Tuckahoe PTA: Tuckahoe Board of Education Candidates Forum-May 3, 2023

001good evening and welcome my name is Peggy Angelo I'm the PTA president and we are honored to host this candidate debate thank you to all who are in attendance and watching from home and thank you to our candidates who are willing to serve our community and practice in our candidate forum tonight we have Alice McNamara from the League of Women Voters of Westchester as our moderator as a reminder this is being live streamed and will be replayed you'll be able to watch it on the cable network of the school cable network and on YouTube I'm going to turn it over to Alice okay thank you the um the League of Women Voters has been moderating candidates forums for 100 years and it's an honor to be here at Tuckahoe and I'd like to thank the

002Tuckahoe PTA for inviting us in to do this and as a reminder the election day for school board and school budget is May 16th and the polls are open from 6 a.m to 9 pm there are four candidates for two seats on the Tuckahoe Board of Education the candidates are Scott bogetti Peter cassen Julia frascalito and Lori Gerald the order of speaking and answering questions was determined by lot prior to the start of the event each candidate will have one minute to deliver an opening statement each candidate will then have one and a half minutes to answer each question then each candidate will have one minute to deliver a closing statement and the order will rotate with each questions most of the questions were submitted by the public and some are questions from the PTA

003there is a time keeper who will indicate to the candidates when there is 15 seconds remaining and when their time is up and thank you to Allison Halloran for acting as time keeper candidates may not interrupt one another and no personal comments will be allowed and I'm asking the audience first of all silence all your phones and please hold all verbal comments and Applause until the end of the The Forum and for our first opening statement we will start with Mr cassen thank you good evening my name is Peter cassen and I'm seeking a third and final term as a board of education trustee I'm extremely proud of what I along with my fellow board members have been able to accomplish over the past six years I can confidently say that this district has improved

004significantly since my first day on the job and I believe I have contributed a great deal to that progress at the elementary school reading and early intervention programs have vastly improved at the middle school high school we have significantly expanded electives APS and clubs built a world-class music program and have finally begun incorporating real contemporary teaching and learning through initiatives such as latic we are doing special education better at every level scl has been infused into just about everything we do and this district is finally collecting and using individual student data in a real holistic manner we have made immense improvements to our buildings and Facilities with more on the way made big upgrades to our security posture and we are on we are one of the few districts in the area to have brought

005back Universal Pre-K all this while navigating a pandemic which which we did probably better than any school district in New York state I'm running on this record of success okay I am Lori Gerald I came into the district during one of the most challenging times in modern history the covid-19 pandemic and I am happy about how we managed our district remaining open when many other nearby schools and districts were closed in my first term as trustee our school Community has seen and experienced an improvement in All Phases of operations two bonds the buildings and grounds have been upgraded to include an addition to Cottle Elementary updated security measures at all schools new sports Fields updated infrastructure a new lunchroom at the middle school and high school in a new state of the art middle and

006high school library when I came here 12 years ago I fiercely advocated student programs in quality education I made the initial recommendation to the district to Institute a strategic plan I also advocated for Teacher professional development research-based data-driven literacy instruction where early Learners from anemic awareness and phonics foundations upk Orton Gillingham education RTI programming thank you so before I get to my background I like to point out my main focus for running for trustee my main four focus is if elected will be special education academic social emotional learning and security for both buildings I'm a second generation graduate of the taco high school graduate in 1995 my father in 1964 stepmother 1967 and 20 cousins aunts and uncles along with my two sisters have graduated from the district my wife Kelly and I have four

007boys all who attend Taco schools Logan in ninth Mason and seventh Harrison fourth and my little ashers in kindergarten a little background about myself I'm a former undercover narcotics agent in the Organized Crime Control Bureau we can tell stories later last 18 years a commercial office real estate leasing broker here in New York City focusing on Tech firms and financial firms I currently serve as a chair and coach of the taco youthful youth football program for the past eight years grades one through six and the taco School foundation for the last seven years which is giving teacher grants and scholarships to our students I also live on the back of the football field so I can't hide from anyone look forward to working with you good evening thank you attendees and the taco PTA and

008League of Women Voters for organizing this forum I would be honored to serve as your board of education trustee if elected it will be my goal to use my knowledge and experience to support the district to continue to improve and fulfill its mission of preparing every student for excellence I have been a passionate and dedicated advocate for education and special education since high school when I volunteered to co-teach students with autism religious education so that they would be included in the sacramental rights I went on to become a special education attorney and have successfully worked with many school districts to obtain appropriate placements and programs for students with special needs I assisted private schools with developing policy and advice on contractual personnel and student matters I utilize a collaborative approach to Foster cooperation in my

009career my strong work ethic Integrity leadership transparency and ability to collaborate have brought me success and I believe these characteristics will help me serve the district effectively and decisively thank you thank you the first question will go first to Ms Gerald what is the main thing you hope to accomplish if you are elected to the school board I'm already seated um one of the things that I would like to continue to see too through to fruition is for the data to come back on how our children are progressing in our early learning programs with the institution of our foundations program as well as our we're in Gillingham programs things that we have done to really improve the foundation of learning for our students and I'm looking forward to seeing the long-term benefits of the Improvement

010to our curriculum instruction which I advocated for fiercely for up until I ran for the seat and since then so that's a really big piece so that our kids have a real good strong foundation in learning I'm sorry could you repeat the question what is the main thing you hope to accomplish if you are elected to the school board so my main focus is going to be special ed um you know being a a former student in this high school and middle school and was diagnosed with ADHD at a later date is getting teachers more aware of how to deal with kids that have impulse behavior when it's really ADHD you know we have I want to see more teachers that are qualified and certified in Orton Gillingham training right because it's not just being

