Budget Vote/BOE Election Results and Student Feedback...

2019 Budget Vote and BOE Election Results
Click on the visuals to the left to enlarge the results.  We would like to thank all of the voters that went to the polls Tuesday as we had an increase from 880 voters last year to 1266 voters this year, which is a 44% increase in voter turnout. We are thrilled that not only did the general budget pass, but the bus proposition and the safety and security capital project also passed.  We are very excited to see our schools continue to get the much needed construction improvements, as our students deserve a safe, welcoming, and top notch education.



Student Voice

We were very fortunate to have nine graduates from the Class of 2018 come back this week to share feedback regarding things that they felt prepared them for their freshmen year of college, as well as areas we can improve upon to better prepare future PVM graduates that are on the college pathway. This hour long session was enlightening and extremely meaningful, and our staff members present took a lot away from this opportunity.  The nine students agreed to come back and speak directly to our students during a future academic advisement session at PVM, and I know our current students will love this opportunity to ask their former classmates questions. It is also important to note that we have so many graduates of PVM that come back to visit their teachers and support staff when they are on vacation, which says a lot about the relationships that our staff have with these amazing students. I wish that was measured by the State Education Department as a key factor in the success of school districts, since it clearly impacts so many students.

May 21 is Voting Day For All School Districts

ANNUAL
BUDGET VOTE
&
 BOE
ELECTION
MAY 21, 2019

Another reminder that Tuesday, May 21, 2019 is the annual school budget vote and Board of Education election. Last year out of approximately 15,500 registered voters (which is very similar to this year's number of registered voters) 800 actually voted, which is roughly a 5% turnout.  Polls open at 6 AM-9 PM at the Central Square American Legion and at the Constantia VFW (You can see where you vote by clicking on this link: https://tinyurl.com/See-your-Voting-Location) 
Below is a visual of each proposition that will be voted on:

The following links will provide you with budget/voting information:
Budget Newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/2019-20-Budget-Newsletter
Voting Information: https://tinyurl.com/2019-Voting-Information-CS 

Top 100 Ceremony was wonderful and well attended!

TOP 100 CELEBRATION

Seniors

Juniors

Sophomores

Freshmen

The following 100 students possess the top 25 grade point averages for their respective class at Paul V Moore High School. Not only did these students excel in the classroom, they dominated in athletics, music/band, art, clubs and activities, and student government.  They embody the Attributes of a Central Square Learner (seen here: https://tinyurl.com/Attributes-Competencies-CS). Seniors: Valedictorian, Julianne Boughton, Salutatorian, Cole Wilson, Laureate, Taylor Converse, Superintendent's Honors, Robert Howley, Principal's Honors, Joel Keohane, Spencer Wells, Ryan Merkel, Matthew Hills, Hayden Fox, Courtney Fox, Jarred King, Anna Mercer, Kaitlyn Stewart, James Reynolds, McKenna LaBuz, Rya Taylor, Emily Panek, Noah Turtura, Aidan Brown, Brodie Lembo, Kaitlyn Lanning, Kaitlyn Meigel, April Christodoulou, Ciara Putman, Nicole Davis.  Juniors:  Emilie Fallows, Michael Haywood, Devin Thompson, Morgan Foland, Gabrielle Moran, Jessica Georges, Gabriel Peters, Jamie Huveldt, Allyson Isereau, Dimitri Queior, Michaela Rice, Michelle Bedworth, Bridget Fiske, Madison Domachowske, Timothy Giblin, Emily Brunner, Zachary Varrenti, Allison Forderkonz, Max Creamer, Joseph Fiumano III, Iliana Wiseth, Gabriella Demaria, Logan Foster, Kaylie Isereau, Braxton Warden.  Sophomores:  Alyssa Doane, Sara Syrell, Ethan Wells, Shelby Pappas, Jillian Howe, Rianna Garlic, Hannah Boettcher, Lauren Scheuer, Meghan Sonnacchio, Jonathan Clarke, Griffin Remenicky, Braden Godici, Jennifer Gasser, Emma Herrmann, Cora Keohane, Madyson Lawton, Emma Helms, Emily Colledge, Emma Meyers, Ella Wolf, Alyssa Bardoun, Collin Wines, Hannah Sywulski, Matthew Newton, Derek Schumaker.  Freshmen:  Evelyn Dolce, Ella Dolce, Abigail Colledge, Ashley Concolino, Emily Vieru, Gabrielle House, Rachel Panek, Faith Farley, Josie Colacicco, Sage Wolfe, Matthew Herrmann, Isabella Sherman, Olivia Waterbury, Abigail Day, Emily Barnes, Ainsley MacDuff, Kevin Suchecki, Kathryn Guernsey, Lauren Foland, Savannah Gunther, Kole Mulhauser, Michael Kennedy, Ryan Senf, Riley Hayden, Meghan Heffron.

