On Monday, July 15, upon recommendation from Superintendent Jason Smith, the Batavia City School District Board of Education approved the appointment of Dr. Megan Crine as Principal of Batavia Middle School and Joel Reed as Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics. Dr. Crine will start on July 16, and Mr. Reed will join the District on August 19.
Dr. Megan Crine Submitted photo.
Dr. Megan Crine has served as the principal of Ellis B. Hyde Elementary School in the Dansville Central School District since July 2023. Previously, she was the Middle School Red House Administrator at Churchville-Chili Central School District for twelve years, where she led committees focused on equity, student culture, and school improvement. Dr. Crine began her administrative career with internships at Marcus Whitman Central School District. She holds a Doctorate of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Rochester, along with a Master of Science in Literacy Education from Nazareth College and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education with a Concentration in History from SUNY Cortland. Additionally, she earned Reading Recovery Certification from SUNY Brockport. Dr. Crine is certified in Elementary Education, Literacy Education, and School Building Leadership.
Joel Reed Submitted photo.
Joel Reed has 14 years of administrative experience, currently serving as the Assistant Principal and Director of Athletics at Medina Central School District. In this role, he manages student supervision, enforces school policies, oversees budget development, and supervises staff and coaches. Previously, Reed was the Director of Athletics, Physical Education, and Health at the Charter School for Applied Technologies. He holds a Certificate of Advanced Study in Educational Leadership from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, a Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies with a concentration in Health Education from SUNY Buffalo State, and a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Sport from SUNY Brockport. Reed is certified as a Professional School District Leader, Professional School Building Leader, and holds permanent NYS certificates in Health and Physical Education.
“I am thrilled to welcome both Dr. Megan Crine and Joel Reed to the Batavia City School District,” said Superintendent Jason Smith. “With decades of combined experience in education and leadership, Megan and Joel are passionate about helping students thrive and making our schools great places to learn and grow. They have come highly recommended, and I am confident they will be valuable additions to our leadership team. I also want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the parents, staff, and community members who participated in both of the interview processes. Your input was invaluable, and we appreciate your dedication and support. We can’t wait for Megan and Joel to hit the ground running.”
“I am delighted to join the Batavia City School District as the newest Principal of Batavia Middle School,” said Dr. Megan Crine. “I am excited for the challenge and look forward to working with the exceptional students and staff. I cannot wait to become a part of the BMS family and Batavia community, and I am eagerly anticipating the start of the new school year.”
“I am honored to become the new Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics for the Batavia City School District,” said Joel Reed. “Batavia has a strong athletics program with a track record of incredible success, driven by our talented student-athletes and exceptional coaching staff. I see tremendous potential in BCSD's health and physical education program and am excited to build upon its successes. I am proud to be the newest Blue Devil and look forward to contributing to Batavia’s legacy of excellence.”
Also at Monday’s meeting, the Board of Education approved a contract extension for Jason Smith through 2029. With his extension, he receives seven additional vacation days and increases his sick day bank by ten days, with the ability to buy back ten additional days upon retirement from BCSD.
“The Board was unanimous in approving the contract extension for Superintendent Jason Smith,” said Board of Education President John Marucci. “We are proud of the work Jason has done since he joined the district in 2022. Consistency in our leadership and vision for the district is important, and Jason's commitment to BCSD remains steadfast. We look forward to our continued work with him and are excited about the future of our district under his leadership.”
Gone are the days of simple newsletters and notes sent home in kids’ backpacks as the means of communication for a school district’s community, as communication has become an entity all its own.
Batavia City Schools’ Board of Education approved a contract renewal with Emily Benedict of ESB Media this week for such services that include public and media relations to disseminate news, updates, highlights and positive stories about the city school district.
The agreement for 15 hours per week at a $5,000 a month retainer, or $60,000 per year, begins July 1 and runs through June 30, 2025.
District expectations include spending more quality time on “value-added projects,” focusing on strategy, “empowering colleagues to take the lead using brand/PR guidelines,” and adopting a more proactive and less reactive strategy.
Board member Alice Benedict said that one thing that's happened "for years and years and years" is that, despite getting information out into the public about upcoming budget and board election votes, that doesn't often evoke a great turnout, and this year, seemed especially dismal.
She asked if Benedict had any suggestions to help boost voter enthusiasm for the polls.
Photo from Emily Benedict's social media site.
Contrary to what's been the trend for many organizations to get the word out about events, Benedict said that "we cannot just depend on social media," adding that information needs to go out via local press, postcards, newsletters and "other options we could explore."
Board member Barbara Bowman pointed to Batavia's large senior population and suggested that the school district could work with the county's Office for the Aging to assist older folks in getting to their polling sites.
"It would be nice if we could make a concerted effort," she said.
More specific goals related to the new contract, according to Benedict, are to:
Continue the great work we’ve executed over the last four years with public relations, media relations, social media, executive communications, and strategy.
Develop a comprehensive feature editorial strategy to unearth and highlight more positive stories about the district, its programs, students, and staff.
Successfully transition web presence to a new platform and create a seamless content system that allows for clarity, transparency, and ease of use for all stakeholders.
Find new and innovative ways to tell the BCSD story.
Develop a community outreach strategy that better informs Batavia about the great work happening across BCSD.
Continue working on a comprehensive crisis communication plan and messaging and develop additional communication opportunities to foster a stronger BCSD community for families, staff, etc.
Improve the Annual Report with more educational statistics and brand stories.
Professional photography of schools/faculty/students to enhance the website, social media, and materials.
More video-focused interviews/news packages/social posts.
Serve as webmaster for bataviacsd.org.
In other financial-related news, the board also approved a contract for blacktop sealing of 250,000 square feet of the district’s parking lots and driveways during the summer.
This includes painting lines, crack filling and a $5,000 allowance for milling and repair. The RFP was publicly advertised and sent to various companies. Two proposals were returned from the following companies in the amounts indicated:
Get Sealed submitted a bid of $72,800, and Baughman Magic Seal of Amherst submitted a lower bid of $46,950.
Chad Bliss, Director of Facilities III and Business Administrator Andrew Lang recommended that the board approve Baughman Magic Seal, which received final approval.
Appropriations for this work were budgeted for in the 2024-25 general fund budget, Lang said.
Batavia Middle School Principal Nate Korzelius, who has opted to resign from his position as of July 1 and has accepted a position as assistant principal at Batavia High School.
With 15 retirements and 10 resignations, including the newly hired director of health, physical education and athletics and Batavia Middle School’s principal, the city school district has a hefty to-do list this summer to replace some posts.
Middle School Principal Nate Korzelius, who was hired for the position in April 2022, after working as interim principal since July 1, 2021, and also worked at the district as a science teacher for 23 years and assistant principal of Batavia High School for five years, will resign effective June 30. He has accepted a familiar position as assistant principal at BHS effective July 1, Superintendent Jason Smith said.
