BOE Budget Forum/Business Meeting 2025-3-24

001Good evening. I call this budget forum 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, on the live stream, or via Zoom. Thank you to Drew, Andrew, Lisa, and your team, along with the rest of the cabinet, for all of your hard work on putting together this budget and the presentations we have seen at our budget study sessions. I will turn things over to Drew for the next item on the agenda a brief overview of the proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year good evening thank you very much Susie and before welcoming comments from members of our community we appreciate having the chance to share

002a brief overview of the 2025-26 budget plan as it currently stands the proposed 2025-26 school budget reflects important priorities outlined in our strategic plan It was influenced by challenging financial headwinds requiring difficult decisions, including the continued use of fund balance to maintain the tax levy at the cap. This particular recommendation was made as part of a balance that aims to implement priorities while maintaining the core education we provide to our students. Achieving a budget that includes all of the programs and supports for students in a tax cap era is extremely difficult, but we think this budget does that. I also want to comment on the relationship between the budget process and the ongoing work of continuous improvement. While the budget process creates an opportunity to discuss our programs and practices in detail, our work to

003achieve the strategic plan goals to improve our program of learning and teaching and to respond to the needs of our students and community is ongoing and independent of the particular timing of the budget process. This year, for example, we've received considerable input from students, parents, and teachers about elementary math learning and about grading at the high school. Some of the feedback has been collected formally through surveys, and some of it has come through communication directly with teachers, administrators, and members of this board. We take all of this input seriously and we try to thoughtfully incorporate that feedback in ways that serve our students needs while aligning with research and with our school culture. I recognize that the process can sometimes be hard to observe directly and that the rate of change can be frustrating. However,

004that doesn't mean we aren't listening. Furthermore, it would be missing a bigger picture to think that the budget process is the primary way to discuss these issues. Indeed, the High School Assessment Committee met just last week to review the important feedback collected through surveys of students, parents, and faculty, and time will be dedicated on our March 31st Superintendent's Conference Day to continue discussion and decision-making. Tonight, during the business meeting, Dr. McIntosh and colleagues will present an education report focused on elementary math. To connect back to the purpose of this evening's meeting, the 2025-26 proposed budget supports not only all of the important educational programs as they exist, but supports the very structures that lead to the changes and improvements that our community is discussing. And with that, we will briefly review the proposed budget. So

005as a reminder, I spoke... just briefly about the strategic plan, but our three main ideas of learning, living, and leading guide our work in the proposed budget. Our proposed budget for 2025-26 stands at $191,504,833, a $6.57 million budget-to-budget increase, a $5.78 million projected tax levy increase. and a 1.77% tax rate increase for the town of Scarsdale and a negative 0.23% tax decrease for the town of Maranac. We talked early on but hadn't revisited this in a while, but we've discussed at this table the major budget drivers dominated by employee benefits, but also including salary and wages, transportation, capital projects, of course, and various other categories driving up our proposed expenditures for next year. The budget itself has many accomplishments. We've organized these by the three broad strategic plan concepts, first in learning. It funds the

006exceptional level of instruction provided through small class sizes, the house and team structure, a vibrant program of study, and ensuring staffing levels consistent with our norms and expectations. It does expand our 8-1-2 and 12-1 special class programs for students with disabilities. to retain them in district to continue their programs as they move to middle and high school respectively continue support for the elementary math program that we'll hear more about later this evening develops performance based assessments align with our strategic plan priorities through summer program improvement work and continues to support our global opportunities and partnerships through the GEBG and Round Square programs we're involved in and our sustainability projects. In the area of living, continues to promote well-being and belonging through the enrichment of curriculum, again through summer program improvement and responsive classroom training. It

007does support the construction of a new synthetic field turf practice field at the high school to support hundreds of our athletes across multiple seasons. It initiates a multi-year process of replacement for our elementary school playgrounds as the structures reach the end of their useful lives, continues our investment in social workers, including at the elementary level, and maintains our annual investments in instructional technology while expanding some of our safety and security measures through door-to-jar sensors and cameras across our buildings. And then finally, in the area of leading, this proposed budget supports the pre-referendum costs of architectural engineering and structure management services associated with our development of our capital projects multi-year plan. potentially leading to a bond proposition it supports the acquisition and deployment of four three new and deployment of four electric buses to initiate our

008migration from fossil fuel powered vehicles to zero emission vehicles consistent with the New York State law in that area and continues partnerships with educational institutions professional development support and organizations to support our educators We've added this slide since these were posted on Friday. We organized a few frequently asked questions. The first is pertaining to elementary class size. We talked early on about this and in fact know our elementary class size guidelines will remain the same for next year. We had the question, why are we adding staff? Actually, this budget will result in a net reduction of 7.5 positions over the current year, even as it does add new positions in special education. Those new positions, if we did not add them, would actually result in an increase of the budget, $239,000 if we did not

009fund those, as we would need to be paying tuitions to programs out for students who are currently our students. With the question about sports being cut, no, we're going to continue all of our sports offerings. We have identified the need for $50,000 in either additional revenue or cost savings for non-sanctioned sports, including dance, fencing, rowing, squash, and ultimate. That will be work ongoing and continuing up until those seasons occur. We've been asked questions about the federal government and their funding. Right now the major sources of funding through the federal government are through the IDEA Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, that's special education funding, and ESSA, the Every Student Succeeds Act. That funding, recent comments by officials at the federal level indicate that those programs are anticipated to continue uninterrupted, and that's our best knowledge and

010information at this point. We've been asked the question about capital projects. Can we do less or fewer capital projects or spend less in that area and replace that to not use as much fund balance or to add programs or positions perhaps that we've reduced? Really the answer is no. As a tax cap exclusion, capital expenditures, changing those would really cause our budget to go above the... property tax cap or not do something else that we're currently planning on doing. Why are we funding EV buses now? We have to get on that path to fulfill the New York State mandate, and this is our... best Thinking about how to get on on that path and then finally a question where I asked every year What would happen if the budget fails? Well if the budget failed

011in the May 20th vote The board has a choice to put up a second budget proposition that would be on June 17th That could be the same less or more in expenditures That would be or change use of fund balance. That would be up to the board or the board could adopt then a contingent budget. A twice-failed budget would result in a contingent budget, and that would necessitate $5.77 million in cuts from the proposed budget. So that would be tax levy amount of the current tax year would be replicated next year. And we have not really begun to identify what those cuts would be at this point yet. So we wanted to share that. all right so back to the numbers I'll let Andrew cover the next few slides Thank You Drew so this is

012just a comparison of our current year's operating budget compared to the proposed budget for next year. You can see the $6.5 million increase on total expenditures, or 3.55% that Dr. Patrick mentioned earlier. Our other revenue sources are growing by about 5.6%, or $702,000. Our transfer from reserves are flat year to year, and our assigned fund balance is going up slightly based on an increase for some one-time capital expenditures related to our ongoing planning with architects and engineers. That leaves the resulting tax levy increase of $5.78 million that Dr. Patrick mentioned a moment ago, or 3.4% of the year-to-year increase. Just as a percentage of the total budget, the tax levy is 91.8% of our total budget. This is just a slide on the estimated tax impact on our homeowners. So for a homeowner that has

013in the Scarsdale portion of our district a property value of $1.3 million, $1.32, the increase is about $415 year-to-year. In the Maranick Strip, the assessed value of $1.971, which is about the median price in that area. of the district, there's actually a decrease of about $62 for that homeowner. These are all estimated at the moment. These are based on the proposed tax levy as well as the existing assessed value information and equalization rate information that we've received from New York State. These numbers will be finalized in July. And we end with this slide. Here we are after several months of conversation, input, deliberation. We're at March 24th, our budget forum, and then the board will be asked to consider adopting the budget at our next meeting on April 7th. And I turn it back to

014you, Susie. Thank you, Drew. The next item on the agenda is the opportunity for community response to the preliminary proposed budget. Members of the community are now invited to speak on the proposed budget at this time. We will take comments from the audience first and then from those participating via Zoom. Please state your name and address and if you represent an organization. Unlike at our business meetings, there is no limit on time, but we ask that you be mindful of the time so that everyone who wishes to speak about the budget has an opportunity. For those commenting remotely, when it is your turn to speak, please mute the live stream voice, turn on your camera, and then unmute yourself. We will let you know if we cannot hear your voice. We would also appreciate your

015mailing your comments to boardofed at scarsdaleschools.org. Now at this time, I'd like to ask if there are any community members who would like to speak in person. As well as the budget process, I hope that the 2025-26 budget is revised and finalized and in planning future budgets. Budget overview and noteworthy features. The proposed budget is $191,504,833 with a budget-to-budget increase of 3.55% and a tax levy growth of 3.4%. The estimated tax rate increase for Scar's Health homeowners will be 1.77%, and the estimated tax decrease from American residents will be negative 0.23%. The budget is exactly at the tax cap. General comments. the league acknowledges with appreciation substantial time and effort that goes into developing the proposed budget and thanks the administration and school board for their additional efforts spent preparing for the league's march 17th

016information session and for responding recently to our questions posed at the november 18 2024 budget forum On March 10th, 2025, the League also submitted an information session agenda, Ray proposed school budget, which consisted of a number of questions related to the budget. The League held a consensus meeting immediately following the information session. The League notes that when formulating this consensus statement, it can consider only information it has received up until the time it holds its consensus meeting and regrets that it did not have written responses to the League's information session agenda to facilitate discussion. However, the league appreciates that the administration continues to include league budget questions and administration responses on the district website as a public resource. Budget proposals and tax cap. The league supports budgeting to a student-centered program and not to the

017state-imposed tax cap. After the administration disclosed its organically and authentically developed first draft of the budget on February 3, 2025, it cut approximately $2 million through reduced expenses and additional revenues to arrive at the current budget, which is at the tax cap. The League appreciates the district's concern that, after having passed a budget over the tax levy limit last year, the community may not support a budget over the tax cap two years in a row. The League also appreciates the District's efforts to prioritize those expenditures that have the greatest impact on students in the current budget. Use of fund balance and health care reserves. The League notes that both fund balance and health care reserves have declined for the last five budget cycles, while health claims have simultaneously risen. The League has serious concerns about

018the continued unsustainable use of and reliance upon the fund balance to offset the following year's tax levy. As the League has previously stated, the relatively low level of the fund balance could negatively impact the district's credit rating, create cash flow challenges, and leave the district unable to address unanticipated expenses. The League commends the district for discussing publicly the benefits and costs of a self-insured versus a fully funded health care plan, for explaining why the self-insured plan is still the best option for the district, and for providing a claim projection analysis from the district's health care consultant. The League appreciates the District's public explanation of its regularly scheduled internal review process via the Health Advisory Committee to determine if the self-insured plan remains the best financial decision for the District. The League, however, is seriously concerned

019about the District's trend of depleting its health care reserves and believes that it reflects in part the District's underestimation of the increase in health care expenses happening throughout the region, not just in Scarsdale. The league questions whether the district has accurately projected future health care costs and accordingly whether it has budgeted sufficiently to cover spikes in such expenses. Long-Range Financial Plan. The League commends the district for developing a long-range financial plan and looks forward to seeing how the district uses it to plan for challenges and find solutions to a variety of issues facing the district, including those related to revenue shortfalls, excess expenses, the tax cap, program changes and expansions, unexpected events, high inflation, in a financially sound way. Program drivers and curriculum. The League commends the administration for identifying scheduling efficiencies and for finding

020ways to make personnel reductions that do not impact the student experience. The League further commends the administration for having an open discussion about the elementary class size policy this budget season and notes the administration's ultimate decision to maintain the current class size practice. For future budgets, the League encourages the administration to explore the pros and cons, both budgetary and educational, of maintaining versus exceeding the elementary class size practice. The League appreciates the extensive course offerings at the high school and encourages the administration regularly to review the electives to meet students' interests and add or delete electives as applicable. The League encourages the district to be more transparent about... how such decisions are made including having a public discussion of student enrollment threshold, allocation of staffing, and financial responsibility for taking a class that is included

021in the high school course catalog. The league encourages the district to review the curricula and programming of comparable districts to ensure that our district is following best practices in its own programs and opportunities. Athletics. The league commends the administration for publicly discussing the issue of sanctioned versus non-sanctioned sports and for being transparent about what sports programs it funds and why. special education. The league has consistently stressed the importance of supporting special education students in Scarsdale throughout the significant rise in the number of classified students over the past 10 years. The league commends the district for one, funding the addition of two special education positions so that it can continue to expand the existing continuum of special education services as students served under those models age up through the middle school and the high school. Two,

022the district's continued efforts to keep special education students in district. recognizing both the educational and budgetary benefits of doing so and three the district's initiative and efforts to enroll paying out of district students in available spots in our special education programs to help offset program costs the lead commends the district for continuing to focus on issues of belonging and inclusion in the curriculum even though the district no longer works with a consultant and encourages the district to ensure that belonging and inclusion remain areas of consideration across the scarsdale schools planting capital improvements The league commends the district for partnering with the village in a holistic review of the district's fields including the needs of the high school teams and for developing a longer range cohesive plan to improve the fields and their usage. The league

023encourages the district to engage in a public discussion about how equitably to update all the elementary school playgrounds. The League urges the district to keep our aging facilities in mind as it budgets for the future. The League reiterates that given that several of our schools were built over a century ago, thoughtful, proactive facilities planning and capital improvement are of utmost importance to ensure that district buildings and grounds support and enhance student learning and are safe, sustainable, and flexible enough to support 21st century innovation and future programs. The League encourages the district to continue discussions with the Village about stormwater management. Transportation, the League commends the District for its timely and thorough plan to convert to an electric fleet as required by New York State mandate for its transparent discussion of the various options for doing

024so and for moving the plan forward by entering into agreement with Highland Electric Fleet. Future Bond, the League commends the District for maintaining its practice inviting all relevant stakeholders to be involved in the process of determining and developing the projects to be included in a future bond. The League looks forward to hearing updates about the bond and the work of the Bond Facilities Committee. AND FINALLY BUDGET PROCESS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT. THE LEAD COMMENDS THE ADMINISTRATION FOR PROVIDING A BUDGETING PROCESS THAT PRIORITIZED OPEN COMMUNICATION, CLARITY AND TRANSPARENCY. This transparency allows the community to better understand the district's rationales and helps ensure a greater degree of confidence that the final budget represents the best balance between advancing the program and gaining taxpayer support. The League thanks the school board for creating opportunities for public input into the budget

025at various points in the development process and strongly encourages the school board to continue to work to be proactive and transparent to ensure community trust in the school board process. the league thanks all members of the administration and school board for consideration of the statement the league looks forward to the release of the final budget iteration resulting from having considered community comment thank you thank you would anybody else like to make a public comment hi my name is joe guarino i live at 146 bell road i am the president of scarsdale travel softball and i'm here to talk tonight in support of the proposed new synthetic turf practice field I have a seventh grade daughter who has played competitive softball in Scarsdale for the past five years. She learned to play softball in rec at

026Edgewood. She developed a passion for softball, playing with Scarsdale Travel Softball for the last couple years. And as recently as today, she had her first chance to play modified softball for the middle school, the first time that she could actually play for her school. So she's really excited about that and I have no doubt in two years she'll be equally as excited to play here at the high school. My daughter's interest in softball though has really led me to become very active in Scarsdale Travel Softball and for the last year or so I've been an active board member and now the president of the organization and that has allowed me the opportunity to kind of learn more about the complex dynamic between field space, field usage between both the village and the school. It's a

027really complicated issue and I think... It's plain and simple though that we do not have enough quality fields to meet the demand for competitive sports in Scarsdale. Our existing grass fields and facilities alone cannot withstand the high demand that we have, particularly just given all the seasonal weather events that we have and just standard wear and tear issues. It's not just a softball issue, it's a soccer issue, it's a lacrosse issue, it's a baseball issue. I think the field study report that came out really provides the roadmap for what we, as Scarsdale, really need to do to maximize the usability, the safety, and the accessibility of fields in Scarsdale. We have to consider how can we incorporate more mixed-use synthetic turf fields while also improving the conditions of our existing fields. I believe that when

028installed and maintained these types of modern synthetic turf fields are highly durable and they extend the playability of outdoor sports that are highly dependent on weather and field quality. I believe that investing in these types of mixed-use fields at the high school is a great first step in expanding field access in Scarsdale and I really urge this board to finalize this particular investment for softball players like my daughter Ella and all other student athletes in Scarsdale. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Christy Grippy-Littman, and I live at 16 Beachwood Lane. I'm here in both my capacity as a taxpayer and the parent of two students in the district, but also as the president of Scarsdale Youth Lacrosse. Along with my colleagues from the other ISOs, one of which you just heard of,

029all of the ISOs strongly support expanding field uptime and improving the facility quality by implementing synthetic turf and some strategic field enhancements. I would commend the town as well as the BOE for the recent joint field study, which I think provided a very good, well-researched roadmap for enhancing the facilities. As recognized by the village, but known on a much deeper level by parents and the ISO management, the demand for athletic field space has continued to grow in sports such as soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball, football, and basketball. Our existing grass fields just cannot do it alone, particularly given the seasonal weather issues that were just mentioned, as well as the wear and tear issues. We'd propose the following actions move to turf the additional practice field at SHS to provide an additional all-weather Playable surface from

030which all the above sports can benefit Move to implement the Boulder Brook Winston and crossway field turf options that were supplied by the village appointed consultant I would like you to note that softball soccer baseball lacrosse football and basketball ISOs are all 100% aligned on this priority as the turf surface as These artificial turf fields could be shared by all of these sports equally And we would urge the Board of Education and the community stakeholders to prioritize expanding field access instead of restricting it. Investment in this turf will ensure that Scarsdale becomes a leader not just in the sports but in community wellness, which is really important for our kids. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Eric Premiser, 238 Rock Creek Lane. I'm here representing Scarsdale Youth Soccer. one of the ISOs

031in town. I represent over 500 of our children in this community that all play soccer. And like the two other ISO presidents have expressed the need for more field space, I wanted to just add something. You know, I've been a high school teacher for over 25 years, and the biggest thing in our schools now is SEL. And this social-emotional learning aspect doesn't just happen in the classroom. It happens a lot out on the field, after-school sports, after-school activities. Giving our children the space that they need, durable space that they need, that they could use all the time, will be a huge benefit for our community. So on behalf of SYSC, Scarcello Soccer, we support the budget. Thanks. Thank you. Would anyone else like to make a statement? My name is Maura Crouch. I live at

03212 Southwoods Lane in Scarsdale. I've had five kids go through the school district. I have a couple still in. I'm here on behalf of Maroon and White. We would like to express our support for the proposed artificial turf practice field next to the fitness center. The capital expense will meet a great need for the athletic department. maroon and white would also like to express our support of the athletic budget that can be inclusive of the needs of the sports teams that the students passionately pursue Scarsdale and especially the high school has a shortage of fields. When the weather's inclement, the shortage becomes a cancellation of practices that can go on for days. This practice field is small, but it's gonna be a workhorse that will really help the high school athletes. And so many teams.

033It currently is a field, but it's highly damaged from intense use during the fall season. It really needs, if you want to keep it grass, it would have to be restored and you'd lose another season and it wouldn't be probably available to the fall and then that would happen again next year. So if we can make this one small field an artificial turf, it can handle practices in all kinds of weather. it doesn't need time to be reseeded and regrown it's it's important to this community where the quantity and quality of the fields doesn't meet the needs of the population and there just isn't more field space available so this this small field is really important to the scarcell high school athletics and we support it and we hope it'll go through in the budget.

