Southern Westchester BOCES Center for Special Services

News from our schools

• Tappan Hill community collects 512 pounds of food for Westchester families in need

  The annual Tappan Hill Food Drive for Feeding Westchester was delivered Tuesday to Feeding Westchester in Elmsford. The Tappan Hill School Connected Learning Team organized the food drive and with the help of Operations & Maintenance staff were able to collect and pack 512 pounds of donations. In all, 14 boxes of food was collected from students, families and staff for those in need in Westchester. Thank you to all who contributed. Happy Thanksgiving!

  News Feed - Tappan Hill

• Scarecrow contest sparks Halloween fun at Tappan Hill

  Students at Tappan Hill School enjoyed a frightfully fun Halloween, replete with a Scarecrow contest judged by Director of Special Services Andrea Byrne. Students practiced their motor skills last week by designing classroom scarecrows using available and up-cycled materials. The contest was the creation of  the school's Connected Learning Community committee, which plans events to increase a sense of connectedness, build morale, and reinforce academic, fine and gross motor skills and speech/language building concepts, and to practice social skills.

  News Feed - Tappan Hill

• Tappan Hill scarecrow contest continues Halloween tradition

  Students in Teacher Adriane Lomupo's class at Tappan Hill School are pictured here preparing for Monday's Scarecrow contest. Tappan Hill students had the chance Friday to practice their motor skills and have a bit of pre-Halloween fun designing their classroom scarecrow. All 10 scarecrows are homemade, using materials in the classroom and up-cycling items that would otherwise be discarded, such as water bottles and plastic bags. On Halloween the school will have a guest judge — Center for Special Services administrators Andrea Byrne or Jessica Walker — pick the best scarecrow. Such contests are becoming a Halloween tradition at Tappan Hill, which held a door decorating contest last year. The school's Connected Learning Community committee plans events like this to increase a sense of connectedness between classes and students and the community and to build morale among staff and students. The activities are also used to reinforce various academic, fine and gross motor skills, speech/language building concepts. They also serve as opportunities for students to practice social skills.

   

  News Feed - Tappan Hill

• Tappan Hill alumni surprise students with 100 pumpkins, and donuts!

  Tappan Hill School received a lovely donation Oct. 27 of donuts and 100 pumpkins from our alumni Michael (known affectionately to us as Mikeymo) and his mother, Justine Riordan, and the D'Ercole family as gifts for our students. "This thoughtful and generous act made many children very happy," said Principal Phyllis Rizzi, "and we thank them along with the Mikey Mo supporters for their generosity."

  News Feed - Tappan Hill

• Parents welcomed, invited to get involved at Tappan Hill Open House

  Tappan Hill School hosted a well-attended, in-person parent Open House the morning of Oct. 14. Some 30 family members turned out to meet the teachers, administrators and service providers who work so closely with their children daily. The annual event has been held remotely in recent years. “The staff here at Tappan Hill are so dedicated to the students here," said one parent, "so we’re very lucky.” 

  News Feed - Tappan Hill

• SEPTA virtual Fall Meet & Greet draws 35 families

  Nearly three dozen families turned out for the SWBOCES Special Education PTA fall Meet & Greet Thursday, Oct. 13. 

  The virtual event featured speakers  Matthew Faulkner from the Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health, to discuss the OPWDD process and transition to adult services; Ellie Arnemann, Executive Director of North East Special Recreation to share information about their programs; and  Lisa Sandagatta, Director of Outreach at Music Conservatory of Westchester, who spoke about their music therapy programs. 

  Families are encouraged to join SEPTA, which hosts events and programs throughout the school year to provide support, information and networking opportunities. Please reach out to your child's teacher or principal for information about how to become a member. 

  SEPTA

• Back to School Morning

  Tappan Hill is looking forward to welcoming parents to Back to School morning on Friday, October 14! Please join us at 9 AM to meet your child's teacher, related service providers, nurses, clinicians and Principal/ Assistant Principal. We look forward to seeing you soon!

  • DOC.pdf

  Tappan Hill

• Tappan Hill School Gardening Committee plants ideas for year ahead

  The Garden Committee at Tappan Hill School in Tarrytown got off to a fast start, holding its September meeting to map out plans for planting, improvements and community connections for the 2022-23 school year. Pictured, from left, are Francesca Fernandez, Adriane Lomupo, Phyllis Rizzi, AnnMarie Ross, McKinley Gregory, Jerrilyn Goldstein, Linda Liebman, Leah Harris.

