Welcome Back to School!

• First Day of School at Springhurst Elementary Photos
• Required Notices
• Superintendent's Report on the Opening of Schools
• District Safety and Emergency Management Plan

Every student who passes through the halls of Dobbs Ferry’s schools will have teachers that they remember for the rest of their lives. Few teachers, however, are likely to be remembered by as many students as Neil Abbatiello and Sue Dowdell.

After four decades of service, Abbatiello and Dowdell have touched the lives of two generations of Dobbs Ferry students. They were recognized by Superintendent Kenneth Slentz at a Superintendent’s Conference Day before the first day of school.

“Neil and Sue are both remarkable individuals and educators who have committed themselves to a life of service to the students, staff, and families of Dobbs Ferry," said Slentz. "While so many things have changed over the course of their time in the district, their focus on our students has remained constant and we are collectively better for it. They are role models for us all.”

They have been pillars of the Dobbs Ferry community for so long that it’s hard to imagine this district without them. Thank you for all of the work you’ve done to support our students over the years. Here’s to another great school year!

Facilities and Maintenance Update

A key part of being able to keep our focus on teaching and learning is ensuring that we develop and maintain safe, secure, and welcoming environments for students and staff. We remain grateful to the community for your ongoing support of our work in this area through our various building projects both small and large.

This summer we have spent a good deal of time at the high school continuing the work of restoring the historic character of the building. If you have not seen the auditorium in a few years, please stop by!

Part of this work was evaluating the condition of the murals in our hallways to determine how we would maintain them as an important part of the rich history of the school. Because of their deteriorating condition, we removed the murals from the walls and posted them digitally on our website. In addition, the maintenance team is restoring the wood trim and doors throughout the building and their pride in this work is showing!

Our work will continue in the year ahead and will include discussions on what we might consider adding to our walls that reflects the history of the school and community; the academic, musical, artistic, and athletic accomplishments of our students over the years; and great works of art that we want our students to be knowledgeable about. Much more to come on our facilities work in the next Updates.

The board of education's facilities committee recently toured some of the areas that have been updated during the summer months including the high school exterior door and hallways, and the Springhurst accessibility ramp at the bus loop.

To stay up to date on our facilities planning, please see the meeting minutes of the Board of Education’s Facilities Committee.

2024-25 Cell Phone Procedures

Safety and Security

in Our Schools

The Dobbs Ferry School District administration, faculty, and staff are focused on maximizing our time during the day on effective teaching and learning practices. A critical component of this work is a concerted and consistent effort to remove barriers to and distractions from learning opportunities for our students. To that end, we know that the presence of cell phones continues to be both a barrier to and a distraction from learning for many of our students.

Click here to view our 2024-25 Cell Phone Procedures

District Safety and Emergency Management Plan

The Board of Education has posted the Revised 2024-25 District Safety and Emergency Management Plan for community review and input for a 30-day period. The revised plan can be found on our website. Comments or questions are to be sent to the Superintendent of Schools at slentzk@dfsd. Please include "Safety Plan" in the subject line.

Superintendent Kenneth Slentz addressed the Board of Education last week on the topic of Safety and Security at Dobbs Ferry UFSD:

"Our opening week was clouded by the loss of students and staff at the Apalachee School District in Georgia. Each such incident provides a sad and stark reminder to us all – students, staff, parents, and community members – of the ongoing need to work diligently on the safety, security, and well-being of our own students. This includes immediately reporting any concerns in these regards to the district.

"Our administrators, security coordinator and security staff, and the Dobbs Ferry Police Department work closely and quickly on these matters and rely on the reports from others. Further, the Rivertown School Districts are discussing ways that we can better involve our students in these efforts and will be meeting to discuss the formation of a Rivertown Student Association to work with us on awareness, prevention, communication with, and support of their fellow students. I will update the board on this and additional work that we are doing with our security system and the school entrances at the middle and high schools."

High School Graduation Requirements

The New York State Education Department is proposing a number of changes to how school districts provide access and opportunities to rigorous learning experiences. With a focus on equity and excellence as detailed in the state’s Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework. The Board of Regents established a Blue Ribbon Commission that studied the various options that the state should consider in making these changes.

We will update you on progress in this work in the year ahead, but if you are interested in hearing more about these changes in the meantime, Southern Westchester BOCES is hosting two public forums in hybrid form on September 19 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. If you are interested in attending, please click here to register.

Dobbs Ferry School District

505 Broadway

Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522

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