Moving On, But First...A RoundUp of the Gun Violence Issue at the Community Level

The past two weeks have been paralyzing for a lot of people, especially parents of young kids currently in school. As the region was gripped by threats made last week all over the Hudson Valley, last Friday's Snow Day was actually kind of welcome. Parents received several robo-calls - which normally announce dreaded Snow Day closures. Instead, these were about threats made to the middle school and the high school, and how police would be stationed there. A Little Beacon Blog took time to process what has been going on around the Hudson Valley and open up coverage on it, so that we can produce future articles to help people be aware and prepared. The below links are articles to create awareness of the leadership that has been happening in the Beacon City School District, Beacon Police Department, and some cultural questions about these issues.

• The School Shooting Issue Comes to The Hudson Valley
  Striking observation from investigative reporter Nina Schutzman on the amount of shooting-related articles/arrests/threats/closures coming out in one day.
• Beacon Increases School Searches and Safety Measures via Robo-Calls
  Beacon Superintendent Dr. Matthew Landahl leads the charge in informing parents about issues as they happen.
• City of Beacon to Vote on Joining National Day of Action on April 20 to Protect Students Against Gun Violence
  Update: They voted Yes.
• Beacon City Schools to Perform Security Audits with Altaris Consulting Group
• Toy Guns and No Big Deal Guns Sold in Kid Stores - Impact on Gun Culture
  Echo Boutique's Karen Donohue weighs in on her choice not to sell toy guns in her story, and other kid issues explored.
• Activities to Prepare for Scary Situations (aka Gun Situations)
  Beacon's City Administrator, Police Chief, and Fire Chief provide resources.

Consider this our Action Item in advance of the National Day of Action on Saturday, April 20.

PS: Finally, this mini-series of articles is done (hopefully!) and we are moving on, resuming our usual coverage of the goings-on in Beacon! Not only that, but it's sunny out! Hurray! Yet all signs point to a Wednesday Snow Day. <angry-face emoji> Sleds may still be available at Mountain Tops, where the superhero owners continue to show up every Snow Day with an Open sign.

Toy Guns and "No Big Deal" Guns Sold in Kid Stores - Impact on Gun Culture

Blended screenshots of sales pages at Walmart's website, where this pink BB gun could have been sold to any prospective buyer, regardless of age (the age limit tool was broken). Walmart has since reversed its online sales policy, and now prohibits purchases of airsoft guns and toys.
Photo Credit: A Little Beacon Blog

Growing up, you probably played Cowboys and Indians, Cops and Robbers, or countless other kid games with guns. Your finger probably became a gun. Pew-pew! Your sister's magic wand probably became a gun. Heck, maybe a magic wand counts as a gun, when it hits someone with glitter.

Guns in our culture are as commonplace as staplers, or pens. You could even buy a bullet pen! I did for my dad last Christmas. I grew up making shotgun shells with him in our basement. He had the neatest shotgun shell-making thingy that clamped to the edge of the table. Toy guns for kids are sold in toy stores, in drug stores, and on any toy store website. How could you not want a Luke Skywalker laser gun? Or a Nerf gun blaster? And with YouTube videos featuring dads and their sons in all-out Nerf gun wars around the house, shooting people becomes very normal. 

Toy Guns In Beacon

Echo Beacon, open for more than 10 years and one of Beacon's most popular toy stores, doesn't carry toy guns. Owner Karen Donohue is a mother of a daughter, and made the decision years ago not to sell toy guns in her toy store. "I chose not to sell toy guns, as it just made me uncomfortable. I've been told by mothers of boys that they [the boys] will find any sort of stick or anything, and turn it into a gun despite Mom's efforts to say 'No,'" Karen recalls.

Echo is known for carrying educational toys, and Karen is big on nurturing the imagination. "I still feel this is a better use of the imagination than something that truly resembles a gun. I have, on occasion over the years, sold miniature squirt pistols, but nothing that could ever be remotely mistaken for a gun. In recent years I've been tempted to order them again, but they still give me pause."

Fatal Mistakes

Back in 2014, a 12 year old boy named Tamir Rice was shot and killed by a rookie police officer while he was playing near a gazebo at a recreation center in Cleveland, OH. The boy was holding a pellet gun and a person called 911 to report that a person who was "probably" a child was holding a gun that was "probably fake," according to this Washington Post article. The officer was not told about the "probably" parts, and approached the child, and shot. The child died in the snow. The officer was not fired at the time, but in May of 2017, was fired for not including details about past employment when he was first hired months before the shooting, according to that Washing Post article.

