BOE Business Meeting 2023-6-5

001Good evening, everyone. I call this special meeting to order (indistinct) I know that all board members are present exception of Amber. Amber is tending to a family matter this evening and was unable to join us. Note that Dr. Patrick and members of the cabinet are here as well. I will pass it over to Drew now. Thank you so much, Ron. I appreciate it. Welcome, good evening everybody, and very especially to our 2023 retirees. And this first part of tonight's meeting is to honor you. And it's a delight to have you in the audience and have a chance to say a few words. 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 in an interdependent world. We emphasize educating the whole

002child while developing a sustained love of learning. We challenge our students to learn actively and collaboratively, to think critically and creatively and to make connections locally and globally. Non Sibi, not for oneself alone is an overriding philosophy that recognizes the impact our community can have on a world full of complex problems that need to be solved for the benefit of all people. This ambitious mission would be inert except for the life breathed into it by our extraordinary educators. This year we are saying farewell to a collection of remarkable individuals that saw this work as sacred work and as service work. Their talent, their decisions, their care, their curricula, and their relationships with their students brought this mission to life. These special individuals brought the joy of making, thinking, reading, writing, problem solving, researching, experimenting, hypothesizing,

003designing, coding and researching to thousands of Scarsdale students and faculty and staff. On behalf of a grateful Scarsdale community, the Board of Ed and Cabinet, I thank you all for your distinctive contributions to our school community. Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement. We wish you joy and happiness in the years ahead. And now I'm delighted to turn it over to Carol to introduce each of our retiring faculty members. Thank you, so tonight is, as Drew said, it's a very special evening where we acknowledge and celebrate the many contributions and service of our faculty members. And we have one administrator as well, all who are retiring at the close of the school year. Each individual here this evening has offered their expertise and dedication to this organization and the students, families and colleagues they have encountered throughout

004their time here in Scarsdale. So I would like to introduce each person with a look back and share comments made by administrators and department chairs from classroom observations early on in their careers. Oh, you're, you're a little nervous, aren't you? So, Christine, Christine Boyer, if you just come on up here for a sec. So Christine joined. I know you, Christine. Christine joined the Heathcote faculty in 1997 and established herself as an innovative teacher from the onset. Heathcote principal Ronnie Morantz described Christine in this way, self-reflected and committed to continued professional growth. Ms. Boyer exhibits the best of teaching qualities, an extraordinary work ethic and an intrinsic commitment to excellence. Still at the beginning of her career, she holds considerable promise for becoming one of those rare and special teachers whom we all wish for our

005children. (audience applause) So we're gonna have you just go around, give a shake, shake, shake. (laughing) I know. I remember Denver. (laughing) Oh, thank you Eric. Thank you so much. Okay, great. So I'm gonna invite Janie Fitzgerald up next. So Janie joined the Scarsdale Middle School faculty in 2000 as an English teacher. In Janie's very first observation, Mike McDermott stated, Janie, you came to us as a veteran teacher and I anticipated that you would hit the ground running. You have hit the ground at record speed. You bring to Scarsdale not only exemplary teaching skills, but also connections to middle level education that will be an asset to all of us. Congratulations. (audience applause) Thanks. Congratulations. Okay. Jennifer Gilbert. So Jen joined the Scarsdale Junior, the junior high school staff in 1987. And yes, 36 years

006ago it was the junior high school. Peter Telfer was the principal, and Ray O'Donnell was the science department chair. Ray writes, Jennifer is a highly respected member of the junior high school science department and she has consistently strived to do her share in the endless pursuit of excellence for this department. No task is too large or too complex for Jennifer to see to a successful completion. Congratulations. (audience applause) Congratulations Jennifer. Great, I'm going to invite Radmilla Knezevich. Did I say it correctly? Yes. Always had a hard time with her last name. Radmilla began teaching fifth grade in Scarsdale in 1997 at Fox Meadow Elementary School. Radmilla is an excellent teacher, write Steve France, Fox Meadow's principal. She's creative and engaging. She understands the age group's cognitive, physical, and emotional development. She develops excellent relationships with

007her students and there is a mutual admiration and respect in her classroom. Congratulations. (audience applause) (audience laughing) I'd like to invite Lorella Lamonaca up. Lorella came to Scarsdale 24 years ago. First as the part-time teacher in charge at Quaker Ridge School and then moved to a teaching position at Edgewood Elementary School. Scott Housenecht states, Mrs. Lamonaca is a highly valued member of our school community. Her contributions are recognized by all of her colleagues. Her intelligence, dedication, love of children, and uplifting personality have attracted all those around her. Congratulations. (audience applause) Great. I'd like to invite Greg Leong. You actually found something complimentary. I did, I did. Well, I'll let you be the judge of that. Greg began as a mathematics and computer teacher in 1995 at Scarsdale High School. Principal John Klemme stated, Mr. Leong

008brings a wealth of information and experience, as well as excellent rapport with students to his class. He manages to keep the atmosphere light on complex topics and he is readily available for meaningful student assistance. Mr. Leong gives freely of his time and students appreciate his patient manner and he's found his niche at Scarsdale High School in the computer support position. Congratulations Greg. (audience applause) Congratulations. Okay, I am going to invite Nancy Pavia up. Nancy has been a member of the Scarsdale faculty for 34 years. She first taught mathematics as part of the Popham 6th grade team, and most recently serves in the capacity of Instructional Coach and Coordinator supporting our elementary faculty in mathematics instruction. Dom Castiello writes, who is Nancy's department chair in the mathematics department. Nancy is truly one of our better teachers.

009Nancy is never satisfied with doing a good job. She always seeks out a better way. Mediocrity is not and never will be part of her vocabulary. Congratulations. Thank you. (audience applause) Congratulations. Thank you. Okay, Pam Winders. Pam I really went back for this one. (audience laughing) I was afraid of that. To Ms. Richmond. That was Pam's maiden name. So Pam came to Scarsdale School District in 1978. Joan McCann writes of Pam. Ms. Richmond is a refreshing addition to the Scarsdale teaching staff. She's kind, sincere and bright. I am most pleased with her eagerness to work on curriculum with consultants as well as other staff members. Get ready for this. She's incorporated Project Logo, KYB. What is that? (laughing) No idea? Okay, okay. And the Calkins writing program into her classroom. She brings a renewed quality

010to our school. Congratulations. (audience applause) And Lisa Yokana. So in her time at Scarsdale High School, Lisa has taught art, Civ Ed, ninth grade foundations, digital photography, architecture, and is now retiring as the STEAM Coordinator. With her art background and artistic sense, she has put the A plus in STEAM education. John Klemme stated, we are lucky to have someone so intelligent, versatile, knowledgeable, and so easy to work with. There are few teachers so accomplished. Congratulations. (audience applause) All right. Lastly, I do not want to neglect to mention the service of Stuart Mattey. Stuart has provided outstanding leadership in the district and has worked tirelessly to provide for students and staff. Although I have only known Stuart for one year, I've learned that he's deeply committed to supporting children through sound financial decisions and removing barriers

011to allow for innovation whenever possible. Thank you Stuart. (audience applause) Great so I know you joined me in thanking each and every one of these outstanding educators for their dedicated service to this community. So thank you again. (audience applause) Thank you Carol. And thank you for everyone for being here tonight. On behalf of the board, I would also like to express our thanks to our retirees for all that you have done for our students and for our school district for so many years. Your careers have been distinguished and your contribution significant. You've provided such an important impact to so many students that have come through these hallways and our classrooms. And we appreciate your many years of hard work and service. Congratulations to everyone and wishing you a relaxing and fulfilling retirement. (audience applause) With

012that, can I entertain a motion to close this special meeting? Suzie and second Jessica? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. And we are gonna go straight into our business meeting in one second unless we need any technical time. Welcome to go about your... Thank you. Oh God, what was I supposed to remember? I've got my notebook. (chatting indistinctly) Good evening. I call this board business meetings to order and note that all board members are present with the exception of Amber Yusef along with Dr. Patrick and members of the administrative cabinet. Amber is tending to a family matter this evening is unable to be here tonight. Welcome to all those attending in the audience, or watching remotely. Thank you for joining us this evening for the board's final business meeting of the school year. Earlier

013this evening, the board held a retreat to discuss aspects of the board's self-evaluation related to interpersonal communication and relationships. This annual retreat at the end of the school year is part of the board's continual effort to improve how we work together as a board and helps the board identify areas to work on in the coming year. While this portion of the self-evaluation is done in a retreat later tonight during this board meeting, we will report to the community the results of our self-evaluation related to the board's functioning and our goals and objectives that were identified at the start of the school year. Earlier this afternoon prior to that retreat, I also had the pleasure to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony for the district's first softball field. The board understands the importance of having a district

014softball field to compliment the village field at supply in Hyatt and is delighted to take this first step as part of a longer journey with a joint field study that will be underway next year with the village. Thank you to Drew and Ray and the entire athletic team for the work to convert this field, as well as to Matt Hilgendorf and the entire buildings and ground teams for their work to reconfigure the field. Also, thank you to all of our community partners, our softball players that express the need and the importance of this in our community. And I look forward to seeing our students and children around the district as part of the community out on this field in the coming months and years. Ray will also, I believe, speak more details about the softball

