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Empire State University Launches Online Spanish-Language Business Degree Program

Written by Saratoga TODAY on . Posted in Education.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — On Monday, Empire State University announced the launch of SUNY’s first Spanish-language online degree program, a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA). The university will welcome its first cohort of students into this program in Fall 2025.

Developed in partnership with SUNY, Empire State University’s Spanish BBA program will be taught fully online and entirely in Spanish, with wraparound student supports, such as financial aid, accessibility, and tutoring, offered by faculty and staff who are native or near-native Spanish speakers. The university has hired new faculty and staff to support this program.

The Spanish BBA, a 124-credit program, will mirror its English-language counterpart, covering a range of courses including marketing, financial accounting, management principles, and resource management. The program will also offer a selection of general education courses in Spanish, including courses in science, math, humanities, the arts, and history. The program has been reviewed and approved by SUNY and the New York State Education Department.

“As someone who moved to the United States in search of educational and economic opportunity, I take great pride in seeing Empire State University embrace diversity by launching our first degree program fully offered in Spanish,” said Provost Rai Kathuria in a news release. “As New York’s only public online university, we are uniquely positioned to serve Spanish-speaking students regardless of where they live.”

For more information on the program, visit www.sunyempire.edu/president/spanish-bba/.

B-Spa Universal Prekindergarten Enrollment Begins Next Month

Written by Saratoga TODAY on . Posted in Education.

BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa Central School District will begin enrolling students for its Universal Prekindergarten (UPK) Program for the 2025-2026 school year next month.

The online registration form will be available on the district’s UPK web page beginning at 8 a.m. on February 10. The application deadline is March 28. Children who reside within the school district and are four years of age on or before December 1, 2025 are eligible.

In the event that there are more applicants than available spaces, all complete applications will be included in a random lottery that will be conducted at the close of the enrollment period. Those not selected in the lottery will be placed on a waiting list. All families who submit a timely application will be mailed acceptance/declination letters after the lottery. All complete applications received after the March 28 deadline will be placed on a waiting list in the order in which they are received. 

For additional information, visit the district’s Universal Prekindergarten Program web page at www.bscsd.org/departments/curriculum-instruction/2025-2026-universal-pre-kindergarten-program.

Skidmore Grad Opens Library in Ivory Coast

Written by Jonathon Norcross on . Posted in Education, Featured.


Korotoumou Katy Ballo poses with a group of young students inside an Ivory Coast library created by her nonprofit, Impactful Education. Photo via Impactful Education. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A Skidmore College alum who grew up in Anyama, Ivory Coast  amidst a decade-long civil war returned to her hometown to open a library that offers thousands of youth free access to educational resources.

Korotoumou Katy Ballo explained how she accomplished this feat at a Saratoga Springs Lions Club meeting in December.

“It was very difficult for [my generation] because we grew up with a civil war and we felt like the older generation had failed us,” Ballo said. “So we have to make sure that we don’t fail the next generation.”

When graduating from Skidmore in 2021, Ballo was a recipient of the Davis Projects for Peace award, a program that funds students who want to implement their own grassroots projects for peace anywhere in the world. This grant led to the creation of Impactful Education and the construction of the first-ever library in Anyama. 

Ballo said that many students in Anyama struggle with literacy and don’t always have access to modern technology. Ballo herself had never seen a library nor used a computer prior to immigrating to New York in 2013 (she now works as a senior financial risk consultant at Ernst & Young in New York City).

“Some of them, the first time they used a computer was when they started coming to our library,” she said. “So we are trying to close the literacy and technology gap.”

The library (or education hub as it’s officially known) has 24 computers and thousands of books. A free, 8-week summer program in 2024 helped educate 50 young people from Anyama, offering English learning classes, creative writing, fundamental reading skills, and group discussions and debates. Students also learned basic computer skills and progressed to using programs such as Microsoft Office.

Ballo’s Impactful Education aims to expand its influence in the future, hoping to reach hundreds of thousands of young learners in the rural Ivory Coast by building more libraries and offering more technological resources and educational programs.

