Homepage

Principal’s Message

Mr. David Kedzielawa brings over 15 years of educational leadership and a passion for student success, driving excellence and innovation throughout our school.

On behalf of our faculty and staff, it is my privilege to welcome you to the 2027–28 school year at John Jay Senior High School.

To our families joining us for the first time, whether you are the parent or guardian of an incoming ninth grader, or your family is brand new to our community, welcome. I know that a school of our size can feel large from the outside. Please hear this from me directly: no student here is a number. Our counselors, teachers, administrators, and support staff work deliberately to make sure every young person is known by name and known well.

To our returning families, thank you. Thank you for the trust you place in us each morning, for the questions you ask, for showing up at the concerts and the games and the conferences, and for partnering with us when things are going well and when they are not. That partnership is the reason this school works.

WHAT WE ARE FOCUSED ON THIS YEAR

Being here matters. Attendance remains our single greatest focus. Learning happens in the room, in the conversation, in the lab, in the rehearsal and it is very difficult to recover once a student begins to miss days. We will be communicating with families early and often about attendance, not to police it, but because we know what regular attendance makes possible.

A student who feels connected to an adult, a team, a club, or a classroom will take academic risks. A student who feels invisible will not. We ask every ninth grader to find one thing to belong to this year, and we will help them find it. With more than sixty clubs, teams, and performing arts programs, there is room here for every kind of student.

DATES WORTH NOTING

Student schedules will be available in the parent portal beginning August 24^th. Please review them together as a family and contact your child's school counselor with any questions.

Ninth Grade and New Student Orientation will be held on August 26th at 8:00 am. This is one of the most important days on our calendar, and I strongly encourage every new student to attend.

The first day of school for all students is September 8th. 1^st period begins at 7:31. Staff and students will be stationed throughout the building to help students find their way.

Back-to-School Night for families is scheduled for October 1^st from 6-8. You will walk your child's schedule and meet every one of their teachers.

In closing, schools are made of relationships between students and teachers, between families and staff and between neighbors who happen to share a district. When those relationships are strong, this building is a remarkable place to spend four years. My ask of you this year is simple: stay close to us. Call. Email. Come in. Tell us when something is wrong early, while it is still small. We would much rather have the difficult conversation in September than the impossible one in June.

I cannot wait to see our students walk through those doors. It is going to be a very good year.

Thank you.

Mr. Kedzielawa

Principal

John Jay Senior High School

Wappingers Central School District