NorthStar Lights

Hello North Syracuse Central School District parents, guardians, teachers, and staff,

On Monday, we celebrate Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the observance of Columbus Day and introduce the idea of embracing Indigenous Peoples' Day as an opportunity for learning and understanding.

Traditionally, Columbus Day has been celebrated to commemorate Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the need to acknowledge the complex and often painful history that followed Columbus' arrival, including the displacement and mistreatment of Indigenous peoples.

In light of this, many communities and educational institutions across the country have chosen to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day alongside or in place of Columbus Day. This shift represents a commitment to honor and respect the diverse cultures, histories, and contributions of Indigenous peoples in our great country.

The mission of the North Syracuse Central School District is to educate all students to the highest levels of academic achievement and to prepare them to be productive, responsible, ethical, creative and compassionate members of society. We envision our schools and classrooms as safe, welcoming and inclusive where all students are valued and supported. Part of honoring our mission and vision is understanding that education plays a crucial role in fostering empathy, understanding, and unity among our students, families, and staff. By considering the addition of Indigenous Peoples' Day to our holiday calendar, we can take a significant step towards promoting awareness and appreciation of the rich and diverse Indigenous cultures that have shaped our region.

I also want to share something I took away from a recent conference I attended with other school superintendents. We had opportunities to learn from each other and share ideas about effectively communicating with our staff and families. One of the ways I heard about that really interested me was podcasting. In the next few weeks, I will be taking some time to learn more about this tool and will be reaching out to our families and staff for input.

As a reminder about next week, because of the holiday, our Board of Education Meeting will be moved to Tuesday. Assemblyman Al Stirpe will be at the meeting to recognize our students who participated in his summer reading challenge. We look forward to sharing more after the meeting. Enjoy your long weekend!

Sincerely,

Daniel D. Bowles, Superintendent of Schools

In honor of Food Service Appreciation Week, we had several schools share photos of gratitude for building staff. CNS Principal Sullivan shared the photo on the left with the caption, "On October 2nd, CNS Food Service employee Greta Johnson was presented with the September Employee of the Month award. Congratulations Greta! Thank you for all you do!"

Our friends at Gillette Road Middle School shared this great picture and wanted to give "A BIG THANK YOU to our FABULOUS FOOD SERVICE friends at Gillette Rd. Middle School

They work so hard every day to keep our students fed, happy and the kitchen running smoothly! We appreciate and love our ladies!!!"

Many thanks to Lori Floyd for sharing this photo and caption!

The Onondaga County Suicide Prevention Coalition (OCSPC) hosted “Chalk the Walk” as part of Suicide Prevention Month. Several schools in the North Syracuse Central School District took part in the event. Students were encouraged to get outside and chalk the sidewalks with messages of hope, inspiration, and resilience to shine a light on mental wellness and suicide prevention.

The North Syracuse Central School District is committed to the mental health and wellness of all of our students and is excited to participate in awareness activities that promote the mental wellbeing of all students. Thank you to everyone who shared event photos.

Students taking part in Cicero Elementary School's S.O.A.R. program are putting these virtues in action:

S - safety first

O - offering respect

A - act of kindness

R - responsibility and teamwork

The group comes together each month to celebrate all the positive things they are doing in school. They even have a new theme song thanks to singer Randy Peterson, who happens to be the father of the school's music teacher Cori Patterson. The song is titled “Soaring at Cicero.” Randy visited the school in September to introduce the song. The group now begins each meeting by singing it.

You can hear it for yourself by clicking here or on the video below.

Keep up the great work!

The North Syracuse Central School District is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all students, staff and visitors to all of its facilities. Over the years, the district has made numerous changes to address building security. Some of the many changes have included:

• Installation of the Raptor visitor registration system in all buildings;
• Creation of single point of entry at all school buildings;
• Expansion of partnership with local law enforcement agencies to include SROs at all schools;
• Availability of the Tip411 reporting system for all secondary schools;
• Installation of camera surveillance and monitoring systems;
• Addition of staff in the area of SEL to improve identification of and support for distressed students.

Click here to read the complete article online and learn about stadium updates.

Lakeshore Road Elementary students took a walk on the wild side back on Friday, Sept. 29 to help raise funds for the PTO. Students wore animal masks and took turns walking around the school’s track.

The Walk-A-Thon had a goal of $10,000. They ended up raising almost $15,000 which will be used to fund future PTO programs and activities. Principal Chmielewski even made good on a promise to take a pie in the face if students exceeded their fundraising goa! Prizes were given to the top earners.

Click here to read more and see some event pictures.

North Syracuse Junior High School students are benefitting from a new hands-on learning opportunity thanks to the district’s first-ever Chip Camp collaboration with Micron. The technology program now has access to five rocket launchers used during camp and they are putting them to good use!

Click here to read the complete article online.

