001foreign okay good evening everybody and welcome belatedly to our November 16 2022 board workshop at this time we wait to ask our superintendent to lead us in the pledge foreign thank you so much so we are going to turn up now we're recording yes now we're recording okay okay so several of us had the the pleasure and privilege of attending the nisba convention up in Syracuse a couple of weeks ago I think everybody would agree it was very positive and uh meaningful and successful so we thought it would be nice to share as a group some of the programs that resonated with us so uh would like to go first are you come come here okay I actually went to the ufology debrief thing and um I knew it would be very well attended it
002was packed people double room people standing in the back people sitting on the floor that's how many people wanted to hear this report um it was given by a man named Thomas I'm not going to try even to pronounce his last name it was c z y z I'm not even going there anyway he worked for a group called armed on and they research school shootings and they go around doing training for groups the biggest takeaway from all party was complacency there were a lot of protocols in place locked doors but not the door that the perpetrator went through classroom Choice was supposed to be locked somewhere somewhere the two adjoining rooms that had the fatalities the door between those two rooms was open and propped open so one of the perpetrator got into one
003room he essentially was in both rooms and that led to The increased fatality of record the things are taken away from this Workshop was any day could be the day and everybody in the district doesn't help to have locked doors if somebody is sticking something in their door to presented from unlocking it doesn't help us any to have any of the protocols nobody responded to the gunshots they heard them they didn't respond the um it was there were other things that would nobody called a lockdown on the building even now they heard shots outside so it was the problem was with this particular building they had 40 lockdown drills in the past six months and that's because they're close to the water and every time Border Patrol was chasing its own on the school went
004online in the building said ah not another lockdown well any day could be today and that day that was the problem so I think takeaway for us as a district is to impress upon our staff that you cannot prop George is hoping you cannot put something in the line you cannot put tape over the lock you cannot try to circumvent the very protocols that we have put in place to protect you and our kids and it was very it was a very moving Workshop it was it was very hard to sit through that some people got up and walked out so thank you so much does anybody have any questions about that particular seminar okay let's make a comment one thing Mrs uh Gish pointed out was uh they they had that school they had
005gotten so complacent with the lockdowns one thing that we formally Way Way Back Our protocol here was not to let people know if it was a drill or not and that's something that we changed years ago uh because it it it's not going to help anyone to think every time well is it real is it not real and because they're for for a a whole host of reasons including the the the anxiety that that might create among our our students to think is there actually somebody in the school shooting or is this just a drill um also uh if you take like for instance the Virginia Tech uh shooting um there were there were some there was one one Professor who was actually a holocaust Survivor who knew gunfire when he heard it and they
006barricaded that room when he heard it and he had some students jumping out of second floor window with some broken legs but they all survived that jumped out we don't want kids jumping out of a second floor window at Ward mobile high school during a drill you know if it's if it's something going on that's one thing but that was one thing that we changed we don't want we don't want the anxiety of kids thinking that this is and we don't want the complacency so if something God forbid ever does happen serious that people know uh oh this this is serious and this is not just oh just another drill right so that's a great Point thank you so much okay thank you thank you good evening um whenever I attend a workshop and I
007want to when I listen to what's being said I always keep in mind what I think about here in Three Village and I want to make sure that what we're hearing if it's good information that we're doing it or we're doing it a little better and I have to say I attend the two workshops up there and they were very very well uh presented one was titled supporting academic and emotional success by Ben Smith and he talked about everyone no matter who we're talking about students teachers parents community members everyone needs emotional support when I think of that I say well in Three Village do we do we have that well as a former building principal I can tell you that in our schools we do have that we have excellent support through our guidance
008counselors our our social workers we have what we need could we use more absolutely but we try to meet all the needs of all children families parents everyone in the community he said this was interesting he said we need emotional awareness for the students the parents teachers all employees need to be educated and engaged on all levels and again I said we do that but what I liked most importantly what he said was if you see something if you think that something is going to happen or go on he says and he put this in four exclamation points don't wait you need to address these things immediately so I thought his presentation was excellent and I had gone to a second one right after it which it it tend to lend itself to the same
009idea it was called human identity so much more than pink and blue and I said well what is this about and I said let me go I was reading something and it said you know with gender identity Etc and I said well that's what we're dealing with nowadays big very very uh topics in schools and her main concern was an lgbtq Plus make sure that we deal with everyone all students to they need to be accepted taught in a healthy and accepting loving environment and I think about it and I think of Three Village and I say to myself that's what we do that's what we try to do and that's what it's about so I have to say attending both of these conference this was given by Roseanne Baines b-a-i-n-e-s she was BOCES assistant