Budget, Safety and Security Capital Project, and Board of Education Vote on May 21...

Happy Nurses and Teacher Appreciation Week

We are extremely fortunate to have such amazing educators and nurses in our schools providing our students with knowledge, love, laughter, and compassion each and every day. We thank them for 
all that they do!
Technology Integration and ENGAGEMENT!

The students in Ms. Burns' 5th grade class at Brewerton Elementary really loved being able to share their augmented reality models depicting their rainforest research.  When their teacher asked them for feedback about the possibility of using this process in the future, they responded with a resounding “YES!”  They told her that they thought creating the model was very challenging, but one of their favorite activities so far.  The class came up with a list of other applications for using Augmented Reality in he future, and they all apperaed so excited and engaged in the lesson. For more on Augmented Reality used in schools, view the following link https://thinkmobiles.com/blog/augmented-reality-education/. Excellent job, Ms. Burns.  I was in that classroom and I was completely blown away by how into the lesson these students were. 100% STUDENT ENGAGEMENT!!!

CSI as "Swing Space" for 2019-20120

We are now in Phase 2 of the 2017 capital project and our architects have identified the areas of MHE that will be impacted during the construction and those classrooms will be emptied for the duration of the 2019-2020 school year.  We have selected the 4th and 5th grade (6 classrooms in total) be relocated to Central Square Intermediate School for the 2019-2020 school year. To avoid additional expenses, we will have the special areas teachers travel between Millard Hawk Elementary (MHE) and CSI, similar to how it was when CSI was operating as a regular school a few years ago. To also save the District money, I (Superintendent) will be operating out of CSI for next school year (savings is $60,000 because it is $200/day for an interim principal if we had hired one because we need an administrator in that building even though the Principal at MHE will remain the principal of record, doing all evaluations of staff at MHE and CSI. I will perform the day to day administrative needs of the school, but Mrs. Viel will handle all large disciplinary issues as well as communicating with the 4th and 5th grade parents housed at CSI. Also, my secretary will also operate out CSI and take on all the additional responsibilities of an elementary building secretary, instead of hiring another building secretary for $65,000 (salary and benefits). We will be hiring a school nurse that will be housed in CSI. For long term CSI planning purposes, our Executive Director for Student Support Services has been planning and analyzing which special education and non-special education programs that the District currently utilizes through BOCES (outside the District), can be housed at CSI for 2020-2021that will continue to be housed at CSI into the future. It will also allow these students that are currently busses to alternative programs out of our School District to feel part of our Central Square school community, which is important to them and to us. Our goal is to establish these programs at CSI starting in the 2020-2021 school year. If we did not have CSI to use as a "swing space," the work would have been bid out much differently, and given the current state of school construction bidding, it would have been exceedingly costly for the District because it would have required a construction workers to only work after school hours and have all classrooms within the construction zone to be cleaned prior to the start of each morning. This would have also been very costly because we were told by our Construction Managers, Turner Construction, that it would have doubled the length of the project, drastically increasing the cost to the District.

