Peconic Community School was thrilled to march in the North Fork’s Inaugural Pride Parade and Festival in Greenport, Saturday, June 24th. Before school let out, PCS created a three part rainbow banner emblazoned with phrases of support for the LGBTQ+ community(“We Say Gay,” “We’re proud of who you are,” “You are loved,”)to carry in the parade. Naturally, it was a big hit that Saturday and got lots of press, including being featured prominently by the Suffolk Times both on their website and in print! Students also made handmade signs that passed out to marchers as they lined up for the parade.

We’re so grateful to have been invited to participate by organizers, LGBT Network of Long Island and Lori Panarello of Craft Hair. The day brought a huge outpouring of support and energy from a crowd of hundreds of friends, neighbors, business owners and community members, and it was a beautiful event to be a part of. We’re already looking forward to next year!

Read more:“Greenport’s North Fork Pride Parade honors LGBTQ Community,” The Suffolk Times, June 26, 2023.

Peconic Community School was honored to be invited to present at this year’s 2023 National Small Schools Conference in Philadelphia, June 21-24 at The Crefeld School.

NSSC is a small conference for leaders, educators, and consultants of small schools. Each year, 60-80 people from around the country convene in Philadelphia to experience renowned speakers and presenters, and share their unique experiences and perspectives from a small school.

Co-Executive Director, Kathryn Casey Quigley, and Director of Teaching and Learning, Shannon Timoney, presented on PCS’s much revered end-of-trimester Celebrations of Learning. Their presentation, “Celebrating Learning: A Culminating Community Experience,”was met by an enthusiastic, packed audience of educators and leaders and was even referenced in other presentations throughout the conference!

PCS is grateful for the opportunity to learn alongside other small school leaders and educators and make connections with other progressive schools in the Northeast.

After 15 months of preparation, reflection, and rigorous assessment,PCS has been granted a full 10-year accreditation from the New York State Association of Independent Schools!This is a monumental achievement for PCS, and we could not be more thrilled or more proud of our community for their hard work and dedication to this effort and the school.

Achieving accreditation as a young, growing school is a powerful validation of the meaningful, rigorous child-centered learning that happens at PCS and a testament to the impact of our mission and vision.We're so grateful to our entire staff who worked tirelessly on the accreditation process this year and, in particular, to Shannon Timoney, Director of Teaching and Learning, who led the effort with clarity, precision and care.

And, of course, this is achievement was only possible because of the trust, support and spirit so generously shared with PCS by our community of families, friends and supporters over the past twelve years.

East End Beacon covers PCS’s presentation of the school’s plans for the new downtown Cutchogue campus, slated to open Fall 2023. The school’s founders, sisters Liz Casey Searl and Kathryn Casey Quigley, gave an overview of their plans to the Cutchogue Civic Association at the Civic Association’s inaugural meeting, before a packed house at the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Library Nov. 28.

Read more:“Peconic Community School Plans to Grow in Cutchogue,” East End Beacon, December 3, 2022.

The Suffolk Times covers PCS co-founders’ and co-directors’ Liz Casey Searl’s and Kathryn Casey Quigley’s recent presentation to the Cutchogue Civic Association regarding the school’s plans for the soon-to-be-acquired Sacred Heart campus on Main Road in Cutchogue. The sisters were warmly received with excitement and enthusiasm by the nearly fifty person crowd at Cutchogue New Suffolk Library.

Read more: “Civic Group’s Launch Packs Library as Peconic Community School Presents Plans for Sacred Heart Site,” Suffolk Times, December 1, 2022.

Check out PCS’s feature in Independent School Magazine, published by the National Association of Independent Schools. PCS is profiled in the article about small school sustainability. Co-director Kathryn Casey Quigley discusses PCS’s strategies for maintaining accessibility, securing quality faculty and promoting growth.Read more:“The Sustainability of Small Schools,” Independent School, Fall 2022.

Video feature about PCS’s Wellness Facilitator, Jovan Booker, and his path to the 2022 Amputee Soccer World Cup tournament in Turkey.

Watch it here: Newsday.com, Long Island, October 2022.

Cofounder and co-director Liz Casey Searl was live in conversation with local bloggers Sunita of @nofostyle, Kelly of @nofoendlesssummer and Tracy of @ms.tracykessler about the history, approach and future of Peconic Community School, as well as living and learning on the East End of Long Island. Friday, September 30, 2022.

Watch the replay here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh6ihdzGkqk

“Peconic Community School is in contract to purchase the 10.2 acre Sacred Heart R.C. Church campus in Cutchogue, the school announced. The private school which educates more than 100 students in pre-K through 8th grade, intends to make the new property its permanent home beginning in fall 2023.“Read more at: Suffolk Times: “Peconic Community School to Purchase Sacred Heart Campus in Cutchogue.”

PCS Upper Primary journalists are back at it again! For their second feature in The Northforker, UP writers offer support and suggestions to other kids coping with social distancing on the North Fork. Check it out below:

read more at:The Northforker: “Kids’ Advice for Making the Most of Social Distancing,” May 2, 2020.

