We are Almost There!

I hope that all of you had a great mid-winter break. I hung around town getting the budget prepared for our first presentation next week, but there were also plenty of school functions to attend.

Events During Break:

• Swimmer Collin Zapisek won two Section III Championships just as break began. He won the 200 freestyle setting a pool record and also won the 500 freestyle. 
• In Track we qualified two girls for States during the State Qualifiers: Abby Uczen won the pole vault event; Laura Leff finished 2nd in the 1500m (first two advance to States). The boys 4x800 relay (which consisted of Sean Beney, Nathan Conroy, Jack Erhard and Kal Strickland)  missed the State cut by two seconds (only one team goes to States) but qualified for the National Championship in the Emerging Elite division on Friday, March 14. We also have two varsity 8th graders (Carly Benson and Rachael Whiting) that qualified for the National 7th/8th Grade Mile on Sunday, March 16.
• The Boys Basketball team lost in the sectional quarterfinals to kick off the first weekend of break. I have a son on the team so I was disappointed as you might imagine. 
• The Girls Basketball  team  won their game and then went on to win the sectional semi-final this past weekend.  
• The Boys Hockey team won sectionals for the seventh straight year as well.

These events set up a great weekend coming up with the following:

• The Girls Basketball team will play for the sectional championship at the Carrier Dome on Friday, February 28 at 8:45 p.m. against CNS. 
• The Boys Hockey team will enter the first round of state championship play on Saturday, March 1 at home versus Fairport starting at 7:30 p.m.. 
• Collin Zapisek will swim in the NYS Championship on Friday, February 28 and Saturday, March 1 in Rochester. 
• Abby Uczen and Laura Leff will compete in the NYS Championships on Saturday, March 1 at Cornell.

Needless to say that I did not mind not going away.  Between the student events and the warmer weather that we had my "stay-cation" was quite alright! Congratulations to all!

Rally for Education Funding: During the week it was also determined that the education rally that was going to be held at CNS, but had to be canceled due to weather, will be held at West Genesee on March 12. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. and we are encouraging people to attend this informative session about how we can do a better job of lobbying for education funding. Why is this important?

While creating the budget last week we calculated that we will need at LEAST $860,000 in additional school funding or we will have to make reductions in that amount which would certainly be course altering. This $860,000 could easily be achieved if the governor restores a portion of our "Gap Elimination Adjustment".  Restoration of this "GEA" is important whether you are for or against the common core learning standards. Restoration of the "GEA" is important for those who still believe in public education.

I will have more to share later in the week, but I wanted to welcome you back and help get you in the swing of things with this quick note.

Chris