Cristie Tursi reshapes science department

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Cristie Tursi, of Rockville Centre, has a bachelor’s from Fordham University, a master’s from Columbia University and advanced certificates from Long Island University. She got her start teaching physics at Regis High School in the city, spent a year teaching at Molloy, then spent eight years — from 2012 to 2020 — teaching physics at Southside High School in Rockville Centre.

She took the next step in 2020, being named the new director of Science for Long Beach Public Schools. For the last five years, she has been working nonstop to revamp and expand the district’s science department across each school, and has no plans of slowing down.

“That first year when I got here, everybody was trying to figure out how to do school again after Covid,” Tursi remembered. “What I know how to do best is build relationships and that’s what I spent that whole first year doing. From that first year of just getting to know people and what people needed, that we grew from it. I have a sense of pride in all of it because the work that we do now grew from just getting to know each other as a team.”

Throughout the first few years of heading the district’s science team, Tursi has helped grow and add numerous programs and branches to an already expansive department. In the time, the district has added new elementary STEM programs and innovation labs, a working greenhouse, a sixth-grade space experiment program, partnerships with Cold Spring Harbor Labs and the Jones Beach Energy and Nature Center, and has grown the middle school and high school science research programs, among even more things.

Students in the science research programs conduct a lot of studies and projects, such as growing lettuce with different types of bacteria, acid rain, regeneration, contaminants in waterways, and more. The young researchers in the program have taken part in multiple competitions across Long Island, with many placing first, second and third. Both the middle school and high school classes are now under the supervision of its teacher Kristen Conklin, who, along with Tursi, takes great pride in the success of the students.

“They really put a lot of effort in,” Conklin said of the students. “Some students even collaborate with scientists outside in the field. That’s one of the goals of science research, is to get them that real world experience and to connect them with professionals.”

Science students at Long Beach High School have taken part in unique projects outside science research as well. Students in IB Environmental Science have been raising trout, getting the eggs, studying them and then release them back into the wild. Also, out by the exit to the school, there was a patch of land that was juts grass. Over the last five years, students have been working to plant all different species of plants, making it a new little forest area.

Right outside of the building that the middle school and Lido Elementary School share is the district’s own working greenhouse. The greenhouse, which officially debuted in 2021, is maintained by Brian Pross, a middle school technology teacher, and his students. They maintain the structure and plants — while in season — and Pross is even working to get permits to allow the serving of the food they grow in the greenhouse.

“A lot of kids go into trades, and to give them all this exposure while they’re here, with us, in this nurturing environment that we can provide and all the different exposure to things is very cool,” Tursi said of the greenhouse and all the other district offerings.

Recently, Tursi has been working hard with the district on the implementation of a new science Regents that comes out this year. Most districts — like Long Beach — opted to wait a year before administering it to ensure the staff and students alike were as ready as they could be for the new tests.

She’s also a member of the Long Island STEM Educational Leadership Association. The group allows her the opportunity to keep in touch with what other teachers and administrators are doing across Long Island, and to train teachers on how to implement new standards into their schools.

Tursi works hard to ensure the relationships and collaboration across the district stay strong and, every other month, has common planning meetings with the teachers at the four elementary schools and does grade level meetings. During the months in between, she holds “office hours” to keep in touch constantly to make sure everyone gets what they need. She also meets with the middle school and high school teachers every other week.

“She is the most kind, organized person,” Halle Conklin, a science teacher at Lindell Elementary School, said, while smiling, looking at Tursi. “She genuinely cares so much. Sometimes, if a director comes in, people get nervous, but everyone always feels so comfortable. You’re always willing to help and it’s so appreciated.”

Tursi is proud of the work she and the district has accomplished together so far, but has plans for even more in the future. It’s a lot of hard work, but she enjoys every minute of it.

“It does not feel like work,” she said. “I honestly love what I do. I love the world of curriculum.”