The Chappaqua Central School District Board of Education voted Wednesday to designate Science Olympiad as an academic team at Horace Greeley High School, a change parents and students said will allow the program to access school resources and compete more effectively.

The board approved the designation as part of the meeting’s consent agenda items. "The Science Olympiad academic team has been approved," a board member stated after the consent vote.

Parents, coaches and students spoke at length during the public-comment period, describing the program’s growth and competitive success. Daniel Ng, a parent and former 7 Bridges Science Olympiad coordinator, said the middle-school team’s run to nationals showed there is a larger pipeline of students who could compete at the high-school level. "This current change... will give the older students the chance to fulfill Greeley’s potential to be the best team in New York," Ng said.

Speakers gave examples of participation and outcomes: parents and volunteers said the number of participants had grown, and coaches detailed the workload of running multiple teams. Kara Cook, a parent and former Bell program lead, said the middle-school program had attracted "45 kids participating with a wait list" this year and urged the district to preserve parent knowledge and support when the team transitions to a school-run model.

Students who have competed nationally described the benefits of early preparation and in-person invitationals. Freshman Victoria Chang told the board that attending fall invitationals builds both competitive skill and a "sense of belonging," and she urged the district to start high-school preparation early so teams can attend invitationals and build cohesion.

School and district leaders said they will need to recruit coaches and coordinate logistics. After the vote, a board member said, "Now I just gotta find some coaches." Several parents offered to assist with coordination and mentoring to preserve institutional knowledge developed by middle-school volunteers.

The transcript does not include contract, staffing or detailed funding figures associated with the program’s transition; those operational details will be handled through the district’s usual athletic/extracurricular and personnel processes.