Remembering Heros

You know you are from Syracuse when...you can't stop talking to people about how nice the weather is. True enough, some awesome weather crept into town last week and has decided to stay in Central New York for another week or so. For students at West Genesee Middle School this nice weather gave them and their teachers an opportunity to participate in their own interdisciplinary lesson about the Greek Olympics. These games are always a blast, but students also walked away with better knowledge of how things happened "back in the day".

I had a great time visiting buildings last week. There is something to be said for sunshine and warmer temperatures. It makes everyone more pleasant and it was fun talking with students about what they were planning to do over the weekend. Most of their plans included outdoor activities which I thought was great.

Also last week was our annual school budget vote. Thank you for your continued support of our efforts. Our passing margin of nearly 83% symbolizes your willingness to continue to endorse the initiatives set forth in our Strategic Plan, and we most certainly will not take that support for granted.

This week is jammed with events, functions, classroom visits, testing, and preparation for a long weekend that for us kicks off with our annual Fine Arts event, Kaleidoscope, which takes place at the Civic Center. It truly is a special event that allows our students to show off their talents in a nearly break free show that uses the stages, pit, mezzanines, and any other place that we can get a spotlight to shine!

On the athletic side of the coin there are plenty of options as well. Mr. Burns, our Athletic Director, is really getting a chance to enjoy his first year in the position as many of our teams have won their League Championships, Sectionals, and States and this spring sports season is setting up to possibly be one of our most successful seasons in a while. With so many teams heading into sectional play, please refer to the athletic page of the website to see when and where each of the contests will be played.  Good luck to all!

As you might know, students do not have school this Friday, or next Monday and Tuesday due to "give back" days related to unused snow days. These extra days CANNOT overshadow Memorial weekend or Memorial Day.  This weekend is a time to remember those who have sacrificed their lives so that we can have all of the basic freedoms that we enjoy today.  Please take an opportunity to thank a Veteran or a family that has lost someone, they will really appreciate it. Please remember the fallen. Thank you.

Here's to a great week ahead and I will write again after Memorial weekend.

Chris