SRCS creates pathways to success with new Middle School

Salmon River Central School district is forging new pathways to success for their students. With multi-million dollar capital projects to upgrade their hockey arena, high school cafeteria, adding on a technology wing, another gymnasium, locker room and library, Salmon River is in the midst of some big changes.

“A resolution was passed to create a Middle School encompassing grades 6-8 effective as of July 1, 2011,” said Jane Collins the Superintendent of the School District. “A study was done involving all the teachers and staff on the concept of creating a Middle School.”

The study itself outlined the creation of a Middle Level education program that focuses on students’ social, academic, emotional and cultural needs.

The current High School Principle, Angela Robert, will be taking on the initiative of implementing the Middle School transition as the Middle School Principle. With her move, Superintendent Collins was pleased to announce that Allison Benedict will be advancing into the position of High School Principle, the first Native American High School Principle in Salmon River’s history.

“The board has asked that we create an administrative team that reflects the school and community. Both Mrs. Benedict and Mrs. Robert are Salmon River graduates, teachers, have been teachers on special assignment and finally administrators,” said Collins. “We are very excited at where things are going and very focused on student achievement – we want every student to graduate.”

“We are both excited, I think living in the area we both want what is best for the community,” said Mrs. Robert.

“We hope to make this a better place for all students. This has been a rough year for transition, but it will be better next year,” said Mrs. Benedict.

“Congratulations to Allison Benedict,” said James Ransom President of the Mohawk Education Steering Committee. “She is an excellent choice for High School Principal and will be a great role model for all students in the District. Congratulations to Angie Robert as well, both Angie and Allison are local people and we support the District placing these talented people in key positions.”

Changes made in 2010/2011

In addition to opening the newly constructed cafeteria, the academic year was pared back from 6-marking periods to 4, with a 5-week progress report in between. The progress reports themselves are an electronic copy of the students grades printed off from the electronic grade book software currently being used by the teachers. This gives parents an actual look at how their student is performing on exams and classroom assignments.

The athletic eligibility this year was also based on these progress reports, which had to be signed by the parent and returned to the school once issued.

The next step in developing the electronic grade book is to feed into another software that would allow for parents to track students grade through a website. Teachers at Salmon River are currently testing this software for actual implementation. “If the pilot is successful then we will look into purchasing the software to implement in the future,” said Collins.

Moving forward in 2011/2012

Parents will be kept up to date on the progress of merging the Grade 6 students from both the Salmon River Elementary and the St. Regis Mohawk School onto the new Middle School Campus. Students in the Middle School will still have a homeroom for a part of the day, with moving from class to class being phased in over the year.

“One of the things that has come out in this process is that it empowers the teachers to take the initiative with academic intervention services,” said Robert. “I’m hoping this will create and reinforce bonds made with teachers and their students. It will also be a way to teach study skills, time management and bully prevention from a core group of teachers.”

“I’m very pleased to announce the transition of Mrs. Benedict to the High School Principal position,” said Collins. “She will lead a number of initiatives that have started in the high school in order to focus on raising standards.”

Benedict will work closely with the Director of Instruction Annmarie Fitz Randolf to promote advanced placement courses. They will also continue to support the Bridge Program that provides graduating seniors with credit from North Country Community College. At the same time they will continue with the out of school suspension program that is located on the Salmon River Campus, which is for students who have been put on a long-term suspension but still have access to class material and support so they won’t fall too far behind.

There will also be daily meetings for staff to discuss the curriculum and how to best support at risk youth. A strong emphasis is being placed on trying to ensure that students won’t drop out.

It is an exciting time for the Salmon River Central School District as the administrative support forges ahead to improve their students’ educational experience.