Weekly Newsletter

January 15, 2026:

The second quarter for high school ends TOMORROW, January 16th.  Grades will be sent to each student’s home school counselor at the end of next week to be included on their home school report card.  Ballston Spa students will see their grade in School Tool when report cards are released.  The 9th grade course is a pass/fail course. 

Students have the following discussion board due by TOMORROW:

Discussion Board #4 PART 2: Your second post (due before 1/16) should be a reply to one of your team members with the following prompts.  Should be a minimum of 4 sentences.  Use the same format for your second post that you have been using for the discussions in the previous chapters.  Be sure to respond to your peers with specific information that shows you understand their discussion and provide specific examples that show how you relate to their situation.  Be sure to also discuss the strategies that work for you and offer suggestions for them to improve this skill.

The following assignments will CLOSE for the 2nd quarter TOMORROW:

• STEM Activity Reflection

• Energy Basics

• Torque & Gear Ratio

• December Visit Survey

• December Drive Train Design Notebook

• January Drive Train Design Notebook

• Drive Train Challenge Data

• January Visit Survey

Students are now beginning the 3rd quarter.  To access assignments, they should go to the 3rd quarter button on the Canvas homepage.  

Students will start the Innovation Challenge.  They have the following due by Friday, January 30th:

PART 1:  Your first post (Due Before 1/30) should be a minimum of 5 sentences addressing the bullets below.

Open this Time Magazine Article. Links to an external site.

 Look through each of the top 50 innovations. Select one that is of interest to you. Your post should include:

• What is the innovation? (1 to 2 sentences - Name of product, the article, page # of the article, and a brief description).

• What type of person benefits from this innovation or is most likely to use it? (2 to 3 sentences - Describe the person or group of people that would benefit from using this product regularly AND how they would benefit).

• How did this innovation improve upon a prior innovation or concept? (2 sentences - One sentence explains the prior innovation. The next sentence explains how this is an improvement).

Scheduling 2026-2027

Some students are already scheduling for next year at their home school.  Students will take the following with P-TECH as 10th grade students:

• P-TECH College & Workplace Readiness (Full Year)

• P-TECH Civics (Half Year)

• HVCC College Forum- Fall Semester

• HVCC Sociology- Spring Semester

We do recommend that students have a study hall in their 2nd semester in order to have time to work on the 3.0 college credit Sociology class.  

Summer Bridge 2026

The 10th Grade Summer Bridge program will be on Monday, July 13th and Tuesday, July 14th.  We will be preparing students for the HVCC college course and giving them an introduction to the HVCC college pathways. 

If you have any questions for the high school teachers, please email them:

Mr. Balet; jbalet@bscsd.org

Ms. Crisafulli; tcrisafulli@bscsd.org 

Mr. Glogowski; mglogowski@bscsd.org

Students will return to the HVCC North campus for their mandatory monthly visit on these dates:  February 10th, March 12th, April 17th, May 21st (Expo)

 

January 15, 2026:

The second quarter for high school ends TOMORROW, January 16th.  Grades will be sent to each student’s home school counselor at the end of next week to be included on their home school report card.  Ballston Spa students will see their grade in School Tool when report cards are released.  The 10th grade course is a pass/fail course. 

Students will begin their HVCC Sociology course on Tuesday, January 20th.  Students should log into BrightSpace on Tuesday and review the syllabus, due date calendar and course set up.  If the Research Paper is posted, they should review the process for that as well.  If students have difficulty logging in, HVCC IT is on site at HVCC North from 9 AM-3 PM each day.  We recommend emailing prior to coming in, in case he has been pulled somewhere else.  The students should email d.ceccucci@hvcc.edu if they need an IT appointment.  They should NOT use their home school email address, because it will not accept emails outside of the school’s domain.

