Committees
Thank you for your interest in becoming a South Colonie Central School District volunteer. We appreciate your support of our students and teachers and your interest in serving on a South Colonie committee.
Currently, the district is seeking parents and guardians to serve on the 75th Anniversary Committee a celebratory and commemoration committee is to highlight the achievements of the South Colonie Central School District and celebrate the growth and success over the last 75 years.
The district is also looking for 1-3 individuals to serve on either the districtwide Branding or P-12 Instructional Technology committees.
Individuals interested in serving on a committee at the building level will be referred to the building principal for follow-up.
More information about the committees can be found at the links below:
Board of Education Committees
Please note that the following committees are comprised of Board Members only.
Academic Achievement
- Work with the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent for Instruction to set the educational direction of the District.
- Review resource needs to achieve and exceed academic targets
- Review recommendations to implement targeted improvement plans based on reports and anticipated needs of the children we serve.
- Review standardized testing results
- Review individual growth tracking results
- Review school, community, student, and graduate demographics to ensure that our programming is designed to support the success of all South Colonie students.
- Review Federal and State academic requirements
- Review information as developed by the Curriculum Review Board.
- Develop long-range (5-year) academic achievement plans.
- Make program reports to the full Board of Education
- Recommend adjustments to the Board of Education for the District mission statement related to academic achievement.
Accountability & Board Operations
- Provide an ongoing plan to assist the Board in carrying out its duties in the most effective and efficient manner.
- Schedule Board of Education retreats as needed to review overall operations.
- Annual budget exit survey.
- Annual review of Board meeting agenda/operating procedures.
- Annual review of Board Committee structure.
- New Board member orientation.
- Ensure that surveys and Board retreat outcomes are addressed by the appropriate Committees.
- Identify items for consideration to be delegated back to the appropriate Committees.
- Make program reports to the full Board of Education
Audit/Finance
- Set the financial direction of the District (short-term and long-term).
- Recommend financial guidelines and parameters for the annual budget.
- Monitor financial status of the District and identify financial trends.
- Review annual audit reports (internal and external) and make appropriate changes as per recommendations from auditors.
- Provide periodic reports to the Board of Education.
- Periodic review of financial data (i.e., performance against budget).
District Communications
- Provide continuous and effective channels of communications to all internal and external members of the school community.
- Work in concert with the Communications Specialist to produce informational publications.
- Establish database of opinion leaders.
- Maintain an open dialogue and seek feedback with booster clubs, PTA, parents, community, key communicators, and other appropriate groups through social media mechanisms and outlets.
- Maintain positive relationships with the media.
- Use focus groups, written/voice surveys and verbal conversation.
- Provide a plan to monitor pending legislation that will affect the District (i.e., tap into available resources – NYSSBA, NSBA and NYSCOSS).
- Work with the appropriate stakeholders in the school community to propose legislation as appropriate and present to Board of Education with appropriate course of action.
- Work with Communications Department to promote and improve the District website.
- Make program reports to the full Board of Education
Facilities/ Transportation
- Building operations and facilities inspections.
- Provide capital asset preservation and improvement plan
- Assure development/update of an on-going five-year strategic plan for facilities consistent with the District-wide strategic plan.
- Assure that the District is complying with mandated regulations and inspections.
- Provide capital asset preservation and improvement recommendations.
- Advise the full Board of Education regarding any immediate safety considerations related to transportation systems.
- Develop and revise a five-year plan for transportation facilities.
- Develop and revise a five-year plan for transportation systems, including fleet replacement.
- Make program reports to the full Board of Education
Graduation/Hall of Fame/Athletic Hall of Fame
- Review graduation ceremony.
- Select Hall of Fame inductees.
- Recommend bylaws to guide the process which will be approved by the Board of Education.
- Make program reports to the full Board of Education
Policy
- Work with NYSSBA to review and update mandatory policies to be approved by the Board of Education in an effort to streamline the process.
- Develop, review, and update policies to be approved by the Board of Education to provide governance and operational direction to the administration, staff, and students within the District.
- In concert with the Superintendent, develop, review and update regulations associated with District policies.
- Make program reports to the full Board of Education
Strategic Planning
- Support and foster a “mission-focused” organization.
- Develop and review mission and vision statements and periodically review based upon local, national, and global considerations, as well as long-range strategic planning.
- Provide guidance and direction for the Superintendent.
- Review the District’s initiatives to ensure alignment with the Strategic Plan.
- Identify strengths and concerns and consider these items when reviewing/revising the Plan.
- Make program reports to the full Board of Education
District Working Committees
75th Anniversary Planning Committee
Please note that this committee will be planning for the 75th anniversary which will occur during the 2023-24 school year.
The goal of this celebratory and commemoration committee is to highlight the achievements of the South Colonie Central School District and celebrate the growth and success over the last 75 years.
