Newsday is&nbsp;highlighting the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island in its Teacher Spotlight feature. Nominate those who create curriculums that advance&nbsp;learning, leave lasting impacts on students for years to come or have received state or national recognition by sending details to&nbsp;<a href="https://mailto:LILife@newsday.com/">LILife@Newsday.com</a>.

Long Island

Education

TEACHERSPOTLIGHT_GALLERY

Gary Haber

Some people have a talent for art. Others are comfortable using the latest technology. Tim Needles is good at both. 
Needles, an art teacher for many years, is a technology integration specialist for the <a href="https://www.smithtown.k12.ny.us/">Smithtown Central School District.</a> His job is to stay on top of advances like artificial intelligence and virtual reality and train the district’s educators to apply them in the classroom. 
Needles’ job also includes producing weekly five-minute videos on tech topics. He comes up with the topics — sometimes with suggestions from his fellow teachers — and produces the videos in which students sometimes appear. 
“AI is new for everyone, and he has been in the forefront of that for Smithtown,” said John Nolan, Smithtown Central’s director of information &amp; technology services. 
Needles, 50, has been with the district for 26 years. He said his role is still evolving and that he enjoys the more traditional aspects of teaching. 
“It grows with my time in the job, which is great,” he said. 
Needles pointed to an ongoing project he is working on in which, as part of a lesson about water quality on Long Island, students paint murals on storm drains. 
“It’s nice because it becomes a project that students come back to see,” he said. 
For the teachers Needles instructs, they walk away from his presentations with practical tools they can apply right away, said Paul McNeil, principal at Smithtown High School East. 
“His understanding of emerging technologies in the district is second to none,” McNeil said. 
Needles, who lives in Sound Beach, wrote “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/STEAM-Power-Infusing-Into-Curriculum/dp/1564848213">STEAM Power: Infusing Art Into Your STEM Curriculum,</a>” for which he also illustrated the book and its cover, and is at work on a second book on technology and education. 
In 2024, Needles received a Making It Happen award from the International Society for Technology in Education. He said he is on top of the evolving world of technology. “We’re in a world where technology is moving quicker than ever before,” he said. 
Needles is also an artist, filmmaker and animator. He holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he studied photography. And he likes to draw. A lot. 
“I have a sketchbook and I’m drawing all the time,” he said. 
Before transitioning into the technology specialist role three years ago, Needles taught art classes for years including cartooning, illustration and fashion design. 
He said he sought the change because he thought he could put his tech skills to work for teachers during the pandemic and he wanted a different challenge. 
Needles was recognized recently by the <a href="https://www.smithtown.k12.ny.us/News/Art-Educator-of-the-Year.htm">New York State Art Teachers Association, which named him its 2025 Art Educator of the Year.</a> 
“That was pretty unexpected,” he said of the award, which was announced at the group’s annual conference in Binghamton last November. 
One of Needles’ most high-profile projects is the video “Four Freedoms Today,” which he produced as part of an exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In the video, Needles asked 40 people what Rockwell’s iconic paintings “Four Freedoms” mean to them. The “Four Freedoms” are a series Rockwell painted in 1943, at the height of World War II, depicting the four basic human rights of Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Fear and Freedom from Want that President Franklin D. Roosevelt invoked in a 1941 speech to Congress. 
In addition to his talent behind the camera, Needles has a way with words. He’s an actor and has done stand-up comedy and storytelling events. And, as Nolan said, “He’s an all around nice person. We like him.” 
Nominate the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island to be featured in our Teacher Spotlight series by sending details to <a href="https://mailto:LILife@Newsday.com">LILife@Newsday.com</a>

LI Life

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Smithtown educator Tim Needles brings his love of tech and art to the job

