Good afternoon,

As we close out the first month of school, I want to continue to express my appreciation to all of you. Whether you are a parent, student, community member, or a faculty or staff member, thank you for all your efforts toward making our first four weeks of school good ones. While everything is not always perfect, we promise to do our best to meet any challenges head-on, problem-solve and continue to make improvement. We are committed to ensuring that every student in our district has an opportunity to be educatonally successful.

With principal appreciation month coming up in October, I 'd like to give an extra thank you to our school leaders whose vision, wisdom and passion move our schools forward. I look forward to highlighting our school principals throughout the month of October. Meanwhile, please take a moment to give a shoutout and say thank you to your school principal. #ThankSCSDPrincipals #ThankAPrincipal

On Friday, October 6, 2023, we will hold the annual "Go Home Early Drill" and will dismiss students 15 minutes earlier than usual. The purpose of the early dismissal drill is to test the effectiveness of the transportation and communication systems in the event of an emergency. This is an annual requirement.

Students will be dismissed 15 minutes earlier than usual as follows:

• Elementary School Students: 2:25 p.m.

• Middle and High School Students: 3:15 p.m.

Please expect your child's bus to arrive at the bus stop earlier than usual. If you pick your child up from school, please plan to arrive at school 15 minutes earlier.

I would like to give a shoutout and thank you to teacher/coach Brian Melanson and those in the athletic, teaching and learning, and innovation, equity and engagement departments, who are working so hard to ensure that swimming lessons are available to all families who are interested. Mr. Melanson and our teams responded to the overwhelming interest by creating more opportunity rather than limiting the number of available spaces.

We are thrilled to see the interest from our families. Drowning is the second leading cause of death for kids ages 5-14 so it's clear why learning to swim is important. The lessons learned during swim lessons can benefit a child for their entire life, including establishing a healthy relationship with exercise and fitness as kids associate swimming as fun.

REMINDERS

October 6
Emergency Early Release Day
All Students Dismissed 15 Minutes Early

October 9
Indigenous Peoples' Day
No School
District Offices Closed

October 2023
Breakfast & Lunch Menus

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

• Elementary Breakfast Menu

• Elementary Lunch Menu

MIDDLE SCHOOL

• Middle School Breakfast Menu

• Middle School Lunch Menu

HIGH SCHOOL

• High School Breakfast Menu

• High School Lunch Menu

• High School Center City Campus and Proctors

We have partnered with school safety company Gaggle to launch a new "SpeakUp for Safety" tipline that allows students to easily and confidentially report threats of violence, bullying, peers in crisis, and other imminent concerns that affect student well-being and security.

The "SpeakUp for Safety" Tipline will be continually monitored by Gaggle safety professionals, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long. Non-life-threatening tips will be quickly routed to designated school or district staff members, and in severe situations, district-appointed contacts will be immediately notified to take action. In the most urgent cases in which a student is in immediate danger and Gaggle is unable to notify a district-appointed contact, Gaggle will alert law enforcement to intervene.

Tipline
speakup@schenectadyschools.org
(518) 765-1500

You can find the SpeakUp for Safety link on the right-hand side of our district homepage.