001Okay, very good. Welcome and good evening. This is the regular meeting of the Suffren Central School District Board of Education for Tuesday, December 9th, 2025. Uh we are recalling this meeting to order right now. May the record reflect that all board members are present except for Mr. Thomas Donnelly and Mr. Daryl Frasier. And we will begin with the pledge of allegiance. I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, we're going to uh move past item 1.07 for the moment and go to 1.08, 08 which is minutes of the regular meeting of November 18th, 2025. Has everyone had an opportunity to review the minutes? Okay. Do I have a motion to approve
002the minutes? Move. >> Mrs. Hodgej second. Mr. Andert. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Anyone opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. Very well. Then we are now going to go to 1.09 superintendent comments. There we go. Thanks everyone. Good evening and uh welcome impressive things and then I'm going to give you a certificate. I promised her that she did not have to give a speech. Um, but we just really wanted to recognize you. Oh, thank you. Nobody could hear what I was saying there, huh? Thank you. So, I'm here this evening to recognize an incredible student at Suffren High School. So, we are incredibly proud to announce that Ivania Leia, a su uh excuse me, a suffering high school senior has been selected as a QuestBridge National College Match Scholar and has earned a full
003four-year scholarship to one of her top choice schools, Boston College, where she will study biology on the premed track. QuestBridge is unique as it's a prestigious national program that connects high achieving students from low-income backgrounds with leading colleges and universities. Each year, thousands of students apply and only a select group are chosen as finalists with an even smaller number ultimately receiving a full scholarship. That deserves a fist bump on that one, right? For Avana, this is a life-changing moment. She's been an active and accomplished member of the chamber orchestra, multiple honor societies, horrenia latina, the red cross, and the wellness club. All while maintaining an exceptional academic record at Suffren High School. As a first generation college student, she consistently remained committed to her goals and her dedication and hard work made this opportunity possible.
004Please join me in congratulating Ivana on this extraordinary accomplishment. Her perseverance, optimism, and ambition reflect the very best of Suffering Central. We look forward to seeing all that she will accomplish at Boston College and beyond, but especially at Boston College over these next four years. So, we have a certificate acknowledging how proud we are of you and how excited we are for you with what comes next. Congratulations. You get a picture. We're going to get a quick picture right here. Doesn't matter. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. Well done. Well done. >> Just an incredible accomplish accomplishment and we're so excited for you. So, we have a a couple of student uh performances this evening that we're really excited about. And you can hear some students out in the hallways. And I believe those are probably
005not the high school students that we're hearing. Those are the students from the cast of Lion King Jr. So, I think we're going to bring them in first to do their um their performance. So, thanks Mr. Schwarz. I'm going to wait for them to come in and then we'll do the introduction. >> All right, here come our young thespians. Come on in. We'd like for you to come up into the front here. Perfect. Look at this. >> Fantastic. You want to All right. All of a sudden, it was so quiet. Well done. Look at these smiling faces. I am so excited to introduce the Monttoello students and the cast of Lion King Jr. along with PTA co-president Aman Brown who are here today to showcase the first ever musical production at Montabelloo Elementary School. They've
006been working on bringing this to the school for years and we are thrilled to see it come to fruition. The show is scheduled for December 19th and 20th at Suffren Middle School and it's been a labor of love not just for those involved but also for volunteer parents and high school students who are assisting with the production stage crew, sound and lighting. Welcome to Monabello. Miss Brown, I believe you may want to say a few words before we kick off this performance. All right. All right. Good evening, everyone. Um, I have to write it down because I get a little nervous in front of people. See, I get nervous, too, guys. It's all of us. Um, I'm thrilled to be here tonight to present the talented cast of Montabella Elementary's inaugural Lion King Jr. production.
007Thanks to the generous support of the Suffrage Central School District, uh we've been able to bring this wonderful theater program to Montabelloo for the first time ever. Um the students have poured their hearts into this production and I'm excited to see what I'm excited for you to see what they've accomplished. Now, without further ado, I present to you part of the cast for Lion King um Jr. There's actually 46 of them, but we have 15 today. Are you ready, guys? All right. We have music back there. All right. Do you want to go in the middle? Get some folks. People in the hallway can come in if they want. There's plenty of room. >> Are you ready? Are you ready, guys? We're going to start with the circle of life. This is our opening number.
