October 2011

CCS Newsletter

Chateaugay Central School

day. Once demolition is com-plete, the reconstruction of those areas as well as other much needed repairs will begin in earnest, and will continue through the end of Summer, 2012. It exciting to see many of these badly needed repairs being addressed.

Dale Breault Jr., Superintendent

From the Superintendent

Board of Education Highlights

It is hard to believe that the month of September is already coming to a close. I am happy to report that the opening of school went off without a hitch, and that all of the students and staff are right back into the swing of things.

With October always comes a slew of exciting activities at CCS including many soccer and volley-ball games, field trips to pumpkin patches, fire prevention week activities, the Senior Play, and the Halloween Parade. Each year, the seniors are always so excited to finally have “their turn” at the senior play, so I would encourage you to attend one of the perform-ances on October 29 & 30.

Changes……...

Things in the education landscape, both Federally and Statewide are changing and evolving at an ex-tremely rapid rate. Some of the catchphrases that you may be hearing a lot about in this coming year include APPR (Annual Profes-sional Performance Review), RTTT (Race To The Top), and Common Core Standards. The teaching staff and administration at CCS will be working together this year on all of these initiatives to make sure that we stays in compliance with the new regulations while also trying

to maintain our high standard of instruction and personal attention that we pride ourselves on. Over the coming months, I will make sure to discuss each one of these initiatives in more detail so that you can gain a better understand-ing of the changes that are occur-ring in education.

Building Project

I am happy to report this month that the roofing project that has been going on for the past two summers is winding down. Two layers of roofing (one dating back to 1952) were removed and a brand new system was installed. In addition to eliminating many pesky roof leaks, the new system also doubled the insulation, which will lead to energy savings for the district.

While the roofing project is com-ing to a close, Phase II of our building improvement project that was authorized by the voters back in November, 2009 is just getting under way. In the coming weeks, you will begin seeing a lot of activ-ity at school near the elementary gym and playground. The district has ensured that the demolition of those structures will occur during “second shift” hours as to mini-mize the disruption to the school

Upcoming BOE Meetings:

Tuesday, October 11, 7:30 pm

Monday, October 24, 7:30 pm

Monday, November 14, 7:30 pm

9/01/11

Added Brianna Trombley to the substitute teaching list.

Appointed Stacy Beaudin to the position of Special Educa-tion Teacher.

Approved leave requests from Marie Cook and Judy Wilder.

9/12/11

Awarded contracts for Gen-eral Construction to Merid-ian Construction, Brockway Mechanical for Mechanical, Skelly Contractors, Inc. for Plumbing, Harold Clune, Inc. for Electrical, and PTL Con-tracting for Roofing.

Held an open discussion on the Transportation Policy.

Mark your calendars

Oct. 7—Native Am. Day, No School

Oct. 10—Columbus Day, No School

Oct. 21—Supts. Confer-ence Day, No School

Oct. 29—Sr. Play “Much Ado About Coconuts” 7:00 PM

Oct. 30—Sr. Play “Much Ado About Coconuts” 2:00 PM

Oct. 31—Halloween Pa-rade, 1:00 PM

Coming Up—November 17, Spaghetti Supper/Open House

Inside this issue:

School Opening from Mrs. Fowler

2

Constitution Day 3

Fire Prevention Week 3

Message from Mrs. André

4

Guidance News & Fundraising

5

Community Connection 6

October Menus 7-8

October 2011

The senior class will be presenting their annual play on Saturday, October 29 at 7 pm and Sunday, October 30 at 2pm. See page 6 for a larger poster.

Did you know that I am on Twitter? Check me out @MrBreaultCCS for quick updates on many CCS items.

From Mrs. Fowler

tendance, bus runs, managing the comings and goings of children throughout the day, and many more things that I could possibly mention. Because Chandra seems to know everything about where children go at the end of the day….even if you just write, “She’s going to her grandmother’s.” , please help Mrs. Ne-mier by providing names and addresses if there is a change to your child’s day. I know you will join us in wishing Chandra the best as she recovers at home.

