The School Budget and Board of Education Election vote will be held Tuesday, May 21, 2019 in Pearl River High School Pirate Cove from 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM. Please click the following link for more information: 2019-20 School Budget Vote & Board of Education Election
The Board of Education approved the 2019-20 District Calendar at their March 26th meeting. The first Superintendent's Conference Day is scheduledfor Tuesday, September 3, 2019. The first day of school for students will be Wednesday, September 4, 2019.
The Pearl River School District calendar is based on 184 school days: 181 days of pupil instruction plus 3 Superintendent's Conference Days. In anticipation of emergency closings, we designate potential vacation days as snow make-up days. Given the likelihood of snow days, everyone is respectfully reminded that irreversible vacation plans should not be made
for the following:
2019-20 Snow Make-up Days
Day 1 - May 27, 2020
Day 2 - May 21, 2020
Day 3 - May 26, 2020
Day 4 - May 22, 2020
As a result of the Regents examination schedule, the last day of school will be Friday, June 26, 2020.
Please click the following link to view the one-page calendar for the 2019-20 school year: 2019-20 District Calendar
Please click on the following link for a letter from Marco Pochintesta, Superintendent of Schools, regarding the New York State assessments for grade 3 through 8.
NYS Gr.3-8 Assessments
2019-20 School Budget Presentation included.
All voting takes place in pearl River High School Pirate Cove from 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM.
Students are divided up into multi-grade teams and travel from station to station to complete physical challenges until 11:30 AM. At 11:00 grades 1-4 will move to the back field for Tug-of-wars and Kindergarten will have lunch. Parent volunteers are always needed that day and spectators are welcome as well. We ask that all spectators stay on the grassy area to watch and not travel with their child's group to minimize the number of people in the activity area. Lunch that day is a hot dog, bag of baked lays potato chips, and a fruit juice. It is provided by our food services and paid for by our PTA! Your child will just give their lunch order for the hot dog that morning. If they do not like hot dogs or have dietary restrictions, please send your child with lunch that day as the kitchen will not be open.
Upcoming BOE Meeting
School Budget Vote & BOE Election Results
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
at 9:00 PM
District Administration Bldg
For Agenda: Board Docs
School Budget Vote & Board of Education Election
May 21, 2019
7:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Pearl River High School's Pirate Cove
2019-20 School Budget Vote & BOE Election Information
The Pearl River High School small choirs traveled on Friday, May 3rd, to Palmyra, PA to participate in the Music In The Parks Competition. The Jazz Choir, Modulators, Women’s Glee Club, and Pirate Pearls each performed 2 songs and were scored with other schools performing groups from NY, PA, NJ, and Delaware. Each of the groups received first place in their division. In addition, the Pirate Pearls received the highest score overall, and Annemarie Bowler received an outstanding soloist award. Congratulations to all our vocalists and music teacher, Shereen Way!
The 27th Annual Déjà Vu Senior Citizen Prom took place on Saturday afternoon. Nearly 200 seniors citizens were treated to lunch, dessert and dancing, all made possible by the donations of faculty, staff administration, BOE and PTAs of the Pearl River School District. Thank you to the the employees, students, and Board of Education members who volunteered their time to plan and carry out this amazing event! Please click on the following link for photos: Déjà Vu Photos
Recently, the Youth & Government club attended the statewide conference in Albany where student legislators Alanah Fitzgerald and Colleen Griffin-Turk presented their bill to require voters to present photo ID at polling stations before voting which not only successfully passed but was chosen out of over 200 bills to be the basis of next year’s conference topic. This was a hard earned achievement and great honor! Pearl River is the only club in three counties that brought Judicial members to the state conference. Teige Beaudry successfully argued his case to a panel of Justices, one of whom was Liam Fitzpatrick. Ciara Timoney and Marissa Anselmi were members of the Press reporting not only on the happenings of the conference, but also created insightful interviews of attendees.