015field conversion during cabinet updates. Just prior to this meeting, the board held the annual retirement ceremony where we had the opportunity to thank all of this year's retirees] for their many years of service and contributions to the District and our students. And one final update that Amber asked me to provide to the community is with our joint work with the village to improve telecommunication service around the schools. Amber and I spoke with Mayor Arest last week. The planned service improvements by Verizon remain on schedule and we hope to see service improvements at the high school and Fox Meadow by the start of the upcoming school year in September. The Village will continue to provide the District with updates on the status of Verizon's work. Discussions with T-Mobile are also in process as Amber reported at

016a previous meeting. After the District received a response from T-Mobile to the board's letter, the District coordinated with Village management and the Village board of trustees to engage with T-Mobile. The Village has been in touch with T-Mobile and expects additional updates from T-Mobile in the coming weeks. Conversations between the Village and AT&T remain in a very preliminary stage of work. And I will pass it over to Drew now. Terrific. Thank you very much. I appreciate it Ron. Good evening, I add my welcome to this, the last board meeting of the school year. I'm gonna start tonight's comments with an update on the mascot issue. Last Wednesday, Ray Pappalardi and I met via Zoom with David Frank who serves as the Deputy Commissioner for Education policy to discuss part 123 of the regulations of the commissioner,

017otherwise known as the new mascot regulations. Mr. Frank gave me the opportunity to explain what I had learned about the Raider name in Scarsdale and to describe the research we had done, including my communication with Colgate University. I then indicated that I thought the guidance document was fairly explicit with respect to our situation as we have no evidence of ever having used indigenous imagery in association with our team name. I'm pleased to report that Mr. Frank agreed with this interpretation and ensured us that Scarsdale will be able to maintain the name Raiders for our teams. Mr. Frank sent an email memorializing and confirming our conversation. Thus the board will not have to adopt or consider a resolution with respect to this matter and we consider it resolved. I'm gonna move on to a few highlights,

018just some of the things going on around the district and I got to see a preview of this one. The Quaker Ridge fourth graders hosted a glow in the dark art show where all of the student created art took on a new dimension under blacklight. It was very, very cool. Our Heathcote third graders enjoyed a trip to the Weinberg Nature Center where they learned about local insects, animal behavior and hydroponics. And now they're awaiting for their classroom butterflies to emerge. At Edgewood Kindergarten students and parents enjoined a pirate themed end of year celebration with interdisciplinary work from Ms. Turner, Ms. Justino, Mr. Tomazava and Mr. Fitzpatrick. The Green Acres Library released their end of year statistics. The top patron, this is impressive, was a fourth grader who borrowed 164 books this year. School-wide students borrowed

019over 16,000 books and there were over 2,000 sign-ins outside of scheduled class time. So we are happy to see the library is a very popular place. Fox Meadow students enjoyed Wellness Day on the last Friday in May before Memorial Day. They participated in a range of activities in the classroom and outside, including a school-wide yoga class and had some help from Scarsdale High School students, which is always a nice generational connection there. Scarsdale High School students enjoyed their second annual non Sibi day that same Friday, May 26th, with over 60 unique activities with a wide range of themes, but all connecting to the idea of not for oneself alone. Definitely a heartwarming and thought provoking day. And finally I just want to highlight that the banner snatch is out. So this is the 2023 high

020school yearbook. Stacey Dawes presented me with this copy earlier today and it's really a remarkable artifact for the students of Scarsdale High School and especially for the class of 2023. This is truly one of the amazing traditions of Scarsdale and every student and family should be proud of what this yearbook represents. And now onward to graduation for the class of 2023. You can have a look at that later if you want. And a few upcoming dates and holidays. June 19th marks the holiday Juneteenth, the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people be freed. The troops' arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and it honors the end to slavery in the

021United States and is considered the longest running African American holiday. On June 17th, 2021 it officially became a federal holiday. Our A school graduation will take place on June 16th, 4:00 PM at the A school weather permitting. And high school graduation is June 22nd at 6:30 PM on Butler Field. Eid el Adha is June 28th and 29th. Also called the Festival of the Sacrifice. It's one of the most important holidays of the Islamic calendar and marks the height of the annual Hadj, pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The four day religious holiday begins on the third day of the annual Hadj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims who are physically and financially able are required to undertake once in their lifetime. The day begins with morning prayers and the celebrations continue with visits to

022friends and family, exchanges of gifts and feasts. And that is one of the holidays that we will be honoring moving forward. Okay, thank you. I just add, I heard prom was great. Although I don't have a kid in the high school everyone that I know that does said the red carpet, I think you were there if you wanna speak about it, but I heard it was great. I said to a couple people, the red carpet tradition here was one of the first things in Scarsdale I ever observed. I was here on like a transition day before I officially started and I pulled into the parking lot and like it was festive and incredible and it continues to be so every year and kudos to first of all the students and they're designing the event for

023themselves and then enjoying that and all of our faculty and staff and parents who support that incredible event. Thanks for putting that one on there. Are there any board member reports, Bob? Yeah, so one of the committee liaisons that I participate in is with the Scarsdale Family Counseling services, which as most of you probably know, is headed by Jay Genova. This particular group that I participate in is chaired by Maria Villanova and this was our final meeting of the year, which was May 27th. And it was an opportunity for us to kind of recap the program accomplishments of the teaming with Scarsdale and the wonderful programs and successes associated with the youth services project. And just to kinda give people a little bit of a flavor for what that includes as accomplishments. This year we

024completed the recruiting for the middle school staff. There was a really high and successful participation rate at our high school in terms of engaging students. There was a toy donation project at the middle school led by the lead club. We set up a, or actually they set up a fifth grade support groups with over 50 participants, which happens to be one of the things that I remember when my kids were in fifth grade. And it was so helpful. I really can remember that to this day. We went over the participation of, in terms of helping students in grade 6 through 12. We talked about some of the events that for say, there were nine of them, which is Scarsdale Action for Youth, the rebranding of drug and alcohol programs, the RESET program. We talked about

025Natalie Ramos who did a great job organizing community read for no visible bruises. And just to give everyone a heads up, they've created a wonderful set of resource guides for the community and they came up with creating a QR code on this small little business card. So it's a very discreet way of sharing information for people, which I think is just a wonderful idea. And just last but not least, how the team is always thinking about ways of supporting the mental health services within our schools. And I just wanna say how fortunate I think we are as a community to have Scarsdale Family Counseling as a team partner. Thank you Bob. Are there any other board reports today? With that I'll pass it to Drew and Carol for the personnel report. Terrific. Well tonight's personnel

026report is devoted to the appointment of our interim middle school principal for next year. Since the announcement of current principal Megan Troy's appointment to the position of assistant superintendent for human resources, we've been engaged in the search process to identify an interim principal for Scarsdale Middle School. And as I've just shared, the search has concluded and Chris Cochlan, assistant principal of Scarsdale Middle School has been selected to fill the role for the 2023/24 school year. In the interview process, two things were unmistakably evident. Chris was exquisitely prepared and deeply passionate about helping to continue the outstanding work that takes place every day at Scarsdale Middle School. Since joining the Scarsdale community four years ago, Chris has been able to draw upon his wealth of experience to make important contributions to the school, while learning with

027and from the amazing SMS community. His passion for students, knowledge of teaching and learning and strong commitment to collaboration will ensure a successful transition and a really positive year ahead. Chris will officially assume the role provided he's approved on July 1st, just a couple weeks away. I believe Suzie, you have this action item. Oh it's my pleasure. It is the recommended action that it be resolved that the board approve the recommendation of the superintendent to appoint Christopher Cochlan to the position of interim Middle School principal, effective July 1st, 2023 and ending June 30th, 2024. May I have a second. Aye. Second, Jessica. All those in favor? Aye. Congratulations Chris. (audience applause) Say a few words. Please. Just a quick thank you to everyone here. I'm honored and humbled to fill in Megan's enormous shoes that

028she's left and I'm looking forward to the work ahead. So thank you. (audience applause) Congratulations Chris on behalf of the board. We look forward to seeing you lead the middle school next year and continue the wonderful work in that building for all the students. So thank you so much. With that I'll hand it back to Drew for cabinet updates. Okay, thank you. We will start with Carol and Okay. Our probationary appointments. Absolutely, so on tonight's agenda you will find Kelsey Davidson, Jennifer Teets and Daniel Zelliger. They joined us this school year appointed as leave replacement teachers. On tonight's agenda they're being appointed to a probationary position beginning next school year. You'll also find John Van Wey who has been at the high school for a number of years in a part-time position as a Latin

029teacher. And it really speaks to our growing Latin program that he is now appointed to a probationary position at the high school. And then I'm really pleased we have three members here tonight for new faculty members. So first I'm gonna ask Stephanie Dunn to please stand. Okay, so Stephanie has been recommended for appointment in the tenure area of Library Media Specialist. She is assigned to Fox Meadow Elementary School. Stephanie holds a Master of science in Library and Information Sciences school Library Media, a Master's in Educational Technology, and her Bachelor's in Education from SUNY Geneseo. Welcome Stephanie. (audience applause) Emma Jengo. So Emma is not new to us. Emma has been a leave replacement at Green Acres as a general education teacher, but tonight she's being recommended for appointment in the tenure area of special education.

