BOE Business Meeting 2025-5-12

001Good evening. I call this meeting to order and note that all board members are present. We are also joined by Superintendent Dr. Patrick and his administrative cabinet. Thank you to all those joining us for this special tenure meeting in the audience, the live stream, or via Zoom. And without further ado, I will turn it over to Dr. Patrick. Okay. Good evening, everybody. Thank you so much for being here. This is an exciting evening, and we have... Many generations in the room, including what looks like a very tiny little baby right there. Well, I'd like to welcome colleagues, family members, friends, and those who are watching along from home. I do want to mention that both Dr. McIntosh and Mr. Bonamo are unexpectedly unable to be here this evening as each is dealing with a vital

002personal matter, but they have expressed their support and congratulations, so I just want to get that in. Since this is the first and only board meeting in May, I'd like to remind everyone that in May we celebrate School Principals Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, and National School Nurse Week. So I'd like to start this evening by recognizing the incredible work of every one of our teachers, nurses, principals, and assistant principals. And, of course, alongside them are the hundreds of colleagues working in and out of the classrooms in supporting roles who complement the work of our educators to make the Scarsdale schools such special places for children to learn and grow. While Scarsdale is a community that holds high expectations, it is one that deeply appreciates and respects the work of our educators. Thank you to our

003PTAs who expressed gratitude and appreciation for our faculty in fun and festive ways last week. Please know that those assembled around this table deeply appreciate you, our educators, what you do, how you go above and beyond to support your students every day, and the passion you bring to this pursuit. You are the ones who create a collaborative, future-oriented academic culture within school environments that promote well-being, belonging, and resilience. And you keep the whole child in mind by expressing care, challenging growth, providing support, sharing power, and expanding possibilities. For all of this and more, we salute you. Now, on to our main event. We are delighted to celebrate a very special milestone in the career of our public school educators, the conferral of tenure to 22 teachers, two guidance counselors, one school psychologist, and one administrator

004for the third time in Scarsdale, I might add. These individuals have been recommended this evening for this achievement. This significant accomplishment only comes after the completion of a rigorous probationary period of employment lasting either three or four years. As they can each attest, the rigors of the tenure process are commensurate with the importance of the achievement. I look forward to welcoming you into the ranks of the tenured faculty shortly and am delighted to turn these celebratory proceedings over to Megan Troy. Good evening. I am so happy to be here tonight to celebrate our colleagues and the conferral of tenure. This evening we'll be recommending 26 faculty members to receive tenure. These individuals work in five of our buildings and in a district position, and tonight is a very important milestone in their careers as they've

005truly earned this distinction and recommendation. The process of earning tenure is one filled with hard work, effort, feedback, and reflection. Over the past three or four years, faculty members have completed a trial or probationary period. During this time, we gauge their performance against professional standards. In Scarsdale, we currently use Charlotte Danielson's framework for teaching to guide our teacher evaluation process. The framework describes effective practice across the domains of planning and preparation, the classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities. We use a wide variety of inputs that they're all familiar with to help inform our decisions to recommend tenure, including multiple formal clinical observations annually, inclusive of a discussion, reflection, written report, and rating conducted by supervisors, numerous informal drop-in observations by supervisors and evaluators, formal and informal mentoring, a year-end conference, written appraisal, assessment of progress,

006and rating annually. a portfolio of artifacts documenting professional practice with written commentary and reflection, feedback from other parts of the school community, and an administrative review panel attended by district administrators, building administrators, supervisors, and Board of Education members annually. Thorough, for sure. The tenure process in Scarsdale is a thoughtful, intentional, and collaborative process. We believe the rigors of this process reflect the importance of this achievement, and it's in line with our belief that supervision and evaluation is an ongoing process and one that fosters the growth and development of our faculty. In a few minutes, we will personally acknowledge each individual who's being recommended for tenure. All of you have added something unique and special to our district. From our technology classrooms, to our counseling offices, to our English classrooms, your impact is being felt by

007your students and your colleagues. I was fortunate to visit all of your learning spaces this year, and while you all teach different levels and content areas, there are so many things you all have in common. You all bring creative energy and passion for your subject areas, which motivates students to engage in their learning. You also create a sense of belonging by knowing who your students are and showing them that you care about them. In an elementary classroom, this might be a teacher getting down low and offering words of support at just the right moment. In a high school art classroom, it's the teacher welcoming students in during their free period so they can work on a ceramic creation. Or in the middle school, it could be the library media specialist telling students, thank you for

008coming to school today. While different, they all create a sense of belonging for where our students feel seen and valued. Beyond helping students to learn, you have all leaned into your own professional growth and have demonstrated a commitment to innovate, take risks, and learn. This was evident in so many of your portfolios. One teacher highlighted this commitment to growth beautifully, and she said this, My journey has been marked by continuous growth and learning, fueled by the challenges and triumphs encountered along the way. Each experience has reinforced my dedication to the field and my commitment to make a positive difference in my students' lives. As I continue to evolve in my role, I remain inspired by the potential for innovation and the transformative power of compassion in shaping the future. Later, you'll receive a small plant

009with the message, Watch Me Grow, on the outside. It has been a pleasure watching you grow, and we look forward to watching the growth in the years ahead and how you shape the future. I would now like to invite our principals to come up and introduce our candidates, their tenure area, and a few words of recognition. So here are the directions. So for our tenure candidates, please join your principal or administrator at the podium so that we can give you the recognition you deserve and appropriately embarrass you in front of this large crowd. And after, please take a moment so that each board and district cabinet member can offer you their congratulations around the table. And obviously starting here with Leah and making your way around the table here. After we've announced all of our

010candidates, the board will confer their tenure. And we'll take one moment for another group photo before we head off. So I'd like to now start with Jeannie Crowley, who has a few things to say about William Yang. Keep it brief, even though I want to go for a long time. William has been with Scarsdale for 24 years and has worn several hats during his long and successful time with the district. He was a head computer teacher, led Edgewood as an assistant principal, and now serves as the district's K-12 coordinator of digital learning and literacy. In my relatively short time knowing William, I know his success at Scarsdale is rooted in his deep connection with students, faculty, and parents, and his delight in fostering these relationships. keep it short and just say that working side by

011side with William is an experience filled with curiosity and joy. I look forward to the years ahead. Congratulations William on your well-deserved tenure. I'd like to invite Jerry Garulich to join me at the podium. Jerry, your dedication to teaching is deeply rooted in the meaningful relationships that you build with students, families, and colleagues. Your thoughtful and creative approach to instruction reflects your genuine care to your classroom community and your deep knowledge of pedagogy. Whether you're leading songs with your guitar at the kindergarten town hall, sharing your beautiful voice, or enhancing instructional practices, you bring joy and unity to the entire Fox Meadow community. Congratulations. I'd like to invite Amanda Tagliaferri up to the podium. Amanda. You cultivate a strong sense of community in your first grade classroom where students confidently move through learning stations and

012engage in hands-on activities that always spark curiosity and critical thinking. Each morning, you warmly greet your students outside your classroom door, setting a positive tone for the day. Inside, your calming zen zone enhances the inviting and supportive atmosphere that you create for your students. Amanda, you bring creativity, care, and enthusiasm to everything that you do. Congratulations. I now invite up Maria Stile from the Heathco principal. He's coaching a game. He'll be here soon. Okay, then. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to invite up Miss Kelsey Davidson. Kelsey Davidson has taught third grade at Heathcote for the past three years. Her warmth and grace combined with her extensive knowledge in the field allow her to encourage her students to grow. During one of our post-observation meetings, Kelsey shared that just before being hired at Heathcote, she was

013reconsidering her career choice and thought that maybe teaching was not for her. We are grateful that teaching at Heathcote changed her mind. She is a natural. Teachers enjoy working with her and she brings joy to both her students and her colleagues. Congratulations and welcome to the Heathcote family, Kelsey. I would like to invite Sarah Heffernan up to the podium. This is another interesting story. So, Sarah Heffernan, who joined us last year as an ICT teacher, has been a valuable addition to our faculty. Her expertise in special education and her commitment to getting to know her students are commendable. Sarah had originally considered a career in medicine, but fortunately for us and the children she has served, she selected the field of education. Sarah is a dedicated professional and an exceptional colleague. We are excited about

014the positive influence she will have on our students and the Scarsdale School community for many years to come. Congratulations and welcome to the Heathcote family, Sarah. I invite back up to the podium Melissa Feinberg and she will be joined by our principal of Edgewood, Annette Keene. We'd like to invite John Felix to the podium. Okay, John. John demonstrates a deep understanding of how students learn through his purposeful and carefully designed lessons in the physical education setting. He builds strong relationships by creating positive, supportive learning experiences and scaffolding instruction to promote student independence. He greets every student by name each day, reflecting the genuine connections he has established in both school communities. Coach Felix brings energy and joy to the students of both Edgewood and Fox Beto. Congratulations, John. I invite Chris Coughlin, the middle school

015principal, up to the podium. Good evening. It's my honor to introduce our six amazing educators tonight. First, can I have Jenny Ballas join us? As our Popham House counselor, Jenny brings joy and warmth to our building every single day. Known for early morning dance parties and genuine connections with students, Jenny makes the middle school feel like home. Her ability to build trust and community is at the heart of what makes SMS special. Congratulations, Jenny. Can I invite Michael Canone up? Michael is an educator I've known for over 20 years. As our eighth grade technology teacher, Michael Canone helps students explore, create, and innovate. Whether they're coding, designing, or building in his classroom, it is a hands-on experience. Michael's passion for technology and his calm and thoughtful teaching style are what make him a key part

016of our school community. Congratulations. Ms. Shawna Frazen. Shawna is our amazing librarian, or library teacher, as she likes to be called. She's a champion of literacy and inquiry. Shawna Frazen transforms the library into a vibrant learning space. Her thoughtful curation, instructional collaboration, and commitment to student voice make her an invaluable resource for our whole community. Congratulations, Shawna. Danielle Pecora. So I believe Danielle is the first social worker to be tenured in the Scarsdale schools. That's great. Danielle Pecora supports student well-being with our students with her expertise and empathy every single day in her work. As a school social worker, she reaches far beyond her office, touching the lives of students, families with her amazing care and compassion. Congratulations. Ms. Caroline Quentin. As our seventh grade technology teacher, Caroline brings technology to life through hands-on projects

017that build on students' skills in design, engineering, and sustainability. Through thoughtful instruction, engaging challenges, she helps students understand how technology can solve real problems and improve our world. Her passion inspires curiosity, creativity, and growth. Congratulations. And finally, can I welcome up Brittany Vela. As a math teacher and choice leader, Brittany Vela brings both energy and precision to her instruction. Her clear communication, thoughtful guidance, and steady support empower students to grow in both confidence and ability. Brittany's passion for teaching and learning is truly contagious. Congratulations, Brittany. I now invite up Laura Weiss, the assistant principal at Scarsdale High School. Good evening. It's my pleasure on behalf of the Scarsdale High School administrative team to recommend 14 extraordinary educators for tenure tonight. Our first educator is Frank Candulo. Would you please come up? Frank has a rare

018gift for putting rigorous academic standards in a setting of genuine warmth, compassion, and humor. Whether he is using mindful breathing to focus squirmy ninth graders or distributing wellness kits as our wellness committee co-chair, Frank helps our high school be a little less anxious and a lot more thoughtful. Congratulations, Frank. Next up, we have John Catania. John is a creative artist and a dedicated teacher. He is open to new ideas and to learning new skills. John came with an excellent background in ceramics and painting, and John is very supportive of his students and urges them to try new things and to stretch themselves. His enthusiasm and love of the arts is conveyed to his students, and he works well with his colleagues and is always helpful and willing to engage. John is a valued member of

019the art department and our school. Next up, Amanda Gundling. Amanda is enjoying her third year as an SHS choir teacher where her ensembles can be heard filling the music tower with beautiful melodies throughout the day. Amanda's passion for building community through music serves as motivation to her students. She enjoys guest conducting outside the district and always draws on those experiences to enrich her work with her students here. We look forward to her continued work with our thriving young singers. Congratulations, Amanda. Next up is Jen Hench. Jen is an imaginative and creative teacher and artist. She came to us after her first career in graphic arts. Jen is also skilled in jewelry, ceramics, and sculpture. She is open to new ideas and ways of thinking and is always thoughtful and reflective in her practice. Jen is

020supportive of her young artists and is always patient, gently pushing them to go beyond their comfort zone. She shares her excitement and passion for art with her classes and is supportive of her colleagues, always willing to help in the school and the department. Jen is a wonderful addition to the art department and our school. Next, I'd like to welcome up Kristen Kerrigan. Kristen has served as a dean at Scarsdale High School for the past four years, establishing herself as an advocate for the students and families in her care. She is incredibly student-centered, recognizes the dynamics of our school and community, and has an innate sense of how to best approach anything that is thrown her way. Dean Kerrigan is collaborative, possesses a wonderful work ethic, and has earned the respect of her colleagues. She will

021continue to be a wonderful asset to the counseling department and larger school community. We are so fortunate to have her in our midst. Congratulations. Next up we have Ali Lakhani. Ali? He crafts lessons with exceptional clarity, combining challenging questions with engaging activities to push students to their best thinking. A true collaborator, he is often found in lively discussions of curriculum and content with both students and colleagues. Congratulations, Ali. Next, I'd like to welcome up Carolyn Linfredi. Carolyn has established herself as a mainstay of the psychology and social work department and more specifically the Scarsdale support program. Carolyn supports her students who benefit from her gentle and caring approach. With Carolyn at the helm, SSP has provided students with the support to manage the obstacles that may have otherwise impeded their path to graduation. We are

