The Clarkstown Connection

Dear Clarkstown Central School District Families and Staff,

As we move into November, it’s evident that the CCSD is an active, dynamic and positive place for learning and growth. Our teaching and support staff are working hard to provide a quality education and create fresh, engaging lessons to help our students succeed.

Just this week, we’ve seen great examples of this throughout the district: Laura Deighan and Colleen Haggarty were chosen to present their cutting-edge work in elementary instruction at the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers (NYSAFLT) annual conference. On Tuesday, honors math students at Clarkstown High School South hosted a math scavenger hunt for fifth graders from Bardonia Elementary and Laurel Plains Elementary. And, 11th grade honors English students learned outdoors and drew inspiration from the beautiful fall foliage around Clarkstown High School North as they developed observation writing skills. These are a few examples of the creative, engaging activities and lessons our CCSD teachers have developed.

The district continues to make curriculum enhancements and improvements that contribute to our students’ success, both inside and outside the classroom. Let’s take a look back at some CCSD highlights from October.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Marc P. Baiocco, Ed. D.

The CCSD is committed to promoting social and emotional development and providing the instruction, support and strategies for students to be more self-aware and to communicate their emotions. We have already implemented comprehensive social-emotional programs on the school and classroom level. We see the Yale RULER approach in classrooms throughout the district, our World of Difference peer leaders renewing their training in our high schools and our elementary schools hosting a litany of anti-bullying lessons.

In November, we will expand our district-wide Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) even further with the launch of our Mental Health First Aid program. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an evidence-based training program administered by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, focused on training staff on how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges.

This training is oriented to provide staff members with the skills to reach out and provide initial help and support to someone who may be developing a mental health or substance use challenge, or who may be experiencing a crisis.

After training our staff, Part II of our implementation plan will train our older students on the youth certification, intended to reach as many students as possible and provide timely interventions when needed. I offer a special thank you to David Carlson and Erin Ginsberg for helping navigate this important work.

Over the next month, we will continue to highlight the steps we are taking to equip students with the social and emotional skills necessary to succeed in school and daily life.