034Another point I wanted to make is that it's a capital expenditure which should not affect any of the operating costs in the school budget. The capital expenditure shouldn't dip into the fund balance as some are currently concerned about. So to me this, to Maroon and White, this seems like an important and practical use of our expenses, our budget. Moreover, Maroon and White is thrilled by the decision to keep the non-sanctioned sports because they will enhance the Scarcell student athlete experience and diversify our offerings. We're aware that the athletic department may charge for them to meet its revenue of $50,000, and we will anticipate that it will all work out in an equitable manner and continue to be very beneficial to the students. Recently we heard that JV ice hockey is being eliminated. Eliminating select teams

035can save a small amount of money in the realm of the budget, but the negative impact on the students can be significant. Athletics programs are vital to students' physical and mental well-being and social development. We shouldn't look at athletics as one of the first places to cut costs. Having a robust athletic program demonstrates Scarsdale cares and invests in the whole student. The more students that we have participating in athletics, the better. We would appreciate you taking this into consideration for the budget. Thank you. Hi, my name is Meryl Sattler, and I live at 9 Stratton Road, and I'm here today speaking on behalf of the Scarsdale PT Council. The PTC thanks the district and the Board of Education for their ongoing efforts in developing the 2025-26 Scarsdale School budget. We appreciate the district's formulation of

036a budget that stays within the tax cap, a limit that is widely supported by the community. This proposed budget reflects many goals shared by the PTC, including maintaining small elementary class sizes and supporting a broad range of course offerings at the high school. Furthermore, the proposed budget acknowledges the importance of maintaining both sanctioned and non-sanctioned sports programs, recognizing their role in promoting not only physical health and fitness, but also supporting student mental well-being, inclusivity, and a sense of belonging. The mental health and physical safety of our students remain priorities for the PTC. We value this proposed budget's continued investment in social work support across all grade levels, as well as the presence of safety monitors within the schools. We appreciate the district's sustained efforts to enhance the safety of our schools, the buildings and buses

037through infrastructure improvements. The PTC acknowledges the district's efforts to advance the upcoming bond initiative. We commend your commitment to involving the community in the process, ensuring that the bond addresses the needs of all stakeholders. As the district's work progresses, we encourage thoughtful consideration of the long-term operational costs associated with these bond funded improvements, particularly in regards to their potential impact on both current and future budgets. The PTC is appreciative of the effort that has gone into formulating a budget that stays within the tax cap, but we also have concerns regarding the increasing use of fund balance. The current practice of using a fixed amount to balance the budget each year, coupled with the dependence on these funds to cover budget shortfalls is unsustainable. Persisting with this approach will ultimately compel the district to either exhaust

038the fund balance or propose budgets that exceed the tax cap, both undesirable scenarios. The PTC believes that our teachers are the heart of our schools. Salary and wages, along with employee benefits, accounted for 80% of our current budget. As such, the PTC respects the district's thoughtful attention to staffing as it works to provide a rich academic experience while also being mindful of costs. We share the district's concern about the rising health insurance costs. These costs represent a large portion of the budget and all efforts must be taken to control and manage spending in this area. The PTC applauds the decision to include a member of the Board of Education on the Health Advisory Committee. The PTC recognizes the importance of supporting students with diverse learning needs and appreciates the district's continued investment in special education.

039We have noticed an increase of nearly $1 million in the special education budget. We urge the district to carefully consider costs while expanding the program, both in this budget and in future budgets. The PTC values continued transparency and communication regarding the intersection between curriculum and budget. There is community concern related to the Reveal Math curriculum including its efficacy and whether the program has the continued need for the second math coordinator. Specifically, what will the second coordinator do to address the ongoing concerns about the program and for what period of time will the district require a second math coordinator? We request the district more clearly articulate steps that will be taken to assess the elementary math program and remediate any program weaknesses. In conclusion, the PTC thanks the district and the Board of Education for your

040work to date. We recognize and appreciate your efforts to support the personal and academic growth of our students. However, we are concerned about the continued depletion of fund balance. We urge the district to explore ways to balance future budgets with more limited use of the reserved fund. Thank you for prioritizing the transparency and communication with our community as you continue your work. Additionally, we encourage the community to actively engage and ask questions regarding the proposed budget before the vote on May 20th, 2025. Thank you all for your time. Thank you. Would anyone else like to make a public comment? Hello, my name is Jessica Kirsch. I live at 305 Heathcote Road. I represent myself as a JV hockey parent and some concerned Scarsdale hockey parents in the community. I appreciate the board's presentation that no

041sports would be cut in the budget but we have been notified by Miss Parrott that she plans on cutting JV hockey in this coming season from the petition that I circulated to the families Miss Parrott believes there will be not enough students to field adequate JV and varsity teams, that there would be not enough teams to compete against this winter, and that ice time is very hard to acquire when we buy it in the fall. Her plan is to have the rising freshmen continue to play down on the modified team, and this will essentially leave about eight to ten students without a team to play with in the winter as their travel hockey team breaks for the ten weeks. The board has already planned to save the smaller size non-section sports of squash, fence, and

042rowing, and we asked you to do the same for JV hockey. The kids love playing hockey this past season together. They learned about commitment to training, bonding as a team, sportsmanship, and the pride of representing their high school. They hone their skills as future members of the varsity squad. They did not even have a bus to practice. We drove them to the 6 a.m. ice time, got them home and to school. Unlike the kids who were lucky enough to get it for the Pelham-Rowan community. We're asking the board to plan and fund to keep our Scarsdale hockey program viable in the future. We actually had 30 kids playing on the combined JV and varsity teams this winter and are only graduating two seniors. With incoming freshmen, that number should go to 40. and rise as

043we have interest in our town, rising numbers in hockey players. Keeping a JV team allowed us to cultivate a competitive future varsity squad. In addition, by allowing the ninth graders to play down unmodified, you are increasing the risk of concussions and injuries among seventh and eighth graders in this high contact sport. We do have enough teams to play against in both league and non-league parochial schools and private schools that we play against. And in addition, in our actual league, there are several local high schools that have 10 to 20 hours more ice time per team that they have. If we want to develop a hockey program into the most competitive team in Section 1 and beyond, we need to provide our students with the ice time that is needed for all teams. I implore you

044to save our sport. Thank you. hi good evening everyone my name is allison abramson 32 crane road i'm here also to help support the proposed cut to the jv ice hockey team i have a ninth grade daughter who was the goalie for the team annabelle hassan and a son who is in eighth grade graydon hassan and he is on the modified team I helped circulate the petition along with Jess Kirsch who just spoke and I just would like to make a few comments about ice hockey. It's funny this meeting started about sustainability. The sustainability of the ice hockey program in general is so important. We support every other sport here in Scarsdale and ice hockey should be no exception. There are JV teams for all the other sports. When there is the interest and the

045numbers and the interest in the numbers is there most of us live in Scarsdale and I've always wanted our kids to participate in sports and have been able to Miss parrot argues that the numbers aren't there as Just just pointed out. They are they're not only there. They're rising the popularity of ice hockey as a sport is There it's evident. It's rising for both young men and women and they need a place to play. In order to ensure a sustainable varsity, competitive varsity team, which is in all our interests, there's no other choice but to develop the players who aren't quite ready for varsity. It would be short-sighted to cut out the JV team for this reason alone. For non-hockey people, it's not very evident, but all these hockey kids are on travel teams. That's

046where they're learning and developing outside of school, their hockey skills. These teams, when you reach the 16U level, 16 and under level, they have what's called a split season. Therefore, they meet in September, October to the mid-November. And they used to resume. They don't even most of the time resume anymore in February and March. But the split season is so that these kids can play and represent their schools and play on their school teams. If there is no JV team, then all these kids who are on travel teams will have absolutely no hockey in the middle of their winter season. Ms. Parrott has talked about the changing landscape of hockey. Because of the popularity, there are more travel teams. Ice time is at a premium. This is true. We propose that teams share ice more.

047And I believe there are other ways, and there are people here in this room that can help educate on how to acquire ice. And the time to acquire ice is now, and that's where it's applicable to the budget. If we don't plan ahead for ice time, then these kids won't have any ice at all, and then there can't be a team. Ms. Parrott proposed to wait to see the interest until gold cards come about. Gold cards come about approximately a month before the school teams begin, and that one month is not enough. Ice time is bought months and months ahead of time. The time to buy ice for next winter is this spring. I wanted to just add, it is a terrible precedent. I feel her proposal is that ninth graders, so they have a

048place to skate, skate on the modified team by allowing ninth graders to be on a team with seventh and eighth graders. As we know, they're all going through puberty. Their bodies are changing. Hockey is a sometimes dangerous and high contact sport. And this sets a poor precedent because it just opens up Pandora's box and other eighth graders. from other sports are going to be asking to be on high school teams as well. And there's a major safety issue. In summary, I feel that we need to save JV Ice Hockey. These kids need a place to skate. We deserve it. We're tax-paying citizens, and they've dreamed of playing for their school. And we hope that that fits in the budget and the outlook for the future of ice hockey. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My

049name is Jeremy Gans. I'm here speaking on my own behalf and as the parent of an eighth grade hockey player. I'll try to... Oh, did you give your address? Oh, sorry, 45 Harvest Drive, Scarsdale. As you've heard from the prior two speakers, there's some concern about the potential elimination of the JV hockey program. Towards the beginning of this meeting, Superintendent Patrick said there were no budgetary eliminations of athletic teams, yet the athletic director sent an email that was forwarded to me and other parents in CCing the Board of Education. saying that, quote, it is our current thinking not to have a JV team next year. Now, if there's insufficient numbers, they're insufficient numbers. The other stated rationales were difficulty in scheduling opponents and fighting ice time. While I'm aware of the challenges of finding opponents

050and ice time, I nonetheless think eliminating the JV program would be a tremendous mistake. One of the things that makes Scarsdale High School so great that you don't realize really until you have kids in the school is its commitment to continuing to develop students outside of the classroom. A tremendous number of students are involved in high school athletics, due in large part to the high school's longstanding attempt to find a team and opportunity to play for every interested player. This is why we have seven soccer teams in the fall. Boys and girls have varsity A and B and JVA and there's a JVB for the boys. We do this for other sports as well, such as volleyball and basketball. When an issue is when issues have arisen in the past Scarsdale High School has tried

051to get creative in developing solutions I know that the first year that section 1 had flag football some like 40 girls tried out and Scarsdale petition section 1 successfully we were able to enter two varsity teams in the section 1 Flag football program just to avoid cutting interested players I know that varsity A teams get the glory and the resources, and that's the way it is everywhere. I was a varsity athlete through college. That's the way it is everywhere. But it is to Scarsdale's great credit that athletics brings benefits to a huge number of students who may never represent the school on the varsity A level or star on a team, play on the first line of the hockey team. If there are a sufficient number of interested hockey players, they should be provided the

052same opportunities as athletes in all other sports. I also want to address the ice time issue. I know that ice time, any hockey parent knows ice time is in limited supply and it is not cheap. But my guess is that other varsity coaches wish they had more field or court time. We have eight volleyball teams in the fall with limited gym space. With this precedent, what is to stop the future varsity A coach from saying they just don't like sharing the courts and advocating for the elimination of a varsity B or JVB program? I also know that it's not always easy finding opponents for all the teams we field regardless of sport. Once this precedent is set, what is to stop the future elimination of a whole host of programs? I, this is, in my

053role as a village board member, I worked with Superintendent Patrick, Athletic Director Parrott, and members of the board on the joint field study between the village and the schools. Together we heard so much, and we heard from some ISO presidents today, about the limited playable fields, particularly in the spring. But at no point did anyone say the solution to this was eliminating teams. It was always... you know we just we you know one more turf field we'll have multiple teams sharing them but it'll be better there was never a discussion that i was aware of of eliminating playing opportunities as a result of difficulty finding field space why would hockey be treated differently finally i believe this is precisely the wrong time to eliminate the jv hockey program there is a large cohort of talented

054hockey players about to enter high school Hockey is a physical sport, so many of these players, no matter how talented, may not be physically developed enough to play on the varsity teams, freshmen or sophomores. This is no different from basketball and football, which is why we have JV teams at those levels, precisely to develop the players to take the reins as upperclassmen. Form of this plan does unfortunately have to move forward I would like to see the school commit to a plan to develop this cohort of players together not with only off ice activities which had been mentioned Real on ice development as a team so that when this group become juniors and seniors Scarsdale hockey is ready to be a force in section one and beyond the talent is there We just need commitment

055from the administration and the athletic department. Thank you Thank you Hi, my name is Elise Streicher. I live at 16 Oak Lane. Good evening, esteemed members of the school board. I stand before you as a parent of a ninth grader who had the privilege of playing on the JV ice hockey team this past winter. This experience has been invaluable to him, shaping his development both as an athlete and as a person. My son was introduced to competitive ice hockey in seventh grade through the SMS Modified program. While many kids start this sport at an earlier age, starting in seventh grade, he dedicated himself to improving year after year, playing modified both in seventh and eighth grades. In eighth grade, he joined SYHA, the Scarsdale Youth Hockey Association, and this past season, he proudly played for

056the high school JV team. With each passing year, his skills and passion for the game have grown, and his goal remains to earn a spot on the varsity team at Scarsdale High School. For many years for my son hockey is about more than just the game It's about camaraderie friendship learning sportsmanship and the deep bonds. He shares with his teammates many of whom are here today It's about being part of something greater than himself Representing his school with pride however if the JV program is eliminated next year He and many others will lose the opportunity to play during the winter season What they want to play is a high school sport, and this is their sport. They feel proud wearing the tie to school on game days. For students who are in 10th grade and

057older, SYHA offers games before and after winter, but during the high school season, as it was mentioned earlier, students are expected to play for their school teams. Without a JV program, these players would have no structured team to compete with, impacting their development and jeopardizing the future of the Scarsdale High School ice hockey program. A competitive JV team is essential for nurturing future varsity players and maintaining a strong, sustainable program. Currently, around 40 students from 8th through 11th grade are actively playing spring hockey together. If the JV team is cut, many of these students may be forced to leave the sport altogether, a devastating loss for both the players and the community. Eliminating the JV team would not only deprive these students of an opportunity to grow in the sport they love, but also send

058a discouraging message that their commitment and passions are not valued. Additionally, incoming ninth graders are eager to play for the high school, not return to the modified team. Parents of SMS players have expressed valid concerns about larger ninth graders playing with younger, smaller athletes, which increases the risk of injury. With the larger player pool, the modified team would also face reduced playing time, ultimately diminishing the experience for everyone involved. Without a JV team, JV-level players will have nowhere to play, and their enthusiasm for the sport would be dampened. While some schools in our league may be considering cutting their JV teams, as we've heard, I'd like to highlight that this year our JV team competed against private schools such as Stepanak, Iona Prep, and Rye Country Day School. I'm curious to know if there's a

059specific reason we can't continue competing against these private schools next year. Their competition adds value to the program and raises the level of play for all of our students. We have more than enough students to field a JV team consisting of 9th and 10th graders. The passion these players have for their team is undeniable, and they do not want to see it disbanded. Many of them are inspired to continue playing after their experience in the Modified program, and it would be incredibly disappointing for them to lose the opportunity to compete at SHS. And as many have mentioned, their social and emotional learning is critical. So let's support it. Finally, I want to express my deepest gratitude to each of you for the time, dedication, and effort you invest in supporting our students. I understand that

060these decisions are complex and not made lightly, and I truly appreciate all that you do for our community. I urge you to stand with us, our players, families, and supporters, in preserving the JV ice hockey program. We are fully committed to supporting both the JV and varsity teams and ensuring that SHS ice hockey remains a thriving program for years to come. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Are there any other community members who would like to speak in person? Anyone else? Hi, good evening, everyone. My name is Jason Manoring. I live at 267 Griffin Avenue, and I'm representing Scarsdale Youth Hockey Association as the vice president speaking on behalf of the JV parents. A lot of those folk who came ahead of me and spoke so eloquently covered a lot of the

061points, but I think that from a Scarsdale youth hockey perspective, wanted to just provide some regional hockey perspective around what we've seen over the last couple of years. I know obviously the concern has been mentioned around numbers and in years past, particularly I think two of the last four years, the JV numbers weren't sufficient to have JV teams. I think part of that is we were dealing with a little bit of a COVID bubble. As the age groups were entering 14, 16, 18U, where there was full contact hockey, a lot of the kids chose to pull away. We're seeing those numbers come back better than ever. Scarsdale Youth Hockey is rostering more players at 10U, 12U, and more teams than we have in years past. This last year at 14U, we had the two largest

062team numbers we've ever had. So there's certainly demand coming up in the pipeline. So that's obviously one perspective I wanted to... You heard a little bit about the 16 and 18 U dilemma of what was referred to as split season. Split season is obviously a challenge for us. We would love to offer a full season, but the challenge we have as a youth hockey organization is that the numbers aren't there because many of these players are playing for their school teams and their schools are requiring them to commit to the school team rather than their club teams. And so we just practically can't get the numbers together as a youth organization to play over that period. So as much as we would like to offer that as an alternative, it's just not a practical alternative

063for us. And as youth organizations, we can't find teams over that period for the same reason, right? Is that everybody's expected to be playing on their JV and varsity team. And so there's just no competition as a youth organization. And then just the final point that I wanted to make is around the ice cost and the ice demand. Certainly, I know obviously we're working within a budget, but both the cost of ice and the demand for ice has gone up substantially over the last couple of years because at the lower levels, more programs are adding more teams, obviously more ice is needed. That combined with... The fact that private equity and venture capital is buying up a lot of the rinks in the area. We've seen ice costs increase by as much as 25% over

064the last three to four years. E.J. Murray's, which is where Scarsdale has its home rink, is still one of the cheapest in the area, if not the cheapest. But because of that, everybody else is buying their ice. on mass as soon as trials end shortly after the April 14U to 18U trial period. And so by the end of April, most of that ice has been taken. What's left is not desirable and certainly unlikely to be available at Murray's and anywhere else you're looking at paying anywhere between $750 to $900 a sheet, which is per ice sheet per hour. At Murray's, it's around $500. So if you can't find ice at Murray's, you're paying a premium to buy it anywhere else. And so either you've got to look to buy ice earlier in the season. Most

065of the teams and youth organizations are locking in their ice purchases around the April-May time frame. And so you're kind of left with what's left after that. So I think that's obviously just some perspective from outside of the high school specifics, but something that hopefully will. help you guys in making the decision. Just as an added addition, Scarsdale Youth Hockey is obviously willing to assist in any way that we can. We are the largest purchaser of ice at Westchester Skating Academy. We spend over half a million dollars a year in buying ice there. We're also now, with the recent partnership with Scarsdale, sorry, with the Southwest Chester Blackhawks, are also one of the largest purchasers of ice at E.J. Murray's, which is Scarsdale's home rink. So we have some influence in the area. And so

066we would love to be able to partner with the high school to see how we can help achieve cheaper and more abundant ice. Thank you. Hi. Hi. My name is Alec Bernstein. I live at 11 Paddington Road, Scarsdale, New York. Good evening everyone. My name is Alec Bernstein. I'm a ninth grade varsity hockey player here at Scarsdale High School. Hockey has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember and I'm incredibly proud to be able to contribute to our team at the varsity level as a freshman. But I wouldn't be here today without the opportunities that hockey development and the support of the people around me have provided. I'm here today because I love the game of hockey and I love Scarsdale High School. Hockey has not only shaped

067me as an athlete but it has helped me build relationships and grow as a person. It's been a source of confidence, discipline, and camaraderie. It is something that has a positive impact on my social and personal development. That's why I believe it's so important for kids of all skill levels to have the opportunity to play. No one should be left out just because of where they're at in their development. Hockey is a game from everyone, from the beginner to professional player. The more opportunities we give to players to develop, the stronger our program will be. When you play for your high school, no matter the level, it gives you a sense of pride. You're representing something bigger than yourself. You're representing your school and your community. It motivates you to compete at your best, push

068yourself, and never back down. But we are already falling behind other schools in terms of player development. And if we cut the JV team, that gap will only grow wider. We can't afford to lose out on these crucial stages of individual player development. Moreover, if we're putting ninth graders unmodified, we risk the safety of smaller, less developed middle school players. It could be dangerous for the players who are... who are still growing and learning the game at a different level. We need to ensure that every player has a safe and appropriate environment to grow in. And perhaps most importantly, cutting the JV team will leave a group of players without a home. Every player deserves a place to belong, a team to develop with, and a chance to contribute to the success of our school.

