NTSD Board Meeting Highlights

As we enter our 5th week of school, we would like to thank and extend our appreciation to the students, families, and staff across the district for what was a great start to the school year. The start of any school year isn't without its "hiccups", whether it be transportation adjustments, schedule changes, or just simply getting back into the flow of "school. The patience and understanding of all within our Northern Tioga community is always appreciated.

The district is evaluating how to better communicate transportation information to families, prior to the start of the school year. Our goal is to make this a better process going forward

These board meeting highlights represent some of the business conducted at the monthly board meeting. To view the complete agenda and board minutes, please visit our website. It is linked at the bottom of this newsletter.

The district recognized the students who presented at the 60th Annual Tioga County Fair that was held August 10th-15th.

As noted in the opening paragraph, we had a good start to the school year. A good start doesn't just happen and the district is grateful to all of those who put in the hours getting transportation schedules, schools, classrooms and cafeterias ready for the first day of school.

Progress continues to be good at both high school sites. At WHS, the turf installation is complete. We are moving games to that field starting on 9/18. Track paving has been completed and it is now under a 28 day cure time before the track surface can be put down. Work continues on the press box and restroom/concession stand building. General site work continues which will soon include work on the practice field, adjacent to the main field. Work on the softball field is targeted for October.

At CVHS, much of the paving has been completed. The large concrete pads for the football field bleachers are poured. Work continues on the restroom/concession stand building as well as work on converting the old building to a storage building. As at WHS, general site work continues. The Conservation District NPDES permits for the tennis courts are under the technical review phase. The tennis courts will not be fully complete until the spring.

We are currently evaluating needs and costs for the sound systems at both athletic complexes.

Participation in fall sports is consistent with the 25/26 school year. This year the district does not have a girls' tennis team. While we are appreciative of the offer from Galeton Area School District to use their courts, the tennis players opted to not participate this year given all that would have been involved with transportation to other schools.

There is sufficient interest between both high schools from students interested in obtaining a CDL to warrant exploring program options. The district is in discussion with NPRC on what is involved in bringing the program to our graduating seniors who meet the age requirement for obtaining a CDL. This would be programming that we would offer in the spring and the discussions with NPRC are ongoing.

This summer it was Clark Wood ES's turn to organize and participate in an bus accident drill. The drill this summer used a scenario involving a special needs bus to give our First Responders experience in working with students with various disabilities involved in a bus crash. Our student participants were given specific direction and they we're great! The district appreciates the local and county level participation for this event. An important take away from this drill was the importance for on site district incident command to remain connected with EMS incident command.

Mr. Millard organized a trip to PennSSI in August. PennSSI is a program that is affiliated with PSBA and offers training on various school safety scenarios. The program uses interactive virtual reality to test school staff responses to situations. Several staff from other buildings across the district were able to attend this training opportunity as well. Because of its popularity, PennSSI is scheduling over a year out for teams to use the facility.

On October 9th, Cowanesque Valley HS will be participating in a school safety drill and training. The training involves coordination with the local and county level of EMS along with supporting agencies, such as NPRC. Each year, one of our schools organizes and participates in this type of training.

The Potter County Education Council launched our DPIL registration on July 1st. As of the end of August, we had 176 pre-k students who live in NTSD register for DPIL.

Tenure is an important milestone in the teaching profession. A new teacher must receive three years of an overall satisfactory rating in order to be awarded tenure. New teachers have a total of 6 years in which to earn their Level 2 certification, a state requirement. The 6 years includes graduate level course work along with providing supporting evidence of the work done in the classroom. Congratulations to the following teachers on reaching this milestone.

Jamie Hargrave, Elementary Teacher, RB Walter Elementary School

Anna Wales, Art Teacher, Williamson High School

The board accepted the following retirements:

Michelle Bloom, Custodian at Clark Wood Elementary School, effective October 8, 2026. Congratulations, Michelle!

Pamela McCloskey, Elementary Teacher at RB Walter Elementary School, effective June 8, 2026. Congratulations, Pam!

Please welcome the following new staff...

Shelly Smith, Teacher's Aide, RB Walter Elementary School

Brittany Newman, Cafeteria Aide, RB Walter Elementary School

Shawn Gleason, Library Aide, Clark Wood Elementary School

Cathy Williamson, Cowanesque Valley High School

Francis Brown, Cowanesque Valley High School

Thank you for your interest in working with our students!

Mrs. Becky Koehler, Director of Educational Programming, provided an update to the board on the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Monitoring that took place in the spring. This monitoring evaluated the district's use of federal funds.

Mrs. Koehler also presented a chart to the board that included information on several grants, some are annual grants but others were competitive grants that the district was awarded for specific projects.

The district is also in the 2027-2030 Comprehensive Planning phase. Mrs. Koehler provided a brief overview on the proposed 2027-2030 Comprehensive Plan.

The documents below were presented to the board during her presentation.

First Reading

• Policy 246 - Wellness

Second Reading and Final Adoption

• Policy 103.1 - Nondiscrimination Qualified Students with Disabilities
• Policy 209.2 - Diabetes Management
• Policy 217 - Graduation
• Policy 308 - Employment Contract/Board Resolution
• Policy 803 - School Calendar
• Policy 807 - Opening Exercises/Flag Displays
• Policy 909 - Municipal Government Relations