010superintendent now she also went into a lot of biological uh discussions Etc I said oh wow but I'm not going to go into that right now but uh she was she was very very well uh well well prepared um but I'm not a science person but I have to say just knowing her motto All students deserve to be accepted and taught in a healthy accepting loving environment that to me that's what I walked away with so thank you any questions thank you so much questions okay okay terrific thank you so much so one of the uh takeaways for me was from the keynote that we all attended together Marley Matlin I was privileged to see her quite some time ago at um a conference for speech and hearing professionals and at that time she did
011a different keynote and she spoke this time she gave a very compelling Keynote she signed it and had a voice interpreter and she went into some depth about how determination was really a key to her success but also how inclusive practices when she met inclusive practices that was the difference that made the difference and helped her to become the famous actor that she is today um I went to I think all right sorry again I went to a workshop uh called supporting social emotional learning via trauma-informed coaching uh one of my takeaways there was um the need for SEL coaching among teachers and how when given an easy mechanism to request coaching teachers requested coaching got coaching and there were better outcomes for students I attended rise and shine sleep teens and school sleep for
012teens and school hours along with Dr scalin and Dr Carter um and uh there we listened to max van Gilder who also uh came to our first subcommittee meeting and shared with us some of the research and the impact of early start times for teens um for their social emotional well-being and their academic success and he presented alongside Mike Archer who from the Center for Effective School operations who discussed Logistics and in particular involving all stakeholders in the process of considering a change in start time and I I will say that from my perspective it really feels as though we're approaching this really in that vein we really are seeking the input of all stakeholders and and have shared with our our community um how we are all invested in what's doing right for our
013community and and making the decision together um I also attended two districts One mission uh two superintendents from up in the Hudson Valley who worked very collaboratively together on a routine basis one from Ossining one from Peak Skill and talked about uh how to develop trust and authentic engagement with their community and how to build equity an interesting takeaway there was when they transitioned from a more of Community Schools to um to a Princeton model how that impacted Equity I was my ears were open for that one in in order to be able to include that in in how we consider going forward with our strategic planning and finally do you want to share the last one because I probably have a totally different perspective go do it okay uh Sue and I together want
014to pitch perfect where um we heard Dr uh Richard white and Pamela Pyle to musician Educators from the University of New Mexico who gave a compelling and inspirational performance combining uh musical performance and storytelling to demonstrate how we could work across our differences to create Harmony it was really unique creative and uh entertaining thank you any questions on those okay Jeff well basically uh I I agree with what uh Jen had just said about the school start time that was a very interesting lecture and uh and I think it was very very educational and uh scientifically informational so it's something that our our strategic planning committee will definitely examine more closely and do what we think is correct for our district and other than that the the conference was very very interesting the only thing
015that was a little negative was our flute player they had some guy there playing some sort of instrument which was not very good but at least it was educational it was it was Musical and but other than that it was a very interesting place it was very nice being around all the other school board members and it was nice being socially around them more and as opposed to just coming here to meetings so I recommend it highly that we continue going to New York State School Board conventions thank you thank you Dr Scanlan did you want to speak on any of the ones you went to the uh the conferences that I went to the start time one was where we wound up having making the connection with Dr Max um who was very informative
016um the information that was presented it was um disheartening in one aspect of that the district they cited as being one of the earliest starts in the entire state of New York was Three Village so we along with five other school districts in the state are the earliest in New York state as far as the start time for our high school although there is one that is earlier there's one that starts at 6 40 a.m in the morning so um yeah so that was a little different to hear that perspective um so much so that some of the data that he actually presented we've incorporated into our presentation slides and he even spoke at the last uh not the one that was just last night the prior start time meeting subcommittee meeting and it was
017very helpful and he's been willing to come out and speak again on further topics um so I think that one that went very well I also tended a portion of the conference on on negotiation pieces with with the two different attorneys other attorneys Chris was up there he presented before we got there at a workshop but it was it was good to hear some of the perspectives and it's interesting how all the attorneys are very informative everything that Chris has told us and has advised us on those other attorneys reiterated as well and gave some interesting perspectives but um it was it was a very well uh I thought the conference went very well I think a lot of the information that the board garnered with uh from the different perspectives another piece was that
