001Okay. Good evening everyone. Welcome to our August uh board of education meeting. And for now um can everyone please stand for the pledge? I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. Please take a seat. >> Okay. And begin uh before we begin our uh August meeting, I just wanted to uh give uh Niko Sha a very warm welcome to be the ex official um student BOE member. >> Thank you, Miss Chang. It's both an honor and a privilege to represent the student body in this role and I'm hoping that I will provide some meaningful input to the board's decisions um throughout this year. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And
002Dr. Rogers also has a few words. So Dr. Rogers, please. >> I had prepared a few things to say in July uh when you officially took your office but were unable to attend the meeting. uh but this is just as good an opportunity to share them. So uh for members of the public who may not know uh new state law requires that every Boseies and every school district that operates a high school uh needs to appoint a student to the board of education. The high school went through a process. They had a number of interested students. Interviews uh resume uh reviews were conducted and Nquille was selected to represent the student body here to uh the to the school board. So uh they're entitled to join us for public board meetings. There are uh parts
003of the work that the board does that are confidential in nature. The student uh board member is not permitted to be part of that here or in other school districts. Uh but we do value the student experience here and there is no one better to share that student experience with us than a student board member. And part of the reason why I think Nquille was selected by the selection committee uh was for all of the work that he has done uh first of all his character but the work that he has done uh leading our student body. He's uh leader in our student government. He is editor-inchief of our school uh magazine the pulse. He is captain of our uh New York State championship tennis team. And he is an all-state musician. So, he is
004a an academic, an athletic, and an artistic young man, and I think he'll be able to represent all of those great traits that exist in all of our young people uh here at the board meeting. So, I've gotten to know NIL a little bit over the years. I'm delighted to get to know him a little bit better, and I think he'll be a wonderful inaugural board member uh for us. So, congratulations, and good luck. >> Okay. Congratulations, Andil. We look forward to working with you this school year. >> Okay. All right. So, next on the agenda is the presentation and public hearing on policy 5300 code of uh code of character conduct and support. And we'll have uh Mr. David Steinber, our assistant superintendent for secondary curriculum instruction and assessment to uh present that for
005us. Okay. >> Good evening and thank you board of education Dr. Rogers for the opportunity to present to you this public hearing on policy 5300, our code of character, conduct and support. Um, as we go through this, um, the purpose of this code, excuse me, one second. So, the idea of the code is that it establishes the district code of character, conduct, and support that ensures our safe, respectful, and supportive learning environment for all of our students. Uh, it sets clear expectations for behavior and it outlines protections against discrimination, bullying, and harassment. It emphasizes the accountability with fair consequences and restorative practices. The policy serves as both a guide to good conduct and a framework for building positive school culture. Uh as we see we have plain language summaries of the code. These can be
006found on the district's website. Each of these were created in conjunction with each of the stakeholder groups. So parents, students, and teachers were uh uh consulted in creating these plain language summaries. The the actual policy itself is 45 plus pages long. Um, so it would take a bit to read through all of it. So these were created to sort of elevate the most relevant parts of that code to each one of these uh stakeholder groups and you can find the entire code itself at the link below which is located on the district website in addition to our e- policy website. Most recently, there was an update to policy 5300 by a policy committee, and this was to represent the changes in short-term and long-term suspension appeals with the idea that it makes sure that it
007really spells out for the current board and future boards their role in that suspension process. And it reads, "In reviewing the appeal, the board of education will review the record of the suspension proceeding and determine whether one, the suspension decision was based upon competent and substantial evidence that the student participated in the objectional conduct, and two, whether the sanction imposed was proportionate to the severity of the offense." So, these were changes that were made. As next steps, tonight is the first reading of the changes of the policy. In September on the September 15th board meeting will be the second reading and the adoption of the policy. Between now now and then is an opportunity for the community to feed back and provide questions and comments and they can do so by following the form that's
008linked to this presentation or finding the form for their feedback on the website and it's also linked to this presentation. So at this time I'll thank you for this opportunity and then open the floor to any questions. >> Thank you Mr. Steinberg. Um, are there any questions for Mr. Steinberg? >> All right. And then there's no audience. Oh, Dr. Park with parents with difficulty in understanding English, they can also read in their own languages. And could they also submit their questions in their own languages? >> Yes. So, thank you for the question. Yes. So on the website, there's an ability to read these policies in the language it translates on the website and then as they fill the form and they can fill the form in in any language they like and we'll have the
009ability to translate and understand what the questions and concerns are. >> Okay. Are there any more questions? Okay. Thank you again, Mr. Steinberg. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. And then uh we are going to uh move along uh with the agenda items. And then 5 A, 5B, and 5C can be taken together. And they're the approval of minutes of the July 1st, 2025 reorg meeting, the July 1st, 2025 monthly meetings, and the July 22nd, 2025 special meeting. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Koshia, seconded by Miss Levitan. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? And uh Dr. approval. Can we have the treasures report and appropriation adjustments, please? The treasures report um for the month of um June. The cash on hand for the end was 85,848,749 and 89 cents.
