education

Press Release:

Independent Living of the Genesee Region (ILGR) is inviting everyone to their Lunch in the Dark Fundraising event, on Thursday, April 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It will take place in the gymnasium of the New York State School for the Blind, 2A Richmond Ave., Batavia, NY.

Participants will experience lunch in a darkened environment in order to better understand eating and socializing with vision loss.  As a group, we will talk about the best practices for making events with food more accessible, as well as strategies for eating with vision loss.  With a donation requested of $50 per ticket, the event includes a 50/50 split drawing and a Basket Raffle.

The BOCES Culinary class will do the catering with a menu including Italian Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Vegetable Medley (Carrots, Cauliflower, Broccoli), Risotto Cakes, and Panna Cotta.

To RSVP, contact Catherine DeMare at 585-815-8501, Ext. 400.

Corporate sponsorships are available at three levels: Gold ($750); Silver ($500) and Bronze ($250), with increasing benefits and degrees of promotion for the business as one goes up the levels.  Individual donations of any amount are accepted as well.  Full details are available from Rae Frank, ILGR Director, at 585-815-8501, Ext. 406.  All proceeds will assist in providing services and programs which offer independence, empowerment, and equality for individuals with disabilities in Genesee, Wyoming, and Orleans Counties!

 

Press release:

Debbie Slocum was an elementary classroom teacher for over two decades before she learned about instructional coaching. Her interest began in 2013 when she was teaching third grade, and the District introduced an instructional coaching program. “I fell in love with the process immediately,” said Slocum. “I had been teaching for 24 years at that point and had never seen myself teach.”

Slocum has now been an Instructional Coach at Byron-Bergen for seven years. That first interaction led her down a path that included participating as a panelist in a national webinar hosted by Swivl, a company that produces technology for reflective teaching practices. The webinar entitled “Building Trust Through Reflection: A Discussion with Swivl” featured Slocum and two other panelists, Mandi Olsen and Brenda Tonanek, both K-12 Instructional Coaches.

The Instructional Coaching program is a 1-on-1, confidential process where teachers video record classroom lessons. The lessons are then analyzed by an Instructional Coach for certain data. Data could include the number of times students are given an opportunity to respond, the amount of time given to students to respond, and the time the teacher is talking compared with the time students are responding. The analysis will include positive aspects of the lessons as well as areas for improvement.

In the Swivl webinar, Slocum compares instructional coaching to looking in the mirror. “You look in the mirror every single day. You see your reflection, and you fix what you don’t like immediately. And sometimes you will go and get a second opinion. So, when you reflect, you’re looking not at your appearance but your teaching.”

Slocum implements the Elementary School Instructional Coaching program, where she has a 95% voluntary participation rate. Diana Walther, the Jr./Sr. High School's Instructional Coach, also boasts an almost 90% participation rate.

“Obviously, we want to improve student learning,” said Walther. “Instructional coaching helps replace ‘one and done’ professional development. It provides consistency. That reflective practice is so powerful, and it’s all about what the teachers want to get out of it. The data can point to areas for improvement, and then I can present strategies to strengthen those areas, and then we can reflect again and again. It’s pretty cool.”

“Teachers are life-long learners,” said Slocum. “This program gives them the opportunity to reflect and grow year after year. It’s a continuous priority because everything’s changing. Our expectations for the kids keep changing. Technologies keep changing, and the culture is changing. There’s a need for continuous reflection to keep up with the changes.”

February 10, 2023 Contact: Gretchen Spittler Byron-Bergen Communications Specialist (585) 794-6340

In addition to implementing the Instructional Coaching program at Byron-Bergen, Slocum and Walther run the training at Genesee Valley Education Partnership (GVBOCES) for the GLOW region instructional coaches cohort. They were asked to take on this role in 2019. This cohort has about 20 instructional coaches who gather three or four times per year.

“Byron-Bergen made an early commitment to instructional coaching,” said Superintendent Pat McGee. “As such, our team is on the forefront of not only the regional movement but the national movement. I am very proud of Mrs. Slocum and Mrs. Walther and the impressive contributions they make to our District and to the practice of instructional coaching.” 

Editor's Note: This is part of a series about social media use and its effects on children. 

Thoughts and attempts of suicide, self-mutilation, depression, anxiety, poor self-esteem, a lack of motivation, shame, or being the giver or receiver of bullying.

It’s a tough world out there, and children are being subjected to these things more and more, especially when social media is involved,  Daniel DePasquale says.

An unhealthy trend
"I'm seeing a lot of things that seem to track with a lot of the trends that have shown up in the research. So teenagers became daily users of social media, between about 2009 and 2012. And there's been a lot of research done since then, tracking different metrics of teen mental health. And what it shows pretty unequivocally is a significant increase in depression, mood disorders, anxiety, self-harm, and especially hospital visits, and ER visits for suicidality and self-harm. So that's obviously very concerning," he said. 

"There’s a huge spike in 2012," DePasquale said during an interview with The Batavian Thursday. "Their lives are very online. That’s not all bad; it does foster some connections, especially for districts in smaller, rural areas. Where it goes wrong are the amounts of time spent, more than two hours a day. Most of the kids I see here are spending significantly more than that. This is stunting, certainly, really important aspects of adolescent development, especially emotional development, and social development. There's a lot of that that really needs to happen in person. And these online platforms really don't, they don't replicate what that real-life interaction is."

DePasquale is a licensed social worker at Genesee County Mental Health Services in Batavia. He and colleagues Christine Faust, a licensed mental health counselor, and Deputy Mental Health Director Peter Mittiga shared their observations and experiences on why social media use reached the extent necessary to drive families to seek counseling.

