It's the season to be thankful, and here at PCSD we have so much to celebrate! All month long our students have been engaged in hands-on activities, new learning experiences and other exciting events. See below to catch up on a few of our highlights from the past month. 
As always, please make note of our upcoming events listed below, and from our PCSD family to yours, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving and a restful break!
eNews from Peekskill Schools            November 22, 2017
Peekskill City School District: Every Student, Every Day
Upcoming Events

PHS Interact Club Blood Drive
Thursday, November 30 
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
PHS Library
 
Winter Concerts 

Uriah Hill: December 12 at 9:30 a.m.  
Uriah Hill: December 13 at 1:00 p.m.
Woodside: Kindergarten - December 14 at 9:45 a.m. & 1:45 p.m.
PHS: December 14 - at 6:30 p.m.
Hillcrest: December 18 - at 7 p.m. at PKMS
Oakside: December 19 - Grade 2 at 9:00 a.m. & Grade 3 - 1:15 p.m.
Woodside: December 19 - Grade 1 at 9:45 a.m. 
Woodside: December 21 - Grade 2 at  9:45 a.m.
 

Board of Education Meetings
Tuesday, 12/5 & 12/19, 2017
Public Session - 7 p.m.
Administration Building 


View our complete District calendar  here.
Red Devils fans, view our athletic schedule here
"We're all in this together!"
The Peekskill High School Drama Club put on a fantastic production of Disney's High School Musical last weekend. We congratulate the cast and crew on a job well done!  If you missed the fun, or if you want to relive it, you can view some photos from the show here. Next up, save the dates for our PKMS Drama Club's production of Disney's, "The Lion King," on Feb. 2 and 3.

Please visit our Superintendent Search webpage for recent updates regarding our efforts to recruit a new Superintendent of Schools. This page includes our timeline for the search process, as well as letters from our Board of Education informing our school community of new, up-to-date information. 
PHS Interact Club Fundraiser on Now!

The Peekskill High School Interact Club is selling holiday wreaths, trees and arrangements! Click on this link to help support our student club!
PHS Robotics Team Seeks Volunteers for Upcoming FTC Tournament 

The Peekskill Iron Devils are looking for volunteers to help with their Hudson Valley Peekskill Qualifying Tournament on January 6, 2018. 

To begin the process of volunteering, please click here. When you get to the "Event Volunteers" webpage, click on "Volunteer Registration" under the "Quick Links" menu on the right side of the page.

If you have any questions, please email Volunteer Coordinator Janice Reid at jreid@peekskillschools.org.

Peekskill High School art teachers Heather Brown and Elizabeth Tabone began the school year's classes by discussing the role and impact that race and ethnicity can play in the art world. This was the conversation that inspired the latest collaborative work of art to come out of Peekskill High School. Entitled, "Shades of Hope/Unity," the project embraces diversity and celebrates the essences of humanity that unite us all. 

To read more on this story, click here.

On Friday, Nov. 17, Peekskill Middle School welcomed award winning author, Thanhha Lai. Lai returned to the school for the second consecutive year to speak with eighth graders about her book, "Inside Out and Back Again," which students recently read in class. Her book, "Inside Out and Back Again," was honored with a variety of awards such as the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and was the Newbery Honor recipi ent in 2012. These are just two of the many accolades that Lai's writing has received.
 
During her visit, Lai excited students with her personal stories and her tales of travels from Saigon, Vietnam. Not only did the author speak about her life, which inspired her books, she also played trivia games with students, asking questions related to "Inside Out and Back Again," and awarded students signed copies of her books as prizes. Students were also able to participate in a question and answer session with the author.

Click here to read more on this story. 

On November 8, Peekskill City School District and the Peekskill Parent Teacher Organization held a ribbon cutting ceremony at Hillcrest Elementary School to celebrate the instilation of a new water bottling station. Thank you to the Peekskill Parent-Teacher Organization for purchasing water filtering/bottling stations for each of our elementary schools! Just one more way our Peekskill school community is being mindful of our environmental impact, while also helping students make healthy lifestyle choices.
PHS Band Students Honor Veterans with Musical Salute at City Ceremony

Despite the below freezing temperatures on Saturday, November 11, the PHS Concert Band students were at the City of Peekskill's Veterans Day Ceremony to pay honor to our service men and women. About one third of the band's instruments could not play due to the frigid conditions, but instead of going home the band members who could not play stood with their peers and supported them throughout the ceremony. After the ceremony, the students went to the American Legion Hall to enjoy lunch with the veterans.

"The band sounded great and we got many compliments," said PHS Band Director Mr. John Hahn. "The students represented our school and district to the highest degree."