“We are appointing an interim principal tonight at BMS effective July 1, which will be announced tonight to our staff and tomorrow to our families,” Smith said Monday. “Applications closed today for BMS principal, an interim principal is being appointed tonight and the interview process will start shortly.”
Mike Davis
Mike Davis, the district’s interim assistant principal at Robert Morris appointed to replace Jessica Torrey, who left for an elementary principal job at Alexander Central, will temporarily fill in for Korzelius’ absence as interim principal while the district conducts a search.
"I have been pleased with both the quality and quantity of administrator applications and look forward to the next steps in the process. We hope to have the hiring process completed by early to mid August,” Smith said.
Ryan Winchip, who was hired last fall to replace Michael Bromley as the district’s athletic director, will be leaving for a principal position at Warsaw Central School. Timm Slade, who stepped in when Bromley announced he was leaving prior to Winchip’s hiring, will be returning as interim AD, effective Monday. The recruitment process has been in place for this position, as well as other personnel vacancies, Smith said.
“We have been pleased with the applicants so far, and are currently interviewing for art teacher, several clerical positions, and the admin position I already mentioned,” he said. “We also hope to have the AD position filled by early to mid August.”
Meanwhile, the role of full-time community coordinator is to be cut in half as of July 1, and former coordinator Julia Rogers will be moving back into an assistant principal role, but not at the high school where she formerly was stationed, but at the middle school, Smith said.
Trisha Jordan was hired during Monday’s board meeting to fill an open assistant principal slot at the high school, as assistant principal Omar Hussein is moving on to take a middle school principal position at Rush Henrietta School District.
Most of the assistant principal salaries are listed as "per the BAA (Batavia Administrators Association) contract" versus an actual number. The newest assistant principal hire's salary was listed as $80,000.
Travis Byrnes has resigned as assistant principal of the middle school to return as a health teacher at BHS for $66,750.
Batavia's Board of Education bid a warm farewell during Monday's meeting to several people who retired from the district this past year. They represented a collective 300 years of experience at Batavia, and included:
Karen Barber - Secretary, Batavia High School Health Office
Mike Bromley - Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics
Jennifer Corbelli - English Language Arts Teacher, Batavia High School
Gail DiGregorio - Secretary, School Counseling Office, Batavia High School
Jeff Donahue - Custodial Worker, Batavia High School
Nancy Haitz - School Nurse Practitioner, Batavia High School
Mary Hall - Counseling Center, Batavia Middle School
Susan Lukaszewicz - Physical Therapist, John Kennedy Intermediate
Paula Mosman - Teacher, John Kennedy Intermediate
Frank Panepento - Intro to Technology Teacher, Batavia Middle School
Wayde Scott Pickert - Maintenance Staff, Batavia Middle School
Sharon Reigle - Customer Support Technician, BCSD IT
Scott Rozanski - Business Administrator
Jackie Schumacher - Special Education, Batavia High School
Deborah Tourville - Custodial Worker, Robert Morris
A community schools program at Batavia City School District initially promoted as a strategy to help with each child’s well-being, success and educational equality is being realigned with a reduced coordinator position that will be responsible “for the most critical elements of the program,” Superintendent Jason Smith says.
The program that was implemented in 2021 by district social worker Julie Wasilewski and then-Batavia High School Assistant Principal Julia Rogers was centralized at Robert Morris, where Rogers was later relocated and made full-time community schools coordinator.
The adopted $60,294,755 million 2024-25 budget — which will go up for a vote on May 21 — includes some staff changes, including making the coordinator a part-time position. One of the job’s responsibilities has been to forge relationships with outside agencies and organizations to serve as resources for students and families and have a presence at vendor fairs that were held at Robert Morris and other public sites.
Smith said that other staff will be there to help fill the gap.
“BCSD currently employs five social workers who will continue to foster positive relationships with our families and community providers/agencies,” he said.
During a presentation to the school board in 2021, Wasilewski and Rogers talked about how Robert Morris was converted into a community center for children and parents to obtain assistance for school work and many additional other life needs, from laundry to filling the gaps of clothing, school supplies, hygiene products, toys, bedding, food and other missing items in their households.
The Batavian asked Smith if community schools offerings would remain or how they might shift with the staffing change. Those life needs resources have been collected and provided at Robert Morris through a community closet in the Heart of Kindness Center.
“At this point, the district intends to maintain the critical elements of the Community Schools program, which could include things like the Heart of Kindness Center,” Smith said. “All BCSD schools and programs have strong connections to our community. Schools host programs throughout the year, such as Family Fun Nights and Reading Nights, which are well attended.
“We are exploring different ways to integrate community vendors into these robust school-based activities to provide the most value and assistance to our families and partners,” he said. “Given the budget challenges this year, it was imperative for the Board of Education and district to focus on the core elements of our academic, extracurricular, and social-emotional programs.”
During this week’s budget presentation, which drew even less than the one attendee who asked questions last year, Smith referred to his teeter-totter scenario of how trying to balance out the budget to serve the needs of both sides.
“As you know, this was a particularly challenging budget year for many school districts, we were not the exception,” he said. “There were several extenuating circumstances, issues with state aid, foundation aid, COVID funding. So all of those are taken into account.”
He emphasized that foundation aid remained flat. It did not increase, though it also did not decrease; that aid remained at $24,191,855. The transportation contract calls for a $556,263 increase of $3.3 million, a 20 percent increase, a general support increase of $514,943, and an employee benefits increase of $313,405 for a total hike in expenses of $1,323,981.
The budget also includes a tax levy increase of $450,345, for a total levy of about $20.3 million. District voters will be asked to consider a property tax increase of 39 cents per $1,000 assessed value, or $48.75 more per year on a home assessed at $125,000.
Other personnel changes include reducing seven grant-funded positions due to a nearly $6 million COVID-related grant drying up by this fall and five more through attrition but retaining seven other positions by moving them out of the general fund and into other ongoing grants.
While that’s the good news for those seven, it’s “going to be challenging next year,” to figure out how to continue funding those, Smith said. A mental health grant will reestablish three social-emotional learning positions and three instructional coaching positions, he said.
He pointed out the nonmandated items that made the list — those things that really make “a school a school” but aren’t required to be offered — such as music lessons, social workers, drama club, the technology program, art shows and exhibits, interscholastic activities, school resource officers, girls flag football, Link Crew, Advanced Placement and college credit courses, and summer programs.
There is a capital project for $100,000 at Robert Morris tucked into the budget for door security work, which is state reimbursed at a 92% rate, he said. He referred to a small city comparison review for how the district has held up in grades three through eight in math, numbers that administrators take pride in, he said. The graduation rate took a dip from 2021’s 95% to 2023, at 87%, and the average class size was 19.
There are 21 public schools serving 7,900 students in Genesee County and, according to Public School Review for 2024, Batavia High School ranks third place, with math in the 85 to 89 percentile, and reading at or greater than 50%.