Walmart Pulls Airsoft BB Guns From Website

Gun culture makes getting guns easy and a normalized part of life. When I published this article after the Parkland, Florida tragedy, I included a screenshot of Walmart's website to show how easy it was to purchase a rifle online. A reader commented that the rifle shown in the example was a BB gun, and not, I suppose, an assault weapon. The implication, it seemed, was that buying a BB gun was no big deal. Not wanting to exacerbate the debate, I removed the picture to keep the focus on finding a solution. In that time, however, Walmart announced that it was pulling rifles like BB guns from their website (see the NPR report "Walmart Joins Dick's Sporting Goods In Tighter Limits On Gun Sales"). And in an instant, the page I had just visited to buy the pink rifle BB gun had vanished.

From the NPR Article:
Walmart is also removing items from its website "resembling assault-style rifles, including nonlethal airsoft guns and toys" — like the air gun Tamir Rice was playing with when he was shot by a Cleveland police officer who thought the 12-year-old was armed.

Companies aren't wanting to be associated with gun accidents or planned tragedies. So they are backing away and minimizing their liability. Any connection with tragedies is bad for business; the gun shop owner who sold the Parkland shooter one of his weapons felt compelled to hire a PR company to help issue statements. The issue of gun control has taken on a new dimension as companies get involved by limiting - or even ending altogether - their involvement.

The Mindset of Guns as Toys, Tools, and the Norm

A page from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, where a swim meet starts with a pistol blast, scaring the Wimpy Kid.

With guns being so prevalent in everyday lives, is it time to look at them differently? Would fresh perspective curb the ease with which they are used as a solution to a social problem? To a troubled, heartbroken, misunderstood teenager?

The picture above is taken from a page in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. In the book, the Wimpy Kid is forced to join a swim team. The first thing that scares him is the pistol shot to start the meet. He thinks it is a real gun, and hides under the water.

Why is a pistol used to start a swim meet? Could a whistle be used?

Why are toy pistols sold in a toy store? When a toy pistol is placed at 5-year-olds' eye level, where it hangs right next to something neutral like a slime-making kit or glow-in-the-dark bouncy ball, it conditions young minds that guns are toys.

The Not Discussed, Uncomfortable Notion of Gun Safety and Preparedness

If we consider CPR courses, Defensive Driving courses, and Fire Safety workshops to be normal and accepted practice, could Gun Safety training courses also become normal? To train prospective users that guns are really not toys, should be taken seriously, and how to use a gun in dangerous or threatening situations?

I asked Beacon's City Administrator, Anthony Ruggiero, if there had been any Active Shooter Training Workshops in Beacon. He responded that there have been in the past, when Beacon sponsored the County Citizens Preparedness Training courses, but he added that the sessions were not very well attended. He says another will be hosted in April.

Perhaps the mindset will shift, to one away from being a sitting duck, and one toward mental defense (think Bourne Identity...where are the exits? how to fight back? what everyday objects can become lifesaving tools?), planning, and rooting out the mindset of guns as toys.

Beacon City Schools to Perform Security Audits with Altaris Consulting Group

Beacon's School Superintendent Matthew Landahl announced Sunday via the school blog that all school buildings will undergo security audits by the company Altaris Consulting Group in order to receive recommendations for improvement. Altaris Consulting Group will also provide specialized training for Beacon City School District staff throughout the next year.

"They [Altaris Consulting Group] work with many districts in the area and we are very excited to start this work," said Dr. Landahl in his blog article.

See A Little Beacon Blog's earlier article on how the school district has been responding to the current gun violence crises.

City of Beacon to Vote on Joining National Day of Action on April 20 to Protect Students Against Gun Violence

UPDATE [3/6/2018]: The City Council voted Yes, and Beacon's School Superintendent attended the meeting and thanked the Beacon Police Department for their recent help.

During the March 5, 2018 City Council Meeting, the Beacon City Council will vote on a resolution to join the National Day of Action on April 20 to Protect Students Against Gun Violence, which is a movement spearheaded by the Network for Public Education after the shooting in Parkland, Florida. The Network for Public Education was founded in 2013 as an advocacy group whose mission is to preserve, promote, improve and strengthen public schools for both current and future generations of students.

As Stated by the Network for Public Education:
"Inspired by the courageous young people in Parkland, Florida, the Network for Public Education is joining with national organizations, schools and communities on April 20, 2018, the anniversary of the Columbine Massacre, to say 'No more.'

