Back to School
From the Principal's Desk
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope you and your family enjoyed a restful and rejuvenating summer. As we begin the 2025–2026 school year, I want to extend a warm welcome back to all returning families and a special greeting to those joining the Middle School for the first time. We are looking forward to an exciting and productive year filled with growth, learning, and new opportunities for our students.
This year, one of our primary goals is to foster an environment where students can stay focused on their learning and remain fully engaged in their school day. To support this, we have adopted a new cell phone policy. Students will be expected to keep their phones in their lockers during the school day. We appreciate your support in reinforcing this expectation at home, as it will help minimize distractions and ensure our classrooms remain productive spaces for learning.
In addition, we will continue to follow our updated drop-off and pick-up procedures to improve safety and traffic flow on campus. Please review the enclosed guidelines carefully and share them with anyone who will be driving your child to and from school. Following these procedures will help us maintain a safe and efficient environment for all students and families.
As always, the partnership between school and home is vital to the success of our students. We encourage open communication and welcome your involvement throughout the year. Together, we can ensure that every student at the Middle School feels supported, challenged, and inspired to reach their fullest potential.
Thank you for your continued trust and support. I look forward to working together as we begin another successful school year.
Warm regards,
Paul Clark
Principal
Attica Middle School
As we prepare for the 2025–2026 school year, I want to take a moment to share an important
update regarding our district’s approach to student cell phone use during the school day.
Following extensive discussions with stakeholders—including students, staff, families, and
community members—Attica Central School District has adopted a bell-to-bell cell phone ban
for all students beginning in September 2025.
This decision was made in alignment with New York State’s ongoing efforts to support student
mental health and reduce digital distractions during instructional time. Our focus remains on
fostering safe, respectful, and engaging learning environments that support academic growth,
social development, and emotional well-being.
The updated policy was officially approved by the Board of Education on July 10, 2025 and is
available for your review using the link below. The policy outlines expectations for student use
of personal devices and defines clear guidelines for appropriate use during the school day from
bell to bell.
We have also developed the following resources to support families in understanding this
change:
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Document – This resource addresses common
questions about the bell-to-bell policy, including exceptions for educational use and
medical needs.
• Updated Cell Phone Policy – A detailed copy of the approved policy.
10 tips for building resilience in children and teens
1. Make connections
Teach your child the importance of engaging and connecting with their peers, including the skill of empathy and listening to others. Find ways to help children foster connectivity by suggesting they connect to peers inperson or through phone, video chats, and texts. It's also important to build a strong family network. Connecting with others provides social support and strengthens resilience.
2. Help your child by having them help others
Children who may feel helpless can feel empowered by helping others. Engage your child in age-appropriate volunteer work or ask for assistance yourself with tasks that they can master. At school, brainstorm with children about ways they can help others in their class or in grades below.
3. Maintain a daily routine
Sticking to a routine can be comforting to children, especially younger children who crave structure in their lives. Work with your child to develop a routine, and highlight times that are for school work and play.
Particularly during times of distress or transition, you might need to be
flexible with some routines. At the same time, schedules and consistency are important to maintain.
4. Take a break
While some anxiety can motivate us to take positive action, we also need to validate all feelings. Teach your child how to focus on something that they can control or can act on. Help by challenging unrealistic thinking by asking them to examine the chances of the worst case scenario and what they might tell a friend who has those worries. Be aware of what your child is exposed to that can be troubling, whether it's through the news, online, or overheard conversations. Although schools are being held accountable for performance or required to provide certain instruction, build in unstructured time during the school day to allow children to be creative.
5. Teach your child self-care
Teach your child the importance of basic self-care. This may be making more time to eat properly, exercise, and get sufficient sleep. Make sure your child has time to have fun, and participate in activities they enjoy. Caring for oneself and even having fun will help children stay balanced and better deal with stressful times.
6. Move toward your goals
Teach your child to set reasonable goals and help them to move toward them one step at a time. Establishing goals will help children focus on a specific task and can help build the resilience to move forward in the face of challenges. At school, break down large assignments into small, achievable goals for younger children, and for older children, acknowledge accomplishments on the way to larger goals.
7. Nurture a positive self-view
Help your child remember ways they have successfully handled hardships in the past and help them understand that these past challenges help build the strength to handle future challenges. Help your child learn to trust themselves to solve problems and make appropriate decisions. At school, help children see how their individual accomplishments contribute to the well-being of the class as a whole.
