001Good evening everyone. >> Welcome to our first meeting in 2026. Okay. And uh before we start the meeting uh can everyone please stand for the pledge? I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you so much. Please take a seat. Okay. And tonight we definitely have something very wonderful to celebrate and we are going to have our um director for athletics, physical education and recreation to uh Scott Stuber to recognize the fall student athletes. Stub all your [applause] >> Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to thank the board of education, Dr. Rogers and the entire administrative team for your continued support of our outstanding athletic program and allowing me to share
002some of the fall season highlights, including our student athletes. We had another great fall season. We had three conference champions, two Nassau County champions, one Long Island champion, and our fourth ever New York State championship team this past fall. With all of their success in the fall, I'm also proud to announce that our student athletes continue to excel in the classroom. And once again, our teams earned the NISVA scholar athlete team of distinction. So, all of our teams are scholar athlete teams once again, which is obviously a credit to our school community and the parents here today. So, congratulations. [applause] I'm going to start tonight with uh with a member of our boys football team. So, I'll ask Austin to step in. [applause] Coach Rock and Coach Duca couldn't be here, but they reached out
003to me this morning. They're attending the National uh Football Coaches Association conference. Uh again, just more professional development for our coaching staff, putting our children in the best position to be successful. Austin is a junior, a three-year starter, one of the very few who have started since they were a freshman in the history of the program. He had an outstanding season as our linebacker and despite an injury against Masipiqua, continue to be an integral part of the team and we're counting on him to continue his excellence next year. I want to congratulate junior Austin Cohen. [applause] Congratulations, Austin. It's always tough when you go first. So, at this time, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our boys varsity soccer coach, Coach Brett Waxer. [applause] Good evening. Before I recognize the boys up here, um
004I always have to uh recognize here. So, thank you so much Dr. Rogers and the board of education. It's always greatly appreciated all the support that you guys not just give our boys but the entire athletic program. So, thank you so much, Mr. Stuber. Greatly appreciate it. when you have an athletic director who just has so so much passion um for his uh for all the teams, for the coaches, and for the student athletes, it's just a great culture to be part of. So, thank you for that. Um this year, our uh our boys made it back to the Nassau County Finals uh for the second year in a row. Um although we might have fell a little short, um last year we got the championship, this year uh we met a her team that
005um earned their win. Um, but still that takes away nothing from being so proud of all these boys for all their effort, their character, and the resilience that they showed all throughout the season. Um, I'm always honored to coach such a great group of young men. And tonight, I'm especially proud that we could recognize all of them for their individual achievements. All county honors were earned by seniors captain Jake Dapis, Xavier Pulse, Cole McGuire along with Jav Navaro. [applause] In addition, Jake Dapis also received second team all state honors and was named to the second team all Long Island News Day all Long Island team. An astounding accomplishment. [applause] These awards reflect not only their talent on the field, but their leadership, their work ethic, and their commitment to our program. I couldn't be prouder
006of these young men. As I always say with our guys, our season is like a journey. And to go along a journey with four just great young men, um, I'm really just honored and I'm very fortunate. So, just want to say thank you. And to these boys, love you and appreciate you guys. Thank you. [applause] Thank you, coach. and congratulations. And again, at this time, I'd like to introduce coach Tom Rooney, and he's the coach of our boys bad mitten team. [applause] Uh good evening everybody. Uh I am the proud varsity uh coach of uh boys bad mitten. Um this year we had a very good year. We uh went nine and five, finished fourth in the league. And um I just want to say, you know, there's only about 18 high schools that have
007badminton in Nassau County. And we are one of the uh districts that really supports this sport. It's very popular in the school. And uh we appreciate the board of education and Dr. Rogers and the rest of uh the central administration for supporting us. Um the athletic department and uh Mr. Stuber. Um we had over a hundred boys try out for bad mitten. Um we have a varsity and a JV. Some schools don't even have a JV. So um it's a very strong sport. We're very proud of it. Um we've had a number uh we actually had the most all county athletes in boys bad mitten uh this fall. So we have some in front of you right now. Uh Jeffrey Chen, Emerson Chang, Brendan Giang, Ryan Sue, Aaron Wong, Roger Yei, and Henry Zang. Thank
008[applause] you. [laughter] >> Congratulations. What coach Rooney didn't say is that he also had one of the youngest bad mitten teams. So, we are hoping to challenge for a county championship in bad mitten next year. Thanks, coach. Oh, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our varsity girls volleyball coach, coach Liz Christensen. [applause] Good evening. First of all, I'd be remiss without saying something. As coaches, we do what we do. We get so much incredible support from administration, the board, Scott, Nancy, and Dorothy, athletics, Mr. Gagsteter, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Cass, and our amazing athletic trainers. Coaching here is truly working with the very best. Um, I want to thank my staff and all the fellow coaches. The incredible support we get throughout the year. We're texting each other, talking to each other is what makes
009coaching here so special and so much fun. I'm proud to present our two allount athletes from this season. These two student athletes mean so much to the volleyball program. Both are outside hitters who play all the way around and rank at the top of our team statistics in hitting, serving, and defense. First is junior Maline Sylvestri. Mads has grown into a tough, well-rounded player who gives everything she has to her team in the game. She's a smart competitor with countless highlight reel moments this season, a lot of them. She's coachable and gives us all she has on a daily basis. The coaching staff is super excited for your senior season and all you're going to bring. Congratulations fans. [applause] Senior Claudia Cusa, a three-year varsity player. Honorable mention all county a year ago. Claudia was
010a senior co- captain this year named to Newsuesday preseason top 100. She also participated in the Nassa County senior all-star game and was named to the playoff all tournament team. She's had an incredible career playing both outside and right side for us and giving so much to our team. We're truly going to miss her leadership and all the outstanding plays and fun and everything that we've had with her for the past three years. I wish her the very best wherever she ends up going to school. And I know that she's going to do great things in the future. Thanks, Claude. Congratulations. [applause] [applause] >> Congratulations, ladies. At this time, I'd like to introduce the coach of our girls varsity soccer team, Mr. Tyler Arnon. [applause] For the team, thank you. Uh, first I want to
011just thank Dr. Rogers, the board of ed, um, Mr. Stuber, um my building principal, Miss Kang, and um all the parents and the community that supported the girls soccer team who ultimately went all the way to the county final this year. Um tonight we're recognizing three um of our student athletes. One, Sienna Kumo is not here. She's in Florida at a soccer tournament. Um but then we have Lindseay Keshner and Julie Shaughnessy who are tremendous leaders, great teammates. And um uh Lindsay going to Virginia and Julie committed to play lacrosse at Michigan. [applause] >> [applause] >> Congratulations ladies and we will be seeing both Lindsay and Julie more in future seasons. They are great athletes, great part of our athletic program. Uh it gives me more great pleasure to introduce the coach of our girls
012swimming and diving team, coach Mike Cipellino. [applause] Thank you, Mr. Stuber, Dr. Rogers, the board of education in our community for your support. And to our great coaching staff, Marudo and Tom Cornelia. We're all so proud to represent Sioset. I have the pleasure of honoring five of our team members on stage tonight. And we're joined by many of our teammates in the audience as well. Together, they've earned 43 consecutive dual meet wins and four straight conference one titles. I would first like to recognize sophomore Mia Q. All county and all state award winner. Mia's relentless work ethic and massive progress during the season also earned her the honor as team most improved swimmer of the year. Next, junior Rachel Hoy, all county award winner, a tremendously talented swimmer who is always humble in her success
013and a true difference maker on the team. Next, junior and team captain Amanda Chin. All county and all state award winner, a rare junior captain on our roster. Amanda is a team leader both in and out of the pool and has been a critical part of our team success since joining our roster as a middle school student. Next, team captain Jacquellyn Lou, all county and all state award winner. Jacquellyn is a composed, dependable leader who unites the group and shows up big when the pressure rises. Jacqueline also earned the honor of most valuable senior this year. Last but not least, senior captain Madison Lynn. All county, all Long Island, and all state. Humble in her success and relentlessly team first, Madison holds our school records in all three swimming relays and individually in the 200
