APRIL 24, 2023

On April 18, the Board of Education adopted a $59.3 million budget for the 2023-24 school year. The slideshow presented at the Board meeting explains the highlights of the budget. I hope you will take a moment to look at the presentation and see how the plan maintains the high-quality education for which Pleasantville Schools are known. Voting will take place on Tuesday, May 16 from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Middle School Multipurpose Room. I look forward to seeing you there.

For the youth, 

Dr. Tina DeSa

Superintendent of Schools

Arlette Baker was just four years old and living in Paris with her family when the police came and took her parents away. She never saw them again. 

Baker, a former Latin teacher in Chappaqua who now splits her time between the US, Canada and France, told her story to Pleasantville Middle School eighth graders during a daylong event to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 18. 

Tracy O’Sullivan, eighth grade English teacher and co-curriculum coordinator, said the day’s experiences add a personal element to the history and make it relatable for students.  

“It’s a heavy day,” O’Sullivan said. “They look at historical documents and artifacts, watch video clips with images of the Holocaust, take a virtual tour of the Holocaust Museum in Los Angeles, read poetry and then meet with a Holocaust survivor on a Zoom call.”  

The Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center in White Plains arranged for Baker to speak with the Pleasantville students.  

Ms. Baker told the eighth graders of how she lost both of her parents during the Holocaust. Students listened intently to the story of a child who had to live with the uncertainty of not knowing if her parents would ever return.  

After she told her story, students asked questions.  

“How do you keep the memory of your parents alive?” Emil asked. 

Ms. Baker discussed the importance of keeping history alive for herself and for the good of society.  

“Why do you think your teachers created this kind of experience for you?” School Superintendent Tina DeSa, who visited O’Sullivan’s class for the Zoom call, asked the students.  

“They wanted to raise awareness so history like this could never happen again,” Millie, an eighth grader, answered.  

Dr. DeSa reminded the students that they would soon be adults who could vote and would have a say in the future of our democracy.  

At the end of the day, the students took what they learned and created a butterfly in memory of the person they had researched.  

The students in Adrienne Sapione’s Studio Art class at Pleasantville High School not only learn to draw, paint and make art, they also learn to see themselves in a new light.  

The class, an art elective for ninth graders, recently focused on drawing self-portraits in pencil. 

“We used software that puts a photo on a grid,” Will Lamb said. “Then we draw each box, one at a time.”  

The project exposes students to contemporary artists and gets students thinking about the elements of art and the principles of design, Sapione said.  

“In this unit, students created a graphite photorealistic portrait with a patterned background inspired by two contemporary artists: Retna and Kehinde Wilde,” Sapione said. “We want to encourage students to look closely at their image.”  

The exciting thing about creating art is that students make it their own.  

“You might start with a mindset of perfection but when you start working on it, you realize it doesn’t have to be perfect,” said Amanda Bujaj. “You find your true self and the ways you want to do art. It is freedom of expression.” 

Bedford Road School third and fourth graders learned to see the world the way someone with physical or learning differences might see it. The Walk in My Shoes program, a PTA event organized by parent volunteers, used exercises such as reading print backwards in a mirror to help students think about what others might experience. 

“I think you can really see the kids thinking it through,” said Katie Jordan, a parent volunteer. “It helps them to be more understanding and empathetic.”  

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