It’s fall again in Pittsford and this time of year makes it difficult to imagine living somewhere without four distinct seasons. The school year is underway, warm clothes are getting pulled out of storage, sports are in full swing, the days are getting shorter but the leaves are getting brighter.

The diversity of our seasons provide a richness to the setting in which our children learn and grow. Each season challenges our students to discover what they love, overcome what they don’t and find balance as they navigate the changes around them with the personal and academic changes taking place within.

Our students' journey of self-discovery is nuanced and multi-faceted. The diversity of the people they interact with, the rigorous instruction they receive, the varied points of view they are exposed to, and even the seasons influence the learning process and contribute to building the skills necessary to be a global citizen.

This fall season is a time when the board reflects on our role as a governance body in supporting our students' educational journey. How do we measure the impact of our work and are we setting the right focus and priorities to continue to support our students?

At the highest level, our role is to drive toward the mission and vision of our District:

“Our students will navigate a journey of self-discovery, leading them to overcome obstacles, pursue balance and wellness, and personalize their education. They will recognize challenges as opportunities for learning and accomplishment. They will have the skills and competence necessary to understand and thrive in a diverse, global society. During and after their time with us, they will be independent, healthy, resilient, and compassionate contributors to our community and beyond.”

Academic excellence is one important measure of our progress toward that mission and vision. On that measure our District continues to excel. In the recent U.S. News & World Report ratings, Pittsford Mendon and Sutherland High schools ranked the top 2% in the country out of more than 20,000 schools, and #1 & #2 in the Rochester area, respectively.

While we are pleased with these rankings, in our past Board Insights article, we discussed that the rankings are just one measure of how we support the whole student. The ranking methodology used by U.S. News & World Report continues to evolve, and with it, the raw numerical ranking of the District at various points in time. Despite these changes in methodology, Pittsford Schools continue to rank as some of the highest in the State and the Nation. The rankings methodology continues to be directional at best. More importantly, these rankings are the result of work we have completed in the past. The work we are doing today will only translate into continued academic excellence in the years to come. So, we continue to focus on the core priorities of the Board of Education:

1. The approval of District policy, programs of study, textbooks, and hiring of teachers and administrators.
2. Holding and maintaining responsibility for school sites and the construction and equipping of school buildings.
3. Obtaining and budgeting money to operate the schools.

In each of these areas, we are pleased to see the continued progress our administration, teachers and staff are making in the right direction.

The kick-off Legislative Committee meeting held by Monroe County School Boards Association (MCSBA) outlined our cross-county legislative priorities for the school year and our collective stance on the current issues. We learned of the various opportunities throughout the year for us as an association to work directly with our local representatives to advocate for our Districts at both the state and federal level.

The kick-off Information Exchange meeting at MCSBA focused on the necessity of creating logical and pragmatic policy for evaluation of contested reading materials across all the districts in Monroe County. We heard from the administration at Hilton Central School District about how they have navigated this very real challenge and our Superintendent Mike Pero shared with the broader school board community how our process has also evolved to balance the concerns of our parents and community members with the needs of our students, teachers and staff.

The kick-off Labor Relations meeting held by MCSBA this year focused on the important work our business officials and Pittsford District Teachers Association (PDTA) representatives have been doing to upgrade retirement benefits in order to extract better terms from our health insurers and ensure our teaching staff past and present receive continued access to top healthcare benefits that align with their needs and lifestyles. We are proud that Pittsford continues to support our staff, both past and present.

With the passage of our capital project last year, the community overwhelmingly approved the use of funds to complete much needed maintenance and improvements to the District’s buildings that foster safety, security and a safe learning environment.

Already this year we have been able to direct those funds to critical HVAC replacements at Calkins Road Middle School. Our Maintenance team led a successful effort to address the persistent plumbing challenges at Sutherland High School and our goal is to continue upgrading equipment to MERV 13 and MERV 15 as a best practice through capital improvement projects as these types of projects would not fit within a regular school year budget.

We look forward to all that this year has in store, confident in our focus and appreciative for the wonderful season we find ourselves in.

 

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.”- Emily Bronte