Dear Community Members:

I am honored to serve as the Superintendent of the Beacon City School District.

We work on the budget year-round by listening to constituents, analyzing current programs, and prioritizing programs and positions for upcoming years.  This year along with meeting with staff, community members, and PTOs, I also met with about 150 students from grades 5-12 in over 10 different focus groups to discuss their hopes and dreams for the school district and the school budget.  This listening process helps us refine and improve the budget process on a continual basis.

During this school year, the Beacon City School District embarked on a journey to begin a strategic planning process.  A strategic planning committee comprised of teachers, parents, community members, administrators, and board members worked throughout the school year to develop a mission statement, belief statements,  and a list of desired skills, abilities, and attributes that we want all of our students to leave our school district embodying. I feel that the 2019-2020 budget proposal is a strong initial reflection of this strategic work.  

The budget development process also took place at many board meetings over the last several months with each department head discussing their budget proposal with the Board of Education.  You can find all of the presentations to the board here:  https://www.beaconk12.org/domain/418 .

The result of this very involved process is a proposed 2019-2020 budget of $73,563,000 with a levy increase of 4.4 percent.  The proposed budget is an increase of 3.1 percent from last year.

The proposed 2019-2020 budget specifically supports several key initiatives in the district.  The budget further reduces elementary class sizes, continues the funding of the fourth-grade instrumental music program which was grant funded this year,  and adds a business teacher, social worker, and a half-time art teacher to Beacon High School. Additionally, the budget supports increased coursework at Beacon High School including expanded computer science offerings, introduction to Italian, an additional AP English class, and other electives.  Finally, our access to technology tools continues to expand with Beacon High School offering a 1:1 Chromebook program for its students and high school classrooms will gain interactive teaching screens.

I am very proud to put this budget in front of the community.  Please let me know if you have questions, suggestions, or feedback.

Please remember to vote on Tuesday, May 21, 2019.  The polls are open from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm.

Matt Landahl, Superintendent of Schools

A message from The Wellness Committee

Did you know that the Beacon City School District has a Wellness Policy? It’s all about promoting healthy students and staff. Last year, the Wellness Committee updated the policy to make sure students have the tools they need to learn and grow into healthy adults. Positive changes, like more outdoor recess and more access to fresh lunch options, support growing minds and bodies, and help create a lifetime of healthy habits. Over the next few months, we’ll share details about the policy, what it means, and more resources to help families boost those habits home.

You find the complete Wellness Policy here, or request a copy by calling your school’s main office at 845-838-6900.

More info about physical and emotional wellness for kids and parents can be found at infoaboutkids.org. At parenttoolkit.com/topics/health-and-wellness, get tips on everything from building good eating habits to helping teens learn how to make positive personal choices.

Beacon High School - Beacon Pride Mural

The Beacon High School students worked very hard alongside Joe Pimentel to complete the Beacon Pride Mural.  We are all very excited to see all of their hard work come to fruition.  

Superintendent Blog Post - April 26, 2019

I am hosting a Spring Conversation Tour of the Community. On the tour I will be discussing:

• The Strategic Coherence Plan
• Annual school district budget vote
• New developments

 

Come and share your observations, concerns and visions for our kids, community and the future. Join the conversation!

• Sunday, April 28, 2019, from 6:30 - 8:30 PM. at Beacon Light Tabernacle SDA Church (1 min. drive north of Dutchess Stadium)

          1568 Route 9D, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590 (845) 440-0148

• Thursday, May 2, from 7 – 9 PM at Beacon Recreation Center - 23 West Center Street, Beacon, NY 12508 (845) 765-2470

• Thursday, May 16, from 4:30 – 5:30 PM at Howland Library 313 Main St., Beacon, NY 12508

 

Star Student - Aiden Buggs - Sargent Elementary School  

  

Aiden Buggs is a kind, hard-working and determined student in Ms. Lizewski's fifth grade class. He is driven to do well in all that he does, both in his academic work as well as in sports and in helping others. Aiden is compassionate towards both his peers as well as adults and is always willing to go the extra mile to help someone out. Aiden can face challenges with a smile and has a rare talent of making an entire room light up! Aiden is a committed member of the Sargent Band, as well as the Morning News crew.

Employee Recognition - Donna Pavone - JVF  

  

Donna Pavone is a Teaching Assistant (TA) at JVF, she specifically serves in the capacity of a Literacy TA. She works hand in hand with Mr. Coumbes (Reading Specialist) in providing students and staff with supports to be successful readers and learners. Donna is a dedicated staff member who cares about our students and wants to see them succeed! Her love for literacy is contagious and we are appreciative to have her as a member of our school community!

Superintendent’s Blog Post - April 12, 2019

 

Budget Update

We received good news from the folks in Albany a few weeks ago in the form of additional state aid for our work here in Beacon.  We will be able to move forward with further reducing class sizes at the elementary level, add programming to the high school, and offer extensive professional development to our staff.  The Board of Education will be adopting the budget at the April 23 board meeting and the budget vote is on May 21. You can check out all of the slides from the board presentations from the last few months on our website here: https://www.beaconk12.org/domain/418 .

 

Community Conversations about the Strategic Plan and the Budget

I will be out having community conversations with folks about how the Strategic Plan and the Budget work together.  Please think about coming out to join me on one or more of the following dates:

Sunday, April 28  6:00 at the Beacon Light Tabernacle

Thursday, May 2 7:00 at the Beacon Rec

Thursday, May 16 4:30 at the Howland Public Library

At these community meetings I will discuss the new foundation for our Strategic Plan and how the 19-20 budget intends to support the work moving forward.  I hope to see you there.

 

Tuesday, May 28, 2019 is now a day off for teachers and students

The Board of Education approved this calendar change earlier this week.  We only ended up using 3 full snow days this year and our contract with the Beacon Teacher Association says that if we use between 2-5 snow days in a school year we need to take one extra day off.  We decided to extend Memorial Day weekend with this extra day. Memorial Day weekend for this year is now Friday-Tuesday, May 24-28.

 

Here are some pictures of the new mural at Rombout Middle School.

                  

The work on the Mural will be completed on April 12, 2019.  

Enjoy Spring Break and we will see everyone back on Tuesday, April 23!