Cutchogue East fourth-grade students prepare their robots for competition. (Credit: Tara Smith)
Dozens of brightly colored robots whirred around the cafeteria floor at Cutchogue East Elementary on Wednesday as fourth grade students put their coding skills to the test.
The room was transformed into a robotics arena where students split into two teams, competing against each other to score or steal the most points.
“It’s really a cumulative celebration of all the code we’ve learned,” said STEAM coordinator Meghan Tepfenhardt, who helps lead a district-wide initiative to expand science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics activities for K-6 students.
Mattituck Superintendent Jill Gierasch pictured at a 2019 meeting. (file photo)
Mattituck-Cutchogue School District officials proposed a preliminary $42.2 million budget for the 2021-22 school year at last Thursday’s Board of Education meeting.
According to Superintendent Jill Gierasch, the proposed spending plan maintains current programming levels with a few add-ons. Ms. Gierasch said priorities included safety and security, infrastructure upgrades and expansion of some courses, fine arts and club and athletic programs.
“This was a year like no other, I think that goes without saying,” she said as she unveiled key details of the proposal. “But we kept our focus on student and staff needs.”
The nurse’s office inside each school building is often a hub of activity.
Students are treated for minor bumps and bruises. At times, more serious injuries like concussions or broken bones require additional medical care. Nurses administer daily medications that some children require, monitoring those with chronic health conditions or who face potentially life-threatening allergies. There are immunizations to track and health exams for student-athletes to be eligible for sports.
Communication is constant with parents and fellow staff members.
“The responsibilities of keeping our students safe have grown, but the hours in the day have stayed the same.”
Alison Soto
Girl Scouts unveil memorial for fallen friends in Peconic The Scouts and their completed project in Peconic. (Credit: Tara Smith)
“Fly high, angels,” reads one of 91 engraved bricks that surrounds a new swinging bench memorial at Tasker Park in Peconic.
The memorial was built by Girl Scout Troop 261 from Cutchogue East and Greenport Elementary for their Bronze Award project and unveiled during a ceremony at the park Sunday.
It honors Morgan West, who died at age 9 in 2018 after a six-and-a-half-year battle with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, a highly aggressive brain tumor, and Amber Stulsky, who was 10 when she died in a car crash at Route 48 and Chapel Lane the night before she would have started fifth grade at Southold Elementary in 2019.