fanwood news-winter 2013

the

Fanwood Newsletter

Dear Fanwood Friends: Welcome to the winter edition of our Fanwood Newsletter! We hope you will enjoy learning about the many activities and efforts by our staff and students.

As you may know, we have been deeply involved in the accreditation process culminating in a final test - the accreditation site visit. On Sunday, November 17th, four members of the Conference of Education Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD) arrived at Fanwood for a three-day evaluation.

While at Fanwood, the CEASD accreditation team met with the NYSD Board of Trustees, students, staff members, parents and alumni. They observed classrooms and studied our reports. The visiting team worked very long days and worked late into the night in order to come to a conclusion by the deadline.

On Wednesday afternoon, all staff members gathered in the auditorium for the final presentation given by the four visiting CEASD accreditation team members. For each Standard, the team provided two commendations as well as two recommendations. At the end of their presentation they announced that for the first time in history, they were proud to announce that they recommend that New York School for the Deaf receive Full Accreditation status.

Please note that this is not considered official until the team presents their recommendation to the CEASD Board next May.

Becoming accredited means so many things, but one of the most important is that we are engaged in a continual process of analyzing our effectiveness against rigorous standards, and working to achieve the high goals we have set for ourselves and for our students. Thank you so much for your continued support.

Warm Wishes, Dr. Janet Dickinson

W I N T E R 2 0 1 3

EVENT CANCELLED: Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, this year’s NYSD Holiday Craft fair is cancelled. Please save the date for next year:

Saturday, December 6th, 2014.

THE LOREM IPSUMS WINTER 2012

2

Winter 2013

In Loving Memory… It is with deep sadness that we share with you the news that former New York School for the Deaf Headmaster, Dr. John T. Tiffany passed away suddenly on September 30th, 2013.

While this brings sadness to all who knew Dr. Tiffany; the Fanwood community felt an even deeper sense of loss as we benefited from the leadership of this great man.

Dr. Tiffany was committed to the rights of deaf students and his dedication has left a lasting impact in the field of deaf education. Fanwood remembers Dr. Tiffany as intelligent, caring leader who cherished our community and deep traditions. He will be missed.

This holiday season, Fanwood is collecting donations to help some of our Fanwood families in need. Our hope is to help make the "season of giving" as joyous as possible for as many people as possible.

To help make gift-giving as easy as possible for families, and also to allow them the opportunity to choose what they most need and want, we will be doing a "Holiday Gift Card Drive"

Please donate gift cards in the amounts of: $10, $15, or $20

We encourage cards from: Walmart, Target, VISA or Master Card

Deadline: December 14th, 2013

Gift Cards can be dropped off at: • Peet Hall Reception in attention to Diana Segre

With questions, please contact Diana Segre at [email protected]

Thank you very much in advance for your generous donations for our families this holiday season!


3

Help Fanwood Build A Playground! Currently, our students do not have a playground. Our playground sustained permanent, structural damage from Hurricane Sandy, so our children can no longer play on it.

We are raising funds to build a new, playground that will meet the needs of all of our students. Some children use wheelchairs and walkers, so a playground with a surface of wood chips would limit their ability to move and play. Therefore, we need a playground that is has a rubber surface, so that ALL of our children can play.

Our goal is just $45,000 for our new playground. One way we are reaching our goal is through a fun and competitive online site called CrowdRise. CrowdRise is fun and easy...and money raised will go directly to the school. Click Here to access the CrowdRise page. You can help us by:

1. Donating directly to our main New York School for the Deaf page -OR- 2. Click on the "join our team" link and start your own fundraiser that will connect

to our main page.

Whichever option you choose, the key to success is to SHARE this link on Facebook, Twitter and any other social media outlet. Also, you can simply email this link to all of your friends and family.

New York School for the Deaf is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so all donations are tax-deductable to the full extent allowed by law.

Please email Mary T. Rahe at [email protected] if you have questions or need help with the process. Please email Mary T. Rahe at [email protected] if you have questions or

need help with the process.

Can you raise more money than the current fundraising leaders?

Current Fundraising Leaders NYSD Main page $1,925 Danielle Piccirilli $865.00

NYSD Parent Cary Albaum $715.00 NYSD Parent, Jitka Seck $690.00

Mary T. Rahe $600.00

Winter 2013


4

Visit from St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf On November 5th, students and families of eleven 8th graders visited us from St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf. We always enjoy this annual visit, and look forward to meeting the new potential incoming high school students. Students and their parents enjoyed classroom and campus tours, as well as meeting many Fanwood students. Fanwood’s traveling performance group, Sign On also performed for the families, which highlighted our strong performing arts program. We hope that these eleven students choose to attend Fanwood next Fall!

Winter 2013

GARDENING WITH XEROX! Recently, Fanwood was the recipient of a grant from the Xerox Community Involvement Program for our garden.

In addition, they wanted to show us their support by coming to Fanwood to help us rebuild our garden fence.

We enjoyed a great day with the Xerox volunteers working side by side our Fanwood staff & students. Dan Brady from the Food Bank also joined us for this celebration.

Students who work in the garden were given certificates in recognition of their hard work and the success of their efforts. We feel this is the start of a good relationship with Xerox.

THANK YOU, XEROX!

