Poughkeepsie, NY- Vacations, wine tastings, Yankee tickets and one-of-a-kind student-produced art are among the more than 240 items on the auction block at Poughkeepsie Day School's Spring Fling on Saturday, April 5. The fundraiser includes live, "almost live" and silent auctions, the proceeds of which benefit the Town of Poughkeepsie independent school.

Among the "hottest" offerings are tickets and back-stage passes to Broadway's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, starring Poughkeepsie Day School alumni parent and acclaimed actor James Earl Jones; a weekend stay for four at Kerhonkson's Pinegrove Ranch and Family Resort; a behind-the-scenes look at the Marist Polling Institute with its director and Poughkeepsie Day School alumnus and trustee Lee Miringoff; and a private tour of the new world headquarters for Orange County Choppers, home of the Discovery Channel's popular reality show.

Says Sandra Moore, the school's director of development and communications, the annual fundraiser brings together not only the immediate members of the school community, like Nestor Madalengotia and Elayne Seaman, who have donated work, as well as variety of area merchants, restaurateurs and other area business people who are supporting the school's efforts. She notes that this year's event features the popular cover band The Big Smoothies and CIA-inspired cuisine, courtesy of Holy Smokes Barbecue & Catering of Fishkill and adds that, many of the auction items are "specifically designed to be family friendly and to offer unique experiences that will be remembered for a lifetime."

Tickets are $100/person and can be purchased by calling 845-462-7600, ext. 109. For more information, click here.

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted. Click here for directions to the school. For more information on the screening, contact the communications office (845-462-7600, extension 110).

*****

Poughkeepsie, NY- Poughkeepsie Day School will host a free public screening of Taxi to the Dark Side, winner of the 2007 Academy Awards for Best Feature Documentary and Best Documentary Screenplay, on Monday, March 31st in the school's James Earl Jones Theater. The 7 p.m. screening will be followed by a panel discussion with PDS parent and executive producer of the film, Donald Glascoff, a lifelong civil-rights advocate and attorney who conceived of the project; Lynn Eckert, Ph.D., chair of the political science department at Marist College; and Mark Lytle, Ph.D., professor of history at Bard College.

Taxi to the Dark Side, the latest documentary from multiple Oscar-nominee Alex Gibney, explores the circumstances surrounding the suspicious death of an Afghani taxi driver at Bagram air base in 2002. Media investigation determined that he had been murdered during interrogation by American soldiers, notwithstanding their determination that he was not a terrorist and was innocent. Intermingling documents and records of the incident with candid testimony from eyewitnesses and participants, the film, according to the documentary's production and distribution company, Think Film, "uncovers an inescapable link between the tragic incidents that unfolded in Bagram and the policies made at the very highest level of the United States government in Washington, D.C. Combining the cool detachment of a forensic expert with the heated indignation of a proud American who holds his country to a high standard, Gibney's film reveals how the Bush administration has systematically betrayed the very ideals it professes to uphold." Due to the film's graphic imagery and mature subject matter, parental discretion is advised and the film is not appropriate for young children.

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted. Click here for directions to the school. For more information on the screening, contact the communications office (845-462-7600, extension 110).

*****