education

DFHS: Pieces of One Whole

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Remarks made to the Class of 2025 (DF Waterfront: 6/21/25)…

To the Board of Education, Superintendent Slentz, Administration, Faculty members, Parents, Family members, Friends, Students, and Graduates…

As I mentioned in my opening remarks, this is our 124th Commencement Ceremony for Dobbs Ferry High School, and it is the 91st group of students who have walked the hallways of our current school building which dates back to 1934. Each year, I find myself reflecting upon the history of our school as I think about my remarks for graduation, and each year I come back to words like tradition, pride, community, family, and home when I think about the most important final message that graduates should hear before leaving our nest and going off into the world.  

The theme of this year’s yearbook, “Fragment,” is poignant because it captures the idea that we are all pieces of one whole, and that the individual experiences that each of you has had while here in Dobbs has helped to create a lasting set of memories that you will all hold for a lifetime. The speech that we just heard from Brooke Bass recalled some of those Springhurst fragments (or memories), from making gingerbread houses using milk cartons / to salad and soup days, from trips to the Bronx Zoo / to participating in Moonball, an annual event that so many of you remained connected to through your high school years.

If we think about the history of our school as one long story, and with each graduating class representing a chapter of that story, or in this case a fragment, we start to think about all of the individuals who came before you, and all of those who walked across the stage to receive a diploma, just as all of you are about to do. Each of those graduating classes, the individual students who made up those classes, and of course the faculty and staff who worked with them, are small, yet critical pieces, or fragments, of the history and story of our school. For me, this is now the 14th graduating class that I will see walk across the stage, and I am becoming more and more nostalgic as each year passes. I remember all of the graduating classes, the unique character that each one possessed, and many of the memories, moments, and “firsts” that happened along the way, all of which are just some of the fragments, that ultimately created a lasting legacy for those respective classes.   

A few weeks back, one of the graduates from the class of 2015 popped into my office with Principal Mussolini for a visit. She is now 28 years old, and had come to share that the Class of 2015 had just had their ten-year reunion at Hudson Social a few nights before. Aside from making Mr. Mussolini and I feel our age, we started to reminisce about that class and found ourselves shaking our heads at how quickly the time had passed. When she left, I pulled out the old 2015 yearbook, and found that the theme of their yearbook, “Current,” which signaled the importance of staying present and cherishing the small moments as they happen, was similar to the current theme that was chosen by this class, the Class of 2025. These memories, moments, and accomplishments are what we hold onto, and for many of you they become core memories that go all the way back to your first days at Springhurst. You will likely remember some of them in 2035 when you show up to your ten-year reunion, or you will be reminded of them by the very people who are sitting next to you now. Only then, you will all be adults and off living your lives.

In thinking about the Class of 2025 at the current moment, to use the theme from 2015, and as individual fragments that make up the whole of your class, to use our current theme, there are so many pieces that are noteworthy and worth mentioning. We can certainly mention the 46 students who are full IB Diploma candidates, an all-time high for DFHS, or the 28 science research students who competed at WESEF, also an all-time high. Or we can shift to the arts, and remember how our high school musical, Alice By Heart, was nominated for 9 Metro Awards, which is also a first in our school’s history, or how 100% of our varsity sports teams earned the Scholar Athlete Award for only the second time in our school’s history.  We might also remember some other firsts, such as our first ever Senior Salad Day at Springhurst, which was a cherished memory that many of you had from your time in Springhurst, and which we recently added as a complement to the Springhurst Walk, a tradition that was started with our graduating Class of 2016. A special thank you to Sara Selitti for helping to make that happen, the Springhurst administration, and of course graduates Lilly Williams-Ameen and Finn Carleston for bringing the idea forward.

But perhaps one of the most lasting legacies that this class will have, and time will tell on this one, and it is also the one that I will leave you with, is the message that has been inscribed on the new mural that was created by graduating seniors Verity Chao and Eliza Watkins. That mural is on display here today, and it will be another “first” for our school as we now enter a new era and generation of murals that will once again adorn the hallways of our high school. Unlike the old murals, which were paint to wall, this new mural will be hung, and includes a host of different materials, including acrylic paints, watercolors, markers, paint pens, metallic paper, stickers, and a host of artifacts that symbolize some of the fragments, or memories, from the past 13 years, and that are brought together by a common theme that was inspired by graduating senior Cody Schiff, when he said, “we are one grade, almost like a family. Some of us, we have known for a long time. Others not so much. But we have to make decisions together.”

