Croton-Harmon ends varsity football season; school board approves communications agreement

Croton-Harmon canceled the remainder of its varsity football season after injuries left too few players to continue safely, Superintendent Stephen Walker reported to the Board of Education September 17. The board also approved a Rockland BOCES communications proposal and heard school leaders outline work on math instruction, grading, parent conferences, middle-school scheduling and elementary literacy during the work session.

Football season ends after injuries

Walker said injuries in the team’s first game reduced the available players and forced the game to end at halftime. Walker said: “it was made with input from the student athletes, their parents, and prioritizes the safety of our student athletes above all else.” Read 4:18▶ The cancellation was an administrative decision reported to the board, rather than a vote taken that evening. Walker described recognizing the seniors’ contributions as a next step and said options for the program’s future would be discussed. He did not announce a permanent end to varsity football.

What the communications agreement covers

The board approved the Rockland BOCES proposal for the 2026–27 school year. The official BoardDocs action record lists five affirmative votes and records the motion as carried. Explaining the recommendation, Walker said: “this is a substantial increase in our investment in communications and I think one that's likely to have a significant, if not profound, change in how we communicate with our broader community.” Read 180:21▶ The written scope estimates a $178,000 service cost, or $124,600 assuming 30% BOCES aid. The service cost is to be prorated according to the actual term of service.

The scope provides five days a week of embedded coverage, along with communications planning, community relations, social-media content, budget communications, media relations and crisis support. It also calls for monthly board work-session recaps for staff, families and the community. Trustee Jacob Day urged the communications specialist to learn what families need from the district. Day said: “I think they should really try to understand as we're doing surveys and community conversations, like, what parents really want to hear and want to know about and how we sort of amplify that, but then also what parents need to know about and need to hear about that they're maybe not.” Read 181:02▶ Printing and mailing are separate district responsibilities. Spanish translation may cost extra if the district lacks in-house capacity, and website maintenance and videography are excluded from the BOCES scope. The consent agenda separately approved a $50,000 transfer from Unallocated Insurance to Public Information BOCES for the communications service. That transfer is not the proposal’s total price.

Schools review how students learn—and how families follow their progress

At Croton-Harmon High School, administrators described implementation of Geometry with Algebraic Concepts, intended to reinforce algebra while ninth-graders move into geometry. The approach preserves a route toward calculus for students who choose it. Interim Principal Erica Fiorini contrasted that flexibility with the earlier course sequence. Fiorini said: “In our old system, their final destination in their high school math career was typically determined by the end of their seventh grade year.” Read 38:13▶ A curriculum consultant was being explored to support the work. The high-school discussion also returned to the rolling gradebook. Teachers had reviewed the previous year’s assignment weights and distribution of points, including whether too many points early in the year could make later progress harder to reflect in a grade. Further student feedback and another faculty reflection in January were discussed. For parent conferences, the high school outlined two November sessions—one daytime and one evening—and a January evening session. The shift brought the former March opportunity earlier. Asked whether the school would continue inviting families to conferences, Fiorini said: “Yes. So we will be inviting families, but I think we will be taking a closer look at the number of families that we are inviting to leave more spaces open, for families who would like to sign up to come in” Read 86:11▶. She also noted the difficulty of scheduling an entire teaching team and said a family might meet with a few teachers rather than everyone. At Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School, administrators described a longer advisory period through the orange block and plans to examine the master schedule with input from students, staff and families. Passion Pursuit’s start had been delayed while staff reconsidered its purpose and how to make the work meaningful across grades. Possible changes remained under development. Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School’s literacy work included reviewing Heggerty instruction in kindergarten through second grade and examining resources for grades three and four. The goal was to identify resources for the following school year by the end of 2026–27; no new curriculum selection was announced. Administrators also showed a draft literacy website intended to help families understand instruction by grade. They explicitly described it as unfinished and not yet public. Parent learning walks were another plan for bringing families closer to classroom work. The account is based on the district recording, transcript, presentation and official BoardDocs action records. Watch the September 17 district recording.