Bruno M. Ponterio

Ridge Street School

Home of the Bluebirds

Don't forget! Wednesday, March 4, 2026 is an Early Release Day. ALL BMPRSS students will be dismissed at 1:30 pm for our teachers to participate in professional development.

Weekly Highlights 2/23/26-2/27/26

PARP - Pick a Reading Partner Annual Book Swap

It’s time for our annual Book Swap! Please bring your gently used, well-loved books to BMPRSS between February 23rd and March 2nd.

During the week of March 9th, students will visit the Book Swap and “swap” their books for different ones they would like to read. We are especially in need of chapter books for grades 3–5, but we gladly accept books for all ages!

Any books remaining after the Book Swap will be donated to an organization that helps put books into the hands of children.

Black History Month

February is Black History Month! Every February, people in the United States celebrate the achievements and history of African Americans. This month, we will highlight authors, scientists, musicians, inventors, athletes, and leaders who have made an impact on our world. Each week will feature a different theme, and this week’s theme contunes to be inventors.

John Lee Love

John Lee Love was a carpenter from Fall River, Massachusetts. A carpenter is someone who builds and fixes things using wood and tools. In 1897, he invented a small, portable pencil sharpener called the “Love Sharpener.” His design included a hand crank and a little compartment that caught the pencil shavings so they wouldn’t fall everywhere. It was simple, easy to use, and could even double as a paperweight!

John Lee Love’s invention has been used for many years and helped make sharpening pencils easier for students and teachers everywhere. His creativity and problem-solving remind us that even simple ideas can make a big difference.

Mini Sleep "Under" in the Bluebird Nest

Ms. Mecca’s class enjoyed their special Sleep “Under” experience after winning this fun opportunity at our Fall Fest Silent Auction! Students arrived in cozy pajamas, ready for an evening filled with laughter and community-building. Together, we shared dinner, worked our way through an exciting scavenger hunt, enjoyed a sweet treat, and wound down with a short movie and popcorn. While it had all the fun of a sleepover, it was indeed a Sleep “Under,” and our Bluebirds headed home to their own cozy nests at the end of the night. Here are some photos!

Flamenco Dance Demonstration Assembly

We arranged for our Flamenco consultant, Rebecca Tomás, to conduct demonstration lessons for all students in two assemblies, one for grades K–2 and one for grades 3–5. (We are looking forward to having our third graders showcase all of their work that they have been doing with Rebecca Tomás on March 10th!)

Rebecca was joined by Pedro, a guitarist, and Elizabeth, a dancer, and together they introduced students to flamenco history, terminology, and movement. It was wonderful to see our fourth and fifth graders confidently remember the steps from previous years. Our third graders, who are currently learning with her, proudly demonstrated their skills, while our K–2 students enthusiastically joined in. Here are some photos!

Celebrating the 101st Day of School

While our kindergarten students celebrated the 100th Day of School, our first graders marked the 101st Day of School in style! Everyone came dressed in their best dalmatian attire — from head-to-toe dalmatian outfits to festive shirts, and even Cruella de Vil. Students also participated in fun “101” themed activities in their classrooms. We were even able to capture a photo of our Bluebird Dalmatians right after our Flamenco assembly.

Young Engineers - Donations Needed

We would appreciate if you would look in your house for the items listed below as we would greatly appreciate using them in our Young Engineers’ (STEAM) Program. Please make sure what is sent in is clean.

Please drop off all items at our school!

If you have any questions about donations, please email our Young Engineers teacher, Ms. Eckert - aeckert@blindbrook.org

Paper towel cardboard tubes
Toilet paper cardboard tubes
Clips from can tops - beverage cans, cat food and dog food cans, etc.
Bottle caps of any kind (plastic and/or metal) - please rinse out
Empty tape spools - both plastic and cardboard
Empty thread spools

Blind Brook PTA Events

Blind Brook PTA S.E.I.D. SPEAKER

Parenting in the Digital Age – Join Us!

The Blind Brook PTA is excited to welcome Sarah Gallagher Trombley — ex-Snapchat executive, digital parenting expert, and Westchester mom — to Rye Brook on:

Monday, February 23
6:30 PM
BBMS Library

Hosted by SEID, the Blind Brook PTA & Ok to Delay Rye Brook, this workshop will tackle three of the biggest tech challenges facing families today:
Group Chats
Social Media
Video Games

Sarah is the founder of Digital Mom Media, a board member of Wait Until 8th, and Expert-in-Residence at Common Sense Media. With 20+ years in tech (including as a Snapchat executive), she brings both insider knowledge and real-life parenting experience to this conversation.

