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October 2013 D I • S • T • R • I • C • T

ialogueElmira City

School District

Inside:

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Winter sports sign-ups

Page 3Thank you, Board members

Page 4Fassett sings its own song

Teen drivers pledge to drive safe

Page 5SHS hosts Special Olympics

Page 6Holly Strickland honored

Help Planet Aid at EDMS

Page 7District celebrates anti-bullying month

Page 8EFA TV show

Pine City gets wacky hair for literacy

Elmira schools helped March Out Hunger for 12th yearElmira schools helped March Out Hunger on

October 7, when a record high total of 25,921 food items were collected for local charities.

All 12 district schools collected canned and boxed goods, and many students were able to take part in the march. Participants marched do-nations from Tops Friendly Market to the Samari-tan Center on South Main Street, Elmira.

Coburn third-grader Olivia Henry wrote the winning essay on “Why we should help feed the hungry in our community,” and was named Junior Grand Marshal.

March Out Hunger benefits the Catholic Chari-ties Samaritan Center and Meals on Wheels of Chemung County.

Interim superintendent Hillary Austin, center, is flanked by Olivia Henry, a Coburn third-grader, and 96-year-old Senior Grand Marshal Hazel Thompson. Olivia’s winning essay is above, right.

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PreK slots still available

Beecher Elementary sent a group of student representatives to March Out Hunger on October 7. Beecher students collected 803 food items.

Broadway Middle School students in National Junior Honor Society took part in the Walk for Recovery on September 14. The walk, sponsored by Trinity of Chemung County, was held at Eldridge Park.

Parents of high schoolers:

Need help with the college application process?

There is a helpful, new online flyer for the college application process that you can access on the district website’s Southside High School counseling page.

To access it, visit www.elmiracityschools.com/schoolcounseling.

cfm?school=SHS

SIgn up for winter sportsSign-ups for winter sports for stu-

dents in the Elmira City School Dis-trict are underway. Student athletes should go to their school nurse to be-gin the sign-up process. Here are the winter sports and their start dates:

October 28: • Modified Boys Basketball (sev-

enth- and eighth-grade teams)

November 4: • Modified Boys Wrestling• JV Boys Basketball• JV Girls Basketball• JV Boys and Girls Bowling• JV Boys Wrestling• Varsity Boys Basketball• Varsity Girls Basketball• Varsity Girls Cheerleading• Varsity Boys and Girls Bowling• Varsity Boys Wrestling• Varsity Boys and Girls Indoor

Track• Varsity Boys Swimming/Diving

January 6: • Modified Girls Basketball (sev-

enth- and eighth-grade teams)

For more information, call:

• Broadway Middle: 735-3310

• Ernie Davis Middle: 735-3410

• Elmira Free Academy: 735-3110

• Southside High School: 735-3210.

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On Sept. 17, schools throughout our district celebrated Constitution Day in a variety of ways. Students in Shelley MacPherson’s kinder-garten class at Diven celebrated the day by reviewing their classroom rules and creating their own classroom constitution. They recognized the adoption of their rules by using a “very special pen” to sign their names in agreement. Pictured is Carter Smith with student teacher Cady Smith from Mansfield University, who created the lesson.

Diven celebrates Constitution Day

Théo Kee ley-LeClaire, pictured at right, a senior at EFA, has been named a semifinalist in the 2014 National Merit Scholarship competition. He is the only student in the Elmira City School District to earn this honor.

Semifinalist standing places him among the top high school seniors in the nation. The nationwide pool of semi-finalists represents less than one percent of the U.S. high school senior population.

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently announced the names of approximately 16,000 semi-finalists in its 59th annual National Merit Scholarship Program for the 2013-14 school year. Each semifinalist has the opportunity to continue in the competition for approximately 8,000 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $35 million. To become a finalist, a semifinal-ist and his or her high school must submit a scholarship application that provides details about the student’s aca-demic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, and honors and awards received. In addition, the student also must write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm his or her qualifying high score on the PSAT.

Finalists will be announced in the spring.

EFA student is National Merit Scholarship semifinalist

Thank you, board members This week is NYS School Board Recogni-tion Week. Each year, School Board Rec-ognition Week is observed by the more than 700 school boards in school dis-tricts throughout New York State.

Please join in thanking our hard-working board members for their time, dedica-tion and volunteer service. Our Board of Education members are:

Sara Lattin, Board Presi-dent; Edward Cleary, Jr., Board Vice President; Lynn Grottenthaler; Scott Moore; Claude Oliver; Randy Reid; Kevin Sullivan and Mary Tucker.

Thank you for all you do for the Elmira City School District!

Thanks!

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Earlier this fall, Fassett Elementary students helped to create their own school song.

Ithaca musician John Simon worked with students to write “The Fassett Five” school song on Sept. 12. There were two morning assem-blies with students as well as two 20-minute afternoon sessions with

Be ready to learn.Work hard every day.

Be safe in schoolWhen you work and play.