022so grateful to Carolyn for all of her efforts in working with our students, families, and colleagues, and for always remaining even-keeled. These qualities have endeared her to all of our stakeholders, and we are looking forward to many more years of having Carolyn as such a valued member of our staff. I'd like to welcome up Fernanda Moscoso-Bueno. Fernanda has a passion for teaching Spanish and a smile that lights up any room. Her classroom is a joyful and energetic place. She's a fabulous addition to our World Languages Department. Congratulations Fernanda. Now I'd like to welcome up Ethan Paul. Ethan brings joy, empathy, and a love of learning to his work as an English teacher. His units are both challenging and fun, allowing students to tap into their creativity as well as their critical thinking. Outside the classroom,

023through his work in the Civ-Ed program, his role as co-coordinator of Non-Civ-E Day, and as an advisor to several clubs, Ethan goes above and beyond to help students discover their passions and become leaders. Congratulations Ethan. Next I'd like to welcome up Jessie Toll. Jessie is passionate about making biology real, relevant, and meaningful to her students. Her lessons are filled with fascinating examples and innovative projects that allow students to collaborate and create. She shares her genuine dedication to wellness with her students through a daily opening meditation in each class. Congratulations Jessie. Now I'd like to welcome up Andrew Visconti. Andrew is dedicated to supporting his students both in the classroom and on the fields and courts. He ensures that each student is able to contribute on a daily basis in his chemistry classroom. In the afternoons,

024he continues in a similar manner with one of the teams he enthusiastically leads. Congratulations, Andrew. Now I'd like to welcome up Ron Witalik. Ron's passion for history energizes his classroom. Whether challenging students to a match as an advisor to the chess club or helping students delve into constitutional interpretation as an advisor to the high school law review, he pushes students to think deeply about complex issues. Congratulations, Ron. Danny Zelliger, please come up. As an English teacher, Danny makes it his mission to nurture students' critical thinking, reading, and writing abilities. With his knack for scaffolding complex cognitive tasks, Danny creates a classroom environment in which all students can truly grow. Patient, kind, and unflappable, he's the kind of teacher who brings out the best in everyone. Congratulations, Danny. And finally, last but not least, Brian Zeller.

025Brian is enjoying his third year as an SHS band teacher where his ensembles can be heard filling the first floor with beautiful music on a daily basis. He is committed to providing high quality music learning opportunities for his students and giving them tools to find lifelong connection, meaning, and success through the study of music. He is an active composer and performer and we look forward to his continued work in growing our band program and inspiring our young musicians congratulations brian thank you all for your thoughtful words and i also want to extend a special thank you to our building principals assistant principals department chairs and district administrators who have helped guide these faculty members throughout the probationary periods your guidance your feedback and your support have led to this evening and the success of our

026colleagues and let's give a round of applause to all those supporters colleagues and family members who are here to celebrate And now for the conferral of tenure. So if you're holding a plant, if you can please stand up. If you got the plant up here, I should have said. And I'll turn things over to Susie. Thank you, Megan. I would also like to take a moment on behalf of the board to recognize and celebrate our incredibly dedicated educators who are attaining tenure tonight. Receiving tenure is a significant achievement and involves a lengthy process that is rigorous, comprehensive, and thoughtful. We are fortunate to have so many talented and dedicated professionals like all of you who are passionate about education and work so hard every day on behalf of our students. Teachers are true heroes with

027superpowers of knowledge, compassion, and an unwavering sense of the mission of excellence in education. Thank you for your commitment to our students and to our schools. Now to make it official for the motion. I'll turn it over to Jim Thank You Susie Resolved that upon satisfactory completion of the probationary period the board approved the recommendation of the superintendent To confer tenure to the individuals listed below whose names are part of the public record of this proceeding Congratulations Thank You Jim Is there a second? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, wait, wait. Thank you, Ron. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. The ayes have it, and the motion carries with thanks. Congratulations to all. Thank you. Would anybody like to make a motion to take a five-minute recess? Thank you, Colleen. A second? Thank

028you, Ron. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Motion carries, and we will be back in five minutes. Good evening. Item four on the agenda tonight would be the statutory budget meeting. I call this meeting to order and note that all board members are present. We are also joined by Superintendent Dr. Patrick and his administrative cabinet. Thank you to all those joining us for the statutory budget meeting in the audience, the live stream, or via Zoom. And with that, I think I'll turn it over to Andrew, or to Drew first. Yeah, I'll take it away. Thank you very much. So just in a brief summary, the 2025-2026 school budget as proposed and adopted by the Board of Education is $191,504,833. That represents a $6.57 million budget-to-budget increase or 3.55%. That also represents

029a total tax levy of $175,813,222, or 3.4% over the current year budget. The Scarsdale... tax rate increase with this proposed budget is 1.77% and for residents of the Mamaroneck Strip it represents a tax rate decrease of 0.23% for the 2025-26 school year. As a reminder, the budget vote is set to take place on Tuesday, May 20th at the Middle School Gymnasium from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and A couple of deadlines just to remind people. The deadline to register to vote is tomorrow, Tuesday, May 13th. The deadline for absentee and early mail applications is also tomorrow, 5-13, or on Monday if you come in person. So by mail tomorrow or Monday if you come in person. The deadline for submitting completed absentee and early mail ballots is Tuesday. next Tuesday May 20th at 5 p.m.

030budget information and details can be found on our website at www.scarsdaleschools.org And voting information can also be found on our website at www.scarsdaleschools.org and clicking on the voter information icon on the homepage just below the main picture. And we do hope our community will participate in this important civic event. Next, we will be moving to the public comment session of our statutory budget hearing. Members of the public are cordially invited to be present and to speak about the proposed 2025-26 budget. The order of public comment will be as follows. Community members present at the board meeting will speak first, followed by community members speaking via Zoom. At this time, I'd like to ask if anybody in the audience would like to come and make a public comment. Hi, my name is Howard Weinberg. I lived

031at 55 Corral Road since 2007. I have been a resident and I am here as a resident as well as on behalf of my wife's and my company, Green Jewels. Green Jewels is a turnkey provider of electric vehicle charging solutions. As a reminder, I presented to the board on April 7th, highlighting the high cost of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure plan presented by Highland Electric Fleet and included in the 25-26 school budget. On April 23rd, I had a call along with our Director of Sales with Mr. Andrew Lennon, the Assistant Superintendent of Business for the district. During this meeting, we provided an 18-page PowerPoint presentation providing an overview of our business, EV Charging 101, specifics on why the EV fleet plan for Scarsdale is unnecessarily oversized, and provided follow-up questions for the district to ask

032Highland about the suitability of alternative solutions. On the April 7th board meeting, I spoke to this board as a taxpayer and father of two children. My request was simple. The board should obtain a second quote for this project. Prior to my original presentation, I only reviewed a subset of information and mentioned the cost of $814,000 for this project and an annual cost of each bus of $32,000 to $35,000. Upon further diligence, as noted on page 31 of the October 24 Patern transportation study, I have learned that this project is contemplated to be $6.1 million in capital costs, plus over $700,000 of annual software and electricity costs when the Scarsdale fleet is fully converted. For some reason, on page 83 of the 25-26 budget, the district is only disclosing the cost of $60,000 of year one.

033and a contract cost of $1.14 million for the first eight years. The board, the school district has 69 buses, not four. So the notion of $1.14 is hiding the true cost of the electric vehicle. I know there are sophisticated lawyers and finance professionals on this board. Scarsdale is a AAA rated bond issuer due in part to this sophistication. I beg you to explore the true cost. I would recommend the board underwrite the total cost of the project, then consider financing alternatives. Does the district really think Highland is going to invest 6.1 million and only bill Scarsdale 1.1 million? There are no free lunches. I don't know the purchasing cadence of the electric buses. It's still unknown. The cost of this contract could cost over $10 million. I hear this board trying to save $10,000 here,

034$100,000 there. This is the elephant in the room, and no one's talking about it. To my knowledge, no second quote was sought. I am shocked the district would proceed on a project of this magnitude without a second opinion. Frankly, I'm hard-pressed to believe anyone in this room would do a home modeling reproject, purchase a car, or even purchase groceries without researching the cost of alternatives. Unless I am unaware of other communications, it appears Highland's consultancy project, which was designed to provide a fleet of electrification plan, has transitioned to a guaranteed project at an extraordinary cost to the taxpayers of Scarsdale. As written in the letter to the board on May 9th, I am surprised there are no conflicts of interest in Highland pitching their own services without soliciting other quotes. As a result, to back

035up our comments, on Friday, May 9th, our company provided Mr. Lennon and the board a secondary proposal at less than half the cost of Highland. I find it hard to believe we were able to find such a massive amount of savings with less than one month of work. Since then, our team has completed our first phase of diligence and has quantified the savings to be greater than $5 million over the first eight years of the fleet transition. including capital costs as well as software and electricity. As a father of a child who has an IEP, I understand the financial pressures the district is under to provide an appropriate education. This electric fleet plan will place an albatross around the neck of the district for many years to come. By signing this contract, future boards and

036administrators will be indebted to Highland and will need to divert valuable resources away from the education services contract. In closing, we understand the district has been working diligently with Highland. Despite your thoughts that you are too far down the road, this is factually inaccurate. Given the expected delivery of the electric buses in December 2025, we remain highly confident in our ability to execute our proposal for the district as well as others to provide competitive bids. We are available any time to discuss this project or our proposal in greater detail. I know the board typically does not answer questions at this meeting, but given the pending vote on May 20th, I would like to ask the board to confirm if voting for this budget means we are voting for this contract or merely reserving funds for

037the electrification project. We might answer that at the wrap-up section. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. Would anybody else in the audience like to make a public comment? My name is Nadine McMahon, and I'm currently a senior at Scarsdale High School. I'm also a varsity A captain for the girls volleyball team. Earlier this year, we discussed a petition and emailed you a petition for air conditioning in the gyms and or temporary cooling solutions. It is increasingly getting hotter every summer, and it is no longer an issue of comfort, but an issue of safety. There have been students who have gone home ill because of this issue. There is also a new mandate that the doors to the gyms must remain closed unless there is an adult present at the doors. This is

038very difficult for us because the coach has to be... coaching the team. So there's no adult present to open the doors. So it is currently a closed room with a bunch of hot sweaty players and it is very uncomfortable. But it's not just uncomfortable, it is also unsafe. This is an issue that doesn't just affect any volleyball team or just like sports teams in general, but everybody in the school uses this gym. So this is an issue for everybody, including staff and every student. I just wanted to bring up this issue so that it can be addressed in the budget. Thank you. Would anybody else like to make a public comment? Seeing there's nobody in the audience who would like to make a public comment, we'll be moving to Zoom. Jim? Yes, thank you. There's

039an attendee on Zoom, but their hand is not raised. Give it a couple seconds. Their hand is still not raised. Okay, then. Then we will be closing this. public comment session for the budget statutory budget hearing and move on to wrap up items so i'd like to clarify the electric bus component of the 2526 budget to be very clear as the board is aware highland fleet is a supplier of a fleet as a service program that was competitively bid through a source will continue cooperative bid program That's where we made our entree to them for this fleet as a service program. There are four electric buses intended to be in our fleet next year, one purchased this year and three next year. Highland's proposal equates to $64,000 in next year's budget for the infrastructure, training,

040and charging systems and software related to just those four vehicles. And we are currently in contract negotiations with them, quite frankly utilizing many of the questions that Howard shared in his presentation with the board and to me earlier. I can't discuss contract negotiations publicly at the board table, as you know, but this board is not being asked tonight. or has not been asked previously to vote yet on a contract for that program. That will come after we anticipate a successful vote of the school budget in May, and then the board will be presented with the final draft of that presentation. I've been working very closely with Dan Pettigrew, our school attorney, to vet both the RFP process as well as the draft contract agreement with Highland. Highland Fleet has been negotiating back and forth with

041us and has been very amenable to the changes that we've requested. I've also been working very closely with the New York State Education Department to ensure that any contract we enter into will be aidable from a transportation perspective. So that is the kind of background. It is a commitment for just four vehicles in the budget. Well, there is now an attendee who was not previously an attendee, but who now is and has his hand raised. I'm not sure what to do, but I'm thinking if it's not a big deal, we can simply have him speak. Passed me, did move on. Scott Rompalla, 17 Horse Guard Lane. I have four children that have gone through Scarsdale schools, last of which is a sophomore in high school who also plays on the varsity volleyball team with Nadine.

042I just wanted to reinforce the desire from the 250 families who have children playing volleyball to address within the budget the AC and environmental conditions within the gyms and the high school. It is not good for health. It is not good for competitiveness. It is not good for the spectators. There have been issues that she mentioned previously. I think this is something that hasn't been addressed, as far as I could see, in the recreation study that was done a few months ago and should be addressed within the budget this year. We will be moving to item 4.05 of the agenda. Would someone like to make a motion to adjourn the statutory budget hearing? Thank you, Bob. Is there a second? Thank you, Colleen. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Ayes have it,

043and the motion carries. Do we want to take a short recess, or are we able to move on? Keep going? Next would be the business meeting, item 5. I'm going to do well call yet again. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call this business meeting to order and note that all board members are present. We are joined by Superintendent Dr. Patrick as well as members of his administrative cabinet. Welcome to all those who have joined us this evening, either in the audience or tuning in on our live stream or via Zoom. Earlier this evening, the board held a special meeting with volunteer and liaison groups. Thank you to the leaders of Child, Maroon and White, the PT Council, the Scarsdale Action for Youth, otherwise known as SAY, Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling, the SAFE Coalition, and

044the Scarsdale Schools Education Foundation for attending and sharing their organization's important work this year. Also earlier this evening, the board awarded tenure to 26 faculty members. Receiving tenure is a significant achievement and involves a thoughtful process that is rigorous and comprehensive. granting tenure on recommendation from the superintendent is among the most serious and significant responsibilities of the Board of Education. In our continued commitment to oversight, board members have been attending tenure and probationary appointment reviews for the past few months. Tonight, the board extends our sincerest congratulations to all those who attained tenure this evening. Next, as a reminder, and for those just joining us, the budget and board vote is next week on Tuesday, May 20th. to repeat what Dr. Patrick has said, voting will take place at the middle school gym from 7 a.m.

