North Syracuse board hears district MTSS rollout, superintendent announces $524,000 tentative grant award

The North Syracuse Central School District Board of Education on Sept. 22 heard a district overview of an 11-school Building Planning Team presentation series intended to surface consistent data and progress on academic and social-emotional supports, and Superintendent Jason Ward announced a tentative $524,000 grant award from the New York State Education Department.

The presentations — scheduled to run from September through December — are built around the districtwide Multi-Tiered System of Supports framework, district staff said. "The centerpiece of our work is about MTSS or a multi tiered system of supports," Chris, a district staff member who introduced the series, said. "It's really a framework to provide academic, behavioral, social, emotional support for all of our students."

Why it matters: MTSS is the district's primary framework for coordinating universal instruction (Tier 1), targeted supports (Tier 2) and intensive interventions (Tier 3). The board will receive consistent data updates from each of the district's 11 schools, focusing on reading, math, secondary reading performance and graduation rates. Presenters will use AIMSWEB, state assessment results, graduation data and SMART goals as measures and allow questions from board members after each roughly 15-minute presentation.

In remarks to the board, Superintendent Jason Ward said the district will align school goals with MTSS and district priorities and hold regular collaborative team meetings to review intervention effectiveness. Ward announced that, after the state review of the district's RFP response, the New York State Education Department "has tentatively awarded your organization grant in the amount of $524,000." He described further administrative steps required before finalizing the award.

Board President Michael Maurizio opened the meeting with a proclamation recognizing the district's food service staff and read the declared dates. "I hereby declare the week of 09/29/2025 through 10/03/2025 as food service appreciation," Maurizio said; the proclamation was moved and the board approved it by voice vote.

What presentations will look like: District staff said each school team will present approximately 12 slides and focus on a building mission statement, MTSS goal, recent AIMSWEB and state assessment results, social-emotional learning data, celebrations and next steps. The intent is consistent metrics and time for board dialogue; the schedule begins with elementary schools, then middle schools, then secondary buildings, and will conclude on Dec. 1 with the North Syracuse early education program.

The board also received several procedural items during the meeting (minutes approval, personnel appointments and surplus declarations) that the board moved and approved during the session. Detailed motions and recorded roll-call tallies were not specified in the public remarks announcing those items.

The district will return to the board with each school's presentation over the coming months and will provide the administrative steps related to the state grant after state and district paperwork are complete.