Superintendent laud the good things in NIagara Falls Schools

By Mark Laurrie

Niagara Falls Schools Superintendent

The successes keep adding up for the City School District of the City of Niagara Falls, meaning my end-of-year article occupies much space in our hometown Niagara Gazette at the end of each school year! I am grateful that the Gazette sees the importance of direct contact from the Superintendent of the City School District of the City of Niagara Falls with the public. Thank you for reading my articles and learning about the many good things the District is doing that far outweigh anything negative. My end-of-year review for 2023 – 2024 is overflowing with accomplishments and improvements, and it just keeps getting better.

Here are a few of the highlights from the 2023 – 2024 school year:

• The District offered 45 college credit-bearing classes at Niagara Falls High School, a testament to our students' hard work and dedication and our higher education partnerships.

• The District launched its first course in partnership with Stanford University. Ten Niagara Falls High School (NFHS) students earned five Stanford college credits by completing the same Artificial Intelligence (AI) class hundreds of undergraduates have taken.
• About 70 students from the Tri-District Leadership Conference—Niagara Falls High School, North Tonawanda High School, and Niagara Wheatfield High School—gathered at Niagara Wheatfield High School in February 2024 to listen to keynote speaker and Town of Niagara native Johnny Parks. Parks shared his experience of overcoming adversity, and students from the three high schools participated in discussion groups after the speech.

• The District has been in ongoing discussions with Say Yes Buffalo to establish a Say Yes Niagara Falls program. A rollout plan including significant fundraising is being created. The anticipated kick-off date for Say Yes Niagara Falls will be in the fall of 2025.

• Nearly all athletic teams from our three sports seasons were scholar-athlete teams. For a team to qualify as a scholar-athlete team, 75% or more of the team's members must maintain a 90% grade average.

• Because our students' safety inside and outside our schools is paramount, the Niagara Falls City School District (NFCSD) pledged to honor the Sandy Hook Promise. It adopted the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS). Say Something teaches youth how to recognize warning signs and threats in social media, in school, and in the community from individuals who may be a risk to themselves or others and Say Something to a trusted adult, use the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS), or call 911.

• The Niagara Falls High School Proscenium Players presented the student play, The Diary of Ann Frank, the student musical, Hello, Dolly! and the alumni play, 12 Angry Jurors. These productions required tremendous physical and mental work; what the audience sees is the result of this "sweat equity." And the cast, crew, musicians, and directors make it look "easy."

• The extended school day for NFCSD elementary students has been highly praised. With dismissal time moved to 3:20 p.m. five days a week, the students have enjoyed extra time for critical subjects such as art, music, STEM, and physical education classes.

• The Board of Education's proposed 2024 – 2025 school year budget, totaling $190,992,049, was approved with 84.3% of the vote, the highest percentage of favorable votes for any school budget in WNY. Despite receiving a lower amount of New York State Foundation Aid than expected, the board created a solid budget based on our student's needs and did so without cutting any staff or programs and with no increase in the tax levy for the 10th straight year.

• Sixteen NFHS students embarked on the yearly Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) tour in Georgia. They enjoyed visiting Morris Brown College, Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College.
• Hyde Park Elementary was awash with Buffalo Bills colors as former Buffalo Bills players Ryan Fitzpatrick and Stevie Johnson stopped by on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, to read Johnson's latest children's book, "The Legend of FitzMagic – Mr. Nomadic." Amazon Prime was in town for the Bills versus Tampa Bay Buccaneers Thursday Night Football game, and Prime created a video of the day's events played during the Thursday Night Football game - a highlight of the school year for sure! Each child at Hyde Park received a Wegmans backpack with a copy of Johnson's book and healthy snack items.

• The Board of Education changed the compulsory education age from 16 to 17. School administrators agreed that raising the mandatory age at which youths must stay in school to 17 will give educators more time to work with students to decrease the dropout rate and increase the graduation rate.

• Bloneva Bond Primary introduced NCCC in the Neighborhood, a program that brings free college courses for parents to the neighborhood. Niagara County Community College offered a Writing 101 class for college credit.

• A group of Niagara Falls High School students traveled to a leadership conference at Disney World.

• Ten teachers and two NFHS students ventured to Ghana, Africa, to help a community build a boat for commerce.

• Accolades to the organizers and students at the All-District Elementary Science Fair and Expo on March 13, 2024. Especially impressive were the fourth graders who programmed their own cars to race.

• The official Niagara Falls High School graduation rate has been reported at 85%.

• Two groups at the Niagara Falls High School (NFHS) won first place out of 23 Western New York High schools in the Junior Achievement Stock Market Challenge. The winning team members are Robinyo Robin, Kaden DePadre, Samaksh "Steve" Batra, and Lyrik Hamilton. Thank you to NFHS teacher Giulio Colangelo, the team's teacher/advisor.

• Seventeen NFHS Spanish IV students traveled to Puerto Rico, where they utilized their Spanish language skills and experienced the culture.

• Congratulations to Media Education Director Rocco Strangio and the NFHS Media Production Students, who produced an eclipse documentary that premiered at the Niagara Falls Public Library on Tuesday, April 29, 2024. Around 100 people attended the showing. In addition, the New York State Senate has asked the District if they may show the documentary before lawmakers.

• Harry F. Abate Elementary presented The Lion King, Jr. in the school's auditorium on May 2 and 3. The students did a fabulous job, and it is good to see them getting involved in theatre in elementary school. Thank you to the teachers who worked tirelessly to put the musical together.

The above is a tiny sample of what we accomplished this school year. So, celebrate and enjoy it; you've earned it. Rest up, because more is coming right around the corner when we return in September! The NFCSD has a lot of talent to show the world and our own success story to tell.