BOE Business Meeting 2022-12-5

001(gavel thudding) I call this meeting to order. Welcome and thank you to all those attending this evening's board meeting, whether in the audience, via live streaming, or watching later on demand. I call this meeting to order and note that all board members are present and we have two board members attending via Zoom, Bob Klein and Jessica Resnick-Ault, in addition to Dr. Patrick and members of his cabinet. At the end of November, the Board held two meetings that were rescheduled to avoid conflicting with Diwali. One of our goals is continuous improvement of board governance and to this end, we held our third retreat of the school year. These retreats allow us to build relationships and discuss how best our board can work together and with the superintendent. I want to thank Dr. Drew Patrick and Dr.

002Marty Brooks, who both worked with me to help develop our agenda. And a special thanks to Dr. Brooks for facilitating that session. Another important goal this year is communication and the Board held a special meeting with our counterparts in the Village. We appreciate the thoughtful discussion we had with the Mayor and village trustees on important issues like safety and security, fields, and the proposed senior tax exemption among other topics. Collaboration with the Village Board of Trustees has always been important and this year, it continues to remain vital that we connect regularly. Later this evening, the Board will discuss the possible senior tax exemption, which the Village Board has already started considering. We will also discuss a follow up to our letter to the Village regarding telecommunications gaps and how we may enhance our advocacy efforts

003to promote safety in our schools. Earlier this evening, the Board convened a special meeting with Scarsdale High School student representatives in the Scarsdale High School Learning Commons. With health and wellness remaining an important topic this year, we were interested to hear their thoughts on the Scarsdale High School cellphone initiative, Off and Away for the Day. Students commented that they engaged in more discussions with their classmates and saw value in the program. In fact, they encouraged the administration to consider reinvigorating the program again after the holiday break. We dove more deeply into the topic of student mental health in general and learned about all the programs... Sorry, I just lost my place. We learned about all the programs in our high school that help foster connections and about the time management challenges faced when balancing school,

004extracurricular activities, and mental health. Diversity, equity, and inclusion has also been at the forefront of our work the last few years. And at our board meetings in the last few months, we have heard from a number of our high school students who would like us to add certain holidays to next year's calendar. We were interested to hear that the students we met with posed thoughtful and insightful questions about how these days might be implemented in our calendar and what the trade-offs might be. These special meetings with groups provide us with the opportunity to engage in important conversations with our partners and our meetings with students provide valuable insight for the Board. We appreciate the time that they spent with us today. After our meeting with the high school students, the Board attended a presentation by

005our High School Counseling Department on the evolving college land admissions landscape. We appreciate the research and effort that went into creating this presentation and the Board looks forward to discussing this presentation further later in tonight's meeting. If you were not able to attend the presentation, a recording will be made available in the coming days. And finally, we will also have an update later in this meeting on our progress on the superintendent search. Thank you. Drew. Thank you very much, Amber. I appreciate it. Good evening and I add my welcome to everybody, present and watching at home. Thank you for joining us for this evening's meeting. I also wanna just briefly commend our students from earlier tonight for their thoughtful insights and reflections they shared during that meeting. It's always a pleasure to spend time with

006Scarsdale students. And I know I can speak for all of us, we learn something from them every time we get to meet with them. My first update tonight pertains to a topic that has been raised by students and community members. And that's our school calendar and the desire for the inclusion of new religious observances for the '22, '23, '24 school year and beyond. I appreciate the request to include Diwali, Lunar New Year, Eid al-Fitr, and Eid al-Adha and understand why such observances are important to our students and families. As I've expressed to all who have written and spoken publicly about this topic, the calendar development process is complex in that there are many coinciding pressures. However, we've begun to explore the potential for including these holidays by looking back five years and forward five years

007and seeing what the impact school closures on these observances would potentially have on the calendar. At our next meeting, on December 19th, we will be prepared to share preliminary drafts of the 2023, '24 calendar with the Board and community that illustrate the school calendar, both with and without these observances. We will also share a longer outlook for future years and present the trade-offs as we see them that might be considered in the decision making process. This will allow the Board and community to generate questions and considerations in advance of a recommendation. That recommendation would come at our February 13th meeting, leaving the January meeting a time where people could come to public comment if they chose to do that in addition to writing. The next update is related to the IRS matter, which I had

008thought was put to bed as I had reported last meeting. On November 28th, we received a notice from the IRS indicating that an overpayment, that we made an overpayment in the amount of $50,411.66 that had been applied to our account for quarter 3, 2020, a familiar quarter to us, and that the district should receive a refund check in that amount in two to three weeks. We believed apparently incorrectly that this was a penalty that the IRS had sustained. However, we received the refund check on December 1st last week and can now confirm that every single penalty assessed in this matter has either been abated or recovered in its entirety. So as a result of this additional refund, I will provide a revised memo to the Board at our next meeting as a consent agenda item

009that notes this final accounting of the matter. As we begin the first full week of December, we recognize that some in our community will be celebrating Las Posadas, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanza this month. And as a reminder, we do have a list of world holidays and observances on our DEI page on the district website. We hope everybody enjoys those celebrations this month. Finally, here's a sampling of some of the good things that continue to occur around the district and I love getting the chance to share these things. The celebrations and accolades continue for our student athletes. Each of our fall teams proud to announce was designated by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association as a scholar athlete team. So to remind you, this would include our cheerleading, boys and girls cross country,

010field hockey, football, boys and girls soccer, girls swimming and diving, girls tennis, and boys and girls volleyball teams. So congratulations to them. This past Friday night, Maroon and White and Mayor Veron honored our state championship girls tennis and boys soccer teams at Light the Dale. It was a really lovely event and it was nice to be there to see those teams recognized in the village, really in the village center, which was lovely. Winter sports have already started and both of our varsity boys and varsity girls basketball teams played in the championship games of the Kari Pizzitola Memorial Tournament here this weekend. Happy to say the boys captured the title after beating New Rochelle in Spring Valley and our girls beat Arlington in the first round and only default Harrison in a hard fought loss in

011the final. So, congratulations to those teams. On Friday, November 18th, the middle school hosted the 19th Annual Human Rights Conference and it was wonderful to get to to spend some time there. And I know Colleen will have a few more things to say about that. That same evening marked the opening of the high school drama club's fall musical, "Mamma Mia," which was a resounding success. I got to enjoy it next to Ronald Schulhof. And it was the first sold out show in the auditorium, something like five years, which was super exciting. So congratulations to the talented cast and crew and thank you to Drama Club director Barbara Malecki, theater technical Director Dr. David Graybill, producer Kevin Viviano, and the rest of the performing arts team for producing really a dynamic and exciting musical. That was

012just the beginning of the highlights of our performing arts department. We are in concert season, including tonight. Last week, we had performances from the high school orchestra and chamber ensemble. Tomorrow, our high school band will be performing. And on Tuesday, the 18th, the high school will host their annual choir concert. Our middle school students are flexing their performance muscles as well with the eighth grade band Cooper and Popham Chorus and seven eighth jazz band having their performance as we speak. The seventh grade band and seventh grade Butler Fountain Chorus will present their concert Wednesday. Next Monday will feature the sixth grade band, the Cooper and Popham Chorus and the Chamber Wins with the seventh grade orchestra and Cooper Popham Chorus performing Wednesday. Sixth grade orchestra and Butler Fountain Chorus will perform on the 19th. And

013the eighth grade orchestra and Butler Fountain Chorus will close out the season on the 20th. So it is busy, busy, busy. At the elementary level, Heathcote students will enjoy a visit from author Gail Galligan on Wednesday. And students have been reading her books and coming up with questions to ask her during author celebration. And this week, many of our students will also be participating in Hour of Code as part of Computer Science Education Week. It's a simple program intended to provide an introduction to computer science using fun and entertaining tutorials to show that we can all code and have fun. And finally, I wanna say a congratulations to some of our digital literacy team members, including Dr. McIntosh who presented to the National Counselor of Teachers of English a few weeks back. So Sue Luft,

014Paul Tomizawa, Meredith Dutra from the high school, Edgar and William Yang, spread their good work at this nationwide event and we're very proud of them. So, lots of good stuff. Thank you, Drew. It's like you could fill up every day with an activity with all that's going around here. It's fabulous. So great to hear. Let's turn to board member reports and I know we have quite a few this evening. Susie, would you like to start? Thank you, Amber. To echo a lot of what Drew had mentioned, on November 20th, Amber and I had the great pleasure of attending the final performance of the Scarsdale High School Drama Club musical "Mamma Mia!" Earlier that weekend, fellow board trustees Bob and Ron also attended performances of the show. The first full production of Scarsdale High School musical

015by the drama club since COVID, the cast and crew and musicians showcased their many impressive talents and the fruits of their hard work to sold out audiences. The atmosphere was truly electric with the crowd rising to their feet, clapping and singing along to the excellent renditions of the familiar and much beloved music by Abba. Close to 100 students participated in this production and the auditorium was filled with excitement, joy, and a feeling of community as everyone who worked on the production was called up on stage for the final curtain call. As an aside, I think it was helpful for board members to see the space in use as auditorium renovations are presently being discussed. Congratulations to all the cast, crew, and musicians of, "Mamma Mia!" Special thanks to Ms. Barbara Malecki for directing and all

016the super troopers who made this production possible, including Mrs. Gunling, Dr. Kumaresan, Mr. Williams, Mr. Summers, Dr. Graybill, Ms. Gantt, Mr. Harwood and Mr. Viviano. Bravo. Thank you, Susie. That was a cute little pun in there as well. Jim, would you like to go next? Yeah, sure, Amber, happy to do that. So on November 30th, 2022, Board of Education Vice President Ron Schulhof and I visited Heathcote Elementary School for a school tour and inspection, which was led by Principal Maria Stile and assistant principal Katherine De La Garza. We toured the building including the relatively newer multipurpose room, the gym which has been newly equipped with ventilation, the library, auditorium and classrooms at each grade level. There is a renovation that has been fully budgeted for the front office and a contract has been awarded. But

017as of yet, the work has not yet commenced. We understand that will be a project for the upcoming summer. The building and grounds were in very good shape. Storage space is in tight supply as as usual in Heathcote. It's a wonderfully designed building, but there isn't a lot of wall space for lockers and other types of storage. But they're doing the best they can with what they have. We also noted the maker space was somewhat small. But on the whole, the building is in very good shape. Everything's in good working order. The students that we observed were fully engaged and active in the learning process. In terms of upcoming projects, I think there's playground equipment in the front playground that is in need of replacing. And there's a discussion of reconfiguring the library space. And

018with respect to an inner outdoor courtyard, Ms. Stile is working with the PTA to fund, along with the district fund, upgrades to that space, which is going to be something that occurs in the next year or two years is my understanding. Thank you for that report, Jim. Ron, would you like to go next? Thanks, Amber. I have two reports tonight. The first is the Edgewood Elementary School facility tour. On November 18th, Jim Duggan, Bob Klein, and myself took a tour of the Edgewood Elementary School led by principal Tashia Brown. We toured the entire building, which is in good condition, both within the building and the exterior grounds. We had the opportunity to step into several classes and watch our students engaged in various lessons and activities. We also met with the teachers and students in

019the eight to one to two class, which is house at Edgewood, both the K to two and the three to five classes. As a reminder, these were new classes that started in 2020. Some physical improvements mentioned during the tour were the new cafeteria lunchroom tables, which were funded last year jointly by the Edgewood School and the Edgewood School PTA. Half the tables were replaced last year in one of the lunchrooms. There are two lunchroom in Edgewood. And we also discuss and view the front playground, where the Board had previously heard during the budget form about the idea to add sensory appropriate additions to this playground. I have one other report regarding an auditorium tour that several board members were able to take with Dr. David Graybill. First, thank you to Dr. Graybill for providing tours

020of the auditorium to the board members. Dr. Graybill provided a full walkthrough of the space, including all of the back of house spaces, and discussed how the proposed renovation would improve each space for students, as well as audience members. I think it was very helpful for all of us to see the specific spaces that we've been talking about at the board table and then be in the auditorium talking about it with the theater director and link how each piece would impact both the physical changes and then the experience for our students and our community members. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ron. And thank you for coordinating those tours for the Board. Colleen. On November 18th, Amber, Susie, and I attended a 19th Annual Human Rights Day at the Scarsdale Middle School. I would like

021to thank Principal Troy for inviting us to attend and the teachers Megan Lahey and Marci Rothman for organizing the day. The energy and excitement of the day was palpable the minute you walked into the building. The Great Hall was filled with donations the students had collected for Feeding Westchester. We walked into seventh graders separating and boxing all of these goods so they are ready to be distributed to over 200,000 families that take advantage of this wonderful organization. From there, we headed to Cooper 6 as they took human rights day a step further with the focus on humane rights by making dog toys for the many animals at the local animal shelters. After that, we headed to the auditorium to watch Grassroots Grocery share with the seventh graders how one teacher who noticed many of his

022students suffering from food insecurity decided to find a way to get food to these communities. Thanks to his efforts and support of local families and volunteers, they now service multiple areas, providing fresh fruits, vegetables, and lunches to those in need. There are now nine refrigerators scattered among Manhattan and the Bronx for families to go and get fresh produce when they need it, at no cost to them. We also had the pleasure of seeing speaker Brian Williams speak about Think Kindness. He encouraged the students to try and view the positive in the world and in themselves, because what you look for is what you see. He shared the story of how a group of middle and high school students were able to collect over 5,000 shoes that were sent to an orphanage in Africa and the

023impact those shoes had on those African children. It was an extremely inspiring and powerful presentation. While I was there for only the morning sessions, I have to say I feel so fortunate to have been able to see all of this. I would like to thank the Scarsdale Middle School faculty and staff for all they did to create such an important day for our children. I will end with a quote from Mr. Williams presentation. It was a quote that hangs on the wall of that African orphanage. It's a quote that the sixth graders were shouting with enthusiasm by the end of their time with Mr. Williams. I hope it inspires everyone here tonight the same way it inspired me and our middle school children. "Today, I will make the world better than I did yesterday." Thank

024you, Colleen. And that's a lovely way to end our board member reports. Let's move on to cabinet updates and I'll turn it over to you, Drew. Thank you. I think we'll start with Edgar with a brief DEI update. So, last Wednesday we met in this room with the PTA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, which is made up of district leaders, PTC, DEI chairs and the chairs from all of our schools. This district-wide committee is an opportunity for Scarsdale family leadership, both to share the important work they're doing with their schools and to provide input to district leadership and our district consultant, Dr. Derek Gay, particularly as we develop a parent workshop in April and a survey to go out to our community. During Wednesday's meeting, we shared examples of some ways. There have been shifts

025in our curriculum as it relates to DEI across the levels in reading. Our elementary ELA coordinators, Michelle O'Donnell and Sue Luft highlighted the expansion and integration of fiction and non-fiction text with diverse perspectives and ones that reflect the students and families in our community. A middle school librarian Shauna Friesen discussed an assured experience she developed for middle schoolers to understand the ways that fiction reading develops empathy. Have invited Shauna and Brooke, the health teacher, to present this as part of an upcoming educational report focused on thriving students. For the high school, I shared some quantitative data related to Board of Ed adoption of textbooks and trade books for the past five years and crunch some numbers. Just over 50 text centered in social studies and English included themes of identity, examined biased, and provide diverse

026perspectives. We also had an opportunity to talk about the school calendar and religious cultural observances and it was a very productive and fruitful meeting and I felt like it was a great way to get input and perspective from the the parent group. Thank you very much, Edgar. We'll turn over to Carol. Sure. Thank you. I just wanted to point out Meg mention that tonight you'll find the final version of our custodial collective bargaining agreement and it spans from the years 2022 through 2026. Thank you very much. And finally, Stewart? Sure. Thank you, Drew. Some good news to report Quaker Ridge Food Service did indeed commence hot food service this past Wednesday. (crackling drowns out speaker) Thank you for those reports and it's great to hear that we've got the food service up and running in

027all seven schools. Thanks, Stewart. All right, we'll move on to item four, which is hearing from those present and I'll read the preamble. Members of the public are cordially invited to speak on district related item or other non-personnel related matters during two separate public comment periods. When it is your turn to speak, please state your name, address, and if you are speaking on behalf of an organization. Speakers will be asked to conclude the 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 [email protected]. The public comment period is reserved for comments only. The Board will not engage in dialogue. The Board reserves the right to respond to comments

028and questions at its discretion, either during response to public comment or at a later time and place. Response to public comment will take place after the first and second public comment periods. And now, I would like to invite members of the public to come speak. Is there anyone who would like to come? od evening, everyone. My name is Samina Malik and I live on 77 Tunstall Road. In early October, I spoke to the Board about having ed off. Now, I'm here to follow up, as well as talk about the inclusion of Diwali and Luna New Year as additional days off on our school calendar. After I last spoke, many people reached out asking me how they could also advocate for days off. It was brought to my attention that the reason many minorities haven't advocated

029in the past was not from a lack of desire, but not knowing that it was even an option to approach the Board. As a part of the Scarsdale community, if we see something that needs to be changed, it's our duty to advocate for it. Not only has there been more of a push for having ed off from the Muslim community, but those who celebrate Lunar New Year and Diwali also have expressed the desire to be represented in the larger district. Especially after the isolation of COVID, we see how crucial it is to embrace our community and have a sense of belonging. A couple of years ago when I first started advocating for adding Muslim holidays to the school calendar, I didn't know how much the process, about how much the process worked. When a teacher

030mentioned that it was a nice goal but not very likely, I was saddened but accepted it. Now, that I've learned more and realized how great the need is, I'm asking why it has taken so long for this to become a main consideration. We found an article in the Scarsdale Inquirer dating back to April 19th, 1974. It asked for Jewish holidays to be added to the school calendar to reflect the change in community. Almost 50 years later with over 150 Muslim students in our schools, were asking for a similar consideration. We shouldn't be asked to choose between our faith and our education. Recently, I had the chance to speak with local state Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and her chief of staff Michelle Sterling to ask for advice. She mentioned that New York City has successfully incorporated Eid

031al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr into their calendars by switching their snow days to remote learning days. If there aren't any snow days, the calendar stays the same. But if it snows, the teachers have remote learning with the flexibility to use their judgment on how much work should be done. In Maryland, another district chose to shorten their existing breaks by day. And the school in Virginia is starting earlier to accommodate for the added holidays. This shows the growing need, ability, and desire for our communities to be represented and whether there's a desire, there's a way to accomplish it. I'll be emailing to the Board the copy of a petition that has been circulated by our (indistinct) to their friends for the spreading through the rest of the community. In a few weeks, we've had over 200 Scarsdale

032family sign to show their support for our goal. I'll also send a calendar that goes out 10 years to show the impact of adding these days. Since all the holidays follow lunar calendar, they don't always fall during school days. In fact, most years only need two or three days to be added. I hope moving forward Muslim students will be able to have their day off to celebrate their holidays with friends and family and non-Muslim friends can have an extra day off to sleep in and relax. Thank you, Samina. Would anybody else like to speak? Good evening. My name is Sajiv Meda. I'm a junior here at Scarsdale High School and I live at 74 Drake Road. I'm here to discuss the inclusion of Diwali, as well as Eid and Lunar New Year, as days off