Budget/Safety & Security Capital Project/BOE Vote on May 21
New Voting Times: (6 am-9pm): In the past, polls opened at 10 am, now the polls will open at 6 am, which has been requested by community members for quite some time, but securing that many certified machine inspectors and poll workers for 5 locations would be extremely difficult to achieve had we stayed with 5 voting locations. All registered voters will receive a card in the mail informing them whether they are to go to Voting District 1 or Voting District 2, approximately one week prior to the May 21 vote. Click on the visual above to see a larger picture of it.
Four Candidates For The 3 Available BOE Seats

Randy Hoyt
Randy L. Hoyt is a life-long resident of the Central Square School District and has lived in the Village of Central Square for over 20 years and has lived in the Town of Hastings for 50 yrs.  He earned his Bachelor degree in 1993 from SUNY Oswego, is a 1988 graduate of Paul V. Moore High School and a 2001 graduate of Leadership Oswego County. Randy has previously served on the Central Square School District Board of Education for 18 years.  He is also currently serving as a Board of Education Member for Oswego BOCES (CITI BOCES).

Randy has been employed with Fulton Savings Bank for 24 years.  His current position is a Branch Officer and Mortgage Loan Coordinator.  In this capacity, he has worked in the Fulton, Hannibal, Phoenix, Central Square, Constantia and Brewerton townships in which he has created many strong personal and professional relationships.  His wife, Lori Lemm, is also a graduate from both alma maters and is a science teacher with Citi BOCES.  They have been married for 20 years and are the parents of two children.  One child who graduated from Paul V. Moore High School and is working on becoming an RN and the other is an 8th grade student at Central Square Middle School.

As a member of the Central Square Board of Education, Randy has been on the School Board Policy Committee, the Audit Committee and the District Level Shared Decision-Making Committee.  He has served as an adopted board member for Central Square Middle School and Millard Hawk Elementary Schools.  As a BOCES member, he currently sits on the Audit Committee. Randy is very active in his children’s extracurricular activities and family endeavors.  He also has been and continues to be an active participant in various civic and academic organizations throughout the Oswego and Onondaga Counties and it is not uncommon to see him and his family volunteering for these organizations.  During their spare time he and his family enjoy their camp in Redfield, NY.

Timothy McCarthy
Tim, his wife Beth and 2 children (Ryan, age 21 and Erin, age 19) have resided in Central Square for the past 27 years. Tim brings to the table over 36 years of effective leadership and management experience throughout his career with Sodexo (a national contract management company).     He served on the West Monroe planning and town boards for several years.  If re-elected, Tim remains committed to serving all students, staff and residents of the district.  He has worked diligently to make fact-based decisions that positively impact all stakeholders and will continue to work to help position our school district to successfully meet both the economic and academic regulatory challenges currently before us.  Tim states, “I would be honored to continue to serve the school district and our community in this capacity”.   

Cathie Sundet
My name is Cathie Sundet and I’d appreciate your support on May 21st for a seat on the Central Square School District Board of Education.

I have lived in the district since 1991 and currently reside in West Monroe with my husband, Vern, and our three children Cayley (a Junior), Joshua (8th grade) and Abbie (6th grade). I have served over 32 years in the US Air Force and the NY Air National Guard; 12 years as a Radar Maintenance Technician and 20 years as a Cyberspace Officer. My current assignment is Inspector General with the Eastern Air Defense Sector in Rome.

The knowledge and experience I’ve gained throughout my military career will bring value to our school board. I have vast experience leading small and large groups of people, making tough decisions regarding programs and budgets, and developing and overseeing training. I’ve taken government fiscal law courses, managed multi-million-dollar budgets and systems, and led contracting and civil engineering teams on capital projects. In my current position I am focused on ensuring we meet requirements, manage risk and become more efficient and effective in our operations.

When my children attended A.A. Cole I was able to be a “room parent”, a centers helper and a chaperone. These opportunities gave me a glimpse into how education was delivered in our classrooms, and an appreciation of the challenges our teachers sometimes face. Now that my children are involved in sports, math club, and various bands and choruses, I am getting an up-close perspective on how these types of activities positively impact our kids’ education.

