In the News - 2006-2007

High Honors

High Honors

Grade 10

Basant Badr

Sowmit Barua

Karla Bermudez Flores

Jessenia Carredano

Cesar Castro, Jr.

Patrick Dunn

Mark Edmunds

Joseph Emmons

Hongchau Huynh

Joshua Keenan

Kevin Mazige

Maryanne McCarthy

Sochitta Men

Samuel Metellus

Maria Nunez

Andrew Page

Niki Plessas

Michael Shea

Lejean Williams

High Honors

Grade 9

Lawrence Cheung

Cynthia Columbus

Jacklyn Crowley

Dan Duong

Abigail Field

Brianna Garrity

Jennifer Garrity

Rosalynn Lim

Bria Mazige

Kelsey Olivito

Jennavi Phillips

Sararith Roeung

Theary Sokhom

Courtney Speropoulos

Keatdaravong Thim

Pantelis Thomadis

Steve Thuo

Diana Tran

Dyna Ly

Zephaniah Phillips

Alexander Rittershaus

Alexander Watler

Benjamin Wheeler

Honor Roll

Grade 12

Jorell Berberena

Rathanak Bun

Sousy Chhin

Angela Christian

Nicholas Colon

Courtney Dentremont

William Diamond

Jayna Doherty

Andrea Dominovic

Allison Donovan

Tashana Edwards

Joel Felix

Christina Gallo

Phallin Heang

Steffan Heaphy

Ajsel Jaho

John Kellett

James Khun

Courtney King

Andrew Kinloch

Paulina Koutroubis

Keith Langlais

Belinda Lao

Ashley Laramie

Estefania Liriano

Jill Magner

Jonathan Magnuson

Sara Mahon

Kevin Mahoney

Maddie McConaghy

Hao Nguyen

Johnny Nguyen

April Parker

Andrew Parker-Mendez

Justine Pasquale

Marko Paunovic

Bethany Persenaire

Eric Polanco

Tanya Quinton

Jazmine Ramirez

Lorena Santos

Awesta Sharifi

Narong Sokhom

Alexander Sous

Danielle Strong

Melissa Suon

James Tarr

Sinat Thach

Thony Tran

Tiffany Valentine

Savanny Van

Sean Walleston

Molina Yim

Grade 11

Diana Barahona

Brittani Barrett

Elizabeth Bright

Nicholas Capano

Nicole Capone

Angelica Carey

Johny Chau

Sophany Chau

Brian Coffill

Taylor Defronzo

Same Duong

Voleak Eav

Evelyn Eng-Nol

Samara Faustin

Bradley Ferragamo

Rocio Funez

Briana Galeazzi

Damien Garcia

Jetta Garrity

Deanna Geldart

Jared Gurwitz

Lily Huynh

Gerryanne Jean

Jenna Laramie

Patrick Manning

Lauren Marnik

Erin McCall

Karin Mercedes

Anton Morozov

Jodi Murray

Erin Muschette

Sereyleak Nov

Abel Nunez

Dillon O’Toole

Emely Pring

Dariana Quintana

Jillian Reddy

Maria Renken

Andrew Rybak

Amanda Sequeira

Eric Silva

Cindy Sous

Courtney Sullivan

Kristin Tomerlin

Christina Tzortzis

Grade 10

Fatima Al Rekabi

Doodley Alouidor

Zuruf Basher

Jaime Behen

Briana Blanchard

Paul Buccheri

Jason Burke

Edwin Cabrera

Rachel Carroll

Cristian Castro Hoyos

Maryanne Cheng

Daveth Cheth

Stephanie Connor

Julia Dres

Rachel Dunnigan

Linda Duong

Jacob Duyon

Jason Gilroy

David Gonzalez

Roger Khun

Brian Kolodziej

Nikki Kourembanas

Matthew LeBlanc

Andrew Lenners, Jr.