On Friday, November 15, Peekskill High School teacher and Interact Club Co-Advisor George Goess took nine students to SUNY Orange for the annual New York Blood Center High School Leadership Summit. For most of the students, it was the first time they visited a college. At the Summit, students interacted with peers from other schools to develop creative ways to inform people about blood drives. The students who attended learned a lot about how to improve PHS' blood drives and are eager to put their new skills to work in advance of the PHS Interact Club's blood drive on November 30 at the PHS Library.
The cafeteria at Hillcrest smelled delicious as many of our families recently came out for the school's multi-cultural celebration. Thank you to everyone who attended, shared a meal and made the evening fun for all! Special thanks to the Peekskill High School Jazz Band for setting the evening to music.

On Thursday, November 2, the Peekskill High School PACE program went on a field trip to Depew Park and Blue Mountain. After the hike, PACE staff members hosted a barbecue and held a field day for students. Some of the activities for the field day included a three-legged race, relay races and a staff versus student kickball game.

"Yesterday's trip was truly a great team building experience that built rapport amongst students and their teachers," said Peekskill High School teacher Nick Agnello. "For many students, this was their first time going on a hike and was a great experience that they have been talking about all day."

What a colorful surprise! Thank you to the Peekskill Art Department and to our PHS Summit Academy student artists for brightening up this once blank bulletin board in the Administration Building! Your talents have brought much joy to those who pass and admire.

On Thursday, November 16, Hillcrest students in Ms. Iamiceli and Mrs. Batiste's classes culminated a recent lesson by preparing a small Thanksgiving feast, which included a homemade stuffing recipe. The students found the necessary stuffing ingredients in supermarket flyers and created a shopping list. Throughout the project, Ms. Muldering reviewed vocabulary terms with students, including ordinal phrases that help with following the steps of a sequence (ex. first, then, last) to help prepare the stuffing. Once students had everything they needed to make their stuffing, they spent the morning cooking and then moved on to preparing other items in the afternoon. With the help of their teachers, the students worked on opening cans, setting tables, making centerpieces, pouring juice, tasting new foods with unfamiliar textures, and celebrating what they are thankful for as a class.

Congratulations to all of our fall athletes and coaches on your successful seasons! To view a photo album from The Peekskill City School District's Fall Sports Awards Night, please click here. 

On October 19, Peekskill High School welcomed over 30 colleges as well as military branches to the PHS cafeteria for the school's Annual College Fair for juniors and seniors. Special thanks to Peekskill High School College Advisor Ms. Maria Gordineer and our PHS Counseling Department for their help organizing this event: Mr. Cabassa, Mrs. Bishop, Mrs. Torres, Ms. Rios, Mrs. Ellis and Mrs. Khan.

A number of Peekskill High School Global Studies students were able to relate what they had learned about the French Revolution to the research of author Owen Pataki when he visited Mrs. Prentice's classes on October 26. Pataki, along with his sister, Allison, has written a novel set during the Reign of Terror in France called, Where the Light Falls. In speaking with Ms. Prentice's classes, Pataki talked about how he became fascinated with French history and also shared his experiences in high school, college, the U.S. Army, and as a writer who is now working on his second novel. Pataki signed books for some raffle-winning students and donated a copy to the Peekskill High School Library.

We already know that Hillcrest Elementary rocks, but the school has taken that statement to the next level with this year's reading initiative for students in Grades 4 and 5. To kick-off their 2017-2018 reading challenge, Hillcrest faculty and administration recently dressed in their best rock star garb and held a sing-a-long ceremony to explain the rules of the game.

To read more about this initiative, click here.
Uriah Hill Students Learn Fire Safety from Local Fire Fighters 

Our Uriah Hill students have learned all about fire safety and what to do in case of an emergency. Thank you to the Peekskill Fire Department for coming out to teach our children these important lessons!

The Mobile Food Pantry is coming to Hillcrest! Food items will be available for pick up on the following dates:
December 14, January 11, February 8, March 8, April 12, May 10 and June 28. Pick up will be held from  3:30 - 5:30 p.m. unless otherwise announced. We encourage our families to take advantage of this free resource. To help our efforts, we will also need volunteers to help set up, distribute food and clean up. If you are able to lend a hand, please contact chernandez@peekskillcsd.or g.
Peekskill Board of Education
Lisa Aspinall-KellawonPresident
Michael SimpkinsVice President

Trustees: Branwen MacDonald, Samuel North,  Maria Pereira,  Colin  Smith,  Jillian Villon
 
Mrs. Mary Keenan Foster
Interim Superintendent of Schools
We Want to Hear From YOU!

Please contact Interim Superintendent Mrs. Mary Keenan Foster by calling 914-737-3300 ext. 302, or email enews@peekskillcsd.org

Peekskill CSD Communications
Laura Belfiore, Editor 
Peekskill City School District
Peekskill City School District  | 1031 Elm Street, Peekskill, NY 10566 | (914) 737-3300 Contact: enews@peekskillcsd.org | Visit our website: www.peekskillcsd.org
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