

RIDER REPORT
October 2022

Superintendent's Corner
Recently, I visited the Primary School to take a few moments out of my day to go back to where my career at Ichabod started a decade ago. That year, we had a class of third graders graduate from the Primary School, ready for a new chapter at the Middle School.
That same group of students will graduate from Ichabod Crane High School in a few short weeks. And, with the class of 2023, I will also “graduate” from ICC at the end of this month, making this my last Rider Report.
As I reflect on the past 10 years, I feel confident that all we have built and implemented throughout the district will continue to flourish. As I prepare to say goodbye, I feel much pride in our academic accomplishments, the increased K-12 social-emotional support added for students and families, and the enhanced safety measures enacted across campus. Together we have faced many challenges, but with each challenge we grew stronger and more united as a Rider family. I am immensely proud of what our students and staff accomplish on a daily basis and it has been an honor and a pleasure to support the staff, students and families of Ichabod Crane. In this Rider Report, we spotlight a few of the most recent achievements that have brought pride to our district.
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new incoming superintendent, Marie Digirolamo. Ms. Digirolamo is an experienced educator and administrator with prior connections to ICC. Her siblings are graduates, her family lived here for many years and she has friends in our Rider community.
Ichabod has been my home away from home, and I will miss all of the students and staff who truly make ICC such an exceptional place. Thank you all for your partnership and support throughout my tenure. As I move on to the next chapter in my life, I know that a piece of my heart will remain here.
I am looking forward to my last few weeks at Ichabod – to experience the end-of-the-year field days, Senior Awards Nights, 8th grade Moving Up, High School Graduation and much more. Check out the full list of June activities at the end of this newsletter.
Even though our regular school year comes to an end on June 30, our classrooms and hallways will be full for most of the summer months, as we run our Summer School and Enrichment Programs. For the third year, we are offering Explorers!, our enrichment program. Keep reading to learn more about how to register and this year’s programs, which include Lego Robotics, Disc Golf, Art and Mindfulness, and Cooking without a Kitchen!
Articles in this edition:
Incoming Lil Riders visit the Transportation Department
HS students participate in regional youth leadership institute
Primary School Authors Night
Spotlight on our HS Inclusive Classroom
Summer School and Explorers! Update
Coming Next in June
Buster welcomes local preschoolers to ICC
During May and June, several local preschools will visit our Transportation Department to learn about riding the bus and bus safety. At the end of May, our first group of future Lil Riders came to our campus, eager and ready to learn more about the dozens of yellow school buses in our fleet.
"We always look forward to these visits,” Transportation Dept. Director Dan Doyle said. “It gives excited future ICC Riders an opportunity to see what it's like on the school bus and the important safety rules they will be asked to follow next year. It also provides us a chance to speak with and answer questions from parents who may have some apprehension about sending their kids on the big yellow bus."
Their visit includes watching a video about bus safety, taking a ride on one of our large buses around the ICC campus and meeting Buster, our mini bus!
We are so excited that we get to welcome and meet some of the new Lil Riders that will start kindergarten at ICC this September!
HS students participate in youth leadership institute
Nearly a dozen of our High School students participated in the Angelo Del Toro Puerto Rican/Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute.
The Institute is an innovative collaboration with the NYS Assembly/Senate Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force in conjunction with the annual SOMOS, Inc. conference, Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages, the New York State City Board of Education, and other agencies.
The overall purpose of the Institute is student empowerment. This year, about 200 students from across the state took part in the 33rd annual Hispanic Youth Leadership Institute in Albany. The students participated in key activities, which included team-building exercises to develop interregional relationships; a mock Assembly session, which was conducted in the NYS Assembly chamber; a student recognition dinner, where winners of the PR/HYLI scholarships and other awards were announced, and a series of culturally empowering workshops tied to this year’s theme: Defending our Democracy.
The Ichabod Crane students who participated are Alexa Meza, Maisha I. Perez, Maria Guadalupe Tapia Martinez, Stephanie J. Navarro, Iliany Mejia-Navarro, Franklin A Navarro, Diana Meza, Jennifer A. Flores, Mirian Gomez, Itzel Gomez and Daisy Morales.
Eligible seniors who attended the Institute were encouraged to submit essays for the Angelo Del Toro Scholarship. With dozens of applications each year, only the best essays are awarded a monetary prize. The Yesenia Valle scholarship is a special award funded by the family of the late PR/HYLI trainer and Capital District RBERN specialist, which is awarded to students who best emulate her commitment to the Hispanic community.
ICC Seniors Diana Meza and Mirian Gomez were named Outstanding Student Delegates. Diana Meza and Mirian Gomez were awarded two scholarships. Each was awarded a $1,500 Angelo Del Toro PR/HYLI Scholarship and a $250 Yesenia Valle Memorial Scholarship. They were also invited to Washington D.C. (June 4-6), along with the other Outstanding Student Delegates, to learn more about the legislative process and to meet with elected Hispanic officials.
Diana Meza was also one of the student delegates who was on the PR/HYLI student panel for the March 2023 Board of Regents meeting. There, she spoke about her PR/HYLI experience and gave recommendations to the Board regarding our school and community needs.
“I am very proud of our Rider students who represented Ichabod Crane during this multi-phase initiative,” Superintendent Suzanne Guntlow said. “It is extremely important for our students to learn about the state legislative process, and to continue to develop and foster their leadership and communication skills so they can be active participants in their community as they become young adults.”
The Institute has three phases:
Training in regional delegations: selected student delegates focus on identification and research of local issues, study of the NYS legislative process, parliamentary procedure and selected bills.
Participation in the three-day Institute.
Extension and refinement of leadership skills: back in their local communities, student delegates continue to develop leadership skills and put their skills to practice.
