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Committed to Excellence

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Welcome to Islip Middle School

211 Main Street
Islip NY 11751


School Hours: 8:20 a.m. – 2:24 p.m.

Telephone Directory
Main Office: (631) 650-8500
Fax: (631) 650-8508
Principal’s Office: (631) 650-8505
Asst. Principal: (631) 650-8515
Guidance: (631) 650-8550
Health Office: (631) 650-8525
Attendance: (631) 650-8510 

 

 

     

Curt Juengerkes headshot

Timothy P. Martin
Principal
Curt Juengerkes
Assistant Principal

Jamie Wright
Dean of Students

   

group photo staff

 Islip Middle School Staff

 

Principal's Message


March 2024


Greetings Islip Middle School Families,

It's hard to believe that spring is already upon us. We look forward to the students spending more time outside while at Islip Middle School. We ask that you encourage your children to be dressed appropriately to wait outside upon arrival.

I have received many questions about extra help. We offer extra help in the morning and afternoon. Morning extra help begins in the classroom promptly at 7:43 and students should not go to their locker before advisory. Students arriving after this time will not be permitted to attend extra help as it disrupts the learning environment for all in the class. For both instructional needs and student attendance, being on time is essential for a positive extra help experience for all in attendance. Ample time is permitted for students to attend breakfast if they take the early bus, therefore, they will not be dismissed from extra help to go to breakfast. To help with students arriving on time for extra help, students should take the early bus to school. All students attending extra help after the school day, are expected to go directly to the extra help setting. Students are not permitted to exit the school before extra help. A 3:15 late bus is available for all students to go home. However, the late bus has different drop off points and times when compared to the 2:30 bus. All of the bus schedules can be found in a ParentSquare message that was sent out on February 29th.

As we prepare for the 4th and final quarter, this is an excellent time to log on to the parent portal to check the accomplishments of your children. Any questions you have, please reach out to your child's teacher, counselor, or me and we will gladly assist with your requests.

Remember to Look Good, Feel Good, and Do Good as you stay healthy and well.

Warm regards,
Dr. Timothy Martin
Principal
Islip Middle School

Islip Students Show Appreciation for Vets with Valentines

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On Feb. 8, Suffolk County Legislator Sam Gonzalez, accompanied by two U.S. Army reservists from the Fort Totten base, visited Ted Dieumegard’s classroom at Commack Road Elementary School to talk to fourth graders, and the Islip Middle School library to speak with students from Erin Anderson’s English language arts classes, as well as CARE and Keep Islip Clean club members. The purpose of the visit was twofold. Legislator Gonzalez and the reservists explained how important it is to recognize veterans’ sacrifice and commitment to duty. In turn, the students showed their appreciation with a presentation of handmade Valentine’s cards - and from the middle school, hand-sewn plush hearts embellished with American flags – destined for delivery to overseas service members.

“We feel certain that the students came away with a better understanding of what sacrifice and duty truly entail after this visit,” middle school librarian Kathy Ryder said.

Date Added: 3/5/2024

KidOYO Offers Islip Students a K-12 Journey Through the World of Coding

KidOYO Offers Islip Students a K-12 Journey Through the World of Coding  thumbnail255647

For the last two years, Islip’s schools have been implementing kidOYO, an exciting, robust, Manorville-based platform for coding and computer science that focuses on building students’ real-world skills through projects and games.

“KidOYO is definitely in alignment with our superintendent Dr. Dennis O’Hara’s vision for giving our students the best opportunities to shape their future,” said Dr. Chad Walerstein, Islip’s director of technology, innovation and information systems. “It really provides kids with tremendous opportunities in the areas of coding, computer science, logic and critical thinking. This will undoubtedly have a profound effect on their life trajectories, because regardless of what profession they seek out after high school and college, coding is everywhere. It’s in business, finance, computer science and engineering, and it’s becoming more and more normal for graduates to need to have this kind of knowledge. Even beyond direct knowledge of coding, the tenets that kidOYO promotes really function to enhance systematic thought and problem-solving skills, as well as social skills like communication and collaboration.”