014freestyle, 200 IM, 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, and 100 breaststroke. Congratulations [applause] Congratulations, ladies. And at this time, I get to introduce Coach Rich Cafiro, the head coach of our boys cross country team, conference champs, Nassau County champs, and the uh state qualifier champions representing Nassau County at the states. Coach Cafier [applause] Good evening, Miss Chang, members of the board of education, Dr. Rogers administration and our SAS community. On behalf of coach Matt Anderson and myself, we are proud to present the Sioset boys cross country team as this year's Nassau County champions. Often called their summer sport that's played out in the fall. There was much work done behind the scenes with our summer training program. The boys were undefeated during the regular season, which helped them earn the title of division and conference
015champions, as well as county champions. The boys dominated the field at the county championship, winning by a wide margin and also at the state qualifier meet, earning a trip up to Queensbury, New York for the state meet this year. Members of the team are as following. Alex Devito, Drew Kenner, Aiden Weinberg, Nick Lvaka, Brady Juwan, Justin Yao, Ben Luxenberg, Jacob Ellenwood, Michael Franis, Hunter Sang, Josh Kai, Jaylen Chan, Will Ryell, Evan Uman, Jaden Robotham, Liam Casey, Ryan Uman, Nick Dphano, Ari Zimman. The following members were all conferenced this year. Sugan Sheranesh, Joe Zolo, and Alfie Donaldson. And our all county members, we had five of them, the most out of any Nassau County team. Liam Seedra, Christian Franis, Anthony Fury, Brad Summer, and Luis Cruz. Finally, I'd like to point out that our team success
016is largely in part due to this senior class, this in particular senior class. In short, through their approachable and inviting personalities, they create an environment of acceptance at practice each day that makes our team, the entire team, comfortable to be themselves. We're both strong believers as coaches that peak performance comes from kids feeling most comfortable. Well done, boys. And thank you very much. [applause] >> Great job and congratulations It's getting a little old introducing the next gentleman. He seems to have success every season since I've been here in Sioset. But without further ado, a tennis coach, both boys and girls, Mr. Shai Fisher. [applause] Good evening, members of the board of education, administration, and members of the community. I'm proud to talk to you tonight about some of the achievement in the girls tennis program
017this past fall. H All right. 22-1 overall record. Third year in a row Nassau County champions. Third year in a row Long Island champions. Third year in a row regional champions. But not the third year in a row state finalists. Because for the first time ever in school history, we can say in four words, New York State champions. [cheering] [applause] So, I'm just going to call them out one by one in no particular order. Senior co- captain Stephanie Mareret, Senior Co- Captain Julia Aisham, Dia Varma, Lumi Park, Kayla Kim, Selena Wang, Shou Pradan, Skyler Lynn, Anna Steinberg, Kayla Kim, Hannah Wang, Kaylee Goris Morof, Tiffany Kai, Lua Park. Sophia Chang, Lulu B, Marissa Mustakus, and CIA Meta. Girls, I know you've heard me say this before, but more importantly than all the winning, seeing the
018tremendous growth with old friendships, the formation of new friendships, maybe even when we didn't get along in the past. I'm sure that's what you'll appreciate. It's those relationships that much more as you get older, you realize you're really part of uh something truly special. Doing it all together. Congratulations again, New York State Champions. [applause] [applause] I just have some individual honors. Oh. Oh. Go back. Go back. Go back. You're not getting away that easy. [snorts] We had eight young ladies earn all county honors and doubles. The following l ladies included are Shou Pradan, Julia Aisham, Kayla Lowe, Lulu B, Dia Varma, Selena Wang, Skyler Lynn, and Hannah Wang. Uh, [applause] I see some faces in the crowd that know how hard it is to get all county in doubles. We also had one all county
019singles player. Uh, our senior captain, Stephanie Marerette. She's actually our Nassau County champion, which is our first time since 2011 that we have a singles county champion. >> [applause] >> We had nine girls total all county which is tying the program record. But then um some new records most recently News Day named their all Long Island team. We had a pair of eighth graders Skyler Lynn and Hannah Wang named to the second team all Long Island. And we had Stephanie Marerette named to the first team as well as being named All Long Island Player of the Year. [applause] So, we've we've never had in the program three all Long Island girls. Um, even more records. We now get to the state level. We had five girls earn all state honors. We had two doubles teams
020advanced to the semi-finals of the county tournament. We had 10th grader Dia Varma, ninth grader Selena Wang. They finished fourth in the county. And we had the two eighth graders, Skyler Lynn and Hannah Wang, finishing second in the county and seventh in the entire state. So, [applause] and then one last honor in our state singles tournament, Stephanie Marerette finished third in the entire state. [applause] And a few days later, Stephanie earned all American status. So [applause] ladies, tremendous season. And uh now let's go get ready for midterms. Excellent job. [applause] >> Congratulations. Uh I just want to share something. Every season at the when we ever we honor our athletes, I always get to talk about how great they are on the field, in the court, on the track, I get to talk about how
021great we are academically, in the classroom with the scholar athlete awards. But this year, Section 8 partnered with the New York Jets, and they started focusing on professional development for athletic directors and coaches, and it's based on a book by a gentleman named Joe Man who wrote about transformational coaching. So this fall as I, you know, attended some of my professional development periods, I really did enjoy it because I got to see Mr. Man speak three different times and I'm a big believer in what, you know, what he brings to the table. But I started to reflect on the coaching staff. We're very lucky. We got tremendous support from the board of education, the community. Obviously, the kids who are up here would not be here without their family and the support at home. But
022the one thing I'm really proud of is I looked at the coaching staff and I'm like, what can I do to provide more professional development for my coaches so we continue to give these students the best opportunity in their high school career? And what I'm really proud to say is our coaches have been transformational coaches since I've been here. And I'm sure they were here before I started, but they do a really good job. They care about the overall growth and development of each student. They really truly intercolastic athletics which I believe is really important to kids development because there's a lot of club sports and a lot of stuff you could do outside but it's that educationally based approach. It's an extension of our physical education program and I'm really proud to say that
023the coaches who are very nice. They always speak great about the kids and they always thank the board of education. But they truly are deep down inside they care about your kids and they want the best for them. So, I'm really proud and I would be remiss if I didn't thank my coaches for all their hard work. And thank you again once again. [applause] >> Truly amazing. A lot of record-breaking, a lot of uh good records this year. So, uh hope wish them the best of luck and keep up the good work. [applause] Okay. And uh so we are going to uh start our meeting on on stage and then while we're moving on to the deas this will be a perfect chance to make make a graceful exit if you don't want to stay
024for the uh the meeting. Thank you. Okay. Okay. So, uh the first item um um for the um uh the meeting will be the uh approval of the minutes and that's going to be uh 5A approval of the minutes of the December 8th, 2025 monthly meeting. Can I have a motion please? Miss Koshia, second by Miss Levitan. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? And uh Dr. Rufol, can we have the treasures report and appropriation adjustments, please? Turn it on. As shown on the treasures report, the cash on hand for the month end November 2025 was 141,784,852.50. It shows that bank balances for all the cash accounts were reconciled to the book balances and were collateralized in accordance with the district's banking agreements and investment policies. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you,
025Dr. Rufol. Uh 6A and 6B can be taken together. They're the approval of the treasures report and appropriation adjustments. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Routollo, second by Dr. Park. Are there any questions for Dr. Rufol? Okay. All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. And uh next we're moving on to superintendent's report. Dr. Rogers. >> Thank you, Miss Chang. Happy new year, everyone. Um I was uh just uh chatting with Mr. Routollo for a second. He said that he'd never met an all-American athlete before, and I said, "Neither have I." So uh as of tonight, we can all say that we've met an all-American athlete. So that's pretty uh special. So, congratulations to all of our coaches, all of the teams for all their success, for all their hard work, and for representing us