Smithtown educator brings his love of tech and art to the job

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Ava Epstein

As the daughter of an immigrant family from Guyana, Alison Matthews said the importance of education was instilled in her from a young age. A career in teaching felt like the natural path. 
Matthews pursued a degree in business education from Delaware State University, bringing together two of her passions. Matthews also earned a Master of Science degree in educational technology and a professional diploma in education administration from Long Island University&nbsp;and a doctorate in education from St. John’s University. 
She became one of two business teachers in the <a href="https://www.harborfieldscsd.net/">Harborfields Central School District</a> in 2001. In 2013, she earned a certification in work-based learning. 
Now as Harborfields’ work-based coordinator, Matthews places students in&nbsp;internships, such as at Drake Media Studios in Melville,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.catholichealthli.org/st-catherine-siena-hospital">St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center</a> in Smithtown and <a href="https://www.kumon.com/">Kumon learning center</a> in Huntington. 
“It’s such an amazing thing to help students explore their interests and . . . become college- and career-ready . . . on their path to the future,” she said. 
In this role, she also launched the&nbsp;Career Readiness Network. Beginning with&nbsp;one class, the program now includes four New York State Education Department recognized Career &amp; Technical Education (CTE) pathways offered to students starting their junior year: Business &amp; Entrepreneurship (2020); Education &amp; Child Development (2023); Media Production (2024); and Marketing (starting 2025). 
Former student Bobby Constatantos earned 30 CTE pathway credits and is now on his way to earning dual&nbsp;bachelor’s degrees at Long Island University in Brookville.&nbsp; 
“The business classes . . . are the only reason I am able to get two bachelors in four years,” he wrote in a statement. 
Cathleen DeSimone, who graduated in 2025 with credits from the business and education pathways, said she is excited for her future as a marketing major.&nbsp; 
“I was exposed to it at a really young age and knew it was right for me,” she said. 
Throughout her 24 years at Harborfields, Matthews has practiced real-world, project-based teaching, allowing students to learn through individual synthesis and analysis. 
“They’re getting as much out of the classes as I’m getting from teaching the information to them,” she said. 
For example, students in the Career Awareness class are tasked with creating their own business plan, and those who take part in the Education &amp; Child Development pathway have the opportunity to intern at the elementary school. 
Matthews was named the 2025 Business Teacher of the Year by Long Island Business Teachers’ Association. 
“She’s a teacher, she is a mentor&nbsp;and she’s even someone that I can go to with . . . non-school stuff,” DeSimone said. “I really looked up to her and I always say I want to become [her] because I want to give kids the experience that I was given.”

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Alison Matthews named 2025 Business Teacher of the Year

Harborfields educator who champions career readiness named 2025 Business Teacher of the Year

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As the youngest of six children growing up in Farmingville, Locust Valley Middle School teacher Ann Monsees curiously watched as her oldest sister, Jean Monsees, now 61 and a teacher in the Half Hollow Hills school district, pursued a career in education. At 8 years old, Ann would listen to stories from her sister’s day, watched her prepare lessons and helped organize materials for class. 
Jean “would do a carnival at her school and raise money, and all the kids came and helped her. . . . I still remember going to that and being like, ‘Wow, she did this.’ ” said Ann Monsees, 46, a mother of three. “I was definitely inspired by her and all of the things she did, and I still look up to her.” 
In 2002, after attending Adelphi University in Garden City, where she played soccer and lacrosse, Monsees began her career as a fourth grade teacher at Bayville Intermediate School in the Locust Valley school district. After 11 years, she went on to the middle school as a math and science teacher. 
Nearing her 24th school year in the Locust Valley Central School District, Monsees is known to be “really funny . . . very patient and kind,” said Kaylee Jewell, 12, a current student in her class. “She gives opportunities to kids to answer every question . . . all her students love her.” 
Monsees said teaching elementary school allowed her to develop strategic classroom management skills. Her embrace of flexible seating, for example, originated while working with younger grades. 
As her sixth grade students engage in different activities during a typical lesson in her classroom, they will encounter various seating arrangements — from high tops to floor seats and bouncy balls. 
“I think they love it. It creates more of a relaxing environment,” she said. “It gives them that freedom that middle schoolers want . . . to take ownership of their learning and be able to go to a spot that works best for them.” 
The idea came during conversations with another sister, Mary Lupo, who is a teacher in a Longwood, Florida school and an inspiration to Monsees. She had previously adopted this model. 
“I was like . . . I’m just going to try it and see how it goes,” Monsees recalled. 
Monsees’ efforts extend beyond the classroom as co-creator of the Fifty Nifty Club, a group of 10 to 15 students interested in American geography and history. 
“Her commitment to her students, their parents and her colleagues is nothing short of inspirational,” Locust Valley Middle School Principal Michael Cestaro said in a written statement. 
Monsees, who said taking risks and relying on others are fundamental to teaching, credits her most memorable lessons to collaboration. 
This past year Monsees teamed up with English and social studies teachers as well as the librarians, to create an interactive exercise where the students built kites. 
She used station-based, hands-on lessons to do so, she said, 
“It makes them understand it better when they have those real-world experiences and they’re able to be creative,” she said. “They remember it.” 
Nominate the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island to be featured in our Teacher Spotlight series by sending details to <a href="https://mailto:lilife@newsday.com">LILife@Newsday.com</a>.

