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Roaring BRook

The Chappaqua Central School District: A Community for Learning

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The Chappaqua Central School District is a nationally renowned suburban school system characterized by highly motivated students, well-educated and forward-thinking staff, and an actively involved parent community. The District offers a rigorous, interdisciplinary academic program and remains committed to providing an excellent education for all students in a supportive environment.

In order to continue Chappaqua’s record of success, the District has embarked on a Strategic Coherence Planning process. This extensive review will assist in aligning and focusing the systems that define Chappaqua’s schools with the reliable acquisition of the identified vital student skills and attributes believed to be the most critical to success beyond Greeley. Social-emotional learning and curriculum alignment will continue to be high priorities moving forward.

As 2016 Capital Bond projects are completed, students are thriving in the new spaces as they grapple with solving challenging real-life problems using the Chappaqua Design Process and critical thinking skills through a collaborative approach. Each elementary school has a Global Learning Center and MakerSpace, each middle school has a STEAM Center, and the high school has an iLab, MakerSpace, STEAM Center, Global Learning Center, Multi-Media Studio, two Instructional Centers, and a Visual Arts Lab. All of these student-centered learning environments support small and large group instruction, independent study, and team collaboration. Students can roll up their sleeves and actively participate in problem-based learning, divergent thinking, and knowledge creation. As a result, students perform well on the Regents exams, SATs and other measures of academic achievement. All six schools consistently rank among the top schools in the county, state, and the nation.

In addition, strong partnerships with Google, Microsoft, and Apple have enabled staff to leverage technology in new ways to provide feedback, personalize instruction, and monitor student progress. The goal is to graduate students who are thoughtful, creative, curious, proactive, imaginative, inventive, and can formulate hypotheses, effectively communicate their ideas, interact well with others, and are personally reflective. These are the students who will be ready for college and the work world.

While the District fully embraces its long history of offering a strong curriculum for core subjects as well as a wide range of Advanced Placement and elective courses that challenge and empower students, extra-curricular activities and athletics also play a key role. They provide students with many positive experiences that help them to become well-rounded individuals. Whether it’s pursuing their passions, discovering hidden talents, meeting people they might not otherwise encounter, or stepping outside of their comfort zones as they pursue something new and completely different, students receive a complete and comprehensive K-12 educational experience.

For more information, please visit ccsd.ws or call 914-238-7200.

Schools

Douglas G. Grafflin Elementary School (K-4, 441 students)
650 King St. • 238-7204 • dg.ccsd.ws

Roaring Brook Elementary School (K-4, 395 students)
530 Quaker Rd. • 238-7205• rb.ccsd.ws

Westorchard Elementary School (K-4, 409 students)
25 Granite Rd. • 238-7206 • wo.ccsd.ws

The three elementary schools foster a love of learning in a nurturing environment that promotes mutual respect and encourages social responsibility. The emphasis is on higher-level thinking skills with the development of essential skills to provide a strong foundation for students to become life-long learners.

The schools are organized in heterogeneous classes with comprehensive support services and technology integrated into the curriculum. The instrumental music program (lessons and group instruction) begins in fourth grade, with students selecting from a variety of string, woodwind, and brass instruments to play as they embark on their exploration of band or orchestra participation.

Elementary teachers nourish students’ emotional lives and guide their social development, instilling in them an appreciation of self-worth, of individual difference, and of global interdependence. They help students learn how to manage freedom and to act ethically so that each may become a responsible, contributing member of a global society, and are supported in their work by a variety of special area teachers as well as teaching specialists. While responsible for covering the District’s challenging curriculum, teachers are encouraged to use their individual talents and interests for the benefit of their students. The end result is a caring and nurturing child-focused environment with student projects and artwork covering just about every inch of the hallways.

Robert E. Bell Middle School (5-8, 623 students)
50 Senter St. • 238-7202 • bs.ccsd.ws

Seven Bridges Middle School(5-8, 584 students)
222 Seven Bridges Rd. • 238-7203 • sb.ccsd.ws

Each school recognizes that young adolescents have unique developmental needs on cognitive, social, emotional and physical levels. The middle school program addresses these needs and builds upon the attributes and unique skills and abilities of every student while providing them with a strong academic foundation.

The middle schools also embrace a team-teaching philosophy, with staff meeting daily to discuss student needs, curricular and instructional issues, and to communicate with parents and support personnel. Students apply creativity and are committed to learning and growth. They are good writers and speakers who express themselves well in many media, and are open-minded and at ease collaborating and cooperating with others. They study core subjects and take courses in technology, computers, art, music, physical education, health and family and consumer science. Foreign language instruction begins in the 5th grade when students have the option of taking Latin, French, or Spanish.

In addition to exploring mini-courses designed to promote critical thinking and analytical skills, there are extensive after-school programs, which include modified sports and clubs and organizations that address other interests of young adolescents.

