Staff Updates

Thank you for a great opening week!

Together, we are writing the next chapter of our school’s story with our students and their families. This year, I look forward to seeing our core values of Empathy, Gratitude, and Hope with Positive Action brought to life through the RIVERHAWKS Way in every classroom and hallway.

I saw so many kids this week who were genuinely glad to be back—with adults they trust, in a place that feels safe.(see shout-outs below) Let’s make sure this becomes the norm for ALL kids and ALL colleagues, every single day.

This will be a year of intentional growth, continuous improvement, and ensuring every child is seen, supported, and celebrated.

We know we CAn and we know our students CAn. Thank you for your commitment to making this year one of learning, hope, and extraordinary achievement!

Homecoming Weekend is almost here, and we invite you to come out and show your Riverhawk pride as we cheer on our student-athletes! This is a wonderful opportunity for our community to come together, support our teams, and celebrate all the hard work and dedication of our students.

📅 Friday, September 12

• (B) Varsity Golf vs. Greenville – 4:15 PM

• (B) Varsity Football vs. Norwich – 6:00 PM

📅 Saturday, September 13

• (G) 7/8th Volleyball vs. Taconic Hills – 1:30 PM

• (G) Varsity Field Hockey vs. Onteora – 2:00 PM

• (B) 7/8th Soccer vs. Catskill – 2:00 PM

• (G) 7/8th Soccer vs. Catskill – 2:00 PM

• (G) Varsity Tennis vs. Greenwich – 2:00 PM

• (G) 7/8th Field Hockey vs. Onteora – 2:00 PM

• (G) JV Volleyball vs. Chatham – 3:00 PM

• (G) Varsity Soccer vs. Catskill – 4:30 PM

• (B) JV Soccer vs. Tamarac – 4:30 PM

• (G) Varsity Volleyball vs. Chatham – 5:00 PM

• (B) Varsity Soccer vs. Tamarac – 6:30 PM

Let’s fill the stands, sidelines, and courts with blue and white as we cheer on the Riverhawks!

Thank you for your continued support of our student-athletes. We can’t wait to see you

Homecoming Weekend!

Go Riverhawks! 🦅💙🤍

The challenge for teachers is not to fight distraction with gimmicks, but to build learning experiences in the timeless drivers of engagement that have always worked: belonging, curiosity, challenge, purpose, and relevancy.

Read AJ Juliani's blog post HERE

To Dawn Laguesse a huge shout-out! We have a student in need of the CDOS program who was only available during a time when Dawn was booked with a different responsibility but instead of saying no, she offered for the student to join her in the classroom and bring earbuds so she could work on the CDOS program while Dawn multitasks! This will be a major benefit to this student! Thank you for always being so willing to go above and beyond, Dawn. We really do appreciate you!

A huge shout-out to Kayti Marr for going WAY above and beyond for our new students. She created and hosted a New Student Orientation Program the day before school started to welcome our new registrants. During their two hours together, she ensured that our tech department handed out iPads, invited Mary Distefano to discuss the cafeteria procedures, introduced Patty Fitzgerald to promote the Fitness Center, and paired new students with Student Ambassadors for lunch partners and tours of the school. The Student Ambassadors she has been working with were especially helpful and provided an instant connection for our new students.

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.

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. Enrollment: 26 new students enrolled since 9/1:

1. EJA: 3

2. CE: 5

3. MS: 11

4. HS: 7

The board of Regents presented the Portrait of a Graduate on July 14th. A review of the six attributes and we find C-A well positioned to support our students developing them: Academically Prepared • A Creative Innovator • A Critical Thinker • An Effective Communicator • A Global Citizen • Reflective and Future Focused.

I regards to our current 4C-S dispositions: Global Citizen lines up with our collaborator disposition and Reflective and Future Focused is clearly aligned to our self-directed attribute. Our communicator, critical thinker and Creative thinker align diectly with the state. Academically prepared is simply the foundation of why we are here - Believing ALL learners CAn achieve at high levels.

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.

9/11: MS/HS OPEN HOUSES

9/12-13: HOMECOMING CONTESTS

9/17: EJA OPEN HOUSE

9/18: BOE MEEETING

10/3: EARLY DISMISSAL- NOON

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!