I am driven to help ensure Central Square is a district which delivers a high-quality education with a variety of engaging extracurricular activities while remaining fiscally responsible to our tax payers. That is why I volunteered to be on our district’s College & Career Readiness Committee for the past two years, and why I’m asking for your support for school board.

Jamie Coppola

My name is Jamie Coppola and I am running for the Central Square Board of Education.  I am a 1988 Central Square graduate.  I graduated with a Regents high school diploma and was a three-sport athlete.  I went on from high school to attend college and graduated from St. Lawrence University, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Science.  I continued on another year at St. Lawrence University to get my Master’s Degree in General Studies.  Immediately after, I was employed by the Central Square School District as the Physical Education teacher at Brewerton Elementary.  While working at Brewerton Elementary, I coached three sports for Central Square and started taking courses to get my CAS in Educational Administration from Oswego State University.  I completed my internship at Central Square Middle School as Assistant Principal and also did a half year interim Assistant Principal position there as well.  Shortly after, I was hired at APW as the full time Assistant Principal at their middle school.  Six months into the position, I was hired to be their middle school Principal and did that for ten years.  The next six years, I was the high school Principal.  After two successful principalships, I became the K-12 Director of Health, Physical Education, and Athletics.  I am currently in my fifth year in this role.  I have been a resident of the Central Square district for twenty-three years, married to my wife, Marci, for fifteen years, and a father of four.  My oldest has already graduated from Central Square and I still have three more in the system, two at the middle school and one at Millard Hawk Elementary.  I coached pee wee wrestling and also little league baseball in the community for the past few years.  As you can see, I have a vested interest in the Central Square School District and want to continue on with that by becoming part of the Central Square Board of Education.

Citizenship Awards for 2019-2020Click on the following link to view all of the Citizenship Award winners for the 2018-2019 school year, https://tinyurl.com/Citizenship-Awards-2019 

The following members of the Greater Fort Brewerton and Oneida Lake Chamber of Commerce donate in the form of gift certificates each month so two students from Central Square Middle School and two students from Paul V. Moore High School are randomly selected that have no behavioral referrals, and are presented these amazing gift certificates from Rosie's Corner (https://www.facebook.com/rosiescorner/), the Brewerton Diner (https://www.facebook.com/BrewertonDiner/), Joa's Pizza (https://www.facebook.com/Joas-Pizza-149499535079715/), and Brewerton Special Tees (https://www.facebook.com/BrewertonTees/). We are blessed to have so many local businesses that believe in our mission "to empower all students to excel in a changing world."  We want to thank these amazing businesses for their continued generosity and support for the students of the Central Square School District, which truly exemplify our District's slogan, "As one we rise, together we soar."

Spring Has Finally Sprung at Central Square

UNIFIED BASKETBALL

Our unified basketball team is having a fantastic start to their season. They were extremely impressive against Fulton High School in a pre-season scrimmage and then dominated play against a strong Hannibal team at their opening game this week.

This year's Unified Redhawk Basketball Team consisted of Alexis Foster (12), Alex Foster (10), Logan Cottrell (12), Nick Ransom (12), Paige winks (12), Eric Tsosie (9), Natalie Maher (12), Aleiah Stoutenger (12), Gordon Fregoe (9), Kevin Radziseski (11), Jared Lozano (11), Adrianna Cottrell (11), Elijah Harris (12), Victoria Tyrrell (12), Kennith Kenyon (11), Neo Schwartz (10), Henry Landers (9), Coaches: Dan Scicchitano and Lincoln Marlon, and a special thank you to the Teaching Assistants that come to all the games to support the students.

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association and Special Olympics New York are proud to offer Unified Sports to NYSPHSAA member schools. Project Unify is made up of three main components: 1. Inclusive Sports: combines athletes (players with intellectual disabilities) and athletes (players without intellectual disabilities) to create athletic teams for training and competition. Participation is rooted in the principle of meaningful involvement which ensures that every player is given an opportunity to contribute to the success of his or her team through their unique skills. Inclusive activity is among the most conducive ways to break down stereotypes and foster relationships. 2. Youth Leadership & Advocacy: provides students with and without intellectual disabilities opportunities to take on leadership roles in promoting Project Unify activities in their schools and in their communities. 3. Whole-School Engagement: provides opportunities for all students to participate in school-wide campaigns and activities such as Fans in the Stands, Pledge and Plunge, and the R-word Campaign.

