Unadilla Valley gets a jump start
NEW BERLIN – The Unadilla Valley Central School District decided not to waste another day as it kicked off the new school year on Tuesday. According to Frank Johnson, principal of the schools, the goal was to ensure enough time to fix any issues right away.
“The lockers are always the worst,” said Johnson. Schedules, layout, and the basic transition between grades created some confusion on the first day of school, but everyone at UV agreed that the year began without any significant hitches.
According to Superintendent Robert Mackey, the school district has undergone a number of changes this year as a result of the shifting Regents schedule and budget cuts resulting from state aid reductions.
One of the biggest changes was the appointment of Frank Johnson as sole principal of Unadilla Valley. Lee Supensky, previously the Middle School principal, has taken charge of pupil personnel services and the position of elementary school principal will remain un-filled following the previous principal’s retirement last year.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us to fit the changes,” said Johnson. “But we have an amazing staff here and I’m confident everything will fall into place.”
Mackey said that they also departmentalized math and English Language Arts for 4th and 5th graders, another significant change. This means that teachers in those grades will teach either math or ELA instead of both. Mackey explained that the decision was made to help teachers become experts on the subjects so that they might better help their students become experts. He said that these courses received the most emphasis by the state and required the most diligent attention.
The only program that was removed from the regular class schedule was driver’s education, said Mackey. He explained the class will get more focus during the summer but he still expects feedback from the community, particularly about the loss of a teaching position.
“When state aid keeps decreasing the way it has been, you can’t sock the taxpayer with an increase of 10 percent or more,” he said. “We are forced to find other ways to compensate and we end up looking at the electives first.”
Johnson explained the goal of the teachers and counselors is to offer as many programs and courses as possible. With certain learning initiatives they are able to work with other schools in the DCMO BOCES area to offer courses not usually available. For example, anatomy and physiology, which is not usually offered at UV, is available through Morris, which broadcasts the classes to the other school. In the same way, UV is able to offer physics to students in Worchester. Johnson said this helped keep courses available when low numbers of students signing up would have normally meant cancellation of the class.
“Our job is to offer the students the ‘and’ instead of the ‘or,’” he said. Another way UV achieves this goal is by offering both semestered and regular schedules to the students depending on their courses. “It means we have to think outside of the box constantly when planning our schedule.”
According to student council President Trista Dockstader, the year isn’t all about classes and tests. Pep rallies, dances, and a spirit week are just a few of the events in the works, she said.
“We want everyone to get involved and have fun,” she explained. “We’re thinking about a glow-in-the-dark themed dance among others ... it’s about getting school spirit up.”
Dockstader, a senior at UV, said she plans on working very hard and making the most out of her last year of high school. She said the whole school seems excited about starting a new year.
There’s nothing but good on its way for UV if the energy of the first day continues throughout the rest of the year, said Superintendent Mackey. The students were greeted at the doors by teachers and staff who had gathered drums, noisemakers and streamers to usher in the new school year. This was followed by ceremonies in the auditorium, during which beginning of the year awards were presented to middle and high school students. According to Mackey, all that remains are some last minute adjustments to schedules and the school will be ready for action.
“We try to begin the year with some sort of celebration,” he said. “Now we just do some tweaking to ensure things run nice and smooth.”
Unadilla Valley senior Travis Conklin had only one thing to say about the beginning of the school year. “Go UV football!”
“The lockers are always the worst,” said Johnson. Schedules, layout, and the basic transition between grades created some confusion on the first day of school, but everyone at UV agreed that the year began without any significant hitches.
According to Superintendent Robert Mackey, the school district has undergone a number of changes this year as a result of the shifting Regents schedule and budget cuts resulting from state aid reductions.
One of the biggest changes was the appointment of Frank Johnson as sole principal of Unadilla Valley. Lee Supensky, previously the Middle School principal, has taken charge of pupil personnel services and the position of elementary school principal will remain un-filled following the previous principal’s retirement last year.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us to fit the changes,” said Johnson. “But we have an amazing staff here and I’m confident everything will fall into place.”
Mackey said that they also departmentalized math and English Language Arts for 4th and 5th graders, another significant change. This means that teachers in those grades will teach either math or ELA instead of both. Mackey explained that the decision was made to help teachers become experts on the subjects so that they might better help their students become experts. He said that these courses received the most emphasis by the state and required the most diligent attention.
The only program that was removed from the regular class schedule was driver’s education, said Mackey. He explained the class will get more focus during the summer but he still expects feedback from the community, particularly about the loss of a teaching position.
“When state aid keeps decreasing the way it has been, you can’t sock the taxpayer with an increase of 10 percent or more,” he said. “We are forced to find other ways to compensate and we end up looking at the electives first.”
Johnson explained the goal of the teachers and counselors is to offer as many programs and courses as possible. With certain learning initiatives they are able to work with other schools in the DCMO BOCES area to offer courses not usually available. For example, anatomy and physiology, which is not usually offered at UV, is available through Morris, which broadcasts the classes to the other school. In the same way, UV is able to offer physics to students in Worchester. Johnson said this helped keep courses available when low numbers of students signing up would have normally meant cancellation of the class.
“Our job is to offer the students the ‘and’ instead of the ‘or,’” he said. Another way UV achieves this goal is by offering both semestered and regular schedules to the students depending on their courses. “It means we have to think outside of the box constantly when planning our schedule.”
According to student council President Trista Dockstader, the year isn’t all about classes and tests. Pep rallies, dances, and a spirit week are just a few of the events in the works, she said.
“We want everyone to get involved and have fun,” she explained. “We’re thinking about a glow-in-the-dark themed dance among others ... it’s about getting school spirit up.”
Dockstader, a senior at UV, said she plans on working very hard and making the most out of her last year of high school. She said the whole school seems excited about starting a new year.
There’s nothing but good on its way for UV if the energy of the first day continues throughout the rest of the year, said Superintendent Mackey. The students were greeted at the doors by teachers and staff who had gathered drums, noisemakers and streamers to usher in the new school year. This was followed by ceremonies in the auditorium, during which beginning of the year awards were presented to middle and high school students. According to Mackey, all that remains are some last minute adjustments to schedules and the school will be ready for action.
“We try to begin the year with some sort of celebration,” he said. “Now we just do some tweaking to ensure things run nice and smooth.”
Unadilla Valley senior Travis Conklin had only one thing to say about the beginning of the school year. “Go UV football!”
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