Huntington School Briefs
Donna Rogers is retiring. The Huntington School District’s building and grounds department secretary is leaving her position effective October 17. A retirement party is planned for Thursday, September 25 at 5:30 p.m. at Ruvo, located at 63 Broadway in Greenlawn. Tickets are on sale for $55. There will be dinner, dessert, coffee and tea and a cash bar. The ticket price includes a contribution toward a gift. For more information contact Cathy Henery (Boody) at cboody@hufsd.edu.
New Teachers Appointed
Kaitlyn Reyes has been approved for a probationary social studies teacher appointment. She will work at Huntington High School. The faculty position became vacant upon the retirement of Debbie Mellon.
Ms. Reyes earned an Associate of Arts degree at Suffolk Community College and a BA degree in history education from St. Joseph’s College. She obtained a Master of Science in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Touro College in September 2012.
Prior to coming to Huntington, Ms. Reyes worked as a leave replacement teacher at Huntington High School (February-June 2012); Western Suffolk BOCES summer school teacher 2012 and 2013); substitute teacher in Huntington UFSD (September 2012-February 2013; leave replacement teacher at Bellmore-Merrick High School (February-June 2013); leave replacement teacher at Bay Shore High School.
District officials reviewed 250 applications, pre-screened 25 candidates and conducted 11 personal interviews prior to recommending Ms. Reyes for appointment.
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Danielle Lusardi has been approved for a probationary science teacher appointment. She will work at Huntington High School. The post opened upon the retirement of Marguerite Montefusco.
Ms. Lusardi obtained a BA degree in chemistry at the University of Delaware in May 2007 and earned a MS degree in education at Drexel University this past June. Prior to coming to Huntington, she taught Regents physics and chemistry and AP chemistry at St. Anthony’s High School from September 2010 through June 2014. She worked at Father Judge High School in Philadelphia from April-June 2009, teaching biology and chemistry, including honors chemistry.
District officials reviewed 156 applications, pre-screened 25 candidates and conducted 11 personal interviews prior to recommending Ms. Lusardi for appointment.
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Katherine Castellano has been approved for a probationary elementary school dual language program appointment. She will teacher in a second grade classroom at Washington Primary School.
Ms. Castellano obtained a Bachelor of Science in community health at Hofstra University in August 2007. She earned a Master of Arts in Teaching at Queens College in June 2011. Prior to coming to Huntington she worked at PS 127Q-Aerospace and Science Academy in East Elmhurst, Queens as a second, third and fourth grade bilingual teacher and as an eighth grade English language arts teacher.
District officials reviewed 15 applications and pre-screened and interviewed all of them prior to recommending Ms. Castellano for appointment.
Summer Capital Work
The parking fields, driveways, curbs and sidewalks are being replaced at Southdown and Washington Primary Schools. New drainage has been installed to prevent flooding, which was especially prevalent at Washington School.
At Huntington High School, the roof on the Blue Devil Stadium field house has been removed and replaced. The Louis D. Giani Gymnasium floor has been refinished. Two science lab rooms and an adjoining prep room have been completely renovated. The football media viewing room’s floor has been patched and coated with epoxy paint. The cafeteria freezers and refrigerator have been painted. Plumbing and electrical work has also been completed.
Summer Virtual Learning Program
The Huntington School District’s summer virtual learning program kicked off on July 7 and will run through August 15. The program was offered to students in seventh through tenth grades. It has been utilizing Blackboard Learn “to provide targeted learning experiences for our students in mathematics and English Language Arts,” according to the program description.
Participants have been using either Google Chromebook or Microsoft Surface to complete their work. Upon completion of the program, students may participate in Advanced Placement courses or virtual/blended pre-Advanced Placement studies.
Class of 1979 Reunion
Huntington High School’s Class of 1979 held a reunion earlier this summer. The 35th reunion weekend included a Friday social event at Meehan’s, a Saturday beach party and lunch social at La Casa at Crab Meadow Beach in Northport and a dinner at Tutto Pazzo in Halesite followed by another social at Finnegan’s Taproom. Informal brunches were held on Sunday.