News and Information

Moody’s Investor’s Service Upgrades Bond Rating
Moody’s Investor’s Service, an independent credit rating service, has upgraded the credit rating of the Harrison Central School District from Aa3 to Aa2, citing healthy reserve levels, sound financial management and a favorable debt position.  According to a report released by Moody’s, the upgrade is based on continued sound budgeting practices, including budgeting for annual tax certiorari settlements, that facilitated the fiscal turnaround of a three year decline in General Fund balance and a significant increase in reserves. The increase in our bond rating reaffirms the goals established as part of the district’s strategic plan to facilitate long and short-range financial management aligned to support the district’s educational goals and improve economic efficiencies.   

Harrison High School Regents Diploma Rate Reaches All-Time High
The number of regents diplomas presented to the class of 2006 reached an all-time high of 95%. This represents a 4% increase over the previous year and a 28% improvement compared to 2004.

HCSD Admitted as Member of Prestigious Tri-State Consortium
The Harrison Central School District has been admitted as a member of the highly selective Tri-State Consortium. The Tri-State Consortium is a learning organization devoted to assisting its member public school districts in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey in using student performance data to develop a rigorous framework for systemic planning, assessment, accreditation, and continuous improvement. Other high performing Westchester County schools districts that are members of the Tri-State Consortium include: Ardsley, Bedford, Blind Brook, Briarcliff Manor, Bronxville, Byram Hills, Chappaqua, Edgemont, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington, Katonah-Lewisboro, Mamaroneck, Pelham, Scarsdale and Somers. 

Elementary Foreign Language Recognized
The New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers presented their Distinguished Administrator Award to Louise Cleveland, former Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, for her leadership in developing and implementing Harrison’s Elementary Foreign Language program. Harrison is one of the only districts in the county that offers foreign language K-12.  

BOE Acknowledged for Best Practice by NYS School Boards Association
The New York State School Boards Association recognized the Harrison School Board as a “Best Practice” district for our Teacher Evaluation Program. In addition to inclusion in a compendium of best practices for governance team processes and procedures, the district was invited to showcase our evaluation program at the annual convention last fall and will present again at the summer NYSSBA session in July.

Jenna’s Game a Huge Success
On March 2, the LMK Middle School faculty demonstrated their on-court prowess at Jenna’s Game, a basketball game sponsored by LMK’s Kids for World Health to raise money to support Sloan Kettering’s Neuroblastoma Research. Jenna Moussolini, daughter of LMK Assistant Principal Patrick Moussolini, currently is battling the disease. Thanks to the efforts of the entire LMK community, the event raised more that $7500.

Congratulations 

The Board of Education offers its congratulations for a job well done to: 

Congratulations to the Harrison High School mock trial team.  On March 1, prosecution team members Stephanie Bernard, Harry Reibman, Graham Topol, Melissa Shapiro, David Koeller, and Dan Zaltz led their team to victory at the first trial of the mock trial competition held at the White Plains Courthouse.  The defense team members, Chelsea Ursaner, Michelle Repecki, Elizabeth Gordon, Matthew Guarnero, Dana Ellis, and Jenna Grippo, also won their mock trial on March 15 against White Plains High School. 

HHS sophomore, Claudio Delli Carpini, who competed in the indoor track and field national championships, placed fifth in the decathlon.  This qualified Claudio as an all-American high school athlete.  Congratulations to Claudio on this outstanding achievement! 

For the first time in 30 years, the HHS Boys Track Team won the Section 1 Indoor Track and Field Championship. Congratulations to the entire team and coaches, Kathleen Zanot, Dominic Zanot and Dennis Fulton. Kathleen, who teaches health in our elementary schools, is  a former decathlete standout at Binghamton University. Dominic teaches social studies at LMK, and Dennis is a retired LMK science teacher. 

Junior Mark Arcara was the section wrestling champion in his weight class for the second year in a row. Great job Mark! 

HHS Senior Alexa Lutchen, wrote and published a children’s book entitled Understanding Genes and What it all Means. Alexa also is an accomplished musician, and played trumpet in the Area All State Band.  

Allison Blunt and Jared Blair, LMK Middle School science teachers, were selected by Dr. Robert Marzano, an expert in curriculum and instruction, to participate in a research study that explores the value of explicit feedback on homework. Dr. Marzano has completed his abstract and will publish the complete study in the near future. 

Harrison’s Athletic Director, Michael Gansell, has been selected Section One Athletic Director of the Year.  

District Events and Happenings

March 22 — The third annual four school fundraiser. Proceeds go to the Four Schools Fund, which supports on-going PTA enrichment programs like: the new Visiting Author Program, Cultural Arts assemblies/workshops, the Famous Artists Program, Theatre Arts and Publishing Center. The board would like to commend all involved in making this event a success and continuing to collaborate with teachers and administrators to bring PTA-sponsored programs to our children to broaden their experience with literature, performing arts and fine arts.  

April 17— PT Council Safety Committee will host a presentation by Janet DiFiore, County District Attorney, at 7 p.m. in the High School Auditorium.

Goings on…

The Board of Education was thrilled to host 28 members of the Harrison senior citizen community at a matinee performance of the High School Production, Aida. It was an enjoyable afternoon and we are always happy to invite members of the community to personally experience the extraordinary talents of our students.

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