Oswego City School District Announces Plans For New Academic, Emotional Support Staff At Board Of Education Meeting

OSWEGO – With classes starting, the Oswego City School District’s Board of Education held its first meeting of the school year on Tuesday. 

The meeting started off with the Superintendent’s Report from Dr. Mathis Calvin III, who spoke on the remote learning plan for students who opted out of the classroom and additional academic intervention support (AIS) the district will provide.

At the time of the meeting, Calvin announced that “around six, maybe seven” students will participate in remote learning with one student in elementary school who “is a possibility” to enroll in it. Calvin added that the district expected more elementary school students to enroll, but parents were more interested in bringing back students in the in-person format. For the one pupil that may learn remotely, the district offers a program by the name of HIVES. HIVES works with CiTi Oneida, Herkimer and Madison BOCES, according to Calvin and will cost $7,500. That $7,500 will be subsidized in next year’s budget via aid.

The rest of the students that opted into remote learning will use Synergy which will provide students with a quality education.

“It’s a great idea. There are strong teachers involved,” Calvin said.

The cost per child is $11,500 but that will be aided similar to HIVES. 

Beyond remote learning, Calvin and the district secured several new hires meant to provide AIS to students across all schools. Thanks to American Rescue Plan (ARP) and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) funding, the district will employ teaching assistants and other staff to help with learning loss from the last year or so. In total, the district will have 30 new staff members. 

Twenty-four will work at the elementary school level with four AIS math workers, five reading coaches and 15 teaching assistants, three for each building. The middle school will employ one teaching assistant, while the high school is reintroducing its learning lab that will staff four AIS employees, one in math, one in ELA, one in social studies and one in science. The high school will also have one teaching assistant as well. 

In addition to the educational side of things, the district brought in a social-emotional support staff. According to Calvin, social-emotional support was a major concern for parents who responded to the district’s survey this summer. As a result, the district will employ four additional counselors at the elementary school level and one more in both the middle and high school. With this plus a home-school liaison that will work for the middle and high school, the goal of the district is to have “wrap-around” support with highly qualified counselors.

“The goal is to provide wrap-around support for our children and our families,” Calvin said. “We were very discriminative in terms of who we hired. The people who are coming in the door to support us are skilled, they are experienced, they know how to work with students from a variety of backgrounds and will do a really great job with our students and their families as well.”

Calvin also mentioned that Oswego County will be responsible for COVID-19 testing in schools, as stated by Gov. Kathy Hochul. For unvaccinated faculty and staff, they are required to take weekly COVID-19 tests. Students who are not vaccinated may be opted into weekly testing with their parents’ permission. This student requirement created some confusion among the board, but Calvin said the district expects to send out a survey allowing parents to opt into the program. 

After Calvin’s report, the board had to approve several resolutions across the consent agenda, curriculum, personnel and finance. Every subject except for one was approved in unanimous fashion with the remaining one coming from personnel. Pamela Dowd voted against Subject Q which was for “Extra Compensatory Recommendations” for Oswego Middle School and Oswego High School winter sports coaches.

Agenda items and documents from the meeting can be found here. The full meeting can be viewed in the video link provided above.

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