011qualified or sorry certified it's also infusing that into the classroom you know we have a reading specialist right now at the middle school in high school she's doing phenomenal work with our students for multi-sensory reading support and that starts in coddle and I think if we can duplicate her and bring her to Cottle it will help the children when they come to middle school they're not on a reading level in third grade you know I know our teachers are Wilson trained and some are path trained but again I think the Orton Gillingham as Laurie just said is very important especially when it comes to infuse you know infusing this learning um I'd also like to see the insecurity we've done great jobs sorry we've done a great job the board has done a great job

012with security for both schools but I think we can improve the security you know in both buildings there's a lack of certain aspects from an outsider looking in that I think we can improve because our kids safety is obviously on the Forefront of all parents right now with you know the tragedies and mass shootings going on throughout other schools thank you one of the most important things I would like to do as a member of the board is to continue doing the good work that they're doing in expanding the special education program ensuring that there's a special education Continuum from grades K-12 for the students with most significant needs as well as those who would benefit from an accelerated program ensuring that the diverse needs of Learners are met improving student outcomes and designing Equitable

013and learning opportunities based on achievement the district has already done a good job of starting to collect data so it's important that we continue to collect that data and review it professional learning is very important I would like to ensure that teachers and staff are provided with professional development so that they can help the students as well as the resources that they need to do so social and emotional learning is also very important and the board has done a very good job of bringing in for at Cottle for example a guidance counselor who meets with the students provides education and also communicates with the parents I think that was a wonderful addition especially in light of all of the school shootings and things that have been happening I have three children and who all had

014three very different reactions to what happened so I think it's important that they meet with the guidance counselor and that the information is also given to parents so that they know how to approach these issues when they do occur um Mr Cassie thank you great for me it's taking a hard look at um how we've progressed on our strategic plan the Strategic plan that we put in place back in 2019 was meant to be essentially a four-year plan or a three-year plan ending in 2022 it got extended because of the of the covet pandemic so we were at really the end of that plan um and I think it's time to really take a look at how we've progressed look at some metrics see how we've done I think it's going to be very very

015good I think we've we've made a lot of strides in each of the four pillars put a lot of time money um and Sweat Equity into that and I believe we're going to pick our heads up and see that we did it did a very good job but I think it's time to to have that evaluation see where we are and then think about creating a new strategic plan um some of those pillars may be may be extended but I think it's time for that it's time to look back and look forward and see how we did with the old plan and look look ahead other thing for me too is just really seeing all the um in-flight capital and room projects to to conclusion we have our third board that just I'm sorry bond

016that just went through that should be our final one for a while I hope and we'll try and still finish up the work from the second one and now the new one's coming up so really just seeing all that through and getting all it all in on time and on budget is the other major accomplishment I'd like to achieve thank you okay the next question will go first to Mr burgetty what are your thoughts on the current and proposed budget for the Tuckahoe School District so I got a copy of the budget last week for the projections of 2023 and 24. in my background when I do Financial analyzes for companies taking office space I kind of go line by line and I must say I give the board a lot of credit I give

017faith our business administration office a lot of credit this board is the the budget is very detailed um you know it's it's tough to manage a school budget right do I think we can allocate or diversify funds to certain other places I do I think we can allocate funds to more to special ed you know without transportation right now transportation for special ed is a big part of our budget to the kids that have to go to BOCES because of iaps or specialized schools you know that's north of we'll call it 1.5 million dollars we have a four million dollar special ed budget right now proposed for 2023 and 24. I think we can allocate some more Capital to that because special ed is is very very important for the children of Taco it's it's

018one of them I think one of the things we can improve a lot on we've done great things but I think we can do more you know I'm not going to get into salaries and and bussing and what we spend on that you know listen this has to be dived you have to dive deep and it has to go line by line and figure out where we can cut back and where we could allocate more funds but the board has done a great job I know it's not an easy task from an outsider looking in and you know kind of going through this and not so the needs of our diverse student body with the needs of taxpayers by keeping the budget under the tax cap an investment in our schools is an investment in

019our community and in our property values so I think the board did a very good job of considering everyone's needs in our community looking forward I think in preparing the budget for future years things that I would like to look at are allocating more funds towards special education adding more classes the high school more electives and I think that's also takes it's a very detailed process we would have to review the budget and see where we could allocate those funds and save some money thank you yes well having worked on the budget I certainly am in favor of it and I'm proud of it I think it's a very good budget for me the the things that I sort of focus in on and have focused in on is looking at the big picture of

020our financial um how we look financially overall in terms of reserves and in terms of how we I really like to look strongly how we do at what our tax levy is and how we can reduce that and reduce some of that tax burden on on the taxpayer and I'm very proud of this budget for that reason because this year the allowable tax revenue increase was um over four percent it was 4.94 actually and we as a board um you know worked a lot with the faith and the administration to get that down to um just 2.74 so um that's about a 500 000 reduction in tax levy that we were allowed to ask for that we're not asking for yet we still are adding programs and a lot of good things towards our strategic

021goals in that budget and we are also um reducing our Reliance on on fund balance to balance the budget which is something that I've been an advocate for ever since I've been on the board and every year in the last three or four years we have been reducing that that dependence on fund balance every single year so that's kind of what I look at and I'm proud of this budget for that reason I like the fact that we are um asking the community for less than we then we're allowed to and still putting a lot of good stuff in that budget he took all of my answers so what I I'm very proud of the budget I think it is a very comprehensive budget and it really speaks to our kids from pre-k all the