010It shows that bank balances for all cash accounts were reconciled to the book balances and were collateralized in accordance with the district's banking agreements and investment policy. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Rufol. And 6 A and 6B can be taken together and they're the approval of the treasures report and appropriation adjustments. Can I have a motion, please? Dr. Park, seconded by Miss Ebrimson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? Okay. And then we'll have Dr. Rogers to give us um his superintendent report. >> Thank you very much. Uh so the start of school is just around the corner. Uh I know that uh we had this building uh with some eighth graders who were serving as guides to sixth graders. And uh after a summer without anyone any young people at least in
011the building, it was great to see uh the halls filled with kids again. Our teachers come back tomorrow uh Wednesday and Thursday for their superintendent conference days. They're getting ready for uh the fall. We'll have some new training for them. We're going to continue our work on artificial intelligence and education. And uh we're going to build on uh the board's goals work uh developing a portrait of a graduate for a scioasic graduate and leading to that portrait of a graduate for our high school students uh what we're calling a scio inspire profile but a profile of what our early learners uh will know and be able to do so that they'll be well prepared uh to meet the expectations of the portrait of a graduate later on. So, I think we'll find uh that work
012to be exciting. Uh thinking about how we're preparing our students for uh the future that they'll inhabit. And I know that that's the work that uh our teachers love to do with our students here. One thing that will be different about this fall will be uh a new law that was enacted by the state as part of the state budget process in the spring. So, uh as uh public is no doubt aware, the state budget is more than just a fiscal document. It is also uh a series of laws that enact that fiscal document. And one of the things that the legislature and governor agreed upon was uh what is commonly known as a bell-to-bell ban, but the actual title of the law is a distraction-free schools law. So uh this is a law that's
013going to require um a lot of changes at the school district. Uh we and other school districts across the state have been working on uh implementation plans for uh this legislation. And what it uh what it means by bell-to-bell is that students must not use their personal electronic uh devices if they are connected to the internet between the moment that instruction starts at the beginning of the day. So let's say the the first minute of first period at the high school until the end of the last uh period of the day, the last minute of 9th period at the high school for example. So that will look a little bit different uh in each of the three levels, elementary, middle, and secondary. And it will require a little bit of getting used to. So, uh,
014part of the reason for putting this presentation together is, uh, to put something on the website, but, uh, we've also been working on trying to, uh, iterate and make sure that our policy, uh, abides by the intent of the law, which is to reduce distractions for students so that they can focus on their learning, but also to make sure that we don't interrupt that learning or uh, deny our students some of the opportunities that they've enjoyed here. So there are some definitions of what are internet enabled devices uh what the school day is. I think it's important to note that even um smartwatches will be considered internet enabled devices and will not be permitted under uh the state law. But any device that's issued by the school district, a Chromebook or uh in some some
015cases there are some other kinds of computers that are um issued by the school district. Those are exempted from the ban. How will the devices be stored at the elementary level? Uh typically what already happens will comply with the law. So if a student has a device, they would leave it in their backpack backpack silenced. That backpack would be stored in the closet or the cubby uh depending on how the room was configured. So that will continue pretty much as uh currently the case. In the middle schools, uh the rule is already off and away during the day. Students are expected to keep their devices in their lockers, but we've not had a prohibition on students using their devices during passing time or uh recess or lunch. So, that will be the change at the
016middle schools that students are not allowed to use those personal devices uh during the day in some of those non-instructional times. At the high school, uh the devices will need to be stored in student lockers and again silenced so that they're not a disruption to others uh from arrival until dismissal. And again students are not permitted by law to access these devices even during time that they might not have uh instructional period uh instruction going on. So the law also requires us to furnish parents with a way of getting in touch with students. Uh there are several. So uh I think the primary way of getting in touch with students will be by telephone. Every office is prepared to accept phone calls from uh parents and also uh prepared to have students who need to
017come to the office to contact their parents. In some ways, this will look a lot like uh the school I attended when I was uh under the age of 17. Uh this was the typical way uh before cell phones that you would get in touch with parents and students. So, uh we're certainly experienced with it and we can return to it. We do have district emails for secondary students and for secondary students that are great in grade eight or above, that email can accept external uh emails. So, it will be possible for a parent to email a student's personal uh school district email address and students will have access to that email on their district issued Chromebook. The district is also uh launching a new uh app that we're using to contact parents. This uh
018app is called Parent Square. It will become our main communication platform with uh families. So, uh, if you wish, you can receive Parent Square either as an email or you can, uh, receive those messages directly in the app, but you don't have to download the app if you're not, uh, interested in doing that. And the parent square app has some advantages. It complies with privacy laws and it in uh, it complies with the laws that we have to obey around the encryption of data when it is transmitted back and forth uh, to a parent and it contains student data. So that's the reason for moving to that platform. Uh that platform will also allow one of the logistical challenges of this. Um in the past students would use their personal devices to coordinate uh maybe
019a practice. If you were a captain of a team or if you were an officer in a student club, you might use your device to coordinate when and where you would be meeting. Uh parent square will uh provide that capability uh for us to work with. The law does provide for some exemptions and it's worth taking a second at least to talk through this and how we'll be implementing this. I do think this will be one of the more challenging aspects of the law. So, uh I've highlighted the kinds of things that the law talks about. So, if you have a health care issue that requires a device to manage it and I think immediately of uh our students who have real-time blood sugar monitoring because they have diabetes and there's an app for that.
