001Okay, good evening everybody. I'm so sorry for the wait. Working out logistics here. Welcome to our Wednesday, April 30th Board of Education meeting. At this time, we turn it over to Hazel to lead us in the pledge. Thank you so much. All right, we do have some changes here. So, Miss German, you want to fill us in? Yes. So, our first change is seven uh items for board discussion. We're going to add uh item C, which is the additional funds for staffing. Uh D, we're going to move policies from number nine to 7D, which is all the policies for review and discussion. And then 9A will be the appeal regarding the student identified in confidential schedule A. Thank you. Okay, so that brings us to item five, student staff recognition, of which we have none
002at this time. And so that brings us to 6A, Hazel's report from the high school. Good evening everyone. We've recently had many exciting updates as usual that I'm excited to report on. For starters, during my last report, I congratulated DECA's amazing competition at their states championship. This week, those from Ward Mobile, the word medal DECA club who qualified for nationals are in Orlando, Florida at the competition. Their work week after week has been clear and I know they're all going to do so great. In more travel news, over spring break, two of the much anticipated EF tours trips set off. One through the social stud the social the social studies department to London um which was and another through the arts department to France and Italy. Even from an outside perspective, although I wish I
003could have gone, seeing pictures and hearing stories of these trips, they sounded so amazing and probably in my opinion some of the best field trips that Word novel has offered. Students got to spend days on end sightseeing, visiting landmarks and monuments, exploring the exploring the cities. I think that it's clear that these trips provide a great opportunity and balance to get to explore the new place while still learning but not having to worry so much about a a project, a grade, or like a follow-up report. I think it was a great opportunity for everyone. Um, and moreover, recently, just recently, our music groups held their spring concerts. Aside from a showcase at the end of at the end of this year, this is the final time their seniors will perform in a concert. Many of
004these students have been playing their instruments or singing since elementary school. This concert was truly an amazing and special way to end this journey. In some more senior happenings, last week's last week, seniors were brought into assembly to learn about the dangers of acts such as drunk driving. Such as drunk driving. Although although this was a heavy topic and not super fun one to hear, this assembly was so important and eye-opening, especially with the spring and summer coming up. Hearing the story from a mother of a victim of drunk driving really drove this message home for everyone. I think that I'm not just speaking for myself when I say that this will not be we will not be forgetting these important lessons anytime soon. Finally, as spring sets in, everyone knows that means AP exams.
005For the next couple of weeks, many students will be taking one or more AP exams. So although this may not be the most fun time of year, the warm weather is definitely helping. And for seniors, there are several events coming up just around just right around the corner in village with the first being actually tomorrow. We're all excited to kickstart um these events with tomorrow's decision day as well as on May 22nd um where we're invited to wear a shirt representing our future plans, whether that be college, you know, any other future plans, military, trade. It's always such a fun day of learning something new about all your peers and looking forward to the looking forward to the future and taking lots of pictures. This is really such a exciting time of the year at
006Word Melville and for the whole district as the school year begins to slow down. I and my peers are all excited for everything to come. Thank you. Great job. Thanks, Hazel. And Hazel's made her decision, right, Hazel? Are we putting her on the spot? I decided today I'm going to go to Colby College. Oh my gosh. Mayor. Nice. That's great. Congratulations. Great school. All right. Um, we may do a little switching around here. Is Mr. Blum available or Okay. So, do you want to do your part first of security? Sure. Okay. So, we'll start with Dr. Scanland for security. So, by board request, we did a survey of the uh staff in this in the district, 1400 employees. Um we the results of the survey were 55% of the employees were in favor of arming
007or having armed security 45% against armed security. Of the 55% in favor of armed security 81% uh war on sec security armed both inside and outside of the school. Okay. So do we have any questions or conversation about that specifically? Sort of is what it is. Okay. So in the past there had been other conversations about where do we go with that information and did we want to go any further. So in fairness to people who have had other suggestions in the past what is the board thinking you would like to do at this point in time in our exploration. Okay. Sure. Um yeah, I mean I think in the past um we were talking about having surveys for other um groups within the community. Um I think we can explore that and maybe um
008get samples of uh surveys from the administration before we decide on if we're going to do that or not. But I know that was what was brought up previously. Okay. Anyone have any feelings about that? Okay. It's a good idea. It's a good idea. Do we have Yes. Yes. Okay. So, we would ask then the administration if you could begin um some exploratory work and see how other districts have handled that and perhaps how a survey might be composed that would be great. All right. Thank you. And uh to bring us up to date on zero eyes, Mr. Blau. So the great news is zero eyes is up and running as of a few days. We got a chance to do some calibration and test it um this building and at Mount Elementary and I
