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If you ever have business to attend to at our school district offices, this important announcement is for you.

All district administrative offices (DAO) have been temporarily moved from Spry Middle School — where the offices comprise the entire third floor — to Towne Center Plaza on Ridge Rd., (the one with Target, Old Navy and Kohl’s).

All of the district offices will be located in two suites at Town Center for about the next 18 months, as crews work on renovating and updating the current office space.

Specifically, benefits, business, human resources, payroll, instruction and the superintendent’s office will be located on the first floor of suite 112, (the former Paychex location), and central registration, special education and CSE meetings will be housed in Suite 100 (the former Peaches Restaurant).

Parents who need to go to district offices for central registration meetings, CSE meetings or other special education meetings should check in at Suite 100. All other visitors should check in with the DAO receptionist in Suite 112.

I believe that both suites can be found on the back side of west end of the plaza.

Teachers and students at Spry will not be affected by this move or the construction.

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Congratulations to Webster’s young ninjas, Grayson Schoeffler and Megan Stupplebeen, for a fine showing at last weekend’s 2019 World Championships of the National Ninja League.

The kids, who are second-grade classmates at Dewitt Elementary School, joined more than 200 other ninja-wannabes at the four-day competition in Hartford.

While neither one reached the second round, they did quite well. Competing in the 6 to 8-year old division, Grayson placed 43rd out of 142 boys, and Megan placed 44th out of 75 girls.

“This was a grueling course this year,” Grayson’s mom Alison reported. “Only 17 out of 244 kids went on to stage two.” And she added, “We will train again to qualify next year!”

Webster looks forward to hearing about it when they do.

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

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Webster’s favorite little Irish pub will be hosting its annual Guinness Toast on Saturday night.

As one of the top Irish pubs in the country (no exaggeration — read this blog here for proof), Guinness representatives return every year on Feb. 16 (one month before St. Patrick’s Day) to raise a pint of Guinness with everybody. The event happens on the same evening across the world, so participants know they’re part of something very big.

The official toast takes place at 10 p.m., when everyone will get a pint on the house. There will also be lots of give-aways and Billy Herring will provide live Irish music from 7:30-10:30.

Barry’s Old School Irish is located at 2 West Main Street in the village of Webster.

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Next, some news from the schools.

With the change to new school start times next school year The Webster Central School District is introducing a new before and after-care childcare program called WonderCare. It will be offered at each of the district’s seven elementary schools and will be available to all WCSD-enrolled kindergarten through sixth grade students.

Several information nights have been scheduled, and parents are asked to attend the one associated with their school if at all possible:

• Monday, February 25 at 7:00 p.m. for Plank Road North and Plank Road South at Plank North
• Wednesday, February 27 at 7:00 p.m. at Dewitt Road
• Thursday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m. at Klem Road South
• Monday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m. at Schlegel Road
• Tuesday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. at Klem Road North
• Wednesday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m. at State Road

These evenings will be geared for parents only. (Family meet and greet nights will take place in August.) If you cannot attend your home school date, you may attend at another location.

If you have any questions in the meantime, visit our new WonderCare webpage at websterschools.org for more information about the program, including pricing structure and FAQs. You can also email wondercare@webstercsd.org or call 216-0017.

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Spry Middle School will host a charity basketball game on Friday, March 1, to benefit Habitat for Humanity and Rochester Wheels.

In the week leading up to the game, students and staff will celebrate Spirit Week. Students will play in-house competitions to earn points toward the coveted Spirit Stick. The spirit competition will culminate on March 1 when the houses play in a round robin tournament. That will be followed by the Spry staff taking on the Rochester Wheels basketball team.

The game will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 and will be available at the door. Spry Middle School is located at 119 South Ave.

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This is fun:

The State Road Elementary School Art Clubs are working on murals for the Rochester Ronald McDonald House. Art teacher Kelly Stevens has her Eagles creating a heart-based mural and a hopeful garden mural. Here are a few photos of some fifth graders working on the heart mural.

Step right up to the Webster Recreation Center for an indoor carnival, coming on March 9 from 4 to 7 p.m.

The event will include dinner, games, fortune telling, entertainment, and lots more fun for the whole family. Two dinner times will be available, 4:45 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Cost is $10 per person, and it’s recommended you register by March 1 to get your preferred dinner seating time. Visit webtrac.ci.webster.ny.us and use program #100001.

For more information, call 585-872-7103.

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Our high school kids will be learning about healthy peer relationships in school for the next few weeks, thanks to a program recently introduced by the Webster PTSA.

The PTSA has kicked off a Healthy Peer Relationships program at both high schools with a social media campaign highlighting the positive behaviors that promote healthy relationships.

The program focuses on friendships and dating relationships. The campaign will be active through May, and include the following:

○ Social Media Campaign
○ Relationship Spectrum Table Tents for Library and Student Lounge area
○ “Love is Respect” Posters around the school
○ “How to Get Help” Signs for Bathrooms
○ “I’m a good Listener” Teacher & Staff Identification
○ #LoveisRespect printing on Junior/Senior Prom Tickets.
○ Activities during Community Arts Day and One Warrior Week

Ask your kids if they’ve seen any of these messages, and have a real conversation with them.