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Ann Monsees of Locust Valley embraces strategic classroom management (like bouncy ball seating)

Inspired by her big sisters, Locust Valley teacher has been organizing classroom material since age 8

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Each year, <a href="https://oakpark.bufsd.org/">Oak Park Elementary School in Bay Shore</a> holds a moving-up&nbsp;ceremony to salute fifth-graders graduating to middle school. 
Fifth&nbsp;grade teacher Michele Bodanza always gives a speech, and she tears up each time&nbsp;— but&nbsp;said she expected this year’s ceremony&nbsp;to be extra emotional. 
After teaching&nbsp;thousands of students and keeping&nbsp;in touch with many of them as they’ve grown into adulthood, raised&nbsp;families and embarked on careers, Bodanza, 55, of Wading River, retired in June from the Brentwood Union Free School District. 
“I love seeing what their&nbsp;lives are up to and the amazing people they’ve become,” she said.&nbsp; 
Years after former student Katie Reidy graduated, she said Bodanza remains a part of her life. 
“She’s created a legacy of love and kindness,” said Reidy, 39. 
Reidy, who attended the school&nbsp;30 years ago and is a muralist and graphic artist in Westchester County, returned&nbsp;to Oak Park for two days in April to paint a mural in the cafeteria. The design&nbsp;shows whimsical woodland animals enjoying a dance party. 
Bodanza said she has been a strong advocate for her fifth&nbsp;graders, making sure their last year in elementary school is a special one, whether that means organizing a field trip or arranging for a Mister Softee ice cream truck to come to school. 
“She’s not a shrinking violet,” said Oak Park Principal Lisa Catandella. “She’s not afraid to say what needs to be said." 
Bodanza’s involvement extends beyond the classroom. 
Robin Holdforf, a longtime friend and fellow Oak Park fifth&nbsp;grade teacher, called&nbsp;Bodanza “an unwavering cause for good.” 
Bodanza started an early morning running club for students and ran a fund drive that collected more than $1,200 for cerebral palsy research. She organized&nbsp;Oak Park’s annual Thanksgiving fundraising drive to buy gift cards for needy families in the district. Enough money was raised last year to provide 22 families with a $150 card&nbsp;for Thanksgiving groceries. 
“She’s always looking for ways she can make a difference,” Holdorf said. 
Catandella said Bodanza’s legacy is the thousands of children she’s taught and nurtured over the years. 
“Her students love her,” Catandella said.&nbsp;"She really makes a connection with the kids and their families. She knows the kids appreciate what she does and that’s what makes the job fulfilling.” 
Holdorf, whose classroom is next to Bodanza’s, said she will miss having her longtime friend next door. 
“I think what I’ll miss most of all are the daily conversations and the shared laughter,” she said. 
In retirement, Bodanza is looking forward to traveling —&nbsp;she’s planning a European vacation with her college roommates —&nbsp;and spending more time fostering dogs for&nbsp;Last Chance Animal Rescue. She hopes to return to Oak Park to mentor first-year teachers. 
“I don’t feel like I’m stepping away,” she said of retirement. “My best friends are here. Emotionally, I will always be a part of this community.” 
Nominate the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island to be featured in our Teacher Spotlight series by sending details to <a href="https://mailto:LILife@Newsday.com">LILife@Newsday.com</a>.