033in the coming school calendar year. Diwali, the Festival of Light, is the most important festival of the year for Hindus and it's also celebrated by many Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhist. I joined Edgewood School in third grade. And each year on Diwali, in absence of a day off from school, the celebrations in my home were relegated to only a short prayer session. As I've gotten older and my workload has increased, the duration of this prayer session has gone down from an hour to just around 20 minutes. While it is true that teachers were discouraged from giving much work this year on Diwali, I still had tests in the next days and work coming up that I could not ignore. The stress of balancing my homework, tests, and celebrating was too much, which meant that I had

034to sacrifice either the integrity of the holiday or of my work. A few weeks ago, when I discussed this issue with my friends who also celebrate Diwali, as well as those who celebrate Eid and Luna New Year, they expressed similar sentiments. Each one of them hoped that Scarsdale Schools would incorporate these important holidays into the school calendar, just like New York City public schools, as well as many other districts in the northeast already have. According to the most recently available New York State Department of Education data, 23% of Scarsdale school students are of Asian descent. And based on the result of an informal SHS student poll, at least 40% of the current SHS student body observes one of the aforementioned holidays. While there are calendar challenges to deal with, solutions are possible. One option could

035be to adjust the last week of half days in June to accommodate days off for Diwali, Eid, and Luna New Year or to start a few days earlier in September. So that all of us have the option to celebrate our important festivals, without stressing about how to balance education and cultural events and identities. Diwali celebrations center primarily around the closest of family. Therefore, it is crucial that we celebrate with every family member. For families with school-aged children, there's a very real limit on the times that Diwali can be truly celebrated. Once children leave home, it is no longer possible. Even within this limited timeframe, we are not able to give Diwali the respect it deserves as the celebration is always incomplete. By giving us a day off, it is my hope that the Board will

036enable families to be truly together on Diwali, Eid, and Lunar New Year as soon as possible, while we can still celebrate together. Thank you, Sajiv. Would anybody else like to speak? Hello, everyone. My name is Daniel Hu. I am a sophomore at Scarsdale High. And today, I'm here to talk about what the Lunar New Year means to me, my family, and the whole Chinese community here in Scarsdale. And by the end, I hope that you'll consider designating maybe a school-wide holiday to Lunar New Year. So to start off, the Lunar New Year is really a global celebration. Millions, even billions of people move around the world just to spend time with their families. You'll see red envelopes and red lanterns everywhere along with beautiful couplets, with astounding poems draping down the the sides of doors.

037However, as I witness the people around me, I start to see that more and more of Chinese students are missing out on this incredible cultural tradition, mostly because of school. As for me, I was born in China and lived there for seven years. Even though I was really young back then, I could still vividly remember my grandparents giving out red envelopes and the joy we would have while opening them. Walking across the neighborhood back then, the two things that caught my eye the most were the brightly lit red lanterns and upside down character. A good fortune put on everyone's doors. And the upside down part was to symbolize the arrival of good fortune. since upside down is hominem for arrival in Chinese. So Chinese has a lot of this kind of like hominem stuff going

038on. And when I came to the United States, I obviously wasn't expecting for all of like those kind of celebrations in China. But obviously, I just wanted to spend time with my families and you know, close relatives. And this thing is missing for a bunch, a lot of Chinese students here in Scarsdale. And students have homework that could take them into the night and adding on with possible tests the next day. It's just too much stress for them to handle on New Year's Eve. It's one of the most important days in the lunar calendar. And it's really just unfair for them if they have to like still think about school the next day if you know they really want to celebrate. And the relatives that they could have celebrated with for an entire night, they

039could only see for a few minutes. The incredible food that took weeks to prepare they could only taste in a brief moment. The tradition that was passed on from generation to generation, they can only experience partially. And if inclusiveness is one of your core goals, I would strongly recommend that you broaden your inclusiveness towards the Chinese community, which has grown tremendously over the past 10 years, and designate a specific school-wide holiday for Lunar New Year. Thank you, Daniel. Would anybody else like to speak? Okay, why don't we turn to Zoom. There is one attendee but no hands raised, so why don't we just give it a minute. Yeah, there are still no hands raised and I did put a message into the chat to everybody to let them know. Okay, why don't we go ahead

040and close public comment and move on to follow up to public comment. Drew, you had a lot of remarks in your opening comments, but I'm not sure if everybody here was here when you made those. So first, thank you to the students who spoke so beautifully. And if you did prepare comments and you are comfortable emailing them to the Board, that would be very much appreciated, so we have them in writing. I did say in my opening remarks tonight that our process, so thank you for the input and thank you extends across the community. At our next meeting, which is December 19th, we will share some draft calendars for next year and the future beyond next year that illustrate a possible school year with those holidays recognized and without. And that will provide the community

041and the Board with some time to think about what it means, what it looks like, what the trade offs are both next year and into the future. So that we can have some input on that from across the community. That will give us until give us to the January board meeting if anyone wants to come and share their reflections on what's been shared, what's been put out. And then, we will make a recommendation to the Board. The administration will make a recommendation for a calendar by the meeting in, I'm forgetting the date. I wanna say February 13th. February 13th. So, that's the timeline. So basically, there'll be two months between when we present a draft and when we will make a final recommendation to the Board of Education here. Okay. Thank you, Drew. Okay, let's

042move on to written communications and I'll turn it over to you Ron. Thanks, Amber. First, just a brief preamble. Please note that the Board of Education email, which is [email protected], if anyone in the audience would wish to share your comments with us. It's also viewed by the superintendent and district clerk. Open meeting 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. Since our last report on written communications at the previous board meeting, the Board has received nine emails on district matters and 17 communications on related board invitations, publications, board meetings, or board highlights. Thank you, Ron. We'll move on to item seven, which

043is the consent agenda and I'll read the preamble. The Board may conduct some of its business using a consent agenda and an effort to achieve greater efficiency at board meetings. A consent agenda condenses some of the routine business of the Board of Education into a single motion. The consent agenda is prepared by the superintendent of schools in consultation with the president and/or 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. If any any member of the Board feels that any item on the consent agenda requires discussion prior to action, that board member may remove that item from the consent agenda merely by requesting same at the meeting. The exempted item then moves to the regular agenda.

044However, 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 business of the school district. Is there anyone who would like to remove anything from the consent agenda? Okay, great. Let's move on to the consent agenda and that is Jessica. Maybe we could put her on. Yes, on the screen. Hi, I just unmuted. Can you hear me? Yes. Great. I'd like to present tonight's consent agenda which has 12 items in it now. Nope, it had 10 items before. It still has 10 items in it. I apologize. My Word docs crashed just as I was getting up to this, so I apologize for the delay on my end. Lemme just get back to it. The 10 items on tonight's consent agenda are

045number one, the minutes from October from the board business and education report meeting on October 26th, 2022. No, this is still the old meeting. I apologize, this isn't, this crashed just as I was coming up. You know what Jessica, I think we'll have Colleen go ahead and- Colleen, do it and I'll promise I'll do it next time. Sure, no problem. Colleen, sorry. It just stop out right as I was about to speak. Thank you. I apologize. All right. For the consent agenda, 8.01 minutes from the board meeting on November 14th, 2022, it is recommended that the Board accept the minutes of the business meeting on November 14th, 2022 as presented. I can just list through these, right? Okay, 8.02 minutes from the board forum, budget priorities, Thursday, November 17th. 8.03 minutes from the board special

046meeting and retreat on November 21st, 2022. 8.04 minutes from the board's special meeting, executive session on Monday, November 28th, 2022. 8.05, Be it resolved that the Board of Education of the Scarsdale Union Free School District hereby accept the recommendation of the superintendent to appoint and assign the following instructional personnel. 8.06, Be it resolved that the Board of Education of the Scarsdale Union Free School District hereby accept the recommendation of the superintendent to appoint and assign the following non-instructional personnel. 8.07, it is recommended that the Board accept the custodial collective bargaining agreement as presented. 8.08, Contracts for over $20,000 to the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation and Dance Residency Agreement. 8.09, stipulations of the settlement. Do I have to read that whole thing? No, okay. 8.10, tuition settlement agreement. And then, I recommend that we accept the

047consent agenda as stated. Thanks, Colleen. Is there a second? Thank you- Second. Thank you, Jim. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? You know what, Bob and Jessica, you should unmute yourselves. Aye. Okay. Thank you. Great. The consent agenda passes and now we will move on to item 9.0. And the first item is actually the superintendent search. So, I'm gonna ask Ron to give us an update please. Thanks, Amber. This week, the superintendent search moves from the recruitment phase to the interview phase. Since our last board meeting, we have met with our search consultants from HYA in an executive session on November 21st and November 28th and reviewed potential candidates vetted by our search consultants and have selected a slate of candidates to interview. Interviews begin this week and the Board anticipates conducting

048interviews with candidates this week, as well as next week. As a reminder, the search will be confidential and only members of the Board of Education will interview candidates. This is being done in order to attract the most qualified candidates and based on the advice of our search consultants. Highly qualified candidates understandably want to be able to explore even the most attractive new leadership opportunity in confidence. In terms of timeline, we expect the superintendent search process to continue into the new year. After interviews are completed, the Board and HYA will conduct reference tracks and perform other due diligence. The Board will continue to meet in executive session to select a final candidate and enter into contract negotiation. Once a final candidate is selected by the Board, but before a contract is executed, a selected group of

049stakeholders will meet with the finalist. A formal announcement and introduction will be made to the community thereafter. We will continue to provide updates to the community of board meetings, as well as through direct communications. All communications, documents, videos, and other information related to the search are available on the superintendent search page. A link to that page can be found on the homepage of the district website. Thanks, Amber. Thank you, Ron. Does anybody else have any comments on the superintendent search? Okay, great. Let's move on to 9.02, this is the Scarsdale High School Auditorium renovations. Drew. Thank you, Amber. So, we're gonna just share a few few updates and talk a little bit about timeline. And then, open the floor up to any additional questions, suggestions, and just general conversation. So, the first thing is a

