NB Health Teacher Partners with Jericho Schools To Empower Young Women
Under the leadership of high school teacher Ms. Fran Weiss, North Babylon has been working with Jericho High School to empower young women to be successful and independent. Ms. Weiss teaches a women's health class at North Babylon High School entitled Contemporary Issues in Women's Health - Empowering Young Women with Knowledge and Skills for Living. When she learned about the work Ms. Marie Salerno was doing with young women thorough an organization she started called the Jericho Project for the Advancement of Women (JPAW), which was featured last August in "Newsday," Ms Weiss invited Ms. Salerno to be a guest speaker in her health class. What ensued was mutual admiration as Ms. Weiss and her students were impressed with Ms. Salerno, and Ms. Salerno was impressed with the curriculum that Ms. Weiss had developed for North Babylon students. As a result, Ms. Salerno went back to her Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Henry Grishman, who contacted Ms. Weiss and asked her to come to nationally ranked Jericho High School to meet with him and discuss the ways in which his district could establish a similar program. Mr. Grishman then sent representatives of the Jericho Schools to North Babylon High School in February to observe Ms. Weiss' course in progress. That same day, Fios went to the high school and videotaped part of the class session that day and aired the taping as part of a news segment produced by Fios on Outstanding School Programs.
As a result of their collaboration, Ms. Salerno and Ms. Weiss have become friends and have been working together continually to find ways to pool their knowledge and resources to empower the young women in both North Babylon High School and Jericho High School. With the help of Dr. Joan Colvin, Jericho's Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance, and Ms. Denise Romano, the Lead Health Teacher, both Ms. Weiss and Ms. Salerno have scheduled the first Young Women and Finance Workshop. The workshop will be held on June 3rd at Jericho High School and will be conducted by Dr. Colvin. The participants will be young women from Ms. Weiss' Women's Health classes together with young women from Jericho High School and this groundbreaking event will be covered by the media.
Ms. Weiss has distinguished herself with her vision for the empowerment of young women and, as a result of her innovative curriculum, North Babylon students are certainly expanding their horizons