069Scarsdale High School is a place where excellence should be expected in everything we do. That includes hockey. We can't expect to be competitive or serious about a program if we don't invest it at every level. Our players deserve the opportunity to grow, succeed with the entire school. And we need to support them in every way possible. Thank you for your time and I hope you'll join me in ensuring that every hockey player has the opportunity to develop, compete, and represent Scarsdale High School with pride. Hi, my name is Jack Capobianco, and I was a member. My address is 10 Marborn Drive, and I was a member of the Scarsdale JV ice hockey team last year. First of all, I just want to say thank you for allowing me to speak in front of you, my

070teammates back here, and everyone who's came here tonight to talk about the hockey team. Ultimately, I was a captain of the JV ice hockey team. and I'm a sophomore, and the JV team allowed me and a lot of my teammates to get a lot of ice time that we would have not gotten on the varsity team. It was an experience that allowed us to grow together. That's the Scarsdale, that's the hockey symbol, together as a team and gain a lot of valuable experience that we hope to take for years to come. More than just valuable on-ice experience, it allows us to grow off the ice as well, in the weight room. connecting with our team. It's all very important stuff. The thing I really like about the team is the fact that it teaches us

071not only how to play on the ice, but allows us to become better people off the ice. Our coaching staff does a great job in this, and something I've learned is that there's a pride factor in representing Scarsdale hockey. In terms of next year, the program is growing like rates we've never seen before, and people want to buy into our hockey program. Taking away a JV team would cause players to lose out on a valuable experience, especially since we have upwards of 40 kids who can try out next year, who want to try out next year. Taking away a JV team will ultimately impact the younger players in the program and will cause them to lose interest in not only the sport but playing high school hockey, which is a great experience that everyone who

072wants to play should have the experience in doing. An expanded varsity team could be an option, but it's certainly not the smartest. The more kids on a team like this would cause them to get minimal ice time. And if you don't have a JV team, then... You caught people, you know, they're not going to get the ice time in order to sustain their development. Thank you, guys. Thank you. My name is Annabelle Hassan. I'm a current ninth grader here at Scarzell High School, and I'm also an ice hockey goalie and was on the JV ice hockey team this past season. I would like to discuss the need for and desire for a JV hockey team next year. A JV team provides better development for players. It also allows players to develop in a real high

073school hockey experience. This prepares them to transition smoothly into varsity rather than making a big leap from modified to varsity. For players to succeed at a varsity level, they need to be well-developed and have exposure to the faster-paced high skill level and increased physicality that JV provides. Without JV and its high school hockey experience, many players can struggle when they reach the varsity experience, ultimately hurting both their confidence and the team's performance over years to come. Additionally, a JV team gives more players the opportunity to play. Without a JV team, some players are left without a school team, leading to lost development and even players quitting the sport. Tenth graders who aren't quite ready for varsity won't have a place to play. If they are on a common split season hockey team, they may not

074get enough ice time outside of school hockey, leaving them with no option to continue playing for their school or in general. This leads to fewer players staying in the program and ultimately weakens the varsity. team in all. A JV team keeps more athletes engaged and ensures that players at all levels have a proper place to develop and learn hockey. Also, a modified team with ninth graders would be too big and not everyone will get adequate playing time, adding another negative aspect to ninth graders just joining the modified team and adding more players to the varsity team too. From a program standpoint, adding JV instead of modified ensures long-term success. Schools with strong JV programs consistently have better varsity teams as we see with Rye and other schools we compete against at the varsity level. A

075deep talent pool with players getting one or two more years of JV before varsity means stronger, more competitive teams down the road. Lastly, every other high school sport has a JV team. Why should hockey be any different? Football, basketball, soccer, baseball, and almost every other Section 1 sport provides athletes with a JV program to develop. Hockey players deserve that same opportunity. Also, students like myself and others want the chance to represent our high school hockey team and compete against players with our age and skill level. Without JV, we are putting all students at a disadvantage compared to other schools and other sports and disallowing kids to play a high school sport that is their passion, which is unfair to everyone. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Noah Avni, and I live at 5 Westview

076Lane. I'm a ninth grader at Scherzdale High School and I played on the JV ice hockey team this winter. This was a really special opportunity for me to be able to play on my high school team. This year we had 13 players, which included our goalie. The majority of the team were freshmen. Next year there are about 10 eighth graders who will be eligible to play on JV. With only two varsity players graduating this year, many of us will be unable to move up to varsity. This means next year as a sophomore when the 16-year season pauses for high school hockey, many of us, including myself, will not be able to play hockey, even though we may have the numbers for it. It is sad that JV hockey might be cut, especially when we have

077the numbers for a team. Having a strong athletic program at SkyZone High School is important because it allows students the opportunity to excel both academically and athletically. I hope this changes your opinion about funding JV hockey for next year. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other community members who would like to speak in person? If not, we will now continue our budget forum via Zoom. To repeat from earlier, for those commenting remotely, please raise your hand on Zoom. And when it is your turn to speak, please mute the live stream voice, turn on your camera, and then unmute yourself in Zoom. Please be reminded that this forum is for topics pertaining to the proposed budget only. And with that, I'll turn it over to Jim. Thank you, Susie. There are attendees on Zoom. Currently,

078none of them have their hands raised that I can see. Now would be a good time to raise your hand if you are out there in Zoom. We'll give it a couple seconds. No hands are raised. Okay. That's actually surprising, but okay. Then I will now close the opportunity for public comment on the proposed budget. Thank you to everyone who spoke this evening and we hope you will consider sending your comments to the board in writing. I will turn to the next item on the agenda which is a board discussion on the budget. Do any of my fellow board members have any questions or comments on what we have heard about the proposed budget this evening? Leah. I would just like to thank all the brave, thoughtful community members who came to speak tonight. And

079I didn't realize until today that there was a potential to cancel JBI's hockey. And I hope that we can keep the sport. really for all the reasons that everyone mentioned. And I think really, as we said about the non-sanctioned sports, or I said about the non-sanctioned sports during one of our meetings, sports are belonging and inclusion. And it's really important for student wellness. So I just wanted to share that. Thank you. Anybody else? Yeah, I share that too. I mean, I don't believe that, at least it hasn't been communicated to the board. that the reason that ice hockey JV would possibly be cut was a budgetary issue. I think some of the speakers acknowledge that. So, you know, I frankly don't have Ms. Parrott's in-depth understanding of the details around the facts and figures of

080participation and competition in that area. But I do think, you know, from what we're hearing, it sounds like there may be a multifaceted. you know, sides of that story that have to be considered fully before the decision really is made in that area. Thank you, and I echo Leah's comments, thanking all of our speakers who came out tonight. I think nothing gets people out to a board meeting like sports. So, you know, I appreciate all the comments from the ISOs and Maroon and White and the players here. I think one point that resonated with me is that I do support the turf field in our budget, and I think the idea that we are trying to add... capacity for sports so that we can keep the teams that we have. It does seem to me

081that that is something we should keep in mind with all of our sports, not just, you know, it is a little more difficult with the ice time situation. Obviously, it's not something that we have a rink ourselves, but that was something that resonated with me. So, you know, I do think it's worth considering what we need to do to make sure we, you know, found a way to keep our non-sanctioned sports in play for next year. I think I'd like to see that same opportunity provided to the JV hockey team as well. Thank you. I just have a quick question about the mechanics of the budget. So my assumption is, since it wasn't mentioned as a sports cut, that funding for JV ice hockey is still in the proposed budget. Yes, it is. Okay, so

082the funding's already there. If it's accurate, we have enough people. The last two things to solve are ice time and competition. I think if we can solve them, it sounds like we have a solution. I just want to echo something Amber mentioned. I think sometimes we get a little too caught up in talking about direct costs for sports. We did that with non-sanctioned. When we're going to spend a million dollars, potentially, I think it's 1.25 in the budget, on a turf field, that only supports some sports. If you were to take that, and a turf field has a life. It's 10 years. Maybe you can get 13 out of it, and then you're replacing it. So if we take that cost and just make it an expense over those 10 years and allocate it to

083the sports, if we're going to fund a turf field, that's a lot of dollars going to certain sports. There's a reason we're doing that, but I think we need to think about that in the same way as we think about the fact that ice time has gone up and the price, I understand, has gone up. The cost of turf fields has gone up, too. It's all gone up. So I just think if we're going to do it, we should treat everybody equally. So I'd like to see us, if the other pieces can be solved and if the participation is there, it seems like we have a solution. I'm grateful to hear that so many members of the community have taken the time to tune in, sharpen their pencils, really understand the budget, and provide us

084with suggestions and feedback. Thank you all, particularly our students who've taken the time to come out to advocate this evening. Like my fellow board members, I echo the desire to try and help the JV ice hockey team if at all possible, as they've made their case quite well tonight. Anybody else? Okay. With no more questions or comments, we will move to Agenda Item 2.05, Wrap-Up Items. Are there any items for wrap-up? I would just echo my thanks to everybody who spoke tonight. And Cindy Parrott has shared an email with some of the folks in the audience tonight and with the board that I think acknowledges what the challenges are and her intent to... try to find a solution that allows our players to play. Just to reiterate, there's not been funding cut for JV hockey.

085It remains in the budget. And I know, as per her email, Cindy is talking presently with Murray's about next year. The offer of help is always accepted to the extent that we can gain some further insight there that can benefit our athletes. So it's an ongoing conversation. I appreciate it. Thank you. She's not here tonight, but thank you to Cindy for working to try to find a solution. It's not easy. I have one quick item for the board. The district publication insight will be produced and distributed next month after the board formally might adopt the budget. That publication has included a letter from the board in the past. Is the board comfortable with Jim and I drafting a letter for discussion with the board after we adopt the budget? The timeline is very short and

086we will need to approve the letter if it is to be signed by the full board. Yeah? Okay. Thank you. Okay. I guess that's it. Can I get a motion to adjourn this budget forum? Thank you, Leah. Second? Thank you, Colleen. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. Ayes have been, motion carries. Thank you all for coming out tonight. Should we take a five minute wellness break at this time before moving into the business meeting? Thank you so much. Welcome back. Good evening to those joining us at this time. I 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. Thank you to all those joining us in person, over the live

087stream, and over Zoom this evening. Before this meeting, the board held an executive session and then its annual budget forum. The budget forum provides the community the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year. We appreciate all of the hard work Dr. Patrick and his team have put into creating the proposed budget. And we would like to extend a special thank you to Assistant Superintendent Andrew Lennon and Treasurer Lisa Zareski. Is she here? Oh, there she is. Hi. Thank you for all your efforts. We would also like to extend thanks to the League of Women Voters who held a school budget forum last week, which provide League members and members of the public the opportunity to ask questions about the budget and propose bond to the administration and to board

088members. The board appreciates the work of all the individuals, including our impressively articulate students that sent us questions and comments and spoke at our budget forums and business meetings. We would also like to thank the many organizations who provided the board and administration with thoughtful questions and comments, including the League of Women Voters, ISO and school athletic group leaders, Maroon and White, and PT Council. Thank you all for your participation in this important process. Speaking of budgets, time for a quick legislative update on the state budget process. On March 11th, both the state senate and assembly passed their one house budgets. Education related highlights that are most relevant to Scarsdale would include on the senate side, increasing the minimum guaranteed foundation aid increase from the governor's 2% proposal to 3%. And adjusting the regional cost

089index used in the foundation aid formula for the Hudson Valley and New York City regions. That's good news. On the assembly side. their proposal raises the minimum guaranteed foundation aid increase from 2% to 2.9% and makes multiple adjustments to the foundation aid formula. The parties are now entering into negotiations to come to an agreed upon final budget, which is technically due April 1st, but the process can take longer than that. Thank you to NSPA, Westpac, and LHEC for advocating for students' resources in the state budget. Given our full agenda for the evening, I will keep my comments short and pass it on to Drew. That was my line. Just kidding. Thank you for that, Susie. I appreciate it. I add my welcome to those joining us in person and online this evening. And I want

090to thank our community as well for their input on the budget process and this Board of Education for your thoughtful and purposeful discussion and deliberation throughout the entire process. Your questions from all of those sources make the budget a better, you know... outcome of this lengthy process. I have some news and announcements to make tonight. First, back on Saturday, March 15th, 11 of our science research juniors and seniors competed at the Regeneron Westchester Putnam Science and Engineering Fair, also known as WESF. also known as the largest high school science fair in the United States, interestingly. Six of our students earned honors from among over 800 students sharing their completed research projects, which was the largest number ever for that particular competition. I congratulate all of our students, and I will name the awardees. Linda Zhang

091won the Society for In Vitro Biology Award for 11th grade students with outstanding research in plant or animal in vitro bio or tissue culture. Noah Ng, the U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize for outstanding projects in water science. To Peter Lin, the Innovations in Biological Sciences Research Award for innovative projects in cellular and molecular bio. Chloe Ji, the BASF Expanding Knowledge and Science Award for students who exhibit excitement and an enthusiasm for discovery. to Sonia G fourth place in the category medicine and health sciences and Finally Julia Sobel first place in the category of chemistry. So congratulations to all of those students all of our science research students including Those who are just starting out and to our teachers who support them Our capital project steering committee met for the first time last week and I

092know Andrew will share a little bit of an update on that in a little bit Also, as the board is aware, we've been working on a website migration and we're excited to launch our new website in just over a week, on April 2nd. The website integrates with ParentSquare, so posts and news items as well as directory information can be shared across those platforms. We've been working hard to review information on our current website, migrate our content thoughtfully, remove outdated content and material, and present it in as user-friendly format as possible. Please keep in mind that this was a migration, not a full-scale overhaul. So the new platform is very flexible, so we'll have the ability to grow and change, and we look forward to introducing the site and inviting feedback as we make the transition.

093I want to express my gratitude to Jeannie Crowley for her leadership on this project and William Yang and our entire technology team for helping us, many, many of us through this transition. Well, it's hard to believe the SMS Choice Program is celebrating its 50th anniversary, 5-0. So they've planned a picnic for Thursday, May 8th at 6 p.m. in the SMS Great Hall that promises to be an evening full of memories and connections for alumni, students, and parents. I just wanted to announce that publicly. So if you know someone who's an alum, to tip them off to that event. I know they'll be delighted to spend time there. And then finally, just a few important dates. This coming Monday, March 31st, is Eid al-Fitr. Schools will be closed for students, but it will be a superintendent's

094conference day for our staff. On that day, our faculty will be sharing performance assessments and other types of assessments as part of our evidence collection process in advance of our May Tri-States Consortium visit. Our elementary faculty will also be sharing feedback on our math program. Edgar will say a little bit more about that tonight. And then April 1st starts Spirit Week at the high school. So I'm excited about that, and it means spring sports will be off and running. Thank you. Thank you, Drew. Your updates are always such a highlight of our meetings. Thank you. Okay, so next would be on the agenda, item 3.04, board member updates. Amber? Thank you, Susie. On March 13th, I had the pleasure of attending an iftar in the Scarsdale High School Learning Commons hosted by the Scarsdale High

095School Muslim Club. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, and the breaking of the fast is known as iftar. This is the third year these students from the Muslim Club have hosted an iftar, and it was a joy to see over 200 community members coming together to celebrate the breaking of the day's fast. I appreciate the work of the SHS Muslim Club club their officers and their sponsors to host such a wonderful event for our community and also want to recognize the important work they do educating their fellow students about how Muslims celebrate this holy month thank you to thank you to all for their efforts and for including the board in this celebration Thank You Amber Colleen Thank You Suzie On Thursday, March 20th, Amber and I attended the Maroon

096and White March Madness fundraising event at Scarsdale Golf Course. With over 75 people in attendance, this event was a great way for the community to get together and support Maroon and White while enjoying the excitement surrounding NCAA basketball. The night was filled with delicious food, amazing company, and great conversation. I would like to thank Maroon and White for including us in this wonderful event and continuing their dedication to support our student-athletes and the Scarsdale Athletic Program. thank you colleen bob attended by representatives of each school by members the agenda included reporting on action on a12 as well as installation of door and door sensors and cameras finally in addition in an effort to improve traffic flow around schools we can continue to try and improve traffic and safety issues through signage and installation jim Thank

097you Susie. On March 21st, Amber, Susie and I had the pleasure of attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Fox Meadows School to inaugurate the sensory path that has been recently installed there in the kindergarten wing of the school. And it was a wonderful event and we were very happy to see everyone who was there including Melissa Feinberg and Trish Iasolo. who are the principals of the school, and Yul Hui and Katie Goldman, who are the PTA presidents at Fox Meadow, who are also there. A joyous event, and really nice to see the kids enjoy the sensory path and really enjoy the experience. Thank you, Jim. Are there any other board updates at this time? No? Okay. Then we will move to our next item, which is cabinet updates. Sorry, I'm just restarting the zoom at

098crash for some reason. Sorry for our technical difficulties out there. Thank you for your patience. Okay, I will pass it over to Andrew. Just me. So this week is a big week for the construction project in the auditorium as we try to get the space ready to turn over to students and faculty in preparation for Jabberfest. So for that to happen, we have some contractors need to do some... many things but but two really important things this week at the first is to install the new stair treads and edge nosing there get that finished so students can use that stage coming up and down off the beautiful new carpeting that's also been installed. And then the other piece of that is the acoustical consultant is in the, sorry, the drapery company is in hanging the

099acoustical draperies on the side walls, which is a really great kind of finishing touch as we get really close to this project being done. We still have plans for the main stage curtain and the motor. being the delay on that, being installed over the spring break. And the hardwood veneer that is going to go around the entire proscenium is going to get installed during spring break as well. The place has been painted, so it does look finished, but it will look even better when those things get done during the spring break. In speaking with Principal Bonamo last week, the high school will be in the works to plan for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for that space, probably to coincide with the May musical performances that happen in that space. So we're really excited for that. I'll

100talk more about it in a bit. We've got two change orders related to the project on the agenda, which I'll talk to you in the information and action item section later this evening. Also on the agenda this evening, there is a resolution in the consent agenda where we will ask the Board of Education to appropriate $200,000 of the EPA funding that we received for our electric school bus. The kind of impetus of this is we were reviewing the grants paperwork and speaking with our external auditor, our financial auditor, to help us make sure we account for everything properly. And they made the recommendation that rather than accounting for this in our grant funds, our special aid fund, they felt that this really should be in the general fund. So that resolution increases the school budget

101based on the amount of money we got from the EPA and just ensures that that money is... captured in the general fund. We will see similar resolution in the new school year to help us with the additional $600,000 that is still outstanding for that grant that we will use for the three buses that are in the proposed budget. And then finally, as Dr. Patrick mentioned, last Thursday we had our first capital project steering committee. Thank you to Leah and Bob for attending that. I think it was a very great conversation led by Kevin Walsh of BBS, who, with the support of Paul Tazi from Aris Contracting, Drew and myself, really led the committee through quite a bit of information, although it was really just touching the tip of the iceberg. We developed a plan for

102setting goals for the committee. really outlining the purpose and kind of set us on a path for gaining consensus as a large group. There's a lot of work to be done and we need to find consensus in that to be able to meet our timelines. On April 7th, we anticipate that Kevin Walsh will be here to present to the board some of that work that he's already done and where we plan to go with the committee. We look forward to that presentation from Kevin. Thank you. Any questions on the cabinet updates? Okay. Next item on the agenda would be our first public comment session for this business meeting, hearing from those present. At this time, I will read the public comment preamble. Members of the public are cordially invited to speak on district related items

103or 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. Speakers will be 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 scarsdaleschools.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

104place. Response to public comment will take place after the first and second public comment periods. So at this time, I'd like to first ask if anybody in the audience would like to make a public comment. Okay, then. We will move to Zoom. Thank you, Susie. There are attendees on Zoom. I do not see anyone's hand raised at this time. Okay, we'll give it a couple seconds. Please make sure to raise your hand on Zoom if you would like to be called upon to speak. All right then, then with that I will close this public comment period and move on to the next item on the agenda, follow up to public comment. There was no comment, so there's no follow up. So then next we will move to written communications, item 7.01. Thank you, Susie. Please

105note that the Board of Education email is also viewed by the superintendent and district clerk. Open meetings law requires all board deliberations which 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. formal response requires that you include your full name in the communication as well as your address more detailed information regarding written communications received by the Board of Education may be found in today's meeting agenda located in board docks on the Scarsdale school district website and turning to the written communications that we received since the last meeting on which this was reported. There have been a total of 20 communications received and responded to, 10 regarding district matters, 10

