BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa Central School District held a Board of Education meeting on Dec. 1 to award the latest round of grants from the Ballston Spa Education Foundation, give updates on the CTE programs and curriculum, and appoint a new board member.
Ballston Spa Education Foundation Grants
The Ballston Spa Education Foundation is celebrating 25 years of “supporting the innovation and creativity of teachers” in the district. This latest round of grants brings the total donation to the district to nearly half a million dollars over these past 25 years.
This fall, two grants were presented for a total of $4,607.92. The first grant of $3,679.92 went to Brian Retersdorf, BSCSD K-12 Music Coordinator, to purchase ukuleles for the elementary school. The second grant of $928 dollars went to Tracy Larocque and Marissa Bongo, high school social studies teachers, to purchase collaboration station whiteboards for their self-paced learning classrooms.
The spring grant cycle opens prior to spring recess. Any interested staff employed by the district is encouraged to submit an application. Stay tuned for Ballston Spa Education Foundation events in the spring celebrating their 25th year. For more information, visit www.bspaedfoundation.com.
CTE (Career & Technical Education) Programs
The relocation of underused computer labs has been in the works for two years. At the meeting, it was officially announced that a computer lab has been fully converted into a state-of-the-art TV studio to expand upon student-run communications. The studio is also being used for the weekly morning news show that is broadcasted throughout the building.
In addition, the district is in the process of developing a new Digital Multimedia department with CTE programs such as Media and Arts Technology, Video Production and Editing, Advanced Broadcasting, and Visual Effects and Motion Graphics. The Video Production and Editing will be a CHS class with SUNY Adirondack.
BSCSD currently has 4 CTE programs approved by NYSED. There are 102 students enrolled in Business Management/Entrepreneurship, 83 students enrolled in Marketing, 120 students enrolled in Building Sciences, and 145 students enrolled in Pre-Engineering.
Also announced, this 2021-22 school year, the News program was converted into a SkillsUSA Chapter. For the 2022-2023 school year, there are plans to add a DECA Chapter (Distributed Education Clubs of America) for Business and Entrepreneurship.
CTE or CDOS (Career Development and Occupational Study) can now also be an endorsement on Regents Diplomas.
Curriculum
The district has adopted a tiered social and emotional learning curriculum for grade levels K-5. Implementation began in the fall of 2020, and has helped students through the pandemic. The curriculum is intended to teach students self-regulation, perspective taking, building and managing positive relationships, and navigating through conflict to help them benefit even more from classroom instruction. Elementary school counselors (there is at least one in every building) provide weekly in-person lessons to all classrooms, and teachers follow up with smaller lessons each day throughout the week.
The district is in Year 3 after implementing changes to other areas of their curriculum. In the ELA, or literacy, curriculum, students have a set routine for learning, with content that grows with them as they move up to the next grade level. Students have 3, 45-minute instructional blocks a day, and all students now have access to and are reading at grade-level or above. In the math curriculum, the use of pre-assessments has helped teachers notice gaps in learning in certain grades levels and can now address what skills they are lacking as a result of virtual learning during the pandemic. And in the science curriculum, students are now receiving more hand-on learning, rather than memorization.
Addressing the social studies curriculum is the next step in Year Four. In Year Five, the data will be reviewed and refined then implemented and developed. In Year 6, the curriculum will continue to be monitored for effectiveness and adjusted as necessary.
Appointment of New Board Member
Following a board member’s resignation on Nov. 3, Lawrence Ryan was appointed to fill the vacancy during the Dec. 1 Board of Education meeting. Ryan will hold office for the remainder of the term, until June 30, 2022 and the next regular school election. He will be a sitting board member at the next meeting on Dec. 15. For more information on Ryan and the other BOE members, please visit www.bscsd.org/domain/19.