Tickets are $20 per family (parents only).
Purchase tickets here: https://blindbrook.givebacks.com/ and click on the flyer

We hope you’ll join us for what promises to be an insightful and practical evening!

For more information, please contact:

Rachel Boyman at oktodelay.ryebrook@gmail.com
SEID Co-chairs Sarah & Marni at bbptapsliaison@gmail.com

Rye Brook Recreation After School Program

Registration for the 2025-26 RYE BROOK AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM is now open!

We offer many different options. Below are our monthly fees:

2 days per week: $295

3 days per week: $400

4 days per week: $495

5 days per week: $575

Have a fun & safe rest of the summer. We look forward to providing your child/children with After School care for the upcoming school year.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact Rocky Furano at rfurano@ryebrookny.gov or 914-438-2087.

Rye Brook Recreation Staff

P.S. If you are thinking about sending your child in September, please see click here for the Health and Registration Form that will need to be submitted, along with your child's immunization report, before the start of the program. Email forms to Rocky Furano at rfurano@ryebrookny.gov.

BMPRSS Main Office - Contact Info

If you need to reach anyone in the BMPRSS Main Office, please make sure you use our Main Office email address and Main Office phone extension:

- - - Email - ridgestreetmainoffice@blindbrook.org
    - Phone - 914-937-3600 x2199

Reporting Absences

If your child will be absent please remember to email all three:

BMPRSS Nurse's Office - rssnurse@blindbrook.org
BMPRSS Attendance Office - rssattendance@blindbrook.org
Your child's teacher

Health Office - Contact Info

Our school nurses are responsible for all matters relating to individual student health issues, including verifying medical excuses, monitoring individual student health matters, emergency intervention, and special programs related to student health.

The BMPRSS Nurse is the main point of contact for:

Parents to inform the school of children's absences
Assessing and caring for infirm children during the school day
Contacting parents to report children's illnesses and injuries
Maintaining and dispensing children's medications
Ensuring that food brought into the classroom (i.e., for parties) is nut-free

We are very happy to have three nurses at our school - Nurse Frannie, Nurse Tara, and Nurse Erica. Please use our Health Office email to contact them about any medical questions! If you need to contact the BMPRSS Health Office PLEASE email rssnurse@blindbrook.org so that ALL of our BMPRSS receive important information.

If your child has severe allergies, or a newly diagnosed medical condition, and you have NOT notified the school at this time, please email rssnurse@blindbrook.org ASAP!

BMPRSS Health Office Email Address: rssnurse@blindbrook.org

BMPRSS Health Office Phone Number: 914-937-3600 x2217

Mental Health Resources in the Bluebird Nest

Click HERE to go to our BMPRSS Mental Health Resources page.

March Lunch Menu

Please click here for the March Lunch Menu!

NutriKids/MySchoolBucks - NutriKids is the system that our cafeteria uses to manage student food purchases. Parents may view what their children purchase in the cafeteria as well as add money to their student's lunch account through My School Bucks. A quick reference guide containing directions on setting up your account can be found at this link. Please note that there is a service charge for putting money on a student's account electronically.

Don't forget! All payment for lunch is through your My School Bucks account. Please click here to set up your My School Bucks account for your child/children! Please see the IMPORTANT NOTE BELOW about our school lunch program.

Important Notes About our School Lunch Program

The Blind Brook-Rye School District utilizes an independent 3rd party, My School Bucks, to process charges and payments to individual student accounts. The parent/guardian sets up this account and decides which options they want to utilize including automatic payment and low balance notices. We do not have access to this information due to privacy concerns and to safeguard personal financial information. If you believe there is an issue with your My School Bucks account, we suggest you contact the company directly. We are unable to intervene on your behalf.

Once this account is set up, you can view your child’s purchases and balances. If you have specific questions concerning individual items purchased, please contact our food service company here. If you wish to restrict your child’s purchases to only meals or only one additional item per day, you can contact our food service management company and they will note that in your child’s account.

