MARCH 17, 2023

The snow this week may have been a surprise but one consistent thing about the month of March, is that it is time for us to get deep into the preparation of the school budget for the upcoming school year.   

Our goal in putting together the 2023-2024 budget is to maintain the high-quality education that Pleasantville Schools provide while keeping spending increases to a minimum.  

At Wednesday’s Board of Education this week, school administrators presented their proposed instructional budgets for the 2023-2024 school year. I encourage you to read through the Instructional Budget Proposals  and watch the video so that you can see, in detail, all that goes into providing an education that will prepare our children for the future. 



Have a great weekend. Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  

For the youth,

Dr. Tina DeSa

Superintendent of Schools

Pleasantville High School students filled the auditorium with cheers Thursday in a send-off for the school’s Science Olympiad Team, which is headed to the State Championship.  

The bus left Friday morning for the state championship at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. For two days, March 17 and March 18, the students will compete in 23 events ranging from forestry and forensics to a new Wi-Fi Lab. 

“I’m so excited,” said Sedge Algiere, a senior who is competing in the Forestry, Green Gen and Cell Biology events. “I’m really interested in this stuff, and the gratification you get from proving to yourself that you know the material is so rewarding.” 

This is the first year that the high school club will compete at the state level.  

“Last year the kids got really close to making it to states, so they felt that it was achievable,” Science Olympiad Club Co-Advisor Christine Pallotta said. “They really pushed themselves to get there.” 

Club Co-Advisor Filiz Scales attributed the high school club’s success to the enthusiasm for the program at Pleasantville Middle School.  

“We have more kids involved this year and that helped,” Scales, a science teacher, said. “There were times we had six kids tracking down supplies and working together on one event.”  

Dr. Martha Matteo, a biochemist, was on hand for the send-off and received a big round of applause. Matteo and her late husband, Dr. Charles Matteo, were instrumental in launching the Science Olympiad program at middle school ten years ago and helping it grow.

The middle school’s Science Olympiad team will compete in the state competition at its level in April.  

This weekend, Pleasantville High School’s team will include 15 students and four alternates. More students might have gone to the state competition but they had conflicts in their schedules. The busy weekend includes the high school play, a Speech and Debate event and WESEF, the Regeneron Westchester Science & Engineering Fair in Somers on Saturday. 

“I’m nervous and I really want to do well,” said Harshini Pothuganti, a junior who is competing in Science Olympiad Environmental Science and Chemistry events. “I am inspired by science. I am also just really excited to go on an overnight trip with my friends.”  

Instead of being just students, a group of Pleasantville Middle School seventh graders has taken on the role of teacher – for a while. 

The group visited fifth grade classes and showed a video they made to help teach kids to pay attention to words and behaviors that can sometimes be hurtful to others. 

The seventh graders made the video in February as part of a project for the Institute for Middle School Leaders at the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center in White Plains.  

“We learned a new word at this workshop, ‘microaggressions,’” Jamie, a seventh grader, said on the video. “Microaggressions are the small things we say or do without really thinking first that come from assumptions and unfair stereotypes.” 

The group wrote and acted out scenes of microaggression based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender and what it is like to be a twin. 

In one scene on the video a girl asks for help with sewing in her Home Skills class.  

“I can help,” Nick says.  

“Thanks, Nick, but I’ll get it eventually,” she says. “Everyone knows that boys can’t sew.”  

Nick, of course, shows her otherwise.  

When the video ended, the fifth graders had a lot of questions.  

“What’s the difference between microaggression and bullying,” one fifth grader asked.  

“Bullying is intentional,” Samantha, a seventh grader, said. “With microaggressions, you may not even notice you’re doing it. It may just be an assumption based on a stereotype.”  

The seventh graders created the video after attending workshops that talked about being an upstander instead of a bystander as well as stereotypes, bias, and prejudice frequently applied to marginalized groups in society.  

Click here to watch the video. 

Pleasantville Middle School has worked with the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center for several years. The center’s mission is to enhance the teaching and learning of the lessons of the Holocaust and the right of all people to be treated with dignity and respect. They work with schools to encourage students to speak up and act against all forms of bigotry and prejudice. 

Forget the snow outside, second graders at Bedford Road School started planting seeds indoors on Wednesday, March 15 for the school's Edible Garden. 

“Today, lima beans and carrot seeds were brought inside,” Kim McKenzie Bendus, a parent volunteer said. “The kids learned about seeds being asleep or dormant and then waking up through germination, which requires moisture, soil, and warmth.”  

The students also made seed tape, Edible Garden co-chair Nicole Mattison said.  

“They used toilet paper, measured with a ruler, made dots one inch apart and placed the seeds on the dots,” Mattison said. “Seed tape is a way to prep seeds indoors - especially tiny ones - so that when you are ready to plant, they are already spaced perfectly and not able to accidentally be dropped into the garden bed as you're trying to find them in your hands.” 

Mattison and fellow Edible Garden co-chairs Erica Gardner and Adina McGinley, had planned to take the children out to the garden, where the beds have been cleared and are ready for planting, but the weather did not cooperate. 

Second graders in Rebecca Myers’s class did not seem to mind.  

“We are growing lima beans,” said Aiden. “We sprayed them and moistened a paper towel so they could have water.” 

“Then we took them home and put them on the windowsill,” Colin said.  

“Some kids had spinach beans,” Molly said. “Some had carrots.” 

Share the Pville Press with a friend. Forward this email to Pleasantville community members who might like to sign up and learn about all the great things happening in the PUFSD.