School Opening

Chateaugay students and parents have been busy with the opening of the 2011 school year. Many parents took the opportunity to bring students to school on September 2 to visit new classrooms and then again on Sep-tember 8 for the Par-ent Informational Meeting. The teachers and I appreciated the opportunity to meet parents and welcome you into our school and classrooms. A spe-cial thanks to Mrs. Diane Harrigan, Na-tional Honor Society Advisor, for arranging with Ms. Monique Smith, Mrs. Sonya Campbell, Mr. Chris Reynolds and the many National Honor Soci-ety members to pro-vide fun activities for the children. We’d also like to thank Do-reen Roach, cafeteria manager for Advanced Meals, for providing the punch and snacks.

The students have been very respectful

and responsible with the beginning of the year requirements. Thank you again for your assistance in sign-ing the Code of Con-duct, signing agendas, sending in snacks, and a wide array of activities you do to help your children be successful at school.

There will be a change in the Elementary Of-fice for the next six weeks or so. Chandra, our secretary, has had surgery and will be out of school. Mrs. Melissa Nemier will be her substitute. We are excited to welcome her. Mrs. Nemier has worked with Chandra to prepare for the at-

Library time with Mrs. Campbell

Enjoying time with the smartboard and a new student teacher.

Page 2 October 2011

“I know you will join us in wishing Chandra

the best as she recovers at home.”

Constitution Day

Fire Prevention Week—October 10-14

On Monday, Septem-ber 17th, students from Mr. Seymour’s seventh grade Social Studies Classes visited Elemen-tary Classrooms to teach lessons about the Constitution. The stu-dents worked in groups of two or three to design age-appropriate lessons about the importance of the Constitution.

They worked hard to prepare the les-sons. Their dedica-tion was clearly demonstrated in the lessons they shared. Yet, another great reason to work in a Pre-K through Grade 12 building.

Each year, the fire fighters ask students to talk to their parents about a fire evacuation plan. It is especially helpful to practice the plan before the assem-bly. Another topic that the students will dis-cuss is Smoke Alarms. Please demonstrate with your child the im-portance of changing the battery twice each year and to check that the smoke detector is working. One way to remember when to change the batteries is to change them at each of the Daylight Savings Times (November 6, 2011 and March 11,

The Chateaugay Fire Department is busy planning for the up-coming Fire Prevention Week. Kris Green al-ways prepares an ob-stacle course for the students in the Head Start, Pre-K and Kin-dergarten classrooms. The students talk about this activity for many years to come. Our first grade stu-dents always have the opportunity to visit the Chateaugay Fire Sta-tion. This year they will walk up to the fire station on Wednesday, October 12th. Pre-K and Head Start will visit at 9:00 am. Kin-

dergarten will visit at 9:30. First grade will visit at 10:00. Students in grades 2-6 will have an assembly at 1:00 in the afternoon. This year we will meet in the Auditorium.

Chateaugay Central School and the Cha-teaugay Fire Depart-ment wish to thank the members of the Burke Fire Department who help with the presenta-tion. We are fortunate to live in a community where members of the community volunteer to help keep our com-munity safe.

Varsity soccer girls in action!

Am I on the right square?

Page 3

“Please demonstrate with your child the importance of changing the battery twice each year and to check that the smoke detector is working.”

CCS Newsletter

From Mrs. André

your child needs extra help, he can sign up with the teacher early in the day for the needed help.

Make sure that your child has a place for doing homework. Her homework nook should be comfortable and well lit.

Tell your child that her school work is impor-tant to you because your family values education.

Set up a schedule. Some children don’t need this, but many do. Homework is more likely to get done if the words, “Do your home-work from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.” are written down in a prominent place in your home.

Encourage your child to set goals with home-work. For example: Do five math problems. Check the results. Do five more with the goal to increase the results. Chunking the task (breaking it down into smaller chunks) makes it much easier.