Keep your hands to yourself.

Don’t call people names.Be honest and kind.

Treat people the same.Do the Fassett Five. Do the Fassett Five.

Be fully alive.It’s the Fassett Five!

Fassett gets its own song

Musician John Simon gave two interactive performances in the cafeteria. Here, students are using hand motions to represent several animals – including a unicorn.

first- and second -graders, where they brainstormed ideas to make the song come alive with words that rhymed. A BOCES Arts in Education grant paid for Simon’s work with the school.

The completed song, based on the school’s “Fassett Five” pledge, was presented to the entire student body and staff on Sept. 19.

“THE FASSETT FIVE” SONG

High schools joined campaign for safe teen driving

From October 18 to 26, Elmira Free Academy and Southside High School students participated in the national “Celebrate My Drive” initiative that encourages teens to make positive choices while driv-ing.

Through participation, 100 high schools across the country were eligible for prizes that in-cluded cash grants for schools and a concert from Kelly Clarkson. However, the focus of the initiative was on encouraging teenagers to make safe driving choices.

Students, staff, parents and community members voted online each day during the week of Oc-tober 18-26 (National Teen Driver Safety Week).

The online voting involved an-swering two questions about safe driving and asked participants to “make safe driving commitments” on behalf of their school.

The more commitments made, the more safe driving awareness was reinforced.

Thank you to everyone who went online to www.celebrate-mydrive.com and supported our schools.

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The seventh annual Southside In-vitational Special Olympics was held Friday, October 18 at Southside High School. Events included soccer team competitions, individual soccer skills competitions, bocce competitions and more.

The Southside Invitational includ-ed more than 150 competitors and 100 staff, all volunteers from the stu-dent body at Southside High School and Elmira Free Academy. Additional-ly, the Invitational offered an Olympic Village featuring businesses and agen-cies from throughout the area. Each booth contained an activity for the athletes to participate in when they were not competing in their respec-tive events. Teams came from around the area, ranging from Oneonta to Elmira. Agencies participating includ-ed Chemung ARC, Yates Greats, the Springbrook Scorpions, the William George Agency and Area 17.

Thank you to our sponsors: Pem-brook Pines Media Group, Corning Credit Union, Erway Ambulance, Papa Johns and Wegmans.

The Southside Invitational is held under the auspices of the New York State Genesee Region Special Olympics. The Special Olympics New York program began in 1969. Today, it serves more than 50,000 athletes, making Special Olympics New York the largest program in the United States and the sixth largest program in the world. Special Olympics New York has its headquarters in Sche-nectady, with offices in Long Island, New York City, Hudson Valley, Cen-tral, Western, Capital and the Gen-esee regions. Their mission is to pro-vide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-style sports for all children and adults with intellectual disabili-ties giving them continuing oppor-tunities to develop physical fitness, experience joy and participate in a sharing of skills and friendship with

Southside High School hosted Special Olympics

their families, other athletes and the community.

The Southside Invitational was planned and organized by the South-side High School and Elmira Free

Academy Future Business Leaders of America. New York State FBLA has about 4,000 student members from across the state, ranging from sev-enth to twelfth grade.

ABOVE: These three Elmira district students participated in the Southside Invitational. The students in green shirts were volunteers, and the student athlete in the center competed in bocce ball.

BELOW: Athletes from the Ernie Davis Middle School team competed in soccer skills.

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National Junior Honor Society students at Ernie Davis Middle School are taking part in the Planet Aid School Recycling Initiative, a national nonprofit organization that helps developing countries. Students ar-ranged for a donation box for used clothes, sheets, blankets and other textiles to be placed outside the school. Even torn items are collected. The materials will be shared with developing countries for people who either need clothes or who can reuse the materials to make new items. For more information, visit www.planetaid.org.

Congratulations to Holly Strick-land, Assistant Principal at Ernie Davis Middle School, who is the winner of the 2013 Racial Justice Award for the YWCA Elmira & the Twin Tiers.

Strickland accepted her award at the 31st annual Chemung County Human Relations Commission Break-fast on October 22 at the Holiday Inn Riverview in Elmira.

The YWCA Racial Justice Award was created in 2005 to recognize a woman who has worked toward the elimination of racism.

“I am extremely honored by this award because it encompasses so many ideals that are central not only in my own life, but also to living in a diverse community. Through my fam-ily and my neighborhood, I was raised with a sense of a village raising a child, so I’ve always been passionate about volunteering, looking out for others and supporting those in my commu-nity,” Strickland said.

Strickland was nominated for

Davis Assistant Principal selected for YWCA Racial Justice award

Holly Strickland, center, is shown with Debby Ebrecht, left, and Pat Lambert, CEO of the YWCA Elmira & the Twin Tiers, right.

the award by Debby Ebbrecht, a longtime friend and President of the Board of Direc-tors for the YWCA El-mira & the Twin Tiers.

