Annual Notices

The abuse or maltreatment of children is against the law. Victims need an effective child protective service to prevent them from suffering further injury and impairment. 

The purpose of the Child Protective Services Act of 1973 is to encourage more complete reporting of child abuse and maltreatment. The law established child protective services (CPS) in each county in New York. Each CPS is required to investigate child abuse and maltreatment reports, to protect children (anyone under 18 years old) from further abuse or maltreatment, and to provide rehabilitative services to children, parents, and other family members involved.

The New York State Office of Children and Family Services maintains the Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR, also known as the “hotline”) for reports made pursuant to the Social Services Law.

The SCR receives telephone calls alleging child abuse or maltreatment within New York State. SCR staff relay information from the calls to the local CPS for investigation, monitors their prompt response, and identifies whether there are prior child abuse or maltreatment reports.

The SCR receives calls 24 hours a day, every day from two types of sources: mandated and non-mandated reporters. Mandated reporters are persons who are required by law to report suspected cases of child abuse and maltreatment (mandated reporters include medical and hospital personnel, school officials, social service workers, child care workers, residential care workers and volunteers, law enforcement personnel). 

Voluntary, or non mandated reporters can make a difference.

Non-mandated, or voluntary reporters, such as neighbors, relatives and other concerned members of the public, may also report suspected abuse:

If you believe that a child is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local police department.

If you suspect a child has been harmed or is at risk, please dial 1-800-342-3720, to report what you have seen or heard.

If you are deaf or hard of hearing, call TDD/TTY at 1-800-638-5163 OR have your Video Relay System provider call 1-800-342-3720. 

For more information: 

NYS Office for Child Safety Website: https://ocfs.ny.gov/programs/cps/  

Brochure: “Recognizing & Reporting Child Abuse & Neglect - Questions often asked by friends, neighbors, and relatives”

Grade Promotion or Advancement: For promotion to the next grade level, all pupils must have demonstrated as determined by the teacher(s) satisfactory progress in, including but not limited to, academic performance, social/emotional growth, speech and language development, and readiness of learning as measured by classroom assignments and assessments, standardized assessments including State of NY assessment and other assessments, and other instruments as determined by the classroom teacher, clinicians, CSE, and/or other educational professionals. 

Student Retention: A Monitoring Committee shall be established to review the progress of any child at risk of being retained. The committee should include, but not be limited to, the Principal, the classroom teacher(s), a clinician, other professionals as appropriate, the parent(s)/guardian. Parent(s) or legal guardian(s) will be notified of the committee's review in writing. Recommendation for retention will be made by the Monitoring Committee and the final decision on retention will be made by the Principal in a conference with the parent(s) or legal guardian(s). Such a committee shall also be established when a parent requests grade retention. Students failing to meet attendance requirements may be retained. Parents may appeal a retention decision to the Superintendent of Schools, whose determination shall be final. For students under the Committee on Special Education, the CSE shall act as the Monitoring Committee. Students who appear in danger of second retention may be referred to the Committee for Special Education for evaluation. 

Student Placement: The Bedford Central School District adheres to an “Open Enrollment” Policy for honors, advanced placement, or other advanced courses, which means that students and parents ultimately have a choice as to whether a student enrolls in a particular class or not, provided the students meets any specific coursework prerequisites for the course. Course prerequisites for all honors, advanced placement, and other advanced courses shall be clearly listed in the course curriculum/syllabus. Information which may help guide a conversation between a student, parent, counselor, and/or teacher about whether a particular course is right for the student may include, but not be limited to, performance in previous related coursework, the student’s previous work habits, the student’s previous classes taken, teacher recommendation, and/or other factors. However, ultimately, if a student meets coursework prerequisites, the student may enroll in the course in question.

Click to review Student Evaluation, Promotion, and Placement Policy #7210

Google Accounts:
Bedford Central School Districts (BCSD) issues email accounts to all of its students, which end in @student.bcsdny.org. These accounts are managed in our custom Google system, called Google Workspace for Education, and are similar to publicly available Gmail accounts with a few key differences as follows:

• Our Technology Department has access to manage student accounts and app privileges.
• These Google accounts are ad free.
• Google does not access data in this system for advertising or other purposes.
• These Google accounts have restrictions and are intended for school-related purposes only.
• These Google accounts may receive and send email only to other bcsdny.org accounts, with one exception: High School students enrolled in Science Research and Engineering courses may be given unlimited email access in order to work with industry mentors. A separate permission slip is sent home to parents for this purpose.
  
  

For additional information about how Google protects the privacy of Google Workspace for Education Domains, please visit the Google Privacy & Security Website.

BCSD contracts with a third party vendor, Gaggle, to monitor student activity within the Google account for the purpose of keeping all students safe. This includes the monitoring of email conversations as well as the content of documents and pictures stored within the Google account. If inappropriate material is identified, school and district administration will be notified and they will take appropriate action. In extreme circumstances, where the inappropriate material may indicate a potential threat of harm, the contracted vendor has been authorized to contact the police directly as well as notify school and district administration.

Internet Filtering:
All BCSD computers are filtered and use is monitored whether they are being used in our schools or another location. Internet activity is logged, monitored and filtered using products by Lightspeed Systems. All internet activity is monitored for appropriate use.  The filtering restrictions are based on the categorization of website in terms of age-appropriate access.  Access is limited based on the education level of the students - Elementary, Middle School, or High School. Monitoring may include username, device description, websites visited and device location. Inappropriate use is flagged and will be reported to the Principal.

Bedford Central School District may compile and disclose student directory information to third parties unless a parent requests in writing that the information not be disclosed. Directory Information includes a student's name, address, phone number, school issued student email address, date and place of birth, major course of study, participation in school activities or sports, weight and height of a member of an athletic team, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received, most recent school attended, class schedule, photograph, and class roster. A third party may include, but is not limited to, a branch of the military, colleges, universities, business associations, parent/teacher organizations and individual citizens. The release of this information is subject to a parent's request that the information not be disclosed. If a parent or guardian wishes to prevent their child's directory information from being released to the military and other third parties, they should send an opt-out letter by September 29, 2023 to Stacey Haynsworth, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Personnel Services in the Administration Building on the Fox Lane Campus stating that the directory information is not to be disclosed. Please be sure to include the child's full name and address. This process must be done annually. Unless allowed by law, the school district will not disclose personally identifiable student information.

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This opt-out process applies only to student directory information held and maintained by the District. Parent groups and other organizations may collect student and parent information which may be published in a directory. This opt out does not apply to these groups. If you do not want to have your child’s information in a school directory or other publication produced by a non-district organization, you must contact those organizations directly.

Bedford Central School District may use individual photographs of students attending our schools in any of several different District publications throughout the year. These publications include, but not limited to, the District website, newsletters, BOCES, BCSD-TV and press releases to local media. Under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), parents may elect to exclude the publication of their child's individual photograph from being used in school publications and media outlets. If you wish to prevent your child's individual image from being used in this manner, please send an opt-out letter by September 29, 2023 to Stacey Haynsworth, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Personnel Services in the Administration Building on the Fox Lane Campus stating that individual photographs are not to be used by any Bedford Central School District or any media outlet. Please be sure to include your child's full name, address and school of attendance. This process must be done annually.

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If you choose to opt your child(ren) out of photographs, please understand this goes for everything, including but not limited to yearbooks.