Canisteo-Greenwood Central School District

Come cheer on our CG Athletes this weekend for the first round of sectionals. On Friday the CG Varsity Football will be hosting Mynderse Academy at 7pm $6 Entry Fee. On Saturday the lady CG Varsity Volleyball team will be hosting Addison at 10am no charge. Let's Go CG!!

Dear CG Family, In July of 2020, I was directly contacted by the Seneca Nation regarding the use of our mascot. Dr. Stahlman and I had a few conversations around the use of the Redskins for our mascot but at the time, I was solely focused on getting our kids back in school after the abrupt closure of school in the spring due to the covid pandemic. I asked him to please give me some time to get the kids back in school and we would pick up our conversations after we dealt with covid. Well, 2+ years later, here we are. During those past few years, we have seen some changes throughout the country and New York State around the use of Native American mascots. The Washington Redskins are now the Washington Commanders, and the Cleveland Indians are the Cleveland Guardians. A little bit closer to home, Odessa-Montour and Waterloo recently changed their names over the summer from Indians to Grizzlies and Tigers, respectively. There are currently two remaining schools in New York State with the mascot of Redskins. And in the country, it is just over 40 in total. In New York State, Senator Biaggi from the 34th Senate District has proposed BillS1549E that would prohibit public schools from using a native name, logo, or mascot. The bill has been amended and recommitted to the Education Committee five times since its introduction on January 13th of 2021. Typically, in the Senate, if a Bill were not going to “make it through,” it would be introduced to the Education Committee once and stop there. It has been amended and recommitted five times to date which means it has a good chance of passing. If the Bill passes, it will be signed into law and become effective immediately. There is even some rumor that the issue may be legislated to end the “discussion” around this and just mandate it. As I have stated before, if we feel that it is going to be mandated to change it, let us do it on our own terms as a community. That is why we decided to create the Mascot Committee and invite community members to join. The original thought was to have 15 members on the committee with 5 community members, 5 staff members and 5 students. After all who stated interest in the committee, we ended up with 18 members. There were 3 individuals that stated interest but because they had just participated in our Mission and Vision Committee, I asked that they “give up their spot” to another interested community member and they graciously accepted. Unfortunately, some members have had to back out after being selected due to scheduling conflicts. The committee has met 4 times to date and has created a timeline for their recommendation to the Board of Education. The conversations have been extremely professional and productive with all voices and opinions heard. Now they want to make sure that all your voices are heard. Please take some time to read the supporting documents that are posted on the website. After you have spent some time with those documents, we ask that you please fill out the survey at the bottom of the Mascot Committee Resources webpage. Your feedback will assist the committee in preparing for the community meetings in November and allow them to focus on the most asked questions and concerns that our community members have. Community Meetings: November 15th – Greenwood School – 6:00pm November 16th - Canisteo-Greenwood High School – 6:00pm Meet the Committee Members: Robin Robarge – Community Member and Alum Don Lewis – Community Member and Alum James Freeland – Community Member, Staff Member, and Alum Riley Bloom – Student Steve Morse – Community Member and Alum Jon Amidon- Staff Member and Community Member David Prete – Community Member Nichole France – Community Member and Alum Sarah Fuller – Community Member and Alum Erin Freberg – Community Member and Alum Domonic Dennis – Student Isabell Dennis – Student Bryan Lewis – Staff Member Scott Burdick – Community Member and Alum Jaiden Weitzel – Community Member and Alum Kelly Houck – GST BOCES District Superintendent – Committee Moderator and Subcommittee Facilitator Tom Crook – Canisteo-Greenwood Superintendent – Observer, Subcommittee Facilitator, Community Member, and Alum Please click here for the District’s Webpage created by the Mascot Committee: https://www.cgcsd.org/page/mascot-committee-recources

Just a reminder that we are having our surplus furniture sale tomorrow at the Greenwood Bus Garage! 9am - 1pm. Folding chairs have been added to the lot. CASH ONLY

Tomorrow, we encourage our students and staff to wear their CG gear to participate in the nationwide "Get Your Teach On" ROCK YOUR SCHOOL day. Let's show our school spirit and GYTO how much our district rocks!

Just a reminder, even though CG does not charge for all home sporting events Section V is charging $6 for each sectional game. Girls Varsity soccer sectional game is tonight against Bishop Kearney and Boys Varsity soccer sectional game is scheduled for tomorrow night at Marcus Whitman.

