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CAPITAL PROJECT UPDATE
Over the past month, the District has been meeting with the architects to begin the design phase of the Science Center at the Groton Elementary School. Our goal is to create a large mobile project area where multiple grade levels can be working on various projects simultaneously without having to break down and clean up in between class periods. As we progress through this step we will be sure to share the design features as they become finalized.
The bid date has been set for the Phase I scope of work, with all bids due by 3:00 pm on April 5. The BOE will be awarding the successful bid during the April 7 BOE meeting, and work will commence shortly thereafter. This past month the District held a meeting for those families whose homes are adjacent to Ross Field and reviewed with them the calendar for each phase of the renovation at Ross. At that meeting, we discussed the removal of topsoil for the first 3-4 weeks of the project. Some of this topsoil will be salvaged by the District for future use, and it is anticipated that construction trucks will travel out of Ross onto South Main and then over to Elm to take the soil to GES. The general contractor will be responsible for sweeping the street daily.
Throughout the project, there will be a construction trailer on site over by the Barrows Street parking lot. Construction meetings will take place from that location. We anticipate the daily work schedule to run from 7:00am - 4:00pm, although that will be subject to change depending upon the weather throughout the spring and how far along the project is as we get into the heart of the summer. We still have a completion date set for September 10, 2022. We are in the process of finalizing where our fall sports teams will be practicing prior to the field being ready to play on and will be sharing that information as soon as the plan is in place.
Site work at GES will not begin until the spring sports season is over, and is anticipated to be completed by the end of the first week of September, weather permitting.
As we have mentioned in previous communications, there are some parts of this project that the BOE went off of state contract to find a service provider in an effort at getting materials with long wait times for delivery ordered. This includes the bleachers, lighting, and the A-turf. It is our hope that in doing so we have placed ourselves in the best possible position to have our fall teams on the field as soon as possible. Be watching for future updates in our upcoming e-newsletters.
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ART STUDENTS OF THE MONTH |
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Jonathan Windsor, 3rd Grade &
Zandria Blake, 3rd Grade
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Jillian Zigenfus, 8th Grade |
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GET enRICHed!
We have several new after-school enrichment programs currently running or starting soon. The Science Club with Ms. Coon and Ms. Cyphert and the Rocket Club with Mr. Brecht will continue to run this spring at GES. At the Jr-Sr high school, we have introduced a Great Outdoors Club with Mr. Martin for students interested in fishing and hunting. Ms. Overton started a middle school Art Club, and Mrs. Carr & Ms. Adsitt have hosted cooking classes for high school students. Starting in April, Flo Allen will be running a Sewing Club for students in grades 6-12. Students can check out the "enRICHment" board near the auditorium for Jr-Sr high programming. Nick Wagner, Program Manager for Cornell Cooperative Extension is also running other middle-level programs at the school including cooking, photography, nature-based art, and hiking programs. For more information about Cornell Cooperative programs please email Program Manager, Nick Wagner @ nw346@cornell.edu.
We are working in partnership with the Groton Recreation Department and Cornell Cooperative Extension to provide a robust summer enrichment program as well. In April, we plan to present students and parents with the school-based enrichment offerings for this summer. We will share the offerings with parents and students to be able to discuss students' interests and availability. We will then have students choose their top three programs. It is our hope that every student that wishes to will be able to participate in at least one program this summer! In an effort to ensure equity we will implement a lottery system if student interest exceeds space availability. We will notify parents of their children's choices and confirm participation. We hope to have rosters for each program completed by the end of May!
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PRINCIPALLY SPEAKING
Spring is nearly upon us and for schools and students this means “Testing Season.” This is not something that we want our students to become overly anxious about. Yes, we want them to come to school, try their best, and reach their potential, but we don’t want our students to think negatively about tests or testing. Being assessed is part of life. We are all assessed, or tested, on a daily basis at work. We all have bosses that we answer to who are looking at our performance and wanting us to work to our potential and achieve. I am asking parents to tell their students to come to school on testing days, use the skills their teachers have taught them, and give maximum effort. The NYS 3-8 Assessments are used to adjust programs and help us hone our practices at school. We also use the information as one of several measures to help us decide if your student may need additional support at school. The more effort they put into their work on the assessments, the more accurate a picture of their abilities we will get, which will allow us to be more specific in helping our students become more successful!
~Brian Kavanagh, Principal
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10TH GRADERS VISIT BOCES
We had twelve 10th graders interested in learning more about BOCES go on a visit on Friday, March 11. Students enjoyed making French bread pizza and chocolate chip cookies in the Culinary Arts Program, learning how to do a tire change in Auto Tech, learning to properly use construction vehicles in Heavy Equipment, Welding safety and techniques, making Playdough and learning about child safety in Early Childhood, and being nail technicians for the morning in Cosmetology. In addition to hands on activities and meeting/shadowing year 2 students, they learned how each program would prepare them with all the certification and skills necessary to walk right into a job after they graduate high school. After the trip, Mr. Kavanagh and Ms. Schmid sat down with the group and reviewed the criteria for eligibility to participate in the BOCES program.