PRHS Seniors who have committed to continuing playing sports at the collegiate level were honored at a signing ceremony yesterday in Pirate Cove. Interim Athletic Director, Stewart Hanson, emcee, Damon O'Keefe, and numerous coaches proudly spoke about the 14 students who were recognized in front of their families, friends, faculty, staff and administration. Congratulations to all! Click on the following link to view more photos from the event : Senior Signing Day 2019
8 PRHS students were recognized by the Board of Education and administration for receiving the Rockland Community College Hispanic Heritage Awards which recognizes students of Hispanic descent for their outstanding academic accomplishments. Congratulations to Catalina Cheung, Johnathan Conway, Sara Daly, Gabriella Franzese, Catherine Funes, Michael Gaglio, James Hughes, and Olivia Tricano!
Congratulations to the cast and crew of this year's PRHS fall drama production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Remarkable performances and a beautiful set made for a memorable weekend! Thank you to Director, Thomas Hoetzl, Assistant Director, Beth Carter, Set Construction and Stage Crew Supervisor, Jean Beckerle, and everyone involved with the show! Click on the following link for pictures from the show: The Tempest
Alumni from Pearl River High School’s Class of 1958 visited Mr. Houston’s 8th grade social studies class today to share what student life was like in the 1950’s. While many things may have changed, Pirate Pride has not!
We are very happy to announce that PRHS junior, Luke Byman, has been nominated for Best Actor for his performance in the PRHS production of Pippin in this year’s Roger Reese Awards competition for high school musical theater. The winner of this competition (which will take place on May 19th) will represent the region at the Jimmy Awards, a national competition for high school musical theater. Congratulations to Luke for this great achievement!
Baseball: The Pirate baseball team has had an up and down season. They started the season with a 6 and 3 record. Their last 5 games yielded a 2-3 record, making their overall season 8-5. The team will play Tappan Zee today and Somers tomorrow. Their Senior Day will be Monday May 13th. Go Pirates!
Softball: The softball team is 10-3 overall and currently 4-0 in League play. We just came back from competing in a state-ranked, invite-only tournament in Herkimer, NY this past weekend, going 3-1 vs top competition. We upset of the #6 team in New York State, beating them 5-0 (PRHS was ranked #22 in NYS heading into the game). Freshman Maeve Woods, Junior Julia Kinnally, and Senior Julia Pozzuto all had big weekends for the Lady Pirates offensively. It was a great trip for softball, as well as excellent team bonding! We have a big week this week with league rivals Nanuet (home Wednesday) and Tappan Zee (away Thursday). Our senior recognition game is this Saturday 5/11 vs Valhalla at home at 12pm. We have 7 games remaining before playoffs and are looking to keep things rolling!
Girls' Track & Field: Sophomore Ciara Durcan won the 5000m race walk (3 miles) at Penn Relays with a time of 25:10. She finished a minute and a half in front of 2nd place. On a side note, the event following Ciara's was the 5000m Olympic Development women’s racewalk (athletes trying to go to the Olympic trials) - Ciara would have placed 4th in this event! Freshman Una Boylan ran a time of 11:16 in the 2 mile, qualifying for the Freshman 2-mile at Nationals in North Carolina in June! Allie Ritchie won the 400LH at our League Meet last night, being named All League in this event!
Boys' Track & Field: The boys' team finished its undefeated dual meet season last week with a dominating win over Nyack. On Monday, the boys gave Coach Kiernan a very nice birthday present by winning the league championship at Tappan Zee High School. During the meet, Senior Nick Malfitano won the 110 and 400 hurdles, Junior Will Mattei won the shot put, and Senior Jack Reynolds won the 2 mile. Our stand-out performer of the day was Junior Aleks Belz who threw the discus 123 feet. Aleks has improved over 20 feet in the past two weeks!
Boys' Lacrosse: The boys' lacrosse team had their Senior day yesterday, with the ceremony recognized 7 graduating student athletes. The day was topped off with a terrific win over Albertus Magnus, 14-3.
Girls' Lacrosse: Our girls lacrosse team is 6-8. They have a young team and look forward to success as the season unfolds. Senior Megan Foiles scored her 150th career goal in a 15-14 overtime win over Nanuet. Senior Day was Friday May 3rd, with the ceremony recognizing 14 senior athletes. Sophomore Alyssa Smith was nominated for the Journal News Player-of-the-Week. Senior Lauren Sullivan was also highlighted in the Journal News for her successes as a student athlete.