020Uh so certainly we would not want to deny students the opportunity to continue to use that app and the law uh contemplates that. There are students with disabilities who use adaptive technology. Uh so that will be written on their IEP. Of course, we want them to have access to that adaptive technology. There are some students who have uh impairments that limit a major life activity. The law also provides that we can accommodate and uh find a way of trying to offset that impairment. But that may require some conversation with the building administration. So if you think that your child may be in need of 504 uh exemption, you would contact the building administration, the principal or one of the assistant principles at a secondary school, and they'll walk you through the process of identifying uh
021the chair chairpeople for that process. and for translation needs. The law uh provides for translation as well. So I think one of the challenges here will be that these exemptions are inevitably based on um characteristics that by law we're supposed to keep confidential. Uh whether a student has a disability in an IEP or not is supposed to be confidential. Whether a student has a 504 plan or not is supposed to be confidential. So there will be some students who are in compliance with the law but nevertheless using a device and they think that will be uh it will present a challenge to their peer who might not have uh any of these exemptions or accommodations and might wonder why their peer is enabled to use a device and they are not. So uh to try
022and minimize uh some of that challenge I would point out that even if a student has an exemption that doesn't grant them the ability to use the device unfettered. means that they're able to use the device solely for the purpose that the exemption is for. So you can't uh you know monitor your diabetes um and also play games on your phone. Uh that's not what the exemption provides for. So we've been asked questions and we are going to provide a district uh frequently asked questions document. As we've been collecting questions over the summer, we've been populating that document. We'll make it public uh before the end of the week. Uh so we don't want to say uh one-sizefits-all in terms of how the dis discipline will work, but we're hoping that we can uh encourage
023students to be compliant as opposed to uh getting compliance through uh more formal discipline. But certainly we'll engage parents in the process. Um first mistakes will be treated uh much differently from third and fourth mistakes. Uh but what we're looking to do is uh have students understand the reasons for the law. the hope to remove uh distractions and uh to work with students uh more muscularly if necessary, but hopefully work with students so that uh they're in compliance and so that we're in compliance. Uh the law provides specifically that a student can't be suspended from school solely for cell phone use. Uh but I would just point out that if um the cell phone uh conversation with the teacher becomes abusive on the student's part, if the student gets frustrated and says something inappropriate, um
024that will be treated under the code of conduct. So what may start out as a conversation about a cell phone may go in a different direction. So the code of conduct doesn't go away just because the conversation starts around cell phones. So, one of the things that we've been working on, as I alluded to earlier, we're trying to preserve as much of the great educational uh work that we do here as possible. And the SAS board this spring uh adopted a series of new goals and one of those goals included the language around fostering utilizing and fostering a mastery of evolving technologies. So certainly uh the board recognized the power of u artificial intelligence and the larger and larger role that it's going to play in student lives in the future and we've seen a
025lot of success from our implementation of technology over the last decade or so here in Sioset. So uh we've worked uh diligently with our partners at NASA Boseis who provide a lot of the um engineering backbone for our internet services to see if we could create a studentfacing network that complied with our distraction-free goals. And working with them, we've uh designed a student guest network that will prevent students from getting onto messaging apps or VPNs or social apps. the kinds of things that are distractions, but it will allow students to do um work. And the law does permit this. The law says that uh we can permit uh student devices for uh authorized educational purposes. So, in order to get to that, we wanted to make sure that we had a network that we could
026control. Students would authenticate to this network with a unique authentication credential. So we'd be able to know uh which devices were on the network and we'd be able to uh keep track of the traffic that uh they're uh using on the devices. So uh like any other privilege and there are lots and lots of privileges that we offer students here uh if there is abuse or misuse uh students will lose that privilege. So uh but what we're hoping to do is illustrate to students that uh we're trying to preserve some of their independence while complying with the law. And I hope that they recognize uh that this makes an opportunity available to them that might not have been available otherwise. So uh this will be posted on the website. So all of these links will
027be uh easily accessible to someone who wishes to go through it. Uh as I said the specific FAQ will be available before the end of the week. And uh we do anticipate getting lots of questions particularly after school starts and I imagine there will still be people who are unaware of the law and so maybe a little bit startled on the first couple of days uh as we start to enforce the law. So we will go gentle at first uh understanding that people may be a little bit unfamiliar uh but once everyone gets used to it after the first week or so uh our expectations of compliance will will come into play. Uh maybe I'll stop there and answer questions from the board before going on to the next topic. >> Sure. Okay. All right.
