The health department looks quite different this year with three teachers joining the team for the 2025-2026 school year.
Starting in September 2025, Ceire Barnes, Cassie Leone, and Melissa Read took on the positions left by the retirees. Each of these three teachers came to CHS with their own experiences in teaching health.
Barnes began her teaching career in Montgomery County, Maryland, before moving back to Long Island to raise her child.
“Then I came back after we had our first baby and I taught at Smithtown West for half a year and now I’m here,” said Barnes.
Barnes emphasizes the value of health education and wants to provide her students with positive life experiences.
“This is really our final opportunity to get health [education] before you enter the real world, so even though we’re having so much fun here, […] what we do in these classes is so important to you and your overall wellbeing,” said Barnes.
Leone previously student taught at Commack Middle School with Assistant Principal Andrea Allen. She now finds herself back in the district as a full time health and physical education teacher, after teaching at Mount Vernon High School and an elementary school in the Three Village School District.
“It was [a] very long commute and then having a family I wanted to be home earlier. So when I was able to have an opportunity to teach on Long Island I jumped at it,” said Leone.
Teaching health at the elementary level compared to the high school level has its differences, which Leone has been able to observe first-hand during her career.
“I just feel like the material in health class is just easier to teach at the high school level because the students are more mature, they’re more willing to be a part [of] and engage in the material, and I feel like they can relate to it a little bit better. Elementary is more like basic information. [It’s] very different teaching kindergarten then 10th [grade],” said Leone.
Read had been in the Commack School District for around twenty three years. This year, she returned to the high school after eight years of teaching “Movement in the Arts” at Wood Park, Rolling Hills, and Sawmill.
“All three health teachers retired last year, so some people in the department are dual-certified [to teach] health and phys ed., not everyone is. I’m one of the people that is, so they asked if I could come back,” said Read.
Read, like Leone, has gotten to experience the differences between teaching elementary school students and high schoolers.
“[It’s] very, very different. I like both, but for different reasons. But you can’t even compare, it’s like night and day. Five year-olds running around, happy all the time versus high school kids that sometimes are half sleeping first and second period, that’s when I have health. But [there’s] pros and cons to both sides,” said Read.
As Barnes and Leone adjust to the building, Read remains a familiar face for students on her Varsity Lacrose team. ◼️