030Also, she will remain at Green Acres Elementary School. Emma holds a degree in Special Education from Manhattanville College, a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education. And she is currently teaching, as I said at Green Acres and will continue there next year. Congratulations Emma. (audience applause) Kristen Mattea. She is, so Kristen has been recommended for appointment in the tenure area of Special Education. Kristen will be assigned to Green Acres Elementary School. Kristen holds a Master's in Educational Psychology and a Bachelor's in Childhood and Students with Disabilities grades one through six. Congratulations Kristen. (audience applause) I just, oh, I'm sorry. I just wanted to point out one last thing that on tonight's agenda you will find the non-union contracts for our administrators and also our classified clerical staff. And that's it. Thank you very much Carol. I'm

031gonna add one other personnel related item and that's just to point out later on the consent agenda, there's an item 10.10 called the establishment of rates. And that's something the board is presented with annually that lists rates of payment for a variety of responsibilities in the District that are not otherwise outlined in collective bargaining agreements. And these include things such as substitute pay, pay for seasonal work including summer interns and standardized testing administration, APPSATSAT, things like that. There are normally relatively few year to year changes in this area, but a few factors have led us to recommend more and larger increases than typical and I just wanted to provide a little color to that this evening. So one thing is we're proposing a significant change to the per diem rate for substitute nurses. This rate

032lifts us into a competitive realm. We are currently not competitive in terms of our rate with our neighboring districts with whom we are truly competing for their services when we need substitute nurses. This is a matter of practical significance, I guess is the way to say it. So we're hoping you'd be supportive of that. Other labor market driven increases are driving increases for substitute cleaners and substitute secretaries. The latter position, the secretaries sometimes necessary when we're waiting for civil service to issue competitive lists, which we are required to hire from when we have vacancies. So it's important to note that in these situations the cost of substitutes replaces a salary and is not on top of salary because the position is vacant. And that is a jump in rate, but that still corresponds to basically

033the lowest step and class of that unit. We are proposing a significant a little over $4,000 increase in the non-standard testing administrator position. This is a position that's currently held by Fran Garafolo and she does this work on top of her secretarial duties for the Scarsdale Teachers Institute. And it involves most of the aspects of coordinating SAT and ACT testing for students with accommodations that the college board and the ACT have approved. This form of testing has significant planning responsibilities including communication with families, directly with students, with proctors and with the college board and ACT organizations themselves. There are day of testing responsibilities, including approximately 12 Saturdays each year. And simply the growth in the number of tests requiring this administration necessitates the dollar increase. We believe it's a worthwhile expenditure given the service that

034it provides to our students and families in the community. But I just did wanna explain that. And then the remaining increases to seasonal help and impartial hearing officers also reflect the labor market conditions. And in fact, the hearing officers just tell us that's what they charge. So when we need them we really don't have a choice. So I appreciate the chance to describe the rationale for these positions. And before I pass it over to Stuart, I'm happy to address any questions from the board. I would just say thank you for that explanation. I think sometimes in board docs we can see changes and it's really helpful for us in the community to have that context and understand the needs. So thank you. Happy to provide it. Okay, I'm gonna pass it over to Stuart. Thank

035you very much Drew. Just a couple updates from a facilities perspective. Usually like to give everyone a heads up about what's happening this summer. Fortunately very quiet summer, which is unusual lately. Anyway, so our facilities team is thankful for that. We do have the Heathcote office renovation will be happening. If you recall, we awarded the bids a number of meetings ago and they're getting all the final documents and the orders have been made. So they'll get ready to get in there as soon as the students and teachers leave for the summer. I know principal Style is finalizing plans for alternative office location over the summer and she'll be letting her faculty and community know where that will be and hopefully us too so we can find her. Also prior to July 1 will be Butler

036Field renovation. This is the final work associated with repairing the damage due to the flooding. Finally we've been able to schedule a time to get in there and get it done in about one week's time prior to graduation here at the high school. That will be happening June 12th, so next week. So the field will be closed to the community and to everyone while we are able to accomplish that work. And then the facilities team I mentioned, they're thankful for a quiet summer, really, you know, it's been pretty crazy the last number of years with the Capital Project and COVID. So they're thankful to really catch up on cleaning and do a lot of the fine tuning they've been missing the last number of years. And then a different note claims auditor, you recall we

037had a resignation for the purpose of retirement from our current claims auditor. And he had expressed an interest to continue on a contractual basis until such time that we found a outside firm to take over those duties. He expressed an interest to not extend much more than the end of the summer or early fall. So we'll be moving forward with an RFP here relatively soon to do some interviews and review proposals. And that would probably be a process we'd want, you know, one or two board members to be part of since the claims auditor really does report to you, to the board. And just since Stuart brought this up, we do anticipate an information item on the business meeting on July 6th that just kind of reviews the current status of those sort of consultants

038that work for the district, the attorneys, the architects and things like that to just start the conversation about how those get selected. And we think it's probably something annually that would make sense to do to help educate, you know, new board members even though this particular board will not have new members. We think it's a good idea to put that in place. Good. Great. Okay, I'm gonna turn it over to Ray in athletics with a number of updates including a follow up to his April 17th cabinet update. Thank you Drew. Can everyone hear me okay? I just wanna thank Drew for his leadership through the process of affirming that we could continue to use the Raider name as our mascot. I think the process taken to work with state ed was transparent and open and

039empowered the district to really validate our use of it and the fact that we did not have any indigenous or native American imagery associated with that at any point in time. So thanks again. This afternoon we held the field opening, a ribbon cutting over at Green Acres for a new softball field, the first softball field on District property. For me the excitement and the meaningfulness was not as real until members of the girl softball team arrived with smiles that were ear to ear. That was amazing to witness. You never truly realize how important things are to people until they either tell you or show you. And that was amazing. That process started as kind of a joint conversation between members of the community. So representatives from Travel Softball discussing equity issues between softball and baseball.

040Discussions happened at the administration level and Drew really helped clear the way to put that upfront as a priority amongst the other pre-planned projects. And now we have a softball field on campus, on school district property. So we're fortunate now. Next week, as early as next week we're gonna get our softball team. They're so excited season's over, but they're gonna get out there and use the field. I'm sure they'll have some sort of punch list that they'd be willing to share with us to get that field up and ready for next year. Just a brief update of what's happening right now and what teams are still going. Last week two members of the boys lacrosse team received all-American recognition. Two firsts. Kobe Baldwin received All American for two years in a row, first time in

041boys lacrosse history and also first time in boys lacrosse history, we received two this year. Both Kobe Baldwin and Andrew Lehrman received all American recognition. On Saturday, boys lacrosse team overcame a nine to four five point deficit to beat Shenandoah ten nine in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. For those you may not know, Shenandoah is a perennial powerhouse in sports. It was amazing to watch our boys dig deep and make that change shift and take responsibility, come together and win that game. On Sunday girls track and field, Ava Gibney qualified for the states in the Pentathlon and our 4 by 800 girls team of Rachel Rachauer, Zoe Dickter, Shannon Kelly and Leah Patel set a new school record of 9 minutes 25.8 seconds. They beat the old record that was placed in 1982

042by seven seconds. And they also qualified for the states. The state championships for Girls Track and Field will be held on June 9th and 10th at Middletown High School. In girls golf today, Emily came in second in the state and Allison Kahn placed fifth. Amazing over two days. They started yesterday, had a practice round over the weekend and they were both recognized as Allstate golfers. Leo Choo also golfed at the New York State Championships for boys. First day he placed 68th and today in day two he rallied to end 29th, 84 strokes and plus 15. So that's a great play by Leo, you know, he should be applauded. On Wednesday, boys Lacrosse will compete in the east semifinals of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships on Wednesday, June 7th at the

043University of Albany. That game will be played at 3:00 PM. And then boys tennis, we'll be playing in the New York State semi-finals Friday, June 9th at 10:00 AM. If they win in the semis, they'll play in the finals at 4:00 PM on the same date. Last announcement for spring, a spring barbecue time change for tomorrow. It's a 4:30 start with the ceremony starting at 5:15 to help accommodate some conflicts for some of our student athletes. Okay, as you may recall, on April 17th, I presented some data that was concerning for me. I brought it to the board as soon as I realized it. Some participation numbers that looked a little bit, what I called out of whack at the time. Tonight, I'm gonna present a little bit about those numbers, but also talk about

044some corrections and data that was missing in those original numbers. Explain where we are today and some of my takeaways from that. I've got it, thank you. So I'll start with the review. We'll start with the review of the April 17th presentation in those numbers on participation rates, I'll talk a little bit about my context for analyzing those numbers at the time, where those rates are now, why they've been updated and how they were corrected. And then how we plan to grow forward based upon the new numbers. Okay, as you may recall, in April I shared some information, some concerns about these participation rates. In particular, the participation rates of girls in our athletic program. Those numbers showed a decrease in girls' participation and I was concerned that the decrease was part of a trend.

