001We are at public comments. Public comments will be heard on agenda items only at this time. The board of education encourages public participation in school related matters at board meetings. Any group or organization wishing to address the board must first identify a single spokesperson. The presentation should be as brief as possible. Speakers will be permitted to speak for up to three minutes. The board will not allow in public session discussions involving individual district personnel or students. All speakers are to conduct themselves civily. Obscene language, livelous statements, threats of violence, and statements advocating racial, religious, or other forms of prejudice will not be tolerated. Persons making presentations at the board meeting will address their remarks to the president. They may direct questions or comments to board members or other district officials only upon approval of the
002president. Yes. Would anyone like to make a public comment on agenda items? I usually ask that first before I read the paragraph of myself. So we will move on to the superintendence report. Thank you, Madam President. May I have the enrollment report first, John? Please. Thank you. So our enrollment our enrollment stands at 1272 with the loss of two students from our last report on May one. We had three students exiting to out of country instate school and other. And we had one student come in with no prior education for net loss of two students. From September to June, we lost about 12. Could I ask you a question on that? I'm sorry to interrupt you. Does that include students coming in for prek for next year or they're not considered enrolled until they're not
003enrolled on. Thank you. I'm sorry to interrupt you. No worries. So, well, losing 12 students is not ideal. It's it's um we did lose 20. We'll keep working. We do often see a decline this time of year um due to housing issues here with um rentals. you know, homeowners are turning it over to have summer rentals come in and sometimes students have to leave for um the school district because of that. And then we see it again in September when rentals open up again for the winter. So the September and June are a little bit of a flux situation, I think. Absolutely. And we know from previous reports that housing is a primary indicator of uh the students that are leaving the ability to afford housing in Southampton. Um at this time I would ask
004for Dr. Boter and Jean to come up. We have some board recognitions and presentations and I would like to take care of those at this time. So the first recognition will come from the NASA SOF folk school boards association. Um, in recognition of service and dedication to our district community, I am very proud to be able to say to our board president, Jacqueline Robinson, you are being honored by the Nassau Suffoke School Boards Association with honors in recognition of your service and dedication to your school district and community. It has truly been an honor to work alongside you for this year and um your advocacy for the students of Southampton is second to none and I appreciate you from the NAS on behalf of the Nassau School Boards Association. Thank you for your service. [Applause]
005Additionally coming from the Nassau Suffoke School Boards Association is an honoring for Miss Cara Conklin Wingfeld steam board member. in recognition of your service and dedication to your school district and community. We thank you so much for your service. And you have literally been my crutch holding me up through this year as a new superintendent. And I am certainly going to miss you, both you and Jackie. and your love and compassion for people really inspires me. It keeps me positive and hopeful and I just I'm going to miss you. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] The next set of recognitions come from the New York State School Boards Association. The New York State School Board's Association's Board Excellence Recognition Program is designed to acknowledge those school board members who strive to continually expand their governance, knowledge,
006and skills. Our board members who are being honored tonight have earned one of our board excellence recognition awards. And also these achievement levels are reached when members accumulate points for participating in New York State School Association training workshops, events, and activities as well as for taking on board related roles such as board president and NISPA advocacy liaison. Without further ado, I would like to honor the first award for board achievement from the New York State uh school boards association to Cara Conklin Wingfield through NISBA's board of excellence recognition program and conferring more than 75 points for your ongoing association professional development and or accepting additional leadership roles. The NESPA honors you this evening. Thank you. Additionally, the NISBA recognizes a board excellence award to esteemed board member Monnique Proctor through NISBA's board of excellence recognition
007program, conferring more than 150 points for your ongoing association professional development and/or accepting additional leadership roles. You have been awarded the NISBA board excellence award. Monique profit. In addition receiving one complimentary training as a result and the designation of board mastery award, it goes to Monnique Proctor through NISPA's board of excellence recognition program. conferring more than 250 points for your ongoing professional development and accepting leadership role. The NISPA is recognizing you for board mastery. Let's give it [Applause] up. In addition to the complimentary training they're giving you, they're also awarding you Thank you. um a wonderful New York State school board's portfolio as well. Thank you. Oh, forgot that. I just want to say your education both you and Cara uh going above and beyond definitely shows and it has supported and helped me get
008through understanding some of the um myriad um uh operations of the board. And so I I just appreciate that and um your ongoing training helps in that. So, thank you and I thank you too. And that will be the end of board recognitions for now. I would like to take this moment um a little bit of time for a year in review um of the work of the district and the Southampton schools over this past nine 10 months about 10 um it has been enlightening. I have seen I have I have seen such teamwork, such collaboration, such passion amongst our teachers, our administrators, our board members. Truly, I know that I'm blessed to be here as a superintendent. And what I would love to do at this time is to go through a little bit
009of a walk of what this year has meant for me, for my team, and all the work that has gone into ensuring that Southampton School District is anchored in excellence and poised for the next phase of excellence. And so we start our school year with our why. why we do what we do. And at our board retreat, we all we came together and we talked about some of the hopes and dreams for this new year. At that board retreat, we gelled as a board and I felt truly welcomed by our board members. And I was told by car she needs some goals. And I I delivered those. And it was to enhance instructional leadership practices, diversify curriculum, improve behavioral outcomes, um supporting systemic practices and developing a strategic plan. But within that work, a lot
010happened that led that work to be realized. And it was the hard work of the team, the principles, the assistant principles, the teachers, the assistant superintendent every single day coming in hitting the ground. Some of us at 6 6:45, right, Jean? We're here. We're present. We're ready. And we're rolling. So, I want to talk a little bit about the background of what occurred this year. We have been celebrating our multiculturalism all year on a myriad of events and platforms. We are so proud of who we are as a multicultural community. And it gives me great pride to serve as superintendent where we edify the voices of all children in all cultures in our school community. I am so proud that we serve our Greek community, our Shinnik community, our Latino community, our um um Asian
011community, all of our children, all of our babies are important and need their voices edified. And that's something our district does very well and we continue to do that this year. There are so many recognitions. I can't name them all. But what an opportunity that we had our basketball champions once again be able to go to playoff games under the leadership of our coach Harm Lamson who achieved 500 wins in this year is amazing. These are outstanding feats that many districts can't lay claim to. But here in Southampton, we are anchored in excellence and is across sports. We have sports teams that are scholar standouts. The entire team. You may say, well, what does that mean? That means that there are actually about five or six teams that to earn this recognition that we have
012earned over and over again. There are about five or six teams who have 75% of the team's members are required to hold a GPA above 90 because while we love our sports, education is our primary business. And we know they go hand in hand, but education is our primary business. And we've been scholar athletes for years under the great leadership of our director of athletics, Darren Phillips, and the principles in the schools and so on, and everyone who contribute to this robust uh Southampton athletic um standout opportunities and experiences that we're providing. And you can see an overarching theme of excellence when we have our Daniel McDonald was named to News Day's top 100 Long Island boys baseball players. And you see Rolando Benia Ray recently signed a letter of intent to for his athletic