Be Organized. Have a calendar hanging close by the homework nook, where projects’ due dates can be posted. Write done sections of

Off to a Great Start With the first weeks of school under our belts, we are ready to tackle anything. The weather was beautiful for our Seventh Grade Orienta-tion. It was so nice to meet and get reac-quainted with our newest students in the high school. On the first day of school, after a morn-ing of abbreviated classes, the entire 7-12 student body took part on Opening Day Games in the gymnasium. The freshman class took the trophy to homeroom! I look forward to watching their teamwork more in the years ahead as they make their way to Senior year.

“Keep Your Eyes On the Prize” is the phrase on the bulletin board out-side of the main office. For our students who are Seniors, it is a reminder that they are in the final stretch. It is a good time to check in on the goals that they have set for this year. It is always a good idea to stop in to the Guidance Office to make sure regents exams have been taken and success-

fully completed to re-ceive the Regents Di-ploma with Advanced Designation. For under-classpersons, I asked them to set the goals that they will need for a suc-cessful year. Perfect at-tendance, earning place-ment on the honor roll four consecutive times this year and passing their most difficult sub-ject would be good goals to set. Please make it a point to check with your child on what his or her goals are this year and ask how their progress towards that goal is go-ing from time to time.

Set Your Child Up for Success with a Home-work Routine that Works. Homework in high school as opposed to elementary school can usually be summed up with the more. There is more of it, it is given more frequently and it is more complex. You can help your child make a smooth transition back to school if you:

Know what your child is doing after school. If you are not at home, have a system through which he checks in fre-quently. Our school day doesn’t end until 3:20. If

Trust falls at 7th grade orientation.

National Honor Society students helping out at the open house.

Page 4 October 2011

“Please make it a point to check with your child on what his or her goals are this year and ask how their progress towards that goal is going from time to time.”

Continued from page 4

Upcoming Fundraising Events

Guidance Office News

would like to meet with each parent to review your child’s individual score report. I have be-gun to make calls to set up a time to meet with parents. If we have not been in contact to set up a meeting, please call my office to set up a time.

the project that need to be accomplished by a certain date, for exam-ple: Research due by March 10, draft written by March 20, Make powerpoint by March 25th, Practice presenta-tion March 28, Presen-tation due March 30. That way your child will not be doing eve-rything the night before

the project is due.

New York State ELA and Math Scores are in………

We have received the results of the New York State ELA and Math scores for our seventh and eighth grade students. I

November 4 – December 10h ACT Registration Deadline

November 8 – December 3rd SAT Registration Deadline

Looking ahead……

November 1 & 15 and December 1 &15 are deadlines for the earliest college applications.

January 1 parents and students can register for Free Application for Fed-eral Student Aid FAFSA

Below are some dates that students and parents should have on their calendar:

September 29- Senior/Parent Night at 7 pm in Rooms 104/105 at CCS

October 4 - 6 pm-8 pm St. Lawrence University College Fair

October 5 - 6:30 pm-8:30 pm College Fair at Platts-burgh State (CCS will provide a bus) This event is at Clinton Community College this year

October 7 - November 5th SAT Registration Deadline

October 12 - Registered juniors will take the PSAT ( they must register in the Guidance Office)

October 14 - All Sopho-mores will take the Armed Services Voca-tional Aptitude Battery ASVAB

November 3 - Senior/Parent Night at 7 pm in Rooms 104/105 at CCS.

zine subscriptions or to renew any current subscrip-tions.

Don’t Forget the senior play on October 29 & 30.

Coming in Octo-ber! BULLDOG MERCHANT DIS-COUNT CARDS, featuring many local businesses. They will be $10.00 each. To benefit the Class

of 2013

The Senior Class is currently run-ning its annual magazine sale. See any senior by October 5th to order new maga-

“Slide Tackle” at a recent boys’ varsity game.

Hard at work in science class.

“January 1 parents and students can register for Free Application for Federal Student Aid FAFSA”

Page 5 CCS Newsletter

Chateaugay Central School PO BOX 904

Chateaugay, NY 12920

Phone: 518-497-6611 Fax: 518-47-3170

Fax (nurse) 518-497-0601

for all the latest information check us out at www.chateaugay.org

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