045Furthermore, there appeared to be a disparity in the boys girls split in athletic participation for the spring season at 64%:36%, and especially as it related to the boy girl split in the Scarsdale High School population. because the Scarsdale high school population boy girl split is 52%:48%. Those ratios in this year's fall and winter seasons fall being 46% boys, 54% girls and winter with 55% boys and 45% girls respectively were seemingly easier to explain. In general, girls' participation is higher in the fall due to a greater number of teams. And the winter participation fell within three percentage points of the high school population split. So I had less cause for concern, nevertheless, I was resolved to study the change. On this slide represents the data that I presented on April 17th. Please note, the female participation

046in 2021-22, the female participation in 22-23 and the male participation in 2022-23. Okay, these were the initial data points that caused me some concern, but under a little more of a deep dive, and obviously those numbers reflect in the total overall participation, but with more of a deep dive I went back into the data and realized that the actual roster information numbers were not coinciding with the numbers that spit out from queries that I run in order to do analysis. So the new data points, if we look at girls' participation in 2021-22, both sets of male and female participation in 22-23, male and female. And then the overall participation, you'll notice that we are on an upward trend. So Ray, just to clarify, the original data you had shared or were thinking about in April

047did not include these two sports. Correct, so, for whatever reason the query was not picking up girls flag football and boys crew. So I'm not quite sure why, but when I went back in and corrected the query, we got full numbers that matched roster numbers at the time. So the actual ratio of boys to girls participation is more in line with 2018, 2019 at 58% boys, 42% girls. And you'll see that reflected in later tables that I'll be able to share with you. I just wanna point out now while the date is up there, the numbers for 2019-20 and 2020-21 were affected by COVID. Although they're presented here it was understandable as to why those numbers might be lower in those two years. So just to discuss a little bit about the context and why

048I was alarmed or alerted during my presentation that I brought to you earlier, just to better understand that concern, I'd like to share with you these... I placed these numbers in the context of local and national trends, as well as low enrollment numbers in two particular Scarsdale High School spring sports. Locally and nationally there's been a decrease in athletic participation and to a greater degree in girls participation in sports. And here we had some attrition in both girls lacrosse and softball. And so if you think about adding flag football, which is specifically a girl sport and having pretty high participation rates there and having attrition in girls lacrosse and softball, I was alarmed to see that 36%, 64 split and those low numbers, 'cause we were adding almost 80 girls last year and almost 40

049to 50 girls this year in those sports. And was wondering why those numbers were still incredibly low. So to what extent is this really represented in our program was the big question that I had. Knowing that across the section we've heard that there've been similar drops, low subscriptions in softball, girls lacrosse, even girls basketball. Up until now we've never seen any real indication of that. So I did a bit of a bigger dive. So participation numbers just updated and corrected. And here are the tables that's associated with the corrected data that I showed earlier in the line chart. So if you look quickly just, we're on an upward trend, boys, the male participation is pretty flat. But we're on an upward trend when we look at girls and pretty much over the last five years

050have the highest participation rate. And when we look at numbers and the highest participation rate and this is just spring. Hold on, I have to go back just one. That's all season. So if we look at all seasons here, if we look at the current participation split, if we go back to 2018-19 53, 47%, we're more in line with that now in 2022-23 with 54, 46%. As I mentioned before, the male female split is roughly 52%, 48%. So we're pretty close in line with our high school population split. And if we look at this last slide, total participation rate, you'll see that that's gone up over time. And we're currently at 64% of participation for a high school our size. That's very high. So to what extent is this reflected in our program with overall

051participation at Scarsdale High School seeming stable, notwithstanding the COVID numbers? Well girls participation in the spring of 2023, we see low numbers, again it's softball and girls lacrosse. We had a JV team in girls lacrosse that was about nine girls So we kept that program running, but there was no real competitions for them. And we did not have a JV team for softball. But we had increased participation in two varsity flag football teams. So when this first came up, I tried to be as responsive as possible. I interviewed samples of girls, girls who remained in our program, and girls who left to ascertain what the reasons for attrition might be. I spoke with samplings of parents and held several focus groups with one team, looked at the total team and one group, separate students by

052grade with specific questions in mind, select individuals to help elaborate on their comments within small groups. And some asked to meet separately to convey their perceptions. And then I also met with a purposeful group of parents to discuss why this might be happening. I also did a brief review, looked at the literature to see what's known about participation in sports, specifically girls attrition in sports. The topics that came up were perceptions of competence. And what we know about that is that right around 14 or eighth grade students enter into high school, they have a pretty fixed idea of what they're good at or not good at. And that seems to translate to sports that have specialized skills, or where high levels of competence are expected. Which is why we may have seen an increase in

053participation in flag football. It's a very flat entry point. We also see that participation is trending away from traditional sports and more towards non-traditional sport participation. And, you know, I'm hearing those requests in our office. We're getting requests about dance team and squash, on fencing, which are not the typical football, basketball, baseball, softball, soccer. We're getting more and more requests for these alternate activities. And then also expectations at youth sport are not always the same as high school. So we're looking to address that. And I also spoke with many of my colleagues who were experiencing some similar things in their districts. So ways we're going to grow forward and address those things that we know, clearer communication about our purposes and values, especially related to equity, development of a common language and a shared purpose,

054which will involve all constituents, parents, students, boards on the ISOs and all youth support groups. Also engaging the parks and rec and conservation department and any other local youth organizations that are around. And a really, I think more importantly, some added ways to examine our programs with, I believe we need a more streamlined and more convenient survey for student athletes to hear student voice. I witnessed today, had we not had the ribbon cutting ceremony, I would not have heard the passionate pleas from our softball players about their desire to have a softball field, similar in capacity to our baseball field on district, you know, district property. And they pointed out, you know, they wanna have a field with dugouts where the grass is cut and they can have a home run fence, but they don't

055always take me up on my invitations to meet. So we need another way I think that's more convenient for them to express their opinions, ideas and priorities. Some other things growing forward. I mentioned this earlier in the year, I underwent the inside out core training as part of section 1's initiative on diversity, equity and inclusion. I attended an informational meeting in May on May 12th about departmental implementation, which will take place starting this June and will happen throughout the year until next year. They have an initial course designed here for coaches to go through. There is a pilot program for middle school that we will also participate in. And so that's all about building a common language, common understanding and common values around athletics. There's another meeting to talk about what those actual steps will

056be throughout the year and that will happen in August. And then we're gonna undergo a comprehensive field study this year with a focus on equity across the district. And right now we're in the process of writing, drafting our review for qualifications. And we expect after we're able to submit that, that we will send out a joint request for proposals with the Village. And now if you have any questions, I'm hopeful to be able to answer them. Ray, thank you so much for deep diving into this and coming back with more concrete numbers. That was very helpful. As you know, many of us were surprised when we talked in April, so this is really good context to have. Thank you for all your work on this topic. I guess as you spoke there were two questions

057that occurred to me. First of all, if you could tell us a little bit about what the process is for assessing whether to introduce some of those additional nontraditional sports that might keep kids more engaged, like dance team or other things for which there's demand. And then also as you look at the long-term goals for the district and for growing the options, what role is the middle school playing in that in terms of assessing what kind of sports demand there is coming up from the middle school, from modified into the high school? Great, great. So the process is typically student driven at the high school. Usually students express interest and then we try to find out to what extent there really is interest. We have an interest meeting, find out the numbers. There's also an

058evaluation of what it will take to run that type of program. And I usually compare that cost per pupil to other programs we have and then look at our budget and whether it can sustain that over time. We also look at the effects that it has on things that you might not consider such as transportation, travel, the effect on the school day. 'Cause we do have some programs that we run now where things have changed and getting outta school early is the only way that we can run some of those things, right? So we try to minimize those conflicts. But we really look at our ability to offer that program consistent with our mission and the level of student interest are the driving forces there. And then related to the part that the middle school

059plays in this, we usually look at participation and enrollment there to see if there are any trends and whether those, the participation rates there will feed into our programs at the high school. The difficulty is, and I think many people in the public don't realize this, but we have limited offerings at the middle school. So you may have large numbers in the program that we offer, but when they have an opportunity to come to the high school and there are many more choices they may not choose to continue in that sport, right? So we don't have mirrored sports at the middle school for all of the sports we have at the high school. And so it's more difficult to predict what our numbers will be over time. And that's why I mentioned we'll really have

060to reach out to the youth sport organizations, the ISOs, parks and Rec to understand what those trends might be and to make the transition easier for student athletes from the youth programs to the high school programs. Some of the things I didn't share were related to kind of this dichotomy of fun versus competitiveness and there were interesting ways in the way student athletes and even families perceive those two things, right? I think we all believe that sports should be fun, but some kids derive that enjoyment, level of enjoyment from competition and other students need that level of enjoyment in order to compete. And so what we're going to try to bridge, we're just starting these conversations with our coaches, try to bridge that level of interest or that spectrum of interest for student athletes so

061that there's a balance of fun for fun's sake and competition so that we don't drive students away with high levels of competition. Over the last year we see this quite a bit. Our teams have been incredibly successful, right? And so for some student athletes they may not want that, you know, I've heard from them, we just wanna play with our friends, right? I think that's an important perception to recognize amongst our student athletes that that cohort, or I refer to as cohort, keeping kids together through the process, is socially important to them. And that when that social cohort is broken apart, at times kids quit. Not because they don't like the sport or that the sport, but their friends are no longer doing it so it's not as fun. Sorry I kind of went roundabout,

062but the middle school, it's hard to predict even though we have numbers there that we use, but because of the varied opportunities up here, it makes it challenging. Thank you. You're welcome. (indistinct) Sorry, I had a couple questions. One to follow up on Jessica's, the students that are coming to you about some of these different sports, are you collecting data on whether this would be that student's first sport, or a potential replacement? And I'm just thinking about giving our kids an avenue to do productive things with their free time. Great, so most sports, it's like with a new sport, it's that student's only sport. If we look at boys volleyball, when we created that, that was completely new. We captured a ton of boys that were not playing other sports in the fall. You know,

063similarly with flag football, while we didn't recapture many new student athletes, we look across the year, we did engage several girls who were not playing a spring sport previously. So flag football has not become kind of a siphon off of any other sports, really I think we've had two girls who came from other sports out of the 40 on both teams. But squash for instance, I'll just give you an example. Some of those boys might play tennis in the spring, but a lot of those boys that I've spoken with are not playing another sport at all here at Scarsdale High School. So we're looking at that option and our ability to host that and the way we can sustain it over time. But we absolutely are looking to have to capture more students in any

