Looking Back, Moving Forward

As we wrap up the 2024-2025 school year, I want to thank each of you for your work, dedication, and resilience.

For our instructional and 10-month employees, this marks a well-deserved pause. You've given your best to students all year, and I hope you take this time to recharge, reconnect with family, and reflect on all you’ve accomplished.

For our 12-month employees, summer looks different. While the school year may be ending, your work continues, and much of it sets the stage for success in the year ahead. Departments across BOCES are already preparing for 2025-2026, and your efforts behind the scenes do not go unnoticed.

Preparing for the Year Ahead

Many BOCES departments stay active throughout the summer. Our Operations and Maintenance team will be deep-cleaning buildings, making repairs, and completing upgrades. These projects are critical to maintaining safe and welcoming spaces for students and staff.

The RIC will be hard at work reformatting and preparing thousands of computers and systems across the region. This essential work ensures that our districts begin the school year with reliable, updated technology in place.

Our School Nutrition Service team provides summer meals across the region. The Professional Learning and Innovation Center delivers professional development for educators. And across the region, we host a number of summer programs for students from all of our component districts. While it may seem quiet from the outside, summer is a critical time of planning, service, and support for our teams.

Prioritizing Well-Being

While summer is a busy season for many of our employees, it’s also important to step away when possible. I encourage everyone to take time off and enjoy the season. This July, some of our staff will have the opportunity to participate in “Unplugged,” a wellness-focused event at Chenango Valley State Park. It’s a chance to take a break, reset, and connect with one another outside of the workplace.

Progress and Momentum

This year, we moved forward on many fronts:

• Launched the Framework for Organizational Success, focused on Employee Engagement, Innovation and Collaboration, Process and Efficiency, and Service
• Started the online BOCES Academy to improve access to learning and training
• Continued progress on the Broome-Tioga Trade Complex and other capital improvements
• Advanced work in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, including providing training tools, increasing accessibility efforts, and creating new affinity groups
• Grew new services across our departments
• Played a key role in the launch of New York State’s regionalization planning
• Gathered our highest-ever response rate in the Employee Sentiment Survey, guiding future improvements

Your work is what drives this progress. Every department contributes to building a stronger, more innovative BOCES, one that supports students, staff, and districts alike.

Thank you for everything you’ve done this year. Whether you are heading into summer break or preparing for the next school year, I hope you find time to reflect, reset, and recharge.

Enjoy the season. You’ve earned it.

As the school year comes to a close, I want to take a moment to recognize a valued member of our BOCES community.

This month, we say thank you to William Powell, who is retiring from the BOCES Board of Trustees. Bill joined the board in 2019 to fill a vacancy and was elected in 2020.

He spent more than 14 years working at BOCES, first as business office controller and later as director of business operations. He also served on the Maine-Endwell Board of Education for nearly a decade. His background in finance, leadership, and school governance made him a strong voice on our board.

Thank you, Bill, for your steady service and your commitment to public education.

We welcome Michelle Noyes to the board. Michelle has lived in Harpursville for 20 years and served on the Harpursville Board of Education for nine years, including three as board president. She has worked in various roles at Harpursville Central School and is now the office manager at Winsor Acres, a local dairy farm.

Michelle has served on policy, legislative, and insurance committees. She is the district’s NYSSBA voting delegate and is active in the Broome-Tioga School Boards Association. She will join us this summer, and we plan to give her a full tour of our programs before school begins.

Also new this year, we are adding two student representatives to our board. This follows a new state law that requires all boards of education and BOCES boards to include at least one student member by July 1, 2025.

Student members will attend public meetings, provide a student voice, but will be non-voting members of our board. We look forward to working with these student representatives this coming school year.

It’s that time of year for annual fire inspections!

Below, you will find a classroom checklist of items the Fire Marshall will be looking for during inspections.

Check out this short video made by Communications and Public Relations that highlights the importance of the items on the checklist:

As always thank you for your efforts in keeping our school buildings safe for both staff and students!

