March 2021 District Newsletter

District Newsletter

March 15, 2021

Calendar

3/15: Half Day AM K-12/Professional Development Day PM

3/15: Randall PTO Meeting, 6pm.

3/18: Finance Committee Meeting, 10am.

3/23: BOE Meeting, 6:30pm.

3/26: Elementary Report Cards.

3/28 - 4/4: Passover.

3/29 - 4/2: Spring Recess.

4/8: Smith PTO, 7pm.

4/12: Ramadan begins at sunset.

4/13: BOE Meeting, 6:30pm.

4/14: Barry Primary PTA Meeting, 6:30pm.

The Future of Our Buildings and Grounds

The long-term care of our facilities is an important responsibility of our Board of Education. The Board has a standing committee of Board members, district employees, community members, and professionals who are always looking for ways to maintain and improve our facilities in a financially responsible manner. This Facilities Committee then makes recommendations to the full Board of Education about how to plan for the long-term condition of our buildings and fields.

Since June, building subcommittees have been meeting to provide input about our schools. These building-based subcommittees consisted of teachers, administrators, community members, maintenance & operation employees, and Board members. Nearly 100 people joined one (or more) of these subcommittees.

Building subcommittee members toured the buildings, reviewed previously identified needs, and identified the needs of each building. Subcommittee members then prioritized all of the needs. Their priorities, combined with the architect’s priorities were presented to the Board of Education Facilities Committee and, in turn, the Board of Education.

Based on the work of the Boards’ Facilities Committee and the building subcommittees, the Board of Education has provided the architects and engineers with parameters of the next capital project for the district. As planning continues, the Board will communicate with the community about the priorities and plans.

Go to the Capital Project Planning Page

Composing and Creating Music at Smith School

This trimester in Mrs. Shelley’s Music Class students are coming and creating their own music. They have also been discussing how to express feelings through music and how music makes them feel.

Students watched some short video examples of a television character experiencing different moods and emotions, and discussed how the music that they heard matched what the emotion was that they saw happening in the video clips.

Students also did some acting in the music room and made up poses as if they were a statue and had to show a specific mood through their pose. The students also became composers and created songs on a website called “Chrome Music Lab”. Each of their songs had to sound like a mood or emotion that they had individually pre-chosen. Finally, students listened to their classmates’ composed songs, and tried to identify what mood they thought that each student composer had been trying to create, and what they heard in the songs that made them guess that mood.

This was a fun and valuable group of lessons that allowed students to become composers, explore different feelings and learn a little bit about how to express them through music. Who knows? Maybe some of these Smith Road students will go on to become famous music composers?

Cortland Student 11, Clears Fire Hydrants for Emergencies

Blayke Austen-Hines is a typical 11-year old boy who does typical eleven year old boy things. One thing that Blayke does that might not be quite so “typical” is that Blayke works hard to keep the fire hydrants in his area cleared of snow just in case of an emergency.

One of those emergencies happened recently on Maple Avenue in Cortland that brought thirty firefighters in to fight a fully engulfed fire that spread quickly and intensely. The Chief of the Cortland Fire Department stated that if firefighters had to take time to chip all of the heavy snow and ice off of the fire hydrant it would have added time to get to the fire. Delaying the process to get water on the fire leads to big problems and can mean lost lives and more damage to structures.

Thanks to Blayke, firefighters could access the fire hydrant without spending valuable time to clear the snow and ice. Blayke doesn’t keep the fire hydrants clear for money or thanks, he does it in the hope that he will help firefighters and he did. Maybe one day Blayke will become one of the firefighters he works so hard to help.

The Cortland Fire Department and other agencies have honored Blake for his hard work and selfless act, an honor he deserves.

Spreading COVID-19 Awareness Through Hand Made Masks

By Victoria Ramiza, 8th Grader, Cortland Jr. High School.

P.S I Love You Day was the second Friday of February. It helped to bring awareness to mental health, bullying, depression, and suicide. The Cortland Jr/Sr High School is one of several schools that spreads these messages in many different ways.

The P.S I Love You group has made T-shirts to sell as a fundraiser as one way to spread the message in the past. This year, they have taken a different approach: Masks! Since everyone is now required to wear masks at school and other public places, masks are an effective way to spread awareness during the pandemic. Teachers in the Jr. High have donated several masks to the fundraiser. Some have gotten together after school to cut out and sew masks. Team 3 math teacher, Mrs. Henry had the idea to come together to make the masks. She has been making masks since the beginning of the pandemic and has donated over 2000 of them to hospitals and doctors offices.

Photo by Kaleb Krissel

Randall Middle School Adds an In-Person Class

This year has required flexibility and planning to ensure student learning. Included in this is a provision of the learning model that best fits the learning and needs of each student and their family. As this year has progressed, many families have requested a shift from remote to in-person learning for their student(s). Due to social distancing and the guidelines for schools during the pandemic, seating capacity within each classroom is limited. Each room has a maximum capacity based on layout and square footage. Prior to the start of the year, the seat capacity at Randall Middle was by moving classes into the largest rooms, including the cafeteria and library. Once the seat capacity was reached and a waitlist started to form, we began to explore additional options to meet the needs of families and students for in-person attendance.

Prior to the February break a decision was made to shift one of the remote learning teachers to in-person learning. This decision posed some additional challenges including scheduling, location, transportation, and learning for students currently in the remote learning section. Some flexibility was planned for in the beginning of the year and a rotation for lunch and specials was available. A space was set up in an open classroom and transportation was checked. To help ensure each student was able to continue having their needs met, an offer was made to each family to have their child begin attending in-person with their current remote teacher. On February 22nd, Mr. Wallis moved from remote to in-person learning and has been engaging a group of new and familiar learners since.