Town Hall Meeting Notes from 1/27

Good Morning,

As I shared with you last week, HCS hosted Town Hall meetings at both the elementary and secondary levels on Thursday, January 27.  We appreciate the opportunity to share and highlight all of the incredible work happening to support teaching and learning at HCS, as well as to engage in two way dialogue about the topics on your mind.  For those of you unable to attend the Town Hall meetings and interested in what information was related during the Town Halls, please read on!  

Facilities & Operations Updates, Submitted by Mike Bastian
Our support staff are working hard within all three operations departments (maintenance, transportation and food service) to continue pushing forward within the ongoing COVID context.  Continued Kudos to Gary Shafer, Amiee Winterhalt-Levesque and Ray Thomas for their leadership during this unprecedented time.
Food Service Department Updates:

• Thanks to all HCS parents who completed free and reduced lunch application forms earlier this year.  If you have not done so already, please take a few moments to fill this form out.  Public school grant aid from the federal government is based upon the number of students who qualify for free & reduced lunch, so a full and accurate accounting of eligible students benefits instructional funding and programming at HCS.  The “NYS Free Lunch Form” is available online at honeoye.org on the parent & students page.
• Please remember that breakfast and lunch are available free of charge to all HCS students the entire 21-22 school year.  
• We have seen a strong increase in student ADP both in lunch and breakfast throughout the year.  Breakfast participation has doubled over pre-COVID numbers and quadrupled over COVID numbers.  Lunch numbers are up 50% over pre-COVID numbers and have doubled over COVID numbers.  These statistics are despite declining enrollment during COVID context.
• Now offering 2 daily entree options as well as two daily sandwich options.
• Our kitchen staff, led by Amiee Winterhalt-Levesqsue have added many new menu items that have been popular with our students.  The kitchen has added fresh fruit and raw vegetables to the daily offerings this year and kids are scarfing those up as well.
• Please note that the kitchen is offering “A la carte” snack items this school year for purchase during lunch periods.
• Please encourage your child to give our cafeteria offerings a try as we will continue to add new recipes and items throughout the year.

Transportation Department Updates:

• Daily operations are running smoothly.
• Fleet is very well maintained, excellent safety record, highly qualified mechanical and driving staff.
• Students are following COVID protocols and expectations on our buses.
• We have been able to provide transportation for all of our winter sports teams.  We have been fortunate with our great, tight-knit staff to be able to cover more and do it better than many neighboring departments.
• Keep an eye out for a new Transportation Department webpage coming soon to www.honeoye.org.  Ray Thomas is hoping to design a site with helpful information for parents to answer frequently asked questions regarding student transportation.

Maintenance/Facilities Department Updates:

• Our Facilities/Maintenance department staff are working hard to keep our school clean and safe each and every day.
• We are catching up with maintenance projects that have been tabled during COVID.
• Tree work out front - health of trees, safety, security, aesthetics.
• Gary Shaffer and his team are hard at work each day meeting facilities needs, making routine repairs and maintaining the facilities.

Help Still Wanted:
Please note that we could still use additional subs across all of our operations departments.  If you are interested in subbing as a cleaner, monitor, bus driver, kitchen worker or clerk/typist, please see our substitute level job vacancies on the Ontario County HR website.  Please note that we are still looking to add one more full-time night cleaner.  

What's New in Pupil Personnel Services, Submitted by Tina Bush

• As many of you know, we are in the midst of mid-term week and the secondary special education teachers have been very busy supporting students as they get ready to take their midterm exams.
• Recently the CORAL students presented to the Board of Education on their current “Courtyard Beautification Project”.  The HCS CORAL program is interested in building a 12’ X 24’ pavilion in the Greenhouse courtyard. They envision this being a multi-use structure, to be utilized by all students, teachers, and staff. The CORAL program has been involved in many school and community- based work study programs through the years, and actually constructed the current greenhouse and storage shed in the courtyard. These projects have been extremely beneficial to our students as they have learned important life skills like problem solving, team work, critical thinking, the relationship between theory (planning) and application (construction), communication, and school/community connections.
• In addition, I am working with Nate Schneckenburger to provide Teen MHFA to our 10-12th grade students to help them  identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders among their friends and peers. The training gives students the skills to have supportive conversations with their friends and get a responsible  and trusted adult to take over as necessary. It is designed to be delivered in six interactive classroom sessions of 45 minutes.  An email to parents of 10-12 grade students will be forthcoming as we determine how this will be implemented in the district.  
• Lastly, myself and a team of teachers, participated in a Social Emotional Learning professional development workshop that aligns with the SEL Benchmarks for New York State.  Our goal is to develop a comprehensive plan that compasses how we can help  students  develop self-awareness and self-management skills essential to success in school and in life, how to have social awareness and interpersonal skills to establish and maintain positive relationships.  Plus educating students on how to demonstrate ethical decision-making skills and responsible behaviors in personal, school, and community contexts. 
• As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to my office at any time.  Thank you.