022way up to our senior year um I'm very proud of the progress we've made in special education my goal is to prevent kids from going into Special K special education programs from the beginning and the way that we do that is having a comprehensive strong Elementary preschool program in place for our early Learners part of the reasons why our children some of our children end up in special education is because of learning gaps things that little pieces that they've learned have not learned through the national reading panel phonemic awareness phonics writing being able to compose sentences all of those things matter very early on so that we can prevent our students from coming into our special education program in the first place we since we have had these additions to our curriculum we are seeing

023less and less children being um recommended to us our special education program our special education program has progressed so well that we have people looking to pay tuition to come in here because we have a full Continuum of a special ed program thank you um thank you and the next question will go up first to Ms Leto a major role of the school board trustee is fiscal responsibility to the community what training or knowledge do you have in terms of school finances I'm currently a special education attorney and as an attorney we always have to ensure that we're fiduciaries for our clients that we keep their best interests in mind so that is also making sure that we're advocating for them whether you know it the best interest would be going to litigation or collaborating

024with the other party we have to do the work that we have to do to bring the matter forward but we always balance that with how much it costs so we do have you know a cost benefit analysis with the work that we do to ensure that we're providing the best services for the least amount of money so if I do have to inform my client that you know it would not be in their best interest to pursue litigation even though we would make more money that way I would tell them that that's not that's not recommended and I wouldn't force them to pursue it or recommend that they pursue it well maybe for uh fully transparent I don't have no experience when it comes to a school budget but I have plenty of experience

025in finance um like I said I excuse me I'm sorry was that not next when I turn oh I'm sorry I'm gonna let it finish if you want I don't care okay okay um so for me I I don't have any specialized training in this area but at this point now I would say in my six years on the board is my training having gone through this process now for six years and and having served on the uh finance and audit Committee in in previous terms that's really really why I draw my my experience from um so yeah that's that's mostly it you know I've managed budgets and and money from my profession um but really in terms of school budgeting that's where my education comes from I Rely heavily obviously on our on our

026experts um Facebooks right now it is our business leader we rely quite a bit on her we do have an auditing firm that doesn't look a hard look at our budget in our numbers every year and reports back to the board so I Rely a lot on that report to uh to you know make decisions and and review the budget so yeah that's it likewise I have experience now having served as a board member now for my third year also as a former teacher an educational State education level employee I've also had experience in managing grant funding for multiple dishes across the state of State in New Jersey and working with districts in particular districts who have issues around funding for Quality education for their students and managing helping them manage where that funding goes

027to support learning and growth so my experience is on the board has been a little different than what I've done in my career both as a teacher managing classroom budgets helping my district manage school-wide budgets and then also at at the state level this level allows me in this physician has allowed me to see it in a very different and comprehensive way and then putting also my doctoral classes that I've learned lots of great things and about budgets into really into fruition into reality and being able to apply that skill and those things that I've learned through my education and experience as an educator so again I I do commercial real estate in the city and at least office space to hedge funds private equity and Tech firms probably some of the smartest men and

028women in the city and they rely on me to do full abstracts and how it affects their p l by taking space when they have a 30 million dollar obligation over the next 10 years so I run these numbers for them and it's very similar I wouldn't say it's similar to a school budget but it's it's detailed right and the main component of a school budget is asking questions when we're presented as board trustees from Faith or from the superintendent we have to ask questions about expenses why are we spending X on this why is the proposed budget going up on this you know I look at you know a reduction in special ed services over the last few years you know we're losing probably a couple hundred thousand dollars and that's a line by

029line issue that I look at you know last board meeting I was here I got up and I said you know we have a reduction in forty thousand dollars in BOCES obviously I'm reading the budget to see this right when I saw the BOCES budget was cut for occupational um education you know kids that want to go to trade schools I this is the first thing I noticed so you have to be detail-oriented you have to ask questions questions and hold people accountable on why we're spending what we're spending and why we're not spending what we're spending on programs that we need such as special ed such as more electives so it's about paying attention thank you you okay the next question first to Mr cassen where would you like to see improvements made in

030the schools faculty buildings budget curriculum climate oh all of it you want to see improvements everywhere um yeah so you know an obvious one out of the gate of course is is our buildings so we I know that in the reason why we pursued this this last Bond is this particular building this particular High School Middle School building needs a lot of infrastructure tender loving care there's a lot going on here that's that's troubling I know just recently with the past rainstorm we had we actually had water in some of the classrooms we have we have a lot of inefficiencies with with our utilities due to leaking pipes and things of that nature so this that's this needs to be improved and that's the reason why I went out and did that Bond but you

031know I have to get the work done and see it all the way all the way through um beyond that um I want to see us continue to make progress in the area of contemporary teaching and learning it's been something that I've been focused on since I've been on this board is trying to get more uh more infusing more project-based learning and teaching those soft skills that I think our kids are really going to need in the 20 in the 21st century um we it's begun to happen it took a little time but it's begun to happen now this this introduction this latic program which I mentioned in my in my opening remarks is a really good step in that direction um and uh we're moving moving towards this I really like to see that

032that keep going in that in that accelerate actually that's very very important to me thank you uh Miss Gerald what I would like to see happen is the continuation of the supporting of our curriculum and instruction improvements that we've made professional development around the areas where we are deficient I would also like to see our budget continue to support our teachers in preparing for Next Level critical thinking skills so by that I mean making sure that we have AP programs that are available to our students perhaps seeing if we can partner with doing education in an Innovative way seeing if we can partner with agencies in and around our community to see if we can get some Hands-On training for our students Beyond an internship perhaps there's some you know back in my day we

