Unified Athletes Thrill Fans in Home Finale

On Tuesday afternoon, Eastchester’s Unified Basketball team took the court in front of throngs of raucous fans, playing in its final home game of the spring season. And while the game was a great success by any measure—the Eagles came away with a thrilling 60-55 win over visiting Mahopac—it proved to be an especially touching example of the Eastchester community’s willingness to rally behind its Unified athletes. 

Unified Athletics—an inclusive sports program that partners athletes both with and without intellectual disabilities in a team setting—launched in Eastchester last spring, offering participants a chance to compete against other area schools. Since the program’s inception in 2022, Eastchester has added another Unified program—varsity bowling—to complement its yearly offerings.

Junior Matt Bellach, a member of the Unified Basketball team who has been a driving force behind fundraising efforts for the Special Olympics and Eastchester SEPTA over the last two years*, said it was exciting to see the bleachers filled with parents, family and friends voicing their full support of the Unified athletes. 

“It was really great to see everyone here, it was a much better turnout than last year and a much better turnout than I expected,” said Bellach. “It was heartwarming to see everyone come together for a good cause, and that’s really what this whole program is about.”

Bellach pointed to the final seconds of the game—when a Mahopac player hit a buzzer-beating shot to send fans from both sides into wild applause—as a perfect encapsulation of the main theme of the day.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what matters is that you saw people coming together for both Eastchester and Mahopac,” he said. “No matter what team makes the shot, you have to cheer for them.”

Eastchester Athletic Director Brad Gitlin concurred with Bellach’s sentiments and thanked district administrators and other community groups for making days like Tuesday possible.

“If this doesn’t epitomize school spirit, I don’t know what does, and it’s all about the partnerships we have that made this successful.” said Gitlin. “The PTAs, our Sports Club, and our SEPTA, along with the Special Education Department, made this happen, because if it wasn’t for them, it would be that much more difficult for the Athletic Department to get something like this off the ground.”

As the team celebrates its 2023 campaign, head coach John Gibson says that—as is often the case with athletics—the lessons and skills that students will take away from their time in the program go far beyond the hardwood. 

“It’s not necessarily about winning, it’s about playing as a team and I’ve seen all these kids grow up a lot in a lot of good ways,” said Gibson. “I think this helps them to focus at school, it helps them focus on helping other people; I think you see that these are good kids, but now, what’s at the forefront of their mind is the idea of kindness.”

For more photos from the Unified Basketball home finale, click HERE or on the image below.

*Prior to Tuesday's game, Bellach was recognized for his fundraising work by Westchester County Legislator Damon Maher. In addition, Thursday, May 25, was declared "Matt Bellach Day" in Westchester County.

Crafting the District's MTSS Plan

Earlier this month, the Eastchester Board of Education adopted a plan that outlined and codified the district’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports. 

The 2023-2025 MTSS Plan lays out how the district will respond to students who are struggling academically, socially or behaviorally. The goal is to intervene early and to offer stronger, more intensive supports—if needed—to help students succeed.

The MTSS plan serves as a guide for educators, students and parents to the support systems available under the academic, social-emotional learning and behavioral umbrellas.

Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Personnel Services Dr. Greg Stowell explained that, since coming into the district last July, one of his primary tasks has been the creation of a comprehensive MTSS plan. Citing the success other school districts have had in implementing similar ideas, Dr. Stowell oversaw the formation of a 34-person committee consisting of educators, administrators and skills coaches from each of the District’s five buildings that worked throughout the course of the school year to craft the support framework. 

“Over the last five years, most districts have begun to draft MTSS plans and research has shown that a more robust MTSS plan can improve academic performance and student wellness while also reducing behavioral issues,” said Dr. Stowell. “So, the goal at the beginning of the year was to come up with a district-wide committee to develop and draft a comprehensive K-12 guide.”

By outlining the criteria for assessing students who may need extra support—and the subsequent intervention process of each “Tier,” the new plan helps to unify the intervention approach, both vertically and horizontally, across grade levels. This ensures that students are receiving equitable support appropriate to grade level regardless of their school, and that the techniques and systems used at lower grade levels can be extended into the upper grades as students progress through their academic careers.

“What’s really critical to this plan is that we use common language and common approaches, especially among the elementary schools,” said Dr. Stowell. “And although some of the interventions we use at the middle school level will be very different than the ones we use for kindergarten, the process of how we identify the students who need support, how we talk about it, how we collect data on that and how we leverage resources should all be very similar.”

The plan is available here and is also accessible through the “District” dropdown tab on the district website. The document should be utilized by parents and teachers to ensure that everyone is familiar with the general framework of MTSS.