106regarding board meetings slash highlights slash invitations slash correspondence since this was last reported. Thank you, Jim. Next on the agenda is the consent agenda and I will now read the preamble to the consent agenda. 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

107agenda. If 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. At this time, I'd like to ask if anybody would like to remove an item from the consent agenda. No? Okay. Next, we will be moving to the consent agenda. I believe this is Leah. Thank you, Suzy. Tonight, there are 12 items on the consent agenda. Item 9.01, minutes, special meeting, budget study session number three, business meeting March 10th, 2025. Item

1089.02, personnel certified. Item 9.03, personnel non-certified. Item 9.04, claims audit report, February 2025. Item 9.05, Southern Westchester BOCES cooperative bid. 9.06 Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES Cooperative Bid 9.07 Appropriation of 2023 EPA Clean School Bus ESB Rebate 9.08 Board Meeting Calendars 2025 to 26 9.09, resolution and public notice for public hearing on the 2025-26 budget on May 12th, 2025, an annual district meeting and election vote on May 20th, 2025. 9.10, printing of ballots for May 20th, 2025 annual vote. 9.11, Scarsdale Principals Association contract 2024 to 2028. Item 9.12, accept consent agenda. I move that the board accept the consent agenda as presented. Thank you, Leah. Is there a second? Thank you, Amber. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. The ayes have it and the motion carries. Thank you. Next item up on

109the agenda would be 10.01, the education report on the K-5 math curriculum. All right, before handing it over to Dr. McIntosh, I just want to thank Edgar and, no, go ahead, you can come to the mic, it's open very quick, and thank Carrie Orgeria and Vivian Robert for your contributions to tonight's presentation, but to the ongoing work of educating our students and supporting our faculty. Take it away, Edgar. So thank you for this opportunity to present today. I'm eager to discuss the work of our elementary teachers and leaders and outline the important tasks we have ahead. This presentation is designed to address questions, review research and rationales, and offer relevant data and specific examples demonstrating our progress over the past three years. A special thanks to my critical friends who encouraged me to focus on

110the why, what, and how, and directly address questions raised by the community about our elementary math program. Many of the questions are related to the resources from Reveal Math from the publisher McGraw-Hill. We look forward to addressing them. I appreciate all the parents and guardians attending in person, live streaming, or watching later to learn more about Scarsdale's elementary math. Your curiosity and engagement are greatly appreciated, as is your deep care for our programs. I also appreciate my elementary administrative colleagues who were able to attend tonight as well. I am truly thankful for your collaboration and partnership every day. You'll notice that this is not called the Reveal Math presentation. That is because the materials, guidance, and tools developed by the experts at Reveal are not the entirety of our math curriculum. We rely on additional

111assessments, internal research, and ongoing structures to refine the materials and implementation to meet the needs of our students and reflect the values we hold in Scarsdale. It would be better to say we use the tools and evidence-based guidance provided by Reveal rather than we do Reveal. I am very proud to be joined by our two math coordinators, Vivian Robert and Carrie Orgera, true elementary math experts, who will be taking over at some very key points. We'll begin with our mission statement. The Scarsdale Public Schools seek to sponsor each student's full development, enabling our youth to be effective and independent contributors in a democratic society and an interdependent world. We value the community's trust and are committed to working diligently for all our students to deliver the highest quality education. We take this responsibility seriously and

112presentations like this one offers us the opportunity to build trust through transparency, responsiveness, and clear communication. Tonight we will start with some history around the process for reviewing math resources and ultimately the reason we chose Reveal Math as a guiding program. We'll discuss implementation with integrity, what our implementation looks like when using these materials with purpose, consistency, responsiveness, and necessary flexibility to meet the range of learners in Scarsdale. We'll dig into some important assessment data, external measures through normed progress monitoring tools and state assessments, and also internal assessments included and adapted within the program. We'll review feedback from teachers in the community, feedback that we have responded to, and also do some myth-busting around the program. There are handouts over there on the chair by the door, and they are also available through the board

113agenda online. Next, and really for me the highlight of the presentation, we'll take a look inside the classroom with student and teacher voices, and then a peek behind the curtain at the structures of support that make it all possible. Math education is foundational, and it's no surprise that it makes the news. This recent headline from the Hetchinger Report is for an article explaining students are not being taught the numeracy needed, a flexible understanding of how numbers work at an early age, and that without this foundation, students are unprepared for the highest level of math and science. The need for competency and deep understanding of math is not new, nor is the comprehensive pathway. So the research consistently points to the need for a comprehensive approach to teaching mathematics that emphasizes understanding, reasoning, and problem solving.

114Key elements of the best math programs emphasize conceptual understanding, prioritizing deep comprehension of mathematical concepts over rote memorization, that we take an integrated approach along with conceptual understanding, include procedural fluency and real-world applications. There are rich tasks, engaging students with open-ended tasks that foster exploration and connection, student-centered learning, promoting active engagement and allowing students to construct their own understanding, and continuous assessment, utilizing formative assessment to guide instruction and provide feedback. So, when it came to select a program of resources, we only reviewed and considered programs that included these elements. The final five are listed on this slide. You will note that our former program, Primary Math, formerly known as Singapore Math, was one of the programs reviewed. Our internal committee of teachers, administrators, and math leaders reviewed the longer list than these, but these five

115rose to the top and were tried out by 41 educators in classrooms across the district. All grades and schools were represented, and after each cycle, the group met to describe the pros and cons of each program as they aligned to the state standards and the values of Scarsdale. Based on committee feedback, we reached a consensus that Reveal is the best match. Although it wasn't everyone's first choice, most committee members rated it number one. All members agreed that the program could work well for our students. We recognized that adjustments would be necessary over time, addressing both known areas of improvement and those that may arise. We began from a place of strength. The materials got good ratings from our committee for strong student-centered lessons, an emphasis on conceptual understanding, real-world application, a wealth of resources, and

116a good digital platform. We also noted that Reveal received high marks from an independent evaluation organization, Ed Reports, which gave it positive reviews across the board, K-5, and focus, coherence, rigor, and mathematical practice. We knew going into this that it was essential that we roll out these resources with integrity. And by that, it means that we maintain a guiding philosophy and alignment with next generation math standards and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and stay true to recommendations that emphasize understanding, reasoning, and problem solving. Next, we are responsive to student and teacher needs. We engage flexible tools that meet the range of learning needs. that we are responsive in how we deliver professional support, meaning one size does not fit all, and that we build in opportunities to adapt materials, structures, and resources through

117the program improvement days, workshops, and Scarsdale Teacher Institute courses. And when there are needs to go beyond review materials, we curate and vet materials that align with research-based best practices. Importantly, integrity means we partner with families through our communication and provide opportunities for engagement. I will ask my partners now to describe some of the key elements of the Reveal program. Since our adoption of resources and practices that are aligned with the next generation math standards, we've been working with elementary teachers across the district to incorporate the shifts in math practice into their daily instruction. through resources like Reveal Math, Math for Love, U-Cubed, Context for Learning, and Metamorphosis. Activities that put students at the center of the learning have been a cornerstone of our work. Those instructional shifts include daily routines and activities that promote

118critical thinking and problem-solving skills and a deep understanding of mathematical concepts. Additionally, a focus on communicating math thinking through discourse and writing is expertly woven into the routines and activities of the program, helping students solidify foundational skills. I will briefly take the mic back to review some assessment data we have from our students' overall achievement in math. It should be noted that 2023 is the first year our students were assessed. when review methods and resources were beyond the pilot. This first slide is a summary of the K8 achievement as compared to New York State and an average of the districts we use traditionally as a comparison. You'll see in this slide and the next that we continue to perform well in relation to others in our region and in our state. This slide focuses on

119our elementary performances in comparison to what we may jokingly refer to our eight sisters, similar high performing districts. You'll see we perform well and the 2023 and 2024 testing years were no exception. The Renaissance STAR assessment is a computer adaptive assessment that measures student reading and math skills, monitors achievement and growth, and identifies students needing additional support aligning with the next generation standards. This assessment is done at least three times a year, so we rely most on the formative assessment to monitor achievement and growth. It does, however, provide a helpful snapshot of the numbers of students needing intervention. In this graph, you can see the percentage of students needing intervention for math declines the longer they are in school. And these slides are snapshots of the winter screenings that represent the years we shifted to

120reveal math. I'm going to talk about Reveal assessment tools. Reveal offers many ways to see how students learn and grow mathematically. The program offers many high quality assessment experiences that engage students with various problems including open ended, nonstandard, and nonroutine problems. These assessments are offered at several stages of learning. There's a pre-unit diagnostic to assess the readiness of new concepts. There are daily exit tickets. There are math probes within the unit to uncover misconceptions early on. At the end of each unit, there is a summative unit assessment and there are performance tasks. There are also three benchmark assessments given throughout the year. There are also many opportunities for differentiation with differentiation tools. The program offers teachers and students a variety of differentiation options. Depending on the student's needs, the teacher can customize the learning for

121students daily by using the Reinforced Understanding or Extend Thinking resources. Differentiation is also embedded in the routines, activities, and games, providing entry for all students with the potential to go as far and as deep as the individual students can go. Okay, we are naming the next slides the We Are Listening slides, and I am very, very thankful for the turnout tonight. Here is an opportunity to say we've heard your feedback. and here's how we have and will be responsive to questions and concerns. We know that early lessons are language heavy and that is largely by design but also has meant adaptations that we need to make sure that we are reaching all students. For those with the highest language needs, there's a parallel support through the Learning Resource Center through Number Worlds. There are ongoing

122professional development workshops and program improvement adaptations to break down language and formatting, which is ongoing. That said, we've seen students succeed in supported classrooms, many students moving from scoring proficiency in the state test, moving to proficiency in the state test. As well, we've seen our number of recommendations for middle school parallel math reduce by 40%. The question, what about students who are conceptually ready for more complex applications? There are extensions embedded in the program, and we have curated aligned resources outside of Reveal Math Materials. We'll continue to respond to this feedback, but are judicious in our selection of extension and enrichment materials to make sure they align with our philosophies. Another question, at times there doesn't seem to be enough practice with procedural fluency or the development of automaticity with math facts. Automaticity is developed

123through fluency, which is more complex than memorization or speed. There is a place, however, for practicing math facts. We have built in additional practice opportunities and curated non-reveal vetted resource. Something else that we've heard, homework can be confusing to students and to the parents who are looking to support them. For students, confusion can come from a lack of understanding of the concept. As homework is designed to be done independently and as an extension of classwork, parents are encouraged to have their child give it a try and return the homework as it is. This provides teacher feedback on both student understanding and the clarity of the homework question. We acknowledge that some homework questions benefit from clarification and rewording, and that has also been part of the response of professional development. We are scheduling follow-up workshops

124to answer additional questions and help support parents support their children. Some of the feedback we've heard makes assumptions or generalizations about Reveal math that are not true. For that, we've curated or created a handout, thanks to Mitch Crasson and the assessment office, that addresses the major misconceptions about Reveal. Vivian and Kerry will take you through some of the most common misperceptions, and I will walk the remote over to them for the next section. One of the misconceptions that may exist is about the use of algorithms and formulas. This program follows an instructional progression that engages students in conceptual understanding before presenting an algorithm or formula. This ensures that students understand the structure of the mathematics that underlies the algorithms and formulas that allow it to work. Here we will see an example of this progression.

125So students investigate the concept of volume, the empty space within a 3D shape. and then they work to figure out how to measure the volume using unit cubes. Finally, students relate the algorithm or formula to the learned content. So through investigation and exploration with number, they go on to finally put the algorithm to the concept they've been learning. Another concern is that the program lacks rigor. Mathematical rigor, as defined by New York State's Next Generation Learning Standards, is a balanced focus of conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and application. This means that we're requiring students to have a thorough, in-depth understanding of concepts so that they're able to engage in challenging tasks that further develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The two images on this slide share examples of these types of activities included in the program.

126And, where necessary, teachers have access to resources that allow them to offer students additional vetted materials. So another misconception is that there isn't focused attention on learning the math facts. The fact is that automaticity is developed through fluency, which is much more complex than memorization and speed. In first grade, students are taught about learning about doubles. As you can see with dot images, which is present here, or many other models, they learn that a double means that the two add-ons are the same. This is foundational for their understanding of near doubles that come later on. If a doubles fact is in place, then they can lead to facts that they don't know. This is introduced here. You can see the cubes where the doubles factor 3 plus 3 has now another one added on top

127of it. It's called a near double. So 3 plus 4 equals what? So students build a network of number relationships that connect what they do know to what they don't know. This is more powerful than memorization alone, and it connects ideas with number relationships. This is now called a fluency check within the program. As you see in number four, eight plus an unknown number equals ten. This develops the big math idea of part-whole relations. In number six, you see ten equals an unknown number plus six. This is diving into the idea of the equal sign, and it's different because students are not used to seeing it on the left side of the equation. They may know the fact, but they might not recognize it here because they're not used to seeing it in this form.

128They need exposure to this idea because it's critical when developing the idea of equivalence and the meaning of the equal sign. The equal sign is not just a symbol to do something. It's actually a complex relational idea, and each side is the same, or there's a balance. In numbers 8 through 15, you could see that addition and subtraction are taught simultaneously. We see that this establishes the inverse relationship which underpins many of the strategies that the students will learn going forward. In Reveal, number facts are not taught in isolation. The students decompose and recompose numbers to add and subtract using the properties of operations such as equivalence, the cumulative property, the associative property. This is the foundation of algebraic thinking and as we know is the gateway to higher mathematics. So we're going to think

129about the student experience. Every day students engage in various activities and explorations that build number sense, computational thinking, math practices and habits of mind when doing mathematics. Through inquiry, collaboration, oral and written communication, students build flexibility and reasoning skills and develop fluency. You will now get to see students at work and Vivian and I will be switching off given the teachers that we work with on the grades this year. So we're first going to be seeing an activity-based exploration in a kindergarten classroom. Activity-based explorations explore concepts, they develop hypotheses, the students engage in productive struggle, and they problem-solve and generalize their learning. Too many vertices. When I heard a kindergartener say that, I actually... That was in October. That was early kindergarten, and she was naming the vertices and sides and using the language appropriately.

130Here we have an example of an enrichment opportunity in first grade that pushes students to engage with concepts that have been introduced in a deeper way. These activities are designed to allow students easy entry into the task and to take it further based on their individual skills and strengths. In this video, students are challenging themselves to build triangles with more and more pattern blocks and use addition equations to justify their thinking. Let's make, let's double check first. Let's double check. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. This is also a way to make... We saw 14 in our second try. This is also a way to make... 1, 2, 3, 4. Here we have second grade and we're going to be looking at a number routine. Number

131routines develop flexibility with numbers, fluency with operations. They work on automaticity through repeated practice and engagement with numbers. This is a second grade class where it's a number routine where the students have to decide if a mathematical statement is always true or not. Is this always true? When adding tens, the number of hundreds And ones never changes. Hundreds do change. Well, ones never. Yeah, because you're only adding. Yeah, because you're adding zero ones. And then you just have to add one of the ten because you're just adding the ten and the ten. Yeah, but when you do ten tens, you'll get a hundred, you'll get one hundred. So the number of hundreds change, but the number of ones does not. Wait, but it says when adding ten. the number of hundreds and ones never change

132and that's about tense it's not always true because because yeah because only ones never change hundreds they change when you get yeah it's not always can you give an example when it's not true like like say 90 plus plus plus um 11. so how might you tweak that oh 91 plus 10 plus 10 Because you've already had the one, so you're only adding nine, and then you add one more. That means the ones that would change, because you already have most of them. You're not cutting that one. Okay, so just to let you know that that conversation went on for four minutes, to the point where the students were able to generalize this big place value idea in the thousands, hundred thousands, millions, and trillions. Student-centered activities like this one in third grade required students

133to create models that demonstrate their understanding of equivalent fractions. Being able to represent their mathematical understandings and thinking with models and representations is an important skill that students need and rely on in higher level math and science courses to solve problems. Math games are a large part of the curriculum. Math games are a hands-on way for students to engage in the learning lesson content through collaboration with their classmates. This is a fourth grade fractions game in which the students had to build mixed numbers with pattern blocks, match the model to the equivalent fraction, and then record the decomposition of the number with fraction equations. These next two slides are my favorite. In these slides, we will see an important and central idea regarding math learning in this program. Here we see the concept of division

134with fractions introduced. Students were given strips of paper and asked to represent the problem, using their representations to figure out the answer. Later on, they were asked to discuss what processes were used in order to get the answer. Students who had previously learned the trick of keep, change, flip without the underlying conceptual understanding shared the value of the activity. Using the strips and the number line helped me. When we used the strips and we broke it up into parts, it showed me what each jump on the number line was representing. So it helped me do the adding and the number. When we did the bar models and the number lines, it really showed me, mostly the bar models, why we only changed one number to multiply. It was like so much like more like less

135confusion than the other thing. Just learning to keep change flip I felt like wasn't like so you actually understand what you're doing. Here we see another fifth grade activity, this time an integrated enrichment in which students used application station activities from the reveal program to investigate real world problems. Although this was an integrated project, math was the primary lens for exploring a variety of topics. Students could delve deeply into the topic of their choice. like volume in harvesting rainwater, operations of decimals through the exploration of planetary distance in how far, and finally place value and large numbers as they compared the cost of living in rural and urban areas across the United States. This next video will share, pretty impressively, the way a second grader is able to solve the same problem using four different

136strategies. You will see him share his thinking in written form and explain his process for each. We'll give you a small taste of this. It's quite a lengthy video, but we'll give you a small taste as he explains his first strategy. The first one. I did 87 plus 3 and the 3 came off of the 56 and that makes 90. And then I took a 10 off of the 56 and made it 100. And then I was left with 43 and then 43 plus 100 equals 143. And then in the second one, 87 plus 56 equals 7. plus 3, 56 minus 3 equals 90 and 53 and 90 plus 53 equals 143. And the third one I did 87 plus 3 equals 90 and then that goes into there which makes 90 plus 10 equals

137100 and then that goes in 100 plus... He goes on for a bit but I think what was really impressive was that he had mastery of all of those strategies and could explain them with accurate vocabulary and process and of course the video goes on and the teacher is expertly asking questions to push his thinking deeper and deeper into the mathematics. Our teachers are noticing some very exciting things in our math learners. They see students who are flexible and precise in their thinking. These students use strategies that demonstrate a depth of understanding. They can model, they can explain, and they can demonstrate their thinking. And they do all of this while preserving and sharing positive attitudes about mathematics. We will now hear from the teachers about the shifts that they have seen in their students'

138understanding since the program was adopted. Here we have a second grade teacher and she's going to be talking about math language and flexibility. I think one of the biggest shifts that I've noticed is that kids are really encouraged to problem solve and critically think about math in a different way. Kids come in, I would say, with a much more precise mathematical language, pretty advanced language. When you hear a second grader in September saying things like, I'll just decompose the second addend. So that's been a shift. And I would say... Students also come to me knowing from K-1 knowing more strategies for problem solving especially with addition and subtraction whereas in the past they wouldn't necessarily be able to tell why they chose a strategy they did and they wouldn't have such a large toolbox to

139choose from. I think that kids, I would say, are being pushed to articulate why they are doing what they're doing. And I see this both in orally and also in written forms where kids are using models differently. I see parentheses in work. Kids are using number lines for various reasons and drawing part-part-whole illustrations. So just a real, real... advancement in what they're and how they're showing what they're doing. Okay so here we have a third grade teacher and she's going to talk about the positive attitudes about math from her students that she's seeing in the classroom. And what I hear my students doing is speaking about their mathematical thinking in many more ways than I ever experienced as a teacher before. I love the differentiated piece because I see there are certain students who need

140an activity-based lesson. They need to be able to touch the manipulatives, work with partners, and there are students that need a more guided lesson format. I feel that Reveal sets every child up for success at a different level. And the way I gauge that is I don't hear kids hating math anymore. I don't hear I'm not good at it anymore because there's always something in the math lesson that they are very aware that there are more, there's more than one answer. There's more than one way to get there. And we invite mistakes. We invite different ways of solving problems. And that is implicit in every lesson. We have a fourth grade teacher and he's going to be talking about the number routines specifically and how they access and stretch for all students. I really enjoy

141the number routines. I feel like that's the way where students come in, they're all willing to just kind of get right to work. Most of the routines are set up, actually all of them are, where it's that low floor, high ceiling, so it's accessible for all where they kind of get. right to their thinking and showing their work. I think my favorite is a target number. I love that one because you have some kids who might just be doing simple one step adding or subtracting where other kids are pushing themselves and doing things with multiplication and division, which leads to great conversations when we do the share. I've also seen an increase in student vocabulary just using the precise math words. I'm teaching fourth grade this year and students are always talking about decomposing numbers,

142whether they're whole numbers or fractions. In the beginning of the year, they were very proud to say things like, oh, this math problem is showing the multiplicative comparison of this and that. And that's language I haven't heard before. So it's pretty great to just hear that. I'm using the precise vocabulary. And then, yeah, the number routines, just getting them, they're all willing to come in and just get to work. Carrie and I are continuously striving to be responsive to teachers. To support them in their daily work with students, we've created and curated a variety of materials. Teachers have resources charts that give them clarity and access to reveal materials at their fingertips. We've also created a math website that offers teachers the opportunity to engage with all kinds of materials from pacing charts to enrichment

143and extension activities, including work that teachers have done to customize the program for their students through program improvement and professional development work. And now we're going to hand this back to Edgar. And Carrie, our math coordinators are key to our math program success, ensuring that it is supported with both integrity and responsiveness. Vivian and Kerry focus on student enrichment support. They provide our teachers with innovative tools and strategies designed to extend the learning of our high achieving students. This ensures that every student has the opportunity to reach their full potential. They're also instrumental in faculty and district grade level meeting support where they collaborate with teachers and district leaders to oversee consistency and alignment across the grade levels. In the classroom, Vivian and Kerry take an active role through co-teaching and modeling for classroom teachers.

