Elementary school students from across the district celebrated Memorial Day on May 23 with ceremonies at Ann MacArthur Primary School and Bayville Village Hall. Bands and choruses from Locust Valley Intermediate School and Bayville Intermediate School played patriotic tunes and taps for friends, family and veterans from American Legion Post 962 in Locust Valley and Post 1285 in Bayville.
High School seniors came to the gym wearing their college colors and shared their excitement for the future at the annual Up and Away Day on May 21. Each student met with their counselors to share their college plans and also get a look at their graduation posters, provided by the High School Parents’ Council, lining the walls of the gym.
On May 18, 11 students in the Locust Valley Middle School Model U.N. class were invited to participate in the Syosset Model United Nations Conference sponsored by Syosset High School. Locust Valley was the only outside district invited to attend. Topics included mitigation of space debris, repatriation of artifacts from museums, the plight of climate refugees, and a special crisis committee based on events in the South China Sea.
The delegates from Locust Valley were awarded five of the 12 awards given that day for best delegate and honorable mentions in addition to a special award for “Most Likely to Work on the Actual U.N.” Leo Del Giudice, Maya Karagiannakis, Bella Russo, Thomas Simon and Asher Zito received honors at the event.
Brittany Fassari’s second grade class at Bayville Primary School took to the stage on May 22 to show off their patriotism ahead of Memorial Day. The young stars walked down a red carpet and took to the multipurpose room stage in front of their friends and families and read a book they each wrote on American symbols like bald eagles, the Empire State Building and The White House. Before they departed, students also performed a dance for the crowd with American flags in each hand.
Another spring concert series has come and gone in the Locust Valley Central School District. Hundreds of student-musicians from throughout the district once again showcased their talents for friends and family.
From May 2 to May 16, student-musicians filled the air in the school/middle school’s Howard A. Schmock Memorial Auditorium with beautiful melodies from musical greats ranging from Mozart and Duke Ellington to Paramore and Taylor Swift. Each night, the community packed the auditorium to show their appreciation for the students’ and staff’s efforts.
These concerts, which came just a few weeks after the district was once again named as one of the best communities for music education by the National Association of Music Merchants for the sixth year in a row, once again highlighted the incredible music culture within the community.
Please see below for the 2024-2025 budget results for Locust Valley Central School District.
Proposition 1: School Budget (Passed)
Yes: 904
No: 554
Proposition 2: Capital Reserve Withdrawal (Passed)
Yes: 1,000
No: 415
Proposition 3: Locust Valley Library Tax Levy 2024-2025 (Passed)
Yes: 441
No: 178
Trustee Election (* indicates winners): 3-year terms
Nicholas J. DellaFera: 861*
Michael McGlone: 735
George Vasiliou: 736*
Locust Valley High School athletes put in hard work throughout the spring sports season. Our Falcons continued to balance their academic and athletic pursuits and make us proud on and off the field. As a thank-you to the seniors who donned the Falcon green one more time, teammates, family and friends held senior days for each team to celebrate their leadership efforts. Once a Falcon, always a Falcon.
The annual budget vote and Board of Education election is Tuesday, May 21. Residents must vote in the election district in which they reside. The Bayville Election District residents must vote at the Bayville Intermediate School gymnasium at 50 Mountain Ave., Bayville. Brookville Election district residents must vote at the Community Hall of the Brookville Reformed Church at 2 Brookville Rd., Brookville. Locust Valley Election District residents must vote at the Ann MacArthur Primary School gymnasium at 100 Ryefield Rd., Locust Valley. If you are unsure where to vote, go to https://nb.findmypollplace.com/locustvalleycsd/AmIRegistered or the Board of Education’s Voter Information page of the district website.
Bayville Primary and Intermediate School students took a break from class on May 10 to dance and learn how to respect each other from hip hop choreographer DJ Reggie Williams from RSVP Entertainment. DJ Reggie broke down exciting dance moves into step-by-step instructions while also putting an emphasis on teaching students how to respect the things their teachers and family do for them every day.
Throughout May, students and staff throughout the district have celebrated and supported social and emotional awareness. Students participated in various activities to recognize the importance of emotional maturity. Some activities included dress-up days and classroom lessons from the district’s school counseling team. All students received a green bracelet or a stress ball.
Elementary schools throughout the district celebrated Social Emotional Awareness Spirit Week from May 6-10 by wearing pajamas on Mellow Monday, their favorite thinking caps on Thoughtful Tuesday, exercise clothes on Workout Wednesday, tie-dye for Thursday and green or Falcons gear on Falcon Friday. Students were also encouraged to participate in Screen-Free Week by unplugging from technology to promote physical and emotional wellness and enjoying the company of their friends and family.
As a Falcon Family, we work together to build and promote relationships with all community members.
Locust Valley Middle School students showcased their incredible experiments at last week’s science fair. Each group presented its project to staff members and high school science research students, and then enjoyed pizza and treats provided by the Middle School Parents Council.
Each group did an excellent job of proving their hypotheses and collecting data on project themes covering plant growth, solar eclipses, creating plastic and the effects of protein bars on exercise. Congratulations to sixth graders Aidan Contois, Jason Eisenberg and Liam McGovern for taking home first place for their project, “Dairy Dilemma.”
The Coordinated Parents’ Council will host the 2024 Meet the Candidates Night for the Board of Education on Wednesday, May 15, at 7 p.m. Please note the location has been changed to the HS/MS Auditorium. The event will be moderated by the League of Women Voters of East Nassau and will be livestreamed and recorded on the district's YouTube channel here: Locust Valley Board of Education - YouTube.
