By JUDY RATTNER and ARIELLA MONTI
In words and song, with a choral presentation by members of the high school chamber singers, the retirees received a moving public tribute.
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and long retirement, school superintendent Dr. William Johnson and board president Lorrie Brady publicly saluted Margaret Bell, a Riverside elementary teacher; Patricia A. Fehlker, library media specialist at the middle school; Alan H. Freeman, South Side High School social studies teacher; Thomas Hanley, a math teacher at the high school; high school science teacher Monika Galvan; Dr. Susan Krenitsky, high school nurse/teacher; Karin O'Flaherty, high school teaching assistant; high school science teacher Maria L. Pisani and John A. Salvato, middle school social studies teacher. Also retiring are Lola Berliner, district-wide CSE/CPSE Chairwoman and Betty Conway, Anne Marie deRiesthal and Susan O'Neill, high school office staffers, head custodian William Becker and senior maintainer Richard Lassen.
Vivian Lewandowski, a board of education trustee for the last six years, and Delia Garrity, the school district's assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction are also departing, and were among those receiving the public farewell along with thanks for their dedicated service to the community and its children.
Garrity has held her position in the district's central administration, working in the "White House" building since 2000.
She started her career as a math teacher in 1971 at Wallkill Middle School in Wallkill, N.Y. Garrity taught math until 1986 in the Rockville Centre School District and then became an assistant principal of South Side Middle School. She served in that role until 1999 when she became interim assistant superintendent. Shortly thereafter, she moved into the position from which she'll retire at the end of this school year .
Garrity has educated young math teachers in the graduate program at Long Island University and was the recipient of the New York State Middle School Assistant Principal of the Year award in 1996. But her tenure will almost certainly be associated with her work in dismantling the system of grouping students by ability. Working closely with Dr. Johnson, district administrators and teachers, Garrity substituted ability grouping with a "detracked" approach that has yielded measurable educational growth, and equity, for all populations in Rockville Centre's racially and socioeconomically diverse school district. Garrity was a moving force in the transformation of South Side middle and high schools from a tracked system to one that offers all students an enriched, honors curriculum in heterogeneous classes - one of the holy grails of the educational world.
"We see the end result of the program at the high school," said Garrity, "I would also like to stress that the strength of the elementary schools is remarkable. We have an inclusive gifted program in STELLAR, full day kindergarten and foreign language. Literacy and math are also very strong and were completely changed to feed the strength of the middle and high school programs.
"I think the success of the district is the result of a team effort," she added, "and that is the board and the administrators at the central office and the buildings, and the teachers and the parents, cooperating and working together for the success of the students. I firmly believe in public school education. And I think that Rockville Centre has demonstrated that public education can work for all students - that when you provide students with the opportunities to learn and to challenge themselves, they take those opportunities and they fly."
Described by Dr. Johnson as "a consummate learner and a true professional," Garrity often presents at conferences to local and national audiences, including a group of educators from the American Educational Research Association who took time out from their annual convention in Manhattan to visit and study the district in late March. And Garrity has authored and co-authored numerous articles for educational journals. With current South Side Middle School principal Shelagh McGinn, she has written a book entitled "Detracking for Excellence and Equity," that will be published this August.
As they were bidding her farewell, Garrity's replacement was waiting in the wings. Christopher Pellettieri will take on her responsibilities as assistant superintendent for the district, leaving his position as principal of William Cullen Bryant High School in Long Island City. The Queens College graduate, with a BA in History, an MS in Education, and state certification as a school district administrator and supervisor, started his career teaching social
studies.
In other action:
n Brittany Pearl, a South Side High School senior, and David Colletta, a junior, were honored for their work for Rock & Wrap It Up, an anti-poverty think tank, based on Long Island, that collects "assets" and distributes them to local agencies and shelters.
n Assistant Superintendent for Business Robert Bartels said that due to an action by the Nassau County Assessor, the district will receive less revenue from PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) funds that it uses to reduce the lax levy on Class I homeowners. A PILOT payment just received by the district contained about 7-8 percent less than what had been anticipated.
n Administrators and board members continued to refine the wording of a contract regarding alcohol and drug use and their consequences, that will be mailed to families of all students in the district in the coming months.
n In anticipation of a Verizon FIOS franchise agreement with the Village of Rockville Centre to provide television service, residents of South Hempstead who are zoned for the Rockville Centre school district were urged to make their interest in being able to receive the village school channel known to Verizon.
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Photos by Judy Rattner/Herald