“It is important that this forward-facing document is out in the public sphere so that there is no mystery about how we do our work; it’s about transparency, building trust and for parents to be able to see how we get to the decisions we arrive at,” said Dr. Stowell. “It also shows how MTSS teams at each building communicate with families about all of these issues.”

Dr. Stowell also noted that while the MTSS Plan is now officially in place, the district will continue to look for ways to update and upgrade the process to best serve Eastchester students.

“I’m particularly thankful for all of the staff members who served on this committee, they thought critically, made revisions, and really came up with a solid plan,” he said. “The hope is that this committee will continue to meet and if there are changes we need to make to this plan we will. If there are other resources that need to be leveraged, it may require a longer term approach.”

Waverly Students Compete at State Tournament

Three Waverly first graders—Joe Mimatsu, Sameer Kanwar and Nathan McCarthy—shined in a statewide Mathematics tournament held in Albany last weekend.

Sponsored by the New York State Education Department and FirstinMath.com, the event featured 10 teams at the first grade level.

Mimatsu, who is in Christine Rogliano’s class, and Kanwar and McCarthy, who are in Lisa Michalak’s class, finished fourth—missing out on a third-place medal by just five points—proving that the students’ dedication to their academics, coupled with their utilization of the First in Math program, has been a true victory for the district.

First In Math is a voluntary supplemental program that offers elementary schoolers the opportunity to participate in math-based games using a fun—and educational—platform that tracks student progress and rewards youngsters for solving math problems. 

Eastchester schools launched the program in March to much success, with Kanwar, McCarthy and Mimatsu qualifying for the statewide event with a tremendous showing at a virtual March 30 regional qualifier.

Although the May 20 event marked a departure from the format of the qualifiers, inviting students, Grades 1-5, from across the state to compete in person, Lisa Michalak, who accompanied the students on their trip to Albany, said the trio was well-prepared, both mentally and emotionally, for the challenge. 

“In the weeks leading up to the event, we met with them to discuss what they should expect, with first graders from all over the state,” said Michalak. “So they knew that even though we had all this time to prepare, every other team had those same opportunities, and I think they handled it so well.”  

Michalak added that watching the three youngsters prepare for the tournament was revelatory, as they worked together through exercises that mirrored the “Ten Wheels” puzzle format of the competition. Collaborative, hands-on learning is important for early-elementary school students, she said, and the trio settled in quickly to problem solve in a group setting. 

“Working with a partner on schoolwork and learning how to figure out a problem has so many benefits at this age,” said Michalak. “With this, just figuring out how to make ten, it helps them in terms of thinking about math and using mathematical language.”



Michalak added that the format of the First in Math competition served as an effective companion to the Reveal Math curriculum being employed within the district. 

“We use Reveal and a lot of things that have come up this year are about the advanced vocabulary of the curriculum,” she said. “Being exposed to that math vocabulary, I think, has really helped the students to articulate mathematical thinking this year.”

With the excitement generated by the three Waverly student’s trip to the state tournament, Michalak feels that enthusiasm for the First in Math program will continue to grow among Eastchester’s elementary school students, and that the youngsters are already eager to test their skills against the re st of New York State next year. 

“As an enrichment piece, it’s been so valuable for my group because they are motivated to do these activities,” she said. “Math can be daunting, but I’m finding these kids aren’t scared, they’re excited about it; it doesn’t matter if we came home from Albany with a medal, this was definitely a win-win for us.”

"An Invisible Thread" Author Speaks with Eighth Graders

In 1986, when 35-year-old Laura Schroff offered Maurice Mazyck—an 11-year-old child begging for change on the streets of New York—a chance to grab a hot lunch, she couldn’t envision how important that one small moment would be.

Despite the difference in their ages and circumstances, Schroff and Mazyck would form a profound connection from that one meal; As the two grew closer, Schroff’s eyes were opened to the realities of the extreme poverty facing Mazyck and other youths like him while also watching as the youngster developed the tools he would later use to escape his tumultuous upbringing.

Nearly 40 years later, the unlikely friendship between two endures, serving as the basis for Schroff’s 2011 New York Times Bestseller “An Invisible Thread,” an example of how of one good deed had an immeasurable effect on both lives. 

On Monday, May 22, Schroff recounted her story for Eastchester Middle School eighth graders at a class-wide assembly, hoping her story served as a reminder about the incredible difference that small acts of kindness can make.

Schroff first spoke to the group last spring, after being contact by then-seventh grader Siena Versaci, who found the story to be inspiring and applicable to the ideas of selflessness and kindness that have been constant themes throughout her time at Eastchester Middle School. 

