A Showstopping Superintendent's Conference Day

Returning Sayville Public Schools staff were treated to a memorable keynote address during Superintendent’s Conference Day on Tuesday, September 5.  

Sayville Schools Superintendent Marc Ferris ended his keynote address with a bang, surprising the staff with an exciting musical number set to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” retitled, “Don’t Stop Us Now.”   

After finishing up his speech about the district’s five-year strategic plan, Dr. Ferris was “interrupted” on stage by music teacher, Mr. Fred Diekmann who asked how much longer the speech was going to go on for.  As the audience laughed, Dr. Ferris responded, “Well, I’m trying to wrap it up but I want to end it with an inspirational send-off."

Mr. Diekmann suggested that music can be very inspirational before walking to sit at a piano in the corner of the stage. After a fun back and forth, Dr. Ferris began to sing the opening lines of “Don’t Stop Us Now.” 

As he continued, the curtain on the stage was pulled to reveal a band of teachers behind Mr. Diekmann. The band consisted of High School Math Teacher Mr. Christopher Surrusco on drums, High School Art Teacher Mr. Evan Hammer on bass guitar and High School Music Teacher Mr. Brenden Caroppoli on electric guitar.     

As the audience cheered, another surprise came from within the crowd.

Lincoln Avenue Music Teacher Ms. Christine Cirillo got out of her seat and joined Dr. Ferris onstage to continue the song. 

From there, the surprises kept coming.  

Music teachers Ms. Amy Baron, Ms. Karen DiMartino, and Ms. Kristi Woerner joined Ms. Cirillo onstage to perform backup. Next, students of all grade levels joined the teachers onstage to add to the chorus of the song. Behind Ms. Cirillo, members of the dance team came center stage to add their dance moves to the song.  

During the iconic “I’m a rocket ship on my way to Mars,” lyric, Lincoln Avenue Principal Mr. Dominic Armano and Elementary Administrator Mr. Scott Bullis pushed an actual "rocket ship" carrying all three elementary mascots across the stage.

Finally, members of the high school band, led by Mrs. Kerri VanBoxel, joined everyone onstage for a festive finale which led to a rousing applause and standing ovation from the audience.