Marauder Den

Expectation of Play Time
The Student Athlete Handbook includes information about the WCS Athletic Philosophy by Level (Mod, JV, V).

• At the modified level, student-athletes should learn basic skills, rules, and obtain an introduction to the goals of the sports program.  
• At the JV level, the goal is to prepare student athletes for the varsity level.
• At the V level, the goal is to be competitive and prepare to win.

There may be times when you have questions or concerns about your child's participation in athletics. Please be certain to use this chain of command so that you can receive a timely response from the staff member that is most directly involved in the situation.

When approaching a coach about an athletics concern, parents/guardians are encouraged to exercise the "24 hour rule" and to request a meeting or phone call outside of the practice/athletic competition environment.

January marks the time of year when we begin to plan for end of year celebrations and culminating events. January also reflects a period of time when planning for the subsequent school year is embedded in day to day operations. One facet of planning for 2025-26 is development of the district budget. As I am certain Jeff Sutton could attest, budget planning intensifies now and will not slow down until the Annual Election and Budget Vote. WCS (and most NYS schools) will be navigating a budget landscape that includes declining enrollments and elimination of federal stimulus monies (ARP/CRRSA). Additionally, Governor Hochul has alluded to the potential for significant reductions in aid for many districts across the state. We will keep you apprised of the impact of these variables on our district as more information becomes available to share with you.

 

The WCS Board of Education approved the 2025-26 Budget Timeline during a Regular Meeting of the Board on 12/4/2024.  Important dates for your consideration specific to the 2025-26 Budget:

• January 8: BOE Budget Update
• January 28: BOE Presentation - Preliminary Budget Forecast
• February 1:  Building leaders and operational supervisors will be working with faculty and staff over the next couple of months to develop 2025-26 budget requests. building level, PPS, transportation, Facilities and Technology budgets are due back to the Business office no later than February 1, 2025.
• February 12: BOE Presentation - Revenues, Tax Cap
• March 4: BOE Meeting: Budget Presentation - Expenditure Revisions
• March 19: BOE Budget Workshop
• April 9: BOE Budget Presentation
• May 7: BOE Budget Hearing
• May 20: Budget Vote

Chain of Contact: Athletics

Coach --> Athletic Director --> Building Principal --> Superintendent --> Board of Education

There may be times when you have questions or concerns about your child's participation in athletics. Please be certain to use this chain of command so that you can receive a timely response from the staff member that is most directly involved in the situation.

When approaching a coach about an athletics concern, parents/guardians are encouraged to exercise the "24 hour rule" and to request a meeting or phone call outside of the practice/athletic competition environment.

As you move further along the chain of command, the staff is less directly involved and usually needs time to research the situation before they can give you an answer. If you do not hear back from the person you have contacted within 24 hours, it is time to move along to the next level of the chain. We do not expect your questions or concerns to go unanswered for a long period of time.

The home-school partnership is critical to the development of a successful educational experience for students. When we work together, we are able to create a unified support system that enhances student learning and development in numerous and varied ways.

Please feel free to reach out to your child(ren)'s teacher(s) and/or your building leaders by phone or email if you have questions, concerns or "shout outs" about the work happening at WCS. Please be certain to use the chain of contact so that you can receive a timely response from the staff member that is most directly involved in the situation.

Who Should You Contact?

• The WCS Chain of Contact provides you a pathway of contact information regarding instructional and operational areas in the district.

• Note: A partial Directory of phone numbers is accessible on the district webpage.

Digital Platforms to Support Staying Connected with WCS:

• ParentSquare
• SchoolTool
• Schoology
• WCS Website Note: Both the MS and HS post their daily announcements on their webpages. There are also numerous helpful links there for you.
• District Monthly Newsletter

Our Transportation Director, Vicky Pascarella, encourages families to reach out to the transportation office with any questions or concerns about your child's transportation services. Inquiries may be made to the transportation email: transportation@williamsoncentral.org.

Per SED, district-wide school safety plans and building-level emergency response plans are designed to prevent or minimize the effects of violent incidents and emergencies and to facilitate the coordination of schools and school districts with local and county resources in the event of such incidents or emergencies.

 

District Level Safety Plans include information such as:

• Policies and procedures for responding to emergency scenarios/critical incidents;
• Policies and procedures for communicating with local law enforcement and stakeholders in the event of emergency scenarios/critical incidents;
• Appropriate prevention and intervention strategies to improve communication between students and staff;
• Arrangements and/or procedures during emergencies;
• Policies and procedures for annual school safety training for students and staff; and
• Procedures for the review and conduct of drills and other exercises to test components of the emergency response plan.