Christopher Lewis

Matthew Lunden

Pierina Mora

Chantell Morris

Samantha Murray

Diana Naw

Nathan Neff

Lan Nguyen

Karol Nina De Los Santos

Sereyrath Nov

Jackson Oliveira

Alba Ortega

Christina Pentikis

Sopountharry Pom

Shataya Pope

Julian Rospide

Jomaira Salas

Thyvong Sar

Lena So

Athina Sutson

Jessica Tannian

Aleksandr Tokarev

Maritza Torres

Sean Winchell

Grade 9

Omarchy Agramonte

Tracy Aguila

Tyler Alicudo

Jelyssa Alouidor

Wanda Aquino

Wilma Barrios

Christian Belitsos

Cynthia Bonilla

Jarell Byrd

Dastenio Canario Ortiz

Miguel Castro Olivar

Jordan Clabeaux

Christopher Cole

Eurya De Los Santos

Alexandra DeFronzo

Kristen Divecchia

Diamond Doe

Tanja Dominovic

Conor Donovan

Dana Eaton, III

Christopher Ellis

Jared Fay

Ashley Flores

Tyler Gioacchini

Norah Gomez

Melissa Goulet

John Grocki, II

Alexiss Heaphy

Amy Huynh

Casey Johnson

Katelyn Kidney

Courtney Langer

Cristal Llorens-Diaz

Cristian Lopez

Jonathan Lopez

Gaby Martinez

Brendan McCollin

Lizet Medina

Maly Nou

Elisa Rodriguez

Meilyn Santamaria

Joleen Satterwhite

Madina Smetankina

Ivanna Solano

Paul Strakus

Sophia Thach

Uthai Vongsavanh

Charles Wilson

Allison Zacarias

Sarai Zelada

 8/16/2006    Richard Sakowich,  Classical's Dean of Discipline and dedicated Lynn Schools employee for decades, has been selected by the School Committee as the second new Assistant Principal at Classical High School.                                sb

For Constantino, it's Hello and Goodbye                                                By Joyce Erekson, The Daily Item of Lynn, Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Classical High girls basketball coach Gene Constantino has been appointed to fill one of two open vice principal jobs at the school, but the promotion means the Rams will be looking for a new coach.

Constantino took over as head coach 19 years ago, succeeding John O'Connor, who held the job for a year, after taking over for long-time coach Tom Alcock. The Rams had some rough years in the early going, but the arrival of Helen Ridley in the mid-1990s marked the beginning of the program's resurgence. Although Ridley is long gone, having graduated from Quinnipiac University two years ago, the program continued to be successful long after she left.

Last year, Constantino led the Rams to a 16-4 regular season record and a trip to the state tournament, where they lost to Somerville by two points to finish 17-5. Classical went 18-5 overall the year before that and three years ago, finished 20-0. That year, with players like Monique Lee and Takeya Faison, the team made it to the Tsongas Arena, where it lost to Andover in the North final.

"I've been blessed with great kids all 19 years," Constantino said. "The quality of the kids I've been able to coach has been the best part."

Although Constantino will move from the Classical guidance office, where he has spent the last seven years, to the vice principal's office, he said he'll still be around to support the team.

"Maybe I'll be the new Mr. Ridley," Constantino said, referring to Breed Middle School principal Jim Ridley, who stayed involved in the program long after his daughter, Helen, was done playing.

Although some of his early teams didn't enjoy the success of the more recent ones, Constantino said there were still a lot of terrific players who went through the program. Among those were Nicole Foisset, a 1,000 career-point scorer; Maureen Magner; Liz Echevarria; Cindi McPherson; Kristen Bakis; and Alyssa Holland, to name a few.

"We had some great players," Constantino said, adding the thing he's most proud of is the fact they were student-athletes first.