018in any of these conferences there's a large vendor Hall that existed we made several connections with different vendors and different programs which we've already started having meetings with as when we came back through the district to see what we could do partnering with some of those groups and it was also good to actually see some of the groups you already partnered with and formerly further relationships with them thank you very much I'll uh quickly go over my own notes I um also thought The keynote speaker Marley Matlin was terrific um and it was interesting because I I would have gone in there expecting her to kind of talk more about living with deafness but she really directed us to be a conversation about um clarifying that you know this is really about truly embracing diversity
019right her diversity is needs too and and the fact that that she found a way through parents advocating and teachers advocating to to be included in all aspects of an education and then obviously her her fantastic career so she spoke a lot about how it is working through barriers but those barriers weren't in her ear the barriers are in the world and she needed to be you know have people help facilitate getting through those barriers so I thought that was really good I also went to diversity inclusion equity and Title IX the new diet for an acronym that was given by Brett Carruthers from the New York schools Insurance reciprocal it was kind of a refresher on what Title IX is and that it's not restricted to athletes but to all areas of the school
020community and the question that we should always be asking ourselves is are Equitable opportunities available to all of our students in all of our programs it was very interesting it was very thought provoking and he gave this one anecdote about a suit being brought by a girls softball team because they were kind of on this ratty old grass field and the boys were playing on this beautiful lit turf field and they're like that's not fair and he said they were right so just something to always kind of keep in the back of our mind um next was focusing your school district on connection well-being and performance which I thought was wonderful and I was super happy to find out that we have already been having conversations with these guys their company is called same here
021it's David hiwitz and Eric cussin it was really kind of a I hate to say this but a mind-blowing experience for me because it was a very different look at mental well-being so they're their kind of point was and I'll also say I I ran and got Dr Scanlon after I was like you have to come meet these guys and I sort of forced them to give an elevator pitch it was a terrible elevator pitch they it was a terror they totally did not excuse me do justice to what they said in in the training but basically it was you know we focus on these statistics of okay well one in five people is dealing or you know they're dealing with a mental health issue or mental health diagnosis and that's a label um five
022of five of us are dealing with something always because mental health is a Continuum it's not it's not static so they they have a program where they create a scale and part of an everyday life in in the classroom or in the building is checking in on the scale where are you that day and it's not happy to sad it's just different degrees of of functioning and just recognizing that at some point in time we are all dealing with anxiety or depression or feeling lonely or left out and that if we stop looking at it as oh it's those four that have that problem but I'm good you know or the other way around um that's that's really not a very constructive way of looking at things and their feeling is if you begin to
023make it more normalized to speak about that Continuum and to recognize a student or a teacher is falling here on the Continuum today but maybe here tomorrow you can address that more effectively open up a more effective dialogue and increase performance for both students and staff so that was very interesting I also saw a screen meaning of a movie a documentary called tough hope how to talk about Teen depression which was rough it was hard it was really hard it was beautiful but really hard to watch so basically a doctor followed four students who were dealing with pretty severe depression through their teenage years and then coming through recovery into their young adult years and one of them even came and spoke about what that process had been like for her and it was each
024had a different way of looking at it each had different things that worked and didn't work on their Journey but the commonality of what they found was that enabling them as teenagers to be able to talk through that with each other in an effective way in a non-stigmatizing way was transformational for each of them and there is a program that goes along with with that a tough hope program and the last was perfect pitch as Jen spoke about which I won't spoke about the program which I thought was very cute but I had really wanted to um meet Dr White for a while he was supposed to come and speak at something in New York and then covet happened and I never got to go but this is a book that he has written and
025you know I spoke with Dr Scanlon about this I think he would be probably a great person to come speak to us he speaks very powerfully about coming from a he had a rough growing up for sure and you know from basically almost dying as an abandoned child in a blizzard to etc etc etc but um just little touches by generous people little extra tension from focused teachers and he's he's completely turned it around and so anyway this is his book it's called I'm possible and I just wanted to to share a couple of things and so people often hear my story and comment that I pulled myself up by my bootstraps that's part of the American Myth after all but we have to acknowledge that not everyone has boots and straps to pull if