009will tell you that I am absolutely impressed with the system. Um, and I I'll if the public's listening, I will say this, bad guy beware because Three Village is really well protected from a visual weapon detection system. Um, you know, of course, that is only one part of what, you know, I believe is the the uh the plan that we should go to. Uh, but now we have that working. We tested it. It's great. It's hooked to the police department. Um, I'm not going to go into all the details of exactly what the tests were like, but I was absolutely impressed. And I'm I'm a tough person to be impressed with with that type of so and I know there are other school districts now that are interested. Um, I'm, you know, I don't like
010always being the the test case, but I think you uh you would be very pleased. And I know that I had shared some of the test images with Dr. Scandlin and Sue. And I think uh I think you had to say they were they were rather impressive. So we're up and running and you know by the knock on wood we never have to take action on an actual alert, but we do have that protection and I'm very uh happy that you uh supported us with that whole project. It was a difficult project and I I know it cost money, but I think it's it's money well spent. Thank you. And thank you for the rigor of of the testing. That was really it was indeed impressive. I would agree with you. Any specific questions to
011the zero eyes? Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right. So, this will bring us to our school news and we will go in order starting with our elementary schools. Miss Ruffley with Arrowhead. Hello. Um for Arrowhead, um April's April's character trait of the month is acceptance. They um participated in autism awareness accept um acceptance spirit week. autism awareness kickoff assembly fundraising and a schoolwide walk, purple update for military children. They had a math tournament on 410. The fourth graders took a trip up to Satoka for Founders Day. They had Earth Day activities and projects on 422. The fifth and sixth grade murals are completed by their art teacher, Jen Molany. Um they had a cultural multicultural evening event on 42, which I believe was their first and it was very well attended. Um
012they have family connect night on 43. They had an assembly with Jared Campbell. Um they celebrated administrative assistance day, had their kindergarten screening. We'll be participating in charity sports night this Friday. And their May character trait is going to be teamwork. Excellent. Thank you. Maki, Dr. Kerman. Thank you. Here's the good news from Milwaukee. We celebrated Autism Acceptance Month in April. We had a kickoff assembly where all students learned about autism. Students from our ALC classes did daily announcements about famous people with autism, had an autism awareness spirit week, held a fundraiser selling autism awareness bracelets, and had a schoolwide walk in the front circle to celebrate Autism Acceptance Month. Students who have been observed demonstrating the character trait of showing acceptance were recognized by their teachers and received a certificate at the autism walk.
013On April 25th and 26th, the Milwaukee Drama Club presented the play Finding Nemo Jr. students in grades four, five, and six participated in the play under the directions of Mrs. Hawkins, Mrs. Swift, and Mr. Wilggenamp. The performance was outstanding. Our Big Buddy, Little Buddy afterchool club has been a huge success. Students in our ALC classes have the opportunity to develop relationships with some of our intermediate students who volunteer their time to do activities with their schoolmates and get to know them. Students have developed friendships and a network of support amongst their peers. Students in the second grade enjoyed a visit from the Ward Milville High School students enrolled in American Sign Language 3 class. The students learned sign language for some basic phrases and letters. It was a wonderful experience for the high school students
014and our second graders. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I will say I went to Finding Nemo Jr. Fantastic. It was great. All right, Mount Dr. Lee. Okay, here's from principal MRI. Uh, multicultural night took place on March 20th and was a success with many families attending and many countries and cultures represented. A performance by Irish step dancers cultivated cultivated the night. Also in March, we celebrated reading with partners with parents as reading partner reading partners week. I'm sorry have a candy to s my throat. We also had assembly with Jer Campbell who entertained the students with songs about positivity and kindness. American sign language students from W Ma High School visited Mount to visit uh with second grades and read books they created using sign language. The Muslim club of W Mara High
015School also visited second grade and to read stories about Ramadan and the celebration of Eid. At the beginning of April, our monk drama club performed the Susico the musical. In school, assemblies were held for students and the nighttime performance were held for families and friends. During the month of April, we educated our students about autism, raised awareness and encouraged acceptance of individuals with autism. Autism awareness assemblies were held for both primary and intermediate grades. Later in the months, we hosted autism awareness brief days. Sorry. Thank you. And I will give the update from NASA. Mrs. Betts's class was featured, you might have seen, on News 12, for crocheting really cute hats for Stonyie Brook Children's Hospital. Uh the third grade visited the high school for Sunday at the symphony. They had their milk and cookies
016night and had more than 20 teachers reading books for students in pre-K to six. So that was fabulous. The fifth and sixth grade students went to Murphy and Gelinus for their musicals. The second graders also learned uh American Sign Language from the Ward Melville students which they really enjoyed. Third grade learned about Ramadan from the Ward Melville students. And last weekend was the first ever Nascade Color Run. Students and families had a great time. And last but not least, their play was Beauty and the Beast the musical. I had such a good time and I still have the song stuck in my head. So, thank you for that. It was really fun. Uh, next will be Satake followed by Jelina's Dr. Back. All right. Satake Elementary Schools has celebrated several events this spring. There was
