Following a comprehensive search process, the Rocky Point School District Board of Education has selected Dr. Scott T. O’Brien to serve as the next superintendent of schools. Dr. O’Brien succeeds Dr. Michael F. Ring, who is set to retire this summer after 11 years of service to the Rocky Point Union Free School District, the last nine years as Superintendent of Schools.

“During the application process, it became evident that the candidate best suited and qualified to lead our schools into the future was already part of our administrative team,” said Board President Susan Y. Sullivan. “In his many years working in our district, Dr. O’Brien has cultivated strong connections with parents, students and residents alike. This, combined with his passion for education, convinced the Board that he will continue to serve our district well in this new role.”

Dr. O’Brien, who currently serves as the district’s interim assistant superintendent, has nearly two decades of educational experience in the Rocky Point School District alone. He served as a principal in the district prior to his current administrative position, most recently for Rocky Point Middle School and previously for Frank J. Carasiti Elementary School. The district amassed a number of accomplishments and honors under his leadership in both schools.

“Rocky Point has always felt like home away from home for me, and I am honored and humbled to begin this new professional journey here,” said Dr. O’Brien. “This district is well-regarded for the robust educational offerings we provide to students at all levels, and it possesses an educational philosophy that is aligned with my professional beliefs. I look forward to working collaboratively with the staff, students and community to take our district to the next level of excellence.”

Dr. O’Brien earned his Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Accountability at St. John’s University, Professional Diploma in Educational Administration at SUNY Stony Brook, Masters in Literacy from Dowling College, and Bachelor of Science in psychology and special education from LeMoyne College.

Rocky Point High School senior Haley Kline had one of her original photographs selected for showcase in the annual Parrish Student Exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum.

The exhibit featured the work of more than 1,000 students from schools on eastern Long Island. Haley created her exhibit-worthy piece as part of her participation in the professional photography program through BOCES. 

Rocky Point High School’s 2018 yearbook cover received recognition on an international level this spring, as it was selected to be featured in Jostens’ “Look Book” competition. 

The annual competition is said to highlight the “best of the best” student work from across the nation in its publication. This year, a team of experts selected 385 yearbooks from over 2,000 submissions for consideration. Copies of the full Look Book will be provided to 13,000 high schools to inspire students throughout the United States, Canada and international schools. 

As part of the Science Unplugged program offered through Stony Brook University’s Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, Rocky Point High School students in Guy Reid’s Human Anatomy and Physiology classes learned about the connection between electricity and brain function during a guest lecture from Julia Tomasello, a graduate researcher at Stony Brook University. 

During Ms. Tomasello’s presentation, “Your Brain: It’s Electric,” students discussed the structure of stem cells and how electrical transmission problems relate to neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. Students also discussed current and future possible treatments for these conditions. These discussions tied to class topics related to the brain and human nervous system. Ms. Tomasello also shared information about life as a university student and as a researcher.

The Science Unplugged program allows students to speak with professionals from the field, ask them about their research and familiarize themselves with what it means to be a research scientist. Rocky Point High School looks forward to continuing to schedule additional speaking opportunities with the university.  

Rocky Point High School girls basketball program recently received recognition by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for their fundraising efforts. 

The varsity and JV teams raised $1,400 during their campaign, which concluded on the last game of the year and the team’s senior night. Each member of the team had supporters donate money and sign their pink fundraising T-shirts, which were worn as warmups at the last game. A bake sale with goods made by team members also brought in funds during halftime.

This was the largest amount of money raised in the seven years Rocky Point basketball has participated. Junior captains of the varsity team Clare Levy and Madison Gennaro helped organize fundraising efforts, and JV player Kerry Campo raised the most money of any team member. 

“Rocky Point girls basketball’s commitment to this important cause shows the kind of character and integrity that makes up the entire program and pulses through each and every student-athlete,” coach Scott Lindsay said.

Rocky Point Middle School Robo Eagles Robotics Team earned the prestigious Mechanical Design Award for their robot design during a recent FIRST Lego League Long Island competition. 