"Not one more child murdered in school. Not one more parent sending a child to school who never comes home. Not one more teacher, coach, principal, librarian or any school staff standing between students and a gunman. No. More.
 
"We call on every school community in America to join us to demand that our leaders take real action to end gun violence."

According to proposed legislation documents for Beacon, the Beacon City Council intends to join a National Day of Action on April 20, 2018, and "calls upon the state and federal governments to enact stricter controls governing the sale, possession and distribution of firearms and other dangerous weapons."

Several legislative suggestions are proposed on the National Day of Action's website, addressing gun control, mental health, and bullying prevention. At the local level here in Beacon, the City Council has written the following items to be sent to New York State Senator Sue Serino and Assemblyman Frank Skartados, and United States Representative Sean Patrick Maloney and United States Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer:

Beacon City Council's Suggested Legislation for New York State

• Legislation to raise the age to purchase a firearm to 21.
• Legislation to ban bump stocks.
• Legislation to prohibit the sale, production and importation of assault weapons and large capacity magazines.
• Legislation to prevent certain individuals with mental health conditions from buying firearms, in conjunction with legislation, regulations or public policies that encourage mental health evaluations, including ongoing mental and behavioral health support for students identified as being of imminent threat to themselves or others, and enhanced student access to mental health supports in schools and communities.

Additional Gun Awareness Events

Attendees at the February 20, 2018, City Council meeting thanked Mayor Randy Casale for holding a moment of silence for the victims of the Parkland, Florida, shooting. They then promoted nationwide events that are going on to address the issue, namely the school walkout on March 14, and nationwide demonstrations on March 24, 2018.

This week via the school blog, Beacon Schools' Superintendent Matthew Landahl announced a collaboration with the Beacon Police Department: "Working with the Beacon PD, we will have one police officer working between both Beacon High School and Rombout Middle School during the school day for the upcoming week. The presence of the police officer is simply to help us feel safe and secure next week. Thanks to the BPD for helping us out!"

The superintendent will be releasing more information on how Beacon City Schools will be participating in the National School Walkout on March 14, 2018.

Beacon Increases School Searches and Safety Measures

Back when the Beacon City School District was going through a leadership crisis, with a high rate of superintendent turnover, the Board of Education encouraged the community to participate in surveys so the board could hear what the community wanted in a superintendent. One of the strongest desires that became clear from that process was the need for Communication. Thus, Dr. Matt Landahl was found and hired, and he moved his family to Beacon. Right out of the gate, he has been a robust letter writer, an avid tweeter, and a super blogger for the school. To be real, this is his first year on the job in Beacon, so it is still a trial period. But since Week 1 of the school year, he has been in parents' ears and inboxes, testing the school district's upgraded robo-call system to make sure it works.

This Just In Via Robo-Call - 19 K-9 Teams Sweep All Beacon Schools

Over the past week, parents in the Beacon City School District have received several robo-calls: Someone from the school records a message that gets sent to phones, turned into emails, and is miniaturized into texts. Parents and other caregivers can get informed about something in at least three different ways. And yes, this is a different system from robo-call systems of years past; robo-call systems don't all work this way.

On Thursday, February 22, 2018, the Beacon School District Community was informed - via robo-call - of a threat made to Rombout Middle School.

Partial Message from February 22, 2018 Alert from Dr. Landahl:
We want to make you aware of a situation reported to us that involves Rombout Middle School. The Beacon City Police Department received a report yesterday evening of a concern about a potential school violence threat for Rombout Middle School. The School District and the Police Department investigated the matter yesterday evening and concluded that there was no credible threat made against the school.

We will continue to work closely with the Beacon City Police Department in all matters of threats of violence and potential harm reported to either the school district or the police department to ensure that we are working together to safeguard our students, staff, and community.

On Wednesday, February 28, another alert was issued, this time for the Beacon High School. This was also the same day that students in Parkland, Florida, returned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. According to Time.com, 95 percent of students returned to school that day. Closer to home, around the Hudson Valley, school closures and arrests were happening after threats were made to schools, and weapons caches were found (see our article about that here).

Message from February 28, 2018 Alert from Dr. Landahl:
I recently received information that there was writing found at Beacon High School that can be perceived as a threat, with the wording March 1st.  Our High School administration has been investigating the incident and we are also working closely with the Beacon Police Department.