064given season and hopefully more students in our overall participation. Thank you. That makes sense. And just sort of a follow up to that, talking about the middle school for a second now. So I'll use women's flag football just as an example, it's shown to be very popular at the high school. So what is that process to think, well maybe, should we start it? Could we start it at the middle school again, just trying to get kids to be productive in their free time? No, that's a great question. I think we've slowly added sports at the middle school, 'cause we have a no cut policy and that no cut policy, while it's great to include as many kids that wanna come out, it becomes difficult to manage when you start adding several sports, because you won't

065be able to field all of those sports if the same number of students come out for them. So we do interest meetings and then try to gauge whether that interest would be sustainable. So for an example of one sport that we attempted and did not continue was soccer. We were not able to field the multiples of teams that we would need to have boys or girls soccer at the middle school. But we thought we could run skills clinics incredibly well. And so I think we offered a really robust season with about six kids that came out every day to do that. But eventually that kind of went by the wayside because it wasn't what anyone was looking for. But we do try to, you know, gather information about interest and decide whether that is sustainable

066and then whether there's competition for it. I'm gonna give you the opposite example with Winter Track, which worked out incredibly well. We knew there would be interest because we had track athletes who ran in the spring. We had cross country athletes that ran in the fall and we thought a great transition would be winter track, but there was no competition. So we were as articulate as we could be about the experience. We had so many kids come out, we had coaches who advocated for that and next year for the first time we will have indoor track, we'll be able to compete in indoor track meets up at Hendrick Hudson, right? So that's a success story because we were able to concretely identify students that would be interested and would continue over time and then we're

067able to convince the section to allow us into those indoor competitions. And as you might understand, I don't know if you've been to an indoor track meet, the number of students in an indoor space is definitely a competing interest to allowing more teams in. And we were fortunate that Hendrick Hudson will allow us to compete next year. Thank you. You're welcome. Just last question, the data you presented was really helpful. I think it's really nice for us to see data. I'm not asking for this for this table, I'm just wanna make sure I understand what you are able to see. Presumably our system can get much grip, more granular than that. So for example, you mentioned we're not seeing the shift from athletes into women's flag football, so for girls lacrosse and softball, something is

068happening there. Absolutely. You are able to get into that data to sort of follow where those students are going, whether they are going to another sport, something else to follow up with that. Yeah, so it's a pretty crude right way that I do it. I kind of print the rosters or pull the rosters up and then look at where those same students were last year, the year before and then future years if I had to. But in order to follow students individually, I either have to print out a report on that individual student, or look at their information year over year, or analyze them roster by roster. Okay, that's helpful. Really what I'm trying to ask you is that we have insight where the top line number- Correct. Is a very important number. It's also

069good to know sort of what's happening underneath that, that individual students are still on a productive path with whatever they're doing with their time. Correct, so just to give you kind of just try to explain to you what I can see. So I can see overall numbers. I can see numbers season to season. I can see numbers by sport and then I can see individual names, right. So depending on that analysis that I perform I can get as granular as I want to, but the analysis would be distinctly different. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Okay, pass it back to Drew. Super. Thank you very much. Ray thank you, I appreciate that. And I think we're going on to Eric. Yes, I have a quick SSEM update. I just wanted to report to the

070board that Mike Spidalieri and I had the pleasure of spending Wednesday and Thursday of last week at the first annual school safety summit put on by New York State Ed. It was a collection of districts from around the state, including chiefs of safety similar to Mike, people like myself and a bevy of school resource officers and various local enforcement officials there. There was a wealth of classes around crisis response, around bringing belonging into the school safety world as a major pillar, which we've been doing here. It was a validating experience, seeing what the best practices were and in large part being able to check off those best practices as things that we practice here in Scarsdale. So happy to say that that was a good spending of two days up in Albany. Wanted to give

071a quick update on day automation. We are on track to do our final testing of the integrated lockdown system the week after school ends. So there will be community notices going out to the community that they may hear lockdown announcements and drills at the various schools around the district. But that will be simply testing. And then finally, I wanted to talk about our weekend's investigation at Fox Meadow. It seems that we had the case of the missing tortoise. It disappeared out of one classroom and was found making a flee for it down the hallway. So we are investigating as to how the tortoise made its way out of a classroom and found his way down the hall. So major security breach there that's being followed up on. Eric, did he? True story. Tortoise have its

072ID on? (laughing) Maybe I should ask Melissa. And we'll wrap up with that. Thanks Drew. I'm happy to give an update on summer curriculum improvement. People may wonder why district parking lots still have educated cars in them throughout the summer. This is because teachers are working in collaborative groups to update, refine, align, and enrich an existing curriculum and assessments, as well as expand and develop new curriculum and assessments. This is a powerful summer structure that allows us to continue our improvement cycle and ensure that we are meaningfully responding to the needs of our students in a rapidly changing world. Across the school there are projects related to interdisciplinary work and developing our wide community and belonging. Wide being wellness inclusion, diversity and equity. At both the high school and middle school they will be looking

073at grading practices and curricular and instructional alignment. Some highlights at the high school. There's also educators are gonna be working on the development of performance-based assessments. Assessments measuring what we value for our high school graduates, sustainability and the mindful use of technology. At the middle school built off their work with the author researcher Colleen Cruz, they'll be focusing on mistake welcoming practices and importantly many educators will be working on integrating the practices of the ICT model, a powerful learning structure moving up from the elementary schools. And as well the expansion of classroom libraries into world language classrooms and beyond. At the elementary level, we'll be working on K2 reading assessments align better with our instructional practices, improving our elementary kindergarten science units and inclusive and developmentally appropriate fifth grade health curriculum. There will be work

074on our reveal math curriculum based on feedback from classroom teachers. For example, a group of representative elementary educators are coming together to expand student-centered activities connected to the Reveal Math program for upper elementary to enrich alignment with the range of Scarsdale learners. We also have groups of educators embedding responsive classroom strategies into the structure of their classroom and schools. And spanning many grades educators from the performing arts K12 are coming together to spend time focusing on vertical articulation of content and skills taught throughout the grades. In addition, a team of librarians and computer teachers are working with William Yang on both alignment of technology standards, but also to curate resources and create assured experiences for our students K12 in media literacy. Really essential and important work. Thanks. Okay, thank you. That's the wrap up of

075cabinet updates. Thank you Drew. We will move to public comment. I will read the public comment preamble first. Members of the public are cordially invited to speak on district related items, or other non-personnel related matters during two separate public comment periods. When it's your turn to speak, please state your name, address, and if you're 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 board of [email protected]. The public comment period is reserved for comments only. The board will

076not 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 date and later time and place. Response to public comment will take place after both the first and second public comment period. And for those that are watching at home, if you would like to comment on Zoom, now is a good time to log on so you'll be ready when we move to the Zoom public comment. With that, would anybody in the audience like to make a public comment? Hello, my name is Lauren Grossberg. I'm at 12 Continental Road and I'm speaking on behalf of myself in my role as the PTC President, but not on behalf of the PTC. So you may or may not know, but traditionally

077the outgoing PTC President makes a statement at the last Board of Ed meeting each year with a focus on wishing the outgoing board members the best of everything. In unusual circumstances we do not have any outgoing board members this year. This has only happened two other times since before 2010, the last time being 2017, 2018. Thank you Anne Tekany for that information. Regardless, it didn't feel right to pass up the opportunity to say how much I have valued being in the role of PTC President and being able to liaise with the board. Our open dialogue is crucial to the work we all do on behalf of our school community. I look forward to seeing all the great work this repeat board does next year. I'd also like to take a quick moment to wish Stuart

078Mattey and Carol Priore a wonderful retirement and re-retirement. And welcome Megan Troy and Andrew Lennon to cabinet. Our district has been and will continue to be in good hands. Thank you again for this privilege. I wish you all the best. Thank you Ms. Grossberg. Are there any other public comments? See no other in-person comments. I will turn to Suzie and Zoom. It looks like all the panelists or the participants are us basically, so. We'll just give it 10 seconds in case someone's logging in. I was really thinking that when you were doing this you'd get a lot. Thinking, or hoping? Or maybe it was me. Well, with that it does not look like we have any attendees on Zoom. I will close the first public comment period. Is there any follow up you have. Just

079to thank Lauren for your leadership as PTC President this year. Really it's been a personal pleasure working with you and helping me to acclimate to this position and knowing you were gonna be here tonight, I thought I'd take advantage of this little opportunity to publicly thank you and know there's more from Lauren Grossberg to come for Scarsdale schools. I'll just add, I know Amber would've wanted me to give you a similar thanks. So thank you for all that you've done. Okay, we will move to item nine, the consent agenda. I will read the preamble. The board may conduct some of its business using a consent agenda in an effort to achieve greater efficiency at board meetings. A consent... Yeah? Oh, thank you Jim. I'm gonna pass it to Suzie for written communications. Alright, here we

080go. I'm gonna be reading the preamble for written communications. Please note 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. And for the written communications, since the last meeting, we have 12 written communications to the board on district matters and we have six written communications to the board on board matters, invitations, publications, board meetings, and highlights. Thank you Suzie. And thank you Jim for keeping us in line. We will now move to item nine, the consent agenda. I will read the preamble. The board may conduct some

081of its business using a consent agenda in an effort to achieve greater efficiency of board meetings. A consent agenda condenses some of the routine business of the board into a single motion. The consent agenda is prepared by the superintendent of schools in consultation with the president and/or 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 of the consent agenda will have the same background material as ordinary items on the board agenda. 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 the same at the meeting. The exempted item then moves into