“I am thrilled that Holly Strick-land is receiving this award. She exhibits leadership and in-novativeness, works tirelessly for children and families, and is a true advocate for justice. Holly has made a tremendous contribution to the Elmira City School District and our com-munity,” said Hillary Austin, Interim Superintendent of the Elmira City School District.

Strickland has been an educator for 40 years and is involved with nu-merous local organizations, including

Rotary International and the NAACP. She also serves on the Board of Direc-tors for Able 2 and the Cosmopolitan Women’s Club and serves on the liter-acy committee for the Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Valley.

Senior musician to represent district at All-State Conference

Southside High School senior Lyric Boothe was selected to represent the district in the Mixed Chorus at the 2013 All-State Con-ference in Rochester on December 5-8.

Congrat-ulations to Lyric and to all her music teachers who have helped her suc-ceed!

Lyric Boothe

Elmira district students stand up against bullyingDuring the month of October, all

12 schools in the Elmira City School District took part in a variety of activi-ties to recognize National Anti-Bully-ing Awareness Month.

Ryan Johnson, the district’s Be-havioral Specialist, distributed 8,000 “Stop Bullying” bracelets to students at all of our schools as an incentive to not bully, report bullying, and as a reminder to treat others with respect. Schools connected the bracelets to numerous anti-bullying activities, with students signing pledges, wear-ing orange and receiving further edu-

cation on safe and respectful ways to communicate with one another.

Anti-bullying awareness activi-ties will be ongoing throughout the school year. The district is implement-ing its new program connected to PBIS (Positive Behav-ior Intervention and Support). This pro-gram is called S.O.A.R. Stay tuned for regular updates about this program. Addition-ally, our school coun-selors are continuing

their efforts to prevent bullying and create further awareness through their work at all grade levels within the district.

The Chemung County Youth Bu-reau and the YWCA have partnered

with the district to get the anti-bullying message out to the Elmira community. We applaud their ef-forts to work togeth-er with the Chemung County Bullying Pre-vention Task Force.

ABOVE: Ernie Davis Middle School students signed an anti-bullying pledge and traced their hands onto a banner that will be dis-played for the remainder of the year.RIGHT: All classes at Pine City Elementary have their own anti-bullying pledge, signed by students, prom-inently displayed outside the classroom door.

S.O.A.R. Be Safe

Practice Ownership Celebrate Acceptance

Show Respect

Diven Elementary students display their Stop Bullying bracelets on October 9, Unity Day.

Broadway Middle School students display their entries for the anti-bullying poster contest with principal Bob Bailey and assistant principal Theresa Usack.

Hendy Elementary students in Mrs. Cardinale’s class proudly wear orange attire on Unity Day.

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District Dialogue is published by the Elmira City School District for district

families and community members.

Interim Superintendent: Hillary Austin

Board of Education:Sara Lattin, President;

Ed Cleary, Jr., Vice President; Lynn Grottenthaler, Scott Moore,

Claude Oliver, Randy Reid, Kevin Sullivan

and Mary Tucker.

Editors: Kathleen Costello, 735-3091,

and Pam Hawthorne, 739-3581

Elmira City School District951 Hoffman StreetElmira, NY 14905

EFA students take to the camera

Pine City Elementary second-grader Thomas Kastner (left) earned the right to spike. The school held its annual Book Fair Oct. 14-18. Stu-dents were challenged to raise $450 for new books for their school library, in order to earn a “Wacky Hair Day.” With the support of parents, they raised almost $500. In addition, Scho-lastic Book Fairs provided matching funds to donate to two non-profit literacy organizations – Kids In Need Foundation and Kids in Distressed Situations, Inc.

Pine City kids earn ‘Wacky Hair Day’ by collecting cash for books

Many people are familiar with WSHS, Southside High School’s pop-ular television station, that presents daily news to students each morning. What people may not know, however, is that this year for the first time, EFA has its own TV station.

As with WSHS, WEFA is complete-ly student-run, and is overseen by a teacher. Ryan Alo, a business teacher at EFA, is in charge of helping the stu-dents learn to put a newscast together.

EFA senior Maureen Hill says she thoroughly enjoys being on camera and that she has overcome her fear of public speaking as a result.

“I think it’s important for students to hear the news. Not everyone listens to announcements on the PA system, so this is a great way for everyone to know what is going on in the school and the district,” Maureen said.

Along with the “on-air” crew, there is a “backstage crew” who makes sure that all the technology is working pre-cisely and accurately. There is a main news desk as well as a sports desk that both involve cameras, lighting, tele-prompters and more. Cameras not only need to be angled properly but also need to be able to switch from desk to desk at the appropriate times.

“I really enjoy the video aspect and the technology behind the TV station,” said senior Kiersten Cobb-Wilkins. Kiersten helps deliver morn-

ing announcements and special fea-tures such as college reports.

The goal is that next year, when the district moves to one high school

for grades 10-12 at Southside, the stu-dents involved in WEFA can bring their skills and technology to join the stu-dent crew at WSHS.