Commack School District

Superintendent Dr. Jordan Cox, Board of Education president Steven Hartman and CTA president Joe Bisulca welcomed back teachers and other staff on Wednesday for a day of training.

“I’m so grateful for the work you do for this district and the way you connect with students,” Dr. Cox said inside the CMS auditorium.

Dr. Cox highlighted the collective experience in the auditorium, including the high percentage of staff who have been with the district for 20 or more years.

Dr. Cox noted that the district’s educators consistently fulfill the mantra, “Above and beyond is our baseline.” He cited individual messages he received from families in the community during last school year that demonstrate that commitment to exceeding what is expected.

Said Dr. Cox: “This is an amazing group of individuals.”

Also on Wednesday, staff experienced training sessions at their respective schools and with their respective departments.

In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Meetings Law,” the Board of Education of the Commack Union Free School District shall hold a Special Meeting on Wednesday, August 28, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. at Hubbs Administration Building, 480 Clay Pitts Road, East Northport, NY 11731. It is anticipated that the Board of Education will make a motion for the purpose of adjourning into Executive Session at this time and there will be no public business. 

Here is the link to register for Fall 2024 Continuing Ed classes:  

https://tinyurl.com/yc33thcw

Pottery and Pickleball will only allow mail-in registration. Brochures will be in mailboxes this week. Once you receive those, please mail in as soon as possible to have your best shot of getting into the class.

Three new classes are being offered: Hip-Hop Dance, Vinyasa Yoga and Movement & Writing.

If you have any questions concerning this program, please email [email protected] or call 631-912-2153.

To receive notification when the brochure is posted, please sign up for Email Notification.

Just check the box that says "Commack Continuing Education."

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The Homecoming Village and Parade will take place on Saturday, Sept. 21. Community members are invited to complete this form to reserve a vendor table in the parking lot adjacent to the west end zone of the CHS football field. Meanwhile, school and community groups are invited to register to march in the parade by completing this form. Registration for both closes on Sept. 13. 

Discovery campers flexed their engineering skills while building boats on Wednesday as part of a new STEAM lab program.

The program will continue at the district’s four primary schools once school resumes in September as a newly launched Lunch and Learn opportunity.

STEAM Labs are innovative spaces where students create, discover and use technology while sharpening their inquiry skills with hands-on learning.

Library media specialists Christine Dennis and Gia Ibanez as well as executive director of technology Alise Pulliam have designed the new interactive experiences for all students in kindergarten through third grade for the coming school year.

During “Pirates and Mermaids” week at Discovery Camp, the STEAM Lab is making a splash.

On Wednesday, campers designed their first boat using a kit. They then attempted to have the boats remain afloat while adding various types of cargo.

The campers then incorporated what they observed from the kit boat floating experience to their own design for a second boat, which they built using craft sticks and other common items. Students discovered various factors that impacted their success and made adjustments when needed.

Discovery Camp attendees are getting an early introduction to coding this week as they map out and then enter a sequence of commands for a "bee-bot" to follow on a course.

The bee-themed robots advance and turn based on the programmed commands from the campers.

The summer marks the first camping season in which a STEAM component is included among the activities.

The summer is no time off for Commack High School’s science researchers.

Students gathered in Lab 10 at the high school on Wednesday morning with science teachers Andrea Beatty, Jeanette Collette, Dr. Daniel Kramer as well as retired teacher Dr. Lorraine Solomon to gain an overview of the Regeneron Science Talent Search application process and receive initial feedback on their 20-page research papers and essays.

Regeneron STS is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science research competition for high school students. Started in 1942 as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, Regeneron STS recognizes and empowers the nation’s most promising young scientists who are developing ideas that could solve society’s most urgent challenges.

Roughly 2,000 students submit applications each November to Regeneron STS, which involves original research in critically important scientific fields of study. Unique among high school competitions, the Regeneron STS focuses on identifying, inspiring and engaging the nation’s most promising future leaders in STEM.

Commack has a proud tradition of students achieving in the Regeneron competition. The high school has produced 14 semifinalists in the past decade: Jonathan Zhang (2024), Soyoun "Ashley" Moon (2022), Kimberly Liao (2020), S. Shamtej Singh Rana (2020), Pragati Muthukumar (2019), Daniel Lee (2018), Anoop Singh (2018), Jordan Cooper (2017), Abby Cuomo (2017), David Li (2016), Mehtaab Sawhney (2016), Scott Massa (2015), Matthew O’Connell (2015) and Josh Zweig (2014).

Massa achieved finalist status.

Those graduates have continued their research at elite universities including Harvard, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Penn and Stanford.