028Thank you, Dr. Rogers, for the uh presentation. Um, are there any questions from the board for Dr. Rogers? Okay, Miss Falco. >> Um, thank you so much for the clarification. Um, just to clarify because I've been getting this a lot from parents and I'm sure other people have as well for the bring your own device. um an iPad or a notebook computer that that you log on to this this student guest network will be acceptable for people to take notes on and and what it'll apply to an iPad or a notebook computer or MacBook or whatever personal device they have. >> Correct. And we're only envisioning this at the high school level 9th 9th 10th 11th and 12th grades. Miss Amson and then um Nikuel. >> Um so I guess I have two questions. The
029first is um the you talked about emails between parents and students and they have emails in 8th grade and up. Um those are school district emails and what kind of monitoring of those emails has gone on because the I guess the privacy aspect of what the parent is saying to the child to the child to the parent is something that we should be aware of. And also this is put into place for distractions and for learning. But it for those that struggle socially especially in places like lunch and in middle school um or older kids who have had the phone in middle school and now have to deal with coming out. I think another board member had brought up uh the implications on socialization and how what is the school district going to do to
030help socialize the kids better and integrate kids that are struggling. Um this is a this is a problem for a lot of kids in lunch and they have relied on technology to help them through it and I think that we need to pay attention to that. >> Thank you for both of those points. I'll take them in reverse order. Um so one of the things that the middle schools experimented with uh over the course of this last year was our tech-free Tuesdays. Um so a couple takeaways from that one uh students found it enjoyable. Uh but uh two it was very highly structured. So um again in uh pre-Cellphone era I think students were more accustomed to less structured play and I think they've become less accustomed to that less structured play. So I think
031there will be an important role for staff to play and I think we'll build on some of the success that we had with Techfree Tuesday and the kinds of things that students uh illustrated that they liked. So that's at the middle school. I think there's uh more work to be done at the high school for how to help students with socialization uh as well there. Um again often at the high school the socialization comes through joining clubs and having common interests. So, I want to start uh exploring with the high school how they're going to take that and see if there are ways to build that out during the day. Maybe these are opportunities for clubs to do a little bit of work together as well. Uh regarding the first question, uh all email at
032the school district is archived and accessible to school administrators. So, uh, while email is open to, uh, external communication, there shouldn't be an we're not, we will not go through email unless there's a reason to go through email. But there shouldn't be any expectation of privacy because the school district by law has to have access to any email that a staff member uh, sends or receives and any email that a student on our network sends or receives. >> Thank you, Dr. Rogers. Um, I also have a question regarding student emails. You indicated that students in grades eight or above can receive external emails, but I'm also wondering will students have the ability to send out emails to external parties? Because, for example, um, in 11th and 12th grade research classes in the high school, many
033students work with research mentors outside of school and they rely on using their personal emails to contact them. So, right now, when we enter this new um phase in the policies, will they be able to contact those research mentors or other parties that aren't within the district? >> Yes, it's my understanding that they will. And I just turned around and confirmed that uh students will have uh both incoming and outgoing uh email access from 8th grade up. >> I also have one more question. Um, will classroom teachers have any discretion to allow students to use devices um for let's say a school project or um whenever they feel necessary or are there strict rules where students cannot use personal devices in class? >> If those devices are cell phones, the answer is going to be
034no. They should remain in the locker um during the day. But if that is a BYOD device, then the student would have the choice of the Chromebook which is the district issued device or their bring your own device. And the teacher should be able to allow students the choice of either of those two because one will be uh on the district network, the other will be on the student guest network that has the filtering. >> Thank you. Um Mr. Greco, >> just two real quick questions. the BYOD. Do we plan on rolling that out, you know, in a week and a half? Is it ready to go? >> It is. It is ready to go. Uh we were working on that as late as today with Boseies, but I'm confident that it's going to work
035uh based on the testing that we did today. So, we'll be I'm announcing it tonight. Uh we'll be providing um the high school with some more information about how that network's going to be set up and deployed and provisioned, and we'll be ready to go. uh next week and we'll be communicating with families about that. >> So, obviously you mentioned that the law says we can't suspend based solely on the cell phone use, but I would also assume that every district hopefully in the state of New York has an insubordination provision in their code of conduct. Did the state give us any guidance on how to marry those two issues? It did not, but if you look through some of the guidance documents that are out there and the state offered um a model policy
036from uh Buffalo as something that boards could look at um and in that model policy there is a connection to the code of conduct. So, uh, if again, if there was a battle of wills over a device and that battle of wills turned into inappropriate behavior on the part of the student, the suspension, if that's what resulted, wouldn't be because of the device. It would be because of the behavior after the confrontation. >> But insubordination, at least in our in our policy, talks about not listening to reasonable instructions from a teacher, for example, or from the administration, which this would be. So, I'm just wondering, don't they have to tell us because if we suspend a child for 18 uses of a cell phone in four days, we believe it's a violation of the code
037of conduct, but the law says we can't do that. So, I'm just I'm just wondering if they've given us a little bit more than, yeah, you can use your code of conduct, but the law says you can't do it. Now, the law says that you can't suspend a student solely for having uh and using the device, but the situation that you're describing where they've been given reasonable direction by a staff member to do something and they failed to do it, that becomes insubordination, that is subject to the code of conduct. You you don't give up the rest of your code of conduct just because a cell phone was present as part of the the confrontation. It's the cell phone is not a shield from the rest of the code of conduct. Miss Falov, >> sorry,
