Dear School Community Member,

This past week, our nation suffered yet another loss of lives in the shootings that took place in Texas and Ohio.  I was reminded of how precious life is and have kept the families and friends of each victim in my prayers. I am often asked, what can you do to assure me that my child is safe in your school?  As your Superintendent, I cannot provide you with 100% assurance that there will never be an act of violence in our schools. I can assure you that school safety is the number one goal of our District and that we continually work to improve our systems and efforts to provide a safe and positive environment for all our students, staff and families.

This school year will include several efforts to improve the safety of our schools.   We have installed a new video surveillance system on each campus to improve the monitoring of our schools.  Our safety plans have been updated and shared with the Board of Education and the New York State Department of Education.  I am pleased to share that by all measures our District is considered to be very safe, however, we continually work with local, county and state emergency services to improve our communication and procedures.

Our efforts to maintain our schools as safe and become high performing academically will take a concerted effort of our entire community. I look for your support, comments and recommendations.  As always, I hope that you will make an effort to reach out and say hello when you see me around the schools and town, or follow me on Twitter @DrStopinski

Sincerely,
Dr. Hank Stopinski

Superintendent of Schools