Reimagining Education at SCSD

In January 2022, the Board of Education approved the redistricting of the Saugerties Central School District. In 2021, the Board of Education tasked the Superintendent with creating a committee of stakeholders to help the District face an upcoming budget deficit as well as maintain and improve programming for all students. 

The District's administrative team met with faculty, staff, and parents/guardians to gather input on what the community valued most in our schools. A few but not all of the core values mentioned by these stakeholders included:

• Balancing of class size

• Providing equal access and opportunities

• Ensuring curriculum consistency between all buildings

• Offering enrichment in Kindergarten through Grade 6

• Increasing Advanced Placement (AP), Collegiate, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) electives

• Expanding opportunities to engage in performing arts experiences

For the fall of the 2022-2023 school year, the Saugerties Central School District will comprise three elementary schools with grade configurations of Kindergarten through Grade 6. This decision was made after the committee researched three different K-6 models, and we believe this model best achieves the task set forth by the Board of Education in the spring of 2021, given the constraints we are working within. 

The District will maintain Cahill, Riccardi, and Grant D. Morse Elementary Schools, while Mt. Marion Elementary School will be repurposed to host a Pre-Kindergarten program. The entire study can be found here.

This was not a decision that was made lightly, but unfortunately this was a decision that needed to be made and it will bring about tremendous opportunities for our students that we were unable to provide previously.

The past 20 months have brought many challenges to our local community, and we have worked hard to keep our focus on providing the safest, most academically enriching setting for all of our students so they can reach their potential. We will rise again to this challenge.