Cortland Enlarged City Schools
District Newsletter, January 2023
Superintendent's News Blast Featuring Mrs. Drake's Class
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SYR Community Art Program
About a dozen Cortland student artists in grades 5-12 are participating in an exhibit at the Syracuse Hancock International Airport. Each year, as part of the SYR Community Art Program, the airport offers area youth the opportunity to create paintings that are then displayed at the airport for a full year, where literally thousands of visitors from all over the world will get to see them. We are really proud of our artists who volunteered to create artwork for this show. They were each given a 12 x 12" canvas and they did all their work outside of class time, even taking materials home to complete the paintings by the deadline in many cases. The work is all beautiful...loosely related to the theme of "what does travel mean to you?" Our students' paintings are exhibited grouped together, labeled with the artist's name as well as the name of our district.
District art teachers, Jesse Bender and Judy Cogan are hoping to take a group of interested students on a field trip to see this show, along with stops at the Everson Museum and the Scholastic Art Awards show at Onondaga Community College.
Students Celebrate Inspire Your Heart with Art Day by Decorating Cup Sleeves
Students at Barry, Smith, Randall, the Junior High and High School have been hard at work decorating coffee sleeves for distribution on January 31st which is Inspire Your Heart with Art Day at CoffeeMania. Art department co-chair, Nadia Bieber has been a key part in bringing this project to Cortland students. Nadia said, “in the past, our students decorated over 1,600 sleeves for distribution on this special day. We hope that people who get the decorated sleeves will feel joy and inspiration when they look at the artwork created by a K-12 student.”
To get a custom art cup sleeve decorated by a Cortland and/or Homer K-12 student, visit CoffeeMania on “Inspire Your Heart with Art” day, Tuesday, January 31st, 2023.
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards are entering their centennial year as the “Nation's Longest running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens.” This has been an annual event since 1923 when it was founded.
During the pandemic, Cortland, as well as other schools, found it difficult to submit creative work. It has taken some time to get back to normal. Art is chosen on merit and a collective decision between students, friends, family and their art teachers.
This year, Cortland was delighted to submit twelve pieces for consideration from the junior and senior high. Of those twelve, five garnered regional attention at the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Kyle Taylor obtained an honorable mention for his piece entitled “OG Landon” while students Mikalette Frye-Fasani (Starblue_Eclipse), Stella Humhries (Room Design) and Reagan Manning (Eyes) earned Silver Key awards for the high school. Our lone junior high student, Alivia Reif, received a Silver Key for her piece called “Self Portrait.”
Winners were invited to a ceremony on their behalf held at the SRC Arena at Onondaga Community College on Tuesday, January 12th, 2023. The show itself will run from January 17th to March 23rd 2023 at the Whitney Applied Technology Center at OCC between the hours of 9am to 7pm M-F, and 9am to 6pm Sat-Sun.
Silver Key Award
Silver Key Award
Silver Key Award
Honorable Mention
Silver Key Award
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Cortland Esports Update
Our Cortland Esports Teams finished their Fall Seasons just a few weeks ago with three of them making the playoffs. Two of our Smash Brothers teams ended their season ranked in the top 16 in the State. Our Hearthstone team made it to the Eastern Regional Finals, losing to the eventual National Championship winner. Not bad for our first Hearthstone season ever! Tryouts for Spring Season start in just a few weeks!
In their last competition the team was recognized with their trophy. The team finished the season in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference in Hearthstone - falling to the eventual National Champions 3-1.
The team is hyped about their success, and cannot wait to bring the school more trophies and more glory!
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Buffalo Bills Day!
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Cortland Student Cuts Her First Record
I Fell in Love with the Rain
First album by Cloey Tierno
Music critics have claimed that there is nothing like a songwriter's first album. The passion and the freshness of the music is hard to replicate later on in a career. If that is true then the first album written by Cortland’s Cloey Tierno is a jem of a first recording.
I Fell in Love with the Rain is a compilation of songs written by Cloey Tierno a 17 year old Cortland High School senior. Cloey is considering doing some kind of music production in college, but also may pursue a degree in Creative Writing because of her love for songwriting. Cloey started filling notebooks with her songs when she was in 3rd grade and has not stopped since then. Inspired by artists like Taylor Swift, Maisie Peters and Gracie Abrams for their down-to-earth writing style and storytelling Cloey has used her guitar and some piano to tell her own story.