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Oak Park teacher retires after 30 years, leaving 'legacy of love and kindness'

No 'shrinking violet': Retiring Oak Park teacher leaves 'legacy of love and kindness' for Bay Shore fifth graders

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Miao Li

After nearly four decades of shaping young minds in the classroom and on the field, Scott Gerken is saying goodbye to <a href="https://eastrockawayschools.org/schools/east_rockaway_high_school">East Rockaway Junior-Senior High School</a> and will retire at the end of the year. 
Once a strict, by-the-book teacher, his colleagues and students said he grew into a school mainstay known for patience, humor and heart — one they said they won’t forget. 
“There is one adjective that describes very few of us, but encapsulates what Mr. Gerken is: irreplaceable,” said Assistant Principal TJ Terranova. “Staff members know they can turn [to him] for wisdom and, when needed, a day-changing corny dad joke.” 
Gerken, 63, began teaching at the school in February 1987, stepping in during a colleague’s medical leave. Over the next 38 years, he primarily taught life science to seventh graders and later led anatomy and physiology and EMT courses that brought science to life through hands-on labs and real-world applications. 
“What I enjoy most is seeing students get excited about learning, especially in the lab,” Gerken said. “When they’re doing the work themselves, you see them start to think critically instead of waiting to be handed all the answers.” 
Former student Isabella DeCunzo said Gerken could even make a “science hater” love the subject. 
“He is always willing to help, whether in his own class or just life itself,” she said. 
Gerken also made a lasting impact through athletics <a href="https://www.facebook.com/east.rockawayfootball/">by coaching both football</a> and softball since the early 1990s. In 1995 he launched the school junior high football team — he fondly calls it “the minor leagues” — to help younger athletes prepare for JV. 
Coaching gave him a new lens into his students’ lives. “In the classroom, they behave one way. But on the field, you see who they really are,” Gerken said. “You build a different kind of respect.” 
That respect, he believes, flows both ways. “Once kids know you as a coach, they see you differently as a teacher. There’s more connection, more trust.” 
While changes in science education and his own health played a part in his decision to retire, Gerken said he also looks forward to spending more time with family and maybe sipping a pi&ntilde;a colada or two on the beach. 
He will continue a summer job he enjoys with a pool maintenance company, owned by a former teacher friend. Beyond that, he’s open. “Come September, who knows?” he said. 
Looking back on his career, Gerken said what mattered most was learning to truly listen. “You need to hear what they say and understand where it comes from,” he said of his students. “It took me a few years to get that.” 
Nominate the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island to be featured in our Teacher Spotlight series by sending details to <a href="https://mailto:LILife@Newsday.com.">LILife@Newsday.com.</a>

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East Rockaway teacher Scott Gerken retiring after 38 years

Teacher spotlight: This retiring East Rockaway teacher could make even a 'science hater' love the subject

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Heather Rand is the kind of teacher who goes the extra mile for her students — even after they’ve graduated from her sixth grade&nbsp;classroom. 
Rand, 49, co-teaches a class of English as a New Language students at <a href="https://jfkms.comsewogue.k12.ny.us/">John F. Kennedy Middle School</a> in Port Jefferson Station, in the Comsewogue School District. 
The students come from around the globe, mostly from Central America, and Spanish is the first language for many. 
Rand’s co-teacher, Natalie Rubenstein, said Rand’s goal is for students to find joy in being able to speak two languages. 
“She’s constantly reminding them to be proud of who they are and to share that with the world,” said Rubenstein, 35. 
Rand also shares her love of sports with them. She played varsity field hockey at Rocky Point High School and was on the varsity tennis team at LIU Post in Brookville. Though JFK’s students aren’t eligible to sign up for sports teams until seventh grade, Rand has made it her mission to help former students sign up for the middle school’s teams. 
She spends hours of her own time assisting students and their parents in completing the necessary paperwork, and has even bought athletic shoes for students whose parents can’t afford them. 
Sports can help students improve their English skills and “builds confidence, physical strength, camaraderie and connections with other students,” Rand said. 
Rand also runs the Future Teachers Club at JFK, where she helped organize a book collection drive and start an herb and vegetable garden. 
“She’s known throughout the building as someone who’s always willing to help,” Rubenstein said. 
Rand’s connection to her students endures when they move up in grade. Many continue to go to her for advice, and some have invited Rand to their high school graduation. 
Rand is in her 29th year of teaching and has spent her entire career at JFK, where colleagues say she is well-respected among fellow teachers and the administration. 
“She’s just an all-around team player who makes all of us better,” said Amanda Prinz, 44, JFK’s principal. “It’s all about the kids. It’s never about her.” 
Rubenstein recalled that her fellow teachers told her she “hit the jackpot” when she learned nine years ago that she would be paired with Rand, and she said the more experienced Rand welcomed her ideas from the beginning. 
“She was open, flexible and supportive from Day 1,” Rubenstein said. “Working with her has made me a better person and a better teacher.” 
Nominate the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island to be featured in our Teacher Spotlight series by sending details to <a href="https://mailto:LILife@Newsday.com">LILife@Newsday.com</a>.