017a ribbon cutting ceremony that took place for the new indoor recess room and there was an autism uh acceptance week with themed activities and Satakeo hosted the district-wide founders day for all fourth graders. The school also celebrated World Down Syndrome Day with a rock your socks event and the fifth and sixth grade drama club put on a fantastic performance of you're a good man, Charlie Brown. Uh finally, there was a Pi Day assembly where the teachers competed to recite as many digits of pi as possible. The principal and assistant principal also helped with this tradition by stepping in to pie teachers in the face. Uh I believe there are pictures of this on the district Facebook page. And then Jelenus uh Jelenus High School they hosted a number of educational and schoolwide events. Students celebrated
018Pi Day with a math challenge and the winning eighth grade class earned the chance to pie the teachers in the fa as a prize. Yes. Uh, eighth graders also attended uh, From the Fires, Voices of the Holocaust, a live performance that provided students with a moving and educational portrayal of the Holocaust. This included discussion with the cast to encourage uh, engage more deeply with the material. Uh, the eighth grade students at Gelinus also participated in an important lesson on hate speech, which included a focus on understanding and addressing anti-semitism. The sessions were taught through English classes by Dr. Conn, the director of social studies, and Miss Keen, the principal. Uh these interactive sessions explored what con constitutes hate speech, why it's harmful, and the consequences individuals can face as a result. Students also learned strategies
019for speaking out against discrimination. Using real world examples, students examine the impact of hateful rhetoric and discussed the responsibility we all share in fostering a respectful and inclusive community. Uh ninth grade students took part in a multiffaith forum as part of their global history curriculum to learn about world religions and their impact on societies and history including uh Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Sikism. There was also a visit to Stony Brook University's Institute for STEM Education to apply forensic science in a lab setting to solve crimes which uh included analyzing DNA samples. Um Jelenus' musical News Newsies was also spectacular featuring a passionate group of young news boys fighting for justice on the streets of New York City. Uh there was also um support for there was a autism awareness month uh with posters and
020activities and they hosted a March Madness free throw showdown during lunch. Uh there was a visit by the Gelinus Red Cross to the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stonybrook and the Science Olympiad team earned medals in 16 out of 23 events and finished fifth in the state. Excellent. Thank you. And I saw Newsies too and it also was great. Murphy Mr. Viso and Jolene and Murphy did Anastasia and it was a successful uh performance. Also at Murphy they held their annual staff versus students basketball game preceded by a successful threeon-ree student tournament organized by the fizzed department and world languages. Thank you Mr. Gianady for hosting this. The final game uh showcased school spirit, friendly competition and sportsmanship also in foreign languages. Madame Randon and her students brought a taste of France to the
021entire building by sharing delicious crepes with the all of the students and staff. Guidance department hosted a college and career day. Activities included staff wearing alma mada shirts, speaking to students during lunch, the photo booth, prize wheel, paper graduation caps displayed on doors, video presentations, post-secary options, and grade level specific activities like all about me, teacher scavenger hunt, teacher Jeopardy, etc. In recognition of Autism Awareness Month, the school created a meaningful display board to promote understanding, acceptance, and respect within the school community. Thank you. So, thank you so much. And Anastasia was also great. All right. Um, so I listen, if you invite me, I'm coming. So, just know it now. All right. A couple of other updates. Uh, thank you, Mr. Honia. In addition to Hazel's report, Ward Melville High School junior Natinella Kaminova
022and her teammates from the art and visual design program at the Gary D. Bixhorn Technical Center at Boseis recently captured the state championship for their promotional bulletin board design at the statewide skills USA competition held up in Syracuse. Natashinella and her teammates will compete at nationals in Atlanta later this year. So we wish very good luck on that. The W Melville Academic Quiz Bowls team competed in the US Department of Energy's National Science Bowl this weekend. The team placed in the top 16 out of 67 qualifying teams. This was the best showing in team history and their third straight trip to nationals. Congratulations to junior Anna Zing, sophomores Harry Gao, Jason Yin, Gunes Sunnar, and adviser Mr. Phil Medina. And Dr. Scanland has an update from the academy. Certainly. So, just prior to the break,
023the academy uh did another one of its monthly field trips. Um it also is making preparations at this time of year for the AP exams. Several students at the the high school were mentioned are preparing for that. It's uh two weeks of just so much fun for the AP students. Um and then the big events at the we're getting to the end of the year. May's going to fly by pretty quickly. um they're making their preparations for their prom and their graduation ceremony which was separate from the high school graduation. Students from the academy do are able to participate in both. That's all we have. Thank you so much and thank you everybody for those reports. We appreciate it. All right. So that will bring us to our added item 7C, additional funds for staff
