Smithtown Central School District Schools

660 Meadow Road, Smithtown, NY 11787

Main Office: (631) 382-2300
Principal - Mr. McNeil: (631) 382-2305
Assistant Principal - Mr. Hellmuth:(631) 382-2305
Health Office: (631) 382-2320
Counseling Center: (631) 382-2310

Mission Statement

Smithtown Logo

Accompsett Middle School actively promotes achievement, manners, and spirit by providing a safe and supportive learning environment which nurtures each student’s academic, social, emotional, and physical development while challenging them to reach their full potential. Achievement – we will reach our academic goals Manners – we will model polite behavior Spirit – we will demonstrate commitment to our school at Accompsett Middle School, the faculty, staff, administrators, and parents collaborate to provide a learning community which meets the needs of young adolescents.

March 11, 2020
Dear Accompsett Middle School Community,

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) recently released accountability ratings for all school districts and schools throughout the state. Accountability determinations are made based upon a variety of data, including student performance on the New York State English Language Arts and mathematics assessments, among other things, as part of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

NYSED has designated Accompsett Middle School as a Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) school. As a result of this TSI designation, the Smithtown Central School District has been identified as a Target District. The complex formula used to determine accountability ratings considers how various subgroups within the school performed on assessments in the 2018-2019 school year. In addition to actual student performance, the non-participation (opt-out) of students on the assessments is also factored into the accountability calculations.

At Accompsett Middle School, the students in one subgroup (economically disadvantaged) did not meet the performance expectations set by New York State. It is important to note, however, that this subgroup had a 66.1% opt-out rate on last year’s ELA and mathematics assessments. Due to the high number of test refusals, the number of students in this subgroup who took the assessments was quite small. The high number of test refusals was a significant factor in this accountability identification.

As a result of this identification, the District and school will be required to follow a series of actions that have been prescribed by NYSED over the next two years.

I strongly believe that designating Accompsett Middle School as a TSI school based solely on the performance of a small number of students in a single subgroup does not accurately represent the quality of the District, faculty, staff or students. This identification is not consistent with the actual achievement of the students in the district or in this particular subgroup.

In Smithtown, we educate the whole child and take pride in offering students an outstanding education. We are honored to serve all students and will continue to support and maintain high expectations for everyone.

Respectfully,
Russell Stewart
Interim Superintendent of Schools

Wellness Resources

September 11, 2019 - Law Enforcement Message about School Threats

Next Fall, any 7th or 8th grade students interested in going out for Cheerleading, Kickline, Cross Country, Field Hockey, Football, Soccer, or Girls Tennis, must have the required sports paperwork into the Health Office at AMS or Athletics Office at NYA by August 19th. Health Screening/ Medical Update forms must be dated after August 5th.

CAPTURE Covid-19

Capturing the individual and collective experiences of students and staff was the idea behind the club created by Smithtown High School East art teacher Dianne Shanian. “From the last day of in-class school on March 13, the students and staff have been coping with staying at home and doing our best with online instruction, and other limitations the Covid-19 virus has imposed,” she said.

“Since every person has been affected on some level by this sudden change in our lives, I wanted to offer a platform where students and staff could express or capture their feelings and thoughts in the form of words, photos, paintings, drawings or videos,” she said. “The collective visual result is emotionally powerful. The realization that these entries came from students in kindergarten through 12th grade, and from staff members, speaks to the overarching impact this experience has had on people of all ages, genders, cultures and backgrounds within our school district.”

CAPTURE slide presentation serves as a record for our district of this unique time in history, and we hope all viewers find something within it that resonates in them.

Attachments:

Click Here to View CAPTURE Covid-19 Magazine

Waving Goodbye to Middle School

They may not have had the traditional sendoff to high school, but the district’s eighth graders surely felt special during their drive-by moving up ceremonies. The district’s three middle schools – Accompsett, Great Hollow and Nesaquake – each hosted parades on June 16 to celebrate the achievements of their eighth grade classes. Administrators, teachers and staff members lined the sidewalks of each respective building, holding signs of congratulations for the students as they celebrated their milestone moving up to high school.

Capture COVID-19

The district is asking students and staff to capture and submit their thoughts and expressions about COVID-19. The deadline for submissions is June 10th. Click here to upload

Yellow Ribbon Ties Community Together

Three neighbors and students at Accompsett Middle School – Alex Fisher, Cordelia Comando and James Martino – are doing their part to spread togetherness and joy in their community. They wanted to remind neighbors that they were all in this quarantine situation together so they asked them to tie a yellow ribbon around their trees out front. In their letter to neighbors the students wrote, “We think it would be so nice for all of us to be reminded that even in the worst of times, and when situations could otherwise divide us, we remain united. Feelings of togetherness and support for each other are really important in maintaining social connectedness.” The yellow ribbons also signify gratitude to all of the essential workers risking their health and keeping everyone all safe. The students are hoping the yellow ribbon campaign will become a townwide initiative.

AMS FCCLA Members Spread Smiles

The Family Career and Community Leaders of America Club at Accompsett Middle School, under the direction of Valerie Gompers and Taylor Walsh, have worked with their members to spread positive messages around the community. FCCLA students are creating rocks with positive messages and placing them around the neighborhood and in mailboxes to spread some joy.