045to 9 p.m. Parking will be available throughout the day at the lower circle of the middle school, which can be accessed through the school road entrance on Kelman Road. Information about the budget is available on the district website, and community members should have received a copy of the district's Insight newsletter, which includes information about the budget. I'd like to extend my gratitude to the PTC, PTAs, Child, League of Women Voters, and the Green Acres Parent Association for inviting board members and members of the administration to come speak on the budget and answer questions from community members. Thank you to Drew, Andrew, and Eric as well as my fellow board members for participating in these events. We also appreciate the feedback of those who attended our statutory budget hearing and to all those who have provided

046input into this year's budget process. As a quick update on our student board of ed member process, the process of selecting the inaugural student ex officio school board members for the 2025-26 school year is underway. Thank you to all the students who have applied for this new role. It is so heartening to see our students actively engaging in the civic process and willing to volunteer their time for the benefit of the school community. Four juniors and four sophomores have been vetted by the high school student government to be slated for a general student election in the 9th through 11th grades. The election will take place on the same day as the town school board trustee elections and budget vote, Tuesday, May 20th. It's a very important date. Where one rising senior and one rising junior

047will be elected to serve as student members of the board. Their term beginning on July 1st, 2025. Thank you to the Scarsdale High School Student Government, Principal Bonamo, and faculty advisors for their work to help with this process. The board looks forward to welcoming its newest and youngest members in the coming weeks. And finally, I'd like to end my remarks with a thank you to our dedicated faculty, staff, and administrators. May 1st was Principal's Day, and on behalf of the Board of Education, I would like to extend thanks to all of our building principals and assistant principals. Their vision guides our schools and we appreciate their strong leadership and commitment to our students, parents, and faculty and staff. This past week, May 5th through 9th, was Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week. The dedication, creativity, and

048commitment shown by our teachers and staff have a profound impact on our students and we express our gratitude for the transformative power of their work. This week we also recognize Nurses Week. We thank them for the work they do every day to protect and promote student health. Thank you to all of our administrators, faculty, staff, and nurses for all that you do. With that, I'd like to turn it over to Drew. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Good evening. I add my welcome to all of you in the audience who are joining us online. First, I want to start by wishing two colleagues well. As I mentioned earlier this evening, Dr. McIntosh and Mr. Bonamo are both dealing with vital personal matters and are therefore unable to be here this evening. rather than postpone

049however we're moving ahead with both portions of our education report and I'll say a bit more about that when the time comes in the agenda we have a lot on the agenda tonight including the recommended appointment of our new Fox Meadow assistant principal Dr. Lori Leibowitz and Megan will introduce her in a few minutes during cabinet updates. Kevin Walsh is also here this evening for the next capital projects update and I will add that while there are no specific air conditioning projects within the proposed budget air conditioning is among the infrastructure areas the committee will be considering as we identify priorities moving forward for the district. We'll also be considering some important policies this evening, including the student device policy that now reflects the actual bill that was passed into law Thursday by the legislature.

050We have an exciting week coming up this week as we welcome colleagues from the Tri-State Consortium on Wednesday for a three-day visit focused on our essential question, to what extent do our assessments align with our values as a community as defined through the strategic plan? We look forward to getting helpful feedback at this very early stage in the implementation of our strategic plan, which is of course centered on the big ideas of learning, living, and leading. And finally for the board, as you know, the New York State Legislature adopted a budget late last week. Happy to report to the community that Scarsdale's foundation aid number matches the governor's proposal of a 2% increase and reflects what we budgeted for the 2025-26 school year to the dollar. There are some various expense-based aids that in the

051projection are down less than $10,000, but... Those particular items are projections at a moment in time and don't reflect the actual year end. So we feel confident that the latest state aid run is really consistent with our proposed budget and is reasonable and attainable. And with that, I pass it back to you. Next on the agenda, we'll be moving to board member reports. Would anybody like to make a board member report? Thank you, Leah. Thank you. I have two board member reports this evening. On April 23rd, Susie and I attended a NISBA webinar on welcoming a student board member. I found it to be very helpful and informative. NISBA had student board member guests as well as superintendents who currently had a student on their board. They went over sample board policies as well as

052different processes for electing or in some cases appointing student members and discussed best practices from their experience. There was a general sense that it is important to share power and hear from student voices. Their experiences and their world is so different in this generation. NSBA runs a board retreat for the board and new student members, which may be helpful for us. Also, there is a recording and FAQ that I shared with the board. Here are seven high-level benefits to having a student board member. One, opportunities for mentorship, leadership, and student development. Two, better informed decision-making. Three, improved community engagement. Four, more effective policy development. Five, greater responsiveness to trends and emerging issues. Six, a more collaborative board culture. And seven, enhanced alignment with district goals as we want to remain student centered. On the morning

053of April 24th, Susie and I hosted a board coffee with six additional attendees. Here is a general overview of what was discussed. Attendees asked for the high school math center to be open additional hours so as to meet the needs of students who could not find time during the school day to stop in. Comments were made related to the board draft of the cell phone policy. Attendees wanted us to consider that the schools are generally already doing the things that are needed in practice and policy. Technology is here and part of student lives. We were asked to consider what the impact of this draft policy would be on the school community. There was a general consensus that there is a personal parent responsibility related to phone use. Attendees discussed social media. Some attendees mentioned they

054preferred local control as opposed to control from Albany. In further discussion, issues related to enforcement questions, reporting to the state, and data gathering were brought forward. An attendee asked specifically about phone use during school bus rides for field trips to the middle school and said this is a problem. An attendee mentioned that there's a wider community group trying to bring awareness to the dangers of underage cell phone use. During the coffee, other attendees brought up the issue of artificial intelligence and said that we have to use technology in learning and would like to understand what work is being done at the various levels related to AI. An attendee asked for more education at the elementary level related to digital literacy and responsible technology use. Everyone agreed responsible technology use should be integrated into the curriculum

055at a younger age. And then at the end, they talked about DEIB as it relates to federal directives. And attendees mentioned they think it would be helpful for the district to highlight what belonging means for our district and what the implementation is like here so that the community understands fully. Thank you. Thank you, Leah. Are there any other board member reports at this time? Okay. Then we'll be moving to item six on the agenda, cabinet updates. Okay. We have two cabinet members with updates. We're going to start with Megan. thank you so this evening i'm excited to welcome a new and familiar faces some familiar faces to scarsdale so over the past month we have been engaged in the hiring process for the next assistant principal of fox meadow this position was open because current

056assistant principal trish ayasello is becoming the principal of green acres i'm pleased to share that we will be appointing dr lori leibowitz as the next assistant principal of fox meadow lori do you mind standing for us Dr. Leibowitz is currently the district administrator for gifted and talented and the arts in the Norwalk Public Schools since 2018 Prior to this role, she spent many years as an elementary school educator and teacher in the Greenwich Public Schools. Dr. Leibowitz holds an Ed.D. in Learning and Organizational Change from Baylor University, a Master's Certificate in Gifted Education from the University of Connecticut, an M.A. in Elementary Education from Sacred Heart University, and a B.A. in History from George Washington University. We've had the privilege to get to know Lori throughout the thorough and lengthy process. At every turn, she

057demonstrated a strong commitment to the students in her care and highlighted the importance of relationship building with faculty, staff, parents, and students. Her warmth and compassion and ability to listen will serve her well in this role. Combined with her strong academic and curricular background, Lori will be set up for success. I look forward to seeing all that she brings to Fox Meadow in the future, and welcome to Lori. We're excited to have you. We also welcome a familiar face to Scarsdale Middle School as a French leave replacement teacher, Emanuela Rivera. Emanuela has taught French part-time at Scarsdale High School for many years. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design from the Parsons School and her Master of Science in Education from Lehman College. Emanuela will bring her warmth and love for languages that

058she shared with our high school students to Scarsdale Middle School. Two other familiar faces will be joining Scarsdale High School in different capacities. Former Scarsdale grad Lily Savastano will join Scarsdale High School as a probationary math teacher. Lily, do you mind standing up? For the past year, Lily has been in a lead replacement position at Scarsdale High School. Prior to Scarsdale, Lily was a math teacher at Austin High School. She earned an MA in mathematics education from Teachers College Columbia and a BA from Iona College. We look forward to seeing Lily take on this new role. Anna Tomasini will join the Scarsdale High School Math Department as a leave replacement. Anna has been a part-time teaching assistant and part-time math teacher at Scarsdale High School. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of

059Delaware. And prior to Scarsdale, she'd been working as a special education teacher at Elkton High School in Maryland. We are excited for Anna to take on this new full-time teaching role. So welcome and thank you. I'll just add the board will take action on those appointments just a little bit later in the consent agenda. next Andrew with a few updates a few updates I'm sorry it's a long night but I'll try to go quickly the first updates pertaining to our food service program in the fall I shared the board we had a bumpy start to our element elementary food ordering credit card payment processing due to a payment system change by our food service companies vendor Nutri slice We started to waive those fees in October because there was not a more equitable way to

060charge those fees back to families. And we were committed to get a change in the spring. That change didn't happen. And we've been working throughout the year to track that progress to see if we can find an alternative solution anyway. So throughout the process, We were committed to first ensuring food safety for kids with allergies and dietary restrictions. That was our primary focus. Second is operational efficiency. The ticketing system and the way it connects with all of our systems, including food supply ordering, menu planning, preparation, and food delivery on a daily basis to our elementary schools, that was a key functionality. And then three is ease of use for the ordering for our parents and family members at the elementary level. We haven't found a solution that addresses all those concerns and on net improves

061the system. So in talking with Tara Cook, our food service director, we decided to, based on meal volumes, we believe that the building level staff at each building can on a daily basis enter those meal orders into the student meal accounts. So therefore, starting in September, we anticipate that we will transition back to MySchoolBucks 100% for K-12. Right now, that's only in our 6-12 system. We will go back to K-12. Parents will not have to wait for a confirmation or a funding confirmation as they did prior to last school year with MySchoolBucks and NutriSlice. It will be an immediate order through NutriSlice. No questions asked. And on a daily basis, we'll process those meal sales so that if there is an account that's negative, we will follow our normal communication process to that. I shared

062that potential plan with the Food Service Committee and the members of the PTA on that committee last week, and I got support from them. The one concern that they noted was, is this workload too much for the daily food service? And Tara Cook assures me that she believes that the team can support this. So I think we've landed in a place where families are familiar with the MySchoolBox platform. They will continue to use it at the secondary level anyway. And the immediate ordering in NutriSlice will work well. So we're going to move forward with this plan in September unless there's a major objection from any of the involved parties. So that's update number one. Update number two is as part of the state budget, there was a free meals for all component. So I want

063to get out in front of that and share with the community that we are not there yet. There's a lot of work that is involved if we were to pursue this. First and foremost being we would need to be on the National School Lunch Program, which we are not. We would need to really look closely at what that means for us, including perhaps the participation in a breakfast program that doesn't exist today. But we're working with our food service consultant, Jim Bigley, and H&B consultants to understand better what's in the state budget and if there would be an opportunity for one or all or some of our schools to participate in that program. And we will do that over the next few months and come back when we have more information with a recommendation or

064a different approach. If we were to proceed with that plan, this is likely a material change to the food service contract, which would require a new bid for the food service company. So just some perspectives out there. It's really an involved process. We want to do it right. And it may impact then, the free meals would impact some of the meal portion sizes and some of the meals that are served today, and perhaps quality. So I just wanted to get out in front of that. Though it was in the state budget, we will not have free meals in September at this point. We would look into that further over the next several months. And Andrew, we don't necessarily have to participate in that. We do not. There's no mandate. Yes. All right. So those are

065my food service updates. Then we talk about capital projects. So on April 28th, we had a wonderful ribbon-cutting ceremony, as you all were there for. It was really delightful to hear the kids perform in that new space. We're still tracking those last punch list items we met earlier this afternoon, some big items and some small ones. There's a lot of work still to be done just to make it completely finished, and we're tracking those items. But we're optimistic that we'll have those done over the next several months. included in the 2023-2024 budget there were two items that i wanted to call attention to first was The band room roof replacement, which you may have forgotten about given the auditorium project was such a big focus for us. But right next door to the auditorium, we

066had a leaky roof that was pretty embarrassing with some pails catching water coming from the ceiling. I'm happy to report that over the spring break, that project was materially completed. All the abatement was done and the new roofing was installed. And during the... downpours last week i checked on those buckets and they were dry i did confirm with brian zeller this morning i think it was uh how is the room looking and he said the buckets are empty so i think that work was successful so i'm happy to report that and then finally on tonight's agenda the consent agenda item 11.10 is the award of a contract for the heathcote chimney repair project this is another piece of that 2023-24 budget it is the interior lining and repair of the heathcote chimney that that is

067our main hating source for the building there. So this project had a lot of interest. There was actually 13 bidders that were on this project, three of which we did some additional due diligence on just to make sure that they had all the right numbers. And we will be awarding this to the lowest responsible bidder. Okay construction is part of the consent agenda. And then finally, with some bittersweet news I share that on tonight's agenda, we're asking the board to act on the retirement of a colleague of mine who I've grown to know very well the last two years, Mike Patera. after working in the district for over 35 years Mike has decided to to hang it up before this big prompt Bob bond project comes so I think he's probably the smart one in

