November Updates

VETERAN'S DAY CELEBRATIONS 
Millard Hawk Elementary

Click on the following links to see parts of the wonderful Veteran's Day celebration at MHE. https://youtu.be/12Xm6SwivDc and https://youtu.be/SUS3i3dLz4c

Hastings-Mallory Elementary  

Click on the following links to view parts of the fantastic HME Veteran's Day Celebration. https://youtu.be/3TIl84z7bsA and https://youtu.be/greVurNGBx0

Brewerton Elementary

AA Cole Elementary 

An Amazing Fall Sports Season for the Redhawks

The Boys Varsity Volleyball team played the semi-final match in Oswego Wednesday night against a strong Buccaneers team, and gave a great effort as they came up short. Even though the team lost, they played a hard fought game. The volleyball team had an amazing season, and we were all proud of them. I want to give a shout out to Coach Balintfy for a terrific season. The team finished with a 5-13 record. Our Girls Varsity Volleyball Team finished the season going 9-9 and lost a hard fought battle in the semi-final game in sectioanl competition. "The Central Square girls volleyball recently took a quick pause in their pursuit of a postseason berth to take part in childhood cancer awareness month." https://www.nny360.com/news/oswegocounty/central-square-girls-team-volley-for-a-cure/article_62529579-7445-52c7-b38c-9b01af513249.html.

The Girls Varsity Soccer Team had an incredible season as they were ranked #3 in the State at one point and #1 in sectional play before losing the rubber match to a very strong J-D team, which they had beaten earlier in the season. The girls played their hearts out and should be extremely proud of their outstanding achievements this season. They finished with a record of 16-2-1, finishing the season being ranked #11 in NY State. 

The Boys Varsity Soccer Team also had an amazing season going 10-6-1. The boys upset powerhouse PSLA Fowler High School 6-1 which is very impressive considering that PSLA Fowler finished with a 15-3-1 record. The Redhawks also had a terrific victory over ESM in this amazing game, seen here, https://cnycentral.com/sports/high-school/cicero-north-syracuse-central-square-come-away-victorious-in-tuesdays-boys-soccer-action.

The Boys Cross Country Team finished 5-3 and qualified for sectionals, which is fantastic, while the Girls Cross Country Team finished a perfect 8-0, and were League Champions and also qualified for sectionals. Our Varsity Football team played hard this season and were fun to watch as they finished the season with a 3-5 record. The Boys Golf Team broke a school record as it was the first time the team qualified for sectionals. Our talented Girls Gymnastics Team also had a great season as they qualified for sectional competition. Our Girls Tennis Team finished 6-8 in the league and 6-10 overall, and were also very impressive to watch! With all Fall varsity sports combined, we had a total of 65 wins and 51 losses, which is an excellent reflection of our strong sports program at Central Square. 

Capital Project Updates

The following link will provide you with a detailed update on the 2017 Capital Project as well as the 2019 Safety & Security Capital Project (Timeline) update: https://tinyurl.com/Oct-2019-Cap-project-update.

Since we were able to utilize CSI as a swing space for the 2019-2020 school year, the contractors were able to get so much more done with the renovations to Millard Hawk Elementary (MHE) than they would have been able to do had they not been able to close off a large portion of MHE. By closing down a huge part of MHE, contractors were able to

work throughout the day and evening hours. The following link was filmed two weeks ago (https://youtu.be/nd3dX6aRLrc) and as you can see from this very brief clip, they are making great progress. With this great progress comes a wonderful opportunity.  We have been told by our Construction Management firm that since the contractors are ahead of schedule at MHE that they are 99% sure (and will be 100% sure within the next two weeks) that the massive portion of MHE consisting of 12 renovated classrooms will be ready by Christmas break. This would be a huge benefit for the following reasons:

• The classroom windows can be abated and installed so those rooms do not have to be completed over the summer.
• We have a lot of flooring to replace over the summer that could impact the classroom work. With the classroom work completed, contractors can focus on the floor work.
• Teachers can move to their classrooms sooner instead of waiting until September.
• Contractors can stay in Central Square working on our project rather than leaving for another project.
• With the amount of floor and door changes we have to close the main office. With the additional classroom work (that we want to start now) we can ensure that the project will be substantially complete by September.  
• We also very well may have the security project work starting this summer. We need to have as much of the phase 2 work completed so we can start the security project.

Central Square Middle School got a new heating system and chillers (seen in these pictures) that were badly needed.

AA Cole Elementary got a new heating system (seen in these pictures) that was also badly needed. The other school's heating systems were also upgraded last year during phase 1.

The Fine Arts Program at CSSD is Amazing!

The PVM Band, consisting of the Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Band, put on an outstanding performance at Millard Hawk Elementary as the PVM auditorium was completed gutted and will be a state of the art performing arts center for the 2020-2021 school year. The student performers were fantastic and Band Director, Mr. Ron Haldeman, gave a well deserved shout out to our Director of Facilities, Mr. Paul Brissette, and his crew for all that they have done during this massive capital project, especially how they are transporting all the instruments and equipment to and from PVM High School and the MHE auditorium.

                    PVM Drama Production

The PVM Drama Club were absolutely outstanding throughout their dinner-theatre production of, "Death by Dessert," which I saw Friday night.  It was held in the CSMS cafeteria because that is a larger venue than the PVM cafeteria and it was at full capacity with two sold out shows.  This shows how flexible the Director, Mrs. Schantz, and her cast and crew are because with the PVM auditorium under heavy construction for the year, they had to improvise so the show could go on...and did it ever!!!! Click on the following link to see two of the actresses in action: https://youtu.be/1HEhyvlwfK8. Their excitement was infectious, as the audience, which included many staff members and proud parents, siblings, grandparents and friends, went home after receiving a wonderful show and delicious dinner.  Our Director of  Food Services, Mr. David Bartholomew, and his dedicated food service staff, prepared a truly delicious meal for each guest, and he too was dressed in character.

Marching Band Success in 2019

Our Redhawk Regiment Marching Band hosted another packed stadium of spectators for our annual Home Show this Fall as we finished in 2nd place among a strong group of bands. The Redhawk

Regiment also competed wonderfully in the Championships held in the Dome, finishing 4th with the smallest of margins between us and 2nd place. As always, this group sounded and looked amazing!

Historic Military Artifacts at PVM 

We would like to thank local historian and Veteran, Robert Good, for setting up his amazing military history collection in the PVM library.  Students got to see remarkable pieces of history as these pieces were showcased the entire day on Thursday, November 14. Several teachers including veteran social studies teacher, Mrs. Heather Gullo, was extremely impressed and commented on how engaged her students were as they had the chance to get an up close and personal look into history.  It was very meaningful for our students and staff as so many at Central Square have a long history of military service in their family going back several generations.  I saw students really exploring these artifacts with a heightened sense of interest and enthusiasm. 

The Positivity Project at MHE

Some of our schools are piloting the Positivity Project and they absolutely love how it is impacting their students' behavior and the overall atmosphere of their school.  For more on the Positivity Project click on the following link, https://posproject.org/. I have included a few very brief video clips from Millard Hawk Elementary's Positivity Project assembly this morning, which was outstanding, https://youtu.be/j2eXVjQbpYM, https://youtu.be/Wj9aQ4YdLnU, and the awards in this clip, https://youtu.be/TicZHO22Fls. The program focuses on the 24 character traits below.