026so well as an organization. Uh, couple of point uh pieces of business. I want to update the board of education on something uh that we first talked about in November of 2023. Uh I had informed you that uh the sciaset library had approached us uh with some interest in the old Woodbury school that has been sitting idle on the corner of Jericho Turnpike and Woodbury Road. Uh as you'll recall at that time the board had asked the administration to uh as part of our work towards the uh bond proposal that was ultimately um affirmed by the community to research whether there was a district use of the building that would make sense given the amount of money that it would take to rehabilitate it. So we went through the process of identifying how much we
027thought it would cost to rehabilitate the building. uh realizing that there are a lot of unknowns with it uh and then identifying the kinds of things that we might be able to move in there in terms of offices and other kinds of space. Uh at the end of that process uh you the board concluded that uh the expenditure was not worth uh the amount of square footage that we could uh obtain and that there were less expensive ways for the school district uh to house any of the programs that we might uh relocate there, administrative uh offices and the like. And so uh that was not ultimately considered to be part of the bond proposal that was put in front of the community for approval. Uh so subsequent to all of those conversations about possible
028uses for uh the facility, we were approached by the library. They had uh talked about their idea of using it as an annex in the north part of the community. They have obviously their existing facility that's in the south part of the community and they felt like it would be a location that would allow them to serve more of the community and have more space uh particularly for students and seniors who are heavy users of the library. So um those conversations at the time were sort of put on the back burner because our focus was on finalizing uh the bond proposal for the community. But uh we didn't lose track of that conversation several months ago. the library uh uh personnel had the opportunity to tour the building, take a look at the interior space.
029Uh they asked if we would uh make our architects and uh engineers available to them for some questions. Uh that meeting happened last week and they were able to question H2M about the condition of the building, uh the cost of possibly rehabilitating it and whether uh it would lend itself to use as um a potential library annex type of facility. So, um I think it's still early days in terms of being able to explore this possibility. Uh but I did want to report uh back to the board on last Thursday's meeting and I would say that there was still uh some interest and enthusiasm on the part of the library board uh to continue to explore this a little bit more. So, uh what I wanted to do was let you know what happened last
030week and that uh there is interest in continuing to have conversations. And uh what I propose, Miss Chang, is that in the future we add this as a presentation from administration and uh if you wish a discussion item for the board uh to be able to consider this a little bit further. >> That would be great. Thank you, Dr. Rogers. >> Uh with that, shifting gears uh from facilities to the things that happen in facilities. I want to talk a little bit about science. uh science is near and dear to my heart because I was a science major as an undergrad and so I obviously have a passion for uh the content area and so much enthusiasm about the work that gets done here. Um a lot of what we do is kind of captured
031in um examples of uh success and uh just last week we had some really nice news. We had three winners of the Regeneron uh science talent search. Elaine Louu, Grace Louu, and uh sitting to my right, Nikquille Shaw. Congratulations to all three of them. [applause] And that success as seniors doesn't happen at the end of junior year or the beginning of senior year. It's actually a progression of instruction that starts very early. And a lot of the work that we've been doing over the past um really decade has been to try and build the foundation of science to teach science in a more rigorous and a more authentic way from the earliest grades and let that foundation be something that we can build on as students go into the secondary program. One of the advantages
032of having approached this in a much more phenomenonbased way is that we have found ourselves converging to the same place where the state's new standards adopted more recently than our efforts are leading the state as well. So uh our investment has been uh rewarded by a change in science standards that really focuses on phenomenon in the same way that we have. So what I wanted to do with the board is to update you on some of the work that's been underway over the course of the last several years and some of the changes that the state is making and how uh our work is going to lead us uh right into success with those new standards. So uh to get this conversation started uh I'd like to call our team to the podium and uh
033we'll have I think Dr. Wick are you going to start us off? >> Uh Mr. Steinberg is going to start us off. >> Okay. Good evening, uh, Board of Education, Dr. Rogers, and thank you once again for giving us the opportunity to share with you, uh, some of the great work that's been going on and certainly a night where we, um, have a lot to celebrate. Hopefully, we continue that celebration, uh, in in our successes that we've seen in our science program to date. So, what we're going to talk to you about tonight is um you know the work that we've been doing to uh get our students prepared for what's about to happen. And these NISSA standards um are doing or are aligning I should say with more of how we've been teaching science
034and getting our students to think and act like scientists and engineers where we have shifted away from that question of what do our students know towards more of what can they do with what they know and that's really where the focus is. So, we're focusing and you'll see through the presentation on how we're developing students ability to ask questions, to ask deeper questions, their ability to design experiments, their abil ability to analyze data, and then to use the evidence to craft arguments based upon that, and then to be able to solve problems that may not have a single answer to it, but multiple answers to it. And we look at those skills and we'll see that they're not just skills that are unique to science, but they are skills that are going to make our
035students successful as they move into the future. So whether that's going to be at the next level at a university or in their careers when they're when they're going to need these skills to help to be successful and as we know they may be involved in careers that haven't even been invented yet. So that haven't been created yet. So these baseline skills is what we're going to be looking at. So, we're going to take some time um tonight and talk a little bit about how the work we're doing is aligning with the board's mission and goals and how we talk about in our mission about really future proofing our students, getting them ready for the futures that we imagine, the ones that we've that we've yet to envision in a sense. And then how your
036goal of academic excellence is aligned beautifully with this kind of work in terms of cultivating those collaborative skills that students are going to need to be successful. so they can then be uh positive contributors to whatever communities they're involved with as they leave the SIASA community. So to get us started and to start take a little bit of a look back, we begin in 2016, which is in the base of this timeline. And in 2016 is when New York State adopted the the New York State Science uh learning standards. The last time New York State adopted science standards was back in 2002. So there's been 14 years in between that that teachers have been teaching to the older standards. But that's not to say that teachers have not have been evolving the practice. And again
037in Sioid we've had that thought of teaching about the skills and moving away from the content acquisition for a very long time. So the fact that the state has finally sort of caught up to that really we're uniquely positioned for that kind of success. And we'll hear in a little bit the work that's gone on since since 2016 at our at our elementary level to build that foundation. But I kind of want to focus on what the end is here currently and what we're facing with now because we just came out of the 2425 school year which was the first administration of the earth and space science and the biology aligned regions exams where we had an option as a district for our students to participate in that administration. And we very intently chose not
038to participate in that. And the reason being is to give our students an extra year of preparation within the curriculum to ensure their success. So that we watched as other districts did participate in this first administration. But now what we have available to our students is we have the example of the exam which is helping and also providing our teachers the opportunity to then continue to prepare for for this transition. We made the same decision in regards to physics and chemistry which will be taking that administration in June of 27. So this coming June, our students will be taking the newly aligned regent exam to biology and to earth and space science. The following June, June 27, our students will be taking the newly aligned physics and chemistry. So to begin our conversation tonight, I