News from the Desk of Chris Wickham, Director of Technology and Student Learning 

• Along with the role of Director of Technology and Student Learning, I also serve as the Data Protection Officer here at HCS. This role allows me to focus on data security and privacy here within the district for all students and staff. Recently I sent out a message within ParentSquare titled “Permission to Publish.” This post reflects this type of work I will continue to complete as the Data Protection Officer here at HCS. In short, this post is a vital piece to maintaining compliance with specific privacy laws.  Throughout the school year, Honeoye Central School District has the opportunity to recognize students for their academic, social, athletic, musical, and artistic accomplishments.  Throughout the school year we may spotlight student successes by displaying their name and/or a photo accompanied by a brief article on the district website, social media and/or media. In order to do so, we are required to obtain permission from parents/guardians to publish this information as mentioned.  If you have not already done so, please complete the form for each child in your house to either grant or deny the Honeoye Central School District permission to publish your student as stated within the form on ParentSquare.  
• This year I have also been working on several safety documents for HCS. One such document I have created is titled the  Cyber-Security Incident Response plan. This Plan outlines the procedures Honeoye CSD uses to detect and respond to unauthorized access or disclosure of private information from systems utilized, housed, maintained or serviced by Honeoye. More specifically, this plan defines the roles and responsibilities of various Honeoye CSD staff with respect to identification, isolation and repair of data security breaches, outlines the timing, direction and general content of communications among affected stakeholders, and defines the different documents that will be required during various steps of the incident response. This plan will be reviewed and practiced yearly by specific district stakeholders outlined in the plan itself. 
• Lastly we have been working hard within the Technology Department to replace both student and teacher devices. Just like anything, computers/devices have a life expectancy and are required to be replaced every so often. In an effort to provide all teachers and students with working and quality devices, we are in the process of creating a replacement cycle. This plan will demonstrate how often HCS will responsibly replace devices for all stakeholders. This work is ongoing and is meant to help the district be financially responsible in the replacement of technology and our devices. 
• As always, please reach out via email or phone if you have any technology questions or concerns.

Questions That Might Be on Your Mind at the ES, Submitted by ES Principal Natalie Pfluke  

• 1- How can I enroll my child in UPK and/or Kindergarten? We are already in the process of having families get early notification to us by calling or emailing the elementary office.  In April, families will receive a registration packet which will include our screening process and orientation information.  *Important to note: if your child will be 4 years old on or before December 1st, he/she will be eligible for UPK. If however, they are 5 years old on or before December 1st, he/she will be eligible to enter Kindergarten (and not UPK).
• 2- Do you have an update on the cafeteria? Last time we met for a town hall, I mentioned monitor training. At this time, all monitors have been trained in:
  • Behavior Management and interventions
  • Bullying Recognition and Prevention
  • How to offer positive reinforcement and feedback to students on the spot- and why that is important
  • Appropriate student interactions
  • AND, at the elementary school, a lunchtime incentive. Grade levels can work together to earn “slices”of a pizza. Once 8 slices are earned, students will walk into the cafeteria to their tables decorated with fancy tablecloths, and with prizes to choose from, including ice cream, fidget toys, pop sockets and stickers.
• 3- Are we hosting the elementary play this year?  Yes! I am excited to announce the Elementary Play is back- on the evening of February 16th, please join us for  Good Manners- A medieval Quest for Polite Behavior. I had an opportunity to peek in to play rehearsal last week, and the kids are doing a fantastic job. They were singing and moving, and I couldn’t help dancing in my seat! I’m really looking forward to our live performance!
• 4- What is going on in literacy?  We have recently unveiled our new bookroom, which houses our new Guided Reading Collection- with hundreds of the most powerful, engaging, and original books. We have noticed  excitement for reading, growing. I would like to encourage families to ask their child what books they are reading in class. Our literacy Coach is working with teachers to dig deeper into best practices for Guided Reading including selecting goals, specific prompting language, moving students up levels based on teacher observations, record keeping, and goal analysis.
• 5- How are the data meetings going?  Data meetings are going great! Teachers are collaborating with coaches and AIS providers to Review and analyze multiple sources of data. They use the assessment data to match students to appropriate interventions, methods and programs. Our next set of data meetings are in February  where grade level teams will engage in discussions about specific students- and in their math and ELA data and interventions.
• 6- Honeoye Elementary Welcomes the BOE- on February 9th members of our school Board will enjoy a tour of the elementary building, visiting classrooms UPK-5, special area classes, PE, Music, Enrichment and Library. We are so excited to showcase all of the amazing happening in our building!
• PBIS- Our January PBIS character trait of the month was - COURAGE. Students learned what it means to have courage and engaged in several activities to highlight this trait. Lessons included discussing what it means to be a Lifter, a Leaner, or In-betweener…(hand motions and all) and of course encouraging all of our students to be Lifters.  February’s character trait of the month is honesty.

Updates from Secondary Principal, Nate Schneckenburger 

• Entry focus: Listen & Learn (Purposeful meetings/specific questions/info gathering) to reduce learning curve and be able to begin the work effectively. Need for this to occur simultaneously as we now begin the second marking period. 
• High School students are finishing up their Midterm Exams. Exams have taken place 1/18-1/27 and were scheduled purposefully to limit the number of assessments per day for students.
• January 28th marks the end of the 2nd Marking Period and has been designated (For Grades 9-12 Only) an academic recovery day for students to complete unfinished assessments and/or class work. Grades 6-8 will follow their regular class schedule on these days. Teachers have contacted home for those students who need to complete work prior to the end of the marking period. On 1/28 Students who attend programs at  Finger Lakes Technical and Career Center will still attend. 
• Monday 1/31 the formal instructional observation cycle will resume for teachers in grades 6-12.
• As part of the new semester kick off we will be  introducing the Safe School Helpline (Reporting Tool for school safety concerns- See something, say something) to staff, parents and students. In addition, we will be revisiting the DASA reporting procedure, incident identification and purpose to provide a safe/supportive learning environment.  

As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions about this information or otherwise. Thank you for your continued patience and support of the district.  Be safe and be well!

Sincerely,
E. Bridget Ashton

Elizabeth Bridget Ashton
Superintendent, Honeoye Central School District
8528 Main Street
Honeoye, New York 14471
[email protected]
On Twitter: @EBridgetAshton