Superintendent outlines opening‑of‑school priorities: MTSS, CASEL, facilities upgrades and cell‑phone rollout

Superintendent Dr. Champ told the Pelham Union Free School District Board of Education on Sept. 3 that the 2025‑26 school year opened “very positive” after extensive summer planning and work across curriculum, operations and student supports.

The district this summer completed 84 curriculum writing projects across grade levels, continued several targeted summer academic programs (including elementary “Summer Stars” and extended school‑year services under individual education plans), and convened an AI user group of faculty to guide staff use of artificial intelligence in instruction.

Dr. Champ said the district’s three “big rocks” for the year are strengthening multi‑tiered systems of support (MTSS) to use data to match instruction to student needs, integrating instructional technology including AI, and unpacking New York State’s INSPIRES recommendations and the state’s new profile of a graduate. "We used Stephen Covey's big rocks theory to really focus our work," she said.

In social‑emotional learning, the district is aligning work to the CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) framework and expanding related training. The board was told that the district updated its restraint and time‑out policy over the last year; the update includes a state requirement for annual staff training and the district has added a training video that aligns with CASEL and de‑escalation strategies.

On student mental health, district clinicians and psychologists are reviewing a new mental‑health clinic model expected to arrive this fall; details will be presented when implementation is closer, Dr. Champ said.

Facilities work completed this summer included installation of a new rooftop HVAC system at the middle school (Dr. Champ identified the project cost for those units at about $2,000,000), tree work and maintenance across sites, and replacement of the turf at the Glover field. The board saw images and was told the turf was installed on schedule and is already in use.

To support a new cellphone ban at secondary schools, the district bought and installed 90 supplemental phone lockers at the high school to address a shortage of about 40 lockers. The lockers are being assigned to seniors without lockers; administrators reported an initial adjustment period with few incidents in classrooms and some hallway/cafeteria conversations about the change. Dr. Champ said a committee led by Mr. Llewellyn will oversee implementation and monitoring throughout the year.

Safety and security work included summer testing of systems, training for security monitors, training updates for Building Emergency Response Teams (BERT) and coordination with local police departments. The district continues to work with its security vendor and consultants to apply “lessons learned” from regional incidents, and the superintendent said there will be required updates to safety plans this fall (for example, to reflect cardiac‑care requirements recently modified by state law).

Communications work included an updated online strategic plan dashboard with revised indicators and strategy status. Director of Communications Alex Wolf said the district will re‑administer the SCOPE survey this fall (a nationally benchmarked communications survey the district ran previously) to measure progress since the last audit and to identify communication gaps; the district may supplement the quantitative survey with qualitative outreach when gaps require deeper explanation.

Dr. Champ also previewed capital‑project planning tied to the district’s approved bond program. She told the board that design and community engagement work will ramp up in the coming months for projects arising from the bond.

Board members asked clarifying questions about implementation timelines, how the district will measure impact of communications and budget outreach, and how data from MTSS and other indicators will be presented; Dr. Champ and department leads described plans for updated dashboards, regular reporting and community outreach.