Boys' Golf: The boys' golf team is currently 1-10; they competed last week in the Rockland County Golf Championship and have 3 matches remaining.
Girls' Golf: The girls' team is looking for a win after 9 matches, with 3 regular season matches to play. Six girls will participate in the Rockland County Championship Match on Tuesday, May 14, at Spook Rock Golf Course in Suffern. The girls' continue to improve and post personal best scores and we remain hopeful for an individual sectional qualification.
Boys' Tennis: The last two weeks for the tennis team has been very successful. Players continue working hard at improving their skills and becoming more well-rounded tennis players. Every player on the roster has earned a varsity starting spot the last two weeks. League play has been challenging, but we continue to make matches highly competitive and our players never give up till the final hit. With sportsmanship, respect for the game and fellow players always being a priority, our players get an "A". As we finish our regular season play, we are hoping to qualify some individuals in the conference and sectional championships. Standout players over the last two weeks: Seniors Jack Bellew, Mike Gaglio, Sean O'Connor, Tyler Smith, & Jack Sweeney; Juniors John Piscani, Tyler O'Neill, & Matt Galgano; Freshman Tommy Carroll
U.S. News & World Reports has ranked Pearl River High School #1,263 out of 17,245 high schools nationwide and #107 out of 1,290 high schools in New York State. Pearl River High School is the highest ranked high school in Rockland County for the 2018-19 school year. Congratulations to our students, faculty, staff, and administration for this excellent performance.
Click here for more information and details on how U.S. News & World Reports revamped their 2019 Best High Schools Methodology and Rankings.
Each year, Orange & Rockland supports science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education by offering grants of up to $1000 to educators at schools (pre-K to 12) and youth groups in local communities within their service area. Guidelines for grant submissions encourage designs to: improve, advance, and enrich student learning; target a specific age of student development; range from formative ideas that explore learning concepts to fully tested models that are ready to be adopted and disseminated; study electricity and electricity production, natural gas exploration, renewables, and clean energy. This 2018-19 school year, O&R has awarded five STEM grants to the Pearl River School District.
Jessica Kearns’ $800 grant will allow the Middle School to purchase two EV3 Robots that will afford students the opportunity to gain experience with coding and robotics. Kim Ulrich’s $1000 grant calls for the purchase of STEM kits from Lake Share Learning in addition to the purchase of Ozobot Robots. This project will allow students to combine ELA and STEM to analyze folk tales from a STEM perspective and then retell those tales through coding and robotics in the 2nd grade.
At the high school, Kara Afanasewicz’ grant for $600 is to buy materials for an 8th grade project-based unit on thermal energy transfer. Students will use the engineering design process to build a structure that prevents an ice cube from melting. The unit was written by Christine Schnittka, Ph.D. in cooperation with the Virginia Middle School Engineering Education Initiative and incorporates Next Generation Science Standards.
At the middle school, Howard Baumel and Michael Herskowitz received an O & R STEM Grant to purchase four programmable drones designed for indoor use. They plan to have the students code (using Python or Java) the drones’ flight paths. The drones are supplied by a company called LocoRobo from Philadelphia, PA.
Congratulations to all of our grant recipients.
Each year, Rockland County Historical Society organizes a History Day conference around a central theme. This year’s theme was Immigration. Students from schools across the county participated by researching and presenting at the conference which was held at St. Thomas Aquinas this year. Pearl River High School students Annie Arnold, Alanah Fitzgerald, Marguerite McAree, Vickie Pahl, and Kate Pittignano presented to the PRSD Board of Education their History Day presentation: The Impact of Irish Immigration to the Pearl River Community. Thank you to PRHS social studies teachers, Ms. Finnican and Ms. Fortunato, who served as advisors. Click the link below to view the presentation: https://youtu.be/-hN-SrtN4dc
On Thursday, March 7th, PRHS’s Girl’s Learn International Club, with advisor Bonnie Caul, sponsored a self-defense night in the Pirate’s Cove. 35 girls in grades 6 - 12 participated. It was a very fun and informative evening. A special thank you to the staff of Tiger Schulman of Nanuet who volunteered their time.
