Superintendent Jeff Simons welcomes teachers and staff to the 2024-25 school year.
All East Greenbush Central School District teachers and staff gathered in the Columbia High School auditorium on Tuesday morning for the first of two Superintendent’s Conference Days to start the 2024-25 school year. Staff will spend those days attending meetings, engaging in professional development and putting the final touches on classrooms before students arrive for the first day of school on Thursday.
Superintendent Jeff Simons welcomed the staff in the morning and thanked specific departments for preparing the district for another promising school year, including facilities, technology, human resources and transportation. He also reviewed a few of the many highlights from last school year and then provided a brief update on the Capital Project.
Mr. Simons focused his welcome address on the district’s Portrait of a Graduate, a new initiative that establishes what skills all students should have by the time they graduate from high school.
The Portrait of a Graduate was developed by a design team comprised of teachers, staff, administrators, students, parents and community members during the 2023-24 school year.
The East Greenbush CSD Portrait of a Graduate skills include:
- Confident Learner
- Effective Communicator
- Adaptable
- Empathetic
- Critical Thinker
“The Portrait of a Graduate initiative will engage all of our stakeholders including employees, students, caregivers and members of our community in important decisions regarding the competencies each of our graduates needs for success in life,” Mr. Simons said. “This important initiative will guide the district’s decisions regarding our student learning experiences in school and inform the development of new opportunities and pathways for our students as they move through our system. We hope all of our stakeholders will accept our invitation to be part of this exciting process.”
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Following Mr. Simons’ welcome, employees attended their respective union meetings, attended department and grade level team meetings, and then participated in professional development training sessions.
Some of the professional development and training offerings included during the Superintendent’s Conference Days includes:
- Absence Management Training
- CPR/AED First Aid
- Leveraging Google Gemini
- ParentSquare
- Pear Assessment
- Turbo Charge Your Planning with SchoolAi.com and Diffit.com
- Education Law 2-d
- Food Safety Training
“We are excited to have everyone back and engaging in valuable professional development while also providing time for teachers and staff to prepare for the new school year in their own classrooms,” said Roy Stiles, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. “I would like to thank all of our presenters who led training sessions. We will continue to build upon this work at our scheduled professional development days throughout the school year.”
The first day of school for PK-12 students is scheduled for Thursday, September 5.