LEADING THROUGH LISTENING

  Yesterday, there was news of the potential retirement of one of the greatest athletes any generation has ever seen, Tom Brady. Whether you like him or not, hopefully, you can respect what he has been able to achieve throughout his career, if in fact, this is the end. I mention him because recently in his ESPN series, he presented us with a Chinese proverb that has influenced his career and I found it striking and relevant to all of our lives. The Chinese proverb goes like this: A farmer and his son had a beloved stallion who helped the family earn a living. One day, the horse ran away and their neighbors exclaimed “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!”. The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.” A few days later the horse returned home, leading a few wild mares back to the farm as well. The neighbors shouted out “Your horse has returned and brought several horses home with him. What great luck!” and the farmer replied “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.” Later that week,

 The next couple of weeks will bring with it additional information and opportunities for gathering information in regard to the district's redistricting project. In March of 2021, the Board of Education and the district began work with a consultant to review district facility capacity, current school boundaries, and develop a plan that better utilizes our school spaces with the main focus on reducing class sizes. Obviously, this project has changed and grown throughout the year with the closure of Staley and the need to redistribute students into our remaining facilities. To date, the consultants have presented several times at Board meetings, held a public meeting with families and staff, and conducted a survey of staff members at grades k-8 to gather feedback on their desired outcomes. Through all of this, there have been several iterations and thoughts that continue to evolve as they continue to gather information and adapt their recommendations based on the information that th

 This week marks the annual anniversary of honoring and remembering one of our nation's greatest leaders and role models, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. One of the most impressive things about Dr. King's leadership is that he was not an individual appointed to a leadership position, or elected, or managing a company like a CEO. He was an ordinary man who firmly believed that good could triumph over hate. He believed those words in our Declaration of Independence when our nation's creators wrote, "All men are created equal." He believed that no matter what walk of life you came from, you were worthy of greatness, liberties, freedoms, and happiness. It was Dr. King's ideals, passion for advocating for others, and positivity that built his legion of followers. That's what made him a leader. It was his vision and undying desire to make the world around him a better place. Fast forward all these years and our nation is still clouded in a veil of inequality and more

Well, the year 2022 has certainly begun as chaotically as most people probably envisioned with COVID adjustments happening rapidly. Working in a school system, it certainly feels like April/May 2020 all over again where no two days were the same and the guidance, protocols, recommendations were changing by the hour. That being said, there are some changes that take effect this week coming from the NYSDOH and Oneida County Health Department that will have an impact on schools. First and foremost, it is important to know that each individual school district has been given latitude to increase the number of days above the County's requirement for quarantine/isolation, which means you will definitely see inconsistency from school district to school district. Also, if you have not seen Oneida County's most recent guidance on quarantine and isolation, you can do so by clicking this link:  https://ocgov.net/sites/default/files/exec/2022/covid/QuarantineGuidelines_01.06.22final.pdf . A

  I hope that everyone has had a wonderful start to the New Year and is welcoming the new year with optimism and excitement. Over the last few weeks of 2021, there were some developments that will directly affect schools in the coming weeks as it relates to COVID. While we have yet to receive updated school guidance regarding quarantine/isolation periods, the CDC has announced a shortened 5-day quarantine/isolation period for select cases and individuals. This would be a drastic and much less disruptive situation if NYS adopts these parameters for school-related situations. Also, NYS has been promoting the implementation of Test-to-Stay (TTS) programs for students and staff in schools. I expect that Oneida County will have parameters in place for this program in the coming weeks and that schools will be able to extend this as an additional option to help families and students in the future. Finally, as you may be aware, Governor Hochul this week has announced that NYS has provided at-h