Raider Report December 2025
As we enter this holiday season, I am reminded of the importance of joy, reflection, and being fully present for our children. This time of year offers an opportunity to pause, appreciate what we’ve accomplished together, and celebrate the moments that make our school community so strong.
In this month’s newsletter, you will find several stories that highlight the compassion and character of our students.The Cooking for Change feature illustrates how our students exemplify the Raider Profile by showing empathy, compassion, and global citizenship through their fundraising work. I thoroughly enjoyed being “waited on” by our students, and I have to say, the service and quesadilla were excellent.
The joy and excitement of the Thanksgiving parade and football game were wonderful reminders of how essential play, celebration, and shared traditions are in our schools. We also appreciate the interdisciplinary lesson highlighted this month, which show the creativity and collaboration happening across classrooms. Our annual Veterans celebration remains one of the most meaningful events of the year. Our students learn to honor and appreciate the service of our local veterans, and we are deeply grateful for their sacrifices and contributions.
As a district, we remain committed to providing students with real-life experiences that teach empathy, compassion, and community responsibility, both locally and globally. These opportunities help shape them into engaged, caring citizens.
As we welcome the new year, I encourage all of us to continue supporting one another and to remain a community known for kindness and generosity. I wish you a joyful holiday season and a healthy, beautiful new year.
With the cafeteria doors still closed but the line of attendees for their Cooking for Change fundraiser stretching down the hall, Liz Lowney called her staff of four dozen Linden Avenue Middle School students together to go over final instructions.
“The energy was palpable,” she said. “You could just feel the kids were electric and ready and nervous.”
Over the next two hours, the LAMS students and several adult volunteers served the more than 250 attendees authentic Mexican food and raised more than $4,200 in donations for a community kitchen in the Yucatan peninsula, Comedor Zarigüeyas.
“It was magical,” Lowney, a Spanish teacher and event organizer, said of the first-time event coming together to benefit the small community in Merida, Mexico. “The show of support from the Red Hook community was overwhelming.”
Cooking for Change on Nov.5 marked the culmination of an educational unit in Lowney’s eighth-grade Spanish class; those taking part included her students plus the school’s International Club, which she advises. It was inspired by Lowney’s personal experience learning about and working with Zarigüeyas over the summer.
The community kitchen was founded in 2020 by a group of mothers who wanted to ensure their kids had something to consistently eat in an area where resources are scarce. The kitchen today feeds 65 kids and 30 mothers on just $35 each day. Lowney called the $4,200-plus raised “a game-changer,” which should finance Zarigüeyas for close to four months.
The students in the weeks leading up to the event learned about Zarigüeyas and the Yucatan peninsula’s culture, and learned how to make a selection of dishes from a couple of district parents of Mexican descent.
The event itself, a free meal open to the public with donations encouraged, entailed the 51 students cooking and serving the dishes, with assistance from several volunteers and the head of LAMS’ kitchen, Frank McCann.
“I owe my life to Frank McCann in the kitchen,” Lowney said, calling him “a superstar. He was so great with the kids and he’s used to cooking for the masses.”
Lowney and the students involved are scheduled to be recognized at the Thursday, Dec. 11, Board of Education meeting.
One week before Thanksgiving, Red Hook students dined on turkey and gravy, herbed peas, smashed potatoes and topped it off with a serving of peach crisp.
Each menu item, from the Northwind Farms turkey to the Hudson Valley Fresh Milk, was supplied by New York vendors. In fact, every item on November's menu is coming from a New York source.
Red Hook’s Food Service department completed the rare feat of serving a November menu entirely from Empire State products for the second consecutive year. The idea was birthed by former Food Service Director Larry Anthony and his successor, Sam Pride, eagerly worked to complete duplicating the endeavor after taking the reins at the start of this year.
It’s been so successful that Pride is also filling most of December’s menu with New York items.
Pride said New York November represents “a commitment to our students, our farmers and our communities. When we serve food grown and produced here in our region, we’re feeding kids meals that are fresher, simpler and done well.”
Mill Road Elementary School went into the Thanksgiving Recess with its annual parade and football contest at the end of the day Nov. 25.