8. Keep things in perspective and maintain a hopeful outlook
Even when your child is facing very painful events, help them look at the situation in a broader context and keep a long-term perspective. Although your child may be too young to consider a long-term look on their own, help them see that there is a future beyond the current situation and that the future can be good. An optimistic and positive outlook can enable children to see the good things in life and keep going even in the hardest times. In school, use history to show that life moves forward after bad events, and the worst things are specific and temporary.
9. Look for opportunities for self-discovery
Tough times are often when children learn the most about themselves.
Help your child take a look at how whatever they're facing can teach them "what I am made of." At school, consider leading discussions of what each student has learned after facing a tough situation.
10. Accept change
Change often can be scary for children and teens. Help your child see that change is part of life and new goals can replace goals that have become unattainable. It is important to examine what is going well, and to have a plan of action for what is not going well. In school, point out how students have changed as they moved up in grade levels and discuss how that change has had an impact on the students.
8/18- Modified Football Starts
8/25- 5th Gr. Orientation
9/2- First Day Modified Sports
9/3- First Day for Students
9/3- Picture Day
9/18- Open House
9/25- National Junior Honor Society Inductions
9/25-10/3- Homecoming Week
Nurse’s Office reminders for health-related paperwork for the 2025-26 school year.
New York State requires an updated Health Exam for PreK/Kindergarten, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th grades. Your doctor can fax a physical (dated 09/01/24 to present) to 585-591-4496.
Vaccinations for all students attending public school: NYS Public Health Law §2164 applies to children attending any public, private or parochial child-caring center, day care agency, nursery school, kindergarten, elementary, intermediate, or secondary school. Public Health Law §2164 prohibits a school from permitting any child to be admitted to such school, or to attend such school in excess of 14 days without sufficient evidence that the child has received all age-appropriate required vaccinations.
Students who have a food allergy/intolerance will need a medical note from the child’s physician stating the allergy and what foods the child can/cannot eat. For example, “milk allergy/lactose intolerance, may have juice in place of milk, okay to have pizza and ice cream”.
Students who need medication on a regular basis during the 25-26 school year (i.e. inhalers, nebulizers, ADHD meds) will need a doctor order from their physician.
Over The Counter Forms allow the Nurse’s Office to administer Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, cough drops, Tums, and Chloraseptic Spray on an “as needed” basis. Your child’s physician must sign the form to validate it.
If you have any concerns regarding your child’s health for the 25-26 school year, please call Mrs. Cooley at 585-591-0400 extension 1214 or email at tcooley@atticacsd.org.
The district is requesting that all student drop off and pick up for arrival and dismissal take place in the parent loop and that families no longer park along the side of the road on route 238.
Morning Drop-Off Procedures: (7:45-8:20 am) Cars should enter the parent drop off/pick up loop (far left loop) and continue to the designated drop off area. Once you enter the designated drop off area, please let your children out on the right hand side of the car, and have them cross utilizing crosswalk 29. All students being dropped off by parents will enter the school through door 29. Please proceed to exit the loop making sure to yield to any bus traffic. No vehicle traffic will be allowed in the Bus loop. There will be staff to direct students and traffic to ensure student safety.
Afternoon Pick-Up Procedures: (3:10-3:30 pm) Cars should pull into the parent drop off/pick up loop and line up along the median. Do not double-park in the far-left lane; this will enable cars to pull away once a student is picked up in the designated pick up area. Dismissal starts at 3:10 pm and exit doors 28-30 will be open. Students are able to use crosswalks 29 and 30 to cross to the parent loop to be picked up in the designated pick up area. All traffic must yield to busses at all times. There will be staff to direct students and traffic to ensure student safety.
We are aware that not all cars will be able to fit in the parent loop during our afternoon pickup. Once the lot is full we are asking all families to use the overflow lot off of route 238 adjacent to the stadium until the parent pick-up lot is no longer full. Students will also be encouraged meet any parents in the overflow lot as a walkway is connected to our secondary campus and the overflow lot. No cars will be allowed to park on route 238 during dismissal and will be monitored by our school resource officer and our local law enforcement agencies.
We thank you again for your cooperation with these changes to our procedures and look forward to promoting a safe environment for all of our students and families.