March is Disability Awareness Month and the Carmel Central School District has a lot of informative, helpful and interesting activities planned. Please take a look at the attached schedule. We look forward to seeing you.
George Fischer Middle School celebrated George Fischer's 129th birthday with a pep rally!
Many middle schoolers dream of travel, but Joseph Rocco Goldberg put his dreams down in a poem that was so good it got published in a local magazine.
Joseph, a George Fischer Middle School sixth grader, had his poem “To Travel” published in Chronogram Magazine, a monthly journal of arts and culture in the Hudson Valley.
Joseph wrote the poem last year, when he was in Michelle Lynch’s fifth grade English class.
“I started writing poetry in fifth grade,” Joseph said. “Writing didn’t always come easy to me, but I found poetry super fun. We were able to speak or write about anything we wanted.”
Joseph’s poem begins with this stanza:
To travel
Is to find a home.
Or complete a goal.
Maybe just for fun
Because traveling is for everyone.
Carmel Central School District residents who volunteer with fire departments or ambulance corps will see a 10 percent reduction in their school taxes in return for their service.
The Carmel Board of Education voted February 25 to give volunteers with at least two years of service a 10 percent cut in the property tax assessment of their primary residence. The vote was unanimous.
“For example, the impact in the Town of Kent would result in an $800 savings for each person receiving the exemption,” Assistant Superintendent of Business Ken Silver said.
The reduction would cost the remaining taxpayers 1.2 cents on every thousand dollars of assessment.
“If your home is assessed at $400,000, the property owner would be paying $4.80 in addition each year for the volunteers who are risking their lives,” Silver said.
More than 35 volunteers attended the board meeting and School Board President Melissa Orser thanked them for keeping the community safe.
“We are giving you a little bit back for giving us a lot,” she said.
The volunteer tax break will help the entire community in the long run.
“Anything we can do to assist with local fire companies’ recruitment and retention benefits the entire community,” said Trustee John C. Curzio II. “If we ever had to go to a paid fire service, town taxes would increase as much as 50 percent, which would result in a huge burden on our community.”
About 100 students participated in the George Fischer Middle School Science and Technology Fair. The students in grades 5 through 8 created projects in the categories of physical science, biology, earth science, invention and mathematics. Volunteer judges examined the projects and named winners in each grade in every category.
"If you ask me, every student who participated was a winner," said Science Fair Co-Advisor David Robin. "These kids put so much work into this and they are so creative. It's amazing what they came up with and what they discovered.
See the full list of winners here: GFMS Science Fair 2025 winners final.pdf
Come see the brilliant and creative experiments that George Fischer Middle School students have created for this year's Science and Technology Fair. The Fair opens to the public Saturday, February 15, 10:00 a.m., in the GFMS gymnasium with the Awards Ceremony immediately following. (The snow date is March 1)
"We've seen a lot of great experiments," said David Robin, who is Science Fair Co-Advisor along with Paul D'Amore. "This year is going to be great."
Seventh graders Owen and Michael experimented with how to store energy. "I realized there was a big problem with batteries," said Owen, 13. "I didn't come up with a solution, but I thought I could contribute some ideas."
Students in all grades will compete in the fair and experiments will include everything from magnetic attraction to how to best care for plants.
There might even be some yummy experiments. Seventh grader Genevieve baked chocolate chip cookies to compare the effect of different amounts of Baking Soda. Her display will include a lot of cookies.
Fifth grader Lillyana measured the gravitational pull on various planets in our solar system. "I wanted to see how much a 100-pound person would weigh on different planets," said Lillyana, 10. If you've eaten a lot of those cookies, you might want to find out which planet will make you weigh the least.
GREASE is the Word!
Indeed, for the George Fischer Middle School Drama Club students who will be performing “Grease: School Version” at the end of January, Grease has been the word for months.
Since October, 47 actors and dozen or so crew members have been busy singing, dancing, acting and building sets to bring this beloved rock and roll musical to the Carmel schools.
The Drama Club will present “Grease: School Version” on Friday, January 24 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, January 25 at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.
You can purchase tickets in advance online for $18. Tickets at the door will be $20 and cash only.
One group of four-year-olds served their teacher a make-believe breakfast while another played with building blocks and a third practiced cutting out pictures.
It was a busy day in Carmel Central School District’s first Universal Pre-Kindergarten program, which started on Monday, January 6.
“We want to teach them everything they need to know before kindergarten, but we do it in a fun way,” said Theresa McCaffrey, Executive Director of Little Leaf preschool in Carmel.
Little Leaf is one of three preschool programs chosen to provide services to the 75 students who enrolled in Carmel’s first semester of universal pre-kindergarten. Creative Kids and Kids Cottage preschools are also hosting the program.
School Superintendent Erin Meehan-Fairben made starting Universal Pre-Kindergarten one of her first goals for the district. The program, which is funded through state and federal grants, is provided at no cost to district families.
“The benefits of early childhood education are clear, and include improved school readiness, better academic performance and a reduced achievement gap,” said Dr. Fairben, who took over as Carmel’s School Superintendent in July and got to work right away to ensure that all of Carmel’s students would have access to good preschool education. “It is an investment that lasts a lifetime.”
George Fischer Middle School music teachers Erika Wahlers and Eric Pecor took a dozen 7th and 8th grade students to perform at the 51st Annual Tuba Christmas at Rockefeller Center on Sunday, December 15.
The GFMS musicians joined nearly 300 tuba and euphonium players from as far away as England, Germany and Alaska who gathered in in front of the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center to play Christmas carols on their horns. The players ranged in age from 11 years old to 77 years old.
Dr. Christian Wilhjelm, the Music Director of the New Jersey Wind Symphony, conducted the players in holiday classics including “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” “Deck the Halls,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “The First Noel.”
If you’ve driven to Carmel High School recently, you’ve likely noticed the construction on Fair Street.
The $30 million road improvement project, which will significantly improve safety, traffic flow and infrastructure in the area, will widen Fair Street from Simpson Road to Route 52. It will also add sidewalks and streetlights from Hill and Dale Road to Route 52, fix drainage and create an additional lane for easier turning into and out of the high school parking lot. Construction started in September after years of delays and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2026.
Carmel High School Principal Brian Piazza said that the construction would make the road safer in the end.
“The construction will create challenges traffic-wise, but at its completion, the sidewalks and an additional turning lane will greatly benefit our school and community, especially in terms of student safety,” Piazza said.
Michael Klenotiz, Carmel Central School District’s Supervisor of Transportation, said that good communication will go a long way toward keeping school bus traffic on schedule.
Spring Recess
Schools Closed
