Let's Talk TPS

Dear TPS Community:

I want to start by thanking our entire community - staff, students, and families for your flexibility and support over the past week. The end-of-year is always a busy time and each and every one of you stepped up, put on your creativity toolbelt, and in some cases returned to a time of overhead projectors, whiteboards, and pencils and paper to ensure that education and end-of-year activities continued throughout our district. In addition, you were receptive and patient with our communications. It was noticed and is appreciated.

In this final edition of “Let’s Talk TPS” for the 2021-22 school year, we honor our retirees for their service to our schools and our students, and we express gratitude to all those who contribute to the lives of Tenafly’s children and the success its schools. To our district-wide team of administrators, teachers, educational service professionals, support staff and paraprofessionals, we extend our sincere thanks and appreciation for your leadership, dedication, knowledge, expertise and compassion day in and day out. Whether teaching in a classroom, servicing in an office, cleaning our halls, tending to our properties, healing a wound, drying a tear, or offering words of support and assistance to parents, you and the work you provide are invaluable to our success. Likewise, to the parents and caregivers who support the work of our schools from home, we thank you for being our students’ first and lifelong educators, and we appreciate the work that you do to support our work here in the Tenafly Public Schools. And to those in the community who support our schools through donations, time, and service, we sincerely thank you as well.

Please be reminded that June 21st, 22nd, and 23rd are early dismissal days, and the final day of school is next Thursday, June 23rd.

As we close one school year and prepare for a new one, we bid congratulations to our THS seniors on their high school graduation! We wish a safe, fun, and happy summer to our entire school community. May it be filled with time to refresh and rejuvenate as well as new learning experiences during time spent with friends and family. We welcome back our 10-month staff on August 31st and school reopens for students on Tuesday, September 6, 2022.

Again, congratulations and best wishes to all of our graduates! You make us Tiger Proud!

Yours in Education,

Shauna C. DeMarco

Superintendent Tenafly Public School

THS: Commencement 2022 will be held at Geissinger Field on Wednesday, June 22nd at 6:00pm. Our rain date is Thursday, June 23rd. The second rain date is Friday, June 24th.

TMS: Promotion Ceremony 2022 will be held on Geissinger Field on Tuesday, June 21st at 6:00pm. The rain date is June 23rd at 10:00am.

Mackay: Promotion is Wednesday, June 22nd at 9:00am at TMS.

Maugham: Promotion is Tuesday, June 21st at 10:30am at TMS.

Smith: Promotion is Tuesday, June 21st at 9:00am at TMS.

Stillman: Promotion is Wednesday, June 22nd at 11:00am at TMS.

Thank you to everyone who came submitted an entry to the first annual Celebrate Diversity Art and Essay contest! The submissions were truly amazing and the work and talents of our students shone brightly at our Celebrate Diversity event. Congratulations to all of our winners:

Art

K-2

• Hayoon Chung- Kindergarten - First Place

• Camala Shim - Grade 1 - Honorable Mention

• Hannah Kim Grade 2- Honorable Mention

3-5

• Olvia Luo- Grade 3 Stillman- First Place

• JuliAnne Shim- Grade 4- Stillman Honorable Mention

Middle School:

• Shirley Zhang- Grade 7 First Place

• Lindsay Kim- Grade 6- Honorable Mention

High School:

• Emily Kim- Grade 10- First Place

• Lydia Jung- Grade 10-Honorable Mention

• Jenna Lee- Grade 9- Honorable Mention

• Joanna Pak- Grade 11- Honorable Mention

• Mallia Ahmed- Grade 9- Honorable Mention

Essays

K-5

• Olivia Luo- First Place

• Jamie Lee- Honorable Mention

Middle School:

• David Shin- Grade 8- First Place

• Soeun Lee- Grade 7- Honorable Mention

High School:

• Somin Lee- Grade 10-First Place

• Ah-In Kim- Grade10- Honorable Mention

Have you signed your student up for Summer Enrichment? Be sure to check out the many exciting course options, such as Energy Investigators- an exciting STEM-like class, Art History for Kids, Quiz Bowl Junior, Strategy Through Gaming, Digital Photography or Adventures in Science!