008[music] >> [music] >> I [music] forgot. nomination. [music] We all plan to [music] be seen. [music and singing] to do. I can never [music] take care [music] of [music] the [singing] mountain of life. [music] And the us [music] [music] [singing] till we [music] find our [singing] place on the path unwinding. [music] is the circle. [music] The circle [singing] of life is the circle [music] of life and it moves [music and singing] us all through despair and all. [music] faith and [music] love till we find our way on the earth winding [music] in the circle. The circle [music and singing] You guys want to do another one? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Um, we are going to do what we do. Be be prepared. Um, we we have Scar here and a few of the hyenas.
009Okay. I got to find this thing. Hold on. >> That's right. >> [laughter] >> Are you ready, Scar? >> Here we go. Maybe tension [music] potent. >> [music] >> My words are a matter of pride. [music] [singing] Let's be prepared. >> [music] [music] >> Just listen. [music] Be prepared. death of the king. [music] [singing] >> There will be a cake. >> I will be king and never go hungry again. >> [music] [singing] >> the case of tonight. [music] The king of this wonderful beared [singing] [music] beared. [singing and music] Bravo. Congratulations to all of our thespians from Montabelloo Elementary School. We are so excited to see the production of The Lion King Jr. and you just wet our appetite for an incredible performance. What wonderful talent and enthusiasm. And if we could just ask all
010of you to move right over here to the side. We're now gonna ask some of our high school students to come in and do a brief performance for a concert that they have coming up. So, if you could just come on over here. Thank you very much to our Montabelloo crew. If we could ask Miss Biss and the and the high school students to come in. So we go from the great voices of Montabelloo Elementary School to the incredible voices of our high school students. And they are here with their teacher, Miss Alice Bis, who's been bidd busy spending spreading cheer in our community. This past weekend they carolled at the tree lighting ceremonies in Suffren, Slotzburg, and Hillburn. And later this week, they'll be at the Rotary lunchon and Lafayette Theater. They'll round out
011their performances at the high school as the holidays approach. So to spread some holiday cheer, Miss Bis and your students, welcome. La [singing and music] is the season to be La [singing] we now are gay [music] la. [singing] See the blazing before us la. [music and singing] Strike the harp and join the chorus. [singing] La. Follow me in merry measure. [music] La while I tell the fuel type treasure laast away the old year passes [singing] la the new year and la [music] sing joyous [singing] all together laather La [singing] [music] [singing] [music] up next is Hanukkah holiday [singing] of candles. burning brightly [music] burning on a win. Clap your [singing] hands and join the sing. Let the fun [singing] begin. Spin the Dr. Hanukkah is here [music] [singing] [music] on a [singing] win. Long ago,
012people [singing] fought for libert. Liberty [singing] singing God for victory [singing] [singing] shine [singing] with joy. [singing] Clap your hands and join the sing. Let the fun [singing] begin. Spin the dr of [singing] candles burning brightly burning on [music] the [singing] win night. We're going to leave you with one last song. I I just have to say my I watched my high schoolers watch all of you and it was such a beautiful experience. Their jaws were dropped. They were so excited for all of the work that our young theater kids are doing. These are kids that are all in the high school musical. They've done musicals all throughout Suff. So, it's so so awesome to watch them watch you do such a great job. So, I hope you'll come see the high school show. I
013hope you'll come see the middle school show. We have our concert on Thursday night. We have our symphonic band, our um symphony orchestra, and our treble choir performing on Thursday night. So, I can't wait to see all of you at the high school someday. It's going to be so awesome. So, congratulations to all of you. We're going to finish with We Wish You. Ready? >> We [singing] wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy [singing] New Year. Good tidings to you wherever you [singing] are. Good tidings for Christmas and a happy new year. Now bring us some figgy pudding. Now bring us some figgy pudding. Now bring us some figgy pudding and a cup of good [singing] cheer. We won't go until we
014get some. We won't go until we get some. So [singing] bring it right here. We wish you a happy Hanukkah. We wish you a happy Hanukkah. We wish you a happy Hanukkah and a happy new year. We wish you a happy Quanza. We wish you a happy Quanza. We wish you a happy Quanza and a happy [singing] new year. We wish you a happy solstice. We wish you a happy solstice. We wish you a happy solstice and a happy new year. [singing] Take a bow. Take a bow. If you can all come together a little bit so we can get a picture of all of you, that would be great. [clears throat] And then we're going to ask the Monabello thespians if they can stand in front of you. Right. How cool is that? Right.