Embracing unified sports at Central Square in basketball and bowling aligns to our mission "to empower all students to excel as citizens in a changing world." It shows all students that whether or not they have a disability,
they can excel in athletics and experience teamwork, hard work, problem-solving, empathy, and many more of the Attributes of a Central Square Learner seen here, https://tinyurl.com/Key-Attributes-of-a-CS-Learner. It is a pleasure watching the unified team compete, and it is equally satisfying to see the look of pride on the staff members and parents of the players' faces as they cheer on their children. The entire gymnasium is filled with pride! Their next home game is May 6 at 4 pm in the PVM Gym against Oswego.

Cabaret Concert and Hall of Fame For The Visual and Performing Arts Induction Ceremony




This year's Cabaret Concert was another illustration of how talented our student performers are and why our music department (in my opinion) is the best in the Country! Congratulations to all of the music instructors for all of the hard work and dedication you provide our students on a daily basis, and a very special congratulations to retired music teacher, Craig Elwood, for being inducted into the Central Square Hall of Fame For The Visual and Performing Arts, a truly remarkable honor. It was a packed gymnasium, full of students, staff, parents, and community members joining in on our wonderful celebration.

Art in the Atrium
Hours before the Cabaret Concert and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony garnered a thunderous applause in our PVM gymnasium, students, staff, parents and community members flooded the large cafeteria where our students had their artwork on display. Some amazing pieces of art were bid on and sold for a lot of money, which was very exciting for our students to witness people paying money for their creations. Mark Rio (seen below to the left) had one of his photographs (seen below it, titled "Game Face") nationally recognized by The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers with a Gold Medal distinction, the highest attainable award for photography. Mark will be headed to NYC in June to receive this extremely prestigious award. If I were Nick Ransom, I'd hang a copy of it in his dorm room next year as that picture truly captures the moment!

Everyone I spoke with in the cafeteria that evening was amazed by how talented our students at PVM are. I don't want to leave out that our amazing art program, similar to our amazing music program, starts at the elementary level where art teachers help ignite the creativity and artistic expression that seems to be contagious across Central Square. This helps us produce and cultivate well rounded students that will be highly successful no matter which career pathway they select.
SKILLS USA
We had several of our PVM BOCES students compete in the SKILLS USA regional competition at held at the New York State Fairgrounds. Attending this event is always the highlight of my year, and last week's SKILLS USA was no different. I greatly enjoyed watching our PVM students excel in the numerous career categories that they are currently studying at Citi BOCES. To view all 104 career categories, view the following link that allows you to click on each category for a description and brief video, https://www.skillsusa.org/competitions/skillsusa-championships/contest-descriptions/. I am always fascinated by the look of pride on the students' faces as they showcase their talents in in amazing competition. These students have incredible skills that will bring them far in life. Watching students perform at the highest level doing something that they are truly passionate about is our goal for all students.

