Update from Dr. Hattar

June 8, 2026

I hope this letter finds you well and enjoying the final weeks of the school year.  As we prepare for the upcoming school year, I wanted to provide you with an important update regarding our Crompond Principal search.  We are pleased to announce Mr. Scott Saperstein will be recommended to be the new Principal of Crompond School.  After a very thorough and rigorous search process, which included multiple rounds of committee interviews and performance tasks, Mr. Saperstein was our top choice.  

Mr. Saperstein joins us with tremendous experience as a sitting principal currently in the Miami-Dade Schools.  His experience is extremely impressive, and he was equally impressive throughout the entire interview process.  I look forward to working closely with him in support of the excellent work happening at Crompond.

In the interim, please continue to reach out to Ms. Samet with any questions or needs that you or your child have.  Mr. Curran has also rejoined our Crompond administrative team for the month of June to ensure a smooth transition, and he can serve as a resource to families and students as well.  

Congratulations YHS Flag Football

Congratulations to our Varsity Flag Football team on capturing the program’s first NYS Championship in school history!  We are so incredibly proud of this extraordinary team for all that they have achieved this year.  Congratulations to Coach Rescigno and all of the student-athletes and coaches for this historic championship.

Summer Academic Programs

Our extended school year (ESY) program begins on July 1 and our summer reading programs begin on July 6.  All summer programs will take place at YHS, and we are pleased to have an SRO on campus for our summer programs.  We look forward to another wonderful summer with students, faculty, and staff.  I thank the faculty and staff who will be teaching this summer and providing our students with another excellent learning experience.   

Summer Construction and Traffic Updates

Our construction projects at Brookside, Mohansic, and the MS/HS fields will continue into the summer.  The projects all remain on time and within budget.  

If visiting our school campuses over the summer, we ask that you exercise caution as large construction vehicles will be on the campus.  For your safety and the safety of our students and staff, we ask that you respect a 15 mph speed limit, follow all traffic patterns, and follow the directions of any traffic personnel on all school campuses.  In addition, we ask that you not arrive much prior to the start time of your child’s program when dropping off your child for any summer programs.  

Communications

We have made incredible growth in our communications in recent years.  Our website, newsletters, videos, and social media pages continue to provide our community with timely and important updates.  We will continue sharing information and providing our school community with updates throughout the summer.  Please visit our website as often as you are able as updates will be posted often.   

If you have previously sent an email to faculty/staff/administrators, and have not received a response after 24-48 hours, please follow up with another email and phone call.  We have enhanced and elevated our network security systems to safeguard our computer networks and student data; however, at times this results in legitimate emails not making it through our web filtering.  I apologize in advance if this has resulted in any delays in receiving/responding to emails. 

Bus Stop Arm Cameras

We unfortunately continue to see a high number of vehicles passing stopped school buses with their red lights flashing.  This was our first year of our implementation, and I am hopeful that we will see a sharp decline in violations for the upcoming school year.  Passing a school bus that is loading and unloading children is dangerous and illegal.  

End of Year Calendar

Please be sure to visit the building and district calendar on our website for important calendar updates. Of particular note are the following:

• Schools are closed on Friday, June 19 in observance of Juneteenth;

• Our elementary schools will follow an early dismissal schedule on the final three days of the school year (June 24-26).  On these early dismissal days, Crompond will dismiss at 11:05 a.m. and Brookside/Mohansic will dismiss at 11:50 a.m.

• The MS and HS have shared their respective end of year and testing schedules directly with families. 

As a reminder, due to the late Labor Day, coupled with the calendar requirements from NYSED, students’ first day of classes for next school year will be Wednesday, September 2, 2026 (prior to Labor Day).  Our full 2026-27 calendar is posted to our website for your review.    

Closing Thought

Our school district experienced extraordinary achievements this year in nearly every area of our organization.  Our students are amazing!  Our district won a national Promising Practice Award for our Superintendent’s Student Council this year--our second national Promising Practice Award in two years and third overall.  Academically, our students continue to excel.  Three out of 300 nationally recognized Regeneron Science Talent Search students were from Yorktown High School.  We had three students qualify for the International Science and Engineering Fair last month in Arizona, with two students finishing 4th in the world for their research in their respective categories.  We also had a National Merit Scholar and several Commended Students.  And so many more academic honors--too many to list.  

Athletically, we had several teams make deep playoff runs, with several section championships (boys lacrosse, boys golf, boys volleyball, girls volleyball, wrestling, flag football), a state championship (flag football), and dozens of students being recognized as all-league and/or all-section athletes.  On the stage, our students continue to do phenomenal things.  Our band, dance, orchestra, and theater programs have been excellent, with Yorktown being named one of the Best Communities for Music Education for the second year in a row.

Beyond the extraordinary accomplishments of our students, perhaps what is most impressive to me are the individual success stories of our students.  I have spoken to many, many students and families this year.  They have shared some fantastic accomplishments from this year that may not be publicized but are incredibly meaningful and important.  I have spoken to students who were celebrating being accepted to the college they were hoping to attend, students who pitched a great game in their youth baseball game, students who advocated for a change to our lunch menu and saw that change come to fruition, students who have worked hard to raise their grades, students who learned to read in our kindergarten program, and so many other examples of individual student success stories.  I have enjoyed sharing in those moments throughout the course of this year, and I look forward to celebrating even more student achievements next school year.

We have added incredible programs for students during the last several years (robotics, aeronautics, engineering, Advanced Placement and elective courses, ESTEAM learning opportunities, instruction in AI, ASL, new sports teams and clubs, and much, much more).  Our students have flourished in these programs.  At the same time, we have managed to have the 4th lowest average tax levy increase in all of Westchester and Putnam Counties over the last nine years (click here for the tax levy data).  We look forward to building on our district’s success and adding even more opportunities for our students next year! 

I wish you a terrific remainder of the week.  As always, I thank you for your continued support of our excellent school district! 

Sincerely,
Dr. Ron Hattar