050correction. So, I had shared my understanding during the presentation that the original auditorium space was built for multiple purposes. We have since learned that that is not true. It was built authentically as an auditorium space. I think it was Annabelle and Stewart's office dug up a document that captured some of the history of the establishment of the original, that space in the early part of the 20th century and interesting document to read, but it did confirm the purpose and original design in the space was as an auditorium, not a multipurpose space. So, just want to be candid about that. Thinking ahead to our January meeting, Ken Schooner will return from BBS with having done some research and be able to share information about auditorium projects that might be helpful to understand in light of what

051we're proposing here in Scarsdale. Some of the comparisons you were interested in. He will also bring forward some potential acoustical material alternatives that may result in lower costs and hopefully be able to speak to the trade-offs that might entail. We did make contact with the original acoustic consultant who did the study of the space that we referred to and he indicated that for a cost that his organization could provide a computer-based acoustical comparison between the space as it currently is, which he's done a, you know, a study on and that same space modeled com in the computer with the proposed enhancements to the acoustics. That's something that we would ask the Board to maybe have some conversation about tonight. That study is proposed to cost about $4,600. Just to put it in one way of

052thinking. If we, if the sense was yeah, let's keep moving forward and finding out more information. Then, we might recommend that if it's not, we want to take a step back and think more broadly about this in the longer term, then that obviously would be something that could wait. But we want you to think about that a little bit. And of course we know, as Ron mentioned, some of you were able to tour the space itself. So any new questions or any new comments based on that certainly would be fruitful to hear. And I do know Ken is in the audience as well, who's able to answer questions should that be necessary. Okay, so open the floor to. Thank you for those updates and information, Drew. I'm just gonna start because I had a question

053from the tour. So first, I'd like to thank David Graybill for arranging those tours for us. They were really helpful. And when I was on the tour, we looked at the stage and we were looking at sort of replacing the stage. And Dr. Graybill noted that the front part of the stage was not scheduled to be replaced and we kind of estimated maybe it was 10 to 15% of the total space. It didn't look like it was in that much better shape to me than the rest of the stage. So, I was curious as to why exactly we weren't replacing it and if we had any sense as to what the additional cost might be if we were to replace the whole stage. As this so happens, so when we look at all of our

054projects, we look forward, do things actually need to replaced or there still some life left in the floor or whatever. So when are looking at, you know, was determined that that part form was fine. I think it's a fair question. If you're doing four half million, why don't you just do that extra (crackling drowns out speaker) We did have price (crackling drowns out speaker) so Paul, Steven, not much more. (crackling drowns out speaker) Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. An all in price with soft cost contingencies escalated all of that. Okay, great. Do other board members have questions? Just wanna pause for one second. Again, I'm told that your mic is not on. I can see it now, but not working so well. I think Bob has a question too. So just, I dunno if

055you want to grab somebody else's mic, if you're gonna wanna speak. Bob, go ahead. Okay, sure. Since the last meeting, Dr. Patrick was kind enough to forward to me a previous sort of master plan that had occurred back in May 22nd, 2017. And, you know, thanks to technology, one can actually review the presentation, which unfortunately, I did not see. And a couple of points I wanted to make. One was that the master plan, in many ways, conceptually started to address the issue the way I had proposed it be addressed, which is in a bigger picture overlook of the whole facility. And in fact, it was a very long presentation and each of the seven buildings essentially had a master plan done to it. So, I compliment the district on doing that. Of course, that was

056five years ago. And I think what, and at that time, for example, in terms of the auditorium, there was no discussion number one of any shift in its location or whatnot because that at the time wasn't considered an option. So when I step back and I kind of look at the problem set today, what I'm thinking is that number one, we're talking about a big price tag, which of course we can revisit and perhaps we can get the number down. Obviously, there's frequently a trade off for that. We can value value engineer it as the expression. But it also occurred to me that, you know, in about, in very, very shortly. We're going to be having new leadership within the community, a new superintendent. And that superintendent will come with ideas. One would assume commensurate

057with the kind of individuals we're looking at. And you know, this may be a time for the architects to step back and revisit yet again, essentially build on the study they did. Which really I have to say, kind of approached it the way I had hoped it would be approached, which was, you know, kind of look at the whole building. See how all the pieces are working and see whether there's any kind of shifting that could solve our problem better. I think what what was lacking to my mind anyway at that time was there was no what I call big idea. And the kind of thing that I mean by a big idea is, and these are just examples and I'm not even suggesting I'm proposing any of this, but for example, at some 0.1

058propose an A school and when you do have an idea like an A school that has a significant impact obviously on the physicality of the master plan. If we were to introduce something, and again, I'm not proposing this, but I happen to know for example, that a community like Mary Nick has what's called the PACE Program. The PACE Program is a very strong performing arts program for four years that students sign up for and allows them an opportunity to really take a deep dive into the performing arts. An idea of that caliber would have obviously a significant impact on the building. And I think between our new leadership, the fact that clearly this is a major undertaking requiring, you know, borrowing of money, that it might be a time to, again, not protract this into

059years, but to layer on another kind of version B of that master plan that starts to incorporate some big ideas that may be an outgrowth of the new leadership that will be starting within the community. So, that was my thought. I think obviously there are lots of questions which it sounds like can will get answered in terms of the detail. But it's still not necessarily stepping back and thinking through the whole impact of perhaps a new spin on sustainability, or global community, or performing arts. All of these big ideas that have, you know, major trickle down effect on space needs. So, I'm just proposing that maybe before we start analyzing all of the detail and assuming that that's the decision, we discuss it. Again, I can be convinced otherwise, but that's sort of where my

060head is at right now. Thank you. Thanks, Bob. Would anybody like to react to Bob's comments? I'm happy to give a reaction, but I have some questions too. I mean I guess one reaction slash question, but we're probably on a time play with Bob 'cause he's on Zoom versus my mic, so I'll understand that as well. But you know, is he talking about sort of a master idea and plan for the whole high school that we might wanna use the money elsewhere or a whole master plan for the auditorium space? To me, I think a little bit of this auditorium space is a discreet location within Scarsdale High School. I mean it's unlike the design lab work that was done years ago where I believe some rooms were moved, we had an old autobody shop.

061I'm not aware of anywhere we're moving an 800 person auditorium. I think where we have it is that is our realistic option in front of us. So if we're going to do something with the auditorium, I think what's before us is what we should discuss. I don't know what I'm hard pressed to understand what the additional work Bob is proposing would do unless it's to say, take a step back. Do we want to spend this funds on the auditorium or just leave the auditorium as is. That I think that's a different discussion, but an area that I would like to clarify just for that discussion. Well, sure, let me just say, Ron, what I'm thinking. That's a great question. So, I guess the only point that I might beg to differ on is that there

062is only one place an that auditorium can be. I don't know that honestly. And we're not the first high school or community to rethink their performing arts and their auditorium. Now, what I'm saying is if there are some big ideas that we want to think through. I'd like to make sure that we don't jump ahead and do the auditorium, which I think, correct me if I'm wrong, there is no lack of consensus that we need to do something as soon as possible. So, I'm not debating that at all. I'm only debating the solution, okay? And again, I think that there could be some organizational ideas that might suggest, for example, building a new auditorium somewhere and using that space for something else. And I think if it's ever gonna be, if there's ever gonna be

063a big idea and implement it, this is the moment in time to be doing it because once it's done, it's not gonna move for the next 30 years. And maybe that's fine. I'm not saying that isn't fine, but I'm saying I appreciate the urgency and everyone's frustrated because it was put off. But the fact was it was put off and now we're at a critical moment in time within the district. The world is changing. Education is shifting, pedagogy has new ideas that are out there. And I guess I would like to have some input by the new leadership and the architects to confirm that in truth, this is the best solution based on everything we've looked at. And again, I don't mean just for the auditorium. I mean could it go even in a better

064place that we're just not thinking about? And maybe not, but maybe. And I don't think we're at a point where we can say that categorically yet. And I'm an architect, so I think, trust me, there are lots of ways of doing these things. It might even cost a little more and you might say, "Well, that's ridiculous. We're not gonna spend a little more," but you know, we're talking about return on investment here. We wanna get the best value for our investment. So, you know, I'm we are here to debate. I'm not drawing a line in the sand on anything. Yeah. I'm just trying to give you my perspective on it. Yeah. And I think the architects, I think they could relatively quickly step back and provide some of that insight for us. Okay, so Bob,

065do not take my words the wrong way, but I am troubled by your suggestion on a number of levels. And I think probably the most fundamental level at which I'm troubled by your suggestion is the notion that in our, you know, sort of role as the Board, it's appropriate for us to, you know, for lack of a better word, grab the district by the collar and demand a reallocation of its resources, both its intellectual resources and its pedagogical resources in what appears to me to be a far-reaching and potentially quite expensive. I mean, I think changing an 800-person auditorium, I know you're an architect, you know, I've been involved in supervising a number of projects on boards involving, you know, the reallocation of physical space. It's expensive. But it's more the sort of, I guess

066to me, is this really what we as a Board should be doing in terms of trying to get the district to sort of reorient its priorities with regard to what it thinks should be, you know, front and center, front burner issues for the district to be allocating its intellectual capital, allocating its financial resources, allocating its, I guess, you know, just energies. Because I think what you're suggesting, look, I mean if this were a ground swelling where everyone agreed that our building was just, you know, needed reconfiguration of I would call drastic scale. I think it is a drastic scale is what we're potentially contemplating. I mean, then I think we would all sort of view this as a natural outgrowth of that situation on the ground. But this is more to my mind a top

