Staff Updates

As communicated last night, on Tuesday, October 7, voters in the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District approved Proposition A and voted down Proposition B in the Capital Project referendum.

• Proposition A: 529 (Yes) to 391 (No)

• Proposition B: 384 (Yes) (correction from previous email) to 531 (No)

The approved referendum will invest $17.7 million into safety and security enhancements, classroom upgrades, and critical building needs. To learn more about the full scope of the project, [click here].

I want to extend my sincere thanks to Curt Wilkinson for his efforts in marketing the vote, to the Board of Education for their persistence and leadership in seeing this proposal through, and to the poll workers, including those who stayed until 11 p.m. to hand-count ballots. Thank you to Julie Wolfe for organizing the vote and ensuring all logistics were followed through.

While I know many are disappointed in the defeat of Proposition B (playing field upgrades), please know that this work remains a priority for our district. Ensuring safe facilities and grounds for our students and community continues to be a central focus.

For historical perspective, [click here] to view a summary of all school votes from 1964 to the present. Thank you for your continued support of Coxsackie-Athens Schools.

October is Board of Education Appreciation Month, and it's a perfect time to recognize the role these individuals play. They are community members—parents, neighbors, who dedicate countless hours of their personal time, without pay, to make decisions that shape the future of our students, schools, and community.

Their work involves making tough decisions, setting policy, adopting a budget and charting the course for our entire district. It’s a huge responsibility that requires immense commitment, vision, and passion for education.

Please join me in offering a sincere thank you to each of our board members for their selfless service and unwavering commitment to the success of every child in C-A.

Michael Donahue - Board President

Jamie Dorr - Board Vice President

Sam Anderson

Tara Bachner

Nicole Canning

Kyle Garland

Ina Griffin-Guilzon

Bart Wallace

Shelly West

These quick videos are light but packed with insight. Watch while you put the final touches on your bulletin board.

• Teachers, Try This: Activities to Build Classroom Culture and Connection

• How Schools Can Help Older Students Struggling With Reading

• These Simple Classroom Exercises Can Improve Student Behavior

• How to Structure Lessons to Build Reading and Writing Skills

• How This Principal Protects Her Teachers’ Work-Life Balance

In reality, a large share of students make uninformed decisions about their next steps. Correcting these mistakes at a later date is costly in terms of time and money. More than half of all high school graduates believe their school did not support them in exploring and identifying which postsecondary steps and careers would align with their interests and capabilities. Consequently, only 36% of high school graduates make postsecondary industry-specific decisions that align with their strengths and interests.

Districts are well-positioned to propel students towards career success due to their access to all students, regardless of their eventual educational attainment levels. The good news is that districts can provide all students with ongoing career development support without sacrificing academics or requiring additional resources.

The four practices outlined in this brief provide a sample of some of our most promising findings. In addition to describing the steps and details necessary to execute these practices, we have included sample tools/templates to ease the implementation process for school leaders.

READ THE BRIEF

Shout out Alicia Proper, Andy Olstad, Dorthea Turck, and Erin Chmielewski! A family who is new to C-A is starting over and was in need of some kitchen supplies. An email was sent out to staff and within two days, the family not only received the items they requested, but also some additional items and a gift card!

A new way to study in ChatGPT with step-by-step guidance instead of quick answers, helping you learn and retain knowledge better.

Guided learning

Learn through questions, hints, and step-by-step explanations that make complex topics easier to grasp.

Personalized support

Lessons adjust to you. ChatGPT gauges your level and remembers past sessions to meet you where you are.

Knowledge checks

Quizzes and open-ended questions show what’s sticking, with feedback to strengthen weak spots.

Progress tracking. See what you’ve mastered and where to focus next, so you stay motivated to keep learning.

MIT published “A Guide to AI in Schools: Perspectives for the Perplexed.” I sent out a special shoutout to Meredith Dutra, who served on the advisory panel for this report. https://tsl.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GuideToAIInSchools.pdf

An interesting article from the Hechinger Report: Schools Cannot Teach AI Literacy Without a Way to Measure It https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-schools-cannot-teach-ai-literacy-without-a-way-to-me asure-it/

Genevieve DeFrancesco Upstate Medical University’s trauma nurse navigator has received a grant to study psychological symptoms impacting trauma patients. Click on link below to read more.

This year's CAFE Gala will be NOVEMBER 8. Join us in celebrating our 7 honorees. This year we are inducting: Jean Cardany, Leslie Copleston, Raymond Magee, Darlene Mergendahl, Michael Rausch, Lewis Swyer, and James Warren. Tickets go on sale Sept 15th- Please reach out to Julie in the District Office to purchase tickets.

Betting on Brighter Futures on Nov 8th at 5pm down at the Wire Event Center. Food, drinks and dancing and help us to raise money for future grants at C-A.

At the July 2025 Board of Regents meeting, the Board formally adopted the New York State Portrait of a Graduate, a critical milestone in NY Inspires, the Department’s implementation plan for transformative education. The Portrait offers a unifying vision of what it means to be a graduate in New York State, describing the essential skills and dispositions that all students should develop to succeed in college, careers, and civic life.

To ensure clarity and support stakeholders’ shared understanding of the Portrait, the Department developed “Need-to-Know” documents for students, parents, educators, administrators, and school board members.

These documents provide role-specific guidance on the Portrait and serve as foundational tools for stakeholder engagement, professional learning, and strategic planning.

Since 2012 the Coxsackie-Athens Foundation for Education has awarded over $170,000 in grants to support programming in the C-A Schools.

Grants will be awarded during three grant cycles:

• October 1st, January 1st, and April 1st.