North Syracuse Central School District families and staff - Did you know that you have options to adjust your ParentSquare notification settings? You can receive messages about new posts instantly or as a "digest" once per day (in the evening after 6 PM). The following video explains how to adjust your settings on the ParentSquare website and in the app: https://vimeo.com/848892780/1f992429b7?share=copy

Maria Carozza teaches life skills at North Syracuse Junior High School and was looking for a way to give her students some authentic learning experiences without even leaving the school. So last January she began the "Common Grounds" coffee cart program and the reception has been ROBUST! Each Thursday, Mrs. Carozza sends out an order form for staff to purchase a variety of drinks on Monday morning. Every Monday, rotating groups of Mrs. Carozza's students deliver the orders and spark up conversations with the staff. Carozza said the program is a great way to help her students develop social skills, initiate a conversation and stay on topic. Additionally, the students are developing essential math skills such as money management and locating classrooms by floor and room number.

Students in the school's Positivity Project and Leadership Class also volunteer to help out during their study halls so Mrs. Carozza's students are interacting with their peers. Great job!

The North Syracuse Central School District is interested in finding members of the Apple Muffin Gang to celebrate its contributions to the district and state history.

Back in 1987, students in Mary Craven’s fourth grade class at KWS Bear Road Elementary School campaigned to create a law making the apple muffin the official state muffin. The students wrote to state legislators promoting their bill, handed out countless apple muffins, and made four trips to the Capitol to lobby for it. They tasted victory when the state Assembly and Senate passed the bill and former Governor Mario M. Cuomo signed it into law, making the apple muffin the official muffin of New York.

To celebrate this past accomplishment, the district decided to plant an apple tree and install a monument outside the Jerome F. Melvin District Office Building. The district is now looking for students and teachers involved with the Apple Muffin Gang to further celebrate this historic contribution. If that’s you, please reach out to our school information officer by emailing Laurie Cook at lcook@nscsd.org.

We love to share photos and videos from our students, families and teachers. If you're willing to share, please do! We'll be using your photos in this newsletter and other publications throughout the school year. Additionally, high resolution, horizontal photos will be considered for the District website. If you'd like to share pictures, please email them to our Communications Officer, Laurie Cook at lcook@nscsd.org.

Pictured to the right and below: Over the weekend of September 30 and October 1, students with the Cicero-North Syracuse High School Positivity Project volunteered at Syracuse’s Inner Harbor Fest. Sara Bambino shares that, "Our students helped with the Dragon Boat races, an event benefitting Clear Path for Veterans. Although they were signed up to be the dock marshals, they ended up jumping in to help row as needed too!" Great job CNS and thank you to Sara Bambino for sharing this great news! #nsbrightertogether

Prior to Syracuse's Ride for Missing and Exploited Children, students in Heidi Corwin's class at Allen Road Elementary School had the chance to talk to one of the long-time cyclists about the ride. Thanks to Heidi Corwin for sharing the pictures and helping get the word out about the ride.

Congratulations to Cicero-North Syracuse High School senior Emilee Rio for recently being named Student-Athlete of the Week by LocalSyr.com. Emilee is a soccer player at CNS and was featured as the station's September 27 highlight. Click here to view the segment online.

Did you know that the North Syracuse Central School District's Athletics Department has an email newsletter? If you'd like to subscribe to the newsletter, click here to learn more.

The NSCSD produces a digital newsletter, "NorthStar Lights," to share important information and good news with NSCSD families and staff. Parents and staff members automatically receive the newsletter through ParentSquare. Grandparents, community members and all friends of the NSCSD are also welcome to subscribe. Newsletters are emailed every other Friday when school is in session. Help us share the good news and the great things happening in the NSCSD! Click here to learn more.

OCTOBER 9: Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples Day - No School for Students or Staff

OCTOBER 10: School Physical Therapist Appreciation Day

OCTOBER 10: Board of Education meeting at 6 PM at the Jerome F. Melvin Administrative Office Building (5355 West Taft Rd.) in North Syracuse

OCTOBER 11: Greater Cicero Community Connections meeting at 4 PM at CanTeen (6046 State Route 31) in Cicero

OCTOBER 11: Parent Advisory Council (PAC) meeting at at 6 PM at the Jerome F. Melvin Administrative Office Building (5355 West Taft Rd.) in North Syracuse

OCTOBER 11: Onondaga County Industrial Development Public Scoping Session at 6:30 PM at North Syracuse Junior High School (5353 West Taft Rd.) in North Syracuse

OCTOBER 16: North Syracuse Education Foundation (NSEF) meeting at at 6:30 PM at the North Syracuse Education Association (210 South Main St.) in North Syracuse

OCTOBER 23: Board of Education meeting at 6 PM at the Jerome F. Melvin Administrative Office Building (5355 West Taft Rd.) in North Syracuse

OCTOBER 31: Half-day of school for all NSCSD students - staff workshops

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