High School

The next visit is Tuesday, January 27th.  Students have the following assignment due by Friday, January 30th:

• Intro to Engineering Sciences Pathway Assignment

Students have mandatory visits to HVCC TECSMART on the following dates:  January 27th, February 12th, March 9th, April 14th, May 21st (Expo)

If you have questions regarding the high school course, please contact the teachers:

Mr. Ackroyd; dackroyd@bscsd.org

Mrs. Singer; jsinger@bscsd.org

Mr. Snow; lsnow@bscsd.org 

Scheduling for 2026-2027 School Year

Some students are already scheduling for next year at their home school.  Students will take the following with P-TECH as 11th grade students:

• English 11

• Applied Mathematics in Clean Technologies

• Environmental Science & Sustainability

• College Math- If in Algebra 2 as a sophomore, students will take College PreCalculus at PTECH during the spring semester of their junior year

  • If currently in Geometry and their pathway requires a college math, students will take College Algebra through HVCC in spring of their junior year

Any student planning to choose the Engineering Sciences or Hacking and Cybersecurity pathways, they will need to take College Algebra over the summer if they currently are not in Algebra 2 at their home school and want to take the same courses as their peers.  All Engineering students need to be on track to take Calculus I during the fall of their senior year of high school.  

There is no Summer Bridge program between 10th and 11th grade. 

 

January 15, 2026:

HVCC Spring Semester classes begin on Tuesday, January 20th.  Students will ONLY attend their HVCC classes next week.  Spring Schedule 2026_Student Copy 1.15.26.pdf The high school classes are not in session due to the Regents Testing week.  If your child has a midterm at their home school and a college class, they should not miss their college class.  With HVCC classes being in session during February and April high school vacations, and with the weather closures that occur where students may not have transportation and HVCC is in session, they should prioritize their college classes next week over school exams.  If a student is taking a NYS Regents exam and has to miss a college class next week, they should email their HVCC professor to let them know the reason for their absence.  Students received their HVCC textbooks this week.  

The 2nd quarter for the high school ends TOMORROW.  Students need to make sure all revisions on mastery projects are completed and turned in by TOMORROW at 11 AM.  Grades will be sent to each student’s home school at the end of next week in order for them to appear on their home school report cards.  

Students worked on the following assignments this week:

• Simulated Landscape Windbreaks Lab Activity

• Energy Audit Mastery Project

• NYYI Research and Writing

Most work time this week was dedicated to revising and resubmitting mastery projects based on feedback from the teachers.

The following assignments are open and will close for resubmissions on TOMORROW:

• NYYI Identifying a need

• NYYI Country & Family Research

If you have questions for your child’s teacher, please see their emails below:

Mr. Balet; Environmental Science & Sustainability,  jbalet@bscsd.org

Ms. Crisafulli; English 11, tcrisafulli@bscsd.org

Mr. Glogowski; Applied Math in Clean Tech,  mglogowski@bscsd.org

Upcoming Dates

Monday, January 19th:  MLK Day- No HS Classes

Tuesday, January 20th:  HVCC Classes Resume

Tuesday, January 20th- Friday, January 23rd:  Students will ONLY attend TEC-SMART for HVCC college classes

Monday, January 26th:  3rd Quarter Begins and High School Classes Resume

February 16- February 20th:  High School Winter Break, No High School classes, but HVCC classes ARE in Session.  High School staff will not be on site.

Spring HVCC Schedule

Please see the attached spring schedule.  Spring Schedule 2026_Student Copy 1.15.26.pdf There are HVCC classes over both the February and April high school vacations. As a reminder, students can only retake 1 class under the grant, before they have to self pay to retake courses.  Some professors will give a "Z" grade if a child misses 3 or more HVCC classes, which under grant purposes since they don't receive credit, counts as a course that needs to be retaken.  Please keep this in mind when scheduling appointments for your child.

Some students are already scheduling at their home school for the upcoming school year.  All seniors will take the following high school classes:

• CHS English Composition I (4th year of English)

• Green Economics & Public Policy (4th year of Social Studies, fulfills Government & Economics credit)

• Intro to Nanotechnology (Science or Tech credit)

Student college classes are dependent on their HVCC pathway.  Students in the Engineering pathway, who are taking PreCalculus in the spring will take Calculus I and II in the fall and spring of their senior year from HVCC.  These students should NOT schedule for Calculus at their home school.   If your child is in the Engineering pathway and NOT currently in PreCalculus but would like to continue in the Engineering Pathway next year, they will need to take PreCalc through HVCC over the summer AND it will be paid for by the grant.  The HVCC Precalculus Summer Class is typically taught remote (with a teacher over Zoom at a scheduled time Monday through Thursday).  We will send this information out once we have received it.  

