The Journey A Newsletter of the Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton Central School District Mission Statement: The Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton Central School District is committed to an educational environment that assures equitable opportunity for individuals to become College and Career Ready and ultimately, responsible, productive members of society. We will encourage all individuals to do their personal best, that they may gain a lifelong enthusiasm for work and learning. September/October 2018 VOLUME 29, NUMBER 1 It’s the Quality of the Journey that Counts! GMU Showcases Recycling Program Students take part in green efforts! Administrators from the Gilbertsville-Mount Upton Central School District recently made a presentation about the school’s recycling program, which has allowed the district to reduce its carbon footprint. The district has been developing this program for several years, and it has saved the district thousands of dollars in the long run. Superintendent Annette Hammond, Business Manager Dorothy Iannello, School Meals Manager Susan Sebeck, Principal Heather Wilcox, and Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Alan Digsby attended the Rural Schools Association conference recently to showcase the program, and to explain the steps taken to get to where GMU currently is. “The program has come a long way and has become one of pride for the district,” Hammond said. “Our staff and stu- dents have worked extremely hard as a team to make sure the program is sustainable and will help our school as we move forward in future years.” Continued on page 3 Superintendent’s Message Welcome back to the 2018-2019 on with our students! Our web address is www.gmucsd.org. school year! Please join us at our School Our fall sports are in full swing with numerous soccer Open House on Thursday, October 4. games and cross country meets taking place. Thank you to all We have so much going on that night, the coaches who give of their personal time to provide lifelong including opportunities to meet our new lessons through sports. I firmly believe that as adults/specta- and returning teachers and see our school tors, we need to model appropriate behaviors that we want our building. Thank you to Mr. Digsby and students to adopt as adults. It is imperative that we are always his custodial staff for the incredible demonstrating good sportsmanship at all contests. Watching a amount of work they did this summer contest can be much more enjoyable for all involved if we are preparing for the opening of school. The making positive and encouraging comments. Please support student workers also did great work as they painted, lugged our students in our athletic contests and all extra-curricular furniture, cleaned, and worked along with the Buildings and programs that they participate in. Having supportive fans can Grounds Staff. Our student summer work program has been an provide a positive boost of energy for all involved! opportunity for students for many years. It provides students Parents, student drivers, and community members, please with an opportunity to not only make money but to gain remember that we want to keep all of our students as safe as valuable skills and experience that can help them in future jobs possible, so on these foggy fall and fast-approaching slippery and care of their own homes. Thank you to this year’s student winter mornings, remember to take it slow and remember that workers: Kathryn Hawkins, Simon Dear, Austin Oliver and you cannot pass a school bus that has its blinking lights on. Hunter Christian. Also, during morning drop-offs and afternoon bus loading, Thank you to Mr. Joe Zaczek and our Transportation Staff the front circle is closed to all traffic except our buses. During for their work in preparing for the arrival of your children, these times it is best to use the parent drop-off and pick-up our most precious cargo. The drivers in our district are the area adjacent to the playground. It is also prohibited to pass first point of contact for students each morning, and they do a bus in our front circle any time of day. a great job of being there to make each student’s day start off Student and staff safety is very important to us all. Please great! Once in school, students can have a delicious breakfast know that although inconvenient, we will continue to ask prepared for them by our Cafeteria Staff. Our Cafeteria Staff visitors to stay outside or in our vestibule entrance unless provides students with delicious homemade meals with a you are meeting with someone in the school building. This smile. Thank you to Mrs. Susan Sebeck and her dedicated is for the safety of all students and employees. You will kitchen crew! need to use the communication device on the left side of Welcome to all of our new faculty, staff, students and the main doors to ring into the office to let them know what their families—we are thrilled to welcome you into the GMU you need before being given access to the building. You will family! Making connections with students on the bus, in the find Mrs. Deb Ostrander greeting you in our security office, halls, in the classroom, cafeteria, and on the fields and courts and in the space behind that office we have moved the Main is a priority at our school! Our faculty and staff teach, guide, Office/Mrs. Wilcox’s Office, with Mrs. Kristy Carey as the listen, and provide much-needed support to our students. They secretary. We often use summer as a time to rethink our office tirelessly give of themselves each day and are truly present structure and make improvements that are beneficial to the for our students. safety and flow of our building. I would like to thank our teachers and staff for their The establishment of the School-Based Health Clinic dedication to our students and the GMU School Community! has been slow, as the Board of Education has been cautious Together, our teachers will continue to work on improved trying to make sure expenses are kept to a minimum. We programs and instruction District-wide. Last year, students put the renovation of the space project out to bid twice this were dismissed early on Fridays to allow teachers time to past spring, and both times the proposals have come back collaborate together in teams across grade levels and subjects. $70,000 or more over the voter approved use of reserves in the Remember that these teams are called PLCs, or Professional amount of $300,000. We are currently working with Bassett Learning Communities. The work that teachers do in these to try and secure additional funds to cover the cost of this teams will continue on Friday afternoons this year, but we project. We are also exploring opportunities to invite you to will not be dismissing students early. We will be implement- a School-Based Health Clinic meeting in which you can hear ing a District-wide mentoring program that will benefit all about the program that Bassett is working to establish with us. students, and we look forward to added opportunities we can More information to come on this. expose students to during this valuable time. I am looking forward to an amazing year of growth and Communication with our school and extended school opportunity in our District. As always, please do not hesitate community is important, so please don’t forget to utilize this to reach out to me with questions or comments. newsletter and our District website along with other social — Mrs. Annette D. Hammond, Superintendent media sites (Facebook and Instagram) to access the most up to date schedule of events here at school and to see what is going 2 It’s the Quality of the Journey that Counts! Continued from front cover In 2011, discussions were initiated to see how the school liquids. Casella Waste helped with the development and could become more green. Items talked about included process of the signage. marker recycling, composting, and donating to the school Some of the compost and certain liquid and food waste garden project. are donated to a local farmer, who picks up the waste each One of the highlights, though, was making sure the night. The waste is fed to farm pigs, and the farmer returns program was not just being staff-run, rather having the the clean buckets. In turn, the farmer gives a pig back to the involvement of students. school. That pig is taken to a USDA-certified butcher, and The school garden came from an Elementary Student the school dictates how the pig needs to be processed. Pork Council project. The produce grown is used by the school is then used for school meals, and the only district cost is cafeteria in lunches, as well as sold to the public at Open House. for processing of the meat. The produce is also used in cooking projects. PK-12 classes Though there are several facets to the program, the end sign up to care for sections of the garden, with jobs including result is savings to taxpayers. At its peak, the yearly invoice planting, weeding, and watering. amount for waste was $16,238.80 in 2012. In 2017, that number The recycling aspect goes a bit deeper. The High School has dropped to $3,075. Not only that, the frequency of garbage Student Council has led the way in classroom recycling. being picked up has reduced from five days to one. Bins were purchased for every classroom and office. The The hard work going into this program has been noticed council sets the schedule and assigns students to various statewide, too, as a recent New York State Comptroller audit recycling tasks.