• June 20, 2025

     

     

    Dear Parents, Students, Faculty, Staff, and Community Members,

     

    The school year is wrapping up.  It has been an enjoyable month with a ton of sporting events, concerts, art shows, dance shows, science symposiums, and award ceremonies.  I commend students and faculty members for spending so much time on these activities and still being able to prioritize academics.

     

    Here is an update on a few items that might interest you.

     

    Cell Phone/Electronic Device Policy in place for the Fall

     

    At Wednesday night’s school board meeting, the school board considered the plan our school will follow to be consistent with the new state law regarding cell phones and other devices that can connect students to the internet.  Basically, cell phones and other electronic devices will not be allowed from bell to bell in all four buildings.  Students in MS and HS will be required to keep their phones in their lockers from the moment they arrive until the moment the school day ends.  Elementary students will be required to keep them in their book bags or cubbies.

     

    The slides from the presentation can be accessed by clicking on this link.

     

    You can watch the presentation by clicking on this link and going to the 12:25 mark of the meeting.

     

    You can see the new board approved cell phone/electronic device policy by clicking on this link.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Code of Conduct Updated

     

    New York State public schools are required to have a code of conduct that outlines the responsibilities of various constituent groups as well as behavioral expectations for all students.  Schools are also required to review their policy annually and have a community forum where people can hear about the proposed changes to the code and make comments to the board.

     

    At the board meeting on Wednesday night, the board considered this document which was a version of the code with suggestions put forward by the district code of conduct committee.  The board considered all suggestions and ended up approving the code of conduct with the suggested changes from the committee along with a few other minor changes.  So, please realize that the document I just shared with you is not the final version of the 2025-2026 code of conduct but it is pretty close.  The final version with the changes approved by the school board will be available next month.

     

    The only major changes to the code of conduct are the new cell phone/electronic device rules that I already described to you and the addition of rules HS students must follow when visiting the new athletic trainer.

     

    New Athletic Trainer Hired

     

    At the school board meeting on June 18, the board approved the hiring of Allison Lindsay to take on the role of athletic trainer for the New Paltz Central School District.  Allison currently serves as an athletic trainer for SUNY New Paltz.  Her credentials are impressive.  We are very excited that Allison will be joining us in early August in time to help get the fall athletic season off to a good start.  Welcome Allison.

     

    Looking for a Coordinator for our Community Continuing Education Program

     

    We are pleased with the success of the inaugural fall and spring sessions of the community continuing education program.  This program, which was staffed fully by volunteers, helped support the wellness goals of the school district as it allowed people to take courses designed around physical activities, new learning opportunities, and health and nutrition.  It was truly impressive to see so many community members come out and share their talents with their neighbors.

     

    Special thanks go to board member Heather Kort who was the principal organizer of the program.  While Heather willingly oversaw the program in a volunteer capacity, the program is not really sustainable without a paid coordinator.  For that reason, the school board budgeted for a modest stipend to hire a continuing education coordinator for the 2025-2026 school year.

     

    We are currently seeking applicants for the position of continuing education coordinator.  Interested candidates should send a letter of interest and a copy of their resume to sgratto@newpaltz.k12.ny.us by June 30, 2025.

     

    To see a description of what the job entails, please click on this link.  It might sound like a lot of work but it will be fun and we will be happy to help you learn the process.

     

    Consolidation Presentation

     

    The district continues to explore the viability of closing Duzine Elementary School and consolidating all students into three buildings.  At the school board meeting on June 4th, our consolidation consultant, Dr. Chuck Khoury gave a presentation on how the building could be physically structured to accommodate all students in three buildings.  His presentation included an extensive enrollment study that allowed him to extrapolate data into enrollment projections.

     

    You can watch Dr. Khoury’s actual presentation by clicking on this link and going to the 1:02 mark of the meeting.  You can access his slides from the presentation by clicking on this link.

     

    Dr. Khoury will be back in September to give the board and the community more information and to possibly share final conclusions.  It is likely that at this meeting he will paint a financial picture of the future of the district if consolidation occurs and a picture of the district if consolidation does not occur.

     

    If you have any questions or comments about consolidation that you would like to share with the school board or with Dr. Khoury, please email them to me at sgratto@newpaltz.k12.ny.us.

     

    District Wellness Plan Approved

     

    Each year a committee of parents, students, teachers, and administrators reviews our district wellness policy and suggests appropriate updates to the plan.  The school board considers the changes and a new/revised plan is adopted each spring.

     

    This year the committee was chaired by Middle School special education teacher and administrative intern, Ben Liberatore.  Ben and his committee fully evaluated the plan and suggested quality revisions.  The board adopted the updated plan on June 4th.  You can see the approved plan by clicking on this link.

     

     

    A lot going on

     

    As the year ends, the accomplishments of our students deserve recognition.  We do our best to publicize their accomplishments on our website, facebook page, and instagram page.  We encourage you to check these sites out where you will see people/things like:

     

     

    Michael and Annika, our senior scholar athletes

     

    The winners of scholarships provided by the New Paltz Rotary Club

     

     

    Recognition of Charlie, our valedictorian and Malana, our Principal’s Award winner

     

     

    The creation of a beautiful mural painted in the choral room by Amelia

     

     

    Presentations by the students in our PIGLETS class on their year ending community service projects.

     

     

    Highlights of our district wide art show

     

     

    Plastic Fantastic, the building of our geodesic dome out of recycled bottles

     

     

    Joe Birnbaum, who took second place at the Genius Olympiad at RIT.

     

    A view of our beautiful High School Courtyard

     

     

    Recognizing our Vocational Students at BOCES

     

    I am very happy that our students, especially those who are on campus all day, get recognized regularly for their accomplishments.  However, I sometimes wonder if our vocational students who are on campus only half of the day get the recognition they deserve.  So, I recently took a trip up to the vocational center at the Ulster County BOCES to see what our students are up to.  I certainly did not get a chance to talk with all of our vocational students but you can see my discussion with some of them by clicking on this link.  Thank you to all of the vocational students for their hard work.

     

     

    Passing of Linda Hanss - Bus Driver

     

    As many of you know, Linda Hanss, a regular bus driver in our district for the past 10 years passed away in early June.  Linda also served the district as a bus driver examiner and trainer so many of our current drivers owe their bus driving licenses, in part, to her efforts.

     

     

    I do want to recognize her contributions to the district and to offer condolences to her family.  She will be missed.

     

     

    That concludes my update, but of course, there is more to come.  On Wednesday we will have our 5th grade moving up ceremony, on Thursday we will have our 8th grade moving up ceremony, and on Friday at 6 pm on the football field we will have the graduation ceremony for the class of 2025.

     

    Thanks for reading.  Please let me know if you have questions or comments.

     

    Regards,

     

    Stephen Gratto - Superintendent