Credit: Mary Jenkins
The three pillars of Pine Plains Central School District’s new strategic plan — its “core values” — are achieving academic excellence, enriching the student experience and strengthening community ties. Revealed in February 2023, the 12-page Blueprint for Excellence was the culmination of a year-long collaboration between the Board of Education, led by Superintendent Brian Timm; school administrators; staff; parents; and community members.
The blueprint is a district-wide strategy that breathes new life into well-established educational goals, emphasizing transparency and accountability. “It will serve as a roadmap in our efforts to connect with each child and family while enhancing our connections as a school and a community,” said Timm in an open letter to the district. Each school provides quarterly updates, detailing the creative ways teachers are implementing the three core values. A mechanism for student and teacher feedback is in the works.
In interviews with the Herald, all three principals involved in implementing the plan have found that distilling the schools’ mission to three priorities has proved energizing and allowed them to become more imaginative in their educational approach. Stissing Mountain Junior/Senior High School principal Christopher Boyd said, “It’s a great thing to be a part of the blueprint. It’s a way to get the community involved.”
Preparing Stissing students for the post-high school experience
A Red Hook native and former math teacher, Boyd has been the high school’s chief administrator for two years. He supervises the approximately 450 students in grades six to 12. “We’re trying to develop whole kids here,” Boyd said. “We prepare students for the next step in life, so everyone feels like they have a place.”
Boyd was upbeat about the many choices the district offers its students. Juniors and seniors have the option of spending half days at BOCES Career and Technical Institute in Poughkeepsie: Kids can choose between more than a dozen classes to learn a trade, or begin training for careers in hands-on professions such as nursing, architecture and construction. “Preparing students for the post-high school experience is crucial,” said Boyd. “It’s hard to decide your life direction at age 17. Our students know they can take a college class or study a trade because they’ve already done it in high school.”
A renewed emphasis on academic excellence spurred the addition of diverse new courses to the curriculum. “We added 10 classes this year, including AP physics, statistics and music theory,” Boyd said. “Students are even able to get college credit, now that our psychology class is associated with Marist.”
Boyd has encouraged teachers to develop new courses reflecting the core values. “We now have an art course where kids create an animated world,” Boyd said. “It teaches them computer skills, illustration, sculpture and much more. Our school also offers adaptive outdoor adventures for special needs students, and our culinary course has added learning about foods around the world, baking and making pastries.”
Boyd pointed to the “March Senior to Senior Breakfast” — high school seniors serving a meal and chatting with local senior citizens — as one of the ways the school has engaged the community, the third key element to the district’s strategic plan. “We also are working on having a community-building art class,” he said. “The students will learn how to create and install murals and sculpture. The [town] would help with it, see it and benefit from it.”
The blueprint’s emphasis on students’ community involvement extends beyond graduation. “It makes them less likely to drop out of school,” Boyd said. “Currently 91 to 94% of our seniors graduate, which is about average for Dutchess County. My goal is to make it 100%. That’s a blueprint for success.”
Focusing on faculty improves student academics at Seymour Smith
Principal Julie Roberts, a Binghamton native living in Poughkeepsie, is a 13-year veteran at Seymour Smith Intermediate Learning Center (SSILC). She oversees the school’s nearly 200 students, grades two through five. “My blood type is B positive and that’s how I try to live my life,” Roberts said. “I embrace all things positive, and try to make them so loud that they drown out the naysayers. What we do here is rewarding and so important, so we can’t be anything but positive!”
Credit: Mary Jenkins
Roberts is enthusiastic about the strategic plan: “Dr. Timm has set up the blueprint so we can learn and grow together as children and adults. It provides clarity and structure. The depth and breadth of opportunities for the students here is inspirational, especially for rural Pine Plains kids who wouldn’t otherwise get a chance to have a broader experience.”
According to Roberts, SSILC’s student academics are best served when she focuses on the faculty’s professional development. “Most of my staff here are veterans of 15-plus years,” she said. “I want to inspire them to try new things and not just work down their remaining days. What will bring kids back tomorrow? How will you keep them inspired and engaged?”
Roberts said that students should have a voice and a choice in what they’re learning. “It directly impacts their experience,” she said, referring to one of the plan’s core values. “Our faculty and staff created 18 workshops for kids to choose from, all hands-on and STEAM-based [science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics].” Each project is a clever mix of collaborative skills and academics: Children have created sun catchers, straw rockets and, most recently, recyclable and plantable bookmarks made from paper pulp and seeds. “The bookmark project taught the students about conservation, sustainability and recycling,” Roberts said.
Community connection is also a priority for Roberts. “We started right away by soliciting help from parents in the fall for May Career Day,” she said. “Students will come armed with questions and learn practical information about all types of professions. This year we’ll have a member of law enforcement, a dog groomer and a veterinarian.” Other outreach programs for the elementary school include partnering with the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office for an annual toy drive. “But our community’s favorite is the November holiday meal,” she added. “At the dinner we honor our local veterans and ‘grandfriends,’ grandparents or elderly loved ones.”
Roberts has a personal blueprint objective: “As a reward for the kids’ hard work and goal achievements this year, I’m hoping to give them an unforgettable year-end student experience. A campout on the school grounds — with tents, a bonfire, the works!”
The student experience at Cold Spring: from surviving in the Arctic to outdoor classrooms
“I have such faith in this school district,” said Kristen Fischetti, the second-year principal at Cold Spring Early Learning Center (CSELC), where she supervises about 160 students from pre-K through first grade. “I had been teaching third grade for seven years at Seymour Smith. It was a difficult choice to move to the position of Cold Spring principal, but I wanted to do more for everyone.” Fischetti, a Dutchess County native who lives in Pleasant Valley, enrolled her two children, a first grader and a fifth grader, in the Pine Plains Central School District. “The opportunities for my kids are amazing; they are thriving.”
Credit: Mary Jenkins
Fischetti praised the blueprint and its primary architect. “Dr. Timm is approachable, communicative, and available,” she said. “He leads monthly meetings, attended by administrators of every department — including buildings and grounds, food service and pupil personnel — to strategize and review our progress. It’s important ongoing planning, all related to the Blueprint for Excellence.”
Fischetti analyzed CSELC report card data to look for academic weaknesses. “We found that teaching how to read hadn’t necessarily been done properly in the past,” Fischetti said. “In order to read you need to have a strong foundation in phonics [the relationship of sounds to letters], so we purchased decodable readers, which has helped to strengthen these skills.”
Project Based Learning days combine academic excellence with student experience. “Students pick the activity they want to participate in; if they’re motivated, they’re engaged, and if they’re engaged, they learn,” said Fischetti. “Our winter PBL was based on the question, ‘If you were dropped in the Arctic, how are you going to survive?’ After brainstorming, some kids made little igloo shelters out of cotton balls, some made paper winter clothes and some made poles for ice fishing. This week, the PBL will be about oceans and the environment, a theme that we’ll also tie into future events. I would love to have gardens and farm animals here for the student experience, but maybe an outdoor classroom would be more realistic.”
The Stanford Free Library plays an important role in the school’s connection to the community. “The library recently hosted our students’ art show; in August, I’ll be there reading to new and returning students,” Fischetti said. “We have many activities in our school where we invite the community in, like Literacy Night [a night highlighting reading and writing, art and recreation]. This May we’ll have our annual Expo, with student exhibits and performances. Children can ask any family member to attend.”
Fischetti echoes her colleagues’ view that the Blueprint for Excellence’s impact will reach beyond the high school experience. “Our kids need to be successful global community members,” she said. “We must prepare the students whether they go on to CTI, college or the family business. We are here for them.”