Otselic Valley Central School District Home

News

Superintendent candidate search update: Interview questions, Zoom interviews

The Otselic Valley Board of Education is preparing to start the interview process for the new Superintendent of Schools. As part of the process we ask you to fill out a survey (linked below) to determine what questions you would like to have asked of the candidate: Survey about superintendent candidate interview questions. Your participation and opinions are important to us. Please note that this survey is intended only for Otselic Valley School District residents, students, and School District employees. The survey will end on Thursday, September 24, 2020. Interviews will be conducted in a community forum via Zoom on September 28th and 29th. If you would like to view the interview via Zoom, please contact the district school secretary at [email protected]. You will need to provide your name, e-mail address, phone number, and physical address. Thank you.

State aid cuts: Impact on Otselic Valley

At the Board of Education meeting on September 17, 2020, Interim Superintendent Michael Drahos and Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Dan Silky shared the significant financial challenge our district is facing due to cuts in state aid. Nearly two-thirds of the funding for Otselic Valley comes in the form of state aid, they explained in a presentation led by Mr. Silky. Last spring Governor Cuomo indicated that schools would face the possibility of a 20% cut in state aid due to the economic impact of the pandemic. Previous cuts to school aid have been in the foundation aid category and our district, along with others, made contingency plans accordingly.

OV welcomes new School Resource Officer

We are pleased to welcome Deputy Kent Smith, this year’s School Resource Officer, to Otselic Valley Central School. Deputy Smith is a sworn police officer with over 30 years' experience in law enforcement including boating/navigation patrol and snow mobile enforcement in Chenango County, and he most recently served as a Sergeant in the New York State Courts. As SRO his primary role will be to maintain a safe, secure school environment while working together with administration. He will also be available to provide relevant law-related education and public safety presentations as needed. If students have law enforcement career questions, he can field those too.

Transportation update within the village of South Otselic

There has been a change in the pick up of the students living within the village of South Otselic. If you live within the village of South Otselic and would like your child(ren) picked up and dropped off daily by a bus, please contact Tina Cruikshank, 315-653-7218, ext 5450 or [email protected]  If you elect to have your child picked up, you can expect Mr. Thorp a little before 7:30 AM. This will start as early as tomorrow morning. We hope this makes your mornings a little less confusing. 

Technology help is on the way!

Help is on the way! All students--both those who are all-virtual AND those in A/B cohorts who may need help on the days they learn remotely--will get extra support as they work with technologies that are part of distance learning at OV. We observed today that students learning virtually will benefit from additional technology assistance, so we’ve made an adjustment: Ms. Lori Wood and Ms. Lindsey Eaton, both Licensed Teaching Assistants, will be available all virtually, all the time (during the school day). They will help students connect and use their varied platforms while working under the direction of the students’ teachers.

Great job, Masked Vikings!

Time for a Viking shout-out about mask-wearing! Our students arrived at school safely masked, and they‘ve responsibly followed directions about mask wearing at the appropriate times and places all day today. How do we know? Most teachers didn’t have to hand out any extra masks at all today. Parents, your support in preparing your children for this new-normal is greatly appreciated! Grateful applause also goes out to the Otselic Valley PTO which purchased OV-branded masks for all students and staff. This organization’s generosity to our students in creative, appreciated ways is noted every year-- thank you! Thank you so much for doing your part to keep our OV family healthy, everyone!