East and West Honored by NYSED

High School East and High School West have been recognized by the New York State Education Department as Recognition Schools. Schools must be high achieving and show strong progress to be identified as a Recognition School. Smithtown’s high schools are two of the 582 schools across New York to receive the honor.

“These are exemplary public schools that demonstrate that all students can achieve at high levels with the right supports and resources,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa. “Recognition Schools help to ensure equity for all children across New York State.

To be identified as a Recognition School, a school must: have an accountability status of Good Standing; have a Level 4 for the Combined Composite Performance and Graduation Rate for high schools for the All Students group; not have a Level 1 for any accountability indicator for the All Students group; not have any subgroups that were identified as potential targeted support and improvement based on 2018-19 school year results; and not have a 2018-19 participation rate for ELA or math for the All Students group that is less than 95%.

“Recognition Schools are the highest performing and rapidly improving schools across the state,” said Interim Commissioner Shannon Tahoe. “Recognition Schools across the state demonstrate the relentless commitment of teachers, administrators, staff and parents, without whom this growth would not have been possible.”

Smithtown Celebrates 31 Newly Tenured Staff

At the April 28 Board of Education meeting, the district granted tenure to 31 staff and administrators. Congratulations to the following administrators who were granted tenure:

Timothy Hellmuth, assistant principal at Accompsett Middle School and Daniel McCabe, principal at Nesaquake Middle School.

The district also congratulates the following teachers who received tenure:
Janelle Albano, reading teacher, Smithtown Elementary
Tracey Ballato, special education teacher, Accompsett Middle
Amy Bleecher, special education teacher, Great Hollow Middle
Rachelle Ciota, math teacher, Great Hollow Middle
Janice Concagh, teacher, Dogwood Elementary
Patrice D’Elia, psychologist
Kristen Dicpinigaitis, science teacher, Great Hollow Middle
Lauren DiNapoli-Iannello, foreign language teacher, High School West
Melissa Fenster, special education teacher, Tackan Elementary
Jaclyn Fettinger, FACS teacher, High School East
Desiree Fischer, special education teacher, High School East
Sarah Gilbert, English as a second language teacher, High School West
Corinne Gorniok, reading teacher, Mt. Pleasant Elementary
Chander Mallhotra Jr., special education teacher, High School East
Courtney Mancuso, special education, Tackan Elementary
Tonina Manziello, science teacher, Nesaquake Middle
Alyssa Mescia, special education teacher, Great Hollow Middle
Maeve Miller, business teacher, High School East
Erin O’Connor, special education teacher, Mt. Pleasant Elementary
Alyssa Ochrym, English teacher, High School West
Chana Penini, special education teacher, High School West
Roseann Primus, special education teacher, Great Hollow Middle
Joseph Sagarese, English teacher, High School East
Jenna Simonetti, science teacher, Great Hollow Middle
Dana Thau, psychologist, Dogwood Elementary
Denise Trifaro, technology teacher, Great Hollow Middle
Elise Viola, special education teacher, Tackan Elementary
Katherine Wassle, reading teacher, High School West
Nancy Zimmermann, reading teacher, Dogwood Elementary

Smithtown Schools Acknowledged by PLTW

Smithtown Central School District’s elementary and middle schools have been recognized as Distinguished Schools by Project Lead the Way for the 2019-202 school year.

For the third consecutive year, all seven of Smithtown’s elementary schools have been designated as Distinguished Launch Schools based on its PLTW Launch program in the 2018-2019 school year. Smithtown’s elementary schools represent seven of only 19 in New York to be recognized. Across the United States, only 404 Launch schools have received this distinction for 2019-2020.

For the second consecutive year, all three of Smithtown’s middle schools have been designated as Distinguished Gateway Schools based on their Gateway program in the 2018-2019 school year. Smithtown’s middle schools represent three of only seven in New York to be recognized. Across the United States, only 176 Gateway schools have received this distinction for 2019-2020.

“The PLTW Distinguished Schools designation recognizes Smithtown’s continued commitment to providing all students with hands-on STEM experiences that are highly engaging and foster creativity and collaboration in problem-solving,” said Paul Strader, executive director of curriculum. “Through the PLTW curricula, students engage in the study of biomedical science, computer science and engineering and have the opportunities to apply that knowledge in real-world scenarios.”

Putting Printers to Good Use

The career and technical teachers from the technology department at Smithtown Central School District have been hard at work creating masks and shields for staff at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center and Stony Brook University Hospital.

Using their 3D printers, the teachers created and delivered 140 masks/shields so far. Teachers Brian Costello, Connor Kelly, Dave Savage, Caitlin Caputo and Sean Tomasello have been volunteering their time, using the 3D printers from the school program to make the masks and shields. They have been working with High School East 2019 graduate Ben Levine.

During his time at High School East, Ben was very involved in the career and technical education department and was a member of the robotics team. He set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to purchase the filament and transparency film needed to make the masks. Ben has been working with the teachers to print them and distribute them to frontline workers at the two hospitals.

“The teachers have been really passionate about wanting to do what they can to give back and assist the frontline workers,” said Christine LoFrese, career and technical education direction, Smithtown Central School District. “It is so nice to see them all working together with a former grad on this project of coming up with the design and then implementing it. They are putting all their skills to good use and modeling what they teach to the students in their classes.”