MASSENA â The Massena Central School District has started approving appointments for extracurricular activities, with the hope that they can be held when school opens again in September.
COVID kept many of the activities from taking place during the 2020-21 school year, Superintendent Patrick Brady noted in an end-of-year report for the districtâs board of education.
He said some of the extracurricular activities, particularly some of the volunteer ones, did not meet while others met virtually. And, he said, some continued to meet with students and raise funds both virtually and at times together.
âIt was a challenging year to meet with students because of the pandemic. We did not have an after-school bus partly because of COVID and safety with buses. Also, we changed up the schedule at the high school and junior high so that weâd have the staff to screen students as they were coming in,â Mr. Brady said.
MASSENA â Although thereâs been a 30% increase in the price of tin, that hasnât impacted the Massena Central School Districtâs $49.6 million capital project.
James Francesconi, senior project manager for C&S Companies, the districtâs construction management firm, told board of education members that Northern Mechanicals was seeing an increase in a couple of other projects. The firm was awarded the mechanical construction contract for the Massena Central project.
âThey havenât reported that yet on this project, obviously. I think itâs because they got ahead of the game. Theyâre starting sooner rather than later,â Mr. Francesconi said.
MASSENA â Anticipating that some students may need extra assistance when school resumes in the fall, the Massena Central School Districtâs Board of Education has approved the hiring of a second occupational therapist.
âThe Office of Special Services has requested for us to have another district occupational therapist to meet the needs of our students. Currently, we have one occupational therapist and we also receive services through an outside provider,â Superintendent Patrick Brady said.
During a previous meeting, he had presented the board with a list of personnel requests using federal funding to address areas such as learning loss and social and emotional learning during the pandemic. Among them and using $674,880 in pre-kindergarten funding, the district plans to convert from a half-day to a full-day pre-kindergarten program. That would mean the addition of three teachers and three teacher assistants at a cost of $465,000.
MASSENA â The Massena Central School Districtâs goals for the 2020-21 school year were interrupted by the impact of COVID-19, so district officials will try again for the 2021-22 year.
Superintendent Patrick Brady said, rather than focusing on the goals, they were busy with developing reopening plans and reaching out to the community.
âThen we implemented that plan through the school year,â he told board of education members Wednesday night.
District administrators hold a summer retreat to develop goals for the new school year, and those are presented to the board of education for review and approval.
âMany of the metrics we use in our goals such as graduation rates, state testing and chronic absenteeism to measure our success were not there during the pandemic because we had students who were disengaged, and in some cases with remote learning it was difficult to tell whether they were engaged or not engaged,â Mr. Brady said.
MASSENA â A current member of the Massena Town Council will be seeking the supervisorâs chair in the November election.
Susan Bellor was nominated to run for supervisor, a position currently held by Democrat Steven D. OâShaughnessy, during Thursday nightâs Massena Republican Party caucus.
Joining her on the ballot will be incumbent Town Clerk Jeannine Brouse, and Patrick Facteau and Adrian Taraska, who are seeking town council seats. Those seats are currently held by Democrats Albert N. Nicola and Samuel D. Carbone Jr.
There were no nominations for mayor, a position currently held by Democrat Timothy J. Ahlfeld, or town justice, a position currently held by Democrat Joseph Brown.