THS students Ryan Tully, ’22 and Leo Besen, ’23 performed at the Alice Tully Hall at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s program. Visit the Chamber Music Society to view the performance. Bravo!

TMS 7th and 8th grade orchestra students performed at the Lincoln Center as a part of the “Young Ensembles Program.” They were part of select chamber ensembles chosen for this prestigious program. The concert was held at the Rose Recital Hall in Lincoln Center on Thursday, June 2nd. Pictured from left to right are: Chang Yoon Kim, Jae Ha (Justin) Kim, Tristin Yun, Brian Lim, Sophia Zhang, Ayumi Takayama, Aiden Ko, Christopher Oh, Christian Sen, Juno Moon, Kenneth Shi. Bravo!

To view the performances:

Christian Sen, Christopher Oh, Juno Moon, Aiden Ko, and Kenneth Shi

Chang Yoon Kim, Brian Lim, Tristin Yun, and Jae Ha (Justin) Kim

Sophia Zhang and Ayumi Takayama

The Tenafly Middle School 8th grade Band, Chorus, and Orchestra participated in the “Music in the Parks” festival in Jackson, NJ followed by a trip to Six Flags. All three groups received Excellent and Superior ratings, with Orchestra taking home a perfect score and “Best Overall Orchestra” award! TMS student Clara Pimenta received the “Outstanding Choral Soloist” award, and Emma Yoon received the “Outstanding Piano Accompanist” award. Congratulations to all!

Congratulations to our student athletes who signed letters of intent for college athletics.

Ben Roberts - UMass - Lowell - B Lax

Claire Guitmann- Tufts - Softball

Jon Tsipenyuk - Union College - Tennis

Ella DeSalvo- Lafayette College - Swimming

Kenny Uchida - Franklin & Marshall - Football and Track & Field

Way to go Tigers!

Save the date for this amazing event next October! Join the TMS Global Citizen Club for an exclusive performance by the Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble with Stiltwalker, World-renowned Kora Musicians, World-class Stiltwalker, Oral History/Storytelling by Griots from Gambia, and art from Pax Rwanda and the African Art Museum of the SMA Fathers. Fun for the whole family, including face painting, baked goods, music, African food, games, mask making, and so much more.

Festivities are on Friday, October 21st at TMS. More details to follow!

Interested in becoming a member of the Tenafly Board of Education? Three School Board Seats will open in January 2023 (3-year terms). To apply, complete the Nomination Petition by Monday, July 25, 2022 (before 4 p.m.). The November 2022 Annual School Elections will be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. For additional details, the New Jersey School Board Association’s (NJSBA's) Candidate Kit provides information and links to important websites for anyone considering running for their local school board. Visit the NJSBA website for complete details. For the petition, please use the form located on the Bergen County Clerk website.

Moved or plan to move within Tenafly? Please remember to share your new address with us! Contact registrar@tenafly.k12.nj.us with updates or questions.

2022-2023 School year registration forms can be found on the TPS website's Student Registration page.

For instructions on how to enter a ticket, visit the TPS website.

Do you have questions or concerns related to your child? Please check the school/teacher websites for helpful information. Not finding what you need? Contact your building principal. They are here to help you and can be reached at:

• Mackay School - byoo@tenafly.k12.nj.us
• Maugham School - jferrara@tenafly.k12.nj.us
• Smith School - dgeorge@tenafly.k12.nj.us
• Stillman School - glander@tenafly.k12.nj.us
• Tenafly Middle School - jfabbo@tenafly.k12.nj.us
• Tenafly High School - jmorrison@tenafly.k12.nj.us

Official District Twitter: @TenaflySchools

Official District Facebook: @TenaflySchools

Official District Instagram: @TenaflySchools