Behind-the-Scenes: Garden City Schools Employee Spotlight

This month's Behind-the-Scenes: Employee Spotlight is focused on Michael Caparella, Locust School physical education teacher:

“Mr. Caparella has been an employee of the Garden City School District since 1984,” explained Locust principal Jean Ricotta. “He is a physical education teacher who has taught in all three primary schools, as well as the middle school. In addition to his teaching commitment, Mr. Caparella has coached basketball in the middle school and currently coaches middle school baseball and girls soccer.

“Mr. Caparella is a loyal and committed educator with an extremely strong work ethic. ‘Mr. C’ has a perfect attendance record for the past few years. He keeps current in his teaching methodology by attending conferences that expand his content knowledge. He has taken classes on yoga, dance and ‘kiddie zumba,’ which he now includes in his instructional program.

“A respected faculty member, Mr. Caparella had a leadership role in planning the morning exercise program for the primary schools, and shares his knowledge with his colleagues. He initiated a physical education unit in the primary schools known as ‘Survivor Island,’ and in recognition of this successful and extremely popular program, has been invited to host a consortium meeting in collaboration with Nassau BOCES to demonstrate this unit.

“He is actively involved in sharing his expertise with others in his field, as exemplified by his much sought-after cooperating teacher status from local universities. Additionally, college professors frequently bring their physical education classes to the district to observe his teaching techniques.

“Mr. Caparella’s caliber of instruction, dedication to his students and his expertise make him one of our most valued and respected faculty members,” Principal Ricotta concluded. “He is always a team player and goes above and beyond his expected performance and assignments.”

Submitted by the Garden City School District