024and we'll turn it over to Dr. Scanland. Thank you. So, at our last uh board of education meeting, the board voted um four to three to um remove the start time um monies out of the budget for use in the uh addressing some of our staffing concerns. In addition, Dr. Biscari uh and his uh diligence worked with the uh textbook code and was able to find an additional $100,000 in there from some savings that we had. So we wound up with $1,114,000 that we are eligible to use for restoring some of our programs. Um so we looked first at the elementary levels where we mentioned it the last time that we had classes at 27 or higher. Um we identified with the help of the principles Dr. De Bruski read the staffing meeting last week
025um to go through the numbers and see where we would add those. So, we went through each of the schools, found seven sections that we're going to add back, um, which would lower all the grade level class sizes for the entire district on average. Just a caveat to this, we are still not done testing yet. So, we're still screening with CSSE processes and we're still screening with ENL processes. And as is the case every year, um, we anticipate that this summer we will wind up with more students coming to our doorsteps. Um, so past three years in a row, we have had to add ENL staffing over the summer. So when we add additional sections back into the buildings, it increases some of our areas, uh, special areas of staffing, excuse me. So that's art,
026music, health, fizzed. So we needed a 6 back in that. So total the addition right now is $760,000. And our class sizes are very in in good shape for next year. There shouldn't be any uh any major concerns unless we deal with a major influx of students at some point. We may adjust here and there a section from a grade level to another grade level depending how numbers fall with the the testing and the CSSE process. So with the additional monies remaining the three about $340,000 we wanted to throw uh this out to the board for input about what some of the direction might want to be here. So, one of the ideas we talked about at the last meeting was potentially looking for an alternative to um just the IG program u not coming
027back in. And we thought of why don't we bring the STEM program back. Um we could start it small, begin with one grade level. Um we thought fourth grade would be a good grade level to begin that. Uh it's about $100,000 for the staffing with that. what this would currently look like and this is in early stages of this. The STEM teacher would go to each one of our schools one day a week. So for the to work with the grade level um so that's one possibility. Um it that is not the model that we had just prior to COVID. Remember we had a STEM teacher in every building and they rotated through our schedule of all grade levels K through six um prior to that. But we needed the five STEM teachers for to
028help us with the uh co staffing. Another possibility which was discussed, we had several parents that uh spoke at the last meeting regarding restoring IG. So IG is a little bit more costly. It's about $100,000 for the teacher and about approximately another $100,000 for restoration of transportation because remember it's housed at NASA. It's in one building. So the students come from the other four buildings to that building. Um, in order to do this, we'd have to, we held on the process for fourth grade selection. We would have to get that where we we're basically now about a month and a half behind to get that back up and going and and to do to restore that program. Um, another proposal that was brought to the table last meeting as well was um, and with the
029board has also received some u some information from members of the community through email and phone calls as have I. Uh, uh, restoring summer reading. Remember we part of the cuts that we made was eliminating summer reading and summer mathis. The majority of the comments have not been regarding summer math. It's been about summer reading and that we're estimating about a $70,000 cost for restoration of that for this summer. Also behind on that about a month and a half behind on that one. We would have to work very quickly um if the board gave some consensus to us moving forward with this. So that we need to identify the students in each one of the elementary schools for those grade levels. Those are the K going into one, the one going into two, and the
030two going into three. And then get invitations out and start formulating classes. Big part of it is we have to begin by um finding a new summer reading coordinator because the summer reading coordinator is retiring. So we have to find someone else to fill in that role. Um, another major suggestion from our part is hold some of these funds in obeyance because as we said every year somehow someway between the budget vote and the opening of school we usually have some requests for additional staffing in some areas. And it's to no fault that anyone uh in in the district we have people that generally move during the summer. Most families don't try to move during vacation periods in the year unless something happens with someone's job or something major happens in the family. Most families
031generally move when there's a larger period of time to move which is the summertime. So um each year as I said for the past 3 years ENL has increased exponentially. Um and this may be not this year may be any different than that. Um, and there's also possibility depending on how the CSSE processes go, if people move in and they have a child with special needs, whatever those requirements are, we are we are required under law to we're obligated in law to give them those services and then follow the the process of doing the CSE upon arrival in the school district within 30 days. So, that could be anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000. There's no way of really knowing, but you know, just knowing that last year alone, an a full-time ENL teacher, that's 100,000.