033had shop and we had home Mac and we had different you know vocational programs in place at our schools would be nice if we could uh develop some relationships and Partnerships within our budget that would support our kids who are maybe not College Bound so those are some of the things that I would like to see added in this budget so continued support for professional development for our teachers and um support so that our kids are prepared for once they leave the school whether it's College Bound oh and also our AP and sat preparation courses needs to be extended as well in our budget this is more than a minute and a half it's probably a 20-minute discussion but I'll see if I can tie a couple things in definitely academics I think we can

034offer more when it comes to AP classes right now we have you know AP Computer Science for 10th and 11th and 12th graders I think the 10th graders deserve an extra AP class versus computer science we have three AP classes for 11th grade and two for 12th it's not enough you know to be competitive and to keep kids in this district with tension it's crucial another idea that I came up with and I thought it was I kind of liked it um is to think about going to a nine period day and I'll tell you why you keep the hours of the school the same right 7 30 some 45 to 2 30 but that nine period day it gives a child that's an AIS IAP or extra help a chance to take an elective

035that they never could before right that's it that's advancement right so right now that kid that has to go out for skills class or whatever it may be can't take an elective and do things that the other kids that are doing secondly it gives a child that wants a rigor to take two electives or another AP class and I know our teachers are under contract to 2025 I believe um so we have to wait some time to maybe get this done I think the guidance Department right the kids need better relationships kids meeting high school students with our guidance department they should be meeting sorry thank you I would also like to improve all of these areas but I'm going to focus on a few that I think are the most important so one that

036is most important to me is curriculum I would like to continue to improve the course offerings increase electives for high school students as well as AP options at a recent board meeting that I I attended there was discussion of potentially bringing in the IB curriculum to the middle school high school I think that would be a wonderful addition and I'd like to be a part of the implementation it is a very rigorous program it focuses on social emotional learning students are required to learn a foreign language I think that's wonderful I think we should also ensure that there's a K-12 curriculum I think foreign language should be a part of the program at Cottle as well so that students can start learning that and be ready when they get to middle school and high school

037I would also like to see enhancements to the special ed program the district is collecting data it's important to continue collecting data and review that data to see if new programs should be added if current programs should be removed or if there should be other changes to help the students remain in the district and to attract other students with special needs from other districts the students that are tuitioned in bring large funds to the to this District so that would be great to have more of those students another thing that is important to me is safety so it's important to continue reviewing our safety procedures and protocols and ensuring that there's one point of entry at each school and that persons who enter and leave are vetted okay thank you okay thank you and the

038next question first the first person to answer the next question will be Ms Gerald covid-19 has made significant impacts on our students social emotional development which has affected our adolescents the most how can we as a school district make improvements to the middle school guidance department and strategize a plan to provide our children with the skills they need to thrive I believe the district is already making strides in that area with the implementation of the rethink social and emotional program using common language checking in with our students we've also in had surveys done to check the wellness of our students and staff both mentally and socially and to see how they feel about their experience here and what we can do to support that I also believe that with the institution the implementation of the

039various foundational programs that we have like foundations like Orton Gillingham all of these things that we're already doing Works to support the social and emotional well-being of our students if they feel strong and confident in their abilities and the the support that the staff and our school Community gives them then they will Thrive and they will continue to grow listen in the last few years we've even risen in our rankings I think we went from 31 maybe about four years ago in our state standing and we're now at 20. I think we're well on our way to making sure that we are doing right by our students in every manner both academically as well as socially and emotionally okay yeah oh sorry so you know SEL is one of our four pillars right it's number

040one on the list and I know Miss Gerald just said rethink um I know the program um my feeling with rethink it's it's more Elementary based um I don't think it's really Geared for kids in middle school and high school we used to use a program a few years ago before Dr Goodman came in um it was called a ruler okay and ruler stands for recognizing understand labeling expressing and regulating program comes from the Yale Center for emotional intelligence and it's part of the Yale School of Medicine most of our administrators and teachers in the middle school and high school are trained in ruler I believe this program would be very beneficial to bring back to the kids of tacos especially middle school and high school or social emotional learning isn't as a key right

041I have a son in middle school and I can tell you I deal with this all the time so I would make that suggestion as a board member being that scl is our number one pillar you know besides diverse needs of learners but if we can consider that and if I was on the board I would I would like to try to bring that back also listen we're doing great things with with Maxwell right now right Maxwell in the middle school is another program we're using for um the students um but again I think when it comes to SEO I'd like to give ruler another try here in the district self-awareness social awareness responsible decision making self-management and positive relationships with all students I think this can be done by having an open door policy

042with the guidance counselors and the mental health professionals that are available at the district to speak to the students letting them know especially after what they've been through the past few years with covid school shootings the swatting incident that affected our district that they can talk about their feelings they can express themselves they can develop positive relationships with their peers and they can also help each other get through these difficult situations my youngest daughter came home and said that um they had a lockdown drill so she seems very unaffected by it um because she's been dealing with this since she's born pretty much but my oldest has a very different reaction so she's afraid you know she texts me come get me mommy she's very afraid so it's important that students who are having these

043reactions have somebody to go to at the school and that this should continue from K to 12. and I think the district is doing a good job of implementing the social emotional learning throughout the district yeah I Echo that and Michelle said as well we have done a lot in this area um something I'm very proud of um in a lot of ways we think is is one of them um uh others as well we've we've been put in place an evidence-based Health curriculum that is kind of more robust and tackles both physical and mental health as well which has been really good um so I think we've done a lot in this area but there's definitely more to do I I think a a a way to to do more is really just more

