Fayetteville Manlius Central School District

Updated on Dec 09, 2023

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Established 1951 Faculty 390 Mascot Hornet Founded 1951 Staff 378		Superintendent Dr. Craig J. Tice Campus type Suburban Motto "Building on Excellence." Color Green and White

Type Public Primary and Secondary Enrollment 4,682 total 1,637 high school 1,476 middle school 1,569 elementary school Budget 74.02 million USD (2011–2012) Headquarters Manlius, New York, United States

The Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District (F-M) is a K-12 public school district located in the Town of Manlius in Central New York, enrolling approximately 4,800 students. F-M serves a large portion of the Town of Manlius, including the villages of Manlius and Fayetteville, as well as portions of Jamesville and Pompey. The district is partially funded by and governed under the authority of the New York State Education Department, whose standardized examinations are designed and administered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.

Map of Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District, NY, USA

The district has been recognized statewide and nationally for academic and athletic excellence. In 2015, the high school was ranked #79 in the nation in Newsweek's list of "America's Top High Schools".

Establishing the district

The F-M School District was established in 1951, when the then independent Fayetteville, Manlius and 11 other smaller districts united. Fayetteville High School and Manlius High School remained separate until 1954, when the Manlius School became the Jr. High (7–8) for the whole district and the Fayetteville school became the Fayetteville-Manlius High School (9–12). The new Fayetteville-Manlius High School was constructed in Manlius and first opened in 1960. The former Fayetteville-Manlius High School was renamed to the current Wellwood Middle School in 1965. Manlius High School became Pleasant Street Elementary, which was closed in 1975, sold and is currently a church and daycare. From the time it was formed until the present, the district has been led by only five superintendents.

The Oak Tree and the Hornet

The oak tree is the symbol of the F-M School District and its heritage. A 200-year-old oak stood in front of what is now Wellwood Middle School until it was removed in the 1970s. The characteristics of the tree are reflected in the values, vision, and ambition of Fayetteville-Manlius. The tree is a steadfast, well-grounded, robust and distinguished entity on the natural landscape. The hornet is the school mascot, and also came from the hornets who nested in the great oak tree. A historical narrative is given by former teacher and assistant principal at F-M High School, Mr. Platt Wheeler:

On the front lawn of what is now Wellwood was a monster, monster oak tree. It has since been taken down. When it was taken down, Ken Phelps, who was then the Principal of Wellwood, had some of the smaller branches cut up into small parts. Ham King, who was the industrial arts teacher, had them finished off with shellac and so forth, and cut up into round pieces and given to various people who had been in the district for awhile and were aware of everything that went by it. As a result of that oak tree, the name of the yearbook was determined to be Oak Leaves. And, at that time when there was only one junior high, the name of the junior high yearbook was called the Acorn...So, out of the oak tree came oak leaves, hornet's nest, the acorns, the alma mater, class rings, etc. These all reflected as a result of the oak tree.

Notable academic achievement

Science Olympiad

2004 National Champions

Other National Finishes: 3rd Place, 2005, 4th Place, 2000, 2006 & 2007, 5th Place 2009

Ten consecutive first-place finishes at New York State Championships (2003–2012).

2005 gold medal and 2006 blue ribbon, Expansion Management magazine's Education Quotient

1999, 2000, and 2006 GRAMMY Signature School

Six times named one of the American Music Conference's "Best 100 Communities for Music Education in America".

The district is consistently honored by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards as having one of the best high school art programs in the country. In 2006, students from F-M High School received a record number of national awards, including the prestigious National American Vision Award.

The state-of-the art observatory and planetarium are some of the only facilities of their kind on a public high school campus.

The district consistently exceeds average state and national performances on the SAT. In addition, 99% of F-M students take the exam at least once. The average scores for the Class of 2010 are as follows:

Notable alumni

Nancy Harvey Steorts (1955) — former Chairman of the Consumer Products Safety Commission

Nina Fedoroff (1960) — Science and Technology Adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Willaman Professor of Life Sciences and Evan Pugh Professor of Biology, Pennsylvania State University

Tom Rafferty (1972) — retired professional football player for the Dallas Cowboys

Jonathan Murray (1973) — co-founder of Bunim/Murray Productions, pioneers of the reality television genre and creators of MTV's The Real World and Road Rules

Doe Paoro (2002) — singer-songwriter

Chris Wedge (1975) — Academy Award-winning director of Bunny (1998), Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), and the upcoming film, The Legend of the Leaf Men (2011), as well as executive producer of Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006) and Horton Hears a Who! (2008)

Mark Allen Baker (1975), former business executive General Electric - Genigraphics/PowerPoint-Assistant to President & CEO, author (18 books) and historian.

