Smooth opening for new high school predicted

By RICHARD A. ROSS

	TRR photo by Tom Kane English teacher Dorothy Van Loon, left, and Special Education Instructor Cheri Burns get ready for the opening of the new Sullivan West High School. (Click for larger image)

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — Parents and students were welcomed to the new Sullivan West High School on the evenings of August 27 and 28 for an orientation designed to familiarize them with the new school and routines for the upcoming school year. The August 27 meeting was for juniors and seniors and the August 28 session welcomed freshmen and sophomores.

This marks the first year that high school students from the merged districts of Narrowsburg, Delaware Valley and Jeffersonville-Youngsville will be attending school together.

As parents and students entered the lobby, they were presented with student schedules. Seniors were directed to the cafeteria on the first floor, while juniors were sent upstairs to the library. The juniors had a tour of the facility led by guidance counselor David Nonnemacher, followed by a brief orientation session. The halls were crowded with people looking over the classrooms and the unfinished auditorium. Students found their lockers and opened them for the first time using the combinations on their schedules.

Downstairs, Superintendent Michael Johndrow, Principal Margie Tenbus and guidance counselor George Rose addressed the seniors and their parents.

Johndrow welcomed the audience to the new school. The long and arduous process of making the school a reality was something he was proud of. “I’ve been working on this for four years and I’m as thrilled as anyone.”

Tenbus launched right into the things that seniors had most on their minds. Senior pictures will be taken during the first three days of school. Seniors were told where they could park their cars and were informed about their one privilege, namely being on an early schedule that would run from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tenbus informed the audience that a conference would be held with the student, parent and school officials to discuss the subject of early release to fill out empty blocks in a student’s schedule.

	TRR photo by Richard A. Ross Guidance counselor George Rose hands out schedules to entering students upon their arrival at orientation. (Click for larger image)

Students were told that since there was no downtown in Lake Huntington, the campus was closed and they would have their lunch in school.

Tenbus fielded questions from the audience clarifying senior privileges and promising to find out when the blinking light at Fosterdale would be changed to a standard traffic signal.

Some parents had not received postcards from the school informing them about the bus pick-ups.

Asked about the BOCES students, Tenbus told the audience that this year, due to the fact that school starts at 7:30 a.m., BOCES students would not have to miss part of their second block class to get their lunch.

Mike Erlwein wanted to know if there would be televisions in the cafeteria and Tenbus replied in the affirmative. “But not to watch VH-1,” she quipped.

Rose clarified issues related to schedules and graduation requirements. Seniors and their parents then adjourned to tour the new school facilities.