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Don’t forget about the Webster UCC Pet Food Pantry’s Open House on Saturday March 2 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The evening will be your chance to check out this great new community service, spearheaded by the United Church of Christ’s Rebel Beat youth group. They collect pet food and work hand-in-hand with Meals on Wheels to get the donations to clients in need.

You can get a tour of the pantry, meet the kids, nibble on some kibble, and make and take a kitty toy. It’s also a great chance to get a first-hand look at what a typical monthly order is like and even help pack an order.

The pantry is also collecting donations of dry cat food (they’re hoping for 2,400 pounds), so on your way to the open house, please pick up some Friskies on the way! The church is at 570 Klem Rd.

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

Just a quick update this morning on the status of the Webster School District’s Polar Plunge team, which will take to the very cold Lake Ontario waters this Sunday at noon to benefit Special Olympics.

I have joined the team.

Together with seven of my Schlegel Elementary School colleagues (Bill Ambler, Dan DeStephano, Meg Dugan, Janet Gibson, Jill Mancini, Greg Pittman, Becky Plouffe), Dan Crowley our captain (my Plank North colleague) and Linda Law from Webster Schroeder, we have raised almost $2500 already.

When I signed up last night I had set a modest fund-raising goal of $100, which was eclipsed in about three hours (THANK YOU Sara, Sarah, Julie and Pat!) I’m now working on reaching $200, at which point I have pledged to throw myself face-first into the lake.

My personal page says I’m still at $100, but it’s actually $150 because of a few donations that were not recorded there yet. So basically, I’m almost there.

Not sure how excited I am about that fact.

If you’d like to help me reach my goal, click here to access my page and consider throwing a few bucks my way. It’s for a great cause (and I mean Special Olympics, not just seeing me go face first into the icy lake).

The village was hopping Saturday afternoon when I went into town for some last-minute Christmas shopping.

The village lights were sparkling, and the folk jam session musicians at Barry’s Old School Irish were in fine form, playing Christmas carols for the entire pub to sing along with. Business owners were enjoying some brisk sales from procrastinating people like me.  And Tom McCoy at Performance Hobbies was hosting his annual Christmas Party, which he’s been doing for more than 20 years. He was decked out in his finest (and most audacious) Christmas finery, and he had food tables set up all around the shop, filled with venison stew, venison chili, meatballs, cheese and crackers, and lots more, for customers or anyone else who wandered into the store to enjoy.

It was nice to just wander through the village, enjoy the sights and sounds of the season, and wind down a bit before the craziness of Christmas Day.

May the next few days be filled with peace and joy for you an yours.

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

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Just a quick note today about a fun event hosted by the Webster/Fairport Elks Club on Jackson Road.

They’ve hosted a group called Crew 333 every Monday night for the past two years, created by Ben Barrow and Elks member Bob Avalon. They had their Christmas party earlier this week, complete with gifts, subs, cake and a visit from Santa. Here are a few photos from the evening:

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

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Early this afternoon I had the chance to attend the Children’s Christmas Pageant at Holy Trinity Church. It was probably the most adorable 15 minutes that I will spend this entire holiday season.

About 30 children, mostly 3 to 7-year olds, participated in the production, as Mary and Joseph, angels, shepherds, Wise Men, animals and narrators. Holy Trinity Parish Faith  Formation Coordinator Tricia Kull said the children only had two rehearsals in the last two weeks. But despite having such little time to prepare, she added, she was very proud on how quickly they fell into their roles and remembered what to do and where to stand.

I agree. They nailed it.

The whole pageant from beginning to end was only about 15 minutes. But in that short time, the large audience (mostly parishioners and proud parents and grandparents) was treated to well-prepared narration, passionate acting, angelic singing, a surprise guest and one clearly exhausted angel.

I’ve included a few photos here, but if you’d like to see a gallery of many more, click here.

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.

The community of Webster pulled together in a huge way on Monday night when about 150 children and adults gathered in the Willink Middle School cafetorium. Their task: to wrap 1600 Christmas gifts in two hours.

The event was a culmination of a months-long volunteer effort run by Webster residents Colleen Bedford and Jamie Buss, heads of nonprofit Making Spirits Bright, a program of The Goodness Initiative.

Every year for the past five years, Bedford and Buss have reached out to area schools, social workers and poverty organizations to identify families in need. From there they recruited area businesses, organizations and community members to purchase clothing, necessities, furniture and gifts on behalf of those families.

This year, thanks to the amazing support of the Webster community, Making Spirits filled the wish lists for 47 families, half of them from Webster, bringing the five-year total to almost 200 families.

The scene at Willink on Monday night was impressive. When the volunteer wrappers arrived, they were directed to assigned tables in the cafetorium, each of which was piled high with gifts and plenty of wrapping paper, tape, tags, bows and scissors. Only 20 minutes into the event, the place already looked like Santa’s workshop. But instead of elves, there were high school students, athletes, moms and dads and kids, and representatives from the Webster Police Department, NEQALS, West Webster and North East Joint fire departments.

Here are some photos of some of these amazing people:

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email me at missyblog@gmail.com. “Like” this blog on Facebook and follow me on Twitter and Instagram

You can also get email notifications every time I post a new blog by using the “Follow Me” link on the right side of this page.