Special Education PTA Honors Graduating Seniors, Teachers and Parents

With high school graduations looming in the next few weeks for many schools, 24 graduating seniors were awarded scholarships Monday night by the Clarkstown Special Education Parents Teachers Association.

The annual awards ceremony was not just to honor those students, however, as teachers who work with special education students were also recognized for their work, as well as two retiring teachers and Art Jakubowitz, the retiring principal of the Birchwood School. This year also saw the first ever parent honoree at the SEPTA award ceremony.

“We just wanted to show our appreciation for the parents,” said Dawn Lafasciano, the co-president of the SEPTA of Clarkstown. “It’s great to be able to honor the students, teachers and parents all at one event.”

The students honored are graduating from the Jesse J. Kaplan School at BOCES, Birchwood School, Clarkstown North, Clarkstown South and the South High School Spirit class. To earn the scholarship, each student had to write an essay and get a  reference letter from a teacher.

Rehana Bhandal, 18 of New City, actually wrote her essay about a teacher who had a big effect on her during her senior year at North, Jacole Galperin.

“I would tell her about all my classes and what we were doing in them,” Bhandal said. “She also helped me pass all my Regents exams.”

When she wrote her essay, Bhandal did not expect to win one of the scholarships.

“I’m really happy I did,” she said. “It was nice of them to acknowledge me.”

Bhandal is heading to Rockland Community College (RCC) in the fall for two years, and is undecided as to what she is going to study there. Walter Cahill, 18 of Pearl River, is also heading to RCC, which he hopes will lead him to a job in the health care field. Cahill is graduating from Clarkstown South this year, and he said his time in high school is one he’ll never forget.

“I worked really hard in high school, so it’s nice to get this award for it,” he said. “The teachers and staff really helped me a lot.”

The students who earned scholarships were announced by Arnold Fucci, the director of Special Education for the Clarkstown Central School District, who also read portions of each student’s essay and a bit from their reference letter. In his opening before getting to the students, he quoted Helen Keller.

“Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them, but do not let them master you,” he said. “These students have met challenges and achieved success.”

The event was held in the cafeteria at Clarkstown High School South, and many of the students in attendance were brought up to accept their award. After the students' portion of the program, the teachers were honored. They had to be nominated for an award by a fellow teacher or their principal.

The SEPTA committee decides who to honor each year. This year, SEPTA honored three teachers, a school psychologist, speech therapist and two teaching assistants.

“There is nothing better than seeing a student overcome an obstacle,” said Dr. Connie Mednick, a resource teacher at Clarkstown North, who added that the best award for her is when former students come back to visit.

Laura Goodman, the psychologist at Clarkstown South, said the students she works with inspire her every day.

“I have the best job in the world,” she said. “I work with the most amazing students.”

The teachers were all given certificates as well, although one teacher got some additional gifts. Michelle Parks, who works at New City Elementary, was one of the two teaching assistants honored. She was presented not only with a bouquet of flowers by her colleagues, but she was also given a book titled "Miss Michelle Is The Best Because..."

In the book, students of hers completed the sentence, with things like “she reads with me,” “she tells me jokes,” “she hugs me,” “she helps me buy lunch” and “she helps me with my calendar.”

The awards ceremony began with guest speaker School Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan, who talked about how the event is great because it honors teachers and students, and the special bond between those two groups. 

Jonathan Slaybaugh, who will take over as the principal of Birchwood in September, spoke about the man he is replacing who was presented with an award recognizing his years of dedication. Jakubowitz has been the principal of Birchwood for all of the 27 years the school has been open.

“Any awards bestowed on him pale in comparison to his work,” Slaybaugh said.

Jakubowitz got up and made a brief statement, joking the end of his run has been great because of all the dinners he’s been invited to. He then stayed up to talk about Dr. Henry Judka, the psychologist at Birchwood, who was being honored at the ceremony because he too is retiring.

“I have never seen anybody connect with students the way Henry does,” Jakubowitz said.

Marijane Schrammel, a teaching assistant at Clarkstown North, was the other retiree honored Monday night.

Scholarships:

Jesse J. Kaplan School:

• Nicholas Moccia
• Joseph LaNave
• Matthew Nordstrom
• Amanda Keegan

Birchwood School:

• Sean Kingsbury
• William Bales
• Derrin Theodore
• Diandra Rosario
• Max Gabel
• Douglas Godino

North High School:

• Rehana Bhandal
• Katheryn McGregor
• Meghan King
• Kyle Allingham

South High School:

• Rachel Sherman
• Shanice Elizabeth Wheeler
• Kristina Nikolaj
• Emily Badinelli

South High School - Spirit Class:

• Jonathan Lomiento-Clark
• Kalsoom Altaf
• Walter Cahill
• Matt VonDollen
• Akeem Gayle
• Nicole Todaro

Recognition Awards:

Teachers:

• Dr. Connie Mednik -- Resource Teachers at North High School
• Christina Gara -- Lakewood Elementary School
• Peggy O’Hara -- Art Teacher at Felix Festa Middle School

Psychologist:

• Laura Goodman -- Clarkstown South High School

Speech Therapist:

• Micki Marlow -- Congers Elementary School

Teaching Assistants:

• Susan Gerber -- North High School
• Michelle Park -- New City Elementary School

Parent Member:

• Dee LaNave