082the regular agenda. However, all non-exempt items would be moved, seconded, and voted upon without discussion in order to provide greater efficiency to conducting the routine items of the business of the school district. Are there any board members that would like to remove any items from the consent agenda? Okay, with that, I think Bob has a consent agenda tonight. I do. So there are 17 items on the consent agenda tonight. Item 10.01, it is recommended that the board accept the minutes of its business meeting on May 22nd, 2023. Item 10.02. It is recommended that the board accept the minutes as presented May 31st, 2023. 10.03. Be it resolved that the Board of Education of Scarsdale Union Free School District hereby accepts the recommendation of the superintendent to appoint and assign the following instructional personnel as included

083in the write-up attachment. 10.04. Be it resolved that the Board of Education of the Scarsdale Union Free School District hereby accepts the recommendation of the superintendent to appoint and assign the following non-instructional personnel as listed in the attachment. 10.05. We recommend that the board accept the revised 2023/24 calendar with the adjustment of the K2 parent-teacher conference dates and the addition of the dates for high school orientation and graduation. 10.06. We recommend that the board adopt the resolution for the tax tertiary reserve establishment as presented. 10.07. We recommend that the board accept the terms for non-represented administrators for the 2023/24 school year as presented. Item 10.08. We recommend that the board accept the terms for non-represented managerial confidential employees for the 2023/24 school year as presented. Item 10.09. We recommend that the board accept attendance and

084district during the 2023/24 school year by non-resident students of employees as listed. Item 10.10. We recommend that the board accept the rates of pay for services that fall outside of existing contract agreements as presented. Item 10.11. Be it resolved that the Board of Education award the vehicle for transportation bid to Vance County Ford in the amount of $37,995.25 cents for one hybrid SUV. 10.12. We recommend approval of the extension of existing previously bid technology service contracts for the school year 2023/24 as presented. Item 10.13. It's recommended that the Board of Education adopt a resolution presented. Item 10.14. We recommend that the board approve the memorandum of agreement among the Scarsdale Union Free School District, the Village of Scarsdale and the Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Service for the period of September 1st, 2023 through August 31st,

0852024 as presented. Item 10.15. Be it resolved that the superintendent schools is hereby authorized and empowered to execute the stipulation of settlement concerning student 83. The superintendent is further authorized to take all action necessary to effectuate the terms of this agreement. Item 10.16. Resolved that the probationary period of Emily Clark in the elementary classroom tenure area is extended to August 30th, 2024 as per the memorandum of agreement between Emily Clark, the Scarsdale Teachers Association and the district. And item 10.17. It's recommended that we accept the consent agenda as presented. Thank you Bob. Is there a second? Jessica, thank you. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? The motion carries. We now move into our information items and discussion and I'll pass it over, I assume to Stuart for the treasurer's report. That's correct.

086Lisa is at the statewide conference for school business officials and I understand that Andrew and Lisa were having lunch together today, so they get to know each other even better than they do at present. So the treasurer's report is through April 30th. We have the expenditure report, the revenue report, the actual treasurer's report and the investment report. Lisa wrote me out some highlighted notes while looking at these. So she does continue to consolidate bank accounts to lower fees as you recall, she mentioned that we did have quite a few accounts. The Medicare B account is no longer in use and was closed in April and transferred to a general fund savings account. Approximately 77% of our cash balance is now earning over 4.73%. As you recall, we do have diverse accounts. We can't keep all

087of our money in one account. However, the majority of our money is earning as high a rate as possible. We also received our largest portion of the tax funds from the Village in April or the final chunk. And we received a substantial amount of donations, primarily from the Education Foundation for almost $150,000 in April as well. Any questions? Any board questions? Okay, thank you Stuart. You're welcome. Item 11.02. The second reading of policy, 5,500 student records, I think that's true. Thank you very much. This policy change was a simple change to conform with our annual FERPA Notice. You'll recall, we talked about this last week and it adds a single bullet to the directory information on page three of the policy regarding photos or videos of students participating in public events as directory information. This

088would, if unless there are any changes, this would come back on July 6th as a consent agenda item to change the policy. Any more questions? Okay, see none. Let's move to item 11.03, annual gift reports for the 2022/2023 school year. Okay. I'll give a little background and then see if there's any discussion. So the gift summary report appears on the board agenda along with a link. I just wanna point out the documents that are there, a link to the gifts policy and then a draft procedures document that's been designed to help articulate the gifting process for our donors, but also internal to our staff to kind of codify that process. As a summary, this year the board accepted a total of $327,182 and 91 cents in gifts from 11 different donors, or donor organizations. The

089largest single gift came from the Scarsdale Schools Education Foundation. Stuart actually just referred to that to fund the purchase of furniture for the Scarsdale Middle School Library. We also received generous gifts from each of our PTAs and from Maroon and White in addition to a few other organizations and individuals. On behalf of the district I want to express our collective gratitude once again for these gifts and we're grateful for the generosity of our community and appreciate each and every one of these gifts. The supporting documentation also shows the total amounts gifted to each of the seven schools and then a few other categories like athletics and so forth over an eight year time period, back to the 2015/16 school year. Over that time gift totals to our five elementary schools ranged from 50,000 to $75,000.

090And over that time, large gifts to SHS athletics have come from Maroon and White and additional gifts have been given by the Scarsdale School's Education Foundation to the district. Just a broad overall summary. So let me pause there and see what questions or comments board members have about the... When you talk about the draft policy you wanna separate, talk about this first and then talk about no procedures, not how procedures? Absolutely. That would be great. Okay, that sounds good. Before we move into discussion, I just wanna remind the community, 'cause we've had a lot of discussions around gifts that there's no specific decisions about gifts being made tonight. This item that we're discussing is an annual item per our policy 1800 that we have the superintendent bring the board a review. Any specific discussions around

091specific gifts would happen as part of an action item or information item related to that specific gift. So I just, I wanted to clarify that for the community. 'cause we've had a lot of gift discussions over the last few meetings and with that I would open it up to the board. I just wanted to reiterate, Drew's thanks to the many donor organizations that have enriched our schools and our student like experience here in Scarsdale. We are very fortunate to be in a community with so many dedicated volunteers and, you know, committed community members. So I just want to thank everybody. I also want, well I dunno if we're gonna talk about it, to thank Drew for putting together the draft gifts procedures, 'cause I think that will be very helpful to, you know, facilitate this

092gift giving. Thank you Drew for putting together this data. I really like to be able to look at numbers on a long, you know, multi-year, multi-school numbers in a spreadsheet, so I appreciate that. It's very helpful as a way to contextualize some of the conversations we were having at our last meeting. And I just wanted to reiterate what Suzie said, that we're very grateful. I'm very grateful to live in a community where everyone is so generous and where there's been, where there have been so many donations and so much volunteerism dedicated toward the schools. So this is very helpful. Any other questions or comments from the board? I'll just add my thanks to all those that have generously donated to the schools. And I feel I would be remiss if I didn't also mention all

093of the people that have donated so much of their time. I know we talk about the funds and I think that's important that we do that, but the amount of time that this community donates, I see some dedicated volunteers that have donated much time in the audience and people, whether it's through the schools, directly, their classrooms, so much great stuff happens on district because of the wealth of experience and dedication that people have. So I just, I wanted to add that while we're also talking about the financial contributions people give. Do you wanna talk about that policy, procedures now, sorry. If we turn to the document that describes gift procedures, this, so let me just talk about the intent, right? This document in the agenda is an intent to help bring clarity, and actually support

094organizations and individuals who are interested in gifting. Guidelines to what to think about, what to do, who to contact, when, and how the process works kind of from our side, once an offer of a gift is made through the form of a letter, or a notification. So the first step in the procedure as we've drafted it, just fleshes out some kind of guiding questions. It's, I'm gonna call it aspirational. It kind of asks questions like, is the proposed gift part of the core educational program and therefore something the district should take financial responsibility for? I think that's a question we grapple with. We've talked about the phrase core versus core plus more as a, I'm gonna call it a "guiding principle" of this process. And I think the definition of those things is living and

095fluid. And I know as a new superintendent, I'm learning a lot about that. And I think there's ongoing discussion to be had. In fact, I met with the incoming PTC exec board today and we talked about an interest in continuing to just talk about that and what does it mean and maybe norming ourselves each year on those things. Other question, does the proposed gift accelerate implementation of an idea or a program or a practice, how does it fit into the donors or the donor organization multi-year commitment? These are not questions that have to be written down and as responses, but they're a guide to the thinking that might take place as a donor, individual or organization contemplates making a gift. The remainder of the document really moves into a procedure, more of a, the steps

096that are required, drafting of a memo, submission of that memo, inclusive of specific information. You'll notice the information in part three, the subject of the gift, the purpose of the gift, those that are actually lifted right from board policy, because the policy states those things must be included. Then where the information contained in a memo about the gift goes, the timing of that process, it does come to the cabinet and we do discuss every gift. Sometimes we have more questions, sometimes we might say it doesn't fit with the idea of core or core plus more, whatever. And our commitment is to respond to the donor individual organization with a clear explanation for the whys and wherefores of a gift that might not be accepted right away, for recommendation to the board. Once it passes the

097cabinet process with approval, it comes to the board of education and the board of education is asked to take action on either up or down on the approval of the gift. I think we, and then there's, okay, once that happens, how does then the gift come into the district and then the actual, if it's a purchase or if it's a program or whatever, it gets implemented. So that's attempted to be explained here. So let me say two last things and then I'll be quiet, I'm sorry. The idea here is that this is a draft and then perhaps once we've lived with it for a little, it could become like an exhibit attached to the policy and that way people would know it's linked. Is that something the board can consider? And we may recommend doing