039am going to invite Dr. Janette Wjek to come up to begin talking to us about what's been going on since 2016, building that foundation. And then later in the presentation, we'll have our assistant principal for science and technology at the high school, Miss Ireina Kimgarov, along with one of our chemistry teachers, Miss Syria Veno. Uh, excuse me if I mispronounced that. I know it's a new name, but I'll get it eventually. And one of our physics teachers, Mr. Seriel, as well, who is going to help us to see the work that's been going on. So, at this time, I'll ask Dr. Wjek to join us. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Steinberg. Good evening, Dr. Rogers, Dr. Curry, Board of Education. As always, I have the pleasure of sharing all the great work that's taken place
040to build that strong foundation at the elementary level. So, before you on this slide is a little bit of a timeline um that shares all the work that's taken place since 2018. So in 2018 2019 school year um this was really where the elementary began to infuse and begin the process of looking at the transition of the next generation science standards um and the New York State science learning standards. Um so at that time we convened a science curriculum committee that came together um to really look at the standards and look at the instructional shifts that were required really focusing on the three dimensions of learning science and engineering practices crosscutting concepts and the disciplinary core ideas. Um and from there really looking at what primary resource might be the most appropriate to help engage
041students in this science learning. And that committee's outcome was the selection of Carolina Building Blocks of Science. And so this really um set the pace and the ground for a strong primary resource to ensure that students were learning those standards. Um in the 2019 and 20 to 2021 school year, this is where we really focused on building capacity. So it was really about professional development. So in 2019, the district and the board of education had the foresight to hire Miss Barbara Fornier um in her previous position as the STEB specialist. And this really allowed us to hit the ground running um with building and supporting teacher capacity. In fact, it was so successful as you know that Miss Fornier's role was expanded last year as an administrative position um which allowed her to expand her
042knowledge and depth and breath in um not only science but math and the enrichment program as well. Um and again professional learning started with grade level workshops focused around that three-dimensional learning. So digging deep into the science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts as well as the disciplinary core ideas. teachers engaged in hands-on learning. They were able to get into the science and engineering practices, making sense of what that meant, what it looked like in the classroom. Curriculum writing took place, planning and training in Carolina science took place. Um, we spent the time investing in building the capacity over those two years. From there, in 2021 to 2023, it really was where we enhanced the curriculum. It's where we started that strong foundation. We moved into a deep implementation instruction was really focused on claim, evidence,
043and reasoning, which really teaches students to explain their scientific thinking by stating their claim, backing it up with evidence, and then explaining why that evidence makes sense. And this really, really strengthened our students scientific thinking and their scientific discourse with the teacher and with each other. From there, we dug deeply into the science and engineering practices which allowed students to focus on learning science by investigating actively with one another um with analyzing, designing and then explaining their learning. Um this also coupled with the roll out of the New York State lab plan. So, elementary students in fifth grade are required to complete certain labs at the fifth grade level. So this rolled out um at that time. Finally, 2023 to 2025. Um it's kind of like our elevation, our innovation. It's where we've taken the
044work we've done, we've refined it, we've built coherence, and built some innovation into the practices that we've been doing. We've revisited the curriculum, revisited pacing, making sure it's reflecting all of the shifts that have taken place in the NISLA standards. Specifically at this time, um the New York State Science Assessment shifted from 2000 uh I'm sorry, from grade four to grade five intentionally. um we prepared students for the increased rigor, the independence and performance-based expectations that they were going to encounter as they moved on into secondary science. So summer curriculum work, all of the work that we've built between 2023 and 20 2025 really allowed for our elementary students to build a deep and strong foundation with this multi-year approach as they move toward their secondary science curriculum. This point I'd like to welcome Mr.
045Steinberg back up. >> Okay, wonderful. Thank you. So um you can see how just you know in a in almost a decade the amount of work that's been going on uh and building that foundation and you will hear now from the secondary perspective how that work is continued. So you'll hear some of the same strategies being employed as we now move through the middle and the high school as we're getting our students ready for that. So I'll invite uh Miss Kimgarov to come up and and to continue that conversation for us. Thank you. >> Good evening Dr. Rogers. Members of the board, um it's my pleasure to share with you this evening some of the work we've been doing at the secondary level. Um I'd like to start just by talking about the three-dimensionality that
046Dr. Wick alluded to. Uh specifically the notion of the disciplinary core ideas, the science engineering practices and the cross cutting concepts. Um as you see displayed before, the disciplinary core ideas are the content. This is the biology, the chemistry, the physics, the earth and space science that the kids are still learning. and the th those same concepts um rather the content is being presented either in the form of a phenomenon to the students or a problem that needs solving. The second dimension to to our very intentional planning and instruction and assessments are the science and engineering practices. And these are the practices that we are building upon from the elementary through the middle school and the high school levels as we're teaching our students these skills and these practices that they could hopefully take with
047them beyond their high school science classes. And the cross cutting concepts are those skills that we see spiraling through all of the science classes as they again go through the elementary, middle, and the various high school disciplines. Um, just to get a little bit deeper into what those look like. So for example in the cross cutting concept of energy and matter flow cycle conservation across all science disciplines students would see in biology this is uh demonstrated through the food chains and webs as they notice that energy flows um through our through the food chain and then in chemistry they build upon the same concept um through the conservation of matter that energy and matter is preserved and in physics they continue the same conversation and exploring of these concepts as energy can change from potential
048to kinetic and vice versa. of that same preservation of matter and energy. the science and engineering practices as you see them delineated they're they're amazing practices that we're hoping um the kids are learning across all disciplines and not just in the sciences but in their social studies in the in the in the English classes in the mathematics classes so to demonstrate just an example of one of them for um engaging in argument from evidence across all content areas we see in science it comes through as claim evidence reasoning that Dr. Ro alluded to as well. Um, you might have heard your students talking about it at home, maybe a homework assignment they're completing or something they're experiencing in class and a little bit more where they're using evidence from what they've explored in order to
049support a claim and then explain how it all ties together. They're doing the same exact thing in English and in social studies as they're looking at document-based questions and responding to those questions using um evidence in the documents that they're reading or the literature that they're uh referencing. in math that comes through as the mathematical practice of constructing viable arguments. They do this quite regularly where they substantiate their solutions by explaining what it is that they're doing. It's all the same ideas, the same practice might be called a little bit different in a different content area, but we're building the same skills across all content areas. So, what does that actually look like in practice? Um, under the old NISET standards, we were traditionally looking at a lesson that was contentdriven. There were standardized labs
050and the assessments were in one or twodimensional and we'll take a look at what that means. Um, and under the NISLA standards in New York State Science Learning Standards, we're looking at lessons that are inquirydriven. Uh, there's phenomenon, there's demonstrations. We're engaging students in constructing explanations of what's happening there. And the assessments that we're engaging in are three-dimensional. And in this transition, as you could see, the old to the new, there are some differences. What do we do to support our teachers in this transition and ready for implementation, there was a whole a whole slew of things that we were fortunate enough to be able to engage in. The summer curriculum writing that was supported by the board um across all science disciplines at all levels over several summers. Our teachers attended local conferences. We
