From the Desk of the Superintendent

It has been a challenging year, but not surprisingly the Pawling Community has come together and surmounted the challenges with grace and passion.

Our community has supported our students by endorsing our educational investment plan, the 2020-2021 PCSD Budget. We are grateful to all those, including community, staff, and Board members, who helped to encourage participation in the voting process. We are also grateful to our District Clerk, Mrs. Generoso, for managing a complex process with expert care.

It is with fond regret that we thank our retiring Board of Education members, Carollynn Costella and Inga Garbarino. Both of these women have served our community with passion and wisdom. Mrs. Garbarino concludes six years of service, including as an active member of the District Professional Development Plan Team and as Board Vice-President. Ms. Costella concludes three years of service, including as an active Policy Committee member. We will miss them both.

At the same time, it is our pleasure to welcome newly elected Board of Education members, Preeti Govindarajan and Marie Phelan Vedder. School Board service is an altruistic act of commitment to public education. We thank Mrs. Govindarajan and Ms. Vedder for their willingness to join our Governance Team.

On a similarly bittersweet note, we congratulate our Pawling High School Graduates of 2020. Our Pawling and PCSD community has embraced the celebration of this very special class with the usual outpouring of generous scholarships, totalling $99,722, and the completely novel caravan of gifts, tribute videos, personalized photographs on the village green, a drive-in movie complete with Pawling's own international star--James Earl Jones--and finally a lovely outdoor diploma ceremony. We are pretty sure the students will not forget any of it, nor will we forget them as we wish them every success in their future.

Kim Fontana, Superintendent of Schools

Many members of the Pawling community were celebrated at the most recent board of education meeting. To view this year’s Top Ten Students, Tenure Recipients and Retirees CLICK HERE.

More than a dozen members of the Pawling community are retiring. Together they have served Pawling for 274 years.

We thank everyone listed for their dedicated service and wish them well in their endeavors:

Lisa Anderson, custodian

Nancy Charlabakis, senior typist

Randy Ferris, groundskeeper

Ron Hollywood, custodial worker

Mary Jacques, special education teacher

Peter Jacques, physical education teacher

Carol King, home economics teacher

Terie Konchan, speech language pathologist

Louie Mazella, custodian

Sue McGowan, teacher aide

Pat O'Neil, groundskeeper/maintenance mechanic

Hernan Rodriguez (already enjoying retirement), custodian

Annie Rowe (already enjoying retirement), custodian

Neysa Sensenig, assistant superintendent for finance.

Students shared their virtual learning in a number of ways over the past several months. Links to everything from science research presentations to art displayed in a virtual gallery by students from all our schools are included in the links below. Congratulations to all the contributors.

Fourth graders expressed their answers to the question “What legacy do you want to leave behind?” in art form for this classwide project.

CLICK HERE to view the Fourth Grade Legacy Art Project

Students at every grade level created art which is shared in this virtual gallery. There is also a virtual wing where viewers can enjoy film presentations from students ranging from silent film to mini documentaries.

CLICK HERE to view the Virtual Art and Film Gallery

Listen to students in grades five through eight perform the Alma mater both on instruments and in chorus.

CLICK HERE to view the Learning Celebration Music

What was the best part of the year for students in fifth grade? Being in the school play, reaching a high note in band, spending time with friends, completing a project on animal rights were just some of the answers to that question. Click below to see these and other presentations on the best part of the year.

CLICK HERE to view the #BestPartofMyYear Fifth Grade Learning Celebrations

Sixth graders highlighted everything from studying ancient Greece, to making videos about the pandemic and lockdown, to mastering new math skills as the best part of their year. To see their slideshows, click below.

CLICK HERE to view the #BestPartofMyYear Sixth Grade Learning Celebrations

Learning how to express an opinion using evidence, rather than emotion. Finding poetry as an outlet for expression. Reaching out to other students in need. Developing a voice in writing. These were some of the things that seventh graders presented as the best part of their year. To see their reflections firsthand, click below.

CLICK HERE to view the #BestPartofMyYear Seventh Grade Learning Celebrations

At a time when the world is facing a global pandemic and our society is wrestling with issues of inequity, Pawling High School students explored civic engagement. Students looked at issues ranging from racial inequity to mental illness to the nature of heroism. They explored history, documented what they saw around them, and analyzed multiple points of view. They shared their results through websites, videos and mini-newspapers and poetry.

CLICK HERE to view the Civic Engagement Showcase

High school students share their science research presentations on topics ranging from Alzheimer’s Disease to Wind Turbines.

CLICK HERE to view the Science Research

Spring Athletics 

Spring athletics, which were wiped out by the current pandemic, were celebrated virtually with videos for each sport. You can view the videos highlighting spring athletes below.

The digital backpack is updated regularly with information from the schools and local community. You can find a link for it under the Parent tab of the homepage. It is also listed on the homepage with a date of the most recent update.