PCS co-director Liz Casey Searl authored a Guest Column in The Suffolk Times in which she talks about the challenges of raising "Screenagers," and our imperative responsibility as parents and educators to teach children online citizenry.
"Technology is here to stay," Liz writes, "and is a tool with many benefits and advantages for adults and young people alike. But its very power is what makes our responsibility to prepare and supervise our children that much more urgent."
Liz introduces PCS's digital citizenry initiative and invites the community to join us at PCS for a viewing of "SCREENAGERS: Growing Up in the Digital Age," March 27th at 7pm.
"We spend our children’s early years helping them learn how to share, how to be kind, how to use good manners and how to help others," Liz writes. "We now need to teach our kids how to apply these very same ideas to their digital life. We owe it to them to help them learn these skills and we owe it to society at large."

read more at:The Suffolk Times, “The Challenge of Raising "‘Screenagers,’” February 23, 2020.

Have you been looking for a great place to eat on the North Fork that both you and your kids can love?

Who better to ask for a review about family-friendly restaurants than kids themselves?

There are many great restaurants to eat at on the North Fork, but students at Peconic Community School in Aquebogue rounded up four favorites that are hits with both grownups and kids.

Here’s what they had to say, in their own words.

read more:northforker:“孩子分享他们最喜欢的Fork Restaurants,” January 15, 2020.

Around age 5, Lea Rodger of Greenport, now 11, would tell anyone she ran into that she would be an entomologist when she grew up. People would be like, ‘How does she know that word?’ ” her mother, Danielle Rodger, recalled. “Lea has always been very connected with the environment — with nature, animals.” The environmentally conscious sixth-grader has organized “Fight for the Climate,” a Riverhead protest to raise awareness and promote climate action. It will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11, outside the Long Island Aquarium.

read more at:The Suffolk Times: “Sixth Grader Organizes ‘Fight for the Climate’ Rally in Riverhead, January 9, 2020.

PCS facilitator Shannon Timoney authors a guest column in The Suffolk Times about the response she has seen in her Upper Primary students after their recent challenging work confronting Long Island’s history with enslavement.

Read more at:“Learning and caring go hand in had,” The Suffolk TimesNovember 9, 2019.

“Students from Peconic Community School in Aquebogue celebrated International Day of Peace on September 21 by asking themselves, “What is peace?” The school’s Upper Primary class pondered the meaning of peace and wrote their thoughts about it on photographs of their hands creating the peace sign.”

read more at:The Independent: “Peace Happens” at PCS, September 25, 2018.

PCS will honor Joe Mc Kay at their annual event,SHARE: Building Community Through Scholarship on August 12th at Hallockville Museum Farm.Tickets are $150 and go towards providing scholarships for students at the school.

Long-time PCS friend, advisor and supporter, Joe Mc Kay is also a community leader, teacher, writer, speaker and advocate for life-long education and the environment. Joe has lived on the North Fork for 35 years, having moved here full time after retiring in 1993. Joe is an activist in the community, and has become a great friend and leader, not only to PCS, but to countless people and organizations across the East End.

Peconic Community School is thrilled to be honoring Joe because his work, his values and his approach to living on the East End align so perfectly with Peconic Community School’s mission and vision. We look forward to celebrating him alongside many of his friends and family not only for his support of PCS, but for his exemplary leadership on the North Fork, and for modeling a life of constant learning and humble citizenship.

read more at:Press Release: Joe Mc Kay to be Honored at 2018 SHARE:Building Community Through Scholarship.

"There aren’t many alternatives to the public schools on the North Fork. Until 2012, when the世界杯2022年c罗opened, there were only a few private options, all of them with religious affiliations.

Liz Casey Searl, who grew up in Mattituck, a town halfway between Riverhead and Greenport, started the school with her sister and another local parent when her own children were school age. 'It’s not that the public schools aren’t good,” she said. “It’s just that some of us wanted something different.'”

read more at:

The New York Times: When the Weekend House Becomes a Full-Time Home, November 24, 2017.

"Third-grade students on the North Fork have become “crazy about words” thanks to a collaborative program between Peconic Landing residents and local citizens that gifts children with a personalized dictionary.

More than 420 third-grade students at 10 schools from Aquebogue to Shelter Island will get a copy of A Student’s Dictionary and Gazetteer this year thanks to Peconic Landing resident Joe McKay, who coordinated the effort."

read more at:

Southold Local: Peconic Landing Group Donates Dictionaries to North Fork Students, December 14, 2017.

"My name is Paola Florez and I am a co-teacher for early childhood. I’m also the Spanish teacher for the entire school, so that would be early childhood through sixth grade, at Peconic Community School.

There’s no typical day, really. My routine would be, before the children come in, to come into the classroom and set it up. Throughout the day it’s really a matter of attending and supporting the children’s needs and their journey through discovery."

read more at:

河源新闻评论:我们所做的工作:Paola凝花z, Peconic Community School, September 17, 2018.

"The Peconic Community School held their second annual Maker’s Fair, a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, on March 25.

Weaving through the Aquebogue school building from surprise to surprise, through environments of ideas and play, each individual booth was run by somebody who came there because they loved what they did."

read more at:

East End Beacon: Peconic Community School Meets the Makers, March 30, 2017