The committee’s focus will be to engage the Colonie community including students, staff, alumni, families and community leaders in a year-long celebration of the school district that includes a series of events and initiatives that honor our history, celebrate our accomplishments and highlight student success.
The planning committee will be a working committee comprised of the following subcommittees:
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- South Colonie History: The mission of the history subcommittee is to engage the South Colonie community, to celebrate the school’s history through exhibits, events, oral histories and the website. Individuals serving on this committee will be responsible for identifying historical milestones and helping to bring those milestones to life at 75th-anniversary events.
- Success: The mission of the success subcommittee is to identify academic, arts, and athletic successes past and present and find ways to showcase these accomplishments during 75th-anniversary events.
- Communications: The mission of the communications subcommittee is to increase awareness of the 75th Anniversary to all internal and external stakeholders and encourage participation and interaction through the use of the web; development of an anniversary celebration design and resource tool kit; promote anniversary celebration through all print and electronic communications, and work with the history committee and the signature events committee to create initiatives that highlight historic moments and engage the South Colonie school community members to participate.
- Alumni Engagement: The mission of the alumni engagement committee is to involve alumni through communications, activities, volunteer, and philanthropic events throughout the year.
- Signature Events: (Raiderfest): The mission of this committee is to plan and implement programs and events that showcase the 75th anniversary by coordinating all activities developed during the year-long celebration. This committee will also be responsible for the culminating event and activities that align with the district’s annual Raiderfest event.
- Building Level Activities: The mission of the building level activities subcommittee is to brainstorm, develop, and implement small ways individual schools can host individual celebrations at the school level.
- Scholarships: The mission of the scholarship subcommittee is to identify and solicit funding opportunities to support the creation of a South Colonie 75th anniversary scholarship fund.
Individuals interested in participating are encouraged to contact Kara Granato at granatok@scolonie.org
Next Gen Ad Hoc Branding Committee
The purpose of the Next Gen Ad Hoc Branding Committee is to oversee the creation of the South Colonie branding strategy, logo development process, and to make recommendations to the South Colonie Board of Education.
The committee will provide direction on branding objectives, positioning, desired outcomes and initiatives including, but not limited to mascot identity, logo creation, brand guidelines, and the development of a branding strategy that aligns with district communications and supports the mission and vision of the South Colonie Central School District.
P-12 Instructional Technology Committee
- Monitor and make recommendations for refining the District’s long-range technology plan for infrastructure, data systems, and instructional support.
- In conjunction with the District administration, investigate ways to:
- Leverage IT to assess the success of educational programming by measuring student outcome on a timely basis.
- Review the District IT infrastructure and operations.
- Review the delivery of curriculum through the use of IT.
- Reviews IT related practices and makes suggestions for instructional purchases of software and hardware to improve instruction.
- Review District-wide processes and recommend appropriate improvements.
- Provide periodic reports to the Board of Education.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee
- Review District-wide processes and recommend appropriate improvements.
- Recognize that the responsibility for excellence, diversity and inclusion lies with all of us at South Colonie: Board of Education, district leadership, administration, faculty, staff and students.
- Improve student achievement by cultivating an organizational culture that nurtures and sustains collaboration, trust, respect, learning and high expectations.
- Develop a diverse and inclusive work and school environment that provides an atmosphere that allows all individuals to attain their greatest potential and achieve the greatest benefits for students and families.
- Provide periodic reports to the Board of Education.
More information about the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee can be found here.
Parent & Family Engagement Committee
- Develop joint practices for Parent & Family engagement in two-way communications to impact and improve learning.
- Develop activities that build a partnership between home and school with an emphasis on buildings receiving Title 1 funding.
- Provide periodic reports to the Board of Education.
District Safe Schools Committee
- Develop the District-Wide School Safety Plan that includes but is not limited to the following:
- Reinforces a safe, secure and orderly school environment,
- addresses the procedures for responding to implied or direct threats of violence,
- identifies appropriate prevention and intervention strategies through collaboration with State and local law enforcement and school resource officers,
- implements emergency response plans for the response to emergency situations, such as those requiring evacuation, sheltering, and lock-down, which shall include, at a minimum, the description of plans of action for evacuation, sheltering, lock-down, evacuation routes and shelter sites, and procedures for addressing medical needs, transportation and emergency notification to persons in parental relation to a student
- Review, plan and train on the Incident Command System (ICS) structure used in emergency preparedness operations.
- Fire and emergency drill scheduling and reporting
- Maximize communication between and among staff. Effectively communicate with parents and guardians. Maintain an ongoing dialogue with town and county emergency responders.
- Provide periodic reports to the Board of Education.
Site-Based/Building Planning Committees
Site-based/building planning committees vary from school to school but each location has a site-based/safety committee that handles building-level operations and safe school planning.-