George Fischer Middle School

Latest GFMS Headlines

• Get Tickets for "Grease: School Version"

  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.   

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  George Fischer Middle School News

• A Great Start for Carmel's New Universal Pre-Kindergarten

  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.”

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  District News

• GFMS Musicians Play at Rockefeller Center

  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.”

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  George Fischer Middle School News

• Fair Street Construction Project Update

  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.  

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  District News

• Thankful for Senior Citizens

  The Senior Thanksgiving Luncheon sponsored by The Carmel Teachers’ Association was a big success with the guests praising the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables and, of course, pumpkin pie.  

  Most of all, however, the senior citizens who came to Carmel High School, George Fischer Middle School and Matthew Paterson Elementary School were glad to return to schools that many of their children (and some of them) attended and to see friends from the throughout the community. 

  “We love our seniors,” said Alice Holzmann, the Family and Consumer Science teacher at George Fischer Middle School. “And they love this event.” 

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  District News

• Pumpkin Math and Science

  Fifth grade classrooms enjoyed some October Science activities at George Fischer Middle School.

  The students utilized the scientific method to see if there was a relationship between the physical characteristic of a pumpkin -- its height, weight or circumference -- and the number of seeds inside a pumpkin.  The students collected and analyzed the data, even though some of it was quite messy.  After much discussion, and a lot of laughs, the students determined that there was no clear relationship between the dimensions of a pumpkin and its number of seeds.   

  Nonetheless, the student had an enormous amount of fun coming up with that conclusion. 

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  George Fischer Middle School News

• Middle Schoolers Research Hispanic Americans

  Susan Pizzuti-Talluto's social studies class at George Fischer Middle School celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a “race” to find out information about ten famous Hispanic Americans.  

  The students stopped at ten stations around the classroom to gather facts about celebrities from Bad Bunny to J-Lo and national leaders from Marco Rubio to Sonia Sotomayor, among others.    

  Dylan, an eighth grader, gravitated to Roberto Clemente, the Major League Baseball star who played right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clemente came from Puerto Rico and started his career in the Puerto Rican Baseball League.   

  “I know about Roberto Clemente,” said Dylan, whose family also hails from Puerto Rico. “Clemente was bagging groceries at a grocery store before he got recruited, but he didn’t give up on his dreams. He achieved them. My grandfather, my dad and I are all baseball fans. My grandfather told me all about Roberto Clemente.” 

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  George Fischer Middle School News

• A Thank You to the Board of Education

  The week of October 14 is School Board Recognition Week, but Superintendent of Schools Dr. Erin Meehan-Fairben thanked the Board of Education for their service a few days early, during the Board of Ed meeting on Octobert 8th. 

  "I know we are a little early, but I just wanted to take the chance to thank you for all you do," Dr. Fairben said. 

  Then she showed a surprise video that was created by students in Tim Raney’s Video Production class at Carmel High School, who included children from all five school buildings.    

  CHS Senior Kasey Carboy led the project. She wrote the outline, filmed and edited the video, which was her first project as lead.

  Seniors Ivy Kolovik and Dan Fanceschi assisted Kasey with filming at the various school buildings. 

   

  District News

• School Library an Oasis of Calm

  In the rush and excitement of a middle school day, the school library offers an oasis of relaxation.  

  Seventh graders Francis and Nicholas took advantage of the calm in the George Fischer Middle School library to work on their chess game.  

  “I just started chess a week ago, but I really like it,” Nicholas said.  

  “I’ve played for a while now but I’m trying to get better,” Francis said.  

  During their independent study classes, students at the middle school often stop by the library to catch up on schoolwork, check out books to read, play puzzles or just enjoy a few minutes of downtime, Library Media Specialist Catherine Incledon said.  It’s Incledon’s first year teaching in the Carmel Central School District and she can’t believe how lucky she got.  

  “This is a really great library,” she said. “It’s a beautiful space.”  

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  George Fischer Middle School News

• A Carmel Graduate Gives Back

  Come October, Chris DeChent will have worked in the Carmel Schools for 20 years. But that anniversary does not even include the time he worked in the district before graduating from Carmel High School in 2004.  

  DeChent, the Information Systems Technician, started helping out with district technology when he was in Carmel High School. By tenth grade he had a summer internship in the IT department and, later, an after-school job.  

  “In high school I was always the student ready to jump in and help the teacher if the computer had a problem or the projector wasn’t working,” DeChent said. “I enjoyed building computers, understanding how they worked, and figuring out how to repair them. My name became known to the IT department and they let me help out. I started here full time after graduation.” 

  DeChent credits his teachers with encouraging his interests and talents.  

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  District News