032Year before another full-time ENL teacher. So, it's it's increased each year. So, we just as a word of caution, like try not to spend all the money all at once. Um, so we laid these items out. Now, we open it up for board discussion. Thank you. So, I I open it up to each of the trustees. Um, shall we start? Let's parse it apart. And is there anybody who has a differing opinion about the need to restore those seven elementary teachers? No. So, do we have consensus that that is the right show of hands that that is the correct thing to do as the number one priority? Okay. So, we're unanimous on that. So, then that money being pulled aside, that leaves you with the 340 and I open it up to discussion. Sure. Um,
033so all all of these programs do seem worthwhile, too. I know the the IG program and the summer reading is something we've had for a while. STEM, it's been it's been a couple years since we've offered that. So, from my perspective, um, I think we should be focusing on restoring some of the programs that we cut rather than adding something new in this year. That's not that's not to say we're going to forget about it, but um, since these were programs that cut and we have the money available, uh, I think restoring should be should be a priority. Um, and so specifically I want to talk about IG a little bit. I know there's uh, you know, there's some drawbacks in terms of there's transportation cost. We're we're taking the kids out of their their
034home schools. There's some social cost on that as well too. Uh, and it's a pretty small number of students. Um, but it's it's, you know, we're a district where all the students get their get their needs met, right? So drama children get drama, music children get music, sports children get sports. It's not that every student participates in every single sport, right? that that's okay. And so if someone's academically inclined, we we had the IG program. Um and you know, even beyond these 30 students, there's direct benefits to some of the other students. Um for example, taking 22 students out of the fourth grades from each of the schools, that does lower the class sizes slightly by like one or two students per class for everybody across fourth grade. Um it's also something that makes our
035district stand out. So if people are, you know, choosing if they're going to, you know, live in Three Village or Smithtown or Port Jeff, you know, they'll go to the website, they see, look, there's there's IG and they have, you know, high hopes for their children. This is something that I think stands out for our district. Um, this is also something that's that's not really discussed is, you know, we had three grades of IG in this year, right? And one of those grades is going to be moving up, so we're not going to have sixth grade IG next year. Um, fifth grade IG is still occurring, but with this change, there's not going to be any new children in the IG program. And so and and I know fifth grade IG it's not you know
036it's not on the chopping block. That's the wrong way to say it, but it's we've gone from three grades. If if we don't restore IG, it'll be down to one grade with no new children, right? So, it it looks uh a little bit perilous, right? Like that's it's it's it's something I'd be worried about that really we haven't really made that discussion in public. We saying we're cutting fourth grade IG, but is does this mean we're moving towards removing all of IG, right? And if that that's the direction we're moving, then we should be clear about what we're doing. And I don't think we've we've been saying that. um without IG of course the students would go back to their home schools and then we ask the teachers to differentiate the instruction. So this means
037that you know you have different students with different abilities in the classroom um and the teacher can teach you know slightly different lessons and give slightly different assignments uh as a way to uh make sure everybody gets their needs met. And so we do this already for for example if there's like special education students we'll differentiate instruction for them uh and they'll be provided support to do that right it's not like the teacher has to do everything by themselves I mean we're legally required to do that in certain cases but it's also the right thing to do right um for IG there's no legal requirement to provide additional support right so we'll be asking them to differentiate um which which is sort of like you know if like a chef has to cook five different
038meals at once right like something's going to get burned somebody's going to left get left hungry, right? It's it's it's it's a lot of things we're we're asking of our teachers without providing additional support. Um we've heard from the letters and the speakers at the previous meetings as well that their their children were bored in class up to time, right? So, I'm sure the teachers were trying to to differentiate, but we're asking a lot of the teachers as well too. So uh having uh uh you know having an an a self-contained IG classroom um does allow um this uh you know reduces basically the burden on on the teachers to do this differentiation process. Thanks. Before we move on I was going to say Dr. Scanland do you want to respond? Certainly. So um uh
039all very good points Dr. Back. So the um one of the things, you know, I'm a strong proponent for servicing all the needs of all of our students in this district, which this district has committed to for many, many years. The um IG program is a unique program. Um we're one of the few districts left that still has a self-contained program. Um you are correct that we're while we don't have a fourth grade, it doesn't mean that the fifth grade wouldn't be able to be run the following year because you could do the selection process for fourth grade going into fifth. So there it's too hard to predict for what the budget for the following year may look like, but you know it could be, you know, when you use the expression low-lying fruit. Um
040something for the board to consider if they wanted to eliminate. That's not the recommendation or the direction I would want to see us go in. Um but that that certainly could be a possibility if things got hard again in a in a budget season. Um for clarity purposes, the IG program right now services about 54 students over three grade levels. Um it could mean between 20 to 25 students at this late juncture. We're not sure if all the of the parents would want their children leaving their home schools at this point in the year for next year. Um but it could be possible. Um we need to be cognizant of the fact that if it is a low number, what do we do then? uh because um I've heard said at this table about concern
