Comings and Goings at the Scarsdale Schools

At their May 18th meeting, the Scarsdale High School Board of Education announced the retirements of Nancy O'Rourke, Mark Goldberg, Paula Magaletti, and Alice Yugovich. In addition, twelve teachers and administrators were granted tenure and a new principal was hired for Quaker Ridge School to replace Robyn Lane who will retire at the end of the school year.

Nancy O'Rourke, a first grade teacher at Edgewood was the first to be honored, and was praised for her "smooth beginnings to Kindergarten" where she was known to have her students "happily seated in a circle around their new teacher." Mrs. O'Rourke was known for her intellectual curiosity, and passion for the subjects she teaches. She is an avid reader, and has taken initiatives to teach other Edgewood faculty, teaching a Scarsdale Teachers Institute course, "Teachers as Readers." Mrs. O'Rourke is also a member of the COMPACT committee, and was known for her leadership and dedication to the program during their focus on literacy and reading instruction. Mrs. O'Rourke's reputation stretched well beyond the walls of her classroom, as evidenced by students' responses to her retirement, "Mrs. O'Rourke, well I never had her but she's good."

The second teacher to be recognized was Paula Magaletti, the Spanish Language teacher from Heathcote Elementary. Señora Magaletti, as she is affectionately known, has taught at Heathcote for 28 years. She was called "an ideal teacher, who makes her students passionate about language, and uses fun as a teaching tool." Heathcote Principal Maria Stile, praised Señora Magaletti for her "versatility and style," saying, "One year she has a classroom, and then another year she has a classroom on a cart. But through it all Spanish continued at Heathcote, and Señora Magaletti delivered instruction with passion and grace, engaging her students and helping them to grow." Current Heathcote students even wrote poems to honor Mrs. Magaletti; here is one from a current 5th Grader:

We learn Spanish and play games,
Hola, Como Estas?
We say all day
I wish Spanish wasn't done,
It's so much fun for everyone!
Madrid project, rainforest, too,
This poem is meant for you!
We learn Spanish and study places,
We wish we had Spanish on a daily basis
We say the weather and say the date,
When we go to Spanish we hope we're never late

Retiring Heathcote art teacher Alice Yugovich, or Ms. Y as she is called, and Señora Magaletti are best friends and will go off into retirement together. Ms. Y was a mainstay at Heathcote, having taught there for the past thirty years. She helped both students and teachers and made sure everyone got the help they needed. Since she taught every single student at Heathcote, she had little extra time but was generous with it. Maria Stile said, "Anyone who ever entered Heathcote commented on how impressive the artwork was, and they all wanted to meet the teacher who was responsible for the breadth and exquisite quality of the work Ms. Y was able to inspire." Ms. Y will also be remembered by Principal Stile and the rest of Heathcote as someone who embodies John Steinbeck's great quote: "I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit." Heathcote PTA President Karen Palaniappan said, "Ms. "Y", we wish you much happiness in your retirement. Our children's lives are more colorful because of you."

Mark Goldberg, who will retire from the Physical Education at Heathcote elementary, was unable to attend the meeting.

New Principal at Quaker Ridge:

Dr. Joan Weber announced the probationary appointment of Felix Gil as Principal of Quaker Ridge School. She described an extensive search and intensive interview process resulting in Dr. Gil's appointment. Dr. Gil joins Scarsdale from Summit, NJ where he is the Principal of Franklin Elementary School. He has been a Social Studies teacher as well as an Assistant Principal and Principal in New York City schools. He holds a BA in Latin American Studies from New York University, an MS in Bilingual Education from City University of New York as well as an MA in Public School Organization and Leadership from Teachers College of Columbia University. He recently defended his doctoral dissertation in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

Tenure:

Also announced were tenure appointments of the following twelve district staff members:

Julie Abbe, Special Education
Patricia Almanzer, Foreign Language
Kenneth Bonamo, Principal, SHS
Eileen Cagner, Special Education
Robert Daly, Social Studies
Michael Divino, School Counselor
Michael Egan, Science
Christopher Griffin, Assistant Principal, SHS
Jessica Gutta, Special Education
Nicole Jakymiu, English
Jamie Quinn, Mathematics
Heather Waters, Social Studies