044clubs and activities and giving our kids more of an outlet outside the classroom to do to do more things and you know Sports is great we have lots of sports but I'm talking about even other types of things and we've already started doing that there's the debate team was put in place in the in the middle school and now this year coming up it's going to be in the high school I think stuff like that or programs and and clubs like that are really good for that sort of balance um that that kids need to to have an outlet I'm also really happy and we want to keep to keep it going to see more class trips come back after Covenant for a while we didn't have that and that's come back in a big

045way this year and I want to thank our our teachers and staff for for stepping up and doing that um but uh we can we can do more there I think there's a lot more we can do in terms of getting our kids out of here on a day and getting them to see something new um and expand their Horizons so A lot's been accomplished but uh certainly more more we can do and I I look more to the extracurricular and outside the classroom type opportunities to do that thank you thank you okay the next question first to um Mr pigetti what are the four pillars of the Strategic plan and how do you plan to support each do you have a vision for the next edition of the Strategic plan so the for the

046four pillars um of this of the district are one being SEL the two being the diverse needs of Learners three being contemporary teaching and learning and four being professional learning you know I just spoke about SEL another point that I'd like to bring up for SEL is you know I like to see the middle school kids um I'm sorry the coddle kids with the transition to Middle School happen more than for one day for two hours I don't think a child is ready to enter Middle School when he's up at visiting the middle school for two hours one day there needs to be more we need to listen the school's down the block the elementary school and I think there needs to be more more in line of you know communication between the Middle School

047and Cottle to get our kids prepared for Middle School The Vaping and alcohol substance abuse that we do with Maxwell I think is great social media bullying and in-person bullying we have to take that on on the head right we have to we have to get ahead of this now you know there's technology out there chat GPT and all these other different things that I hear that we need to have classes and get our teachers and administrators and parents up to speed on this diversity of Learners occupational learning BOCES right not every kid's going to go to college plumbers electricians that's the foundation of what our country was built on and we should put money back into that funding contemporary learning and teaching right opportunities to learn outside of the school more field trips I

048want kids going to Manhattan to see culture arts museums thank you the four pillars of the Strategic plan are diverse needs of Learners professional learning social and emotional learning and contemporary teaching and learning I support the district's plan to promote the diverse needs of Learners they're improving student outcomes and designing Equitable and learning opportunities based on achievement data I would like to continue doing this by offering more classes to diverse needs of Learners one set cohort of students that I feel has not been addressed are those with who are considered gifted or would benefit from accelerated learning I would like to see some more accelerated classes for those children the district recently included an integrated co-teaching program at Cottle which is excellent it is basically in between the self-contained class and the collaborative team teaching

049that they used to offer so now there's a place for those students who can benefit in a general Ed classroom with more supports professional learning in my career I've participated in many conferences provided continuing education classes and I've also learned a lot there are many different methodologies that address student needs I would like to bring more of those into the district with social emotional learning I would like to see an enhancement into in that area adding more guidance counselors giving students more opportunities to voice their opinions as well as to receive advice on coping skills Etc thank you Mr Cason right so I guess to answer the question I'll State him again because that was the question social emotional learning diverse needs of Learners contemporary teaching and learning and professional learning are our four R4

050current goals as far as going forward with the new plan and how I'd like to see that plan go I I do I do expect and would would um encourage that a lot of these um goals get pushed forward but not necessarily exactly the way they are I think we can rethink them for me contemporary teaching and learning definitely needs to be continued on in a new plan we kind of got a little bit of a late start on that um well you can say that the pandemic accelerated in some ways but um I think uh there's a lot more to do there and and to me that's that's been my most important pillar in my mind um and I think there's more to do this and I would like to see that moved forward

051on professional learning I also think we would want to we want to have in a new strategic plan as well that's something that I think is very very important and we've made a lot of progress in the last couple years and but there's a lot more to do there a lot of our teachers have been trained up in in new reading programs Wilson and Warren Gilliam and uh and but and latic was another um good training that we've sent our our teachers through recently but a lot more can go through that and need to go through that um but if we were going to come up with a new pillar I I'd like to see something along the lines of focusing more on on teaching kids soft skills and citizenship and getting getting them to

052think you know beyond just academics thank you that's exactly what I was going to say so the four pillars are SEL diverse needs of Learners professional development and also teaching and learning in a contemporary manner again we are doing some of those things we've begun to do it with our project-based learning time slots that we've been implemented in the district as well as the Innovation Labs that we have in place our steam Labs our elementary school programs around Steam and we have a 3D printer now where kids are having an opportunity to explore what they can do even in in around technology as far as professional development we are doing a really good job of preparing our teachers for Next Level teaching and learning for our students we can do better we can continue to

053support them I'm not a person or an educator who believes it's a one shot deal it's a one-year situation in terms of professional development we bring in a program we do it a year maybe you turn kid the second year okay we're done and now here's another program I think that we have to be continue to be very critical and purposeful in the programs that we Implement and then supporting the teachers ongoing and also outside of the curriculum programs field trips those sorts of things and um social emotional learning thank you okay thank you the next question first to miss Leto what issues do you believe our district needs to address in its academic programming and do you have specific suggestions for improvement sure what issues do you believe our district needs to address in

054its academic programming do you have specific suggestions for improvement thank you with regard to the academic program I would like to see them Implement a more rigorous Academic Program like I mentioned before there was discussion of potentially bringing the IB Program into the middle school and high school to try to make the Tuckahoe School District more competitive and attract other families from outside the district and to keep the families that are here in the district there are a lot of students who once they graduate coddle they go to a private school I would like to see more electives offered at the middle school high school more rigorous classes this way students want to stay here and they can get into the top colleges okay Mr Carson um a couple things come to mind here um

