Success Stories - Champlain Valley Educational Services

Enhancing Education
Celebrating Achievements
Moving Forward
Success Stories
Volume 7 - 2014
Champlain Valley Educational Services
Clinton • Essex • Warren • Washington BOCES
2014-15 Strategic Plan Proposed Mission & Vision Statements and Core Beliefs
Mission:
Champlain Valley Educational Services empowers students, schools and communities by providing
exemplary education, training, support and shared services.
Vision:
We aspire to be a nationally recognized, premier provider of dynamic and innovative programs
and services, serving as a catalyst for personal and regional economic growth.
Core Beliefs:
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Students are our first priority.
We value open and honest communication.
We embrace collaboration and shared decision-making.
We promote creativity and innovation.
All students can learn and be successful.
We all lead by example.
We act with integrity, fostering respect for all.
Students, family and community are valued partners for success.
We ensure a safe, supportive learning and work environment.
We all impact the educational process and are dedicated to perform
at the highest possible levels.
Public Non-Discrimination Notice:
Clinton-Essex-Warren-Washington BOCES a/k/a/ Champlain Valley Educational Services (CVES) hereby
advises students, parents, employees and the general public that it offers educational and employment opportunities without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, creed or religion, marital status, age, gender preference
or disability. Students shall not be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be
subject to unlawful discrimination under any program or activity. Inquiries regarding this nondiscrimination
policy may be directed to any of the compliance officers listed below:
James McCartney1585 Military Turnpike
Cathy Snow
P.O. Box 455, Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Phone 518-561-0100
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
It is our privilege to share the 2014-15 Success
Stories and highlight exciting examples of our students’
successes and accomplishments created with assistance
from our outstanding CVES staff. Moving forward this
year, CVES is now undertaking an exciting three-year
(2014-17) Strategic Plan of continuous improvement.
During this process, we have create an updated set
of Strategic Priorities, new goals and developed longterm strategies for greater success of our students, staff
and CVES. In addition, we have updated our Mission
Statement (on the facing page) to reflect our new
ideas and outlook. Our revised statement, written by a
representative team of faculty, staff and administrators,
has been enthusiastically embraced by the whole
organization.
Equally exciting, we have updated to a new
aspirational Vision Statement that creates dynamic
goals for CVES to be a catalyst for personal and regional
leadership, growth in education in the North Country,
and economic opportunities throughout our entire
region.
Supporting our new mission and vision statements,
we have revised our CVES Core Beliefs which exemplify
the dedication CVES colleagues display daily. This is
how CVES sees itself, what our fundamental values are,
how it operates as a team, and how we strive to benefit
all of the students we educate, and the communities we
touch.
We look forward to helping create even greater
success for our students at CVES and component
schools, as we move forward in partnership with our
school district colleagues, and community and business
leaders in the years ahead.
Dear Friends,
The first item in our newly-adopted set of CVES
Core Beliefs states: Students are our first priority.
Accordingly, at CVES, our measure of success is determined by the progress of our students. Our Core
Beliefs, along with the renewed Mission and Vision
Statements, were created through a collaborative process as part of the CVES Strategic Planning initiative
that is currently underway.
The success of an organization depends on countless
factors. Not every CVES employee is directly involved
in student instruction: some provide professional development to teachers and administrators, some keep
our technology up and running smoothly, others provide essential services to both CVES and its component
districts that help contain costs and allow a wider range
of opportunities to the more than 14,000 students in
the CVES territory.
Yet, all contribute towards the success of students across the North Country. All of CVES is
dedicated to a single goal, as composed by its faculty and staff: Students are our first priority.
The success stories in this publication remind us
exactly how wide the range of CVES programs and
services is, how the students we educate have vastly different needs, and how we as an institution respond to
and meet those needs. Every day, year after year, CVES
is building on past success with a goal of achieving
even greater success in the future.
On behalf of the CVES Board of Education, I invite
you to read about some of the many success stories
that are making a difference in the lives of our North
Country students.
Larry Barcomb
Board President
Mark C. Davey, Ed.D.
District Superintendent
Administration
Board of Education
Mark C. Davey, Ed.D.