013pursuits in soccer at Old Westbury. And you see Jake Cook who signed his letter to Sunni Delh High. And it's over and over again. You see um our golfer uh M Ellie Pereima who what news day top 10. This is the Southampton creed. We have seen our our young men go off over and be recognized um by the New York State Public High School Athletic Association for Excellence in Basketball. And it's over and again and again. We have even have a 10year recognition of being recognized as the national banner unified champion school. And you may say, "So what does what does that mean?" South Hampton High School's impressive national banner status from Special Olympics New York has been renewed again and again. We are one of only 36 schools in New York State to have
014received such a designation. An honor that that we were that we've had been awarded since 2019. According to Special Olympics, the distinction marks the highest level of achievement for unified champion schools in the nation. And this is the excellence of Southampton that I am so privileged and honored to lead. Excellence in music education. I've seen it myself at each program, each school, uh all students receiving opportunities to be included in the music program that uh really edifies their learning because we know if you can do good music, you can do good math and you can do good science because the same thinking skills and those same uh schemata that you need to know and understand to do music is also it's also cross transfers to your academics. We're proud of this. Again, a a a
01510y year running um 10 years in a row, Southampton has demonstrated outstanding achievement and efforts to provide music access and education to all students. Our theater programs are thriving in each school. What an amazing opportunity to attend these just robust programs that our community, our teachers, hardworking teachers and staff of teacher assistants and aids. um our custodial staff, all they do in the background to build to make these moments happen that are magical for our students. And when you see the smiles, you know this is where it's at. This is where it's at. And what did we do yesterday? Well, over at Dr. D schools, we designated our first new international thespian honor society because we know drama and theater is everything that makes up the whole child. was whole child wellness. And these students,
016they stood up and out so proudly, so talented and and and they they put on a cabaret show like no other. It was funny, it was witty, it was engaging, there was love in that space. There was commitment in that space. And thank you to the uh our our teacher leader on that, Miss Alex, on that piece. She just amazing. And so we now have this designation. We are expanding CTE opportunities. CTE opportunities like none I've ever seen before. We're able to partner with the Eastern Suff Boseis and Stony Brook University Hospital student. And our students are there learning and getting a certificate and clinical medical assistant. As you can see, they were taking our board members pulses over there. You can see both president uh madame president and madam um proctor over there just
017doing that but then and that happens through who Dr. Mark the Tudill Mr. Little and the guidance department they lead that work and they said come on out to this house Dr. Morel, we want to see it. Want you to see the house in the students who are learning about the construction t trades through our workbased learning program. Stu where students are learning the construction trades with local developer Ed uh Ed Bugen who is doing an amazing job in in in showing our our students about the various strands of building a home because it's not just woodwork. You got to think about electronics. You got to think about plumbing. You have to think about uh uh air conditioner. Uh you have to think about where the water's going and our young people were there and
018they are part of that. Thank you to Dr. Tutill and Mr. Bulge Budget. But we we also have career exploration at every level in our intermediate school in our um elementary school. There's career exploration going on all year long. And we're proud of that because we are exposing our young people to what life could be, what promise they have as young people in Southampton. And we're going to continue to build and nurture that. This is our why. This is why I am here. This is why we are here. Great SEAL days at each school this year. Amazing. We started in September uh started uh uh early with uh a few uh high leverage experience for our kids where they're able to uh be vulnerable in their emotions, be vulnerable in how they they talk to
019one another and and and and and be shown kindness and why kindness is so important and leadership. and our students their voices were elevated in these spaces to now we have students who will come and they will talk to you about their leadership and how much how important it is for them to continue with their seal uh uh learning and that's again thank you Dr. Zan uh thank you principal Benson thank you Dr. Boter thank you uh uh Dr. Fernandez because it takes a team our assistant principles Dr. Epley uh Miss McCoy Dr. Mitchell um um and Mrs. Nvice, all of our assistant principles and principles and Dr. Martha Tio made this happen in the buildings and working collaboratively is how we got that done for three opportunities and the faces, the smiles, the feelings
020of accomplishment our children felt after these opportunities and worthiness and self-concept development and elevation is just immeasurable. and then my brother's keeper designation. So we had been trying for many many years to become an MBK community to open up this opportunity not just for some but for all students in the Southampton schools and it took a lot of work and there were a lot of stakeholders there were a lot of teachers at the table there were parents at the table the Shinnok Nation led this work we were there in partnership with them and what happened well we got that state designation and we have our MBK fellows And we have opportunities now that we otherwise would not have in terms of funding and assistance from the state that moves our district forward forward for all
021children. Very proud of that. And we launched my sister's keeper at SIS again building camaraderie, building sisterhood, building kindness, building a great leadership, nature rashard, just building uh what what it means to be a middle school girl. um and and and and um Southampton and how you navigate as a middle school learner and uh feel proud of who you are and look in the mirror and love yourself. My sister's keeper. And then Latino Voices United said, "You better come meet us because we're advocates. We're advocates for wanting to go to college. We're advocates for wanting access and equity. We're advocates for we want our voices heard. We want a opportunity to have programs too um to to make sure that we're included. And I heard them loudly and I'm so appreciative of the advisors of
022their programs that pull this together and make it work. Black Girl Magic feature on the front page of the news. It's just um an opportunity where you know to have imagine standing in the steps this the shoes of a 16year-old girl and having a piece of artwork at a major museum being exhibited and what they talked about in that newspaper is their sisterhood. And I went to that exhibit and I met with them and they talked about we work together collaboratively. They had a lot of ideas around collaboration. PTO all year long our trunk or treat our homecoming. You can see the parent support our parents care our DEP meetings our shared decision-making meetings. We want to continue to support and to elevate parent involvement through our PTO programs in OLA and OPPL community building
023through book study. It was such an amazing experience. Dr. Boter, Dr. Martina Squentes, we led this here book study in our district and we elevated the voices of our staff around kindness and belonging. Our board members were coming, our board members were pro were particip participating in this. our assistant principal some principles sometimes it was it was s such an amazing opportunity for us to build community and I so love this and look forward to the next well we had so many staff members who were recognized for their excellence we had Mrs. Durier. She was recognized for her CTD excellence. Um she was uh she's Southampton Intermediate School's family and commu community sciences teacher and she was learn named the Long Island facts teacher of the year and then she was presented at Hopster University
024in March and doc director of food services Reagan Kimbach and Darren Phillips were honored with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Outstanding Community Cooperative Community Education Award on wellness on wellness. And then um they also earned uh an award for demonstrating the Cornell cooperative mission by volunteering and participating in programs. I've never seen a community who volunteers and participates more than our community. We are all over the place. Our kids know about service. They know about helping others. They know what it means to give back to others and not look for anything in return. And this is what's being taught. Miss Vitiluch, she was a um awarded the Stainies Fellows New Teacher Conference Award. Amazing chemistry teacher. The award recognizes the future promise of a new teacher. What a promising opportunity for our teacher to be recognized