Pearl River High School held their National English Honor Society, Rho Kappa (Social Studies) Honor Society, NYS Science Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta (Mathematics) Honor Society induction ceremony this week. A total of 119 students were inducted into one or more of these Honor Societies. PRHS English teacher, Mrs. Eileen Shepard, and the student officers from each of the academic societies, served as emcees for the event. Thank you to advisors, Mrs. Shepard, Ms. Finnican, Ms. King and Ms. Solicito for organizing the event.
A team of students representing Pearl River High School won high honors in this year’s second WordWright Challenge, a national competition for high school students. Participating with 693 school teams from all across the country, the Pearl River High School’s AP English Literature/English 11 Class tied for twelfth place in the nation amongst all teams competing at this grade level. The students answered challenging questions about two poems: William Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 and Anthony Hecht's "Sarabande on Attaining the Age of 77."
Pearl River students who achieved outstanding individual results in the meet included freshman Alexander Cacas; sophomore Kaileigh O’Sullivan; and juniors Karsem Chiamprasert, Rachel Ding, Marguerite McAree and Victoria Pahl.
Congratulations to the Blue and Gold WordWright teams for these great results!!
PRHS held their annual International Night and Empty Bowls project last week. It was a terrific turnout. Money raised at this event will benefit the California Fire Foundation and the proceeds from the Empty Bowls project will be donated to local food pantries. Thank you to International Club advisor, Beth Kurzawa, and PRHS art teacher, Andrea Della Cava, for organizing the event. We especially thank all of the families, staff, and community members who came out to enjoy a delicious meal or purchased a handmade bowl.
Yesterday evening, we celebrated National Girls & Women in Sports Day by honoring the members of the girls’ basketball team and presenting The Lauren Buonocore National Girls & Women in Sports Day Award to PRHS teacher and coach, Eileen McCaffrey, for her example and dedication to the Girls Swimming and Golf teams. Congratulations, Mrs. McCaffrey!
Stay informed about emergencies, activities, & other important information. PRSD parents are automatically enrolled to receive phone alerts. If you are not receiving district or school Email/text alerts, click on the PRSD K12 Portal logo below to register. There is no fee. Unsubscribe at any time. 
Residents: Login using your Email address to receive Email & text alerts.
March Update: The architects presented the BOE with a capital project update for the high school and middle school. Click here to review the presentation.
January 2019 Update: Phase II of the $32 million Capital Bond Project, which includes major renovations at the High School and Middle School, is in the final stages of review NYSED. We continue to be on track with going out for public bid this month, with plans to have the Board of Education award successful bids by March 2019. This work is scheduled to begin in the Spring 2019.
The Capital Project work at the Elementary Schools is now substantially complete.
Completion of Phase I of the Field Project is still on track for May 2019. Phase II of the Field Project, which includes new Bleachers, Press Box, Bathrooms and Concession Stand, are being reviewed by NYSED.
November 2018 Update: During November we continued to move toward completion for the elementary projects. The contractors continue to put the finishing touches on the "punch list" items and are installing the air handlers and completing work on the new boilers. We have targeted Thanksgiving weekend for the final touches by our contractors.
Weather has effected our field project. The rain of the summer pushed back the final installation of the rubberized top on the track. We have made arrangements to line the track for immediate use and are scheduling the final rubberized install for next May/June.
Middle School and High School plans, Phase 2, have been returned by NYSED with comments and are currently being updated by the architects and will be re-submitted to NYSED shortly. We anticipate that the bids will be put out to the public in January with a bid opening in early February and work scheduled for 2019. The second phase of the field work is currently in the NYSED offices awaiting review.
October 2018 Update: October has been a transition month in the bond project. The elementary and field projects started in June are now heading toward completion. The elementary projects are being completed by the contractors as “punch list” items. For the security portion of the jobs, the school front entrances have been the source of much of this final work. Equipment, particularly the air handlers, are being put in place and the final connections are scheduled for the next two weeks. Work for next year at the high school and middle school is in Albany awaiting final plan approvals. We will then set up the bid process for this work; it is anticipated that the bids should go to the public later this year. The second phase of the field work has been forwarded to NYSED and we are in the process of completing some of the forms that are required. We will continue to move forward with this work.
