Batavia Middle School

Fifth-grade students at Batavia Middle School completed a 10-week course of study today into various worldwide leaders in human rights. The course culminated with each student dressing as their chosen leader and making a presentation for parents who attended the event in the school's library. The students were required to read a book, research a Web site and a database on their chosen leader. They also drew posters of the leaders.

Above, Betty Cherry as Maya Angelou.

Allyson Clemm as Julia Ward Howe.

Roger Jones as Booker T. Washington.

Molly Barker, who founded Girls on the Run in 1996 in her hometown of Charlotte, N.C., visited Batavia Middle School today to meet with the local members of the after-school girls activity and charity group.  

The girls won the visit after beating out 87 other schools in a contest to collect the most donated used shoes for people in need.

Previously:

• 'Girls on the Run' program at Batavia Middle School aims to have positive impact on community

• Batavia Middle School students tops in shoe drive

Students at Batavia Middle School beat out 87 schools in a shoe drive as part of the Girls on the Run program.

The girls collected 1,220 donated pairs of shoes.

As a result of the big win, Molly Barker, founder of Girls on the Run, will visit Batavia Middle School at a future date.

"We wanted to put a thank you out there to the community for all of their support," said teacher Sarah Gahagan. "We had over 90 Batavia families donate to this cause. Just goes to show how when a community pitches in great things can happen."

Photos and info submitted by Sarah Gahagan.

Girls on the Run, a group of students at Batavia Middle School, are holding a shoe drive as one of their charitable projects in the community. 

Teacher Sarah Gahagan, along with a friend, introduced Girls on the Run to the middle school and is looking to spread the word about the program. They're looking for a community project that the girls can take on.

"This is solely based on what the girls want to do in order for them to feel a sense of ownership and empowerment as they work toward their goal," Gahagan said.

The 12-week program culminates in a 5K in Buffalo.

"The girls set running goals every week in order to gear up for the final event," Gahagan said. "Each girl will cross the finish line with one of their coaches, a parent or a running buddy that they have asked to run with them from the school."

Gahagan described the program as a physical-activity-based youth-development program designed to inspire girls in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades to be joyful, healthy and confident.

In the photo, starting with the front row on the left: Sarah Gahagan, Breeann Wilcox, Juliana Branche, Tiffany Brown, Courtney Lougheed, Aliza Green, Riley Macdonough, Destiny Griffin, Andrea Merchant, Meghan Houseknect, Madison Dedman and Lindsey Mathis.

There was a big turnout for the Mexican-themed Family Night at Batavia Middle School, which featured a Mexican food feast (until the tacos ran out), crafts around Mexican themes, along with a raffle (prizes donated by local businesses) and community group booths and activities.

Batavia Middle School students took time today to give back to the community that has given all year long to them.  They delivered holiday cards, paper snowflakes and snowman soup to local businesses and charitable organizations.

The students spent the first hour or so of the school day preparing the packages for delivery and then a small group of them got on a school bus and drove around the city delivering holiday cheer.

It's the first time the school has taken on such a project said 7th and 8th Grade Assistant Principal Maureen Notaro, who came up with the idea.

"We wanted to give back to some of the community agencies that give so much to us every day," Notaro said.

Student Genevieve Cutro said she hoped the event would spread a little holiday cheer.

"I like helping people very much," she said. "It's good for making people more happy."

Press release:

Students in grades six through eight, who are new to Batavia Middle School, or transferring from a private or parochial school, are invited to attend an Orientation program on Thursday, Aug. 29 at 9 a.m. in the Middle School Auditorium. The program will include an overview of our Middle School and will be followed by a building tour. School counselors will be available for students and parents.

There's also this:

On Thursday, Sept. 5, Batavia Middle School will be holding their Orientation Day for fifth-grade students. Students will be participating in the “Connect Day” program throughout the day.

Fifth graders will spend the morning participating in team building activities, finding their lockers and meeting their teachers. During the afternoon, students will be experiencing traveling to their classes and meeting their counselors.

Fifth-grade students need to arrive to school by 8 a.m. and will report to homeroom by 8:07. All students will be dismissed at 2:45 pm.  

Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students will not report on Sept. 5. The first day of school for all Middle School students (grades five through eight) will be Friday, Sept. 6.