Your inspection schedule is as follows:

Monday, June 30:
• Washington Ave (BBO)
• Duplicating Center
• CBO
• West Learning Center
• Metro Center
• Boys and Girls Club
• JCLC
• ISC
• Leslie Distin Education Center
• Storage buildings
• Animal Science
• O&M

We are proud to introduce our new Q-ware system for inputting work tickets.

This new system is designed to streamline our operations and improve efficiency.

You can access the Q-ware application on the BT BOCES My Apps dashboard.

To assist you in navigating this new system, we have also created a short instructional video on how to create a work ticket.

The video can be found on the BOCES Academy portal.

All staff have been enrolled in the course, but there is no requirement to take it.

The course should show as an optional course under their "my courses tab" called "BT: Operations and Maintenance"

Additionally, I have included the direct links below:

Q-ware software:

https://qware.app/#/login/BROOMETIOGABOCES

Work ticket tutorial:

https://btboces.brightspace.com/d2l/home/7256

As we transition from our old Schooldude system to the new Q-ware system, both systems will run concurrently until July 1, 2025.

This will provide ample time for everyone to familiarize themselves with the new Q-Ware system. After July 1, Schooldude will cease to function.

We believe that this new system will greatly enhance our productivity, and we appreciate your cooperation during this transition period.

Interior work at the BTTC is nearing completion. Flooring installation is scheduled to begin on June 23, and the curing process will take about a week. Please note that there will be no access to the building from June 23 to June 30.

As we move into the final phases of the project, work will begin on relocating the electric lines. NYSEG is scheduled to install the new transformer on June 19, and there will be no power outage associated with that work. However, power to the campus (excluding the ISC) will be temporarily shut off on June 30 for approximately 2–4 hours. An additional brief outage of 1–2 hours will be required at a later date to complete the work. We will share specific times for both outages as soon as they are confirmed.

We’re pleased to share that the O&M building project has received approval from NYSED, and site work is underway. Contractors anticipate beginning foundation work later this month.

Thank you for your continued support of this project, and please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

The BBO would like to welcome Mujeeb Rehman to the Accounts Payable Team!

The BBO Budget & Finance Team has been working on an online credit card option for tuition payments. We look forward to letting you know when complete.

Payroll and HR are busy rolling over to the new fiscal year, and the first pay is July 3.

The Payroll and HR Teams are busy preparing the WinCap System for the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year to make sure employees are all paid and able to take time off!

Below are dates that WinCap and WinCap ESS will not be available.

Friday, June 20, for Employee Fiscal Year Rollover activities.

Tuesday, July 8, for Leave Time Accrual Rollover and posting.

Users will be notified on each date when WinCap becomes available!

A lot is happening here at the Central Business Office (CBO) as we enter our busiest time of the year! June marks both the end of the school year for students and the close of the fiscal year for our 15 component districts. This transition period involves significant behind-the-scenes work to ensure a smooth start to the new year.

Key focus areas for the CBO team this month include:

• Preparing items for the external audit
• Processing final payments for all outstanding invoices
• Issuing new year purchase orders
• Setting up employee salary information for the upcoming school year
• Finalizing fixed asset data
• Preparing Board of Education resolutions for district consideration

Congratulations are in order for Mark Putrino, one of our shared Business Officials, who is retiring this month!

We wish Mark all the best in this next chapter and hope he enjoys a well-deserved retirement filled with relaxation, new adventures, and time with family and friends. His contributions and dedication have made a lasting impact, and he will certainly be missed.

Document Services has been buzzing with end-of-year energy! From vibrant yearbooks and celebratory banners to eye-catching yard signs, custom stickers, and essential review books, our team has been hard at work helping students and schools finish the year strong.

Looking ahead, summer has us hitting the ground running. We’ll be out in the schools installing new artwork and printing agendas for the upcoming school year. If you’ve got projects on the horizon, now’s the perfect time to get ahead—beat the back-to-school rush and order early!

And don’t forget—big changes are coming! In July, we’re launching the newest version of WebCRD, complete with a more intuitive interface and one-click ordering for commonly requested items. This upgrade is a major step forward in making the ordering experience faster, easier, and more user-friendly.

We also had the pleasure of welcoming a visit from the PALS group! These incredible students help run the internal print shop for instructional programs and had a great time touring our professional facility. It was a fun and meaningful opportunity for them to learn about commercial printing and see how their skills translate into the real world.