025in that way. So we see excellence in education across the spectrum in the Southampton schools. strong partnership with Bridge Hampton Center, willing to work with us hand in hand in whatever projects we foresee. They provided a leadership opportunity experience and front row seats to a New York Knicks game. It was an amazing elevating experience for our young people and I'm so happy to partner with them. partnering with the Rotary Club, the Rotary Club and how they award our kids each and every single month and all the uh Rotary Interact opportunities that students when they tell the story, it really comes to life. They tell you about how much how important it is to give back and to do service and to help others. And that's all the Rotary Way. And I'm so proud to be
026a member of the Rotary Club and to have a strong partnership. Our dual language program is second to none. We had an article there in early October, merging two different worlds, a deep dive into Southampton School District's dual language program. And our young people spoke about how it was that they didn't know one another, but they start to be begin to love each other through this program, seeing each other's differences and accepting each other for who they are and um understanding multiple perspectives and multiple cultures and how all of us are important and kind and need to be elevated. And we started our conversations with elevating student voice around exeicio student board members. And we're so proud that some of them will come to get received by and approved by the board. But the conversation
027was really uh important that they came and they talked about how they elevate their voices and why it is why it is so important that they have a voice on the board and what they hope to get and gain for kids. And these are sharp young people. There are already changes at the high school. The kids are going outside for lunch. The kids are uh able to uh have a little bit more freedom in some aspects because of the advocacy of these students. And we opened our new district office building. What an amazing opportunity to stand side by side with my board president and cut the ribbon after Marcus uh Marcus Dilva did a yman's job in getting this building ready and open. Um, we knew we weren't going to pay another $225,000 in that
028other building, so we had to be out. And Marcus and his team and I threw them a lunch in because they worked like the Dickens and they got that building open and it is amazingly beautiful and a great charm and something our entire Southampton community can be proud of. And this board and those before this board and many before are the ones who made this possible. And then the playground project, what an amazing opportunity back in October to be able to go there and see the smiles on the children's faces after their $342,000 new playground was installed. And again, Marcus Dilva uh uh just doing the work, the great work of the district and our facilities department and his whole team. And it was just so amazing and I appreciate uh the board was there,
029the children spoke, raised their voices and this was a proud moment. We have college acceptances all over the place including Ivy League colleges like Cornell. We even have colleges uh you know Massachusetts and Amherst uh kids going to the United States Marine Courts, Indiana University. This is the work forom. I love forom. I wanted my daughter to go. Uh this is a beautiful Jesuit college. There's Stony Brook just all the amazing opportunities. That's the hard work of a building principal, guidance counselors. But it doesn't start in high school. It starts in prek. And then you got steam and action. What amazing opportunities in our wet lab our kids are having every single day. And look at what happened at Hopstra this past. Look, this past March when our robotics team competed again in the robotics
030first competition under the great leadership of Dr. Melissa Mitchell and they were cooking. They was a marinators and it was a feat to watch them and they were so proud and they walked down the aisle with their hats on and they were ready and they did an amazing job and hung in there. That's how Hampton went. That's how we do it. And then the military enlistment ceremony. What an opportunity to be with my superintendent colleagues from West Hampton Beach and um um Hampton Bays and Lars, the president of the superintendence uh uh uh superintendent council was it was amazing to and have their students come join our students and commit this selfless act this selfless act of giving to our country. Amazing. this courageous, selfless act of these young people who have made a commitment
031to go and protect the freedoms we all take advantage of every day to protect our freedoms. And thank you, Miss Thea Pride, for all you do to make that happen. And and and just the setup, the dignified experience, the entire thing was just amazing. And we implemented our school support visits. Thank you, Dr. about it was amazing. We were able to go into our schools in a very non-threatening way and said, "We want to be a partner with you. We want to support. We want to look at instruction. We don't want to do this isn't I gota we're here to support and to help because we think that we can move our students in ways when we work collaboratively and when we are talking and speaking about instruction in ways that may be threatening for
032some but for us it was courageous talk and we are making movement and I I I I can't wait to see what next year brings and then the shin curriculum was a hallmark this year lot of conversation but the collaborative work that occurred between the district team and the Shinik Nation team. Was it easy? Of course not. Did we get it done? Yes, we did. Because we're talking. We're communicating. We're saying, "What's important to you? What's important to you? Okay, we can't agree on that. We can agree on this. Okay, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's make this possible for all of our children because it's not about one group. All children need to know who we are as a community and all the various aspects that make us community, including the history of
033the lands that we stand on. And the budget passed. And I want to welcome Mr. Rodney Chip Pearson and Miss Laura Wright in July to our board. And I want to say thank you to the community. Thank you for your belief in me and my team. Thank you, Jean Mingo, for your brilliance and your excellence in this regard. Thank you. All of our propositions passed. Everything we thought was important for children, not for any old granny idea for ourselves, but what's in the best interest for our students here in the Southampton schools. And that was the result when the community said, "We get it." Thank you community. Thank you board for allowing this to happen. And now what the most important thing we do is education. That is what we do. That's a business. And
034these here students have shown through gathering averages cumulative four years of steady consistent work in support from the teachers. Support. What are the teachers doing? This is the work of the teachers. This is why I said South Hampton second to none. Second to none. Don't tell me about my district. I know what happens out here and I've seen it. These kids are our Kum Ladi graduates and that means that they have between an 89 and 91 average. There's so many of them. Look at our modern kungli graduates. They have between a 92 and 94. And the sumokes, they left it all in the field with 95 and above averages. I'm proud of this. I'm proud of the children. I'm proud of the families. I'm proud of the work that we're doing, but I know that
035no one does it alone. This is an effort. Thank you, Estee board and Southampton district community for all your support and making this such a successful school year. Not not for me, for our children, for our children. Because at the end of the day, that's who it's all about. But no one does it alone. Each and every one of us is an integral part of the success that I just rolled up in this year review. Each of us at this in this room, we all have a part to play and we're playing it. Everyone needs room for improvement and that's what we work on. Thank you. Thank you so much Dr. Mor. That was a beautiful presentation. You're welcome. Good evening everyone. I just want to say thank you Dr. Morel for that amazing overview
036of that's not all that you've done but that was a lot and um to that I say congratulations to yourself for your hard work for your planning for your teamwork um for going navigating the waters of Southampton okay and the many different challenges that it comes with. Um, I really am grateful and that simply shows by the students and each time the students come up here, they talk so highly of you. They talk about how their lives have been transformed, how they are able to now speak confidently. The the children on your superintendent's cabinet, I heard so many great things about, you know, we really feel empowered. you know, I guess they received like a very nice uh planner and when I tell you the kids, they're they're they're official. That planner made them official.