September 2018 Update: A very busy summer of construction projects in the elementary schools came to a very positive conclusion with the successful opening of the schools on September 5th. New security at the front doors, relocated office space and nurse's office in both Evans Park and Lincoln Ave, and a new classroom at Franklin Ave were all completed in time for the opening of school.
Some equipment remains on order and will be installed during weekends or the second shift, but the vast majority of all that was planned was completed on time. The major contractors, Fanshawe Electric and Pearl River Plumbing, worked closely with the district to get the job done and worked weekends and some nights in an effort to get the schools open on time.
The field, track and tennis court projects continue to move forward. Unfortunately, the weather over the summer hurt the schedule and we now anticipate that the field will be completed by 10/5. The track will follow in mid-October. The Tennis Courts could be completed by 10/1.
Looking forward, plans for the high school and middle school are now at SED awaiting approval and we are looking forward to a February bid date. The three additional field projects are currently scheduled to be submitted to SED within the next few weeks.
August 2018 Update: In all school districts August is a very busy month – custodians are cleaning and teachers are getting classrooms ready for the new school year. In addition to these things this year, we have been adding major alterations to the three elementary schools and adding a turf field, new tennis courts and a new track at the high school. With two weeks to go in the summer and Labor Day rapidly approaching, all is beginning to come into focus.
The elementary work is progressing and only the delay of some equipment deliveries will hold up 100% completion. Office changes and security pieces will be in place for the first day of school. Minor work will remain and be completed as second-shift work during September.
Our field project, hampered in part by the weather, is moving forward with partial completion dates scheduled for the middle to end of September. Tennis court work is also progressing, with early October as the current estimate for completion.
July 2018 Update: Beginning with the end of the school year, the district bond project moved into full swing with four active projects scheduled for the July/August time-frame. By the time school re-opens after Labor Day, each of the three elementary schools will have major upgrades aimed at both security and the updating of older infrastructure. All three schools will have new entrances featuring higher levels of security and better entry control. Both Lincoln Ave and Evans Park will have the main office moved to the front of the building and an upgraded security window for accepting deliveries. Franklin Ave will have its vestibule updated and will add an additional Kindergarten classroom. With six weeks to go, all of the elementary projects are currently on target for completion by 8/30/18.
The fourth project, a new turf field, track and tennis courts at the high school, is also on target with partial completion in late September and final completion scheduled for mid-October. At present, the old field has been stripped, drainage assembled, and the tennis courts are being re-measured and leveled.
June 2018 Update: We have received permits and contracts for fields and tennis courts. Work will first begin on the tennis courts, with field work beginning after high school graduation. Elementary schools are moving forward, with contracts having been awarded. High school and middle school plans are being submitted to NYSED later this month.
April/May 2018 Update: On Wednesday, May 2nd, the district opened bids for the first four of several projects included in the 2017 Capital Improvement Bond. The projects included in this first phase were for the three elementary schools and phase one of the field work. Elementary work will include new vestibules and the movement of several offices to be closer to the primary entrance for the buildings. A new classroom is also included in the work for Franklin Avenue. Mechanical and heating work included in the Building Conditions Report are also included in this project. The first phase of the field work includes a new turf field and track as well as renovation of the tennis courts at the high school. Now that the bids have been received we are in the process of reviewing requirements with the winning bidders and planning for the start of these projects. Elementary school work will begin on 6/22 and be completed by 8/31. We are still awaiting final permits from Facilities Planning for the elementary projects. The field work will also begin on or about 6/22 and will be completed in early October. Please note that all dates are being reviewed at the present time. Plans for the Middle and High School projects will be forwarded to Facilities Planning shortly. These much larger projects will be reviewed in the second half of this year which will allow for construction beginning in 2019.
