Dear Attica Central School Community,
Time flies. It’s cliche, but it’s true. Yesterday, it seems, I was greeting kindergarteners as they got off the bus for their first day of school at Attica Elementary. Today, I happened to glance at the date in the corner of my computer screen and saw, with a shock, that the school year is already two months old.
With Thanksgiving nearly upon us, it feels like the perfect time to pause a moment, take stock and express gratitude for all the good in our lives. Our teachers and administration started the new school year right where they left off in the old one - creating quality educational opportunities for our students day in and day out. I’m thankful for them and their continued hard work to provide some great education experiences for our students.
Past efforts of our Cafeteria Committee, building maintenance and food service staff paid off over the summer as the serving lines in our middle-high school cafeteria were reworked, allowing us to offer exciting new items to our students for breakfast and lunch.
Our food service staff was also able to leverage new sources of state and federal funding that have allowed our district to begin offering free breakfast and lunch to all students starting Nov. 1. I’m thankful for these valued, district employees who work daily to ensure our students have access to quality, nutritious food while at school.
Perhaps most of all, I’m thankful for our students. They’ve attacked each day of this new school year with purpose and intent, determined to squeeze as much learning out of each day as possible. I expect no different the rest of the school year and count myself lucky I’ve been tasked with leading such a special school district.
As we prepare to head into Thanksgiving Recess, we remain firmly in the input-gathering portion of our strategic planning process. It’s our hope throughout this process to engage stakeholders to the maximum extent possible.
We’ve made good progress already in determining what our community wants learning to look like here at Attica Central Schools thanks to the ample number of responses we received to our latest ThoughtExchange survey, but the work isn’t done.
Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for more information regarding the strategic planning process and additional opportunities to give input.
Once finalized - we hope by June of next year - our strategic plan will serve as a comprehensive, guiding document - a map that will help inform decisions and shape the direction of educational programs and initiatives at our district for years to come.
Those interested in becoming a member of the strategic planning committee that will meet this winter should express interest to District Clerk Jamie Niziol. Letters should be addressed to Ms. Niziol at 3338 East Main Street Rd., Attica, NY 14011. Ms. Niziol can also be reached via email at JNiziol@atticacsd.org or (585) 591-0400, ext. 1000.
As a reminder, there will be no school on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023 through Friday, Nov. 24, 2023 due to Thanksgiving Recess. I wish all of you a joyful and restful Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kiel Illg
Superintendent of Schools
A flow chart showing the intended timeline for the development and finalization of Attica’s strategic plan.