March 30, 2020

Dear W.A. Olmsted Parents/Guardians,  

As you know, due to orders by New York State and Broome County, the Harpursville Central School District is currently prohibited from providing instruction in the regular setting. 

We are committed to ensuring our students have the opportunity to practice, hone their skills, and participate in educationally beneficial activities during this necessary closure. All students have been invited to access important and neccessary grade level content tasks provided by their general education teachers and/or specialized materials if your child qualifies for special education. 

Our teachers have made exceptional efforts to ensure that all of our students continue to be engaged in learning while at home.  Teachers have been attempting to contact each individual student you by telephone, email and/or mail through the contact information you have provided to the District. New York State mandates that we provide a free appropriate public education for all students, so please respond to our teacher outreach as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Jim DiMaria

I would like to take this opportunity to invite all parents and guardians of students at our elementary school to come together as a community in a solution-oriented forum to help build upon the strengths of our school. On Wednesday February 5, 2020 from 6:00 – 7:00 PM, I invite you to join us for the first in a series of forum-based discussions in the W.A. Olmsted cafeteria. We will begin promptly at 6:00 PM and end by 7:00 PM. As a school we are looking for community participation in the school improvement process. We want community members to be a part of the solutions that will help move our school and community forward. At our first forum we will review the W.A. Olmsted School Improvement Plan and outline the community forum process. We will also take a look at our first-year progress in working to meet our growth goals.   

The subsequent meetings are designed to “dig into” the specific areas contained in our school improvement plan. Each meeting, focusing on a specific tenet of the school improvement process, will highlight the work being done in each tenet area and will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to bring solutions-oriented ideas to the conversation that will accelerate our growth and success. Each of these meetings will take place on the following evenings from 6:00 – 7:00 PM, where we will have discussion around the following school areas:

March 4^th - Effective Systems Organization and School Leadership

April 1^st –   Curriculum

April 29^th – Engaging and Effective Instruction

May 20^th – Social-Emotional Learning

June 10^th – Parent and Community Engagement.