District Superintendent of Schools
Bonnie Berry
Interim Director of Special Education
Teri Calabrese-Gray
Assistant Superintendent
Rachel Rissetto
Director of Human Resources
Michele Friedman
Director of CV-TEC
Christine Myers
Treasurer
Larry Barcomb, President
Michael St.Pierre, Vice President
Bruce Murdock, Deputy Vice President
Leisa Boise
Tonia Finnegan
Bryan Garvey
Evan Glading
Linda Gonyo-Horne
Richard Harriman, Sr.
Donna LaRocque
Richard Malaney
Ed Marin
Thomas McCabe
Sue Reaser
Lori Saunders
CV-TEC
Students win 1st place in web design at the NYS SkillsUSA Competition
SkillsUSA programs include local, state and national
who is outgoing would absolutely love it. I was able to
competitions in which students demonstrate occupameet so many people from across the country. It’s just
tional and leadership skills. At the annual national-level
fun to go someplace new and experience something like
SkillsUSA Championships, nearly 6,000 students comthat. It’s also a good feeling to place, especially to come
pete in 99 occupational and leadership skill areas.
in first.
SkillsUSA programs also help to establish industry
Mark: Web design is not inherently easy. It takes a lot
standards for job skill training in the lab and classroom,
of practice to get good at it. Many second year students
and promote community service. SkillsUSA is recogwant to focus on web design, but say they don’t think
nized by the U.S. Department of Education and is cited
they are good at it. I tell them, you’re not good at it, that
as a “successful model of employer-driven youth deit takes time. I point to Matt and Dustin as examples.
velopment training program” by the U.S. Department of
They kept applying themselves to improve their web
Labor.
design skills. They worked outside of the school day to
Matthew Marquis and Dustin
continually enhance their skills.
Besaw, students in CV-TEC’s
That work ethic produced the
Digital Arts & Design program,
skills that made me select them
stood at the top of the podium
to compete at SkillsUSA.
at the NYS SkillsUSA competiMatt: We split the work. I did
tion in Syracuse, winners of the
the design, and Dustin did the
Web Design medal. This enabled
in-depth code, like JavaScript.
them to compete at the National
Mark: They had a bit of Java
SkillsUSA competition in Kansas
Script to write for the competiCity, where they placed 8th in the
tion, a form verification script,
nation.
but we knew in advance what
Students were tasked to dewould be required, and presign a website from scratch for a
pared them accordingly. What
fictitious movie theater, featuring
worked out well was that their
concession prices, show times
skills complemented each
and movie trailers. Here is what
other. Matt is highly skilled at
Matt and his instructor Mark
Photoshop and could quickly
Brown had to say about the
create a great design, and then
Matthew Marquis and Mark Brown
SkillsUSA experience:
Dustin would put the layout
Matt: The SkillsUSA competition gave me the expetogether from Matt’s design. I was surprised how well
rience of meeting deadlines in web design. The State
they worked together because in a competition, it can
competition allowed 5 hours, we finished in 2; the
be really challenging working as a team.
National competition allowed 8 hours, we finished in 3
Traveling to the nationals was also a new experience,
hours.
since the students had never flown before. They enjoyed
SkillsUSA was a fun experience. I’m not very outgothe flight to Kansas City and had an outstanding time at
ing, so I didn’t really talk to a lot of people, but someone the competition.
SkillsUSA - Student Leadership club for CV-TEC students
SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and
industry representatives working together to ensure
America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA is a national
organization serving teachers and high school and college students who are preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations, including health
occupations and for further education. SkillsUSA was
formerly known as VICA (the Vocational Industrial Clubs
of America).
SkillsUSA empowers its members to become worldclass workers, leaders and responsible American
SkillsUSA a.m. class officers
Mineville Branch Campus
Careers in nursing through the Allied Health program in Mineville
“Throughout my high school career I knew
what I wanted to do with my life: become a nurse.
Attending CV-TEC was the best decision I could
have made to start my future.”
Christianna Fabiano
“The Allied Health program gives you such a
Class of 2013
large step into the work world and leaves you with
several useful certifications under your belt.”
“This has assisted me in getting into my top
choice college and the nursing program. I started
college already knowing the basics of my future
career.”
Students in our Allied Health program learn
skills used across the industry in a wide variety of
healthcare occupations. Lab practice, job shadowing and clinical experiences are an integral part
Christianna Fabiano is attending Elmira College for a BS in Nursing
of the program.
Students receive preparation for entering a
tification. This program is a great start for entering the
health career in Certified Nurse Assisting, Certified EKG
world of work or for continuing in a post-graduate health
Technician and Phlebotomy Tech preparation for cerprofession career pathway.