Last year, Versaci was introduced to the book by her grandmother—who was Schroff’s high school teacher—and her ensuing writeup for the Loukoumi Make A Difference Foundation newsletter caught the eye of the best-selling author, prompting Schroff to reach out to the middle schooler.

Versaci said that Schroff’s visit last June resonated with her classmates, who were eager to hear from the author again this year.

“It’s really cool to see that people actually care about this and that I’ve been a part of bringing her story to more people,” said Versaci.

Versaci noted that Schroff’s story was even more poignant for students this year, as the group is preparing to move on from their time as middle schoolers. 

The idea about how kindness can help shape a community will be especially important to remember as the class enters the high school halls next year, as the soon-to-be ninth graders will need to be compassionate and empathetic as they continue their educational journeys together.

“I think the message is more important for us now,” said Versaci. “As we get older, we’re beginning to understand that the choices we make have real consequences.” 

Flag Football Nabs Section Crown in Inaugural Campaign

On Wednesday afternoon, Eastchester athletes made history, capturing the first-ever Section 1 varsity girls flag football championship with a 20-0 win over Scarsdale at Mahopac High School. 

In the face of driving rain—and a top-seeded Scarsdale team that had edged the Eagles during the regular season—No. 2 seed Eastchester wasted little time getting things going in the championship game, dominating the Raiders on both sides of the ball and cruising to a shutout victory. 

Junior quarterback Michelle Tiso threw for three Eastchester scores—two to Carlie Brien and one to Ava Battista—while Brien also shined on the defensive end, recording two interceptions in a game that saw the Eagles force four Raider turnovers. 

Brien said that the inclement weather had little impact on the Eastchester game plan and credited head coach Vito DeBellis and assistant Lowell Robinson with preparing the Eagles for the challenges Scarsdale would present.

“Honestly, I think we play better in the rain; [DeBellis] gave us a very good pep talk, and in the end, we knew we were better and that we could take home the title,” said Brien. “We knew we had the offense, but we knew we had to put in the work on defense to win it.”

Eastchester’s stellar defensive play stemmed from an effective pass rush led by Lakala Beadle. Beadle admitted that the team came into Wednesday’s game with a different intensity than that which they had displayed in their May 8 loss to the Raiders. 

“The mindset was completely different,” said Beadle. “Last time, I think we were a little scared and didn’t come out as strong, but today we played like we didn’t have anything to lose, and I think that made a big difference.”

Flag football, which was granted pilot program status by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) last spring, officially became a sanctioned varsity sport this year. Eastchester officially announced its intention to field a team at a Jan. 10 Board of Education Meeting that saw Tiso, Marissa DelBrocco and Sofia Kolndreu thank board members and administrators for their support in getting the program off the ground. 

Tiso said that although people might not have known what to expect from the Eagles in their first year of competition, Eastchester’s players and coaches never doubted the team’s ability to contend for a Section 1 crown. 

“I knew this was going to be a special group,” Tiso said. “We brought every girl from every sport in our school. The best of the best came to play, and anyone that came to watch us all season knows that we had a bunch of athletes on this field that love football.”

Although there is no tournament to crown a state champion this year, the ride isn’t over for the Eagles just yet. On June 7, Eastchester and Division II small-school winner Lakeland will travel to MetLife Stadium for an end-of-the-year celebration hosted by the New York Giants.



“This is an accomplishment for sure, it’s an accomplishment for everyone,” said Tiso. “It couldn’t have happened without every single girl from top to bottom on this roster coming to practice each day and making it happen.” 

Eastchester Public Library Announces Teen/Tween Summer Programming

Eastchester Public Library’s Teen Librarian, Marissa Wacholder, visited sixth-grade classes last week to talk about the many programs available to middle school students. These include the Teen/Tween ‘All Together Now’ summer reading program where ALL READING COUNTS! Kids can track the number of reading minutes for raffle tickets and prizes. Wacholder relies on the Teen Advisory Board to get programming suggestions. There are already quite a few EMS students on the board, but anyone can join. 

Upcoming activities include de-stressing with Nala the therapy dog on June 13 at 4:00, Dungeons & Dragons board game events (Wacholder can teach beginners!), a Hamilton sing-along, a Mirror Escape Room, and many more opportunities for fun. All of these programs are free! Please visit the library to help your child get a library card and to meet Ms. Wacholder.

Don’t forget Battle of the Books! There is an information meeting for students and parents on Thursday, May 25 in the library. 

For more information about these programs, please contact Ms. Wacholder at [email protected] or call her at 914-793-5055. You can also visit the library's website.

If you have news or announcements to share, please contact the District's Communications Specialist Michael Smith at [email protected].

Eastchester UFSD | 580 White Plains Road, Eastchester, NY 10709 | 914.793.6130

www.eufsdk12.org