eNews

Dear Secondary School Families: 

I hope this update finds you well. We are only a week away from the end of the second marking period and the midpoint of the academic calendar year. This last leg of the quarter is a very important time for students to finish strong. Please encourage your child to speak with their teachers if they have been absent or missed assignments. 

The first half of the school year has presented many opportunities  - the return of full in-person learning, SEL programming and enrichment courses, clubs, live concerts, and in-person athletic events, just to name a few. For the second half of the year we hope to build upon our many successes as a school community and grow our programming. To do so, keeping our students and staff healthy must remain a top priority. It was only for a day, but seeing my son slouched over on the couch with his Chromebook earlier this week attending classes provided me with a moment of pause. Schools across our state are doing their best to manage student quarantines and serious shortages of bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria staff, clerical staff, teachers, etc… Every facet of operation is being stretched due to the spread of illness. To use a military phrase, I firmly believe we will once again rise to the call; however we must all do our part. For me, “do our part” is simply an expression to say, take care of yourself and your health and make good decisions when it comes to the wellness of others.  I hope it is not considered hyperbole to suggest that keeping our school safe for our children and staff each day depends upon it. We truly appreciate your continued support and understanding as we navigate through these challenging times. Hopefully  the return of spring a little down the road will help us turn a corner like we did last year. 

There are no imminent plans to pivot to a remote schedule but we always want to be prepared in the event we need to. Below you will find our remote bell schedule for your reference. 

https://docs.google.com/docume...

High Honor Roll:  I am very pleased to announce that at this week's meeting, the Board of Education approved a new high honor roll policy for the high school. This new criteria will be added to our student handbook and allows us to award special recognition to our highest achieving students each quarter. The new language also closely aligns with our middle school honor roll/high honor roll criteria in the handbook. Here is the new policy for high honor roll for the high school: 

a.) High School will be considered to be on the honor roll if their quarterly average of all courses equals an 89.5% to 94.4% with no course grade lower than 75%. A high school student with a quarterly average of 94.5% to 100% will be considered to be on the high honor roll. In addition, any course grade of “Inc” (Incomplete), “F” or “U” on the report card disqualifies a student from the honor roll and high honor roll for that quarter regardless of the quarterly average. It has been and will continue to be, our practice to NOT round off. 

January Regents Update: Due to the ongoing pandemic, NY State Education Department (NYSED) has made the decision to cancel all January Regents. Students scheduled to take the 11th grade ELA exam on January 25 will take the exam in June if it is offered. NYSED also informed school districts that no decision has been made about June Regents or any other state assessment programs. The College Physics semester exam offered through Siena will still be administered on the morning of January 28. We will keep you updated with any new information on future assessments when we receive more information. 

January 25 Half Day (Secondary School) : A reminder that Tuesday, January 25 is a half day (11:00 am dismissal) for all 6-12 students. The afternoon is a half day of conference time for staff, originally planned around Regents testing. When students arrive home they will participate in remote learning/independent activities provided by their teachers for the afternoon. 

Attendance Guide for Families

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15mVsKFnWWMX6X8KgaiNs23zpHImqeTff/view?usp=sharing

Calendar of Upcoming Events:

1/21/22: End of quarter 2 

1/25/22: Half day (Secondary)

A reminder that Monday school will be closed in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. If you are traveling, keep an eye out on the weather for the possibility of our first big winter storm. Be well! 

Sincerely, 

Ken Rizzo

Secondary School Principal