Staff Updates

He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (1899) - W.B. Yeats

Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

If we relate Yeats' prose to our work, let us remind ourselves that:

Our children spread their dreams beneath our feet, and we should tread softly.

As I reflect on 33 plus years as an educator, I foresee a shift that goes beyond simple reform; we are entering an educational revolution, one accelerated by the rapid rise of AI. As I have often said, we must move forward as staying still or going back are not viable options.

Abraham Lincoln’s comments during an address to Congress in 1862 resonates with this sentiment. He said, "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion." I like how he said "rise with it," not "rise to it." We must think and act in new ways, freeing ourselves from outdated ideas to save our future.

To rise with these changes, we must shift our mindset from an industrial metaphor to an agricultural one. Our goal shouldn't be to "manufacture" students or follow a "fast-food" model that prizes conformity; instead, we must think like gardeners, not manufacturers.

Ken Robinison said in a keynote I attended at NSBA, “In education, we are tied to certain outdated ideas. One is the notion of linearity—the belief that life follows a straight path and if you do everything right, the future is secure. But life is not linear; it's organic. We shape our lives through our talents and the circumstances they create. Despite this, we are fixated on narratives like getting everyone to college. While college is beneficial, not everyone needs to attend, and not necessarily right away.”

Our job is to create an environment where every student’s unique spirit can flourish naturally. By moving away from rigid traditions and adopting this agricultural mindset—creating the right conditions for diverse talents to grow—we can prioritize innovation and personalization. This approach allows us to help every individual find fulfillment by discovering their unique capabilities.

Let’s commit to treating our students' dreams with care and building a system that values organic growth over outdated traditions. By embracing these changes, we can protect our students' dreams and help them reach their true potential.

The TeachingAbout.AI project, met in Rochester, New York on December 3-6, 2025 to extend work around the LibraryReady.AI PreK-12 AI Scope and Sequence. They developed eight provocations to inspire thought, dialog, and action around the wicked problem of AI in education. Wicked problems are defined as complex issues without a simple or correct solution. Attempts to resolve wicked problems will be situational, iterative, and messy; even better solutions may introduce new problems. As such, AI was not the primary topic of conversation. Instead their goal is to reframe thinking around AI to the wider issues that must be addressed before undertaking the larger task of teaching educators, students, and the community about AI.

Their thinking was guided by Neil Postman’s 1998 lecture “Five Things we Need to Know About Technological Change” in which he argued that technological change is ecological rather than additive. The introduction of a new technology alters the entire ecology of a system; its effects cannot be isolated, contained or reversed. This perspective offers a new lens through which to

examine the impacts of AI on education and pushes us to consider a broader scope for how we approach this wicked problem.

1. There is no AI problem.

Education itself is a wicked problem; assuming there is an AI-in-education problem risks us thinking there is an AI solution.

2. We can be agents of validity or victims of cheating.

We cannot control cheating and focusing on it will lead to an adversarial relationship with students; where we have agency is in how we engage students with more meaningful tasks that lead to an accurate understanding of student learning.

3. Our assessments were broken before AI.

We need to rethink how we understand and implement assessment including an emphasis on developing and implementing valid assessments in pre-service teacher programs.

4. There is no such thing as AI-proof.

Be it assessments, careers, or anything else, the ubiquity of AI and pace of growth means AI proof is a problematically alluring impossibility.

5. Most things a human teacher can do, AI can mimic.

If we cannot identify and prioritize what human teachers bring to the classroom, we risk replacement. We must research the impact of human ingenuity, creativity, and relationships.

6. Teachers must have permission to compromise, diverge, and iterate.

Schools must develop a supportive and collaborative culture where teachers are empowered and expected to seek better solutions to the wicked problem we face.

7. The real AI crisis is how we take advantage of the opportunity.

There will not be a perfect solution, but we [students, teachers, institutions, society] have an opportunity to explore innovative changes to what we do.

8. Avoidance of AI in education is not an option.

AI is unavoidable and a failure to address harm reduction feeds into the ongoing public health emergency created by the intentional design of algorithms to extract capital from humans.

Project Lead: Christopher Harris | cgharris@gvboces.org Genesee Valley BOCES Project Site and Expert Panel: https://teachingabout.ai

1. Middle School readiness for 4th graders

2. High School readiness for middle school students

3. Commencement readiness for HS Students

4. Updated Personal Dispositions Aligned to NYS Portrait of a Graduate (Dec 2025) CLICK HERE

OpenAI announced that they were releasing a free version of ChatGPT that is built for teachers.

https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-for-teachers/

OpenAI is supporting this initiative with free online training. https://academy.openai.com/public/clubs/k-12-education-aacga/videos/getting-started-with-chatgpt-edu-2025-05-06

Common Sense Media also released an updated online course to support educators using ChatGPT.

https://www.commonsense.org/education/training/chatgpt-k12-foundations

Apple and Common Sense Media released an impressive set of documents to help teachers use AI. The resources on this website provide useful ideas and guidance.

https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/teachers-essential-guide-to-ai-fundamentals-with-apple

Effective work in teaching happens in layers. First, we learn to protect our attention—managing interruptions so we can stay focused on what matters most: our students. Next, we look for ways to strengthen our practice and accomplish tasks that once felt beyond reach. Finally, we aim for meaningful results that improve student learning and contribute to our school’s goals.

This guide, by Perplexity an AI tool approaches AI as a tool to support each of these layers—not as a quick fix, but as a practical way to manage your workload, extend your effectiveness, and focus more of your energy on teaching and learning. The guide includes some good examples of prompts.

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/

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

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

1/15: BOE Meeting

1/19: No School

1/20-1/23: Regents Exams

2/5: BOE Workshop

2/: 2 hour delay for students

2/16-2/20: Winter Recess

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.

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.

-----------------------------------------------------

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.

• READINESS INDICATORS 2.0 2025
• 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!