of the school budget, federal grants and capital projects. Her work ethic of meticulousness and accuracy has set the stage for numerous accolades from external auditors.

Payroll clerks Sally Richardson, Merle Friedlander and Jean Miller are known as the tag-team specialists who know how to get the job done. In addition to helping Sally with the payroll for Monticello Schools’ more than 800 employees, Merle doubles as the face of the tax collector’s office – a position that requires her to be sensitive to the needs and struggles of the taxpaying community. Jean doubles as the benefits coordinator handling health insurance, disability, workers compensation and more.

The Monticello Schools Business Office is located at 237 Forestburgh Road in Monticello. The office is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and can be reached via telephone at 845-794-7702.

The women of the Monticello Schools Business office are the unsung heroes of the educational process. From payroll to tax collection, budgeting to employee benefits, personnel to purchasing, these hardworking ladies are responsible for the behind-the-scenes daily operations required to keep the district running smoothly.

When it comes to data, Cathy Travis has traditionally been the person to call. As the attendance and census clerk, she tracks many of the statistics needed to create state and local reports. Now after almost 24 years, Cathy will be saying goodbye when she retires this July. Although she will miss her office buddies, her plans to travel, spend time with family and do some of the things she has always wanted to do will surely keep her days filled.

Completing the three floors of the business office is personnel specialist Jannetta MacArthur – Monticello’s one-woman human resource powerhouse. Her job begins before dawn calling substitute workers and teachers. It then fills her day with many responsibilities such as applications, certifications, employment postings, civil service and retirement.

Two years ago, Monticello Schools began utilizing some of the services of the Sullivan County BOCES Central Business Office (CBO). At that time, accounts payable and purchasing were consolidated as a way to save the district money. Presently, Abbie Bivins and Nance Poyer work through the CBO. Although no substantial savings have been realized as of yet, it has been a cost effective endeavor with a forecasted monetary benefit for the long-term.

From left, Monticello Schools Business Office members Elizabeth Terwilliger, Sally Richardson, Jean Miller, Cathy Travis, Denise Cedeira-Thornton, Chris Rice, Jannetta MacArthur and Merle Friedlander. Ms. Cedeira-Thornton, who began as the school business administrator in September 2011, commended her business office team and stated, “thanks to their hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence, we can fully support the needs of our students and staff.”

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Student-run banks provide real-world skills and learning As a way to help youngsters become money savvy and learn fiscal responsibility at an early age, the George L. Cooke and Emma C. Chase Elementary Schools in collaboration with Provident Bank began on-campus banking earlier this year.

At Cooke, Provident Assistant Vice President and Business Manager Cheryl Stickle and Client Service Associate Michael Rivera worked with school liaison Kelly Mitchell to open the Monticello Panthers (MP) branch. At Chase, International Baccalaureate (IB) Coach Linda Holmes worked with the Provident duo to help students establish the United Bank branch.

Each bank is run by a staff of fifth grade students who had to apply and interview for their positions, which includes a branch manager, customer service representatives, public relations and marketing personnel, and bank tellers. Students hired to work at their school bank also had to go through a rigorous training program specific to their job title. This included creating an advertising campaign to inform other students about the services offered at the in-school branches. Provident officials oversee all transactions and allow only monetary deposits by students into a youth savings account. If a child wants to withdraw money, he or she must go to a community branch of Provident Bank with a parent.

Learning to be fiscally responsibleThis program teaches children how to be responsible with money,” said Ms. Stickle, who works at Provident Bank in Rock Hill. “We also talk with the students about the benefits of saving and investing.”

The school banks are open one morning a week for any student in kindergarten through grade 5 to open or manage an account. All they need is a parent’s signature, identification, the capability to write their name and a little bit of money. Once they qualify for an account, the fifth grade bank staff will walk them through the process step by step.

For more information about the school banking program, call Chase Elementary at 888-2471, Cooke Elementary at 794-8830, or Provident Bank in Rock Hill at 794-2520.

From left, teaching assistant Kelly Mitchell and Provident Bank official Cheryl Stickle oversee a savings account deposit at the Cooke MP Bank. Student customer service representatives Mackenzie Turick and Emilie Mulhern guide fellow student Alexandra Rosenstein through the process.

Chase IB Coach Linda Holmes and Provident Bank Assistant Vice President Cheryl Stickle explain the banking computer program to fifth-graders, from left, United Bank customer service representative Kelly Smith and bank teller Ashley Mancroni.

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From left, Cooke Elementary students Nathaniel Soueidan, Trevor Sasso, Desiree Edwards, Provident Bank official Michael Rivera, Cooke Principal Sandra Johnson-Fields, fifth-graders Caitlynn Carrera, Juan Ortiz and Yo’Lasia Powell. The group of students went through hands-on training to learn the duties of their new banking jobs.

Banking at Cooke: The Monticello Panthers (MP) Branch

NY State Education Department leaders visit Monticello Monticello School District faculty and staff were given the rare opportunity to talk directly to two state-level policy makers. As part of the February 17 district-wide conference day, NYSED Deputy Commissioner Ken Slentz and USNY Regents Research Fund Senior Fellow Kate Gerson gave a straightforward presentation that included information about the new teacher evaluations and the Common Core State Standards.

Asking the tough questionsAt the end of the two-part presentation, participants had the chance to ask some difficult questions to the NY State duo. One staff member asked if there would be consistency and continuity with the new teacher evaluation system.

Mr. Slentz replied, “I cannot imagine moving away from a system that allows teachers and administrators to improve.”

Although he did indicate that there would be a conscientious “tweaking” of the process toward optimum effectiveness during its implementation.

The overall mood in Monticello’s packed auditorium was upbeat, yet many in the room wanted assurance from the officials that there would be continued analysis and reflection at the state level of the proposed changes.

Monticello Superintendent of Schools Daniel A. Teplesky is flanked by NYSED Deputy Commissioner Ken Slentz and USNY Regents Research Fund Senior Fellow Kate Gerson.

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The News from Monticello Central School District

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Superintendent of SchoolsDaniel A. TepleskyAssistant Superintendent for Student LearningDr. Kenneth W. Newman, Sr.

School Business AdministratorDenise Cedeira-Thornton

Board of EducationSusan Purcell, PresidentBob Kunis, Vice PresidentRobert Bellamy Cathleen DohertyJune Havas-LombardiYvonne Housman Ellen NesinStacey SharoffAlyce Van EttenMcKenzee Greene, Student Representative

Produced in cooperation with the Capital Region BOCES Communications Service.Renata Gittler, Editor, Layout and Photography

The Monticello Central School District is losing two of its beloved school leaders to retirement – Susan Gottlieb and Deborah Wood. Both administrators have served the district for multiple decades and have shaped the lives of hundreds of children from our community. They will be missed greatly.

Two longtime administrators say goodbye

Deborah Wood, Principal, Robert J. Kaiser Middle SchoolDeb began working for Monticello Schools in 1979. She will have given the district 33 years of dedication and commitment when she retires this July. She began as a physical education teacher and worked in that capacity for 11 years. She then served as the assistant principal for the RJK Middle School for five years. In 1995, she was chosen to lead the RJK school community - which she has done with compassion and grace for the past 17 years.

“I have enjoyed my time working in the Monticello Central School District,” said Ms. Wood. “It has been a great pleasure to watch our students learn and grow. I appreciate the support I received throughout my career from faculty, staff, administration, Board of Education, parents and students. We have a wonderful school community that I will miss very much.”

Susan Gottlieb, Principal, Emma C. Chase Elementary SchoolSusan began working for Monticello Schools in 1979. When she leaves this August, she will have given the district 33 years of dedication and love. She began as a volunteer while she was a student at Monticello High School. She then worked as a teacher aide in the elementary summer school program during her college years. After graduation, she was hired by the district to teach elementary school. During her tenure, she served as a literacy coach and then the principal of Chase – where she has been the instructional leader for the past seven years.

“It has been my honor and pleasure to serve Monticello in a variety of professional capacities,” said Ms. Gottlieb. “The Monticello Central School District is my home and my love, so it is with bittersweet emotions that I leave. I would like to thank the Board of Education for its support during my career. I have been very blessed.”

From left, Principals Deborah Wood and Susan Gottlieb.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, andI took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.” - Robert Frost

Celebrating Culture & Diversity in the Monticello Central School District

School / Community Celebration Event April 3, 6 p.m., Monticello High School

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