068the group but Mike has spent 35 years with the district first as a district carpenter then as a supervisor of special projects then assistant director or associate director of facilities and now most recently since September of 2020 he took the director of facilities role Just pause for a second and think about September of 2020 and what a facilities director was doing alongside all the academic and learner-focused stuff here. Mike was really a big part of that. His mentorship to the assistant directors on the staff as well as the head custodian, custodial staff, Mike's been a really great colleague in helping me learn the district in the last two years. I will miss Mike greatly, and we'll get to honor him at the retirement recognition ceremony in June. Good luck to Mike. And those are our

069cabinet updates. Thank you, Megan and Andrew. Thank you. Thank you for those cabinet updates. Welcome to those who are joining us in Scarsdale and gratitude to Mike as he moves on to retirement this year. Next item on the agenda would be our first of two public comment periods for this business meeting. I will read the public comment preamble at this time. Members of the public are cordially invited to speak on district related items or other non-personnel related matters during two separate public comment periods. When it is your turn to speak, please state your name, address, and if you are speaking on behalf of an organization. For those commenting remotely, please mute the live stream voice, turn on your camera, and then unmute yourself. This might be a good time to do that now. Speakers will

070be asked to conclude their remarks after four minutes and will be given a verbal cue at the three minute mark. If at this point a speaker has additional comments, they may send them in writing to the board via email at boardofed at scarsaleschools.org. The public comment period is reserved for comments only. The board will not engage in dialogue. The board reserves the right to respond to comments and questions at its discretion, either during response to public comment or at a later time and place. Response to public comment will take place after the first and second public comment periods. And with that, I'd like to ask if anybody in the audience would like to come and make a public comment. As they approach, can we let our folks who might be on the consent agenda later

071know that they can leave? You don't have to stay. You're welcome to, but just want to make sure you know that. Thank you. People are leaving and not coming to school. You're right. They're going to school tomorrow. Okay, it doesn't look like anybody from the audience will be making a public comment at this time, so we'll be moving to Zoom. Jim? Thank you. There is an attendee on Zoom, but their hand is not raised. Now is your chance to raise your hand if you'd like to make a public comment. Their hand is still not raised. Okay, then we're going to be moving on. As there was no public comment, the next item on the agenda, follow-up to public comment, is not necessary, and we'll be moving to item nine, written communications. Jim. Thank you, Susie.

072Please note that the Board of Education email is also viewed by the superintendent and district clerk. Open meetings law requires all board deliberations that may lead to action or policy changes to occur in public therefore your written communications and emails will be reported at an upcoming public board meeting a board member will respond at their earliest convenience a formal response requires that you include your full name address and if you are writing on behalf of an organization in the communication More detailed information regarding written communications received by the Board of Education may be found in today's meeting agenda located in board docs on the Scarsdale School District website. And with respect to written communications since the last meeting, there have been, I believe, 10 communications with respect to district matters and an additional 10 with

073respect to board meetings, highlights, board invitations, and correspondence. Thank you, Jim. Next item on the agenda would be item 10, the consent agenda. And at this time, I will read the consent agenda preamble. The board may conduct some of its business using a consent agenda in an effort to achieve greater efficiency at board meetings. A consent agenda condenses some of the routine business of the Board of Education into a single motion. The consent agenda is prepared by the superintendent of schools in consultation with the president and or the vice president of the board. Items are selected for the consent agenda when the officers of the board and the superintendent believe there is no controversy regarding them. The items on the consent agenda will have the same background material as ordinary items on the board agenda.

074If any member of the board feels that any item on the consent agenda requires discussion prior to action, that board member may remove that item from the consent agenda merely by requesting same at the meeting. The exempted item then moves to the regular agenda. However, all non-exempted items would be moved, seconded, and voted upon without discussion in order to provide greater efficiency to conducting the routine items of business of the school district. And at this time, I'd like to ask if any board members would like to remove any item from the consent agenda. Well, then I will turn it over to Ron. Thank you, Susie. There are 16 items on tonight's consent agenda, 11.01 minutes from the education report and business meeting on April 7, 2025. 11.02 minutes from the special meeting the southern Westchester

075BOCES vote April 22, 2025. 11.03 minutes from a special meeting executive session April 28, 2025. 11.04 personnel certified. 11.05 personnel non-certified. 11.06, claims audit report from April 2025. 11.07, share of the budget vote and election. 11.08, stipulation of settlement. 11.09, contracts over $20,000 for athletics with E.J. Murray Memorial Skating Center, City of Yonkers. 11.10, a contract award with Heathcote Chimney Repairs. 11.11 award of maintenance bid for custodial supplies 11.12 award of maintenance bid for district-wide compost pickup 11.13 award of maintenance bid for district-wide roof repair 11.14 quarterly reports student activities fund 11.15 tuition assistance agreement revised and 11.16 accepting the consent agenda i move that the consent agenda be accepted as presented Thank you Ron is there a second Thank You Leah any discussion all those in favor please say aye aye the ayes have

076it in motion carries thank you next item on the agenda information items discussion the first one being the capital project steering committee update okay Thank You Susie we're delighted to invite Kevin Walsh back to the podium to give the board an update and take questions So we've been very busy in the committee. I want to thank all the members of the committee for participating. We've had three meetings so far. We had two in April. We have one coming up the end of this month. And to characterize, I guess, in April, we took a deep dive into understanding the buildings and how they operate and getting everyone familiar with all of the buildings so that we can have more global discussions of what could be at each building moving forward. So we did that and next

077we're going to deep dive into more of a building condition survey world and revisit the field study that the district had done in the past in order to put everything kind of in the same context with each other in terms of potential projects for a bond. We've had activities, group activities where we've had worksheets with building plans and proposed concepts of what could be at each of the buildings and had some prioritization type voting activities, not final votes, but just expressions of priority, open discussion as well as. presentation of context etc looking at enrollments moving forward looking at space looking at how all the buildings operate and getting opinions on how people feel about that and how they feel about what might be proposed and how much it might cost so as we look at

078all the projects and have the conceptual basis look for patterns of spatial utilization so far and then again vote on that and informally in terms of how to prioritize that And the priorities we've been using are, there are six of them so far. One is must do. The other is should do. Third one is I'm on the fence. And those are kind of all possibles, right? The next is don't do that. Or defer to the future. or fund separately. So we've kind of just allowed kind of to get a temperature on these various projects. We do have a list of 45 plus large spatial ideas at the various buildings and we've been working through that. I'd like to say there's been a really great amount of passion in some of the activities in terms of

079people's opinions of their home buildings and trying to advocate for what might be needed and I think we've made a lot of progress there we're going to continue so that's three meetings out of scheduled eight meetings each meetings fairly highly structured in terms of objectives each time so I believe we're moving forward kind of gaining a lot of information but momentum and we're expanding and contracting the amount of specific information or big ideas to really fully understand the ebb and flow of what is and what could be at the building thank you for sharing that update and I apologize I've forgotten we have how many students on that committee there's one student one student So tonight we heard some feedback from one of our students about air conditioning. I'm just wondering where air conditioning discussions

080fall in your whole scheme of projects. So air conditioning will absolutely be a subject of the building condition survey, which has to do with infrastructure and capital projects unrelated to learning spaces or space or learning environments. So just in terms of, like, building systems. So it's in that as a definite category of discussion. which is forthcoming for the committee. I think that's helpful. I mean, I guess one concern I have is just, you know, I think we saw a petition from Nadine earlier this year with 100 student signatures, which is a non-trivial amount of students in the high school who have concerns about air conditioning in one of our gyms at least. I just want to make sure that those concerns are represented to the committee as a whole so that they hear, you know,

081not just the board hearing that, but that the committee is aware of those. And they are also going to be separated from the main BCS list as their own separate category. So they'll certainly be discussed. Great. Thank you. I think that, Amber, just to follow on, I think your question actually has resonated with other folks having a similar kind of confusion about the BCS. So I think it's important just to highlight the building condition survey is a state-mandated process that we are not yet scheduled for, but we're getting ahead of it in this process. That's happening in tandem to much of the work that Kevin's been doing with the committee thus far. That building condition survey is going to look at every existing building. space for things like handicap accessibility code compliance HVAC requirements all

082of those types of things roofs you know site work you know traffic pattern flows all of that will be captured for our existing facilities in the building condition survey and Kevin is working towards this crescendo of bringing all these pieces together for the committee that we just haven't gotten to the piece yet And just a similar follow-up, because air conditioning is on my mind, too. When we talked about, you know, I know there are a lot of many old rooms that could be renovated, you know, so not built new, but renovated. And would air conditioning, I know this would be a discussion within the committee, would air conditioning then be a part of those conversations in a renovated room, a school, for example? Absolutely part of the conversation. Okay, good. Thank you. as well as

083the large spaces as was discussed previously. So typically there's an approach to that, the large spaces and then the individual classrooms and how you want to accomplish that. Kevin, thanks for the update. You mentioned that there's 45 potential spatial learning area priorities that were identified by the committee. Where did those come from? How did they get into the committee? So from some are have been carried over from previous thoughts some have been as a result of walking the buildings or speaking with the principals or hearing the committee speak or Just knowing that those those are out there as potential issues We also took a look at enrollment projections and looked at classroom sections and where might there be some pressure points in terms of classroom sections and to kind of globally look at some patterns

084that deal with classroom environments, that deal with dining, that deal with kind of larger issues, and how might those be approached. Okay, that's really helpful. Thank you. And so if you're, if somebody is a community member, a student, a faculty member that's listening to this saying, I have an idea, how do they A, see what is being discussed? And B, what is the mechanism for them to share that idea before it's too late to get into the process? Well, I think the process is ongoing. This is my second update here. I believe June will be a little more expansive in sharing some of the actual ideas. It's the charge of the committee to help prioritize for the board. And in the meantime, you know, we're looking for input even from students. I know there are

085things happening at the elementary schools. We distributed a lot of floor plans to have the students kind of express how they feel about their buildings with that. We've interviewed high school students so far and got some ideas from that. And I think... really going to perhaps school leadership with other thoughts i mean we can develop this as we go and for it to make sure everyone has i'm going to turn my question around sure to school leadership then so what like what would a parent or student we heard from some students i have something i want to see included in the discussion of the bonds that email on you sure yeah they can email yep either one of us absolutely that has already happened yeah um input from students is included in some of the

086conversations that we've already had. Kevin actually videotaped high school students talking about their experience at the school and identifying priorities that they think would make school life better, and that was shared with the entire steering committee as an example. The elementary principals have a... really large floor plan and a like a protocol to invite student input on where the areas in the building are you know maybe pressure points for things they'd like or imagine so all of that is getting fed back up to the to the committee okay I'm gonna ask the question you have to respond to it this second because I'm putting you on the spot for information you may not have but a test of that process would be did the feedback we heard about the gym make it through that process.

087I'm not saying we should do the gym. I'm just wondering if that captured it. Because I do think... That's one of the things that was already on the list. It's already there, so it's known. Okay, great. That's great. Because I want to acknowledge, as I reflect on our budget discussions, I think sometimes the budget vote is the mechanism where people think, oh, it's budget time, and I want to share an idea. And it is challenging because the board and before the administration has spent a significant amount of time, and we're just on different timelines sometimes, understanding the budget. With a budget, it comes back the next year. So there's a chance for us to say, okay, we'll talk about it next year. I don't remember when the next debt's rolling off, but I know it's

088not every year. So I just want to make sure our process captures all that. Whether we do it or not, don't know. But that people have the opportunity to get that to you and your team. some of those things are on the list because of the previous process when someone came forward great that's something that we should consider it didn't make it last time yeah maybe it'll make it this time or maybe the ideas we're just hearing now don't make it this time but they're in there for next time that's great to hear thanks which it's good building for long-term planning one more question in terms of process is it you feel like it's you're comfortable we don't have the building level committees right now right where we'd have like a high school committee reporting

089up to the district level steering committee do you feel like there's enough information that's percolated at the kind of similar to Ron's question I think it has I think we can decide we could decide if we'd like to have that layer come back in I mean, I think, like, so first of all, some of the, I mean, Leah, as someone who sits on the committee, some of the conversations I've had since our last meeting, there might be a little worry out there that, oh, the activity we did last time where we prioritized, that's what's going to be brought forward. That is not where we are. It was an exercise to understand scope and scale and to see some values expressed. Once there is some smaller universe of, let's say, high school projects, we will activate

090a building committee to assess those, look at all the other stuff that didn't make it, weigh in, and have the opportunity to say, yes, no, this doesn't make sense, wait, how does that work, all of that. And I think it's just important to say that knowing there's so much volume of information to process, we're just trying to go in phases, have a little feeling of that moment. And then as people learn more and become more familiar or have opinions change, we get another feel for it and we can see the progression of how people in the committee are feeling and certainly what people are expressing to folks on the committee how they feel too. I have a quick question. Between this discussion of much needed air conditioning and the rising cost of traditional utilities, I

091was wondering if there's much talk about finding energy efficiencies and alternative energy technologies in this conversation or? I think that'll find its way into the engineering portion of the building conditions survey. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Kevin. Thank you. Item 12.02, Treasurer's Report and Schedule of Investments. Okay, the reports presented tonight are for March of 2025. Some receipts of significance to highlight. We received $406,000 in a rebate from RxBenefits, our prescription drug plan. They do quarterly rebates, so this represents the third payment for the year. We do anticipate one final payment that will come in around year end. Also in the tax line, we received $441,000 in a pilot payment, a payment in lieu of taxes. This is the final payment in a multi-year agreement. State aid, we received

