Let's Talk TPS

It's hard to believe that three years ago this month, our lives were turned inside out with the onset of COVID-19. This pandemic has taken its toll in so many ways. So perhaps fittingly - just in time for St. Patrick's Day - I am pleased to share that Bergen County's current status is "Green", which means our COVID-19 Community Level is low. Hopefully this will be a trend for the remainder of the year and we can all enjoy a normal spring.

Speaking of trends, over the past few months our students have achieved at such high levels artistically, athletically and academically. As I commend them for their outstanding work, I also want to recognize their teachers, coaches, administrators, and parents and guardians, for all that you do to help them learn valuable skills, stay focused, and set lofty goals. With each article in this issue, past issues, and I expect in future issues of this newsletter, it is very clear that the students of Tenafly rise to the expectations set for them!

Lastly, please note that Parent/Teacher Conferences will occur March 15 - March 30 (check the district calendar for more details). Also, we will continue with our 2023-2024 School Budget planning and will present our preliminary budget for the Board's adoption on Monday, March 13th. It should be noted that a slight change has been made in the budgeting calendar, with the budget adoption/vote now taking place on May 8th. As always, all are invited to participate in the budget planning process by attending these meetings.

Yours in Education,

Bruce Watson

Interim Superintendent

A powerful team of four young ladies made a clean sweep in the State finals, taking first place in both the Giant Slalom and Slalom and earning them the title of overall State champs for the 2022-2023 season. Samanatha Cho and Sydney Josif pushed the team to a dominating win for the Giant Slalom. Senior Captains Megan and Kristen Yi finished off an incredible career which includes two state championships, two top five finishes in the Race of Champions, and over a dozen individual wins in their tenure with the ski team. The entire girls team also represented Team New Jersey at this past weekend's Eastern Regionals in New Hampshire.

Our THS science research students had a laudable placement in the Rutgers New Jersey Northern Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, which took place February 27 at the New Brunswick campus. With 150 participants, Subin (Cindy) Pyo, a junior, was one of the top five finalists for the oral presentation of her project, and placed first in her category for Biomedical Sciences. Rhea Raghu, a senior, was one among the top 10 finalists overall for poster presentation, and Siyuan Bao placed first in the category of Medicine and Health. It all starts with research. Congratulations!

The THS Physics Club is participating in the nationwide TEAMS (Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science) competition which is designed to help students discover their STEM potential. This round was an in-school activity that took place in the PITT. The students were given very specific items to use when building their projects. Now they are waiting to find out if any of their submissions get to move on to the next round in April. Featured left to right is Ms. Claudia Barone (teacher), Iris Sung (12), Derek Cho (11), Nayeon Kim (12), Henry Nashel-Watts (9), Amit Yosifovich (9), Jiya Ali (9), Hillary Xie (9), Edward Wang (9), Fady Temimi (9), Seiichiro Takayama (10), William Hsu (10), and Sean Lee (10). Good luck!

This week, the children at Maugham Elementary got a chance to "visit" 11 countries to learn about their cultures and to explore some wonderful traditions. This year's International Day theme was focused on Mexico, and you can see from these photos that the school's HSA outdid themselves with lots to see, to do, and to taste!

It's called "The Ultimate Field Trip", and what an accurate description for the adventure Smith School's 5th grade classes had this week at the Buehler Challenger & Science Center. Ms. Hernandez, Ms. Matuszewski and Ms. Pignataro prepared their classes in advance for their journey to the moon; but to actually participate as astronauts and serve as Mission Control was just an "out of this world" opportunity! We greatly thank the HSAs who helped to make this all possible!

From costume races to a balloon toss challenge to a good old-fashioned tug-of-war, this year's THS Olympics event was absolutely awesome! What a great way to bring the entire school community together for some friendly competition and camaraderie! Enjoy these pictures - and many more on our social media.

In our February 22 issue, we featured four THS students who were part of an ensemble that won a Grammy Award for the NY Youth Symphony. After the story posted, we learned that one of our TMS students was also part of that collaboration. Congrats to Sophia Zhang, grade 8 - and our apologies for the oversight!

The TMS RAPP (Reaching All Peer-to-Peer) students hosted their second annual breakfast in appreciation of our Crossing Guards. These 8th grade students are selected peer leaders who wanted to express their gratitude to those who help to make sure they get to and from school safely - no matter what the weather is outside! We thank them too!

New York Times best-selling children's book author, Kelly Yang, visited our district on March 3rd courtesy of the Smith School HSA. Thanks to technology, her motivational talk about the challenges she faced when immigrating to America at a young age were shared in-person with our Smith School students and virtually, districtwide. We thank Ms. Yang for visiting us and we can't wait to read her new book, Finally Seen!

Registration is now open for the 25th TEF Tenafly 5K Run & Dog Walk! Celebrate our Silver Anniversary with us on Sunday, June 4, 2023. https://runsignup.com/Race/Register/?raceId=8764

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 - hchizzik@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