About two dozen people gathered outside the main entrance to Liberty High School on Thursday, Aug. 29, to hear an overview of updates and changes for the 2024-25 school year at Liberty Central School District.

District administration has held these forums annually as a way to better communicate and interact with the LCSD community, in accordance with the district’s five-year strategic plan.

The plan, now in its third year, is the district’s roadmap for improvement across the district.

LCSD Dr. Patrick Sullivan led the presentation, with assistance from Assistant Superintendent Marianne Serratore and translation by ENL teacher Susana Alvarado.

The school year begins for students on Thursday, Sept. 5, and the district is eager to welcome them back.

“Our teachers and staff generally care about and want what’s best for our students,” Sullivan said at the start of the presentation.

After reviewing the strategic plan, Sullivan and Serratore highlighted the progress the district has made in each pillar — Coherence, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Curriculum and Culture — and what the district is doing to move forward this year.

The full update can be found here.

The plan informed changes for the 2024-25 school year that were highlighted in the forum.

Serratore reviewed current curricular program and highlighted, changes include expanding HMH math curriculum to seventh grade, offering algebra to all eighth graders, the introduction of Syracuse University Project Advance college credit courses (and the updated high school grade weighting system), as well as a full-day, expanded Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program, and a new partnership with Inventionland to expand opportunities for STEM learning in the Middle School Innovation Lab.

The Seal of Civic Readiness program, introduced last year with one graduate, expands curricular opportunities and empowers each student to contribute and thrive in a diverse community by pursuing their potential, tying back to the curriculum and culture pillars.

Other improvements were geared toward the culture pillar, which includes better communicating the mission and vision of the district. Those included the change to ParentSquare, which is streamlining two-way communication between Liberty families and the district and schools, and the re-introduction of Anonymous Alerts, which assists the district in its commitment to the Dignity for All Students Act and safety.

“We take the Dignity for All Students Act seriously to ensure that each child who sets foot into our schools and our classrooms feel they are safe, welcome and comfortable,” Sullivan said.

Some of the district’s programs, including Gaggle, the DESSA social-emotional screener, the Global Learners Newcomer Program, are being reviewed and adjusted to better inform our MTSS procedures in accordance with that pillar.

As part of the coherence pillars, Liberty Elementary has better aligned report cards with key standards to enhance students’ learning opportunities.

The safety initiatives, visitor procedures, chain of command calling guide and District Comprehensive Improvement Plan priorities were reviewed at the forum, hitting both the coherence and culture pillars.

Sullivan offered an update on the capital project, approved in January, now led by the architecture firm LAN Associates. The focus now is on the first portion of the project, reviewing the schematics of the athletic field, maintenance storage building, and the building updates. A few projects not directly related to the capital project were completed or underway this summer, including updating the high school stage, resurfacing the gymnasium floor to include the district’s new logo, and resurfacing the tennis courts.

No questions were asked publicly at the end of the forum. But administrators did meet with those in attendance to answer questions one-on-one and to assist in signing up for ParentSquare. Sullivan also  reminded those in attendance and watching the livestream that any questions could be emailed to questions@libertyk12.org.

The livestream of the forum can be found at https://events.locallive.tv/events/154258.

Liberty Central School District administrators engaged in a weeklong professional development and planning workshop. They began by reviewing LCSD’s five-year Strategic Plan and the District Comprehensive Improvement Plan, focusing on strategies for effective implementation and support.

Training sessions covered various topics including the new ParentSquare communication system, recent changes in special education law, and updates on safety and incident command procedures, presented by Liberty Village Police Chief Steven D’Agata. Additionally, administrators explored restorative strategies introduced by MaryAnn Brittingham and discussed how these strategies could be implemented into their plans.

Teacher facilitators joined the retreat mid-week to participate in sessions dedicated to refining professional learning communities’ best practices. They also collaborated on finalizing and presenting the Middle School Comprehensive Education Plan, as well as the High School, Elementary School, and  Student Services Priority Plans.

The retreat concluded with preparations for upcoming conference days on Sept. 3 and 4, as well as professional learning plans for the 2024-25 school year.

Liberty Central School District Superintendent Dr. Patrick Sullivan took part in The Legislative Advocacy Conference, presented by AASA and ASBO, earlier this month in Washington, D.C.

During that time, Sullivan along with other members of the School Superintendents Association, met with U.S. senators and representatives, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Marc Molinaro, to discuss key issues impacting school districts.

A focus by the group was fully funding several programs important to effectively educating all students. Modest increases to programs such as Title 4 (funding to provide enrichment and 21st century skills) and IDEA (designed to help level the education playing field for students with disabilities) have been introduced at the expense of other programs, including Title I and 2 (funding to assist low-income and at-risk students).

Superintendents also voiced their support for the CARE for Student Mental Health Act, introduced in the Senate, which would make changes to two key competitive grant programs to better support efforts to train, recruit and retain school mental health professionals and increase access to services in high-need school districts as well as promotes equitable distribution of the funds and reduces barriers to applying for these grants.

“These programs are vital to Liberty Central School District in helping us empower each student to contribute and thrive in a diverse community by pursuing their potential,” Dr. Sullivan said. “We encourage our federal congressional representatives to fully support our students by funding these important programs.”