District news and updates from Superintendent Corr

COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing/ UWay Campaign/ Inclement Weather Plans/ Winter Concerts…and more…

 

Dear North Colonie Families,

I hope that you and yours are well. I wanted to share information with you about some of our happenings in the District.

NC’s COVID-19 Testing Clinic is open 7 days a week

As you may have heard, North Colonie CSD’s COVID-19 Testing Clinic, located at 91 Fiddlers Lane in Latham, is now open seven days a week. Our goal is to keep our students in school and we want to help families by providing easily accessible testing. The free diagnostic COVID testing is for symptomatic students and staff. Results typically take 48 hours. For more information about NC’s Testing Clinic, including the registration process and hours of operation, please click here.

Meet our new administrators

We are pleased to have a number of new administrators in our district. While you may have met the administrator associated with your child’s school, we want to share a bit about each of them with the entire school community. This week we’re featuring SHS Principal Jim Wager. You can learn more about Mr. Wager here.

Our United Way campaign to support NC Families

The North Colonie Central CSD prides itself on our commitment to supporting our community and we believe our mission to help others is more vital than ever before. The North Colonie PTA Council has partnered with The United Way of the Capital Region to hold its annual fund drive to support our neighbors and friends.

Last year’s donations helped more than 250 North Colonie families and were used to purchase gift cards, meals and clothing. Please click here to learn more about NC’s United Way Campaign.

SHS senior Vivian Nartey

The Mohawk Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution yesterday honored Shaker High School senior Vivian Nartey as the SHS Good Citizen for 2021-2022. The National Society of DAR sponsors this annual award to encourage and reward the qualities of good citizenship among high school seniors. Congratulations, Vivian!

Inclement weather

While winter doesn’t officially start for another couple of weeks, the reality is we have snow on the ground in some areas. In preparation for inclement weather, we want North Colonie families and our staff to to know how the district will handle weather-related closures and delays this school year.

NCCSD has 183 days built into the 2021-22 school year – leaving three days for emergency closings, which include weather events and other unforeseen emergencies.

Therefore, in the event of inclement weather we plan to use traditional snow closings as we have used prior to the pandemic. We will also reserve the option when appropriate to call a delay for road crews and our own facilities staff to clear roads and walkways. Learn more about our inclement weather plans here.

The return of winter concerts

The North Colonie Music Department has enjoyed welcoming families back for in-person middle and high school concerts this winter. Due to COVID-19 protocols and limited seating in the Shaker HS auditorium, attendance was limited. For some of our 6th grade students, it was the first time they participated in a concert! Audio recordings of these concerts will be available soon.

We’re recording virtual elementary concerts since we cannot fit an audience in the elementary building due to COVID-19 protocols at this time. Our goal is for our young students to have a positive experience in their building for their first “practice” concert. We can’t wait to welcome families to cheer on our 5th grade groups this spring in person!

My sincere thanks to District Music Supervisor Deb Keough and all the music teachers for their hard work to make these concerts happen. It was truly wonderful to hear our students play music and sing songs together again in person.

Winter recess

A friendly reminder that our winter recess runs from Dec. 24 to Jan. 2.

I’ll send another communication to families before the break. In the meantime, please be well and take care.

Sincerely,

D. Joseph Corr
Superintendent

Category: District News