055so one for sure I think we need to strengthen our math program uh particularly in the high school middle school and high school I would say I think that's an area that really can can stand to be improved quite a bit we've made huge strides in Reading particularly in the elementary school I think now it's time to focus a little bit more on on math and the upper levels um I I think electives and APS is something we have to continue to try and increase in terms of options we've done a lot there we've added a lot the last couple of years and Entrepreneurship class has been has been added a statistics class has recently been added AP Computer Science so we've we've added quite a bit but we've got to keep going on that

056because that is one of the challenges of a small school district is offering our students a wide variety maybe start looking at other ways that we could deliver more even if it's computer-based type type classes so that's more flexible with with uh with students um schedules one thing I think is good to highlight though I mentioned math before one thing that I want to highlight is a good thing is that we have done a really good job of bridging math between the um the elementary school and the middle school in Indian Visions program that we put in place now um does a better job of marrying those two together so I did definitely wanted to call that out um but yeah those are the areas I think we need to we need to focus on

057um really more options for for our kids in terms of APS and electives and strengthening out math our math classes and I mentioned before soft skills thank you one for me thank you yeah so one of the areas that I think we need Improvement I think we've done a really good job at the elementary school program where can needs to continue we shouldn't stop but I do think that our middle school program should be stronger than what it is definitely along the lines of math but also in the line in the area of student support so we have an AIS um I'm not sure that it's the best structure for an AIS program it has definitely been a complaint of mine when you have students coming in for support um how is it structured how

058are they how are the students needs being met we've done that at the elementary school with the institution of a win program what I need whereas children are getting that help that's built into this this schedule they're not really missing out on anything but their their needs are being addressed in the program I would love to see something more structured come into our middle school program around math and also around Improvement in writing and reading we know there's reciprocity and the the ability of a student to read but also write so Improvement in both of those areas as far as the AP and electives I'm looking forward to us growing there I would like to say I like to highlight where we are strong for the first time in about three or four years we

059have students who are getting accepted to some of the top universities in our in our nation so we're on our way thank you Mr burgetty right so I agree with p and Lori with the math program I think I do think we can do a lot better with math but just one thing when it comes to the reading support down in Cottle I do believe we need another multi-sensory reading support in Cottle like we have in the middle high school and I'm a firm believer of that um you know I talked about the nine period day already that was it's a suggestion of mine I like to look into with the board if elected listen Eastchester High School already does a nine period a day so they've been doing this for a little while now

060both Eastchester and Bronxville start their AP courses in ninth grade we start in 10th and the 10th one the 10th grade class that we start is AP Computer Science so I like to see more AP classes offered to younger students um I think our guidance Department should be meeting with our students once a quarter you know we have a very small district and we're very fortunate to have a district of our size so when you have classes of 60 or 70 kids per class the guidance counselors need to build relationships with our students um meeting once a quarter how are you doing what are you not doing well what can you move forward in can you challenge Yourself by taking an AP math an AP Physics class or chemistry we don't have AP English right

061now we have AP English online which I hope we can get here into the buildings soon so I think the guidance Department really needs to push our children and build better relationships with the kids I'd also like to see thank you and the next question we'll start with Mr Kasson do you think Taco is currently meeting the needs of all students special ed English language Learners and gifted students if not where should the focus be I definitely think in the area of gifted children were that's an area we can improve on I think there's been a lot of focus on special education and and those that are that are falling behind and that's obviously an important thing to do but but I think it's fair to say that we can do more in terms of

062um challenging and giving our kids that are more gifted more appropriate um levels of of challenge so I think that's that's definitely an area um special education I think you know that's something that always I guess could be improved um but I do feel like a lot has been done there the integrated co-teach model at every grade in in the elementary school is is to me a huge step forward um but um that's an area that you can always do a little bit better on I guess um and then the other in terms of um English language Learners I think we we provide a pretty good service there um so I I think that's that's pretty well taken care of um so yeah special education um certainly could be improved in some areas but I

063think having more and it goes back to what we've been talking about before about APS and electives and things of that nature um just providing more um ability to challenge our more gifted kids I think it's something we should be focusing on yes saying I feel the same way about making maker that we have innovative ways of reaching all students not just our special education students but also our students who are working above and beyond grade level having those supports for them is is key to their development and social emotional health and well-being we have integrated teaching models already in place we do have our AP programs I think where Pete actually touched on is our subgroups are subgroups being our children who may not come from homes where English is the primary language speak

064spoken at home I'm not so sure that we are doing our best there I think that we can be doing more to make sure that all of our kids including those who come from a home where the English is not spoken that they're getting the supports I've had an experience as an educator where a lot of times those ell students end up being overlooked and somehow funneled into a special education program not because that they have some sort of a special challenge but that they don't understand the language and that's not okay and I do think that we could be doing better we have um English language Learners who come from polish but homes in our community we have maybe some Patois we have some Hispanic and Asian so Mandarin I should have said so

065we can do better there can you repeat the question one more time for me please sure do you think Tuckahoe is currently meeting the needs of all students special education English language Learners and gifted students it's not where should the phone so now I I don't think we're meeting the needs of the special ed students here at Taco um we could be doing a lot more for for these children and you know there's it's funny you know I talk to a lot of parents um in the district um probably 20 or 30 parents and ask them all their concerns and there's a lot but you know one thing that really pointed out to me was we have something called parent members for special ed you know these are parents who act as eyes and ears

