Category: Elementary News
Growth and ‘Disruptive Thinking’ themes of LCSD PD day
Friday, March 15, was another day of learning for faculty and staff at Liberty Central School District.
A day off for students, the Professional Development Day began with breakfast in the high school cafeteria followed by keynote speaker Eric Sheninger, founder and chief executive officer of Aspire Change EDU, in the high school auditorium. The educational consultant has been working with the high school as part of the LHS School Comprehensive Education Plan. Sheninger gave the presentation “Disruptive Thinking in our Classrooms.”
“To change or grow, we must challenge conventional wisdom,” he said.
Often using humor and short videos, he encouraged faculty and administrators to rethink four core items — normal, learning, learners and mindset — in an effort to have transformative change that will improve academic and social outcomes for the students.
“Disruptive thinking is the ability to replace conventional ideas with innovative solutions on authentic problems,” one of his slides read.
Changes have been made throughout the years, but the pandemic forced most schools into the “disruptive thinking” mindset, he said.
Technology was at the forefront of those changes, he said, but not all changes must be technologically based.
Bouncing ideas off of co-workers was also encouraged. He took several “turn-and-learn” breaks, sometimes encouraging staff to turn to others near them and other times to get up from their seats to find others to discuss a topic.
He emphasized that there are several known practices that help students learn, however there is no standard operating procedure for educators. What works in one classroom may not work in another, or what works for one student may not be the most effective way of learning for a classmate.
“Chase growth, not perfection,” Sheninger said.
He also encouraged teachers to focus on what they can control — primarily how time is used in their classrooms. He also recommended a forward thinking approach of focusing on “What if?” rather than “Yeah, but.”
He used several examples of the impact educators have had on his life.
“Never underestimate or undervalue your impact on kids,” he said.
The keynote was followed by Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sullivan, who reviewed the District’s Strategic Plan and Comprehensive Improvement Plan.
Walking around the auditorium as he spoke, he reviewed where the district is in both documents and highlighted benchmark data as well as plans, events and activities that have been implemented in support of the goals of the district and individual schools.
“Growth is happening,” Sullivan said. “We are moving in the right direction.”
He thanked the faculty, staff and administration for working together to meet Liberty’s mission “to empower each student to contribute and thrive in a diverse community by pursuing their potential.”
“Thank you for continuously caring,” he said. “Thank you for always wanting to move forward.”
After a break for lunch, staff and faculty from each school broke out into their own sessions.
The high school again heard from Sheninger, who spoke on adjusting teaching methods to today’s technology.
The middle school took part in a Targeted School Improvement workshop with education consultant Betsy Conners of PLC Associates. The middle school has been designated a Targeted Support and Improvement School, because four student subgroups — Black, Hispanic, English Language Learners and Economically Disadvantaged — did not meet expectations.
The elementary staff took time in the afternoon to work on their curriculum maps, which help educators align their curriculum with the educational goals of their class.
There were further breakouts for specific staff and faculty roles as well.
LCSD holds regular conference days to offer faculty and staff professional development in support of the district’s five-year strategic plan. The sessions cover all pillars of the plan — curriculum, coherence, culture and MTSS, or Multi-Tier System of Supports.
Food delivery changes, job openings announced
Liberty Central School District recently announced changes to its food delivery policy on its campuses, as well as several job openings in all three buildings.
Food deliveries
As a safety precaution, corporate food delivery services, such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and Slice, will no longer be allowed to any district building starting Monday, March 18, 2024 . Food deliveries from local establishments that offer delivery service will be allowed but orders must be placed by a staff member and cleared through the building’s main office first. Students will not be allowed to place delivery orders to the schools.
Job openings
At the high school, there are two aide positions, a floating substitute as well as business and English teaching positions open. Open positions at the middle school include three part-time lunch monitors, a floating substitute and a front desk greeter. There are two floating substitutes, one part-time aide, a speech and language pathologist and an assistant principal opening at the elementary school. The middle and high school also are hiring for a shared LPN.
More information on these and other positions is available at https://libertyk12.tedk12.com/hire/index.aspx.
Those with questions may email questions@libertyk12.org.
LES fourth-grade wrestler takes second in statewide event
Liberty Elementary fourth-grader Blake Dennison recently plac3e second in the NY Wrestling Association for Youth State Championships. He trains at Deep Roots Wrestling Club in Walden, three times a week, while excelling in his education and band. On Saturday, March 9, he traveled to Syracuse to compete in the D5 70-pound weight class, which had 30 competitors.
An update on after school transportation
After school bus times have been adjusted to pick up elementary students at 4 p.m. and middle and high school students at 4:10 p.m., with a targeted leave time of 4:15 p.m. Students need a late bus pass to be allowed on the bus. The 6 p.m. bus times remain the same.