 

January 15, 2026:

Students presented their MEMS/Cantilever videos to the teachers for feedback and then presented them to a “Shark Tank” of business and industry professionals yesterday.  Students were given constructive feedback from the industry partners to help them move forward.  We hope the students found it to be a valuable experience.  

HVCC Spring Semester classes begin on Tuesday, January 20th.  Students will ONLY attend their HVCC classes next week.  Spring Schedule 2026_Student Copy 1.15.26.pdf The high school classes are not in session due to the Regents Testing week.  If your child has a midterm at their home school and a college class, they should not miss their college class.  With HVCC classes being in session during February and April high school vacations, and with the weather closures that occur where students may not have transportation and HVCC is in session, they should prioritize their college classes next week over school exams.  If a student is taking a NYS Regents exam and has to miss a college class next week, they should email their HVCC professor to let them know the reason for their absence.  Students received their HVCC textbooks this week.  

The 2nd quarter for the high school ends TOMORROW.  Grades will be sent to each student’s home school at the end of next week in order for them to appear on their home school report cards.  

Students have their Public Meeting Mastery Project due TOMORROW. This was assigned at the end of September.  

Students worked on the following this week:

• Personal Finance Activity:  Nearpod Credit Score Activity

• Authentic Audience Mock Presentations

• Authentic Audience Official Presentations

• Energy Needs Discussion

• Solar Needs Mastery Project:  Location & Why Activity

• Energy Needs Mastery Project:  Historical Understanding of Location Benchmark- Due 1/20

• Research Paper Assignment #3:  Final Sources

• Activity:  Citations Quiz

• Research Paper Assignment 4:  Outline- due TOMORROW

• Background on Solar Assignment

Long Term Assignments

Public Meeting Mastery Project Semester 1- Assigned & closes Friday, January 16th

Community Outreach Mastery Project- involves the Community Service Hour Requirement so plan ahead- closes Friday, March 28th

• Program Opportunities- 3 Shadow Days (2/12, 3/9, 4/17 8-9:30 AM)

• Outside Organization

  • January 23rd 5:30 PM- 8 PM Milton Terrace Elementary School PTA Kids’ Night Out- https://forms.gle/ENVMsMTz3rgPSBhj9 

If you have questions for your child’s teacher, please feel free to contact them:

Mr. Ackroyd; Intro to Nanotechnology; dackroyd@bscsd.org

Mrs. Singer; CHS English Composition I, jsinger@bscsd.org

Mr. Snow; Green Economics & Public Policy; lsnow@bscsd.org

Upcoming Dates

Monday, January 19th:  MLK Day- No HS Classes

Tuesday, January 20th:  HVCC Classes Resume

Tuesday, January 20th- Friday, January 23rd:  Students will ONLY attend TEC-SMART for HVCC college classes

Monday, January 26th:  3rd Quarter Begins and High School Classes Resume

February 16- February 20th:  High School Winter Break, No High School classes, but HVCC classes ARE in Session.  High School staff will not be on site.

Spring HVCC Schedule

Please see the attached spring schedule.  Spring Schedule 2026_Student Copy 1.15.26.pdf There are HVCC classes over both the February and April high school vacations.  

Senior Photos:  Please have your child share, through Google, their senior photo they would like to use in the Graduation program and for different publications throughout the school year.  The photo cannot have a watermark and must be a jpeg or png, no HEIC.  Students can share it with asnow@bscsd.org.  If they do not submit a senior photo, we will use the one that was taken by Yellow Diamond photography earlier in the year.

Senior Activities:  We encourage our students to participate in their senior events at their home school.  If a student is going to be late or miss high school class, please email me so that I can mark it as a home school field trip.  This will NOT apply for a HVCC college class.