015Can you all funnel right in right in front there? And we'll take a picture of everybody, all of our performers here at the December board meeting. And Miss Bis, thank you so much for acknowledging the incredible talent of our elementary school students. And it's a reminder that all of you are going to grow and become even better performers year after year with all the hard work and practice that you put into your craft. And so we're so excited for all of you. Can we scoot in a little bit? >> All right. Sure, I'll go in. >> Here we go. >> Big round of applause to our performers. Thank you so much. Thank you for spending part of your evening here with us and sharing the great things that are happening throughout our district. Have a
016wonderful holiday everyone and thank you for coming this evening. We'll take about a a 5minut break. And to our own Robbie Schwarz, your douls tones were fantastic. We We thought you carried that those low tones that reverberated. Uh, well done. Well done. And thus concludes my superintendence report. >> All right. Well, that was a very lively superintendent report. >> Yes. Um, [laughter] okay. We're going to move on to our first public participation section. This is on action items only. Action items are on our agenda tonight at 2.01 through 2.14. Is there anyone who is here to speak on an action item only? Okay, looks like not. So, we're going to close that portion of the meeting and move on to our action items. uh prior to requesting a consent agenda. Is there is it not
017on? Oh, um yeah, we can recall that. I was going to do >> I was going to do it during board member comments. I give them a little time to prepare, but uh yeah. No, throw something at my head if I forget. Um okay. Uh prior to asking for a consent agenda, is there any action item that any board member would like to pull? Okay, looks like not. Um, in that case, do I have a motion uh for consent agenda to approve action items 2.01 through 2.14? >> Mr. Shapiro second. >> Mrs. Hodgej. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Anyone opposed? And any abstensions? Okay. Very well. Then we're going to move on to our section, our second public participation section. This is on any district related business. If there is anyone who
018is here to speak on any district related business, please approach the lectern. Uh please give us your name. Please do not refer to any um staff or students or administration by name in the district and please keep your remarks to three minutes. Is there anyone who is here from the public to speak on any district related business? Yes, ma'am. Hi. You can you can just approach right over there. That's the business department. But if you have something that you want to talk about as far as transportation, you have may say at this meeting. >> Now's the time. >> Or we can Yeah. As as Dr. Gunderson said, or we can have the transportation department uh reach out to you separately if you have a specific issue you want to resolve. >> Okay. [clears throat] Well,
019if you want to just give us a >> a three minute. Go ahead. I um I really appreciate everybody's hard work. It means a lot to us and our family and it makes my life so much better and I really appreciate it. We are benefiting and appreciating your hard work for the past it's 10 years now and thank you. I'm reaching out because and we actually came my husband and I because we have a little um I would like to request and ask please. We had the bus stop um at a corner and it was switched to a different corner and it's making my life very very hard and I would like to ask respectfully if we can please switch it back to where it was before that. Um if you want I have a
020map to show you what you know I would like please. Um, if I have big kids, it really I I wouldn't have a problem with it and I would totally be okay and the kids can walk. It's I have little kids. On top of that, I have littleer kids that I have to slept along. It's really cold now and it's really hard for me. So, that's why I would like to ask if you can please understand my request. >> Thank you. Um, it sounds like you uh need someone to follow up with you from the transportation department to discuss this further. So, um if you can give, uh Miss Campbell >> Sure. >> um just your name and contact number and uh you can leave the map if you want if um if you would
