‘Table Top Topics’ and ‘Toilet Talk’ Initiatives Stir Conversation on Skaneateles Campus

You can’t eat lunch or go to the bathroom without seeing them. They are colorful, informative, and eye-catching. They are signs that students will see daily on the tables in the cafeteria and in the stalls of the bathrooms.

And that is exactly the plan.

The signs are part of Table Top Topics and Toilet Talk, two initiatives put in place this school year for students.

Administrators focused on five topics to message around:

» Drugs & Alcohol
» Mental Health
» Vaping
» Resiliency
» Internet security

Messaging will be rotated throughout the school year, maintaining a fresh but consistent means of communication with the students.

“We hope that by rotating the messaging students will see it much like commercial advertising that we see on television,” Skaneateles Superintendent Lynda Quick said. “Usually by the second or third time a student sees the messaging, it begins to have a real impact on them.”

Administrators believe that having the information readily available for consumption is a critical component to getting the messaging across to students.
“Right in front of you we present the information,” Skaneateles High School Principal Greg Santoro said. “The more we can advertise and educate these positive messages the better off we will be as a whole.”

While the messaging strategy may be new to the district, the messages themselves are something the district has implemented for quite some time.

“We try to create a family environment here,” Skaneateles Middle School Principal Mike Caraccio said. “Our goal is to remove obstacles for students to be able to have a healthy, safe experience in school both socially and academically. These pieces we are messaging around are a continuation of many years of focusing on the Six Dimensions of Wellness here in Skaneateles.”