Gananda Blue Panther Gazette

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Gananda Central School District communicates information through a variety of ways to ensure our parents and community are informed. As a reminder, if you are not receiving phone calls, emails, or text messages from the district and you would like to, please contact the public relations office directly at GanandaPR@gananda.org. The contact information that we have on file in the parent portal is what we use to contact you, so if it isn't up to date, you may not receive our communications. You can also receive information on our Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/GanandaSchools and/or our Twitter handle at: @WeAreGananda.

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The following is a list of dates for our Fall Varsity Senior Nights:

Football: Friday, October 5

Girls Soccer: Tuesday, October

Boys Soccer: Wednesday, October 10

Girls Swimming: Thursday, October 11

Volleyball: Monday, October 15

Seniors will be honored before the start of each game.

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October 23, 2018

November 13, 2018

December 18, 2018

January 29, 2019

February 12, 2019

March 12, 2019

April 9, 2019

May 14, 2019

June 18, 2019

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The Gananda Audit Committee is seeking a community member(s) interested in serving on the Gananda Audit Committee. The Audit Committee assists the Gananda Board of Education in the oversight of both internal and external audit functions, including the appointment of the internal and external auditors. Interested parties must reside in the Gananda CSD and should possess the requisite skills and experience necessary to understand technical and complex reporting issues; have the ability to communicate with, and offer advice and assistance to public finance officers and auditors; and be knowledgeable about internal controls, financial statement audits and management/operational audits.

Those interested should submit a letter of interest and resume to Leslie Ferrante, District Clerk, by email or mail, 1500 Dayspring Ridge Walworth, NY 14568 by October 19, 2018.

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Gananda Dollars for Scholars is a nonprofit organization that raises money for scholarships that go directly back to graduates. Last year, our small but mighty organization of hardworking volunteers gave over $36,000 to 24 students of the Class of 2018. It's never too early to invest in the future. The time goes by faster than you know. There are many ways you can help! Three are highlighted below.

Help GDFS by giving to the United Way: Many of you are probably receiving United Way Fall 2018 Campaign forms from work. Did you know that if you put Code#3323 as your charity of choice, you can support GDFS? Last year, between donations and matching company donations, over $1,000 was raised for Class 2018 scholarships through the United Way!! Let's send off the class of 2019 with a bang! Select Donor Code#3323 as your code of choice this year!

It's a new shopping season! Did you know that you can help GDFS by shopping online? If you use Amazon, you can help raise money for scholarships! Simply start off by going to AmazonSmile, and select Scholarship America, Gananda Dollars for Scholars as the organization you want to support. From then on, you just go to AmazonSmile to shop and you have access to the same site as Amazon or Amazon Prime. That's it! About 0.5% of your purchase before tax will be donated to GDFS.

Jar Wars is here! During Homecoming week, October 1-5, there will be jars outside the dining halls of all three schools. For the elementary school, students bring in pennies and spare change. The grade level that raises the most change in K-5, wins a prize. For middle and high school, students bring change and bills and compete to raise the most money.

Gananda Dollars for Scholars, Rewarding Achievement, Supporting Potential

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Gananda Central School District will be providing a Chromebook to every student attending classes in 3rd through 12th grade beginning Friday, November 2. Chromebooks are compact laptops that run and store cloud-based applications and data. They are inexpensive, easy to use, and will provide our students with a more personalized learning experience.

We have been focusing on personalized learning in our classrooms and currently our students are using shared devices for their learning. Providing an individual Chromebook to each of our students in 3rd through 12th grade will continue the success we are experiencing now by providing them with an individualized workspace and daily use of a device.

As part of this program, we will be providing training workshops to parents. The training dates are as follows:

Tuesday, October 30 at 6:30pm

Friday, November 2 at 7:30am

Friday, November 2 at 2pm

Wednesday, November 7 at 6:30pm

Additional information about these workshops and how to sign up will be emailed in the coming weeks. In addition, parents will also be receiving information about the “Chromebook Take Home Program,” which will allow students to bring their Chromebook home with them to continue their school work. It is not mandatory to participate in the “Chromebook Take Home Program," however, students choosing to participate in the “Take Home Program,” will have required forms for both the student and parent to sign and submit. Additional information will be shared about the "Take Home Program" in the coming weeks.