With over 200 registered teams on Long Island and competing against the top 40 teams at the championships, the team received this award in recognition of their design and development of a mechanically sound robot that is durable, efficient and highly capable of performing challenging missions.

Congratulations to the entire team: Zach Accetta, Neyo Alabi, Kristian Hald, Caellum Heinlein, Felicity Monaghan, Cooper Peterson, Leala Riedl and Misha Zaslavsky.

Rocky Point High School senior Michele Costanzo received an honorable mention in the 12th annual Art League of Long Island’s “GO APE” exhibit for her dynamic rendering of her father in colored pencil. 

This event celebrated the exceptional artwork of Advanced Placement art students in Long Island schools. Michele created the project as part of her studies in the high school’s AP Studio Art class. 

Rocky Point Middle School students learned about the importance of energy conservation during an interactive and entertaining assembly program provided by PSEG Long Island in partnership with the National Theatre for Children. 

Through informative comedy, the program focused on what energy is, the use of energy, how energy is wasted and ways to conserve energy. 
 

A group of Rocky Point High School juniors and seniors in Greg Armine’s Drawing and Painting class lent their talents to create beautiful artwork for children across the country as part of this year’s Memory Project. 

The Memory Project, a Wisconsin-based organization, asks young artists from around the world to create portraits for children who are living in impoverished areas of the world. The children’s joy as they receive their portraits is a wonderful thing to watch, as can be seen in a video produced by The Memory Project staff.

This year’s students created portraits for a group of Rohingya refugee children who were forced to flee their homes because of violent persecution.  

Rocky Point Middle School students in Elicia Katsapis’ science classes put their innovation skills to the test, as they designed and built Newton scooters using simple materials.

The students worked independently or in groups to create a scooter that operated on Newton’s third law of motion and was able to travel 1.5 meters without the use of traditional sources of power, such as batteries, motors and fuel. Instead, these scooters were designed using a variety of materials, including rubber bands, balloons and springs. 

Once completed, the students tested their creations during a friendly class competition. They each had three tries to launch their scooter across a race track on the floor and, for an increased challenge, several added weight to their scooter using an egg to see if the distance it could travel would vary. 

Students were honored with a series of awards based on their creation’s performance. Below are the results for the two classes. 

Period 6:
Farthest: Jordan Chirivas and Felicity Monaghan 
Best Name: Angie Flores-Hernandez, Christian Pasqua and Orlin Velasquez
Most Unique Design: Riley Brown
Fastest: Jessica Downer
Most Creative Design: Joey Cecere, Ryan Negus and John Schnaars 

Period 8:
Farthest: Bella Kern, Leanna Pavlicko and Alyssa Rubinetti 
Best Name: Rebecca Rando and Havin Catalbas 
Most Unique Design: Bryanna Klunder 
Fastest: John Skula and Corinne McElroy 
Farthest with the Egg: John Skula and Corinne McElroy

As a result of a parent fundraising project, Frank J. Carasiti Elementary School students will soon have a fun and creative way to spend their time during indoor recess, as the school will be installing new sensory activity floor paths. 

Within a designated setting, these paths – which are formed using sticker decals – offer students the chance to engage in movement and sensory input on days when they are unable to go outside for recess. Additionally, they provide sensory breaks for those that can benefit from a little extra movement and input multiple times during the day. 

The decals will be installed in the coming weeks, and the students will have the chance to enjoy them shortly thereafter. 

As a conclusion to their study of penguins, first-grade students in Jennifer Meschi’s class at Frank J. Carasiti Elementary School participated in a special reader’s theater celebration.

During the event, family and friends were invited to the classroom to listen to the students read their fiction Pet Penguin stories, share details from their research charts, discuss nonfiction penguin books and reveal the lifesized penguins they drew. Wearing black and white, the students also enjoyed making a handprint craft and singing songs and were pleasantly surprised when Ms. Meschi transformed into a penguin costume. 

A special part of this year’s celebration was focused on a community service project. Students and families collected recyclable bottles to raise money to “adopt” an endangered African penguin from the Georgia aquarium. In total, the class collected 1,082 bottles, which were exchanged for the monetary donation for the aquarium. For their efforts, the class received a special adoption kit, including an adoption certificate, fact sheet and plush replica African penguin. 