This evening, the Beacon Police Department will be doing a sweep of all our buildings and there will be a police officer in our high school all day on March 1st. 

Please be advised that all after-school activities will be canceled this evening at Beacon High School. All other buildings in the district will close at 6:00 pm. I will send out a follow-up robo-call once we have an all-clear confirmation from the police department. 

We take the safety of our students and staff very seriously and I [will] be in touch soon with an update.

That night, parents had to pick up their children early from after-school activities because something was going to happen in the buildings conducted by the District at 6 pm. We didn't know what specifically was going on, so parents and program leaders just smiled and nodded calmly to each other at Kid Pickup.

The next robo-call came that evening at about 9 pm, informing us that all of the Beacon City Schools had been searched by police officers and 19 K-9 dog units.

Message from February 28, 2018 Alert from Dr. Landahl:
This is Matt Landahl with an update regarding school safety. This evening, the Beacon City Police Department, coordinating with our staff, deployed 19 K-9 teams to do an intensive sweep of all six of our school buildings. After each school was swept this evening, the building was secured. After this review, the Beacon Police Department has given us an all clear for the schools. We will be open tomorrow. 

We will have one police officer stationed at the high school for the entire school day tomorrow and another police officer stationed between the high school and middle school for additional security.

We take the safety of our students, staff, and school buildings very seriously. We do not find this threat to be credible but we wanted to be extremely cautious in our approach this evening and tomorrow. The Beacon Police Department has done a tremendous job working with us.

I got the robo-call with my elementary-age kids around me, as we were in bedtime mode. They heard my involuntary reaction, and asked what happened. My husband and I have been discussing how we want to tell the kids about what is happening. (And by "discussing," I mean in basically three-minute spurts between news broadcasts or moments tucked into other conversations.)

I told the kids that a threat had been made, and that police dogs searched for bad things and found everything to be safe. The kids asked what a "threat" was, and we had a conversation defining that, with examples, until they understood.

I could see dots getting connected in their minds as to what has been going on around them. "Oh, that's why there was a police officer at my school yesterday!" Ok... didn't know there was a police officer at your school yesterday, but good to know.

How Are The Kids?

Conversations are starting to percolate now among parents. Word on the street (real and virtual) is that kids are handling the increased tensions well, as different stressors pop up all the time in school, and uncomfortable incidents - whether we like it or not - have become par for the course. And it's true. Programs get initiated that we don't always know about (or we missed the memo teachers sent home in kids' folders), so the kids come home telling us about a puppet show that taught them how to tell an adult about sexual abuse. Or how they learned about fire safety from the Fire Chief who came to visit. Or that they ate cabbage for the first time from their school garden. Or that they talked about bullying and what that means or what is or isn't the best way to say something to another person. Or that they had a lock-down drill. Usually parents are informed about lock-down drills (aka active-shooter training) in advance. Recently, parents received a robo-call from the school principal with a report on how the kids did in a lock-down drill.

In my sphere, mentions of homeschooling are coming up, as parents instinctively want to keep their kids home in an environment we all perceive as safe and controlled. But tragic events seem random - remember the sniper in DC all of those years ago, who had the teenager with him? Despite tragic events, we are all going to have to leave our houses. Being part of a community makes us stronger. Locally, there is talk at the school district level of including the homeschooling community in district sports, at the homeschooling community's request.

In Parkland, the high school students are being led in part by their principal, who is sending encouraging messages, some of which come via Twitter. One of the more surprising ways he's cheerleading for his students: He is bringing furry friends onboard, even increasing the number of therapy dogs on campus.

Photo Credit: Screenshot from Principal Thompson's Twitter.

Photo Credit: Screenshot from Principal Thompson's Twitter.

Photo Credit: Screenshot from Principal Thompson's Twitter.

The School Shooting Issue Comes To Hudson Valley

Photo Credit: Graphic based on an image by Nina Schutzman

Today, and yesterday, and days before that, social media has been ablaze with parents and community members talking with each other about school shootings. It's the underlying current in any grocery store encounter, any client meeting, and school pickup or drop off. And Beacon's not alone. So many communities around the country are gripped with fear, dealing with fresh threats to schools by what seem to be vengeful kids. More conversations grow out of each threatening event.

At first, this article was planned to inform about actions taking place within the Beacon City School District, based on questionable threats that came in this week. However, other schools in the area closed yesterday, with Poughkeepsie shuttered for a second day today because of a threat. As one parent put it: "A snow day will be a welcome relief," as a nor'easter approaches the area today.

