To celebrate New York State School Board Recognition Week from Oct. 21-25, the Smithtown Central School District came together to show their appreciation for their board of education during the Oct. 22 meeting.

To kick off the meeting, the High School East select choral group sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Smithtown Elementary School’s ENL also serenaded the board members by singing a thank-you song in 11 different languages. Nesaquake Middle School’s select chorus also showcased their skills by singing “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.”

Dogwood Elementary School’s students created posters featuring the top 10 things they love about the district. Mt. Pleasant Elementary School students created a tree of appreciation to present to the board featuring every student’s fingerprints.

Tackan Elementary School students purchased books at its recent book fair and donated them back to the school’s library in the board’s name. Accompsett Elementary School’s fifth grade classes created a poster board of thanks, while Mills Pond Elementary presented each board member with a pen and flashlight because they light the way for the district. Student in Karen Dennis’s fourth grade class at St. James Elementary School created their own Flip Grid thank-you video for the board members.

Members of the National Junior Honor Society at Accompsett Middle School created a thank-you card and Great Hollow Middle School students gifted each board member with a drawstring bag. Members of the National Honor Society at High School West gave each board member a “Support Our Troops” shirt and Athletes Helping Athletes gifted them with Smithtown athletic spirit wear. Members of the Career and Technology Education department presented the board members with handcrafted wood nameplates for their board table, water bottles, tote bags, homemade muffins and pillowcases. To end the evening, the school’s central administration showed a thank-you video featuring faculty, staff and administrators from throughout the district. 

Tackan Elementary students recently were recognized by Principal Dr. Allyn Leeds with an On Target Award. These students demonstrated good citizenship, a great attitude, treated others kindly, and knew how to “do the right thing.”

As a culminating activity to their lessons on apples, kindergarten students at Tackan Elementary School participated in different activity stations centered on apples on Oct. 4.

Dressed in their favorite apple colors, the students worked in small groups, rotating around the classroom with the help of parent volunteers. Students had to predict how many seeds were in their apple and then count them out to see if their hypothesis was correct. Green, red and yellow apples were put to a taste test, after which the students charted the class favorites.

In another station, students worked on charting the lifecycle of an apple. They also measured the circumference and weights of their apples. They even measured their own height in apples, laying on the ground and counting the number of apples.

At the Sept. 10 board of education meeting, the district recognized 7-year-old Dominick Chiuchiolo, a student at Tackan Elementary School, for his fundraising efforts. Setting up his own lemonade stand at the St. James Farmer’s Market, Chiuchiolo raised $11,700 to support childhood cancer research in just one week. After finding out his mother is a childhood cancer survivor, Chiuchiolo set his initial goal to raise $8,000 in one month but far surpassed his expectations thanks to the support of his friends, family and local community. He is pictured with board of education trustees Mandi Kowalik and Jerry Martusciello and Tackan Elementary Principal Dr. Allyn Leeds.