PTA Council celebrates its 42nd year

Thirty child advocates from the district’s nine PTA units were honored at Monday’s 42nd Founders Day Scholarship Dinner.

Nicole Monteleone/Herald

Honorees Abby Behr and James Lethbridge with PTA Council President Tracy Allred Pulice, at center.

Nicole Monteleone/Herald

The East Meadow High school jazz ensemble entertained the hundreds in attendance during the night’s cocktail hour at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.

Nicole Monteleone/Herald

Susan Lennon, an honoree from East Meadow High School’s PTA, lit a candle after her name was called.

Nicole Monteleone/Herald

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Monday night was a celebration of the many people who contribute to the quality and success of the East Meadow School District, as the East Meadow Parent Teacher Association Council celebrated its 42nd Founders Day Scholarship Dinner.

Hundreds of parents, teachers, administrators, students and other community members gathered in the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury for the event, which raises money to distribute scholarships to deserving East Meadow and W.T. Clarke High School graduating seniors.

The ceremony marks the founding of East Meadow’s PTA. Nine individual units — one from each school, and SEPTA — combine to form the PTA Council, which, for the last two years, had been led by President Tracy Allred Pulice.

Members from each unit are honored at the ceremony, and each year, the PTA Council singles out two special honorees. This year, recently retired music educator Abby Behr and Woodland Middle School Principal James Lethbridge were the night’s major guests of honor.

The evening began with a cocktail hour, at which the East Meadow High School jazz ensemble, under the direction of Stephen Engle, entertained the large audience.

After a performance of “Mr. Sandman” by the W.T. Clarke Shirley Tempos, the night’s honorees were then introduced during a reception, led by Allred Pulice. Other speakers included Superintendent Louis DeAngelo; Board of Education President Joseph Parisi; East Meadow High School and W.T. Clarke valedictorians Nicole Newberger and Pavithran Ravindran, respectively; and Nassau Regional PTA Director Laurie May.

Abby Behr, who retired in January, led East Meadow’s highly successful and renowned music and arts program for 25 years. The program was among 12 districts in the country that were recognized by the National Association for Music Education as having a Model Music Education Program, and the only district in the state to receive the prestigious NYSSMA Presidential Citation award twice — in 2002 and 2012. “The love of music and and arts she’s instilled in children will be her lasting legacy in East Meadow,” said Allred Pulice.