038one more question. So, we live in a very different age than when we grew up. You know, kids make plans during the day now and they they they're used to, you know, texting their parents and saying, "I'm going to walk to Starbucks or I'm going to go home with so and so or can I do this?" So, they're very used to having um fluid plans during the day. Is there and so I understand parents can call the office but is there a plan in place for if the kids want to reach out to their parents during the day because not every parent is checking their email. So how you know what's the plan for that? >> If you're asking whether there is going to be granted an exemption so students could use a personal device
039to text their parents. No, I'm sorry. If there's for whatever reason a a student feels they need to reach out to their parents, can they go to the office and use the phone or is there you know and then and then how are you going to you know check if that reason is valid of coming down to use the phone or if it's something that you don't deem necessary to bother the office with. You know, it's going to be a balancing act for the reason why they're reaching out to use the phone. So, Well, I'm hoping that the um the chore of going down to the office will screen out um un unnecessary use, but we're fully contemplating that students will go to the main office in order to contact their parents. All of the
040office staff in the main offices and all of the buildings are expecting this. They're expecting to get incoming calls from parents looking to speak to students and they're expecting students to come down to the office and u make calls home. And it's possible that students may go down to guidance, for example, and take advantage of a phone and guidance to get a hold of a parent as well. But we're absolutely contemplating that that will happen. And I don't see us um asking students the the reason or purpose for their call. I think, you know, particularly for older students, uh we would just grant them the the independence to go and just take care of that on their own. >> Mr. Ginsburg. >> Hi. Um, so with the BYOD devices, uh, I I guess you come
041to school, let's say I have a laptop, I bring it to school, it restricts me from using any outside email and outside communication. When I bring it home, what happens to it? Is the school monitoring anything or is it anything on the computer uh that does anything like that? >> It's a great question and it gets to the heart of why we needed to set up a separate network. um we are not going to install any sort of software on a personal device. We don't want to have our software running on a personal device and we don't want to put ourselves in the position of having to um inspect a personal device. So, uh but we also have to comply with the law. So by creating this filtered network, students can get on a network
042and have uh access to the parts of the internet that are educationally focused through that network without having access to social media, messaging apps, WhatsApp, things like that. So um I'm aware of some districts that are going to have uh much more open-ended BYOD programs. Um I didn't feel uh comfortable with that for us. I wanted something that I uh was confident would comply with the law. And so uh we we spent several weeks this summer designing this uh with Boseies and now I feel like we've gotten to a place where we're confident that this will do that. So to your question, what happens when you go home? Um you're going to authenticate to your own network at home, whatever's in your house, and you'll have access to whatever is on that network. So it
043is filtered at the network level. So once you connect to our Wi-Fi, you connect to the parts of the internet that we'll give you exposure to, not to the whole internet, but it doesn't change anything about the device and it doesn't change how the device operates when it's elsewhere. >> Okay, NIL, go. >> One more question for parent square. Um, you mentioned that it enables direct messaging to both students and parents from teachers or coaches. Will students be able to respond to coaches, let's say, to coordinate a practice time? Is there back and forth messaging or is it just one way? >> Back and forth. >> Our resident parent square expert is in the off is is in the audience. Um, and this is a new tool for me. My understanding is that it will
044allow back and forth between uh a group or to the teacher. I don't believe that it will allow individual studentto student messaging. Okay. Are there any more questions for Dr. Rogers? Okay. All right. Thank you, Dr. Rogers. And obviously, uh, this is going to be very new, um, for everyone, you know, in New York State, actually. And then, uh, just want to thank the administration for spending, whole lot of time, um, just, you know, studying what's the best for the students. Thank you. So, this has been a busy summer of construction and this is only the tip of the iceberg. Uh, obviously last October the public voted for uh facilities improvements both to uh deal with some of the problems with our aging facilities and also to accommodate a lot of the growth that we've
045experienced and that we anticipate will make the high school uh a very challenging place in the next several years. So, um we had a a large number of projects this summer. The bulk of the projects that were voted on by the public will uh start in the summer of 2026, but I just want to update the board on where we're at with some of the things that we did this summer. Uh as the board knows, you adopted emergency resolution over the summer so that we could um expedite repairs on Walt Whipman Elementary School. The feeder line, the electrical feeder line from the street failed and obviously that's the main line into the building and without it we can't operate the building at all. So, uh, we accelerated that work. Uh, it was completed about a
046week and a half ago. Uh, that work has held, uh, for the week and a half since. We have not had any interruptions to power. So, I'm feeling very confident about, uh, that repair and that it's going to be ready for the start of school. At the high school and at Southwoods Middle School, we had u roofing projects. This is the latest in a series of roofing projects at all of our schools where we take uh, sections of the roof uh, every summer. we chip away at trying to get more and more of it done. Uh that work is not quite done yet at either school, but will be done in time for the start of school. We had some uh chimney work at the high school that needed some additional reinforcement. So that work
047is underway literally as we speak. Uh at South Grove, the first of the bond projects is underway and we until now had a situation where both cars and buses released students for arrival and dismissal in the same location. So you had a situation where students would walk from cars in front of the buses to get into the building. Uh it's obvious that that's safety risk. And so uh by creating a separate loop, we'll have a place for buses to uh drop off students and we'll have a different place for cars to drop off students. It will allow our security and building team to manage that with a lot more safety uh in mind for students. At the high school, there is um a space inside the building that was uh in desperate need of renovation.