Fanwood Fitness Center Grand Opening

On October 25, Fanwood held the grand opening of our brand new fitness center!

Two rooms full of both cardio and weight training equipment was graciously donated by Equinox/Blink, a large gym corporation who very much wants our students to be healthy and fit.

David Collignon from Equinox was able to join us and experience the joy of watching our students walk into the rooms and their faces light up. As each student would turn the corner, they proclaimed, "WOW COOL"! One student asked David: "who was paying for all this?" He responded that it was a donation that his company wanted to do for the good of the students. Many of the students went directly up to David and thanked him personally.

THANK YOU, EQUINOX!

NYSD students welcome the St. Joseph’s group to Fanwood.


5

Children’s Halloween Spooktacular This event brought so many people in from the outside community and they were given insight into how wonderful our Fanwood community really is. This year, one of the crowd favorites were the ASL Storytellers. We were thrilled to share ASL with community members who may not have had much exposure to deaf culture.

The Children's Spooktacular and Fanwood's Nightmare Manor are playing a very big part in reaching the outside community. While our number one priority is to educate deaf students, it has become necessary to also do everything we can to create powerful community connections that will strengthen us politically, socially, and financially.

2011 People

Attending

2012 People

Attending

2013 People Attending

Friday - 2nd weekend in October 12 Saturday – 2nd weekend in October 46 Friday - 3rd weekend in October 101 85 Saturday - 3rd weekend in October 92 104 Thursday - Halloween weekend 38 Friday - Halloween weekend 79 55 106 Saturday - Halloween weekend Snowed out 130 205 TOTAL 79 436 538

Fanwood’s Nightmare Manor

This year’s Haunted House was a great success! Our team was dedicated to not only building an amazing haunted house, but to improving our internal process, as well. While we plan to continuously grow, it was wonderful to see the growth from last year to this year. Our PR for the event improved, we managed to get several sponsors and every single

one of the hundreds of wooden pallets were donated, in an effort to reduced costs. Click HERE for pictures of Halloween at Fanwood

Three-Year Comparison

Winter 2013


6

Partnership with The Chapel School Earlier this month, two of our preschool classes began a partnership with The Chapel School in Bronxville, NY. Rosemarie Lynch and Amanda Bostick's classes engaged in lessons and activities to develop language and social skills with preschool students at The Chapel School. We are excited about this partnership, and look forward to its continued development.

Click HERE to read recent news article on this special collaboration!

Christopher Columbus's Fanwood Voyage Students in Lori Quiazon and Carolyn Hua’s class voyaged around as Christopher Columbus at Fanwood to 7 different “islands” to trade with the “natives” there.

The students learned why it was important to make trades and how to haggle to make a fair trade for both parties involved. They also had to ration their food to make sure they could make it to the New World with food remaining. They did a wonderful job and had a great time!

Who says you “Can’t eat art!?” Freshmen 2D art class made a color wheel using frosting to mix the colors.

All smiles during a chilly November Fire Drill!

Winter 2013


7

Winter 2013

Soccer At the 2013 ESDAA Metro Tournament end of the boys’ soccer tournament, the Fanwood boys’ team was awarded the Sportsmanship

trophy. The Tornadoes showed good communication, faith, and teamwork throughout the entire tournament. Jake P. and Martin T. received both were honored to receive All Star trophies. Congratulations to Jake and Martin Torres for this terrific achievement! The 2013 Soccer season ended in a battle for 3rd place against The American School for the Deaf. The Tornadoes struggled early in the game and were ultimately defeated with a final score of 2-0. The team and captain, Jake Pacheco, along with the entire team wants to thank everyone that came out to support the Tornadoes this year!

Volleyball The NYSD Girls Volleyball team ended their season at WPSD for the ESDAA Tournament. The tournament began with a game against Lexington School for the Deaf. Our players showed great determination and improvement, especially in our passing game. Holly M. spiked a great deal during this game, which was a great advantage. Our weakness during this game was our serving, which ultimately led to a 2-0 defeat. Following that game, we competed against The Learning Center. Our girls played strong, making very few errors throughout the match. NYSD took the win and achieved the 5th place position. Coach Kandace Morris said, “Congratulation to our senior Rosa P., who received the All-Tournament Team award! It was a bittersweet for our seniors, as this tournament signified the end of their NYSD volleyball career. Overall, we had a good season. I enjoyed working with this team and was inspired by their level of growth as athletes and young ladies; from the first day of practice, to their last game. They taught me to be a better coach.”

Girls Basketball: Lady Tornadoes Win Opener By student, Carlos V. In the season opener for the Lady Tornadoes, the team led by captain, Rosa P., defeated the Sharks from the French-American School of New York by a score of 21 – 18. Holly M. led her team in scoring. The girls did an excellent job playing defense against the Sharks helping get the win. Boys Basketball Defeated at Home By student, Abraham M. On November 21, the Fanwood Tornadoes played the French-American School of New York and lost 45-35 in Fanwood lost. Dennis W. scored 18 points. Agron D., Wigner D., and Michael B. led the team in assists and rebounds. On November 25th, the Tornadoes played Stamford Academy and lost in a close game 63-53. The team

played hard and showed spirit and sportsmanship. Dennis W. led his team with 29 points.

Be sure to check the NYSD website for upcoming games!

fanwood news-winter 2013

Documents