The album is considered to be primarily pop, but also has a handful of very stripped down songs that don't have much or any production. Cloey wrote all of the lyrics and music and it ended up having a total of 14 tracks on it. Recording of this record took place right at Rose Hall in Cortland, it was mixed and mastered by Gabe Cummins, and executively produced by Chris Merkely. Cloey is always writing music and songs on her guitar, and definitely has enough to go into another album. So keep an eye and ear out for the next album by Cloey Tierno!
Currently I Fell in Love with the Rain can be heard on Apple Music, Spotify, Youtube and Pandora and several videos can be seen on Youtube.
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New Mural at Barry
Oskoo is a self taught artist that began creating art in HS. Oskoo currently lives in Cortland and is excited to create a large scale mural in the gym at Barry Elementary School. Oskoo uses latex house paint and is creating a mural that has kids, inspirational quotes and fun, colorful backgrounds. Oskoo has been working on the mural for a few weeks and plans on getting it finished within the next week.
Students at Barry are excited to see the final mural when Oskoo is finished.
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Junior High Spelling Bee
Bre Cuthbert for moving on to the next round! Great job Tigers!
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Winter Weather Protocols
When the winter season is upon us, it is time to think about possible
closures and delays due to weather conditions. Our district’s automated calling system will notify families if school is closed or delayed. Please be certain that your phone number is current in our database.
Local news stations will continue to provide weather updates. Stations that carry information about Cortland Schools include: WSYR-9, WTVH-5, WSTM-3, News 10 Now, WBNG, WXHC/101.5, and WNTQ/93Q. We also maintain the latest information on our District website: http://www.cortlandschools.org.
In the event of a 2-hour delay, please be advised of the following information:
Barry, Smith, and Randall will open to students at 10:15 a.m.
The Junior High and High School will be open at 9:25 a.m. for breakfast. Homeroom will then begin at 9:38 a.m.
Morning bus routes run on a two-hour delay. For example, if the bus typically arrives at your stop at 7:00 a.m, it will arrive at 9:00 a.m
For students who regularly participate in the CDC Morning Childcare Program, the students may be dropped off at their normal start time of 6:45am
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Notes from the Board of Education
The CECSD Board of Education meeting dates and times are posted on the district website and are open to the public and all are welcome. The highlights below include some of the topics that have been discussed at the most recent meetings:
Tiger Paw Recipients... At the January 10th meeting, Amanda Viel presented a Tiger Paw award to high school senior, Vincenzo Perfetti for his excellence in musicianship following his achievement in participating in three All-State honor bands. Jordan Ashley also presented a Tiger Paw award to Sandra Swierczek for her hard work and dedicated service related to the hiring and onboarding process for new students and staff. Congratulations Vincenzo and Sandra!
Budget Presentations... Kris Williamson, Business Administrator, continued the budget presentation cycle this month focusing on how Payroll, Benefits and Projected Debt service factor into the budgeting process. It was pointed out that the most recent payroll increase reflected in the new teachers contract represents a 13.9% increase, or $2.9 million. Superintendent Edwards commented that “This is a significant investment in our teachers and an unprecedented change. We felt it important to make these adjustments.” At the February 7th BOE meeting, the presentation will help explain how the Tax Cap is calculated. The public is encouraged to review these and all budget presentations by attending BOE meetings or by visiting the Business Office section of the district website.
Staff / School Board Events... The next Staff and School board social event is planned for Thursday, January 19 at Barry Primary School offering an opportunity for staff and board members to continue to get to know each other, exchanging ideas and conversations. The school board looks forward to visiting with staff at all of the school buildings over the course of the coming months.
BOE Committee Meetings... Sub committees of the board have shifted their meeting times to Tuesday evenings from 5:30-7:30 at the Kaufman Center and are, as always, open to the public. The next set of meetings will take place on Tuesday, January 24th.
The next Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 7 at 6:30pm in the Randall Middle School Library, Room 133.