SRF CSD District Diary

Dear St. Regis Falls CSD Families and Community Members,

We just completed the first marking period of the 2024-25 school year and we've already accomplished so much in these first couple months. Hopefully you received our printed newsletter to all residents back in October, but please contact the school main office if you did not.

In news from the NYS Education Department, across the state and in St. Regis Falls we are full speed ahead into the Regionalization priorities of NYSED and the new graduation measures initiatives.

Changes will be phased in over 3-5 years, but significant differences are coming in how we share services locally and the requirements to graduate from a NYS school.

Locally, in SRF, some of our recent updates are:

• Our new staff have settled in and built relationships with our students.
• Our students were inspired with a visit from Sweethearts & Heroes team earlier this week, and Student Council has launched for 2024-25.
• The Budget committee had its first meeting to prepare the 2025-26 budget.
• We engaged with families at parent/teacher conferences and launched the winter sports meetings
• District - wide activity day featured elementary mini-olympics, decorating cards for veterans, and developing a race course to challenge the Ozobots.

Even though we launched our SRF app and "Rooms" communication tool back in March 2024, we're still encouraging families to download the "St. Regis Falls CSD" app by going to the App Store or Google Play Store. This tool is the centralized place to communicate directly with your students teacher as well as get announcements and information in real time!

Upcoming in December, we will begin basketball games, hold the elementary musical and holiday concerts all at school, as well as collaborate with the SRF Adult Center to spread some musical holiday cheer at their holiday banquet. This will be a fun and exciting time to share the joys of the season.

This coming Spring, we're looking forward to hosting a Community-wide art show at the St. Regis Falls Adult Center. Artists of all ages are invited to contribute to our juried, mixed media event opening on April 10, 2024.

Thank you for the continued support, dedication, and time that you contribute to our Saints family. Please dont hesitate to reach out with any questions or conerns. Please refer to this communications and escalation chart to help you get to the right person, fast!

As always, please feel free to contact me at neschler@stregiscsd.org or (518) 856-9421 ext. 1007.

Go Saints!

With Warmest Regards,

Dr. Nicole G. Eschler

Superintendent of Schools

On November 12, students, staff, community and Board of Education members had the opportunity to hear important messages from Sweethearts & Heroes director and founder, Tom Murphy, Retired U.S. Army Sgt., Rick Yarosh, and BRAVE program director & circle specialist, Pat Fish. Yarosh is also a Purple Heart recipient and motivational speaker from New York who was injured severely while serving the Unites States in the Iraq war.

Their presentations and Circle groups challenged our students to jump into action against bullying within "10 seconds" of seeing it. We learned that the term "Bullying" refers to behavior that is:

Habitual - happens over and over again

Intimidating - make someone else feel weak/small

Intentional - it was done on purpose and could not possibly be an accident

*Students were given practical steps to use in the first 10 seconds of bullying behavior:

A - Away (take the victim away from the bully),

B - Buddy (buddy up with the victim),

C - Confront (the bully).

Students and staff reflected on the message with many thoughtful remarks.

• A 6th grade student, Grace Barkley said "My takeaways from the presentation were don't bully anyone, you don't know what they are dealing with at home, or just in life. It can also have a big impact on mental and physical health."
• Peter Crowley, an 11th grade teacher, commented "I liked the emphasis on hope, and I liked that the presenters put some of the responsibility for change on kids."

Sweethearts & Heroes returns to the St. Regis Falls CSD for training in Circles, H.O.P.E Classroom, and more on Jan. 23-24, March 13-14, and April 28-29.

While 2023-24 was a challenging budget season in St. Regis Falls, the 2024-25 budgt season will have challenges all of its own. This year's budget committee has already begun taking on that work at their first regular meeting. The purpose of the budget committee is to collaboratively review the budget drafts, provide feedback and recommendations for adjustment to the administration, and formulate a rationale for the final budget proposal.

Meeting notes and updates will be publicly communicated through the process with many formal community input sessions held at school. Click here on the Budget Committee Newsletter to learn more!

The priorities for the 2025-26 district budget primarily focus on the 5 district goals, as well as:

• Maintaining 2024-25 sports programs and extracurricular programming.

• Maintaining 2024-25 staffing levels.

• Replacement of items at risk of failure in less than three years and on planned replacement list.

• Cooperative bidding and clarity about “needs” vs. “wants.”

• Safe and secure multi-year planned maintenance schedule for all things physical plant.

• Transportation budget to include electric bus, charger/infrastructure.

It was awesome to have so many families and caregivers come out on Thursday night November 14 to meet our staff and talk about their child's progress at our Conference night!. We conducted more than 120 parent/teacher conferences and welcomed parents of our athletes across 5 Basketball teams!

This will allow for streamlined access to classroom communication, as well as the district app for live updates, calendaring, and menu items.

In our inaugural event, our SRF Saints Staff Stars employee recognition initiative was off to sweet start! Employees were surveyed and asked to nominate colleagues for recognition in 5 categories. Then data and reports were considered to select the awardees for Quarter 1.

Awardees received recognition during the Nov. 1st Superintendents Conference Day, choice of parking spot for the next quarter, gift cards for the local Quick Stop, certificates, and our great appreciation for their efforts.

As a young girl, Allison always thought she would be a teacher. She loves being around kids and wants to be a positive influence in their lives.

Outside of work, she enjoys being at home spending all her free time with her husband and two-year old son as well as preparing for the arrival of their second son that's due in March.

This year, Allison is most excited to build relationships with all of her students. She's happy to join the St. Regis Falls CSD family because the staff is all so welcoming and positive to be around while she navigates her first year of teaching.

The annual holiday celebration at the SRF Adult Center will be held on Thursday, Dec. 19.

Our students will again join the celebration by collaborating with the seniors and members in integrated caroling, a ukele lesson, and sharing ensemble-style instrumental music.

This competitive "mixed media" show will be Thursday, Apr. 10 - Saturday, Apr. 12 at the St. Regis Falls adult center for artists of all ages.

There will be a reception Thursday night to launch the show and awards given Saturday to culminate the event.

Planning Committee: An art show committee is being formed to assist with planning competition categories, awards, judging, set up, donations, and promotion. We are looking for community members to volunteer and attend the first meeting, which is being held on: Thursday, Dec. 5 at 5 p.m. in the St. Regis Falls school library.

SRF CSD District Event Calendar can be found on our website at http://www.stregiscsd.org and the SRF App.