092$200,000 in BOCES aid, $721,000 in excess costs, $100,000 in extended school year aid, and that number also includes the $200,000 EPA grant that we discussed at the previous meeting. We were awarded for the purchase towards EV buses. Interest earnings for the month were about 323,000. As of March 31st, this brings the actual year to date in the general fund. It exceeds the original budget about 265,000. 80% of the funds were earning about 4.18 to 4.2, and rates are continuing to remain relatively stable, so we're still on mark. Any questions? My question is kind of related to the food service cafeteria budget, and I was just wondering, could you clarify? I mean, it's outside of the regular budget. What is, you know, how self-sustaining is it? So is everything cafeteria-related included in the food service budget,

093or is it partial somehow? We don't break out things like utility costs, right? But the cafeteria, the food service director, all of the cafeteria staff are through the contract. All the food supplies are through the contract. Essentially, the entire program is charged to that C fund, that cafeteria fund, and it is self-sustaining. Now, as sales are declining, just like fund balance conversations, right, we want to make sure that we maintain that profitability in there. But, yes, it's completely self-sustaining at this point. yes i have a question um for county sales tax um i see you know that we have about a million you know of unearned revenue still um do you expect that to you know come in i know tax collection can especially for stuff like this can be the county sales tax um

094i believe we do have one more payment that will come in I guess we just made one, right? We just received one. Yes. So we do have another payment, and then there will be a partial payment that's accrued at year end for revenue. As of now, the final quarter of 2024 was very low. We started well. the first quarter but now it's starting to go down again I think the economy overall people are kind of hesitating on spending so it's a little unknown I do believe at this point we should be on par with the budget number I don't think we'll exceed it as much as we would have loved to but thank you thank you so much Lisa budget transfer thank you So we have four transfers that are on the agenda tonight for

095approval. As the end of year comes closer and our projections get a little tighter, we're able to better project what our final numbers will be. So instead of transferring too much unnecessarily, I try to be conservative with it. So these are all of our lines outside of salary lines that are easily. easily able to estimate so right now we're looking to transfer 77,000 into the legal code moving it from a contractual code our utilities electricity and gas were much higher so we are reallocating from other utility codes and contractual codes in the buildings and grounds department tuition that's an allocation again that budget It's allocating between public school and BOCES placements and private placements. It's just where the kids end up in the end. And the final one is for garage transportation costs. We have

096a contract with the village and they handle all of our maintenance. And as we've discussed, we have an aging fleet, so repairs and maintenance have been higher than expected. I do anticipate having year-end budget transfers on the June agenda. Again, it's an early meeting, so we'll have to kind of guess those numbers as close as possible. So I hope to not have to do any cleanups after year-end, so I would anticipate some mainly salary reallocations on June. Yeah, I have a question about the excess legal fees. Is there any particular thing that... I think it was several things. I mean, we spent some additional money on the CVA cases as we were working on that with special counsel that we had for them. Some of our special education claims and our general legal retainer were

097over. Was the insurance part of that? the the cost for bond shanik to that was allocated to insurance it was billed directly yes that was covered by the insurance as well you're right I just have a question about the aging fleet I know we've had to spend a lot of money on maintenance do you think our budget for next year covered I mean I would fleet is still getting old so are we thinking it's gonna cover it next year are we expecting more transfer I mean I you know you're hoping 18 months in advance I'm not sure yeah we think we planned appropriately I will say that I'm working very closely with our new supervisor Nadia and the village maintenance head of maintenance Billy Ryan we're taking a careful look at which vehicles are worth

098putting time into just to sit as spares versus if we really know it's going to take quite a bit of work for them to pass DOT inspection, we'd rather focus those efforts on vehicles that are roadworthy on a regular basis. So we've been trying to manage that very carefully. And Billy Ryan at the Village has been very helpful in that in trying to manage his team's overtime so that we don't have to really sacrifice service. The buses are getting older, and we are trying to replace them with EV buses, as you know. So I'm confident that we are going to be no worse than we are this year, and hopefully we'll be better. Thank you. Thank you, Lisa. Okay, great. Next would be item 12.04, the education report. Yeah, let's take a five-minute break. A

099bathroom break. A wellness break. Thank you. Thank you, and welcome back. We will be continuing with our business meeting, moving on to our education reports. And I'll hand it over to Jeff. Okay, good. Thank you very much, Susie. I appreciate it. So tonight's education report is in two parts, each essentially an update on progress to date from previous presentations. So first, High School Assistant Principal Laura Weiss will share updates from the assessment committee related to rolling grade book and online grade reporting. I want to thank Laura in advance for pinch hitting tonight with Ken's absence, but also acknowledge her role as facilitator of the High School Assessment Committee so she's well versed in the work. Then, in Dr. McIntosh's absence, I will share an update on the steps we're taking with respect to our elementary

100math program. However, before jumping into either of those, I want to ask for your indulgence just to articulate some broader thoughts about public engagement and change, as both topics covered in tonight's education report have been touchstones for significant public comment and faculty input. A vast majority of that input has been constructive and representative of important and valid stakeholder voices and opinions. Public comment, emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings with school staff are all meaningful ways to express opinions about the work of our schools, including curriculum policies, practices, and approaches. I want to say unequivocally that I understand how much the parents in our community care about their children and the education they receive. I also want to say unequivocally that our teachers and leaders are passionate and caring professionals and dedicated experts. Each is operating

101from a single driving force, the desire to do what's best for our students. Thus, our work requires a partnership in which we are able to listen and to ask questions, to trust one another and remain open to compromise, to give and to take, and to assume good intentions even when the outcome isn't exactly what we want. I firmly believe the track record in this school community to do just that is strong. It's one of the things that sets Scarsdale apart from many, if not most, other school districts. Decisions aren't made haphazardly. Rather, they reflect thoughtful consideration of relevant information from a variety of perspectives and sources. Tonight's updates on elementary math are an example. Math education is in the midst of a shift in this country. Our approach has been responsive to and reflective of

102that shift. However, the input from educators and parents signals to us that we have some work to do to get it right. We won't throw the baby out with the bathwater, but we will make smart, responsive adjustments, support our educators to implement those changes, and monitor student progress in the moment to make sure they are the right changes. The journey with high school grading has followed a similar path with one notable divergence. I will confess the advocacy for changes to the rolling gradebook approach took me by surprise. I didn't anticipate it, and when the feedback from parents started coming in, it took me some time to digest and understand exactly what was being communicated. The high school assessment committee and faculty have been responsive to that feedback, though opinions on the rolling grade book remain

103somewhat mixed. However, what also became clear is that some of the outpouring of feedback wasn't about the rolling grade book at all, but about other practices, including the degree to which students are able to know where they stand with respect to their grade at any given point in a quarter. As I listened and came to better understand this particular concern, I determined that I needed to make an uncharacteristically blunt, top-down leadership decision. I directed the high school administration to move to a common online gradebook for 2025-26 school year. This decision has justifiably been called into question by some of our faculty, not as a matter of practice. Indeed, this is already the practice of a significant number of our faculty, but for its notable lack of process, which is a sacred component of our school

104culture. I think it's important to publicly own this decision and acknowledge that while I believe it's the right way forward, The concerns raised by our faculty about the lack of process are legitimate, have been thoughtfully articulated, and raise justifiable concerns about unintended consequences of the decision. I look forward to continuing to listen to those concerns and to further explain my rationale over time. Okay, with that said, I'm going to invite Laura to the podium and I'm going to turn to our assessment committee updates. Good evening and thank you for having me here tonight. I'll be sharing the results from our recent survey on the rolling gradebook system and the steps we've taken and are taking to respond to the feedback we received this year on the rolling gradebook. In early March the rolling gradebook survey

105garnered responses from 825 students, 260 parents, and 87 teachers. 56% of our total student body participated in the survey. We found that there was a modest increase in preference among student respondents for the rolling grade book up from 46% last year to 54% this year. You can see that of the nine percentage point decrease in students reporting no preference, eight of those points account for the increase in students preferring the rolling grade book. 58% of our teachers participated in the survey, offering a strong representative voice from across disciplines. You can see here, too, that the percentage of respondents preferring the rolling grade book increased over five points from 66% to 71%, although there was also a six-point increase in the percentage of teachers preferring the quarterly system. Our parent respondents made up 18% of our

106total parent population. Though a small percentage, the feedback was rich and deeply engaged. Here we see that a bit more than half of our parents who responded indicated that they would prefer a return to the quarterly gradebook, with a quarter indicating no preference. And I'll just note that we did not survey parents in the previous year, so we don't have data to compare. So when the feedback from parents was considered... Not only from the survey, but also from the emails and conversations that we had since last summer, it became clear that the questions around turnaround time, early notification of a change in performance, and overall transparency were more salient than the choice between the rolling grade book and the quarterly grade book. We have now focused our efforts on these major themes as presented to

107you by Mr. Bonamo in November. We issued guidelines for homeschool communication regarding changes in student performance in January, and in December we published expectations for turnaround time on student work. We also held information sessions for students and parents about the rolling grade book and administered this survey that I just presented. To address the last item on the list of issues, that of transparency, it was decided, as Dr. Patrick just outlined, that we will introduce an online student grade portal next school year. Student grades on individual assessments will be posted on Infinite Campus within one week of being returned. Students will have daily access to the portal, while parents will continue to receive information aligned with progress reports and report cards. We believe that this is developmentally appropriate and honors the student's role in managing information

108about their performance. Parent access to the portal will be based in the context of the continued availability of how they've always been able to communicate with teachers. And the key point here that we want to underscore is that we want the student and parent to have a conversation about student progress before there's communication with the parent and the teacher. We also want to minimize the potential for students to check the portal continuously for changes. So we are looking at guardrails such as not having the portal open during the school day and also showing students how they can limit notifications. We don't know how much of this is possible or what parameters make the most sense, but we're working hard to provide support for teachers in making this change and providing clarity to students and parents

109on what to expect when this begins in the fall. We are currently working on the details of this implementation within the assessment committee, the high school cabinet, and with our partners in the technology department, and we will provide more information to parents when school opens in the fall. There are additional slides in this presentation with more results from the survey, but in the interest of time, I worked with Principal Bonamo to distill the presentation into the key points of data and our responses to the themes on the feedback. I'm happy to take your questions. Thank you. Thank you. That's really helpful. Helps me put it all into perspective in terms of the different constituents. I know this is perhaps not an easy question to answer, but do you have a sense on why the response

110was, in terms of percentages, what it was? I was very surprised about the low parent. participation juxtaposed to the high parent input during the process so that kind of threw me off and I also wondered why teachers are 58% and not closer to 100%, let's put it that way. For participation? Yeah, I'm just curious what, you know, as an insider to the process, it seems to me there's so much emotion built up around it, you would think, oh, finally, they're asking me, you know. And the parents were pushing for it, yet, you know, 18% is not exactly an overwhelming number. So I'm just curious. So I've given surveys in other situations before, and typically... If you get about half of your overall population, that's considered actually pretty good. I know it sounds like not the

111best participation. I will say also for the parent survey, we did reopen it because we had even lower participation. So we sent out another parent square blast, and we also had our PTA add it to the newsletter a second time just to get more participation. So I think people are busy and sometimes miss. Emails or just missed notifications, but we did try to reopen it so we could get better participation We were able to double the amount of parents that gave us responses Again, this is sort of you know, there's no way to to know this but I'm just curious if just anecdotally through feedback whether you get a sense that in terms of a survey process whether not responding implies eh, it's fine, you know, whatever they do is fine, you know, I don't

112need to respond as opposed to passionately feeling one way or the other, you know, people will carve out the time even when they're busy to do this. So I'm just curious what from your background you think... Let's focus on the parents for the moment since the other participation was above average. This was significantly below average. Just curious what you think, how one might interpret that. I can't even pretend to know. I would say that Those parents participating definitely felt the most passionately just looking at we've had anecdotal responses Open-ended responses and they wrote very lengthy responses. They were very passionate about it So I would say your your guess that the most passionate group is participating in the survey is probably accurate I was gonna start by I had written down a comment But I

113also feel like now I need it sort of relates to what Bob was asking so I was just gonna say I appreciate our Drew your responsiveness to the survey and to the feedback that we got from everybody the students the faculty the parents and Bob related to your question I think sometimes I hear from parents that they fill out surveys and nothing happens and there's a real frustration in the parent community that they express concerns about a particular topic whether it's a tenure feedback form, whether it was the coaches' surveys from before, and that nothing happens. That may not be that nothing happens, but they feel that nothing happens. So I think there's a real building in trust from the community to hear that they expressed concerns about something and that they were taken seriously.

