Voorheesville Central School > About Us > Policies and Procedures

Policies and Procedures

Child Abuse Hotline Notification | Code of Conduct |Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act |Freedom of Information|Safety Plan | Dignity for All Students Act | Smart Schools Investment Plan | Social Media Guidelines | Annual Required Notifications

Child Abuse Hotline Notification

If you suspect a child is being abused or maltreated (neglected), report it by calling 1-800-342-3720, a toll-free 24-hour hotline operated by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local police department. Information about reporting child abuse and maltreatment (neglect) is available online at http://ocfs.ny.gov/programs/cps/.

Top of page

Code of Conduct

To view the Voorheesville Central School District’s Code of Conduct, please click here.

The Code of Conduct for Co-Curricular and Extracurricular Activities is available here.

Top of page

Dignity for All Students Act

Voorheesville Central School District complies with the Dignity for All Students Act (DASA) passed into law effective July 1, 2012.   Student harassment is prohibited on school property or at school functions.  Harassment is defined as conduct, or verbal threats, intimidation or abuse that interferes with a student’s educational performance, benefits or opportunities, emotional or physical well-being or which causes a student to fear for his or her safety. This extends to cyber bullying that occurs on or off school property.  Also prohibited is student discrimination based on a person’s actual or perceived race, hairstyle, color, weight, national origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual orientations, gender, or sex. Any person having reasonable cause to suspect that a student is being subjected to discrimination or harassment should report the suspicions to the building principal.  People who report such incidents in good faith are immune from civil liability and from retaliation.  Please refer to the posted Code of Conduct for more information.

If you wish to report an incident or series of incidents of bullying and/or harassment, please print and fill out a Dignity for All Students Complaint Form  and give it to your school’s DASA coordinator:

For more information and/or Board of Education policies regarding Dignity for All Students you may click on the links (PDFs) below:

Top of page

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a Federal law, requires that Voorheesville Central School District (VCSD), with certain exceptions, obtain your written consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from your child’s education records. However, VCSD may disclose appropriately designated “directory information” without written consent, unless you have advised the VCSD to the contrary in accordance with VCSD procedures. The primary purpose of directory information is to allow the VCSD to include information from your child’s education records in certain school publications. Examples include:

  • A playbill, showing your student’s role in a drama production;
  • The annual yearbook;
  • Honor roll or other recognition lists;
  • Graduation programs; and
  • Sports activity sheets, such as for wrestling, showing weight and height of team members.

Directory information, which is information that is generally not considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if released, can also be disclosed to outside organizations without a parent’s prior written consent.  Outside organizations include, but are not limited to, companies that manufacture class rings or publish yearbooks.  In addition, two federal laws require local educational agencies (LEAs) receiving assistance under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA) to provide military recruiters, upon request, with the following information – names, addresses and telephone listings – unless parents have advised the LEA that they do not want their student’s information disclosed without their prior written consent.

If you do not want Voorheesville Central School District to disclose any or all of the types of information designated below as directory information from your child’s education records without your prior written consent, you must notify the Voorheesville Central School District in writing by end of the third week in September.  Notification should be sent to your child’s principal.  Access the Objection to Release of Directory Information form. If you have more than one child in each building, please send a notification to each child’s building principal.

Information designated by the VCSD Board of Education as directory information:

  • Student’s name
  • Address
  • Telephone listing
  • Photograph
  • Date and place of birth
  • Major field of study
  • Dates of attendance
  • Participation in officially recognized activities and sports
  • Weight and height of members of athletic teams
  • Degrees, honors, and awards received
  • The most recent educational agency or institution attended.

For more detailed information, view Board Policy #5500 using the policy number or keywords “Student Records” or “FERPA”.

Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)

For access to VCSD’s records under New York state’s Freedom of Information Law, please contact Christy Rivenburg by email. Reach us by email at crivenburg@voorheesville.org or in person by visiting the business office from Mon-Fri. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The district reserves the right to charge a fee for printed copies. 

Requests should state that information is being sought under the Freedom of Information Law and provide a brief description of the public records requested. Please be as specific as possible (i.e. relevant dates, names, descriptions, etc.). The form is available here.

The district’s business department will acknowledge receipt of any FOIL requests within five business days. The nature of the request will determine how quickly the information can be provided.

For more information regarding VCSD records requests, contact Christy Rivenburg at 518-765-3313 Ext. 109

For more information about the Freedom of Information Law, visit the Committee on Open Government website.

Smart Schools Investment Plan

The Smart Schools Bond Act was passed in the 2014-15 enacted budget and approved by the voters in a statewide referendum held during the New York State 2014 General Election on Tuesday, November 4, 2014. The Smart Schools Bond Act (SSBA) authorized the issuance of $2 billion of general obligation bonds to finance improvements in educational technology, infrastructure and security. The Voorheesville Central School District has been allocated $483,870 for this purpose. This will be paid to the District by New York State as reimbursement for expenses incurred under the plan.

The district’s Smart Schools Investment Plan is available here.

Top of page

Social Media Commenting Guidelines

Voorheesville Central School district’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were created for our community and anyone interested to follow and participate in positive discussions about news and information pertaining to our schools. Thank you for your appreciation, likes, and messages of encouragement. As part of an ongoing effort to ensure our social media channels remain highly focused and valuable, we have set some basic ground rules. Comments will be monitored and shared with VCS personnel to ensure they comply with our guidelines. We reserve the right to remove any comment at any time from our social media, without limitation, if it violates these rules.