Schools all over the country are facing similar threats. But listening to the radio for local news upon the morning car commute, and a subsequent catch-up on articles from local newspapers, processing this all became very dizzying.

So What's Happening Around The Hudson Valley?

In brief, and this isn't all of the coverage around what is happening, according to WALL Radio based on an article at MidHudson News and the Albany Times-Union, a father and son in Saugerties were arrested after a cache of illegal guns and homemade weapons were found. On February 21, a student alerted authorities after reading the social media posts of her classmate - an 18-year-old senior - as he was praising the teens behind a 1999 shooting in Columbine, CO. When police interviewed him and his father, they both denied having the weapons at their home. Later, according to the article, the father "went home and removed five guns from his home, including a fully automatic 9mm Uzi and an AR-15 rifle." More weapons were found after a search, and a new warrant is pending. Both men were arraigned; the father was released on his own recognizance, while his son was sent to jail, later released after posting $10,000 bail.

Dutchess Deputy SRO Connected to Pivotal Diversion in Vermont

You may have heard about this NPR report covering the text messages back and forth between a girl and her guy friend at Fair Haven Union High School in Vermont after the Parkland shooting. This incident that followed has prompted the governor of Vermont to reconsider looking at gun control measures. According to the NPR report, the governor is a lifelong gun owner and gun rights supporter, but has amended his position after learning more about the almost-shooting that happened in a high school there.

A high school-aged girl texted a friend of hers letting him know about the Parkland shooting, and he replied with, "That's fantastic, 100% support it." She told him he couldn't say that, and he replied with something about "natural selection." The girl reported it to her school guidance counselor, and events unfolded leading to the friend being arrested and held without bail. Included in that discovery leading up to his arrest was a journal he kept called Diary of an Active Shooter, a list of intended human targets, and a recently purchased shotgun.

Dutchess Deputy Evan Traudt is a School Resource Officer (SRO) at Arlington High School. According to a Poughkeepsie Journal article, he went to Fair Haven Union High School in Vermont. He said that he heard about the report from a social worker at Arlington High School. He immediately called Vermont and got in touch with the agency that handles that school district, and passed along information he had.

The Beacon City School District has been considering having an SRO in its schools (see this statement from Beacon's Superintendent in September 2017). According to the Poughkeepsie Journal article, "though not the standard daily duty of a school resource officer, the events underscore key ideas of having a school resource officer - students or staff can reach out to the officer, someone they know and see every day. Ideally, the officer can step in before tragedy occurs."

Back in Vermont, the governor has said: "I'm open to anything. Everything's on the table." According to the NPR report, the governor's table spread includes:

• Supporting a measure that would allow police to temporarily remove a firearm in a case of domestic violence, without a court order.
• Giving police the right to seize guns from people deemed dangerous.
• Raising the age for someone to purchase a gun to 21.
• Considering universal background checks, magazine capacity limits and other changes.

Meanwhile In Poughkeepsie...

At the Poughkeepsie Journal, school beat reporter Nina Schutzman has been covering the unfolding events, and summed it up in one Facebook screenshot:

Photo Credit: Nina Schutzman

In one instance, according to this Poughkeepsie Journal article, a threat was made to the BOCES Tech Center in Hyde Park through the social media platform Snapchat, which shows a short video for 24 hours, then the video disappears. A message sent from a person on that platform threatened to "shoot up the school." The Dutchess County Sheriff's Office responded, and charged a teenage girl from Pawling with "making a terroristic threat, a felony, and falsely reporting an incident, a misdemeanor," according to the article. After investigating, according to the Poughkeepsie Journal article, "the threat was found to be non-credible, according to police, and there was no indication that staff or students were in danger at any point." The girl has since been arraigned, during which time she was ordered to take a mental health evaluation, and will report to probation and be electronically monitored.

Shaking Off - Or Breaking Through - The Discomfort Zone

This is all extremely uncomfortable and difficult to talk about because so many issues are colliding at one time:

• Freedom to bear arms.
• The right to protect oneself.
• Unhappy children and teens.
• What happens next to teens who are arrested after making threats? School expulsion and isolation didn't prevent the Parkland shooting. Clearly, some students who are emotionally upset and depressed begin to think of guns as a solution.
• Feelings of unpreparedness in active-shooter situations; simply saying the words "active-shooter situations" makes the stomach turn with a variety of uncomfortable feelings.