Throughout my high
school career I knew what
I wanted to do with my life:
become a nurse. Attending
CV-TEC was the best
decision I could have made
to start my future. The
Allied Health program gives you such a large step into the
SkillsUSA - cont’d
work world and leaves you with several useful certifications
(continued on facing page - SkillsUSA)
under
your
belt.
This
has
assisted me in getting into my top
citizens.
SkillsUSA
improves
the quality
of America’s
skilled workforce through a structured program of
choice
college
the technical
nursing
citizenship,
leadership,and
employability,
and program. I will be starting
professional skills training. SkillsUSA enhances the
college
already knowing the basics of my future career.
lives and careers of students, instructors and industry
representatives as they strive to be champions at work.
According to SkillsUSA
advisor Lori Ducharme,
Christianna
Fabiano, Attending Elmira College BS in Nursing
any student attending CV-TEC can join its chapter. To
participate in SkillsUSA, students must fill in a form
and pay $5 in dues to the State and National SkillsUSA
organization. Fundraising at CV-TEC pays an additional
$8 in dues for each student.
The chapter
officer
team learns
parliamentary
proceCall: 561-0100
x 241
(Main);
536-7344
(Satellite);
942-6691 (Mineville); 561-0430 x 3088 (OneWorkSource)
dures through utilizing Robert’s Rules of Order. These
Dustin Besaw & Matthew Marquis on top of the podium
skills can help students after they graduate and particiat the New York State SkillsUSA competition.
pate in meetings at work and in their communities.
fundraising for organizations such as Adopt an Angel
Club members participate in community service,
and Make-A-Wish, conduct food drives, and help out
at other fundraising events at the Champlain Center
mall. They also hold social events, such as Halloween
and Christmas parties, and an Ice Cream Social in the
spring.
They also conduct fundraising to attend regional,
state and national competitions. CV-TEC can send two
students from each program to regionals and one to
state competitions, so not every student can compete.
Competitors are chosen by their teacher based on their
participation in the SkillsUSA club and the quality of
SkillsUSA p.m. class officers their classroom work.
Call for Catalogue or Visit: www.cves.org/cvtec
You Know...
100% of CV-TEC’s 2012 Allied Health graduates went on to
employment or post-secondary education?
Special Education
Technology: the missing link
This fall, CVES Special Education opened a 6:1:1
Autism classroom for five-year-olds with Autism. Our
students all attended preschool programs prior to
becoming school age. Each student’s IEP stated that
they had minimal verbalizations and a very limited mode
of communication mainly picture exchange systems
(PECS), and only a few of the students had basic academic gains. However that has changed significantly!
Through accessing classroom/therapy technology,
our students are now using school Go Talk communication devices to state their wants and needs, increase
generalization of terms/word/places, learn and complete
common core foundation skills and clarify what is coming next for smoother transitions throughout the day.
Students who would hide under tables or run out of the
room in order to avoid a learning activity are now completing academic/therapy and CDOS tasks in order to
obtain a desired item - technology time where they can
select a favorite educational song, video or activity.
Technology was their missing link to success. Students are now verbalizing more, seeking out technology
to communicate by grabbing their Go Talk to convey
their needs and wants, decreasing their levels of frustration and anxiety in half. Though each student has their
own success story, two students stand out in front of
the group.
A five-year-old student who was born with a congenital condition that his father explains is, “a lack of wiring
to all parts of his brain,” is being treated through an integrated approach involving multiple education services.
OT/PT/Speech services and technology are delivering
basic common core foundation skills that demonstrate
the student’s ability to overcome his neurological disability. To say that his parents are amazed would be an
understatement. He completes requested tasks both
academically, utilizing technology via a computer, and
therapeutically, because he is extremely motivated by
his technology time (free choice).
Another five-year-old boy, who, when he entered
CVES in September, refused to walk and would become
physically assaultive when anxious and/or frustrated. He
had no form of communication (limited sound verbalizations). Now in November, he walks into school from
his bus watching a favorite program on his iPad (from
home). Once in the classroom, he switches from the
iPad to a classroom computer for a favored program.
He utilizes the classroom Go Talk to make his needs
and wants known. Staff uses the Go Talk with him to let
him know what is coming next: for example, first work,
A student checks out the controls of a Dept. of Homeland Security helicopter at Community Helpers Day
then playground.
