Calendar
11/16 Randall PTO Mtg., 6 pm - 7pm
11/18 Barry PTA Mtg., 6:30 pm
11/20 Secondary Report Cards - 10 Week
11/24 Board of Education Meeting, 6:30 pm
11/26 Thanksgiving Recess
11/27 Thanksgiving Recess
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The Purple Pantry
Is On the Move
When Alex Shaffer became aware of the issues that many Cortland families face regarding food insecurity, the Purple Pantry was born. Alex explained, “I saw a need because we have a backpack program for students at the K-6 level. So if high school students had a younger sibling they would get a backpack of food on the weekends. But if the high school student did not have a younger sibling, then the Purple Pantry could fill that need.”
Prior to COVID-19, the Purple Pantry operated out of the English Department book room. When the COVID-19 closure happened, Alex had food that was recently donated that had to get to people in need and so Alex set up a food pantry right next to the Parker Elementary School playground.
Operating out of a garage was not the original plan and this past week Alex, with the help of Mr. Zarcone and Mr. Canestaro, moved the Purple Pantry into room 228 in the high school. Food has been unpacked, sorted and moved onto shelves. Everything from Ramen Noodles to bacon can be found on the shelves of the Purple Pantry. “The sky's the limit as long as it is non-perishable” Alex says.
The official opening has not been announced and the final “grab and go” system and times haven’t been finalized but the Purple Pantry is finally where Alex envisioned it.
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New Chromebooks
for the High School
Quality education for all during a time of national pandemic means that every student has the ability to get onto the internet for distance learning. It wasn’t that long ago when each student was given a book to take home and use, to care for and return at the end of the school year. Yesterday's books are today's laptops and tablets. Across the country, school districts are dealing with the new reality that not all of their students have access to the internet. Thanks to a lot of hard work and long term planning, Cortland Schools has been able to put a device able to connect to the internet and Google Classroom in each and every student's hands. The district has been on a 5-year plan using different funding sources to replace current laptops with Chromebooks. SSBA funding was used to purchase new Chromebooks for grades 1, 9, 10, 11 and 12. These arrived the second week of October.
It is extremely important that each student has their own device and that they don’t have to share it with a sibling. But, buying the computer is just the start of the work. Among the challenges districts are facing: making sure clear policies and procedures are in place for distribution, collection; and budgeting time and staff to inspect, repair, and sanitize the computers that might need to be fixed or that come back before they’re redistributed.
Recently, a new shipment of 800 Acer Chromebooks for students was delivered to Cortland Schools. District IT staff, along with Library Aides and Teaching Assistants, spent a couple of days getting the new devices unboxed, inventoried and assigned to students. The devices were then separated by In-Person Learners and Remote Learners homerooms. Information Systems Administrator Denise Fox said "remote learners were notified to come to the JSHS bus loop to swap out their heavy 6-year old laptop for a sleek new lightweight Chromebook. Students were sent a link to a slide presentation on "How To Use" the new Chromebook as well as what to do if and when they have an issue with the new device, directing them to the helpdesk@cortlandschools.org email as well as the Tiger Tech phone number for support."
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Mr. Edwards Video Blasts
After teaching in the Cortland Enlarged City School District for more than a decade and pursuing other educational avenues, Bob Edwards returned to the District as the Superintendent with new and exciting leadership ideas, one of them being his Weekly Blast.
School superintendents these days must wear many hats. One hat is that of a Public Relations Director. In our video/electronics age, it seems natural for a leader of any kind to use technology to reach out to the public so that people can see what is happening in their local schools. Bob Edwards’ blasts, as he calls them, are put together by Cortland High School’s extensive Video Department. Dan Devlen, Broadcast Production and Technology Specialist, explains that “each week, CHS-TV tags along with Superintendent Edwards as he visits different classrooms and activities within the district schools, and reports on findings in quick video reports.” So far, we’ve watched students’ math lessons at Barry Primary, proper hand washing skills at Smith Intermediate, social studies at the Junior High, and remote learning at Randall Middle. Add to the list last week’s visit to Cortland High School’s public speaking class and you can start to see inside the District and the learning that is occurring.