“We are doing it for the younger generation,” Ballo said.

Impactful Education has earned financial support from the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs, as well as the Presbyterian United Church of Christ in Saratoga Springs. Ballo serves as the organization’s founder and CEO, and Don Wildermuth of the Wilton Rotary Club serves as the org’s treasurer. The nonprofit is currently accepting tax-deductible donations after recently becoming 501(c)(3) approved. To donate or learn more, visit impactfuleducationprojects.org.

Waldorf Students View Medieval and Renaissance Exhibits

Written by Saratoga TODAY on . Posted in Education.


Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs students view a replica of Westminster Hall’s hammer-beam ceiling at Saint Mary’s Academy in Glens Falls. Photo provided.

GLENS FALLS — Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs middle school students recently visited The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls to view medieval and Renaissance art displayed at the “Growing up in a Renaissance Palazzo” exhibition.

Students observed medieval paintings and books, and even a drawing of the “Mona Lisa.” Then, students walked to nearby Saint Mary’s Academy to see the Great Hall, the ceiling of which is a replica of the medieval hammer-beam ceiling at Westminster Hall in London.

Skidmore Students Use Minecraft to Study Ancient Rome 

Written by Saratoga TODAY on . Posted in Education.


Assistant Professor of Classics Amy Oh discusses ancient Rome with students in her course The Romans in Their Environment before jumping into the video game Minecraft. Photo via Skidmore College.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Skidmore College students in the classics course The Romans in Their Environment are using the video game Minecraft to build a fictional ancient Roman town. The students “live” inside the town as everyday Romans to better understand existence in the ancient world.

“When students have this idea of the ancient Romans, they think about senators, they think about Julius Caesar or the elites,” Assistant Professor of Classics Amy Oh told Skidmore’s Angela Valden. “I wanted to focus on the normal people, the people who did the work. They didn’t get paid very much, but they were thriving, and they made up 99% of the population.”

In consultation with environmental studies major Kate Manor, Oh decided that Minecraft could be the right tool for building an ancient world that all her students could be a part of. She learned that Skidmore had the licensing for the education version of the immensely popular game, which allows players to define their own objectives and create their own virtual worlds.

Her students developed backstories for the Romans they each represented, then met together on the Minecraft platform to start building — a process that involved researching Roman towns and urban planning and then mapping out the geography.

“Once we built the town, ‘Skidrome,’ we had a festival and we invited people from the Skidmore community to come walk through with us via Zoom,” Oh said. “We also had them engage in some politics in the game. We had two administrative officials who were going up for re-election, so we had to hold a debate and a vote, and an election took place. We also had a natural disaster. We did all this because the core of the course is for the students to think about everyday Romans and how they interacted with the world around them.”

Oh said she has learned a lot as an educator by incorporating Minecraft into her course, and she can see the potential for using it across many different disciplines.

“We have to meet the students where they are. They have this other mode of learning that we haven’t fully tapped into yet. We can do games in class, but this is a longer commitment. I’m excited about it,” she said.

Principal: Ballston Spa High School Students “Pretty Compliant” With Cell Phone Policy

Written by Jonathon Norcross on . Posted in Education.

BALLSTON SPA — Ballston Spa High School’s “silent and away” cell phone policy appears to be working, according to a presentation delivered by Principal Matthew Robinson at a December 18 Board of Education meeting.

Last year, the school implemented the new policy that requires phones to be silent and not visible in classrooms. Each classroom has a phone holder that teachers can either use or not use as they see fit. If a student is caught using a phone during class time, they are sent to the office and their phone is confiscated for the rest of the day.

Robinson said that, thus far, students have been “pretty compliant” with the rules. Freshmen and sophomores have been especially compliant, he said, because they became used to the policy during middle school. High School teachers have also reported that they’ve seen less cell phone issues during instructional time. 

According to data presented by Robinson, from September through December this year, there were 84 total cell phone infractions. These infractions tended to happen during unstructured time such as lunch, when cyberbullying incidents can sometimes occur. 

Robinson said he doesn’t think that cell phones have introduced new problems with bullying, but rather made existing issues worse. “It’s rare now that we deal with a bullying situation and there’s never a cell phone involved,” he said.