If a student’s balance becomes negative and exceeds $50, the student will no longer be allowed to charge supplemental meal items such as snacks, second servings of meal components, or additional drinks. However, the Blind Brook-Rye School District will still allow the purchase and charging of a lunch. Please log into your "My School Bucks" account and check if there is any balance remaining on the account.

If any family is experiencing financial difficulties, please contact our guidance department. They will be able to provide resources and contact information. All personal information provided is strictly confidential.

Transportation Information

If your child is eligible for our bus service, you will receive information on the Parent Portal of your child's bus number and bus time pick-up and drop-off. If you have any questions about bus transportation, bus stops, or pick-up/drop-off times, please reach out to Mr. Juan Zhindon (Head of Transportation) via email: jzhindon@blindbrook.org

If you're found NOT to be eligible for the District's bus transportation you are considered a non-bus student (NBS) will receive an NBS tag to display on your vehicle's rearview mirror. By now, all NBS families should have received information in the mail. If not, please contact the BMPRSS Main Office for your NBS bus info.

We are a "Nut Aware" School and Allergy Aware School!

Dear BMPRSS Families:

The Blind Brook School District has established a Health and Wellness Policy committed to providing a school environment that promotes and protects children's health, well-being, and the ability to learn by fostering healthy eating habits and physical activity.

As a school community, we are committed to the health and safety of our students. We are writing to alert you that some of our students have a type of food allergy that can be particularly serious and, in some cases, life threatening. If the child comes in contact with the offending food (whether airborne, ingested or physical contact) there may be an anaphylactic reaction resulting in the inability to breathe. For this reason, we have a “nut aware” environment at the Bruno M. Ponterio Ridge Street School. Our food service vendor does not sell peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or use peanut oil or any tree nut products in the preparation of the food sold in our cafeteria. Our faculty and staff are trained and take great measures to ensure the safety of our children.

In addition, there are things that you and your children can do to help keep these specific children safe. In particular, please do not send food to school that “contain peanuts or tree nuts”, “may contain nuts”, “are made in a factory that processes peanuts”, or “are made in a facility that makes or processes tree nuts”. If your child eats peanut butter or any product containing tree nuts for breakfast, please have your child wash his/her hands and mouth thoroughly and brush their teeth after eating. This will help avoid contact with any peanut or tree nut residue, which can cause a potentially fatal reaction for a child with a peanut/tree nut allergy. Children who happen to bring a food item to school for lunch, and this item contains or may contain peanuts/tree nuts, will sit at a specifically designated peanut/tree nut table during their lunch period, and they are allowed to ask one friend (who is not allergic to peanuts/tree nuts) to sit with them. Please pack a wipe packet and stress to your children that they must wash their hands after eating their food containing peanuts/tree nuts. (Please note that hand sanitizer is available to all children. We also have a handwashing station in our Cafetorium.)

We are asking you to scrutinize labels and if there is ANY sign of peanuts/tree nuts, please do not bring the food items to the classroom. Our classrooms remain peanut/tree nut free. Any food item that is brought in must contain a label. We recognize that some of our children may have allergies to foods other than peanuts/tree nuts. Our BMPRSS nurses will send out specific information to those classes and grade levels so that everyone is mindful of any allergens. As such, we do NOT condone the sharing of food during lunch time or in the classroom.

For your convenience, we have attached a list of healthy food guidelines and suggestions. If you are sending in a food item not listed in these guidelines, you MUST send in the label. We have taken these measures to protect all of our students. We understand that this may be an inconvenience for many of you, but exposure can be life threatening to some. If you have any questions, you may contact the BMPRSS Health Office at ANY time: 914-937-3600 x2217 or via email rssnurse@blindbrook.org

Thank you for helping keep our children safe!

Tracy Taylor, Principal
Dr. Teresa Letizia, Assistant Principal
BMPRSS Health Office - rssnurse@blindbrook.org

Visitor Information

In our effort to maintain a safe and secure environment, all school visitors must enter through the school’s main entrance, provide a valid photo ID, sign in at the security desk, and wear an ORANGE VISITOR LANYARD while they are in the building. If you have a meeting with a teacher, staff member, or administrator, please enter through the Main Entrance as the security monitor will have a list of scheduled meetings.

Visitors will not be allowed in the building without a valid Photo ID and a scheduled meeting.