098that. The second thing is just to say, I think we learned from the last conversation about, you know, the larger recent gifts related to outdoor spaces that maybe we need to think about other strategies to bring the board up to speed or more information in the background material or something like that. So I think that's a worthy discussion. I'll stop there. I do have a few thoughts about our last conversation at the board table, which I'd like to share, but let's pause here. Do any board members have questions or comments? I guess I'll start. Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see. Well, first I wanted to reiterate, I thanks for working on this. I think this will be very helpful. We don't wanna make things harder for people to donate to our schools, right? So I

099think this is great. I appreciate the references board, the board policy related to gifts and, you know, spells out a process procedure. I think, you know, a lot of things were lifted here from the policy itself. I think it could be helpful maybe in 1E let me talk about, you know, if a part of a gift might require board of education discussion prior to the gift being considered for acceptance. And you list a few things that might be considerations of the board. I dunno if you might consider, you know, putting equity in there as well as just one of the considerations and kind of like what you were talking about core versus core plus that is a concept that, you know, is a living thing and not set in stone. You know, like, because every

100school is inherently different and every, you know, school's membership might have different priorities, you know, and I recognize that. So, but it might be something that early in the process, you know, if the board had some, you know, questions, the earlier the better I think, you know. And I think that's a lot of what this, you know, tries to accomplish. So I think maybe that could be something that we add. Thanks Suzie. Bob, did you have a question or comment? Yeah, Drew, is it typical or not to put number boundaries on gifts in terms of the amount or not? I mean, I don't know typically how these things are, you know. I'm gonna give an answer that I know is not the question, but of course the gift themselves include the amount. Well, but do

101you mean in policy? Yes, in other words that there are limits to what a gift can be. I can't confess to having studied gift policies from other districts. Okay. You know, if the board wanted us to do that, we could, but... Okay. I'm just curious, okay. Thanks. Yep. Just a question about practically speaking, how would this policy affect the process in terms of timing for a gift to be approved by the district and the board? So this doesn't mark any change to policy. This is just a procedure and it largely reflects the, it does reflect the same timing that we followed as long as I've been paying attention to this, I guess. So in other words, there's nothing in the draft procedures that changes the timeframe on its face. So we have a gift from

102Edgewood tonight. We got notification prior to last Monday's cabinet meeting. We considered the gift on Monday, I guess it was Tuesday 'cause it was after Memorial Day, Tuesday's cabinet meeting. We approved the gift from our side. And then at our two by one meeting in advance of this meeting noted that that gift was on the agenda and it appeared and it stayed, it appears on the agenda tonight. So that was a two, two and a half week process from our end. There's obviously work that goes on, you know, behind the scenes at the school end that could take longer. Jim, does that answer your question? I'm not sure I got to your question. Yeah, I think so. I think so. Can I just replay what I heard? What I heard is this is putting down

103onto paper what the current procedures are so that our partners have a better sense of, okay, this is the steps that are gonna happen. So that, for example, if somebody wants to get a gift on a board meeting agenda, they know it's not the Thursday before, it has to get to you prior to that Monday. Because it has to go to cabinet first. Yeah. So I think that's both accurate and clarifying. And so in addition to making plain what's really happening already, it also, I hope helps by posing a few questions that can help the discussion that leads to the gift as well. Jim, did you have any other follow up, or do others have questions or comments? Amber shared a few thoughts, which I'm going to do my best to try to articulate. Anything

104that sounds good is from her. And if it sounds bad that's on me. For 1E where it starts with does just an idea to maybe have it say could, only because the sentence is, "does any part of the gift require board of education discussion?" And the donor or the administrator may not necessarily know whether the board feels they need a discussion. So just a little item there. In terms of step two where there's discussion around a discussion and then some of the information. I think one of the things we heard was a desire, if there's a board discussion and a request for more information sort of laying out what the process is for that donor or organization to provide that to the board based on that discussion. So maybe that's already in here. And then

105the last was for item three, whether it would be helpful to provide also background on who the donor or administrator working with a donor or building leader has spoken to. So for example, if there's an item related to a sports field, giving to the board we've spoken to Ray, we've spoken to the ISOs, or we haven't, here's why. I think the idea that Amber was trying to commit was just to bring as much information to the board ahead of time to get ahead of any questions that might come up. So hopefully I shared that well Amber, when you watch this, this recording, when you can. If there's no other questions on this, I think you wanted to say a few other words. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate those suggestions of Ron, you made some improvements,

106suggestions that improve this, PTC made suggestions that have improved this as have cabinet members and I really appreciate all of that. And again, it'll be a living document until we decide it's ready for perhaps it being an exhibit. Just a few thoughts based on our last discussion about these larger gifts that have come in from the PTAs and in particular the gifts related to the improvement of outdoor learning spaces. Just wanted to frame that a little bit. And I do think the intent of the improvement of outdoor spaces, I think really just been thinking back about it and so on. And we learned how invaluable those spaces are during COVID, right? The ability to be in the fresh air and be outside and have those opportunities was brought home under the worst of circumstances really.

107So I think that's, as I think back, that's really where the excitement for doing some of this work came from. And of course the natural environment can be the subject of study itself. Obviously our garden program speaks to that. Some of our science units rely on that. We're fortunate to have a really, really incredible collection of grounds around our building. And they're all different. And throughout time in Scarsdale, our teachers and students and parents have found creative ways to utilize them. I think what I wanna make clear, and this goes to some of the questions Bob had among others, is as we do see proposals come forward now or in the future about outdoor spaces, I do think I wanna make clear we will and have had our facilities team at the ready involved in

108the dialogue and conversation. They are experts in our grounds and in our facilities and they can and should be partners with our buildings and whoever, our PTAs and others to help think about them. So I'm not sure I answered that so well last meeting. And I wanna make clear that they are partners and have been, and have been involved in those discussions. And our architects are available for their expertise and their consultation to each building again, past, present and future, because they bring ideas and expertise to the table potentially that is, you know, unique in that realm. You know, I think I played my cards, so to speak in the last meeting. I do hope we're able to provide the information the board needs to understand both the gifts that you have already approved and

109then future gifts. Those improvements to those outdoor spaces is just, it's a great opportunity and yeah, we need to be equitable. I think equity comes in a variety of shapes and forms. You talked about donor donations of time. Spaces are different, the variety of spaces are different from place to place. So I think we need to think about equity in a broad way and continue thinking about that together. So I appreciate the space to just share those thoughts. Thank you Drew. Just before we move off this, is there any final questions or comments from anybody? With that I just wanna do a time check. I think we've been going for about two hours. Can we take a five minute recess and then we will go to the next information item. Can I entertain a motion

110for a five minute recess? Suzie? Second Bob. All in favor? Aye. Any nos? Okay. Five minute recess will be back at 7:35. Thank you. (chatting indistinctly) Okay, we have returned from our recess and I will pass it over as this is Eric, the elementary social emotional support contract proposal. Thank you. We have been in conversation with Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling for our contracted social work positions that were in the recently passed budget. You have a proposal from Scarlet Edgemont Family Counseling in the amount of $194,223 that would cover two fully licensed social workers or mental health providers for next year, starting August 21st, culminating on June 28th. That would bring them in approximately 10 days before school starts, which would give them a time to orient and acclimate to the buildings and then take them

111through the end of the school year. Mid-year next year we would start a conversation about whether or not the continuation of contracting positions moving to some type of FTE and in what amount that would make sense. Treating this essentially as a pilot year for that social emotional support. The narrative breaks down, you have two documents there. The first is the budget and then a breakdown of what each of the lines in the budget covers. So I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have on that proposal. We feel fairly strong that we have a known partner in Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling. They've provided us with mental health providers for over 40 years now and it would be a fairly safe bet to work with them on this. Any questions or comments from the board?

112Well with that thank you to SFCS for our continued partnership. Great. And this will appear on the consent agenda in contract form in the reorganization July 6th. I just wanna add my thanks to Jay and Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling. They've been good thought partner in this and I feel good about, definitely about where we are in the relationship and they've, you know, stepped up. So really appreciate it. I second that. The next item, 11.05, the board self-evaluation. This is my information item. Each year the board of education conducts a self-evaluation. The process began this year in October when the board agreed upon the evaluation template we would use, a copy of which is attached to this agenda item in board docs and is also posted on the board of Education's website. Each board member independently

113completed this template and we will now review the parts of the assessment related to the board's functioning as well as our goals and objectives that we identified in the fall. Regarding board functioning. Most aspects of the assessment were met with an average rating between four, agree and five, strongly agree. Two areas where the average rating was below a four were, the board uses data as well as current best practices to make decisions. And number two, the board periodically discusses where the district should be headed three or more years in the future. Relating to the board's goals and objectives for the year, the board had identified three main goals for this school year. One, to support the district's mission and vision. Two, to work on a continuous improvement of board governance. And three, to find an

114exceptional superintendent to lead the Scarsdale schools. We identified objectives in line with these goals related to advocacy, budgeting, collective bargaining, community engagement and collaboration, evaluation of the board and superintendent, governance, ongoing district work, the superintendent search and teaching and learning. The consensus of the board was that most of these objectives were effectively met receiving an average rating between four, agree and five, strongly agree. The objectives that received an average rating below four were advocacy and collective bargaining. As of note, the collective bargaining that is underway with the two bargaining units this year is still in process and has not been finalized. It is important for the board to reflect on the areas where we did not achieve an average of four or five and consider how we can improve in these areas next year. We

