
Dear South Orangetown Students, Families and Staff,
Building a healthy, inclusive and supportive school district community is a key South Orangetown focus.
At the start of each school year, our administrators, School Support Teams and faculty lead a variety of activities–including meet and greets with teachers and staff, Back to School Nights, Start With Hello Week and our annual Help Card campaign–to create a sense of belonging for all, to establish routines and expectations and to identify resources that students and families can turn to for help.
The character education programming embedded throughout our K-12 curriculum teaches students to be empathetic, respectful and responsible citizens in their classrooms, schools and community. They learn to use their voices to advocate effectively and peacefully for themselves and for one another, and to use their skills, knowledge and talents to actively contribute to a positive culture.
In addition, to support meeting the goal of strengthening student engagement and interpersonal skills, cell phone use is prohibited during the school day at William O. Schaefer and Cottage Lane Elementary Schools and South Orangetown Middle School and restricted during instructional periods at Tappan Zee High School. In our curriculum, we teach responsible use of technology, including internet safety and appropriate use of cell phones and social media with setting screen time limits.
Families are essential partners in this effort, now more than ever. Our children are acutely aware of the world around them. Divisiveness, intolerance and hatred weaken even the strongest communities; South Orangetown is not immune to this threat.
- Please also talk with your children about the importance of kindness, compassion and positive language in bringing communities together by helping everyone to feel safe, supported, and cared for.
- If your child is struggling or has experienced or witnessed harassment, bullying or discrimination, please reach out to their school counselor or principal.
- Additional resources are posted on our Mental Health webpage and contact information for our DASA Coordinators is posted on the Annual Notifications webpage.
- Students and families may also use Anonymous Alerts to report an incident. The Anonymous Alerts system is monitored from 8:30AM-3:30PM during regular school hours on days when school is in session. Do not use this system to report issues requiring an immediate response. In the event of an emergency, call 911.
- Please reinforce digital and media literacy skills at home by talking with your children about responsible cell phone and social media use and by monitoring their technology usage.
- Finally, our “Ask an Expert” column in last year’s issues of SOCSD Update featured great advice for parents from SOMS Prevention Counselor Bobbie-Angela Wong and CLE Teacher Jacob Tanenbaum. Take a second look at their interviews on supporting children’s mental health and helping children navigate our digital world. New content is on the way: Our next issue is planned for early December.
Good News
- Lohud/The Journal News recently featured a story on our new Universal PreK class at WOS, which included interviews with Principal Sheila Beglin and UPK teacher Carole Widmayer. The class, which is the only UPK program in South Orangetown, opened in September with 18 students.
- SOCSD, TZHS and SOMS all placed first in the County in their respective categories of the recently released 2025 Niche Best Schools rankings. Read more about it on our website.
As always, thank you for your support. I look forward to seeing you on our campuses at events in the weeks ahead!
Sincerely,
Brian Culot, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools