Teachers, staff return for 2023-24 school year

Teachers and other staff came together at the Washingtonville High School auditorium on Tuesday, September 5, 2023, to kick off the 2023-24 school year with a Superintendent’s Conference Day. They heard an overview of the school district’s new strategic plan that is being drafted, listened to welcome addresses, were introduced to new staff and honored for marking years of service.

Superintendent Dr. Larry Washington recognized all the various districtwide and school staffs for their commitment to the Washingtonville Central School District. He also explained the process involved in creating a draft of the strategic plan this summer. 

“This summer I had the opportunity to work with Blueprint for Excellence^© Strategic Planning Service, our community, our Board of Education, our administrative team, and our teachers for the district, and we sat down to start the process of our strategic plan,” he said. After the meeting he shared the plan with the attendees. He said he will be seeking feedback from teachers and input from students.

He explained how the district reached out to the community through a survey for their input and got more than 365 responses. Administrators, board members, school staff, parents and community members then met in community teams to come up with a mission statement, a vision statement, and a set of core values, priority areas and action steps. He said the next phase will be revisions, feedback and roll out of the finalized strategic plan to the community once it is complete in the coming months.

He then showed a video where he interviewed staff, asking them for a key person they’ve worked with who impacted their professional life, and students, asking them for the name of their favorite teacher and why they chose that teacher.

Board President Sharon Williams thanked everyone for making a difference in the lives of students every day. “I stand before you not only as the board president but as a parent,” she said. “I have two children within the district and I can’t say ‘thank you’ enough for all the hard work that you do – for my kids and for all of the kids. We do appreciate everything you are doing.”

She challenged the audience of teachers and staff to find what students do well and let them know they are valued, respected and loved.

Representatives from the Washingtonville Teachers Association, the Washingtonville Administrators Association and the Civil Service Employees Association also provided welcome addresses to the crowd.

The district also recognized new staff, giving them T-shirts for Wizard Wednesdays:

New CSEA staff: Michelle DelValle, Food Service; Carmen Dominguez, Monitor; Kaitlyn Elia, Teacher Aide; Ernst Eristil, Bus Driver; Robert Goodrich, Custodian; Cathy Gregg, Monitor; Katherine Kopiecki, Food Service; Ann Mammoliti, Typist; Jade Oblenis, Food Service; Maritza Pagan, Teacher Aide; Daniela Ross, Food Service; Cherie Rozzi, Teacher Aide; Heather Ryan, Food Service; Susan Schildwachter, Monitor; KellyAnn Sidley, Monitor; DuVaughn Swanston, Custodian; Alexis Tatro, Bus Driver; and Rebecca Thomas, Food Service.

New High School staff: Kristin Doucette, Guidance Counselor; Sierra Friberg, Special Education Teacher; Thomas Gardner, Physics Teacher; Jacob Hard, Chemistry Teacher; Kayla Pucci, Physical Education.

New Little Britain staff: Nastasha Carrasquillo Deliz, Teacher; Fatime Cela, Teacher; Giuseppina (Josephine) Curto, Teacher; Adrianne Falco, ENL Teacher; Karina Gil, 0.5 Special Education Teacher; Daniel Huggard, Teacher.

New Middle School staff: Stephanie Ferrick, Biology Teacher; Tracy Vogt, Reading Teacher; Amya Taylor, English Teacher.

New Round Hill staff: Victoria Bruschi, Special Education Teacher; Jordan Castro, Psychologist; Christine Horos, Nurse; Fiordalisa Lora, ENL Teacher; Ariannie Medina, Speech; Jennifer Migliorini, Teaching Assistant; Lourdes Ramirez, ENL Teacher; Elizabeth Richland, Teaching Assistant; Dariel Santana, Teacher; Michele Savarese, Special Education Teacher; Erin Wilson, Special Education Teacher.

New Taft staff: Lindsey Julian, Teacher; Courtney Ostrander, Special Education Teacher; Charles Romano, Psychologist; Michelle Zupancic, Special Education Teacher.

Teachers and staff with years of service milestones were also recognized:

10 Years of Service: William Becker; Terry Bendsak: Luke Bruscino; Kimberly Constable; Daniella Denaro; Maryann DiSalvo; Andrew Dunlop; Donna Hubert; Kristin Shaw; Patricia Siira; Michael White Jr.; Christine Williams.

15 Years of Service: Cindy Bacigal; Tracey Finn; Astrid Hagan; Sheena Hollywood; Colleen Kaiser; Leonard Klopchin; Laura Martinez; Matthew Martirano; Joshua McElroy; Michelle McElroy; Emily Miller; Ariana Molfese; Patricia Morrice; Robert Oberle; Lorraine Pasquarelli; Pamela Ragusa; Beth Shewell.

20 Years of Service: Melissa Benjamin; Karin Caufaglione; Don Clark; Alba Crinnion; Jennifer Diamond-Murphy; Jill Exarchakis; Shannon Faber; Robert Gellman; Christine Goodenough; Neil Grencer; Nancy Hartford; Lara Held; James Knips; Wanda Lampon; Kim Leblanc; Michelle Marion; Dina Martirano; Valerie McPartland; Christine McWeeney; Rasheen Milner; Jean O’Donnell; Patricia O’Hara; Ralph Perez; William Quinn; Paige Sessa; Sam Shackleton; Christina Smith; Danielle Todaro; Nora Uvenio; Rebecca Wetzel; Robert White.

25 Years of Service: Suprita Arora; Katherine Buck; Jane Clark; Ed DeGroodt; Adele Hastings; Michelle Henn; Kathryn Luttman; Wendy McCormick; Laura Miller; Maria Rashford; Lisa Teall.

30 Years of Service: Jonathan Chin; Patricia Hoover; Sandra Huntz; Douglas Kane; Katrina Kiernan; Tammy Moskowitz; Tracy Stadler.

Dr. Washington then awarded two schools with new trophy honors – Taft Elementary School won Best in Show and Washingtonville Middle School won Best Customer Service.