School board details 2024-25 priorities, reiterates student ‘PACT’

As a new school year approaches, the Warwick Valley Central School District board of education adopted its building-level safety and emergency management plan for the 2024-25 school year, gave an overview of five key areas that the administration is currently focusing on, and offered details on its updated Code of Conduct throughout the district, at the regular monthly meeting on August 1.

Five areas of focus

Academic Intervention Services: The WV district provides academic support for students who are not meeting their literacy or math goals. AIS teachers are outside contractors hired by the district for this purpose. Currently, the administration is working with a multi-district consortium to hire qualified AIS instructors. WV will meet with parents, teachers, and students to determine the level of need for the coming year; the district will update the community in November.

New district website: The administration has been working with a web designer, Final Site, that should make the new WVSCD site “more user-friendly, more intuitive,” according to Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Leach. The new site, Leach added, will also have improvements to make it more accessible to people with disabilities — this, in response to a “knock on (the) door” by the Equal Opportunities Commission, per Leach.

As part of the updating process, the district will archive old website documents while uploading accessible versions of the same pages to its new and improved site.

Capital projects: The facilities committee continues to meet, and will have its next public update in December.

Transportation: WV will be adding stop-arm cameras to district school buses as it looks to cut down on the number of drivers who run blinking-red school bus signals, which potentially puts riders in danger.

School districts throughout Orange County are “overwhelmed by the number of people not stopping” for stopped school buses, Leach said. He added that County Executive Steve Neuhaus was helpful in getting this technology. When used elsewhere, Leach continued, it has resulted in traffic tickets for violators. The stop-arm cameras will be provided by the county at no charge to district taxpayers, per Assistant Superintendent for Business Timothy Holmes.

The administration is “still working on transitioning to electric buses, but the likely start date “may be kicked back to 2035,” according to Leach.

Safety/security: The district has been working on an enhanced safety plan, especially regarding “parent reunification events,” as in the case of a major natural disaster or man-made event.

Updated Code of Conduct

When students participate in extra-curricular activities, clubs, or inter-scholastic sports, Leach said, the administration expects the students to behave in a way that reflects well on their school district.

Students are expected to meet good academic, ethical, and behavioral standards in order to participate. He added that these activities are a privilege — “a privilege that can be taken away” for infractions of the school code.

For example: students found with or found to be using drugs or alcohol lose two weeks of playing time (in sports), and will be referred for drug/alcohol counseling.

Warwick ‘PACT’

Leach mentioned a list of principles for students, called “The Warwick PACT:”

Pride — Student leaders should have self-respect, a positive attitude, pride in their school, teammates/bandmates/fellow club members, etc., and “own their contributions to their schools’ success.

Accountability — Students are expected to be responsible for their own actions.

Commitment — Students are expected to dedicate their time and effort to fulfill their responsibilities/uphold their promises.

Trust — Students are expected to be reliable and dependable and maintain honest, respectful relationships with their peers, leaders, and administrators.

“If you’re going to wear the purple and gold,” kids must know that they must represent the district appropriately, at home and away.

Leach said that the administration is looking to parents to model this good behavior.

New hire

Leach introduced Andrew Rao, an educator with 10 years’ experience, who the administration is considering for the role of middle school principal. Rao comes to WV from Poughkeepsie, where he served for eight years.

Special Ed, Rao said, is more than a profession for him: As someone with a brother who has autism, Rao is “very passionate” about working with kids, especially those with special needs.

“I’m looking forward to the school year.”

Looking ahead, on August 22 the district will hold a special meeting to establish the 2024-25 tax rate and sign the 2023 tax warrant.