At the earliest levels at Wing Elementary School, students begin with the Color by Code program, an app within kidOYO that teaches them the principles of coding. From basic coding such as directional and multi-step algorithms, they move up to another coding language called Hatch, which is essentially a derivative of the Scratch coding language. A form of block coding, Hatch allows students to literally drag and drop blocks to produce an outcome. The Maze Code game within the platform, which most students go through at the earlier levels, gets progressively more difficult and forces the students to utilize repetition and conditional code such as “If this, then that.” Wing students work with kidOYO for a minimum of once a week for the entire year.

Slightly older students are guided through kidOYO by Islip’s STEAM teachers and technology teacher assistants, Beth Fazio and Robert Going at Commack Road Elementary School and Kenneth Bailey and Fred Stroh at Maud S. Sherwood Elementary School. In the middle school, kidOYO is taught by librarian Kathy Ryder as well as implemented in technology classes. At the high school, kidOYO is utilized in a different, course-specific way. High school classes using the platform include AP computer science, video game design, coding and computer programming with Java.

“The nice thing about the platform is that it takes kids from the most basic thing, like Color by Code, all the way through to all of the coding languages that are used in business today such as Python, which some of the high school students are using,” Dr. Walerstein said. “It’s kind of a one-stop shop, if you will.”

Another important aspect of the kidOYO program is providing a challenge for students with a competitive streak, who can participate in Hackathon coding competitions against other Long Island schools in four divisions: high school, seventh and eighth grades, sixth grade and upper elementary school. Each team can have no more than eight members, and at each level, students are required to meet different specific coding benchmarks.

“The Hackathons get progressively more difficult to the point where, when the students are in high school, they have to know a little bit of everything,” Dr. Walerstein said.

Students receive badges for achieving different levels of competency, which serve as micro-credentials as they advance through the program, and kidOYO teachers are able to accurately assess student progress in coding, assisted by the company itself. Teachers can also pursue professional development through kidOYO, obtaining badges of their own and becoming certified as kidOYO certified educators.  

“A teacher doesn’t necessarily have to be a master of coding to utilize it,” Dr. Walerstein said. “Mentors at kidOYO look at every single project. Once a student submits an assignment or project, mentors at kidOYO will offer suggestions, praise their work or even ask them questions. For example, there was a student who submitted something recently in the high school, and one of the mentors at kidOYO actually contacted the teacher and asked it the student used original code, because the mentor was stunned at the level of what the student accomplished.”

The program’s flexibility is one of its greatest strengths.

“So much of this can be self-driven,” Dr. Walerstein said. “Students have access to all of these different apps. If they want to go onto Hatch, all they have to do is open it up and they can go ahead and create and submit projects on their own.”

"I love trying to figure things out when I’m doing the challenges in Hatch,” sixth grader Caden Tarello said.

“Coding definitely reorients the students’ thinking processes,” Ryder said. “They learn how important precision is in their input. Our students love working through the challenges to earn badges and exploring the work of their fellow coders, and I can literally see that students relax and their shoulders come to rest when they know we are going to work in Hatch and kidOYO.”

Date Added: 3/1/2024
 

Islip Honors Academic, Athletic and Musical Achievements at Night of Champions

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The Islip School District recognized numerous exceptional student achievements from fall and winter on Jan. 19 at the Night of Champions event, held during the Board of Education meeting. Elementary and secondary students who demonstrated excellence in academics, athletics, music and leadership received certificates honoring their accomplishments while their proud families looked on.

Director of Fine and Performing Arts Michael Hershkowitz and music teachers honored students who were selected for the SCMEA PEAK Festival from Commack Road Elementary School (Haleigh Casimir, Owen Chandler, Kathleen Doyle, Erin Lella, Emma Myles-McAnally and Korra Saliba) and Maud S. Sherwood Elementary School (Lexi Fernandez, Hunter Grando, Lilah Hirschmann and Joseph Zarchy); a student chosen for SCMEA Day of Tuba (Makenzy Covelli); students participating in the Long Island String Festival from Commack Road (Chelsea Cooper), Sherwood (Christopher Liang), Islip Middle School (Titley Das and Malcolm Friedman) and Islip High School (Lucas Bohr and Alexandra Fitch); and students chosen for  SCMEA All-County Jazz (Lucas Bohr and Daniel Rubinson), NYSCAME All-County Band (Jessica Cruz), NYSCAME All-County Mixed Chorus (Lucas Bohr, Isabella Dragos, Rebecca Leo, Alexandra Noles, Michelle Quinteros, Daniel Rubinson, Aaron Thorn and Daniel Turk); and NYSCAME All-State Mixed Chorus (Daniel Rubinson).