026you're hungry you're going to have a much harder time sitting through class learning and excelling and if you don't Excel you risk being left behind that teacher feeding a cup noodles is the first step in giving a kid a chance to make choices that could change their life change is possible he's I'm no different from the next person although I do possess a profound belief that things are possible and a gratitude for how I came to be here the most miraculous part of my story is not me it's the people who kept me from falling through the cracks of people who saved my life so I just think he'd be a terrific person for us to have a chance to speak to further someday down the road so that's it so thank you again to
027you know giving us all this opportunity to attend I thought it was was terrific and on that note uh Dr Scanlon you want to bring us in on strategic planning certainly so we've had at least one meeting with each of the subcommittee meetings uh strategic the strategic planning subcommittee for early uh for start time not early start time or the start time had a second meeting last night um it is my opinion going very well um there are already a lot of people that have been intrigued by some of the conversations we have had and I'm grateful that the board members have taken on code chair positions with members of the cabinet and Dr Baum at each of these meetings different perspectives in a district like this we have a lot of different perspectives on
028on viewpoints of different areas we're covering here we want to make sure that we're focusing on research-based opinions on facts on some of these issues a lot of opinions being expressed but we need to focus in on what is the data telling us from different studies that are out there and a lot of different Studies have been brought up we did send out a link yesterday when we sent out the reminder that if anyone wants to share any of their research that they've individually done as a parent or a Community member or a staff member in any area please put that there and then we'll redirect it to the proper subcommittee so that information can be shared readily when they reconvene a lot of different again perspectives on this we want to just emphasize one
029more time every chance we get that the board has not made any decisions with any of these ideas that have been presented so far this is just the first steps in all this which is an open discussion research and investigation so there isn't a conspiracy theory that it's already decided and we're just playing games there is none of that going on this is truly a genuine effort to seek input from the community and try to redirect back out to see what the community would like to see in the future for the schools as I've said at each one of the meetings Ad nauseam sometimes people you know said you said the same thing last time exactly yeah bless you um we're we're we could change some all of these things some of these things or
030none of these things like that's what really could happen after all this is said and done and it's not an exercise in futility it's a true genuine uh introspective look at our district and what the future of our district may look like if we don't have these conversations now we don't want to be sitting here potentially two or three years from now if enrollment continues to decline saying we have to do something and we're forced to do something the planning stages are now for that future that may come or may not come but we need to be prepared either way just in case so please I invite you if you have uh the opportunity please attend those meetings we did have to combine the one next Tuesday night it falls on my shoulders that we
031we put it on the night before uh and we're going away for a five-day weekend and not realizing that half the committee is probably already on a plane at seven o'clock at night someplace and not here in Three Village so we decided to combine that with the uh the sixth grade meeting with the elementary meeting uh the following Monday that actually does lend itself well to the two combined because there are pieces to both of those that are connected all these actually are connected but those two are connected um and certainly you know some questions have come up with budget so we are working on numbers with monetary amounts associated with these things um so we're I think we've got a great step forward with this I'm looking forward to the next few meetings as
032we progress with this analysis thank you very much I want to talk about budget advisory committee sure so uh the the board policy that we followed for the committee creation for the strategic planning committee um is really what we should be following for any board committees as we move forward so um we're going to be starting the budgetary process very shortly and as we indicated we were going to bring back the budget advisory committee however we need to look at the the structure of that budget advisor community that it's more inclusive of representation from aspect all aspects of the community so the recommendation that I would make to the board is to continue to follow the what the president you've now set with this strategic planning committee and put out the same process for the
033next for the budget advisory committee so I would recommend that we would look at putting together a committee that would be representative of members of the community parents staff members administrators teachers and students which we had a a couple of students on the committee I think one in particular and um but look at having their involvement this I think they learned a perspective to some of the things that as adults we sometimes lack and also our other units in the district that have a I need to show what what connection it has for their particular areas um the the operative piece to this is the budget advisory Community is a committee of the board of education so it should be reporting just like the strategic planning committee will be doing to the Board of Education
