Flower Hill Primary School

Flower Hill Primary School has established a well-deserved reputation in the community for emphasizing academic excellence and social growth. Opened in September 1954, the school today houses students ranging from kindergarten through third grade.

Flower Hill School is committed to helping its students achieve their full academic potential and to supporting the development of social skills that will help each child successfully navigate through the school setting during their formative years. To this end, Flower Hill’s goal is to consistently provide a learning environment that fosters the intellectual, emotional, social and physical development of each student.

Flower Hill’s staff of caring professionals offers a child-centered educational program in a supportive and nurturing environment. It is hoped that by providing teaching that inspires, informs and challenges, teachers and support staff can instill a love for learning that will continue throughout each child’s school years and beyond.

In addition to the rich regular day classroom program, each child receives instruction in art, music, physical education, library skills and technology from teachers who are specialists in each of these areas. Flower Hill also has a school nurse, psychologist, social worker, reading and math specialists and other professional staff members who provide critical support to students.

A strong partnership between students, parents and teachers is very important to daily life at Flower Hill. Principal Lucia Laguarda and all teachers and staff members are confident that by working together to build a positive collaboration between home and school, Flower Hill will continue to provide quality educational experiences for all of its students.

Lucia Laguarda

1-631-673-2050

llaguarda

Lucia Laguarda has been principal of Flower Hill Primary School since December 1, 2017.

Ms. Laguarda obtained a BA in sociology with a minor in Spanish at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in May 1992. She also studied as an undergraduate at Universidad de Sevilla in Spain and went on to earn a Master of Arts in Education with a multicultural emphasis at California State University-Dominguez Hills in May 1996.

A member of the Phi Delta Kappa Honor Society, Ms. Laguarda had been the Riverhead School District’s director of professional personnel at the time of her appointment as Flower Hill’s principal. She earlier served as principal of Hemenway Elementary School (2010-2015) and in a dual appointment as principal of King Elementary School (2013-2015) in Framingham, Massachusetts. The latter was the district’s first STEAM school.

Ms. Laguarda began her career as a bilingual classroom teacher for grades 3-5 at Clyde Woodworth Elementary School in Inglewood, California, working there from 1992-1996 before becoming a teacher support coordinator with Teach for America in Los Angeles. She supervised, evaluated and provided in-service mentoring to over 200 TFA teachers in the LA area from 1996-1998.

A bilingual and multicultural teaching methods instructor at California State University-Dominguez Hills in 1997-1998, Ms. Laguarda went on to serve as an English language special projects coordinator at Eucalyptus Elementary School in Hawthorne, California from 1998-2000. She was assistant principal of William Green Elementary School from 2000-2002 and principal of Billy Mitchell Elementary School from 2002-2005 and 2006-2010, both in Lawndale, California.

A native Spanish speaker, Ms. Laguarda was an instructional coach and school improvement consultant with Teachscape National Professional Development in the Indian Oasis School District in Tucson, Arizona in 2006.

Ms. Laguarda is Flower Hill School’s eighth permanent principal since it opened in September 1954.

1. If your child is absent for illness, please call the school at 673-2139 and send a note of explanation in with the child upon his/her return.
2. When bringing a child in late or picking the child up early, please come into the building to sign him/her in or out with our attendance secretary, Mrs. Debra Ciccone.
3. If you wish to go to your child's classroom, please sign in first and wear a visitor's pass. If you wish to stay to observe a class, please call and make arrangements with the teacher in advance.
4. Good bus behavior is expected of all of our children. Please remind your child to stay seated, wear a seat belt, and to follow the driver's instructions.
5. In our effort to emphasize respect, parents will be contacted if children are disrespectful, cruel or physically aggressive toward others.
6. Our "Citizen of the Month" program is designed to recognize acts of kindness and good citizenship. Every month we honor a boy and a girl from each grade.
7. Our code of discipline is really a Bill of Rights for all of our children. Every child has the right to learn in a safe environment.
8. Any time a child is injured or ill, the parent or guardian will be contacted. It is important that parents provide us with up to date emergency contact numbers. Emergency cards are kept on file in the nurse's office. These cards can also be download from the printable forms menu.