Southern Westchester BOCES

News from Our Campuses

• SWBOCES PD Center presents Kylene Beers and Bob Probst: Strategies that Improve Comprehension

  This workshop offers the perfect opportunity to work with colleagues to learn strategies that will help all readers, especially struggling readers, develop skills for attentive, engaged reading. Build upon their books: Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading; Reading Nonfiction: Stances, Signposts, and Strategies; Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters.

  Join us Thursday, Jan. 17, from 8:30-11:30 a.m. Register at MyLearning Plan.

  News Feed - Center for Professional Development & Curriculum Support

• SEPTA Workshops set for Thursday morning and evening on Transition Guidance

  The Special Education PTA is sponsoring a workshop this Thursday, Jan. 17, about transition for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Carin Horowitz, Transition Services Director at The Arc Westchester, will speak to parents and guardians about how to prepare for children’s transition from school to adult services. There are two workshop sessions: 9:30-11 a.m. and 6:30-8 p.m. at the Rye Lake Campus, 1606 Old Orchard St., White Plains. All are welcome! See attached flyer for details.

  News Feed - Center for Special Services

• Tappan Hill students visit, make new friends at Elmsford's Grady School

  See what fun students from our Tappan Hill School in Tarrytown had visiting and making new friends at the Alice E. Grady Elementary School in Elmsford. 

  News Feed - Southern Westchester BOCES

• Best friends, Careers Center classmates, take honors and spotlight at auto tech tourney

  SWBOCES Automotive Technology students Jeffrey Hernandez & Gurleen Singh took home trophies and scholarship awards in a regional competition this week testing their skills at diagnostics and repair. On top of that, they and the in-demand field they are entering, were featured on ABC-7's Eyewitness News.

  News Feed - Center for Career Services

• Leading Instructional Improvement the topic in latest Fordham-SWBOCES Speaker Series event

  Join us Jan. 15 at Fordham University's Westchester Campus for the latest in our collaborative Speaker Series for Educational Leaders. Professor Elizabeth Stosich, EdD, will be presenting on "Leading Instructional Improvement - Striving for Instructional Coherence".

  All sessions in this ongoing series include welcome remarks, the presentation and a Q&A segment. The series is a free service for educational leaders and alumni in the region. For those interested, there will be a follow-up discussion of Fordham’s masters and doctoral programs in educational leadership.

  To RSVP, contact Staci Wang at xwang493@fordham.edu. or Betty Ann Wyks at BWyks@swboces.org. 

  News Feed - Center for Professional Development & Curriculum Support

• Volunteers and Staff Help Make SEPTA's Annual Holiday Party a Success

  The Southern Westchester BOCES would like to thank all the staff members and volunteers who helped make the annual Holiday Party a great success.

  Students and families had a blast at the Dec. 13 event at the Rye Lake Campus. They spent time decorating (and eating) cookies, coloring and making crafts, and playing games like snowball toss.

  Phyllis Rizzi, principal of Tappan Hill School, and her staff were instrumental in planning the party, said Trish Banfield, a SEPTA Executive Board member. “They come out in full force each year to decorate, support the kids, emcee, supply gifts, DJ and morph into Santa, Mrs. Claus and Frosty the Snowman,” she said. “They also fill in the gaps where needed.”

  Ms. Banfield also thanked mothers Hayley, Anne Marie and Nicole for volunteering their time.

   

  News Feed - Center for Special Services

• Students Shop for Gifts at Valhalla Center's Holiday Boutique

  Candles, scarves, thermoses, jewelry and picture frames. Those were just a few of the gently used items that Special Services staff members at the Valhalla Campus brought in for the Holiday Boutique Dec. 18. Students selected a gift they liked, then went to the wrapping room.

  News Feed - Center for Special Services

• Competition Is Stiff for Annual Cookie Bake-Off

  The winner of the third annual Rye Lake Cookie Bake-Off Dec. 20 was Michelle Carpiniello, an administrative staff member, who entered her S’mores Cookies. 

  News Feed - Center for Special Services

• Giving to our neighbors in need

  Southern Westchester BOCES employees contributed to Christmas gift collections at our Rye Brook and Harrison locations, yielding a sleigh-full of toys bound for local families holiday celebrations.

  News Feed - Southern Westchester BOCES

• Student gingerbread houses

  Enjoy the hard work and talent of students in the Culinary Arts program who made gingerbread houses from scratch.

  News Feed - Center for Career Services 2018-19

• Police, district safety officials attend 'Civilian Response to Active Shooter Training' at SWBOCES

  Police and emergency responders, along with school district safety officials, listen as Westchester County police Sgt. Amery Bernhardt leads today’s “Civilian Response to Active Shooter Training” at our Harrison training center Wednesday, Dec. 19. This is the second of three presentations in the Center for Professional Development’s Threat Assessment Team series for 2018-19.

  The daylong session also included a presentation by Ms. Heidi Matias from Jacobi Hospital on the “Stop the Bleed” program.  “Stop the Bleed” is aa national awareness campaign to encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped, and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives. Attendees will receive a certificate of completion from the “American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma.”

  For more information on programs like this, contact Brandon Cruz, Supervisor of School Safety & Facilities, at 914-345-8500, Ext. 3167, or bcruz@swboces.org. Also, find upcoming programs at https://pd.swboces.org/safety_and_facilities.