041over a cost of per pupil expenditure, this does increase the cost per pupil expenditure. If we have 22 students who were spending 200 and some odd thousand dollars on it, that expenditure increases. Um whereas IG services a smaller number, the STEM program would service an entire grade level. We're talking over 400 students being addressed there. So every student would have a a piece of that. So just possibilities to think about as you as you're uh considering this discussion. While we're on IG, I just had a question. So you spoke about this being one of very few IG programs. What have other districts gone to in lie of that? Um there it it varies from district to district. Some districts have eliminated entirely. Um and just as uh Dr. Bach mentioned, they service it through enrichment
042opportunities directly in classes. Um some have gone through what we have have had in the past year the PI program which was in each of the schools. Um PI is not a a required uh certification area for gifted and talented. Um it doesn't require a special certification to do that. Um that that's what some and it stays in a school. A large expense for us for IG is transportation. You we're pulling from four buildings to one. So, you know, the transportation budget does get impacted by that. And if one of our other goals for the future to look to go back to look at is start time, that is a possibility to save money for elimination of program that costs money for a smaller portion of the population. Um the there are some schools remember
043if we are if we have that was suggested that do a PI uh do an IG program a gifted program in each one of the buildings. Well, that would be an increase of about $500,000 just in staffing alone. Not to mention, you need five certified gifted teachers to do that. So, that's a special certification. And is it by doing that, is it one grade level? Um, I would not suggest doing a multi-grade level IG program because the curriculum in each of those grade levels is different. So, that's, you know, but again, as I said, it varies in many different districts. a lot of good programs out there that we could go take a look at and see examples of. Um little late in year to do that right now, but certainly something we could consider
044for the future. Hi. And could we just get some um clarification, Dr. Scan, on um that everybody that is invited to IG does not accept IG and those students that do not accept IG are given differentiated work within their classroom and are very successful going through the high schools. That that is correct. Yes. So um it again varies from year to year. Um back when I was in Dr. Bascari's position it was sometimes a 6040. 60% would accept 40% would not. Um and it's based upon criteria that we use off the old exams and the matrix that we use from that as we make the determination. There was a time in three village where we were running two sections per grade level starting in third grade all the way through sixth grade with over 30
045students in each section. Um but that was when we were a much larger school district. Um quite difficult. One interesting statistic just to mention as uh some folks feel that the IG program is a precursor for students going into some honors programs. The fact of the matter is the vast majority of our students in honors and AP courses were never in IG. So about 75% of our students in honors and AP were never in IG. And and that's a good thing because as they you know as they go through some students the bigger factor for why they don't want to leave uh don't come to the program is they don't want to leave their home school. Um particularly those that are on a different schedule than NASA cake. Anybody else? Dr. Lee, I'd like to
046see something new for September. I'd like to see um what we had in the past. I know we had the STEM program in all of our elementary schools and I know the kids loved it. However, because of budget cuts, we had to eliminate it, but I'd like to see the idea of bringing it back to the fourth grade on a trial basis and seeing how it works for a year. I also would like to see the summer reading program um restored. I think that's very beneficial for a lot of our kids and a lot of our kids have a hard time reading and would be excellent for them again to be able to uh for us to afford this program to them. Dr. Lee. Okay. Just to support IG program we have here heard very
047strong voice from parents community about it because we have done it so successfully. So, and now that we're giving up start time for the next year, I don't see a strong point of removing IG. So, just to support it. Thank you. Anybody else? Uh, yeah. I just wanted to put uh my support towards the STEM program. Um, STEM program was beloved by many uh families throughout the district um in every school for many years. Um, was very sad that we had to let it go during COVID. Um, so I would love to see that brought back. Um I think um it's a smart move financially to start it with one grade um like administrative administration is um requesting and then we can build that over time so we're not promising something we're going to be
048taking away in the future. So we can build that up. Um so I think that's a smart move. Um and I I also believe that every child deserves enrichment, not just a few. Um, some people are gifted academically, some people are gifted in the arts, some people are gifted in other different areas. And if we can have the STEM or steam or whatever we're going to be calling it, you know, touch on a lot of these different aspects, I think it's going to improve um the education of of of a lot more children. And I also agree with the summer reading program because that's very beneficial to our kids. Okay. Dr. Kerman, anything? Uh, I agree with Karen. what Karen just said, this the bringing back the STEM program is very very good and bringing
049you back in one a one grade level is very intelligent now because that will help us move it up to the rest of the grade levels and I also agree with the summer reading program that it's something that's very very beneficial to the kids who go there. So I'm much in favor of those and I'll just throw mine out there. I I also would love to see STEM come back. I know that was a highlight of my kids day. Uh, I think it's great and it is for all of our students. So, that would be excellent. I think summer reading very essential and foundational and I think saving the rest for the rainy day probably makes sense. So, do we have uh enough consensus? Do we have fourish people who are in favor of STEM?