114So I appreciate that. And I think that might explain why, at least from the parents, that there's a little bit of frustration or may have been frustration that they were feeling unheard. so that's just just my speculation on that i also want to just express my gratitude for the transparency that we're offering our students i think that is something that for years we have heard we want more transparency we want more transparency and it started i felt like during covid at least that's when it started for me because that's when i started on the board and i felt like we've carried that value forward as a board I've said this before, but when we were looking for a superintendent, that was one thing that I felt as a board we felt was important. There was

115not transparency before. We got more transparency. That was something we were looking for in a leader, and I've said this before, too. I expect that value to trickle down throughout our community, and whether it's not just Drew and the cabinet, but also all of the principals, all of the teachers, everyone. in the community should be striving for that so i i am really pleased to see this direction forward thank you so much for coming tonight i know you were coming last minute and you have little ones at home so i just wanted to thank you for your time um i i wholeheartedly agree with what what amber said and her her take on the surveys unfortunately I think one thing that I've taken from the survey is whether it's the results from the teachers or

116the results from the parents or even the results from the kids, it's clear everyone wants the kids to be successful. And I hope that, you know, as we move forward with this. that we can all kind of step back and realize that the parents, they want their kids to be successful, and the teachers, they want their students to be successful, and the students want to be successful. And I think what we hear repeatedly as a board and what I think has been highlighted by the rolling grade book, not... against the rolling grade book is the lack of transparency that that people are feeling or the the home to school connection is Misconnecting So I appreciate the assessment committee Giving this survey out. I appreciate them reflecting on the questions. I appreciate them reflecting on the

117results and I appreciate You know drew you doing that as well. I know it's not an easy decision or an easy plan, but my hope is that In the end, we all can kind of come together and refocus back on the students because that's the goal is their success. And I really believe that that is what everybody wants. And so my hope is that this will just allow us to keep moving in that direction. So I just wanted to thank the assessment committee for taking the time to look this over and thank Drew for his leadership. I would also like to thank Drew for his leadership. I think that the transparency is something we heard also a lot from students when we were taking feedback on rolling grade book of frustration that there wasn't clarity

118or transparency they weren't always able to meet with their teachers they didn't always understand how they were doing and they were working hard and it was a point of frustration so I think we're student-centered is our work and it's very important and it's very important to me and I know it's important to the board I have a question about something that's written up there. It says, teachers using Google Classroom to post grades will automatically sync their grades with Infinite Campus. So the Google Classroom will ostensibly, if they get a grade on a certain test, it will show up on Google Classroom as that grade. But that's not their grade yet. So what is that necessary when it means when it's time for grades to be put in? It will sync automatically? Is that what that

119means? So we will be working with a new version of Google Classroom starting July 1st. And I've been working with Jeannie Crowley to understand how that will... talk to our Infinite Campus system. So obviously our Infinite Campus system is how we communicate grades out to parents and students and it's our reporting system. So teachers will have the option to continue keeping their grades in Google Classroom as some do now, but there will be a capability to sync it into the Infinite Campus gradebook where the student portal will be located. grades but each just as far as you know each discrete grade is not showing up in both places that infinite campus is just for a report card time right um so if we have a student portal they'll be able to see their individual grades

120on assignments as the teacher puts them in it depends on how the teacher enters them into google classroom correct if the teacher uses that capability in google classroom and then um for timely feedback i know there were some measures put into place you know, to ensure timely return of papers at a certain, you know, a few weeks later, whatever it may be, because we heard about inconsistencies when we were discussing this. And I'm just wondering, do you know if there are any metrics or any way of understanding, like, if that's happening or even anecdotally? Or if there's something just so that the administration and the teachers and everyone's aware, like is this, are we moving forward in this direction or not kind of thing? So I believe Ken had that in his last quarterly update,

121just our statement on turnaround time. It was just a re-acknowledgement of practice that we have in place among our departments, just kind of outlining clearly what parents can expect, what students can expect. making sure everybody has the same understanding of what the expectation is as far as getting work returned. And then you'll see up there we have just a statement about as soon as a teacher hands back a paper within one week, the student will be able to see that reflected in the portal. Thank you. Anybody else? I'll just echo my thanks for all this work throughout the year and being student-centered. Thanks. Yes, I'd like to echo my fellow board members' comments. And, you know, Scarsdale is a culture of innovation and education. I think, you know, that's something we really pride ourselves on.

122You know, Tri-State Consortium is coming in this week. You know, we are constantly, you know, innovating, and I think that's wonderful. I wanted to appreciate the assessment committee and their partnership, as well as Drew's leadership. and you know hopefully we can move forward and to the best interest of our students Laura thank you again really short notice appreciate it and appreciate the faculty members who stayed for this presentation okay we're gonna shift to part two math updates I will be doing the pinch hitting on this one and obviously when Edgar's back we have a board meeting in June can certainly follow up as needed. So we're gonna share some updates based on feedback first from our educators that came through survey and some discussions and also the parent feedback and we've tried to make this

123sort of as straightforward as possible with the challenges and what the call was and what the response is to this point in time. I know Edgar wanted to express gratitude for our faculty and everyone who shared input and our principals and assistant principals. We're going to talk a little bit about the positive themes and challenges, then the call and responses I mentioned, and then just talk about our next steps. So it's always good to start with some positives. So the feedback we got most recently from faculty about the current program and where we are. One is improved mathematical communication. Our teachers are noting growth in students' ability to explain their mathematical thinking. I concur with that, having focused my classroom visits in the elementary on math classes when possible. They've been able to explain their

124thinking both verbally and in writing using appropriate academic math vocabulary. Engagement in math discourse. The program encourages students to discuss and collaborate on problem solving, fostering deeper engagement and confidence in math. These are things our teachers reported. Growth in conceptual understanding. Our teachers are observing improvements in students' ability to understand and apply their math concepts, particularly in problem solving, number decomposition, and the distributive property. And then increased flexibility with numbers. And I'd say that's what... really notice when I'm talking to students they become more comfortable using multiple strategies to solve the problems that they're encountering and to have a stronger number sense. Challenges and we've heard some of these challenges through from our educators and from parents as well. So first challenge identifies fact fluency. We heard some educators note deficiencies in students' fluency with

125basic math facts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and sort of worry about a lack of automaticity as impacting students' ability when they get to those more complex concepts to be able to focus appropriately on them. Word problem comprehension, we noted in a previous meeting that the... Language is rigorous and students can struggle with understanding and solving word problems, particularly multi-step problems, and this can be exacerbated by those who experience difficulties in reading comprehension. variety of mastery of versus mastery of strategies the introduction of multiple strategies upfront without allowing sufficient time for mastery can confuse some students and some teachers have expressed the need for deeper focus on an individual strategy for success before moving on and then conceptual understanding and application. That some of our teachers report gaps in students' ability to understand

126and apply math concepts, such as place value operations and algorithms. Some teachers are reporting a need for more explicit instruction and hands-on learning in these areas. So those are some of the things that our teachers identified. So as we think about those challenges and what our response might be... In terms of fact fluency, we're going to work toward math fact fluency benchmarking. So as you know, this board supports professional program improvement in the summer, and we're going to set up summer time to allow teachers to work on a process to benchmark that they'll share with their colleagues appropriate levels of fact mastery in grades one through five. In addition... We're going to create fact fluency assessments and a recording system, much like our primary assessment committee has done in ELA and literacy, that teachers can

127use to help in their work with students as a means of sharing progress with parents. It's an exciting opportunity for teacher professional development, especially since none of our previous programs had any specific or formal fact assessment work. It would be introduced individually by teachers. these benchmarks will work in concert with the fluency checks students currently find in the Reveal MacBook so we'll make that connection explicit this is frozen there we go in the second area word problem comprehension our team will spend time looking at kindergarten and first grade curriculum and refine the language there and adapt problems as appropriate Third challenge, variety versus mastery of strategies. And we're going to look at this summer at the review of the pacing calendars to make sure there is adequate time for that mastery within the unit of

128that particular unit of math. In terms of differentiation and options, our math coordinators and math committee have identified a range of complementary resources, and they exist in you know, the teacher-facing website, but being more explicit at embedding those complementary resources into the units will take place over the summer, along with creating a K2 enrichment application station in Padlet that will be shared with the teachers. And then... we're going to be responsive as we have been in the past through differentiating professional learning opportunities so teachers are going to be asked to weigh in to identify what works best for them to develop their further develop their practice you know the content format and timing of professional development with our two elementary math coordinators so that's upcoming Then back to feedback, summarizing the parent and family feedback

129that we've gotten in the area of student progress and confidence. Some parents have noted improvements in their children's math understanding and confidence and appreciate the opportunities for students to try different strategies and explain their thinking. We have had parents appreciate the curriculum's emphasis on the real-world connections and inquiry-based learning, which they feel helps deepen their child's understanding of the math concepts. The homeschool connection, those who are receiving the unit family letters appreciate that for keeping them informed, and I'll talk in a minute about how we're making those available to everyone. The math replay videos, similarly, videos are seen as helpful for understanding how math is taught in the classroom for those parents who've... gotten access and viewed those. And then differentiation and strategy variety, we have heard positive feedback that some parents value the differentiation

130in the program and the variety of strategies taught. Which move beyond rote memorization. On to the challenges. So in terms of difficulty in supporting homework or access to support materials, Carrie and Vivian have just launched a parent-facing math website. That will be a feature in the Friday Five this coming Friday. It is currently linked from our elementary curriculum webpage, but I appreciate their work and teachers who over time have helped curate resources that are on that website. That site does include the videos, the math replay videos, and the letters for every unit. so look for that there's also scope and sequence on there as well as resources for what to do at home with children if you're looking for that and some research links better understanding of the rationale of the resources so the team

131is planning a first a June district workshop that will be a single event for all five buildings with representation from all five buildings of teachers and administrators to kind of create the opportunity to experience the program and deepen the understanding of what how the program works as it's currently constituted and also talk about some of the improvements that we're going to make so each school will have teacher representation on that and it's really going to be responsive to the family survey and the feedback that we've already talked about beyond the June district we're still pinning down a date for that but we are also going to plan for fall workshop opportunities in each school to basically like a coffee structure to allow parents in their own school to engage with the educators and you know

132become more familiar with the program and even see some of the summer work that's been that will have been put in place at that point in time so those are our next steps schedule those workshops continue to use the feedback we're getting data and formal you know to inform our PD and the adaptations and flexibilities within the curriculum and then to communicate that trying to involve input from our from our stakeholders engage honestly to provide the support that we need to our educators as they ask for changes and develop that and hopefully as I said earlier have understanding and trust that we are responsive and we're have student learning at the center and and want to make sure that that's every student is learning and gaining proficiency and and beyond so that's our math update

133Did my best to channel my inner inner Edgar. Thank you Drew and thank you Edgar for this work. I appreciate that there are gonna be you know parent facing opportunities at the building level. I think that's really important. One of the things I recall being a parent myself with Reveal Math was that the parent the materials when you have access to them to the letters they were dense too. The letters home were dense. So if there's, you know, if that's a place where it can be made a little more clear for people who may be supporting their children with homework, that would be helpful, I'm sure. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. To Edgar, too, if you're watching, I just want to take a moment. I feel like... You and your team have been

134very responsive this year and it's appreciated. I know we've all gotten a lot of feedback about the real deal math, about the grading in the high school, and I hope that the community can take a moment to see the efforts being put in place to address these concerns. And I think it just demonstrates that we all really are trying to do what's best for the students. I really appreciated the benchmarks, the fact fluency benchmarks that you spoke about. That's something that we repeatedly heard from the community, the lack of fact fluency being instructed and the concerns around that. I think one of the things that I think would be helpful if you haven't already decided to do this. is to make sure that these benchmarks or these assessments are shared with the parents. Again, just

135the transparency, strengthening that home to school connection is, I think, part of the way the families can get around this new program and this new way of learning math. So that was just my one little piece of feedback. Thank you. I appreciate that. I do want to specifically mention, and I meant to do this earlier, that at least I believe, and I know Edgar and the team believes, that the board's support for the two math coordinators for next year, that's really essential for this work and the continued professional development. And I know, because I see them in the document, Carrie and Vivian are following along, and they have been. extremely responsive and I have gratitude to them for all of the you know their dedication to helping students through helping teachers with support in the

136curriculum I don't have a question but I just wanted to express appreciation to Edgar and his team for the way this is laid out because I think for me it's very easy to follow where some of the concerns were before or are and how they're being addressed so I very just very much appreciate this layout Yeah, and I just wanted to echo that as well. I do appreciate the efforts that have gone into responding to these concerns. I did get the sense from the discussion a number of weeks back that the actual research behind RevealMath was... Very defensible I mean in terms of what it's what it's trying to do and what it's intended to do and the kind of pedagogy that it represents I think is data supported and certainly aligned with New York

137State guidance and what New York State is implementing in terms of math pedagogy You know, I think we heard that there were implementation issues and bringing the parents along was a problem and hopefully these steps that are outlined here will help address that. But I do believe, you know, if we believe in the research and we believe in the pedagogy and the goal of Reveal Math, you know, that's the thing to do is not to jettison it but to make it better. So I think that's what I'm seeing here and so I appreciate that. Yes, I just wanted to add one further point. For me, it's exceptionally clear and transparent. I really, really appreciate that. The thing that I struggle with, as you can probably hear in some of my questions, is communicating it to

138the parents and making sure that they know these things are being done. I think everyone has sincere concern, but somehow between maybe the busy lives that people lead and the inundation of information from everybody every day, people don't always click and read. So I don't know what the answer is, but I think I would just suggest repetition. In other words, every potential venue that you can repeat it because you just never know. I mean, you know, again, it's late. People are not necessarily sitting here reading this. And I think people, if they did read it, would be very comforted. At least I know I am. I feel like, wow, we're in really good hands here. You know, they've really... dotted every I and crossed every T. But getting that out to people is challenging. We've

139seen that in other venues. So I think it's an area, I guess, that we all can try and improve on. And I know we put a lot of effort as a board in communication with the community, whether it's a coffee or attending a PTA or PTC meeting. I think perhaps we need to keep putting our hats on and thinking about that because I'm not sure what we're doing. It's not working to the degree that I would like it to work. Not through lack of effort, I don't think, but I don't think we've necessarily figured that out totally. So I think that sort of falls back on us maybe to think about more. ways to do that. I'm not sure what it is. Sometimes... It's TikTok videos, Bob. It could be. I see that in your

140future. It's an architectural term, but I would say less is more, not more is more, and I think that becomes challenging. I mean, to Leah's point about the density, sometimes less is more, meaning handing people smaller doses of things, even though that may be contrary to what... people think they want or that we think that they want but I think you know what whatever maybe it is a tick-tock video I don't know but it's not so crazy maybe yeah you drew and Edgar for all your work on this presentation and more importantly the work that's being done you know to be responsive to concerns and keeping the student Okay, we'll move on to the next item on the agenda. That would be item 12.05, a new policy, third reading already, on the ex officio student