John Kennedy Intermediate comes in at No. 14, with math at 35% and reading 50%, with Batavia Middle School at 17, with math at 23% and reading at 50%, followed by Jackson Primary, with math at 50 to 54% and reading at 40 to 44%, making those at the bottom 50 percent. (Pembroke Intermediate School came in first, with math scores at 68% and reading at 66%.)
The ballot includes Proposition #1 to approve a general budget of $60,294,755 and to vote for three board members with candidates Michael Bromley, Korinne Anderson, Jen Lendvay and John Reigle running.
The vote is from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. May 21 at Batavia High School, 260 State St., and Robert Morris School, 80 Union St., depending on the voter’s residence.
For residents living north of Route 5 (Main Street), vote at Robert Morris, 80 Union Street (Multi-Purpose Room). Enter on Union Street at the entrance across from Notre Dame.
For residents living south of Route 5 (Main Street), vote at Batavia High School, 260 State Street (High School Library).
If you need clarification on where to vote, check the street-by-street guide on our website or call the Business Office at 585-343-2480, Ext. 1002.
The Batavia City School District is proud to announce it has been honored for the first time with the NAMM Foundation's Best Communities for Music Education designation for its outstanding commitment to music education.
Now in its 25th year, the designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in providing music access and education to all students.
To qualify for the Best Communities designation, the Batavia City School District answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program, and community music-making programs.
Responses were verified by school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.
“I am deeply honored to see BCSD’s commitment to music education recognized by the NAMM Foundation. This award is a testament to the rich, vibrant opportunities our incredibly talented and dedicated music department staff continue to provide, ensuring every BCSD student can experience the transformative power of music,” said Superintendent Jason Smith. "As a proud product of our district's music program myself, I am beyond thrilled to see BCSD receive this extraordinary recognition.”
“This prestigious award from the NAMM Foundation is a tribute to the dedication of our music department staff, our students' passion, and our families' unwavering support. Together, we have fostered a thriving music education environment that celebrates creativity and collaboration. I am immensely grateful for our community's commitment to keeping music an essential part of our education system,” said Melzie Case, BCSD Music Department Chair.
Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music: After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school but also to attend college as well.
In addition, everyday listening skills are stronger in musically trained children than in those without music training. Significantly, listening skills are closely tied to the ability to: perceive speech in a noisy background, pay attention, and keep sounds in memory.
Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound: young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Not to mention, social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and how to give and receive constructive criticism.
Weighing out the options of a permissible 2.26 percent tax increase versus going whole hog for a super-majority vote and a 4 percent increase, or having no increase at all and actually tightening the belt and eliminating expenses for a tentative $60.5 million budget, Batavia City School board members covered the gamut of responses to a nearly $1.4 million budget gap during its second review Tuesday evening.
Toward the end of a 90-minute session, Vice President John Reigle posed a question that was perhaps three years too late.
John Reigle
“Call me crazy, but should we start planning now? Those three years knowing, I mean, I kind of feel like we knew these COVID grants were running out. We should have been proactive and tried to replace that money instead of being in this position now. I think it's very difficult,” Reigle said.
Business Administrator Andy Lang reviewed adjustments made so far since the initial meeting two weeks ago. Those include possibly cutting seven full-time COVID-19 grant-funded positions (three-year grant due to expire in September), four full-time positions that will be reduced based on enrollment, elimination of three full-time teacher positions by not replacing retirements; moving seven full-time positions from the general fund into ongoing grants, and reductions of three bus runs, equipment purchases and school supplies that had previously been provided free for all students.
That still leaves a gap and the options of increasing the tax levy, pulling more from the appropriated reserve, similar to a district savings account, or further cutting expenses, Lang and Superintendent Jason Smith said.
Lang had suggested drawing $2.5 million from reserves toward the 2025 budget and said that more could be taken if the board wanted to.
“How much danger does it put us in the future for next year?” board member Alice Benedict said. “How much would be left?”
Lang said he will calculate the remaining amount later this year, and the reserve is considered a “safety net” for the district.
Andrew Lang
“So a lot of it depends on where we end up at the end of this year, how much total fund balance that we have on the site. And then the other factor is how much revenue actually comes in for next year. If status is reinstated to what it should have been, the district will realize additional revenue, we may not have to utilize or actually use that appropriated fund balance, but the safety net, it's a safety net so that we don't put ourselves into a deficit situation,” Lang said. “Just because we appropriate that fund balance does not necessarily mean that we use it; our expenditures could be less than anticipated, and our revenues can be greater than anticipated and the amount that we are appropriating, so it'd be a wash.”
Benedict also proposed finding a way to keep the free school supplies for all students in the budget. That was a perk provided due to the pandemic, and the supplies were purchased with COVID grant money at an expense of about $90,000. Benedict argued that there should be a way to retain those goods in the budget now that the grant funds are drying up.
Board Vice President John Reigle countered that the money could be better spent, such as on a teacher position—or about 1.5 positions, Lang said—and Reigle preferred putting the funds toward instruction versus supplies.
Smith pushed for keeping the seven positions in place, and even though they include extracurriculars, he recommends keeping them because they are “robust” programs.
He wouldn’t want to see the board take away drama club, marching band, football, “all the things that make school a school,” he said.
He suggested that the board wait until the state budget is more firmly in place to get a better idea of how much state aid the district will receive. The board could still work on a general budget, and a “best case scenario” in Foundation aid would add $300,000 to the revenue side, Lang said.
After a nearly 90-minute session of reviewing numbers and options, Smith asked members who were for a tax increase. Board President John Marucci, who was quiet throughout the meeting, raised his hand. Otherwise, “we’re going to have to make some serious cuts,” he said.
Lang warned the group that the grants do have an endpoint, just as current COVID grants are coming to an end this September.
“The only other thing I’d just like to mention regarding general fund grants is that some of those grants are finite. They are not perpetual grants. So, there might be, those grant funds would eventually cease after several years, and the mental health grant was three additional years from now,” he said. “So just as kind of a precautionary measure to the board.”
He also added that “there’s only so much you can cut out with those one-time” expenses, such as supplies and equipment. Those expenses will return again next year, he said.
Reigle made a final request to Smith at the close of the meeting.
“We’re basically cutting seven positions, correct? I gotta imagine that's gonna put such a burden on these guys. And we’ve seen such an improvement in our numbers the past few years, and we’ve really harped on it. And I think the coaching positions have helped. If there's things we can try to find, or if there's alternatives, I think we should try some of your alternatives to try and save some of these positions,” he said. “(In a news article, City Council President) Mr. Eugene Jankowski pointed out in his presentation, ‘we don't want to lose law enforcement or first responders.’ These are our first responders, so I’d like to see some possible options.”