034members of the committee should not be going out and for doing presentations to ptas on their own or setting up their own Facebook pages or going out and speaking on behalf of the entire group that is not there and that is not the charge that which should be given to that committee they're charged to report back and the way the the policy reads is that supposed to be a written report back to the board and then the board can bring the committee members representation of the community members in to have discussion in an open Forum if it so chooses so I think we need to be very clear in that process as we move forward and again this is not a criticism of the budget advisory community in the past but we need to make
035sure that the information that's being shared there there were occasions last year and I'm going to be very Frank about this where information that was being given back out from certain members of the committee was absolutely and was wrong and it actually was sending false information out the community and we had to go out and try to correct that but as soon as something goes out and someone speaks to some degree of authority saying they belong to a committee and does does a presentation with someone it's resumed to be factual and unfortunately it wasn't in some cases so that is very very dangerous to have occur so we need to be able to have that committee work together as a group do its work and it's valuable work absolutely and the work that was done
036last year was very valuable as well and work with the Board of Education moving forward for that budget advisory Community to be effectual that information needs to be shared as soon as possible because the budget process is not infinitesimal we need to get this information in and look at the areas that we need to look at for the budget for next year as I said we're already beginning some of those things written Mr Carlson's office is still waiting for some numbers um but we're already beginning that process now and as far as the administration goes we're looking at our staffing and look looking at for next year we actually begin that now as we move forward and start getting prepared for what next year may look like so that would be the recommendation to the
037board and if the board charges tonight for us to do that work we'll start to get the application process like we did the last time with the governing committee and put that out to the community and then start getting the information who would like to be part of that what qualifications they have and then move forward with the recommendations to the board and then the board of that I would probably recommend by December 14th at that meeting be prepared to review and and select the members from the community and the parents because that's great thank you any questions comments about the procedure all right terrific so we'll move on now to uh Elementary tuition this was sort of a impromptu discussion moment where kind of light bulbs went off and we went huh so Dr
038Scanlon certainly so um the the three New York State sits what's called a non-resident tuition rate so as a a person who lives in a school district you because you pay taxes to that particular School District your children have the right to go to that school district if you choose to send your child to another school district um there's two ways that can happen normally if it's generally done if it's gone through the district through a cross-contract and we have a number of students that are on what's called cross contracts with three village for services that we provide their their home District does not we see some of that within the areas of special education we see that within the academy um it is possible to do it in secondary and Elementary but three villages
039historically only accepted non-resident tuition from students in the secondary level we have not accepted uh tuitions based students in the elementary level um not that we have a lot of tuition-based students non-resident tuition rate right now Doc not Mr Carlson what is uh what was our number for uh secondary uh for General Ed and it's closer to eighty thousand dollars for special ed there's four four rates that the state establishes um General Ed Elementary or regular Ed they call it regular red Elementary regular secondary special ed Elementary special ed secondary so uh as Dr Scandal mentioned for a special education program a number of um uh students that we have from other districts or there for special education reasons programs that we we have and it's approximately eighty thousand dollars per student the academy uh
040while the academy isn't by itself necessarily a special education program in order for us to uh one of the requirements we set up initially when the academy first began was that uh for us to consider a student from another District they had to have an IEP which may means we could charge the special education rate the eighty thousand dollar rate it doesn't necessarily mean that all of our students in the Academy have to have that but that's the requirement for a student from another district and one word of caution on uh and Chris if if I'm saying something that you disagree with please chime in one word of caution on accepting students on a where now that's when the district contracts with us we can charge those rates when a parent requests to send their
041student their child here we cannot charge we have to charge the lower rate the regular education rate and we cannot discriminate and say oh well you have a special education child no we don't have sorry we won't accept that child uh regular education child okay that could put us in a bit of a bind if if uh if a parrot would like if we'd say sure we'll be glad to take um uh students from other districts have parent requests then they have to pay for it but even if it's a special education student that might cost us a hundred 150 200 250 000 a year we can only charge the regular education rate but that would be the case now with the secondary students correct for the secondary students who are yes yes it would
042okay yes yes so uh the students that we generally uh brought into the district on non-resident tuition rate and secondary we've looked through their academic record and we've looked through their disciplinary records that's the process that has been going on before I even was back in the district you know 11 years ago um but as Jeff and and Chris has affirm that you know we have to be very cautious with this as we move forward there's also a presumption that a family would would want to pay that and you know because you it doesn't you don't get to get a discount on your taxes in your home District you still pay your taxes in your home District now you're just paying tuition as if you were sending your child to a private school another caveat