Document Services has added a cold laminator to its lineup of production equipment. The new device allows the team to apply protective laminate to a variety of surfaces without using heat.

This type of lamination is essential for outdoor signage. Unlike traditional hot lamination, cold laminates will not bubble or peel when exposed to temperature changes, making them ideal for signs used in exterior environments.

The new machine uses pressure, not heat, to seal materials such as foam board, plastic, and even wood. This gives the team greater flexibility when producing display pieces, mounted prints, and custom signage.

To learn more about cold lamination or to request an outdoor sign, contact Document Services.

Over a hundred BOCES students committed to the next stage of their lives at the 2025 Signing Day. WBNG came by the event, and spoke to Center for Career & Technical Excellence Director, Matt Sheehan about the event and the students signing. Check out the story here:

Matt Sheehan and the entire CTE program was featured multiple times this past month in addition to signing day. FOX40 stopped by to feature the Summer Youth Employment Program:

While WBNG spoke to CTE principal Jeff Franey about how the CTE program is growing rapidly, as more local students get involved:

This year's WARS Day was a huge success! Check out the video made by Communications and Public Relations highlighting the day's activities:

Summer Meals for Kids – Free and Nutritious! As the school year winds down, we are gearing up to support our students through the summer months. We want to let everyone know that free meals will be available to all children and teens age 18 and under at sites across our component districts. These sites ensure kids continue to receive healthy meals even when school is not in session. Please share this information with families and anyone who may benefit. Let’s make sure every child has access to the nourishment they need this summer!

The Food Service Department has a Farm to School Culinary training for all our district staff at BCC Culinary center with our community partners.

Maine-Endwell's Maine Memorial is June's kitchen of the month!

Congratulations to Jaime Mendelis, who is joining JoAnn Hawley as a certified Adaptive Schools Agency Trainer— making BT BOCES a central location for a powerful seminar focused on strengthening and sustaining collaborative systems. With two certified trainers, the region now has an increased capacity to expand access to this impactful professional learning.

Adaptive Schools, an internationally implemented method, is a powerful approach to transforming educators' identities as collaborators, inquirers, and leaders. Participants learn capabilities and skills that strengthen the performance of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). In addition, these practices extend beyond supporting educators—they enrich classroom environments and help students grow into thoughtful, collaborative learners.

JoAnn and Jaime are also certified agency trainers for Cognitive Coaching, the complementary professional learning seminar to Adaptive Schools.

Build capacity. Strengthen systems. Empower teams.

For more information on Adaptive Schools and Cognitive Coaching, please contact:

JoAnn Hawley – jhawley@btboces.org

Jaime Mendelis – jmendeli@btboces.org

The South Central RIC had the pleasure of providing a coop opportunity for five second-year IT specialists and two business students this school year. Working alongside our staff, they utilized the skills acquired through their CTE programs, such as IT support, business management, web development, and customer service, to assist customers with several of our services. The students' passion and work ethic are impressive and left a lasting impact on those they worked with. We are proud of them and excited to see their paths to follow!

Michael Polhamus - Promoted from PC/LAN Technician to IT Specialist (BOCES)

Karen Oliva, Retiring on July 7, 2025

Deb (Stephens) LeDuc, Retiring on July 11, 2025

Wendy DelSanto, Retiring on July 31, 2025

We are proud to share that two members of our Communications and Public Relations team have been recognized by the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) for their outstanding work in school communications.

These national honors showcase the high level of skill and creativity found across our organization, and highlight our continued commitment to telling the powerful stories of our schools, students, and communities.

Please join us in congratulating:

Allen Lown

• Award of Merit – Photography for “Celebrating Seniors”
• Honorable Mention – Video for “Forks Focus / David Hogan”
• Honorable Mention – Video for “2024 Skills USA New York State Competition”

Michelle Buchanan

• Award of Excellence – Photography for “Spreading Hope and Friendship Across the Miles”

Each year, NSPRA’s Publications and Digital Media Excellence Awards honor the best in school communication across the country. Submissions are judged by type and size of organization, with awards based on quality, effectiveness, and impact.