021like and we'll have someone from the transportation department follow up with you uh regarding this issue. >> I actually tried emailing last year and calling and I wasn't getting anywhere. >> Okay. Well, thank you for coming back and and pursuing it and we'll try to get it resolved for you this time. Thank you. I appreciate it. I really, really appreciate it. >> Thank you. I'll leave this here along with it. >> Thank you. Um, is there anyone else here um from the public who would like to speak on any district related business? Okay, seeing as there are none, we're going to close that portion of the meeting and we are going to recall uh item number 1.07, 07 which is student board member report. Uh good evening Joy Yin and fresh office concert tour uh
022Robbie Schwarz. Thank you for being with us tonight. >> Thank you. So the musical reveal happened the day before Thanksgiving. It was announced. It is Bye-Bye Birdie. Um auditions will be happening next week, Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. We have our winter and holiday events. Our winter concert is on Thursday in the auditorium. I believe it is treble choir, uh, Soponic Band and Symphony Orchestra. And we have Pause for Change, Santa Paws Letter. Uh, a therapy dog and other therapy dogs will be available at lunch at the library. And you can also make donations to the Ramapo Bergen Animal Rescue and Hudson Valley. Hudson Valley. Pause for a cause. >> Next week, the National Art Honor Society will be hosting their holiday boutique um in unit lunch and from the office. Um winter spirit week also
023begins at the end of next week. Um and there are different themes related to like the holidays and it will last until the two days before winter break. There's also currently a unit lunch soccer tournament going on and right before break um there will be a handball tournament. The fax classes are also preparing um food for their staff holiday party on December 18th. >> Moving on to other schools at Suff Middle School, we've had our winter concerts which have been a great success and our music teachers dedications really produced some excellent performances that families of musicians and others have really enjoyed in the past couple weeks. And also we would families were able to see beautiful artwork set up by the art section of our middle school. And the SMS YAC >> youth against cancer
024sorry uh practiced our leader in knee habit begin with an end with the end in mind by making purple bracelets, earrings, and selling other goodies so they could raise money for pancreatic cancer research. and they raised $200 to donate at RB Connor Junior Council met on Monday to start planning 67 day [laughter] [clears throat] which will take place on December 17th, the 67th day of school. There will be a 6second versus 7second challenge which is a school scavenger hunt. This hurts me more than you. Movement, breaks, and more. So students are collecting canned food for the food food pantry and the winning grade will get six to seven extra minutes of recess. The first graders have been working so hard on their global citizenship project and they've been collecting new socks, mittens, and gloves for
025those in need. And today the high the suff hockey team visited their first graders to give them donations they collected at the game this weekend and read them a nice story. This past month, Cherry Lane celebrated students who demonstrated the character trait of this month, upstanding citizen. Each honore received their certificate recognizing their efforts with the back featuring personalized examples from teachers showcasing how the student displayed motivation in their learning actions or interactions with others. Chayen is excited to celebrate winter spirit week from Monday, December 15th through Friday, december 19th. Every day will have a special theme to spread holiday cheer, have fun, and make the final weeks of 2025 extra festive. In Slosburg, the second grade students are busy preparing for their annual winter community concert, which is scheduled for December 22nd. This special
026event will be open to all parents and community members and offers an a wonderful opportunity for our students to share um their hard work and spread holiday cheer as we celebrate the special season together. Um also five students were awarded as leading leaders for the month of November. Um congratulations to Giana, Kayla, Jeremy, Joselyn, and Teamer. Um yeah, for working diligently, spreading kindness and being positive role models in Monte Villo on Friday. Um there was a third annual trailblazer day which is career day where students spent time moving through sessions on entrepreneurship, marketing, government, banking, finance, AI, learning about being a police officer and more. Thank you to um the wonderful presenters for giving their time and providing these thoughtprovoking lessons to our students. As you just saw, the school production of Lion King Jr.