A $3.1 million budget shortfall due to potentially retaining seven positions funded by grants that will end this September, a decrease in state aid, and a transportation contract that’s gone up by more than $500,000 has triggered a tax cap alert for Batavia City School board members.
That is, at least some of them have agreed they would consider overriding the state-mandated tax cap increase, which for the city district is .72 percent. Members had a first go-round of the 2024-25 budget during Monday’s board meeting.
“If it is coming down to it, we’re going to have to look at every option,” Vice President John Reigle said.
Business Administrator Andrew Lang presented projected revenues and expenditures, retaining current staffing, busing and programs. The proposed general support budget would be $6,977,767, or an increase of $505,98; an employee benefits increase of $657,194; transportation, which just received a five-year ok from the board for $3,310,108 for the first year, or a 20.2 percent increase and provides transportation for students from home to school, athletic events, field trips and summer home to school.
What Lang calls the rollover expenditure budget includes current staffing of seven full-time, long-term substitutes that have been funded through COVID-19 grant money of $5,804,256 that will end in September, five full-time social workers funded through a full-service community schools grant, five full-time instructional staff retirement replacements, all departmental requests for equipment and supplies, and two full-time school resource officers, one of which is funded with those COVID-19 grant funds about to expire in six months.
Items that also will roll over and cannot budge are salary increases in accordance with collective bargaining agreements and individual contracts and projected employer contribution amounts for employee and teacher retirement systems, he said. There is also a free school supplies for all students program, also purchased with COVID funds.
All totaled, the 2024-25 budget would be more than $62 million, at $62,052,726, compared to the current year’s budget of $58,875,814, for a difference of an additional $3,176,912.
As for overall enrollment projections, those are expected to gradually decline, Lang said. Numbers had dipped to 2,006 in 2021-22, and then rose back up to 2,031 in 2022-23, 2,072 in 2023-24, and then slipped back down to 2,047 in 2024-25, and are projected to fall to 2,034 in 2025-26 hover around there in 2026-27, fall again to 2,022 in 2027-28 and bounce back to 2,046 in 2028-29. Numbers have been nowhere close to the all-time high of 2,167 of 2019-20.
Those extra positions were added three years ago with COVID funds as a measure to deal with the aftermath of shutdowns and what educators believed was an issue of students struggling with social-emotional learning and related academic achievement.
“So there are some things that we need to be thinking about,” Superintendent Jason Smith said, referring to what he believes was “learning loss” attributed to COVID-19. “So we saw last month our test scores have been competitive. I’m not excusing the damage the pandemic caused, but it’s been four years … at some point, you can say the gap has been closed. Yes, we still want to give services to kids. We have seen some nice improvements across the district, and we still have some more work to do. But we also have to be careful that if we absorb that amount of almost $6 million into the general fund, which is what the plan is now, that may not be the most fiscally prudent thing to do.”
Lang recommended that the next steps would be to increase the revenue by appropriating additional reserves, increasing the tax levy, and/or continuing to lobby for additional state aid. Expenses can be decreased through attrition and no additional hiring, he said, consider what to do with those grant-funded positions, and there’s an option not to replace the retiring personnel for more savings.
Board member Alice Benedict asked about transportation.
“We also have flexibility on transportation too, do we not?” she said.
Smith initially said no.
Benedict pursued her line of thinking, adding that busing is not mandated, so the district is not bound to provide it.
“It’s something that can be looked at,” Smith said. “I’m not sure it’s something we would do.”
“Having lived here all my life, transportation has changed quite a bit,” Benedict said.
Smith said he believes there will be more Foundation Aid to come from the state. He turned to the board and asked if members wanted him to return with budget recommendations, and if there was any interest in exceeding the tax cap.
“I would,” Board President John Marucci said as Reigle also weighed in.
“We never want to, but I think it’s an option we have to look at,” Reigle said.
He wanted to make sure that the SROs and school safety remained in place, and no board member suggested cutting any personnel at this point. Smith said that the administration would return with recommendations at the next meeting.
The group plans to meet at a budget workshop on March 12 at the District Office. A proposed budget is to be adopted by April 22 and be available for public review by May 6 and presented during a budget hearing at 6 p.m. May 14. A district vote will be on May 21.
More than 100 people get ready for a cold spray as part of this week's 2024 Polar Plunge Friday at John Kennedy Intermediate School in Batavia. Photo by Steve Ognibene
City of Batavia firefighters are on hand Friday for the dozens of soaking wet people standing outside in the frigid weather at John Kennedy Intermediate School, but it wasn’t due to any unfortunate emergency, school counselor and event Co-Chairman Eric Knapp says.
Quite the contrary, those brave souls were part of what’s become a traditional gathering of Batavia City School, fire department, business and community representatives for a yearly fundraiser to benefit Special Olympics of Western New York.
This event has been so successful, the Special Olympics organization recognized organizers this year with a plaque.
“We are the number one leading school district and we received what was called the Cool School Award for raising the most money. So they're going to present us with a plaque for this year. I'm not sure if we're going to be number one for this year. But last year, we were number one. I think we're going to be a strong number two, which is still pretty good,” Knapp said during the event surrounded by some 150 participants, organizers and supporters. “I’m a school counselor for John Kennedy School, and it's just to get the whole idea of helping people in your community. And it’s also bringing attention to the Special Olympics and the athletes and all the gifts that they have. So bringing awareness to diverse people … it's just the coolest thing to help other people, especially the Special Olympics population.”
The coolest thing? He can say that again: “it’s literally going to be the coolest thing, when it’s like 10-degrees,” he said. “We are all together, some will get wet, some will not get wet, it’s pretty cold.”
Organizations included the fire department and its union, the school’s Varsity football team, Batavia Middle School Honor Society, JK’s fourth grade mentors, New York State Troopers, Batavia Police Department, the district’s students and staff and Jersey Mike’s.
Eric’s wife Krista, a second grade teacher, first began doing a polar plunge at Lake Ontario for Special Olympics before the pandemic hit, and then she and her husband brought the idea of a polar spray to Batavia to continue with the fundraising, he said.
Successful? You bet. They raised $10,000 last year and surpassed that with a total of $10,060 this year. Polar Plunge is the organization’s largest fundraiser for New York State, Senior Director for Development Kelley Ligozio said. When the pandemic and shutdowns happened, the Knapp couple and fellow organizers “wanted to build some spirit amongst our administrators and our students because COVID was really hard on everybody,” she said.
“And it's resulted in now 150 people here today to raise money to support people with intellectual differences, from our young athletes to our unified program in the schools, to our traditional competition,” Ligozio said. “The money that we're raising today, and what we raise across the state, goes back into the communities that we serve, and we serve over 3,500 athletes across the greater Rochester area. It is amazing."
Empowering students, maximum potential, socially responsible citizens.