The BMS “Connect Day’s” purpose is to help fifth-graders feel more comfortable as well as help them achieve success in their first year at the Middle School. The program is designed to both welcome and support the fifth-graders by assigning them a Mentor (an eighth-grade student who has met the qualifications of being a good role model and a positive leader). Along with supporting House students, the “Connect Day” program helps Mentors develop leadership skills, responsibility and team work as they begin their transition process to the High School.

Anyone with questions is asked to contact Miss Rogers, fifth- and sixth-grade House Administrator, 343-2480, ext. 3001, or Mr. Eric Knapp, Interventions Counselor, 343-2480, ext. 3002.

The BB-gun incident at Batavia Middle School yesterday, as first reported by The Batavian, is apparently getting wider media attention.

A Rochester TV news van was reportedly parked illegally on Ross Street a few minutes ago.

And, just now, Batavia PD released the following statement to all regional media:

The Batavia Police and Batavia School officials are jointly investigating the details of a student bringing a BB Gun into the Batavia Middle School. As part of the investigation it has been determined that at no time was the BB gun displayed or any threats made. School officials discovered the gun based on an unrelated incident. Both the School and the Police Department will use the proper procedures to ensure all are safe and the person responsible is dealt with in accordance with the proper procedure in place for juveniles who violate school rules and New York State laws.  

Parents in the Batavia City School District were informed tonight that a student at Batavia Middle School is being disciplined for bringing a BB gun to school.

It wasn't a rifle, it wasn't a handgun, it was a BB gun a student had a in backpack in his locker, Superintendent Christopher Dailey emphasized in an interview tonight.

"He didn't think it would be anything to worry about," Dailey said. "Unfortunately for him, it was a really bad choice. He didn't have it at school to hurt anyone or defend himself. He wanted to play with it after school. It was a random poor choice by a kid."

The search was initiated, Daily said, because school officials suspected the student may have brought tobacco to school.

The "random poor choice" by the student had landed the kid in Family Court, according to Batavia Police Chief Shawn Heubusch.

Heubusch confirmed tonight that school officials turned over to police a BB gun that was located in a student locker.

"Batavia school officials should be praised for their quick response to this incident," Heubusch said.

Dailey said school officials take issues like this seriously and his automated phone call tonight was aimed at keeping parents informed and designed to quell rumors about it possibly being a more serious matter.

"I felt it important to share because we don't have anything to hide," Dailey said.

In his message, Daily said, "Having a BB gun on school grounds is against district policy. The BB gun was turned over immediately to the Batavia City Police. The student was removed and will be held accountable according to our district code of conduct."

Upcoming fifth- and sixth-graders and their families got to see their new school, meet their new teachers, and connect with their peer mentors at Batavia Middle School's open house on Thursday.

What is a peer mentor, you ask? Well, here are a few:

Paige Hameister, Brianna Ball and Madison Mitchell are part of a team of more than 50 eighth-graders whose task it will be to welcome, support and serve as role models for their younger classmates throughout the 2012-2013 school year.

Their mentorship is part of "BMS Connects," an orientation program that was started in 2009 to welcome sixth-graders to the Middle School. This year, the program has been expanded to welcome both fifth- and sixth-graders in the wake of the school district consolidation.

According to a press release from the Batavia City School District, the purpose of "BMS Connects" is "to help fifth- and sixth-grade students feel more comfortable as well as help them achieve success in their first year at the Middle School."

Wednesday, Sept. 5, will be "Connect Day," a day of activities for fifth- and sixth-graders. It will follow a regular school day schedule. Students will come in at 8 a.m. (reporting to their homerooms by 8:07) and leave at 2:45 p.m.

The day will include team building activities involving Cain's Taekwondo, the City of Batavia Youth Bureau, the eighth-grade mentors and all BMS staff.

Fifth-graders will have their activities in the morning, sixth-graders in the afternoon.

Prior to the activities, the sixth-graders will get to know the school, go over their class schedules, travel around to their various classrooms, find their lockers and meet their teachers.

After morning activities, the fifth-graders will spend time getting to know their homeroom teachers (fifth-grade classes will retain the traditional elementary school model of one classroom, or "homeroom," throughout the day, broken up at intervals by "special" classes like art, music and physical education) and exploring such topics as Internet safety and "Q & A" about BMS.

The first day of school for all BMS students, grades five through eight, will be on Thursday.

A change of scene for kids and teachers

A yearly occurrence, "BMS Connects" takes on a special significance because of this year's transition. It is part of a larger process involving dedicated staff and students collaborating to welcome not only more new students than usual, but also a new batch of teachers.