So we're exploring these issues, and will be delivering a few more articles on the topic in order to break through the discomfort zone to help our community feel and stay safe. Updated articles will be posted below as they get published:

• Beacon Increases School Searches & Safety Measures

Beacon Superintendent Responds to School Safety After Parkland, FL Shooting

Beacon's Superintendent, Matthew Landahl, issued a statement the day after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Dear Beacon City School District Community:

The tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday of this week weighs heavily on us all. The morning after the shooting, I had the opportunity to walk my son to school for a special field trip that was leaving before the regular school day began. The 40-odd students and their parents gathered excitedly with teachers and staff to wait for the bus. Standing there watching over my son and talking with other parents, I would guess that not one of the students knew what happened the day before. I also felt that I knew what was in the back of each parent and staff member’s mind. As we stood there and waved goodbye to the bus, I reflected for a few moments on the beauty of being both an educator and a parent in times like this.  The beauty lies in the fact that no matter what is happening in the world, our young people wake up ready for what’s next, expecting not only our best in terms of learning experiences but also that we do our best to keep them safe.

While I strongly believe that the Beacon City School District collectively takes safety seriously, I also believe that we should always strive to do better with this and everything we do. Yesterday, our building principals already began making some revisions to their Emergency Response Plans in light of what we are learning from Parkland. Our District Emergency Response Team, comprised of Beacon administrators and local law enforcement, is meeting on Wednesday, February 21, to review our plans and drill procedures, especially in light of what can be learned from the most recent events. Our entire district administrative team will meet on Thursday, February 22, to discuss any changes in our plans so we are all consistent in our implementation. While these building plans are not public documents, I will keep the community updated throughout the remainder of this year on our efforts to keep us all safe. As always, thanks for your support.

Sincerely,
Matt Landahl
Superintendent

See all updates from the Superintendent here.

Latest from the Beacon City School Fundraising Guide: Rombout at Chipotle

Happening tonight - the Chipotle Challenge! Just kidding, it's not called that, but it is Rombout Middle School's turn at 50% of Chipotle's profits, when you buy dinner from 5 to 9 pm. Several of Beacon's public schools have been taking advantage of this corporate donation opportunity, and this is an easy way to indirectly donate to Rombout Middle School.

Take a look at what else is on the horizon in A Little Beacon Blog's Beacon City Schools' Fundraising Guide by clicking here. You'll note that the Wizards (basketball) are coming, and you'll find more easy ways to support the schools while meeting your entertainment and feel-good goals as well!

Insider Pro Tip: These school fundraiser nights are getting popular! So go early to get a seat, or plan to take that big burrito to go.

Rombout's Fundraising Goals:

Four to six tables to go outside the cafeteria doors, so students can earn the privilege of eating outside.
The Rombout PTO would also like to raise money for benches to be put in front of the building, in the bus drop-off area.
You can also donate directly to their GoFundMe campaign >

Update From Sargent's Fundraising Trivia Stars Night

Trivia Night was held at Hudson Valley Brewery with food cooked by Barb's Butchery and a slew of amazing raffle prizes from local businesses, including a growler from Obercreek Brewery, artwork, and other wins. According to the fundraiser's organizer, Erin Giunta, the night raised $2,700 for Sargent Elementary, whose fundraising goals include improving the Recess Experience, field trips, and a beautification project for the school's auditorium.

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High School Students Can Get Writing Help In Writing Lab Thursdays at Library

Beacon High School students looking for help with writing projects can stop by the High School Writing Lab on Thursdays, after school from 2:30 to 4 pm, at the Howland Public Library. Support, assistance, and encouragement will be available for students in grades 9 to 12 who are working on school or personal writing projects and college essays.

Drop-ins are welcome; no registration is needed. Facilitator Jess Conway is an instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University.

To see more opportunities like this one for kids, see A Little Beacon Blog's Classes for Kids Guide.

Beacon Votes Yes to School Improvements from Capital Project - A Trend With Other Districts

Hot off the Beacon City School District's Twitter account! Beaconites voted yesterday to approve the Capital Project, which includes designing a modernized science room at Rombout Middle School, and at other schools, ripping out old carpet from several classrooms, fixing doors, turf for sports, and other improvements. Votes were 480 Yes to 98 No. When this writer voted at 2 pm, the total number of voters was at 95. It was a long election day. Read more about the Capital Project here.