067down kind of situation where no one is saying there needs to be this drastic reconfiguration, there needs to be this drastic new solution, except really at this point you, and maybe if others agree, maybe them too. So far I haven't heard any others agree and maybe others will, and that's fine. You're entirely within your right to voice your opinion about what you think should be done. But I have significant concerns as a board member that it's not the right thing for us to be asking the district to do at this time. Well, just to be clear, I'm not suggesting using the money for anything else. I'm just saying I take very seriously my fiscal responsibility to spend the money and to solve the problem in the best way possible. And I'm not convinced that it

068is. And I think with a little bit of work I could be convinced. But right now, and I'm not talking about doing an overhaul of the school. I think Scarsdale is known for innovation. So I would be I think it's important to engage our current leadership, Drew and his crew on, you know, their perspective. And if their perspective is, you know, there's nothing, there's no big idea here to even talk about, then so be it. I'm just raising it as a perspective, that's all. I'm certainly not trying to yank anyone's collar to do anything. I'm just raising the issue that there are moments in time, when it's the right time to do it. And obviously, once the auditorium is renovated, obviously, that's cast in stone and then that'll be a given and that's fine. But

069I don't see the harm in allowing ourselves the due diligence. If others disagree, no problem. Though I appreciate the call to think big, I am concerned that there may be too many capital projects needs in our district already competing for funding to go much beyond the current proposal. Many of these projects were outlined by Drew at our last meeting and by Stewart in October with the capital projects update and the building conditions survey. Doing our school site visits this fall, we reviewed many challenges our schools face in terms of space and storage, lunch services, and providing the kinds of collaborative classroom spaces and tools we need to support the way our students learn today. With COVID expenses and uncertainty, the last few years budgets correctly prioritized things other than building infrastructure, including student mental health.

070Now that the pandemic is largely behind us and we can consider budgeting larger capital projects needs, I think the auditorium is certainly a long overdue priority, but it isn't the only one. And I think we need to, you know, stay mindful of that. Thank you for your comment, Susie. Jessica. Unmuting, thank you. Thank you all for your thoughtful comments on this. And Bob, I appreciate your perspective that we should think big and be creative and I feel like that's an important goal for this district. I also feel like we have an extremely capable auditorium study committee that has been engaging in this for a long time. And I've had the privilege of attending those meetings this year and I've been very impressed with the information from the architects, from Dr. Graybill, Mrs. Forte, the other

071school leaders, administrators and faculty and staff who've been involved in those conversations, as well as the community representation there. And I feel like we have an imperative at this point, both to our students and to our teachers in the performing arts to repair the auditorium that we have. "Mamma Mia!" had students performing in the pit, not just professionals. And while I personally was traveling and was unable to see it, I heard it was a terrific show. I got a chance to tour, as many of you have, at the auditorium and to see the pit, and see how sort of that Scarsdale creativity had kicked in. And Dr. Graybill had built monitor stands so that the students who were playing in the pit could more easily see the conductor. That creativity was used to achieve improved

072site lines for students who were in the pit. And right now, overall, the current space is not meeting student needs. We have worked to the capacity it seams that we have to make all the changes that can possibly be made to improve things. And there's a real need for structural improvement. And I don't know that it makes sense to delay this project for another year or two years. You know, my sense from our faculty, staff, consultants, and community members is that at the end of the day, this space as it is right now does not meet student needs and needs to be updated promptly. And I think we need the best value possible for our investment. And you know, the people who have reviewed it have pointed to this. And I think it would be

073interesting instead of asking whether we need to do some sort of new master planning process to go back and look again. And there a lot of people who have this information at what has been done to date and how we got to the idea of doing this renovation as it is currently proposed. I believe that right now, it's the best value for the investment. Thank you, Jessica. Thanks. Thanks, Bob and everyone else. I had the pleasure of touring the auditorium and personally was surprised at how much it needs this renovation. I was not aware. I've seen a few shows in there, but I had not had the pleasure of going back into the dressing room area, or the pit, or even walk on the stage. So, I actually think this is the best return on

074our investment. I think while the price tag is high, it is not nearly as high as other theater renovations. You know, I spent a lot of time looking into the Bronxville 1. That was a theater in 1920, over $7 million to renovate. So, I personally think that the money is very well spent. I don't feel like it's a sense of urgency. I think it's a need. I think our community needs this. I think our students need this. I think we owe it to our families to give them this if we can. I agree, Scarsdale is known for innovation, but our theater is anything but innovative right now. And I think that this is a very good use for the money. And I, after the tour, I feel even more strongly that this project should move

075forward. Thank you, Colleen. I'll just add a few comments now. So to me, I think tonight we're not deciding whether to do the auditorium, but sort of whether we are continuing the path down of, you know, should this be part of the budget, should we do another study. So to me, the answer is yes and I'll explain my rationale. So like Colleen, when I saw it, I mean I think I really got an understanding of the true repairs that need to happen to this space. I think it's important for the community to understand if it's not today, the repairs are coming. I mean this is a space, that as Stewart talked about, when we talked about the history that has not seen major repairs. And a lot of them have been deferred because 10 years

076ago, it was in a bond. And then it became, we'll get to it a little soon, so let's defer things. That led to us having to spend money on some safety changes as a one-off. You know, those are just gonna keep coming up in this space. This is not a space we cannot do anything for the future. It will just get more expensive as well as we wait longer. And it will also be years of students that don't get a great space to use in that interim. To me, that's an important piece of context, knowing that this is not a, should we do this space, but it is a when are we doing it and in what way. I think it's also helpful as I went to that packed show and then, there was two

077others, and I heard from Dr. Graybill and our about all the concerts that are happening and all the, we had a packed house for a college admissions presentation day, with hundreds of people in the auditorium. This is a space that is used a lot, just like our field space is used a lot. This is a huge community asset, not just for Scarsdale High School students and high school parents, but for all members of the community. So I think, you know, what we have before us is a way to do this right and not just make some repairs, but really make this great space for the next 30, 40 years. I do keep that in context as well. And this is a dollar amount that should last us for a very long time. Having said all

078that, we have lots of uncertainties Susie mentioned before. We have uncertainty within our own budget. We're about to talk about an item around a property tax exemption that has a very material impact on our budget if we were to adopt it. We have economic uncertainty. But moving forward doesn't preclude us from later on saying, "Hey, we need to revisit this in the budget process." That's not what we're doing tonight. We have a lot of time for that. So, I do think we should move it forward. I am very happy to hear we can do this acoustical study. I would support it. I think $4,700 makes a lot of sense. The only thing I would ask for is that if the architects are gonna come back with some value engineering options, I think we should consider

079whether we should have the modeling done for both. I mean, I don't mind finding ways to save money, but at some point, when we're at $5 million to this point about the stage, like I, to me, I think if we're gonna do it, we should do it right. And I think understanding how much that value engineering takes away from a huge part, which is the acoustics. So just to sum up, I support us doing the work. In the interim, I would support us putting it in the budget and I would also support that, you know, we may have to have a tough conversation come February, March, depending on how the budget plays out and what tax levies look like and what the economic environment looks like. Thank you for your comments, Ron. Before I share

080my thoughts, I'd like to ask Drew or Stewart if you have anything you'd like to add and also invite Ken up if you'd like to share any thoughts as well. The only thought that came to my mind that I was gonna add was I do think there is a big question we can get an answer too, which is there really any viable space on this campus to add anything from a structure standpoint. I think the architects have looked at this facility and they understand what the boundaries and limitations are given how the, who owns what parts of this campus and how it's laid out. So, we can ask Ken to share his best thinking on that and maybe that adds to the conversation. Ken, would you like to jump? Oh, I was like, "Ken? All

081right, Ken." I'm like, "Good luck, Ken." Not Ken Bonamo. Ken's looking like. Architect Ken Schooner. I'm glad you clarified that. Thank you for those comments, Drew. You know, I appreciate this healthy and robust conversation that the Board has engaged in and I think that everybody's brought up interesting and different points. And Bob, I appreciate your thinking big and looking at, you know, big picture and is there something innovative that we can do. But I think the practicalities of the way the theater looks right now. You know, Dr. Gray Bill's tour was very compelling to me as well. To see those spaces and to know, you know, Jessica as you commented, that there's been a team of people that have involved FMA, and students, and administrators, and teachers and stewards, and architects that have been studying

082this problem, I think that, and actually I'm gonna say in Susie's comment about the additional work that we have, you know, coming our way and the needs of our buildings, I do think this is the right way forward at this time. You know, in terms of, I would not wanna pause this to take that step back. I think we will be potentially thinking about big ideas as we, you know, consider future bond work. And I think that there's going to be a lot of things that are gonna be competing for our attention at that time. And this has been a space that's been talked about for a long time and it's really overdue. And to put it off again, to try to reimagine something bigger. I'm not sure, Drew, when you talk about even spaces,

083I can't imagine any space where, I mean, I'm not an architect, but I can't imagine any space we have flooding in our parking lots. You know, that's like an immediate concern. I think if we could move a parking lot, we would've moved a parking lot and that wouldn't have been expensive to do. So, to move an auditorium somewhere on our campus, I don't, I can't envision that really. So, I agree with I think what's the general consensus on the Board that the project scope currently, as it's proposed, is the right scope. It seems that most board members are in agreement to move forward in that direction. Sorry, I think, you know, I guess my parting question would be and it sounds like the architects will address it at the next meeting, is that the investment

