Hello West Seneca Central School District,

I am excited to share my new publication with you!

This newsletter will be a synopsis of district updates brought to you on a monthly basis. I will share information, updates and celebrate the great things happening in our schools. Through this, the hope is that you feel more informed through these district publications.

With West Seneca Pride,

Dr. Lisa Krueger

Schools are a vital part of any community. They serve not only as centers of learning for our students, but also as community centers where residents can gather for community education programming, concerts, school musicals, athletic events and other community events.

In the West Seneca Central Schools, we are striving to continue to maintain our facilities while being responsible to our tax payers. We regularly seek grant funding to maximize our opportunities. Again this year, for example, we sought and received the Perkins Grant, allowing us to obtain $50,000 for technology equipment.

Most of our school buildings are fifty to sixty years old, and maintaining them takes an ongoing commitment. For example, our playground at Northwood Elementary has been enjoyed by hundreds of students for decades. It is to an age where we can longer order replacement parts, and the playground structure needs to be replaced. To solve the issue at Northwood, we are repurposing playground equipment from the former East Elementary School. The District is working with a professional playground installer to move two pieces of playground equipment from the former East Elementary School to Northwood Elementary. We will leave behind a playground structure and a set of swings for the residents near East Elementary School to enjoy. The repurposing of this playground equipment will benefit hundreds of students at Northwood Elementary School who use the playground daily. Daily recess is a vital part of the elementary day where students enjoy physical activities, unstructured play with peers, gross motor development and social skills.

I am mindful of our residents and of the tax impact on our community, and intend to only ask for your financial support when it is needed. When we can be creative, such as repurposing playground equipment, we will do so.

Our middle and high school Auditoriums are also aging and beyond repair. The rigging equipment (the pulley system to raise/lower backdrops and lighting) and the lighting systems are original to the building. They are more than fifty years old, and it is nearly impossible to obtain replacement parts. As an interim solution, our music department has rented lighting equipment as a supplement for our school musicals. However, this is an added expense to the District and is only a solution for special occasions. For daily music instruction, band, orchestra or choral rehearsals, we do not have sufficient lighting.

A presentation related to our four secondary level Auditoriums (East and West Senior High School Auditoriums and East and West Middle School Auditoriums) was shared during our February 11 Board meeting. A recording of the meeting can be found by clicking here for additional information.

Our Auditoriums are gathering places for our community, and we want to maintain our school facilities to ensure safe, reliable and functional equipment for our use during the instructional day and for use by our community. When schools thrive, communities thrive.

Thank you for your continued support.

All of our voices matter, so your participation is crucial and valued. To gather your feedback, we're using a tool called ThoughtExchange.

You'll be asked to respond to one open-ended question, consider and assign stars to some of the ideas shared by others, and learn what's important.

Your thoughts and stars are confidential. You can come back as often as you'd like to participate and, in fact, we ask that you do come back to star some of the new ideas shared since you first participated. The star ratings will help us understand the most important areas to focus on.

Our ThoughtExchange for the 2025-2026 Budget Development Process closes at 11:59pm this Friday February 28th, 2025.

Click the blue box below to share your thoughts:

Pictured below(left to right):

Dr. Frawley - Principal, West Elementary, Maria Hager - R.E.N.Y. Representative, Taryn Nicosia - TOSA Special Ed. Student Support Specialist, West Elementary & Dr. Krueger - Superintendent

Winchester Potters Principal, Mrs. Robyn Brady, was approved at our February 11th BOE Meeting as our districts next Director of Humanities.

A school principal is an incredibly important leadership position, and one that encompasses all aspects of the school. Mrs. Brady has been a student-centered instructional leader who passionately cares about students’ well-being. She is a valued member of our leadership team, and we are excited for the positive impact she will have on ELA, World Languages and English Language Learners in this new PreK-12 district-wide role.

🍎Redistricting Community Forum

Date: February 27, 2025

Time: 6:00 p.m.

Location: West Elementary School Boardroom

Livestreamed?: Yes

🎭Shrek - The Musical!

Date: February 27th - March 1st

Time: Various Times(see our website below for details)

Location: East Senior High School Auditorium

Tickets: Click here for tickets

🏫Board of Education - Regular Board Meeting

Date: March 4, 2025

Time: 6:00 p.m

Location: West Elementary School Boardroom

Livestreamed?: Yes

🎒NO SCHOOL(All Students) - Superintendent's Conference Day

Date: March 7, 2025

🗓️For full event calendar & more information click the district website button below:

Whenever possible, the Board of Education & Dr. Krueger like to spotlight one of our schools. Students take the podium and speak about all the fabulous things their school has going on along with some accomplishments and sometimes, we even get live performances!

All of these awesome presentations are recorded and linked on our website to view at any time by visiting the BOE Livestream page on our district website: www.wscschools.org/BOElivestream

Pictured below(left to right):

Dr. Krueger - Superintendent, Mr. Winnicki - East Senior Principal, Emily & Adam Skrzypczyk - Students & Representatives of Rho Kappa Social Studies Honor Society & Mrs. Welgoss - East Senior Teacher & Rho Kappa Social Studies Honor Society Advisor

We are an educational community that encourages kindness, inspires confidence, and instills the belief that together we can achieve anything.