Trick or Treat?

Marching Band Brings the Cup Home: Congratulations to the West Genesee Marching Band on their 34th New York State Field Band Championship! Hard work, determination, drive, and coming up big when needed, along with the help from staff and volunteers all led to their success.  Hats off as well to the competition who provided some tremendous shows of their own! We feel very fortunate and humble to be among such company. Believe it or not, preparation for next season starts now.

The Wildcats received a score of 96.80. Way to go! The rest of the results are: Arlington 96.10; Victor 95.55; Lancaster 93.00; Liverpool 92.55; Baldwinsville 89.75; Brentwood 88.65, and Orchard Park 86.55.

Athletics Update: A huge congratulation goes out to the tennis doubles team of Samantha Heyn and Marisa Joyce who completed the sweep as Section III champs and State Regional championships in the doubles division. They will represent West Genesee and Section III at the State Tournament next weekend. Coach Mannara has done quite well with our tennis program. We should all be proud!

Our football season is in the books, but not the heart of our players. Plagued by injuries all season, they had to fight critics as well as their opponents to make it through the season, let alone make it to the playoffs.

Their season ended on Saturday, but many got up yesterday to support their teammate, Sean Relyea, who ran in the Carol Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund of CNY Run for Their Life in memory of his mom who passed away. That shows you can win off the field as well.

Our cross country runners are still competing as are our girls soccer, volleyball, and swimming/diving teams.  It is crazy to think that winter sports tryouts are less than two weeks away!

Trick or Treat? I titled this blog "Trick or Treat" for two reasons.  First and most obvious is to be on the lookout for children trick or treating this Friday. Also, be on the lookout for information about the trick or treat carnival at the high school this Thursday.

Second, I think of trick or treating when it comes to the election season. Instead of giving candy (or a healthy choice treat of course!), I am giving my vote to someone. I know most of the candidates in our area on a personal level, so it has been tough to watch the negative campaign ads and the promises being offered, etc.  Everything is personal, and it always comes down to what a candidate can ACTUALLY DO (not their opinion or what they would like to do if they could) to change the path that New York State Education is taking.

If they cannot make a change, then they need the power to swing resources to our community so that I can make the changes we need to make and not follow certain New York State Education Department policies.  If they can do neither, that presents a challenge from my vantage point.  Trick or treat.

Enjoy your week!

Chris

The Other Side of the Coin

Another Great Weekend in Central New York: 

• The Marching Band climbed into the 90's at Central Square and are ready for the big Dome show next weekend. 
• Our athletic teams won and lost, but they are all ready for post-season play. 
• Favorable state rankings came out about the District. 
• We held some incredibly successful family nights in a couple of our elementary schools as well!

I had the chance to personally experience both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat over the weekend. The thrill of victory came when I beat my wife at air hockey in a best of three series. As these games have become so competitive over the years, it was time to celebrate! 

On the flip side, she bested me at my own sport, golf. While we were getting pumpkins, we played miniature golf and she won by one stroke. I told her I was distracted by the giant pumpkin and orange chickens that were nearby.

Students Teach us How to Overcome Challenges: Last week in my blog (one of my most read blogs for some reason), I wrote about being terrified of heights after a negative experience in the past.  As luck would have it, my wife and I ran into a student at the mall who could not have been happier being suspended very high over Destiny USA Mall at a place called Wonderworks. 

As we walked under the ropes course, overhead we heard a loud, "Dr. Brown!"  We turned to find a high school neighbor and the mom of a middle school student. I looked up and saw the student high overhead practically running through the pods, platforms, and rope trails, grinning ear to ear. I shouted up to him, and we gave a quick air "fist pump" to each other as he went back to what he was enjoying.  My wife and I left the area energized.

When I met this student years ago he was unable to walk, but had the fire within. He was determined but frustrated the first few years as he worked as hard as he could to participate in everything that the other students did. When I visited his class he would always be excited, no matter how tough his day was. I can remember helping to push his wheel chair at the Special Olympics when he really wanted to run.

Through the years, he had many surgeries (I don't think 19 surgeries is an exaggerated estimate), but he kept his poise. I can remember visiting the building when he could walk and hop a bit on his own and remember the first time he jumped up to give me a hug. He was so happy! As he has gotten older and he has become a teenager, we keep our greetings to a fist bump, and he continues to progress. To see him soaring above the mall, happy and free, reaffirms that there is no telling where life is going to take him.

What I was reminded by him was that determination, perseverance, a positive attitude, grit, and no whining will get you where you want to go, and you might even inspire some people along the way. What a great weekend!

Enjoy the week-

Chris

Capital Project Update

I hope that no one reading this has had to pump out their basement or take a boat to work after all of the rain we have had in the Syracuse area!

Ranked in the Academic Top 10: In this quick update, I would like to thank all of our staff, students, Board of Education, and community members for helping us to be placed in the Academic Top Ten and Administrative Efficiency Top Two, by Buffalo Business First Journal for the Syracuse area. Considering almost all of the schools ahead of us academically are from higher wealth communities, I am very pleased with the fight and competitiveness we have shown and we look forward to moving up the list each year. 

Capital Project Update: Our Capital Project is moving along on time and on budget. As you may remember, our first stage is the technology upgrade portion. 

• All of the necessary equipment is in-house. 
• Workers are wiring the buildings to prepare us for the higher Internet bandwidth, Internet phone, upgraded security, and upgraded public address systems and clocks. 
• Soon we will have a team begin to unpack, inventory, catalog, and program the equipment so that everything can just be plugged in once the necessary wiring is completed. 

