APW Central PTSA asked each of the candidates for the contested Board of Education seat to submit written responses to a series of questions about their background and their priorities. In order for voters to have a clearer picture of where each candidates, we present their responses here. Please note that these responses are not edited in any way and that the views expressed here belong to the candidates alone.

Click on each candidate’s name below to read their responses. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order.

Shawn Clark
David Horton
Joseph Scott

The Board of Education election will be held on Tuesday, May 16th, from 12-9 p.m. at the District Office, 639 County Route 22, Parish. All APW residents ages 18 and up are eligible to cast their vote.

As you read in the Rebel Alliance newsletter and have likely seen in the news, APW voters will have the opportunity to weigh in on a capital project next month. This will not increase the tax levy or pass along additional costs to voters; the project makes use of existing reserve funds to stabilize our school infrastructure.

You can read more about the project in this brief apw_factsheet_final or review the full Capital Project Communication and Update Superintendent Report to the Board August 11 2016 here.

In addition, there will be a public hearing and information session on the matter this Thursday, August 25th, at 6 p.m. in the high school cafeteria. All are welcome to attend.

Voting will take place on Tuesday, September 6th, from 11 a.m.-8 p.m.at the District offices. All APW District residents age 18 and up are eligible to vote.

APW will be hosting a series of enrichment daycamps for elementary students this summer. The Program information was sent home a few weeks ago. Here is a back-up copy: Summer Enrichment Offerings. Please note that the deadline to register is Friday, May 20th.

CiTi (formerly BOCES) in Mexico is also holding some great youth programs this summer. You’ll find more information here and the registration form here. The deadline to register is June 17th.

The PE Department is helping our students to work toward fitness goals this new year, and they’re encouraging all the kids to shoot for national fitness standards.

Want to see the goals? Here is the goal set for girls and for boys (for both the National Patch and Presidential Award). As we think about our own goals and resolutions for 2016, these would be great to keep in mind.

PTSA is offering APW Rebels apparel for sale just in time for Christmas. Orders are due by Friday, December 4th, so that we can receive items before the holiday. Because time is short, we cannot accept late orders.

T-shirts and sweatshirts are available in youth and adult sizes (up to 3X, for a slight additional charge). To order, please complete this apparel order form 1 and submit with your payment. Checks should be made payable to APW PTSA.

Orders will be available for pickup on Monday, December 21st, from 3-6 p.m. at the elementary school. If you’d like to keep your items a surprise for Christmas, please be sure to pick them up.  Any orders that are not picked up on the 21st will be sent home with students on the 22nd.

Parent-Teacher Conferences for the first marking period will be Friday, 11/20; Monday, 11/23; and Tuesday, 11/24. Here is some information for making the most of these brief meetings, so that you can work cooperatively with your child’s teachers throughout the school year.

At parent teacher conferences, your child’s teacher will have a pink academic folder that contains data on your child. They will also present you with goals that are part of an academic plan based on the individual needs of your child. Below are some possible questions to ask your child’s teacher(s) during the conference about the contents of the folder and the academic goals for your child. These suggestions are organized by grade level.

PK and K Questions:

1.     How is my child doing in math, science, ELA, and social studies?

2.     Are you noticing any delays or skill deficiencies?

3.     What is being done instructionally to address these delays or deficiencies?

4.     Where is my child excelling?

5.     What enrichment opportunities are being offered in the classroom to keep my child engaged where he or she is excelling?

6.     What academic goals have you set for my child based on his or her needs?

7.     What can I do at home to help my child?

Grades 1-3 Questions:

1.     How did my child do on the ELA and math assessments at the end of the school year last year?

2.     Where did or are you noticing gaps in skills in math, ELA, science, and social studies?

3.     How are my child’s needs being met instructionally to address the gaps and skill deficiencies?

4.     Is my child excelling in any areas?

5.     What enrichment opportunities are being offered in the classroom to keep my child engaged where he or she is excelling?

6.     What academic goals have you set for my child based on his or her needs?

7.     What can I do at home to help my child?

Grades 4-6 Questions:

1.     What is growth, and what is proficiency in relation to the state exams?

2.     What were my child’s proficiency scores on the NYS ELA an math exams (Science for 4th)?

3.     What were my child’s growth scores? What does this mean?

4.     What academic/skill deficiencies does my child have in ELA, math, science, and social studies?

5.     How are my child’s needs being met instructionally to address the gaps and skill deficiencies?

6.     Where is my child excelling?

7.     What enrichment opportunities are being offered in the classroom to keep my child engaged where he or she is excelling?

8.     What academic goals have you set for my child based on his or her needs?

9.     What can I do at home to help my child?

Glossary of terms
AIS = Academic Intervention Services  RtI = Response to Intervention ELA = English Language Arts

PTSA is once again offering beautiful poinsettia plants and wreaths from Hemlock Haven. Orders are due by Friday, November 20th (with payment).

Poinsettias are available in red, white, and pink for $10 each. Wreaths are $25 each and come fully decorated. Both last for many weeks and make terrific holiday gifts.

Order forms were sent home with students during the week of November 9th. Additional order forms are available here. Thank you for your support of PTSA, and Happy Holidays!