037And it's just little things like that, caring, nurturing, um expanding and collaborating. And you've done an amazing job, a phenomenal job, and I only expect for things to get better. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Steam board member Crocker. Appreciate that. It's a team effort with the board and myself doing everything. So, I just want to also just make sure that we continue to remember there's no way I'm doing all of that. The staff, I really have to take my hats off to make sure they're recognized because a lot of that is how they work with me this year. And I really appreciate it. But thank you. Does anybody else have any comments they'd like to make? Thank you again for that presentation. That was beautiful. Um, so we'll move on to the
038administrator's report. Assistant superintendent for business, Jean Mango. Thank you, Madam President. Um, I actually don't have anything to report on. Um, we met on with the audit and finance committee. Um, sure. It was an experience for us really to have something to talk about, right? Um so at audit and finance this meeting um I I felt very enlightened with our speaker from one of our um external auditors, financial auditors and um he really broke down the overview of how uh fiscal responsibility and auditing happens throughout the year and like the timeline when things are expected how many times they come and uh I'm just proud to say that on our newest uh audit there were no findings again. So again, thank you Dean and I'm very grateful for um I like to know I like
039to be aware we get big packets binders if you will okay with numbers and numbers and numbers okay we all need to understand that. So sometimes we don't. And I appreciate things like this to help us break it down. And we're human. You guys are experts. So I appreciate that. Yeah. I I understand sometimes when I present the information, this volume of information, but I also am always open to any questions that you may have. Even if it's not in the meeting, you want to stop by my office and have a conversation about something you don't understand. My door is always open because I know how difficult sometimes it is to digest all that information. And if you don't work with numbers every day, I can't make the assumption that you understand every detail in
040the budget. So feel free to call, stop by. I'm always there to help or educate whenever you need that. Thank you. And I appreciate all of your explanations over the many many years because we've had a lot of conversations about things that Jackie just like I don't understand that. I don't understand the percentage. Jean explain it to me. But you always have. So thank you. Especially we don't have a math teacher. We don't have our math teacher on there anymore. Jean, you forgot the most important thing. Our budget passed. I mean, you better congrat. Thank you to the voters and everything. Absolutely. Thank you to the voters because I know without them we would not have the finances and the resources to do all that we do. So I definitely say thank you and appreciate
041the voters. I just want to follow up Jackie you saying um how you have a lot of questions. You asked you made a statement. I'm not sure if it was a statement or question about the board going over our board budget and Jean enlightened me. We didn't go over our budget. No. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Anything else, Mr. Mingo? Um, no other reports. Um, again, we're reviewed by the audit and finance committee. So, unless you have any questions, that's all. Does anybody else have any questions? So, we will move on to Dr. Botcher, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Okay. Um tonight I just want to let you know you're going to see some um personnel items on the agenda for our summer programs that are being planned for and executed now.
042Um you will see more summer um personnel items at the next meeting as well. Just wanted to give you a heads up on that and thank you for supporting the summer program. Um, in addition, our DIP and SCAP committee meetings that, you know, we're having um around creating a school improvement plan for this for the SIS and the district continue will continue next week. Right now, we're conducting interviews with students at each building. Um, we are interviewing about 20 students at each building. We'll compile all that data to present um to our committee on Tuesday so that we can produce a finalized plan to you hopefully um at the next meeting for approval and then submittal to the state. Great. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions for Dr. Ber? Okay, we will move on
043to our committees. Um, audit and finance committee. Uh, Mrs. Proctor and Mrs. White Dun gave us a little update on that. Is there anything else that you want to say? Okay. Um, personnel committee met on May 28th and reviewed everything on the agenda this evening. Did anybody from personnel have any comments? Okay. And the merger committee um this complimented Yes, I have an update. the merger committee met for um I believe it was May 15th. But just a little um recap on what we accomplished for the year since this uh committee will be um reorganizing and some other board members joining in. So um both boards this year both Southampton and Taco boards resolved to pursue a consolidation feasibility study a centralization feasibility study and um that followed the board's meeting jointly in um the
044summer here and then in the fall with our attorneys at Taho and following that we formed a joint committee to continue the discussions that's what three of our board members our administration one of Tahoe board members and their administration met together several times this spring. I think that was really productive on a lot of levels. Um and also discussing the merger and it's you know merger details but also the um just developing that and building that relationship and clear communication. So um we made it clear, this board made it clear from the beginning and I just want to share this publicly that um again that our goal is to realize budget savings through a merger and that we um we're not going to put anything forward after a study that would have a tax increase.
