Dr. Croft, superintendent, told the board the district ran a number of student-centered and community outreach activities in the run-up to the holiday break and praised staff, students and local partners for their support.

"We connected with 19 families and addressed the needs of 51 students through this partnership this year," Dr. Croft said, describing a giving-tree collaboration that involved the Pendleton Lions Club and Craft Coffee House.

Dr. Croft outlined multiple community and in-school activities: the districtoordinated a giving-tree program with the Pendleton Lions Club and Craft Coffee House that packaged donations by family; Pendleton Center United Methodist Church donated 20-pound turkeys for eight Starpoint families; the Frecono Kind Club ran a toiletry drive for Oishei Children's Hospital and middle school students collected 100 gifts that district staff and students delivered to the pediatric unit at Roswell; and the middle-school GSA received a $1,000 grant from Niagara Bridal for the second consecutive year.

Dr. Croft also welcomed Deputy Ryan Jones as the new school resource officer and said Deputy Beiter will continue to be on campus. He noted student leadership programs "WEB" at the middle school and "Link Crew" at the high school, and highlighted new or returning extracurricular activities including DECA (business club), Tech Wars technology challenges, French caroling, chorus visits to elementary students and the Compassion in Action club that volunteered at Family Promise, a local family shelter. He singled out staff in student services for identifying families in need and coordinating donations.

The superintendentredited classroom-level activities as well: second-grade students built gingerbread houses and former second-graders now seniors returned to read to younger students; AP chemistry teacher Mrs. Tomi Ai was praised in the student ex-officio report for promoting kindness in class; and music and band programs recorded strong winter-concert performances.

Ending
Dr. Croft closed his report by thanking community partners and staff for their work during the holidays and by noting ongoing student supports and clubs will continue through the year.