  
  

Innovation Grants: The Coxsackie Athens Foundation for Education was formed to raise, manage and distribute financial and non-financial resources for educational enrichment. We have three grant cycles annually and you are invited to apply for funds by completing the attached application form.

Priorities will be given to projects that address the Foundation’s mission and are educationally enriching, innovative, creative and include a plan for continuation beyond Foundation support.

Mini- Grants: The Coxsackie Athens Foundation for Education (C.A.F.E.) is excited to announce that mini-grant applications will now be accepted. Mini-grants are in addition to the existing innovation grant program and C.A.F.E. will award up to 10 mini-grants in the amount of $200 (or less) on an annual basis. The purpose of the mini-grant is to provide opportunities to purchase smaller items that will have a big impact on our students. Examples might include books, supplies for a special art project, a speaking honorarium, subscriptions, or software tools.

Grants are open for this school year. Please go to the website and scroll down toward the bottom for the grant links. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

https://www.cacsd.org/page/coxsackie-athens-foundation-for-education-cafe

Whether you’re teaching content and want to integrate career exploration, entrepreneurship, or workforce preparedness skills, EVERFI’s digital lessons help students plan for and practice these skills. LEARN MORE HERE reach out to Stacey Hopkins our Career ambassador for support.

Prepare students for their financial future

Financial education is more than dollars and cents. It’s about establishing better spending habits, instilling confidence, and equipping the next generation with the real-world skills to manage financial goals and milestones.

EVERFI’s online financial education curriculum, training, and support are completely free to K-12 educators. reach out to Stacey Hopkins our Career ambassador for support.

Financial literacy instruction will be required in 26-27 by NYS and is already included as one of our life readiness indicators. At C-A we will be itegrating more financial literacy including assessing student proficiency into our content this year.

Purpose

Our anchor strategy, PATHWAYS TO SUCCESS states, “Students with Purpose are inspired to learn. The world has changed and a vision for college, career and citizenship readiness has emerged. Centered on the concept that each student will have a purpose and PATHWAY TO SUCCESS, we will have an uncompromising and relentless commitment to preparing students for college, career and citizenship; in other words, preparing students for their future. This will be accomplished by creating relevant learning environments, and interacting with the people working in the ecosystems of the career paths students are working towards.”

Therefore, we will inspire and prepare students for college, career, and citizenship readiness through comprehensive career exploration and pathway development. The program will help students discover their interests, skills, and preferences, and provide them with real-world experiences and guidance to prepare for their future careers.

READ MORE INCLUDING BUILDING LEVEL EXPECTATIONS for 2025-2026.

10/13: School Closed

10/25: Big Apple Crunch

The LINKS team have established draft goals for 2028. They are below.

2028

Student Performance Goals

In order for all students to graduate ready for their post-secondary lives, our performance goals for 2028 are:

Reading: 78% of students K-8 will be reading at or above grade level by 2028. This will be a 17% improvement from 2025.

Math: 78% of students K-9 will demonstrate grade level proficiency in math by 2028. This will be a 19% improvement from 2025.

Life Readiness:

1. 100% of students in grades 4, 8 and 12 will demonstrate readiness in a majority of the Life and career ready indicators;
2. The district will see a 11% improvement in the number of students with >=90% attendance by 2028.
3. A 10% improvement in the number of students who often or consistently demonstrate competence in a majority of the personal dispositions.

-Fred Rogers

We all learn in a variety of ways. Students should be able to demonstrate readiness in a variety of ways.

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Below are several resources that highlight the opportunities we offer ALL students. WE truly are a small school with BIG Opportunities!

1. Did you know that every student at C-A HS can have one early college course paid for in full by the district? The reduced tuition rates for all college courses allows many students to graduate with over 20 credits. Many of our alum are able to enter college as sophomores or graduate from a college a semester early saving thousands of dollars.
2. Our parternship with Questar III BOCES provides 23 offerings in career technical education pathways. Our students who complete these programs are ready to enter the workforce in a varirty of occupations and fields.

We believe ALL students CAn be life, career and college ready when they graduate from C-A. I very muhc apprecait the collaborative work taking place in all classrooms to ensure ALL students are self-directed and prepared to succeed in our global society.

• COMMENCEMENT READINESS INDICATORS DASHBOARD
• READINESS INDICATORS K-12 BOOKLET 2020 :
• EARLY COLLEGE PAMPHLET
• COLLEGE IN THE H.S. OFFERINGS
• CAREER TECH ED OFFERINGS

Like planning a road trip our 2030 DESTINATION, TIMELINE may change as detours pop up or new adventures present themselves.

Take a look. Our road trip will have some exciting mile markers that sustains and enhances the work we have started and will lead us to our 2030 Destination.

• Professional Learning Communities
• Growth Mindset
• Student Centered/Directed Learning
• Digital Conversion
• Pathways to Success

It is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we are learning, speaking and gathering on the ancestral homelands of the Muhheaconneok (Muhhekunneuw) or Mohican people and the Munsee Lenape people, who are the indigenous peoples of this land. Despite tremendous hardship in being forced from here, they now reside in Wisconsin and are known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. We pay honor and respect to their ancestors past and present as we commit to building a more inclusive and equitable space for all.

Email: squierr@cacsd.org
Website: www.cacsd.org
Location: 24 Sunset Boulevard, Coxsackie, NY, USA
Phone: 518-731-1700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100043677108930&mibextid=LQQJ4d
Twitter: @coxathschools

Our new app is now available for download from the Apple Store and the Google Play Store. Keep up to date on all things C-A, right from your device. This app is designed to create easy access to Sports Schedules, Live Feed, Alerts, our Staff Directory and more!