Averill Park Central School District (APCSD) is a suburban and rural fringe public school

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

located east of the city of Rensselaer in south central Rensselaer County, New York. The district has five operating school buildings: three

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, one

Middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

, and one

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. The district is a member of the Rensselaer-Columbia-Greene

Boards of Cooperative Educational Services The Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES //) is a program of shared educational services provided to school districts by the New York State Legislature. History BOCES owes its origin to a state legislative enactment authorizing the f ...

(BOCES), known a
Questar III

Geography

The district serves ten towns in Rensselaer County and encompasses roughly in the towns of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Brunswick, East Greenbush, Grafton, Nassau, North Greenbush,

Poestenkill Poestenkill is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The population was 4,530 at the 2010 census. The town is southeast of Troy and is centrally located in the county. The town is named after the Poesten Kill, an important stream ...

, Sand Lake, Schodack, and Stephentown.

Administration

Board of Education

The Board of education (BOE) is the authoritative legislative body of the school district. It approves

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an orga ...

and

funding Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm use ...

; sets committees and district priorities; and approves employment (including the Superintendent) within the district, among other things. The BOE is made up of seven members. Until 2006-07-01, each member served for five years. Members elected after that date now serve three-year terms. As of 2022 the members of the BOE, with the end of their terms noted in parentheses, are: *Jessica Zweig President (2024) *Samantha Hicks Vice President (2025) *Jacqueline Geraci (2024) *Douglas Kelley (2023) *Meghan McGarry (2025) *Ann Morone (2023) *Adam Stewart (2025)

Superintendent

James Franchini is the Superintendent of Schools. The Superintendent is the Chief Administrative Officer of the district and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the district in addition to administering policies of the Board.

Schools

The district is served by three elementary schools: Miller Hill,

, and West Sand Lake Elementary Schools. The former George Washington and Sand Lake Elementary Schools were closed in June 2010 amid budget difficulties, although the Sand Lake Elementary School's land was kept by the district until January 2015. Algonquin Middle School (grades 6-8) and Averill Park High School are the lone middle and high schools of the district, respectively.

Elementary schools

In the district, there are three elementary schools: Miller Hill Elementary School (Sometimes referred to as Miller Hill-Sand Lake Elementary School; Near

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), West Sand Lake Elementary School (Near the West Sand Lake town center), and Postenkill Elementary School (Near the Postenkill Town Center). There were two former elementary schools that have since shut down due to budget issues: Sand Lake Elementary School (Located next to Miller Hill Elementary school) and George Washington School (Located west of Postenkill). All of the elementary schools teach K-5, however (due to their close proximity) Sand Lake Elementary once taught grades 4-5 while Miller Hill would teach K-3.

Algonquin Middle School

Algonquin Middle School is the only middle school in the entire district. The school was founded in 1967.

School-Run Activities

Sports

The District Offers competitive sports for grades 7 to 12 with levels modified, junior varsity, and Varsity. Sports Include

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, Football,

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

Track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

Cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open cou ...

Bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

, and Soccer. The district-wide team name is ''The Warriors.''

Band, Orchestra, and Chorus

The middle and high school offers Band (i.e., learning a brass, woodwind, or percussion instrument), Orchestra (i.e., learning violin, viola, cello, or double bass), and Chorus (i.e., singing in a choir) while the elementary schools begin instruction in 5th grade. All of the music groups perform concerts. The high school and middle school also offer Jazz Ensemble for more motivated Band students, and the high school offers Treble Choir. Students can be a part of Band and Chorus or Orchestra and Chorus, and although more difficult to schedule, students can be in both Band and Orchestra.

Clubs

The middle and high schools both sponsor school-run clubs. These include the GSA, Debate Club, School Newspaper Club, and others. Clubs are typically run by one teacher or a group of teachers and are sponsored by the school.

Notes and references

External links

* {{Authority control School districts in New York (state) Troy, New York Education in Rensselaer County, New York