051took advantage of the NISLS um I'm sorry of the PLC uh framework within the high school to have our teachers come together on a regular basis to engage in those conversations to wrap their heads around what's required and where they need to make that shift. We utilized every opportunity we had on a regular basis whether it was monthly department meetings or superintendent conference days whatever we were able to in order to bring the teachers together across the middle school and high school for in district collaboration. We're fortunate enough to have cross-dist collaboration with multiple districts and of course um take advantage of external consultants and the training offered by Boseies to have our teachers engage in this kind of work as they prepare to engage the students in this kind of inquiryled learning. So starting
052at the end and not looking at how we would like to assess our student learning, what would that three-dimensionality look like? So, let's take a look at a seventh grade science example. On the left, you have what would have been a very familiar old style question on physical what um I apologize, excuse me, on um elements and compounds where the questions are very direct, just recall of content. Um you could see that there wasn't much critical thinking involved. It's what do you know, what happens and respond. Um, under the new style questions, we have the same content, but you could notice even visually there's a whole cluster uh involved with this question. We're looking at the same elements versus compounds, but now we're asking students to develop and use models when we're asking them to
053draw an example to support their answers. We're asking students to engage in an argument from evidence by looking at a diagram, by extracting information, and by writing about what's happening there and supporting their explanation. We're asking students to engage um in in the use of the cause and effect crosscutting concept and to take a look at the structure and function of what's being tested there. Um at the earth and space level similarly you look left to right old versus new. On the left we have our earth science question two-dimensional. We have content we have a model that the students are perhaps looking at in order to answer the question. And when you look on the right, you see that's one cluster of information surrounding the same physical weathering. They're asked to look at graphs. They're
054asked to construct arguments as well. There is that content. There's that science and engineering practice. There is that crosscutting concept that their students are engaging in. So that's what our students are asked when we're assessing their learning. What would the learning need to look like? In biology, for example, this is just one example. um looking at the content of variation of traits. It would perhaps start with the phenomenon. Take a look at that picture that's presented. What do you notice? What questions do you have? And that starts students thinking about what questions they might have and share some of those hypotheses that then transition them into analyzing and comparing DNA sequences to identify different types of mutations. And that's the cause and effect. They're looking at what happened and the effect that came as a
055result. And then of at the end they would synthesize their learning to then answer a question. If you were a cell, which of these mutations would you be most worried about and why? And that's the analyzing, the interpreting, and the constructing of explanations. So that's just a model in biology and how that lesson would now look like so that our students are able to look at an assessment question where we're assessing their learning and engage in those same three dimensions of tying together both content practices and the crosscutting concepts in order to really demonstrate their understanding in a fuller picture. Though we are implementing earth and space science and biology standards this year, we are still very much engaged in this work with both the chemistry and the physics classes. Our teachers are already planning
056and implementing these kinds of lessons in their chemistry and physics classrooms. I'd like to call up both Miss Sherino and Mr. Seriela to share what that looks like in those classes. Good evening. My name is Courtney Sherino and I'm one of the chemistry teachers at the high school. So, just to give you an example of what a Nissa style lesson may look like in our classrooms. So, like Miss Kimmy Agar said, it always starts with a phenomenon, something to question about. And this could be something as simple as why is beach sand wet? It seems like a simple question, but actually a lot of science goes behind it. The students live right near the beach. So, it's an interesting question for them to ask. And we don't just ask the question, they get to explore
057and discover it themselves. So, students go off, they go into their lab groups, and they study and examine sand, but not just any sand. Um, we tricked them with magic sand, hydrophobic sand that doesn't interact with water. Now, this blows their mind. The kids love it. And they get to explore, why is it so different? Why does beach sand get wet? Why doesn't this? And you just give them time to discover, to be curious about what's going on. They'll ask questions and really smart, intelligent questions, and they start to connect it to other things, right? What other patterns have they seen in other sciences or even their everyday life? And they start to construct these explanations that it has to do with structure and function of these molecules. Why do they behave so differently? And
058this whole idea just starts from the question, why is beach sand wet? And they're able to build upon this and able to make it relate to real world applications. For example, other hydrophobic material could clean up oil spills in our oceans. And that's just a small thing they could get from this. So this is just one example of how the Nissa standards is great for our students and how teachers are implementing it now. So next up will be Joe Serelloo for physics. I think that's good. We go to the next slide. >> Yeah. >> Oh. Oh, is it right here? >> All right. Perfect. All right. So a typical question that students would be given in the current impulse and momentum unit would give students the mass of an object. It would give them the
059change of velocity of the object. Give them the time of impact and it would just ask students to calculate the average force acting on the object. Nothing more than that. One of the new standards uh in the NISLA standards is asking students to apply scientific and engineering ideas to design, evaluate and refine a device that minimizes the force on an object during a collision. So students are given an example of you know or asked a question, how do airbags protect passengers in a collision? And students come up with different ideas. Then in order to elicit more responses, a teacher would use a very typical demonstration where we hold up a bed sheet and we have students throw an egg at the bed sheet and students are asked why does the egg not break. They come
060up with more ideas and we create the analogy that the egg represents the person, the bed sheet represents the airbag. So then students are given a task and the task is using some verer tracks that we got last year that can give us live velocity versus time data. Students create a covering to put on those carts as they undergo a collision. Students get live velocity versus time data. They take real numbers and they find the average force imparted on their cart during the collision. They can refine their design. And as they revi refine their design, they take more data and they find a new average force of collision. And students and one thing I want to emphasize is that calculations are still part of the curriculum. They're still doing that same calculation I described at
061the beginning. But now those calculations have more meaning. Now they can use those calculations to back up. Did my device actually reduce the force of impact? And if so, by how much? Students then can extrapolate to other things in their lives that utilize these coverings and reduce the average force of impact by increasing the average time of impact. Things like helmets, cell phone cases, etc. So, just to emphasize, there's a move away from simply calculating the average force acting on an on an object to calculating the average force acting on an object, but now using that calculation to answer a larger question. So back to Miss Kimar. >> Thank you both. >> So as you heard some of the examples, a lot of what our teachers are able to do with their students in the
062classroom as they engage in this inquiry learning is really building upon the work they've done elementary to middle to now. So the practices that they've been honing on all these years are really coming to life as the students are able to ask those deep questions and feel free to think and exchange ideas and collaborate on problem solving. And it's really great to see how this is applying to their successes not just in the sciences but the students who are involved in research are taking those skills to there students who are involved in other programs within the school. All of these skills are really supporting their work beyond the science classroom. And that's really what we want to see happen and we're thrilled to be able to support it through their science education. I'd like to
063share with you some student sound bites in terms of what they're experiencing um in in their science classes. We do see cers in class and what cas is it just really ties everything together about what we learn in either labs or in the classes. And I feel that throughout the years we've had like the building up of that. In elementary school we used to do um little questions after class to kind of grasp um what we learned. In middle school we did do CS but they were mostly very structured and very guided through. And now that in high school we're able to just write them by ourselves. And I think it really helps me understand things that I might not have beforehand. So, what I love most about learning science this year is that it's