141member of the board. I mean, I just want to reiterate my personal view that I think there should be a mechanism for any student to run. I'd love the nominating committee. I think there should be a mechanism to run outside of it as well. I think that the qualifications and requirements should mirror that of board members. I know that was changed at the last meeting, but I still hold that view. I think that this is not a liaison to the board. This is a board member who happens to be a student. It is ex officio, but they're a board member. So I believe the requirements should mirror that which all board members must meet. Would we expect if everyone else is okay with this? that we would come and have an action item in June

1429th. So this is the last opportunity. Okay. All right then. Thank you. Next item would be maybe a third reading, or I guess technically a second reading of the draft policy for the students and personal electronic devices. it's a third reading well we had like an unofficial first reading non-reading discussion yeah yes but I guess now that the bill has passed so I don't know if you want to speak to any changes yeah I would encourage people to read the background information we now see the text of the bill that was passed on the evening of May 8th there were a couple of things that came into effect that weren't represented in our draft policy. So if you're looking at the Google doc, there's some changes that are noted at the top of page two

143under exemptions and exceptions. We differentiated basically medical and disability related exceptions were lumped together in the earlier version of the draft and they've been separated out to use the language of the bill specifically for medical management of a student's health care would be indicated through a documentation from a medical professional shared with the administration and then There's a new exemption for educationally necessary translation. So that's included in there. And then new language related to instances where a student is a primary caregiver responsible for the care and well-being of a family member. So those things are all components of the legislation that were maybe not in the earlier iteration. So those have been included. And then we separate it out just to make it very clear. Students' use of an internet enabled device will be allowed

144where such use is included in the IEP or 504. That is the authorization for the exemption under those circumstances. I did just, as a note of, a point of note, I did meet with a group of students last week, high school students, and they were... you know they asked a lot of really good questions some some I didn't have answers to the the precise enactment of this at the high school will require some ongoing conversation and will be you know require some edits to the student handbook and reflected reflected in there my hope is that we're are that we're successful in you know doing this through the culture of the building and keeping the rationale in the center that this is hopefully an improvement in the learning experience of our students and that I'm hopeful

145we don't have a ton of conflict around this but we do need to prepare for that and have contingency plan for that and that those are conversations now that this law was passed and this policy will be eventually adopted that we will work through those questions thoughtfully Thank you Drew. Any questions? Yes Amber. I do have a just a couple questions. Thanks Drew. So I think it was at one of the coffees, some parent brought this up, and it kind of stuck in my head, but they mentioned buses, but it made me think about field trips. So bell-to-bell field trips, students will not be able to have their devices on at all during a field trip. Is that how this policy reads and how it works now? I don't think that's how this policy reads

146or works. It talks about... It's just on campus. Okay, so that was going to be my follow-up question, like overnight trips. And so we have some of those where students are on school trips, and they should hopefully be able to. So the teacher or administrator can make educationally appropriate. exceptions for the use of that and I would think contacting home on an overnight or something like that makes makes sense but that's I would say broadly that's one of the questions we need to work through okay and then we have earlier and I think I've asked this before but I still just want to make sure I understand so in the high school when students have freeze they will be able to use their laptops to do work someplace without administrator approval or will they still

147need somebody's approval? So I think that would be fleshed out in the student handbook. Okay, the process or however that works. Okay. And then we had, you had struck out last time. So electronics must be turned off. Does that mean that laptops also have to be turned off? So like if you use it and like the teacher says, okay, you can use it in social studies. You take it out, you turn it on, use it, then you turn it off, put it back, and then go to your next class. And the teacher says, oh, you can use it. You pull it out, you turn it on again. Is that, I mean, because it applies to laptops too, right? I suppose it does. Hadn't thought about that, to be perfectly honest. I do. So I think

148there's a difference with, there's a distinction with a difference there, I think, but maybe we need to be more explicit about that. If I were to close this, it's functionally off. I'm not getting, I can't get notifications, even if I haven't gone through the shutdown protocol. If I close this, it does go to sleep and is not getting notifications. And to my mind, that's the intent. Okay. Because I was a little confused about how that might work. And then just one thing I noticed, and I wanted to be sure that this was intentional, and I think it says, so if an exemption is granted for a personal device for health or 504-IEP, those students won't need to turn off their devices. They just need to put them away. So, for example, they could have a

149phone on silent or vibrate, but a student who doesn't have an exemption must have their phone off. So I think the conditions under which the exemption are granted or the reason the exemption is granted will dictate the answers to those questions. Okay. So there could be a medical reason that the device always needs to be on the desk. We would need to account for that. So each of those circumstances would be. If there's an exemption related to the IEP, it would only be for the specific purpose outlined in the IEP. Each of an accommodation or modification on an IEP or 504, regardless of whether it's for electronics, has what's called implementation conditions. So it would need to spell out there's an exemption for the use of an Internet-enabled device for. whatever it might be. If

150it were something like a Dexcom or checking blood sugar, that's probably something that needs to be on all the time because it's going to give you signals when your blood sugar starts to move in a direction that you don't want it to. Whereas if it's a student who only needs it for educationally needed translation. then that may be something that they need in class, during a test, something like that. So it's even possible. I don't know how those monitors work for medical purposes, but if you needed an alert to come on, if it needed to be, it may not even be silenced, right? I mean, we're going to have whatever exception. Some of our youngest kids in some medical conditions require a toileting schedule that actually you can do. uses a physical vibration on an

151internet enabled watch, that could be something that would be an exception on a 504. This is an example. Which actually are exceptions to our current policy. They are already being implemented. Those exemptions do exist in elementary school already because of phones or. Okay, thank you. So, sorry, quick question. I'm trying not to be a lawyer here, but with respect to the way. this is written that distinguishes between elementary and middle school students and high school students with respect to what happens to electronic devices. And with respect to the elementary and middle school, it says they either leave it home or if they bring it, it must be off and away in backpacks or lockers, which suggests to me that it can't be in their pockets. It has to be not on their person, like when

152they're in the... you know from bell to bell unless they're in the exception or they're being used for educational purposes but at the high school level it says students devices must be turned off and put away which it doesn't say where put away so can it be in their pocket I mean is that can they just have it off and in their pocket so I think we're figuring out what a what the choices are there and again that would be a student student handbook yeah we decided against yonder pouches yeah but haven't solved for what? The only thing I'm thinking about is that people have raised concerns about if there's a crisis, if there's something, there are times when it may be at least the optionality of having access to a cell phone could be

153a good thing. So I mean, I know that the idea is not, of course, for it to be off, but I'm just wondering if, you know. you know if the mandate is not it must not be on your person at all if that's a necessary mandate to comply or if it's really you know it's just the main thing it is that it is off currently the currently the elementary schools do not allow it on the person they want it away in a backpack or a locker so yeah I'm talking about the high school yeah so I think those the two are our commensurate with what's going on I thought, you know, in elementary school, the kids don't carry around backpacks, like, throughout the day like they do in high school. So I think that's how

154I read it. And, you know, if high school students can have them in their backpack, it's more because they don't really use lockers than anything else. Every level will have them. I don't know if there's wiggle room at all with anything because I know it's pretty strict. legislation but um ideally i would prefer to keep as much local control as we can at the building level for the high school administration to use their judgment because they see the day-to-day life of high schoolers and they would know i think maybe what's best so i don't know i mean i will say when we first added laptops to this and removed silenced without vibration i wasn't crazy about those changes i don't know if that's required or not i would maybe Since students are allowed to register

155their laptop and use it in the school I don't know if you want to say unregistered laptop, you know I think it's a little confusing the way it reads if it's included I think you know, so I wanted to say that I don't know is silence without vibration not allowed Is do not disturb not allowed. I mean, I don't know but I As the policy is written right now. As the law is written right now It's not allowed. No, it doesn't indicate does not say Off it just says they're you know, I'm just pulling it up right now. Okay I mean, so I personally like I said would prefer to have Whatever we go room we could have because I think that you know, especially more at the high school I mean at the high

156school level really there was nuance and I would think that would be important for one of our policies to not you know, even when we say such devices at the top where we say such devices may include or is it has to be such devices include? I think some of the language seems a little rigid to me and I don't know if it needs to be that rigid. If it doesn't, I would soften it personally. And then I just had some questions about the, you know, at the end of the, what was, what you, the legislation, it says this act shall take effect immediately. So does that mean it's already in effect? it's not for the 25-26 school year as far as I know but it speaks to the I believe the 25-26 school year

157because I think if yeah so that they will often say that but they have a date earlier in there well I mean we could take this back for another read, take laptop out or something. The law says internet-enabled devices shall mean and include any smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, or other device capable of connecting to the internet and enabling the user to access content on the internet. Wouldn't we just use that language? I don't know. I'm just putting it out there because I feel like listing it all can be, I don't want to be more restrictive than we need to be, especially if we are. allowing people to obviously register there be you know bring bring from home laptop to do their work during their freeze for educational purposes I don't know I just wanted to share

158that you don't have to we don't have to change it I just wanted to share my concern that it was the choice the choice we made in the policy that's proposed lists more specifics devices than the the law lists so I actually, so you've pointed out something that's just occurring to me right now. Our policy includes call text only phones. The law actually does not prohibit those. So that is a direct example where this policy as written is more restrictive than the law. And frankly, I apologize. I didn't notice that until just now. And then we list other items like gym, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, wireless headphones and earbuds, internet connected accessories, e-readers, calculators, voice recorders, cameras and music devices. So we can back off to have it match closer to the law. This, I would

159frankly, makes it easier for... those enforcing the policy to know what they're enforcing. So I think that's the tradeoff. No, I understand that. I just didn't know if, okay, well, is our doing it makes it easier for them, or would they rather have that agency to kind of, you know, understand it and do it in their building as they see as much as they can or cannot do according to the law, if that makes sense. So I just wanted to share that. And then my other question is related to enforcement at the state level. It seems like we're going to be reporting to the state or having, we have to have a website. I mean, all that seems a little overreaching to me. So what the law says is you have to publish at the

160end of year one and every year thereafter an accounting of the number of disciplinary actions associated with this policy. and break that down demographically so it's not a it's not this what we're used to as a local education agency is the state creates a form and we have to fill it out this does not seem like that and therefore leads me to believe state ed is not involved in this so without a enforcement mechanism that the drafters of the bill decided that it would be you know post require posting to the website and my question more to our board is is there any advocacy around that particular issue that we would want to potentially do it just seems like it's I don't know if it's something the administration thinks that we should push back on

161it all or we could push back on it all I think the rationale for that is the fear of this being disproportionately impacting certain groups of students, which is a possibility. Maybe not here, but it's certainly a possibility. Drew, do you have a sense of what you mean by demographics? What does that mean? By age, by race, by ethnicity, by gender? I don't know. i'm just going to the to the text so um so it asks uh you have to i'll read it exactly this is uh section seven no later than september 1st 2026 and each september 1st thereafter each school district charter school and board of cooperative educational services shall publish an annual report on its website detailing enforcement of the policy within the district charter school including non-identifiable demographic data of students who

162have faced disciplinary action for non-compliance and analysis of any demographic disparities in enforcement of the policy that's it and if such a disparity is determined you have to publish a mitigation plan Wow yeah as I kind of said this feels like a big overreach to me this language and I don't know if there is any room for anything in terms of advocacy because it seems like the governor was set on this, but I think it would maybe, if people think it could be beneficial to do something advocacy-wise related to especially the enforcement aspect of this or the reporting aspect of this. Just to be clear, it's not clear to me reading this that you must make examples of students disciplinarily. It's just that if you do, you have to publish what you do. but it's

163not saying you have to do that right that's that's how i read it i mean our read of that would would be disciplinary action that we were that were compelled to report in other arenas is really just suspension worse but would anybody like to um you know either write a letter or you know i mean to me it seems like although i i agree with you that it does seem like overreach I also feel like this is imminent in terms of law. If you want to write a letter for review of the board in terms of protesting this, I'd be okay with that. I'll just throw out one suggestion. I think my understanding is there was a lot of advocacy done by a lot of groups. Perhaps it might be stronger if December of next

164year, six months in, the board to consider either writing a letter or getting groups because then there will be months of data saying this part of the policy is impossible to implement. Look what's happening with calculators or whatever. I just think I don't disagree with you. I just think that right now is probably not the most opportune time given that it just passed and there was a lot of advocacy happening. this is this is the outcome I think would just be a little stronger you'd have a stronger case I think that's a great idea Ron like I think that's a really that's a really good idea when we have when we have practical things that we can go back with and say this has been a challenge for our district our school our students our

165families but Ron's leaving us how's he gonna head up that committee I do. I do feel strongly about it. I mean, especially with, you know, a rising senior. I think that there's this is just complete overreach on the governor's part. And there's total lack of local control here. I have a lot of issues with it. So I wouldn't mind heading up that committee next year, Jim. Feel strongly about it. You won't be able to call me for help. We'll ask you to write a letter Ron I just I I think it's set in here but just to be clear somebody mentioned this later, but like the calculator one this I don't care whether it's talked about in here, but as long as there's the easy way to exempt those things, I think that's fine. I

166mean, that's what we think, that educationally they can, yeah, take your graphing calculator out. And same in the hallways. You're doing your homework. Not that I think any faculty member is going to seek you with a calculator and have them to put it away. Although, you can put games on the calculator. As far back, at least back in the... like the 80s and 90s you could i'm sure you still can now they have wi-fi chips all right thank you everybody uh if that's if that's all we'll move on to the next item on the agenda um and that would be the item 12.07 the westpac administrative budget and board of directors slate and i believe this is wrong thank you susie um So for those watching, just as a reminder, Westchester Putnam School Board Association