084will indeed give us an improvement that's gonna be acceptable. Because I think everyone's talking about like the renovation is gonna solve all the problems and as long as they do to meet our expectations, I think that's great and I think that's fine. But I think we wanna make sure that the acoustics are gonna be improved to the point that, you know, we're going to see some noticeable improvement and that, you know, the pit and the changing rooms and all the back spaces are gonna work because they are what they are. The footprint is what it is. You know, you need to have more changing rooms. Can we create those at what expense? Look, maybe we can, but I think, you know, managing expectations is part of our responsibility as well. So as long as, you

085know, the bar is moving up in terms of performance quality, I think we'll all be very happy. And I think as long as they can confirm that through their tests, then I think we should be fine. I have no problem with that. So, it sounds like Bob and Ron both support the acoustical study that Drew proposed. How does the rest of the Board feel? I'm in favor of as well. And what is the study comparing what to what again? The existing space, the acoustics of the existing space modeled, and then adding the materials to the model that would be the acoustical remedies for the space and rerunning the sound basically. So, it'd be a computer simulation. Computer simulation, yeah. Sounds in auditorium with the reconfigured materials what sound like? Yes. Did I get that right

086enough? Yeah, I think so. And I think Rob, you brought up is a good point. If we were to recommend any value engineering, well what would that mean, you know, into what cost? So, I think that's important. You talk about value engineering, I understand, that usually to me using less expensive- Cheaper materials or doing something a different way. In favor impacts the negative way, correct. We're trying to face. Yes, I agree. It's just that it was mentioned that the architect's gonna bring a value engineered option to us. So, that's what I think we wanted in that study. I guess I had a question for Stuart. Go ahead, Jessica. And I'm wondering how this proposed acoustical study would compare with the acoustical study that was recently completed or the acoustical engineering review that was completed? I

087mean, I think it uses the study that was completed as the baseline and then compares it to, they build that into a computer model that then superimposes the new wall materials, the curtains, whatever. And then, reruns the analysis. Right, the acoustical study informed the recommended improvements and then, the study will compare those improvements that we're recommending against the current space. Thank you for the clarification. Ron, you had some questions. Did you have some other questions or did you get all of your questions answered? No, I mean, my only other thing sort of just, I think a good question to answer for the community is sort of how this timeline looks? You know, we're talking about this project, but really this is gonna come back to us through the budget process, if I understand correctly. So

088maybe just wanna talk. I think that's part of the conversation, you know, which way does the Board prefer to go. I mean, it can be part of the budget process as presented in the recommendation report. As an option, it can be bonded, choose to do nothing, right? So there's, you know, multitude of different types of options and pros and cons to all of them. And when do you need that guidance by to be able to, you know, prepare the proposed budget that's gonna come to us? I mean since it's a standalone item and we know the cost, it's not that difficult, right? We can just say, well, you add that and this is what happens. Okay, great. Thanks. Did anybody else have any questions on the project? Okay, great. Thank you so much. That was,

089like I said, a great discussion. Let's move on to the next item, which is- College landscape. Great. Thank you. Yeah, we just wanted to create a discussion item here to leave space for the Board to think together, to reflect, to ask questions of us, or we have Ken Anani in the audience as well based on what you heard tonight. And it was a, you know, in my view as a very compelling presentation, I want to extend my thanks to Oren for his leadership in putting this presentation together. But of course all of the deans, they were all present tonight and then Ken Anani and Chris and Chris, the leadership team at the high school. Really, yeah, it's just a, I think it was well attended and a great chance to communicate with the community about

090some significant changes in the world, in the world of college admissions. So with those, thanks communicated. Turn it over to you. Great. And before we get started, I'd also like to echo my thanks. I appreciate the initiative that was taken to bring this topic to the community, especially Dean Lisa Povich and the rest of the Scarsdale High School counseling team. It was well attended and I think that it was a very useful presentation. I can imagine it being done again in future years as the landscape continues to evolve. So, I'd like to open up the floor to my board members to share their thoughts or if anybody had any questions. I'm happy to kick it off. And I'm going to preface my question within a acknowledgement that without kids in the high school, I don't

091really know much about this landscape right now. But one of the themes that I sort of was struck by in this presentation, which I've heard from community members parents as well, just sort of the complexity has changed over time. I think Oren pointed out when he applied to two colleges and now you hear people are applying to 10 and 15 or whatever the number is. And I wonder, has that changed the timing that our guidance department, our deans, begins that discussion with parents and students because it's a more complex environment. Not sure who that question is for, but I would just love to know how that, if the timing has changed at all, how are they talking to people earlier? And I understand the tension because right before that, we spoke to high school students

092that talked about how the stresses of seniors is portrayed, is transcribed to the underclassmen. So balancing that, but it does seem like it's a more complex landscape. Yeah, this almost is that question come up. (faintly speaking) we had to begin this board meeting tonight. And several of us provided a response and essentially, it's focusing on the second half of what you said, which is that as you heard directly from the students, we really try to preserve as much of the high school experience as we can for students to, you know, enjoy their learning experiences on their own merits and for their own sake. So they can develop the skills and habits of mind of each discipline and discover their talents. Because those authentic discoveries are actually good for them as individuals and are conveyed in

093the course of the college process as well. That things done as a means to an end come not only come across as artificial, but more importantly devalue the humanity of the students during their time in high school by commodifying the educational experience and actually has a negative impact on student overall wellbeing. And so, I spoke to the parents pretty plainly about appealing to that side of the situation. That there is enough in the ether in this community. Most of it serves, most of that serves us well, but there's enough of it that causes the stress that our students do feel that we feel institutionally our prerogative is to preserve that to the moment in time where it isn't, where we need to bring students and families into that conversation. To the first point of your

094question about have we modified it over time, the answer is yes. In fact, in my time here as principal, that the junior college night for parents used to be in January. That date was selected at a time when more of our students were applying exclusively in the regular admission cycle. Now, that I think it's like 98% of our students apply to at least one school early. It was clear that we needed to move it back, so we moved it back by a month. But still it gave families who wanted to use the holiday break, the opportunity to travel or research and just got them going a little bit earlier in the junior year. That stress is already there and we figured that one month wasn't going to make that much of a difference. To go

095more earlier in the high school experience would really take a strong consideration from the counseling department. And I think the administration, I wouldn't want to do that right now. Thanks. Appreciate that. Hi. I also wanted to echo the thanks to Warren and his team, to you Ken, Edgar and Drew for this presentation tonight on the changing landscape of college admissions. Today's presentation was data driven, informative and timely. Our teens already faced immense learning and emotional challenges coming outta the pandemic. A more competitive nationwide admissions process is just about the last thing our students need, but this is the reality our students face. And the more we can understand and speak openly about the process, as was the case tonight, the better equipped our students and families will be to navigate these challenges. So, thank you.

096I particularly appreciate orange emphasis of high school as a place for a student to develop and grow as young people and not just as a means to get into a college, a college outcome. and with over 6,200 applications processed, up 17% versus last year, I wanna thank all of our counseling staff and faculty for all their additional hard work on behalf of our students in ensuring that they get matched with the place of higher education that best fits their interests and goals. I also appreciate the focus on student mental health and wellness as they go through this process and that it is focus of the high school as we spoke to the students today. Given this increased work, I'm wondering if we need more resources in terms of, you know, staff or if we need

097additional dean, or if those things are being considered at all as we go into the budget process? Yeah, thank you for the question. Every year as part of the budget process at the high school, we do look at our student load for counselors, both in terms of our historical loads and also in the region at peer schools. We are right around, if I believe, 180 or 190, a hundred ninety students per counselor. It's on a little bit on the high side of where we have been historically, but it's not out of the realm of normal. And we have taken the stance that because there would be other programmatic expenses involved in adding a dean 'cause you'd have to add a freshman team, that the numbers are not meriting that at the moment. We have been

098studying that for a number of years. What we have mentioned in our most recent conversation, I don't wanna speak out of turn, would be supporting increasing the budget allocation for the deans to travel to the colleges. That budget line has not been increased for a number of years and those personal connections that the deans make with the college admissions officers are a really important part of the communication between the high school and the college side. And so, we would ask that first significant increase in that line. It's a small number, but it would be a significant increase. Thank you. Any other comments? Okay. I don't really have any questions, but I did just wanna comment on a couple things that struck me. I think one thing that was really valuable tonight for me and as

099a parent of a junior, I attended the junior parents night last week, but it's really interesting to see how the college landscape is changing just everywhere and it's not just Scarsdale. And you know, the number of applications that are increasing the changes in priority for legacies. You know, the kids applying early decision and early action and just how that's changing everything. I feel like it's still really in flux and maybe COVID and the test optional movement sort of kicked things off. But I get the sense that it's continuing to change and that we'll continue to see more changes in the future. And that's where I say I would encourage you to have this kind of program every few years, because I think it was really valuable for parents at the junior night it was a

100little bit more focused on just the numbers, but tonight was really a robust discussion about, you know, what's different. But it was just nice to see that it wasn't just Scarsdale that was different. That that's the landscape overall. So it was really, I think interesting for younger parents as well to hear that kind of information. So, I thank you all for putting that together for us. Yep. Thank you. Can I (speaking faintly)? Sure. Sure, absolutely. Yeah, one thing that I noted in the presentation- James, your mic is not on. One thing I noted in the presentation, which was very good, but I just seemed like I wasn't exactly sure how these facts meshed together. You know, we obviously saw the numbers about the great increase in applicants to universities and we heard that part of

101the cause of that was not requiring certain, you know, standardized tests. And that had sort of opened floodgates and enabled schools to choose applicants that previously maybe were not applying 'cause they felt like they couldn't get past the standardized test barrier. Which I sort of made sense to me in terms of numbers and why there'd be so many more greater numbers now in terms of applications. But what made less sense to me is that the consequence of that was that the particular numbers required of our students had risen so significantly. In other words, our students have to achieve higher numbers because students who don't have to achieve any numbers are getting in? It just Yeah. how one of those followed the other in terms of a data point. Yeah, I could speak about the general

