New Haven Public Schools
Excellence in Education
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Erik Patchkofsky, Physical Education, Health, and Athletics Department Director: Elm City Bowl Is Back!
Last year, because of the pandemic we had no football at all, no volleyball, except outside. We were able to go to a full sports schedule this fall for all our teams.
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New Teachers, New Forces
This school year, five new physical education teachers joined the New Haven Public school community. They are: Amil John (New Haven Academy), Talia Loda (Nathan Hale School), Marykate Van Sant (Truman School), and Nicholas Moshier (John Daniels School), Jacob Weisslender (Beecher School). Please welcome them to the district, and let’s see who they are:
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Nate Russell: Former Dropout, Now Three Times Champion
The best teachers lead by example. The example that Nathan Russel sets for his students at Riverside Academy is rather remarkable. Being a physical education teacher, he is also a mixed martial arts champion. He recently won his 3rd belt at Cage Titans 49, one of the biggest MMA promotions in New England and has 2 other championship belts from other promotions. He is the number one ranked amateur fighter in his weight class in the northeast. We met with Nate in his office at Riverside, and here is his story.
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Covid-19 Contact Tracing: Who, When and Why
Covid-19 has had devastating consequences on the economy and human lives, eliminating thousands of jobs. Ironically, it also created brand new ones. Although, according to the CDC, the job of a pandemic contact tracer is not necessarily new, admittedly, most of us never heard about it before the pandemic.
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Health Education: Things To Remember This Year
This school year we continue to teach the Michigan Model for Health curriculum. All the materials (teacher manuals, worksheets and videos) had been posted on Google Drive for ease of access; please visit this page to see the links.
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District Basketball Faces: Catrina Hawley-Stewart
As we approach the middle of our winter season, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight one of our coaches. As you may know, high school coaches work long hours for little pay and the job is year round. Many coaches are on-call as a mentor to their athletes 24 hours a day.
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Paula McGovern: Living Life on Life’s Terms
Meet Paula McGovern (Economopoulos) , a physical education teacher at New Haven Academy. She has been with the district for over 30 years! She is the mom of three - two boys and one girl. Her daughter is a high school student. Her sons graduated from college and are now successfully employed.
She founded the Special Olympics Unified sports program for the City of New Haven, and has been running it for a number of years. Paula is currently enrolled in nursing school and plans to work in a health setting when she retires from NHPS. She doesn't mind working as a waitress in the summer. She is also coaching at Hamden Hall school. And she is teaming up with her younger co-worker/teacher to play basketball with the kids in the gym class! If you need an example of an active and involved life, then there it is! I met with her in her NHS office and sat in the gym watching her teach and play with the students. Here are some glimpses of my conversation with her that you might find interesting. -
New Haven Lions: We Are Here to Serve
Face masks, hand sanitizer wipes, winter hats and gloves - all in all 57 boxes of these goods were delivered to the Field House last week. This generous donation became possible thanks to the efforts of the New Haven Lions Club and Yale University. The supplies will be distributed to the schools that need them most, they are both for teachers and for students. The supplies are organized in kits. There are two boxes of N95 masks for teachers as well.
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Take a Break With Us!
Did you know that:
only one in four US adults gets the recommended levels of physical activity;
low levels of physical activity are associated with $117 billion in health care costs every year;
physical inactivity can contribute to heart disease, type II diabetes, cancers, and obesity;
there are Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans developed and recommended by the CDC;
according to these guidelines, you are considered physically inactive if you are “not getting any moderate- or vigorous intensity physical activity beyond basic movement from daily life activities”;
even short bouts of physical activity can improve health and wellness.
