End of year high school celebrations planned, personal item pick up information

Update Thursday afternoon:
After consulting with the Class of 2026’s officers, we’re pleased to provide update today on how we plan to celebrate Red Hook High School’s students this month, including the Senior Walk on Tuesday, June 16, at which the community can show their support for our students. 
In addition, as remediation of our high school building continues this week, we have begun the process of returning personal items left in the building to students and staff. Unfortunately, it has been determined that some items cannot be safely returned. Details on these processes are included below. 

How to take part in the Senior Walk June 16 
On the last day of classes each year, our graduating seniors engage in a Senior Walk, in which they travel by school bus to Mill Road Elementary and Linden Avenue Middle schools and walk the hallways one last time, before participating in a senior barbeque and celebration. 
This year, we’re asking for the community’s help in celebrating our graduates by lining the sidewalks along their bus route and painting the town red with support. Here’s how: 

• The school buses that will carry students from the high school to Mill Road Elementary School will have an official escort from the Red Hook Police Department and three of our district’s fire companies.
• The buses are expected to leave the high school at 9 a.m., traveling east on Route 199 before turning north on Route 9.
• As a reminder, no spectators are allowed on school grounds, so the parade begins at the high school’s entrance and extends through the center of the village.
• We’re inviting everyone to wear your school colors, make posters and take to the sidewalks to help us celebrate the resiliency and excellence of our soon-to-be graduates.

After the walk through of LAMS, the students will ride to the Red Hook Recreation Park pool area for a private barbeque. The location was selected in consultation with the senior class officers. 

Schoolwide celebration June 22 
Our party to celebrate the end of the 2025-26 year with our entire high school community will be on June 22, likewise at the Recreation Park. On that day, the school will occupy the entire park facility, not just the pool area. 
Like the senior barbeque, visitors will not be permitted on the grounds occupied by the school. 
More details regarding what food and entertainment will be at the party will be communicated in the future. 

Commencement June 20 
We are planning to hold our Commencement Exercises 10 a.m. Saturday, June 20, on the lawn in front of LAMS, as scheduled. Several parties have reached out to the school to offer use of their indoor facilities in the event of an inclement weather forecast. The district is considering these options, once again in consultation with members of the graduating class. 

As a reminder, other events have also been rescheduled: 

• Linden Avenue Middle School’s Eighth Grade Moving Up Ceremony, which was scheduled for June 25 at the high school’s Performing Arts Center, will be held at the middle school instead, at 5 p.m. The ceremony will be held on the middle school’s front lawn in the style of the high school commencement if weather allows; otherwise, it will be held in the cafeteria.
• The district Jazz Festival, rescheduled from last week, will also be held on LAMS’ front lawn at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 17. We encourage the community to bring their lawn chairs and relax in the grass while listening to music from the Mill Road Jazz Club, LAMS Jazz Band, high school Vocal Jazz Ensemble and high school Instrumental Jazz Ensemble.

 
Personal item distribution 
Following evaluation, we have begun allowing students and staff members to pick up personal items left in the high school that have been deemed safe to be retrieved. Those individuals have received, or will receive, direct communication notifying them of when they can visit the high school for pickup. Items to be returned are pictured in the photo above.
Some items have been ruled unsalvageable. This includes, but is not limited to, most backpacks and fabric items that were in lockers at the time of the fire. The district will be reimbursing individuals for the loss of those items, and those impacted will be contacted directly with instructions on how to begin that process. 
The evaluation or cleaning of some items is still ongoing. 
We thank students and staff for their continued patience and understanding as we have engaged in this process.



Original post Tuesday afternoon:
As Regents testing began on Tuesday, the district continued to make progress toward remediating our high school building, returning personal items to students and staff, and rescheduling important events. 

We anticipate the second round of cleaning the building to stretch to the end of Friday. It will include: 

• Recleaning all areas that were identified as above average in soot and char concentration.
• Cleaning several additional rooms on the second floor not originally identified as being impacted by the spread of smoke.
• Replacing all ceiling tiles in the first and second floor hallways and some carpet tiles. Due the porous nature of the ceiling and carpet tiles, they may have absorbed soot and char and may be unable to be cleaned. 

After the cleaning is completed, air scrubbers will continue to run for several days without anyone inside the building in advance of taking new air samples and samples off of surfaces. This is a remediation plan agreed upon by not only our cleaning partner, Advanced Disaster Recovery, but also an industrial hygienist and district administration. 

Returning items from high school
While we have been engaging in this remediation, we have also made progress evaluating which personal items left in the building can be retrieved. As each item has had to be individually evaluated and inventoried for a larger insurance report, this has been a lengthy process.
However, today we were able to begin returning music instruments to students – those able received individual communication – and by Thursday we will begin communicating directly to individuals regarding the retrieval of other items. 

Regents testing 
We were pleased by how smoothly the first day of Regents testing went for our students at St. Christopher’s School and once again thank them for use of their facility. For those taking the Algebra II Regents on Wednesday, remember: 

• St. Christopher’s is located at 30 Benner Road in Red Hook
• Bus service will be provided for students to St. Christopher’s. Students taking a morning exam this week will be escorted back to LAMS afterward to wait for the afternoon bus or be picked up. Students can also be dropped off and picked up from St. Christopher’s, and students planning to drive themselves can park at the testing site.
• A nurse will be on hand at St. Christopher’s and both breakfast and lunch will be available to students.

Events rescheduled 
Two important events have been rescheduled: 

• Linden Avenue Middle School’s Eighth Grade Moving Up Ceremony, which was scheduled for June 25 at the high school’s Performing Arts Center, will be held at the middle school instead, at 5 p.m. The ceremony will be held on the middle school’s front lawn in the style of the high school commencement if weather allows; otherwise, it will be held in the cafeteria.
• The district Jazz Festival, rescheduled from last week, will also be held on LAMS’ front lawn at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 17. We encourage the community to bring their lawn chairs and relax in the grass while listening to music from the Mill Road Jazz Club, LAMS Jazz Band, high school Vocal Jazz Ensemble and high school Instrumental Jazz Ensemble.

We have met with student leadership and are deep into planning other major end of the year events for the high school to come together and celebrate. More communication on those plans is still to come.