These recognitions reflect Michelle and Allen’s exceptional talent and professionalism, and their dedication to using storytelling as a tool to strengthen public education. Congratulations to both on this well-earned recognition.

The Communications and Public Relations team recently completed hands-on training on a new tool in their storytelling toolkit, iPhone gimbals.

These devices provide added stability for video and photo capture, allowing for smoother footage and sharper visuals. With more control and flexibility, the team is now equipped to capture dynamic, high-quality content that better reflects the energy and pride of our school communities.

Staff spent time learning how to balance, operate, and maneuver the gimbals. From slow-motion shots to sweeping crowd pans, the gimbals will enhance how we tell the stories of our districts.

Just in time for graduation season, team members are heading out with gimbals in hand, ready to capture milestone moments across the region.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee met recently to assess its structure, strengthen member representation, and plan for future initiatives that align with the "Belonging Begins Here" theme.

Key topics included:

• Membership and Representation: The group identified gaps in representation, especially from areas like O&M, East Learning Center, JCLC, BSSA, IP Special Ed programs, and Document Services. They discussed the importance of having the right voices at the table and considered ways to make participation more accessible for staff working in the field or with limited availability.

• Accessibility and Asynchronous Participation: To increase engagement, the committee explored ways to make meetings more flexible. Plans include the launch of a Microsoft Teams site to allow asynchronous collaboration and better information sharing.

• Training and Communication: The committee agreed on the need for targeted training opportunities, both for administrators and employees. This includes refining the onboarding process to include DEI content and scheduling optional Teams training for committee members unfamiliar with the platform.

• Supporting Employee Voice: The group is developing strategies to ensure staff have a platform to share input, including exploring focus groups and analyzing employee sentiment data. They aim to close the gap between leadership intent and staff experience when it comes to voice and participation.

The committee remains committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging across the organization. More updates will be shared as planning continues.

You’ve probably heard of artificial intelligence (AI) and how it’s showing up in education and everyday life. But did you know that many students are now using AI chat apps that act like friends—or even romantic partners?

These apps, called AI social companions, are designed to hold conversations and form emotional bonds with users. Popular apps like Character.AI, Nomi, and Replika are being used by teens and even younger children to “chat” with an AI that feels like a friend. Some kids use these tools for comfort or company when they feel lonely or stressed.

While this might sound harmless, experts are raising red flags. A review by Common Sense Media found that these tools often don’t have the right protections for kids and teens.

What School Staff Should Know
No matter your role here at BOCES, you are part of the support system that helps keep students safe.
Here are a few things to be aware of:

• These apps may include inappropriate content. Some AI “companions” allow romantic or fantasy chat—even in free versions that kids can easily access.
• There are few safeguards. Most apps don’t ask for age verification, offer parental controls, or monitor conversations. That makes it easy for kids to stumble into harmful or confusing content.
• Privacy is a concern. Many apps collect sensitive personal information without clearly telling users. That can put students' privacy at risk.
• Kids may form emotional attachments. Because the AI seems friendly and caring, students might treat it like a real friend. But these relationships aren’t based on real human connection and may confuse or upset young users.

How We Can Help as a School Community
We can’t always control what students do outside school—but we can support them and their families by staying informed and working together. Here are some ways to help:

1. Share what you know. If you’re a trusted adult in a student’s life, your influence matters. Whether you’re chatting on a bus ride, helping during lunch, or greeting students in the hallway, you might be the first to notice a change in behavior. Knowing that AI companions exist—and how they might affect students—can help you offer support or direct them to someone who can.
2. Support caregivers. Schools can use newsletters, events, and PTA meetings to share simple, helpful resources with families. Common Sense Media offers guides made just for parents and guardians.
3. Make it part of the conversation. Teachers and counselors can include digital well-being in everyday lessons and conversations. But all staff can help reinforce messages about healthy friendships, online safety, and knowing the difference between real people and computer programs.

You can find the full report from Common Sense Media here. (Please note: Some content is for mature audiences.) If you’re interested in sharing resources with families, check out the parent guides here.

This article was created in partnership with ChatGPT.