For one thing, online platforms don’t represent real life, DePasquale said. Yet, when other kids post tiny snippets of their lives, it appears as though that is their world, and it can create a false comparison.

“These are middle schools and high schools, these are where kids are kind of figuring out who they are, they're grappling with their identity for learning how to read other people's emotions, and learning how to resolve conflicts," he said. "And social media really does not provide a good healthy way to learn those things. Humans are wired to compare ourselves. Kids are posting very selective parts of their lives … very curated versions.”

Of course, that also happens amongst many adults, he said; however, kids are at an already “very fraught time in their lives” and don’t need the added pressure of having to live up to an unrealistic ideal on the Internet.

Kids are mostly gravitating towards Tik Tok and Snap Chat, while Facebook is less popular with the younger crowd, he said. Another “big issue” is cyberbullying. It has become bullying of a “very different quality than what happens in person,” DePasquale said. Once it becomes posted online for all to see, it makes it hard for kids to escape it, he said, even once they leave school and go home.

More than a fun distraction
Think social media is just an innocent extracurricular, maybe a time suck but an otherwise harmless distraction for kids? They’re being referred to therapy after being sent to the hospital for a “self-harming” incident. That could mean cutting themselves or something even more lethal. Or their issues may manifest as seemingly having no motivation to do anything and depression.

In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Technology in May 2022, Ethical Leadership Professor Jonathan Haidt reported that social media is a “substantial contributor to the crisis” of increased loneliness at schools in all regions of the world.

“Correlational studies consistently show a link between heavy social media use and mood disorders, but the size of the relationship is disputed,” Haidt said. “Nearly all studies find a correlation, and it is usually curvilinear. That is, moving from no social media use to one or two hours a day is often not associated with an increase in poor mental health, but as usage rises to three or four hours a day, the increases in mental illness often become quite sharp.”

DePasquale believes that two hours a day is the maximum goal for usage, and it’s what he recommends to families. Beyond the emotional and mental health aspects of social media are other measurable effects, he said, including the lessening of kids’ coping skills and quality of sleep.

Social media requires “a level of sustained attention, a lot of rapid switching from different things,” he said.

Learning mindfulness skills to become more aware of their own thoughts will require new learning, such as being able to put the phone down, he said. All of that social media scrolling encourages the opposite.

"So they don't really facilitate, you know, the kind of sustained attention that you would need to, say, sit down and read a chapter of a book. And a lot of the skills that we want to teach our kids involve becoming aware of your thoughts, becoming aware of the negative thought patterns that tend to reinforce your depression or your anxiety," he said. "They also involve learning how to become more present, kind of mindfulness skills that we try to teach people, kids and adults, that also requires kind of a singular focus, being able to put the phone down, and become aware of your thoughts and feelings so that you can learn new ways of responding to them.

"And I'm finding it harder to teach some of those skills to kids, just because they don't have as much experience with that kind of sustained focus," he said.

Again, that addictive quality is not present just within the younger generation. Just look around, and there are many adults scrolling with their eyes fixed on the phone screen throughout the day and night. There is no actual addiction diagnosis for social media use, Mittiga said, but it certainly does have addictive properties.

Faust added that a committee in charge of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses, more commonly known as the DSM-5, will be discussing potential additions, including gaming and social media addictions. The American Psychiatric Association writes, edits, reviews and publishes the book as necessary. It was first published in 1952 and has been revised seven times since.

What does it take to get into this manual? The general consensus, Faust said, is that something falls into the addiction category when it has a drastically negative impact on someone’s life.

Faust works with all ages and specializes in children ages three and older. Even at that tender age of pre-schoolers, devices become the norm, whether it’s by watching YouTube videos, playing games on a tablet or a phone, or using the program Roblox, which allows younger kids to play a variety of games, she said.

Elementary-aged children are into Tik Tok, because “it’s silly and fun,” and Faust knows of a fourth-grader who routinely posts videos of herself on the site. A fourth-grader. Unfortunately, she gets a lot of  “bullying and shaming,” as a result, Faust said.

“There are supposed to be age restrictions on these platforms,” she said. “A lot of parents are just turning a blind eye to this, or they don’t think it’s really a problem. I think a lot of kids have free rein, or even parents try to restrict them. Kids find a way around it.”

One boy was being shamed on the school bus for not owning a phone, so he took one from home to save face.

The 'dark side' of social media use
“But the other part of it is that what I see is that it's taking this group of kids who are sort of at risk, who could kind of go either way, like, they could be healthy, or they could be drawn into, you know, more risky behaviors," she said. "So it's taking those kids that are kind of on the line, and drawing them to the, quote, unquote, dark side.”

Sites like Snap Chat suck kids in like a magnet, and they get involved in group chats, teenage girls bully and shame others, and those victims are driven into serious depression, the ones “who would never think about suicide, start to contemplate suicide,” she said.

“When kids are stressed out, they’re turning to self-harm,” DePasquale said, as he and Faust filled in the lines for each other.

“And then, like Dan said, there's definitely an increase in visits to hospitals for kids who are suicidal. Or, self-harming, cutting, like it's become normalized ... when they're stressed out, and overwhelmed," Faust said.

"They're automatically thinking about suicide as a viable option,” he added.

Behaviors seem to focus more on cutting, and for girls, it can also go towards body image issues and disordered eating, Faust said, and not so much on alcohol or drug use in younger kids. DePasquale agreed that there has been a "significant shift" associated with social media use being connected to self-harm and suicidality versus substance abuse. 

