Dear Onteora Families, 

As we move into the holiday season, I see our families working hard to support our students and showing the incredible resilience that exists within this community. Nothing about the past eight months has been easy, but the difficulties we have faced have truly highlighted our community’s strengths. All of us in the schools are humbled and proud to partner with you throughout this pandemic. It seems as if each time we get through a new situation or challenge, something else pops up, but we will continue to focus on our students and know that they are the reason we all work together.

We are pleased that we have been able to continue our partnership with the Morningside Institute in support of our Social Emotional Learning/Equity initiative. It is so important that we recognize the stresses our students and families are facing. Today’s stresses are different from those of past years, and we have added parent workshops to our curriculum because we understand that entire families are struggling and in need of support

As many of you know, each year our Board of Education sets goals for the coming school year. If you have a moment, please review the Board of Education goals for this year. They can be found on the Board page of our website at: www.onteora.k12.ny.us/board-of-education/about-the-board/goals.

As you review the Board goals, you will note the focus on providing students with the educational environment and support that they need to thrive. The Board has created goals that aim to enhance and improve the culture and climate of our schools, the physical plant of our buildings, the content of the curriculum, and the opportunities that exist beyond graduation for our students. They recognize that progress may be slowed while we navigate through this pandemic, but the direction of the District is clearly laid out, and we will continue to strive to achieve these outcomes for our students.

Although all of our administrators say this frequently, it bears repeating: Thank you to our families for the patience and understanding that you have shown throughout this difficult time. The rules we are given by the New York State Education Department and the Department of Health seem to change frequently, and we are all doing our best to comply with all of the requirements while still providing a high-quality education for our students. At this time, there has been no indication that our State assessments and the spring Regents examinations will be waived as they were last spring, so our faculty is striving to ensure that all of our students are receiving the appropriate curriculum and will be prepared for these important exams. The world has gained a fresh appreciation for the work that is accomplished by teachers every day, and the Onteora faculty is certainly among the best faculty there is — please take a moment to thank a teacher!

Sincerely,
Victoria McLaren
vmclaren@onteora.k12.ny.us
845-657-6383 ext. 1010