PINE PLAINS — “I love this school, and I am so grateful to everybody who works so hard to help my son learn English,” Cold Spring School mom Erkhes Galidev said of her first-grade son, Bamboo, and his progress. A native of Ulan Baator, Mongolia, Galidev, whose husband is a pianist at Bard College, spoke sincerely of all the kindness and attention shown to her son.
The directors and teachers, she said, keep in touch with her by email, so that she is always in the loop with school matters. Bamboo’s (a simplification of his Mongolian name) day-to-day learning astonishes his mother beyond words: “Every day,” she said, “it is…,” she gestures as if to describe a head expanding upward.
Galidev and son were one pair of about 50 parents and children who enjoyed an informal evening of crafts and games for kids and families,while learning about offerings in the school district and the community. The ENL family evening was held on Monday, April 24, in the cafeteria at Stissing Mountain Junior/Senior High School. English as a New Language, or English for New Learners, is the updated version of ESL, or English as a Second Language.
Joanne Koch, secondary ESL and reading teacher, outlined the history of the district’s program for non-native speakers of English. “When I started here in the ‘90s, there were just a few students, mostly Russian and Polish adoptees.” Now, she said, most are Spanish-speakers, largely the children of farm workers, as well as a family of polo players from Argentina who come for polo season, attend school and then leave.
It takes five to seven years to get basic skills, Koch pointed out, and achieving literacy can be challenging, especially if a student’s core family do not have literacy in their own language. So students are given a diagnostic screening test even before they enter school, then are placed in not just ENL but also the broader reading program.
State guidelines
As to how long and how often students are pulled out of regular classes for English instruction, their progress is assessed yearly using the NYSESLAT tests. Classroom differentiation of instruction has been an education byword for decades now, the assumption being that teaching needs to be tailored to students’ varying capacities and learning styles. This works well for English Language Learners (ELL). Over the years, teachers have come to encourage students to talk about their cultures, and fortunately the approach to learning language is more dynamic and less academically rigid than it used to be.
Seymour Smith School teacher Alana Garnica and co-teacher Renee Rundall proudly presented their third-grade students’ graphic novel projects. Kids chose an endangered animal, filled out graphic organizers with research about them, and illustrated their stories based on the Maxwell Eaton III “The Truth About …” series. The school had been about to collaborate with the artist when COVID-19 hit, and they and hope to reestablish the relationship.
A pioneering year for the NYSSB
Gian Starr, director of curriculum and instruction, was present to introduce the New York State Seal of Biliteracy (NYSSB), which has been around for six years but was adopted in Pine Plains just this year. For now, the focus is on Spanish as the second language, and the Pine Plains students who are graduating with Seal of Biliteracy diplomas are mainstream, non-ENL students who have taken enough courses at a high level to accrue the needed credit points—three in English and three in Spanish—earning 85% or better in their courses. They must also achieve a set score on national tests, and complete and present a culminating project in English and/or a world language.
In the future, Starr noted, they hope to have ELL students stay in the language program long enough to achieve true bilingual fluency in not only speaking but reading and writing in both languages—or biliteracy. “That’s the goal,” he stated.
Eighth-grader Zayuri De Gabriel Jose, one of relatively few students over elementary age at the event, is an ideal candidate for the NYSSB. She has come up within the Pine Plains system and, despite some challenges, consolidated her English skills by about the fourth grade. She dreams of a career in immigration law.
There was a representative from the Pine Plains Library, and the Willow Roots Food Pantry owners greeted attendees and offered packages of mushrooms to all takers. Lisa and Nelson Zayas run the pantry, a nonprofit that feeds 50-70 families twice a month.
In line with their composting concerns, Nelson Zayas noted that “we’ve had zero breakfast garbage at Seymour Smith for the second year now.” They have compost bins there and are looking to install a similar system at the high school.
After a dinner of baked ziti and meatballs as well as a vegan option, youngsters wove through an obstacle course set up in the cafeteria until their attention was drawn to a decorate-the-cookies activity. Starr and Bon Burg urged everyone not to miss the new season of Unified basketball, which started last week, in which mixed life skills/special education and mainstream students from Stissing Mountain will compete with Unified teams from other schools.
Erkhes Galidev, left, with son Bamboo creating artwork at the Stissing Mountain ENL Family Evening on April 24. Photo by Deborah Maier
Max Amsterdam reaches out to pet a red panda at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on Millbrook School’s campus on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Amsterdam is a senior at Millbrook School and serves as the zoo’s head student curator.
Stahl said the zoo has been engaged in a long-range master planning process for several years as part of preparing for its next Association of Zoos and Aquariums accreditation review in 2027. “We knew we had to make a plan and look toward the future,” Stahl said. “We had to think about what more we could be doing for the animals, for students and for the community.”
Construction is nearing completion on a new animal holding barn, the first step toward housing off-exhibit animals. Funded by philanthropist Barbara Tober — whom Stahl described as the project’s “catalyst” — the facility is required under AZA accreditation standards. The holding barn will serve as a first stop for new animals required to quarantine before entering an exhibit. It will also safely house animals when enclosures are being repaired or when they need rehabilitation.
The new animal hospital, which zoo staff are referring to as an animal wellness center, is poised to be four times larger than the existing space. Stahl said the team is looking forward to dramatically expanding the zoo’s ability to treat animals on campus, eliminating the need to transport them off-site for procedures like X-rays or ultrasounds.
Max Amsterdam feeds a red panda at the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo on the Millbrook School campus on Wednesday, Dec. 17. Amsterdam said he became interested in the school's zoo in his freshman year when he watched an older student perform a biopsy on a wolf that had passed away at the zoo.Photo by Aly Morrissey
Stahl said a primary goal of the master plan and the animal wellness center is to “bring the outside in.” The public will be allowed to watch certain procedures and operations to learn more about the veterinary work that goes on behind the scenes.
In addition to the zoo’s around-the-clock staff, rotating veterinarians visit the zoo each week to check on the animals and perform routine procedures. The current space is limited, and zoo staff are eager to have an expanded footprint.
“Right now we’re very limited space-wise,” Stahl said. “This new facility will let us have more space, more vets and more learning happening.”
Max Amsterdam has lived at the Millbrook School as a boarding student for four years and has held a working role at the zoo throughout that time. Today, in his senior year, he serves as the zoo’s head student curator — a coveted leadership role that requires a formal application and selection process.
When Amsterdam first applied to Millbrook School, the zoo was not front-of-mind. Although he wanted to become a veterinarian as a young child, the desire dissipated until he set foot in the Trevor-Lovejoy Zoo as a freshman.
“I watched a senior perform a biopsy on a red wolf that had passed away from a uterine tumor,” Amsterdam said. “I didn’t even know that students could do that. I realized right then how incredible this place was and the zoo became my thing.”
Over his four years at Millbrook, Amsterdam has assisted veterinarians, shadowed medical procedures, conducted necropsies and even traveled with staff to national AZA conferences. “As you grow, you gain a relationship with the staff and vets, and when they know you can handle it, they let you do more,” he said.
With graduation on the horizon and plans to study biology at Bucknell, Amsterdam admits he’s a little jealous of the future students that will benefit from the new zoo facilities.
At the end of the day, he is grateful for the hands-on experience he has received in his leadership roles at the zoo. Millbrook School is the only high school in the country with an AZA-accredited zoo on its campus.
“I’m jealous, but I’m also so grateful that the zoo got that donation because it’s needed,” Amsterdam smiled. “We deserve it, too. It’s a lot of hard work by the staff and students — it’s 200% effort seven days a week, and not many people see that.”
