As we head into the spring months, I want to provide you with an overview of what we have been working on here at Chatham CSD. It is always our goal to provide the very best educational experiences and opportunities for the students of this community. Please know we are always looking for parent/guardian feedback and ideas on how we can continue to improve. Please don’t ever hesitate to contact me at the superintendent’s office. Thank you for your commitment to your child’s education and your support of our wonderful community.
Very Fondly,
Andrew Kourt, Superintendent
Academics:
We are always evaluating and analyzing our curriculum, programs, and instructional practices. It is our goal to provide the most innovative, rigorous, and supportive educational programs for our students. Here are some recent examples:
We have strengthened our teacher leadership program. As a district we have identified teacher leaders to help analyze and support our programs based on curriculum and grade level. This teacher leadership program helps identify areas we need to work on, create goals, and allows us to analyze the needs of our students and district. We are incredibly fortunate to have many amazing and dedicated teacher leaders in Chatham.
We have grown our Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS). This program uses a three-tiered, data-driven model to identify all students’ needs early and provide interventions to support all students. This program allows us to provide the specific support our students need so that they can grow as learners. This program not only supports students who may struggle academically but also identifies students who need to be challenged.
We are working incredibly hard to provide innovative academic experiences and have been reviewing our programs to ensure that our students have the tools they will need to be successful after high school. We have increased our elective opportunities and are looking to create more apprenticeship/internship opportunities and more local business partnerships for our students.
We are in the process of creating a “Portrait a Panther.” This portrait will define the skills that we expect all of our students to learn and have before graduation. We have a stakeholder committee working on this portrait and we will share a draft of it within the next couple of weeks for parent feedback. This initiative coincides with NY State updating graduation measures, high school credit requirements, and transforming education statewide. This is a very exciting time in education and Chatham CSD wants to take advantage of the opportunity this provides.
Wellness:
Student and staff wellness is a priority in our district. We continue to make sure our students and staff feel supported and valued here. Our mental health team works regularly to evaluate our student needs and provide support not only in our schools but in the community. In March, we hosted our first Chatham Community Wellness Fair where we invited local organizations, agencies, and services to our campus to share their information with our families. The event was very well attended and a huge success. We look forward to this being a yearly tradition.
Budget:
Budgets are tight for just about everyone these days and Chatham CSD is no different. It is our goal to provide the very best educational experiences while being very mindful of the cost to our tax payers.
Over the last year we were able to negotiate new contracts with five of our employee unions. As a district it was our goal to negotiate fair contracts that are competitive with area school districts so that we can continue to attract and retain staff.
As we have shared before, our student enrollment has been decreasing for many years. We have studied our enrollment, analyzed our staffing levels, and over the last two years have reduced 16 positions to match our enrollment needs. As faculty and staff retire and/or resign, we are evaluating if we need to rehire for that position based on our student numbers.
With our shrinking enrollment the district has decided to evaluate our facility needs. The Board of Education has hired a consultant firm to work with our district and community to evaluate and discuss our facilities. We will be creating a community stakeholder team to help us with this work. From there, we will gather community input and will present information to the Board. This will be a multi-year exploration with much more information to come.
Over the years, the district has put funds into reserves that are meant to be used when budget times are challenging. That time has come. The district is using reserve funding to help balance the coming year’s budget, so that we don’t have to cut student programming and opportunities. For more information on our budget visit our budget webpage at - https://www.chathamcentralschools.com/page/budget-news