Updates for Community, Families, Students and Staff 4/29/22

Updates for Families and Staff Members - April 29, 2022

 

Dear Families and Staff Members:

 

The month of April flew by. Here are some important announcements and highlights:

 

No School Thursday May 26 and Friday May 27 

There will be no school for students and staff on Thursday May 26 and Friday May 27. Based on the mild winter, we used very few snow days/emergency closing days. Our board of education recently approved a change to the school calendar to provide this additional time off for students over the Memorial Day weekend. School buildings will be closed on Thursday May 26, Friday May 27, and Monday May 30, 2022 for the Memorial Day Weekend. Please enjoy the time with your families, but also take time to remember military service members who gave their lives in service.

 

School District Budget Hearing and Meet the BOE Candidate- Thursday May 5, 2022 5:30  

Our school district budget hearing and “Meet the Board of Education Candidate” session will take place on Thursday May 5, 2022 at 5:30 PM in LaFayette Big Picture School Commons. You can also watch the hearing online via the following link - https://meet.google.com/zhq-gotj-rpg?hs=122&authuser=0

 

Mr. Pete Mahunik, Interim Business Official, has done an outstanding job working with our school leadership team and board of education to put together a spending plan for next school year which will provide for small class sizes, all of our current college credit courses for high school students, a new social worker at Grimshaw Elementary School, and continued support for athletics, clubs, and the arts. You can view our budget materials on the School Budget page of our website - click here. Be sure to check out our budget newsletter for all of the details on our spending plan for next year - click here. 

 

School District Budget Vote - Tuesday May 17, 2022 1-9 PM Jr/Sr HS Main Entrance

The budget vote will take place on Tuesday May 17, 2022 from 1:00-9:00 PM at the LaFayette Jr/Sr High School Main Entrance.

 

Voter Qualifications: Must be a citizen of the United States. Must be eighteen (18) years of age. Must be a resident of the district for a  minimum of thirty days prior to  May 17, 2022. Absentee  Ballots Available: Contact the  District Clerk for an application at  315-677-9728.

 

ONS Take-Out Spring Dinner Success

Students and staff at the Onondaga Nation School served over 545 meals to students, families, and community members for a take out version of Spring Dinner. The corn soup, corn mush, corn bread, frybread, and turkey were delicious! Great job to our students, our amazing food service, and our community members who assisted with food preparation.

 

Crossroads Cup - May 14, 2022

Be sure to come out and experience the first annual Crossroads Cup on May 14, 2022. The event starts off at 10:45 AM and runs all day. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Upstate Golisano’s Children’s Hospital and Upstate Cancer Center. You can learn more by visiting our website - click here. 

 

Book Blast at Grimshaw 

Recently, Grimshaw Elementary partnered with  the “Books Are Fun” and its “Book Blast” program to help build our students’ home library. This partnership aims to put new, age-appropriate books into the hands of every student!

As part of the program, “treasure chests” filled with books are awarded (chosen at random via drawing) to one student per day, with the final prize of an iPad going to one lucky individual on the final day of the event. The first treasure chest recipient was Sydney, and the day two winner is Wesley! Congratulations to you both! 

If you’re interested in donating to the Books are Fun program, you can do so by clicking on the link below. Through the program, 100% of all contributions go toward new books and classroom supplies.

 

 

Parade of Baskets

Grimshaw Elementary's "Parade of Baskets" raffle will be held on Friday May 6, from 4-7 p.m. in the elementary cafeteria. 

There will be more than 50 baskets available to win, containing a variety of gift cards and passes! The Cruisin' Cones ice cream truck will also be on hand for anyone looking for a sweet treat.

Please see the flyer for entry prices and information about participating organizations!

 

LaFayette High School Students Open the My Brother’s Keeper Symposium

Thank you to Arrow Booth and Malania Potak who welcomed participants during the New York State Education Department’s My Brother’s Keeper Symposium. You can view the recorded version of the Thanksgiving address by clicking here. Great job Arrow and Malania! 

 

The My Brother’s Keeper Program helps to support young people of color by providing connections to mentoring, scholarships, and career counseling. LaFayette has received a My Brother’s Keeper Native American Youth grant for the past three years. Thanks to the leadership of MBK Coordinator Meagan Smith, LaFayette will be the first MBK Community for indigenous youth. Great job Meagan and to our indigenous students who are working hard to be career and college ready!

 

Update on COVID Cases

During the month of April, we reported a few more COVID cases in comparison to the month of March. Central New York is one of the few areas in the country seeing an uptick in cases at the moment. Thankfully, we have not witnessed any measurable spread of COVID related to school activity. Reported cases appear to be related to COVID spread within households. We wish all those impacted a quick recovery. 

 

Please continue to monitor your symptoms, stay home when you are sick, and seek testing/medical care. Rapid test kits are available by contacting any school main office. Students and staff members can sign up for weekly surveillance testing on Tuesdays by clicking here. Our amazing school nurses have conducted 2,450 COVID tests this school year with 108 of those tests returning a positive result. 

 

We have reported a total of 392 cases of COVID impacting students and staff members this year. Several of our recent cases are from individuals who tested positive earlier this school year. You can view the report of COVID cases for our school district by visiting the state dashboard:

https://schoolcovidreportcard.health.ny.gov/#/searchResults

 

You can view information about COVID from Onondaga County Health Department by visiting: https://covid19.ongov.net/ 

 

Get out and enjoy the sunshine this weekend. Think warm thoughts and hopefully it will warm up soon. I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

 

Sincerely,

Jeremy Belfield

Superintendent of Schools

jbelfield@lafayetteschools.org

315-529-9550 (cell)