Those are some of the words “that popped out to me when I first became a principal when I started to dig into learning a little bit about Batavia,” High School Principal Jennifer Wesp said during Tuesday’s Batavia City Schools Board of Education meeting. “And then things like safe and nurturing environment, high moral character, and successfully meeting life’s challenges. So coming into this, I really was focused on how can we make sure that our culture is helping our students to rise to be the best students that they can be? And how can they take hose steps to really show the independence that they have within themselves?
“So I just wanted to say that I really grounded myself in the mission and vision as I started to think about the work that I was going to do,” she said. “So with that, as you know, our strategic plan as a district is really amazing. And this is really the roadmap that we use in the high school to plan all of the things that we’re doing, some of the policies and procedures that we’ve updated, the messaging we’re giving our students.”
Her journey, as she put it, began in the summer with a three days of four-hour meeting of the minds from across district buildings, to share concerns — “there had been some unrest at the end of the year, lots of things where people were talking about different things that were going on” —and some of the needs that staff wanted to discuss with the district at large, she said.
“And it really gave me my first taste of what is Batavia about, what are we looking at, what are we looking to build upon, what are the great things?” she said. “So this kind of helped, just being in the meeting and meeting people across the district to start to formulate some of the things and actions that we are going to take as we work on our goals together.”
Two specific areas emerged from those meetings for more exploration, she said, which was done with interviews and surveys to obtain direct feedback from the “stakeholders” involved. The two areas led to questions:
In what ways might we be able to handle and best manage student behaviors in class?
How might we help students emotionally regulate in order to avoid and manage conflicts?
Assistant Principals Omar Hussain and Jessica Korzelius took a part of the presentation and piece of the response to create three goals to help students to progress personally and academically.
The goals involve purposeful reading, a safe and orderly environment, and well managed emotions.
More specifically, the goals mandate that students will:
Learn strategies to develop/manage/execute emotional regulation levels to increase positive student behaviors in the classroom, school and community;
Engage in purposeful reading (authentic text), writing and collaborative discussion protocols for 100 minutes a day; and
Provide a school environment that is safe and orderly for all.
Just what is authentic text? The New York State Education Department defines it (and other forms of media) as being produced from authentic resources and used as "a tool to promote students’ language and culture learning."
"Through authentic resources, students see how words and structures are used in a given cultural context for real-world communicative purposes. When authentic resources are well-chosen and implemented, they can motivate and support students’ target language use and cultural understanding," the SED website states.
Hussain touched on the idea of independence in a way that he thought was “pretty sweet,” and seemingly simple. The school’s co-mayors suggested a program of allowing seniors the option to hang out for a “sunrise/sunset” privilege, captured with fun props in photos at Van Detta Stadium, and done with the assistance of a student parent group. It was an alternative senior study hall that “the underclassmen, they’ll love it too,” he said, and includes a late arrival for seniors and study halls housed in the library, aka the “Senior Lounge.”
Korzelius talked more about strategies to help students “understand themselves better,” and that use restorative practices. Such strategies can involve family members and counselors, and the work is focused on repairing the damage done to oneself and relationships with others.
“There’s the alternative to suspension room,” she said as an example of the restorative piece. “For an overall wellness experience for students.”
There’s a strong emphasis on the positive, all three said, and that includes mental health as part of a social and emotional learning component.
“It’s just really empowering our students to see the leaders in themselves … it’s celebrating students,” Korzelius said.
After two public hearings with only a few Batavia City School District residents in attendance, the majority made their opinions known Thursday by a vote of 315 to 97 in favor of the $45 million capital project, district officials said.
The vote means that the capital project will proceed in 2024 to install two synthetic turf fields for the high school, a baseball and softball field each, and upgrades for every school building within the city school district.
District officials applauded the support, including school board Vice President John Reigle, who said that he was “very pleased and proud” about the results of the district’s Reimagined capital project vote.
“Our leadership team did a great job promoting the project and explaining the many benefits of the project to our community,” Reigle said to The Batavian Thursday night. “This is a great step towards ensuring our district keeps the high standards that our district students and community expect and deserve. I’d like to thank the community for their support in voting to approve this capital project for our district.”
Likewise, board member Alice Ann Benedict was also pleased with the results and thanked the community for its demonstration of support for the project.
“I am thrilled with the overwhelming support of the BCSD Capital Project. The project was well-advertised and explained to the community over the last number of weeks. We’ve had a lot of feedback, mostly positive, from the community,” Benedict said to The Batavian. “I am always pleased when the voting community supports the recommendations of the Superintendent and administrators. Keeping our buildings safe and up-to-date is the most important part of this project because our students and staff are the most important users of these buildings. There are numerous safety improvements included for all of the schools.
“With most of the questions coming because of the artificial turf cost on two fields, our athletes can be out on the fields a lot earlier because this project will improve the drainage issues our district fields suffer with,” she said. “We have also heard positive feedback about the moving of the grades, especially fifth grade back to John Kennedy.”
The BCSD Reimagined Project's next phase will include engaging in the contractor bid process over the next 12 months, and the district expects the first phase of construction to begin in the spring of 2025. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the 2027 calendar year. BCSD will provide additional updates and project details to the Batavia community as they become available, officials said in a press release issued Thursday night.
“Thank you to the Batavia community for your steadfast support in passing our BCSD Reimagined Capital Improvement Project,” Superintendent Jason Smith said in the release. “With this initiative, we will address essential infrastructure needs across all of our buildings. These funds will also help us convert Robert Morris into a modern early childhood education center and enhance our athletic fields for year-round use. Your vote reflects a deep commitment to our students and schools' ongoing improvement and future success.”
Board President John Marucci added, “We are profoundly grateful to the Batavia community for their support, to our Batavia City School District leadership for their visionary guidance in spearheading this important project, and to our collaborative construction partners and Buildings and Grounds Committee, who played an integral role in its conception.”
“It's a remarkable achievement to bring this project to fruition with a zero percent tax increase, reflecting our shared commitment to fiscal responsibility and educational excellence,” Marucci said. “This collective support and collaboration are invaluable in shaping a brighter future for the Batavia City School District students.”
If you are or know of a Batavia City School alum or retired music educator with musical accomplishments, applications are now being accepted for the Musicians of Note awards.
Recipients need to have been an active performer or music educator, be at least 10 years out of high school, and have had a successful musical career in either performance, composition, education, theater or audio recording.
Nominations may be done posthumously to honor deceased musicians and educators from BCSD as well.
Complete and submit the application by March 28, 2024.
Architect Brian Trott explains the artificial turf as Batavia resident Herb Schroeder listens during the city school district's capital project hearing Thursday at Batavia High School. Photo by Joanne Beck
Of the nine people at Thursday’s Batavia City Schools capital project public hearing, only one was a district resident who came to hear the presentation.
The remaining people in the auditorium were district staff, board members and an architect from the project design team. Although Herb Schroeder was the lone attendee, he came armed with a list of questions about the $45 million district-wide project.
