Superintendent DeBarbieri's announcements for January 26, 2024

January 26, 2024

Dear Parents, Guardians and Staff, 

Our Elden Elementary families were informed last night of the sudden death of third grade student Reese Fadden. The Baldwinsville Central School District is a close-knit school community and our hearts are broken by the loss of Reese. 

Our District’s Crisis Response team was available today for students and staff, and will continue to be available next week and as needed in the future. Our thoughts and condolences go out to Reese’s family, friends and teammates. We have resources on our website to help your child cope with grief and sadness. If you feel that your child needs additional support, please contact their school. 

One of the things I love and appreciate about Baldwinsville is that our community rallies together during difficult times and during joyous times. Thank you for continuing to support each other. We are stronger together!

I do have a few announcements to share with you today:

Calendar Reminders:

• The Marking Period ends today. 
• The next Community Café will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31st at C.W. Baker High School in the cafeteria. The topic discussed will be "Funding Improvements & Building the Future."
• Report cards will be available in the Parent Portal on Friday, February 2nd.
• Looking ahead, February break begins on Monday, February 19th with the observance of the President’s Day holiday. District offices will be closed on February 19th and there will be no school for students on the 19th to the 23rd. 

Junior High All-County: 

Congratulations to the student-musicians who were selected to participate in the Onondaga County Junior High All-County Festival, which will be held at Eagle Hill Middle School today and tomorrow.

Orchestra students: Rory Heywood, Tyler Morgan, Benjamin Mantione and Victoria Lee.

Band students: Liam Pallotta and Addison Jenkins and Juli Rogers

Chorus students: Adeline Flood, Vivian Cannella, Christian Almeida, Jefferson Esek, Rowan Reinagel, Vanessa Tatem, Callia Valentine, Cara Kohberger, Mia Bush, Lilith Walker, Aubrey Leaton, Carly Spado and Alex DeLore.

Lego League Competition:

More than 60 Baldwinsville Central School District elementary and middle school students participated in the FIRST Lego League’s Challenge, a robotics competition, last Saturday at McEvoy BOCES in Cortland. Two of our teams won awards. Congratulations to our team from Elden Elementary School, which was coached by Kim Hunt. The team brought home the Breakthrough Award. Our team from Van Buren Elementary School, which was led by coaches Sarah Youngman and Carmen Malagisi, won the Rising All-Star Award. Congratulations to all our students. 

Community Café:

The next Community Café will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31st at C.W. Baker High School in the cafeteria. The topic discussed will be "Funding Improvements & Building the Future."

An advisory committee of district stakeholders met this fall to continue work on future phases of our “Funding Improvements & Building the Future” capital improvement project. Baldwinsville voters approved Phase 2 of our capital improvement project in May 2023 and Phase 1 was approved by voters in May 2022. The goal of the advisory committee was to explore plans for future phases and assess each of our eight school buildings. Planning for our future and the best way to utilize our remaining school buildings was the charge of this committee. The committee's findings will be explored during this Community Café. You can also learn more on our website.

Registration for the Community Café is required. We hope you can join us as we explore questions that matter, build relationships and share our knowledge and ideas to help build, educate and empower our students! 

Congratulations:

Marching Band Director Casey Vanderstouw was surprised earlier this week with the WCNY Classic FM Music Educator Award. The award, which is nominated by parents, recognizes educators who are dedicated to sustaining the performing arts and have had a strong positive influence on their students. Mr. Vanderstouw is very deserving of this award and we are very proud of him and the work he does with our students. Congratulations, Casey.

Please continue to check ParentSquare, your email and our website, for important updates. As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. Have a great weekend. Go Bees! 

Sincerely,

Dr. Joseph M. DeBarbieri
Superintendent of Schools