Welcome back to school, Timberwolves! We’re happy to have you back at S-E, where every day still counts and you will always belong!

There have been some big changes on campus this school year and we hope you’ve taken some time to see them for yourself. If you haven’t yet, we encourage you to swing by SECSD and take a look at your earliest convenience.

Our new elementary school playground, with age-appropriate play areas that our UPK-5 students enjoy every school day, officially opened in October. Located behind the ES, this playground is also open for community use outside of regular school hours.

Thanks to the construction crew who made it all come together quickly, and special thanks to Steven Davis and his Career and Technical Education students for helping to move dirt during the project. The same group is currently building a pole barn by our Sugarhouse and Chobani Greenhouse and will be helping with a survey of district property in the near future.

It’s no wonder then that the New York State Education Department recently approved our Carpentry and Building Construction Program as an accredited CTE Program, putting it on the same level as the CTE programs offered by DCMO BOCES. High School Principal Jolene Emhof was instrumental in finalizing this process with the support of Mr. Davis and Technology teacher Scott Bugbee. Congratulations to everyone involved as this allows us to offer yet another hands-on learning opportunity at SECSD.

The SECSD vision is to be “an innovative, high performing rural school district delivering educational excellence.” This is why we will continue to expose our students to educational opportunities beyond those offered in a “traditional public school” setting as often as possible. It’s also why we’re always looking to be the best we can be. We want to be the district of choice, and in order to do that, we have to keep exploring new programs. Students and parents have said they want more hands-on opportunities – they really couldn’t have been any clearer – so that’s exactly what we’re giving them.

Hats off to our faculty, staff, administrators, Board of Education, students and families for contributing to an amazing start to the 2024-2025 school year. We appreciate everyone who bought into our new cell phone policy, which has led to more student engagement and far fewer stressful distractions. Students can use Yondr pouches to lock their personal devices during school hours or just simply not bring them into school buildings. Everyone has benefited from this transformative change, which has been super-noticeable.

We’ve also physically come together for big events, such as the first day of school, fall sports parade/bonfire, stadium reopening, Halloween parade, veterans lunches, athletic events, and more. We hope you took advantage of these big events to see our Capital Project improvements firsthand. Stadium upgrades, including a new turf field, track and video scoreboard, marked the first part of Phase II in our Capital Project.

The field was first class all the way, and we held a special day for all students to enjoy the new turf before officially opening it to the public. Next up is our MS/HS Auditorium, which will be completely renovated (new seats, new lights, new sound system, etc.). This will present a challenge as our winter stage performances are right around the corner, but surely, we will adjust just fine.

Speaking of performances, congratulations to Sherburne-Earlville’s Drama Club for winning four state awards for its production of Little Women in November. That’s simply amazing, and we couldn’t have done it without the support (and stage) of the Earlville Opera House.

You can read more about our drama club’s awards in this newsletter, which is packed with SECSD news from start to finish. Remember, you also can stay up to date with everything that’s happening at school through the S-E App and by visiting our website and social-media pages (Facebook and Twitter) on a regular basis.

Enjoy the holiday season and stay tuned because more great things are on the way!

 

Superintendent of Schools

Sherburne-Earlville CSD