Welcome to the first of our District Monthly Newsletters, and to a return to "normal"! I am so excited that our school year is underway, and so appreciative of our entire staff for getting us ready for this school year. Our staff have worked so hard getting our buildings ready, preparing learning opportunities for all of our students, scheduling games, meetings and events, and thinking about the ways that we can continually improve. This year has already begun in a special way. For the first time we opened our Staff Day with four elementary students leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. We were then thrilled, and brought to tears, by an ensemble performance of our Music Maniacs. It was an inspiring beginning.

During the month of September you will be receiving much information from each building and from your / our students. This is a great opportunity for my reminder that answers to your questions and general and specific information is always readily available for you. Here are some of the many options to access information:

• Visit our website at http://www.cortlandschools.org/

• Email a staff member, teacher, a principal, or me

• Call a building - our clerical staff is top-notch and can answer almost any question

• The Stopfinder app is a great way for parents to track when their children's bus will arrive; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzMTlA6bRWg

• View some of our informational videos on our website and on each building's page

• Follow us on Twitter. Here are some of our accounts:

• Follow me on Twitter @redwards_robert

• Follow us on Facebook

In addition to the many ways above to stay connected, many of our staff host other social media sites or tools to keep parents in the loop. Please be sure to reach out if you have any questions.

Here's to what is going to be a great year! Roar!

• Barry Primary - September 20, 5:30pm
• Smith Intermediate - September 15, Grade 3 6:15pm, Grade 4 6:45pm
• Randall Middle - September 21, 6:00pm
• Junior High - October 13, 6:30pm
• Senior High - October 5, 6:30pm

On a rainy Wednesday morning students across the district boarded busses, walked and traveled to their schools for the first day of the 2022-23 school year. Lots of smiles, hugs with school friends and meeting new teachers. This is going to be a great year Tigers!

On Tuesday the entire Cortland School District gathered in the renovated Auditorium to start a new and exciting school year together! The day began with live music performed by a student member of our modern band program as staff entered the building. Once we were in the auditorium together, the Pledge of Allegiance was lead by Cortland Elementary Students. Next out Music Maniacs got the Cortland Staff into an amazing mood to start the year with their beautiful singing! Thank you to everyone who made the day a huge success and positive start to the year!

The Cortland School District is looking forward to a new and exciting school year with 80 new staff members!

The Summer Music Camp had 42 students who attended lessons throughout the summer at the JSHS. The kids were from Smith, Randall, and the Junior and Senior High School. Instruments included were violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone, tuba, and percussion. Everyone had fun and strengthened their musical skills! We hope to expand this music opportunity for students next summer!

Makerspace camp this summer was an absolute blast! We explored what it means do be a maker through projects and challenges including building and racing our own pasha cars, a robot chariot race, 3D printing our own creations and getting clever with using Keva planks. Students also explored their creativity with perler bead projects, Lego’s, prixbrix, and more. It was so fun to see what everyone created and invented, and we had a blast making, breaking, and sharing.

The camp had 9 students the first week and 17 the second, with 7 of those being repeated. We had incoming 5th-11th graders participating and we hope to expand the camp next year!

Cortland Modern Band brought the heat at Porchfest last month with 3 bands each playing a set at 4 Joy St. This show featured kids from the first ever Cortland Modern Band Camp held the week before. 13 students came together for the week to rock their faces off to music from artists like Amber Mark, Beach Weather, and Tally Hall. They formed their bands and had 5 days to put together their show and it was spectacular. Did you miss the show? That's ok, you can catch them next out in the courtyard at the JSHS on September 29th at 6:30pm for their Modern Band Under The Stars showcase. Bring a blanket and a lounge chair and enjoy some good music, hot cider, and smores to celebrate the official end of summer.

The Fall Sport Season is off to a good start. JV and Varsity Teams are 2 weeks into their regular season game schedule and modified games are beginning this week and next. We have many great contests for spectators to enjoy. Please see Schedule Galaxy or visit our Athletics Webpage for game and practice schedules. Be on the lookout for Winter Sports information. Winter sport registration will begin in October. Show your Tiger Pride by visiting our webstore to purchase your Cortland Athletic Apparel.

Welcome back to another school year! The CECSD Board of Education meeting dates and times are posted on the district website and are open to the public. Recognizing that not everyone can make it to the meetings, the highlights below include some of the topics that have been discussed over the summer:

Tiger Paw Recipients.... At the June 28th Board of Education meeting, Sylvia Amoreena Tellaeche was recognized with a Tiger Paw for receiving the Empire State Excellence in Teaching award which is pictured below. She is also serving in a new role this year as instructional coach. Congratulations Ms. Tellaeche!

Introducing New Board Members and Officers... At the July 12th Reorganization meeting, new board of education members Donald Chu and Joseph McMahon took the oath of office as did student ex-officio member, senior Vincenzo Perfetti. Christine Gregory and Lauren Mossotti-Kline also took the oath in their new officer positions as President and Vice President respectively. In early August, the new group of BOE members attended a retreat led by a representative from the New York State School Boards Association entitled A Culture of Leadership. Other summer workshops for board members included Goal Setting open meetings as well as a Board Self-Evaluation retreat led by OCM BOCES District Superintendent, Matt Cook.

Summer Presentation.... Matt Wood, Athletic Director for the district, gave a year-in-review presentation at the June 28th BOE meeting and senior Paul Hanson presented to the board on July 26th, sharing his experience as a representative of the State Youth Advisory Panel. At the August 23rd meeting, Dr. Amanda Viel and Jordan Ashley gave a presentation detailing the summer curriculum writing and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) educator sessions that took place over the summer.

Welcome back Staff, Students and our Transportation team… Members of the BOE are truly excited for the start of the new school year. They enjoyed welcoming back staff on September 6th and celebrating the start of the year with the transportation team the morning of September 7th. The energy and enthusiasm of our students, staff and community is contagious and appreciated. We look forward to a great year together Purple Tigers!

The next Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 27 at 6:30pm in the JrSr. High School Auditorium.