To the extent, they said, that "it's almost become normalized," Faust said.

"I hear kids that I work with talk about watching videos of people cutting themselves. Yeah. And posting it. They're cutting themselves and posting it," she said. "Whether it's to get attention or a cry for help. But yeah, it's definitely creating this sort of culture that is desensitizing."

By now, The Batavian has spoken to several school counselors and administrators for their thoughts on this topic, and these licensed mental health professionals concur that there are problems attached to the heavy use of social media by children.   

Shining some light on the subject
Some of those districts are infusing students and staff with encouragement to form committees and teams to extract the positive out of this situation and teach about/use social media for good and/or monitor its use to be at a healthy level.

Case in point: Just this week Byron-Bergen Elementary School announced that the Genesee Valley School Board Association awarded the district with the Excellence in Student Services Award for the 3rd Grade Digital Citizenship Program. This program, which is led by third-grade teacher Colleen Hardenbrook, is a year-long initiative to develop online and computer skills in the areas of digital citizenship, digital literacy, and keyboarding. All 59 third-grade students from three classrooms participate in the Digital Citizenship Program.

Each class receives 40 to 80 minutes of Digital Citizenship per week. The curriculum is provided by Common Sense Media and focuses on safety, accountability, responsibility, and respectful use of digital media. This is broken down into themes, including media balance, privacy and security, digital footprint, relationships and communication, and media literacy.

The Batavian will be publishing stories on additional measures being taken by school districts in future articles of this series.

Imposing limits is not a bad thing
As for right now, DePasquale emphasized the time limitation to no more than two hours a day as a good rule of thumb. Faust also sees a real need for limits and boundaries, she said.

“Whatever form that comes in,” she said. “Social media is not going to go away. The trick is teaching parents about limiting what platforms they’re using. What kind of parental controls do they want to use on devices,” she said. “Parents weren’t prepared. We need to backtrack. Parents need to teach their kids at three what’s appropriate.”

DePasquale also suggests providing recommendations in layers, beginning with some fundamentals, such as using the settings in your child’s smartphone and defining a limit for only two hours of use, "right at the start."

“That also needs to be coupled with close monitoring,” he said. “And kids don’t get on social media until 16.”

Other suggestions? Parents, remove all screens from your child’s bedroom, take the phone away one hour before bedtime, and be prepared to have a list of replacement activities for that time you’ve now freed up for your child by limiting the phone.

“A lot of kids are struggling, they don’t have healthy limits. They are willing to backtrack, and are welcoming those boundaries,” Faust said. “And parents have to take more action. Some kids are learning what a good friend is, and self-esteem, confidence and getting involved in healthy activities.”

If you suspect your child is struggling with a mental health issue, check in with your school counselor or call Genesee County Mental Health Services at 585-344-1421.

For more information for parents and educators, read THIS from the Center for Humane Technology.  

Top Photo Illustration. Stock photo.

Press release:

Byron-Bergen Elementary School proudly announces that the Genesee Valley School Board Association awarded Byron-Bergen Central Schools the Excellence in Student Services Award for the 3rd Grade Digital Citizenship Program. This program, which is led by 3rd-grade teacher Colleen Hardenbrook, is a year-long initiative to develop online and computer skills in the areas of digital citizenship, digital literacy, and keyboarding. All 59 3rd-grade students from three classrooms participate in the Digital Citizenship Program.

Before beginning the program, Hardenbrook surveyed elementary school teachers for desired student outcomes. The common themes were computer troubleshooting, appropriate use of technology, critical thinking skills, and independence.

“Our teachers spend a great deal of classroom time instructing students on how to use tablets and laptops,” said Hardenbrook. “This takes time away from time spent on content. I felt that by making specific time to teach these skills, it would benefit both our children and instructors.”

“This is a valuable program for our district,” said Superintendent Pat McGee. “Our 3rd graders are learning life skills that will benefit them through their education and beyond. I am extremely proud that the Genesee Valley School Board Association recognized the crucial importance of digital citizenship.”

Each third-grade class receives 40 to 80 minutes of Digital Citizenship per week. The curriculum is provided by Common Sense Media and focuses on safety, accountability, responsibility, and respectful use of digital media. This is broken down into themes, including media balance, privacy and security, digital footprint, relationships and communication, and media literacy. Students participate in independent work and group projects, including a PSA (public service announcement) about digital literacy. The video was scripted and performed by the students (embedded below)

“The overwhelming power and reach that the internet has in our student's lives, both while in school and not, is a challenge that we are just beginning to understand and it is constantly changing faster than we can keep up with,” said Hardenbrook. “I would like this program to provide young students with tools they will need to be successful digital citizens while at school and in their personal lives.” 

 

St. Paul Lutheran School has been celebrating "School Week" this week.

Events started Sunday, when students sang at the 10 a.m service. 

On Monday, they participated in a Read-A-Thon. Children dressed as book characters.

Tuesday was Planetarium Day at the Williamsville North High School, for K-6. The children were invited to wear "silly socks."  They enjoyed an African Drum Circle at the school.

Wednesday was Pastor's Day, and the children were asked to wear their Sunday Best to school

Today is Agriculture in Education Day and tomorrow is Mancuso Family Bowling Day. 

Submitted information and photos.

Press release:

Local students and students from the region gathered last week at Genesee Valley BOCES Mount Morris for the First LEGO League (FLL) Qualifier Tournament.  The competition tested each team’s ability to complete tasks using robots built from Legos. FLL was designed to engage youth through STEM learning and exploration.  Students obtained hands-on learning while discovering, exploring, and challenging themselves to apply their skills in an exciting competition.  