Nina Schutzman of the Poughkeepsie Journal, who covers education for the newspaper, looked at election results for the Beacon City School District, Red Hook Central School District and Spackenkill district, and noticed that this year produced a higher voter turnout than other years, as well as majority votes of Yes in these districts to approve their Capital Projects. Voters approved the Red Hook Central School District's $10 million capital plan with 1,637 Yes to 615 No, according to Nina. Quoting the Spackenkill's Board of Education President, Nina reported that their $24 million capital plan passed, 882 Yes to 385 No.

Beacon Superintendent Matt Landahl tweeted his approval: "The Beacon City School District capital project passed today with 480 yes votes and 98 no votes. Thanks to the community for the support of the project!" According to Dr. Landahl, the next steps for the district include going through a review process by the state, and seeking bids. "Most construction will take place during the summer of 2019. We put out for bids around January 2019 give or take. The state has a lengthy review process before we begin but the planning work with architects, engineers, district staff and board members begins immediately."

Beacon School Budget Vote Is Today (December 5, 2017)

Today is the day for voting on the Beacon City School District Capital Project. The proposal includes a lot of improvements in all public schools, while not increasing taxes. We reported on it a bit ago, so go refresh your mind about what's in the proposal. Then head to Beacon High School or Glenham Elementary School (depending on where you live) by 9 pm to cast your vote.

The ballot pictured here was, at 2 pm, the 95th ballot to be cast.

Learn about what's in the proposal here.

Student Produced "Cinderella" Opens at Beacon High School Theatre - 80 Students in Cast and Crew

Photo Credit: Beacon High School Players

SHOW TIMES
Friday, November 17 @ 7 pm
Saturday, November 18 @ 2 pm
Sunday, November 19 @ 2 pm
 
Beacon High School Seeger Theatre
101 Matteawan Road
Beacon, NY
 
Tickets: $5 for students/seniors; $12 for adults.
Available online or at the door (but don't wait!)

The Beacon High School Seeger Theatre opens to the public this weekend to premiere Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” produced by The Beacon Players. This student-produced production creates an opportunity for more than 80 students to participate in the cast and crew, from making sets and costumes, to running the sound board, to performing in the musical.

Students work for months on this production, from designing and building the sets, sewing costumes, and rehearsing scenes. The Beacon Players Director, Anthony Scarrone, provides ample opportunities for many students to be involved through workshops over the summer, and during the school year.

Involvement in Beacon's student theatre challenges students in new ways. Anthony guides the student cast through thoughtful performances, evident in each interview of some of the student actors published this week in the Beacon Free Press. Just like promos with movie stars, the newspaper published interviews with student performers who recalled their interpretation of their characters and how they are played. Elizabeth Cenicola (playing Cinderella) reveals that she plays the star character as a girl with little confidence, who grows to become empowered and believes that she can do anything.

The Beacon Players aren't afraid to challenge the norm by reinterpreting a story to show and tell it a little differently. The Prince, for instance, played by Alexander Ullian, takes on a dorky personality who isn't filled with bravery. The stepmother, played by Ellery Harvey, eventually shows remorse for hardships she has bestowed upon Cinderella.

Photo Credit: Beacon High School Players

Says actress Elizabeth in the Beacon Free Press, " 'Cinderella' is a story of having strength even when the situation around you may be a difficult one, which is something everyone can relate to. Children will also be inspired by Ella because she doesn't wait around for her dreams to come true. She goes out and makes them come true herself."

Photo Credit: Beacon High School Players

Photo Credit: Beacon High School Players

Fundraising Opportunities for The Beacon Players

Marvel at the showstopping ballgowns and detailed sets, built and designed by The Beacon Players. There is a Princess Luncheon from noon to 1:45 pm before the performances on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 18 and 19. Luncheons include visits from princesses, good food, and perhaps an appearance from Cinderella herself. Space for the lunch is limited, with only about 50 tickets available for each day. Tickets for the luncheon are $15 each, and sold separately from show tickets. Update: As of now, the Princess Luncheon is Sold Out! And general admission tickets are about to be, so get your tickets to "Cinderella" now!

If you want to donate in other ways, you can sponsor a seat here, or become a VIP Member.

Students can join the Beacon Players by clicking here.

Photo Credit: Beacon High School Players

The Coolest Lemonade Stand Opens - But With Vegetables - At Beacon Elementary Schools

Photo Credit: Ashley Lederer Chinen, founder of Thoughtful Food Nutrition, based in Beacon.