050It sounds like we do. Yes. And for summer reading also. Okay. And then we're all good with saving the rest, putting it in the bank as it were. Okay. So, let's go. Uh, if you are in favor of restoring the STEM program, show of hands. One, two, three, four, five. Okay. If you are in favor of restoring summer reading, show of hands. I think you got Okay. Five. And um that would leave unless anybody has You should talk about IG too. Okay. Yes. Um, and is there anybody Let's go. Show of hands. anybody who would instead want to restore uh for 200,000 IG that would probably change the rest of the equation. So we have one two for restoring IG. Okay. So I think basically you have your you have your consensus. Thank you. All
051right. So uh again our amended agenda would take us now to item 7D policies. This is the 2000 series. These are first reads and we turn it over to Mr. Mistaki. So, uh, this week we met with the policy committee. Uh, the policy committee is, uh, began in a very ambitious, uh, process of reviewing all the all of the policies of the school district. We started with the 200 series. Um, that consisted of 40, uh, sorry, 39 policies. Um, the policies have been reviewed by the policy committee and legal council. Um about a third of those policies uh were reviewed and had no changes. They were legally sufficient as written. The remainder of them had um minor changes to make sure they're in full compliance with the changes of the law. Uh really more for
052for wording of changes in statutes. Um policy 24A um has been eliminated from the district and consolidated into another policy uh that's for agenda preparation. So nothing has been taken out of it. It's just been moved into um your policy 24. Uh if there are any specific questions by the board on any of the individual policies, I'm available to to answer those questions. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you so much. All right. So, that brings us to eight public comments and we have one uh Rachel Nagel, if you would come to the microphone, please. Hello. Thank you for having me. My name is Rachel Nagel. I have two children at Mount. Um, first you all mentioned the autism awareness month. I just wanted to thank you for bringing that to all buildings. It was incredibly
053impactful, especially the assembly. Um, both my boys were talking about that in my home. So, thank you. Um, why I came to speak today. Um, thank you for being so open and honest about all the programs and everything you've been working on. One thing that I did feel was maybe perhaps swept under the rug was the third grade music program perhaps not being brought back for next year. Forgive my voice. I'm like so nervous talking. But um, so I just wanted to not comment but question, is it true that that is being cut for next year? Third grade music in general, the ensembles. I'll let Dr. was scared to discuss how uh how it's being reconfigured. Um so yes, it was discussed that um there was going to be a reconfiguration of the program. So
054the way that we're looking at it now is that um each of the grade levels have an additional prep period. We were looking to have third grade have music next year uh as their additional prep. We already do have the instruments and I've been in touch with Miss Aer about our director of music on um how we can deliver this differently rather than having the lesson pullouts um and the staff that's required to do that and the ensembles to do uh to still teach some of the skills of you know music reading and playing. Um, so we've just started initial our initial conversations about what that would look like in third grade if it was an extra period of music a week for each of those third grade classes. Okay. Because it read as music
055ensembles were being cut. So is it an extra period of music for third grade? So it wouldn't be the large group like it is this this year, right? Like students get pulled out now for either orchestra or for band, right? for like introductory and they do have an ensemble as well. Um I don't know if we'd be able to do the ensemble and we wouldn't be pulling the kids out for individual or small group lessons. Okay. But we're looking to structure it in a way that we still can teach some of the skills that were inside of that program. Um just kind of in a different configuration. All right. So generally during public participation we don't take questions and answers. I totally understand Dr. speak with you after the meeting. That'd be great. If I
056could just comment then that reading music in third grade is so important and the ensemble setup in the third grade is something that makes our district really ahead of every other district. So many music educators want to move here because of what we have in the third grade. Like right after they're decoding, right after they're reading, they need to start reading their music because that potential is there in the third grade to be expanded upon. That's why our district is like the best for music. So like if we keep those ensembles in the third grade, I really do think that is the best thing for them. So that is my comment. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. And we have one uh correspondence to be read aloud. This is from Sher Fontana. Esteemed
057Board of Ed trustees, I know this budget season has been a rough one. Due to the many financial hardships at the last board of ed meeting, you made a very difficult decision to take start school later out of the budget. Doing so has basically added money back into the working funds. I'm appealing to your sense of what is right for all of our students. I urge you to please reconsider the discontinuation of the fourth grade IG, which will probably roll over to the entire IG program the following year. Please keep in mind that this program services quote special needs students of a different type. a student that does not have any laws to protect them, but they nonetheless need services. Although this program does not service the masses, that doesn't make this program any less
058important. High ability learners need the opportunity to be challenged just like all students. Please don't forget that while everyone keeps talking about declining enrollment, the IG program is actually a program that draws people to Three Village. Being a program that few if any districts have helps make Three Village stand out and be inviting. If you keep cutting programs that set us apart from other districts, what will make us shine? Why would people want to move to Three Village and pay the taxes we do? There are only a few things that set Three Village apart from other Long Island school districts, and the IG program is one of them. If for some reason you choose to move forward with discontinuation of the IG program, I implore you to possibly think about adding back in a PI