In honor of the mathematical constant 3.14, better known as Pi, students throughout the Rocky Point School District participated in a number of creative activities.

Fourth-grade students in Kristie Jackson’s, and Deborah Vieira and Lisa Celentano’s classes at Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School participated in a number of hands-on activities. From measuring circular snacks to creating pizza pie circles, these students ate their way to learning how to measure the circumference of a circle. As a culminating activity the children developed Pi Day booklets to display all the knowledge they learned throughout the day. Furthermore, Christian Flemming was challenged by his teacher to memorize the mathematical constant for Pi, and he was able to recite 46 digits after the irrational number 3.14. 

The Rocky Point High School Math team organized a fundraiser in honor of the day to benefit the Madagascar Ankizy Fund, an organization committed to improving the lives of Malagasy children. Students and teachers donated funds to pie their favorite teacher in the face with whipped cream pies. More than $250 was raised during the event, which was donated to aid a school in Madagascar supported over the years by district students and dubbed “The Rocky Point School.”  

Creativity and outstanding writing talents have allowed fourth-grade students in Patricia Alberti’s class at Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School to become published authors in an upcoming edition of Newsday’s Kidsday. 

For the past several weeks the students have been working with editor Pat Mullooly to draft feature articles, surveys, and puzzles, in collaboration and independently. In addition to their work in the classroom, four students were invited to The Paramount theater in Huntington to interview “America’s Got Talent” sensation We Three.

“The students prepared well-researched questions, as all good journalists do,” Ms. Alberti said. “They were treated to free seats at the concert that night!”

The class’ completed works will be published in Newsday from July 13-19. 

 

The Rocky Point School District Board of Education and administration proudly celebrated the members of the Rocky Point High School New York State Champion Varsity Cheerleading team during a recent meeting. The district proudly congratulated the student-athletes and their coaches on this remarkable accomplishment and for their unwavering dedication to the sport.

The traditional Read Across America initiative was celebrated in a fun and unique way in Jennifer Meschi’s first-grade class at Frank J. Carasiti Elementary School as students took part in a number of STEM activities, including reading and writing.

Making it a spirit week, which commenced the week after Dr. Seuss’ birthday, the students wore different coordinating outfits to match with one of the class’ favorite Dr. Seuss books. In addition, they completed several STEM-based activities based on those stories, including building parachutes for “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” and building cup towers to resemble the famous red and white striped hat in “The Cat in the Hat.” 

In an effort to proactively support students’ social, emotional and health needs, the Rocky Point Union Free School District will host an informative Substance Abuse and Mental Health Community Forum on Wednesday, April 10, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Rocky Point High School auditorium.

The event will provide the results of a recent survey taken by Rocky Point students and provide perspective on how those self-reported answers compare to what their peers are experiencing nationwide. Additionally, attendees will hear from representatives from RESPONSE about mental health awareness and the Suffolk County Sherriff’s Department regarding the use of vaping, opioids and other substances. To support the effort, several groups will be on hand to provide reading materials and informative resources to take home.

The district encourages all parents with children in grades K-12 and students in grades 6-12 to attend this program to learn more about this topic and what is being reported about this subject matter.

Teams of teachers and staff members took to the court this winter as Rocky Point High School hosted a fun-filled event called Swoopen’ N Hoopen’. 

Benefiting the local wounded warriors and the Be A Nicer Neighbor Club, the fundraising event was organized by teacher Brooke Bonomi and raised thousands of dollars for the organizations. During the event, attendees cheered on some of their favorite teachers as they competed in the game, as well as took chances to win countless baskets of assorted prizes collected by various clubs at the school. The teams of teachers were coached by students who had selected players during an in-school “draft day” event. 

Fifty-two teachers, faculty members and staff participated in the event as members of the four 13-player basketball teams, each with creative and unique names. 

Astronauts, professional athletes and many other important figures from throughout history were on display at Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School as third-grade students in Nicole Anderson and Patricia Nesbitt’s class hosted a Living History Museum. 

