August 10, 2023
Dear Gloversville Enlarged School District Community,
I hope everyone is enjoying the summer. Starting this September, the Gloversville Enlarged School District is expanding the instructional day for all scholars. The district is increasing instructional time each day in kindergarten through fifth grade by 20 minutes and we have added 16 minutes of instruction daily for scholars in sixth through twelfth grade. We are able to do this because the district settled a labor contract with the Gloversville Teachers’ Association this past spring. We appreciate the faculty and staff’s support in this endeavor. Over the course of the school year, we are excited to provide our scholars with an additional 48 hours of instructional time at the secondary level and an additional 60 hours of instructional time for our elementary scholars.
Increasing instructional time was a district priority because, through the 2022-23 school year, we had the least amount of daily instructional time compared to all other districts in HFM BOCES. It is common knowledge that too many of our scholars have underperformed academically in recent decades and that reality is reflected in our low annual graduation rate. Despite the myriad of challenges children face, we do not believe this pattern of scholastic underperformance is inevitable. In fact, we feel it is unacceptable and ask all parents and guardians to embrace and support our efforts to improve our scholars’ scholastic performance, and college and career readiness. The expansion of the instructional day is only one piece of this effort. The school district and families must work collaboratively to address educational apathy and reject a culture of low expectations.
Beginning on September 7, 2023, scholars who are bussed to school will be picked up earlier than in previous years. Families will receive notice from HFM Transportation of their new bus pick up time in late August. Scholars who walk or receive private transportation to the high school and middle school campus may enter their school at 7:15 a.m. to eat breakfast. Elementary scholars who walk or are privately transported to school will be allowed into their schools at 8:15 a.m.
Gloversville Middle and High School will take attendance for all scholars and start their instructional day at 7:40 a.m. and all three elementary schools will take attendance and begin their instructional day at 8:40 a.m. Dismissal at Gloversville High School will begin at 2:21 p.m. and dismissal at Gloversville Middle School will start at 2:27 p.m. Dismissal at Boulevard, Kingsborough and Park Terrace will be at 3:00 p.m. Please plan accordingly.
We are excited for the start of the 2023-24 school year. We are poised for a great year and hope we can make substantial strides to better prepare your children for their life after graduation. Our complex society is ever evolving and it is incumbent upon us as a school community to better prepare our scholars for their lives beyond childhood.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation and attention to these changes.
Yours in education,
David Halloran
Superintendent of Schools