Students from Dansville, Keshequa, Oakfield-Alabama, Warsaw, and Wayland-Cohocton competed against each other during three rounds that lasted two and a half minutes each.  The goal was to complete the most missions and earn the most points.  

“The Genesee Valley Robotics program encourages students to practice real life engineering skills including computational thinking and iterative design. The social emotional impact of a program like this is also important as it helps many students find new connections to their school and classmates, explained Steve Nole, Coordinator of Enrichment Services at Genesee Valley BOCES.

Sixty students in grades fourth through eighth participated in this event.  The first part of the day was the presentation portion.  During the presentation competition teams were judged on three specific areas, one being their innovation project, where they had to identify and research a problem to solve around this year’s theme focused around clean energy solutions. Also teams had to present on their robot design. They had to identify their mission strategy and design their robot and programs to create an effective plan, and the last was on the core values, where they had to apply teamwork and respect each other's ideas and work together as a team on their specific challenge.

Ted Smith was the head judge of the competition and is the Sr. Crisis Intervention Specialist at Genesee Valley BOCES Mount Morris.  Smith explained he enjoys looking for a student's level of interest and looks to see if they had fun as part of the project.  “Events like this are a wonderful opportunity for the students to express their creativity, learn how to work together on a team, and think critically about a problem.   These are all skills which they will need in their life so being able to develop them in an event like this is good,” explained Smith.

Congratulations to the following teams on advancing to the next round:

The overall champion was the Oakfield-Alabama Hi-Tech Hornets.  Wayland -Cohocton Golden Eagles 2 was awarded the finalist.  Both of these teams will be going to the First Lego League Championship on February 18th in Buffalo.  Awards were given to teams for core values, innovation project, robot design, robot performance, and a coach/mentor award.

The top two teams, Oakfield-Alabama and Wayland-Cohocton, will move on to the championship competition.  Genesee Valley BOCES is pleased the event was a success and looks forward to hosting more FLL Challenges in the future.  

Submitted photos.

Top photo: The two students from Dansville are Haylee Rigdon and Bristol Blair.

Students from Oakfield- Alabama are (yellow hair hats) left to right are: Cameron Emerson, Lucas Bak, Connor Burgio, Carson Shelter. Nate Staebell is sitting behind Carson (no hat).

Wayland-Cohocton 7th Grader Ethan Bauer.

Hannah Sonricker, Levi Bennett, Warren Fox.

Press release:

Byron-Bergen Agriculture Teacher Jeffrey Parnapy was awarded a $1,700 grant through New York FFA’s Incentive Grant Funding Program to support agriculture education and the local FFA chapter. The Byron-Bergen agriculture initiative was designated by the Cornell University affiliated program as a “high-quality growing program”. Agricultural education at Byron-Bergen was spear-headed by Parnapy in 2017 after being removed from the curriculum in the 1980s. He is certified in Agriculture Education and received support to launch agriculture classes and the local FFA chapter by then Jr./Sr. High School Principal Pat McGee.

Now as Superintendent, McGee continues to support agriculture education. “Byron-Bergen is a rural community,” said McGee. “It is a testament to Parnapy’s enthusiasm for the subject and the community support that in just six years, Byron-Bergen has developed a thriving agriculture program.”

Since its launch six years ago, Parnapy has been awarded multiple grants totaling over $30k to support agriculture and science education, the Byron-Bergen FFA chapter, and hands-on agricultural learning experiences. The latest grant will be used to pay annual FFA dues, fund Parnapy’s participation in the NYAAE conference at Cornell, and update classroom lab technology such as data loggers. 

Photo by Gretchen Spittler 

John Kennedy was born in England on September 17, 1846. He was one of a family of 14 brothers and sisters. He moved to a farm in Iowa in 1875.  John served in the Civil War; after the war, he became superintendent of an Iowa school district.

In 1890 the Batavia School District asked Mr. Kennedy to come to Batavia and serve as superintendent for the village school system. He served as superintendent for 23 years. His system for the village school was known as the Batavia System. He believed that if children were stimulated, they could educate themselves. 

John Kennedy was also a famous author and had many books to his name. His book, The Genesee Country, was published in 1895, during his time as superintendent from 1893 to 1913.

John was a writer with quite a descriptive flair. The chapter I found very interesting was called "Patriot-Not Financier." In this chapter, John Kennedy was distraught. He did not want Robert Morris to be remembered as a financier of the American Revolution. In John Kennedy's eyes, Robert Morris was a patriot who wanted America to be independent. He wanted the American government to stand with the firmest foundation. To achieve this, Robert Morris put everything in jeopardy: his good name, his life, and his fortune. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He rescued George Washington's troops in 1777 and prevented the army's dispersion by raising $50,000 of his own money for the war.

In Kennedy's opinion, if Morris had not appeared on the scene or had died during the struggle, the revolution would have collapsed.   It is upsetting to read that Robert Morris died in debtor's prison in the United States of America within a few years after the adoption of the Constitution, which he helped frame.    

We have a Constitution and a Union primarily because George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Robert Morris sat in the convention that devised our great document.

As John Kennedy ended his chapter on Robert Morris, he said, "We are living here on his beautiful farm, the famous Holland Land purchase, and more famous still by having had for its first owner the patriot Robert Morris." 

John Kennedy and Robert Morris are still remembered today, with the John Kennedy Intermediate School on Vine Street and the  Robert Morris Primary School on Union Street. What is impressive is that John Kennedy had the foresight in the 1800s to write about Robert Morris' legacy in the hopes that he would be remembered as a true patriot.  