167is an organization that this board's been a member of for a long time. It provides a lot of valuable services around advocacy, more at the local level, Westchester Putnam, lots of different trainings, events where educational events for board members, for superintendents and administrators, similar to how we discussed for... I think the last one we did was Southern Westchester BOCES. There is a cost to districts. There is also a board of directors for West Putt, of which one of our esteemed board members, Susie, is not only a member but on the slate to continue to be an officer. So thank you for your service. As well as... rolling slate of board members from districts within Westchester and Putnam so the attachments are about the slate as well as the budget thank you any questions next item

168item 12.08 of the board leadership succession planning and I believe this is me so it is already May each year around this time we begin discussion about board succession so that the community is aware of how this process works I will give you a short outline of it policy 2220 entitled board officers reads as follows the president and vice president of the Board of Education shall be elected by members of the board from its membership at the annual reorganizational meeting Candidates for each office shall be nominated and voted openly. The President and Vice President shall serve for one year until a successor is elected. The new board will have its reorganization meeting on July 1st, 2025. Nominations for President and Vice President shall be entertained and then voted upon at that time. Nominations may be

169made by board members and there may also be self-nominations. The purpose of tonight's information item is to begin the process. If any board member that is interested in serving as president or vice president next school year, they can let me know and we will provide an update at an upcoming board meeting prior to the reorganization meeting in July. If you're interested, let me know. Any questions or discussion? item 12.09 the superintendent evaluation process i'd like to start with an overview of the evaluation process that the board undertook this year as part of our duty to review the superintendent this process began last summer and early fall with dr patrick developing his goals for the school year the board and dr patrick also determined which evaluation template we wish to use and this year we are

170again utilizing the niscus rubric a copy of which is available on the district website Throughout the entire school year, the board continually provides feedback to Dr. Patrick. In addition, there are two formal evaluation and feedback structures in place. The board conducts a mid-year evaluation to provide interim feedback during the school year, and the board also conducts an end-of-year evaluation of the superintendent, which is just getting underway. As of last year, we have adopted SuperEval as our software platform for conducting our evaluation, which we will be continuing to use again this year. we would like to thank dr. Patrick for his partnership in this process to be continued any questions or discussion okay next we have a bunch of gifts no fewer than seven these are all gifts to our schools that exceed $1,000 so they're

171here as information items and then unless there are questions or concerns that would you know push it into a different process they'll come back in the June meeting as gift action items the first is a something you you I think have heard about for a while now but the Edgewood PTA is coming forward with a $60,000 gift dedicated to building an outdoor learning space this is something they've been working on for a very long time have engaged with our facilities team and BBS to you know sort of make sure it works and fits so that's a big one next pause there it's not a playground it's an outdoor learning space in various formats 12.11 is Fox meadow donation to support dance program with Fox Metal third grade and physical education class in conjunction with Metropolitan

172Dance Center I just had a question in terms of I think at one point we got a federal grant that we used for like Alvin Ailey at the high school it could that a grant like that be used towards a program like this or is that there are two different things they couldn't be used I'm just curious like in the future if we got a grant like that again so I think we in this particular case I guess theoretically yes that's probably an allowable use of a grant you can have use title grant that's through title 2a which is teacher development as if there's any more grants anymore in the future but yeah it's a really hypothetical question I guess something right in this particular case like this is definitely a core plus program so

173we probably wouldn't got it no and I know it's a small group of students too I just was curious if the those funds could have been used for something okay thank you all right I've had a quick question um you mentioned score plus but it is impacting their PE and music class that doesn't affect the curriculum that's set up for PE and music or I mean it's an enhancement to it it's not that they wouldn't learn right you know yeah the skills that they're focused on we do have some differentiation in our PE curriculum this just enhances it with expertise that we don't have and you're not worried about sorry like inequity with the other third grade PE and music classes in the other elementary schools no 12.12 also a gift to Fox Meadow is

174connected to a kindergarten science unit where they design and construct mini golf holes and now going out into the real world and seeing having a field trip out to see it 12.13 a gift to Green Acres for a new sensory path and we've done these in other schools and so on it involves stripping the floor so it's a it's a believe a replacement as we've seen after four years or so that that's required to happen if we want if we want those in the building 12.14 is a gift to the high school for Maroon's video broadcast upgrades in terms of technology for them to do those productions. And I know William is connected with the Maroon team to assess and figure out the decisions around that equipment. 12.15 is a gift to the high school

175athletics program. and this is for our track and field athletes and then finally 12.16 another gift that's been in the works for quite a while at quaker ridge is to upgrade and install a projector for the auditorium to make and move the screen to make that a more inviting and effective presentation space lots of gratitude to all of our partners for those gifts thank you Okay next item 13 action items the district-wide safety and emergency management plan So we have completed our 30-day comment period had our required hearing for the district-wide safety plan so it comes back to final approval of the safety plan Questions or discussion and for the action item I believe this is Leah I move that the board adopt the following resolution. Resolve that the Board of Education approve the district-wide

176safety plans with revisions as presented. Thank you, Leah. Is there a second? Thank you, Colleen. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Item 13.02, the West Part Administrative Budget. I believe this is Amber. Thank you, Susie. I move that the board accept the following. Resolve that the board cast its vote on the ratification of the 2025-2026 West Putt School Board Association budget as presented in the attachments. Thank you, Amber. Is there a second? Thank you, Leah. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Ayes have it, and the motion carries. Next item on the agenda, item 13.03, the West Putt Board of Directors slate. and I believe this is Colleen. Be it resolved that the board cast its vote on the slate of the 2025-26 officers and members of the board

177of directors as presented on the attachments. Thank you, Colleen. Is there a second? Thank you, Ron. Any discussion? Any abstentions? I might abstain from this one. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. The ayes have it, and the motion carries. Item 13.04. Honore? She was an abstention. Oh, sorry. thank you item 13.04 budget transfers i believe this is bob yes um i recommend that the board of education approves the attached budget transfers in excess of 25 000 as presented thank you bob is there a second thank you leah any discussion all those in favor please say aye motion carries um gifts Item 14.01, the gift proposal to the Edgewood School. This is Amber. Thank you, Susie. I move that the board accept the following. Resolve that the Board of Education accepts with thanks the

178gift of $355 for a K-1 multisensory reading comprehension tool as presented. Thank you, Amber. Is there a second? Thank you, Ron. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Ayes have it, and the motion carries with thanks. Next item, item 14.02, a gift proposal to the Fox Meadows School. I believe this is Colleen. I move that the board accept the following. Be it resolved that the Board of Education accepts with thanks the donation of $1,350 to support an author visit with Laura Marsh for Fox Meadows second grade students as presented in the attached letters. Thank you, Colleen. Is there a second? Thank you, Ron. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. The ayes have it and the motion carries with thanks. And the next gift, another gift proposal to

179the Fox Meadows School, I believe this is Ron. Thanks, Susie. I move the following. Resolve that the Board of Education accepts with thanks the donation of $600 to support ASL and Speaker of the Deaf through our Learning from Our Differences series as presented in the attached letters. Thank you, Ron. Is there a second? Thank you, Colleen. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Ayes have it, and the motion carries with thanks. Next, item 15, response and questions from those present. This will be the second of our two public comment sessions for this business meeting. Members of the public are cordially invited to be present, either in person or via remote meetings, and to speak at designated times on agenda items or other non-personnel-related matters. Each individual shall have four minutes to speak

180with a verbal cue at the three minute mark. There will be a 90 minute cap during the first public comment period and no time limit for the second public. The order of public comment will be as follows. Community members present at the board meeting will speak first. Members speaking via Zoom will speak second. Community members speaking via Zoom must have their camera turned on and when it is their turn to speak. The Board of Education shall maintain these rules for public comment in accordance with board policy 1230. and with that i'd like to ask if any members of the audience would like to make a public comment bring to zoom yes there are attendees on zoom one of whom has their hand up so i am promoting panelists to please if you could remember to

181unmute your device and put on your camera they seem to something seems to miscommunicate well uh can you see me i don't have the option to turn on the camera i don't see it we do see a Well, I don't know that you have to see my face. I'll do it from the phone then. I'll redial because this does not give me the option. I just click from. Thank you all for your patience. We'll give this a little time so that they can. Yeah. If you were just trying to get onto the Zoom to make a public comment, please log on again and you will be promoted to, you know. to speak apologies for that. Now if you could please unmute yourself and you do need we do need to have a video camera. Can

182you see me now? Hello? Yes we can. Thank you. I had to use my phone. Somehow it didn't work. Okay, so my name is Oana Papazoglu. I reside at 17 Tunstall Road. So I want to start by thanking you for the reveal mass updates. I first have a question for Dr. Patrick on the elementary mass presentation. So there was a slide there that talked about the parent feedback and survey, and I'm extremely confused about that one as we have not received anything. uh meaning we have not received any feedback form and we have actually been waiting for it so there was no survey no phone to fill in uh so i checked with other parents who have not received anything either so i would really like a clarification as to what that slide was based

183upon if it said parent or family feedback then secondly i have a general question for the board I saw that a while back during the ELA, elementary ELA presentation, we are promised transparency and communication. A few months later, I have not seen any change. So the website that we were pointed at the district website on the ELA mentions nothing on Lucy Corkins and most flower or any other pilot programs in the area of ELA. It doesn't even mention the textbook that my son is using for spelling. Teachers continue to get their monthly newsletters for which the access was being stopped for parents and parents still get nothing. So two years after a new ELA curriculum was put in place, I still have no idea what my child is learning in the area of ELA. There

184was no one single parent communication improvement that I noticed. And to the board, if you can just go and please check the website, does it have the info that the district promised and how do you plan on keeping track the promises made, are promises kept? On today's mass presentation, I have a few comments, and I know that I've been talking about RevealMass before, and I did try to keep quiet this time, as I thought I said enough already, but I really couldn't. I would like to underline that parents' concerns when it comes to RevealMass are not about communication, but about the curriculum itself. Looking at the slide with challenges identified by our elementary teachers should be enough to put anyone in high alert. Fact fluency and word problems comprehension are both challenges. Isn't that what

185mass is at the end of the day? Regarding this whole reveal mass discussion and approach, I would like to offer you my... simplistic view. I grew up in communism in a small town of coal miners. None of those people, including my own parents, had the time or resources to help their kids in mass. And yet that small town produced national mass Olympiad winners. The same is true for all these mass powerhouses, China, former Soviet Union, Korea, Singapore, nations from which U.S. keeps to this day importing material. additions. None of the parents follow their kids elementary math curriculum. International Olympiad winners do not have resourceful parents behind them. They don't have websites, research and so on. What they have in common is a love of math. They develop in school due to a rigorous curriculum and

186dedicated teachers. No iPads, no smart boards, no presentations, no parent coffees. None are present or take place in any of these places where math is taught successfully. Mass is mass. The beauty of it is that it is a universal language and if taught responsibly can be the greatest equalizer. I am living proof of that. Look at me, a girl from a coal mining town from a former communist country got a chance to come to US, not because she had any money, but because she was good at mass and is now living here in Scarsdale and talking to you. In an affluent district, the solution to any problem seems to be more money and talk. That is not the right solution to fix a bad math curriculum. At the end of the day, all you need

187to teach and learn math is pen and paper or chalk and blackboard. The moment you say there is need for parent workshops, communication, research, resources, parent involvement, then it is obvious, and I have to say it loud and clear, what these kids learn cannot be math. Thank you so much. Your time is up. We have to... Okay, thank you. Bye. There's someone else whose hand is raised. are promoting you to panelists if you could please put on your camera unmute your device okay i'm in lample i have three children in quaker ridge and i would guess first i would like to thank i forget her name who just spoke could you please sir i just uh state your address please um sure 25 haverford So I'll first say, I'll confirm her view. I myself was

188also excelled at math and my parents were never involved in my math education, even though I struggled as an early reader. And the fact that parents would be so involved in math is not a failure of communication, but a failure of the program. I furthermore would caution the administration, the board when referring to things such as evidence for reveal math evidence in this. area would be a multi-decade longitudinal study comparing like students over that time period. RevealMath has been around for a handful of years, so there cannot be evidence showing that it's successful in this context. Moving on, my other point would be it's disappointing to see that the tenured group was approved in full by the board. There are certain members who have expressed that it's a critical function to engage in political activism

189in the classroom. To that end, I would highly encourage the board to have a means of monitoring political activism by teachers in the classroom, which is completely inappropriate. And absent that monitoring, it raises questions about the effectiveness of the board. Thank you for your time this evening. Anybody else on Zoom? Then with that, we will close this public comment session and move on to... Sorry, no, there is one person, but their hand is not raised. Okay. Please raise your hand if you would like to speak. Okay, then with that, we will be closing this public comment session and moving on to item 15.01, response, oh, sorry, item 16.01, follow-up to public comment. Yeah, I will just share. If I misspoke, I apologize. I thought I had said there's a survey forthcoming to parents, so the

190response in the math presentation was to public comment, emails, conversations that we've had with parents. parents the survey that's forthcoming will be forthcoming thank you wrap-up items meeting dates for the coming month I believe this is Jim okay thank you Susie so the meeting dates for the coming months Tuesday May 20th 2025 there will be the public budget vote and board elections between 7 and 9 p.m. at the middle school gymnasium Monday June 2nd 2025 there'll be a special meeting slash executive session at 530 here in room 170 172 Monday June 9th 2025 there will be a retirement recognition ceremony at 530 here in this room and following that there'll be a business meeting in this room Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 will be the organizational and business meeting at 9 a.m. in this room. Thank

191you, Jim. And with that, would someone like to make a motion to adjourn this business meeting? Thank you, Amber. Is there a second? Thank you, Leah. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. The ayes have it and the motion carries. Good night, everyone. Don't forget to vote next week.