Constantino said over the past six or seven years, his graduating seniors have all gone on to college, although not necessarily to play. The veteran coach said he's also very proud of the team the past two years. After the Rams lost quality players Lee and Faison, he said no one expected Classical to do much, but the Rams had back-to-back 16-4 seasons.

"After we lost Monique and Takeya, everyone thought we would struggle," Constantino said. "This group (players like Ashley Donovan, Meghan Reddy, Manise Louinord and Irene Saranteas) picked up the slack. To watch those guys make their own niche when no one thought they could was great."

Constantino, who started out as a special education teacher, was at Cobbet Elementary School for five years before coming to Classical in 1981. He later moved into guidance.

"I've made a lot of friends and had a lot of great times," Constantino said. "This opportunity was something I couldn't pass up. I was ready for a career move."

Constantino said he's had help from a lot of excellent assistants over the years, including Tom Sawyer, Dennis Baldini, Brian McDormand and Jim Ridley. He said it's also tough to leave this year's seniors, Taneka Brown, Lauren Kolodziej and Tonisha Tate.

"It'll be sad leaving the kids," he said.

Jeff Waldron Retires from Pro Ball    (courtesy of The Lynn Journal)

Jeff Waldron, one of Lynn’s greatest baseball players, made it official this week that he is retiring from the sport of professional baseball. Waldron, a Lynn Classical graduate, played seven seasons in major league organizations after being drafted in high school and college (Boston College).

Waldron is playing the game in the North Shore Baseball League, but he said he has ended his professional aspirations. He hopes to continue as a coach and a mentor for young players.

Congratulations to Jeff Waldron for being such an outstanding role model and representative of Lynn Classical and the Lynn baseball community.

English High Principal Touts Voluntary School Uniforms Plan 

By Jill Gadsby , The Daily Item of Lynn

LYNN -- English High School Principal Andrew Fila shared details about the voluntary school uniforms he'd like to implement in the fall with members of the School Committee last week.

Using a $50,000 donation from the O'Brien Foundation, Fila said he'd like to purchase maroon, gray and white collared, Polo-type shirts for students to wear on a voluntary basis.

School Department attorney John Mihos is researching whether the school can use its list of students who receive free and reduced lunch to determine if they are eligible to receive a free shirt.

Fila said he should know by mid-July how much the shirts will cost.

In the meantime, he said many in the school community are pleased with the idea.

"The response from parents and students has been outstanding," he said. "Through the looks of it and the cost effectiveness of it, I think parents will buy into it. The faculty is excited about it. The Science Department has already purchased their own."

Fila said he expects hundreds of students from different student groups will volunteer to wear the shirts.

"There's 250 in ROTC, 300-400 athletes, Glee Club, drama," he said.

Fila said he thinks the uniforms will improve the school.

"It's another layer of discipline," he said. "It's going to make us a stronger school."

School Committee member Daniel Cahill, who was the driving force in drafting the city's new dress code policy, said he supports the idea.

"I think it's a step in the right direction for Lynn English High School," he said. "I just want to make it very clear that this is a voluntary program. I think it's positive for the city. People complain about gang problems and this is one more way to rectify that."

School Committee member Donna Coppola said she commends the O'Brien Foundation for its donation, but she does not agree with the idea of uniforms.

"My concern is for the ones that don't want to participate," she said. "Are they going to feel like outcasts?"

Fila, who accused Coppola of never agreeing with anything he does, suggested she should bring her concerns to the students.

"You'll have to ask them when it happens, I guess," he said.

School Committee member Arthur Fiste praised Fila's work.

"I'd like to commend you," he said. "My grandson is talking about it in a very favorable manner. You took the initiative as the leader of the school to solicit $50,000 for the benefit of children. I say to any other principal, 'You want that, you go out and get it.' Keep up the good work."

John Powell and Ashley Messina Named Top Scholar / Athletes

These two outstanding student-athletes received their awards this week from the Northeastern Conference Scholar-Athlete Banquet at the Porthole Pub. Principal Warren White and Athletic Director Dick Ruth joined the pair of Most Outstanding Scholar Athletes of 2005-2006 from Classical High School.