During the event, students dressed up as the person they had chosen to research and learn about. They shared important facts about their selected person with special guests, who circulated in the classroom to hear about the students’ research. 

Rocky Point High School students and staff came together to help cultivate a climate of positivity as they took part in Challenge Day this winter. 

Approximately 140 students and staff members took part in this powerful, high-energy program which guided participants through a series of experiential learning processes. The overall goals of the program are to increase personal power and self-esteem; to shift dangerous peer pressure to positive peer support; and to eliminate the acceptability of teasing, violence, and all forms of oppression.  

Rocky Point Middle School has been designated an Essential Elements: School to Watch (EE:STW) school by the New York State Middle School Association and the New York State Education Department.

Through a rigorous application and on-site review process, led by a team comprised of Rocky Point Middle School stakeholders, it was evidenced that Rocky Point Middle School possesses a culture focused on continuous improvement and excels in the following four domains: academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, social equity and organizational structure.

“While we know how outstanding all of our schools, staff and students are, recognition at this level is nonetheless welcome and uplifting,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael F. Ring. “Congratulations to all at the Rocky Point Middle School for your outstanding efforts to continually improve outcomes for all of our students.” 

Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School students demonstrated what it means to proactively embrace a healthy lifestyle as they took part in the Kids Heart Challenge.

Formally known as Jump Rope for Heart, the annual event aims to raise funds to support the American Heart Association. Coordinated by physical education teacher Maria Amoscato, students participate in the after-school event by jumping rope in return for monetary pledges from family and friends. 

Over the last 16 years, the building has raised a total of $150,564. This year alone, they raised a record $15,190.49, with fifth-grader Aidan Todaro named the highest fundraiser with his contribution of $625. 

In addition to the fundraising aspect, several students were named jump-off winners for jumping rope the longest during the event. Congratulations to third-grade winners Cole Grable and Sadie Hess and runners-up Joe Reda and Lily Rau; fourth-grade winners Patrick Fish and Abby Zarella and runners-up Jaden Bilicki and Halle Rau; fifth-grade winners Yuuki Donnelly and Lillian Wood and runners-up Jack Grable and Ireland Protosow; adult winners, teacher Lisa Celentano and runner-up, parent Diana Blaising.

Congratulations to our varsity cheerleaders, who were named the 2019 State Champions! Way to go Eagles!!!

As a culmination to their study on Native Americans, Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School fourth-graders in Patricia Alberti’s class put their knowledge to the test as they constructed either a longhouse or wigwam using simple materials.

The students began the project by gathering natural materials, such as sticks, clay, bark, and leaves, just as Iroquois and Algonquian children did while helping their families. In addition to creating realistic homes, many students also included scenery that depicted early farming societies.

In celebration of Say Hello Week, students and staff at Joseph A. Edgar Intermediate School took part in a number of engaging activities designed to open the lines of communication.

As part of the initiative, daily activities promoted the notions of being a good friend and cultivating a culture of positivity within the school and community. For example, students created gratitude jars with slips of paper noting what they are most thankful for in life and others wrote kind descriptions about their classmates on colorful boards with their names inscribed. 

The message of the week was reinforced during an assembly with singer/song- writer Jared Campbell. During the event, Mr. Campbell performed several original songs and shared stories of encouragement dealing with matters individuals encounter on a daily basis. 

As a result of their exceptional talents, Frank J. Carasiti Elementary School students Caliope O’Rourke and John Tringone had their artwork selected for this year’s Colors of Long Island Art Show at The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook.

Caliope’s piece was a fall landscape refection. Within her art class, she had learned that a landscape is a picture of land and that reflection is symmetrical. They studied Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings of Lake George, in particular her use of warm and cool colors, which were the inspiration for Caliope’s landscape. 

John’s artwork was a watercolor still life. In preparation for the project, John learned about the concept of perspective in a drawing and how objects overlap in a space. The students studied famous artist Paul Cézanne and how he achieved the idea of perspective in his works. 

Both students created their submissions with the help of school art teacher Laura Goelz. Their pieces will be on exhibit for public view in the museum’s visitors center from Feb. 22-April 7.