Is this being paid for with a grant? No. $6.9 million is coming from capital reserves, and the remainder of $38 million from a loan, to be paid back with reimbursement from the state.
What if the state reneges? It’s a lot for the taxpayers to handle if the state reneges. None of the presenters had ever heard of the state backing out of its commitment to reimburse a district for a capital project. These projects must be approved by the state Education Department after voter approval.
Have you looked into the price of traditional turf (in addition to the artificial turf that’s part of the capital project)? No. Superintendent Jason Smith wasn’t saying that he wouldn’t look into it, but from everything that coaches and the Clark Patterson Lee team have advised, artificial is the way to go to help address the drainage issues with the fields at Batavia High School, Smith said.
“Drainage issues are going to be a problem no matter what you do … it’s a lot of money, that’s my biggest pet peeve,” Schroeder said.
Even professional associations are considering going back to natural turf after some athletes have gotten injured on the artificial material, he said.
The plan calls for two synthetic turf fields for the high school, a baseball and softball field each, for about $7 million of the total cost. A proposed turf field at Van Detta Stadium upset a fair number of people — prospective tax-paying voters — so The Batavian had previously asked Smith why turf for the high school.
The fields behind the State Street site have been prone to excess water and drainage issues for years, he said, since the school was built on a swamp. “We have received complaints from families,” he said and had to move several games to Genesee Community College as a result.
Synthetic turf raises the playing field, alleviates pooling water, and provides “a better quality playing field for the kids,” he said. Installing this type of material would permanently fix the swamping issue, he said.
“Most of us don’t see it as a luxury anymore,” he said.
Robert Morris was closed in 2011 due to declining enrollment, so what are your projections for the next five years? Enrollment is flat, with a slight increase at Robert Morris with the universal pre kindergarten, pre-school and pre-school special education programs enrolling kids ages 3 to 5.
After using the one reserve for this project, are there any reserves left? Yes and no, Smith said.
“Man, that’s a politician,” Schroeder said with a small chuckle.
Business Administrator Andrew Lang explained that there are some reserves already in place, including a teacher’s and employee’s retirement system reserve, and a reserve that the district created this past budget season to begin building up an account for future needs. This project, however, will drain this one particular reserve of $6,928,000.
A shift from getting a grant to borrowing the money “scares me,” Schroeder said, but he pledged his support.
“I’m going to vote for your project,” he said.
This was the second presentation in the last two weeks, with the first one drawing only about three or four people. Board President John Marucci isn’t concerned about the low attendance. In fact, he believes it’s a testament to the district’s competence in disseminating the information and answering questions sufficiently before next week's vote.
“I guess I was a little worried walking in and seeing that there's only one person here. But the more I thought about it, the more I think the community is comfortable with the job that we did. They're happy with what we've done. And I think the vote next week will show that it'll pass with flying colors,” Marucci said. “If this would have been a full auditorium, I would have been real worried. Just because that would tell me that, I think, there might be some people that have some real questions on the job we've done. I think just seeing the one gentleman here tonight asking some great questions, that just showed that I think the community has paid attention to the flyers that we put out, the videos we put out, and they're happy with what we've done.”
As for what seemed to be one of Schroeder’s biggest sticking points, the artificial turf, not only has that not been a major complaint, but many people have wanted to see more of it installed throughout the district, Smith said.
“When I talk to the teams and the coaches, they’re excited about it. Also, I should have mentioned it will give us more practice area for our soccer team to practice on because our soccer team does play on turf at Van Detta, so they like to practice on turf,” he said. “It's not a full soccer field, but they can still get that turf experience of playing on turf, which they do at Van Detta and other schools, so there's more benefit besides just softball and baseball.”
Board Vice President John Reigle agreed, adding that the artificial field raises up the playing surface and helps to get the players out of a flooded field.
“It’s a great asset for the district,” Reigle said.
The project will also involve some reconfiguration of grade levels. Kindergarten will move from Jackson Primary to Robert Morris; second grade will move from John Kennedy Intermediate to Jackson and fifth grade will move to John Kennedy from the middle school.
The district performs a building conditions survey every five to seven years, and the architect Clark Patterson Lee recommended a detailed scope of work that was prioritized from one to three, Smith had said in a prior interview, with mostly ones and twos being chosen for the project. Much of the work is being done to shore up 20-year-old infrastructure, such as the high school’s boiler system, roof, and the gym at Robert Morris.
Nothing is on the list to be expanded, such as extra classrooms or other such student space, which makes sense according to enrollment projections. By the district's calculations, total enrollment topped out at 2,383 in 2013 and fluctuated until it peaked for the last time in 2020 at 2,190, declining to 1,978 in 2023. Estimated total enrollment will be 1,933 in 2024, 1,902 in 2025, 1,880 in 2026 and 1,858 by 2027.
All of the schools have many of the same upgrades, including PA/clock and fire alarm replacements, phone system replacement, blue light notification system, information technology infrastructure improvements and pavement replacement for Jackson, John Kennedy, and the middle and high schools.
Jackson is also in line for building-mounted lighting and the replacement of a failing retaining wall on the east side between the school and its neighbors. John Kennedy would also get a new roof, an upgraded gym divider curtain and regraded softball field and other amenities.
Batavia Middle School “is getting the most renovations to the interior space,” Smith had said, “where it’s needed.”
“The whole school really needs a lot of work; it’s a historic, beautiful building, and we're trying to home in on that to give it the attention it needs,” he said. “I think that foundation repairs is an example of that.”
The breakdown of the $45 million is:
BHS - $16,965,918
BMS - $9,740,584
John Kennedy - $6,852,018
Jackson - $1,779,991
Robert Morris - $9,537,600
Richmond Memorial Library - $184,375
The project is to have no additional tax increase for district residents, officials said.
Voting will take place from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Dec. 14 at designated sites, depending on where you live.
For residents living north of Route 5 (Main Street), vote at Robert Morris, 80 Union St., in the Multi-Purpose Room. For residents living south of Route 5, vote at Batavia High School, 260 State St., in the library.
The first of two public hearings about Batavia City School District’s proposed $45 million capital project will be at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the middle school auditorium, 96 Ross St., Batavia.
The proposed project is designed to modernize the district’s instructional spaces, optimize the building grade-level configurations, and address high-priority facility needs throughout the district, school officials say.
A big selling point is that there will be “no additional tax increase” for district property taxpayers as a result of the project, officials say in the presentation.
The vote for the BCSD Reimagined capital improvement project will be on Dec. 14 for residents of the city school district. These public hearings are your opportunity to hear about the project and ask questions.
A second public hearing will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 7 at Batavia High School in the auditorium, 260 State St., Batavia.
Voting will take place from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Dec. 14 at designated sites, depending on where you live.
For residents living north of Route 5 (Main Street), vote at Robert Morris, 80 Union St., in the Multi-Purpose Room.
For residents living south of Route 5, vote at Batavia High School, 260 State St., in the library.