  News Feed - Center for Professional Development & Curriculum Support

• Dog training demonstration

  Meet Kara and Havoc, guests who demonstrated dog training techniques to the Animal Sciences classes.

  News Feed - Center for Career Services 2018-19

• EMS students participate in hospital drill

  EMS students participated in a drill at the Westchester Medical Center as part of a service learning activity.

  News Feed - Center for Career Services 2018-19

• Center for Special Services Welcomes New Assistant Director

  Andrea Byrne is the new Center for Special Services assistant director. She is veteran educator with 25 years of experience. Ms. Byrne, who started the job last summer, said her new colleagues are enthusiastic and work hard to support students, communicate with families and help children grow.

  News Feed - Center for Special Services

• Port Chester resident with several years school trustee experience joins SWBOCES Board of Education

  The Southern Westchester BOCES Board of Education has appointed Robert Johnson of Port Chester as it newest member. Mr. Johnson was sworn in prior to the board’s Dec. 10 meeting. He will be eligible to seek reelection to a full three-year term in the spring.

  “I’m looking forward to working hard to bring the best services possible to the students of our region,” he said.

  Mr. Johnson is a trustee of the Mount Pleasant Cottage School Board of Education. From 2011 to 2017, he was a trustee of the Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District Board of Education. He served as vice president of that board in 2014-15 and president in 2015-16.

  Since 2007 he has taught chemistry and physics at Westhill High School in Stamford, Conn. He has also been a producer/host with WPKN in Bridgeport, Conn., for 40 years and has held the same role with White Plains Community Media since 2016. He is a board member of the nonprofit Ripple Effect Artists in New York City

  He holds a master’s degree in teaching from Lehman College and a bachelor’s in chemistry from Sacred Heart University. He is married to Dr. Michaele Goodman, a psychologist in private practice. They have a son, Ari, who is a senior at Port Chester High School.

  News Feed - Southern Westchester BOCES

• SWBOCES hosts regional forum on mental health in our schools

  Some 85 educators and mental health professionals turned out at our Harrison training center for “Accessing Community Health Resources to Support Mental Health in Our Schools.” 

  The regional mental health forum was convened to examine current  trends in the behavioral health of students and available resources to support work in schools.

  Michael Orth, Westchester‘s Commissioner of Community Mental Health, W. Andrew Mullane, Westchester Jewish Community Services' Regional Director for Behavioral Health Services and Coordinator of Substance Use Treatment for Southern Westchester County, and Stephanie Marquesano, president of The Harris Project, led the conversation.

  Marquesano, whose son died of a drug overdose at 19, has campaigned to raise awareness of youths struggling with substance-use and mental-health disorders. She tells her family’s story to effect change and  to educate young people and inspire them to take action.

   

  "I knew that when he died, I wanted to be more than just a mom with a story," Ms. Marquesano said. "I wanted to be able to empower young people to know what paths to choose."

   

  News Feed - Southern Westchester BOCES

• A visit to Broadway

  Audio students in Sean Harty's classes get a behind the scenes look at a theater.

  News Feed - Center for Career Services 2018-19

• Statement on the vote to amend the Section One constitution

  With the passing of a Friday, Dec. 7, closing date for voting on proposed amendments to the Section One constitution, the section’s ad hoc Constitution Committee will continue to seek input from member districts.

  We are pleased with the progress of the collaborative process to date as well as the support displayed by a majority of member districts that voted in favor of the proposed amendments. That support, while falling short of the supermajority necessary to enact changes, demonstrates that the process is moving in the right direction. The committee continues to strive to meet the needs and expectations of our district partners.

  The Constitution Committee will continue to meet as needed to collaborate with, and hear feedback directly from, district stakeholders. Upon the receipt of this information, the committee will reconvene and consider the specific, detailed input that is needed. The Constitution Committee will present member schools with a revised document this winter for a new ballot referendum.

  News Feed - Southern Westchester BOCES

• SEPTA to ring in the season with annual Holiday Party 12/13 at Rye Lake Campus

  The Southern Westchester BOCES Special Education PTA's annual Holiday Celebration for students and families is Thursday from 4-6 p.m. at the Rye Lake Campus, 1606  Old Orchard St., White Plains. Please see the attached flyer for all the details. We hope to see you there!
  

  News Feed - Center for Special Services

• All About Ovarian Cancer: What Nurses Need To Know

  On Tuesday, Dec. 11, Southern Westchester BOCES Practical Nursing Program will host a presentation by Yorktown-based Support Connection, "All About Ovarian Cancer: What Nurses Need to Know."

  Students currently enrolled in the program will hear directly from a survivor, who will share her powerful personal story, including how her cancer was found and successfully treated and critical information such as symptoms to look for and questions to ask patients,.

  Ovarian cancer is often called “the disease that whispers.” The symptoms are subtle and hard to recognize, and there is no routine screening test.  If ovarian cancer is found and treated before the cancer has spread outside the ovary, the 5-year survival rate is about 90%. However, only 20% of all ovarian cancers are found at this early stage.

  Nurses and other medical professionals who interact closely with patients and listen for symptoms can be the key to early detection and survival.

  Support Connection is a not-for-profit organization that provides free support services to women and families dealing with breast and ovarian cancer. Learn more at www.supportconnection.org.

  News Feed - Center for Adult and Community Services