045That was never our intention. So looking ahead to next term, there's three things on um the table right now. The committees jointly developed an RFP that was uh reviewed by both schools attorneys and it's been issued by the purchasing office. So the next work to do we'll see if we get any um proposals to uh conduct the joint feasibility study and then Dr. Morell is working on arranging another training with NISED. This is something we did back in the fall um about the different types of merger, but this is more on the process of central centralizing should um that go forward. Just so everybody's well aware, it's a complicated process that involves um dissolving two districts and forming a new one. And there's also a questionnaire out there that's designed to identify shared concerns and
046visions of the boards. We're going to have that um have the boards after reorganization all uh fill that online survey out. It'll just be a first tool to see um see the shared vision and hopefully refine the part of the study the survey so it could be used in other applications. So that's my full update. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions? All right. Thank you very much. Good luck to everyone. Yes. Pursuing this in the future. Okay, I'm going to move on to um policy. The policy committee met on May 15th. Um is there any comments from the policy committee? I'm not on the policy committee, but I I wanted to review the policies. Okay. Um so we have no f policies for first reading and expedited adoption. The policies we have up for
047second reading. Um policy 9240 recruiting and hiring and policy 9240R recruitment and selection regulation for second reading is presented. Is there any discussion on that? Yeah, I just want to discuss the recruitment and selection. um here um you know we go over all the hiring and all the committees um I know right now we don't have community members on any kind of committees that involve tenure down um you know I know we do it with the admin committees um looks like we're adding a ton of people a few people on here um that we need to look at because I I don't know we're we're changing up these committees and adding um community members and I just don't think we should have anybody from outside the school district on those committees for tenure jobs or
048um below. I think those are jobs that should be hired by the the building heads and moving forward, especially if we're going to have, you know, 10 15 hires in a year. You know, trying to pull together committees of six, seven, eight people to do all that would really delay the process and stuff. Um, that's just my opinion. I don't know if anybody else here feels the same way when they look through that. Um, so for tenure, so tenured and lower, um, anybody that is not a removing anybody on the committees that are not a school staff member. So, I'm just looking for um, yeah, I don't understand why. I mean, that to me that's something that the building principal should be doing. um we have them as the leaders and um we put our
049faith in them to hire uh people and I think it does get a little bogged down when you include more people to hiring committees. Um yeah would just be the probationary and leave replacement. Um, and then we go on to the permanent subs and the co-curricular and coaching positions like that. I just feel like that should all be done within the building by the administration. Maybe the committee can just kind of go over with us like what the thought process was because it looks like a lot of the stuff was like newly written or to emulate or to mimic um what we do for the admin process. So, I'm just curious about how that conversation in the policy committee or what it was because I do feel like at that level I I I agree
050with you um with you both, but I'm open to hearing what the thought process was. So, anyone from the policy committee? [Music] Um, I think we were talking, weren't we? um the focus was more when we were discussing it on um lead leadership positions and then I'm I'm open to redising not having community members for the lower like tenure level positions and subs and things like that. Do you remember Jine? Well, my my thought process on it was that it's hard enough filling the um all the spots for administrative positions, but it doesn't hold up the process that you move on with it if you don't if you don't get someone, you just don't get someone for that spot. And I don't think you're going to have I don't think people have that kind of
051time. There's a lot of hiring. Yeah. Didn't we say that we were going to allow the opportunity but not mandate or because you there's no way because that's a lot of hiring. It's a lot of hiring constantly. I mean Dr. Z and Benson can weigh in on that. So, how do you currently typically our um our teacher processes have been administrators and then members of the SDA is how we've worked at and that's because of just the sheer number of processes we have to go through the timing of them you know trying to make sure coordinates a lot of coordination so we've always kept it um internally to the administrators of the building and then teacher repres representatives or faculty representatives. And I think the the other thing with that is the the it's not
052so much the community representation in that process. It's how that process takes place and who is selected for those hiring committees in general. That's the that's the bigger issue. Um in the past, I agree with you. I think that um I know that well I believe and I could be wrong that uh the teachers are nominated by their peers or through the STA they are I don't know how the teachers are chosen what teachers it as an example um typically if it's a math position I start with a math department chair um and then we'll talk about another candidate um so it's it's usually one of those teacher leaders is the first starting point that I start with and then um we go from That's usually we always start with the teacher leaders the people
053that are holding those department chair positions and others but in a room we try to have two faculty representative is that that's two administrative or two STA two so it's two SDA so two STAs and one to two administrative I'd be just leaving it the same way we do it now just me having something in there that like it dictates toward the um like department. So, if it's a math job, it should be going to math job should be going, right? Or something people that because they do lesson plans and stuff too, right? Like they're in those hiring committees. So, you should have people that are in there. I just think, you know, when you get outside the school with how many the sheer number of people we hire, it would just put these things
054together and sending all those emails all the time to everybody and I think it would just um slow the process. It would definitely be coordinate. Yeah. and you know and community members and parents and stuff and they're not as familiar with the lesson plans that they're looking at as you know I'm I don't know what you know I'm not a teacher I don't know lesson plans um but if you went up there and presented a math lesson plan to me I'd sit there and go looks great got no clue what I'm looking at here you know um where I think a teacher can um can fit so I would I would make motion we make that change also the one piece to consider too as part of these process we go into classroom with students.