March 2018 Update: As of the end of March, the district had received preliminary reviews for our three elementary projects. As a result, we have begun the bid solicitation process which we hope will culminate with active construction at the three elementary schools this summer. Although not fully approved as yet, we believe that we are well positioned to move forward on this phase of our work. The initial field work, including the installation of a turf field, is awaiting the preliminary approval. We are hopeful that we can also begin this work shortly. Detailed plans for the work at the high school and the middle school is progressing and we anticipate that these plans will be ready for delivery to State Ed by the end of April, beginning of May. At that point, the district will need to decide if we should apply for expedited review (at a price) or wait for the normal review process to proceed. The second phase of the field work, including the storage building, bleachers, bathroom and other finishing work, is currently being prepared for delivery to the state. Once the district has the bid amounts for the first phase and firm estimates for the second phase, we will be able to review with the Board of Education whether adequate funds are available to do all the work that has been proposed.
February 2018 Update: The plans for the three elementary schools have been accepted by SED. We are now in the process of applying for independent review in the hopes that we can move up the approval date and go forward with the various construction projects this summer. We should receive word within the next two weeks on this effort. Full and complete bid documents are due this Friday, March 2, 2018. The field project, part one, which includes the synthetic field, track and tennis courts, has been submitted to SED and is awaiting word regarding the independent review. If accepted in the next few weeks, we may be able to move forward before the summer on this phase of the project. Remaining portions of the field project will be addressed later in the year. Both High School and Middle School plans are being finalized and will be submitted shortly. These projects will face major construction in the spring/summer of 2019. Final cost estimates are being completed and should be available to the district for analysis during March.
December 2017 Update: Progress has slowed as we spend significant time dealing with New York State Education Dept (SED) and its Facilities Management Division. Plans for all three elementary schools have been submitted and re-submitted to SED. A new process of ‘pre-screening” has slowed the initial submission schedule. We are hopeful that this new procedure will ultimately speed things up for the district. Middle School and High School drawings, which are more complex and voluminous are being prepared for submission to SED and are on target for early 2018. The field project, which has been broken up into several projects is also in the process of being prepared for submission. Again, the hope is for early January for the first phase, field, track, and Tennis Courts. A complete review of cost estimates is also in progress so that we can evaluate our plans vs the $32 million approval of the voters.
November 2017 Update: Drawings have been completed for the three elementary schools and are currently in the process of resubmission to the State Education Department (SED). All three sets of plans were submitted in October and prelim reviews were completed in early November. SED returned the plans for adjustments and a next set of reviews is scheduled for early December. Submission for the field, which will include the synthetic field, track, tennis courts and some work within the high school, are scheduled to be submitted to SED in mid-December. We believe that the approval process for this project will be less than the time needed for approval of the elementary projects. Drawings for both the middle and high school continue to be developed. According to EI Associates, we are at the 50% level of completion. This level of completion now allows Savin (our construction consultants) to complete cost estimates for the entire project. These estimates will allow us to determine any adjustments to our construction plans.
October 2017 Update: As a very busy summer comes to an end, the district is well prepared to move into the first construction phase of this major project. Work planned for the three elementary schools is awaiting submission to the State Education Department. Preliminary plans for the high school field, track, and tennis courts is currently being viewed. On 9/26, the architects, EI Associates, gave a presentation at the Board of Education meeting which focused on the various choices the district has in choosing the type of synthetic turf and infill to be used on the field. Design drawings for the high school and middle school projects have been reviewed by the stakeholders and the architects are completing the drawings. Cost estimates for all project pieces are currently underway.
August 2017 Update: Significant progress has been made over the summer months. Final plans for the three elementary schools have been completed and reviewed by our staff and are being forwarded to State Ed. for review and approval. Detail drawings for both the middle and high school have been delivered to the district and will be reviewed with the principals and staff over the next two weeks. Final adjustments to each building’s plans will then be included in the plans and forwarded to SED. Work has also begun on the field with a significant amount of survey work being completed and the geo-tech work underway. Following these efforts, the engineers from EI Associates will be developing the plans for the first phase of the field work: tennis courts, track, and synthetic field. We hope to have these plans completed by mid to late October and then off to State Ed. for approval. The remaining portions of the field work, storage building, bathroom and bleachers will follow. In conjunction with all these plans we have asked our construction managers to work with both the district and EI Associates to develop up to date cost estimates. In all, a very busy summer!
July 2017 Update: The Board of Education has selected a construction management firm, Savin Engineering, to assist the district in the construction phase of the bond project. They have begun meetings at each of the schools to discuss projects and begin the required paperwork for NYSED approval.