144They work in an assured rotation through all classrooms, providing support and mentorship to teachers. And then, of course, as needed, they're always ready to step in and support. individuals and teams. Their support extends beyond the classroom to provide guidance for administrators assisting in decision-making processes and ensuring our math program aligns with broader educational goals. Vivian and Kerry also lead program improvement and curriculum adaptation through the school year and over the summer. Through educator feedback they continuously assess and adapt our curriculum to meet evolving educational needs ensuring that it remains relevant and effective. New teachers and teaching assistants benefit from their expertise through comprehensive training programs helping them to integrate into our educational community. Additionally, they manage the elementary math website, as they mentioned, a vital resource for teachers providing access to valuable materials and updates.

145They are also in the process of creating a family-facing site to help strengthen the home-school connection. Their monthly math newsletters keep everyone informed and engaged with the latest development strategies and achievements within our math program. Finally, Vivian and Kerry play a pivotal role in the district math committee meetings where they advocate for continuous improvement and innovation in our math education. It has always been important to get feedback on content and the structure of professional development. Here is an example of a survey given to teachers about the impacts on professional learning sessions. They also gather information while in meetings, in classrooms, and in workshops about areas of needed focus. We are also having part of our upcoming superintendent's conference day dedicated to collecting feedback from our educators to reflect our process so far and get feedback

146on what's going well and where there are additional areas of support needed. So we began the whole process of introducing Reveal a few years back with a series of workshops for parents at the launch. The following year we had a parent workshop as well. There are parent letters that are part of the program that can go back to homes to alert parents to what's going on in the classrooms. And we are also developing a fact sheet in this presentation to act as a reference for those who are interested. In the future, as I had mentioned, we are in the process of launching a math resource website for families. and also planning additional parent workshops, which will be announced. This will give a chance for us to follow up on this presentation in a smaller setting

147with materials and hands-on opportunities while also urging our parents to engage our teachers always in questions about their child's math journey as the first line of questioning. We see parents as partners in this process. Carrie and Vivian and I look forward to answering questions now from the Board of Education. Thank you, Edgar. Thank you so much for coming tonight and showing us your program. Are there any questions from the board for the presenters? Leah? Thank you, Edgar, Carrie, and Vivian. It was a very thorough presentation and much appreciated. So the board has heard about reading comprehension and reading fluency as an issue with Reveal since it is reading heavy. Is it reading heavy even in the early grades? There is language in the early grades and there's a range. So you saw from some of

148the examples, some of them are sheets with numbers around developing fluency and then there are other word problems. There are also opportunities for the problems to be read aloud for nonreaders. But we also know that it is word heavy, so we've been making adaptations. And some of it even has to do with the formatting. How many words are on a page? I don't know if you want to add to that. Sure. What teachers have been sharing with us is that through their lessons, when students come to them in September, they start by structuring lessons so that they engage students with the language. Sometimes starting by reading out loud to them, introducing them to the vocabulary, and as they gain fluency in reading from their reading instruction, they're applying, they're getting to practice that work in

149their math. And so they do start to read eventually on their own with support from their teachers. But what teachers are sharing is that there's overlap, there's intersection. So as they're getting stronger in their reading skills through their reading instruction, they're applying it in the math, practicing it there, and then that extra practice makes them better readers. in the other reading they're doing. So it is a process. Teachers do work with students to support them in becoming obviously not just fluent in the reading, but in learning how to approach text on a page when they're doing math. And what's happening is as kids are building those skills, there's some gradual release. They become more independent. and are able to do that work more and more on their own. It takes time, but teachers would be

150doing that no matter what, scaffolding and supporting students in that work. So I think, yes, there is a process that's happening there in supporting kids in doing that work, but they're having a lot of really good success, which is nice. I'd like to add to that, that any of the programs that you saw up there, the five, are language heavy. We're shifting from the math, from a more procedural algorithmic to problem solving. So there's going to be inherently in that much more reading. So, and that's through content areas. And so what you might be hearing is that it is language heavy, which is true, and we're going to make the adaptations early on. We're also finding that we're, and maybe you don't hear this part of it, that the kids are becoming better readers because

151of what's happening in math and the other stuff. Thank you for that. And as you said, and as you mentioned in the presentation, you talked about clarification and rewording. Is this something that was preemptively highlighted as a potential issue for reveal? when you adopted the program? As we went into it, I remember those days well. It seems like yesterday. We had posters, lists of pros and cons and areas of support. It was identified back then that there was a lot of language. It was something that, as Kerry mentioned, was one of the things that was common in all the programs that we were considering is that there's been a shift. towards this problem-based. So we knew that and we also there were other areas that we thought that we wanted to go in with our

152eyes open, learn about the program and make adaptations as we went along. And do middle school math teachers, have they seen anything different from the students coming up? With reveal or so we had a we had a conversation with the middle school math department and one of the things is they're just starting to get the cohort of kids what is true and I think that it should be It should be mentioned is that the mathematical standards and the next-gen math standards have shifted All the way up through middle middle school And so the expectations for these mathematical practices and this problem solving and this shift is something that they're responding to in their classrooms while they aren't using the Reveal resources. Next year as we go forward, we're going to look for opportunities to share

153these resources and look for that kind of alignment and that common language. We do expect, like our teachers in the elementary right now they're going to be surprised by the sophistication of the language because that is something that we've heard again and again from from the teachers and just just to note I think that as you mentioned at the end of your presentation the smaller setting parent facing opportunities are really important I appreciate that you're planning to do these yeah thank you thank you so much for this We're just shifting, just like the teachers. Okay, thank you so much for this. I think... It was slide 19 you were talking about the multiple assessments throughout the year that teachers perform to keep kind of eyes on each student, whether it's an exit ticket or an

154informal assessment or an actual end-of-unit assessment. How often are those assessments shared with the parents to show growth? Is that a standard practice that teachers are sharing these types of assessments to show parents how their students are developing in math? Do we have any kind of understanding around that? Yeah, it's not a standard practice. Each classroom has their different norms for what they do, so we couldn't answer that for each classroom. But that's where the parent communication comes in. So now that you know that these assessments happen in every unit, you could say, hey, let's talk about what that is. But there's no sort of mandate on everyone is sending them home and giving you access to those. But it is available if you want it. Right, so parents need to know that these assessments

155are taking place to be able to ask for them. Is that correct? Yeah. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, go ahead. No, additionally, I would just add that these assessment tools are used by teachers in different ways, right? Some of them are just quick snapshots at the end of a lesson that will inform the teacher in his instruction for the next day. So some of these, they work in different ways, and I think... most parents probably are used to seeing certain assessments more commonly, like the end of a unit assessment, or they might get shared by being sent home or at a parent-teacher conference, or a teacher may even reach out to say, you know, I've been doing some assessing in the classroom. These are some of the things I'm seeing. Let's talk about them. So

156for sure. having information like these different kinds of assessments exist, having parents reach out and say, In the presentation we saw some of these things. I know I've seen this from you Can you share a little bit more about all these other ways? I think they'd be really happy to be able to share that right I mean I agree I think you know what exit ticket obviously is not designed to be shared with parents It's designed for the teacher to plan the next unit the next day. That's you know the benefit of it one of the things we hear a lot from the community is parents concerns over you know there's their children developing mathematical skills and so any way that teachers can continue to share that information and to show the growth i think

157is very helpful for for parents so i think that connection and that information just will strengthen the home to school connection especially if they're struggling with with how to support their child at home, which kind of leads me to my next point. I think on one of the slides, I think it was 20, you said there's replay videos. I don't know if that's just offered for teachers or do parents have the option to access those videos to help support their students? They do. Actually, many teachers post those replay videos on a teacher page or if an assignment goes home, teachers may give students access digitally, like through a link on a document. And what's lovely about them is that at the end of every lesson, there's a replay video for every lesson. So if a

158student needs just a little kind of a refresher or a parent would like to offer support and assist. they can view it as well. So that's something that all teachers are encouraged to share, either daily or on their site, in whatever form works for them. But parents absolutely can have access to those. Just to note, they're not used the same way in all classes. So in order for you to have access, they would have to be, it's not like you could go on a public site and find them. You would have to access them because your teacher assigned it to the student or because they posted it on their page. So it's maybe, again, another thing that you could ask about how they're using it. So it's not standard practice, but it's an option. Consistent

159throughout. They use them in many different ways. Got it. Slide 21. Sorry, these are how my notes go. It's the teacher and me. So I can appreciate, you know, the LRC for the students with highest language needs. I guess my concern is more for a student who maybe has, you know, maybe. small vocabulary integration or language processing that wouldn't qualify or maybe be identified as a student that struggles with language based high language needs, how do teachers help support those types of students? There are a couple of things within the curriculum where you could use the differentiation resource book so you could have, there are lessons that if you need some support, there's also support for English language learners and also these routines that are specifically dedicated to the language learning. So there are things

160within the curriculum they can use. to address those needs that are not specifically at the LRC, as well as adapting on our own through professional development and just, you know, maybe being, many teachers use sentence stems or prompts or things like that, but there are various places where you could get that support that's not LRC. I think additionally, you know, teachers will pull small groups and work on specific skills that will help students with whatever the need might be. The program also comes with vocabulary cards and parent letters so that parents additionally can help support in those places where maybe just a little extra practice or review is helpful. So I think... you know, our teachers were so fortunate to have such skilled and expert teachers and what they'll do is notice some of those

161struggles in students and create small groups for them, provide them extra support, whether it's additional materials, and hopefully stay in contact with parents to say, this is how in partnership we can continue to support your child. I think as, you know, math instruction changes and evolves and maybe moves away from the way we were taught math. Having opportunities for parents to get support to understand what's coming home is something that I think our community has voiced that they need And I think is important to to make sure we spend the time to try to coordinate moving forward Lastly just just a little antidote, you know these always true statements I I now I have kids in high school, but they are required to do those types of statements so I see the value in starting

162that type of thinking earlier and and i appreciate that so i just wanted to also share that opportunity um thank you for your presentation actually i learned a lot about the reveal math program so i appreciate it and um actually your last point was an interesting question or comment Colleen because something jumped out at me on the kindergarten slide where you talked about engaging in productive struggle and this actually might be more of a question for you Edgar but maybe you could explain that concept to me and then I've heard it used at the high school in math as well and I know it can be very frustrating for students at the high school level when teachers sort of engage or want the students to engage in productive struggle. So maybe you could explain to

163me a little bit more about what that is and how it works at different levels. That would be very helpful. Yeah. Productive struggle is really about building a mindset around what it means to learn and think of things differently and value. I heard Katie, one of the teachers, talk about this idea of mistakes being okay because mistakes are things that we learn from. So productive struggle means that if you're in the real zone of learning, it isn't too easy and it isn't too hard, but it's in a place where you can feel a sense of movement and success enough so that the setbacks aren't going to crush your spirit. But by talking about this idea of, okay, it's actually okay and appropriate and good to feel this level of confusion until you make your way

164to a solution or solutions. It's part of the language we use to get students ready for that and that's something that they they talk about at high school at middle school and also in kindergarten when you see a Certain child who's just exclaiming there are just too many vertices I was a circle, but no, too many vertices. I like to think of it as good struggle, right? I think that humans only think when there's a problem they need to solve. And if questions are too easy, then they're not forced to think. We don't want it to be too hard where they're frustrated. We want to get to that little itchy place where your brain itches and is like, ooh, I'm feeling a little uneasy, but I'm excited. So that's what we mean by productive struggle.

165It's a good struggle because that means that you're learning. And it's also interesting because we see that too in the classroom where there are certain students who will come up with an answer because they know the formula or they know the trick. And they sometimes feel frustrated when we back them up and we say, explain why that works. And they go, well, it's the right answer, right? Because they may have some proficiency around computational fluency. but not a depth of understanding to be able to explain it to really demonstrate their conceptual understanding. Thank you for those explanations. So it sounds like there's still instruction that's happening, then it's followed by the productive struggle. It's not simply putting concepts out there and kids are just figuring it out. What the teacher is doing is instead of

166the student pressing the teacher for an answer, The shift is the teacher is pressing the student for an answer. And instead of giving it, what they're doing is linking pieces of information for them so that they gradually make the connections themselves to have that aha moment. It may be a little bumpy. They may have to think about it. They may have to go back. They may have to redo. But that's where the real learning is happening. If nothing changes in the way you're thinking, then you're probably not really learning something. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Ron. Thanks for the presentation. You know, every program has its strengths and its weaknesses. So could you talk about what are the top three issues and concerns you hear from our teachers about Reveal Math? Sure. Yeah,

167we will. So one of the reasons, it's a little bit of a double-edged sword, right? One of the reasons we chose Reveal is that it had so many resources for teachers. It had all kinds of assessments. It had all kinds of differentiation. It had a digital platform. There was so much. And as wonderful as that is, and we feel very fortunate to have that, don't get me wrong, it takes time. to learn all those different pieces and how to use each one effectively and how to customize it for the students in front of you. So that's one of the things we're hearing. They're just needing some of that time to really own the materials in a way that allows them to kind of have that seamless instructional feel that they're used to having. So that's

168one of the things that we're hearing. Yeah, so I agree with that. It's almost like when you go to a brunch and there's a s'mores board and you don't know what to choose from because there's too much and you might make yourself sick. Next time you go, you're going to know what the good things are that work for you that day. So there is a shift because there's so many resources. The teachers need time, and I think that I'd rather have that problem with too much stuff to teach them about than too little. Another one of the struggles could be how it's language heavy. But I do agree, I believe that those other five programs were just going to be as language heavy because the shift is on problem solving and critical thinking. And in

169order to do that, and if we're moving away from computation, then it's going to be more language heavy. So we addressed that in the slide. I would say probably the final thing is really enriching those top top students. You know there may be just one or two in the classroom that need even more even beyond what Reveal has and we've been working on putting together those resources. We've been very fortunate to also be able to add some math for learning resources from Dan Finkel who came and spoke to us on another superintendent conference day. Same philosophy, also aligned to the state standards and to the ways we're teaching math, but some really, really deep work. that pushes those students. I was just in a third grade classroom where students had to use pattern blocks to

170figure out the fractions of non-standard shapes. And I think that's the kind, those are the kinds of activities that we're looking for for kids because in life we often encounter non-standard problems that need novel ways of approaching them and of thinking about them. And so I think that you know to answer your question that would probably be the third place where we're working with teachers to really provide kids with those activities that by the way are there for everyone but top students are able to take it even way beyond what is being introduced to the classroom in general. And to add to that through summer program improvement, there are places within the curriculum that you can go deeper, but we're taking them even further. There's these things called application stations. And over summer program improvement

171last summer, we took them and instead of having it be this one day real world genuine application of a math... problem, we extended it to a week's study. So there are ways outside of the curriculum and ways to go deeper within the curricular material, which is one of the things that we do in summer program improvement. Thank you so much. My second question is actually it's really for parents. I think you've now heard the presentation from the administration on what their lens of this program is. Would appreciate hearing from parents if this is aligned with what you see in your children's coming home and if not That would be helpful because that helps I think all of us understand the gaps to address I think one of the amazing parts about our district is the

172resources that so many families put towards their kids When they are outside resources such as tutors, we don't necessarily know all the gaps if you do not share those with us. So please share if it's aligned or it's not aligned. I think I would really, that's an ask I have for parents. We've heard from a lot, but I think I would appreciate hearing from more. Thank you. Thank you. Jim. Yeah, hi. Thanks very much for the presentation. Really appreciate that. I had a question, though, about one of the assessment slides, slide 18. I really didn't understand what this was showing. Could you just walk through slide 18 and explain what we're looking at? What is this showing? Star math universal screener. Yeah, so this is a screener that we use in both reading and in

173math. And these slides represent... the percentage of kids that were identified as needing either were on watch, were at a certain level, in need of intervention, or urgent intervention. So they're kids who fell below the 40th percentile. And so my reason for putting it up there was to demonstrate how kids, as they're using the RevealMath resources, that the need for intervention tends to trend down, just simply using that particular data, wanting to highlight how we're keeping track of students using this outside, you know, standardized measure. Okay, so we're looking at in each of these Just so I understand it is the entirety of the elementary school class for each of these. Yes, so it's a snapshot It's a it's a it's sometimes kids didn't take it for various reasons But it's a snapshot across of

174the the second grade third fourth and fifth grade the winter 2223 and then the first second third fourth fifth 23, 24, and then again, one through five, 24, 25. So if you look across the grades, but if you look across the cohorts, then you can see a trend where there's less of a need through this standardized screener for there to be urgent or intervention or to be on watch. And reveal math was what everyone was using for each of these bars? Yes. That's why they're not all, they only go back that far. Any idea what happened 2023, 2024, first grade? What was the anomaly there? Well, you know, we didn't have the first, the kindergartners the year before and the first graders the year before were not assessed. So it's hard to say. I don't

175know if you have any theories on that particular one. 2022 and 2023 students were, we don't have that first, sorry, that first grade data. And prior to that, those students were in kindergarten coming off of COVID. It's hard to tell just what kind of, what they had in terms of some prior instruction and knowledge. Although we see there in 2023, 2024, that first grade, right, that's what their benchmarking bars looked like, as they moved on and as the other cohorts move on, what you're seeing is less and less of that dark red color and even some of that cherry red color, right? It gets smaller. Yeah, I figured that. Thanks. Yeah, thank you. Okay, thanks. Thank you. Thank you so much for this presentation. I just had a couple comments. I really appreciate the challenge

176of differentiating, especially in the elementary schools. It seems like we have such a... a wide range of learners now, more than probably ever before. And I think that we don't level in the elementary schools, which I'm not suggesting that we do. So trying to be responsive to each student's needs is really important. I appreciate that that is a focus of this program. I remember when my son, who's now in high school, when he was in elementary school, there was a really gifted math student in his class. And he, you know, poor kid, he was just stuck in the corner on a computer. I don't know what program it was, you know. And I think he, you know, was really sad. You know, he was really isolated. And, you know, I'm glad to hear that you're

