Mastic Beach, NY - September 1, 2016 - Prior to the opening of the new school year, the William Floyd School District held its annual New Teacher Institute, a series of professional development workshops for the district’s new and non-tenured teachers, which includes a bus tour through the communities of Shirley, Moriches, Mastic and Mastic Beach, to learn about the area’s rich history; and for those who do not live locally, become familiarized with the neighborhoods in which their students reside.
Teachers are driven through the district’s residential neighborhoods and get a highly informative lesson on the vast history of the community by William Floyd High School history teacher, Ron Gross. The approximately 90-minute tour also includes locations such as Smith Point County Park, the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge, the TWA Flight 800 Memorial and the William Floyd Estate, ancestral home of William Floyd, one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, and much more.