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Brocton school receives safety honors

The Brocton Central School District is one of at least 160 school districts and Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) in New York State to receive the Utica National Insurance Group’s “School Safety Excellence Award” for 2025 at the Titanium level. The honor is presented annually and recognizes school districts’ safety efforts as they work to help keep students, staff and visitors safe. The Brocton Central School District received its award at Utica National’s 43rd school safety seminar, one of six such seminars the company hosts in the state. For over 50 years ...

Spring nesting season has arrived

Spring is finally here, and with it comes new life and growth. All sorts of animals are getting ready to raise their young, and birds are no exception. If you take a step outside you are likely to hear birds as they sing to claim territory and find a place to make their nests. Birds build ...

Chicks are hatched at E2CCB in Small Animal Program

The Small Animal Science program at the Hewes Educational Center recently welcomed its newest two-legged members to Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES. Over the course of several days, juniors and seniors witnessed the hatching of baby chicks under the guidance of instructor Seth Shields ...

Memories, inspiration and creative solutions

Sometimes, it takes several failures before getting it right. It is said that success is not in never failing, but in getting back up after you fail. Everything is a learning process. Centaur Stride’s existence is a process of learning what is needed, what works and what doesn’t, trying ...

It may be time be to re-examine state tests

The debate over the value of standardized testing has been going on for decades, and it always seems to come to a head this time of year. In the past, I had been vocal in criticizing the process. While my position has softened over the years, it is worth re-stating my concerns here as background for the real purpose of this essay. First, the testing seemed to be too much about government mandated investment into book and tech companies. It was more transactional than educational, and the money could have been better spent on the front lines by hiring more teachers and reducing class ...