Letter to Families and Staff

Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central School District will be closed on Monday, April 8, on the day of the solar eclipse. Several factors were considered before making this decision, including safety concerns for students and potential staffing issues caused by numerous neighboring schools closing or shortening their days.

Our area is not in the path of eclipse totality, but it’s anticipated that the Capital Region will be significantly affected. While this is a rare and exciting phenomenon, it presents a risk of eye injury to everyone, especially children who may not understand the dangers of looking directly in the direction of the sun. At no time will it be safe to look at the sun without the protection of authentic and properly certified eclipse viewing glasses. Here are some safety suggestions from NASA.

We understand canceling school can be a hardship for many of our families who have to make childcare arrangements or miss work. We have used no emergency closure days during the 23-24 school year. The school closure on April 8 will not require us to make the day up at some other time this year. Looking ahead, we also anticipate that Thursday, May 23, 2024, will be a contingent day (no school) up against Memorial Day weekend because we have not used all of our emergency closure days.

This solar event will not occur again in our part of the country for many years. We encourage students and families to learn more about the eclipse as well as ways to observe the eclipse with the proper eye protection. We have and will be providing lessons to students about the eclipse and eclipse safety this week. More information about the solar eclipse event and eye safety may be found here:

2024 Total Eclipse: Where & When - NASA
Eclipse Eye Safety

We are excited to reveal one of our new logos as part of our rebranding. This vector will be the centerpiece of our new branding guide, which will be completed shortly.

As a reminder our new name and logo will implemented for our teams during the 24-25 school year and the final updates to our facilities will be completed by the beginning of the 25-26 school year.

The District will continue its process of retiring current branded items such as uniforms, banners, and other signage. Larger rebranding changes like the athletic fields, pool, and gym floor will be scheduled for updates via regular maintenance, replacement, or construction projects. Some of these areas are already scheduled for update or replacement by 2025. Any updates that need to be completed prior to the end of their expected, useful life will be paid for either by funds given to the District through PILOT programs (Payments In Lieu Of Taxes) or by funds given to the District by Holcim. As a reminder, these rebranding efforts will not be paid through the District’s general budgetary fund. To learn more about the rebranding process click here.

The students in Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District participate in the New York State Education Department (NYSED) computer-based testing for grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. This year, students in grades 5 & 8 will also participate in the computer-based NYS Science assessments. Students participate in these tests within the regularly scheduled school day. For more about participating in NYS assessment please click here. The testing schedule can be found here.