Message from the Principal
Dear parents,
As we wrap up the 2019-2020 school year, it is important to take some time to reflect. We have faced incredible odds this year, odds that we would not have foreseen or anticipated back in September when we welcomed our students.
Despite the difficult circumstances, we persevered. Students continued to make connections with staff and continue learning despite us physically not being close together. While there are many unknowns in the future, we will have plans ready and be prepared for various possibilities. All decisions will be done with the safety of students first and foremost.
For the remainder of June, I want to encourage students to remain focused. Everything they learn in the Junior High School sets a foundation for their courses they will be taking in the High School. If there is anything we can do to help support please reach out and let us know.
Principal Kevin Cafararo
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Pickup of Student Belongings Planned
for June 18th - 24th
With school buildings closed for the remainder of the academic school year, the Cortland Enlarged City School District recognizes that some students may have personal belongings in the buildings that they need to collect. Students also have school equipment and materials that need to be return at the close of the academic year, such as computers, calculators, and textbooks.
A schedule has been constructed to allow safe access to the Junior High School and High School. Below is a schedule of collection dates and procedures that will be followed to ensure safety and social distancing guidelines:
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Pick up procedures:
Staff and students
must
wear a mask and practice social distancing protocols.
- If you are displaying any symptoms of COVID 19, please do not come in. Make other arrangements through the school for a later date.
- Only students will be allowed to enter the building.
- All students will enter through the Main Office Entrance.
- The sidewalk will be marked with tape or chalk at six feet intervals.
- Students should wait in cars if the line is more than five or six students long.
- The front door will be unlocked
- Ten students will be allowed into the building at a time.
- Students will be directed to go to their hall lockers first and then PE lockers.
- Students will leave lockers open once they are cleaned out.
- Textbooks, library books, graphing calculators, uniforms, or any other district purchased items will need to be placed on tables that are located throughout the hallways.
- There will be post-it notes and pens on all the tables. Please write your name on anything that is left on the table so the district knows who has returned items.
- There will be tables for computers and mifi devices in the West Commons; a staff member will be there to sign your device back in.
- Classrooms will not be open. If a student has any personal belongings in a classroom, please contact the teacher and they will arrange for the items to be delivered to the students home.
- Students will exit through the Evening Entrance.
Medicine
- Will be arranged by appointment with your school nurse.
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Budget Voting by Absentee Ballot
Pursuant to the Governor’s Executive Order 202.6 the annual budget vote will be conducted by absentee ballot only. You should have received an absentee ballot in mail. If you did not and wish to receive one please contact the District Clerk, Alicia Zupancic at 607-758-4100 X2202 or
azupancic@cortlandschools.org
.
Please fill out the absentee ballot by placing an X for “yes” or ‘’no” on each of the five propositions. In addition, please place an X for only two of the four people running for school board. You do not need to sign our put your name on the ballot.
Once you are completed filling out the ballot, please place it inside the postage prepaid envelope and sign and date the back of the ballot envelope. Then, place it in the mail to the District by June 5th. We need all ballots received by 5 p.m. on June 9th.
If you wish to hand deliver your ballot to the District, 1 Valley View Drive, Cortland, NY 13045, please place it in the ballot newspaper box outside the building. We ask that you kindly not enter the building to drop off the ballots.
If you have any questions on how to fill out or ballot or how to mail the ballot back, please contact Alicia Zupancic, District Clerk, at Alicia Zupancic at 607-758-4100 X2202 or
azupancic@cortlandschools.org
.
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Library News
Ebooks and Audiobooks available 24/7! When the school year ends remember there are lots of Ebooks and audiobooks available for you to read on any device over the summer. Just download the free Overdrive or Sora app on your device and log in with your school Google account to the O2CM BOCES catalog. The Cortland Free Library (Finger Lakes Library System) digital collection is also available as well as the New York Public Library. If you need assistance, email Mrs. Hay at
khay@cortlandschools.org
"A book is a magical thing that lets you travel to far-away places
without ever leaving your chair.” - Katrina Mayer
If you still have books checked out of the library, please return them when you are allowed in the school to clean out your locker. They may also be returned to the purple boxes at the lunch pick up areas.
Have a great summer! We can’t wait to see you in the fall!
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Foreign Language News
Spanish 1
students are finishing out the year by working on present tense -ar, -er and -ir verb conjugation with the food unit and the sports unit. We will also be working on stem-changing verbs and some irregular verbs. As with our previous units, these last two units are of great interest to students as they can relate to the material: talking about food they like, what sports they play with friends at school, etc. With the year coming to a close, Spanish 1 students have expanded their language skills tremendously with vocab and grammar. ¡Bien hecho!
Please make sure that you KEEP your Spanish materials if you plan on moving to Spanish 2!! Your Spanish 1 exit packet will help you greatly.
Foreign Language Exploratory
students have completed the introduction material and the Spanish half of the course. We have moved on to French language and culture! We will be exploring history, arts, places to visit, food and famous French people from history and today!
To all FLE students from the year: ¡Bien hecho! Bravo!
A todos: ¡Espero que tengas buenas vacaciones!
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Art News
Students in Grade 7 Art are working on home assignments that use easy to find art supplies. This week, they are doing a photography assignment called Forced Perspective, where by thoughtfully arranging the objects and/or people in the photograph, they create an optical illusion related to size or scale. When objects are placed very close to the camera, they appear bigger than objects placed further away. For example, one student held an empty ice cream cone close to the camera, outdoors, right under a giant cloud in the sky, making it look like the cone was filled with puffy, white ice cream. It’s a really fun way to make art that exercises the students’ creativity and understanding of space.
Students in 8th grade Studio Art have been working on a piece that expresses something about how their lives have changed during the Covid 19 quarantine. Artwork gives us an opportunity to express the many emotions we are feeling and to communicate them to others. Art can be therapeutic and cathartic, and we all know that this situation has caused a lot of stress, anxiety and loneliness. Hopefully, making art about our experiences will give us an outlet that helps us deal with all of this.
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Band News
As we finish up the end of the year, make sure you are checking google classroom for two easy assignments each week. There are plenty of make up assignments posted on google classroom as options! Also, I will be in contact via phone with those of you who need to turn in their instrument for summer repairs.
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Food Services Continues until June 30th
Breakfast and lunch will be available for every student, Monday through Friday, at locations across the community from 11 a.m. to 1p.m. until June 30th. Locations include:
- Barry Primary bus loop
- Junior Senior High School bus loop
- Randall Middle bus loop
- Smith Intermediate bus loop
- Virgil School bus loop
- Additional sites added:
- Parker School (parent drop-off area)
- Penguin Trailer Park
- Rickard Street Apartments
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