This statement was actually made in group chat when all of you were in 9th grade while brainstorming ideas for MAC Day posters, a tradition that was started with the DFHS Class of 2006 (next year 20th anniversary), and there are perhaps no better words to leave all of you with today. While you will now go your separate ways as graduates, you will also be forever linked by your time here in Dobbs, the core memories, or fragments, that you’ve created now serve as your foundation, and you will always be like a family. So as you go out to carve your own path, know that you have this network, stay close, stay connected, and lean on each other through good and bad. You will find many new friends along with way, but the old ones, the ones that you have sitting beside you today, can never be replaced. Cherish those friendships, and always know that you have a home here in Dobbs Ferry.

It has been an honor to serve as your principal over these past four years, I thank you for allowing me to be part of such an important time in your lives, and I wish you the very best as you leave all of us here today.

Congratulations to each and every one of you, the Dobbs Ferry High School Class of 2025.

Note to the Class of 2025

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To the Graduating Class of 2025,

The theme of this year’s yearbook, “Fragment,” is poignant because it captures the idea that we are all pieces of one whole, and that the individual experiences that each of you has had here in Dobbs Ferry has helped to create a lasting set of memories that you will all hold for a lifetime. As graduates of DFHS, you now become part of a history and legacy that goes well beyond any of us as individuals. Each year, our yearbook serves to add to that history, and captures the moments and experiences, or fragments, of that respective graduating class for future generations to see. The pages are filled with memories, flashes of “student life” in those moments, and of course the many wide-eyed graduates who are preparing to face all that the world has to offer.

On a personal note, the high school yearbook serves as an invaluable piece of our school’s history that I cherish deeply. This is now the fourteenth yearbook that I am part of, and each of these yearbooks is on the bookshelf in the principal’s office for future generations to see. I often pull a yearbook from the shelf to look at the faces of past graduates, all full of life and possibility, along with the images of the hallways and classrooms of DFHS which have not changed very much since first opening in the midst of the Great Depression. The earliest yearbook on the shelf goes back to 1941, and there are a few missing yearbooks due to conservation efforts during World War II. With this yearbook, the Class of 2025 joins that long line and storied history, and with that becomes another chapter, or fragment, of the Dobbs Ferry High School story.

This graduating class will leave behind a legacy that truly adds to the amazing story of our high school. The memories, or fragments, from the Class of 2025 include events that allowed us to come together as a school, such as MAC Day and our senior prom, and others that were either individual or group based, including our many athletic successes or one of our many musical performances. Regardless of the moment, each of you will always have the core memories from Dobbs that will forever unify this class, and the new memories that you will now go on to create will serve as new fragments that will ultimately tell the full story of your life. You have already had so many and are truly just getting started.

It has been an honor to serve as your Principal for the past four years. I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing all of the wonderful ways that you will continue to make our Dobbs Ferry community proud.

Sincerely,

John J. Falino, Ed.D.

Principal

Personal Devices: An Inevitable Paradigm Shift? Part III

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The following is an excerpt of an email that I sent yesterday to a group of our high school parents who were inquiring about the announcement of a full “cell phone ban” in NYS that was made by our Governor. The excerpt of this email now serves as “Part III” of a topic that has been recently addressed in this blog, and also over the 12+ years as instructional technology has been on ongoing focus of mine since the very beginning.

The recent announcement by Governor Hochul about “banning” cell phones in all schools in NYS has certainly garnered a strong reaction from individuals who fall on both sides of the issue. While some are in strong support of this concept, there are others (believe it or not) who feel strongly about the opposite perspective particularly as it relates to students at the high school level. There are many reasons for this, including families wanting to stay “connected” to students during the school day. This is especially the case at our school given our open campus and the fact that all students leave the building for a period of time during the school day. As a parent of two high school students, for what it’s worth, I tend to fall with the latter and am happy that I can get in touch with my kids if needed. In terms of distraction, I do use my family plan to completely prevent them from accessing any gaming apps, social media apps, etc. during the school day. It’s actually very easy to do.

Now to our school…

Some of you may know the long history that our district has had with technology (all noted in my blog posts going back to 2013). We were one of the first one-to-one schools in the county, we encouraged “Bring Your Own Device” (including cell phones) and branding through social media, and of course emphasized the importance of teaching responsible use. This includes managing distractions, and of course the importance of developing a positive digital footprint. We have done a pretty incredible job on that front, and we don’t deal with nearly as many “online” issues with students as we had 7-10 years ago. As is also well known, our technology work served our high school really well during the pandemic as the transition to online learning was pretty much seamless given our experience and capacity.