John Kennedy has to be acknowledged not only for the many books to his name but for his outstanding reputation as the school superintendent for the Village of Batavia. His system emphasized individual instruction of students, which was copied by school districts nationwide.

Press release:

The Byron-Bergen Senior High School proudly announces that every fall varsity Byron-Bergen sports team achieved the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Scholar-Athlete Team award. The fall sports teams are boys cross-country, girls cross-country, football, gymnastics, boys soccer, girls soccer, and girls volleyball.

“The District is very proud of these athletes for not only shining on the field or court, but working hard in the classroom,” said Byron-Bergen Athletic Director Rich Hannan. “It is phenomenal to have every sports team achieve a Scholar-Athlete Team award. Keep up the great work, Bees!”

The Scholar-Athlete program recognizes athletes for their academic success. NYSPHSAA Scholar-Athlete Team awards go to teams whose average GPA of 75% of the athletic team equals 90 or above.

Scholar-Athlete Team award recipients:

Cross Country – Boys
Cameron Carlson, Frank Henrsom, Samuel Hersom, Jackson Lundfelt, Lincoln McGrath, Bradley Pocock, Travis Shallenberg, Roman Smith, Solomon Smith, Gabriel Vallese

Cross Country – Girls
Cassidy Ball, Katelyn Ball, Dayanara Caballero, Hanna Loewke, Stephanie Onderdonk, Katherine Rogoyski, Zoey Shepard

Football
David Brumsted, Brendin Galves, Connor Moran, Malachi Smith, James Starowitz, Ruger Starowitz

Gymnastics
Samantha Copani Emily Salmonds

Soccer – Boys
Brody Baubie, Noah Clare, Kendan Dressler, Jack Farner, Colin Martin, Nathan Parsons, Haydin Perez, Brendan Pimm, Carter Prinzi, Colin Rea, Travis Shallenberg, Trent Sheard

Soccer – Girls
Grace Capostagno, Grace DiQuattro, Lea Donofrio, Gabrielle Graff, Ava Gray, Mia Gray, Mackenzie Hagen, Megan Jarkiwicz, Tori LaMar, Kendall Phillips, Novalee Pocock, Natalie Prinzi, Victoria Rogoyski, Elizabeth Starowitz, Emma Starowitz, Ashley Schlenker-Stephens Ava Wagoner, Julia Will, Rose Wilson, Megan Zwerka

Volleyball – Girls
Emma Balduf, Carlee Barons, Deborah Catalino, Chloe Gilbert, Makala Hoopengar, Ella Lewis, Lily Stalica, LIllian Walker

Press release:

The Batavia Career and Technical Education (CTE) Center Auto Body program, for the last three months, has been restoring two Bells that used to hang at the  Batavia Middle School.    The bells will be presented at the Centennial Ceremony at Batavia Middle School.  The Auto Body students, with help from Conservation Students, made platforms for the newly renovated bells to sit on.  Going forward, the bells will be mobile and will be around for a long time.  

One of the bells is made of cast iron, and one is made of brass bronze. The brass bronze bell was made at the McNeeley Foundry in Troy, NY.  The bell arrived in Batavia back in 1873, likely by horse and buggy. The bell will be 150 years old next year. The other bell was made in the early 1900s in West Seneca, NY.  

Auto Body Teacher Jeffrey Fronk received an email  From Rachel Slobert about the bells, and immediately knew this would be the perfect project for his students.  Fronk said he knew how valuable these bells were and didn’t want them falling into the wrong hands.  He knew how important it was to restore them and learned the rich history behind them.  He wanted the students to get a chance to restore something different, especially with this much history in the community.  The last time the bells rang was Likely in the 1930s.  

To restore the bells they had to go through two different processes since one is cast iron and one is brass bronze.  The project was completed by 15 students who tore them apart, disassembled, sanded, primed, painted, and hand-polished them.  During the bell restoration, students argued over who went to work on it because they all wanted to be able to help.  

On an average year, the students fully restore 15 cars and 25 smaller jobs.  By restoring something other than a car, the students are getting other hands-on experience in restorations.  This shows students that they have other avenues to learn and make money.   You will never hear an Auto Body student say they don’t have anything to do.  They continue to learn and work on several projects throughout the year.  

“I had a mentor when I was young, Rick Hoffman, who in my opinion, was the best of the best, and I only wish I could be as good as he was and pay what he taught me forward.  I absolutely love watching these kids grow to not knowing what they're doing to dive into this bell and wanting to be a part of something so cool,” stated Fronk.   Fronk is looking forward to hearing the bells ring on stage at the Centennial Ceremony.  All of the students and teachers have been invited to this ceremony. 

Special thanks to Ryan Ditacchio, Bernie Harwood and Ed Swain for the guidance and instruction of these great students.

Press release:

Noblehurst Farms recently directed a $5,000 Bayer Fund America’s Farmers Grow Communities donation to Pavilion Central School. The school will use the funds to purchase mountain bikes for outdoor physical education opportunities.

“The funds from this donation will help us in our goal of providing students with opportunities and skills to support a healthy lifestyle. Mountain bikes are just the start. We are planning a walking trail around the school property that will double as a mountain bike path. We hope to create a place that supports both our students and the community of Pavilion. We are grateful that Noblehurst Farms directed this funding to the district for this project. The generosity and support in this community for our school is inspiring.” said Superintendent Kate Hoffman.

Since 2010, America’s Farmers programs have awarded more than $65 million to nonprofits, aspiring ag students, and public schools across rural America. Farmers are leaders in their communities, which is why America’s Farmers programs rely on them to help identify the most worthy causes.