The celebration kicked off with fourth grade students parading down the Paul Menz Pathway with signs and floats of various themes, including mythical creatures, foreign languages and even fish from the Hudson River Estuary.
Before the main event, in which fifth grade students took the field alongside faculty including Principal Dr. Brian Boyd and Assistant Principal Kristen Strothmann, Austin Chew and Jude Szlasa performed the national anthem on the trumpet. At halftime, second and third graders flooded the field to lead a massive performance of the Macarena. And throughout, students were treated to piping hot cups of hot cocoa.
After a thrilling, back-and-forth affair featuring several highlight touchdown grabs and even an interception returned for a touchdown, the two rotating teams of fifth graders ended the contest in a tie and capped the short, holiday week with a handshake line and smiles.
Members of the Red Hook High School RoboRaiders Robotics Club visited the Mill Road STEAM Innovation Center mid-month to lead a hands-on engineering lesson with fifth-grade students.
The students explored the engineering design process – identifying a problem, planning possible solutions, creating prototypes, testing and evaluating, and finally presenting solutions. The high schoolers guided the elementary engineers through each step, encouraging creativity, collaboration and critical thinking.
“It was an engaging and inspiring session,” STEAM instructor Sybil Bell said, “that highlighted the power of peer-to-peer learning and showcased the innovative spirit thriving across our district.”
Mill Road Elementary continued an annual tradition of honoring local veterans on Nov. 10 when it held its Veterans Day celebration.
The school each year invites veterans, including those with family who attend the school, to watch students perform a selection of patriotic songs, led by their dedicated music teachers.
In preparation for the event, students researched important facts about Veterans Day and created meaningful artwork to deepen their understanding and appreciation of those who have served. The artwork covered the walls around the grades 3-5 cafeteria. A powerful new addition to this year’s ceremony was the “Missing Man Table,” with its significance respectfully explained by two fifth grade students. It’s a symbolic display seen in military dining halls honoring fallen, missing or imprisoned service members.
While older students performed musical numbers, the pre-K and kindergarten students kicked off the events by leading the pledge of allegiance.
Principal Dr. Brian Boyd called the celebration “absolutely wonderful,” and praised the teachers for their creativity and commitment.
“Our veterans were honored and our students learned valuable lessons about service, sacrifice and gratitude,” he said.
Red Hook High School’s IB Diploma candidates took a field trip to A.I.R. – Albany’s Indoor Rock Gym.
The students – 34 of the school’s 35 full IB Diploma candidates – learned how to rock climb with partners and explored caves with areas in which the students the students experienced total darkness and had to work together to get out of the caves. The experience aligns with the IB Learner Profile, in which they needed to take risks, work together and overcome challenges.
“I was so happy at how much they enjoyed themselves,” IB Theory of Knowledge teacher Bill Decker said. “There was no pressure to engage in all the activities, but amazingly all the students tried climbing and all of them went on the cave experience.”
Decker said off-campus activities that encourage students to challenge themselves and be physically active was originally part of the IB program when it was started at the school two decades ago, and he’s brought it back since becoming CAS coordinator two years ago. Last year the IB candidates went to an escape room.
“The students experienced four different escape scenarios and had to work together in groups of four to solve their way out,” Decker said.
Student interest in pursuing a full International Baccalaureate diploma is growing at Red Hook High School, with the Class of 2026 boasting a record number of candidates.
That’s not the only way Red Hook’s IB imprint is growing, though.
IB Coordinator Diana Decker in late September was among a handful of educators from around the world who visited Cardiff, Wales for a curriculum development meeting.
“I was very honored to be invited to go,” she said. “We met with two curriculum managers for IB English.”
Decker and English Department Chair Christine Griffin have spoken directly with IB curriculum managers in the past over Zoom, with Decker crediting Red Hook’s shift to “IB English for All” for getting the school on their radar.
“They said they really liked my enthusiasm and my interest in the program,” Decker said of why she was invited to Wales, noting she was one of only two classroom teachers on the trip. “I think they also wanted to hear the perspective of, ‘If we do make X and Y changes to some of our assessments, how would that impact the work that you’re doing in the classroom?’”
While the trip was exciting, Decker said there was no time for tourist fun.
“They kept us in the office from 8:30 to 5 every day. We put in some long hours,” she said.