  • Please do not use our social media channels in place of standard communication practices, such as contacting your school principal to share personal issues and concerns.
  • You must demonstrate appropriate respect for others. Please, no personal attacks.
  • Comments viewed as abusive or offensive will be removed. We will not allow any comments that are obscene or contain profanity or that may be hateful or offensive on racial, ethnic, sexual or any other grounds; are harmful, vulgar or distasteful; or are defamatory, libelous, or invade another person’s privacy.
  • Stay on topic. Comments that do not pertain to the subject matter at hand will be removed.
  • Just be yourself. You may not represent that you are any other person, whether real or invented, or imply any connection with any person or organization with which you are not in fact associated. The use of multiple identities is not permitted.
  • Respect copyrights. Please respect the copyright of other users, organizations, websites, media, etc. Citing of published material: Referencing and/or linking to material published in other newspapers, blogs, and other sources is fine; so is limited use of excerpts. Cutting and pasting of entire articles or lengthy excerpts is not allowed. We are not responsible for any comments that violate copyright laws and will not take any steps to verify that comments do not violate any copyright laws.
  • No advertising, please. Unauthorized advertising, business solicitation, promotional items, “spam” or junk mail will be removed.
  • By commenting, you also recognize that your comments are your own, and that you hold Voorheesville Central School district and all subsidiaries and representatives harmless from any and all repercussions, damages, or liability.

For questions regarding our social media guidelines or to report abuse, please contact Diane Donato at Communications@Voorheesville.org. We thank you for your productive contributions to our page!

 

Top of page

Annual Required Notifications

Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR): Obtaining Teacher/Principal APPR Scores

New York State Education Law requires each classroom teacher and school principal to receive an annual professional performance review (APPR) that results in a composite effectiveness score and rating. All parents/guardians have the right to obtain the APPR quality ratings and composite effectiveness scores for their child’s current teacher(s) and principal(s) once they are available. To initiate this request, please contact the superintendent’s office at 518-765-3313.

Body Mass Index

New York state requires schools to track each student’s body mass index (BMI) and weight status category as part of school health examinations. Every year, the New York State Department of Health surveys some schools for the number of students in each weight status category. If Voorheesville Central School District is surveyed by the state, the district will share summary group data only and will not share summary group calculations. In order to opt out of the sharing of this data, parents must contact your child’s school nurse.

Grade Promotion and Placement Policy

Decisions about student promotion and placement are at the discretion of the building principal. These decisions are guided by recommendations of teachers and staff members, past academic performance and parent/guardian input. Past academic performance refers to a variety of indicators of student achievement and growth. The district’s promotion and placement policy was adopted by the board of education following a review by the district administration.

Integrated Pest Management

New York State Education Law requires schools to provide written notification to all parents/guardians and staff members regarding the potential use of pesticides periodically throughout the school year. The district maintains a list of all individuals who wish to receive 48-hour prior written notification of certain pesticide applications. If you would like to receive 48-hour notifications of pesticide applications that are scheduled to occur, please contact Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations James Southard at 518-765-3313 ext. 102. In the event of an emergency application necessary to protect against an imminent threat to human health, a good faith effort will be made to supply written notification to those on the 48-hour prior notification list. Some pesticide applications are not subject to notification requirements, including anti-microbial products, EPA-designated biopesticides and exempt materials, and when a school remains unoccupied for a continuous 72-hours following an application. For more information on requirements, please contact the school’s pesticide representative, Lissa Jilek, Interim Business Official at 518-765-3313.

Lead Testing

According to state law, school districts and Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) are required to test water outlets for lead every three years, unless the state commissioner of health requests individual districts to test sooner.  Beginning with the 2022-23 school year, the state’s action level of lead in drinking water was reduced from 15 parts per billion (ppb) to 5 parts per billion (ppb).  School districts are required to report the results of all water testing to the state Department of Health, the state Education Department and the local health department, and to post the results—along with remediation plans, if required—on the official district website.

Voorheesville CSD is up-to-date with New York state lead testing requirements, most recently testing in February of 2024 and retesting in May of 2024. 

The most recent results are posted on the Facilities Page.

Prohibition Against Meal Shaming

The Board of Education recognizes that, on occasion, students may forget to bring meal money to school.  To ensure that students do not go hungry, but also to promote responsible student behavior and to minimize the fiscal burden on the district, all district schools shall follow guidelines with regard to meal charges.

  • Once a student account is negative, only regular meals may be charged, that is, only the type A meal on the menu.  No student shall be denied a regular type A meal regardless of the account balance.
  • No snacks may be charged once an account is negative
  •  A computer-generated point-of-sale system shall be used for identifying and recording all charged meals as well as collected repayments

This policy applies to all paying students whether they are paying full-price or reduced-price.  Students with a negative balance of at least two meals will be immediately notified by the building administrator or designee regarding the status of their accounts.

The school district shall send notification to all parents on an annual basis, prior to the opening day of school, notifying them of the requirements of this policy.

The District shall maintain a system for accounting for charged meals that follows state guidelines.

Title IX

It is the policy of the Voorheesville Central School District to provide a learning and working environment that is safe, welcoming, and free from discrimination on the basis of sex. Title IX requires the school district not to discriminate. View the district’s full harassment and non-discrimination policy. Reports of sexual harassment can be made at any time, including during non-business hours using the telephone number or e-mail address, or by mailing to the office address listed for the for the Title IX Coordinator:

Frank Macri
Superintendent of Schools, Voorheesville Central School District
432 New Salem Road,
Voorheesville, New York 12186
518-765-3314 ext. 104

Top of page