We are making a slight change in course regarding the wireless. Instead of waiting for everything to be done in the building, each segment of a  building will be activated as they come online. This will get faster wireless Internet to our students and teachers in a quicker manner. We do not have a complete roll out schedule yet, but there is a plan to have some estimates in the next few weeks.

Enjoy the rest of the week and weekend!

Chris

A Great Long Weekend

I hope that you had a chance to enjoy the great weather we had over the long weekend. 

West Genesee Girls Tennis Dominates Section III Doubles Tournament: At the Section III girls tennis doubles events held on Monday, it was an all West Genesee final. The Wildcats held both championship slots when Samantha Heyn and Marisa Joyce took home the title. Congratulations girls! For more about the event, check out this article on syracuse.com by clicking here.

Marching Band Wins US Bands Competition: Our Marching Band had a great weekend. They traveled to the US Bands Competition in Virginia Beach, VA and won first place. They also received awards for best visual, color guard, percussion, music, and overall effect. Our band director, Michael Stachnik, received the award for favorite band director. Not sure how much more they could have done. They certainly capitalized on the opportunity they were given to compete!

Christmas Lights and Fire Safety: I did a ton of things over the weekend, but one of the highlights was getting my Christmas lights hung. Why would this be a highlight?  Hanging Christmas lights is terrifying for me. 

When I was a volunteer firefighter years ago, we rolled up to a colonial home that had smoke pouring from the windows. Four of my teammates took a hose and went inside the home to search for occupants and to start to apply water at the source of the fire. Another firefighter and I went to the roof of the garage to cut a hole in the side of the house to provide a vent for the heat and hopefully allow us to save the house. As I completed the cut, the hole that I made blew open and fire, heat, and steam billowed out. I was immediately burned beneath my nomex hood, and I became disoriented and needed to get off the roof in a hurry. With the house being more involved than we originally thought absolute panic set in, but somehow my partner and I made it back to the ladder and down to the ground. 

Every year when I have to go back on the roof to hang lights (leaders can NEVER back down to fear), all I think about is that night so when I get them done, I feel very relieved! If you are a neighbor don’t worry, I won’t turn them on for quite a while.
(As October is Fire Prevention Month, CMS students at left had the opportunity to listen to Jordan Davie from the Camillus Fire Department talk about fire safety during Fire Safety Week.) 

What Students are Talking About: During my building travels I try to get a handle on what students are thinking about, worrying about, and talking about so that I can make sure I am up to speed. Periodically, I try to relay those things to you so you can stay “hip” like me (or so we think)!

• Elementary students are still into the movie Frozen, and I could not be happier about that.  
• Middle school students are into a series on the FX channel called American Horror Story.  I was not aware of this series so I had to check it out.  It reminded me of the 1980’s remakes of The Twilight Zone series. Quirky stories with interesting characters and scenes.  
• Middle school students are also into anything Taylor Swift (kids really like her music or they really don’t and have no problem telling you so).

High School students are into some interesting things right now, and I have enjoyed my recent visits. 

• They are concerned about Ebola (I think we all are), and ISIS (I think we all are).  
• They are moving away from Facebook and more into Instagram and Twitter (look up the term sub-tweet and spring that on them at dinner and see your teenager “cred” rise).  
• They love Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, and more and more of them are into county music (I am starting to warm up to a few country songs). 

Because communication is so important with our children, feel free to use a few of these topics if you are looking to fill up some dead space while driving them to the mall!

This is getting to be book like and that goes against blog rules! I do want to give a Capital Project update as well as some other information, so I will probably send something else out later in the week.

Thanks and let’s have a great week!

Chris

Homecoming!

Homecoming 2014: I want to thank the dozens of volunteers, staff, and students who made our high school Homecoming special. The pep rally and dance were wonderful. Congratulations to the Homecoming court: Jack Howes, Emily Augello, Brian Van Beveren, Mackenzie Mathewson, Matt McDonald, Katie Lannon, Alex Tripodi, Anna Delaney, Bob Marks, and Leandra Kovalchik.

Our sports teams did well and the Marching Band finished first in their competition. We are fortunate to have such a supportive community, and I am looking forward to next year already!  

Connecting with our Community Members: Last week I had a chance to attend the annual Camillus Rotary luncheon, which celebrates people who help others in our community. This is a very worthwhile event each year, and I am always amazed to be able to be together with so many people who are making a daily impact in our community.

Participating in Government with our Students: Recently I had a chance to teach Participation in Government classes to seniors. We spoke about the link between federal, state, and local government and how those bodies impact students each day. We also talked about what rights students have in school and why we have some of the rules we have. It was a great conversation on that topic. Teaching these classes each year gives me an opportunity to see if students are in the ready line for graduation. They are.

My Last Marathon? Lastly, I had an opportunity to run the Corning Wineglass Marathon yesterday.  I ran a better time than last year, but my legs are so sore that I don’t think I will be walking correctly for some time!  Many thanks to the over 700 volunteers who made it a success, and a very special thanks to West Genesee parent, Mr. Winters, who found me at mile 17 or so. We had never met. I had very severe cramps in the front and back of both legs, and he pushed me along to get me going again. If it weren’t for him there is no way that I would have finished with the time that I had set for a goal. Thanks! No more marathons for me!

Have a wonderful week-

Chris