   

  The eight-member committee discussed maintenance of the elaborate vegetables and flower gardens that greet visitors to the school. Other matters on the agenda included ways to bring what students are learning directly into the community, one possibility being planting bulbs in honor of those serving in the armed forces. Members also talked about what and when to plant, with an emphasis on sustainability.

   

  The gardening initiative is a joint effort with SWBOCES Special Services programs at the Rye Lake Campus in White Plains, with the support of the Special Education Parent Teacher Association. 

  News Feed - Tappan Hill

• Back to School 2022-23

  Tappan Hill welcomed staff back on Thursday, September 1 for Superintendent's Conference Day. The day featured professional development and opportunities for classroom set up. The faculty of Tappan Hill was joined by Deputy Superintendent/ COO Dr. Brendan Lyons, Director for the Center for Special Services Andrea Byrne and Assistant Director for the Center for Special Services Jessica Walker to kick off the start of the new school year. We can't wait to see our students on September 7!

  Tappan Hill

• Extended School Year students' work featured in Gallery Walk

  Ms. Janeelia Henry's Extended School Year Only K-2 class celebrated the end of the summer by inviting families in for a Gallery Walk. Artwork completed by the students over the summer was on full display.  Ms. Henry's classroom Teaching Assistant, Ms. Patrice Barrett, a talented artist, was behind all the projects. These included straw art, toilet paper art, finger painting, as well as displays related to ELA and science curriculums.

   

  In addition, from reading, social skills and Science, School Counselor Jennifer Ardisana worked with students on the life cycle of a caterpillar, then retold the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar. For the book the Rainbow Fish, Ms. Ardisana focused on friendship and sharing.  

   

  Following the gallery walk, parents were invited to the gym to view a beautiful slideshow displaying all the fantastic experiences the students engaged in this summer, including pictures of the students completing the artwork, trips to the Maritime Aquarium, Muscoot Farm, Kensico Dam, and Rye Playland.  When students were on the Rye Lake Campus, they enjoyed the playgrounds, gymnasium, upper basketball court and the very popular sprinklers and water play area.  

   

  To end this memorable event, Ms. Henry invited families to have refreshments and take their child's artwork home.  

  News Feed - Center for Special Services

• ESY students put their handprint on summer, make artful memories

  This summer the Extended School Year Only Class created a Handprint Project to memorialize their time together this summer. Each student picked their own color and was able to become an artist and do multiple handprints at one time. By doing this project, students were able to have a keepsake to look back on their time together. This is the second year that ESY students completed this project. Last year Janeelia Henry completed it with her class.  Hopefully this tradition will continue. Our students enjoy their time here at the ESY Summer Program, and we look to continue to come up with innovative projects for them to take home. Pictured, from left to right, are teaching assistant Adrian Drezga, students Ozan Dinler, Ethan Marino, John Fitzgerald, Nicholas Rittmeyer, Christian Leary, and Brooke Furtado, teacher Hollie Smith, and teaching assistant Lydia Daley.

  News Feed - Center for Special Services

• New play spaces unveiled on Rye Lake Campus

  There were cheers and leaps for joy as adaptive playground and fitness equipment were unveiled on the Rye Lake Campus July 26. 

  News Feed - Rye Lake Middle/High School

• Welcome, Dr. Lyons!

  On July 20 the new SWBOCES Deputy Superintendent/ Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Brendan Lyons visited the Tappan Hill School. Dr. Lyons visited each classroom meeting the incredible students and dedicated staff of the AIIM, MD and IDT programs. Students and staff were eager to meet Dr. Lyons and happy to introduce him to the community of Tappan Hill. We look forward to seeing Dr. Lyons soon, welcome to SWBOCES!

  Tappan Hill

• Summer Time, Summer Trips!

  Students at the Tappan Hill School are back for the Extended School Year! Classes have begun to take field trips to support classroom learning and offer students hands on learning experiences. Click below to see some of our awesome trip photos!

  http://specialservices.swboces.org/groups/73401/tappan_hill/summer_2023_trips 

  Tappan Hill

• ESY

  Good Morning! Today is the last day of school! We've had such a wonderful year! 

  As a heads up, ESY will begin July 5th and run through August 12th. 

  Rye Lake Lower Campus