048So um the first stage of that renovation is almost complete. We'll have a TV uh media center. Uh this will be where the radio station and the podcasting room are. I think it'll be a nice state-of-the-art facility for students who are interested in those kinds of broadcast media uh to uh hone their skills. Adjacent to that is a a larger space that will serve as flex space for us as we start to do a number of the building projects at the high school. So we'll need to relocate robotics at some point. will relocate guidance and uh each of these um uh projects are kind of set up like a series of do dominoes that will have to be knocked down. So it will be necessary to have some swing space in the building so that
049we can move things through as we're working on different parts of the building. Uh so that will be ready uh a little further into the year. Also ready uh about midy year will be the high school testing center. So um at all times students with accommodations may need additional time on tests. So rather than uh have them take their test in a classroom where the class changes at the end of 40 minutes, student needs extra time, they'll take their test in the high school testing center. That center was originally located in a courtyard, but the roof failed a couple of years ago. This is one of those old portables that the school district had. Um it is about the same age as many of the other portables that we had. Unfortunately, it was the first
050one to fail. So, um, it's taken us, uh, a year and a half to get approval from the state education department to build its replacement. Uh, but that approval has come through and we poured the foundation over the summer and we'll start doing the construction over the year. And as the board knows and, uh, just, uh, mentioned for new members to the board, uh, one of the things that has been a strategy of ours is to do as much of this work with in-house maintenance staff as possible because it's much less expensive than hiring outside contractors. So, uh, the TV media classroom renovation and the high school testing center. Uh, some of the the major structural work was done by contractors, but the rest of the work is going to be done by our own
051staff. Again, that will just make our dollars go a little bit farther here at Sioset. Um, for summer of 26, uh, and this is when we start to get into, uh, the much more significant construction plans. Uh we're about to release the bids for the um air conditioning projects for a lot of the existing gyms. Uh we will start on the Walt Whitman classroom edition at HBT. We'll be doing the vestibule, the track and field project all at the same time. And then the year after that will be the year that we do the site work. Uh like what was done here at Southwoods this summer where uh the sidewalks were um fixed and the pavement was redone. The uh high school pool ventilation and improvements will uh also be next summer. In addition to
052that, we haven't sent up and gotten approval yet, but we're close. The classroom addition for Village uh elementary school. Uh I'll come back to Barry Hill in a second. The high school guidance center reconfiguration and the new gym and uh the rear bus loop in the turf fields uh that we're working on uh at the high school. And again, all of that will be some additional square footage so that we can start to accommodate a lot of the pupil growth that we've experienced at the high school. Uh something that will be uh public facing will be this chart. So we're trying to help the public keep track of all of these projects that we're working on and also know which ones are uh planned to start in the summer of 2026, which ones are planned
053to start in the tw summer of 2027 and where they are in the process. So they're first designed, then we need to get approvals from the state. Then once we get state approvals, we start uh publicly bidding these. Uh we award the bids and then we start the construction. So uh each one of these process steps in the process can take several weeks. Um and so you know, as I'm sure people are excited about seeing some of the changes to the buildings that their children attend, uh we want to have a an easy way of kind of keeping track of that. So this will be posted on our website. and I just wanted to give you uh a little bit of a taste of what that's going to look like. So, I'll come back to
054Barry Hill when we talk about legislation in a little bit. >> Thank you, Dr. Rogers. And then, are there any questions for Dr. Rogers? >> Okay. All right. We're definitely very excited about uh all the new work that's going to be done in the next few years. Okay. Um and we're going to uh the uh the legislative items and Dr. Rogers will keep us uh will give it give us an update on the Barry Hill adjacent property. >> Thank you. So about a year ago, one of the challen Let me take one step back. One of the challenges with the construction work that we're going to do at Barry Hill is that the property has uh two big challenges. Uh first, the building goes right to the property lines on either side. So it's very
055hard to construction equipment around to the back side of the building, which is where the new construction is going to take place. The second problem is that there there's a dramatic slope uh behind the building. So that also makes it a really challenging site to work on. So about a year ago uh we saw on a state website that the state had declared the property that's immediately east of uh Berry Hill uh there's a little sliver of land that runs along the property line. The state had declared that to be surplus property. So, we inquired about the property and uh I was uh had had some conversations with our elected officials. They offered to uh put legislation in that would transfer that property from the state to the school district from one uh government entity
