Dear Batavia Families and Community,
The 2022-23 school year has come to an end and will officially culminate this weekend with our BHS graduation ceremony—one of my favorite events of any school year, as we celebrate not only these wonderful graduates but our work together as a school community. I take great personal and professional pride in providing—together with the entire BCSD staff and community—the programs and opportunities that result in over 150 members of the Class of 2023! Congratulations, and thank you!
A statement that is often posed to me as I am out and about at various events, visiting schools, etc., is, “Boy, I would never want your job.” Quite often, this statement comes about after a challenging decision and always around weather-related decisions. But quite honestly, those types of days are thankfully few and far between, and instead, on a daily basis, I experience numerous joys as our superintendent. I have a few personal simple rules that I live by as superintendent, and one of them is to talk to a student every day, even if it is a simple hello or good morning. Our students are amazing, and they have such potential.
What are the other joys of my job that are also representative of the successful year we have had together? Let me share just a few:
- Our wonderful students
- Our talented teachers
- Our dedicated Board of Education members
- Our supportive families and school parent groups
- Our fantastic clerical staff
- Our kind teacher aides
- Our vigilant school security aides and School Resource Officers
- Our skilled IT (information technology) staff
- Our caring school nurses
- Our supportive counselors, social workers, school psychologists, and student support staff
- Our committed buildings and grounds crew (especially for the snow clean-ups
- Our passionate coaches and advisor
- Our employee associations who maintain a positive district-employee working relationship
- Our awesome food and nutrition staff
- Our leadership team, consisting of both district and building administrators, whom I am proud to call my colleague
The months of July and August represent a time for all of us to rest and recharge, but summer is still quite busy around our schools. All administrators and clerical staff are involved in numerous tasks to both close out and prepare for the 2023-24 school year, we run various summer programs for students, there are opportunities for staff training and curriculum development, and of course, we all enjoy the beauty of a Western New York summer.
As I often say, it is both a personal and professional pleasure to serve as your Superintendent of Schools. I look forward to celebrating this weekend with the Class of 2023. I thank you for the support of our students, and have a wonderful summer!
Jason A. Smith
Superintendent of Schools
585-343-2480, ext 1000
jasonsmith@bataviacsd.org