066and support for new parents that are entering the IAP world it's a scary world for new parents right you have a kid that needs special ed the school should publicize more these parents their names listen they've been through tenure at this school from there when their kids were in first grade to seniors Juniors some of them may have graduated already they could be the eyes and ears for a new parent coming into um into this IAP world and again we do it I know it's given out in a packet with their names they're underutilized they're not and they're not used to their ability and they should be more publicized as far as pushing kids I think we can do we can always do a lot more right I mentioned AP classes I think internships should

067start in 11th grade I think by the time you get to an internship in 12th grade these kids are checked out they're already thinking about Florida State and going down south and going to the beach when you get to 11th grade that's where you push a kid with an internship and try to get him out of the school thank you I think the district has done a good job of bringing in additional special education supports and services for example in Cottle we have the ICT program hegarty additional reading supports however I do think more can be done I think the district should ensure that students who have a need have related services available to them otpt speech whatever their their needs are they should be met with regard to ESL I think we could be

068doing more to ensure that families know what's going on in school as well as on a social level I know there's some families sometimes you know I check in hey is your child did you sign up for Strings or band and they have no idea that the email even went out so I think you know we should explore how can we reach the families who have parents that are you know English is their second language I think more can be done there I also agree that more it could be done with regard to The Accelerated Learners and give did Learners data should be taken to see how many students do we have in a class who are not challenged by the program maybe that we should create a class for students like that so that

069they feel challenged so I think these are these are things that we can work on in the future and this is something that I would like to do if I am elected to the board thank you okay thank you and the next question first Ms Gerald will be first to answer the next question based on publicly available information the class sizes from Cottle to the high school seem to shrink by a factor of 25 to 30 percent to what do you attribute this High rate of attrition at the middle and high school levels do you feel that this is a problem for the district and if so what ideas do you have to reduce the number of families electing to move their children to private schools or other districts well it's my understanding that we

070have improved in the area of retention in our district we don't see as many students leaving as we have in the past when I was you know going back you know 11 12 years ago that's not what we're seeing that those rates have definitely dropped so that's a great Improvement I think that when we're meeting the needs of our students parents want to stay when we Institute quality education programs parents want their kids to stay when we're meeting them their needs socially and emotionally parents will want their kids to stay we are doing that already we are doing it can we be better in other in many areas absolutely but the work is being done it was not when I first came here our subgroups were you know expanding learning gaps were expanding we're seeing

071those gaps shrink now so I want to give us credit where credit is due do we need Improvement in some areas absolutely one of the things that we are doing because we are concerned about tension and making sure that parents want to stay we have a lot of parents coming in because our special ed program has improved so greatly that people are paying for their kids to come here and get the quality education we have a full Continuum special education program but for parents who leave we do ask now we started looking into retention and we interviewed families that leave asking them surveying them and asking them why they are leaving and looking to those things to guide our next steps in planning and development spaghetti yeah well to mention the fact of the paying

072to come into the school for the special ed you know if you look at the budget it's we're down from where we were so I just to note that we're not getting as many kids coming in for the special ed and we're losing revenue on that note but listen retention of students has always been a problem since I came here and I graduated in 1995 right I think my graduating class if I recall had 56 kids okay you're not going to keep the Legacy kids whose parents went to Fordham whose parents went to Iona or holy child or whatever it may be that's going to happen you're going to lose those kids we shouldn't be losing kids for academics all right I don't want a parent to come to me and say you know what

073I don't think the school has what has to offer like Fordham and Iona does that's not acceptable I want from that parent to know what we're missing what should we have right I want ideas from the community that other classes that I hear for tomorrow Iona has I think a lot of this right now from what I'm hearing especially having a son in middle school and my kids are guilty of this as all can be and I tell them all the time we need more handshaking in the middle school high school we need less fist bumping okay and we need our students looking these are our teachers in the eye and teaching them how to be young adults and get them prepared for that real real world discipline is a problem all right I don't

074want the hoodies anymore no more hats I know we're not a private school but that's not the real world and I think if parents see this they'll look at this like affordable Iona secondly the immunity support administrative Administration and superintendent involvement with the Middle School to show the good things that we're doing at Taco and we are doing amazing things at Taco and it needs to be well known thank you thank you I mentioned some of the things before that I I think I would improve if I were on the board including classes at the high school more varied classes um I think that by doing this we will improve the reputation of our school as a whole if someone is searching for a home and I noticed this myself when we moved into the

075district the schools were ranked Cottle was a nine the middle school was in eight the high school is a seven now when I look on grade schools the it's a five across the board why did this happen so I think we should explore this because homeowners are looking at this and saying you know why did the the why did that reputation of the school go down over these five years since I've moved here so I think looking at that and then adding classes creating a robust academic program for students that people want to move into our district and stay here so that they can get into the best colleges I think that's very important I think we can also continue expanding the sports program recently Eastchester added flag football as a sport since it's been

076Rec that's something we can look into a lot of I know my daughter was very excited when she finally could play flag football and they're they're all excited to do that it's something new it also creates another social opportunity for students so I agree with a lot with what's been said already um but just to kind of pony up on a couple of it and add a few more um I I do agree that to some extent you are always going to lose a certain amount of students each year to to Legacy and and sports also sometimes is a draw but we we want to retain as many of our students as we can particularly the students that are high academic Achievers and that and that's what um in the past we've we've we've lost

077and that's not great because then that makes that that gives our sort of entire profile um a lesser look in terms of how we perform so we need to retain those folks and and I think we have made a lot of progress in this area and I feel like I'm saying it again but but it's important it's been mentioned already we have to offer more in terms of options and electives and APS and things of that nature and then we also need to I think really um the best way in my mind to do this is to get better at how we deliver education in a more modern contemporary way um so that this school does things differently better differently and and has a parent say wow I really want my kid to go there