177thinking of all kinds of learners, you know, even the more advanced ones. Also... The point that some of my other board members have brought up about the parent connection, you know, I think is so important and I appreciate that that is, you know, something that you're going to be doing going back into the elementary schools. I remember when my kids were in elementary school and we had these, like, little groups for, it was at the time Singapore Math, which at the time the parents hated and they didn't understand. So I think with any new program, there's going to be a process of teaching the parents how to relearn and look at math. I think especially some of that vocabulary was really impressive and really challenging. I think if there is a way to give parents

178like a glossary or something like that, it could be really helpful. There is a family letter that goes out with every unit that has all the vocabulary words. So if you're not seeing it, ask your teacher for it. And that will help you with the vocabulary for every unit, every grade. Amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you. And with that... Wait, I'm sorry. I have a follow-up on that. So how do we know if it's going out in classrooms? So this was a similar piece of feedback. I remember hearing at one of the elementary schools like two years ago that maybe one class was getting something and others weren't. Kind of sounds like that might still be happening. If that's valuable, I just think we have to recognize sometimes what we talk about here is

179not trickling down into the classrooms. We think that's important. I think that's important to do. I don't have a view whether it's important, but it sounds like you two do. I think meeting... We'll continue to support teachers in making sure that they certainly have access to it, and how can we support them in getting that information out. I think having those small group meetings, you can communicate to parents but also get feedback from parents as well. So hopefully that will be helpful. Thank you so much. Thank you. It was a great presentation. If there's no other question or comment, thank you. And maybe we take a five-minute break. Would that sound okay? Thank you. Yeah? Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you everybody for sticking with us and staying with us this evening. Next item

180on the agenda, item 10.02 is the BOCES administrative budget and trustee election preliminary discussion and this item is mine. As for background, all public school districts in the state are asked to vote upon their local BOCES, that is the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, annual administrative budget for the upcoming school year. This vote is on Tuesday, April 22nd. The summary of the tentative 2025-26 BOCES administrative budget of $13,672,215 is attached and reflects an increase of $460,290 from last year. That is a 3.5% increase. The Southern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services also has three current board members seeking re-election. Each component school district board of education by resolution may cast one vote for each vacancy. The three year terms begin on July 1st, 2025 and end on June 30th, 2028. The letters of nominations and

181biographies for the candidates are attached to the agenda. Any questions or discussion on that? Okay. Then we will move along to item 10.03, a new policy, a first reading and draft policy of the ex officio student member of the Board of Education. By way of background, it's something we've been talking about for quite a while now. It's a new state law that each public school district will be appointing an non-voting student board member to its board of education. And there's quite a bit of latitude as to how each school district will be determining who that person or persons can be. We have been working on this as a board and a small group committee of Jim, Colleen, and myself. And we are getting closer and closer to inviting the community of students, of high school

182students, to apply for this role. And so we're going to be looking at the policy right now. We have actually a version from last timely net and we have this one as well so I don't know if people want to comment on what they would like to keep can I just orient so the the policy is adapted from a Nisba draft that makes sure it includes all the mandatory things and the things that are explicit in the law which the sort of document we've been working on didn't necessarily attend to all of those things Thank you, Drew. Yes, Amber. Thank you. Thank you for that background, Drew, and thank you, Susie. There was a question I had about the... paragraph that says if there's a vacancy due to resignation or removal and there there is

183no alternate I mean I assume there wouldn't be an alternate given the method we proposed the board will decide if there's enough time to select another student in accordance with this policy and if not we'll leave the position vacant does that mean that we would decide to have another election is that what we're saying in terms of in accordance with this policy I read it that way, like if this person stepped down like in October or something, we might entertain an election to replace that person. If the person steps off in May, we might not look to replace that person. As we are going to be having two board members, hopefully there will be always a student. know who can attend a board meeting. So one thought I had about that was giving us a

184little bit more latitude in terms of how we replace that student you know to your point maybe it's you know, maybe it's April or March and there's not really enough time to have an election, but we think we'd like to have a student, another student to ease the burden on the first student, you know, maybe we'd want to appoint somebody for a couple of months. I'm just wondering if, you know, saying in accordance with this policy sort of limits us to only having an election, whereas the time frame might, I don't know if that's giving us too much latitude, but it was something I wanted to bring up. I appreciate that. question related to your question which is under process review and like the second page at the end and it seems a little counter

185to what we have above where it says if a student representative is removed then it says the committee meaning the nominating committee can then appoint someone from the previous set of applicants or a student of their own choosing to complete the remove students term so that doesn't quite align with what Amber was just talking about, that it was at the board's discretion potentially to fill the vacancy or not. I'm just trying to understand what that means or we should align it somehow. I like giving the board latitude, personally. I think there could be specific circumstances or as you mentioned, time of the year could be a factor. I don't know how people feel about that, but it is a board position. I think the board should be able to decide. Well, I think that right

186now, if a board member resigns before the end of the term, I think that the board can select who to fill that position. So I feel like maybe for consistency, it might make sense to use that same approach. I don't think it really matters how much time there is. And if that was something, you know, if someone resigns in October, then we can still appoint someone to fill out, I think, until the next election cycle. if I'm remembering correctly. So I don't know, it seems to me like we would want to have a similar policy in the same way. But again, I'm open for discussion. Well, I mean, I'm just spitballing, but what if we were to say if a board member, student board member resigns or doesn't fulfill their term, that we replace that

187person with the next highest vote getter who didn't get elected because they were not the highest vote getter. In other words, we go to the person who got the second most votes among the student body. Yeah, it certainly makes things easier, and they did go through the process. I think our approach to this process was empowering the students as much as possible. So while it would be consistent that the board can appoint a replacement student board member, it's kind of different from how we originally... chose that person you know that not that we would choose the person but the students would choose that person so you know I think maybe having the second although I think we could still decide that as a board if we give the board latitude that that's the side how

188to appoint that it's not that we wouldn't necessarily do that Jim I agree that's a good idea but I still I appreciate giving the board as much flexibility as possible just because we don't know what the circumstances might be and we're tying ourselves to a particular approach which seems like the right approach right now but I don't know I feel like policy should be flexible I'm going to die on the hill of how we find a replacement student. We can always amend the policy if the policy doesn't work. But yeah, OK. I understand what you're saying. I just want to clarify. I think if a Board of Education member, one of us, were to leave. either we appoint or we call a special election. So I agree with mirroring it. I think if it happens

189really early in the school year, we might want to call a special election. We might want to appoint. It could depend on the results of the election. I mean, you could imagine, just like in an extreme where the second person got zero votes. probably wouldn't want to necessarily appoint that person or you might want to go back to the students for an election. So I think doing either and mirroring makes a lot of sense. Thank you. I agree. Do we all agree? So I'm just... Trying to understand so the process review and the second page that I was referring to that's not the policy per se No, so if I may I think the in the policy proper I think there's flexibility to do what you've been talking about Based on the second to last

190paragraph that you were discussing if there's a vacancy due to the board can decide to Replace it or not that gives you flexibility. The exhibit is really a more flexible document and so one way to accomplish this would be to rewrite that last section to illustrate how the board might decide to identify a replacement because the the policy itself does not even mention the election that's really the process you outlined is really articulated in the exhibit more than the policy does that make sense yeah it does thank you And then just one more point then about that exhibit paragraph. It says after each election, the nominating committee will review the process and make recommendations. So in our imagining this, the nominating committee would then review the process and make recommendations to us, and we would

191talk about it again at the board table, right? Yeah. Okay. Any other points in the policy? Yeah, if you want to discuss that. I was just looking to see where it was. I was looking in the exhibit. I brought this up last time. I guess the board landed with deciding that the student Board of Ed member had to be a resident. I just wanted to share that that's something that I don't feel comfortable with, but I understand if it's the board's decision. So I just want to state that up front, if that's going to be in the policy, I do have reservations about that. Thank you for sharing that. We are still making the policy, so if anybody... wants to share you know similar similar concerns you know i'm welcome to your concern so um

192when we say someone is not a resident of the district is that are we saying faculty member children are not necessarily you know i'm thinking is there a designation between faculty member children and staff member children and non-resident of the district there are different students right some may not live in the district some may pay tuition some may be the child of a someone who's employed by the district and I think that's a different that's a good point I assume that it's that anybody who lives within the district their child would be eligible and that if you didn't live within the district so let's say you're a tuition paying student let's say you're a you know a senior whose parents have moved out of district, whose parents are paying tuition, you're no longer a resident

193of the district, you are no longer eligible to run for this position, right? Or, you know, a special ed student who comes in, who wants to run for this position, and they're a tuition-paying student, they are no longer eligible to run for this role, right? Those are not residents. So you're not necessarily referring to an employee in the district's child. Right. I think it could be. And it could also be a faculty or staff's child. I just see other cases for it. And I don't particularly like the idea of creating classes of students within our district. To me, it's one of many leadership opportunities. I know we said there are a lot available. But I don't like the idea of limiting it in that way. And you don't feel there's any conflict of interest if

194it's an employee's child on the board? I don't think they're voting. I think they're representing their student body. In terms of fully getting the picture and not feeling constrained or concerned about that at all? I don't have those concerns, no. Do we want to decide on this tonight? Are we going to have a second reading? Do we want to discuss this? Right now, the residency requirement is in. So I know there's one person on the board who has reservations. If there are, you know, three others, then we would change going once, going twice. Thank you, Amber, for expressing your concern. So residency stays in. Stays in, yeah. Okay. Any other comments or notes on this policy? We will move on. to item 10.04 a board discussion on draft policy number 5695 students and personal electronic

195devices sure thanks this is a little different normally when we first have a policy read there would be a first read we are in a point in time now where we know the legislature is discussing the device ban we don't know what the outcome is going to be yet so what we what we do know is at the legislative level there are sort of two things happening. One is the governor's proposal, which is an out-and-out bell-to-bell ban of personal devices for students. The alternative is some assembly and senate members are pursuing changes to that proposal that would give more local control to school districts about what that policy looks like, provided... that those local districts have engaged their communities in finding out what that is. So what we thought we would do tonight is put

196a draft policy that is at least something people can react to, and that policy as it's written really describes as best as we can tell the legislation that the governor proposed. So more or less this would be consistent with a bell-to-bell band. And then my proposal would be to do outreach to our school community, students, faculty, staff, parents, to weigh in on their view of the policy. It seemed like a way to be able to get input that was at least about something somewhat tangible, that that would be an easier thing to share input on. so that that's the that's the proposal before the board if that's acceptable I would do an outreach invite a response probably collected through a survey because that's a more efficient way to collect a bunch of responses I think

197of it as similar to what we did with the calendar a few years ago so that that's that's an idea but I because it's a policy this is the domain of the board and wanted to hold space for that discussion. Thank you, Drew. I do like how this is constructed so that we can get as much feedback from the community as possible. I think the elementary and middle school policies, I can't anticipate much discussion on. It's really the high school. And I think even on the state level, we see very different views. I do appreciate that cell phones are distracting to our children. Our children, their minds are still growing and they are impulsive. If we can help them learn how to curb their social media behavior, it's great. I really appreciate that Scarsdale has

198had a long discussion on this. And I have a lot of gratitude for whether it's... our staff with the Off and Away program, with our students who have participated in many discussions about this, the PT Council hosting a lot of presentations. You hosted one the other day. I mean, not the other day. November. Yeah, November. So I think I appreciate that our community is well-versed on the dangers here and what our goals could be. So I wanted to ask... the board what their thoughts are on this draft proposal I'm happy to start so I think this is a great starting point I guess one question I have is our so it sounds like we're gonna collect feedback from the community so we don't really need to discuss the fine points in here at this point

199in time is that a fair it would be help helpful okay you have a particular thing oh I just I had a couple of thoughts as I was looking at this you know I know from from the experience of my children that not every teacher allows students to bring their backpacks into the classroom. So, you know, the idea that students might have to leave their cell phone in the hall in a backpack, maybe they'd have to use, I just wanted to, I was thinking it through and thinking we might need to establish a policy in that, or. process, whatever you want to call it, within the high school to make sure that if we're saying phones have to stay in a backpack, then maybe all teachers have to allow backpacks in the classroom so that

200those aren't out in the hall. And then the other thing I thought was that, you know, we heard a lot of feedback from our high school students when we've met with them about how when they take their phones out of the caddies, the phone is right there in their hand, and then they have to go put it in another caddy. So I think the idea that... it's already in their hand and now we're gonna say it's gonna be in your hand but you can't use it seems like we're we're tempting fate there so I feel like to me it sort of seems like a logical thing to ask the high school students to keep the phone in their backpack rather than have them put it in cubbies but that's that's just my initial thinking on

201it I'm on your wavelength, Amber, because I had a similar comment kind of on the same issue with the high school. I personally think, and I've been involved in some of the conversations in previous years with PTC on technology, I personally think the high school does a really good job, you know, with off and away, and I think the other levels do as well. I would recommend, I mean, I guess it would be up to the school or discussion with the administration if they would want the phones to be in the backpacks as opposed to a locker, but it is a sprawling building. the kids are all over the place going from class to class and that they don't many don't use lockers because they can't gauge where they're going to be in a given

202moment to get their stuff for the next class so just logistically i think it makes the most sense i also want to be sensitive to And I don't know if this is even something that would be discussed with a ban in place, but I know many students use their phones as learning tools. I know my kids use their phones for their schedules, which are different every day. And they have their schedule on their phone, and that's how they learn their classes. People use their phones with study guides to kind of take out right before a test and sit in the hallway and go over everything. So while we hope to alleviate stress, you know by taking away the distraction and I know that's you know the goal of this and I know we all know

203that there's heavy distraction with phones with all of our children and what we see I also don't want to add stress to the students who use these you know phones for for real learning tools and in their daily life at school and it's a big part of what how they kind of navigate I don't have much to say. I think Amber and Leah covered it. I think when we added the caddies, it's going to be an adjustment, and the kids are going to need to be educated on what the expectation is, and we just need to try to anticipate the concerns that my fellow board members shared. Because I think if, like in the middle school, you want them in their backpacks, then they need to have access. So that's my only thoughts on that.

204Thank you. I agree we've all basically mentioned backpacks and I'm also in favor of that being where students would be keeping their phones. I saw pouches mentioned in the policy. I personally... would love to see us try to do it without that. I think not only are they expensive, but you read articles about kids finding all kinds of ways to get around them anyway. Administering them and monitoring with them I think would take staff time, potentially student time. I don't know if it would be instructional time, but there's a whole process of that. I think the idea of mentoring versus monitoring is something I think we'd love to give our kids. the agency to try to do that. They're going to be going to college after leaving high school and nobody's going to be putting

205their phones in pouches. So they have to learn how to restrain themselves. For lack of a better word. I don't know how other people feel about pouches versus backpacks. So I'd be curious I think Leah's point about using say the phone or your laptop for executive management services for yourself. Whether, I think depending on I guess how we decide to go, it seems to me, I was just thinking about well what could you advise a child to do and it seems to me you could print your schedule. And you could have it. And you could say, you know, those days are over. Now you have to have a printed schedule. I mean, I think we need to think it through is all I'm saying, that we all survived, obviously, without it, and it can be

206done. And there may be some value in having people. have to be organized in a way that they weren't before. That is a skill in and of itself. So I don't think it's necessarily off the table, for me anyway, that the phone is just put away and that's it. And you need to figure out ways to deal with it. I just have a question. I noticed laptops aren't mentioned. Can you talk about how laptops relate to this? I turned my microphone off not on I apologize the language of personal electronic devices would include laptops and the permission to use personal electronic devices in the classroom can be given Yeah, no, I agree. So maybe we just want to add in the second sentence where it says, such devices include but are not limited to. We

207might just want to add laptops there. Sorry, I missed your, yeah, that's a very simple point. I'm not sure why laptops aren't in there. Oversight, thank you. I understand that they might be used in the classroom, but I think they would, as we've talked about before. If we don't have people text messaging and they have a text messaging app on their laptop or just being on the internet. But again, there might be a classroom where we want to do that. And obviously, certainly, we give out laptops in some grades. Yes. I think this policy addresses all that in that discretion. But I just wanted to point that out. I appreciate that. The last piece is I'm sure you'll do this in the survey. can read this policy and understand how that exclusion works I don't

208think thinking back six years before being on the board anyone will be able to read this policy so plain language how we get that language out there I think is important thanks actually if I can just add on to that I appreciate the mention of exemptions for students that have special needs I guess one thing that might be a question I have is should those parents be requesting that kind of exemption at this point now is that something that's happening like an IEP meetings or 504s I would say no because there we don't know what we're exempting it because we don't know what is banned and what is what is still on the table as far as usage goes my suspicion is once we get an idea of what the mandate is New York State

209will add language that probably has some specificity to the types of exclusions, exceptions that can be, I can think of five or ten off the top of my head, whether it be diabetes monitoring, whether it be, you know, and the question will be do they go along the lines of executive function or do they rule that out? Do they go along the lines, you know, so it could be any number of things. So I think right now we'd be talking kind of in a vacuum and I don't want to. outside of the mandate happening and the law saying this is what the parameters are, start to make exceptions that may or may not fit into whatever that eventual law is. Okay, so it kind of sounds like... Right now, kids are using their technology accommodations

210there, whether it's, you know, for word processors, a simple one for long written responses, or if it's a read-to-write software, or if it's, you know, a Dexcom type of app for diabetes. Those are all in plans as are appropriate right now. You know, I think the... That world may be contracted as far as what the technological accommodations are allowed it's kind of a waiting game to see where it lands i guess we'll see sorry what is the timeline for getting this like when did would this become law is it july 1st that this would become well become law when it's passed and signed by the governor but the in the intention has been has been communicated by the start of next school year okay so hopefully that puts us on a little bit earlier yeah

211yeah yeah okay I just remember all those COVID regulations that were supposed to come out and kept getting pushed and pushed, and we really got scrunched at the end in terms of getting things done. So I appreciate that we're working on this now. Just one more question. This doesn't affect our ability to issue devices to children who need devices in general, right, like the Chromebooks in the high school? The intent of the policy would be that the permitted use would allow for that. Okay. We will be meeting with high school students before our next board meeting, so that'll be a nice opportunity to be able to get feedback from our students. Drew, do you imagine sending the survey to students and parents? Yes. Okay, wonderful. Thank you. And teachers. Yeah, I would think so. Okay,

212great. Thank you so much for doing that. Okay. Item 10.05, a gift proposal to the Fox Meadows School. Okay we actually have three gift proposals the first as you said is to Fox Meadows School these are information items because they exceed $1,000 the first is an art display to showcase student work these are dividers totaling $2,366 if approved it would come back as a gift approval at the next meeting any questions Thank you to Fox Meadow for that. So the next one is, and Andrew might jump in and help me on this one, but this is... attempt for us to we've got unbelievably generous PTAs who support author visits among other things and The practice has varied over time in some cases PTAs have made a donation in other cases They've paid for it But

213one of the things that Andrew and the business office has been working on is standardized contract for engagements like that and they've worked to try to identify all of those activities author visits where PTAs are contributing and combine that into a single donation to the board anything you would add so one of the kind of side pieces of this was making sure that insurance requirements are in place for all the all the adults coming to our school buildings every day and who's ultimately liable for that so Big thanks to William Yang who's been helping me with this process as well and this elementary librarians and of course the the PTCs and the PTAs for supporting this approach to streamline everything. So under a standard contract we've worked with some of the booking agents that represent

214multiple authors that come to our buildings to make it easy on everyone. It's our hope that going into the new fiscal year a single gift donation at the beginning of the year will be seen for each of these and then we can update the board as authors are assigned throughout the year. Any questions? Yes, Amber. I don't have any questions. I just wanted to say thank you to you, Andrew, and to the PTC for the transparency into these gifts. It's really helpful. Thank you. And the third one, you'll recall a while back that in partnership with ISOs in the community, we partnered to install AED devices on the fields to help them comply with a mandate and obviously to help our own athletes when high school and student athletes around our campuses are there so

215this is finally that letter with you know gratitude to those ISO some of whom were here tonight and that totals $15,225 and thanks to Eric and Andrew for working with facilities they are out they're out on our fields now item 10.08 the high school auditorium project change orders one more so this is I mentioned to the board in the fall that we had discovered condition in the high school auditorium ceiling that prevented us from installing the auditorium proscenium brow as designed the the first change order that's on this list is is to address that required a significant amount of additional steel and welding to support that beautiful new structure that'll be at the top of the of the auditorium so that that change order exceeds the $50,000 threshold so it requires Board of Education approval

