NEW SCOTLAND — It’s back to school for the Voorheesville Board of Education.

The 2025-26 school year started with board members being apprised of the  implementation of the state’s mandated cell-phone ban, the district’s multi-million-dollar capital project, and the award of two grants. 

The cell phone policy — a “bell-to-bell” prohibition of all internet-enabled devices on school grounds — appears to have a largely positive adaptation among the student body, according to Superintendent Frank Macri.

Macri told board members that students have been engaging in more direct conversation and interaction. “I will say that the principals have told me that the kids are talking to each other at lunch,” he said. “They’re like, ‘This is great, people are interacting.’ So they are seeing that.”

In general, there has been a conspicuous absence of devices. Macri said, “I myself have not seen cell phones in the hallway.” 

But the transition has not been without challenges. 

“I’m trying to model best behaviors,” Macri told board members. “It’s very difficult.”

Macri said the pandemic pushed everyone to use technology.

“Technology was where we were living,” he said. “And now we’re going back on that.”

Macri said, “So I can imagine what our seniors who have been doing this, they were sixth-graders during COVID, that’s their lifeline. So it is difficult for them. And I give them credit because I think they’re doing a great job.”

The policy, adopted in July, says elementary school students’ devices should be silenced and kept in a classroom storage container or another designated location, while middle and high school students’ phones are to be silenced and stored in their lockers.

To contact their kids during the school day, parents can call or email the school office, while students can use a district telephone to contact their parents. 

The policy allows for exceptions to the device restriction for specific reasons, such as for a student’s healthcare needs, translation services, or if a student is routinely responsible for the care of a family member.

Enforcement is primarily the responsibility of building administrative staff, the policy states, “however, all employees are expected to assist in enforcement.”

Construction update

District voters in December 2022 overwhelmingly approved $25.2 million worth of construction projects, which have two core components: approximately $9.9 million for work at the elementary school and $6.6 million for the construction of a long-sought bus garage.

The work at the elementary school included:

— Consolidation of the elementary, administrative, and health offices next to the existing bus garage, and a transformation of the current bus garage into a cafeteria;

— The installation a new secure entrance vestibule; and

— Reworking “existing space to create multiple general instructional spaces, including new music and arts classrooms, guidance suite, library makerspace, and science labs,” according to the district.

The bus garage is now up and running. 

Having received its certificate of occupancy, the transportation department is now operating out of the facility, Macri told board members on Sept. 8, calling it a “giant win” for the district. 

To celebrate the win, the district will be holding an Oct. 6 open house at the garage.

Meanwhile, work at the elementary school continues. 

Macri said specific areas of the elementary school — its music rooms, the entry vestibule, and the new cafeteria, which is the former bus garage — remain under construction and closed off to staff and students. 

The superintendent said construction within the closed-off areas continues during the school day, but said there was protocol in place to deal with disruptions: if loud noises or other issues arise that conflict with school activities, the work is halted.

He also noted that the “flooring is 16 weeks out, so we have to wait for that to come in and then we’ll have that done in phases.”

While just in time for winter, the air-conditioning units are “hopefully getting done in January.” Macri said all the “work has already been done to be able to have it put in, but you just have to put the [actual] units in.” This would be off-hour work. 

Macri previously explained the core capital project will end up costing $29 million after 30 years. However, the district is to receive $17.6 million in state aid for those three decades, which brings down local burden to about $11.6 million. 

Grants 

Voorheesville received $72,000 to digitize all its physical files.

Macri said digitizing all of the district’s records would be “a big project that we’re going to be taking on this year, but we are excited to have that happen and thankful for it.”

Voorheesville also received a $12,000 Albany County Improvement Grant earmarked for anti-bullying and violence prevention.

The grant will be used to conduct workshops with middle and high school students and staff to promote inclusivity and empathy. A separate program for seventh- and tenth-graders will address mental health, how to reduce stigma, and teach students how to support their peers.