064a lot of hands-on learning and it's more like interactive than last year and it's more like real life relevant and real life based. >> So, my experience learning science in SIASA has been really great. I felt that the teachers helped us get a better understanding of the world we live in by using acronyms, visuals, and explaining it in a way that just made sense instead of just saying, "Oh, like this is the ocean. This is why we have tides and everything." Like we really got an understanding of it. And I remember going to the beach one day and I was seeing what we were learning in real life and it really changed my perspective on it. And almost every day my mom will ask me, "Oh, Sabrina, like what's what's the moon phase today? Why
065do we have these kinds of constellations now that we don't have in the summer?" Like different questions about the world we live in. And it's really cool to see why our world is the way it is and why things happen. This is just a very, very small sample of what they're experiencing. and they're very early on in their high school career. So, it's not like they've been doing this for years with us at the high school level, but they've been doing this all along in elementary and middle school as well. This is a testament to all the work that's been going in over the last decade or so as we're trying to build up these skills and this interest and this engagement in their science education. And uh we're just very excited to be in
066this position now where we have this state's resources and support as well to continue this um and to make this part of our our regular uh work. Um at this point I want to thank everyone for their attention and if you have any questions welcome them. >> Okay thank you so much for the team for your presentation. Definitely a lot of information and a lot of exciting things. Um at this point are there any questions? Uh Miss Abramson. >> Thank you so much. That was great. I really like that more of the hands-on experience is really resonating with the kids. I think that's one of the best things about science um with the new curriculum and we didn't have it last we didn't have it for last year but the schools that did uh adopt
067it early had seemed to have a disconnect between the curriculum and the regions that was provided if I'm correct in that and it showed in the um success rate of the students in the regions now we have one regions behind us but it could evolve how do we help with the new curricula ulum and new standards and not understanding where the regions is going. How do we help them prepare for those type of finals that impact their grades so it's a great question and I think the fact that um there was a collective decision to delay by the year and give us a chance to not only build up teacher capacity and and the resources internally within SAS but also kind of uh wait out and see what the state provides as resources. Um all
068throughout last year they were producing uh sample clusters and other supportive resources that the teachers could use. But again for those districts that were already implementing the course it might have been just not timely enough. And we have the we had the benefit of kind of seeing it roll out and inter integrated into our curriculum writing and be able to uh produce more similar resources so that we have a more robust uh datab database of whether it's questions or opportunities for students to engage in this kind of learning. and we're hopeful that that was um that that's going to be helpful for our students to meet success this June. >> Dr. Park, thank you for the presentation is amazing and I think it's really us adapting to the changing of the world with AI and
069student our students are getting ready for that kind of world that they're going to face. So that's wonderful. Um question is so sounds to me people who students who have higher level of understanding people who can process will have easier time and they will enjoy this new process a lot more and I'm questioning whether the discrepancy between people who have just better ability to understand and people who struggle with understanding or their maturity in understanding is a little bit delayed. How do you adapt or help those students in that process? That's one. And um second is I'm assuming that elementary school students who are being trained this way as they go into middle school and high school it's going to be all they know in a way just like we had to memorize everything and
070then we were taught how to take test. So we were good at that and now our elementary school students are learning to process it this way from the very beginning. So for them as they grow into middle school or high school this is going to be natural way to do it and that discrepancy will lessen I'm assuming uh and they are um right now if they started there will be like fourth year fourth grade right fourth graders have all only known this process of science being taught because it's been about four years so it's still going to be another eight years when they are ready to graduate. So what do we you know what do we do until that time? >> Of course. Uh it's a great question and I think to address your first
071question uh the adaptability to different types of learners. um as we're implementing we're having continuous conversations with the teachers um across all levels whether it's honors regions ICT or general studies in terms of how the students are responding to this and talking about the different scaffolds we can put in um there are different ways that we can you know have the students work alongside with us as they're for example um working through a cer you know claim evidence reasoning and how we wean them off some of those supports throughout um and building that comfort level and confidence confidence with being able to engage in that kind of work. It's very intentional. It's consistent across all of our classes, whether it's again honors, regions, ICT, or general studies. And we're all working together as much as
072we can to share resources to support all of our students. Some of the lessons that we shared with you were from a regions level class that were easily adaptable to provide more supports and scaffolds. So these are these are things that are happening and students are meeting success and when they are struggling we're working to find ways to provide those supports until they're able to meet that success more independently. um with respect to the discrepancy transitionally that tends to happen. But what ends up happening is um the teachers and just kind of fill those gaps the best that we can and then we get to ultimately this great happy place where everybody's coming up with this list from kindergarten up and we're all superstars at teaching it that you know everybody meets that success a
073little bit faster with a little less effort. But in the meantime, we are still working um again across all levels very intentionally with middle school and high school teachers at the secondary level. From what I hear at the elementary school level as well, the teachers are collaborating to provide those supports throughout. >> Um thank you for that. Just to follow up on Shnie's question because I know in the beginning it definitely was a struggle. I had heard through, you know, the grapevine that there had definitely been a chunk of kids who are having a lot of trouble with it. Has that seemed to leveled out and people are getting the hang of it or are you still seeing the same amount of kids struggling? Has it improved? From my perspective, from what we've seen, it
074seems like it has leveled off. I think a lot of it had to do with the comfort level that both teachers and students um have reached with the expectations of the course and the rigor that was embedded into the standards. Um and again, as as there are questions or concerns that come up, we do continue to address them. We understand it's a learning curve for everybody involved and we're doing our very best to support all of our learners and teachers in the process. >> Just I just want to add one one piece of that. Just excuse me one second because I think what you're hearing is is a reality and I so I I just want to validate the reality of that when the first administration of of the earth and space science did come
075out. Um there were districts who did participate in that first administration and frankly their students did struggle with that for various reasons and and I you know we we've all heard you know from from different uh you know people along those lines. Um, I I think where we are at a competitive advantage to to those districts is that we started this journey so long ago and that we started this work back in 2016. And so there isn't really a gap of grade levels that we're dealing with that we started embedding this way of teaching and learning a while ago. So those fourth or fifth graders in 2016 when they started getting Carolina and they started getting the new curriculum back then, that was in anticipation of this moment. And so in anticipation of that moment
076to build that up and it feels a little bit like how could we predict almost 10 years down the line but in fact that's kind of what we were doing at that point was to make sure that if we started early that there would be this real long ramp getting us to this point so that we weren't just now saying oh let's plug in new curriculum now and let's hope the kids are going to get the skills and then they're going to be tested on these skills you know eight months later right so um again so we've at this a long time and by them postponing that that administration we could do that. Now look, we we are watching the numbers carefully. We we are, you know, we're making sure that we're putting the supports
