Inside TSD November 2023
The November 2023 episode of Inside TSD is now available for listening! Also find the transcript below.
Hello, and welcome to the November edition of Inside TSD. I'm your host, Dr. Rich Machesky. A couple of important announcements, this is actually going to be a shortened version of Inside TSD today. A couple really important announcements, though, that we want to make sure to share with our listeners.
We are at the tail end of our fall updates. As many of you know, I and my team in the fall and in the spring are able to get out to all staff as well as PTO and booster meetings to do updates. We are just about done with our fall updates, I want to thank everyone who has come out and participated in those fall updates, we've been able to update the community around where we are with enrollment, where we are with our budget currently, as well as our bond projects. Really exciting bond projects coming up, new furniture and playgrounds at our elementary schools, as well as athletic upgrades to our high schools. And the biggest project in series one of our 2023 bond is a new Smith Middle School, which is on track, we're on schedule to break ground for our new Smith Middle School in spring of 24, and we intend upon opening that building if all goes well fall of 26. So all of that has been part of our fall update, including where we are with portrait of a learner. I was able to share with you all on Inside TSD our portrait of a graduate work that had been happening last spring, we shifted that from portrait of a graduate to portrait of a learner, and we have launched that. Really excited about being able to share where we are with portrait of a learner across the Troy School District and our listeners will hear more as we move into the spring, related to that. But again, thanks to all who are who have participated and coming out to our fall updates, just a handful more to do as we end November.
Like to take a moment and commend the theatre students at Troy High School for their performance of Little Women. I had a chance to get out and see that show, tremendous effort by our students in the Troy Theatre Ensemble. I really enjoyed the show.
Just recently, we launched our CAP program, which stands for career accelerator program. This is a pre-internship program, we had over 80 students express interest and through a video application process we chose 29 students, seniors and juniors, to participate in this inaugural program. It's going to provide an opportunity for these students to be connected with a business in the Troy area for 20 to 30 hours of internship that will take place this coming spring. This again is a pilot program. We're looking forward to the feedback that we receive from both students as well as our industry partners as we think about expanding that program moving forward. So again, thanks to those students and our business partners for participating in that program. More to come for sure on that.
Important for everyone to know that we're bringing back wellness weekends this year. No homework, projects, assignments. We're asking that no meetings be planned, tests or quizzes, in order to allow our students and staff to have a bit of a break. Our first wellness weekend will take place over Thanksgiving break.
Upcoming events across the Troy School District. Our Athens theater students will be performing Wizard of Oz over the next two weekends. Looking forward to seeing that show myself. Anyone interested in finding out more can visit the Athens website or information will be posted in this week's TSD newsletter.
Join us for coffee with the superintendent on November 29. More information will be coming again in this weekend's newsletter related to that, but this is an opportunity for members of the community maybe who didn't get a chance to see one of our fall updates, to just learn more about what's happening across the Troy School District. If you have specific questions or concerns that you'd like to share, I am looking forward to hosting hopefully a good number of individuals for that event on November 29.
Good luck to our science olympiad students who will be competing at Athens on November 11.
Congratulations to the Athens boys soccer team for winning the state championship in double overtime. This was their sixth state championship. Congratulations to coach Todd Heugh and his team. Congratulations also to all of our fall sports participants. We're very excited as we gear up now for the winter sports season. So good luck to all of those athletes who are trying out and will be participating this winter.
As I mentioned, this is a shortened version of Inside TSD. But just wanted to take one more moment and wish all of our listeners a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope that you're able to spend time with family and friends and enjoy your time off. We'll see everyone when we return after Thanksgiving. Thanks for joining us on Inside TSD.