Local special ed. teacher wins DOE’s Big Apple Award
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.28 COM | SEPT. 4-SEPT. 10, 2020
was the only Queens
teacher among 19 teachers
to receive the award.
Awardees will be Big
Apple Fellows, meaning
they will have the opportunity
to meet monthly
and serve on Carranza’s
Teacher Advisory
Group.
District 28 Superintendent
Dr. Tammy Pete,
said Bellomo’s students
“are made to feel like
they are contributing
to their communities
because they are truly
prepped for the world
after high school. These
students do not just gain
life skills though, they
also gain the confidence
they need to succeed in
the world.”
In Bellomo’s culinary
arts class, students learn
the practical skills they
need for everyday life,
such as how to shop for
groceries, prepare meals
and do laundry. Fellow
co-teacher Jessica Forster
takes students grocery
shopping to nearby
stores so they can learn
how to create shopping
lists and find what
they’re looking for.
These are necessary
skills to build the confidence
to navigate life after
high school, as most
of her students won’t go
on to college.
Bellomo also runs the
Edison Café, where her
students cook breakfasts
and lunches that teachers
and fellow students
can purchase.
“Our goal was to create
a program that would
allow our intellectually
disabled students to
develop the skills that
they need in the cooking
industry and in the
restaurant industry, but
also give them the communication
skills that
they would need to succeed
after high school,”
she said.
Bellomo explained
that the Edison Café allows
students to learn
more social skills as they
interact with customers
as well as gain money
management skills.
Shanique Diaz said
her son, Nelson, was a
student at Thomas Edison
for five years, where
he attended Bellomo’s
culinary arts class. Diaz
said the program taught
him what he needed to
adapt his skills into life
outside of school.
“He has developed a
passion for the kitchen
at home and likes to help
me cook,” Diaz said. “He
knows that it is very important
to learn how to
cook so that he can feed
himself and others. Independently,
Nelson likes
to make paninis, quesadillas,
sliders, salads,
breakfast, soup, cookies
and cakes. As Nelson
continues to develop
and grow from what he
has learned, he looks
forward to opening up a
family restaurant in the
near future.”
Bellomo contributed
support during the transition
to remote learning
in March by participating
in the Remote Learning
Committee, advocating
for ISS teachers and
students, and serving as
an Academic Intervention
Support Teacher
to assist many self-contained
students in a oneon
one setting.
Bellomo said plans for
their culinary arts program
for the upcoming
school year were still in
the works, as they awaited
the DOE’s much-anticipated
guidelines for the
fall. Mayor Bill de Blasio
and Chancellor Carranza
announced the 2020-21
school reopening plan
amid the COVID-19 pandemic
in the first week of
August, which includes
a blended learning model,
socially distanced
classrooms, mandatory
masks, widely available
testing and a contact
tracing program.
Bellomo anticipates
it “might be difficult” to
figure out how to instruct
their hands-on and often
group lessons for their
culinary program with
new COVID-19 social distancing
guidelines. DOE
policy already required
no more than 15 students
per class, before the pandemic.
In the months following
the city’s schools
closures in order to slow
the spread of the virus,
Bellomo created a userfriendly
experience for
her 13 culinary arts students
by providing audio,
visual and text resources
for all the lessons.
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Nicole Bellomo is
known for developing a
personal relationship
with each and every one
of her students at Thomas
A. Edison Career and
Technical Education
High School in Jamaica.
Bellomo, who’s taught
at Thomas Edison for 10
years, earned the Department
of Education’s
prestigious Big Apple
Award for her exemplary
work as a history and culinary
arts teacher in the
public school’s Instructional
Support Services
(ISS) department.
The winners for the
eighth annual awards
were announced as a surprise
during a Zoom call
about remote learning at
the end of the school year
with teachers and principals,
which included
Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza singing
them a congratulatory
song.
“It was something I
was not expecting,” Bellomo
said. “It was really,
really surprising. And it
was pretty awesome.”
The Big Apple Awards
are a citywide recognition
program that’s open
to all full-time teachers
in New York City public
schools. The awards are
made possible in part by
private support through
the Fund for Public
Schools, which provides
classroom grants to all
recipients. Teachers can
be nominated by fellow
staff members, students
and parents, and then
have an application process
that includes an interview
with the school
district’s superintendent.
Out of 6,000 nominations
this year, Bellomo
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