Please Note:

• Districts are required to post district level safety plans to the website.
• The 2024-25 District Safety Plan may be found on the WCS district website. 

 

Building Level Safety Plans include information such as:

• Emergency Response Terms and definitions
• Functional annexes for emergency response, such as

1. Shelter-In Place: shelter students and staff inside the building;
2. Hold-In Place: limit movement of students and staff while dealing with short term emergencies
3. Evacuate: evacuate students and staff from the building;
4. Secure Lockout: secure school buildings and grounds during incidents that pose an imminent concern outside of the school building; and
5. Lockdown: secure school buildings and grounds during incidents that pose an immediate threat of violence in or around the school building.

Please Note:

• Districts may not post or share building level safety plans. They are considered SECURE documents.

 

Drills

Education Law §807 requires that New York State public and nonpublic schools conduct four lockdown and eight evacuation drills each school year (September 1 - June 30), with at least eight of the required drills being conducted by December 31 of each school year. Two additional evacuation drills must be conducted during summer school (July 1 - August 30).

 

Drills and training are required to be conducted in a "trauma-informed, developmentally and age-appropriate manner." Drills and training may not include props, actors, simulations, or other tactics which are intended to mimic a school shooting, incident of violence, or other emergency.

 

Should the school/district opt to participate in full-scale exercise in conjunction with local and county emergency responders and includes props, actors, simulations, or other tactics intended to mimic a school shooting or other act of violence or emergency, such drill MAY NOT be conducted on a regular school day and when school activities such as athletics are occurring on school grounds. In addition, such full scale exercises cannot include students without written consent from parents or persons in parental relations.

 

While there is regulatory language around conducting safety drills, they are an important mitigating measure and support development of muscle memory, which translates into quick, instinctive, and coordinated responses during emergencies. This preparedness not only enhances individual safety but also contributes to the overall effectiveness of emergency management within our school district.

 

As such, WCS will conduct drills (in all three buildings) as follows:

• Drills shall be held at least twelve times in each school year,
• Eight of the drills, whether evacuation or lockdown, shall be held between September first and December thirty-first of each year.

• Eight of the twelve drills shall be evacuation drills, inclusive of blocked egress drills
• Four of all such drills shall be lockdown drills.
• Drills shall be conducted at different times of the school day.
• Pupils shall be instructed in the procedure to be followed if a fire occurs during a lunch period or assembly.

 

Notification to Families About Drills

• Parents/guardians will be provided notification upon completion of drills. Note: MS families should have been notified about an emergency evacuation conducted at the Middle School on 9/10/2024.

 

GINNA Evacuation

• In accordance with the WCS School Safety Plan, the district will also conduct an emergency evacuation drill to rehearse for protective action in the event of a Radiological Emergency.
• More information will be forthcoming about this "announced" evacuation, tentatively identified for schedule in late fall.

 

Invitation to Participate: District Safety Team

• Per NYSED regulation, school districts are required to assemble a district level safety team.
• The District Level Safety Team is responsible for the overall development, maintenance, and revision of Emergency Response Plans (ERPs) - District Safety Plan.
• ERPs are designed to prevent, mitigate and/or minimize the effects of critical incidents and emergencies and to facilitate the coordination of local and county resources with the school in the event of such incidents or emergencies.
• Safety team members are expected to work closely together to make recommendations for revising and enhancing building/district level ERPs annually, not only to reinforce the information, but also to update the plan as new information emerges.
• Additionally, the District Safety Team provides consultation to district and building level leadership specific to safety concerns and considerations identified in the district.
• As such, broad representation from district stakeholders on the District Safety Team is vital to school safety.
• The WCS District Safety Team is currently comprised of approximately 40 mixed stakeholders - teachers, operational staff, administration, parents, and BOE members. 

Earlier this year, the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education added an emergency rule upon a finding by the Board of Regents that such action was necessary for the preservation of the general welfare to ensure component school districts in each supervisory district timely to begin the regionalization planning process in an effort to provide students with equitable access to educational opportunities and address operational efficiencies.  Further, the Department indicated that they recognize the need for a strategic approach to addressing educational disparities, fiscal constraints, and operational inefficiencies across school districts in New York State. Challenges faced by districts include:

• Student Access to High-Quality Educational Opportunities: Many districts struggle to provide comprehensive educational programs, particularly in areas with limited resources. 
• Fiscal Constraints: Budget limitations make it challenging for districts to maintain or expand educational offerings. Although ultimately not enacted, the recent proposal to reduce "save harmless" provisions in New York’s foundation aid formula underscores the fiscal uncertainty that many districts across the state face.
• Graduation Measures Initiative: As the Department develops recommendations for the Board of Regents regarding graduation measures, districts must adapt to ensure students are prepared.

