Inside Yorktown CSD

Welcome to the January 2025 edition of “Inside Yorktown CSD.” This newsletter will take you inside our schools by sharing photos, stories, announcements, upcoming events, and more — all with the goal of creating a more connected school community.

• January 31 & February 1 – YHS Dance Company Performances (YHS Auditorium)
• February 3 – UCA Nationals Cheer Showcase (6:30 p.m., YHS Gym)
• February 5 – Brookside Grade 3 Concert
• February 7 – Brookside PTA Someone Special Dance (5:30 p.m.)
• February 7 – Charlie Strong Varsity Basketball Game (6:00 p.m., YHS Gym)
• February 7 – MESMS PTA Grade 6 Dance (7:00, MESMS Cafeteria)
• February 8 – YHS Swing Dance (7:00 p.m., YHS Gym)
• February 10 – Crompond Family Night at Varsity Boys Basketball Game (6:00 p.m., YHS Gym)
• February 10 – YCSD Board of Education Meeting (7:00 p.m. MESMS Cafeteria)
• February 11 – Mohansic Grade 3 Concert
• February 17-21 – Schools Closed for Winter Recess

Athletic schedules can be found here.

For more calendar information, visit this link.

At the January 27 Board of Education meeting, the calendar for the 2025-26 school year was adopted. It is enclosed for your review and will also be posted to our website.

Our schools are seeing an uptick in flu and other respiratory illnesses. If your child is symptomatic with a fever, we ask that your child remain home until they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications. Similarly, we are seeing an uptick in stomach flu (stomach bug). We appreciate your cooperation in keeping a child experiencing symptoms of a stomach bug home. Additional information can be found in the enclosed document or on our nurses’ website.

We are in the process of building our budget for the upcoming school year, and much of our budget is driven by student enrollment. While most of the variables regarding enrollment are relatively easy to forecast, kindergarten enrollment and new families moving to the district resulting from residential developments are the most challenging to predict. If you or someone you know has a child who will be five years of age by December 1, 2025, and are planning to register them for kindergarten within the District, I kindly ask that you do so by contacting our Registrar’s Office at 914-243-8000 ext. 11604 or 18026 as soon as possible. Additionally, if you have recently moved to the District and are planning to enroll your child in our schools for September, we ask that you do so as soon as possible.

We are hopeful that we will continue to offer our Universal Pre-K program in the 2025-26 school year. As our community is likely aware, we have been able to utilize our state pre-k allocation in recent years to offer a pre-K program to any eligible student in our school district catchment area. These state funds can only be used to offer a pre-K program and cannot be used for any other purpose. We are pleased to be able to add this incredible service, through our partnership with the YMCA of Central and Northern Westchester, without adding to our operating budget.

We will be monitoring the state budget and are optimistic that pre-K funds will once again be included in our state aid allocation. Additional information regarding registration will be available in the coming months.

April 1 is the deadline to request out-of-district transportation to non-public schools. All request forms must be sent to Ms. Patty Sauber at psauber@yorktown.org on or before Tuesday, April 1. The request form can be accessed on the transportation department’s webpage or by clicking here.

Requests for transportation to and/or from daycare must also be sent to Ms. Sauber at psauber@yorktown.org on or before Tuesday, April 1.

We are well along in our budgetary planning for the 2025-26 school year. We delivered our first community budget presentation at the January 13 BOE meeting, and we will be delivering additional budget presentations at each of the upcoming meetings.

If you are not able to attend any of the presentations at our Board of Education meetings, please know that our meetings are recorded and uploaded to our YouTube channel the following day. Additionally, all budget-related materials can be found on our budget website.

Important budget dates are below:

• January 13, 2025 – Budget Presentation: Budget Overview & Tax Cap, State Aid, and Debt Service & Reserves
• January 27, 2025 – Budget Presentation: General Support, Facilities, Benefits, & Transportation
• February 10, 2025 – Budget Presentation: Athletics & Co-Curricular
• March 3, 2025 – Budget Presentation: Instruction, General Ed, Special Ed, & Technology
• March 24, 2025 – Presentation of Superintendent’s Budget
• April 21, 2025 – Budget Adoption
• April 21, 2025 – Deadline for Filing Petitions for Trustee Candidacy
• May 12, 2025 – Public Budget Hearing
• May 15, 2025 – Deadline for Voter Registration
• May 20, 2025 – Budget and Trustee Vote at French Hill School, 7 a.m.-9 p.m.