056to another. And on the very last day of the legislative session um in June, the bills passed the two houses of the legislature, the Senate and the Assembly. And so, uh, I was appreciative to, uh, Senator Martins, Assemblyman Bloomman CR, Assemblyman Stern for, uh, their work on that. So, uh, and our governmental system, obviously, the, uh, bills are not approved until the governor signs them into law. So, we've had, uh, some contact with the governor's office about, um, this. I would characterize those contacts as being, uh, productive and cordial, uh, but I don't have a sense of, uh, what's going to happen, uh, yet with the governor's office. Uh if the land is conveyed to the school district, it will make accessing the back of the property much uh easier and safer. And we're also
057required by law to build uh there's new code that wasn't in place when the building was originally constructed that requires us to build what's called a fire access road around the back side of the building, but this is to enable uh fire equipment to get around to the back of the building in the event of an emergency. So they they need a roadway that will support the weight of the fire trucks. So um it would be helpful particularly because of the grade that is there to have uh more land so that the slope for the trucks to go up and down is not as steep. So I'm hopeful that uh the governor will look favorably upon our request and but uh we don't know where that will be uh for now and I am concerned
058about the timelines uh for next summer. We'll have very short timeline to get that done. So we need to send our plans up to the state education department. So uh my my plan right now is to send the plan to the state education for depart department for approval that does not include the conveyance of the land. So our worst case scenario um so that we at least get started towards being able to construct something next summer. And if we have the happy news that the land is conveyed to the school district, I'll ask the state ed department to amend our plans and give us approval for a different uh structure based on the additional having the additional land to work with. Uh but I don't want to delay uh sending the project up to the
059state any longer because I worry that it puts in jeopardy the summer 26 construction season and just given how tight Barry Hill has been over the last several years, I don't want to lose a whole year on that project. So, I just wanted to update the board on where we were at with that and I'll I'll keep you in the loop as uh this project moves along. >> Okay. Thank you, Dr. Rogers. Okay. Uh we are going You have Okay, Miss Valov, >> how long does the um amendment approval generally take? Are they pretty quick with that? Usually, >> uh the answer is it depends. And I don't say that to be uh too tongue-in-cheek. Typically what will happen is local b local local bills are often the last to be approved. So the way
060things work in Albany is that um the governor's office all the bills that pass in the legislative session generally pass between January and June, but they don't all come to the governor's office in a flood in July. So what happens is they'll send down groups of bills 10 15 at a time. the governor's office will deal with those. Then they'll send another group of 10-15 bills. And they'll do that throughout the course of the year until they get to December 31st, which is the last day bills can be transmitted. And if there's any left by then, they have to all go. So, uh, what will typically happen is the governor's office will request the bills that they're ready to act on as they go through the fall. Typically, local bills, and this would be considered
061a local bill. It doesn't have statewide implications, uh, are some of the last to be considered. they understandably spend their first attention on things that impact the most numbers of people. So part of uh my uh conversation with the executive ch the governor's office, the executive chamber has been to sort of alert them to the time sensitivity of our issues so that we're not waiting for an answer until December. But it would not be atypical and I would not call it foot dragging or anything like that if it got dealt with in December. That would look to me to be typical. So that was wonderful information. I my question wasn't clear. Um I meant when you submit the amendment for the building department. So if we submit the plans for Perry Hill and then hopefully
062let's say we get approval and then you submit the amended plans. I I meant how long does that generally take? Sorry. So, as as we talked about um when we were putting together this uh construction plan as a board there, at the time we were working on this, it was taking about 42 weeks to get approval from state ed. The good news is that they have cleared a lot of their backlog and the approval timelines are now down in like the 12-week range. So, that's super encouraging, but there's no guarantee that that will stay where it is. there may be other school districts that are going to start sending a flood of work to them. My hope would be that the part of the plan that is the building itself, the structure will not change.