More information about the project is available below:
It was 14 months ago when Batavia City Schools shed light on a Comptroller’s report that found the district paid some $17,000 in annual fees for hundreds of lost technology equipment from 2021-22.
The report stated that the district did not adopt a comprehensive policy for establishing and maintaining IT inventory or for maintaining an accurate IT inventory, a costly faux pas that Superintendent Jason Smith had promised to rectify with new policies, and had outlined steps the district had taken to meet Comptroller findings:
We have engaged a third-party company specializing in IT services to conduct an assessment of our entire IT department, including our inventory and staff.
Our internal team has taken the results from the audit and gone above and beyond to reduce our BOCES service charges by purging and returning unused inventory.
We are working closely with the Board of Education to adopt a comprehensive written policy for establishing and maintaining controls to track and inventory our IT equipment.
In February 2023, Smith made a recommendation to bring back a full-time IT director to the district. He and Trisha Finnegan, executive director of staff development and operations, wrote the job description for the tech director, and a candidate search was conducted.
Brian Sutton was chosen for the job. He began the position on July 1 of this year, and Monday was his first official presentation after submerging himself in the policies and protocols, storage areas, and technology infrastructure, and getting to know the district users themselves.
Right off the bat, Sutton was faced with key findings from the audit that he needed to address while aligning with the district’s Strategic Plan.
Goal 1 was to have a safe and orderly school environment, Goal 2 was for a collaborative culture, Goal 3 was for a clear and accessible curriculum, and Goal 4 was for effective teaching in every classroom.
His first task was to review the existing structure and services offered through BOCES, including database management, the physical inventory process, technology leadership and how assets are identified and tagged.
Then he had to reestablish a formal leadership in the technology department and implement a formal Technology Committee, with a data protection privacy officer and reviews of data privacy law to ensure that all requirements are being met, he said.
"So getting them to touch base in person, once a week, with the rest of the department has been very, very wonderful,” he said. “And honestly, we've addressed issues much quicker because of that interaction.”
Sutton has been working with Edutech — Genesee Valley/Wayne Finger Lakes Educational Technology Service — a collaboration that has meant a shared staff of network engineer I, IT support technician II, network technician, and support technician I.
That has reaped a minimal savings of $85,000 in salaries for the district, Sutton said.
He has been working with Edutech to ensure that tags are provided on all “products” that come from them, which is a restructuring of Batavia’s inventory system and prices to ensure accountability for all hardware, he said, including district-owned devices, per board policy.
He’s implementing a software program to track software inventory product purchases and related expiration dates. He has been rearranging and organizing the physical workspace of the technology department and at the storage room at Robert Morris.
All of these tasks have been items to enforce the existing board policies on inventory control based on the Comptroller’s audit. Not only were hundreds of devices discovered missing from inventory, but the district had been paying their annual fees.
Stepping into his own role to provide technology leadership, Sutton is using the functional review audit as a roadmap to prioritize and address issues that were uncovered, he said.
As a result, he is having weekly technology department meetings with tech aides at the middle and high schools, providing guidance and support to the creation of the digital fluency class at the middle school, and re-establishing the district technology committee with a focus on staff development and learning, he said.
Sutton has been working with Finnigan and has worked on data privacy as part of Education Law 2D Compliance, scheduling ongoing meetings with representatives of Edutech, updating staff about the Acceptable Use Policy, and creating an Incident Response Plan and Disaster Recovery Playbook.
Part of data privacy also includes keeping in line with state compliance so that student information remains confidential, he said, through an expanded Brightly Work Order system for staff to submit requests to check if sites or applications they want to use are compliant.
As for the infrastructure, he looked at the layout of buildings and related wireless signal strengths to see potential dead zones and address those so that students and staff won’t experience dropped connections during class and work time, he said.
“We had conducted a wireless survey to show a map of the connectivity in the buildings, it was really neat, actually, it brings a layout of the building, and then it's different colors based on the signal strength,” he said. “So we had really great connectivity throughout the district. We did identify a couple of classrooms that were dead zones, and we're addressing those by adding wireless access points into those rooms so that there isn't that disruption to students and staff when they're on their devices.
“Last week, we also upgraded our wireless output from one gig to two with Spectrum. So that will only increase the speed at which we are operating here,” he said. “And it's also very important when it comes to computer-based testing time, as we're going to have many many students on the device all at the same time.”
He adjusted settings in the Google Admin console to improve the rate of connectivity of devices.
He also worked with Edutech and approached the firewall issue, which used to be a convoluted multi-layer system that has been revised to speed up devices.
He homed in on Chromebooks at each grade level, so that “students only have access to applications that are applicable to their grade level.”
“I really focused on what’s needed for the curriculum,” he said.
Cybersecurity training, a professional hub of resources for staff, and an updated district website that meets compliance with the state Education Department are additional tasks that have been completed with assistance from staff, he said.
“This is super exciting, I know, but incredibly necessary. So this is what the state is looking for. Basically, when they go on our website, they're going to click on that data privacy tab, and they're gonna start trying to find where we're missing things and they're not gonna find anything, but just the idea,” Sutton said. “And like I said, coming next is more focused on Goal three and Goal four, they're accessible curriculum and effective teaching in every classroom.”
Submitted photo of Batavia City School District Board of Education.
Press Release:
The New York State School Boards Association recognizes Oct. 16-20 as School Board Recognition Week. This is a time to promote awareness and understanding of the important work performed by local school boards.
Public schools form the bedrock of our communities and our country. Democracy thrives with educated citizens capable of critical thinking and civil discourse. And it is our local school boards who are ultimately responsible for student success.
“Our Batavia City School District Board of Education consists of seven dedicated volunteers who literally put the ‘public’ in ‘public education’ and play an important role in our community,” said Superintendent Jason Smith.
“They are charged with reviewing and approving numerous policies, monitoring our Strategic Plan and academic goals, overseeing the superintendent (the only employee of the Board of Education), and serving as financial stewards for our community—all on a volunteer basis, with their only motivation to serve our students, staff, families, and our Batavia community.”
Please join us in thanking and appreciating our Board of Education members here in Batavia:
John Marucci, President
John Reigle, Vice President
Korinne Anderson
Alice Ann Benedict
Barbara Bowman
Jennifer Lendvay
Chezeray Rolle
For full access to our Board of Education information, agendas, and policies, click here: BCSD Board of Education, and if you want to learn more about our members, please visit this page: BCSD Board of Education Members.
City school board members have set the date for district residents to vote on a capital project that officials say is about bolstering more so than expanding. Voters will have the opportunity to weigh in on the $45 million plan on Dec. 14.
During a series of votes Monday related to the capital project, from authorizing the district to borrow the necessary amount for the work to set a calendar for voter registration, the school board moved the capital project forward with architect Clark Patterson Lee in the audience.