State DOH issues new guidance on respiratory illnesses
Following the updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, the state Department of Health has revised its guidance on when to stay home and when to return to normal activities following respiratory illnesses. Guidance for COVID-19 had been different from guidance for other common respiratory illnesses such as influenza and RSV.
The new guidance is now the same for all three illnesses. They recommend people stay home if they have respiratory virus symptoms, including fever, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose and headache, not explained by another cause, such as allergies.
Normal activities can be resumed when symptoms are getting better and there is no fever without use of medication for at least 24 hours.
The guidance also recommends that when going back to normal activities, individuals should take added precautions over the next five days, including taking additional steps for cleaner air, hygiene, masks, physical distancing and testing when they will be around other people, especially older adults, young children and those with weakened immune systems.
People may still be able to spread the virus that made them sick, even if they are feeling better, so it is important to take extra precautions after resuming normal activities, the DOH guidance says.
If a fever develops or symptoms return or worsen, it is recommended people stay home and away from others again. They should use the same criteria for returning to normal activities as when they first had symptoms and take added precautions over the next five days.
The guidance also says children younger than 2 should never wear a mask. Health care providers should discuss with their patients about how long a child younger than 2 should stay home.
These recommendations are only for non-healthcare settings and applicable for the school environment.
Hundreds see All Things Liberty has to offer at winter festival
The Liberty High School gymnasium lobby and surrounding hallways were packed Saturday, Feb. 24, with vendors, informational booths and games to bring the community together for the inaugural All Things Liberty Winter Festival.
Hundreds of students, parents and guardians, as well as community members, flocked to the event, where they could play carnival-type games, sing karaoke, learn about programs and activities in the district and get information about 15 local programs and organizations. Attendees also were able to purchase wares from nearly a dozen craft vendors
“I am bursting with pride to be a part of such an extraordinary community,” said Community Schools Coordinator Stacy Feasel, who organized the event. “Our exceptional teachers and staff demonstrated unwavering dedication, with many devoting not only their time on Saturday but also months of meticulous planning and organization.”
Dozens of student volunteers took part as well.
“Our student volunteers were simply outstanding, taking ownership of their roles and offering assistance wherever needed,” Feasel added.
More than $400 in monetary and food contributions benefited the Snack Pack Program, which provides meals to families in need over weekends and breaks.
The All Things Liberty Winter Festival supports the district’s five-year strategic plan pillar of culture.
“We are proud to be able to showcase what makes Liberty — the school and community — a great place in which to learn and live,” Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sullivan said.
More photos from the event can be found on the LCSD Facebook page and LCSD Instagram page.
Education goes beyond facts and figures at LES
From task-tacklers to productive problem-solvers, dozens of students are honored monthly during Liberty Elementary School’s Character Counts Awards ceremonies.
The awards grew out of LES’s commitment to the Leader in Me (LIM) framework, which began during the 2019-20 school year and empowers students with the leadership and life skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. At that time, the school had monthly “Star Student” awards, but they had no connection to core tenets of character development, LES Principal Robert England said.
The following year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Character Counts awards began. The awards reinforce the concepts of LIM, celebrate student efforts in those areas, educate parents and demonstrate commitment by and to staff that this is important, England said.
“At Liberty Elementary School, we’re teaching students to think about their own thinking and make conscious and strategic choices,” he said.
LIM and the Character Counts awards support Liberty’s five-year strategic plan pillar of Culture and promoting the mission and vision of the district.
Earning an award
The building toward the awards begins during the first eight days of school, during a “social emotional orientation.”
Students are introduced or reintroduced to the Eight Habits used by Leader in Me, which are based off of Stephen R. Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and related books. Those first eight days also give the students an opportunity to get to know each other, their teachers, the staff and the school building, through scavenger hunts and other hands-on activities.
Each month, classes building-wide focus on learning one of the eight habits and reinforcing the previous one. Each classroom teacher has the opportunity to select two students for the awards each month, one for each habit that was the focus that month. If a teacher feels no student meets the criteria for one or both awards, an award will not be given for that habit in that classroom.
A student can win both awards for the month, but that hasn’t happened, England said. Students can and have won more than one award in a year.
Being Involved
Parents and guardians of that month’s winners are invited to attend the ceremonies, which are held in two parts—kindergarten, first grade and multi-age rooms, and second through fourth grades. The ceremony is also live streamed. The aim of having parents and guardians engaged with the awards is for the habits taught at school to continue and grow at home.
Students, staff and families cheer loudly as each recipient’s name is read, and the winners go to the front of the gymnasium to receive their certificates as well as a small prize.
Students take a leadership role in the awards by naming the awards. They are invited to offer suggestions for fun names for each habit’s award. The suggestions are reviewed by the Culture Committee/Building Leadership Team, which narrows down the list to three or four names on which the students vote via survey.
