BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- Massena Central Board of Education members say they are hoping to continue to increase graduation rates while reducing dropout rates and improving overall attendance.

According to Nicole Charleson, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, those goals mirror those established in the 2023-24 Professional Learning Plan.

School officials recently announced their 2024-25 plan, saying they hope to build on the progress of the previous academic year.

Along with those goals, board members say they want to track progress for recent graduates as well.

The idea arose when Superintendent Ron Burke suggested the district enter into a contract with Life Track Services, Inc. to start tracking graduates beginning with the most recent graduating class in 2024.

Charleson recently presented the latest plan during a board of education meeting, saying the district must review the plan annually. That review is conducted by the Professional Development Committee, she said.

"We chose to do the same thing as last year. The language in this Professional Learning Plan is somewhat general and overarching in that it allows us to really just leave it alone. Really, the meat of it is the objectives of the Professional Development Plan,” she said.

A major component that remains is the social emotional learning (SEL) component that aims to support students' mental health, Charleson said.

“We continue to talk about attendance at school, and we want to create environments where students want to be. They want to come to school and they want to engage with their learning," she said.

Charleson said officials hope that students feel engaged and want to learn through a student centered plan that will tie directly to the district's most recent climate survey.

According to Charleson, school officials compared this year and last year's surveys to determine what direction to move with the plan. After reviewing the more than 1,500 combined responses, she said officials saw a need to continue with the work that began last year.

Stakeholders including students, parents and faculty all agreed on a number of key takeaways in their assessments, including that student should have an adult to trust and go to in times of trouble, that school leaders should be seen and accessible around school, that the school believes in and supports diversity and that students have access to advanced courses and special programs of interest.

Charleson said the top three risk factors from last year are also in the plan this year, including students taking responsibility for their actions, that student behavior should not interrupt learning time and students should not be picked on about their sexuality.

As part of the plan, each principal was given specific data to review with staff, which will also be presented throughout various meetings.

The information will also be used when creating district goals to ensure the information is conveyed in training to ensure that the voices of students, families and staff are heard, Charleson said.