Plans Unveiled for Schuylerville Schools Capital Project

Written by Saratoga TODAY on . Posted in Education, Featured.


A rendering of the proposed updates and enhancements for the Schuylerville
High School main lobby entrance. Images via the district’s capital project PowerPoint presentation.

A rendering of the proposed updates and enhancements for the Schuylerville
Elementary School main lobby entrance.

SCHUYLERVILLE — At the December 16 Board of Education meeting, Bill McMordie from Saratoga Project Management delivered a presentation outlining the scope and vision of the Schuylerville School District’s next capital project proposal.

“The proposed project is designed to tackle items that were left out of previous initiatives and address new priorities that have emerged,” said Superintendent Dr. Ryan Sherman at the meeting. “Since the district’s last major project concluded in 2019, several areas have been identified as needing attention.”

The proposed scope of work includes improvements to site infrastructure. The phasing of work will span from the summer of 2027, through the 2027-28 school year, and into the summer of 2028.

Main Parking Lot

Reconstruct the existing parking lot with an asphalt and stone subbase.

Study circulation patterns for safety and efficiency.

Separate bus and car traffic.

Shift student parking spaces to the north parking lot.

Widen the access road to the rear of the middle school.

Elementary School

Elementary classroom cabinet doors & countertops will be replaced.

Construct a concrete walk from the building door to the playscape.

Paint, update, and enhance the main lobby entrance.

Replace classroom cabinet doors & countertops.

Replace lockers for grades 4 & 5.

Add LED lighting into several classrooms.

Add new gym wall pads, main court and side court basketball backboards/rims, and paint the gym

High School

Paint, update, and enhance the main lobby entrance.

Renovate chemistry and physics rooms.

Replace lockers.

General Work

Asbestos abatement 

According to the district, one of the key features of the project is its financial approach. The district is planning the timeline of the proposed capital project to align with the expiration of existing bonds. This strategy is designed to ensure that the proposed improvements can be funded with minimal or no additional tax burden on the community. Definitive cost estimates, along with the final scope and schedule of the project, will be presented at a Board of Education meeting on January 13.

Local Author Wins Children’s Book Award

Written by Saratoga TODAY on . Posted in Education.


Moonbeam book award winners, including local author Francine Dingeman, pose with their medals.
Photo provided.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — On November 9, Saratoga Springs-based author Francine Dingeman was awarded the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award silver medal in the category of Learning Order (Alphabet/Counting Books) by the Jenkins Group of Traverse City, Michigan for her book “The Animal Menagerie.”

The book, written by Dingeman and illustrated by Marta Maszkiewicz, is an A to Z picture book filled with characters from the animal kingdom. It was written to entertain and educate children ages 4-7 by introducing dozens of new words into their vocabulary. Each letter of the alphabet comes to life with illustrations and story vignettes.

Since receiving the award, Dingeman’s book has gone into a First Edition, Second Printing and is available in a variety of local Saratoga shops such as Saratoga Outdoors, G. Willikers, Celtic Treasures, Impressions of Saratoga, The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Gift Shop, Accents at Allerdice in Malta, and Play Hollow in Ballston Spa. “The Animal Menagerie” can also be found online at FrancineDingeman.com.

Saratoga Transportation Woes Continue: District Considers Changing School Start Times

Written by Jonathon Norcross on . Posted in Education, Featured.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A six-month study of the Saratoga Springs transportation department suggested that district schools should change their schedules to help ease problems caused by the ongoing bus driver shortage. The altered start and end times would be the result of transitioning the district from a two-tier busing system to a three-tiered one.

In a presentation delivered at the December 12 Board of Education meeting, proposed schedule changes included: 

High School students arriving 15 minutes earlier and departing 20 minutes earlier, with a start time of 7:30 a.m.

Maple Avenue Middle School students arriving 45 minutes later and departing 40 minutes later, with a start time of 8:30 a.m.

Caroline Street and Division Street Elementary students arriving 20 minutes earlier and departing 20 minutes earlier, with a start time of 8:50 a.m.