Lynn Matteo is one of the fifth-grade teachers moving up to BMS (in her case, from Robert Morris School). She is pictured up top interacting with her new students and their families.

Here is a sampling of the fifth-grade teachers and aides who are "moving on up" with their students:

Pictured front row, from left: Kelly Mallaber, Shirley Boyd, Lori Easton-Penepent, Beth DeFreze, Christa Palmer, Deborah Murray, Karen Cima and Laura Kaczmarek. Back row, from left: Matteo, Charlene Barrett, Debbie Caruso, Richard Peek, Nathan Moore and Andrew Reagan.

Julia Rogers, who stepped into her new role as house administrator for fifth- and sixth-grades on July 1, talked about the large amount of effort everyone has put into making sure that the kids and their teachers enjoy as smooth, comfortable and welcoming a transition as possible.

"(The work) started last year when everyone knew about the consolidation," Rogers said. "(BMS Principal) Sandra Griffin and Tim McArdle, our assistant principal, worked tirelessly with the school district administrators to get this rolling."

She credits Interventions counselor Eric Knapp with being the "huge organizer" behind this year's "Connect Day" program.

"He is very multi-talented," she said. "He's done this in the past, but this time he's coordinating two different programs for two different groups of students on the same day."

That said, she also stressed that this whole process has been a team effort building-wide and district-wide, from the top administrators to the BMS custodial staff who had the fifth-grade classrooms ready for the teachers by mid-August.

"The teachers and support staff have really embraced this."

Fifth-grade staff members shared their perspectives on the transition as well.

"So far it's gone very well," Matteo said, "because everyone here is very warm and welcoming. They have made us feel right at home."

Shirley Boyd, formerly an aide at Jackson School, said the experience has been very exciting.

"You have to be willing to welcome change," she said, "and they (BMS staff and other fifth-grade staff) are doing that."

Mentors, models, friends

As is the case every year, the eighth-grade mentors have embraced their role with enthusiasm as well.

"It really is a big honor," mentor McKenna Dziemian said. "You have a lot of respect on your shoulders, but it's a huge responsibility as well."

"BMS Connects" is designed to benefit the mentors as well as the mentored. According to the district's press release, "the 'Connect Day' program helps mentors develop leadership skills, responsibility and team work as they begin their transition process to the high school."

Dajah Williams and Jhensy Etienne, both eighth-grade mentors, said that they were prepared for their task through training that included:

• "trust exercises" in which one person would stand on a desk and fall backward, and a partner would have to catch him/her;
• a "scavenger hunt" to find the new students' classrooms; and
• an exploration of the "middle dchool mindset" (positive and negative attitudes, etc).

Mentors will be assigned to individual fifth- and sixth-grade homerooms, and they will spend all of Wednesday with their charges. They, as well as staff, will help to answer students' questions and orientate them to the middle school.

According to Rogers, the mentors will be involved with their younger peers to varying degrees throughout the school year. For example, they might assist with activities in fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms, or a mentor might be "called upon if a child needs a friend or support."

"The big thing is that the fifth- and sixth-grade students will see faces they know (when the school year officially starts)."

High expectations are set for all of the mentors. As role models, they are expected to keep their grades up and model good behavior throughout the year.

Excitement for a new beginning

Rogers said that Thursday's open house, which included separate sessions for fifth-graders and sixth-graders, went very well.

"The students are really excited," she said. "I've noticed that most of their questions are focused on who their teachers will be."

Any families who were not able to attend the open house can access the House Student Handbook and Thursday's PowerPoint presentations by visiting the BMS 5/6 House Web page.

Batavia City School District officials are trying to use the posting of a video on Facebook of two middle school girls fighting as a "teachable moment," according to Deputy Superintendent Christopher Dailey.

He met with reporters from area TV stations Friday afternoon to answer questions.

Dailey admitted there were things he would rather do on his Friday afternoon than meet with the media over a little dust-up involving student conduct, but was hopeful that lessons can be learned from the incident.

"It's a teachable moment about what not to do on Facebook," Dailey said. "Unfortunately, in this day and age when something is out there online, it doesn't go away, even though we acted very quickly to get it removed.

"There is the potential for ongoing (problems). We don't want anything out there to come back and harm kids later on."

Getting the "Batavia Fights" page removed from Facebook was a combined effort involving the school district, Batavia PD, along with the cooperation of the parents of the child who created the page and the staff at Facebook, Dailey said.