055Um, so you're in actual live classrooms for demo lessons and everything too. So I think there's some implications. I would also like to say um to follow up on Mr. Smith's point about the diversity of who is chosen to be on there, I almost feel like it should be like a lottery system that it's just the luck of the draw who gets to go in. maybe one of the people um because you do often see a lot of the same people at the table and it would be nice to see other faces, you know, even a newer teacher or um but you know that's something that I guess the STA would have to consider themselves, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I think that was like like I said the bigger issue as opposed to and I
056understand what you're saying Dr. on about how you you know you start with the one and you know you work your way down but it would be nice to see a little mix up in people that are in there. So um this is meeting your meeting tomorrow Wednesday. Um so um do we want to leave this off or how do we do that? I don't know. I'm asking I don't know how to I just want to let you tomorrow I got I'm working a double yeah you somebody Zach is sitting in for um yeah it's in there will be there'll be so how do we do that can we table this for this evening or you can you can do that if you would like right now this is just a second reading so you're
057not actually adopting this polic so that's the reason why we have the process so that you can get feedback from your board, fellow board members as a committee and any member of the public who might want to come and speak about it as well. Um, so the motion that you have uh tonight is just to review this and now it's incumbent upon the policy committee members to take what they've heard tonight back to policy committee to work on changing what happened. But then we only have one more reading before it has Oh, you can. Okay. Doesn't mean that it has to automatically go to Right. So I we don't have to say we're not doing the second reading. No, we're accepting the second reading. That's totally up to you guys. Oh, I'm just Do you
058want Do you want to table the second reading until we look at it again? Is that okay with everybody? Okay. And then what about the other contractual positions? You like Yeah, I I agree like the administrative jobs, those are important jobs. So it should be the hiring communities as as we know. I just feel like you start to get down to some of those other ones like like yeah it'd be nice to have community member and two teachers and the athletic director and stuff all the coaches but you we're begging people to coach kind of thing and you you know how many spots you're filling where I think you'd um better off just kind of skinny those down a little bit and leaving them within the building. We might wind up in that case throwing
059some people on the committee into those coaching jobs. You don't want to show up because you're Okay. So, may I have a motion to table policy 9240, recruiting and hiring and policy 9240R, recruitment and selection regulations? Motion second. All in favor? Any oppos? Okay. Did I do that? Okay. So, we have don't have any policies for first reading tonight. Policies currently under committee review are the recruiting and hiring and um policy 5695 students and personal electronic devices. Policy slated for committee review. There's so many. Policy 4531, field trips and excursions. Policy 4531R, field trips regulations. Policy 4531E, field trips, exhibits, district field trip approval form. Policy 4531E2, field trips exhibit parental approval form. Policy 4531E3, field trips exhibit checklist and response. Policy 5300, code of conduct. Policy 5420, student health services. Policy 5420R, student health
060service regulation. Policy 6640 inventories. Policy 8414.6 idling prohibition for buses and other school vehicles. I I just have one question about those slated. I know Dr. We had talked about with um like field trips and overnight trips and how people get chosen for like the Europe trip, you know, and stuff. Is that kind of is that part of that field trip review? I know we haven't gotten to it, but is that what kind of spurred that to get on to that policy? Well, um no, that that wasn't why. Um I just saw I was like trips. um happening without um a clear understanding of the approvals. Okay. And then um we have some field trips that we try and find we're trying to be clear on educational purpose. Yep. And so that's what spurred that
061on. And then there were there conflicting um they're conflicting forms for approvals that we have to get one and like one form said one thing another said. So there was a lot of confusion around that for our teachers. So I'm gonna Okay. Revisit that policy and get it in line. Um Okay. Yeah. Because I know we had talked about like what was that that was personnel when we talked about the trips and who gets chosen for the stuff. So okay cool. We can definitely well yeah there's enough here slated to to last a while and I really hope that the policy committee will um move code of conduct up towards the top. This is something that I've really tried to get a handle on for eight years now and for one reason or another, it
062just has not come up um with implementation of restorative practices, movement of different uh personnel, whatever. But it really is very important and we really need to get that updated. So I hope that policy committee will make that one a priority. See, Jack, you took eight years and you got it in the six spot in the queue waiting. You know that that's progress. That's progress. There you go. Okay, we will move on to consent agenda items. Are there any consent agenda items from 1201 through 12.54 that any member wishes to discuss or has questions about? Uh, yeah. 12.54. Okay. Yeah. Go ahead. Questions. Yeah. Um, this is the Stony Brook Agreement that we saw. I think it's a wonderful program. Um, this is for future scholars, right? It's 13 per year, Dr. Morel, that um
063that um can go into this program and then from my understanding they start in seventh grade, right? and they go forward and like if they complete the program they get automatically accepted into Stony Brook. Is that um Well, they get free tuition. Oh, they get free tuition and stuff. Okay. Which is like a a wonderful Yeah. I So I just said Yeah. Upon successful completion of the program, students are accepted to Stony Brook University will be eligible for 4-year tuition free education. Okay. I just wanted to because I thought it was a wonderful program. I don't know if you just explain how to and because we saw I saw the email in there and I know you you've been having discussions with them for months, right? And they kind of came in May. We got
064to rush it to get it to get it in. I know there's a there's kind of a lot of planning in this, right? Because we have to have classrooms and advisors, all stuff. So I I just want to know like I if you explain because I thought it was a great program and um how we're gonna do it here. they have extended extended the deadline in terms of when we can have everything in. Um obviously they're running into trouble with districts getting this approved and um you know in such a fast at such a fast pace but um it's a really great opportunity for um students who um you know it's it's more for economically disadvantaged students and uh you know they would be eligible for this. And then there's mentoring. There's um there's um
065so the the program is a five-year pre-ol program designed to foster academic growth, social development, and personal enrichment. Um among students beginning in the seventh grade and continuing through high school. So some components of the program is uh mentoring, academic support, enrichment workshops and tutoring, leadership development and um opportunities for uh you know as they get older job shadowing and exposure. So it would start in the seventh grade and then it would roll up 13 kids I think they said 13 kids each year. Okay. Until we have it rolled all the way up to senior year. So, and you can't we can't bring kids like if they're already in 10th grade, they can't jo it has to start in seventh. Yes. That's a So, it's like the active sixth graders now would be the eligible.