Safety and Security Capital Project

We held a community forum at PVM last night (Thursday, May 2) that focused on our proposed Safety and Security Capital Project, which will be voted on May 21, 2019, along with the school budget and Board member vote. I included the cost breakdown on the card above. I have attached the PowerPoint that was used, which is the same presentation that was used at the March 25th Board of Education meeting. It was well attended by staff, parents, some students, and community members. There were excellent questions asked and I feel our team did a great job providing responses. Our three amazing Special Patrol Officers were there, as were our architect from King + King Architects and our Construction Manager. Armoured One was also there to provide information and answer questions as well. This safety and security project is $11,995,000 and the majority of that will go to the much needed infrastructure at the main entrance of every school. We are Creating safe and secure entrances for all of our schools that will bring all visitors into a locked vestibule area, and from there they will enter the main offices where every visitor's ID is run through the Raptor software (as they currently are in all of our schools), and then if everything checks out, they can exit the office into the school. Central Square, like all school districts are mandated every five years to have a building conditions survey completed by a licensed architecture firm. The last building condition survey that was done on all of our schools showed $120 million dollars of work that was needed across the District. When we interviewed architect firms and ultimately selected King + King Architects in 2016, they identified the construction work that was of the highest priority and we wanted to not have it impact the taxes so we kept it at $40.8 million. Phase 1 of the 2017 Capital Project consisted of new roofs to replace our very old roofs (which ate approximately $12 million of the $40.8 million. A complete cost breakdown of the 2017 Capital Project is on the card below. Another huge cost ($11.5 million) went to mechanical/electrical upgrades, as we had not had a significant Capital Project in 14 years (which is why the last building conditions survey identified $120 million in needed renovations and upgrades to bring us to code). Phase 2 of the 2017 Capital Project is underway and the construction crews will be working throughout the summer and throughout the 2019-2020 school year. Some may wonder why our safety and security needs could not be accomplished in the 2017 $40.8 million Capital Project, and the answer is that we could not exceed the voter approved $40.8 million and that is going to the major structural needs, such as roofs, walls, electrical, paving of lots, etc., leaving no extra money for the much needed safety upgrades, specifically the securing of all main entrances of every school. Some may also be wondering why the District waited so many years knowing that we needed a major Capital Project that would impact all of our schools and District Office building, and the answer is that past Boards of Education and District administration had some very difficult questions to answer regarding the future footprint of the District, given the steady decline of student enrollment in Central Square and across all of Oswego County. No one wants to invest millions of dollars into schools if some of those schools will not be there in the foreseeable future. We have recently received the purchase offer from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for Cleveland Elementary and the Board has already approved the offer price at a previous Board meeting so this deal is about to be finalized once our attorneys review the paperwork and the Board approves the actual purchase. That is a school that we will no longer have to maintain, and had we not closed that school 5 years ago, we would have spent millions on much needed renovations and that money would have had to come out of the 2017 $40.8 million. A few moths ago we sold the old District Office building on Main Street, which means we will no longer have to maintain that very old building that received no building aid because there were no students housed in it. We are still putting money into Central Square Intermediate School because we are housing 6 classrooms there for the 2019-2020 school years, as this is allowing us to move all the 4th and 5th grade classrooms currently at Millard Hawk Elementary to CSI. This will allow construction crews to aggressively work at Millard Hawk Elementary in half of the school without having to work only second and third shifts because they would have to make the school operational each night because students would be in all the classrooms. If we did not have CSI as "swing space" for next school year, it would have turned a 1 year construction renovation into at least a two year project. The increased cost as well as the dust in those rooms being worked on would have been an issue for students and staff. Following the 2019-2020 school year, we will be utilizing CSI for specific special education programs and alternative education programs that we are currently bussing students in these specialized programs to BOCES locations across the County. We want these students to be housed in their District and it will also be another cost savings for us. We will make sure we replicate the services they would be receiving in a BOCES program so their unique needs are absolutely met by our teachers here. The following link is the Safety and Security Presentation that was presented at the community safety and security forum May 2:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VO_xgyedEiuBK2ZQGDnw7YjRsvTH6HW1/view
As you can see from the cost breakdown below, the $40.8 million that was from the approved 2017 Capital Project consisted of items that absolutely needed to be upgraded/renovated because of safety concerns, which included the turf and track at PVM Stadium that was 14 years old and had outlived its expected shelf life and had become a safety hazard because it was becoming increasingly hard and if not replaced would have led to injuries.

                                     SPRING IS HERE!!!!!

Our  varsity baseball team battled a great Jamesville-Dewitt team this past week under the lights at Onondaga Community College, and even though they came up just short of the victory, they showed great teamwork throughout the game.  They continue to improve.  We are fortunate to have such a strong athletic program at Central Square.