NorthStar Lights

Hello North Syracuse Central School District Parents, Guardians, Teachers and Staff,

The 2022-2023 school year kicked off with the launch of the District’s five-year Strategic Plan, Brighter Together, and we began the year with a renewed mission, vision and shared goals. Building Planning Teams (BPTs) from each of our 11 schools spent time ensuring that their individual building goals were aligned with the District goals. Annually, the Building Planning Teams present their goals to the Board of Education and their collective work honors our Strategic Plan goals. I invite you to learn more about school building goals on our Brighter Together website at www.nscsd.org/nsbrightertogether.

1. Goal 1 is to increase the high school graduation rate by preparing each student to graduate and be prepared to pursue their post-secondary school pathway. All building goals are aligned to support this academic goal. There are numerous approaches and action plans in place to assist with this goal.

2. Goal 2 is to ensure that all students will become proficient readers. Our elementary teachers have been very busy implementing the Amplify CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts) program which is grounded in the Science of Reading. This program will provide our students the foundational skills and background knowledge to become successful readers.

3. Goal 3 is to help students become emotionally competent. In order for students to learn and be successful in any community, our students, teachers, staff and administrators have access to a multi-faceted mental health and wellness support system. Please take a moment to read about programs in place on page 7 and check out our website for more information.

Click here to read more in our February District Dispatch newsletter.

#NSBrighterTogether

Sincerely,

Daniel D. Bowles, Superintendent of Schools

Did you know that Cicero-North Syracuse is the ONLY local high school offering live pregame and halftime shows complete with student hosts, commentators, analysts, producers, and photographers? Their broadcasts have garnered as many as (over) a thousand viewers and have reached fans from as far away as Ireland this year.

It didn’t start overnight. During the 2018-2019 school year, the C-NS business curriculum expanded to begin offering “Sports Media” as an elective for students. The course is designed for students who are interested in continuing to investigate further career opportunities within the sports media industry.

Click here to read the complete article online.

The Optimist Club of Cicero-North Syracuse is sponsoring an Oratorical Contest with a top award of a $2,500 college scholarship. Students under the age of 19 who live within the boundaries of the North Syracuse Central School District are eligible to participate. This year’s contest theme is “Discovering the Optimism within Me,” and will take place on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 at the Jerome F. Melvin Administrative Office Building (5355 West Taft Rd., N. Syracuse, NY).

Contestants will be asked to speak on the official topic for four to five minutes with timing beginning at the first spoken word.

Contest applications, along with complete contest rules are available online by clicking here. The entry form should be mailed to Mr. Robert Crabtree at 5355 W. Taft Rd., North Syracuse, NY 13212. A printed copy of the speech must be furnished on March 1 before the speech along with a copy of the participant’s birth certificate.

Winter weather is sure to arrive in Central New York soon and the NSCSD wants to remind our families and community members of some important snow day, delay and early closing information.

ParentSquare - ParentSquare is a unified app for school communication so parents and guardians can receive all announcements from the District, their children’s schools and teachers in one place, with options to specify how and when parents/guardians are notified. NSCSD students, parents and employees are automatically connected to ParentSquare through our school and employee information systems.

Community members and NSCSD partners can also sign up for the system in order to receive District Alerts. If you would like to receive messages from the District, simply go to https://www.parentsquare.com/community_signups/c20fecde-1b97-4e1b-9d37-ac66a49208ac/new and enter your name and email address. You can opt to receive messages in a variety of categories including “Emergency Alerts” for school closures and weather-related delays and dismissals.

The North Syracuse Central School District is asking the community for input regarding how they know the District and is exploring the possibility of changing its name to the Cicero-North Syracuse Central School District. The reason for considering a change is because many community members already think of the District as the “CNS” School District primarily because of the fact that CNS is the name of our high school and all of our sports teams and co-curricular activities. The District wants to have a consistent and recognizable name so that students and staff are unified and have pride in our schools. We are asking students, staff, families and community members to share their opinion about the potential name change by responding to a very brief (two question) survey. The survey is available by clicking here and will be open through Feb. 27, 2023.

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.

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 weekly 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 each 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.

FEBRUARY 6: Board of Education meeting at 6 PM at the Jerome F. Melvin Administrative Office Building (5355 West Taft Rd.) in North Syracuse. If you'd like to attend the meeting in-person, you must pre-register by Friday, January 20. Please email jherrera@nscsd.org to attend.

FEBRUARY 20: Presidents' Day - No School for Students or Staff

FEBRUARY 21-24: Mid-Winter Recess - Schools Closed

FEBRUARY 27: Board of Education meeting at 6 PM at the Jerome F. Melvin Administrative Office Building (5355 West Taft Rd.) in North Syracuse. If you'd like to attend the meeting in-person, you must pre-register by Friday, January 20. Please email jherrera@nscsd.org to attend.

FEBRUARY 27 (DEADLINE EXTENDED): NSCSD Name Survey Closes

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