Summer may be over for lemonade stands, but it's just starting for the newest farm-fresh favorite activity to hit Beacon - vegetable stands. Fleeting vegetable markets have popped up in Beacon for a few years now, with the green truck from Green Teen (a program connected to Common Ground Farm) parking in designated lots, as well as appearing at the Beacon Farmers Market (of course) on Sundays.

Now, thanks to an initiative from the Beacon Parks and Recreation Department, Hudson Valley Seed (an education-based food-growing program that is woven into Beacon City Schools' curriculum), and Common Ground Farm, kids from Beacon's After School Program (A Little Beacon Blog first wrote about the program here) will be running "Crop Shops," pop-up vegetable stands during the students' Food Fridays, rotating Fridays among South Avenue, J.V. Forrestal, and Sargent elementary schools.

In the After School Program, each weekday has a theme, such as baking, karate, yoga, or bird-watching, run by a business or nonprofit from the Beacon community. During the program's first quarterly session, Fridays are designated Food Fridays, and the kids learn to make snacks. Thanks to this program, the kids will also learn commerce as they run the vegetable stands. "Staff from the After School Program as well as Hudson Valley Seed will be on hand to make sure the kids have a great experience and learn about produce, small business and salesmanship," says Nate Smith, the Recreation Department's assistant director. "Please be patient while a second grader figures out your total and makes change!"

Donation to the After School Program's Tuition Assistance Program

The kid-run vegetable stands are open to the public, and will rotate among three of the Beacon district's four elementary schools. (Glenham Elementary isn't participating right now.) The stands, which will spend two Fridays at each school, will be open from 4:45 to 6 pm. Half of the stands' proceeds will go toward the After School Program's Tuition Assistance Program, which offers a 50 percent discount to students who qualify for the Free Lunch Program. Kids in roughly half of the families in Beacon qualify for free lunch program.

Schedule for Farm Stand Fridays

Here's the lineup. Check back with this article to make sure you're going on the right day!

OPEN HOURS
Fridays, 4:45 to 6 pm

10/6 and 10/13 – South Avenue
Front entrance near the disabled parking

10/20 and 10/27 – Sargent
Lower cafeteria entrance

11/3 and 11/10 – J.V. Forrestal
In front of main entrance

Kids Fun Day and Fundraiser at Glenham Elementary for Touch-A-Truck

The Glenham Elementary School playground

The Touch-A-Truck fundraiser is happening on Saturday, September 30, from 10 am to 3 pm at Glenham Elementary School, put on by the Glenham School PTO. Tickets are $5 per person or $20 per family. Kids will be able to do the following fun things:

• Climb all over trucks of all shapes and sizes
• Have their faces painted
• Jump around in a bouncy house
• Work on crafts

It's a dream day for your kids. Drop by after you test drive a Ford at Beacon High School for the Drive4U fundraiser, to benefit the high school and Rombout Middle School. It's a win-win for families and Beacon City Schools.

Local Ford Dealership Partners to Get $20/Person Donated to Beacon Schools

The opportunity to donate the easiest $20 you've ever contributed is happening today at Beacon High School from 10 am to 3 pm. Freedom Ford, located on Route 52 and owned by Hudson Valley native Rick Brownell, has applied for and was granted partnership in a nationwide program from Ford called Drive 4UR School to donate $20 for every test drive taken in a Ford vehicle today from the parking lot of Beacon High School.

Freedom Ford can raise up to $6,000 for Beacon High School and Rombout Middle Schools, if you get behind the wheel of Freedom Ford's vehicles in the high school parking lot. Proceeds will be donated to two fundraising initiatives:

• Beacon High School: Funds will go towards PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports), which is a schoolwide system of support program that includes proactive strategies for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behaviors to create a positive school environment.
• Rombout Middle School: Funds will go toward sending the eighth-grade class to Washington DC in the spring. Says the PTA President for Rombout, Kelly Ellenwood: "Please come on by and test drive a Ford. It's free and it will do our community good. We need 300 drivers!"

Says Rick Brownell of the initiative: “We have been serving the Hudson Valley for over 75 years. When this became available for Freedom Ford to apply for the Drive 4UR School Program, it was a no-brainer for us to partner with Beacon High School and Rombout Middle School to help raise funds for the schools and for the kids. It was just the way I was raised, to always give back when you can.”

The event takes place today, Saturday, September 30, from 10 am to 3 pm at the Beacon High School, located at 101 Matteawan Road, Beacon, NY 12508. Participants test-drive the cars, and Freedom Ford makes the $20 donation per driver up to a total of $6,000.