GHS Grammy School Finalist

Lori Hershenhart, district music supervisor, has announced that Guilderland High School has been recognized as a 2008 Grammy Signature School finalist. This designation and honor is based upon the quality and caliber of the music education program in the school. The top 100 high schools from all across the country are invited to submit recorded performances to vie for the prestigious awards. In addition to the available monetary grants, Grammy Award winning artists will visit students at the school.

Congratulations to the following high school music teachers for achieving this honor: Nancy Casellini, Kathy Ehlinger, Jeff Herchenroder, Lee Russo and Rae Jean Teeter.

School Nurse Recognized

The New York State Association of School Nurses (NYSASN) has acknowledged Marie Eoff, school nurse at Westmere Elementary, for the important role she plays on the NYSASN Board of Directors. Marie serves as the Zone 7 representative (Capital Region: Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Green, Otsego, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Schoharie counties), and brings with her a commitment and dedication to the profession of school nursing. As Zone 7 rep., Marie brings educational and legislative information relevant to school nursing to the school nurses in Zone 7.

The association director writes, “Through her involvement in our volunteer organization, Marie brings many benefits to your district. Attendance at our educational conferences keeps school nurses up-to-date on state mandates and current legislative issues as well as providing opportunities for nurses to enhance and improve their practice. This knowledge is brought back to the district and shared with nurses, staff, parents and students.”

Congratulations Marie!

Guilderland HS Students Score on iTEST

High School math and science supervisor Mike Piscitelli reports that a team of Guilderland High School students on their own, participated in an on-line mathematics competition called the iTEST.

Mike writes, “The iTEST is a free online mathematics competition for high school students throughout the United States and abroad. The competition covers all high school math concepts except calculus. The test consists of 60 questions, including 10 that are what is called relay questions. On these questions, one must get the solution for the first question and use that solution in the second question, and so on.”

The team finished 56 out of 329 teams. The team scored 65.2 out of a possible 100 points. Congratulations to team members:

• Nan Shan – Senior
• Yipu Wang – Junior
• Zagreb Murkerjee – Junior
• Yifan Chen – Senior
• Elizabeth Simon - Junior

FMS Teachers Publish Article

Two FMS language arts teachers, Molly Fanning and Brigid Schmidt, have had an article published in the November, 2007 issue of English Journal, for the National Council of Teachers of English. Their article, “Viva la Revolución: Transforming Writing and Assessing Student Writing through Collaborative Inquiry,” tells the story of their two year collaboration. Please take some time to read it. The voices of these two teachers clearly show what professional inquiry can do to revolutionize teaching and learning. Congratulations to Molly and Brigid. Molly received recognition by NCTE on November 16th, 2007 as an Educator of Excellence.

High School Teacher Named WNYT Educator of the Week

Congratulations to Annette Sebuyira, high school science teacher, who has been selected as a WNYT channel 13 Educator of the Week. Annette is an outstanding teacher who has devoted many years to working on issues such as respect and tolerance at the high school through NCBI and STAR.

Another Blue Ribbon School Nomination

Congratulations to Debbie Drumm and the entire Westmere Elementary School for being notified this week that they have been selected to submit a Blue Ribbon School application. Westmere has officially been nominated to the U.S.D.O.E. by Commissioner Mills for the 2008 Blue Ribbon Award. The next step is to complete a rigorous application that will be due on February 15, 2008. In September, the U.S. Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, will announce the recipients of the 2008 No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools Award. If Westmere is selected, Debbie Drumm and a member of her staff will be invited to a ceremony in Washington, D.C. where the schools will receive the award.