066Yes. So, no, it's not um they want you to run the whole program to get that free tuition at Stony Brook. Okay. So, it' be like two years before it goes to the high school and Right. Yes. So, I'm sure we have a lot more than Sorry, Darene. I I just wanted to add that Stony Brook University already has a partnership with uh Shinyak Nation and they offer several scholarships to Shinap children every year. So this is one of those and we've been working on the relationship with Stony Brook University and had that relationship and I think this is one of those instances where the relationship that we built with Shinny Cap and Stony Brook University is filtering into to expand and help all students of the district. So this is one prime example of
067how that works. Yeah. I mean like we're what we're what over 60% um economically disadvantaged here. 50%. So how that's all for now, but they can expand their program later. But right now they're just doing the 13, I guess, because it's so new and they don't want to take on too because it's us. It's East Hampton. is Hampton Bay is uh West Hampton Beach is if they're like and this would be for kids that wanted to stay local really for college too. It wouldn't be for, you know, every kid. It would be for the kids that want, right? Because it once yeah, which I mean I think stay local. Wonderful thing. And then do we we need to have an advisor with the program, right? According to it, like or someone in the school lead,
068I don't know. There's going to be have to be a point person. Okay. Um I'm I'm hoping it's just one of the guidance counselors that can do that. Um since this is a college pre-ol prepared this program um that will be the point person for it. Um but it seems to me that they do the bulk of this work and then they do it here at so we'll start here in seventh grade. So okay they will they would have um you know use of our facilities for some things so that they could do it on school grounds. Yeah. rather than having the kids always go. Have we identified any of those like office? I know we have plenty of empty spaces with the Dr. Chill. Have we identified like the because we're going we start
069here right in the intermediate school start we have to give provide access to classrooms, office space, media centers, auditorium, right? That would be um I mean the kids are in school so that would probably be after school hours and Saturdays and things like that. It wouldn't be during the school day. Is there any way that we could have someone from Stony Brook coming give a presentation? How long did they extend the deadline? Um they extended the deadline until the fall. Okay. Um, I think that it would be really great if somebody could come and give us more details, maybe answer the questions about, you know, like what do you need, you know, how big of a class or Dr. Till she has the information. Dr. Till has been trying to um work with them to
070um get some of those questions answered. So, I'll tell her to reach out to them and have them come in. Yeah. Tutill has been great, fantastic with the relationship with even been the catalyst in this and right and um I as far as I know with this program there's no downside to the district. Yeah. Um right I don't even know if any president I just you know Dr. Todd Hill wanted to have a meeting with Patrick and the the heads here and um with Stony Brook and they can kind of work out the details of this because I I when I saw this and then I I even was talking to my dad about on the phone he was like like he was shocked about like the benefits of this program and stuff. So I
071think it's a great thing. I think we just need to have a kind of a meeting in the building to work at some of the logistics of it which we have plenty of time when it comes Yeah. Now that it's still fall that's fantastic. Okay. I will um get them to uh do a presentation. Okay. Do they need this sign to get a full, you know, to come to present? Yeah. Do they need this sign back to like start that reservation? Should we table this till the next meeting until they need or what? Why would we table it? That's why I didn't know if they needed it back. No, I think we can just go ahead on and approve it and then So, if we have until the fall, we can bring them in. Okay.
072um probably July um when their calendars are available to get on the you know so everyone's understanding not the same you just want to update the contract right huh you want to update the date of the contract if they're going to table if they're going to postpone it you have to update the date of the contract well for postponing it well they I don't I don't think the date of the contract would matter because they can't start until they're ready right Oh, okay. Because it says May 1st. The term runs from May 1st, 2025 to August 3rd, but it looks like we can terminate at any time without cause. Yeah. Do we want to just X that June? What's today? Third. Can we do that with her signature on it already? Nope. Right. Um, so
073it would have the agreement would have to be changed. Where does it say from May? It's just the beginning. We I mean I I think Dr. Morell could probably just initial next to that date and cross it out and put a new one on there. It's not signed by us parties. What are you What are you referring to? It says the term runs from May 1st, 2025 to August 2030, right? So it's not going to start May 1st. Well, passed away, right? And her signature is May 6th. Yeah. So, so that's what we're asking. Do we need to change the start date? Like, do we need a new contract with a different start date? I don't think so. I think you could readiness in between this time. Did you just cross out that start date
074and then initial in between? Okay. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions on the All right. So, um are there any consent agenda items from 1201 through 12.54 that any member wishes to discuss? Any other um consent agenda item wishes to discuss or ask questions about other than that one? I will hold out consent agenda item 12.01 for a roll call vote. Are there any other consent agenda items from 1202 through 12.54 that any member wishes to hold out for separate action? Um may I have a motion to adopt the following resolution? Be it resolved that the board of education of the Southampton Union Free School District hereby denies the student suspension appeal concerning confidential student A discussed in executive session and authorize the board president to send notice of the decision to
075the family with a roll call vote. Motion second. Will the clerk please call the RO? Yes. Robert Zachary. Yes. Monique Proctor, yes. Jaclyn Robinson, yes. Sugarland, yes. Germaine Smith, I abain. Oh, I have to. Yeah. No, I apologize. Uh, Ruth B. Yes. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve consent agenda items 1202 through 12.54 as presented in the agenda? Motion. Thank you. All in favor? I Any opposed? So carried. Amy, are there any financial items from 1301 through 1311 that any member wishes to discuss or has questions about? I will hold out financial item 1311 for separate action with a roll call vote. Are there any other financial items from 1301 through 1311 that any member wishes to hold out for separate action? May I have a motion to approve financial items 1301
076through 1310 as presented in the agenda? Second. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? So carried. May I have a motion to approve financial item 1311 approving a resolution authorizing the issuance of not to exceed $18 million tax anticipation notes in anticipation of of the receipt of taxes to be leveled for the first year ending June 30th, 2026 as presented to the roll call vote. Second, please call. Yes. Robert Zachary, yes. Proctor, yes. Jaclyn Robinson, yes. Yes. Jermaine Smith, yes. and repeat them. Yes. Are there any personnel items from 1401 through 6 that any member wishes to discuss or has questions about? Are there any personnel items 1401 1-6 that any member wishes to hold out for separate action? May I have a motion to approve personnel items 1401 1-6 as presented in the agenda?
077Motion. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? So carried. Are there any personnel items from 1402, 7- 10, 12- 16, 18- 20, 22- 25, 28-39, or 41- 57 that any member wishes to discuss or has questions about? Are there any personnel items from 1402, 7-10, 12- 16, 18- 20, 22- 25, 28-39, or 41- 57 that any member wishes to hold out for separate action? Yes. Could you please hold out number 56? May I have a motion to approve personnel items 1402, 7- 10, 12- 16, 18- 20, 22- 25, 28- 39, 41- 55, and 57 is presented in the agenda? Motion. Second. All in favor? I I. Any opposed? So carried. May I have a motion to approve personnel item 140256 as presented in the agenda? Motion. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstain?