Tying it together
This year, LES began recognizing students with perfect or near perfect attendance during the ceremony. That reinforces the first three habits, which focus on internal choices of personal responsibility, goal setting and self-management. Those who chose to be on time and in school every day or only miss one day are recognized for their dedication to making school and their learning a priority, England said.
Each student also has “Wildly Important Goals” as part of the Leader in Me. These goals, personal and academic, help students measure their progress, as do the students’ self-reflective Personal Leadership binders. In the binder they have prompts to help them think about where they are excelling and where they could improve.
“Leader in Me prompts us to be our better selves,” England said.
The awards also help students realize they will not always be perfect, he added. They become self aware of their failing and acknowledge they need to take steps to improve.
The Leader in Me principles are also reinforced by “Caught Being a Leader,” which praises students who choose to do something positive when they thought nobody was watching.
The year is capped by the Field Day in June, where the next three habits, which focus on interactions with others, are reinforced in games and activities.
Focusing on the seventh habit, “Sharpen the Saw,” (taking care of yourself), the school has replaced sugary drinks with flavored water stations, which have been a hit with students, England said.
The results
There have been positive, tangible results since Leader in Me and the Character Counts awards were established, England said.
“Our referrals have dropped dramatically,” he said.
And the curriculum integration of Leader in Me into other subjects has led to academic improvement with more students consistently reaching math and reading goals.
Students are supportive of each other, and that reinforces LIM work done in the classroom, encouraging other students to do better, he said.
“In the end, the singular purpose is for children to realize that their past or current conditions don’t need to dictate their future,” he said. “We want each and every student to have a positive vision of their futures no matter what their circumstances might be. We want our students to feel empowered with a self-directed plan, measurable goals and an internal belief that they can overcome any obstacle to meet their potential.”
Faculty, staff learn on students’ day off
Liberty Central School students didn’t have to answer the morning bell Friday, Feb. 16, but that was not the case for the faculty and staff.
It was a conference day full of learning and working to improve faculty and staff skills and knowledge to enhance their students’ classroom experience.
“It is important to offer time for our teachers to become students by offering vital professional development opportunities,” Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sullivan said.
The day started in the high school cafeteria with breakfast for all district staff.
Faculty and staff then broke into professional development sessions based on school or job description.
Elementary and middle school teachers started by working on their curriculum maps, which outlines the expectations and standards for each subject and grade level.
At that time, high school staff took part in a workshop with education consultant MaryAnn Brittingham, who focused on working with students who have an “I don’t care” attitude, explaining what is behind it and providing strategies to approach these students with a different mindset
Middle school staff was next for Brittingham, who addressed problems with students whose difficult home lives may impact their behavior in school. She explained methods to de-escalate situations and discussed: “What is under anger?” “Window of tolerance” and “The 3 R’s to assist in de-escalation.”
After lunch, Brittingham then spoke to elementary staff on understanding and handling attention-seeking and manipulative behaviors among students. “Utilizing and Documenting Tier 2 Behavior Interventions in the Classroom; Put the Game on the Table” aimed to help staff decipher the underlying needs behind such behavior and find ways to address them.
Brittingham finished the day working with middle school administration and student services staff on implementation of strategies and accountability measures.
Other professional development opportunities included training for new substitutes, teacher assistants and aides, strategies for English Language Learners classrooms, using the DESSA/Aperture social and emotional screener, working with education consultants PLC Associates on Explicit Direct Instruction methods for giving transparent learning targets, breaking down complex concepts and setting up clear instructions for learning and more.
LCSD holds regular conference days to offer faculty and staff professional development in support of the five-year strategic plan. The sessions cover all pillars of the plan — curriculum, coherence, culture and MTSS, or Multi-Tier System of Supports.
LCSD seeks input on use of ARP-ESSER funds
Liberty Central School District is gathering input from the community regarding the district’s use of the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP-ESSER) funding. To review how LCSD allocated the funds, visit the LCSD ARP-ESSER plan webpage.
LCSD residents and staff are asked to take this quick, anonymous survey to offer their feedback.
Asbestos abatement underway at LES
Asbestos abatement is underway for a damaged vinyl asbestos tile found under a rug on an uneven floor in a Liberty Elementary School classroom on Jan. 24.
The work is being done after school hours and other days when school is not in session. Because of the remediation, no activities will take place in the building after school hours. School is closed for students Friday, Feb. 16, for a Conference Day, as well as Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 19-20, for Presidents’ Day break. The project is expected to be completed by Feb. 20
The work presents no danger to the staff or students in the elementary school. To remove the asbestos, the district is following New York State regulations that require us to seal the room off from the rest of the building. The district will conduct air monitoring throughout the project.
Safety of the staff and students is of the utmost importance to the district.
If you have any questions, please contact Assistant Superintendent for Business Laurene McKenna at lmmckenna@libertyk12.org.