In September, the student would not leave the classroom for therapy. Now he willingly transitions to therapy
locations with his iPad as the incentive upon completing
requested tasks. His Mother could not believe that he
is riding a tricycle and was amazed that he asks for the
bike using the Go Talk.
The evidence is in! Technology is opening up the
world for students in our Autism program and for their
families as well. Since these students are only five years
old, the possibilities for achievement are very real and
without limits.
Community Helpers Day
On Sept. 25, 2014, Special Education held its first Community Helpers
Day at the Plattsburgh campus, with
many participants from local emergency service agencies. In the past,
they have held fire safety week in October, but it was expanded this year
to include police, EMTs, a search &
rescue dog, and even a helicopter
from the Dept. of Homeland Security!
Normally, these students would
only see the Community Helpers in
an emergency situation. This was an
opportunity for them to meet and talk
to emergency personnel in a non-crisis setting, as they moved from station to station to see demonstrations
and speak with the representatives.
For example, at the fire department station, the firefighters explained what they would
look like in full gear. They gradually equipped themselves, explaining the function of each item, until they
were literally covered with firefighting gear – helmet,
mask, fireproof clothing, boots, oxygen tanks and more,
to show what they would look like when responding to
an emergency situation at home or in school.
This demonstration helps students to become familiar with the imposing view of a fully-equipped firefighter,
and to reduce their apprehension when they see one of
these Community Helpers.
This is part of the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) program, and was presented as
both an informational experience for the students, and
as a reward for their positive behavior. Students get time
away from the classroom for a different type of learning experience, and also enjoyed receiving fire safetythemed coloring books and crayons. Jeff Labounty, of
Labounty’s Towing Service, brought water bottles for
every student.
The highlight was the helicopter from DHS, though
it had to leave early to fly to an emergency. However,
that allowed the students see them in action (from a
distance), taking off from the field behind the parking lot
and disappearing into the sky.
Feedback from the Community Helpers indicated that
they also enjoyed meeting the students, explaining what
they do, giving safety tips and answering some great
questions from the students.
The PBIS Committee is already planning next year’s
event.
The following agencies offered their services for this
important educational event for CVES students.
• Champlain Valley Search & Rescue K9 Unit
brought a dog that helps find missing persons
• Clinton County Sheriff’s Office sent Sgt. Mercer
who spoke about ATV rules & regulations,
drinking & driving, and seat belt safety
• Dept. of Homeland Security sent a Helicopter
• Labounty’s Towing Service – brought a tow
truck, explained how he helps out at fire and
accident scenes, and served as an example of
an independent business owner
• Morrisonville EMS brought an ambulance
• Morrisonville Fire Dept. brought a fire truck and
a smoke trailer, which simulates smoke in a
house fire, and provided instruction on what to
do in case of a fire.
o Cadyville Fire Dept. assisted MFD
o District Fire Dept. assisted MFD
• New York State Police demonstrated seat belt
safety with an 8 mph impact simulator
• Plattsburgh Air/Marine Unit - rescue boat
A special thank you to our School Resource Officer,
Deputy Tracey Hilliker for coordinating all the presenters
and agencies.
Instructional Services
Summer Institutes for Math, ELA & Social Studies
This July, approximately 120 teachers from across
the North Country gathered at Champlain Valley Educational Services (CVES), Beekmantown and Willsboro
schools to participate in one or more summer institutes
with their colleagues.
All content developed is being shared among the
participating districts through a secure website and
hopefully the teachers will continue to create additional
resources throughout the school year. “We are doing
everything we can to help our students be successful in
the classroom, which hopefully will translate into lifelong
skills. I’m honored to be part of this special event,” said
Derrick Hopkins, CVES facilitator and teacher at Willsboro Central School.
The teachers have appreciated and found the summer institute very rewarding. “Not often do we get this
opportunity to share with so many teachers from around
the region. I am excited to bring all this new material to
my district. The workshop has been everything I expected,” said Athena Angelos from Northern Adirondack
Central School.
They collaborated on various projects with the assistance of CVES facilitators to help bring the Common Core curriculum to life in their classrooms this fall.
Teams of teachers shared ways they will incorporate
technology (video clips, virtual manipulatives, interactive
white board lessons, educational online games, etc.)
into their lessons, utilize parent resources, implement
research-based strategies for struggling learners, continue to work on vocabulary development, and create
Common Core aligned lessons, just to name a few.