216so you will see that come back in the action item section of the agenda. The second change order that's on my memo is related to the sub auditorium pumps that are not related to the auditorium project but were in our capital appropriations budget. Upon investigating the size of the pumps that we wanted to put in there and the opening that was available, we took the opportunity to partner with the general contractor in the auditorium project who had work in that space anyway to enlarge that space, allowing us to put the new larger pumps in there. And those pumps have been now installed and it looks like everything is working the way we want it to. The change order was below the $50,000 threshold. So this is just an information to the board. Thank you. Any

217comments or questions? I remember seeing a lake down there when we were touring the auditorium when we were looking to bond. And so thank you very much for the pumps for that. Like Brewster. Yeah, like Brewster. Exactly. All right. Great. On to action items. Here are those change orders that Andrew just mentioned for the auditorium. I believe this is Ron. Thanks, Susie. I move the following. Resolved that the Board of Education approves the attached change order number GC-01 to Parodi Court for the high school auditorium project as presented and authorizes the assistant superintendent for business to sign the change order. Thank you, Ron. Is there a second? Thank you, Leah. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Ayes have it, and the motion carries. Thank you. Okay, and then the next are the

218gifts. The first one is the Fox Meadow gift, and I believe this is... see amber thank you thanks Susie I move that the board accept the following resolved that the board accept with thanks the gift of seventeen thousand one hundred thirty two dollars and eighty five cents to support the purchase of seven round cafeteria tables as presented in the attached letters Thank You amber is there a second Thank You Leah any discussion all those in favor please say aye I have it in the motion carries with our thanks to Fox Meadow PTA the next gift is also from Fox Meadow and this I believe is Colleen it's a 12.02 I moved that the board accept the following resolve that the board accept with thanks a gift of $800 for the 24-25 school year to support

219speaker Dennis Oller from the diabetes and limited as part of the learning from our differences program as presented in the attached letter. Thank you, Colleen. Is there a second? Thank you, Amber. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Ayes have it, and motion carries with thank yous to the Fox Meadow PTA. Just let me apologize for that. That was a late ad. Remember, we pulled a different one, and Honore and I talked earlier tonight, and that was a late ad. No, she mentioned it to me, but I didn't see it. Apologies. I thought it was a bad ad. and the last gift tonight is from the a school and this will be Bob yes so I move resolved that the board accept with thanks a furniture donation valued at $300 for the

220a school as presented in the attached letters Thank You Bob is there a second Thank You amber is there any discussion all those in favor please say aye aye's have it in motion carries with thanks okay Next, we will be moving into our second public comment session of the business meeting. I will read this instruction. The members of the public are cordially invited to be present either in person or via remote means and to speak at designated times on agenda items or other non-personnel related matters. Each individual shall have three minutes to speak. Sorry, it's four minutes with a warning at the three minute level with a 90 minute cap. The order of public comment will be community members present at the board meeting will speak first. Next, we will go to Zoom. Just a

221reminder that if you are making a public comment via Zoom, you must have your camera turned on when it is your turn to speak. Would anybody like to make a public comment from the audience? First of all, I'd just like to say I think it's incredible how late you all stay in the commitment to this. It's 1015 at night. It's really incredible. And just thank you for the volunteers, to everybody for joining. My name is Courtney Gallo-Hunter. I live at 239 Mamaroneck Road. I'm a Quaker Ridge resident. I have three children, two of which attend Quaker Ridge Elementary School. In my professional life, I'm the VP of Public Policy for Crisis Text Line. a 24-7 free mental health and crisis intervention service via text and chat. Last year we received over 1.4 million texts. Those

222are individual texts. Half of which were from teens under the age of 18. They are reaching out for help for anything from eating disorders, bullying, to suicidal ideation. I've unfortunately had a front row seat to this generation's pain and suffering. They have increased rates of anxiety, depression, and lower academic performance. And I think Susie had mentioned, you know, it was really affecting the high school. We're already seeing devices, unfortunately, at the elementary school level, texting as young as second and third grade, and in middle school, of course. So at Crisis Text Line, I wanted to share this. We recently looked at 80. over 80,000 conversations with teens under the age of 17 and examined what they said helped with their mental health in the course of their conversation reaching out to our service. The majority

223of them said, ironically, that in-person social connection with friends helps with their mental health. They also said that sports, books, music, outdoor spaces in nature, and mental health services help them cope. We share the goal of fostering a school environment from kindergarten through 12th grade that maximizes face-to-face human interaction. The research is clear. A bell-to-bell, phone-free environment significantly enhances the learning experience and prioritizes the overall health and well-being of students. Distractions from smartphones interrupt cognition and are correlated with lower academic performance. The phone caddies are not enough. The proposed policy also does not provide enough information with regard to implementation and enforcement. We need stronger parameters so that the restrictions are implemented equitably across the district and student populations. We have more than enough research to understand what happens if we don't regulate the use

224of phones in schools. Just like with tobacco, when there was a time in which smoking in classrooms was considered acceptable, we now must evolve our policies with regard to smartphone use. We owe it to the next generation to have the courage and conviction to implement this phone-free policy with strong parameters. I also just would like to add that 90% of addictions begin in the teenage years. So the brain does not finish developing until age 25. So I want everybody to take that as I listened tonight so intently about how we're motivated by research and science. We need to look at the research and science of the teen brain to understand what we're doing to our children. And I haven't heard that referenced here, so I wanted to add that also. Thank you very much. Thank

225you. Good evening. My name is Max Grudin. I'm for Hill Road. I'm speaking in personal capacity. And thank you very much to find time to listen to our concerns. Specifically, I'll be speaking about the reveal math. So there may be many people on Zoom who would like to discuss this. But since the start of this public comment is late and uncertain, and we had the Zoom session interrupted. They may be putting their little ones to bed right now or have done it so by now. And I think we need to give the parents a better opportunity to speak up about these issues because if you've heard the no's when we asked the question about whether parents receive enough information from the teachers, there are a lot of parents feel the same way. I don't know

226that we heard anybody say yes. So two weeks ago I spoke with Dr. McIntosh for an hour and we discussed the real questions and possible adjustments. It was a great conversation. I believe many parents agree with the issues. I won't be able to cover all of them in the two, four minutes that I have. But to mention the undeniable, commercial programs are doing very well. Charging a lot of money and the local branch of the RSM is at least 80% filled with kids from the Scarlett Elementary Schools. Let me repeat, 80% of the local RSM branch. is filled with kids from the Scarborough School District. You can contact the staff to confirm that information. We pay high taxes and we want the district to be mindful of that and spend our money wisely on local

227programs. There are multiple issues with real math. One issue is inaccurate and too wordy word problems. Emperor Joseph of Austria told Amadeus that there are too many notes in his music. So let me say, well, many parents said that we have too many words, imprecise words. Maybe we can have Chad GPT just simply rephrase those word problems just to make them simpler. It's not a hard problem. Seriously. You can just run them through ChatGPT and just keep them short. Now, an important issue is that sometimes it seems that we are teaching kids to feel the math without giving them ability to do it. To give you an example, in the fifth grade, the long division asked the children to try three different approaches. But critically, before the children crystallized the understanding of any of those

228approaches, the program moved on to different topics. And at the end of the day, do you want to be proficient to drive both the right-handed car and left-handed car? Or do you just want to be able to drive? I have contacted the math school coordinator about that. I'm happy to submit that communication. And I'm happy to continue the discussion because I did not understand the answer and the underlying research. I've requested her to send me papers that... prove that the approach is correct and I did not get that response. Also the teachers are complementing the real math with Ixl and with Olympic math and using multiple programs, platforms that quickly becomes very confusing for children. So while reveal math is very comprehensive, we also heard teachers should complement it with something even more even harder

229problems so that means that revealmasters do not have the most comprehensive set of tasks to answer all the questions. Dr. McIntosh and I also discussed that the community is perhaps unaware of the research done at the district level to improve various programs and how the district can improve the communication of its vision. I think that would be great, and I think the parents would encourage that communication. If there were parent surveys, I think the district would also greatly benefit from that direct contact. So I'm positive that we can do better. I would like to propose that the district creates a set of publicized adjustments, goals, and milestones. It would be great if you could meet in two months in May before the school year is over to discuss the progress and address our concerns in

230the broad parent community. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Good evening. I'm Lauren Manzano. I live at 313 Heathcote Road. I have two children, one in middle school and one in elementary school. I'm speaking tonight regarding the draft policy 5695, students and personal electronic devices. It is my opinion that the current draft policy lacks some important specifics needed to achieve Governor Hochul's bell-to-bell distraction free schools objectives. Here is my feedback. First the storage option should be the one that allows for the least amount of friction during the school day phones are addictive We know this people who want to quit smoking are not offered the solution that they should carry a pack of cigarettes around in their backpack The most effective storage method should be one that removes phones from twitchy hands during

231the school day such as storage pouches Second turn it all the way off silenced without vibration is not enough just because it's quiet doesn't mean it isn't a distraction blinking away in the locker lighting up the backpack. Ooh, let me check the weather. Quick, let me check my March Madness bracket. The temptation to take a quick smoke break or check a phone between classes at your locker or during lunch is just too much. Furthermore, it places an onerous burden on teachers and building staff. Instead, seize this moment and set a clear enforceable standard, not a half measure, that the school day will be distraction-free, period. Storage pouches address the accessibility of the device, address the distractibility issue, and have the added benefit of alleviating the enforcement burden on teachers and school staff. Third, regarding exemptions,

232in order for the school district to monitor the implementation of this policy, the district should make available the number and categories of exemptions granted. This will allow for informed discussion surrounding any re-evaluation of this policy in future years. In closing, I urge the district to reclaim the space where our students can once again fully engage in person, in their school community, the one that is right in front of them during the school day. Online communities and tools are plentiful and available before school and after school, just not during school. For the sake of wellness, for the sake of mental health, For the travesty of cyberbullying and perhaps most important, to be in better alignment with our strategic plan, I'm advocating that draft policy 5695 be revised to more effectively achieve distraction-free school days. For reference,

233I will read the high school 2024-2029 strategic plan webpage speaking about our pillar of living. Essential to living, a well-balanced life of meaning and contribution is developing the dispositions necessary to be resilient in the face of adversity. We accomplish this by emphasizing strong developmental relationships and creating brave learning spaces where students and teachers challenge themselves and each other to grow. The goal is stated is to cultivate learning environments that equip students of all ages with the skills and habits of mind to develop resilience and perseverance, engage others bravely, confidently, and respectfully, grow from setbacks, understand the importance of community, and develop empathy for the diversity of human experience. Thank you. Thank you. Hi there. Thank you. I'm Levi Lippman, 16B Truett Lane. Thank you, Dr. McIntosh, and also to Ms. Orguera and Ms. Roberts for

234your informative presentation. It sounds like Scarcell has made great strides with the Reveal curriculum, and I appreciate that students' understandings have improved, especially their conceptual understandings. I've seen that with my fourth-grade daughter at Heathcote. I've had conversations with Dr. McIntosh and Ms. Orguera, and I wanted to share some of my ideas with the board as well. I'm a math teacher in the Byram Hill School District. I've been there for 20 years teaching middle school math. And some of those years I've also worked with elementary schools with regard to instruction of math as well. So I'm at least somewhat qualified to speak about math curriculum. I have some general comments first. Speaking with other parents in the audience tonight, it appears that the implementation of the Reveal curriculum may not be universal across all classrooms within

235the same grade. If it is the Reveal math program that you have chosen, I would think that there would be more universal implementation across the grade level. It sounds like parents are seeing different things coming home and their kids have different experiences in the school. I also have comments related to the idea that no math product is a stand-alone curriculum. There are other resources that will be helpful. I think students would benefit from several additional resources. First is actually within Reveal Math, you have these replay videos that Colleen alluded to. My daughter and I used to use them at home last year. This year we don't have access to them. They were really beneficial. If these replays are available to some students in the district, shouldn't they be available to all students in the district?

236Another thing we'd like to see is increased usage of physical and virtual manipulatives. I love the fifth grade activity that you showed with dividing fractions. There's a great example of how to use manipulatives to really help students gain conceptual understanding. I'm not sure if Reveal doesn't use manipulatives all the time or if manipulative usage varies by classroom, but I have not seen very much of it at all this year and have had to introduce it at home with my daughter. I think they're a very important part of the classroom, and to whatever extent that Reveal uses it, I would highly encourage that. I know we've alluded to assessments a little bit. But I think there's some questions about assessments. I know, Ron, you shared some ideas about are the stars going home. They're not unless

237they're requested. I don't think anybody's received it in the audience. And they should be because it's important that parents know where their children stand with regards to math and also reading instruction. A couple questions I would have with assessments, how frequent do teachers give the same assessments? Are they differentiated assessments? There are several questions that we have about the assessments, and we'd like to see some more information coming home to parents so we are aware of what's going on in the classrooms. The last piece, and I've talked about this with Dr. McIntosh and Ms. Ruggiero, is there should be some additional fact fluency component. While Reveal is really strong with conceptual understandings, there's not an emphasis on fact fluency. Scarsdale used to use reflex. That's a nice add-on fact fluency component. There's several others as

238well. As a middle school math teacher, I see firsthand how students who lacked fact fluency can struggle even if they currently understand the sixth grade concepts. You need factors and multiples for almost every topic in sixth grade. Fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, proportions. And if your fact fluency and automaticity is not there, students are going to be behind. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. My name is . Let me start by stating the obvious. This presentation happens at the BOE meeting and you have here numerous parents of elementary school children who had to wait for hours to express their concerns. There was no other presentation for us since the program was implemented. Same holds true for other elementary curriculum topics like ELA. No meeting, no parent newsletters, no information session. Parents are being kept

239in the dark and sent to a website. One of the handouts that was given to us had a column, misinformation, which I find particularly troublesome as it is not the first time I hear it. Can I ask where is the real information? Who should tell us, the parents, what our children are learning? I have three kids in the district, two in high school and one in fourth grade. As I told all of you more than a year ago, my youngest son's educational experience has been a complete disappointment in stark contrast to his siblings and not because of his teachers who are great, but because of all the questionable curriculum changes reveal math being just one of them. I care deeply about math education. I actually have a PhD in math, work as a quantitative researcher,

240and besides guiding my own kids' math journey, I recently taught math for two years in the weekends at an enrichment program for advanced kids. I already shared my opinions on revealed math methodologies with Dr. McIntosh a year ago, so I will skip that part today. So here are some of my facts. Six grade test scores in math are proved that things do not work. In 2024, probably for the first time ever, Scar's sixth grade state test math scores were below all neighboring districts, except, hear me out, Mamaronek. As a side note, none of these districts uses RevealMath. For some of them, Singapore works perfectly. The administration knows something is terribly off and the proposed solution is in my view utterly absurd. Here are some quotes from the budget presentations. We plan to adjust one mass

241coordinator schedule to enable professional development with middle school mass educators focusing specifically on sixth grade. Educators must be familiar with the structures and resources used at the elementary level. A student vocabulary and processes evolve so much the secondary methods to effectively engage them. I end the quotes. I also heard today about the glossary for parents. Student vocabulary processes, I really feel like crying when reading all of this. This is math, not nonsense. The whole argument is plain wrong. If kids get into the world unprepared for it, it's not the world that needs to learn how they were brought up. Some students increasingly more actually will go to private schools, not SMS. Do you think anyone there who should and would care about reveal math? Can it be that the elementary math coordinators are the ones

242that need some training? This whole plan is offensive to anyone who knows what math is and clearly to middle school teachers. Can I ask what sort of a program is this that after three years still requires coordination and more money? We are talking here about elementary math. At this point, any senior teacher should be able to play the role of a coordinator. Can I also ask how can you ask us to pay more and more for this program when we already have to take serious money out of our pockets to get our children some real math education? One last fact, the word global is missing. There used to be a time not long ago when Scarlet was an example, coordinating international schools, part of global alliances, trying to prepare our students to tackle global challenges

243with globally competitive academic preparation. And now all you can tell us is that we are looking at New York state guidelines and exchange standards. Do you really think that this is why we moved to Scarsdale, accepting to pay astronomical taxes to be sure that our kids meet New York State standards? Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Jessie Lee. I live at 107 Potter Road. I'm making this statement on behalf of myself as an individual Scarsdale parent. First, I want to start with a statement that I do not oppose review mass, and I trust. our professional educator to pick the curriculum that would be the best fit for our district. However, given the community, expedensive community feedback we got tonight, I believe a comprehensive evaluation of review math should be conducted within the next

244year, instead of waiting for six years into the implementation. Because a delayed review will create significant academic consequences, especially for those students who are already facing challenges, you know, in math. I think the upcoming evaluation should be data driven, should incorporate benchmark performance indicators such as state test statistics. I'm glad to see some of those statistics in the presentation, but I think we should actually go back even further. For example, the star rating only shows three years. We should see a comparison when Singapore masks was in place and when review masks got switched, like what the comparison looks like. And also for the state test, I think we only show our compar... comparative performance in comparison with other districts. But how about we go back to 10 years looking at those times that we have

245Singapore math in place? Do we notice an improvement? Do we notice actually a decrease in the performance? And also with respect to this incoming review, I think it's very important to consider some qualitative measures such as teachers' feedback on student engagement and comprehension. For instance, we should assess whether classroom teachers find students more receptive to the new curriculum. I know I saw Dr. Brown's statement in the presentation, but I wonder whether it's just her personal experience or this is a wide... well-received message across all the classroom teachers. I think more surveys should be conducted and we should collect more data points from the classroom teachers. In addition, I think we should ask our sixth grade math teachers whether they have observed a widening gap in foundational math understanding compared to previous years when Singapore math

246was in place. I think there's a previous speaker mentioned that we actually noticed a underperforming with respect to sixth grade math task score. That might be an alarming signal trying to tell us something went wrong. Furthermore, I recommend conducting a parent survey to understand how many students are receiving supplemental math support outside of school. The prevalence of additional tutoring or extra-curricular math programs should be considered when we're comparing test performance during the periods when Singapore Math was in place and the periods when we switched to review math. So I think a thorough, timely evaluation should provide valuable insights and ensure we are making the best decisions for our students' long-term academic success while also reducing parent anxiety. Thank you. Hi, my name is Katie Goldman, and I live at 3 Oak Lane in Scarsdale. I'm

247a parent of a third grader at Fox Meadow, and I also have a seventh grader and a tenth grader. I am one of the PTA presidents at Fox Meadow, and I'm speaking on behalf of myself as an individual Scarsdale resident. I'll admit it, I'm a hoarder. I've kept most of my children's schoolwork in plastic bins in my basement. I've checked both of my older daughters' third grade folders just out of curiosity. As I flipped through it, I was reminded of the joy that both of my older daughters had for math in third grade. They were challenged, but they had fun. They came home and they happily asked me to time them on their mad minutes to see how quickly they could improve their previous times. They loved it. They both remember it fondly. Third grade

248math looks very different from my youngest daughter. There are complex word problems and very little multiplication facts. We are now nearing the end of my third grader's year, and she has only recently come home with some mad minute sheets. She is far behind where my older two daughters were. My older two took pride in breaking a minute, 45 seconds on a sheet. It's a good day if my youngest finishes a sheet in four minutes. A good day. My child has not struggled with reading comprehension at all. yet she finds the word problems very challenging and often asks for help. To be honest, I sometimes find them difficult to understand as well, as other parents have said here. I've brought some examples should anybody be interested in seeing them. At my recent Zoom parent-teacher conference check-in

249last week, I asked her teacher specifically about math, and she said that while my daughter is understanding all the concepts, she is hesitant and she asks for help often. She needs more confidence. A large concern for me is that this lack of confidence will lead to a lack of engagement. And while I'm told, as I spoke with my own principal about this concern as well, that my child will have a greater sense of math in years to come, I do worry that she will not have any basic math fluency. I worry that this productive struggle will lead to disengagement. Math is just not fun for her. And even though I'm speaking on behalf of myself, As PTA president, I have spoken to countless parents about their dissatisfaction with Reveal Math. I recognize I cannot speak

