Union Vale visit: Arlington board highlights student engagement, unified sports and curricular pilots

The Arlington Central School District board on Nov. 1 heard a presentation from Union Vale Middle School staff and students outlining several efforts aimed at improving student engagement and continuity.

Union Vale administrators described grade-level team-building activities — including a sixth-grade rock-climbing outing and field trips — and classroom approaches that emphasize iterative, project-based learning. "Students tweak it and try it again," an administrator said while describing a magnet-run machine project used to teach engineering concepts. School staff also described science work that asked students to apply prior-day learning to experiments such as liquid-density labs.

Why it matters: board members said the district is prioritizing student connections early in the year to support later academic work and to help struggling students form trusting relationships with teachers. Administrators described a Buddy program that pairs Journey/alternative-program students with peers in special-area classes to increase inclusion and continuity, and noted that consolidating Journey classes into stable in-district placements helps retain students and enables teacher collaboration.

Student government representative Mia Newsome described a Thanksgiving food drive that began the prior week and announced a community collection outside the Tops store on Nov. 8 from 9 a.m. to noon; she also confirmed the group would accept gift cards. "Wewould 100% accept gift cards," she said.

Board members and staff also discussed curricular pilots. Administrators said sixth-grade English language arts has a new program designed to create more consistent instruction across teachers, and the district is piloting IXL across math for pathway-style remediation and instructional use in class. Officials said they plan to compare results with previous tools to assess student engagement and learning gains.

The board praised Union Vale for its classroom practices and for hosting the visit. Dr. Roleson, who welcomed the board, thanked trustees and emphasized the importance of early-year relationship-building and experiential learning. The school visit and the student presentations were framed by board members as examples of practices they could share across the district.

Whathappens next: board members asked staff to keep the board informed about the curricular pilots and digital resources, and to report back with evidence on whether the new tools improve outcomes and student engagement.