"In this case, somebody let us know last night (about the video)," Dailey said. "Even if we hadn't learned about it last night, we would have found out about it today. We have wonderful kids in Batavia. We have kids who really care about their community."

There is a constant effort in the schools, Dailey said, to educate children about the pitfalls of online behavior.

"It's a new media and we try to teach them the right way to handle it," Dailey said.

The district is still investigating the incident and officials have yet to determine if the fight was staged for the benefit of a video camera or if it was a spontaneous fight.

Two middle school girls were involved in the fight and they suffered minor bumps and scrapes, according to Dailey.

At this time, officials don't believe the fight was related to any specific ongoing bullying issue, but officials were concerned that if the video stayed on Facebook, it might lead to harassment and bullying.

The fight occurred just after dismissal at the middle school, Dailey said, and in the 26th second of the video, a teacher at the school is seen arriving and intervening.

"Facebook is a blessing and a curse," Dailey said. "I used it for the reunion of my high school class and it was wonderful. When not used correctly, it can be hard for kids to handle."

The video was captured by WBTA's Geoff Redick before it was removed. The version below was altered by Redick to obscure the faces of the youngsters involved.

Tanner Kolb is 12 years old, a sixth-grader at Batavia Middle School, and is officially an alumni of the Junior National Young Leaders Conference (JrNYLC). Tanner was nominated by her fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Brown at John Kennedy School, to participate in the annual event held at our nation's capital, and made the journey Oct. 8 -13.

The JrNYLC is designed for high-achieving middle-school students, and offers these students "the opportunity to learn about leadership by studying the leaders of the past and by focusing on social advocacy to make a positive impact in their homes and communities." (http://www.cylc.org/jrnylc/JrNYLC_about.cfm)

Tuesday night, Tanner was excited to share her experiences. She said her favorite place she visited was Harper's Ferry, where she participated in a Civil War era battle reenactment. She met and made friends with students from not just across the continental 48 states, but places like New Zealand, Guam, Germany and Hawaii, and now has herself some pen pals.

When asked what lessons she learned from her experience, Tanner told me "Anyone can be a leader, if they're willing to work for it. Leaders are not born that way, they have to work for it." I asked what message she would like to send to other students who might be able to earn a nomination to participate. Her response was simply, "I'd tell them go for it. Definitely go for it."

She was written a thank-you letter to all her supporters, whose fundraisers made the trip possible. Afterall, going to D.C. can be pricey.

Here's her thank-you letter in full:

"I would like to personally thank everyone who donated pop cans, bought something from one of my fundraisers, or donated money to help me go on my trip to Washington, D.C. I had tons of fun and went to lots of interesting places.

I went to Harper's Ferry, an old Civil War town where we reenacted a battle. We went to lots of memorials, like the Lincoln, the Martin Luther King Jr., the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and many other places such as the Capitol building, the White House, and the Museum of American History. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, and Buca di Beppo restaurant.

I made lots of new friends from all around the world and I still talk to them a lot.  We also had a sleepover at the Maryland Science Center! I would like to say a special thank you to my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Brown, who nominated me for this trip. It really means a lot to me that she believed in me that much. I loved this trip and it would not have been possible without your help.

Thanks you so much,

Tanner Kolb

Earlier this week, Batavia City Schools sent a letter to parents of students at Batavia Middle School notifying them that school has been placed on a "School in Need of Improvement" list by U.S. Department of Education.

This morning, Superintendent Margeret Puzio explained to The Batavian what the letter meant.

As part of "No Child Left Behind," passed in 2001, schools that receive federal aid must ensure certain "subgroups" perform adequately on standardized tests.

Subgroups are groups of students considered disadvantaged, such as students with disabilities, minority students, students who speak English as a second language. 

If a school has 30 or more students qualifying for a subgroup, then the school must meet the standardized test requirements for that subgroup in order to receive continued federal aid.

None of the elementary schools, with only about 300 students each, are large enough that any of the so-called disadvantaged groups have 30 or more students, but the middle school, with 500 students, does.

One such subgroup is students with disabilities.

Within the past year, the state stopped giving schools 34 bonus points on standardized tests for students with disabilities, also the raw score to pass the test has been raised, and the test has been made longer.

Puzio called this a "Bermuda Triangle" for school districts and Batavia isn't alone in falling into the trap.

Because the middle school's students with disabilities subgroup didn't meet the requirements of the standardized tests the last two rounds, the district was required to notify all parents of middle school students that the school is now considered a "School in Need of Improvement."