The District will welcome back Dr. Stephen Dewey on March 19, in the MESMS Cafeteria. Dr. Dewey, a research professor at the NYU School of Medicine, will give a presentation on how addiction affects the adolescent brain.

YCSD's Board of Education held a regular meeting on Monday, January 27. A video replay is available on the District's YouTube channel.

The board will hold its next meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 10.

Unless noted otherwise, all Board of Education meetings will be held in the middle school cafeteria. You can find agendas and upcoming meeting dates by visiting the following link: BOE Agendas.

You can visit the District's Communications website to keep up with the latest news and to read archived stories.

Students at Brookside and Crompond have been working hard to support U.S. service members stationed overseas. As part of the “Operation Cupid” initiative, they collected donations and created heartfelt cards to show their appreciation. United for the Troops visited both schools to gather the donations, which will soon be shipped overseas.

Please click here to see more photos.

On January 27, our incredible first-grade students from Mohansic took center stage at the Board of Education meeting to share their "out-of-this-world" learning about the sun, moon, and stars!

From exploring shadows and sundials to demonstrating the phases of the moon and constellations, these young scientists wowed us with their knowledge and creativity. A special thank you to the teachers, staff, and PTA for making these hands-on learning experiences possible.

We’re so proud of our students for their hard work and enthusiasm for science!

Please click here to see more photos.

Brookside Elementary School’s Brew Crew is proving that sometimes the smallest ideas have the biggest impact.

Designed for students in Mrs. LiCalzi and Mrs. Vaglica’s classes, the Brew Crew gives students the opportunity to run a fully operational beverage cart, serving coffee, tea, and hot chocolate to staff each Friday morning.

Students rotate weekly through roles like collecting orders, preparing drinks, and making deliveries. Along the way, they gain valuable skills such as counting money, sequencing tasks, and writing thank-you notes. At the same time, the program fosters essential social-emotional learning skills, helping students build confidence, practice teamwork, and form meaningful connections with staff members across the school.

Funded by a District Innovation Grant (iGrant), the Brew Crew has become an invaluable part of Brookside’s community and truly exemplifies #TheYorktownDifference!

Please click here for photos.

For Yorktown High School seniors Makayla Winslow and Chinmayi Goyal, science is more than a subject — it’s a way to make a difference. Their innovative research projects have earned them recognition as Regeneron Science Talent Search Top 300 Scholars, placing them among the most promising young scientists in the country.

Please click here to read more about their projects.

Second graders recently participated in an exciting series of lessons focused on the importance of ESTEAM (Empathy, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) and how technology can positively impact their community.

𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗼𝗯𝗼𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲

Students engaged in a hands-on gardening robot challenge where they learned how to program robots (Ozobots) to assist in various tasks. This activity highlighted the role of coding in making jobs easier and more efficient.

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁

To conclude their lessons, each student received a large map of the Yorktown community. They explored various ways to contribute positively to their surroundings. Teams were given challenge cards that outlined specific missions, guiding them to program their robots to navigate to different checkpoints on the map.

This initiative not only enhanced their coding skills but also reinforced the significance of community involvement and teamwork. Way to go, second graders!

Please click here for more photos.

Congratulations to Malakai Tinsley, a sixth grader in the OASIS program, who was recognized as a Student of Distinction by Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES at the January 27 school board meeting. He earned this honor for his hard work, engaging spirit, and willingness to support his peers.

On January 21, our Girls Varsity Basketball Program hosted the Second Annual JCK Legends Classic, featuring Yorktown, Lakeland, Croton-Harmon, and Haldane in an exciting evening of basketball and community impact.

Organized by Yorktown High School's Legends Club, the event highlighted the club's mission to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. With support from the JCK Foundation, the Legends Club fosters connections, encourages self-care, and creates a supportive environment at YHS.

Youth basketball teams added to the evening's excitement, playing during halftime of the games.

Thank you to everyone who participated and supported this meaningful event!

Welcome to The Yorktown Minute!

On Mondays throughout the school year, Dr. Hattar will update the community on important information and preview the week ahead. Videos will be posted to our Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts (@YorktownCSD). Videos are also being archived on our YouTube channel.

We continue to update our website with various job opportunities, especially teacher aides (no certification required) and certified teaching assistants. If interested, please click here for a list of vacancies.

If you are not a District parent but would like to stay connected with our School Community, please fill out this form to receive our monthly newsletter.

You can read more District highlights by visiting our website and social media pages, which are updated regularly with stories, photos, and announcements.

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Website: www.yorktown.org
Location: 2725 Crompond Road, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
Phone: 914-243-8000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/YorktownCSD/
Twitter: @YorktownCSD