077in place. We are meeting with teachers. We are we are ensuring that any of the um concerns. We're trying to address them as they come up wi with the teachers as they're seeing what the students are doing to make sure that when we get there that they um you know they're going to have the best option, the best uh possibility to succeed. But I will also just to kind of bring the temperature down a little bit on some of the concerns is just to remind you that we do have what's called the do no harm policy on our region's exams. So students who don't perform at a level that that that helps their their final averages um the exam will not count at that point. So it won't do harm in terms of of the
078final average for them um as as we go through it here. So there are some safety nets already in place. Uh but our anticipation is that our students are going to perform well. Uh we trust in the work that our teachers have been doing. They have been working tirelessly and you saw excuse me you saw that list of engagement uh that they were doing the professional development all the different conferences the interd district partnerships um we bring in outside consultants who are working to do this. Our is just a quick example. Our earth science teachers when this first came out, they spent a summer creating their own cluster questions prior to the state coming out that they spent a whole summer creating hundreds of these questions in anticipation. Um that's the kind of teachers, you
079know, that we have. That's the kind of commitment they have and the work they're doing to ensure that our students are going to be ready. Um, in terms of the curriculum for the year, for the testing, because I know that the curriculum itself has changed, so it's not just for the the region test, have the kids adjusted well to I I had heard that some of the kids were struggling during this school year, not just for the test. Um, and I haven't heard in a while, so I'm thinking maybe it leveled out, but um, I know that there were it was definitely an adjustment to the new curriculum itself. Um, so I was just I just wanted to the kids, you know, we say it all the time, the kids are under an incredible amount
080of pressure and the grades are, you know, of very high in their thoughts. So, you know, I just I was just wondering if the if it seems to have leveled out and that the kids seem to have adjusted well or if their kids are still struggling with the new curriculum and the new way of testing and how that has all been going. Sorry. Um, so yes, in in what we're seeing it is it has to a degree leveled out. Um, but I continue like as I said earlier, it's uh there are students who perhaps are could be still struggling and we continue to find ways to to find success for them. Um, and it could be a matter of just it is the the perhaps a discrepancy of worker that they're encountering. We're trying to
081help them find that that that space of success. Uh but from what we're seeing mostly across the board, our students ha are navigating this fairly successfully and our students are our teachers are extending themselves to provide those supports to the students as needed. >> Thank you. I know you're getting a lot of questions. So, how about how about if you were a cell, what type of mutation would Sorry, that was a >> I actually know the answer to >> I know and I probably shouldn't have asked because I have an answer too that I won't give. Um my question is how do we so the state comes out gives us what two years to roll out all four exams. The first administration of earth and science and bio would have been last year. So we
082started this year and then chem and physics first administration is this year and we're going to roll it out next year. Okay. So for all four we opted to go the extra year. >> Yes. Great. Thank you. Yes. Hi, just one quick question. So, in general, elementary through um high school, have all of the assessments then shifted from your slides on the one to two-dimensional to three-dimensional questioning, have the everyday, let's say, assessments in the classrooms, have they all shifted also to three-dimensional ways of questioning or will the students still see the more basic questions as well just to prepare them for the testing? I'm just curious. Right. I could speak to the the secondary level. And I think we we very deliberately and intentionally are providing students with both the one and the two
083and the three to build up that stamina and endurance to be able to tackle even the most rigorous of questions because we want to be able to assess is it an issue of just content recall or is it a matter of applying a particular concept or practice. So, we were doing our best to really be able to kind of scaffold and differentiate our assessments, whether it's formative in the classroom or the more summitive assessments in class. >> Um, at the elementary level, one of the things that we did do in 2023 was look at um an assessment resource that we could utilize um called inner orbit. And what that allowed us to do was to provide opportunity for students to practice the higher level questioning. So classroom assessments, um, labs, things like that, you know,
084encountered some of the basic levels of questioning, but that inner orbit is an online assessment that mimics the New York State assessment that the fifth graders are taking so that they have an opportunity to practice what those assessments look like. So that's taking place at the elementary level for grades three, four, and five. Hi, thank you all for the presentation. So, I remember probably like 10 years ago in elementary school, we used to do the science project. I don't know if we still do it. Um, but I remember watching my daughter struggle with that and I saw so much learning going on with that because I think we probably went through 10 different iterations until something worked. So, are we still doing those hands-on where the kids are struggling and they take ownership to that
085project? And >> so, there was a performance task on the New York State the fourth grade New York State assessment that students practiced with and then on the day of the assessment they were um perfor doing you know conducting the lab experiment or the performance task. So, that has shifted. Um we are still engaging in labs. There are New York State required labs that fifth grade students engage in. Um so they are they're engaged in those productive struggles. They're um tinkering with things. They're developing claims. They're trying to measure and analyze and then state their reasoning for their claims. And um so they're engaging with all of those higher level things. And now it's in a more formal um lab um requirement that the state has for fifth graders. So we do that. We do
086that all the way K through five. Um, but the lab requirements are there for fifth graders. Yes. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> So, just uh want to thank the team for their presentation and also try and wrap things up with a bow and uh maybe go out 20,000 ft uh for the board to just talk at the level of strategy for a second. Uh but before that I do that I just want to say that we're not giving short shrift to our Regeneron scholars. We're going to honor them next month. I just thought it was uh too good to overlook the opportunity to connect the dots between the success at the end and all the work that goes into the preparation that gets to that success. The point I want to make
087is um while this while the new standards are more rigorous uh there's no question about that and the expectations driven by the new standards are higher. So there is going to be a level of struggle. I think our teachers, our kids are equal to the challenge. Uh but we're certainly going to see that as a consequence of a more demanding standard that the state has adopted. But the approach that we have chosen to reach that more demanding standard is approach that's built on phenomena. So it grounds it in the real world and kids interests. It activates their curiosity so that they're more engaged with the material. It offers them the opportunity to do exploration and experimentation which in the end curiosity, exploration, experimentation, these are all expressions of student agency. So students feel a much
088greater sense of agency over this type of work than they feel over memorization work because the memorization doesn't really engage them in any kind of choice. So when they're given this choice, they're able to develop skills as opposed to knowledge. So they're developing both skills and knowledge and knowledge with skills can be applied. Knowledge in the abstract can't necessarily be applied to a new op to a new challenge. And so uh Mr. Steinberg used the phrase careers that haven't been invented yet. I think there can be all kinds of challenges that haven't been invented yet. And so the more we can prepare students with transferable skills, they're the more wellprepared they're going to be not just for the assessment at the end of these courses, but for whatever they might encounter in the future. And
089then the second point I wanted to make is um we talk a lot about crosscutting in Sioset in all sorts of ways but it's a concept we stole from the next generation science standards where we talk about the interdisciplinary crosscutting concepts and the idea that you can see concepts that are that live in all of the sciences but they're just expressed in different ways. And if you think about all of the the resources that we have here and the limitations on them, the one resource that is the most finite of all is time because our kids have a limited amount of time. And time that is spent in something students don't recall is time that goes to waste. And time that is spent teaching the same thing twice is also time that goes to waste.