Now to cell phones…

This of course has been a “hot topic” for the past few years and admittedly cell phones were a real distraction inside of the classroom in 2021-22 when we returned from the pandemic. This wasn’t surprising for obvious reasons as students had been home for a long period of time. Over the past two years, our school created a digital citizenship team of teachers who created guidelines for our school (and students) with regard to cell phones at the high school. This is outlined in our policy that is included on page 3, and states:

Ensuring that students are focused inside of the classroom is always our main priority. To accomplish this, our teachers plan engaging lessons and activities that are aligned to the specific learning outcomes of our IB Programs. In order to prevent distraction, cell phone use in classes is strictly prohibited without explicit teacher permission. All teachers have specific cell phone guidelines in their respective course syllabi and many teachers require students to place cell phones in holders or out of sight for the duration of class. Failure to comply can negatively impact class participation grades and can result in disciplinary action at the school level. 

In considering the design of the above policy, there were several factors that were considered, including:

  • Few, if any, high schools in Westchester (and nationally) have a full “ban” on cell phones.

  • A “blanket” no cell phone policy isn’t necessarily what all teachers want, and some might in fact allow students to listen to music when creating art, freewriting, or to access content in music class. Others have allowed students to utilize cell phones to enhance learning within the context of a lesson. 

  • Teachers have professional discretion, and also have the backing of the school, for students who do not comply. This includes a potential impact on class grades and/or a referral for disciplinary action (insubordination). 

  • Our role as a school is to educate and not necessarily to “ban” a tool that, like it or not, virtually every person now uses to stay connected and communicate. Our school has always taken the education stance right from the start as we were at the forefront of technology in schools. By teaching students to manage devices and to responsibly use these devices, we are doing them a service as they will soon enter college and/or the workforce where the stakes are much higher. 

  • “Banning” these devices is more complicated than it seems. A few reasons: 
    • If students are coming to school with phones, that means that parents purchased them and in many cases want them to have them on their person; 
    • Many students also have watches, access to gaming on their computers, messaging on computers, etc. In effect, “banning” cell phones perhaps solves one issue only to exacerbate another; 
    • As noted earlier, our open campus allows students to leave school for extended periods of time and cell phones provide students with an important communication tool for emergencies. While it can be argued that once upon a time students went to lunch without phones, it can also be argued that we wouldn’t want to go back in time now that we have technology to better keep our kids safe. To this point, around ten years ago, we had created a high school App and encouraged all students to have it on their iPhone so we could send a push notification in case of emergency. Incredible how things have now changed; 
    • A full “ban” potentially leads to countless hours spent by teachers and school officials policing a policy that in reality will likely not enhance day-to-day teaching and learning. In the end, that is the main reason we are all here and the last thing we want is to spend our energy and attention on other areas that are not necessarily causing an issue. 

Daily Observations…

This is perhaps the one area that people who are not in the building on a day-to-day basis can never fully understand. As parents, we rely on unique examples that our children may give us, we read articles and books, we likely listen to individuals pushing certain agendas on TikTok or other social media outlets, and with that we form an image of what we think schools must look like now that students have cell phones in their hands. Admittedly, I have no idea what happens inside of my own children’s high school beyond what I note above. The truth is, though, the reality of what is happening (at least in our high school) and what is being purported are entirely different. Here’s some of my observations/takeaways:

  • We are now midway through the school year and our assistant principal and I have conducted over 45 formal observations of our faculty and staff. At this point, we have not noted or needed to address students who are off task during a lesson due to a cell phone.

  • Similarly, we have not received any disciplinary referrals nor have we needed to formally discipline any students for not complying with cell phone policies within the classrooms. 

  • Our hallways are loud (sometimes too loud for my taste!) with students talking, laughing, and meeting up during passing times. Our hallways are never silent and filled with students who are staring at their phones.

  • Similarly, our cafeteria is even louder than our hallways when our students return to the building from lunch. Again, students are talking, laughing, and yes, in some instances, gaming on their devices with one another.

Final Thoughts…

In the end, the Governor has recently called for a “ban” on cell phones in all schools in NYS that will potentially take effect as soon as next year. Once this policy is official, and as always, we will fully comply with whatever directive that we are given and will implement it to the fullest extent. In the meantime, I hope that my email provides you with some insight and some broader context around the issue. 

Thank you as always for being positive members of our school community and for always wanting what is best for our students. We share that in common, truly, and for that reason our high school is in an excellent place overall.