Each institute began with an overview of the newly
redesigned EngageNY website (www.engageny.org) and
tips on how to navigate the website to locate a variety
of resources. “This past year teachers were barely able
to keep up with the pace required by the Common Core
and worked tirelessly to stay ahead of their students.
Resources were limited and students were not on grade
level when it came to what the Common Core expected
students to know and be able to do. I think we will be
in a much better place next year,” noted Teri CalabreseGray, CVES Assistant Superintendent.
Superintendent Stephen Broadwell from Willsboro
Central observed first-hand teachers working together
at the ELA Summer Institute, “They have genuinely
enjoyed the collegiality and being able to discuss cur-
riculum, teaching strategies, and philosophy with teachers from neighboring school districts. There have been
many worthwhile educational discussions focused on
the implementation of the Common Core that have
taken place.”
A special thank you to Beekmantown, Willsboro and
CVES for hosting the Mathematics, ELA and Social
Studies Summer Institutes respectively and for teachers who are constantly working to improve their craft to
educate our youth.
Additional comments from evaluations:
• I really enjoyed collaborating with other colleagues
at my grade level as well as teachers above and
below my grade level.
• Learned a great deal from others in my group. Great
networking, sharing of ideas.
• I gained experience in writing rubrics which will help
me in my teaching and support the Common Core.
CVES Tech Team upgraded computer network & software
The CVES Tech Team has been busy over the past
year, keeping CVES information technology running
smoothly, and upgrading the entire network. CVES has
now moved from a Novell network to Microsoft Active
Directory, which allows CVES users to log into any computer on campus, and use the same log-in to access
the system, your e-mail, Filemaker, etc. For example, a
student who attends both Special Education and CVTEC classes now can access their classroom work files
in both locations seamlessly. Staff that move between
campuses can likewise access their files from any CVES
location.
One upgrade which is making a big difference is the
change from iMail to Microsoft Exchange webmail. The
main advantage is that employees can now send and
receive emails on a variety of devices, on and off-campus, and anything they do via webmail will show up in
their mail account. Previously, these functions worked
separately, and mail sent by webmail did not appear in
the main mail application. It also now works well with
smart phones.
The Tech Team is in the process of changing the operating system on all CVES computers, including all the
Macs, to Windows 7, and have upgraded to Microsoft
Office 2013.
CVES-issued laptops and other devices are now
enabled to work off-campus, and access the CVES network and employee work files.
The wireless hotspots throughout all CVES buildings have been improved, and there are now no “dead
zones” on any CVES campus.
ISC recently renovated its conference rooms, and the
Tech Team designed an A/V system and installed the
video projectors and screens. Features include multiroom capabilities, wide-screen projectors and viewing
screens, and a well-integrated system that enables
smooth and seamless presentations.
Brandon Johnson updating software
on a classroom computer.
Summer Institutes (cont’d from page 8)
• I really liked the self-guided nature of the institute.
Rarely are teachers given the time to just “plug
away” at curriculum. Having three full days was
fantastic and I accomplished a lot.
• I would appreciate the opportunity to do this more
often.
• Never get this much concentrated time to just do the
things I want to do for my class/lessons.
• I became familiar with the module content and general structure. As a result, the modules don’t feel as
“new” or scary. I know I have a lot to learn still as I
actually teach the new material, but now I feel I can
do that so a lot of apprehension has subsided.
• It is great to walk away with finished projects/ideas
that we can immediately implement into our classrooms. I also loved the time/opportunity to collaborate with others!!
On the Road to Success
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Component School Districts
District
Superintendent
AuSable Valley
Paul Savage
Beekmantown
Daniel Mannix
Chazy
John Fairchild
Crown Point
Shari Brannock
Elizabethtown-Lewis
Scott Osborne
Keene
Daniel Mayberry
Moriah
William Larrow
Northeastern Clinton
Lisa Grenville
Northern Adirondack
Laura Marlow
Peru
Patrick Brimstein
Plattsburgh
James Short
Putnam
Matthew Boucher
Saranac
Jonathan Parks
Schroon Lake
James Polunci, Interim
Ticonderoga
Dr. John McDonald, Jr.
Westport
Cynthia Ford-Johnston, Interim
Willsboro
Stephen Broadwell
Champlain Valley Educational Services
P.O. Box 455
Plattsburgh, NY 12901