059or SEM like program, although not as good as IG, to still afford these students the challenge they need and fully deserve. I'm sure there are many parents like myself that are more than willing to help you come up with something. Thank you. And that concludes our public comment period. So that will bring us to our new item 9A appeal regarding the student identified in confidential schedule A. Mr. Meki, anything to note on that? No, that's the uh appeal that the board discussed in executive session. Um and it's references the board's decision um that was made. Thank you. And um so do we see a motion to approve that appeal? A second. All in favor? Any opposed? No abstensions. All right. So that carries. Thank you so much. That will bring us then to our consent
060agenda. Do I see a motion? A second. All right. And we begin with items B and C. Miss German. Those are just the uh minutes from the last two board meetings, the 9th and the 23rd. Thank you. And beginning with item D, Mr. Carlson. Uh thank you. Item D is the appointment of our fiscal advisor for our tax anticipation note. Uh and item E is the appointment of the our bond council also for the tax anticipation note. Uh these are both firms that we've uh worked with in the past on all of our borrow borrowing. And then item F is the authorization itself for our tax anticipation note uh for this coming up which will be done this summer. Item G is uh some bid extensions for various uh services uh provided by vendors. Uh
061these are all um with the same terms and conditions as the current bid to extend them to next year. Uh these are all companies we're very happy with. Item H is authorization to part participate in cooperative bids and shared purchasing with a number of organizations and other school districts. Um this is for next year. Uh gives us more opportunities um for uh better pricing for various goods and services throughout the year. Item I is approval of a health and welfare services contract with the South Huntington School District for uh some three village resident students that attend private uh school uh located within the South Huntington School school district. Item J is approval of a uh contract uh for an outside service provider for special education services in accordance with um IEPs. Item K is uh
062donations. We have one donation. It's a check for $1,350 from uh Mr. Nathan Jane, who is the uh coordinating chair for guidance at Ward Melville High School uh to go to the Ward Melville High School scholarship fund. Um item L is declaration of uh surplus equipment. We have uh some various um uh furniture and equipment that is in uh uh no no longer usable uh from Gelenus uh Wville High School and also uh we have a safe um where the lock uh does not work anymore in uh my office in the business office and that's it for me. Thank you. Any questions about any of those items? Okay, thank you. Beginning with item M, Dr. Biscari. Um M is the approval and adoption of a new elementary math program. We finished the um pilot process
063with three different programs and the math committee came up with a consensus to adopt Eureka squared. Are there any questions about you want I was going to say you want to stop there. Anybody have any questions about the new math program? Was there something really unique about it that draw you to Eureka? Well, I'd like to thank Dr. Rinaldi and the math committee because they did put in an enormous amount of hours comparing uh three different programs, three very different programs. Um some of the things that were highlighted by the teachers were that the manipulative aspect of of uh Eureka squared. Um the teachers shared that that were piloting that students were excited about math again uh which they were happy to see. Um they were also happy that it was a very um it's
064a plain type textbook. it's not uh overstimulating. So, our special education population, the the teachers that piloted the program were pleased that it really focused on the math aspect of of the program. Um there was also a connection between home and school um because math is taught differently now than it had has been in the past. Uh it's kind of a cheat sheet for parents at home to understand what their students are doing on homework uh so that they're able to help them rather than looking at it and saying, "That's not how I learned it." Um and um over and there was a fluency piece that focused on uh in each lesson there's a fluency piece that uh focuses on the automaticity of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division facts. Excellent. Thank you. Any specific questions about
065the math program? No. Okay. Thank you so much. Do you want to continue with then? Uh yes. This is just an update to the impartial hearing officers uh from the state. Uh and O and P are just affiliation agreements uh for clinical placements at Sunniasiggo and Adelfi. Thank you. Any questions about those? Okay. Uh Q recommendations of committee on special education subcommittee and 504 accommodation plan meetings as dated and R recommendations of the committee on preschool special education meetings as dated. And beginning with S, Dr. Dreski. Yes. s personal items instructional. Uh we have one instructional retirement in the area of teaching assistant. We have two instructional resignations. Uh we have one leave of absence and a library media specialist. We have five instructional appointments, seven instructional substitute appointments, appointments of volunteer coaches, co-curricular stipens,
066several hour hourly and daily extra assignments, as well as appointments to the summer enrichment and extended school year program for the summer of 2025. T personal items non-instructional. We have six non-instructional resignations which include security guards and childcare assistance substitute custodian. Two non-instructional appointments which include one guard and one custodian. Uh two non-instructional changes in status which is one clerical and one food service worker. Uh several non-instructional substitute appointments which involve custodians, food service workers, and substitute special education aids and monitors. uh several appointments for extra hourly assignments which includes the clerical for the budget vote and several appointments to the summer recck program and extended schoolyear program for the non-instructional members. Thank you. Any questions about any of those? Okay, thank you so much. All in favor of the items in our consent agenda?
067Any opposed? No abstensions. That carries. Thank you. And that being done, do I see a motion to adjurnn? So move. Second. Second. All in favor? No opposed. No abstensions. We arejourned. Thank you everybody. Have a good night.