063It's only the layout of the site work that would change. And so my hope would be that if they got to a place where they had already approved the electrical and the structural and um the out ofstate uh modular and all of that that just changing the civil work and the site plan wouldn't be uh too big of a change. That's my hope. >> Okay. Thank you. Are there any more questions for Dr. Rogers? Okay. Thank you Dr. Rogers. And then we are going to move on to discussion items. And the first item on the uh uh discussion agenda is the NISBA summer law conference. And uh a few of us went to the uh the annual uh summer law conference and uh Dr. Park would like to uh give us a report on some
064of the highlights of the conference. On July 15th, several members of the board attended the summer law conference and the conference has six main sections. uh year in review in two parts and then the effect of presidential executive orders on the school districts, health insurance for schools, uh immigration issues and title 9 return to the past and competing state obligation. Uh the conference provided valuable insights into the evolving legal regulations impacting our school community. It explained the challenging conflicts between federal and state laws, examining real cases in educational institutions like us. And they reviewed the regulatory changes and their impact on the interpretation of the law. Uh my main takeaway was to stay informed about legal developments and navigate these challenges effectively and wisely. >> Thank you, Dr. Park. Um, okay. The uh next item
065will be the uh uh choosing the NISPA voting delegate uh at the uh BIS annual business uh meeting which will take place on October 16th. Um and from my understand uh Mr. Rotolo who couldn't be here today will be the voting delegate and for now I would just like to uh to see if we have a volunteer for the alternate Dr. Park. Okay. Thank you. So if for any reason Mr. Rotolo couldn't make it. Please, it's going to be October 16th. Thank you. All right. So, we have no unfinished business and we are going to uh move on to new business. And 11A is the approval of staff changes. Can I have a motion, please? Dr. Park, seconded by Miss Abramson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 11B is the approval
066of statements and hourly rates for 2025 2026. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Ginsburg. uh seconded by Miss Falov. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 11 C is the approval of coaching recommendations. Can I have a motion, please? Dr. Par, seconded by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 11D is the appointment of a certified athletic trainer. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Koshia, second by Miss Falov. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 11E is the appointment of interim director of pupil personnel services. Can have a motion, please? Dr. Par, seconded by Mr. Abramson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 11F is the approval of online aligned staff employment agreements. Can I have a motion, please?
067Miss uh Miss Falco, seconded by Miss Levitan. Are there any questions? All in favor? opposed. Any abstensions? 11G is the approval of of line staff salary adjustments. Can a motion please? Dr. Par, seconded by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 11H is the appointment of teaching assistants. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Felco, seconded by Mr. Levitan. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? And 12 is uh the school district management and proposed policies. And that's the the first reading of the new and revised policies policy 5300 code of character conduct and support. The second reading of the stated policy will be during the se September 15, 2025 board meeting. The policy is available for inspection on the district website. And 12B is the approval
068and adoption of the district-wise school safety plan. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Greco, second by Mr. Einson. 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? Miss Levitan, second by Mr. Ginsburg. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13A is the authorization of service contracts. Can I have a motion, please? Dr. Par, second by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13B is the authorization for special education and or nursing contracts. Can have a motion, please. Mr. Ginsburg, seconded by Miss Levitan. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13B
069is the authorization for special education and or nursing contract. Can have a motion, please? Oh, did I do that? Oh, I did that. Okay. Sorry. Okay. 13 C is the acceptance of audit report and corrective action plan for 2024 2025. Can I have a motion please? Mr. Greco, second by Miss Abramson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13D is the authorization for contracts with Nassau Boseis for the 2025 school 2025 2026 school year and final authorization for the 2425 school year. Can I have a motion please? Mr. Mr. Ginsburg, seconded by Miss Levitan. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13E is the award of Nassau County Director of School Facilities Purchasing Consortion Cooperative Bids 2025 2026. Can I have a motion please? Mr. Greco, seconded by Miss
070Abramson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13F is the authorization to renew special inspection and materials testing agreement. Can I have a motion, please? M Fel, seconded by Mr. Ginsburg. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13G is the authorization for dict order M-00001 intricate tech solutions. Can I have a motion, please? Dr. Par seconded by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13H is the authorization for deduct change order X-103 inshell mechanical corp. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Falco, second by Miss Koshia. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13 I is the authorization for picky backing Southampton Union Free School District stage curtain bid SPS23-003. Second extension. Can I have a motion, please? Dr. Par, second
071by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13J is the authorization for piggybacking Levy Town School District LPS22-004 third extension. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Koshia, seconded by Mr. Ginsburg. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13K is the authorization for picky backing Levy Town School District LPS22-005 third extension. Can I have a motion please? Dr. Par second by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13 L is the approval of student club charters 2025 2026. Can I have a motion please? Miss Koshia. Seconded by Miss Falco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13M is the acceptance of donation. Can I have a motion, please? Dr. Par, second by Mr. Greckle. Are there any questions? All
072in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? 13N is the approval of disposal of broken surplus and or absolutely equipment, supplies, and books. Can I have a motion, please? Miss Mr. Ginsburg, second by Miss Levitan. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstensions? Okay, we have no no audience to the public and um can a motion to uh can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Dr. Par, second by Miss Einson. Okay, meeting adjourned. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the summer. We'll see you back on Monday, September 15th. Thank you.