________________From article and photo by Cary Shuman, The Lynn Journal, 5/24/06___________

Kostan Selects Deputy School Superintendents
By Jill Gadsby, The Daily Item of Lynn, Friday, May 19, 2006

LYNN -- Superintendent of Schools Nicholas Kostan made two historic appointments this week, naming two women to be second in command of the Lynn Public Schools.
     Kostan selected School Support Specialist Catherine Latham and Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Jaye Warry as deputy superintendents.
     The city has never had a female deputy superintendent, with the exception of Ipswich resident Patsy Baugh who was hired along with Louis Perullo as associate superintendent in November 1987, but served more as the district's financial manager during a state takeover. Baugh resigned from the position 13 months later.
     "What is unique about this is there has never been a female deputy in the system and we're going to have two," Kostan said. "I think they're going to do a great job."
    The women were selected out of a field of six candidates, which included Classical High School Principal Warren White and Lynn Tech Guidance and Cooperative Education Counselor Judith Josephs. Finalists from outside the district included Mary Ann Cyr, director of development for the Thacher Montessori School in Milton, and Lowell Public Schools Assessment and Testing Specialist Dr. Marja Inkeri Urponen.
     Both Latham and Warry have been key players in Kostan's administration.
     Latham, a former math department head and recipient of the famed Milken Family Foundation Educator Award, has overseen the district's compliance with both federal and state education mandates.
     Warry, who oversaw the district's Title I program before leaving the district to become principal of two Haverhill elementary schools, returned to the district in 2002 and has since spearheaded many changes to the district's curriculum and professional development offerings.
     "Jaye and Cathie have been terrific," Kostan said. "They've done a terrific job in the Central Office for the last four years. They are highly respected, well liked and extremely capable. I'm looking forward to working with both of them for the rest of my tenure here."
     Warry said she has had little time to set down goals for her new position, but she knows where she wants to begin.
     "I would really like to focus on the revision of the strategic plan, which will be one of my first focal points," she said. "And I am continuing the work I am doing right now. I have some projects on the fire that I will continue working on - all-day kindergarten and math achievement."
     When asked how she feels about being one of the first female deputies, Warry said she was excited.
     "It makes me happy to be deputy superintendent period," she said. "It's exciting, obviously, to have this opportunity and it's important. Certainly, I hope I do a good job at it. It's good that two women have achieved this, but the most important thing is to get the right person for the job."
     Warry said she looks forward to the road ahead.
     "I'm very happy," she said. "The principals I've been working with are the best, the teachers are the best and this is a great opportunity. Lynn is a great city to be in."
     Warry and Latham will replace Ray Bastarache and Bill Frost, who will be leaving their posts on June 30 and Aug. 31, respectively. Bastarache has accepted the newly created position of Head of School at St. Mary's and Frost will be continuing his work in higher education.

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Deputy Superintendent Finalists Set for Saturday
By Jill Gadsby, The Daily Item of Lynn, Wednesday, May 10, 2006

LYNN - Superintendent of Schools Nicholas Kostan this week announced the six finalists for two soon-to-be vacant deputy superintendent positions.

     Finalists will be interviewed on Saturday in the School Administration Building at 90 Commercial St.

     Finalists from within the system include Lynn Tech Guidance and Cooperative Education Counselor Dr. Judith Josephs, School Support Specialist Dr. Catherine Latham and Executive Director of Curriculum Instruction Dr. Jaye Ellen Warry and Classical High School Principal Warren White.

     Outside finalists include Mary Ann Cyr, director of development for the Thacher Montessori School in Milton, and Lowell Public Schools Assessment and Testing Specialist Dr. Marja Inkeri Urponen.

     Kostan said the district received 15 applications for the jobs, 11 of which were from outside the district.

     "Six d