Locust Valley Middle School students Justin Acosta Pineda, Dila Agir, Lauren Baxter, Jameson Blydenburgh, Liam Doherty, Hayden Elferis, Gavin Hoban, Thomas Simon and Eliana Wieczorek were honored last week for April’s Caught Being Kind program. Each student performed an act of kindness that was noticed by an administrator, teacher or members of the school staff. Acts included turning in money to the lost and found, sharing school supplies with a student who forgot theirs and helping a teacher arrange chairs for the next class.
Locust Valley Central School District celebrated its diverse community at Bilingual Night earlier this month. Thanks to the efforts of language coordinators and district interpreter Cyndy Ergen, students and their families toured tables to learn more about community organizations, school clubs and important resources from the parents councils and staff. Attendees spent time making paper bouquets with language teachers ahead of Mother’s Day, sampling foods from around the world and partaking in a raffle with gift baskets provided by each of the community organizations.
Locust Valley Middle School health and gardening teachers held the seventh annual Garden to Table event throughout late April to teach students how to take care of the beautiful grounds at the school and in their neighborhoods.
As part of their nutrition component of the health curriculum, sixth graders went to the high school and middle school gardens to explore topics such as perennials and annuals, examination of weeds, soil and compost differences, herb, flower, fruit and vegetable identification, planting procedures and a take-home seed planting program. The goal of the nutrition unit is to present practices of eating in a garden to table fashion to instill and inspire students to embody a new way of thinking about food.
Health and gardening teachers, as well as student volunteers from the Garden and Animal and Environmental Club were excited to share their knowledge and lend a hand to students.
Locust Valley Middle School students danced into spring break recently with Incanto Productions, who showed the students how to dance the famous Italian dance the Tarantella. Members of Incanto ran through the dance’s history and moves step-by-step, and some students took to the stage and donned traditional Tarantella outfits, as well. It was a great week for the Italian classes, who also made pizza at Ralph’s Pizza in Bayville and other treats with the cooking club.
For six days a week, Locust Valley High School senior Orlando Watson is on the water in Bayville continuing his rowing pursuits. It’s something he’s done for two years, and it has led to a scholarship at the prestigious Dartmouth College.
Though it’s been a relatively quick road for the 18-year-old native of England, it has not always been as smooth as the bay water he treads so often.
“In my first regatta two years ago in upstate New York, I flipped in the first hundred meters into the cold water,” Watson said. “But I got back up and did pretty well in the next race.” At that point in March 2022, Watson had only been rowing for a few weeks, but he has come a long way since.
Watson was encouraged to begin rowing by one of his brothers because of his size. After a few times out on the water, he discovered a love for the sport and enrolled in Oak Neck Rowing Academy.
An early goal of Watson’s was to row two kilometers in six minutes and 20 seconds. In his first attempt in 2022, he rowed to a seven-minute and six second mark. From that point, Watson dropped between five and ten seconds each time, eventually getting down to six minutes and 13 seconds in 2024.
“It was stressful because I was on a deadline and wouldn’t have been recruited if I didn’t improve,” Watson said. “You’d have days where you give it your 110 percent and it wasn’t good enough and you’re like am I even right for this sport. Then you get out on the water again and you’re like this isn’t so bad.”
In the two years since he started, Watson has competed at the state, national and international levels, which has seen him travel the east coast from Saratoga, New York to Sarasota, Florida.
All of Watson’s work culminated in him signing his letter of intent to row for Dartmouth in November of 2023. “When they told me the news, I was absolutely ecstatic and I was literally jumping for joy,” Watson recalled. “It felt like after working so hard, there was finally something tangible for all the labor I put in.”
Young athletes from throughout the Locust Valley Central School district went to the high school’s Fred Smith Field on April 27 to learn from current baseball, lacrosse and track varsity athletes at the annual Future Falcon Day.
Organized by the Falcon Pride Athletic Booster Club and the Locust Valley Athletic Department, Future Falcon Day gives the next generation of Falcons an opportunity to practice with and learn from the current varsity stars and coaches.
“Future Falcon Day is one of my favorite days of the year, as we get to see so many of our current Falcons coaching the next generation,” Locust Valley Athletic Director Danielle Turner Cosci said. “Our youngest Falcons have a blast playing on the high school fields, and it is such a great display of Falcon Pride that truly brings out all the best in our athletics.”
After months of preparation and hard work, the talented student-musicians of Bayville and Locust Valley will take to the stage and showcase their incredible talents to the community during the spring concerts. The high school kicks off three weeks of performances on Thursday, May 2, followed by the sixth-grade concert on Monday, May 6, the grades 7 and 8 concert on Tuesday, May 7, the middle school co-curricular concert on Thursday, May 9, the Locust Valley Intermediate concert on Tuesday, May 14, and the Bayville Intermediate concert on Thursday, May 16. All concerts start at 7 p.m. in the MS/HS auditorium.
Locust Valley Middle School Italian classes took a short trip to Ralph’s Pizza and Restaurant in Bayville on April 16 and 17 to learn step-by-step how to make a pizza with the help of their cooks.
Dozens of students stepped behind the counter and learned how to make dough and put sauce and cheese on a pizza. While some groups were in the kitchen, others learned from history of pizza from employees at the Bayville restaurant.
After each group had their chance to learn and cook, they sat down and enjoyed the pizzas they made as a group for lunch.