102trend and I would urge you to direct that question directly and I would urge you to direct that question directly to Oren. He would probably have more granular detail than I can provide in this moment. But I would say that as colleges discover that students who were previously excluded because of means, because of exam scores, for a variety of factors, are able to find themselves at that college in succeeding. Then, the traditional schools where they're pulling from with traditional scores that they wanted, those seats will, if you think of it as a zero sum gain because these schools are not increasing their seats, then there's going to be a decrease in the seats for students where they traditionally pulled from if they're finding new sources of students who don't fit their historical trend lines, if

103that makes sense. I mean I would pause it. This is completely conjecture. That, you know, the advent of machine learning and data analysis is one of the reasons that schools are able to move away from standardized test requirements because they contract the performance of students from different schools at their college over a number of years. And they make predicted grade indexes based on the GPAs from different schools. As they do that and the SAT ACT wall comes down, there's it, as you said, it's going to be. I think we're gonna be in the years of flux. In addition the demographic trends, because we're now 14 years out from 2008 financial crisis, there will be fewer high school students in the coming decade. We don't know how that's going to play out. At these most competitive

104schools, the number of applications will probably remain very high because of these new requirements and also because of the online application, the ease with which students can apply to a number of different schools. Okay, I guess we're the victim of our success in a way. I would, you know, if there's something to celebrate that, you know, underserved students are now having access to different opportunities. I think you will see more schools becoming in that higher tier. We just need more seats. We have the same number of seats in many of these schools that have been there for generations and the population of the United States has increased dramatically in the last 30 years. I would just add one more thing about that data is the number of our own students applying to those schools has

105gone up a lot as well. So with, if you even in that case, if the same number of admits are going to admissions are going to be made, then more of our students will be disappointed 'cause more of them are applying, right? Uh-hm. Thank you, Ken. Okay, thank you. Okay, great. Let's move on to item 9.04, the partial property tax exemption for senior citizens and individuals with disabilities. Okay, I'll give this a start and then we will, so the Board has background material in the agenda item that pertains to the increase in the maximum income limit cap from 29,000 up to 50,000 for homeowners residents who fall into two categories, either they're at least 65 years old or they're qualified individual disabilities to apply for the partial school tax exemption. This was signed into law

106by Governor Hochul. It's the first increase since 2009. And this is a question that has come before the county of Westchester and the county has authorized this increase in the maximum income limit to the maximum. They had a choice. Everybody that decides on this has a choice to go up to that maximum or somewhere partway there. And this is also before the Village of Scarsdale and then, of course, the school district is taxing entities. So, the Board is able to consider this exemption or changing this exemption to the higher limit and does not have to. So the materials are the, in the board docs, are the county's decision and their law adopting this, as well as a memo from council that kind of does a Q&A approach to what this is. And you also have

107content that speaks to the Board as content that was provided by the Village that speaks to the potential financial impact of this should the exemption go into full effect, let's say, the maximum effect. One of the, I would say, I guess I'm editorializing here, but one of the unusual components of this is the ability to the law allows for the ability for residents who qualify to also submit qualified medical expenses as a way to offset their income. So in essence, by having qualified medical costs, it could lower their apparent income, thereby qualifying them to a greater level of tax deduction. And we just in speaking off line with the village manager, there's some questions and unanswered questions about how that would be determined. I think there's vagaries in the law itself in terms of how

108would one, how would the Village, for example, go about determining who's eligible for those medical deductions. Does that give enough initial background? The other thing I should mention is timeline. I'm sorry. So council recommends making a decision by March 1st in an effort to give, you know, the residents and who might qualify enough time to apply. I know the Village is on a little bit tighter timeline than that because they would have to make their decision 'cause they would have to put the, they're actually the ones because they're the tax collecting body to put their processes in place. So, I know they would be eager for knowing what this Board would do as early as possible. I think I would agree that they are eager to hear. And you know, we had our meeting with

109the Village a couple weeks ago. Was it a couple weeks ago? I can't remember now but it was... Okay. And we, you know, we discussed that we're one town and and we have our taxpayers are generally all the same people. So, it's helpful if we collaborate or at least discuss with each other. Before we get started with our thoughts on this, does anybody have any questions on what the proposed exemption is? Are we comfortable with discussing it now? Okay, so I guess I'll start with saying are we, well, does anyone have an opinion they would like to share right away? We can discuss perhaps the proposed medical expenses deduction. Is anybody in favor of considering that or does anyone have any thoughts about that option that they would like to discuss? I am in favor

110of considering that option. It's an option that I know that certain preschools in our area, private preschools like the JCC and Colonie and Mohawk already offer. And I think it's a very fair option given the true obstacles that people with high medical needs and severe chronic disabilities face. Thank you, Jessica. Does anybody else have any thoughts? I mean do you want just thoughts on the medical? Just on the medical right now, I guess, yeah, So, so, we can consider these separately and we can also revisit them. Our decision today, I don't believe is binding forever. We can revisit this in a year. So as context, the county has already agreed to all of it. So, the Village has the administrative and operational burden to do this whole thing no matter what we choose. The reason

111I bring that up is that sitting here today, we and I believe the Village state as well, have no insight into the financial impact of the allowing unreimbursed medical expenses to be deducted from income to see if you can apply for this exemption. We have zero visibility. We don't know what the financial impact would be 'cause we don't know what people's medical expenses. They're unreimbursed medical expenses are. We will know that next year because the Village needs to do it for the county. Without that, the amount, if we go to the full exemption amount that's been authorized by state law has a serious financial impact to the school district. It's material. Without knowing what the other piece would be, I'd be hesitant to do it today. I would suggest we look at just the increasing

112the exemption amount this year and revisiting the unreimbursed medical part once we have more financial visibility because I, just to state clearly, anything that is deducted here is going to be born by the rest of the taxpayers and I think we have a duty to understand what that is before we propose it. And thank you for clarifying that point as well. Does anybody else have any thoughts on the unreimbursed medical expenses, considering it now, considering it later in a year when we perhaps have some more insight as to what the impact might be to the rest of our taxpayers? I'm struggling with this one because I agree with both Jessica and Ron right now. But I'm leaning towards making a more informed decision and waiting to see what we're actually dealing with, so that we

113can kind of take all of the points of view into consideration to come to a conclusion. Drew, can I ask a question? So Ron mentioned this point, I know the Village talked about it. So we have to take action on this by March 1st, but there's an option to take action on part of it later. Is that why we could separate the unreimbursed medical expenses and consider them in a future year? Yeah, as the law is written, I don't think there's anything to preclude this Board from taking action at any later date. Oh, okay. So, you can take no action, but there, you know, there's basically a deadline for when the information has to be into the assessor. So the assessor can calculate the roll, right, the tax rate based on the roll. Okay. So,

114we need to give the residents the time to apply if they know they're eligible to apply. But this could wait till next year, a year, after five years from now. You could do part and not the other, and then. Okay, so we're just making a decision for next year at this point. It could continue, but if we wanted to add something on or change a level in the future, that's something that we could do as a Board? Yeah, and I think part of this is you have to have a hearing, right? Okay. So if you decided to do something, then you would have a hearing to allow citizens to give you feedback. Okay. I think I'm also in favor of waiting on the unreimbursed medical expenses. I think we've seen that there could be a

115significant impact if we choose to allow for the increase in deduction, increase in the limit. And I'm concerned that we don't know what we're asking our taxpayers to consider for next year. I don't know if anybody else has any thoughts. I agree for the same reasons that you and Ron and Colleen mentioned. Jim or Bob, do either one of you have any thoughts on that? I wanna just go back now that I've heard Ron's thoughts if possible because I think he makes a good point about stepping into an unknown. I'm still a little torn between the idea of saving, sort of the unknown, saving our whole taxpayer base from this unknown and waiting a year and making this decision once we have the info based on the county tax roles. And the idea that we

116should follow the sort of more progressive steps of the county, which seems to be suggesting that you're saving kind of the individuals who are faced with the greatest personal unknowns often in a year. For example, if a family member is diagnosed with a chronic illness, or cancer, or some other severe issue, right? And you'd be providing respite to those rather than a district taxpayers as a whole. And I'm really torn in that choice and I do see why the prudent fiduciary responsibility thing would be to wait six months or a year until we have the tax results from the county level before we move forward with this. Yeah, I agree. I think, in principle, I support the notion of giving people with medical or disabilities a break. But I think it also requires us just

117to know what we're signing up for and I think that's only fair to know what we're approving. So, I would like to see the impact first and then make a decision. So, I agree with everyone on that. Make sense. Great, thank you. Jessica and Bob? I agree as well. Okay, fabulous. So I think the Board has consensus on that. Can we discuss now would we like to consider raising the maximum income limit from 29,000 to 50,000 and we have that memo which shows the impact to our budget and then the taxpayers. Just can I tell us clarifying question? So, the 50,000 income limit would be to get to 50% deduction. There is a further sliding scale to 59, 50- 58. I thought it was 59. 58 something maybe. But there's a sliding scale. Are we

118discussing the 50 and the sliding scale? Whatever you would like to throw out there. I'll let somebody else. Would somebody else like to start with that one? I need to add a technical. This computer is gonna automatically restart out of my control in about five minutes. Excellent. Which means we will temporarily lose Jessica and Bob from this computer. They'll still be on Ron's. So, we'll need to take like a three minute. You know what, that'll be a good time to take actually do you, can we do- Do it right now? Let's do it now. Yeah. Continue this conversation. I'm so sorry. Absolutely. No, it's almost a two-hour timing break. So, I was gonna try to push us through and get us done but let's take a five minute break right now and we'll be back

119at 9:25 then and continue our conversation. Thank you. Meeting. Okay, we're back. Is your computer back, Drew? All right, fantastic. So, we were talking about the other part of the proposed tax exemption, raising the maximum income limit cap from 29,000 to 50,000 or potentially slightly higher at lower amounts. I think that's included in the memo from the attorney about it would be 50% at 50,000 and then decreasing 5% all the way up to 58,399. The Village Board of Trustees discussed this at their meeting and seemed that they are going to consider simply the maximum, increasing maximum income range to 50,000. They did not seem to discuss going all the way up to the 58,399 and not including the unreimbursed medical expenses for this year. So, I don't know if our Board has any thoughts on

120the maximum income range that we would want to consider if we want to perhaps be aligned with the Village of Scarsdale- Can I just, yeah, so the Village has to raise the up to 50 does- I don't think they have to. I don't think they has to. Decisions that this Board has. So, okay, so the Village could have chosen not to do that. So I was confused 'cause I thought somebody said something about the county having enacted it. The county did. So, the county enacted it but they also enacted it with the unreimbursed medical expenses. The village assessor is the one who has to actually implement that data, collect the data. Okay, so the Village chose to go in line. With the county, did the county limit it at 50 or they go the whole?

