Hello North Syracuse Central School District Parents, Guardians, Teachers and Staff,

This week I received an invitation from Sara Radecki, a kindergarten teacher at Cicero Elementary School, to attend a grade-level “Nursery Rhyme Celebration” at the school. I put the event on my calendar interested to see what the teachers and students would be sharing. For anyone who has worked in education, you know that bringing together nearly one hundred kindergarten students is a brave undertaking.

I have to say that I was impressed with how well the students demonstrated their listening skills and respected their classmates. When it came time for the classes to show what they had learned though, I was somewhat blown away. For several years, our district literacy committee has been reviewing scientific research on how human brains learn to read. The body of research, often referred to as the Science of Reading, shows that learning to read is not necessarily an easy or instinctive task. With that said, these young students seemed to demonstrate the direct opposite.

I listened to students in Mrs. Radecki’s, Mrs. Koehler’s, Mrs. Norris’s, Mrs. Rosen’s and Mrs. Smith's classes enthusiastically demonstrate their mastery of nursery rhymes. I want to commend our teachers for taking on a new literacy program: Amplify CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts) to improve their students’ reading proficiency.

If you’ve had a chance to read the goals of our 5-year Strategic Plan: Brighter Together, one of the three goals is improving reading proficiency. At this point in the school year, we have heard presentations from four of our elementary schools’ Building Planning Teams (BPTs) and all of those teams are aligning their own goals to those in the strategic plan. I’m excited and proud to see our District working together toward common goals that will make us the best we can be.

When I returned to my office after leaving Cicero Elementary that day, I was pleased to find an email from Mrs. Radecki thanking me for attending the event. There was an additional line in her message though that truly made my day. She wrote, “The kids had so much fun! One of my girls after said she can't stop smiling and that it was the best day of her life!” So I want to say thank you Mrs. Radecki – for making learning fun and instilling a love of reading!

#NSBrighterTogether

Sincerely,

Daniel D. Bowles, Superintendent of Schools

This week kindergarten students at Cicero Elementary School celebrated their reading success with a grade-level “Nursery Rhyme Celebration” at the school.

Students in Mrs. Radecki’s, Mrs. Koehler’s, Mrs. Norris’s, Mrs. Rosen’s and Mrs. Smith's classes enthusiastically demonstrated their mastery of nursery rhymes by "acting out" different rhymes to other kindergarten classes.

Click here to read more and see more pictures online.

Tuesday is School Physical Therapist Appreciation Day. Thank you to our PTs for all you do! The patience and empathy you show toward our students as you help them improve mobility and relieve pain is inspiring. We appreciate your professional care and compassionate heart.

Congratulations to this year’s New York State Assembly Summer Reading Challenge winners from the North Syracuse Central School District. A total of 13 students from various elementary and middle schools in the NSCSD completed the requirements of the Challenge (reading for a minimum of 15 minutes each day for at least 40 days in the months of July and August) and were eligible to receive a certificate an “Ocean of Possibilities” (the theme of the Challenge) certificate.

New York State Assemblyman Al Stirpe attended the NSCSD Board of Education meeting on Monday, October 3 to personally present certificates to this year’s winners. While not all recipients were able to attend the meeting, Assemblyman Stirpe gave award certificates to six very proud students and their families.

Click here to read the complete article online.

Members of North Syracuse Junior High School Community Builders Club had fun helping out with the Cicero Parks and Rec Fall Festival at the Bridgeport Fire Department this past Saturday. They helped with games and face painting and had a great time doing so!

CRUSHING IT: Griffin’s Guardians fundraiser is Oct. 22-23 in Cicero

- Oct. 6 from Eagle News Author Ashley Casey. Click here to view the article online.

The North Syracuse Education Foundation has been celebrating 20 years of giving in 2022 and wants to use the final months of the year to get the word out about the importance of programs that have been made available to NSCSD students because of their grants. The NSEF serves a simple, but comprehensive purpose: to ensure that North Syracuse Central School District students benefit from a quality education to maintain and enhance the level of excellence in North Syracuse schools. With the unfortunate reality of diminishing local and federal funding, the NSEF has filled the desperate need of stretching budgets by funding projects and materials to enhance students’ education.

In its 20 years of existence, the NSEF has funded more than $200,000 worth of programs that have directly benefited all students from grades pre-k through 12. The group’s mission is to sponsor activities and projects intended to enhance the education and cultural enrichment of students of the NSCSD. Programs and materials provided through the NSEF supplement those typically funded by the regular school budget.

Scan the QR code above to make a donation to the NSEF 20K for 20 Years fundraiser.

School breakfast and lunch meals are offered to all students in the North Syracuse Central School District through the District’s Food Service Program. Meal prices are set according to by the United States Department of Agriculture program guidelines. The North Syracuse Central School District offers healthy meals at reasonable prices every school day.

While school meals are reasonably priced, some families may still need assistance. Families are encouraged to fill out an application for free/reduced price meals. Applications can be completed at any time during the school year. Click here for an application.

Students at the following schools will receive free meals regardless of family income, through the USDA’s CEP program:

• Roxboro Road Elementary
• Roxboro Middle School
• Smith Road Elementary
• North Syracuse Early Education Program at Main Street
• OCM BOCES Thompson Road Campus

Onondaga County will again be offering asymptomatic COVID testing for NSCSD students, families and staff. Anyone that was signed up last year will only need to make sure that the school listed as where their child attends is current. Directions to follow can be found here.

Those who did not participate last year but would like to be tested this year, will need to create an account and a testing profile for their child on https://app.clarifi-covid-19.com/register

If you are no longer interested in asymptomatic covid testing, please change your child’s testing profile to "Opt Out Of Onondaga School Testing" so that their name no longer appears on the school's list. Direction for opting out can be found here.

We love to share photos and videos from our students, families and teachers. If you're willing to share, please do! We'll be using your photos in this newsletter and other publications throughout the school year. Additionally, high resolution, horizontal photos will be considered for the District website. If you'd like to share pictures, please email them to our Communications Officer, Laurie Cook at lcook@nscsd.org.

Sara Coughlin, mom of Jordan Rowe (2nd grade) and Emma Rowe (kindergarten), shared a picture of her children, both students at KWS Bear Road Elementary School, showing their school spirit on Friday, September 30 for the school's Spirit Day. Way to go Bears!

Lakeshore Road Elementary School Principal Tina Chmielewski shared this photo of second grade students at the school hard at work in their building's science room. She shares that the students are busy investigating the differences between sand and soil in this hands-on, collaborative lesson. #NSBrighterTogether

Did you know that the North Syracuse Central School District's Athletics Department has a weekly email newsletter? If you'd like to subscribe to the newsletter, click here to learn more.

The North Syracuse Central School District produces a weekly digital newsletter, "NorthStar Lights," to share important information and good news with NSCSD families and staff. Parents and staff members automatically receive the newsletter through ParentSquare. Grandparents, community members and all friends of the NSCSD are also welcome to subscribe. Newsletters are emailed each Friday when school is in session. Help us share the good news and the great things happening in the NSCSD! Click here to learn more.

Email: webmaster@nscsd.org
Website: www.nscsd.org
Location: 5355 West Taft Road, Syracuse, NY, USA
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Twitter: @NSyracuseCSD