Mr. Edwards' blasts the videos out to the public through his own Twitter account; videos are also posted on the district's social media and stored on the district’s web page in the Cortland Tigers Videos section. Mr. Edwards video blasts are a great way for the people of Cortland to see what is happening in their schools.
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Remote Learning Perspectives
Before COVID-19 came into our lives, “online learning” was something that was done by colleges. It wasn’t something that K-12 schools did that much. When the virus closed schools last spring, much of the "online learning" consisted of teachers making videos of themselves teaching a lesson, sending homework packets home and keeping in touch through emails and phone calls. This school year has been a different story for many schools across the country. Teachers had to become tech specialists overnight and become proficient at teaching not only small groups of students in their classrooms but also students who are sitting at home doing their best to concentrate on a computer screen. This has changed education in a variety of ways, some good and some not so good.
When asked what he likes about remote learning, high school student Bayn said that working remotely is nice because he feels he can interact with friends who are not coming into school to learn. Bayn sees the positives with both learning environments but enjoys the social interactions at school the most.
High school student Jayden, who lives in a house with other siblings, finds working remotely very difficult. Finding a quiet place to work is her biggest challenge. She does note that she enjoys working remotely with a computer rather than learning from a book.
Art teacher Jesse Bender finds it challenging to manage a whole classroom online. The ability to walk around and see what a student is doing so that he can give instructions is much easier than asking each student to share their screen with him. Mr. Bender finds the positive side to remote learning when he is making instructional videos for students with individual problems. He also enjoys lecturing online because then he knows that the information is getting out to the students.
Much like any educational tool, remote learning has its positives and negatives. Every day teachers and students are getting more proficient and sooner or later everyone will be back in school and back to "normal". When everyone does finally return to the classroom, remote learning will no doubt play some part in our educational system.
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Video Shortcut Makes it Easy
With the weekly addition of Superintendent Edwards Video Blasts, the Cortland Tigers Video section is becoming more prominent and it was decided that a video button on the main page was needed. The calendar button was replaced and users can now get to Cortland Tigers Videos with one click. Users can still get to the district calendar by clicking on Quick Links and scrolling down to Calendars. The video button links users to the Tigers Video section where at the time of this printing 67 videos are available for the public to view.
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Alternative Fuels School Bus Show
School districts across the country have one thing in common: kids ride to school in big, long, yellow school buses and each district has to figure out how to pay for the upkeep and fuel for those buses. The Cortland bus fleet is made up of 24 diesel buses that achieve about 6-8 miles a gallon. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that in 2018, diesel fuel consumption in the U.S. transportation sector resulted in the emission of 461 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas. What if there was a cleaner way for schools to transport students to school and home each day?
On November 12th, the Bluebird Bus Company came to Cortland and held an Alternative Fuels School Bus Show. There are currently four types of buses that school districts can choose from when purchasing a bus, currently, Cortland uses all diesel buses and Blue Bird brought an electric bus, propane, and gasoline buses to the show. From the outside each bus looks like a typical school bus. Inside they look like any normal school bus. It is the mechanicals- underneath that are different.
Currently, purchasing and operating an alternative fuel bus (one that is not diesel) makes sense only if you factor in current state and federal subsidies. The technology is cleaner than diesel but it is more expensive to use. As breakthroughs in technology evolve and buses become more advanced, schools may have more affordable and cleaner options from which to choose.
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Give the Gift of Family Reading
The Family Reading Partnership of Cortland County invites you to take part in a holiday book drive that provides families with NEW books to give to their children
for the holidays. Collected books will be distributed to Catholic Charities, Salvation Army and Loaves and Fishes so that families may select NEW books for their children. Donations due to your child’s school by November 23.
A future filled with hope and promise
begins with books at home.
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Get Social With Us!
Follow Us On Twitter @CECSDistrict
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