Wellsville Local Schools Superintendent David Cappuzzello gives a State of the School address Monday. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

WELLSVILLE– Wellsville Local School District Superintendent David Cappuzzello provided a brief recap of the 2024-2025 school year and a glimpse at updates and plans for 2025-2026 during his State of the School address held at Wellsville Jr. Sr. High School Monday.

Cappuzzello opened his address be reminding everyone he had previously said “We are all in this together, it takes all of us because we have so many things to really teach these young folks they have no clue, so what we do every day matters so much and we can never forget that.”

Cappuzzello spoke about the leadership team, buses and transportation, safety drills and plans, teaching and learning goals, highlights from each of the district’s schools, staffing changes and additions, summer series instead of summer school, plans for keeping parents informed and the District Advisory Council.

The leadership team currently consists of School Principals Shelbie Householder, Garfield Elementary; Erin Clemmer, Daw Elementary; Dr. Allison Scott, Junior/Senior High; and Kyle Exline, Jr. Sr. High School assistant principal/athletic director/transportation. The Central Office is Cappuzzello, superintendent; Maia Amato, treasurer; Amber Brown, administrative assistant; and directors Alaina Kilpatrick, curriculum, and Malissa King, special education.

For buses and transportation, Cappuzzello said that the district’s fleet was expanding from three buses and drivers to four with the purchase of a new bus and four drivers with a fifth driver being interviewed and the district’s new fueling station located at the Jr. Sr. High School is now operational and allows the district to fuel their own buses.

The fueling station is expected to help the district save money.

The fifth driver is currently going through training.

Cappuzzello said that the district does safety drills all the time and will be doing bus safety drills along with safety checks and more cameras added to the buses, so the buses are covered from front to back.

He noted that the district is always evaluating bus routes for safety and reliability. He also said that the fourth driver will help eliminate students having to be at school earlier than needed.

Safety drills and plans in place will include regular practices of fire, lockdown and severe weather protocols, local collaborations with emergency personnel, including the local police chief and school resource officer and an annual review with updates of the safety plan submitted to the state.

There have also been updated camera systems added throughout the buildings and additional key fobs added.

For teaching and learning goals, Cappuzzello said that all students need to be reached through differentiated instructions, and the district has to get better at that so they can reach the students where they are with their learning abilities.

The core area of focus for the district is going to be math and language arts with targeted interventions with a goal to be able to reduce the need for interventions. Critical thinking and problem-solving development for students to help them with analyzing, interpreting, evaluation and reasoning would also be a focus.

Cappuzzello said the gifted education opportunities need to increase through increased enrichment and there would be ongoing professional development for staff to improve their skills and develop fresh ideas.

He said he hopes to see the district expand offerings for learning with the possible addition of Italian and sign language, more developed forensic science programs and the possible addition of drones and AI exploration.

He said he is seeking staff input on electives that are meaningful and beneficial to students in the 21st century and has a goal to ensure every student has the support they need.

He noted the multiple staffing changes, which included retirements, transitions, and internal transfers.

Instead of summer school there will be a summer series with learning support offered to jump start readiness for the school year. The scheduled sessions are targeted to students through the eighth grade with a focus on reading and math skills. Cappuzzello noted that if there is a high school student in need of help with these subjects, teachers reach out to him so that students can get the help they need.

The Summer Series will take place Aug. 12, 14, 19, 21 and 22.

The district is looking at switching from the One Call notification system and going with the Apptegy School Information app to provide notifications, updates and calendar events.

Cappuzzello is looking for more parent involvement with volunteering, supporting activities, attending conferences, the district website, social media and school web pages.

He said he is hoping to develop a District Advisory Council which would comprise parents and stakeholders in the district and meet about once a month to foster communication, collaborations, and shared leadership.

When he spoke on the schools’ outcomes for the current school year, he noted that at Garfield Elementary, nearly all the Kindergarten through second grade students met or exceeded Map project growth, the school had a strong focus on English Language Arts and math data and they added a science and social study block.

At Daw Elementary, the ELA OST test score for the fourth- through sixth-grade students has increased from the past years, and the sixth-grade Math OST proficiency increased 12.9% from last year. He also said that the April Parent Involvement Night had the highest attendance number in recent years, with more than 100 families participating.

At the high school, there was a 20% increase in students who scored proficiency and above. The school recently received an award from the International Exchange Students program, and the Environmental Science Club collected over 4,000 pounds of cardboard and paper.

Cappuzzello also said that over half of all tested areas increased in proficiency.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com