Horace Greeley High School (9-12, 1,266 students)
70 Roaring Brook Rd. • 238-7201 • hg.ccsd.ws

Greeley students are self-motivated and highly engaged as they are taught to think critically and collaborate to solve problems in all courses. In addition to core subjects (most students take English, social studies, math, science, and foreign language classes through their senior year), students are committed to the fine and performing arts and have an opportunity to take any number of the dozens of electives offered–including shared online courses, a science research course, independent study, and the senior experience internship program. Over two-thirds of the student body participate in more than 85 clubs and organizations, publish two student newspapers, and compete on over 70 sports teams.

 

Courtesy of the Chappaqua Central School District

Spotlights from around the District: Those who can, Teach

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Friends outside school as well as close colleagues Eileen Kenna (left) with Ann Marie Scalici (right)
Friends outside school as well as close colleagues Eileen Kenna (left) with Ann Marie Scalici (right)

By Miriam Longobardi

When people imagine teachers in the summer, they would not envision someone spending six hours on a hot August day rejuvenating old desks with multiple coats of primer and write and wipe paint, yet this is exactly what Ann Marie Scalici was doing. Scalici was recently transferred to Roaring Brook fourth grade from Bell Middle School fifth grade ELA, where she and colleague Eileen Kenna (they refer to themselves as Work Wives), were named Innovative Teachers of the Year.

With adjacent classrooms, Scalici and Kenna transformed their learning environments. They spent hours after school rearranging furniture, cutting legs off old desks and bringing in items from home to create an environment to maximize student engagement and learning. Scalici said,

“Our students are nine and ten years old and they definetly need to move to learn. They are not meant to be confined by physical spaces that bind their intellectual and physical freedom.”

The following year they were awarded a grant from the Chappaqua School Foundation (CSF) for new furniture allowing students the freedom to choose seating best suited for their individual learning as well as team collaboration and student presentations.

Teaching extends far beyond the brick and mortar of a building, and Westorchard Elementary School teachers Liz Morhardt and Erin Posner turned loss into legacy. When their beloved colleague and dear friend Alison Caso Guerra passed away suddenly and tragically last February, our school community wasdevastated, but this was especially painful for the students and staff at Westorchard.

BEFORE - Scalici’s room before its makeover
BEFORE – Scalici’s room before its makeover
AFTER - Scalici’s room working with what she had
AFTER – Scalici’s room working with what she had
Scalici’s room transformed with creativity and a grant funded by the Chappaqua School Foundation
Scalici’s room transformed with creativity and a grant funded by the Chappaqua School Foundation

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Erin Posner (center), Westorchard Elementary Principal Jim Skoog (far right) with Go Stride participants.
Erin Posner (center), Westorchard Elementary Principal Jim Skoog (far right) with Go Stride participants.

Wanting to maintain the memory of Alison’s passion for teaching and dedication to her students, Morhardt and Posner, together with Alison’s husband, Philippe, established the Alison Caso Guerra Memorial Scholarship Fund to be awarded to a Greeley senior who had her as a teacher and embodies such qualities as well-respected, hard-working and compassionate, among many criteria.

Their original goal was to award $1,000 each year for the next ten years, thus covering the classes of students who would have had her as a teacher. Last spring alone, the Go Stride for Alison event as well as a clothing boutique raised enough money to cover the next ten year’s recipients, far surpassing their original goal.

Alison’s legacy will reach far beyond the students and lives she touched personally.

In my new role as president of the Chappaqua Congress of Teachers I have had the opportunity to get to know colleagues in all schools and witness collaboration across grade levels. Leading students to investigate problems individually and problem-solve collaboratively is only part of what Horace Greeley teacher Mike DeBellis teaches in his Intro to Engineering course.

DeBellis co-teaches Technology and Design Integration classes with Kevin Kuczma and Paul Bianchi where students grow from learning introductory skills such as sewing, electronics, robotics and 3-D printing first semester, to designing their own problem using a well thought-out plan to solve second semester. Examples of their work include designing watch gears using computer-aided drafting (CAD), creating a fully automated greenhouse, and building a working model of an airplane. Robotics students learn how to code solutions a robot may encounter and investigate real-world problems that may be solved using robotics.

DeBellis, Kuczma and Bianchi work closely with middle school Technology Education teachers Chris Stasi and Bob Raguette.“They run terrific programs; the students they send us are fantastic,” DeBellis reports.

The district has made a huge commitment to this work and staff developers Zach Arnold, Josh Block and Ellen Moskowitz are spearheading the STEAM initiative. With all these moving parts working together, Chappaqua is moving full STEAM ahead!

These teachers are merely a few examples of the hundreds of outstanding and dedicated educators that define the excellence of the Chappaqua Central School District. Their passion, innovation, and commitment to children inspire me daily and I am honored to be among them.

Model of a passive solar home with elements of sound, light, motion, and a sensor, designed and built by an Intro to Engineering student at Greeley.
Model of a passive solar home with elements of sound, light, motion, and a sensor, designed and built by an Intro to Engineering student at Greeley.