"The point of this conference is to say to you that you can do it too … you can influence public policies and state policies. You can influence how the government and how society goes on. And that's very important,” said Angelo del Toro, 1991 (former member of the New York State Assembly).
Author and Illustrator visit the Primary School
This year, we welcomed illustrator Chuck Groenink and author James Preller to ICC at our May Authors Fair!
Our students were elated to meet our guests after learning about them in their library class. They even created posters to welcome them to our building! Dozens of families attended our Authors Fair.
Mr. Groenink has illustrated over a dozen books for children, including Full Moon Pups, a gorgeously illustrated picture book in verse, which follows a litter of baby wolf pups in the wild through their first full lunar cycle.
Mr. Preller is the author of many children's books, including the Jigsaw Jones Mysteries and his new spooky series Exit 13. In the Jigsaw Jones Mysteries series, Theodore “Jigsaw” Jones and his best friend/fellow detective MilaYeh investigate missing bicycles, smelly sneakers, ghosts, mummies and more. Exit 13 is perfect for mystery and horror loving kids everywhere!
“It was wonderful to see our Rider community come out and support reading, writing and art,” Primary School Librarian Alanna Moss said.
Spotlight on our HS Inclusive Classroom
Last September, we introduced a new inclusive classroom at the High School, focused on helping prepare some of our special education students for employment and independent living after high school.
We wanted to be able to offer our students an opportunity to leave high school with work-ready skills. This program allows our students with disabilities, who may be unable to earn a Regents diploma, the opportunity to leave school with the NYS CDOS Commencement Credential. This program allows us to expand our continuum of services and provide a less restrictive setting for our students with disabilities.
“There is a huge focus on learning about area businesses, different types of careers, and a better understanding of the workforce experience through tours and internships,” said Heather Scarano, the classroom’s teacher. “Students complete jobs within the school as well as out in their community to get that real world work experience.”
To date, they have toured 26 businesses and have a total of seven worksites.
“The community support has been amazing and we are so grateful that this area has people at these places of business that see the importance of taking the time for these youth to tour and learn about the different types of jobs within the community,” Ms. Scarano said. “On these tours, students are learning about the business itself, what types of jobs are available within the business, and they are learning about what is expected from an employee, as well as what they look for when they are interviewing someone. We are able to take that information and embed it into the classroom instruction.”
We want to give a very special thank you to the following businesses and institutions for providing tours to our students: Valatie Hannaford, Golden Harvest, Kinderhook Highway Department, Columbia Greene Humane Society, Kinderhook Toyota, Zachary’s Pastry Shop, Ocean State Job Lot, Valatie Post Office, Franny’s Farmhouse, Gnome Bistro, Chatham Flower Shop, East Greenbush Bowling Alley, Hannaford Warehouse in Schodack, Valatie Food Pantry, Samascott’s, Stuyvesant Fire Department, High and Mighty Horse Farm, East Greenbush Petsmart, LaBella’s in Valatie, Mario’s True Value, EmKay Laundromat, Bagel Tyme, Joe Bruno Stadium, Wildplay Center at Thatcher Park, Tierra Farms and Chatham High School’s inclusion class.
Currently, these students are about to complete an internship at the Valatie Hannaford.
“This community and school district has really shown how much they care for these students and are committed to their success and I am thrilled to be a part of that,” Ms. Scarano said.
Explorers! and Summer School update
We are so happy that we have the opportunity to offer our summer enrichment program, Explorers!, for the third year in a row.
This summer’s list of exciting and fun activities include Lego Robotics, Math Enrichment, Disc Golf, Art and Mindfulness, an Eric Carle Author Study, Basic Life Skills, Cooking without a Kitchen, and more.
To learn more about this summer’s offerings, please click here to view the program's flyer. To register, please click this link to be directed to our registration form. Registration is due by June 2.
We will also continue to offer the more typical summer school programming for our K-12 students, which includes:
K-3 Invitations, where students are invited to the program based on academic need.
Middle and High Schools, where students can retake courses not passed during the regular academic school year.
Extended School Year Program, which is offered to our special education students who qualify under their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).
English as a New Language (ENL) Summer Program for students in grades K-12.
Coming Next in June (lots!):
June 3 – PS & PTA K-6 Family Field Day (9 a.m. to 1 p.m., ICC track, $10 family entry fee)
June 6 – Grades 2 and 3 Field Day (9 a.m.)
June 6 – Board of Education meeting (7 p.m., HS library)
June 8 – Grades K and 1 Field Day (9 a.m.)
June 9 – Grade 4/5 Activity Night (6-8 p.m.)
June 12 – Senior Performing Arts Awards (7 p.m., HS auditorium)
June 13 – DARE Graduation (11:15 a.m., HS auditorium)
June 13 – Senior Awards Night (6 p.m.)
June 13 – Last day of High School classes
June 14 – Primary School Flag Day Celebration (8:45 a.m., ICC track)
June 15 – Parent Orientation for 4th Grade (5:30 p.m., MS cafeteria)
June 16 – Early Dismissal K-8
June 16 – 8th Grade Moving Up Dance (6-10 p.m.)
June 21 – 8th Grade Moving Up Ceremony (6:30 p.m., inside ICC multipurpose field)
June 22 – 8th Grade Moving Up Ceremony Rain Date
June 22 – Early Dismissal K-8 (last day)
June 23 – High School Graduation (6:30 p.m., inside ICC multipurpose field)
June 24 – High School Graduation Rain Date
#ICYMI
Primary School Kickball Tournament
High School Spring Concert
Our Rider community filled the HS auditorium to hear our Band, Chorus, Jazz Band and Spectrum ensembles perform. Their concert marked the end of the Spring Concert Series.
2023 Prom
It was quite the "Enchanted Evening!"