Early Childhood Grant
For those that have not heard yet, the Rome City School District was awarded an Early Childhood grant in the amount of $1,147,527 by Governor Andrew Cuomo this past week. This award is the second largest grant provided in the State for this program. The funding will be utilized within this school year and must be used to begin a 3-year old program here in Rome. Having the opportunity to provide pre-school service to our 3-year olds will only benefit the district and community in the long run. I would like to thank our Director of Early Childhood, Nancy Kristl, for all of her effort and dedication to preparing this grant and getting it submitted. It was her vision that resulted in our youngest learners having this opportunity. While there are still many details to be worked out with regard to where the programs will be housed, it is expected that we should start seeing programs begin before February 2017.
Centennial Partnership Award
This week, our Art Department was awarded a Centennial Partnership Award for their efforts in building strong community partnerships and involvement with the National Parks Service Centennial and 40th Anniversary of Fort Stanwix last summer. The visual art teachers of the Rome City School District are constantly going above and beyond the call to both provide a quality experience for our students, but also to help them learn about the power and appreciation of art. Frequently throughout the year, you can find our students' artwork on display throughout the city as our teachers are always looking for ways to partner with the community and community organizations to promote our student work. Thank you to our art teachers and the National Parks Service for making this award possible. Congratulations artists!!Lead in School Drinking Water Testing
We have completed all of the testing on our buildings throughout the district and are awaiting the results. To date, we have only received the results of the testing conducted at Stokes Elementary School. Of the 72 samples taken, only 2 locations in the building came back as non-compliant with the State requirements. As the results from our other buildings become available, we will be notifying families by letter and on our website as to the results of the tests. The test results can be found at http://www.romecsd.org/Page/1634 for anyone that wants to follow all of the district buildings.