HBE Principal's Page

A Message From Your Principal

Welcome to HBE!

Dear HBE Students and Families,

Welcome to Nial A. Hamilton Bicentennial Elementary school, affectionately known as HBE. It is with the utmost honor that I begin a second school year as the Principal of HBE. For those who are new to our building, I am proud to say that I was a student here at HBE, a teacher, a parent of two HBE students, and am now the building administrator. HBE has been a place that “I call home” for over 39 years and I welcome you to be a part of our “home”. 

Here at HBE, we value our students' social-emotional well being and put great emphasis on our character education program. This year’s character education theme is “Candyland… HBE Has Sweet Traits.” Each month, our program will focus on teaching the students the meaning of a different character trait and how to utilize that trait inside and outside of HBE. To go along with our character education program, this year we are launching a new PBIS program! PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. This past summer a district team met to come up with the “Port Pride 5”- To Be Your Best: Be Kind, Be Honest, Be Responsible, Be Respectful and Be Involved. Here at HBE, we are going to use Bicentennial Bucks, our school currency, to positively reward students for following our District Port Pride 5! 

Our school continues to focus on strong curriculum and foundational skills that we teach through the Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Project and the NYS Math standards through Eureka Math.  We put a strong emphasis on STREAM (Science, Technology, Robotics, Engineering, Arts, Math) activities within the school day, before and after school programs, as well as our summer enrichment learning. 

We are excited to continue our zero-hour morning PE and Yoga program this school year and really focus on getting students up and moving throughout the school day. 

Our school is proud to be able to provide each student with a personal technology device to use throughout the school day. Our teachers continue to engage students in learning by designing lessons through a variety of online platforms and applications. 

Our office staff and core team are available to answer any questions that you might have or to discuss individual student needs. Please stay in communication and be a part of our HBE family along with your student. 

HBE… the place to Be! 

Sincerely,
Emily Mesnick