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STEAM SHOWCASE
Students attended the STEAM Showcase to get a glimpse into the various programs: Computer Science, Building Trades, Communications & Media Arts, Agriculture, and our new Health Sciences. They heard directly from upperclassmen about their learning experiences. Special thank you to Mr. Levick, Mrs. Carr, Ms. Schmid, Mr. Martin, Mr. Lamorie, Dr. McWilliams, Mrs. Novack Landers, and Mrs. Baxendell for hosting!
All community members are invited to attend the STEAM Open House on Saturday, April 30 from 10-11:30am.
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GIRLS WITH GRIT "It’s A Girl’s Life" organization is committed to motivating teen girls to feel confident in taking control of their world and inspiring them to be creators of their own stories. Through their initiative, girls will have the tools necessary to make a difference for themselves first, and for others, if that is where their passion lies. On March 8th, to celebrate International Women’s Day, 40 girls in grades 7-10 participated in a virtual workshop called Girls with GRIT (growing Guts, building Resilience, accepting Imperfection, and finding your Team). Some of the responses from what the girls took away from the workshop were they wanted to be more confident, mindset is the key to grit, resilience is key to accomplishing their goals, and to be more courageous. Others left feeling they can do anything they set their minds to and by changing their mindset they can overcome any challenge. Other girls said they would work on not worrying about having to be perfect. One student even suggested that we offer a similar workshop for boys. Overall, the workshop was very informative and all participants said they would like to do it again next year.
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In celebration of "Agriculture in the Classroom" week, the FFA read to kindergarten and first-grade students. Rachel Houston, Jill Zigenfus, Addie Clore, and Noble Snyder of the Groton FFA, read this year's book, "Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table". The students learned about urban agriculture and the importance of worms and were left with small greenhouses and beans to grow in their classrooms. This event was made possible by the students in our local FFA chapter along with the Tompkins County Farm Bureau. |
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VARSITY SPRING SPORTS PRACTICES HAVE BEGUN |
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PRINCIPALLY SPEAKING
"The game of education is played in the minds and reactions of children, not the adults who work with them."
This quote reminds me that great teaching is measured by how it motivates and inspires children to work hard and grow because their teacher gives them warmth, confidence, and intellectual stimulation. They do not grow because we want them to or because we tell them to. At GES we constantly ask, "What do students need from us so they feel inspired to achieve without limits?" This question is a great way to guide our thinking and what we choose to do with each child. All children are unique in many ways. We look for signs that children are moving beyond the basics to explore themselves, their preferences, and how they learn best. Being curious about how your son or daughter learns is an excellent way to understand them and help what they want to learn match how they learn best.
~Kent Maslin, Principal
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ST. PATRICK'S DAY AT GES...
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YOU CAN'T ESCAPE THE FUN
Our Family Math Night on March 23 was a hit! Over 100 students attended and worked with their friends and family to solve the math mysteries to reveal clues to escape Lucky the Leprechaun! Thank you to Ms. Lathers for organizing this fun family event and for all the teachers who volunteered their time to help out.
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A TREASURE HUNT FOR
ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Mrs. Hathaway's class had a treasure hunt to find the "pots of gold" that the leprechaun hid for them on St. Patrick's Day. They started with a picture clue in their classroom that lead them to several more clues in the courtyard and finished in Mr. Maslin's office. Their last clue led them to Bumi's home (the school therapy dog) where they found the treasure!
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BIRDS OF PREY VISIT GES
The Cornell Raptor Program returned to GES to help educate and engage our students in grades 2-4. Students learned about the different birds of prey and some of the environmental concerns surrounding their species. Cornell students talked about the importance of conservation and how students can do their part in protecting these amazing birds.
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COUNSELOR'S CORNER:
Greetings families,
Happy almost Spring! We hope this finds you well as we inch closer to the beautiful smell of Spring flowers in the air. In recognition of The International Day of Happiness, March 20th, 2022, we wanted to share some tips to bring more happiness into your daily lives. Although we have many things to be happy about, including making significant progress with Covid-19, there are still challenging events happening all around the world. For example, the recent events in Ukraine may make feeling happy more difficult. We wanted to share some tips that hopefully will make feeling happy a bit easier.
- Surround yourself with positive people
- Spend time in nature
- Focus on gratitude
- Do something kind for yourself or someone else. Groton Middle and High School students recently participated in a Random Act of Kindness Day. They did an amazing job spreading kindness throughout the school including displaying positive messages as seen below.
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Learn a happiness tool, try listening and/or dancing to uplifting music, perhaps even creating a playlist. Speaking of uplifting music, we welcome you to enjoy Pharrell’s music video of the song “Happy.”
Feel free to dance along! Hope this adds a bit of happiness and sunshine to your day!!
Sincerely, GCS Student Services Team
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GROTON CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT
WWW.GROTONCS.ORG
400 PERU ROAD, GROTON, NY 13073
(607) 898-5301
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