Disruptive Devices and Items

(This includes reference to the NYS Distraction-Free School Law)

At BMPRSS, we strive to create a learning environment where all of our bluebirds can engage fully with the world around them—learning, connecting, and growing together each day. To support a distraction-free environment, we are reminding families of our long-standing expectations around personal devices and disruptive items.

In alignment with New York State’s Distraction-Free Schools Law (NY Education Law § 2803), "Students cannot use devices like smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches (or any device accessing the internet) on school grounds from the start of the school day until the end, including all instructional and non-instructional time." This applies even if the internet or WiFi is turned off. These items must remain off and out of sight during school hours.

As outlined in our BMPRSS Family Guidebook, the following items have always been considered disruptive and should not be brought to school or on school grounds unless authorized by a member of the school staff or administration:

Smartwatches (including those that send/receive messages or connect to the internet)
Phones, tablets, iPods/iPads, hand-held video games
Toys or collectibles, such as Pokémon cards, trading cards, Silly Banz, etc.
Any item that resembles a weapon of any kind
Clickers or noise-making devices

Please note: This list is not exhaustive. Any item that disrupts the learning environment or poses a safety concern will not be allowed in school.

We appreciate your support in helping us maintain a focused and safe learning environment for all our bluebirds!

School Safety Drills

BMPRSS will begin to conduct all of our required fire drills and lockdown drills starting in September for the 2025-2026 school year. Families are required to receive notification of drills prior to the scheduled drills. If you have any questions about these drills, please contact Dr. Letizia - tletizia@blindbrook.org

Updating Emergency Contact Information

As part of our ongoing commitment to student safety, we are strongly encouraging all families to review and update their emergency contact information in eSchoolData. In the event of an emergency where we are unable to reach a parent or guardian, having accurate and comprehensive contact details is essential.

We kindly ask that you include anyone you trust who might serve as an emergency contact, such as a babysitter, family friend, or relative. Updating this information now ensures that we are prepared in case unforeseen circumstances require us to reach out to someone other than parents.

For your convenience, here is the information we have been sharing in the Weekly Highlights:

Log onto the eSchoolData Parent Portal and click on the name of your BMPRSS child.
Click the “Contact Verification” button below your child’s photo.
In the Guardian Information section:
- Ensure that each guardian is assigned a contact priority number. Priority numbers must begin at 1 and cannot be used more than once.
- Ensure that all listed phone numbers are accurate.
- Ensure that guardian email addresses are correct.
In the Emergency Contact Information section:
- Ensure the name and contact information for any adult (over the age of 18) who will be permitted to sign your child out in the case of an emergency.

Thank you for taking the time to keep this critical information up to date. If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thanks,

BMPRSS Administration, Faculty, and Staff

Blind Brook District Technology Resources for Families and Students

Please check out this link below for any tech resources that you need!

https://sites.google.com/blindbrook.org/technologyresourcesforparents/home

Also, please do not hesitate to contact our Technology Department if you need any assistance at ANY time:

Mr. Charles Von Hollen - cvonhollen@blindbrook.org

Mrs. Katie Gambino - kgambino@blindbrook.org

Mrs. Jen Vazquez - jvazquez@blindbrook.org

UPCOMING EVENTS

February 23 - March 2

Please bring in books for the Book Swap

It’s time for our annual Book Swap! Please bring your gently used, well-loved books to BMPRSS between February 23 and March 2. We are especially in need of chapter books for grades 3–5, but we gladly accept books for all ages!

Week of March 2nd

PARP (Pick a Reading Partner) Week

Guest readers in our classrooms and an author visit from Mackenzie Cadenhead!

March 4, 2026

Early Release Day - Student dismissal at 1:30 pm

Professional Development Afternoon for Faculty

All BMPRSS students will be dismissed at 1:30 pm to allow time for our faculty to participate in professional development

Week of March 9th

Book Swap

During the week of March 9th, students will visit the Book Swap and “swap” their books for different ones they would like to read. Any books remaining after the Book Swap will be donated to an organization that helps put books into the hands of children.

March 10, 2026

Flamenco Performance for 3rd Grade Families

7:00 pm

BMPRSS Cafetorium

All guests must wear a wristband for entry to the event. Wristbands will be distributed in advance of the performance. This event is for 3rd grade families only. A livestream option will also be available for those who are unable to attend in person.

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