Friendship Central School District Hiring Teacher, Custodial and Support Staff
Friendship Central School District's online hiring portal currently lists eight open positions heading into the 2026-27 school year: an elementary teaching role, two maintenance/custodial openings, one support-staff position and four substitute slots spread across the district. The small rural district, which serves roughly 288 students total, says applications are kept active for a full school year once submitted, so candidates don't need to reapply if a matching opening comes up later. Interested applicants can browse and apply for each category through the district's Frontline Recruitment portal, linked from the employment page at friendship.wnyric.org. The postings come as small Allegany County districts continue competing for teachers and support staff ahead of the fall semester.
Friendship Holds Hearing on $2 Million Water System Grant Bid
The Town of Friendship held a public hearing on July 15, 2026, at GAR Hall Community Center to gather resident input on community development needs ahead of a possible Community Development Block Grant application. Town officials indicated they intend to seek roughly $2 million in CDBG funding for Phase II improvements to the town's water distribution system. The funding would come from a statewide pool of about $45 million New York State has set aside for eligible municipalities this cycle. The hearing gave residents a chance to weigh in before any formal grant application is submitted.
County Road 31 Sees Daily Closures Through Early August for Culvert Work
Allegany County crews began daily weekday closures of County Road 31 on July 14, 2026, to replace a number of aging culverts along the route. The work stretches from Friendship into the neighboring town of Scio, ending at County Road 9, and is scheduled to continue through August 6. The road reopens to traffic each night and on weekends, but the county says there is no official on-site detour and is asking drivers to plan alternate routes during work hours. The project is expected to affect commuters and local businesses along the corridor for several weeks.
Friendship Central School held commencement on June 27, awarding diplomas to 27 graduating seniors. Valedictorian Madison Rondeau and Salutatorian Charles Taylor addressed classmates, families and faculty during the ceremony, and guest speaker Jacqueline Dent offered remarks to the graduates. Scholarship awards were also presented as part of the event, recognizing students' academic and community achievements over their high school careers. The small rural district, which serves roughly 288 students total, marked the milestone as its graduates prepare for college, careers and military service.
Literacy West NY Offers Free Adult Education, Runs Youth Programs in Friendship Schools
Literacy West NY, Inc., a nonprofit that has served rural Western New York since 1986, held a free public workshop at its CORE The Learning Center site in Belmont to showcase its no-cost adult education, GED prep, OSHA safety training, digital literacy and job-search support. Separately from its adult programming, the organization directly partners with Friendship Central School to run Extended School Day enrichment activities, such as theatre, art, dance and STEM, for students in grades 6-12, alongside a School Violence Prevention program offering crisis counseling and support groups for K-12 students. Literacy West also partners with Belfast and Fillmore school districts on similar programming. The group's leaders describe the effort as part of nearly four decades of community-based work across Allegany and Cattaraugus counties.
Friendship Free Library Wins Grant to Refresh Children's Collection
Friendship Free Library was one of three Allegany County libraries, alongside Alfred Box of Books Library and Scio Memorial Library, to receive a $5,000 grant from the John Henry Eldred Jr. Foundation. The rural-libraries foundation has distributed more than $1 million since 2012 to honor literacy advocate John Henry Eldred Jr. and his mother, Dorothy Louise Kyler. Friendship's library, housed in the 1912 Pitt Memorial Library building on West Main Street, plans to use the funds to add shelving, create comfortable reading nooks, buy new titles, and reorganize its children's collection by reading level. The goal is to make the space easier for young readers and families to navigate.
