School No. 1 Kindergartners Take Part in Fort Lee Thanksgiving Tradition

The elementary school's annual “Kindergarten Feast” dates back many years

Students across the Fort Lee School District enjoyed an early dismissal Wednesday, as Thanksgiving recess began, but not before many of them got a chance to celebrate the holiday with their friends and classmates. At Fort Lee School No. 1, for example, an estimated 100 people filled the “all purpose room” for the annual Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast, a Fort Lee tradition dating back many years—longer than most in attendance could remember. “I’ve been teaching 36 years, and we’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember,” School No. 1 Kindergarten teacher Leslie Engleberg told Patch. The feast, sponsored by the school’s PTA, included parents of some of the children, six Kindergarten teachers, school administrators, five classes of …

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Fort Lee Schools One-On-One

Lady Bridgemen Head Basketball Coach On Teaching Kindergarten

Fort Lee School No. 1’s Stacie Zafiris also coaches varsity softball

Stacie Zafiris is a Kindergarten teacher at Fort Lee School No. 1. She’s also the head coach of the Fort Lee Lady Bridgemen varsity basketball team and an assistant coach with the varsity softball team. “For most people hearing that, it is definitely a little bit unusual,” Zafiris said. “But what most people don’t know about me is that I actually student taught at the high school in 2004. So I actually wanted to originally teach History to high school students.” A senior in college at the time, Zafiris said there were no openings at the high school when she graduated in 2005 so she started substitute teaching in the Fort Lee School District and in Tenafly and coaching basketball in Tenafly. After making the rounds as a substitute teacher …

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Fort Lee Schools One-On-One

From Clear Channel To The Classroom: Fort Lee’s Newest Kindergarten Teacher

Karen Simone was hired as a full-time teacher at School No. 1 in late August, when increased enrollment prompted the need for a fifth Kindergarten teacher at the school

Fort Lee School No. 1 teacher Karen Simone, who was approved by the Fort Lee Board of Education at the end of August as the school’s fifth Kindergarten teacher, may be new to her classroom, but she’s definitely not new to the school district. In fact, she’s a product of the Fort Lee School system, having attended School No. 4, Fort Lee Middle School and Fort Lee High School, from which she graduated in 2000. Recently married and now living in Palisades Park, Simone was born in Brooklyn and also lived briefly in North Bergen, but she said she considers Fort Lee home. Simone has also worked in the school district for the past couple of years, having substituted for extended periods for teachers on maternity or medical leave after making the …

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