STRONGER SCHOOLS = STRONGER COMMUNITIES: We want to hear from you!

Over the past several years, the Mahopac Central School District has taken great strides to improve and expand upon the academic program offered to students. Now, the district must also focus on the community’s investment in our school buildings to support our students for college and career-readiness.

Capital improvements under consideration include:

• STEAM & Science Instructional Upgrades
• Music & Performing Arts Upgrades
• Renovating Libraries to Multimedia Centers
• Safety & Security Improvements
• Athletic Fields & Facilities

Together, we can develop a plan to address critical issues in our buildings to ensure a safe and strong learning environment for our students. The Board of Education and administration would like the community’s input as it begins to develop this plan.

Please take a brief moment to take the survey, CLICK HERE  – this will be open for community input until Friday, December 14.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MahopacSchools

Fulmar’s Kindergarten students participated in ABC Bootcamp by studying a letter a day for 26 days! To celebrate completion of ABC Bootcamp, the kindergartners created a fashion show donning their handmade, custom letter design

The Buddy Bench, a dedicated place at elementary school playgrounds where a student can sit if feeling lonely or bullied, has generated national attention in recent years and has even been the subject of a TED Talk.

About five years ago, the Buddy Bench concept originated with a boy named Christian Bucks who was reviewing brochures about potential new schools in Germany with his mother. They were preparing to move there for his father’s new job. He would be the new kid. He was just in first grade, but he understood what feeling lonely on a playground looks like. He’d seen it at his own elementary school in York, Pa.

However, one German school he and his mom looked at had a solution for this. It was called the Buddy Bench, and if a child was sitting on it alone, it was a signal to the other kids to ask him or her to play.

Although Christian’s family did not end up moving to Germany, the boy is credited with introducing Buddy Benches to the United States.

He brought the idea to his principal, Matthew Miller, and the two immediately set out to install a Buddy Bench in his school, Roundtown Elementary.

Their project was covered by the local newspaper and went viral.

Eighth-grader Becca Lomas decided to extend the Buddy Bench ideology as part of her bat mitzah by raising funds so benches can be in the Middle School – and Fulmar Road too!

It’s heartwarming to see the ‘Mahopac Way’ shine through students like Becca and be an inspiration to Fulmar students.  

Elementary Schools RUNNING Tradition

By fostering student athletes beginning at a young age, the #MahopacWay tradition lives on with the annual Mahopac Elementary Schools Cross Country and 5K races, which were held in October. Students begin to develop the basic running fundamentals and learn the health benefits training for these events. “Our aim is to create not just lifelong learners, but lifelong runners as well,” said Lauren Kittredge, Austin Road Physical Education teacher and organizer of the 5K event. In fact, high school students from the cross country and track teams return to their roots and help with the races.

The Cross Country race includes all students who run by age on the Lakeview grounds. The 5K is made up of 4th- and 5th-graders who’ve committed to train before school before race day at FDR Park. This year’s 5K was record-setting with all participants finishing under 41 minutes. 

 We are so proud of our first-place girls winner Ryan Hodge who   22:45