Dedicated to making a difference in rural farming communities, the Grow Communities program asks farmers across the country to participate by nominating nonprofit organizations with resources to strengthen their local communities. Last August, farmers entered for the chance to direct a $5,000 Grow Communities donation to a local eligible nonprofit of their choice. Farmers have directed donations to food banks, emergency response organizations, schools, youth agriculture programs and many others that reflect the spirit and support the vibrancy of rural America.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone, including those in rural regions, and farmers play a critical role in helping communities overcome challenges, like the ones we’re currently facing,” said Al Mitchell, Bayer Fund president. “Bayer Fund is proud to work side-by-side with farmers to identify local eligible nonprofit organizations that are able to provide their residents with solutions that leave a lasting impact.”

To learn more about how America’s Farmers programs are making an impact, visit www.AmericasFarmers.com. 

Photo: Submitted photo.

Ninety to 120 every day.

That’s a goal that Batavia Middle School has set for students: to do purposeful reading, writing and interactive talking for 90 to 120 minutes each weekday. Principal Nate Korzelius introduced that as one part of the middle school’s strategic plan.

“So we've spent a lot of time this year looking at and reflecting on our vision and mission, as well as our strategic plan and empowering students, and within the vision statement, working with the community, creating a nurturing environment for our students,” he said during a presentation to the school board Monday evening. “So that was our starting point, as we were looking at our middle school goals for the year. And then, in the past year, establishing the strategic plan: create and maintain a safe and orderly school environment, collaborative culture theory, accessible curriculum, and effective teaching in every classroom.”

A leadership team activity during the summer led middle school staff “to come up with tangible things to meet our students where they are, trying to adjust for some gaps that have occurred as a result of COVID.”

“And also just find ways that we can creatively build a culture of learning and also try to break down some barriers for students,’ he said. “So, beginning this school year, this was the goal that I outlined for the staff on day one. Our goal is to promote authentic literacy practices by increasing purposeful reading, writing and discussion as moments of both learning content and critical thinking. 

A daily dose of literacy
"So specifically, what we've worked on the most so far this year are ways we can ensure that students will participate in 90 to 120 minutes of purposeful reading, writing and discussion every day,” he said.

That’s likely good practice for anyone. A quick online search produces several articles about the benefits of reading, such as Healthline’s claim — using MRI scan results — that reading involves a complex network of circuits and signals in the brain. As one’s reading ability matures, “those networks also get stronger and more sophisticated,” the site states. 

Teachers will introduce various methods for kids to accomplish the daily goal, such as having guest readers, creating reading quizzes, writing letters or a daily diary, hosting debates and asking open-ended questions.

“We have data meetings every couple of months. But then we want, now especially that we have more access to data post-COVID, to focus on those, and establish the needs for our students to make sure that we can individualize things as much as possible to meet students where they are,” Korzelius said. “Those teams are focused on the individual needs of students and customizing the approach for students within their teams.”

Beginning Tuesday (Nov. 15), students will have a task during Lunch Learning Lab, which means at the beginning of the second marking period, each student “is to drop everything and read” a book for 20 minutes. District officials contacted each household to notify parents of this initiative, and to encourage them to find out what might engage their child.

“Half the battle is to find something that they’ll enjoy reading,” he said.

Teaching strategies
The focus isn’t just on students, though. A shared Google Classroom will begin in the next month for all middle school faculty. It will provide a list of various strategies for teachers to try — one at a time for a month — and then report back on how it went and offer suggestions for improvement before selecting another strategy the next month.

A key piece that has become more prevalent since the pandemic is SEL: social-emotional learning. That piece includes providing useful resources for students to help manage their emotions, set positive goals, work on proper attitudes and behaviors, have healthy relationships, be able to feel and show empathy, make responsible decisions, plus an ideal academic correlation to each student’s SEL success, Assistant Principal Lindsey Leone said.

“And really, what I found through all my experiences, if you don't have that SEL piece, it's going to be really hard to get that academic piece. And I think in general, we've all learned that from COVID times, and so we've spent the last year or so really establishing our SEL committee,” she said.

Circle Up Fridays happens on the first Friday of every month, and includes an extended homeroom time so that students and staff can literally “circle up” to engage in meaningful conversations, she said.

This work is about “creating connections at school,” she said, amongst students and teachers. Two years of COVID, isolation and social distancing seem to be ebbing away.

“I really think they're excited that it feels a little bit more, a little back to normal for them like they have loved the opportunity to have dances again … and options to look at trips and those types of things. So I think it's a lot for them on an energy level, you know, it's a much different day coming every day to school versus some of what we were doing in a hybrid setting,” she said. “I think every day that we're getting better and more comfortable.”

Data — a huge component amongst school districts — has been part of the strategic plan, Korzelius said. Pulling people together through regular faculty meetings of about 80 people has also been a positive step, he said.

“We really try hard to focus on our strategic plan,” he said. “Where our goal of mission and vision is 90 to 120 minutes for every student throughout the school day.”

The mission is to empower students to achieve their maximum potential, and the vision includes providing a safe and nurturing environment. The targeted end result is to help students become socially responsible citizens who are able to successfully meet life’s challenges.

School board member Alice Benedict wanted to know if and how data would be collected to show how well the SEL lessons were working. Yes, it will be collected through DESSA, a social-emotional learning measuring tool, and student surveys, Korzelius said.

“It's something that I want us to build on, and just continue to find new and better ideas. I mean, this is a great idea, which is our first time,” he said. “We have to take a look at it at the end instead of just gauging success.”