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Heather Rand, of JFK Middle School, helps kids feel pride in their 2 languages

Teacher spotlight: Comsewogue teacher helps kids feel pride in their 2 languages

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Claude Solnik

<a href="https://school7.oceansideschools.org/">Oceanside High School</a> math teacher Yves Jean-Pierre&nbsp;learned an important lesson early on in his career. He started by picking extremely difficult, challenging problems for students. Then a teacher told him to focus not on stumping students, but setting them up for success. 
“You have the knowledge you need to teach. You have to teach ‘for’ the students,” Jean-Pierre, 59, of Valley Stream, said the teacher told him. “And I started to do that. Every year, I got better.” 
A Haiti native,&nbsp;Jean-Pierre has succeeded by helping students understand concepts and not simply to get the correct answers. 
“You have to make them believe that they can be successful,” said Jean-Pierre, known to&nbsp;students as J.P. “Every day I tell them that success today doesn’t guarantee success tomorrow. But you have to have the desire and the drive to work hard every day.” 
When students have questions, they can call him over and get time they need, rather than only answering in front of the whole class, said Madison Moore, a 17-year-old senior at Oceanside. 
“J.P. gives you the tools to learn and grow for yourself. It’s very personalized,” she said. “It’s a class setting, but often, it feels like it’s one-on-one.” 
Fellow teacher Jim Smith, 59, of East Northport, noted Jean-Pierre has a perfect attendance record, difficult to maintain over so many decades. “He, in 23 years at Oceanside, has never once been absent,” Smith said. “Students come back and want to visit him. He’s an unassuming, low-key guy. The kids love him. He’s very popular in the math department with his colleagues.” 
Jean-Pierre grew up in Haiti, in the Caribbean, speaking French and attending Institution <a href="https://islghaiti.org/">Saint-Louis de Gonzague</a> in Port-au-Prince, a primary and secondary Catholic school, and in 1985 came to New York, where his aunt lived, to study. 
“I really wanted to come. My dad believed in education. He wanted me to go to a good university,” he said. 
Jean-Pierre graduated from what is now the <a href="https://www.buffalo.edu/">University at Buffalo</a> in 1989 with a degree in aerospace engineering. “I thought it was going to be for flying airplanes,” he said. “It wasn’t really that. It was mostly research.” 
His cousin, who got a degree in math from the same school, started to work as a math teacher. “I thought I could try to be a math teacher, because I was really good at math,” Jean-Pierre said. 
He taught in Manhattan and then Brooklyn, he said. 
He was hired by Oceanside in September 2002 and pretty soon was known by a new nickname. “One kid said, ‘Can I call you J.P.?’ I said, ‘You can.’ I didn’t think it would last,” he said. “It stuck. Everybody in Oceanside knows me as J.P.” 
Nominate the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island to be featured in our Teacher Spotlight series by sending details to <a href="https://mailto:LILife@Newsday.com">LILife@Newsday.com</a>.

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Oceanside teacher Yves Jean-Pierre has 20-plus year perfect attendance record

