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North Syracuse Central School District's weekly e-news
Hello North Syracuse Central School District Parents, Guardians, Teachers and Staff,
At their meeting this past Monday, our Board of Education received an update on this year’s budget. Although we are getting closer to a final proposal for the Board’s consideration, we still have a deficit and are working to estimate the impact of inflation. Click here to view the presentation from Monday.
This week I spent time in several schools including Allen and Smith Road Elementary Schools, Gillette Road Middle and Cicero-North Syracuse High School. When I got back to my office, I immediately wrote some notes about my interactions. I’m going to share a few of the experiences and then I’m going to tell you what I found to be the common theme.
- In this week’s photo, I am with students in Kathy Conese’s kindergarten class at Allen Road Elementary School as they pose in front of the classroom’s cardboard castle built for their lesson on fairy tales. As you can tell in the photo, the students are really getting into the lesson as they become the characters they’re learning about. In particular, one student named Darius, seems to love acting and has created several different voices for his characters. Next week the students will be making up their own stories and I’m definitely interested in hearing what their imaginations bring to life.
- Also at Allen Road Elementary School, I had a student come up to me who obviously wanted to interact with me but wasn’t sure how. I took a minute to say hello and gave the young boy a fist bump. When I did, his face lit up.
- While I was at Smith Road Elementary School, I met Casey Williams, the school’s new Promise Zone Specialist, who is also African American. Casey told me that he was glad to see me out in our schools and we talked about the importance of seeing people similar to us in roles of authority.
Now that I have shared those stories, I’ll tell you my take-away: connections are critical. We need to feel connected to the people around us but our kids need it most of all in order to develop and thrive. There is no way to tell what one thing will spark a light in a child but when you see it happen, it is amazing and it makes going the extra step worthwhile.
Sincerely,
Daniel D. Bowles, Superintendent of Schools
Onondaga County Funding Will Enhance Mental Health Services for NSCSD Students
In this year’s State of the County speech, Onondaga County Executive McMahon addressed a critical need in the community when he spoke about the considerable mental health challenges being faced by students across the county. In his proposed budget, the County Executive plans to address those needs with the implementation of additional mental health services in the North Syracuse Central and East Syracuse Minoa School Districts. The budget includes three additional services in each district: a Mental Health Outpatient Clinic, an ACCESS Family Liaison and a Promise Zone Student Engagement Specialist. Students in the North Syracuse Central School District will directly benefit from these services.
North Syracuse Central School District Superintendent Dan Bowles spoke about the additional services. He said, “Prior to the pandemic, students were already experiencing considerable mental health challenges and as the pandemic continues, our students, families, schools and communities are in need of mental health and social emotional supports to address the impacts. There are high levels of stress, anxiety and depression as a response to the isolation and social/emotional trauma associated with the pandemic. Onondaga County’s school based mental health expansion has been a key tool in our ability to address and prevent further negative impacts on our school communities.”
Roxboro Road Elementary School Holds Bowling Fundraiser
On Sunday, March 20, nearly 200 students, staff and family members of the Roxboro Road Elementary School community came together at Strike-N-Spare lanes in Mattydale to pitch-in for an important project. The school is working on raising money to install a new accessible playground and track and staff decided on a bowling fundraiser to get the ball rolling. Many thanks to everyone who supported the event!
North Syracuse Education Foundation Celebrates 20 Years of Giving
As the North Syracuse Education Foundation (NSEF) celebrates 20 years of giving this year, the NSCSD is helping highlight some of the outstanding programs that have been made available because of their grants. The NSEF serves a simple, but comprehensive purpose: to ensure that North Syracuse Central School District students benefit from a quality education to maintain and enhance the level of excellence in North Syracuse schools. With the unfortunate reality of diminishing local and federal funding, the NSEF has filled the desperate need of stretching budgets by funding projects and materials to enhance students’ education.
In its 20 years of existence, the NSEF has funded more than $200,000 worth of programs that have directly benefited all students from grades pre-k through 12. The group’s mission is to sponsor activities and projects intended to enhance the education and cultural enrichment of students of the NSCSD. Programs and materials provided through the NSEF supplement those typically funded by the regular school budget.
Click here to read about some of the grants funded through the NSEF.
Secondary Students Participate in District-Wide Strings Festival
For the first time since 2019, students in the North Syracuse Central School District had the opportunity to participate in the District-wide String Festival featuring all the orchestra students in grades 7-12. At the March 23 concert at North Syracuse Junior High School, orchestras from each school performed individual selections and at the end, everyone came together playing “Ode to Joy,” a particularly fitting song for the occasion.
Emily Guarino, an orchestra teacher at Roxboro Road Middle School and the Chair of the school's Music Department, was excited to bring the event back. She said, “All the orchestra teachers are so pleased to have this event back this year after several years due to COVID restrictions. Having the opportunity for our students to perform for a live audience again is so special and at the core of why we do what we do!”
Board of Education Approves 2022-2023 Academic Calendar
On Monday, March 21, 2022 the North Syracuse Central School District Board of Education approved a 2022-2023 academic calendar. Included with the calendar are provisions for school closings due to weather-related conditions or other emergency situations. The calendar and provisions have been posted on the District’s website. Click here to view the calendar.
Hello NSCSD Families…Can You Hear Us Now?
The NSCSD uses SchoolMessenger to send text and email messages to our families. We recently noticed that some families are “blocking” our messages. We use the system to send important information regarding COVID, academic deadlines, yearbook reminders and much more. We don’t want you to miss out so if you think your email or cell phone is inadvertently blocking the NSCSD, we can help!
You can check your SchoolMessenger settings using an easy and convenient app. If you don’t have the app, you can easily download it to your phone or mobile device. Just search “School Messenger app” in the App Store or in Google Play. Once you have the app downloaded, “Sign up” using the email address you have on file with the District in SchoolTool. Within the app you’ll be able to see and change the types of messages you receive by text/email/push. If your settings show that you should be getting text messages from the NSCSD but you’re not, you can opt in my texting the word YES to the number 67587 from your cell phone.
If you have any questions about SchoolMessenger or your settings, check online at www.nscsd.org/schoolmessenger or email our school information officer, Laurie Cook at lcook@nscsd.org.
Stacy Watkins, the mom of North Syracuse Early Education Program (NSEEP) student Sheamus Finniss, shared photos of her son celebrating his Saint Patrick's Day at school with lots of smiles to go with his festive attire. Stacy said that Sheamus loves the NSEEP and that his favorite thing is most definitely his teacher Stef. She said, "She's truly the best!"
Bridget Bowen, a math teacher at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, shared this photo of seniors in her 3rd Block AP Calculus class taking time to celebrate 100 days until GRADUATION! Students pictured are:
(bottom row) Matt Metrick and Gabby Svoboda
(second row) Dominick Musumeci, Shannon Anderson, Sam Dattler and Sam Thompson
(third row) Jules Marullo, Elijah Barboza, Jenna Pickard and Dan Jordan
(top row) Abby Ganser, Mackenzie Wessels, Jackson Tolhurst and Jason Haas
Jennifer Fetterman, a physical therapist with the North Syracuse Early Education Program (NSEEP) shared a couple photos of her daughter Evelyn, playing on the school's beautiful new inclusive playground after school with two students from NSEEP. The playground is new to the school this year and is a big hit! Click here to read more about the playground project.
North Syracuse Central School District
Email: webmaster@nscsd.org
Website: www.nscsd.org
Location: 5355 West Taft Road, Syracuse, NY, USA
Phone: (315) 218-2100
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NSyracuseCSD/
Twitter: @NSyracuseCSD