Islip High School Principal Lara Gonzalez and Assistant Principals Charlie Rizzuto, Meghan Stern and Lisa Ward presented the high school’s academic awards. The NSCD Award for Academic Growth and Student Leadership in Learning was presented to high school seniors Emma Cirulnick and Emily Lewis for pursuing a high level of academic effort and serving as positive role models for the student body, while Eagan Biscari and Jaci Narducci were recognized as Presidential Scholars Program Nominees.

Advanced Placement awards were then recognized, for students earning the AP Seminar and Research Certificate (Brandon Garces and Daniel Rubinson), AP Scholar designation (Katherine Cottral, Louise Kane, Lawrence Lena, Emily Lewis, Raquel Luna, Melody Madrigal, Caitlyn McDonald, Luna Mendoza, Andrew Owen, Saul Pavlin, Hunter Pellicane and Michael Sanko), AP Scholar and AP Seminar and Research Certificate (Jeremy Carroll and Eric Maniscalco), AP Scholar with Honor designation (Brenna Weber), AP Scholar with Honor and AP Seminar and Research Certificate (Emma Cirulnick), AP Scholar with Honor and AP Capstone Diploma (Connor Mullins), AP Scholar with Distinction designation (Parker Barry, Erica De Lapi, Maxwell Haynes, Lia Pesiri and Charlie Zimmerman), AP Scholar with Distinction and AP Seminar and Research Certificate (Jaci Narducci), and AP Scholar with Distinction and AP Capstone Diploma (Eagan Biscari and Ryder Hansen).

Athletic Director John Sparacio and several of his coaches presented sports recognitions for the fall season, noting that all of Islip’s fall varsity teams achieved New York State Scholar Athlete Team status.

Honored high school student-athletes included girls cross-country athlete Elizabeth Hamm (All-Division); field hockey player Sabrina Frazer (All-County Honorable Mention, Suffolk County All-Star Team); football players Michael Sanko (All-Academic First Team), Jake DeGennaro (Second Team All-Division), Talan Mede (Second Team All-Division), Michael Vitale (Second Team All-Division), Dominick Albertelli (First Team All-Division), Collin Haug (First Team All-Division and Single Game Yards Receiving Record), Brady Nash (First Team All-Division, Single Game Passing Record) and Jack McLoughlin (All-County, National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete); gymnastics athletes Nicolette Ferraro (All-County), Brianna Lanza (All-County) and Isabella Field (All-County, New York State Qualifier for Beam and Floor); boys soccer players Jamie Atlas (All-Conference), Maxwell Haynes (Academic All-County) and Ronan Montana (All-Conference, All-County, All-State); girls soccer players Gianna Capolongo (All-Division), Abby Dieumegard (All-Division), Mackenna Eastwood (All-Division), Carley Mullins (All-Division), Dakota Dieumegard (All-County), Nicole Matute (All-County, All-State), Peighton McKenna (All-County, All-State, Class A Goalkeeper of the Year); girls tennis players Ava Andria (All-County), Annika Cripe (All- County), Erica De Lapi (All- County), Riley Halpin (All-County) and Reese Wallace (All- County); and league champions boys golf team members Jacob Gordon-Lopez, Ryan Kelly (also All-Academic), Carlo Napolitano, Dylan Nieves, Andrew Owen, Jacob Petelin, Dylan Rhodes, Jacob Schifter (also All-Academic), Brandon Simonetti, Tyler Simonetti (also All-County), Blake Unverzagt and Jake Urban.
 
In his Night of Champions address, Superintendent Dr. Dennis P. O’Hara highlighted the generosity and support of the Islip community.

“Over the last two years, we’ve added $70,000 worth of instruments to our music program, we’ve added AP courses and we’ve added athletic opportunities such as track and field for our middle schoolers, competitive cheer and field hockey,” Dr. O’Hara said. “Without the support of the community, and without the foresight of our Board of Education, we might not have recognized the 100 students that we recognize this evening for their athletic, musical and academic achievement. So, thank you to the community, and congratulations of course, to our students, who work so hard to earn those achievements.”

Date Added: 2/27/2024

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