At a regular meeting of the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District Board of Education, building principals outlined this year’s action plans on teaching and learning, school environment, service learning and fiscal responsibility, stressing a districtwide push for personalized learning and new student supports.

Catherine Daughton, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction, said the presentations were structured to show goals and the outcome indicators the district will use to measure progress. “We have shared the board, we’ve shared the building plans with you ahead of time so that you can get a very detailed look about what those goals and outcomes look like,” she said.

The elementary principals described classroom-level priorities. Alexis Thorpe, principal of Fayetteville Elementary, said the district funded Benchmark Advance for kindergarten through fourth grade and will expand “opportunities that promote student engagement, educational equity, and personalization of instruction.” Thorpe said the district has dedicated professional development time for teachers to work with the Benchmark Advance program.

Principals described special‑education expansions intended to keep students in district. Thorpe and others said buildings are adding or increasing 12:1 and 8:1 classroom placements so that fewer students are sent to out‑of‑district programs. Dustin Virga, principal at Enders Road Elementary, said retaining students in-district carries both educational and financial benefits: students stay with peers while the district avoids higher out‑placement costs.

Across levels, leaders identified Panorama as a central tool for data-driven intervention and social‑emotional screening. Tom Cheevers, elementary assistant principal, said Panorama would support MTSS (multi-tiered systems of support) by consolidating academic, attendance and social‑emotional screeners and providing an intervention bank to monitor progress. “We are very excited about our new platform, Panorama, which will help streamline some of that data analysis and allow us to make data-informed decisions,” Cheevers said.

At the high school, Pat McNamara said personalized learning and the district’s local “portrait of a learner” are key priorities aligned with the New York State Portrait of a Graduate initiative. McNamara said the high school is piloting ways to surface examples of personalized learning across departments and will solicit student voices through a panel to capture student perspectives on effective personalized projects.

Facility and schedule changes tied to instruction were also discussed. Administrators said the high school is planning a nine‑period schedule (up from eight) that will still allow up to eight classes and will include a scheduled lunch period. Officials said the schedule change is intended to provide students with a clearer lunch period and more options for personalized learning and student choice.

Principals described community partnerships and service learning initiatives, citing local organizations such as Camp Good Days and the FM Food Pantry. They also highlighted the district’s new Helio Health clinic at the high school to expand on-site mental‑health services.

Board members asked for follow-up demonstrations of Panorama use and more specifics about scheduling options. One board member suggested the district bring back sample, anonymized Panorama views to show how the platform informs interventions.

The presentation closed with principals and district staff noting that many initiatives are already in pilot or early‑implementation stages and that the district will continue reporting progress to the board.