Archive: Around Town

On Tuesday, June 23, 2020, the Ithaca City School District (ICSD) Board of Education approved two administrative appointments for the 2020-2021 school year.

Jennifer Gondek, who currently serves as a Master Educator for Inclusion (MEI) at Enfield and Northeast elementary schools, has been appointed as the district’s new Director of Special Education. Prior to joining the ICSD in 2019, Gondek worked for eight years as an Instructional Specialist for Inclusion at TST BOCES, supporting component districts in the areas of inclusive education, literacy, behavioral support, special education regulation, and more.

The Town of Lansing Planning Board set a public hearing and declared itself Lead Agency on a pop-up family-oriented drive-in movie theater proposed for the RInK/FIELD parking lot. Catering by Luna owner Kevin Sullivan told the Board that of the sites his company had explored the most suitable parking lot for the project is at the Lansing Community Recreation Center (LCRC -- TheRINK/TheFIELD).

"We're trying to keep people employed and, trying to find every creative way we can come up with during this crisis to do that." Sullivan said. "We connected with Ross and the team up at the Lansing Community Recreation Center and proposed the idea. We had been looking around the City of Ithaca for pots and working with that, We were having trouble finding a suitable parking lot that had enough spaces that we could pay adequately enough, have enough space. So we ended up talking to Ross and he thought it would be a great use of that property while we're closed. (We also talked about) the possibility of kind of a long term, occasional weekend thing, if it is a popular thing for the community."

Today, Rep. Tom Reed announced National Endowment for the Humanities grants for two important institutions in the region. The first grant, totaling $103,386, has been awarded to Cornell University in Ithaca, and the second $79,814 grant has been awarded to The History Center in Tompkins County.

“We are proud to see two organizations from our district recognized at the federal level for their significant contributions to the community and the preservation of history,” said Tom. “This funding will benefit our communities, create jobs in the district, and support our economy. We are glad these organizations received the recognition they deserved and we appreciate their efforts in our district.”

The Fine Arts Booster Group (FABG), an affiliate of IPEI, supported the funding of virtual performances of Ithaca City School District (ICSD) students from the music department. These recording of performances are posted on the ICSD digital time capsule.

The Director of Fine and Performing Arts Daphne Shululu notes, “Through a digital time capsule, the creative ways students and teachers expressed themselves during distance learning can be shared and celebrated with the larger community. The collective effort from the community to persist in music-making, despite limitations, is a perfect example of the healing power of the arts and its ability to surpass all boundaries. I want to thank the FABG for their support through this grant during this unprecedented time.”

Seen around town... the Pit Stop was demolished and removed this week.  For a long time it was a convenience store and gas station, but in recent years it was considered an eyesore.  As of this week it is considered gone.

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The New Roots Charter School Class of 2020 will celebrate their high school graduation with a live outdoor graduation on Saturday, June 27, thanks to Governor Cuomo's executive order permitting outdoor ceremonies of 150 people or less.

"An outdoor ceremony is a fitting setting for students who have spent much of their time at New Roots learning outdoors," said Michael Mazza, Director of Community Engagement. "We're excited that we have the flexibility as a small school to take advantage of this late-breaking development."

Lansing High School opened a digital art gallery last Friday with an exhibit entitled 'The Show Must Go On' (click here to view the gallery). About 75 works of student art, including a video, are displayed in the virtual gallery. The title is referential, because due to the coronavirus lockdown students learned how to use the platform while studying remotely from home. The exhibit features works of art from LHS art teacher Jessica Stratton's Digital Art class and additional work from other Lansing High School students.

"My digital art students started the gallery by creating the space and installing their Empathy Portrait project," says Stratton. "After that, I added works from my AP Art senior students, Advanced Drawing and Painting, Studio Art, (more) Digital Art pieces, and Ms. (Clarissa) Loomis' classes (Drawing, Painting, Design Studio). Ms. Loomis also helped by inputting the student's artist statements, which are visible when you click on an artwork."

RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over an eight-week period each spring, colleges across the United States and Canada report the amount of recyclable materials and landfill trash collected each week. Participating schools are, in turn, then ranked in various categories based upon which schools recycle the most on a per-capita basis, which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste, and which institutions generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling.

The 2020 competition period began Feb. 2 and had been slated to end March 28; due to the COVID-19 pandemic that closed most campuses starting in mid-March, however, the RecycleMania competition period was shortened to only five weeks, ending March 7.

The gorges and trails around Cornell are some of the most iconic features of the campus landscape, but fully appreciating their natural beauty and value as a site for recreation requires caution and safety-consciousness.  Cornell's gorge safety website has a range of information and resources for the safe enjoyment of natural areas on campus and in the community.

"Research shows that spending time in nature lowers stress levels and improves other health measures – something that is especially critical as we contain and respond to COVID-19," said Todd Bittner, director of Cornell Botanic Gardens' natural areas and chair of the university's Gorge Safety Committee. "Yet it is equally critical that we practice safe and responsible use of gorges and natural areas, and respect the natural dangers inherent in them."

Anyone who has picked up prescriptions from the Lansing Tops pharmacy knows Pharmacy Technicians and Lansing residents Tina DeLong and Penny Rogers are the ones who have taken good care of you.  Tops Friendly Markets honored the pair with a shout out Wednesday on the company's Facebook page.

"So much has changed in the past few months during the pandemic. Our work. Our priorities. Our contact with the outside world. During a time when uncertainty is everywhere, it’s imperative that we understand the challenges being faced by everyone daily. But it’s good to know that something's don't change like the professional service provided by Tina and Penny (practicing social distancing) at the Pharmacy Department in our Lansing store," the company posted.

Nikolay Fontanez-Vargas was named as the recipient of the 2020 Lee Strebel Memorial Award for Enthusiasm in the Performing Arts. The Ithaca High School (IHS) Underclassmen Awardees are being announced online. The Lee Strebel Memorial Award is presented each year to an IHS student who has not only participated in performing arts at the high school level but has shown extraordinary spirit in that pursuit.

The award is given in loving memory of Lee Strebel, an IHS student who died suddenly during his freshman year in February 2006. In his short time at the high school, Lee became a standout in the drama department after playing the leading role of George Gibbs in Our Town. "Lee was a promising young actor to be sure, but what made him so well-loved was his constant smile, great work ethic, support for his peers and an unshakeable positive mental attitude. It is hoped that the recipient of this award will continue to demonstrate many of the same attributes, and recognize that although skills may be handed out in various amounts, our attitude and effort are completely under our control," notes the Strebel family.

Tompkins County Youth Services, in collaboration with the CCE Tompkins 4H Youth Program, is spearheading a community approach to address the needs of families, youth, and caregivers during COVID-19. ​The 2020 Summer Planning Youth Taskforce seeks to ensure that youth and families have access to innovative programming in response to the reduced number of traditional summer program offerings in 2020.