078I abain. The motion is carried. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of the May 6, 2025 public hearing for the 2025 2026 budget, the May 6, 2025 meeting, regular meeting, the May 15, 2025 special meeting, the May 20th, 2025 at annual budget vote and board of education election, and the May 20th, 2025 work session meeting is presented. Second. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. See everybody so much faster to approve and say I when we want to welcome all the new teachers. Um we are at our second round of public comments this evening. Before I read the whole paragraph again, is there any public comments this evening? Okay, then we will move on to new business items not on the agenda. Anybody have any new business? No, but can I
079can I just say something? I wanted to I know Jamie doesn't want to fanfare. So, I first of all, I just wanted to congratulate you on your tenure. Um, I've seen you from assistant principal and make your way up to assistant superintendent curriculum and um I just wanted to wish you well in your endeavor and sad to see you go. Thank you for all you've done for this district, for the students and merch is is getting a good one. So, thank you. It's been an honestly it's been a pleasure being I appreciate everything. Yes. Thank you, J. What's that? I got one. I I just want to acknowledge so my my daughter's in fourth grade and she's moving up to fifth grade and you guys had those what was it? Buddy days. Um and I
080just want to say how wonderful that was. Um she came home and like couldn't sit still and stop talking about like going to the intermediate school. I guess I guess she had she had Dylan that was her buddy. Dylan wonderful. Thank you. Um Kelly Kelly's mom. Thank you guys. You was wonderful. And took her around and you know she was up till like 11:00 at night bouncing off the wall. And then I got a Amazon shopping cart request of things for her locker. Um and told that it's going to be expensive here because the snacks are so exp are so nice that she's going to have to buy them all. And um but I I just want to acknowledge you and your staff because doing that like made her so comfortable coming over. Um and
081I know how scary middle school can be. So thank you. Um it was really wonderful and she like can't wait to get in this building next year and have periods and change classes. So um thank you. Please. That's awesome. And it was a wonderful time having everybody. Um everybody was safe. Everyone had a good time. Uh the lunch was amazing. Uh we are having a meeting uh Thursday night for all the fourth grade parents to come in, learn about the program, tour the wing, and while the parents are meeting, all the fourth grade kids are going to go skating with the fifth grade kids and have a buddy day skate night also. That's Thursday night also. So very excited. Six o'clock here. Thank you. I will say that um Patrick, you were here when my
082son came over for buddy day, but he still has the letter on his bulletin board at home that he had such a nice time with. I don't even remember who it was, but he had such a great time with the young man that he was paired up with. So, it is really an amazing opportunity that we give to the kids because I don't know, Zach, did you have buddy day? Monique, did you have buddy day when we were in high? You did? Oh, I didn't. They just said go. So, we we had one from Tuck where when you were in eighth grade, you got to go spend the day in high school. Oh, yeah. And then I got in trouble with my buddy for playing games which appeared and ended up in in school suspension
083and then had to explain that I got in school suspension when I wasn't a student at school. So, but it was fun. It was good. I I'll confess I bought a ticket to the pool long group my freshman year. So, nobody had a school. We're good. Everyone was good. There was no Zach. Okay. Um I'm Yes, of course. Yes. Um I would just like to rewind back to not last board meeting because I wasn't here but the board meeting prior um but we had a community out here uh responding to the anonymous letter incident. Um I don't know what was said or if anything was said at the last board meeting in response to those um complaints, if you will. Um, but I just want to say this. I am a I grew up here.
084I went to these school districts and I never saw I don't know if it's just my humble spirit or or what. I did not experience what my children are now experiencing um in terms of racism. Okay. Now, that anonymous letter was read by my 21-year-old daughter who only graduated from here less than three years ago with her black girl magic stash on, whatever those things are called when they graduate. Okay. She wore it proudly. Thank you, Dr. Z, for crowning her. Okay. As she walked across the stage, okay, I appreciate that. Um, however, I do not appreciate, you know, how my son feels. He is part of the MBK communities and he enjoys it when he does attend. He he he's very choicy and sometimes he doesn't want to go, but when he does attend,
085he enjoys it thoroughly. And I say that to say this, it's not just for my son. This is for all kids. We are here to elevate all kids. Not just the kids that could go to Italy, but the kids that can go to the Knicks game. You know what I'm saying? So, I'm just going to say this deeply hurts me as I go back to Little Girl Mon'nique. It makes me very sad. And for let's just rewind again or maybe fast forward to April of last year when we the community tried this stunt for the first time. Okay. What was it? April 16th, Dr. Morel's appointment. That was very illplanned and very laughable. Okay. It brought out the best and the worst of this community and I really thought the community was going to change.
086However, we fast forward to a year forward now, April again, right when it's time for tenures, uh, appointments, contracts, and we get another anonymous letter. How timely, how amazing. Just shows who we are as a community. Did we learn anything? Did we evolve? We are here for children. Correct. What are we showing our children when we continuously do these disgusting antics that degrade some of our children and not elevate all. Okay? And with that I say investigation. I said it last time and I'll say it again and I'll continue to say it because let me just show you this. This is our school. envelope with the little paper sticker with our addresses on it, our personal information. I'm not going to show this person's address, but this is the same sticker just with the names
087cut off that was strategically placed in certain household mailboxes. That's that's unacceptable. And for us to just say, "Oh, we don't respond to anonymous letters." Well, when it comes to certain people, maybe we won't respond because that's something, you know, we can work that out. But as an African-American female living in the United States of America in this time, that's not okay. We will respond. We have responded. And the the joke's over. The next letter will be placed exactly where it belongs and you can take a guess if you would like. And with that I say thank you. And with that I say Southampton do better because we want to lead with love. We want to lead with everything that we want our children to have. Compassion, empathy, social emotional emotional regulation skills. Okay. ego.
088We want to teach them what the ego is. And we want to teach them, should you have it or should you let it go so that you can elevate your personal self so that you can have the best journey in this lifetime? And I would hope that we all want to look at ourselves. What are we doing? Are we doing the job of board members or are we I'm not even going to say what I think we might doing. But um I'm going to end with that. Thank you board and our new board members and our new board of exeicio students. I welcome you with grace and I truly truly truly we did a board retreat last year that oh I thought it was going to be a great year. Who knows what happens behind
089closed doors, but I'm just telling you right now, this child is going to be the saving grace, the voice of the children, cuz that's who we are here to serve. Thank you. Thank you. Does anybody else have any other comments? Okay. Um, may I have a motion to return to executive session at 9:04 p.m.? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carried.