A surprise ride to school on Ladder 15

Madelyn Alford, the second-place winner from John Kennedy School in Group 2 (2-3rd grade) of the City Fire, Fire Prevention Coloring Contest, had a big surprise today.

Alford received a ride to school on City Ladder 15 on Thursday morning.

First-place winner, Kylie Lutey of St. Joseph's School, who had won previously,  decided to defer her ride to the second-place winner.

Photo: Lt. Bob Tedford, Madelyn Alford, and Firefighter Brian Fix. Photo by Alecia Kaus/Video News Service.

Press release:

Sixth Grade students at Pembroke Intermediate School participated in the Korman Challenge Reading Contest during the month of October.

Students were challenged to read a book written by author Gordon Korman during the month to be invited to the Korman Party, which was held on Nov. 4.

By the end of the month, 24 students completed the challenge!

Students were invited to a special party where they watched a special video message from Gordon Korman himself! Students then received a special certificate recognizing their achievement.

To wrap up the special day, students enjoyed pizza generously donated by Homeslice Pizzeria 33! 

Submitted photos.

Press release:

On Thursday, Nov. 3, Byron-Bergen Elementary students took part in the Turkey Trot.

The annual run through the district’s scenic nature trail is designed to promote physical health, life-long fitness habits, and community service. The run is just under 1 mile and takes place during Physical Education class time. It is the culmination of a unit in which students train on the track and on the trails to prepare for the event.

“I love this event,” said Physical Education Teacher Danielle Carson. “I hope it helps the students realize that, if they work hard, they can do hard things. I also hope they understand that when we work together, we can help our community.”

In addition to taking part in the run, students were invited to donate wrapping paper or ribbon to the Byron-Bergen School District Holiday Gift Drive. The annual community service project provides holiday gift items to local families in need. Students have the rest of November to bring in their donations, but Carson has already collected over 100 items. 

Photos by Gretchen Spittler.

 

Press release:

Three Byron-Bergen students have earned academic honors from the College Board National Recognition Programs. These National Recognition Programs connect underrepresented students who excelled in College Board assessments and schoolwork with universities across the country, helping them meaningfully connect to colleges and stand out during the admissions process.

Ava Wagoner was awarded the National African American Recognition Award. “I’m really excited about the award because with AP (Advanced Placement classes) you have to work hard,” said Wagoner, who plans to study engineering after graduation. “It feels good to get the recognition.”

“I’m really proud,” said Zoey Shepard who was awarded the National Rural and Small Town Award. She plans to study chemical engineering after graduation.

Dayanara Caballero was awarded the National Hispanic Recognition Award, National Rural and Small Town Award, and the National Indigenous Award. “Receiving these awards was really exciting for me,” said Caballero. “I’m looking to apply to college to study mathematics or government.”

To qualify for recognition, students have a GPA of 3.5 or higher and have excelled on the PSAT/NMSQT or PSAT 10, or earned a score of 3 or higher on two or more AP Exams; and are African American or Black, Hispanic American or Latinx, Indigenous, and/or attend school in a rural area or small town.

“Congratulations to these students,” said Byron-Bergen Jr./Sr. High School Principal Ashley John Grillo. “They are dedicated to their studies and push themselves to be the best they can be. They should be very proud of this recognition.” 

Press release:

The week of Oct. 17th was Digital Citizenship week. Digital citizenship is defined as using technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate. This year, all Byron-Bergen 3rd-grade students participated in a digital citizenship and digital literacy class taught by 3rd Grade Teacher Colleen Hardenbrook. The goal of the lesson was for students to use technology correctly and fluently, and included a group video PSA project.

“The class is based on Common Sense Media's curriculum,” said Hardenbrook. “It introduces fun characters that help teach students the essentials to being a good digital citizen.”

The characters are each named after a part of the human body. For example, “Head” teaches how to consume media in a critical way and “Legs” encourages students to stand up to bullies online. Each character embodies a key idea of digital citizenship.

In addition to the digital citizenship curriculum, students are learning digital fluency by practicing efficient computer use. This includes improving typing skills with a program called Keyboarding without Tears.

The students then created a group project to encompass the first unit on Media Balance. The students wrote the script, directed, and starred in the PSA-style video. “The goal of this program is to help teach young Byron-Bergen students how to participate in a digital world in a way that is safe, secure, and healthy,” said Hardenbrook. “Hopefully this video makes a lasting impression for our students and gets the message out for others.” 

Press release:

Evan Sidhu and Evelyn Northrup of Pavilion ranked seventh in the nation among Future Farmers of America for their agricultural science research project in the field of natural resources and environmental science.

The two students spent countless hours researching the effects of roadway pollution shown through the dissolved solids in snow.

Evan and Evelyn designed, organized, and executed their research project last winter. They placed first at the New York State FFA Convention in May 2022 and earned a spot in the Top 10 in the nation.

This fall the team competed in an intense interview regarding their research and conclusions. This earned them the seventh spot in the nation. 

"This is a great honor for the Pavilion FFA and Pavilion School Community," said teacher Kylie DeBerardinis

Students at Le Roy Schools are getting broad exposure to STEAM skills and trades (science, technology, engineering, arts and math), STEAM teacher Luke Weaver told the Board of Education on Tuesday during a meeting.

Rube Goldberg Machines, computer coding, food sciences, robotics and drones, and environmental sciences are all getting covered with one class or another, Weaver said.

Superintendent Merritt Holly emphasized what Weaver illustrated during his introduction of Weaver to the board.

