Dear Batavia Families and Community,
It has been a while since we have communicated between my personal vacation and some professional travel, but I am looking forward to resuming my regular bi-weekly cycle of updates.
First, I want to briefly comment on the recent unfortunate and unfounded threat we dealt with on the morning of Friday, February 24. School safety continues to be at the forefront of all our minds, and I'm thankful for the wonderful partnership we have with the Batavia Police Department. We were notified immediately of the threat, and while I was not in the District that day, I am grateful for the amazing efforts of our District leadership team, especially Trisha Finnigan and our Communication Director, Emily Benedict. Once we have all the information, our process is then to notify families immediately. I am also thankful to our media partners for their assistance in publicizing these important messages. Of course, if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to me or your child’s principal directly.
I’d like to congratulate our Boys and Girls Indoor Track Team—and their coaches—on their Sectional Championship they earned on February 18. Not only did they make Batavia proud for their athletic accomplishments, we appreciated their sportsmanship, commitment, and dedication to their respective events. Well done team!
Bravo to our BHS Drama and Production Club on their wonderful and breathtaking performance of the classic musical Les Misérables. I had the honor of viewing each show (as I played in the orchestra), and each performance was spectacular, with well-deserved standing ovations from our audience. Here are some “views from the pit” that I was able to record.
This year, we are participating in the Broadway Stars of Tomorrow, and I can’t wait to hear how our students fared. Stay tuned…
Our District-wide art show is currently taking place at the Richmond Memorial Library, and be sure to take some time to check it out. I enjoy and appreciate all of our students' talents, and I especially find the art shows to be impressive (perhaps because I never took art in high school and now wish I did.) I have the challenging task of selecting some awards for this show, so if you have any recommendations, please send them my way. The art show will culminate in a reception and awards ceremony on Friday, March 24, at 6:45 pm at the Richmond Memorial Library.
I extend my thanks and appreciation to our dedicated School Social Workers as we recognized National School Social Worker week this past week. Our social workers play an integral role in our bridging those important school-family-community connections. As you may have read, we have recently received a significant federal grant that will allow us to expand further our support for our students and families, and I am grateful for the leadership of administrators Dr. Molly Corey and Julia Rogers for their herculean efforts in securing this grant.
Recently, both John Kennedy and Jackson/Robert Morris hosted some fabulous and well-attended Social Emotional Learning (SE) Family Fun Nights. Thanks to Mr. Sutton and Mrs. Notaro and their leadership teams for hosting these important events for our families and community.
I had the opportunity to celebrate with a group of seniors this past week who earned Summa Cum Laude honors, and we look forward to sharing and celebrating these students next week when we have our traditional 100 Days to Graduation celebration.
Finally, next Friday, March 17, we will be honoring several BHS music graduates in our annual Musicians of Note Induction—please consider joining us as we celebrate their remarkable musical achievements!
Don’t forget there is no school on Monday, March 13, as we are having our final Superintendent's Conference Day, which will include professional development and valuable curriculum work for our staff.
Have a great weekend…
Jason A. Smith
Superintendent of Schools
343-2480, ext 1000
jasonsmith@bataviacsd.org
Twitter: @JasonJasmith & @BataviaCSD