115will find the appropriate time and space to discuss these areas such as future board retreats, or when discussing next year's goals and objectives. The parts of the assessment related to interpersonal communication and relationships were reviewed by the board earlier this evening in a board retreat. I'm gonna pass it over to Suzie now. Amber shared some comments. So these words are Amber's. So she says, I wish I could be at the meeting tonight for this discussion. And I appreciate Ron's willingness to lead this meeting and manage these important discussions in my absence. As you discuss the board's self-evaluation, I would like to congratulate the entire board on successfully achieving our board goals this year. Our first goal was to support the district's mission and vision. Our district's mission is to sponsor each student's full development, enabling

116our youth to be effective and independent contributors in a democratic society and an interdependent world. As we have heard reports from administrators, listen to feedback from our exemplary students, asked questions to our superintendent and cabinet and discussed ideas, each one of us has kept our students' development as the utmost priority. At times this required extra preparation and detailed discussions, but this valuable dialogue enabled us to make decisions in the best interest of our students. Our second goal was to work on continuous improvement of board governance. This board has held multiple retreats, spent time evaluating audit reports and supported process improvements throughout the year. Each board member has contributed to strengthening this board's governance and oversight, ultimately supporting the best outcomes for our students. And our final goal of the year was to find an exceptional

117superintendent to lead Scarsdale schools. We are delighted to have selected Dr. Patrick who exemplifies the traits outlined in our leadership profile report. This required countless hours on behalf of the board's part, multiple meetings during holiday sessions, the support of friends, holiday seasons, excuse me, the support of friends and family as we prioritize this project, and a team spirit to work together towards a common goal. I thank you all for your service and support of others. As we wrap up the year I am proud of all that this board accomplished. While there's always work to be done, I hope that you all are proud of your important work this year too. Thank you Suzie. And thank you for Amber for providing those comments. Do any other board members have any additional thoughts on the process or

118the outcome of our evaluation? Okay, well, I'd just like to thank all my fellow board members for taking the time to thoughtfully assess our board so that we can continue to improve our functioning for next year. Okay. Moving to item 11.06. End of year tributes. Do you want me to just begin? Sure. Or I don't know if you, or I guess you should. Do you want to kick it off for them? Sure, I'd be happy to do it. Thank you. So part of our plan for this section of the meeting was to recognize Ron and Amber for their incredible leadership this year, leading all of those ambitious goals and priorities that were just discussed in the self-evaluation. But we're gonna wait till Amber's back and we're gonna take the chance on July 6th to say

119some nice words and celebrate your leadership over the last year, both of you. But we also have two other colleagues at the table who are moving on. And this is the last board meeting of the year. And so I'll start with Carol. Carol, as I took over as interim superintendent just over a year ago, I knew the biggest practical challenge facing me was how on earth would we navigate all the HR work ahead as I left that role. You stepped in with confidence, a can-do attitude, and with the necessary knowledge and skills to handle the work. Most importantly, however you developed the trust and confidence of those around you. Your previous service to Scarsdale meant that you had relationships and bonds with people. But it is really your positive attitude, empathy, student-centered belief system and

120your kindness that have made your work here so successful. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you've done for this district. (applause) Should I go on to Stuart? Sure. Okay. So Stuart, this is a shorter one. We have more festivities ahead, literally in each this week and next week. Really, I can't express how much your partnership has meant to me. And I know how much you love these moments. (laughing) Gonna watch you squirm over there. Truly, from the day I arrived in Scarsdale, you helped me to read the culture and to adapt. You supported me heavily in those early contract negotiations, for example. And then you let me take on more and more responsibilities. I found my own footing and I'm grateful. A thoughtful, carefully considered discussion has been par

121for the course and there'll be more courses in your future. No, nothing for that one, huh? (laughing) Have been par for the course on every single topic or issue we've put our heads together on. Since taking over as superintendent, you've taught me even more. And one of the things I'm most proud of is this past budget process that we help lead together both behind the scenes and in public. You doing the heavy lifting of course, but the partnership about communicating what the budget means has been really a privilege to work with you on. Thank you for the strong foundation of practice that you've instituted over the past eight years here. You've set Scarsdale and your successor up for success. Moving ahead. I know you'll enjoy the next phase of your life with Robin and your

122family and it is very, very well deserved. (applause) Although Amber couldn't be here tonight we have some joint words for Stuart and Carol as well. Amber has made sure to get her words into this meeting, although she's been very busy and we appreciate the time and the dedication that she has to make sure she could say something to Stuart and Carol. Stuart, thank you for your dedication and commitment to this district and our students over the past eight years. Throughout your time in Scarsdale, you have overseen a budget process that provided the resources for our district to continue its educational excellence, while also managing this process in the tax cap era. You have also successfully passed multiple bond issuances as well as ensuring the successful implementation of all of that bond work that touched every

123building in the district. And most recently culminated with the bond to address the long overdue renovation of the high school auditorium. While the community may see your work on the budget and the bond firsthand at board meetings, you also lead many other important areas that are very student focused throughout the district. Your work to bring food service to our four elementary schools will have a lasting impact. And your willingness to work with parents to bring healthy and nutritious options to all students is notable. For several years, you also managed the district's safety and security work, including ushering in many key improvements throughout the district, such as the security festivals and Safety monitor program. And in addition to all these areas, you have managed our large and complex transportation program and have kept our buildings running

124day in and day out through quite a wide array of challenges. Maybe the community's aware of some, the board often hears and sees photos of some of them from flooding to pipe breaks to emergency repairs and always making sure that our students are able to get into the classrooms as soon as possible with minimal disruption. Amber and I wish you a wonderful retirement and hope that you will stop by for the first performance in the new auditorium space. So thank you for everything. (applause) Carol, thank you for taking the time out of your retirement to come back to Scarsdale and our support art district this year. It has been quite the busy year. I don't know if you were told of all the things that you'll be working on when you were recruited. No, we

125kept that. At all levels throughout the district and our buildings you ensured our human resources and leadership development areas continued the high level of excellence throughout the year and maintained our collaborative approach to hiring, reviewing, and professional development training. Thank you for your leadership during the collective bargaining process this year with two of our units. And we wish you all the best as you continue your retirement. And thank you for being here this year to support the Scarsdale schools. (applause) I think that is the last information item. Unless anybody has anything else, we will move on to action items. Item 12.01, which is Drew. And then actually, I guess I'm presenting it after that. I'm making the motion after that. I'll just ask if Eric wants to just give a brief, brief summary. So this

126is the approval of our district wide emergency management plan. This has come before the board twice, before the opening of a 30 day common period. After a hearing at our last meeting and a discussion during the board meeting of our updated emergency plan. This plan has been vetted by (indistinct) and follows all of the new requirements from the state. The only thing that would change on it between now and September would be an updating of those listed on the district emergency management team. As currently Stuart is listed, Carol is listed as we make those transitions, those appropriate people will be put on next year's safety committee is already updated as to the PTC changes. So this is the vote to send this, approve it, and send it to the state for approval. Okay, I move

127that the board adopt the 2023/2024 district-wide safety and emergency management plan as presented. Is there a second? Jessica? Is there any discussion? Okay, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? And the motion carries. Move to item 13.01, gift proposal to Edgewood School. I believe this is Jessica. I move that the board accept the district's recommendation that we accept with thanks the gift of $2,600 for the purchase of new wireless microphones to enhance the listening experience for performances at Edgewood School. Thank you Jessica. Is there a second? Jim? Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? The motion carries. We'll move to item 14, response questions from those present. The preamble is the same preamble which I read earlier in the meeting. If you would like to make

128a comment over Zoom now is a good time to log into the Zoom link. Are there any comments from those in the audience? With that I'll ask Suzie if anyone on Zoom. No one has joined us, but we can read a little bit if you like. Let's give 'em a few seconds just in case they're logging in. Still no one? Okay, well. Sorry, I had my chance. We will close this second public comment. I don't think there's any follow up to public comment. Wrap up items. Is there any wrap up items do you have Drew? They did the gift. Yeah, yeah. No, I don't think so. Not that I can think of. I just wanted to say a, just a quick few words. As a wrap up to the final board meeting of the school

129year, I would like to extend a thank you to my fellow board members, Dr. Patrick and all of cabinet for all of your work this school year. We accomplished a great deal throughout the year at this board table. Thank you to everyone for your thoughtful preparation, open dialogue and debate, and for keeping students at the core of all of our decisions. Thank you to Amber for her leadership of the board this year. The immense commitment she put into her role as board president allowed us to accomplish so much this year and be set up for another great year ahead. I look forward to sharing some more thanks to Amber when she returns to our next meeting in July. And lastly, congratulations to all of our graduates, those students moving up to middle school and high

130school and all of our students for a wonderful year. And thank you to all of our faculty, staff, and administrators for making this school year such a success. And I just like to wish everybody a happy and relaxing summer. Okay. Suzie, meeting dates for the coming month? We will be meeting over the summer and working hard. That's true. Yes. So coming up Tuesday, June 20th, 2023. There'll be a special meeting, an executive session at 6:00 PM. Thursday, July 6th, 2023. There will be our annual reorganization and business meeting at 9:00 AM right here at the high school. Thank you, Suzie. Can I now entertain a motion for the board to move into executive session to discuss matters related to collective bargaining? Colleen. Do we have a second? Jessica? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any

131nos? Abstentions. Okay, the motion carries. The board is now moving into executive session and will come out after executive session to close the business meeting.