CAZENOVIA — During the May 18 Cazenovia Central School District Board of Education (BOE) meeting, Superintendent Matthew Reilly provided an update on the district’s recent efforts to begin developing a plan for spending its share of the COVID relief funds reserved for public K-12 schools.

According to Reilly, Cazenovia Central School District (CCSD) will receive almost $3 million in federal stimulus money.

“There was an expectation that there would be guidance forthcoming from the New York State Department of Education, and perhaps even a template for us to use for planning purposes,” Reilly said. “We received a memo yesterday saying that no such template will be forthcoming, which is OK, [because] we had been planning regardless of a template being there.”

Reilly noted that the district held a productive and exciting planning meeting the previous week, which provided the administrative team with an opportunity to dream in a way it has not been afforded in previous years.

The superintendent also explained that instead of using a state-devised template, the district plans to use its own strategic plan — including its pillars of communication, engagement and wellness — as a starting point for the planning process.

“[Our strategic plan] was made up by the voices of many constituent groups,” Reilly said. “As we’ve worked through it over the last couple years, there have been goals and things that we did not get to and didn’t accomplish, some of which were honestly [because] of a lack of funding. This will remedy that.”

He added that CCSD would be distributing a survey to families within the next week to help gain a sense of their experiences over the past school year and the areas in which they would like to see their children receive additional support such as summer enrichment and after school enrichment, for example.

Staff members will also be surveyed to gather their insights regarding the past year, the students’ needs, and their own needs in terms of professional development.

According to Reilly, the spending plan will be data informed and focused on evidence-based practices.

“While it is a lot of money, we don’t want to just throw the spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks,” he said.

The planning process will also focus on economic sustainability.

Reilly explained that districts have until late 2024 to spend the money, and that once the three years are up, any unused money will be returned to the federal government.

“I don’t want the district to miss that opportunity, but I also don’t want to create a fiscal hole by going out and doing hiring, only to [have] to do a bunch of letting people go [three years from now],” he said.

Reilly added that he also hopes to avoid creating an expectation that the district is ultimately unable to live up to.

“Creating great programs that hook our community, [but] that might not be financially sustainable, is a concern as well,” he said.

According to the superintendent, the district hopes to post a preliminary plan by June 7. After soliciting additional feedback, the district will revise and submit its plan on June 15. The plan will be posted and the board will continue to gather feedback and complete revisions before resubmitting its updated plan on June 30.

Reilly concluded his report by highlighting the fact that, over the course of the three years, certain amounts must be spent on addressing “learning loss,” summer enrichment, and after school enrichment.

“It doesn’t have to be balanced each year,” he said. “It’s not like you have to spend $33,000 [on after school enrichment] each year. You can frontload it, you can backload it, and you can do more than $100,000 if that is what your plan entails.”

In other news

The board voted to appoint Christopher J. DiFulvio as the CCSD Superintendent of Schools for an initial term of three years commencing July 1, 2021.

DiFulvio will succeed Reilly, who is retiring at the end of the 2020-2021 school year after seven years of service to the district.

“I think the district has made a great choice,” Reilly said. “I know it was a great deal of effort on the part of the board, and I appreciate that. I think the district is in good hands and will grow and prosper in the coming years.”

The BOE launched an intensive national search for a new superintendent in Feb. 2021 after enlisting the consulting services of OCM BOCES District Superintendent Matthew L. Cook, Ed.D.

DiFulvio is currently serving as the assistant superintendent of instructional support services at the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES.

A native of Central New York and a current resident of Preble, DiFulvio has been working at OCM BOCES since 2015.

He started his career at OCM BOCES as a career & technical education principal in Cortlandville; he then served as the director of innovative education before becoming the assistant superintendent for instructional support services in 2018.

From 2011-2015, he worked in the Homer Central School District as an eighth-grade English language arts (ELA) teacher, lead teacher, and instructional coach.

From 2009-2011, he worked as an ELA teacher and administrative intern at Middlesex County Public Schools in Saluda, Virginia.

DiFulvio began his career in education in 2008-2009 as a seventh-grade writing and reading teacher in Lake Havasu, Arizona.

His educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in adolescent education from SUNY Oneonta, a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Scranton, and a certificate of advanced study (CAS) from Le Moyne College in Syracuse.

“I’m really excited to be here, and I want to thank the board of education,” said DiFulvio, who attended the BOE meeting. “I certainly want to let everyone know that the board, the team here at Cazenovia, and the people I’ve gotten to work with over the past couple of years, were a big reason I applied. I’m really looking forward to being part of the community, and my family is excited as well.”

School board meetings are typically held on the third Monday of each month. Meeting dates are listed on the district website and the school calendar.

For more information, visit cazenoviacsd.com/board-of-education.