043to that is your home district is not obligated to transport you so if you're going to another Public School District they don't have to pay for transportation if you're choosing to send your child to another district and pay tuition to that District privately that you then have to provide your own transportation and as I said we have over 20 students at the secondary level that are doing this we have one family that has four children that are doing this at the secondary level that they're paying for them to come to us so that is truly a matter of choice so it is an expense it's something beyond their their regular taxes um and if it's something that the board would like us to investigate and move forward with at some point we will certainly do
044that and uh and and have that consideration so uh I don't know if it's going to lead to hundreds of students coming or not it's it's a possibility of that occurring as I said in secondary we've had it in place for a long time other districts have the same things in place as well we could wind up with a lot of students we might only wind up with the same numbers that we have at the secondary level it's hard to say discussion of that does that Intrigue any board members interest you in pursuing excellent thank you so much are there any other issues matters questions thoughts we would like to discuss at this time since we have a more open Forum oh we we've all attended our subcommittee meetings so um I mean I could
045start and not that anybody else has to speak but um I was there it was uh it was over two hours there were a lot of parents there and a lot of discussion and questions and answer um Kevin and Brian buscari did a great job and I listened and I thought about everything that they were speaking about and I'm on the sixth grade to junior high school committee meaning Pre-K to five would stay in the elementary schools in sixth grade sixth seventh and eighth would be in the junior highs and Ninth through 12th would be at the high schools the high school um so what I wanted to do the next meeting is now the 28th for the sixth grade and what I would like to know um if we could have just like as
046an example for that meeting where yes the the financials would be involved and and whatever else that's your job um yeah both of you is if we it doesn't seem like um many if any are in favor of sending their sixth graders to the junior high school so what I was thinking about is if we kept the Pre-K to six just the way it is and then the elementary configuration that's somebody else that's yours um but kept them at the at the elementary school and we do seventh and eighth at one of the uh combined at one of the junior highs and the other junior high is the the school that we were going to repurpose instead of it being in elementary school really doesn't matter and that would be the Arts expansion of the
047academy and many other things that could fill that school up or not I don't know but to see what that would look like and then the 9 through 12th of course at the high school as that being one of them sure many many many um suggestions just to to put it up there and you know see what it looks like you know how does it feel what you know that kind of thing if that's okay certainly so we could talk about something right you know so um for the for the elementary sixth grade meeting now combined for the 28th we've already started to pre-populate with some of the research that's coming from some of the members of the committee uh charts of different variations of different configurations positive and negative implications of all trying to
048again focus it more on Empirical research as opposed to emotion involved with those things which is hard difficult sometimes to do with uh people that you know are emotionally attached to some of the things um that is one of the possibilities we did show at the last committee meeting if we had the ninth grade move then the sixth grade didn't the two junior high schools just to back up what you were saying would have a combined total of around eight to nine hundred students between the two of them above 400 and some odd and and one Angelina's about 300 and some odd in Murphy again based upon our current declining enrollment and assuming this would occur in 2024 nothing for next year obviously um so that's where that that possibility could be the determination then
049becomes if you did if that were to occur the committee would have to see which school then would then have a recommendation I wouldn't get involved that's all that's there's a motion going to be involved in that as well you know what it is emotional and then there are facts and there are a lot of things that the sixth graders could could benefit hugely if we put them in the six through eight model OKAY at the junior highs that they do not benefit from right now is it is it you know do or die make a break no so to me because it's not the emotional to me wins out even though yes they could be experiencing different things and so on and so forth I I agree with all of that um a hundred
050percent but I don't think um we're ready right now and I think that of the four Visions I call them not ideas that you've put out there which are all wonderful and we do need to talk about them I think that the start time is pretty clear and I think the ninth moving to the high school is pretty clear I you know hear a lot of people talking about it even though I'm not on the committee um all over town and throughout the community and I think that you know let's not bite off more than we could chew let's let's do one or two get the start time maybe even next year instead of having to wait two years but the ninth grade would be two years and then from and keep having these conversations
