Huntington School Briefs
Flora Lutsky has been hired to work as a part-time ESL teacher at Huntington High School. She earned a B.A. degree in May 1994 at Barnard College in Russian and Spanish and obtained an M.A. degree in Dec. 1996 at SUNY Stony Brook in TESOL and an M.F.A. degree in Feb. 2000 at Brooklyn College in English poetry.
Prior to coming to Huntington, Ms. Lutsky has worked as an ESL teacher in the Springs (Sept. 1997 – June 1998), Middle Country (Sept. 2000 – June 2001), Great Neck (June 2001 – June 2003), Roslyn (Oct. 2004 – June 2005), Port Washington (Sept. 2005 – June 2008) and Merrick (Sept. 2008 – June 2009) school districts.
District officials reviewed 19 resumes and interviewed six candidates before recommending Ms. Lutsky for appointment.
Tenure for Teachers
At their meeting on Aug. 3, Huntington School Board members granted tenure to three teachers. The faculty members included Woodhull School classroom teacher Laura Lipow (effective Oct. 3), Huntington High School music teacher Brian Stellato (Oct. 12) and high school dean/attendance teacher Paul Caleca (Oct. 22).
Finley Student Awards
J. Taylor Finley Middle School eighth graders Joseph Corcoran, Thomas Scott and Nicole Smoot earned Outstanding Achievement awards in physical science at this past spring’s academic awards night. Daniel Gallagher, Josh Morris and Samantha Greendige were honored with awards for their performance in accelerated math.
The Finley music department presented Outstanding Achievement awards in band to Jessica Baik, Matthew Beeby, Colin Kirkpatrick and Joshua Solomowitz, in chorus to Brianne Bennett and Kyle Dorward and in orchestra to Daniel Gallagher, Sara Lockwood and Adelia Witt.
Trustees Make Appointments
Huntington School Board members approved Karen Dwyer and Melinda Geis to work as home tutors for students who qualify for such services. They will be paid $47.07 per hour as per the teacher’s contract.
Trustees adjusted the probationary period of music teacher Chelsea Jablon. She will now be eligible for tenure on Sept. 1, 2011. The change was the result of her working as a long-term leave replacement over the course of two school years.
Reaching Out
An e-mail was recently sent to the Huntington School District’s website by someone looking to be put in contact with Director of Science David Casamento. Kang-Wei "Tony" Ko wrote that he “found an online article on your Huntington Headlines, November 2008 edition, which showed a picture” of Mr. Casamento.
“I was a student of Mr. Casamento (“The Cas”) when he was a science teacher at W. Tresper Clarke High School in the early 1990’s,” wrote Mr. Ko. “I took his Chemistry and AP Biology classes. He’s always been my favorite teacher and I’ve always wanted to look him up after I graduated college. Is there any way you can put me in touch with him?”
Mr. Casamento’s district e-mail address was shared with Mr. Ko so the two could communicate with each other.
New Social Studies Teacher
Gene Acevedo has been approved for a probationary appointment and will teach social studies at Huntington High School this year. He obtained a B.A. degree in history at SUNY Stony Brook in December 2008. He worked as a substitute teacher in the Longwood and South Country school districts last spring and also did a stretch as a leave replacement in Longwood.
District officials reviewed 55 applications and interviewed 10 candidates before recommending Mr. Acevedo for appointment. He will be eligible for tenure on Sept. 1, 2012.
Teacher Center Director
Angela Berner has been appointed as the Huntington Teacher Center director for the 2009/10 school year. She replaces Joann Kavanagh who retired June 30. Mrs. Berner is the district’s English Language Arts coordinator. The $19,000 stipend for the Teacher Center director’s position is funded through a state grant.
Marching Band Reunion
The Huntington High School marching band reunion scheduled for October 16-17 continues to gather steam. More than an hundred band alumni have already indicated they will be in attendance for a pair of rehearsals, Friday night and Saturday morning and will perform as a unit in the Homecoming Day parade on October 17 at 11:30 a.m.
Alumni can obtain more information about the anniversary events by contacting former longtime Blue Devil band director Linda Shoemaker at (631) 549-1033 or (631) 456-2186 or lshoemak@verizon.net. Event updates will also be posted at the Band Parents Assn. site at www.bluedevils.eboard.com.
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