Saugerties junior high touts attendance gains, expands mental‑health supports and keeps strict cell‑phone rules

Saugerties Central School District junior high principal Miss Veil said the school has tightened a no‑phone policy in hallways and at lunch, credited a new Ulster County‑funded partnership for helping chronically absent students return to class, and described pilot plans to replace some end‑of‑year exams with student presentations.

The changes matter because leaders said the junior high’s chronic absenteeism fell from about 28 percent in an earlier year to 10 percent at the end of the 2023–24 school year, and school staff are trying to sustain that recovery while addressing screen‑time and social‑media harms inside the building.

Miss Veil described the current cell‑phone rule implemented this year: phones must be zipped in the front of a backpack or locked in a locker from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and are not permitted in hallways or at lunch. She said teachers and students worked on the policy in a series of meetings last year and over the summer that included parents and 16 teachers; about 11 parents participated in the summer Google Meet.

A junior high student, Katana Dior, told the board the new rule reduced drama and bullying and helped students talk in person. "Having no phones this year has helped our school tremendously," she told the board. "Back when we had our phones, school days were very chaotic. We had students taking their phones out in class and disrespecting teachers just to get on social media." Student government president Aidan also praised changes in student engagement and activities.

Principal Veil outlined other initiatives tied to the district strategic blueprint: targeted learning labs and literacy/math lab staffing, expanded instructional coaching, the introduction of a ‘‘Genius Day’’ pilot that had students present three‑minute projects followed by group discussion, and a proposal to pilot presentations or portfolio assessments in place of some traditional finals. She said the district will hold full presentation‑of‑learning days in June (June 17–18 listed as half days for junior high). Miss Chelsea DeFino, who leads project‑based learning efforts, described plans for portfolio work in ELA/social studies and gallery‑walk symposia in science.

Veil described a multifaceted approach to attendance: weekly interdisciplinary reviews, five‑week attendance looks, targeted parent meetings for students with more than 10 absences, and a new Ulster County grant partnership with LaSalle School. That program—she said—has served 27 families to date, carries a 10‑family caseload limit per counselor and currently has one family on a wait list. The principal said the grant allows the district to deploy a counselor, identified in the presentation as Vic, to work with families and students on reengagement strategies.

On instruction measures, Veil and staff reported diagnostic gains on the i‑Ready assessments: 58 seventh‑grade students and 67 eighth‑grade students moved at least one grade level on reading diagnostics from fall to winter; school leaders said mathematics showed similar growth. The junior high team also reported expanded co‑teaching and collaborative practices and a ‘‘writing revolution’’ professional‑development cohort of teachers working across disciplines.

School leaders said they are also adjusting elementary special‑education service delivery: the district will provide co‑teaching or teacher‑assistant support across K–6 (fifth and sixth grades to receive co‑teachers for ELA/math and teaching‑assistant coverage for science/social studies) to create a consistent K–6 continuum. The district also plans to extend the ABC (Academic‑Behavior‑Communication) Academy model into the junior high to serve students currently supported at Cahill.

Board members asked about program length, funding and enrollment; Veil answered with the details above and noted the county partnership funds the LaSalle counselor positions. The junior high presentation closed with staff inviting parent and community involvement in the pilots and future learning exhibitions.

The board did not take a formal vote on the instructional pilots or the cell‑phone policy at the March 11 meeting; those items were presented for information and implementation updates.