"We offer STEAM Club," Holly said. "We offer things in the library. We offer things in the summer. The kids have a ton of opportunities, so there's no like, I'll try this and then I don't care about it again for another year. It's a really a continuing program, which I think is really powerful."

Currently, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders are working on Rube Goldberg Machines and they're excited by the projects, he said.

For those who might not be familiar with a Rube Goldberg Machine, Weaver explained that it is an "unbelievably complicated machine to do an unbelievably simple task. So you would build something with pulleys, levers, catapults, dominoes knocking each other over to do something you could easily do by yourself."

(For an entertaining example of a Rube Goldberg Machine, see the music video below.)

He said when he first introduced the concept to students, they looked at him like he was crazy.

"They went from that mindset to kids coming in in the morning, before homeroom, coming in and start working because they want that extra half hour to work on their project, which is just awesome."

There are 46 students currently enrolled in a coding class. They're starting with blocks of code that fit together to make a working program.

"I've got two kids who are already done," Weaver said. "That is fascinating to me, to see kids who've never done this before, pick this up and be so cohesive going through the process."

The block program will move the students into coding languages commonly used in the business world, such as Python and C++, Weaver said.

The programming experience also moves the students into working in robotics and with drones.

Already this year the school has held a Manufacturing Day, which included a field trip to visit Orcon, Bonduelle, and U.S. Gypsum.

"The kids had an opportunity to see different careers and how many different types of jobs that can happen in one place, which I think is mind-blowing," Weaver said. "I mean, you had electrical engineers, you had manufacturing people, you had artists, anything you could think of at all of these different plants."

The stop at Bonduelle in Oakfield was interesting because spinach was being delivered from a farm owned by one of the student's father.

"So we got to like watch that and see how they go through that whole freeze-drying process and things like that," Weaver said.

An area of expansion for the program that Weaver is working on is aquaponics, he said. 

"Aquaponics is basically a huge fish tank that is fully cyclical," Weaver said. "The plants provide the nutrients for the fish and the fish provide nutrients for the plants. You don't have to clean the fish tank. You can grow vegetables, or fruit and grow flowers. They actually have huge systems where people grow or raise tilapia and actually have harvestable fish. We're going to take baby steps and start with a goldfish that are at my house, bring those in. But we're just trying to pull in other kids that might not have that engineering mindset, they might not only want to be tech-savvy, but they might like some natural science stuff."

Weaver also went through some of the entry-level STEAM projects being introduced at Wolcott Street School.

 "It's fun," Weaver said. "I love this stuff. I love seeing their faces just confused and excited at the same time. That's exactly what you're looking for."

Photo: Luke Weaver. Photo by Howard Owens.

Press Release:

On Oct. 7, the Byron-Bergen faculty participated in a professional development exercise designed to raise awareness of the added stress community members experience when living near the poverty line. The training was provided by the Genesee Region Teachers Center. The goal of the exercise was to simulate the challenges associated with poverty.

Juanita Henry, Director of the Genesee Region Teacher Center and Pat Mullikan, Director of the Tri-County Teacher Center opened the training by sharing national and regional statistics. In the U.S., over 17% of people under 18 years old live in poverty. In the Byron-Bergen community, the poverty rate has risen 10% since 2013.

"This learning experience brings both our Elementary and Jr./Sr. High School staff together to gain awareness of the changing challenges our students and families face,” said Byron-Bergen Superintendent Pat McGee. “Hopefully, the poverty simulation brought to light the empathy and compassion needed to meet our students and families where they are."

The activity began with participants being assigned roles, either as members of a “family” or providing a community service. “Families” were given different resources and responsibilities and community agencies had set rules to follow with limited resources. Each “family” was tasked with balancing their financial resources, childcare, school, employment, and health care. By the end of the “month”, some “family” groups faced eviction, “students” had begun skipping school, and trying to navigate social services had become a major point of stress.

“I liken it to working with the foster care system,” said Byron-Bergen Art Teacher Sandy Auer. “Working within a public system is frustrating. Sometimes you can’t get the help you need and deserve. Students are coming from that place of frustration.”

Part of the training is to provide a heightened awareness of the stress students may be under at home. In the simulation, some of the “students” took on major responsibilities in their family group including providing childcare, shopping for food, and attempting to find employment.

While administering this simulation throughout the region, Henry noted that it is usually the stress level that teachers comment on most. “The expectation teachers sometimes have is that parents should be home helping their kids with homework and in reality, they’re holding the family together by making sure they have a house and food and the basics. They may feel education is very important but it’s not a priority on the needs list.”

“Children had roles and responsibilities we would not necessarily associate with their age group,” said Mullikan during the debrief after the simulation. The participants agreed that expectations for adult supervision were completely

October 12, 2022 Contact: Gretchen Spittler Byron-Bergen Communications Specialist (585) 794-6340 different. Some children had very adult jobs when they got home and, while at school, students were preoccupied with stresses at home.

In closing, the group was asked, “As educators, what is our role? Are we going to add to that stress?”

“When a student doesn’t have their work done, because of circumstances they can’t control, a little empathy may mean they can enjoy coming to school knowing that they are not always in trouble,” said Henry.

“The poverty rate in this district is currently at 43%,” said McGee. “We are committed to providing an equitable education for all our students. To meet that commitment and support the whole child, our team needs to understand that education isn't one-size-fits-all and consider the resources available to students outside of school hours.” 

Photos: Gretchen Spittler.

Top photo:  Pat Mullikan, Director of the Tri-County Teacher Center gives instructions at the poverty simulation