Ellenville Central School District

REMINDER! The Ellenville NAACP's Back to School Festival will be taking place on Saturday, August 16, from 10 AM to 2 PM at the Berme Road Rock Pavilion (20 Berme Road in Ellenville). Students of all grade levels are welcome! Hundreds of backpacks filled with school supplies and personal items will be distributed. There will also be a DJ, snacks, and representatives from educational support organizations and school clubs. We hope to see you there!

The Ellenville Central School District is pleased to announce that it will once again purchase school supplies for all students in Pre-K through Grade 12 for the 2025–2026 school year. Each student will receive essential classroom items, including notebooks, pencils, folders, and more. Students will only need to provide their own backpacks.

Back-to-School Health Check: Vaccination Reminders for Ellenville Families!

As we gear up for another amazing school year, let's make sure our students are prepared with their State-required vaccinations.

Please review the required vaccines by grade:
- Kindergarten: MMR booster, Varicella booster, DTaP booster, Polio booster
-Grade 6: TDAP booster
-Grade 7: 1st Meningitis vaccine
-Grade 12: 2nd Meningitis booster

Since August gets busy, we recommend calling your healthcare provider early to schedule appointments. Keep your child's vaccination records ready to submit to school.

Questions? Contact your school nurse or healthcare provider.

Together, we're keeping our Ellenville school community healthy and thriving!

Join us for the Back to School Festival! Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 16, from 10 AM to 2 PM at the Berme Road Rock Pavilion (20 Berme Road in Ellenville). Students of all grade levels are welcome! Hundreds of backpacks filled with school supplies and personal items will be distributed. There will also be a DJ, snacks, and representatives from educational support organizations and school clubs. Special thanks to the Ellenville Branch #2143 of the NAACP and Ellenville Junior/Senior High School’s chapter of My Brother’s Keeper for making this event possible. We hope to see you there!

The Ellenville Central School District will be closed on Thursday, June 19 in honor of Juneteenth. We join the nation in commemorating the end of slavery in the United States and celebrating freedom, resilience, and reflection.

The New York State governor has mandated that schools implement a bell-to-bell ban on cell phones and smart devices, effective by the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Under this policy, students will not be permitted to use cell phones or smart devices during instructional time—including lunch on campus, study hall (academic workshops), class transitions, and bathroom visits. We value your feedback as a key stakeholder in our school community. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey: https://bit.ly/406XQDx

Ellenville Central School District's Annual Art Show Opens on Wednesday, June 4! This year's District-wide art show, "In Our Own Voices," runs from Wednesday, June 4, through Friday, June 6, from 4-7 PM at the Hunt Memorial Building at Liberty Square and Canal Street in Ellenville. Join us for a celebration of creativity and student expression featuring artworks from students across all grades. Special shout-out to senior Kayla Barbieri for lending her artistic talents to designing this year's beautiful poster! Don't miss this wonderful opportunity to support our student artists. See you there!

Each month a student from the Junior High School and Senior High School Band is selected as Musician of the Month. Students earn this title by demonstrating excellent effort, growth, achievement, and leadership in the instrumental music program. Congratulations to our Band Musicians of the Month for May! They are: Lucas Denman, Junior High Band; and Danna Velazquez, Senior High Band.

There will be a regular meeting of the Board of Education on Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at 6:00 p.m., in the Junior/Senior High School Media Center, 28 Maple Avenue, Ellenville, NY 12428. A motion for an executive session may be introduced at the start of the open meeting for the purpose of discussing personnel. At the conclusion of the executive session, the Board will enter into public session at 7:30 p.m.

The Policy Committee meeting scheduled on Monday, June 2, 2025 at 5 :00 p.m. in the Superintendent's Office, 28 Maple Avenue, Ellenville, NY 12428, is canceled and rescheduled for Tuesday, June 17, 2025.

Reminder: The Ellenville Central School District will be closed on Monday, May 26, in honor of Memorial Day. In addition, Friday, May 23, and Tuesday, May 27, are snow day "give-back" days, and school will not be in session. We will see everyone back on Wednesday, May 28.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the annual school budget vote and Board of Education election on May 20. The budget proposal passed by a vote of 252 to 109, and Jody Little, Rev. Julius Collins, and Daniel McQuillan were elected to the school board. We appreciate the community's support!

The Ellenville community is encouraged to participate in the school budget vote and Board of Education election TODAY (May 20) at the Ellenville Junior/Senior High School Media Center, which is located at 28 Maple Avenue. Polls will be open from 8 AM to 8 PM, with ample parking available. If you'd like to learn more about what's on this year's ballot ahead of casting your vote, please visit www.ecs.k12.ny.us/article/2186001

There will be a special meeting of the Board of Education on Tuesday, June 3, 2025 in the Superintendent’s Office, 28 Maple Avenue, Ellenville, NY 12428, immediately following the Tenure Reception. It is anticipated that a motion for an executive session may be introduced at the start of the open meeting for the purpose of meeting with counsel to secure legal advice about pending litigation. No public discussions will be held and the matter will be closed at the end of executive session.

Ellenville is proud to celebrate Speech Pathologist Day, which was nationally recognized yesterday (May 18). Our dedicated speech-language pathologists support our students daily to make sure they have all the support they need to communicate and express themselves, finding success in school and in their daily lives. Thank you to Mandi Dickman, Nowell VanBenschoten, and Haley Rieber (not pictured) for making a day-to-day and lifelong difference for our students!

Copies of the 2025 Budget Newsletter should be arriving in mailboxes soon. To read it online, visit https://5il.co/3g5h9

The regular meeting of the Board of Education, scheduled for Wednesday, May 28, has been canceled.

Interested in learning more about the Ellenville Central School District's 2025-2026 proposed budget? Check out our website at www.ecs.k12.ny.us/article/2186001. Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, May 20, at the Ellenville Junior/Senior High School Media Center. Polls will be open from 8 AM to 8 PM. Absentee and early ballots are available at the District Office. For more information, please call (845) 647-0100.

Ellenville Celebrates National School Nurse Day! Today we honor the healthcare heroes of Ellenville Central School District—our dedicated school nurses! From monitoring medications to offering a calm presence during health emergencies, our nurses transform our schools into safer, healthier environments for everyone. Beyond responding to immediate needs, they serve as health educators and advocates, empowering our students with knowledge that extends well beyond the school walls. The Ellenville Central School District celebrates these guardians of health who bring expertise, empathy, and excellence to our hallways every single day. Thank you for keeping our Blue Devil community healthy, supported, and ready to learn!

At Ellenville Central School District, we strongly feel that every week is Teacher Appreciation Week, but we'd be remiss not to recognize the official one (May 5-9)! We are grateful to our dedicated teachers for the commitment and creativity you bring to our classrooms. Whether it's the extra time you spend helping a struggling student, the innovative lessons that spark curiosity, or the compassion you show in difficult moments, you go the extra mile to make Ellenville a compassionate place for learning. Thank you for everything you do to educate, support, and empower our students. You are the heart of our District! We encourage our students and school community to share with your teacher what you appreciate about them. A thank you and smile can go a long way!