Laurie Halse Anderson (1979) — New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist for the novel Speak

Steve Altes (1980) — humorist, author, and rocket scientist

Demographics

As of the 2005–06 school year, there were 4771 students enrolled in the Fayetteville-Manlius Central School District, with an individual grade enrollment low of 301 students in grade three and a high of 421 in grade seven. The racial/ethnic makeup of the student population was 91.0% White, 1.9% Black or African American, 5.6% Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1.3% Hispanic. Approximately 1.2% of the population, or 58 students, demonstrated limited English proficiency. Only 0.9% of the student body qualified for a reduced lunch price, and 2.9% were eligible for a free lunch.

There were 352 teachers employed in the school district, which calculates to a student to teacher ratio of approximately 13.55:1, though it is noted that the average ratio in eighth grade, and tenth grade core classes ranged from 19–25 students per teacher.

Schools

High School (Grades 9–12):

Fayetteville–Manlius High School
8201 E. Seneca Turnpike
Manlius, NY 13104

Mr. Raymond W. Kilmer, Principal

Ms. Lora Champlain, Assistant Principal

Mr. Michael P. O'Brien, Assistant Principal

Ms. Karen A. Liparulo, Assistant Principal

Middle Schools (Grades 5–8):

Eagle Hill Middle School,
4645 Enders Road
Manlius, NY 13104

Ms. Maureen McCrystal, Principal

Ms. Amy Getman-Herringshaw, Assistant Principal

Wellwood Middle School (formerly Fayetteville High School),
700 South Manlius Street
Fayetteville, NY 13066

Mrs. Melissa K. Corbin, Principal

Mr. Warren W. Smith, Assistant Principal

Elementary Schools (Grades K–4):

Enders Road Elementary School,
4725 Enders Road
Manlius, NY 13104

Mrs. Deborah Capri, Principal

Fayetteville Elementary School,
704 South Manlius Street
Fayetteville, NY 13066

Mrs. Eileen Lux, Principal

Mott Road Elementary School,
7173 Mott Road
Fayetteville, NY 13066

Mrs. Jonna A. Johnson, Principal

Organization

Fayetteville-Manlius' six schools are spread over four separate campuses in the village of Fayetteville and just west of the village of Manlius. Elementary and middle school students attend a particular school based on their residence within the district. Students entering Eagle Hill are typically from Enders Road and a portion of Mott Road, and those entering Wellwood are from Fayetteville Elementary (Fay El) and the majority of Mott Road. Students from both middle schools go on to the high school.

The district offices, varsity athletic facilities, maintenance facilities, planetarium and observatory are located on the High School campus. The transportation department is located on the Fay El/Wellwood Campus

Administration

Dr. Craig J. Tice has been Superintendent of Schools since July 1, 2015. He replaced Dr. Corliss Kaiser, who retired after 10 years as the F-M superintendent. Dr. Tice served as the superintendent of the Marcellus Central School District since 2006. F-M administrative supporting staff include:

Mr. Michael Vespi, Assistant Superintendent for Business Services

Mrs. Mary Coughlin, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction

Mr. Jeffrey Gordon, Assistant Superintendent for Personnel

Mrs. Lisa Dinneen, Assistant Superintendent for Special Services

Mr. Russell McCarty, Superintendent for Building and Grounds

Board of education

Fayetteville-Manlius Board of Education members are elected by popular vote, and serve three-year terms, beginning on July 1 of the year elected. Current members (with term expiration dates in parentheses) are:

Timothy P. Crisafulli, President (2017)

Marissa Joy Mims, Vice President (2018)

Jeffrey D. Brown

John J. Cucinotta (2018)

Lisa L. Izant (2018)

Edin Ljuca (2017)

Daniel J. O'Leary (2016)

Elena A. Romano (2016)

Kim Swanson (2016)

Daryll Fitch Wheeler (2019)

Athletics

F-M Athletics are renowned around the state and the country for competitive superiority, sportsmanship and academic integrity. The district's 32 varsity teams compete in the Colonial Division of the Onondaga High School League (OHSL), Section III of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA), and Section III of the New York State Scholastic Rowing Association. Many teams also have modified, freshman and junior varsity components.

In recent years, F-M has made a significant statement on the national stage in running and girls' lacrosse. The district is home to the current national #1 girls' cross country team, who won their fifth straight Nike Cross Nationals competition on December 4, 2010. Additionally, the boys' cross country team finished as high as 2nd in the nation in 2004 and 2010 and girls lacrosse finished as high as 3rd in the nation in 2005. A wide variety of teams claim OHSL and NYSPHSAA Section III championships every year, and the vast majority of teams are honored with NYS Scholar Athlete Awards.

Alma mater

F-M's alma mater is a stoic symbol of the district's heritage. It is most commonly sung as a fight song (with the words "fight, fight, fight" appended to the "Truth shall be thy light" line), and is customarily sung at graduation ceremonies. The lyrics are as follows, sung to the tune of Aura Lee:

Guarded by the old oak tree
Symbol of our goal.
Steadfast as our pride in thee
Its strength will write our scroll.

Fayetteville-Manlius
Truth shall be thy light.
Pledge we now our loyalty
To colors Green and White!

Raise we now our voice in song
To thee a tribute bring.
Join the ever-growing throng
Let all who love thee sing!