090So part of what we're doing is making sure we use our money efficiently. And part of what we're doing is trying to make sure we use our time efficiently. And so the cross cutting concepts identify ways that we can do more than one thing at a time. And that just multiplies the value of the time. And as we get into these more agencydriven curiosity, exploration, experimentation types of lessons, those are more memorable. And because they're more memorable, it means that the time is put to better use. So that strategy is not just true of science, it's true of how we're approaching uh at every level and across all of the grades the work that we're doing. And just uh the one I want to put an even finer point on what Miss Kim Yagarov uh
091said when Dr. Park, you asked your question uh because even though we will we will eventually have a cohort of kids who have only experienced claim evidence reasoning. It wasn't like we just started with elementary but ignored any changes to the middle school and the high school. We've been changing at all levels simultaneously. So for some kids this was a mid-stream transition. For others this will be all that they've known. But at every level we've been making this shift over the course of these 10 years. So, no student is experiencing this now for the first time as they've encountered high school. So, uh our goal is to give them the best preparation. And whether or not you're going to be somebody who pursues science, you should at least walk away from the class and say,
092"Not my thing, but that was fun." >> Sorry, just one more just one more thing. And the way we've differentiated in science in sciences in particular uh the different levels is through increased analytics and analytics. So as you like if an AP class an honors class had more um analytics and and a different kind of approach to the questioning than say a regions or uh a different kind of class and that's how we kind of went up the level. So is that the same kind of hierarchy that we're presenting? >> Yeah, I'll ask Mr. Steinberg or Miss Kinarov to go into a little bit more detail about what differentiates them, but in some ways your broader point is accurate, which is the regent level classes in the past might have been more focused on content
093recall and less on application and skill. and the higher level college level classes, AP level classes would be much more conceptual and then take the conceptual skills and find a way to apply them to a novel situation. So now we're doing that more in regent level classes. So I and I'll look for confirmation but I think that it's the same process but now the expectation is just uh calibrated uh at a higher level in those higher classes. Yeah. And so if I could just add on to that just in terms of the shift when you're seeing the three dimensions of of the standards now where at that region's level you might have seen more of that single dimension and that content acquisition and sort of recall and that might have been where that class left
094off but now there's an intentionality to ensure that you have the science and engineering practice embedded in there along with the cross cutting in everything they're doing. So you'll see you're you're right on. You'll see that at a different level depending on the level of student we're we're we're working with. But all students will now get all three dimensions and begin to work that scaffold up that way as opposed to just starting with one and adding the next one on top of it. >> Okay. Thank you. [clears throat] We have no legislated items and no discussion items and no unfinish no unfinished business. Um, new business 11A is the approval of staff changes. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Levitton, seconded by Miss Falov. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions?
09511B is the approval of stipens and hourly rates 2025 2026. Can I have a motion, please, Mr. Rotolo? Second by Miss Abramson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 11 C is the appointment of teaching assistants. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Levitan, second by Mr. Ginsburg. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 11D is the approval of online staff salary adjustments. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, second by Dr. Park. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 11E is the approval of align staff amended employment agreement 2025 2026. Can I have a motion please? Miss Koshia, second by Miss Falov. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 12A is the first reading of new and old and or revised
096policies. Policy 8115, pesticides and pest management. Policy 8140, unsafe school transfer of choice. Policy 8220, buildings and grounds maintenance inspection. Okay. The second reading will take place at the February 9th, 2026 board meeting. Copies of the proposed policies are posted on the district website. 12B is the adoption of SAS Central School Districtwide School Safety Plan. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Dr. [clears throat] Park. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 12 C and 12 D can be taken together. there the approval of the committee on preschool special education and the committee on special education recommendations. Can I have a motion please? Mr. Ginsburg, second by Miss Koshia. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 12E is the approval of settlement agreement and release. Can
097I have a motion please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Mr. Greckle. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 12F is the approval of amended settlement agreement and release. This can have a motion, please. Mr. Ginsburg, seconded by Miss Levitan. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13A is the authorization of service contracts. Can have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Dr. Park. Are there any questions? All in favor? Okay, you have question. Okay, Mr. Greco, >> Dr. Rogers, one of the uh one of the contracts is a the intermunicipal contract with Jericho. Can I I guess I can I hope that this is related to our three new buses and Okay, >> so yes, once we own three buses, we will need a way to maintain them. Uh Jericho
098has fairly substantial fleet of their own buses and um maintenance staff uh and we've entered into an agreement with them. they have very graciously agreed to let us use uh their yard and their maintenance staff to do maintenance on our buses. So, I'm very appreciative of that. Thank you to Jericho and uh hopefully this will be a great partnership for both school districts and lead to efficiencies for us both. >> I noticed the contracts to be dated March 1st. So, is that sort of the ETA for when we'll get the buses? >> I'm unwilling to give you a hard and fast date on the arrival. We were told that they would be here in the middle of spring and uh right now we're not anticipating any delays but I don't have an exact date that
099it'll start. >> Sorry. >> Okay. All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13B is the authorization for special education and or nursing contracts. Can a motion please? Miss Kosha, second by Miss Levitan. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13 C is the approval of health services. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Miss Abramson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13D is the authorization for contracts for federal part B funds. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Ginsburg, seconded by Miss Koshia. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13E is the authorization for picky backing Southampton Union Free School District Library Supplies Furn Furnishings and Equipment Bid number SPS24-00001 second extension can have a motion please Mr. Rotolo seconded by Miss Abramson.
100Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13F is the authorization for picket backing Rockling County audio videography projection screens displays optic equipment peripherals and supplies. Can have a motion please. Miss Levitain seconded by Miss Falov. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13G is the authorization for receipt of stipens or academic voucher by school district educators from a private university of co or college can have a motion please Mr. Ro seconded by Mr. Greco are there any questions all in favor opposed any abstensions 13H is the authorization for Becky Bagging bus inspection repairs and maintenance can have a motion please Miss Koshia seconded by Mr. Ginsburg. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13 I is the approval of student club charters 2025 2026. Can I
101have a motion, please? Mr. Roto, second by Miss Arenson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13J is the approval of student group charters 2025 2026. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Koshia, second by Miss Levitton. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13K is the acceptance of donation the black black bow giving fund. Can I have a motion please? Mr. Rotolo seconded by Miss Abramson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13 L is the accept acceptance of donations fence cups. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Levetin, second by Miss Falov. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13M is the approval of dispos disposal of broken surplus and or obsolete equipment, supplies, and books. Can I have a motion,
102please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? We have no audience to the public and I can have a motion to adjourn the meeting. Okay, Miss Kosha, second by Miss um Labeten. Okay. and we are going to have a special board meeting um towards the end of the month month for the purpose of awarding contracts associated with the bond projects and the tentative date right now is Monday January 26. Thank you so much. Thank you.