027hits the stage on December 19th and 20th. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you very much both of you and thank you uh uh to everyone at the schools who have been uh putting in time and service and donations to the vulnerable members of our community um at this time of year and also uh looking after the animals. Um thank you for that comprehensive report. Uh and now uh we are going to go to board member comments. So, are there any board members with any comments tonight? Yes, Miss Bryant. >> Good night, everybody. I'm just going to comment on Trailblazer Day. I had the privilege of presenting to my daughter's class and uh I commend all the teachers who do this on a consistent basis. Um making sure they're engaged, uh holding their attention. I
028it was a fantastic opportunity and I would encourage more parents to come and demonstrate their skills, explain how they got to where they are professionally. Uh we did games related to finance and it was a great experience and I'm hoping that um more of these types of real life scenarios can be presented to the younger kids especially too. Okay, thank you very much and thank you for participating. Any other comments from any other board members tonight? Mr. Shapiro, >> Lion King Jr., they were terrific. I was actually shocked. I didn't know what to expect. Um, they did tell me there are lions and I think there may be even a tiger involved, but maybe not. But there were no bears. No bears. Oh my um and the uh the high high school choir just really
029super uh and and I think Miss Miss Bliss was right in saying that those are the students who six, seven, eight years from now are going to be in the high school and they can be you know performing in front of the board uh then. So this was this was really special and uh I think it's one of the perks of uh being at a board meeting as well as being a board member is that you see students come in and they and they perform and uh you know we really see what's really important and that's and that's the students. So you know congratulations to both both groups and wishing everyone uh happy holidays. >> Thank you Mr. Shapiro. Other board member comments? No. Okay. Well, uh I agree. Thank you very much, uh all
030the Lion King Jr. families over here and thank you parents, uh teachers and volunteers who help out with that production. I understand there's been lots going on at Montabelloo and at uh Suffford Middle School um in order to prepare. All right, then we're going to close board member comments and move on to superintendent's closing comments. >> All right, thank you very much. I'd just like to thank Miss Brian for acknowledging what took place in Montabella with Trailblazer Day. Uh I want to commend Dr. Ivy and her team uh and the parents that were involved in that day. I know Dr. Mahill, you were on site for that day and this is your first year in your capacity as assistant superintendent of instruction and you were raving about what you saw uh with parents coming in
031and interacting with students uh about the work that they do. In fact, I even is it I think it was um Dr. Ivy that shared that there was a child actor from the Lion King that was talking to the students about being a professional actor. So really a cool opportunity there. Another reflection of how the work that we're doing is building upon our blueprint learning outside of the classroom. Our priority number two area is all about exposing students to opportunities outside of their classroom wall. So I'm happy to hear that so many people had a positive experience with that. along with our blueprint. Um, I've been going around to our our different schools sharing what our blueprint is all about. You can expect a video to be coming out that will be uh sent to
032all parents and our community members about what our priorities are as a school district as it relates to that blueprint that should be coming out in the next week or two. Um, part of our work uh with regards to the blueprint is going to also be an evaluation of our facilities and the board and the public can expect that in our meeting in January, we're going to be welcoming in our architects who have been doing an analysis of what our needs are within our buildings so we can have a conversation with our board of education and our community overall about improvements that are needed uh throughout our district and particularly our middle school and the high school. Those folks that have been involved in Mounty Mines have known that this has been an ongoing topic
033of conversation that we have solid facilities that are in good shape, but they are very much dated and uh and in need of some updating. So, we'll be engaging in a lot more conversation with that. Everything ties back to the blueprint and uh I'm happy to see that folks are progressing in the work that they're doing as it relates to that. And my last uh comment and then I will close my superintendent's comments is to thank everyone for all the work that they're doing especially in a very challenging time of year. These last couple weeks between Thanksgiving and and the and the holiday break is sometimes uh supposed to be very much filled with joy and happiness, but we know that that's not always the case for our students and for our teachers and parents
034and families. These are sometimes challenging times for folks and I want the board and the public to know that our counselors and our professional staff are watching out for your children to make sure that they also feel supported along with experiencing the joy that the holiday season is all supposed to be about. So with that, I'd like to wish everyone um a happy holiday season uh and know that we are looking out for our kiddos and we're doing our best by them. Have a wonderful holiday, everyone. Okay, thank you very much. All right, thanks everyone for being here tonight. Uh, congratulations to Ivana on her wonderful scholarship to Boston College. Go Eagles. Not that if she's premed, she's not going to have that much time for that, but uh, anyway, um, our next meeting will
035be Tuesday, January 6, 2026, right back here. And hope everybody has a wonderful, safe, and healthy holiday. Um, do I have a motion to adjurnn? This is Hodgej. Second, >> Mr. Shapiro. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Very good. Everyone see you next year.