District Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Giani, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Accountability Marlon Small and Board of Education President Cheryl A. Felice welcomed New York State Education Department Regent Roger Tilles, who visited both the Frank P. Long Intermediate School and Brookhaven Elementary School on Nov. 15.

“We were honored that Regent Tilles took the time to visit our school district and to see the wonderful programs we have developed in our district over the past year,” Dr. Giani said.

During his visit of the intermediate school, Regent Tilles received a tour from Principal Stefanie Rucinski and Assistant Principal Alicia Ulberg of the new courtyard learning lab, which opened in October and provides an outdoor instructional space flexible enough to allow for large group concerts, plays and presentations, as well as an extension of classroom learning. He also visited Sarah Rauch’s fourth-grade classroom, where he read poetry from his favorite author Shel Silverstein. The students discussed with Regent Tilles examples of onomatopoeia in Silverstein’s poetry and how music is actually poetry. 

At Brookhaven Elementary School, Regent Tilles was accompanied by Principal Dr. Rebecca Raymond on a tour of the school’s new Dual Language Magnet Program, which allows students beginning in kindergarten the opportunity to learn core subjects in both English and Spanish, becoming bilingual and biliterate through fifth grade. He visited Steven Davila’s second-grade classroom, teaching the students an easily memorized poem about a tiger. He also told the students that learning a second language is extremely important today.

“As you grow up and become adults, everyone in this country will need a second language,” he said.