Nassau teacher has 20-plus year perfect attendance record

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When Chelsea Gundrum walks into her third grade classroom at <a href="https://www.lynbrookschools.org/schools/west_end_elementary">West End Elementary School</a> in Lynbrook, she said she is not just teaching math, she is building a family. 
Gundrum, 33, of Massapequa Park, has taught in the Lynbrook school district since 2014, starting as a permanent substitute teacher before moving into Math AIS (academic intervention service), where she provided targeted support to students needing extra help. For the past five years, she’s led a third grade class, where her personalized approach&nbsp;earned her the <a href="https://www.lynbrookschools.org/news/article.aspx?id=182120">2025 Elementary Math Teacher of the Year</a> award&nbsp;from the <a href="https://ncmta.memberclicks.net/">Nassau County Mathematics Teachers Association</a>.&nbsp; 
“She consistently goes above and beyond — making meaningful connections to her students’ personal lives, celebrating their milestones and serving as their biggest cheerleader,” said Principal Leah Murray. 
Gundrum said her classroom is a place where students are challenged&nbsp;and celebrated. 
“Starting on Day One, we build a community where every child feels safe to be themselves,” she said. “It’s about creating a space where it’s OK to make mistakes, take risks and know they can come to tell me everything.” 
Growing up, Gundrum was inspired by a long line of educators in her family — her mother, grandmother and uncle all taught. From a young age, she knew the profession was more than a job. “It was something I wanted to do to help children grow into who they are meant to be,” she said. 
She said working with the AIS program taught her to meet students where they are and make math feel accessible and exciting. That experience now guides her third grade lesson, where students explore concepts like the Fibonacci sequence and celebrate Pi Day. 
One of them, Nash Cornicello, recalled being fascinated by a class reading about hummingbirds. Gundrum encouraged students to take their curiosity further by coaching a classwide persuasive writing project to install a birdfeeder on campus. They put together a proposal that&nbsp;was sent to the principal. 
“She helped us prepare to go to Mrs. Murray,” Nash said. “We made our idea happen.” 
Gundrum’s passion extends beyond her classroom. As committee chair of the school’s Multicultural Team, she played a key role in organizing the school’s annual cultural celebration, where students walk a runway wearing traditional dress and share ethnic food with the school community. “It’s powerful to see kids proud of their backgrounds and celebrated by everyone around them,” she said. 
In addition to her elementary role, Gundrum has taught courses in the literacy department&nbsp;at Adelphi University in Garden City, where she earned her master’s degree. 
Most of all, Gundrum said she hopes the kindness felt in her class helps prepare kids for the future. “In a world that’s always changing, I want them to remember who they are, and always be proud of that.” 
Nominate the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island to be featured in our Teacher Spotlight series by sending details to <a href="https://mailto:LILife@Newsday.com">LILife@Newsday.com</a>.

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West End teacher Chelsea Gundrum helps kids make their ideas happen

Teacher Spotlight: Lynbrook teacher helps kids make their ideas happen

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Arlene Gross

This month Newsday will begin highlighting the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island in a new Teacher Spotlight feature. Nominate those who create curriculums that advance&nbsp;learning, leave lasting impacts on students for years to come or have received state or national recognition by sending details to <a href="https://mailto:LILife@Newsday.com">LILife@Newsday.com</a>. 
<a href="https://chs.commack.k12.ny.us/">Commack High School</a> band teacher Frank Hansen sees his job as a collaboration with his students. Hansen, who will retire this summer after 28 years with the school, noted that some of his students have gone on to become professional musicians or music educators. Some have even played with him in Broadway orchestra pits, he said. 
“Being a music teacher, you’re working side by side with these kids,” said Hansen, 62, of Babylon. “Even though you’re in charge and you’re up in front of the podium and you’re conducting the groups, you’re still kind of in it with them.” 
Hansen’s career began when he was 14 years old and started playing gigs at jazz clubs like the now-closed Sonny’s Place in Seaford and Rampart Street in Port Washington, where he met famous jazz musicians who mentored him. “That was a very important part of my education,” said Hansen, who was a professional musician before switching to teaching. “I think of myself as a working musician.” 
Hansen started teaching while at <a href="https://www.berklee.edu/">Berklee College of Music</a> in Boston, where he was required to teach according to the terms of his scholarship. 
In 1985, he began working at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, where he’d eventually teach every music class it&nbsp;offered, from band to music theory, later reprising that role at Suffolk County Community College, where he will continue to teach at the Michael J. Grant Campus in Brentwood. 
At Commack, Hansen began as an orchestra teacher in 1997 and helped develop its international baccalaureate and guitar ensemble programs. He currently helms the student ensemble the Jazz Messengers, the marching band, the concert orchestra, the string orchestra and the ICA (Independent Creative Arts) chamber orchestra. 
Hansen and the Jazz Messengers have serenaded people arriving at the high school Friday mornings for years, said Carrie Lippenholtz, principal of Commack High School. 
“He’s made such an impact on the students and staff,” Lippenholtz said. 
And for the past two years, Hansen and members of his Jazz Messengers participated in a Thanksgiving event held at <a href="https://gurwin.org/">Gurwin Jewish Nursing &amp; Rehabilitation Center</a>&nbsp;in Commack, said Nicole Hopper, director of therapeutic recreation for the Commack facility. 
“He truly brought joy to every single resident and staff member in the building,” she said. 
One former student, Izzet Mergen, said Hansen always encouraged his students to engage in divergent thinking: approaching situations through various lenses, which inspires creative thinking. 
“He’s a real artist who also teaches,” said Mergen, director of fine and performing arts for Northport-East Northport schools. “And he’s a real teacher who happens to be an artist.”