Good afternoon, we are learning of a potential email scam that is going through our staff directory. If you receive an email from any of our employees that looks suspicious and contains a voicemail attachment, please delete the email immediately and do not click on the attachment. Our tech department is currently addressing the situation. Thank you for your patience.

Tonight’s Girls Varsity Soccer game has been moved from a 6:00pm start to a 7:00pm start. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Good morning CG Family, I wanted to take a moment to put out a brief message regarding the district’s use of “Rooms.” We are always looking for ways to streamline our communication efforts and offer a tool that is easy to use and centrally located. Last year, the district started working with a company called Apptegy who assisted us not only in our website design and enhancement, but also an app that was more than just a re-direct to our website. We hope that you have downloaded the CG app from your app store to get all the latest communication from the district. We encourage you to allow notifications from the app so you can receive messages straight to your phone, like push notifications that you receive from other applications (social media, text messages, missed calls, etc.). We were introduced to “Rooms” in late spring and have been working with Apptegy to get it up and running for CG. “Rooms” is located directly in the CG app so all you need to do is open the CG app, go the the bottom right-hand corner and toggle to the “Rooms” app, hence being centrally located for your convenience. The idea behind “Rooms” is to provide our staff with an easy communication tool for quick messages to students and parents about essential information for their class or sports team. Our first test run with the program will be with our athletic teams. As with any rollout, kinks will need to be worked out and we ask that you remain patient with the district and, more importantly, the staff as we get them trained and the rosters published. You will begin to see the coach divert away from apps like Remind, Facebook Messenger groups, or texting due to the compliance laws that schools must adhere to for student data protection. Providing our families and staff with easy to use and centrally located communications will only enhance our experience as a CG community. The rollout may be a little muddy and at times frustrating, but we feel that once we work through the infancy stages of getting this rolled out, you will find it to be an effective communication tool. A few stats regarding electronic communication: The open rate for a push notification vs. email is 98% to 20% The notification click-through rate 9.18% higher than any other digital communication rate The average person takes 90 seconds to respond to a notification compared to 90 minutes for an email By downloading the CG app and participating in “Rooms,” our families dramatically increase their chances of getting the latest communication from the district! As we are rolling out “Rooms” and you need assistance logging in, please contact the District Clerk at ctaggert@cgcsd.org or call 607-698-4225 ext. 2403. If you have downloaded the app, please make sure you have the most up to date version. Yours in service, Tom

For Friday's homecoming games, we will be closing the front loop to spectator parking to place the multiple team buses that will be here from visiting schools. Depending on which game you are here for, we recommend that you arrive early enough to secure a parking spot in either of our parking lots located at the elementary school. As earlier games end and team buses leave, we will open up the front loop for additional parking. GO CG!

Good afternoon, Today the elementary and high schools had their first of four scheduled lockdown drills. These drills are important tools to practice safety, procedure, and are required by NYS law. The district will conduct three more of these drills throughout the rest of the school year. All students are safe and there was no emergency.

CG Announces Homecoming Court- Gracie Allen, Diana Morling, Natalie Postilli, Kylie Williamson, Aidan Stewart, Keegan Foote, Will Streeter & Menzo Sharp. Homecoming crowning will take place after tonight's parade and before the pumpkin bowl around 6:30pm. In the event of weather cancellation the crowning will be held at the prep rally on Friday afternoon. Good luck to all!

Good afternoon. We are currently dealing with a power outage at the high school with the fire department assisting with a stuck elevator. We are operating on the generator and all students are safe. High school dismissal will be as normal.

Dear CG Community, Now that we are in our second week of school and covid cases are being reported, many questions have surfaced around the current covid regulations. Since they have changed so much over the past 2+ years, we wanted to take this time to put out an FAQ document to help clarify. Frequently Asked Questions Regarding 2022-2023 Covid Regulations   Q: If my child is experiencing symptoms, what should I do?  A: As in the past, please keep them at home until symptoms resolve and they are fever free without medication.  Q: Do I need to have my child Covid tested to return to school if they had symptoms?  A: No, but symptoms must be resolved, and they must be fever free without medication.  Q: If someone in my home is positive, do my children who are not positive need to quarantine?  A: No, they are allowed to be in school but please monitor symptoms.  Q: Is my child required to wear a mask if they have been in contact with a positive?  A: No  Q: When is my child required to wear a mask?  A: Only if they are a confirmed positive and they are returning to school any days 6-10. Masks do not need to be worn outside.  Q: How long is my child required to be out of school when they are positive?  A: The required isolation period is 5 days after the date of the test. They may return to school on day 6 and must wear a mask days 6-10.  Example: A student tests positive on a Wednesday. The isolation begins Thursday and ends Monday. The student can return on Tuesday.   Q: Does my child need a negative test to return after they have been positive?  A: No  Q: Is the school doing any contact tracing and will they contact me if there is a positive in the classroom or on a team?  A: No  Q: Does the school need to see the positive test result?  A: No  If you have any additional questions, please feel free to reach out to me and I will do my best to clarify. Yours in service, Tom

