By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
On April 20, the Cazenovia Central School District (CSD) Board of Education discussed the ongoing efforts to provide remote learning to students during the state mandated school closure.
A recording of the board’s Zoom conference was posted to the Cazenovia CSD website on April 21.
During his report, Superintendent Matthew Reilly provided an overview of the recently published CCSD Virtual Learning Plan.
“The administrative team spent [a lot of] time working on the virtual learning plan that appears on the website and that was shared with faculty and staff last week,” Reilly said. “I think students, teachers and parents have been doing a great job figuring stuff out so far, but with the governor extending the closure to . . . May 15, we really wanted to provide greater clarity on the curriculum, instructional delivery, time expectations, grading, and supports for families and students. The plan was a product of New York State guidance, regional conversations, and, most importantly, the data that has been collected over the past three weeks from our teacher learning logs about what exactly our teachers are doing with their students. Parent feedback went into this as well . . . Remember it is not an etched in stone kind of document . . . it’s a fluid document. As we move forth . . . the document is likely to change.”
The CCSD Virtual Learning Plan is available online at cazenoviacsd.com/ccsd-virtual-learning-plan/.
Reilly, board member Ron Luteran and Board President Jan Woodworth each reported positive feedback on the plan from teachers and parents.
The superintendent next provided the board with a list of “known information” on the school closure:
The governor has declared that schools will be closed until at least May 15. Schools would reopen May 18 at the earliest.
All NYS assessments — including the 3-8 ELA and Math Assessments and the Regents Examinations — have been canceled for the year.
The district is still experiencing connectivity issues with some families, despite efforts to provide Wi-Fi hotspots, as well as pencil and paper learning experiences.
Some students are still missing from the virtual learning experience. The district has distributed nearly 300 Chromebooks and repeatedly reached out to families to encourage student participation.
“The issue of equity is absolutely on our minds,” Reilly said. “ . . . The [issue] is real, and it is real right here in this community.”
Teachers have delivered over 1,500 hours of live video instruction or contact with students over the past four weeks.
Teachers have provided over 2,100 hours of asynchronous video instruction.
There have been over 5,000 teacher-parent interactions over the past four weeks.
The facilities department has deep-cleaned over 400,000 square feet of building space, walls and furniture.
The district’s food service workers and transportation department have distributed more than 12,000 meals in the past four weeks.
Students are missing milestone experiences, recognitions and celebrations, including graduation.
“We are trying to make sure that we give [our senior class] as much as they give us,” Reilly said.
The mental health of some students is suffering, despite the outreach of counselors and the district’s mental health team.
Questions remain regarding fourth quarter grading procedures.
“We know that the educational partnership between home and school is and will remain the cornerstone of our success,” Reilly said. “We know that learning is fundamentally social and that our students need to see and hear from teachers and classmates during this time. We know that all of our stakeholders need to be flexible as we constantly adapt to the evolving situation. Finally, we know that any success that we have enjoyed thus far is because of people working really hard and people working together, and that any future success will be built on that same foundation. That is what we know. There are a lot of unknowns, but I wanted to [focus] on what we do know, because there is a lot to celebrate and there is a lot to continue to work on.”
The superintendent also reported that there were over 50 applicants for both the Burton Street principal and middle school principal positions.
According to Reilly, committee interviews with the five finalists for both positions were scheduled for later that week.
Following the committee interviews, the administrative team will meet with the top two or three candidates for each position.
“I will likely meet with one or two finalists at that point,” Reilly said. “We should be able to [make appointments] at the board meeting in May . . . It’s a process that is slower than we anticipated, but it is a process that holds just as much integrity as we had outlined in the beginning. I feel very good about it.”
Reilly concluded his report with a brief discussion of a potential student reentry plan.
“[The idea] is assessing student progress and using primarily ‘Tier 1 interventions’ to bring everyone up to speed,” Reilly said.
In other news
Assistant Superintendent Thomas Finnerty provided a brief update on the 2020-2021 budget.
“The state has a measurement period that will end April 30, which could change what our state aid looks like,” Finnerty said. “We agreed as a group to not adopt the budget and to wait until we see what happens after April 30.”
Reilly commented that the governor has speculated that there will be significant cuts to state aid if there is no federal government assistance. He also reminded the board that roughly one third, approximately $10 million, of the district’s operating budget is based on state aid.
Finnerty also reported that the district is moving ahead with its planned facility construction projects.
For more information on the Cazenovia Central School District, visit cazenoviacsd.com or call Superintendent Reilly at 315-655-1317.