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Frank Hansen, of Commack High School, practices what he teaches

Teacher Spotlight: Commack band teacher practices what he teaches

Teacher Spotlight: See all the teachers featured

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The state's new voluntary curriculum on the Holocaust and other genocides comes at a time of rising reports of antisemitism and other forms of bigotry. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

'They need to learn the history'

A Riverside Elementary School student climbed the fence and walked home during an outdoor activity Wednesday. NewsdayTV's Macy Egeland reports.

'They were running around looking for him'

It's back to school for students across Long Island. This year, a new state law bans smartphones in schools. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.

'So far, the kids have been doing a great job'

Parents are even more worried about their kids not having their phones easily accessible. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

'We're becoming like, numb to it'

Connetquot residents on Thursday night weighed in on the possible settlement between the school district and the state regarding the "Thunderbirds" mascot.

'Heritage doesn't only mean what your ethnicity is'

Jayson Williams knows what it means to get a second chance. The former NBA player who once spent time in jail founded the "Rebound on the Road" program to teach individuals who have faced challenges how to become truck drivers. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports.

'All we need is another chance'

Fifty-three percent of students in grades 3 through 8 scored proficient in English this year, the state Education Department said.

Test scores improve for students in grades 3 through 8 this year

The Wyandanch community has chosen their district's new logo as one of the final rebranding steps to the new wolves nickname.

Wyandanch votes on new logo

The National Transportation Safety Board has released a final report on the 2023 Farmingdale bus crash upstate. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

Bus' front left tire was underinflated

The Lawrence Woodmere Academy will not open for the 2025-26 school year. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa reports.

Centuries-old private school will not open for 2025-26 school year

Some school programs across Long Island could potentially be in jeopardy if federal funding currently frozen by the Trump administration isn't released. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

'Really important for me, for my family'

Newsday TV shorts

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NewsdayTV's Macy Egeland and Newsday photographers look back at covering the Avianca plane crash on Jan. 25, 1990.

Picture This: That time hell rained down on Cove Neck

Drivers are being encouraged to carpool as an alternative. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

LIE slowdown predicted as Clean Pass vehicles banned from HOV lane this week

Mariah Carey delighted fans on Tuesday at Looney Tunes Record Store in West Babylon, where she signed copies of her new album, "Here for It All."

Long Island's Christmas Queen had fans in a frenzy

NewsdayTV's Doug Geed takes us out east to a local farm that has fresh vegetables and a local restaurant where they prepare fall cuisine.

Out East: Fall vegetables from farm to table

Newsday travel reporter Carissa Kellman tries indoor skydiving at iFLY in Long Island City.

What it's like to try indoor skydiving at iFLY in NYC

The challenge is to figure out where toxic pipes are buried and who will pay to remove them. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

Old lead pipes connect thousands of LI homes to drinking water, data shows

Newsday travel reporter Carissa Kellman got to hang out with the alpacas at Buck Brook Alpacas in Roscoe.

Roscoe road trip: Walk and feed alpacas at this farm and Airbnb

NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa visits a shoe repair shop in Wantagh and its longtime cobbler.

LI Works: The heart and sole of a shoe repairman

The Cougars signaled touchdown, but after more than 10 seconds of discussion, the officials marked Jackson just short.

Controversy on the final play as Kellenberg tops St. John the Baptist

NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano visits Haunted House of Hamburgers in Farmingdale.

It's always spooky season at this Farmingdale restaurant

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Newsday is highlighting the passionate, engaging and innovative educators of Long Island with its Teacher Spotlight feature.

Teacher Spotlight

High School Sports

The polls have closed in Long Island's more than 120 school districts after residents weighed in on board candidates, budgets, and propositions. See the results in your district.  Read more here.

School board, budget vote results

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Follow Long Island school district news from Nassau & Suffolk  including rankings, budgets, test scores and educator pay. 

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