Great news! CG is now livestreaming many sports on the NFHS Network. We have installed NFHS cameras in the elementary and high school gyms, and on the soccer/football field. Most contests in those specific areas can now be found for FREE on our website. CG purchased a district license so anyone can watch the games without the need to pay for a subscription. Go to our district website at the scheduled game time, click on the link in the upper right-hand corner, and stream away! Family and friends can watch your athlete anywhere in the world this school year. *Please know that last minute changes to a schedule may not be streamed.

This is just a reminder that starting this coming Monday, September 12th, CG will begin our Late-Arrival Monday routine. All times (bus pick-up, student drop-off, doors opening, etc.) will be pushed back one hour. This will be EVERY Monday for the 2022-2023 school year. If you have a work-related hardship, please contact your building Principal to make arrangements. Thank you for your continued support.

Dear High School Parents- This year we will be rolling out a parent-teacher messaging center called "Rooms" in the Canisteo-Greenwood app! The same app will be offered for class messages, class announcements for students and parent-teacher chat. Coaches will also use "Rooms" to communicate with parents and athletes. If you have not downloaded our CG app please download it now and stay tuned for future announcements. Download for Android https://bit.ly/3jyI2Sj Download for iPhone https://apple.co/3hhNdVd

Please join us TONIGHT for CG Open House. Elementary is 4:30 - 5:30pm and High School is 5:00 - 6:00pm. Cannot wait to see you!

Parents- The 2022-23 Bus schedule has been posted on our website at https://www.cgcsd.org/page/2022-2023-bus-schedule. Please remember these times are estimated times. Give 10- 15 minutes before and after the times suggested. On Monday’s the bus will come an hour later. The routes are still in progress, if you don’t see your address please call the transportation department at 607.698.4225 ext.1301. Please Note-Routes are reflecting the road closures that we still have. As the roads open- routes will change. The transportation department will be closed on Sept 2-Sept 5th.

Dear Community, On July 14, 2020, the District put out a message to the community regarding the need to put together a community steering committee to start discussions about whether the district should continue to use the Redskins mascot. We had been in direct conversation with the Seneca Nation regarding the use of the mascot. Because we were dealing with the pandemic and trying to keep school open and everyone safe, the conversation was put on hold. There have been many news stories in New York over the past two years with New York schools being required to change their name (Warriors) and a school district (Cambridge) recently lost an appeal to change their name BACK to the Indians. Just last week, Odessa-Montour announced that they are changing their mascot from the Indians to the Grizzlies. In addition, there currently is a bill in the New York State Senate (S1549E) regarding the use of Native-American mascots by schools. If changing our mascot is on the horizon, we should start addressing it prior to any announcement and do it on our own terms as a community. We are looking for individuals that would be interested in serving on the committee and assisting the district in determining the use of our mascot. We would request that the committee begin their work this summer. Although we do not want to limit the number of people on the committee, our expectations for committee members will be as follows: Attend all scheduled steering committee meetings May be asked to lead a subcommittee Fiscal impact on the district Community Forum Set Up and Engagement New Mascot Selection Process (if recommended or required) Participate in respectful conversation and with an open mind Organize one informational forum for the community. Chosen presenters will provide information on the fiscal impact of changing the mascot, the current cases and bill, and how the selection process will go if recommended or required. The steering committee will submit their recommendation to the community and the Board of Education. If a new mascot is recommended or required, the committee will determine how the selection process will go and may implement it any time after their recommendation. We want to make sure that we have representatives of all interested parties, so we are looking for: Up to 5 community members Up to 5 staff members Up to 5 students PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF OUR CONVERSATION AND NO DECISIONS HAVE BEEN MADE AT THIS TIME. If you are interested in becoming a steering committee member, please email tcrook@cgcsd.org Yours in service, Tom

Attention all CG Athletes-Want to get ready for the fall season? Bored and need something to do? Want to hang out with the cool people? Need to get fit? CG is offering an Athletic Performance Camp hosted by our Athletic Trainer Leslie Moose on August 9th and 11th at the Elementary School. Register at https://forms.gle/rkYJPzcwGYoTRLaw5