We can’t believe how fast 2021-22 flew by. Thank you to everyone that made this past school year a success!
The South Seneca Board of Education will hold its regular meeting on Wednesday, June 22 at 7pm in the Middle-High School Auditorium, Ovid.
Don't forget to contribute to this month's Thought Exchange as we close out our 2021-22 school year and look ahead to the future. This feedback will be an important starting point to our summer strategic planning.
Please share your thoughts by visiting here: https://tejoin.com/scroll/531225562 You can add thoughts, see what other community members are thinking and rate each other’s feedback. All of this is done anonymously, and we encourage you to check back often to keep the conversation going.
Tomorrow night — don't forget! We also encourage people to decorate their lawns, wear black and gold, and line up on Main Street to celebrate our seniors. See you there! #foreverfalcons
Hi everyone, this is Mr. Houseknecht. Tomorrow is our last official class day for grades 7 through 12. In my corresponding text message, I’m including a link to what’s happening for high school students. I will be posting the Regents exam schedule in a separate message.
Our 7th and 8th graders are headed to Seneca Lake State Park. Students should remember items like sunscreen and hats.
Students can return Chromebooks or keep them. If there’s a problem with one, students should return it for maintenance or replacement. Thank you very much!
Here is the HS link for Tuesday:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/124RdNfSvtLl3WTvvy48Lb0-TQdeKYa4j/view?usp=sharing
Thank you to the Mrs. Rundell and the Student Wellness Committee for planning such a wonderful 5th grade dance. Everyone had a great time.
MONDAY JUNE 13 9am UPDATE-- As many are aware, there is a power outage affecting the town of Ovid this morning, and NYSEG is predicting resolution near 11:45. Our MSHS building is running on backup power and as of now, we don't anticipate a disruption to the school day.
SUNDAY JUNE 12 4:30pm- This afternoon’s flooding in the MSHS has been contained, water is back on in the building, and cleanup is underway. Flooding originated from the 8th grade hallway side of the Main Office, and entered the office itself. We anticipate no need to delay the school day on Monday. Thank you to our maintenance crew and all the others involved in today’s response!
SUNDAY JUNE 12 1:45pm- Please be advised we are experiencing flooding in our Middle-High School building today. Crews are on site to assess cause and extent. We will provide more updates as we have them.
I want to thank the parents, staff, and community members who have participated in meetings over the last three weeks to discuss school safety at South Seneca. Speaking personally, these conversations add important perspective about how the community sees our work, and about how we need to think about the path forward in an overall environment that feels less safe than it used to.
We’ve spoken at length together about security in the buildings, about our partnerships with law enforcement, and especially about how we work day in and day out with students. We’ll need to keep talking—as a community—about the kinds of changes we want to make. The decision to seek a second School Resource Officer from the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office has already been made, and we’ll work through the summer to pursue approval from the county to deploy a second deputy. We’ll continue to upgrade and enhance building security systems, and reinforce our processes to manage those systems. We’ll be returning to our regular use of emergency drills and employee trainings to make sure everyone in our schools is practiced in those situations that call for holds-in-place, lock-ins, or lock-downs.
We’ve heard a strong message that more frequent public notices about what’s happening in our buildings would be helpful for the community to be reassured that all is well, and would remove the anxiety of having to speculate.
Finally, on the subject of our code of conduct in the buildings, we clearly have work to do to better communicate the way our systems work; how we follow up on resolutions; how we pair consequences for certain infractions (“know how the rules work”) with ongoing interventions to prevent it happening again; and also, how we sometimes turn a code of conduct investigation over to law enforcement if a situation is actually a criminal offense.
As we anticipate the summer months and the preparations for September, we hope to create even more opportunities for the community to participate in the planning. We’ve opened our end-of-year Thought Exchange survey, leading into strategic planning for the whole district in July and August. The hope is that these discussions will continue, and changes will happen that we all agree will take us to a safer, happier, and more effective place.
Thank you again,
Steve
The elementary building held their Field Days today! Although the event had to moved inside, everything was still a ton of fun. The kids showed great sportsmanship! The Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles theme was a HUGE hit. Thank you to everyone who helped make the day great!
The South Seneca Board of Education will hold its regular meeting on Wednesday, June 8 at 7pm in the Elementary Auditorium, Interlaken.
Hi everyone,
Just a reminder that our Varsity Sports Awards event is Monday evening (June 6th) at 6pm. It will be on soccer/football field, weather permitting (inside if raining). If you have any questions, please email Mr. Crane at tcrane@southseneca.org. Thank you.
Dear Members of the South Seneca School Community,
We began the 2021-22 school year with a series of Thought Exchanges, and as we enter the last month of the academic calendar, we want to end with the same.
This summer, we are launching a strategic planning process that takes into account what is working, what we’d like to improve on and how everyone in our school community feels about the work. We need your input so that we can make the best plans for our district’s future.
Please tell us what you think we are doing well and what can we improve on. We would also like to know what you think we should be considering for the future. Our plans will be based on your feedback. Please share your thoughts by visiting here: https://tejoin.com/scroll/531225562
You can add thoughts, see what other community members are thinking and rate each other’s feedback. All of this is done anonymously, and we encourage you to check back often to keep the conversation going. The exchange will be open until July 1st.
Thank you for your participation!
Join us next week — there are two different opportunities to discuss school safety at South Seneca:
Take two minutes out of your day and fill out this survey for Ford Memorial Library:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeMfl7o8H4V74DOL8s30hQ2CjB7lxX1lENzxZYa3jFhKf-iiA/viewform
May 31 1:45pm-- Electricity has been fully restored at our Middle-High School now, and tonight's Undergraduate Awards ceremony will go on as planned.
The 5th graders had a fantastic time watching the Syracuse Mets take on the Rochester Red Wings. Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who helped make the trip a success.
Put it on your calendars! #FalconsForever
Go get yours ASAP!
