Don't miss Salsa at the Library! Register at www.portchester-ryebrooklibrary.org. Proceeds benefit the Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library. Classes begin April 22.
Please click here to read this special message regarding state aid funding to Port Chester Schools from Superintendent Dr. Edward Kliszus.
GREETINGS TO SENIORS AND PARENTS OF THE CLASS OF 2019
Graduation 2019 is approaching, and we will soon be sending home information about the details of our graduation ceremony. As we published in the school calendar last summer, this year’s commencement will be taking place at SUNY-Purchase (in the Concert Hall), just over three miles from the high school campus. We need to hold the graduation ceremony there instead of our traditional location on the football/soccer field because of construction that will be starting very soon on our campus as part of our voter-approved bond referendum. For the next two years, the main staging areas for high school construction will be the football/soccer field while construction on the high school campus takes place. That work is about to start, and delaying construction would cost us a significant amount of valuable time and money.
Many individuals are currently hard at work sweating the details of our new location and the necessary logistic arrangements so that our graduation will be memorable and special. Graduation is an event celebrating the culmination of students’ formative years of education, and it is a memory that we want everyone to cherish. We wrote to senior parents last August about what to expect in senior year, and we began collecting cap and gown money the first half of this school year. In fact, if any seniors still owe cap and gown money or have not informed us the name they want printed on their diploma or are not sure whether they have done so, then they should please see Mr. DiRenno in the Assistant Principals’ Office.
Selecting a venue for graduation was not a task we took lightly. Alternative graduation sites were discussed by the district and all given serious consideration, but the logical choice for a school of our size with an expected attendance of about 2,000 guests was the facilities at SUNY-Purchase. We chose the SUNY-Purchase venue for many reasons: its proximity to Port Chester, the availability of the venue, its world-class facilities, its free parking, its air-conditioned indoor environment (meaning no rain date will be necessary for this year!), and the recommendation of a number of prominent high schools in our area who have had very positive experiences with the facility.
This spring, the traditional next steps in our process are direct communication to senior parents and graduates regarding graduation details including when students report for rehearsal, proper attire, how to pick up honor stoles, how to pay for owed materials, distribution of caps and gowns, etc. This information will be sent earlier than usual this year in order for parents and seniors to be as prepared as possible. Also this spring, we’ll be sharing details of how we will be distributing tickets for the venues, and we have already consulted with some parents and other schools for their ideas and practices. Final decisions about ticket distribution and other logistics need to be made both with SUNY-Purchase and with building and district administration before all of our communication can be finalized, translated, and distributed. Additionally, we are working on being able to live-stream the ceremony over the Internet, on top of providing seating that will be available in the PepsiCo Theater on the SUNY-Purchase campus where a live feed of the graduation ceremony in the Concert Hall next door will be broadcast, widening the audience with access to witness the ceremony.
Please be aware of all that we’ve done this year, as is done each and every year, in terms of the preparation for graduation by hard-working faculty, administrators, clerical workers, and staff; please understand the tough decision-making and planning that has taken place behind the scenes by professionals in positions of leadership in an imperfect situation where no decision, no matter how carefully made, could have possibly pleased everyone.
We believe studying the best practices of others, working within the complex dynamics and limitations of construction, and utilizing informed decision-making ensures provision of the highest quality ceremony for seniors and their families.
We appreciate that you understand the difficult position of balancing the complex limitations and requirements of our pending building project, which we cannot afford to delay, with giving seniors a high quality commencement ceremony, aiming that it will meet or exceed the one you would have experienced on our own home field. There is no place that can truly substitute for our stadium and field and majestic view of Port Chester High School. I’d like to personally thank all of you have expressed your deeply personal concerns about making sure that this commencement ceremony is a meaningful one. We share those sentiments. If we can’t be at home, then I can’t think of a better way to send our seniors off to college and university, where over 90 percent of our graduates are going, than to end their high school experience on the setting of a college campus.
We look forward to finalizing the details of Graduation 2019 and sharing those with you later this spring. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Mitchell A. Combs, Ph.D.
Principal
Port Chester High School
Attached please find the 2019 prom night car or limousine fact sheet provided by the office of County Executive George Latimer.
The New Westchester Symphony Orchestra will perform at Port Chester High School at 3 p.m. April 28. Admission is free. Learn more at http://newsymphony.org/.
Once a week Spanish language students from Port Chester High School visit younger students at Park Avenue School. Together they practice their Spanish all while having fun.
Every year for the past decade, members of the Harmed Suburban Five - Port Chester, Glen Cove, Westbury, Ossining and Riverhead - have urged Albany for increased funding.
We are overwhelmingly different from other districts in New York State in that we are experiencing:
• Significant enrollment growth
• Nearly a 50% increase in student receiving Free & Reduced Lunch
• Substantial decrease in our communities’ combined income & property wealth ratio
• Significant increase in students requiring English Language Learning resources
The Harmed Suburban 5 receives less than 50% of our Foundation Aid level, while the state average is 80%. This directly impacts our students.
ALL children from across the state should be treated fairly!
If you are a Westchester resident,18 years or older, please take a few minutes to fill out this County Community Health Survey. Your responses are anonymous. The Health Department & hospitals in Westchester will use the results to improve health programs.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019WCHealthSurvey
Port Chester Board of Education President Carolee Brakewood led a contingency to Albany to meet with state legislators and advocate for Port Chester’s rightful Foundation Aid Funding for 2019-20.
Parents attending are Blanca Lopez, Sharon Burke with PC grads Zeltzyn Sanchez, Alex Garcia and PCHS student Adrianna Sherwood.
We are heartened to see our families and our students in particular taking up the cause for all of Port Chester. See the attached photos from our advocacy efforts at the state capitol.
Students at King Street School had fun researching interesting scientific concepts to showcase at the annual STEM Fair. The event featured the creative and imaginative work students from throughout each grade level had done.
Port Chester High School is an institution that students and staff are proud to call home. A culturally diverse student body is one of our greatest strengths, and together, we look to build on the school's legacy and rich traditions.
A dynamic administrative team leads a school community that is focused on teaching and learning. Students are supported by professionals who value the importance of academic achievement and are dedicated to ensuring that students receive the highest quality education possible. Everyone here feels part of a team whose mission is to help students do their best by creating a positive atmosphere that permits students to learn and teachers to teach.
Over a third of our students successfully complete at least one Honors, Advanced Placement or college level course at PCHS. We are one of the few Westchester high school authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program. College-level courses are offered in cooperation with the Westchester Community College Advanced College Experience Program and SUNY Oneonta.
Outside of the classroom, we offer opportunities for students to develop and grow through participation in numerous athletic, musical and other venues. In the pulsing beat of the award-winning marching band one hears the drumming of the heart of this school. As our athletes race across field and court, one feels the adrenaline rush of Ram Pride. And in art, choir, theater, journalism and a multitude of extracurricular opportunities, students rise to challenge their potential and broaden themselves.
About one-third of our students participate in at least one sport. Our student athletes have won league championships in football, soccer, wrestling, basketball, baseball and track. In addition, we possess a nationally recognized cheer leading program. Award-winning theater, band and choral programs continue to be a tremendous source of pride. Literacy publications showcase our students' journalistic talents, and the number of other clubs and numerous honor societies demonstrates the well-roundedness of our student body.
In "Hamlet", Shakespeare wrote, "We know what we are, but know not what we may be." It is this discovering and uncovering of all of our potentials that is at the heart of education and the essence of Port Chester High School.
