By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
RAVENA-COEYMANS-SELKIRK — This is the first week of a new school year and there are plenty of changes in store for students in the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District.
Perhaps one of the most visible changes is the new team name and mascot — after 70 years of the Indians, the district will now be known as the Ravens.
The change was made with community input via several online surveys and countless discussions after the State Education Department required all schools in New York with mascots that evoke Native American imagery to make the switch.
The community voted on the new mascot and selected the Ravens.
As part of the change, the district last week issued a new Brand Guide outlining how the district’s brand elements, such as the logo, image colors and so on, can be used.
“There are lots of places that use our current branding — the Indians branding — or some version of RCS and there’s no relationship with the district. They are just selling our stuff,” District Superintendent Dr. Brian Bailey said at the Aug. 28 meeting of the RCS Board of Education. “We haven’t had ownership of our brand in 70 years.”
The Brand Guide is designed to show how the Ravens branding should appear and how it can be used. Other districts have taken things a step further — the Coxsackie-Athens Riverhawks, previously also the Indians, has trademarked their new branding and has a board policy restricting its use.
Bailey said that when the district’s Policy Committee regroups for the new school year, he will suggest they look at coming up with a set of guidelines for the RCS brand as well.
“One thing that we absolutely want to recommend is that when the Policy Committee comes back together, they should establish a policy around how we expect it to be used that’s similar to what’s in the Branding Guide, that we expect you to use it respectfully on items that are appropriate, things like that.”
NEW FACES
With the new school year comes new faces, including 18 teachers throughout the district. They went through new teacher orientation last week.
“We had 18 new staff in this room and it was amazing,” Bailey said, adding that there were new elementary school teachers all the way up to high school physics and language teachers.
“We are so happy that kids are going to be walking back into classrooms and will be in experienced hands,” Bailey said.
In addition to new teachers, there will also be some changes in building leadership. Former middle school assistant principal Steve Doran has been appointed the new principal of A.W. Becker Elementary School, and Brian Garrity will replace Doran as the middle school’s assistant principal.
At the high school, John Thorson will serve as the interim assistant principal through December as the district conducts the hiring process for a new high school assistant principal.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Does you child hate waiting outside until the bus arrives? That’s where GeoAlerts come in, School Business Administrator Jesse Boehme said at the board of education meeting.
GeoAlerts is a Stop Finder app that is managed by the district’s transportation department.
“It is active and it has been sent out to all of the parents,” Boehme said. “There will be a little bit of a learning curve. I’ve used it, and I thought it was pretty simple. Please encourage people to get this app and use it — it is awesome.”
The app enables the user to track the school bus and find out exactly where it is so you know when to expect the bus to arrive at your stop.
“I used it with my son,” Boehme said. “He has a tough time waiting out there, but now I know the bus is coming, so he doesn’t wait outside, he goes right onto the bus.”
The app can be used on all of the main bus routes. The district is considering enabling it for sports transportation and field trips, but that capability has not yet been set up.
The first day of school for the 2024-25 school year is Thursday, Sept. 5.