On November 26, a communication from the Commissioner indicated the following:

• Section 124-2.5(d) will be revised to note that suggested amendments to regionalization plans will remain advisory rather than mandatory. This ensures that districts maintain full control over the plans they develop.
• Voluntary Participation Acknowledgment - To address concerns about mandatory participation, a new provision (Section 124-2.8) will be added, which allows districts in consultation with their school boards, to elect not to participate in the regionalization planning process by submitting written notification by January 15, 2025.

On December 4, during a Regular Meeting of the Board of Education, I requested direction from the Board specific to our continued participation in the regionalization process. Citing the desire to ensure maximal opportunities for our students and to ensure responsible, fiscal stewardship of the district, the Board of Education agreed that the Williamson Central School District will continue to participate in the regionalization discussions.  As such, and in full advocacy of and for WCS, it is my intent to approach the upcoming regionalization discussions open mindedly and with the objective of identifying creative solutions to fulfill the local vision for education and schooling in this district. I will share additional information with you as it becomes available to do so. The tentative timeline for further conversations specific to development of a regionalization plan is as follows:

• January 2024 - Convening Meeting: CSOs analyze regional data to inform priorities and discuss opportunities for comprehensive student development.
• March 2024 - Convening Meeting: Stakeholder Expansion will engage external partners like non-public schools, higher education and community organizations. Identify next steps.

As you may recall, New York State’s Enacted State Fiscal Year 2024-25 Budget called for the Rockefeller Institute to conduct a study to assess the State’s Foundation Aid education funding formula and discuss potential modifications to how the formula works.
Researchers at the Rockefeller Institute collected feedback from the public and education stakeholders, including school families, teachers, staff, administrators, school boards, appointed and elected officials, education researchers and experts, and education-focused support and advocacy organizations.The Rockefeller Institute report was publicly released earlier this week and can be found here:

https://rockinst.org/issue-area/a-review-of-new-york-states-foundation-aid-education-funding-formula-with-recommendations-for-improvement/

 

In summary:

• If literally every recommendation in the report were enacted, the state would spend considerably more in support of schools than current policies would deliver. For example, the report recommends allowing districts to use the most favorable of three options for calculating their local wealth for aid purposes, varying the weights given to property wealth and income. Venturing into issues beyond Foundation Aid, it notes that school districts face “enormous costs” from the mandated transition to zero-emission buses and recommends, “New York should fully underwrite the costs of this state initiative to transition each local school district to an all-electric bus fleet.”
• The report stresses the value of stability and predictability in funding and therefore recommends phasing in changes and using multi-year rolling averages for some aid factors. 
• It also recommends re-establishing a separate special education funding formula outside of Foundation Aid and outlines a strategy for expanding mental health services for students and offers sensible ideas for replacing or revising outdated measures used in the formula such as poverty data from the 2000 Census.
• On the other hand, the report includes recommendations to reduce save-harmless funding for districts with higher wealth, significant enrollment losses, or year-end fund balances in excess of 10%. It also recommends phasing out “…at least 50% of save-harmless over five years as Foundation Aid formula as Foundation Aid formula reforms are made…”
• A crucial point made in the Foreword to the report: [M]any of the recommendations in this report are developed and priced-out in isolation from each other. In most cases, each component of the Foundation Aid formula is examined for improvement opportunities on its own, and an impact is measured as if only that element is changed. It is recognized, of course, that elements in the Foundation Aid formula, at the very least, interact with each other and sometimes even may be fully dependent on one another. There also is no way to know which recommendations state policymakers might eventually approve and enact, or how districts may behave after having been given revised options, so there is simply no practical and reliable way to predict the final outcome of the reform proposals or to calculate every permutation of their collective impact.

 

Governor Hochul is in the middle of crafting her executive budget proposal, which she’s required to present in January. School aid accounts for about a third of the state’s operating budget. It is important to note that neither the Governor or the legislature is bound by any of the recommendations contained in the Rockefeller Report.