051they're not not because eventually something's going to have to happen right I I agree so the I I did that looking at this the Committees themselves will take a look at all those different possible scenarios and I think it's important as we uh I don't know if we indicated to this evening I don't recall but we are going to survey the entire parental community and the students to see what what they're informed of and what what directions we need to go in but part that survey just can't be a simple do you agree with this or not yes or no it's got to be more informative like what does that look like because if a parent hasn't had the chance to attend one of those meetings and we are going to try to start live
052streaming them we couldn't do it last night on such short notice but we were we're going to try to live stream the meeting next week for everyone I won't have an ability to respond to any of the things but you could actually watch the conversation that's going on the same way that people are watching this evening to see what the possibilities are and lay them out for everyone and and again we've used a lot of terminology people have heard Princeton Plan and there's a lot of fear factors that have gone with that and assuming that we were doing that already and house plans things that you know not related to one of the houseplant and Princeton plan have nothing to do with one another uh we this District did have house plans years ago we
053want to show what that would look like we also want to show for any parent to see what a current sixth grade schedule looks like and what a possible sixth grade schedule looked like if it was in a middle school model what what are the things and see the pros and cons of that for everyone there's also that component of the social emotional piece and I do realize I'm not immune to this at all in any capacity or not empathetic to it as well we're coming off the heels of covet and people are still dealing with a lot of issues with students that are readjusting to being back in school for the first time in a couple of years we're talking about it even at some of the meetings where uh second graders in our
054district have not sat on rugs in classrooms you know one of the first things our secretary teachers had to do was the second teach the second graders how do you sit on rugs because then two years they were doing through coven they didn't have that but their older siblings or older students in the district had that opportunity so it's sort of a like a re-education of how education is supposed to work in the classroom so we have a lot of that going on the idea that you know having any discussion now as you said some things could be done next year um if um and other things we need to probably wait on a while again to allow for that adjustment period if anything were to change at all um I do agree with that
055how what the only however to that piece and I never want to do and but um but there's a butt to this but the butt to this is any any change that we might consider may have financial implications so as we move into the budgetary process that's why we did these committee meetings so early because prior to our budget season occurring there's a great possibility at the rate we're going at this point that we're probably going to have to extend some of these discussions through the spring semester and they may have to go on for a couple years there's a few districts that are going through the same process we are they've been talking in one District that I know for four years about well that's too long yeah so but just saying that that's
056that we're not bound to any like okay we have to have it done by it there's no sense of urgency thank goodness whatever happens even if we stayed in our current model for another two years it will be fine in that capacity but there will come a point in time where we will start to see the implications of the declining enrollment if enrollment does not increase along the way where one particular area which I was at the mount PTA meeting earlier in the week Mr Visa was with me there so you get a test that I actually said this there may come a point in time where in years ago in this District we had six to eight sections in elementary grade levels in each of our elementary schools we may be down to two
057so the choice for parents for their children is going to be limited so when someone says I don't want my child in a DTC class well there may be no choice in that both classes maybe DTC I don't want my child in the enl class you know there's maybe no choice in that either we will only be able to run that it there's a financial responsibility a fiduciary responsibility by the board and a financial responsibility that we have to look at class sizes if we only have 40 students in the class running three teachers three sections of that class maybe financially improbable so we have to just keep that in mind as we move forward I'm hoping we're all hoping enrollment increases no one ever sits here and says now that you're going to have
058the elementary kids but on the on the start time I wasn't there last night but I mean I hear about it all the time every weekend Stop and Shop and uh wherever else but um do we have the numbers do we have the proposed time I mean can we can we we've got it seems to me the majority I from what I'm hearing and I would be cautious with with saying any we have any vote of anything right at this point in time the committee Mr Carlson did a wonderful job last night rolling off four alternate proposals of our current models at the next meeting we're going to be looking at some of the costs involved with those because his plan showed that how many buses we would need in each of those models and
059now we need to attribute now what Financial costs would occur with that um and there would be potential cost Savings in some of those scenarios um if Staffing changed in different buildings in in potential reconfigurations um but if if we continue with the current model um I'm sorry if we went to a current model of pre-k through six on all the buildings there might be financial implications as well so you know we have to be you know right now if you look at the presentation that's online that showed five programs that we have Junior Varsity Sports which is our ninth graders going to the high school our IG program which takes students from the other four elementary schools and brings them into NASA keg our enl program which takes students from the other four elementary