250on behalf of the community, but I can relay that a significant number of families who have spoken to me about Reveal Math have supplemented with Russian Math or Kumon, just like Jesse just said. And this should not be. We can do better. I think that the district should reconsider the elementary program, and I thank you for your time. Thank you. I'm Alyssa Gutman. I live at 25 Haverford Avenue in Scarsdale, and I hope that my phone doesn't die during this little moment, but... I have to say I'm very disappointed. So first I'll start off by saying I have four children. Three of them are at Quaker Ridge and I have a kindergartner outside of the district. And to be honest, I am going to keep him out of the district for now. And we'll see

251how the years continue to go. And partly because of this math curriculum and some other issues, but this is a big issue for us. So I have to say I'm very disappointed about this math fact sheet. calling parents very real concerns from experiencing this curriculum with their children misinformation is not only wrong but condescending i have a fifth grader a third grader and a first grader at quaker ridge as i mentioned i feel like they are three guinea pigs for reveal math a curriculum that is brand new as of three years ago I am not aware of any innate limitations in their math skills. It took my fifth grader until fifth grade to learn that she can be good at math because there is so much mumbo jumbo and poorly worded word problems and she

252struggled to read in her early years through the reading curriculum taught at Scarsdale even with support. My third grader who apparently did very well on her recent practice state test according to her teacher, she has no understanding of math. And she gets very frustrated by the word problems in school. My first grader was crying and had to be comforted outside of the classroom because she was unable to understand a very confusing word problem she had to read in math. And it was a completely bizarre, you know, word problem. Every other parent I know either tutors their elementary kid in math or has them go to RSM or a similar program. So Scarsdale math scores are correlated with those efforts and not in the school program. Let's learn from the massive mistake Scarsdale made with the

253Lucy Calkins curriculum. Let's have more humility when it comes to parents' feedback and cut our losses while we can. Singapore math was much more straightforward and was already vetted and used at Scarsdale. It was well liked by many, if not most. I'm sure there's issues with every curriculum, but regardless, I'm asking the board members to really, really dig in. This is really common sense. All you have to do is literally look at the Reveal math books and look at the Singapore math books. It's really, it's that easy. And then you make the decision, what do you think is more appropriate for an early elementary student? We all know that early confidence is key to kids enjoying and being engaged in whatever subject that is, and especially math. And I feel really let down by the

254Scarsdale schools, and I'm just asking the board to really not just dig in, but make tough calls and like... really think about cutting our losses while we can and it's not just about communicating more to the parents. It's really about being business people and recognizing if you really have gone down a wrong path and making that correction, actively making that correction. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Sarah Steinhaus. I'm at 53 Brookby and I have three kids, a fourth grader, a seventh grader, and an eighth grader. And I attended a presentation by Dr. Patrick and Jennifer Rosenzweig in the fall that also featured a panel of high school students. And it was about technology in the school system. And when I... reflected on that evening, the word heartbreaking was used over and over

255again by the teachers to talk about the atmosphere at the high school. The lack of socializing, the need for kids to contact their parents immediately when they were uncomfortable about anything, the need to leave their classroom, to go into the bathroom to find out what's going on TikTok, and given... I don't have any high school students and in the elementary school and the middle school, I think that the policies have actually been really sufficient. I wasn't even aware that I was on the precipice of all of a sudden my child having a free-for-all throughout the day as far as their use of the phone. And I understand that the cubby system has been a huge step forward, but a lot of these teachers were reflecting on the... the hallways, the study breaks, the lunch, the

256amount of ordering food, people leaving class to go on social media, they were reflecting a scene that they're experiencing as teachers that... doesn't reflect any of the best practices that I've seen in the rest of the school system. I know that whatever policy is implemented is gonna be a difficult policy and it's gonna be uncomfortable, particularly for the current high school students. I'm just imploring you all as a group and a leadership to adopt some tough decisions for the well-being of. the rest of the students that are coming up. And we really look to Scarsdale to be the leader in following what best practices are, not sort of catching up after the fact. So thank you for all of your care and attention. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Liana Saitama and I'm in

25762 Woods Lane. Thank you all for staying here late listening to us and also to prior comments if we can have this feedback session sometime earlier so more parents can participate especially parents of elementary schools children it would be greatly appreciated. As a scarlet parent drawn to the district reputation by rigorous academics I am deeply concerned by the math program Reveal Math. It's lack of basic algebra, convoluted and wordy questions, and minimal homework fails to build essential skills that force the children learning and curiosity. As a result, many, as myself, are forced to do outside tutoring. It is not a luxury, but a necessity to ensure the kids build basic math skills. Given the 180-plus million budget, I ask why do so many parents require outside tutoring in math? I am also taken aback by

258school's administration dismissal of parents' concern, labeling it as misinformation. I strongly disagree with the labeling, and I do believe that parents' concerns should be taken into account seriously. As such, I urge the district to conduct a survey looking at what percentage of children in the Scarsdale district receive outside tutoring. And parents' satisfaction was the Reveal Mass program. Based on those results, I encourage the Board of Education to either switch or improve the Reveal Mass program to ensure that kids receive basic education needed at this level. Thank you for prior presentation. However, one of the key, one of the some takeaways taken from the program where its parents need a vocabulary, a glossary to help children learn basic elementary math. We are talking about first, second grade math. We need challenging proven programs that build strong

259foundations, not a curriculum aimed at meeting minimum state standards. in a tech world driven by new innovations, because they must prioritize excellence in mass education, allowing our children to reach their highest potential. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Hi. My name is Christian Pavazoglu. I reside at 17 Townsville Road, and I guess you heard my wife before. She's pretty tough. I'm going to give you my feedback on RevealMath from the perspective of my son, of our youngest son. So my son was asked at school if there would be one thing he would change about Edgewood, what would it be? He answered without blinking, reveal math. Every chance he gets, he writes about reveal math in his essays and tells everyone he knows how he feels. I like math, really math. Math is not about

260we work together. Something is terribly wrong and he feels it. My whole family is talking for two years about the disaster reveals math is. To the extent they made me listen and care. My wife wrote. and spoke to you, my middle son took it in his own hands to put in words his brother's experiences and wrote the speech that you have seen to decry among others Reveal Math. A year passed with nothing changing. My fourth grade son is a bright student. Reveal Math doesn't work for him. He finishes his homework. in no time and is extremely bored and unchallenged in the classroom. This curriculum doesn't seek to differentiate. Last year when finishing work early, my son was asked to answer questions in his Reveal Math notebook. What are the benefits of group work? How can

261we ensure that all members of the group are included? What does it mean to be respectful? If you haven't seen them, all the Reveal Math books are filled with math is mindset boxes. Let me quote a few. What helps you feel relaxed when you are frustrated? How have deep breaths helped you feel relaxed? What are some ways to connect with your classmates? Now, we moved to Scarsdale from Eastchester 10 years ago for Singapore Math. As we were familiar with it, we were thrilled to read that Scarsdale used at a time when Eastchester was struggling with various curricula. Two of our children have benefited from being instructed with a rigorous real math program that also allowed them to be challenged and not to be kept behind. Our oldest daughter, she's a senior in high school, will

262pursue an applied math major and she was admitted this year to one of the most challenging math programs in US at Caltech. Singapore math clearly helped her discover her math aptitude and got her a solid foundation. And guess what? She's actually tutoring a lot of elementary school kids. I cannot refrain from asking, why did you change something that was working for Scarsdale and it's still working for other top performing districts in this area? Now, you gambled our kids' math education and from where we stand, I guess we all lost. As I know you don't care for parent views on curriculum, I would like to ask you the following concrete things. One, a survey of parents asking about their satisfaction with the program and about the need and the cost of tutoring program or other resources

263that have to rely on to help their children, their kids with math. I forgot to mention that actually. Our youngest son, because he doesn't feel challenged, he's following, I guess we sent him to get additional math at Russian School of Math, RSM. Number two. Well, so definitely you cannot ignore the rampant increase in tutoring. We know for a fact that there are parents who are not here, not because they're happy, but because their kids are getting tutored and they have decided to move on. Number two, a survey of students asking them about math in general and reveal math in particular. Number three, an anonymous survey of teachers so that can express their true feeling on the programs without fear of retaliation. There are numerous teachers who don't like the program. You don't have to take

264my word on it. Please just survey them anonymously so that they can be honest. Number four, a review of the curriculum done by middle school and high school senior teachers or by an outside independent set of teachers. I think I'm going to stop here. Thank you very much. Thank you. Is there anybody else from the audience who would like to speak? If I'm allowed, I would like to read for Ian Lample, who had to leave for child care issues because it was so late. So he gave me this to read on his behalf. Would it be possible to email that to the board? Sure. Thank you. I will also just add, from my own perspective, as related to Reveal Math, we also do RSM because everybody else does. So the scores are not. I would

265like, Ian stayed for like hours here, so if it's okay, I would like to read Ian's, you know, he's not here, but he would be for childcare. Please just let me. You've had an opportunity to speak. Yeah, but my husband didn't, and he waited for hours here, and you guys, like, you know, were not respectful to the elementary school parents. I'm sorry, that was not inclusive, and we talk about having an inclusive environment, so if you could please just give me three minutes. We have two public comments. comments time I'm sorry we we have a very strict you know agenda protocol I understand but maybe you guys should have thought about that and put the elementary school thank you very much parents earlier in the uh the meeting maybe maybe that can be recognized for

266the future okay we'll take a five minute recess thank you Jim should we go to zoom yes there are three participants on zoom with their hands raised I did press promote okay um they have to be panelists Yeah, promote to panelists that pressed it. Okay. They should be appearing. There they go. Are they coming on? Declined to be promoted. All right, then we'll go on to the next one. Yeah, there's another. I have promoted the next guest. There we go. Okay. Could you please turn on your camera and unmute your phone or your device? Hi, can you hear me? Yes. Wonderful. Hi, everyone. My name is Rose Maranaccio. I live at 150 Fox Meadow Road. I have a second grader at Fox Meadow as well as an incoming kindergartner. Thank you for staying so late

267this evening to hear all of us talk about. the curriculum and how we're feeling about it. Just to give a little background about myself, I'm an experienced educator. In addition to many years of teaching, I have my SBL and my SDL as well. So I do have quite a bit of experience with choosing various curriculums and I know how fun the rollout process can be. Based on your presentation, I know when it came time to investigate new math programs, it sounds like you guys did a really great job of assembling a team of teachers. But it doesn't sound like you had any parent involvement. And I do think that would have been helpful for buy-in. Based on my experiences as an educator, as well as the experiences. of my own child who started in kindergarten

268when Reveal Math started. I'm having a great deal of difficulty understanding how the district believed that Reveal Math was really the best and most appropriate curriculum for early learners. I do understand I think your presentation was wonderful, but I have not personally experienced anything of what was shown in that presentation. While the REVEAL program seems to attempt to teach essential mathematical concepts in keeping with Common Core, Its implementation and the way it's written is far from what I feel is developmentally appropriate for most early learners. One of the most glaring issues was mentioned that revealed math is heavy in its reliance on lengthy word problems, which are introduced to students far too early at a time when they're still learning to read and master really basic literacy skills. and Scarsdale is really even working on

269its phonics programs. So they really had to work hard. The teachers had to work hard to supplement everything. And Reveal Math is asking young students to navigate really dense, lengthy, complicated word problems that are far beyond what their current abilities were. And I heard productive frustration mentioned a few times. And I think there's a really fine line between productive frustration and overwhelming confusion, which is what my child was experiencing. Because of Reveal's word heaviness, teachers were working one-to-one with students in order for them to understand some very basic concepts. And there's only so much time they get each day to get that done. and there were 24 kids in his kindergarten class. So there was only a very limited amount of time for them to work with each student in order to make sure that

270all of them were understanding. This productive frustration was leaving students feeling more overwhelmed and discouraged rather than inspired. And it sounds like the coaches and teachers were doing a great deal of work adapting, tweaking, supplementing this program. That doesn't sound like a developmentally appropriate program or curriculum. And it's been three years now. Why is it necessary to continue to supplement and adapt this program so much? After three years? This program should be ready for a complete rollout. Everyone should have a clear understanding after three years of all the available tools, but instead it sounds like everyone's still trying to figure out how they can fit RevealMath to work. While I know through personal experience there's no one-size-fits-all program, it sounds like there are definitely better choices out there. And I'm curious to know which math

271program came in second and maybe even possibly third. In my experience, I've also read Dr. McIntosh's book, Multisensory Strategies. So I'm curious, where is the multisensory aspect of Reveal? Because I have only heard and seen my son use workbooks with Reveal Math, and that's about it. There was nothing in that video with him using manipulatives. And when I discussed the use of manipulatives, he had no clue what I was talking about. So all of you know as well as I do how vital it is for students to be taught using multimodal strategies. Workbooks are not engaging. Kinesthetic learners are at a complete disadvantage. A good math curriculum should be taking into account all the... Oh no, sorry. Sorry about that. Yeah, I don't know. Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Thank you so much

272for your comment. The time limit has been reached. Thank you for your comment. Call on the next speaker. Could you please turn on your camera and unmute your device? There we go. Hopefully this is working. Thank you for the session. I'm Gaurav Goel, 39 Church Lane. Speaking on behalf of myself and several other parents in the neighborhood who share similar views, some of who were not able to be up this late. Look, I'll be quick here. It seems there's been a surge of questions from parents and in the interest of time, let's not repeat some of those same concerns, though I share them. I'm open to exploring new approaches. but believe the benchmark for adopting new curriculum should be one that is successfully, over one that is successfully implemented over years, should be whether it's

273significantly superior to Singapore math or something else we had before. Similar scores is not something we should be going for. We should be only going for something way better. And what we hear is significant uncertainty amongst parents regarding this program. I think in light of this, it's wiser to go for another well-established curriculum versus something that came up two, three years back, and we decided to implement that program pretty quickly after that. Like I think one of the parents said very well, let's cut our losses. And finally, I was frankly very disappointed by the presentation and videos that were shown earlier today about RevealMath. There are enough reviews online, and if you talk to teachers and students here and parents, that there are mixed reviews here. And the videos and comments we saw from you

274guys were only positive, and as if there's nothing negative about this. And this felt very cherry-picked. We really want you to be our eyes and ears here. And I hope you're not using only positive evidences to come up with your decisions for this or anything else. But with that, let me give back the time and let other parents speak. So thank you. Thank you. Hello, could you please turn your camera and unmute yourself? Hi, my name is Claire Hunt. I live at 44 Carmen Road. I have two students in the elementary school. I'm just another parent raising my hand and saying I also do not feel that Reveal Math is great curriculum. I think a lot of the presentation was emphasizing that Reveal increases deeper learning. In my experience, it's incredibly It teaches multiple strategies

275toward the same goal. And those strategies are all very language heavy and they are taught rapidly. And instead of learning memorizing multiplication tables and rote memorization strategies, instead children are learning memorizing strategies in order to solve a problem and get past a test. And all of those multiple strategies end up just mixing together in their minds, and then they forget them once the test is over. I just wanted to give a very quick example. This is fourth grade, unit seven, reveal math, teaching division. Over the course of one week, this is how they taught division. First division using place value. The next day was division, estimating quotients using compatible division. The next day was... division using equal sharing meaning of division and the relationship between multiplication and division. The following day was division using partial

276quotients and the final day was partial quotients and distributing groups of 10, 100, and 1,000. And then finally the last day of division was division with remainders. So that was a single week in fourth grade, all that terminology, all of those strategies. And then the tests ask them to use a specific strategy in order to solve the problem. So it's not that these gel together and then they figure out the one that works best for their mind or their mindset. They have to memorize all of these and all of these strategies and all of this language. And it just doesn't seem like this is something that's going to stick with them for the long term. You know, there's a, I, you know, it's late. You guys have heard from several parents. I just wanted to

277be another voice raising my hand and saying that I too feel, I mean, I'm shocked by the statistic that 80% of the local students in the Russian School of Mathematics are from the Scarsdale School District. I mean, I think nobody can look at that statistic and say, oh, well, that's no big deal. I mean, 80% of students. Like at the Russian School of Mathematics is 80% Scarsdale students. That's a problem. And I think the only way to find out how deep this problem runs is not using test scores because no parent in the district is going to let their kid just just struggle. We're either going to help ourselves. We're going to tutor. We're going to Russian School of Math. And I think without polling parents as to what they're doing and how they feel

278about reveal using test scores is just is it's masking the problem. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else? Attempted to promote that person earlier. They declined to speak. Do you want to try one more time maybe? I mean, I could tag them in again and see what they do. Okay. Thank you. Just did. All right. And now they want to speak. Sorry, I did not get your previous tag, so I apologize. But my name is Jennifer Teigman, and I live at 26 Rugby Lane. I'm the parent of a third grader and a fifth grader at Green Acres School, and I have a couple things I want to say about Reveal Math as well. First off, I enjoyed watching that presentation. It was great marketing for Reveal Math, but it was propaganda. Quite frankly, I

279had my fifth grader watch the videos that were on there because she was still up. She never sleeps. And she said that is not at all anything she's experienced since she started the program in third grade. There's no manipulative use at all in her class in any of the years. They simply do worksheets and sometimes... supplemented by IXL. So I'm a little confused as to where those videos of actual Scarsdale students and why is there such a dichotomy between the different elementary schools where some schools are using manipulatives and others aren't. In addition, I'm not, I'm actually not shocked by the 80% of RSM Miss Scarsdale students. I would say in my son's third grade class, we're probably the only boy parent. I don't know about the girls, but boy parent, that's not an RSM.

280And that's because we have our own tutor for math. But my son actually uses that tutor for enrichment. So that leads me to the differentiation that was discussed during that video. None of that has happened at our school at all. My son actually loves math. He's done polynomials and square roots since three years old through YouTube videos, taught himself. He loves, loves, loves math. He will be the first person to say, I love math in every scenario in this world. But I hate math in school and I hate reveal math. He's told his teachers it too. He says he doesn't like it. When I've mentioned that at conferences, both to his teacher last year and this year, and I love his teacher, so it's not their fault I want to say that, they both said

281to me, yeah, this program is amazing for students who hate math, but for kids who love math, it doesn't work so well. So what I think is there needs to be a survey of parents to find out who has tutors, what percentage has tutors. As people have said, Scarsdale parents aren't going to let their kids flounder, but you can't pat yourself on the back and say these test scores are amazing and point to Reveal Math when so many parents are receiving supplemental help. And also there should be an anonymous survey like someone stated of the teachers because I know a lot of Scarsdale teachers that I've spoken with, some have left the district due to Reveal Math, in fact. and not liking the program. And the teachers need to be surveyed and the parents need

282to be surveyed. That's all. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Anybody else? Thank you. Okay, and with that, we will close public comment, move on to 14 on the agenda, follow up to public comment. I just wanted to clarify something I had said earlier when I said that for the device policy that I didn't expect an issue at the elementary and middle school levels. It wasn't that I didn't think that people had phones at that level, it was more just in terms of the policy, I think. I assume we all agree on a bell to bell ban on that. Anything else? follow-up to public comment and 15 wrap-up items 16.01 meeting dates for the coming month Jim yeah thanks Susie so coming month we've got Monday April 7th 2025 meeting with high

283school student group at 5 p.m. the high school learning comments we've got coming up if necessary a special meeting slash executive session on that date at 6 p.m. in the high school here at room 170 172 following that there will be an education report slash business meeting slash board adopts budget if we do at 6 30 p.m. here in the high school at room 170 172 uh then tuesday april 22nd 2025 there will be the always exciting special meeting for the swboces vote at 9 00 a.m at the high school at room 170 172. monday april 24th 2025 there will be a board community coffee between the hours of 10 and 11 a.m here in this room monday april 28th 2025 there will be a special meeting slash executive session but only if needed 6

28430 here in this room Wednesday April 30th 2025 there will be a board community coffee between the hours of 7 and 8 p.m in this room thank you thank you Jim okay and with that I would like to ask if anybody would like to make motion to adjourn this meeting Thank you, Colleen. Is there a second? Thank you, Amber. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. The motion carries. Have a good night, everybody. Thank you for staying this late.