Creature of Habit

In a Routine: There has been construction on Vanida Drive for about the last three weeks. The road is closed, so I have had to use Sanderson Drive to get to my office. That would be great if I hadn't been programmed for the past 11 years to take Vanida Drive to get to my office. I can't tell you how many times over the past few weeks I have pulled into Vanida, remembered that it is closed, and had to turn around and go to Sanderson Drive. I did it twice last week alone. No, I am not crazy, I am just a creature of habit.

The same thing is going to happen this week when The Great New York State Fair opens. My wife and I had a route that we used to walk BEFORE all of the changes. It made me comfortable. The Gianelli sausage spot was always in the best place for our walk, as was the fried dough stand. I will once again want to walk that same route; but it will be different and I will reminisce about "back in the day". I will, however, find the Gianelli stand, in the new and different spot, and my sausage sandwich with peppers and onions will taste the same. Creature of habit.

We are all creatures of habit in some way, especially our kids. Creature of habit is a long way of saying "in a routine". Now is the time of the summer to get your kids back into some type of routine. It always took my wife and I a week or so to get the kids back into a sleep pattern, waking up a little earlier, and being as motivated as it takes to tackle school head on. Starting now, even baby steps to getting back on schedule will pay dividends in early September!

Board of Education Vacancy: Over the summer we had a vacancy on our Board of Education (Board) as Karen Fruscello resigned to make time for a new job.The Board met and decided that it would be best to fill the position before the school year starts, and they have selected Jennifer James.  She and her family live in our community, and she has been a Spanish teacher for the Onondaga Central School District for 21 years along with being involved in many of their extracurricular activities. We welcome her aboard and into the Wildcat family. She will need to run again in May to continue her time on the Board of Education.

STAR Payments Update: The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has changed how they are processing STAR payments for some people; especially senior citizens. I know how many people read this blog, but I do not know the demographics; so if you are a senior citizen, or maybe a son or daughter with aging parents, please take the time to read this release by clicking here. The way that I interpret it, people like me will apply for STAR once and it will just continue each year. The big change is that senior citizens who qualify for the Enhanced STAR Exemption will need to apply EACH YEAR. Once you have read the document, please contact your local assessor if you have questions. We don't want people to lose out on the exemption if they qualify, so please pass the word along if you have a loved one who qualifies for the Enhanced STAR Exemption and lives anywhere in New York State. 

Mental Health Literacy: In my last blog I wrote about the Every Student Succeeds Act. Today I am writing about the new mental health literacy requirements. I do not think that we can take mental wellness seriously enough, so I welcome these requirements. While West Genesee has met the majority of them for years, it is important to audit what we offer to children in the area of mental health literacy and when it is offered.

The requirement calls on schools to teach about what to look for as signs of mental wellness or concerns, where an individual can get help, and how students can let people know if they see someone who is struggling.

We are fortunate to be a "Positivity Project" District, so we already have a way to accomplish this in  addition to what we teach in Health and Physical Education courses and in counseling sessions. To give you more detail, we are also required to have community service connections to mental health treatment facilities. We are accomplishing this through the connections we have in the West Side Support Network, as well as with Helio Health, which we are finalizing a contract with to have higher level counseling available for students right in the buildings. Good stuff, and you will get more details from your individual building principals as the year progresses.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the week, and see you at the New York State Fair!

Chris