We look forward to rolling out this program to bring our learning into the 21st century!

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We would like to welcome Dr. Paul Fiduccia to Gananda Central School District. Dr. Fiduccia has an extensive background as a school psychologist and will be working as an interm psychologist for our district as we continue the search for a permanent placement. Dr. Fiduccia will be providing student evaluations as needed. Student counseling services will continue to be provided by our district mental health staff.

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The times of the games are as follows:

Flag Football Game: 9 am-10 am

C-Team Tackle Football Game: 10 am-12pm

B-Team Tackle Football Game: 12 pm-2p

All teams' cheerleaders will also be there cheering on their team at each game!

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The Road to 2020 Capital Improvement Project is well underway. Below is a list of the current progress for this week:

Track: Please continue to stay off of the track until further notice. The sealant has been laid, however, there are still steps that need to be completed. At this point, we do not have a date for lining the track, but will advise once that has been set. Again, it is imperative that no one goes on the track until further notice. We will alert the community when it is safe to use both the track and field.

Turf Field: We are providing access to the turf field for our student varsity athletes only. This is to allow our athletes practice time for their season. As a reminder, the turf field is not open to the community at this time. This means no member of the community should be on the field or walking their dogs around the field at this time. A grand opening will be announced in the future.

Pool: We are pleased to announce we have found a temporary solution to allow our senior varsity swimmers to host a senior night at the Richard Mann Elementary pool on Thursday, October 11. We will also be allowing the GRATS to begin practicing in the pool soon. As a reminder, the pool locker room construction has been stalled due to a broken pipeline that needs to be repaired. Our goal is to get the pipeline repaired this weekend, October 6-8, 2018. Once the pipeline has been repaired, construction can resume and we can make progress to our December completion goal. We will keep you informed as more information becomes available.

4th and 5th Grade Wing: The computer lab in the 4th and 5th grade wing at the elementary school is delayed due to material installation challenges. Special materials are used in the computer labs to help keep the hardware cool and functioning at its highest level. The materials to be installed require a low humidity level, and unfortunately, the humidity level at this time has been uncooperative. We are waiting for a finalized completion date and will share as soon as it becomes available.

Middle School Locker Rooms: The Middle School Locker rooms are on target to be complete by Friday, October 19. Our construction crew is working hard to complete the final phases of construction.

While some of phase 1 is still being completed, phase 2 is on target. As with any construction project, there are always delays and unforeseeable challenges. We are frustrated with the impact some of these delays are creating for our students and staff, however, our number one priority is their safety. We want to ensure that these projects are completed correctly to provide a safe environment for our current students and the future ones to come.

Please visit the Gananda Website to view upcoming construction projects.

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Did you know that you can find your child's daily assignments online? Log in to Schoology for your all-access parent pass. If you haven't already signed in, your instructions are below.

To access your parent account:

1. Go to www.schoology.com and select “Log In” in the top right hand corner. (Do not
select “Sign Up”
2. Select “Forgot your password”
3. Please enter the email address you have provided to us for contact
a. Check your email. You will receive an email at that address with the subject line: ”How to
Change Your Schoology Password”
b. Use the link provided in the email to setup your Schoology password. Click Submit to save your information
c. You can now login from the Schoology.com Log In button. If the system does not
recognize your email address, it will display a red “ Please enter a valid email address
message.” In this case, please contact your child’s school to change or correct your email
address in our system. Once the email address is corrected, it will take up to 24 hours for you to be able to login with the correct email address. After your email address is updated, now you will need to create and confirm your password by following the steps 1-3 above

For more information visit the Gananda Website.

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Email: ganandapr@gananda.org
Website: www.gananda.org
Location: 1500 Dayspring Ridge, Walworth, NY, USA
Phone: (315)986-3521
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GanandaSchools/
Twitter: @WeAreGananda