National PTA honors Ogden Elementary and Woodmere Middle School

The Hewlett-Woodmere school district has doubled down on excellence, with Ogden Elementary School and Woodmere Middle School named National Parent Teacher Association 2023-2025 Schools of Excellence.

Ogden and Woodmere were among 10 Long Island schools that were honored. There were a total of 19 recognized in New York state, and 319 nationwide.

The designation highlights schools that emphasize building relationships with the families whose children attend them. The schools, all of which will hold the title until 2025, learned of the recognition this summer.

“Ogden Elementary PTA and Woodmere Middle School PTA completed all the necessary program steps involved in the School of Excellence program and demonstrated great school improvement efforts,” Heidi May Wilson, spokeswoman for the National PTA, wrote in an email, “which led to their prestigious recognition on the national level.”

To be considered for the honor, a school’s PTA must conduct a survey of the school community for feedback on family engagement. Based on the results, the school implements a “school improvement action plan.”

“Because of their efforts,” Wilson wrote, “these PTAs successfully increased family engagement and strengthened family-school partnerships, based on best practices embedded in the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships.”

At Ogden, the National PTA noted family and school partnerships celebrating different heritages in Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American Heritage Month, Greek Heritage Month, Italian Heritage Month and Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month, May Wilson noted.

“Due to their intentional family engagement efforts,” she wrote, “the (Ogden) PTA saw a 100 percent participation increase of school staff and increased their PTA membership by 10-15 percent.”

Tracy Hopkins, co-vice president of Ogden’s PTA, said the group intends to expand inclusive and informative programming for the community.

“We seek to include our special area teachers . . . and find ways for us to incorporate how to make our large events appeal to those students as well,” Hopkins said, “our students in a wheelchair, our students that may be sensory seeking, so just ways that we can incorporate them, so that they can also come and enjoy the events that we have throughout the year.”

Woodmere Middle School’s PTA family alerts about events on a variety of media platforms, and the implementation of a Father Engagement Committee, encouraging more dads to join PTA activities, earned the school the distinction.

Former Ogden Principal Dina Anzalone, now the district’s assistant superintendent of teaching, learning and technology, said she was proud of the school last year, during the evaluation period.

“This recognition reflects the dedication of our teachers, staff, students, and families in creating a welcoming, supportive, and enriching learning environment,” Anzalone wrote in an email.

She added that the people who made the honor possible, including parents, teachers and administrators, had done great work, and she was confident that it would continue.

“It’s not just a job . . . it’s a calling to make a difference in the life of a child each and every day,” Anzalone wrote.

The new Ogden principal, Nicola Lynch, said she looked forward to the school’s future. “By creating diverse opportunities for collaboration, we aim to strengthen the bond between educators, parents, and the community,” Lynch wrote in an email. “These partnerships allow us to leverage resources, ideas, and efforts to support our students’ academic and personal growth. By implementing collaborative initiatives, we can create a more inclusive, supportive, and enriching school environment for our students.”

Woodmere Middle School’s new principal, John Andruszkiewicz, who started the job in July, said that he had already seen the impact of the school’s PTA.

“It is an honor they should be proud of,” Andruszkiewicz emailed, “and I look forward to working with all of the amazing PTA members as the new principal here.”