121I don't know what the county did on the limits to, is that in our memo? I believe they did everything. They did the max to 58? Yeah. Okay. The Village shows not to do that? The Village did. And I believe if I remember correctly and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, that the Village said they normally are in line with the county, but they were concerned about the impact of the unreimbursed medical expenses, the unknown of that for this year. Right, that part of it makes sense. Yeah, but the rest- What's less clear to me is why they didn't do the full step up? I don't think they're finalized yet. I just didn't, they haven't come out with this statement. I didn't get the sense from that conversation. I don't know, Ron, you watched

122that meeting as well? Yeah, I just got the sense that they hadn't gotten there yet because I think part of their discussion was we're comfortable increasing the limit. We should also kind of do this iteratively hear what the schools are doing from a administrative standpoint for our residents. There is value, I think, to our residents that we are all aligned on the same number because otherwise, you have to fill out different forms and say, well, for the school I'm at this number and the Village, I'm at this number. Yeah, I'm just, I don't think they precluded. I'm just wondering if there's a perceived benefit to stopping at 50 and not going the full step that is set forth in the memos that have been provided to us? I'm just, 'cause I guess our discussion where

123you were sort of talking about being in line with the Village, but A, I'm not sure we know where the Village is gonna land. And B, I don't understand the Village's rationale for where they land. So, it's hard for me to say, "Yes, we should be in line," given those lacking data points or whether we should just issue all that and say what do we wanna do in terms of the exemption. I think we should discuss what we wanna do and we can share that with the Village and see how it shapes out out. You know, we may not be exactly align if our Board came out strongly in one way or the other. We can share that with them and they may, you know, I don't, again, may have a little bit of time,

124but they're moving quite quickly. So, I did say I would reach out to them and let them know how our conversation, what our Board was thinking after we had a discussion. We just add that the calculation you have from the village assessor does include that full 58 4 in the calculation. Yeah, we don't have a calculation. It's just stops at 50. Yeah, okay. Because I would think, you know, just I mean I don't, I wouldn't perceive that what the policy rationale would be for saying 50 is right if the discussion otherwise at the county level is the 57. You know why we would say, well, if you're making seven, you know, even a thousand dollars more than 50, you know, you should, you're outta luck. I just dunno what the policy reason, I mean for

125that is per se, you know, so I would be in favor I think of doing that 57 exemption. 58. Or 58, whatever the number is, I mean not stopping at 50. Yes. Okay, going to the max. Yes. Okay. Anybody else? Jessica or Bob? I mean, sorry, go ahead Bob. No, you unmuted first. Go ahead. I think going up to the 58,399 makes sense to me. We're not, you know, with today's inflation and whatnot, that seems appropriate. I also agree that that seems appropriate. Do we have any data that would allow us to determine at this point? I mean, I didn't see any in the documents I've read, but do we have data that supports cutting off at one place or the other in terms of the impact to the tax rolls and our fiduciary obligations?

126I don't think we have that data. So I would say given the absence of that data, I would be inclined to go to the 58. Thank you. I agree. I mean, well, I wanna press by same piece and the Village didn't make this data public. I mean, I think people should know the impact on us by going to this. It's about $500,000. It's a material number. I just want the community. It's gonna go to a public hearing. The village assessor did all this analysis 'cause they're the one that calculates it. But just, I think it's important to put that into perspective. I do support doing this. This is an exemption that already exists. It has not been indexed to inflation. I believe it has not been increased since 2009. I think if you just do

127a quick back of the envelope calculation, inflation gets you most of the way there to this increase. I could make the argument, I think I would make the argument that it's not likely that this is going to increase in the near future again. So it's a static number. It's something that already exists. It does have a material impact to the rest of our tax base. But I think this is, this is something that exists, is the right thing to do, and increasing it due to inflation makes sense to me. Thank you, Ron. I thought Ron's argument was convincing and I agree. Great. I'm so glad to hear that that was very easy because I also agree. I think that we haven't seen an increase here in a long time and the cost of living is

128quite high I think, as we all know. And this is a nice option to provide those that qualify for it. So, okay. So I think at this point, I think right now we're agreeing that we would like to move forward with the maximum limit and not include the unreimbursed medical expenses So we'll work with counsel to develop the necessary material and plan for a hearing and so forth. Great. And I'll follow up with the Mayor to just share our thoughts with her. Okay, let's move on to item 9.05, which is a second reading of the policy 2340. Nothing changed from last time. This just pertains to board meeting video conference procedures. So there's slight policy change and then the exhibit to go along with it. And if there are no further changes, this would come

129in consent as an adoption in the next meeting. Does anybody have any comments? So once we approve it in the, presumably in the consent agenda next week, it goes into effect immediately? Yeah. Great. Thank you, Drew. Okay, let's move on to item 9.06, telecommunications letters to cellular carriers. So just as a reminder, back in the summer, the Village invited us to share our thoughts on telecommunications gaps around our schools. And as a Board, we all agreed that we would like to send them a letter and we did. And we sent that in August of 2022, talking about the need to address the telecommunications gaps around our schools for the safety of our students. It has come to... So then as I mentioned in November, we met with the Village Board and the Mayor and this

130was one of the topics we talked about again, and noted that we would be happy to lend our support to them in this effort. It's come to our attention from the Mayor that letters to the cell phone carriers directly from the Board of Education would carry more weight than letters to the Village. So, I wanted to get the Board's thoughts on, again, writing letters to the various cell phone carriers from the Board of Education, primarily covering the same topics that we shared with the Village Board. But it would be addressed to different people and maybe slightly changed based on what we had written. Any thoughts in favor for that possibly? Yeah, I agree. Great. And would the Board like to sign all the letters as a board? We decided that the letter would come from

131the whole Board to make it more powerful. Are we comfortable doing that again? Would everyone like to sign it? All right. Excellent. Thank you very much. We will, Ron and I, will work on drafting those letters and we'll ask you to take a look at them and give your approval. Okay, let's move on to item 10.01, a gift proposal to Greenacres. And that one's you, Colleen. Okay, item 10.01. It is recommended that the Board accept with thanks the gift of $6,538 for funding Greenacres grade grants and playground toys as presented. Do you move that we? I move that we. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Jim. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Jessica, could you unmute and say aye? Aye. Great. Thank you. Any opposed? Okay, great. Motion

132carries. And let's move on to item 11.01, which is, or 11, which is public comment. And I'll do 11.01, which is the preamble. Members of the public are cordially invited to speak on district related items or other non-personnel related matters during two separate public comment periods. When it is your turn to speak, please state your name, address, and if you are speaking on behalf of an organization. For those commenting remotely, please mute the livestream voice, turn on your camera, and then unmute yourself. Speakers will be asked to conclude the 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 [email protected]. The public comment period is reserved for comments

133only. The Board will not engage in dialogue. The Board reserves the right to respond to comments and questions at its discretion, either during response to public comment or at a later time and place. Response to public comment will take place after the first and second public comment periods. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to come to the podium and make a comment? Seeing no one. We'll turn to Zoom. There are no attendees on Zoom at this time. Great. We'll give just a couple seconds in case someone wants to join. Still no attendance. I'll give them five more seconds to run to their computers and log in. Okay, we will go ahead and close public comment and move on to follow up to public comment, which I do not believe is necessary at

134this time. So, wrap up items. I don't think there were any wrap up items. Is there anything, Drew, that nothing? I think it was addressed. I think so too. Okay, great. Meeting dates, Ron. All of the following special meetings and executive sessions will be held at the high school room 170. Tuesday, December 6th at 4:30 PM, Wednesday, December 7th, 4:30 PM, Thursday, December 8th, 4:30 PM, Monday, December 12th, 5:15 PM, Tuesday, December 13th, 5:15 PM, Wednesday, December 14th, 5:15 PM, Thursday, December 15th, 5:15 PM, Saturday, December 17th, 8:00 AM. Following that on Monday, December 19th, there will be a special meeting and executive session at 5:30 PM if needed. An education report and strategic plan update at 6:30 PM in the high school room 170, 172. And lastly, Monday, January 9th, 2023, budget staffing recommendations

135at 6:00 PM high school room 170, 172 followed by a business meeting at 7:00 PM in the same location and followed by an executive session if needed. Thank you, Ron. Can I get a motion to adjourn? Thank you, Suzie. Is there a second? Thank you, Colleen. Any discussion? All favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Thank you very much. Have a good evening, everyone.