We’re gearing up for another great year at APW Elementary, and would love your input and assistance. Now, now, we know that meetings aren’t everybody’s thing and that we’re ALL busy. Please hear us out. We think there’s a way for you to be part of the action in a way that will work for you.

First off, meetings: our monthly face-to-face meetings will now be on Saturday mornings at 8 a.m. We’ll keep these brief (just one hour!). And we’ll sweeten the deal a little:

• come to a meeting and bring a friend (someone who’s never been to a meeting before), and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $5 gift card for both you and your friend!
• attend just 4 meetings this year, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card!
• we’ll also be adding regular open conference calls–details to follow

Secondly, active involvement: our organization depends upon parents and community members (that includes grandparents and other relatives!) pitching in to make wonderful things happen. We are fortunate to have a dedicated core of about 6-8 people who we can count on anytime, but those folks are sometimes spread pretty thin. We don’t want anyone to feel burned out or crazy because of PTSA, and we know that many hands make light work.We need YOU!

Here are some ways that you can help:

Do you have daytime availability? If so, we could really use your help with

• Book Fair (September, March, and May–just one or two days during those weeks would be a huge help to us)
• School Store–this entails committing to a few hours one day a month (approx. 10-1:30, choice of day is up to you), and is a great opportunity to meet a lot of the kids
• Refreshments at various events (i.e. holiday concert, Christmas snack, Fun Days, 6th grade moving up, etc.)–you don’t have to help with everything, but if you could be on our “on call” list, we would be most grateful

Could you help out with an ongoing project on your own schedule, whenever it works for you? If so, we’re looking for

• Labels for Education coordinator–this involves picking up the Labels that are submitted, trimming them, and submitting them to the company. You can do this once or twice a year, every month, whenever the mood strikes and you have some mindless moments to spend.
• Cartridges for Kids coordinator–this involves advertising the program with some signs around the school, picking up the cartridges that are submitted, and packing them for shipping (at our expense, of course!) This would probably entail a few hours of your time every couple of months.
• Bakers–folks who can help furnish refreshments a few times a year (i.e. for our family dances and for our faculty/staff appreciation luncheon). We tell you when we need stuff, and you decide what to make. It’s as easy as pie (or cookies, cupcakes, brownies…..)

Would you like to take responsibility for ONE event, have a deadline, and then be done with it? If so, we’ve got some great activities that we’d love you to tackle. You’re not on your own here–we need a leader, but we provide a lot of input and workers. Maybe you’d love to take on

• PARP (Parents/People as Reading Partners, month of February)
• Celebrate the Snow Day (February 27th)
• Exploration Night (March 24th)
• Spring Fundraiser (February-April timeframe)

Please think it over, and consider how you might be able to contribute to PTSA. There are many more ways besides just what we’ve named here–if you have a skill or passion that you’d like to share with our school community, or if you have questions about anything you’ve read here, please let us know! You can email us at apwcentralptsa@gmail.com or contact us via Facebook (APW Elementary PTSA).

Be sure to look for us, too, at the upcoming pre-K and Kindergarten Orientations, at Open House, and at our first big event of the year, Rebel Day (Saturday, September 26th). We’d love to hear from you!

Since expanding to a district-wide PTSA last summer, APW Central PTSA now serves students from Pre-K through Grade 12; that’s about 1300 kids in our district! We’re dedicated to enriching ALL of our students’ educational experiences, and to ensuring that they all graduate from APW college- and career-ready.

And to do this well, we NEED you.

We don’t necessarily need you to show up to every single meeting or every single event (though we love it when you do!). We don’t need you to spend all your free time brainstorming new activities and events (though we love you hear your ideas!). Instead, what we need is for all of our members to commit to doing something each year to help our organization. Even just a few hours of your time at some point in this next year would make a huge difference to our organization.

So here’s something we’re trying to make that easier and more workable for everyone: we’re changing our approach to meetings: we know that afternoon meetings don’t work for most of our working parents and that evening meetings can be impossible for busy families, so we’re piloting a new plan. We’ll have a biweekly conference call open to all members (9 p.m., after the kiddos are tucked in), and then once a month we’ll gather for coffee and discussion on a Saturday morning. We hope that this will make it easier for everybody to connect with us, with multiple opportunities at different times.

And if meetings aren’t really your thing, that’s okay. We still want you! We have lots of opportunities for other ways to be involved. See below for some of the ways YOU could be involved.

Do you want to work on your own schedule (whenever works for you–a few hours here and there)?

• BoxTops Coordinator
• Labels for Education Coordinator
• Cartridges for Kids Coordinator

Would you prefer to focus on one specific, time-limited event (and then kick back when it’s all done)?

• Fundraiser Chair (fall or spring)
• Stuff-a-Bus Coordinator
• Event Chair (miscellaneous opportunities throughout the year)

Do you have some daytime availability (when the kids are in school)? Are you interested in spending some time with our students?

• Refreshments Chair/helper
• School Store
• Book Fair

If you have questions, want to know more, or would like to volunteer, please come to a meeting, message us on Facebook, or email us at apwcentralptsa@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you!