Dorothy Nolan, Lake Avenue, Geyser Road, and Greenfield Elementary students arriving 40 minutes later and departing 40 minutes later, with a start time of 9:50 a.m.

“This is the best scenario that we’ve found thus far,” said Paul Overbaugh, who helped conduct the study and is the former state director of pupil transportation for the New York State Education Department. In addition to reducing the amount of time students spend on buses, Overbaugh also said the proposed changes could attract more drivers, in part because they would have more control in choosing the age groups of students they transport.

Transitioning the district to a three-tiered busing system could prevent cancellations such as the ones that occurred on November 6, when the district alerted parents that “due to the school bus driver shortage and employee illness,” buses 461 and 466 had both been canceled, along with all after-school late buses.

“There is a growing frustration amongst our community that when we’re cancelling bus routes regularly now and we’re not meeting the needs of our program…it’s our responsibility to consider change,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Patton.

None of the proposed schedule changes are imminent. If the changes were to go into effect, it would happen around September 2025. Patton called the study a “starting point” for conversations with the community. “This is one solution,” Patton said. “There may be other solutions out there that we haven’t even explored yet.”

A number of education board members pushed back strongly against the proposed changes. 

“I’m concerned about the later start for those three elementary schools,” said Trustee Beth Braxton. “It can be really challenging as a working parent to figure that out, early childcare.”

Trustee Dr. Connie Woytowich agreed. “It’s very hard to be a working family with that kind of schedule,” she said.

“Families, including mine, are struggling with the 9:10 start time already,” said Trustee Natalya Lakhtakia. “I’m curious about how families are going to manage with a 9:50 start time. How will a person be able to have a job?…The idea of moving the elementary school [start time] later, it makes me concerned that we as a board are going to come across as not really caring whether adults in the home can work or not.”

Board Vice President Tony Krackeler was also concerned about the earlier start time for high school students. “Studies have shown that we’re already taxing kids too much in that area…in terms of getting them to school that early,” he said.

The district has been contending with logistical challenges in its transportation department for several years. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the district had 85 drivers. It now has 69 drivers who are tasked with covering 71 routes across 112 square miles. The district has been engaged in driver recruitment efforts, and offers to pay trainees $20 an hour to become certified drivers. But “even with those efforts in place, driver shortages continue to be a problem,” Patton said.

Despite the ongoing issues, the district cut two full-time transportation department positions earlier this year as part of its 2024-2025 budget. The positions included a dispatcher and mechanic, both of whom sometimes served as substitute bus drivers when necessary. 

At an April 25 budget adoption meeting, bus dispatcher Dean Musgrove expressed his opposition to the cuts. “It’s really going to do a lot of damage to our department and I don’t think you realize the extent of it,” Musgrove warned.

Bus driver shortages have been an issue both locally and across the country. Data from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) indicates that from September 2019 to September 2023, there was a 15.1% decrease in the total number of K-12 bus drivers nationwide. Several factors have contributed to the shortage, including low wages. According to the EPI, school bus driver wages are significantly lower than most other workers. Drivers earned an average of $20 per hour in 2022, which is nearly 17% less than the median wage for all workers. Drivers only work an average of around 32 hours per week, which means their weekly wages are also below average. Many drivers also don’t work during summers, which further decreases their yearly income.

According to an active job posting, the Saratoga Springs school district is offering prospective bus drivers $22.15 per hour, which is below the median wage for all workers in the economy ($24.04), according to data from 2022. The district also has a School Bus Assistant position open that pays $17.09 per hour. 

At the board meeting, Overbaugh pushed back against the idea that higher wages would solve the problem. “If someone was going to be motivated by a salary increase, it’s only going to be temporary,” he said. “I mean, it helps, don’t get me wrong…but it’s not going to be the end all, be all. Really there needs to be a paradigm shift in our communities to want to do something for the good of our district.”

Krackeler said he respectfully disagreed with Overbaugh. “If we’re not paying enough, we ought to pay more. More money will work better than platitudes about getting butts in the seat, I think.”