060schools and brings them to mount our students mostly the majority of our special education classes are at Setauket and Arrowhead we do have some special education classes in other schools at the current time as well what that what that looks like with with giving the rough numbers right now A minibus was around 94 to 95 000 a large bus is about a hundred and ten thousand dollars those five programs alone as we currently stand cost is 3.1 million dollars right so um but to maneuver them out to other schools May cost us more in Staffing than the buses so we have to again balance these ideas out as we're moving forward so I wouldn't I wouldn't want to jump on anything just yet until no just wanted at the next meeting that we could see
061something when the parents are when the parents are there absolutely we want to see something you know then I mean the board wants to see something or the committee wants it because we've been showing it from my committee at every meeting I've been presenting numbers to every one of them so no but I mean actually what was the idea and then that could be adjusted and trade in China what have you have days but just something to put out there to the community I'm just talking about I've only been to mine my committee um and and and get a reaction no you don't like it yes we like it whatever or and then of course everything else that falls into place with you know right financially the uh the meeting on the 28th of this
062month uh you will definitely see some of those charts based upon some of the research every day we get more people saying us things and we're putting that up and putting it into the chart format so people when they come to that meeting can actually see here's some of the pros and cons one to give you one example um taking the entire pre-k program one Pre-K was first brought into the district it was all located at Nasa cake um and then we split it up put it back and put in all the different buildings before more for convenience sake regards we don't provide any transportation for Pre-K and we talked about the enrichment program we could potentially take the pre-k program and put it back in one building again which would increase the enrollment in
063one of the two lower enrolled elementary schools and and lifted up there is potential space for that we already have students that are in the program that are not going to school for their pre-k program in their home school anyway parents are wherever there was space the parents took the spot wherever it was so um so in our budget process too we will also look at the costs for the enrichment program and and present some uh possibilities with that too because right now the the program we want to make sure that continues to be self-sustaining we have not increased any costs of the program since we started so it would be something that we'd absolutely want to look at so that's just one possible there's about 198 students in the pre-k program right now so
064wherever they would go would you know could increase the enrollment in that particular school right and pros and cons are great yes but we should also have some sort of a model to try to like get some sort of an idea of what it would feel and look like for the students and their parents but the students first right no that's where we were saying about the sixth grade schedules to show you one example and another example absolutely same for the ninth grade show you one example with the ninth grade schedule so what it is in the middle school right now in junior high school right now and show you what you know what would they get if they were at the high school what courses would be available what electives would be available what
065activities would be available for them um and that model and also again always always a major concern for us is the social emotional piece and the transition for any of our students if they went through this process so I think just you know you bring up a great Point Deanna and I think that's something the community's sort of been wondering about too but this was us sort of putting our money where our mouth is which is this is a conversation so this first go around excuse me this first go round of these beatings I think it was important to let people speak and have it be a very free conversation and now now we begin now we start looking at this research and and looking at the different options and once we have options that
066seem like they could fly then the numbers get filled in then things get fleshed out and of course that all needs to go up and so people can actually see oh okay I I see what you're talking about now I see what the costs and benefits of that are so yeah that's definitely coming I think it's just you know baby steps we did this first introduction we let people know that they truly have a voice at the table and now we go forward beginning to to fill in the facts and one other thing I did want to say before we go is as we structure these surveys I think it would be great if the board can begin to think about questions that you think would be appropriate to have on there so that we
067can begin to get that background information that we feel is important to feed out and as you're talking to people in the community you know what what are they talking about because those might be things we want to have reflected in the surveys as well you think just the board should have input oh no the whole thing no the all the subcommittees will but I'm saying we're sitting here together as a group right now you from your subcommittee Vinnie from his subcommittee I'm saying all of us together should be part of that conversation as well yeah and administrators and teachers too of course of course of course absolutely okay anything else okay may I have a motion to adjourn second all in favor okay thank you everybody oh I'm sorry and uh sorry we need
068a motion to uh go back into exact to finish our work second all in favor okay we're going back into exact thank you everybody Happy Thanksgiving