Also, in order to continue receiving federal aid, called Title I funds, the district must divert some of its Title I money into a program to help disadvantaged students, and in this case help students who are economically disadvantaged.

The district will be required to hire a contractor -- perhaps Sylvan Learning Centers -- to come in and offer tutoring and other help to economically disadvantaged students.

Participation by economically disadvantaged students is optional and entirely up to the parents of the students as to whether their children will participate.

For a year-end project, I thought it would be cool to take some video and pictures of music- and arts-related activities -- respectively -- in the Genesee County schools.

The following video is 20 minutes long and divided into two parts (Youtube limits most users to about 10 minutes per video). It features concert footage from various schools in the county.

PART 1

PART 2

I have to make a quick apology for the poor video quality in a couple of instances. I had to be very careful to protect the identity of the kids (the ones photographed without parental approval), so I made sure none of the students' faces appeared too clearly on camera; plus, to be honest, the first camera I used turned out to be pretty awful when it came to taking video (even while taking decent pictures).

I also feel bad that I couldn't include every group I filmed in the video. My selections were based on a combination of different criteria, including:

•  making sure the best songs were included
•  making sure all of the schools I visited were included
•  arranging the selections in a way that flowed nicely

So there's the music part. Here are some pictures I was able to take of art work done by Elba and Leroy students:

ELBA ELEMENTARY ART

Kindergartener Cody Soules stands in front of his drawing of a tree branch (top right).

First-grader Taylor Augello stands with her rendition of Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" (right above her head).

ELBA HIGH SCHOOL ART

Both of the following pictures were submitted by Dan Carnevale. Sophomore Sydney Gallup (top photo) and two unidentified students stand with their drawings.

LEROY JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL (art and artists)

Also, see the May 27 announcement on the winners of the Architectural Drawing contest for fourth-graders.

Congratulations all of the students for a job well done!

The cast of "The Mysterious Case of the Missing Ring" (photo by Daniel Crofts)

“Terror!”

“Intrigue!”

“Romance, blooming like a lotus in the springtime…”

Entire cast in unison: “What?!?”

“Just kidding.”

There you have it — the opening lines of “The Mysterious Case of the Missing Ring," the latest play put on by the Drama Club at Batavia Middle School. The first performance took place last night.

The show was directed by Matthew Mayne, English/Drama teacher at Batavia High School, and starred 22 BMS students (grades 6-8) in a variety of comedic roles.

From a stage play written by Janie Downey Maxwell, “Missing Ring” centers around a Queen — played by 7^th grader Mica Pitcher — who has lost her royal ring and hires several competing teams of detectives to find it. All of the detectives — from the pratfall-prone, tap-dancing Oliver (Blake Carter) to the nervous, germaphobic Kat (Spencer Hubbard) — prove to be hysterically incompetent.

Mayne, who is certainly no stranger to local theater (see article about his recent Thornton Wilder production at http://tinyurl.com/yknj4bu), began work on the production of "Missing Ring" in late September. He took Maxwell’s play and made of it an opportunity for everyone involved to bring his/her own ideas to the performance.

"We added a lot to this,” Mayne said. “I added some characters that weren’t in the original script. That’s good for me as a director, because then the story has more characters to work with. And it’s good for the kids, because there are more roles available and they can add their own personal touches to the overall performance.”

Additionally, there were numerous jokes and humorous bits that were not in the script.  Mayne said the students “came up with a lot of ideas and put so much of their own unique humor into it.”

In so doing, they drew plentiful laughter from the audience.

Thursday night’s performance was well performed and well received, but the production was far from easy. Because of his extracurricular duties at BHS, Mayne could only devote three days a week to rehearsals. So with a total of only 20 rehearsals, the cast had to exercise a great deal of dedication in order to make the play work.

If this weren’t enough, a number of students became ill during the course of production and had to quit the play. There was even a last-minute cancellation the night before the performance, forcing one of the cast members to learn new lines overnight.

“I’m amazed at how much the kids care about the show,” Mayne said. “They really pulled themselves together.”

The play also featured set designs made by BMS teacher Lucille DiSanto and BMS students Riley Cole, Megan Draper and Kayla Gannon.

“Missing Ring” will have one more performance, this time intended exclusively for BMS students, faculty and staff; this will take place during the school day Monday.

An automatic general fire alarm has been tripped at Batavia Middle School, 96 Ross St.

Engine 12 is responding.

UPDATE 7:47 a.m.: There was a problem with a relief valve on a water tank. All clear.

View Larger Map