38° and Mist
By Mark Laurrie
Niagara Falls School Superintendent
In education, we celebrate the New Year twice—once in September and again in January. As we enter 2026, I challenge everyone to keep a positive attitude and spirit as we move forward with prosperity and good health in mind, body, and spirit.
We have much to look forward to as we start 2026. Our popular Saturday Academies, which offer engaging activities and academic enrichment for students, return on January 10 at H.F. Abate and January 24 at Gaskill Prep. These academies are part of our larger Say Yes Niagara Falls initiative. Watch for a mid-January announcement about a major donation to our college and career endowment fund. This legacy funding will help with college or trades certification costs for the 2027-2028 graduates.
Our current seventh-grade class will be the first graduating class to experience the full impact of the New York State Education Department's new graduation requirements, titled "A Portrait of a Graduate." This exciting change will allow our students to begin demonstrating their subject-matter mastery and proficiency through performance-based explanations. To learn more about what the future holds, visit NY Inspires. As the State continues to release guidelines and changes, the district will use multiple media to share the information with students, parents, and the community.
As the weather breaks, students and staff can rest assured: our highly secure schools will be ready and cool, now with air conditioning installed in every classroom and common area. On the capital side, we will soon announce a date to unveil our new Athletic, Military, and Founders Hall of Fame, which will be displayed outside Niagara Falls High School's field house and will honor selected alumni and contributors from our district's history.
Our in-district Building Trades program now has 52 students. These future welders, carpenters, plumbers, and electricians will soon work on outdoor projects after spending the winter rehabilitating the interior of the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center. Our program is highly coveted by students who excel at constructing, building, and fabricating real-world projects. They will be joined by our Mechanical Engineering and Computer Applications P-TECH students, who are also preparing for the real world.
This spring, we will offer students our first chance to learn about the real estate profession through our new Real Estate Club. Niagara Falls High School students interested in the field will learn what it takes to start a career in real estate sales, development, and acquisition.
We look forward to these exciting opportunities in the new year. Winter can be long and dreary, but our students' learning experiences remain bright and hopeful.