Board members didn’t comment on the project, however, Superintendent Jason Smith had previously said that the scope of work focused on shoring up existing facilities and properties, some of which are 20 years old, including the high school’s boiler system and roof, and the gym at Robert Morris.
All of the schools have many of the same upgrades, including PA/clock and fire alarm replacements, phone system replacement, blue light notification system, information technology infrastructure improvements, and pavement replacement for Jackson, John Kennedy, and the middle and high schools.
Jackson is also in line for building-mounted lighting and the replacement of a failing retaining wall on the east side between the school and its neighbors. John Kennedy would also get a new roof, an upgraded gym divider curtain, and regraded softball field, and other amenities.
Batavia Middle School is in store for a gender-neutral restroom, staff restroom, foundation repairs around the entire building, and a glass safety railing for the auditorium balcony are some of those repairs and upgrades.
A building conditions survey prompted the glass railing because people sitting on the balcony could also be a potential safety concern, Smith and former Business Administrator Scott Rozanski had previously said.
The middle school softball field is to receive some improvements and a backstop replacement while Batavia High School is on tap for a new roof, plus two synthetic turf fields — a baseball and softball field each, for about $7 million of the total cost.
The breakdown of funding is as follows, with the cost to taxpayers to be no additional tax dollars, officials said.
Project Referendum Amount: $45,060,486 State Building Aid Reimbursement: $38,132,486 Capital Reserve Contribution: $6,928,000 Annual increase to taxpayers: $0
Ryan Winchip Photo courtesy of Batavia City School District
Press Release:
On Monday, September 18, upon recommendation from Superintendent Jason Smith, the Batavia City School District Board of Education approved the appointment of Ryan Winchip as Director of Health, Physical Education & Athletics, effective October 19, 2023.
Winchip most recently served as the Warsaw Central School Middle and High School Assistant Principal and Athletic Director. He also served as the Coordinator of Physical Education, Health, Athletics, and Dean of Students at the Pembroke Central School District. He began his career as a teacher, obtaining K-12 physical education and health teaching experience in New York and North Carolina.
He has extensive coaching experience throughout his career, having led teams from the modified to varsity levels since 2013. In 2015, he was awarded two “Coach of the Year” accolades in North Carolina.
Winchip has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Education and Coaching from St. Bonaventure University. His advanced degrees include a Masters in Educational Leadership from the American College of Education and a Certificate of Administration & Study from Broome Community College.
"We're thrilled to welcome Ryan as our new Director of Health, Physical Education & Athletics. He brings an exceptional blend of expertise and enthusiasm that will invigorate our programs. With a strong commitment to both athletic excellence and holistic well-being, we're certain Ryan will help elevate the experience of our students in significant ways. Thank you to our staff, parents, and students who participated in the interview process. Welcome to the Blue Devils, Ryan!” Said Superintendent of Schools Jason Smith.
“I am extremely excited to be joining the Batavia Blue Devils family as the new Director of Health, Physical Education & Athletics,” said Ryan Winchip. “I have always admired Batavia's program, and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to join in the district’s tradition of excellence. I hope to build upon all the great things that Mr. Mike Bromley has put in place over his illustrious career. Moving forward, I can't wait to immerse myself into the role and get to know all the amazing members of the BCSD community.”
Batavia Middle School Physical Education teacher Brennan Briggs will continue to serve as the BCSD Athletics Program Assistant.
The Batavia City School District is proud to announce it is one of at least 165 school districts and the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in New York State to receive the Utica National Insurance Group's "School Safety Excellence Award" for 2023 at the Titanium with Honors level.
The honor is presented annually and recognizes school districts' safety efforts as they work to help keep students, staff, and visitors safe. Batavia City School District officials received a certificate to commemorate the district's safety efforts and a $500 award for use in furthering those efforts from Utica National representatives.
Utica National's School Safety Excellence Award Program has three levels—titanium, platinum, and gold—in which schools can earn a meritorious distinction by meeting specific criteria to enhance overall safety.
Through the program, schools with their own transportation, schools with contract transportation, and BOCES are evaluated. Categories covered include bullying prevention programs, playground safety, and other areas, and are measured using specific, quantifiable surveys.
“We’re proud and encouraged to receive this award from Utica National,” said Batavia City School District Superintendent Jason Smith. “The health, safety, and security of our students, faculty, staff, and community is our top priority. We’re consistently evaluating our programs, and this award will certainly go towards our continued efforts.”
"Safety and health concerns continue to be a priority in our school districts," explained Brian Saville, Senior Vice President of Utica National's Educational Institutions Unit. "Districts that go 'above and beyond' to provide a safe, healthy, and focused culture for learning are to be applauded, and we're pleased to count Batavia City School District among them."
For more than 45 years, Utica National Insurance Group has kept kids and school staff safe and currently insures more than 300 school districts in upstate New York alone.
The Easter Bunny made an early visit Friday to children at Robert Morris School in Batavia as part of his busy holiday rounds throughout the area. He posed, chatted with, and got hugs from the kids, and saw the creative crafts that the youngsters made, during their afternoon time together.
At a meeting on Monday, the Batavia City School District’s Board of Education unanimously approved an amendment to extend Superintendent Jason Smith’s contract through June 2027.
“After a stellar first year leading the Batavia City School District, the Board of Education is thrilled to offer Superintendent Jason Smith a contract extension that will keep him in our District through June 2027, with the option to extend,” said Board of Education President John Marucci. “Consistency, goal setting, long-term planning, and execution are key components to any successful school district, and we’re proud of Jason’s commitment to seeing his vision for Batavia through.”
In exchange for Smith’s long-term commitment to serve the Batavia City School District, the Board granted Smith non-salary benefits, including a $3,000 per year stipend increase should he elect not to enroll in the District’s health insurance plan, a $2,000 per year increase of his 403(b) retirement contribution, as well as compensation for unused vacation and sick days, which will only be received upon his retirement from the District.
“Batavia is my home. Having walked our halls from first grade through senior year, our District has always held a special place in my heart,” said Superintendent Jason Smith. “It was the honor of my career to be offered the position of superintendent here, and I look forward to working with our students, staff, and community to achieve our shared vision of success for years to come. I thank the Board of Education for their trust in me, and I’m proud to see everyone in our educational community coming together for the good of our District. It continues to be a personal and professional honor to serve the Batavia community, families, staff, and students.”
“The Board of Education, along with the BCSD leadership team, have made a commitment to our District’s vision and strategic plan,” said Board of Education Vice President John Reigle. “The high bar that we’ve set for this District can only be achieved through consistent leadership. I applaud my fellow Board members' commitment to this vision in approving Jason’s contract extension.”
All terms (with the exception of the health insurance opt-out stipend) of Superintendent Jason Smith’s contract amendment will take effect on July 1, 2023. All other terms and conditions of the agreement remain unchanged, including the option for both the Board of Education and Jason Smith to extend the contract on an annual basis beyond June 2027.