078so doing doing more of that project-based learning more robotics more technology more soft skill type type of of um of instruction where kids are learning how to speak in public and and things of that nature I think can really have parents think twice about taking their kid out of here and bringing them to to a private school and we if we're doing things in a more robust kind of bold different way that's more in line with with the future I think that's really important schools are are slow to change so we should be ahead of it okay thank you the next question first to Mr burgetty what do you believe would make a successful balance of technology and Hands-On learning in areas such as science technology and science well if you want to talk about

079technology one thing that we don't have in this school is a parent technology committee you know we have committees for a facility facility facilities advisory we have a district Wellness Equity committee a district Safety Committee and ordered finance committee I like to start a technology committee you know our district is comprised of many parents who work at some of the biggest Tech firms in the world and they're right here in Manhattan I'd like to come comprise of a committee that's focused on any parent that wants to join with a couple board members and superintendent whoever and tell us what you know what technology we should be using in the school right you know there's programs like Newsela I know one of the parents in our district works for newsella right so there's things that we're

080missing and there's things that we could bring on you know when you start talking to technology folks and in certain companies everyone kind of knows each other and it becomes something where we can adapt different technology if we're not using it correctly and that also ties into science with technology because that's the Forefront of the future right and and the way we have to shape our school is to be a technology leader thank you I think the district has made some great improvements with regard to technology they've provided a steam Lab at Cottle with the 3D printer they provide Hands-On learning in labs and I think we can improve on this more Hands-On learning Consulting with experts in this area to see how could the students be learning what could we bring into the classrooms

081and what can we afford as a school district to bring into the classrooms because this technology is expensive I also think that bringing more internship opportunities for the students so that they can see how the technology works in the real world would be great for them especially in the middle school high school ask you to repeat the question one more time though just so I can make sure sure what do you believe would make a successful balance of technology and Hands-On learning in areas such as science foreign stem is something that we're already doing very very well and I think that continued has to be continued to be built out and and improved um that's that's the best way in my mind to to infuse technology and Hands-On learning um is is through the through

082the stem program that we already have and expanding that um I think it's really just trying to find also more ways to integrate technology into the education I know before was mentioned um chat GPT uh the AI is coming everyone everyone knows it it's it's here basically I I think we should be embracing that I think some of the the um mindset of Educators is oh wow how am I going to figure out if my students are cheating with chat GPT and I think it should be the opposite I think we should be thinking about how do we Infuse Technologies like chat GPT into the classroom and basically lean into it don't try and fight it you're not going to fight it it's not going away um so how do we how we teach kids

083how to use it and a constructive way and make it part of a class so I think thinking like that thinking outside the box and looking to embrace technology rather than trying to fight it and um and Infuse it into the instruction that we already give is is the right approach I also think that project-based learning opportunities for children to share out in in through the venues that they are most comfortable with is a really good way to experience a nice balance between technology and hands-on experience some kids really don't like technology some of them really don't but maybe they're really good speakers maybe they are really good organizers maybe they bode well with bringing people together and being you know collaborative in their thinking and growing I think that there are ways that we

084can balance the Hands-On experiences through children through our students and within our steam program which we already do have in place and we can build upon that and I think one of the biggest things that I believe that we are working on and doing better at is really involving our children our students in their own learning talking to them to find out what makes them tick what they would be interested in and seeing how we can come together and Bridge imbalance what the state is requiring us to do what colleges and universities and vocational schools require us are for our children to have in place and balancing that with what their interests are and asking them how they would like to balance technology and hands-on experience okay thank you and the next question first to

085Ms Leto have you received any donations or endorsements from any groups and if so which groups no I have not I have not received any okay thank you that's a no for me as well no for me no okay okay and um Mr Cason next question to you first school shootings have sadly become all too common news events in our country do you believe that campus security needs to be improved and if so what ideas do you have to improve it an area always that needs to be re-examined and improved um once again an area though that I think we've improved quite a bit on and I think I've been a part of that you know I come from a law enforcement background I spent 22 years in the FBI so it's something that that

086I that I can relate to and think about quite a bit so obviously we've done a lot in terms of the structure of our buildings creating security vestibules and things of that nature and access control um and all that and then you know I know in this new project coming up there were some questions about the windows at the new cattle cafeteria we we did take security very much into consideration there and and provided some some contingencies there but yes we can always get better there I think cameras is something we need to upgrade it's it's always surprising to me um how how our camera system is not shouldn't be better is isn't better it hasn't gotten better but one of the aspects of this new capital bond is is additional funding towards complete upgrade

087of all of our camera systems I think that's very important um not just people think of cameras you know as a way to sort of see what happened in the past but really cameras are good to help monitor the entire campus during the day and make sure that our Security Professionals have a good have a good view viewpoint so yes lots to do there the addition of the SRO I think was very very important um but um again you can always do better I would say cameras and access control at the doors is probably uh the air I would look to to improve even more thank you I was really actually want to say the same thing we do within this Bond coming up we do have some additions uh to our security features already

088in place security uh vestibules we um with K uh kg I think it's k n g our um the company that works with the design of our building took into account some of the concerns are concerns around security and and the ability to like shoot through windows and that sort of thing this is so sad that we even have to talk about this but um we have taken all of those things into account I definitely think our camera system needs to you know constantly improve and I think we need to keep our pulse on what's happening out in our communities in our world today and pivot when we need to Pivot and look and re-evaluate our security systems often based on what is being presented in and around our state and community so just a

089correction altairus is our security consultant that the school uses um if I was elected I think I would probably interview a few different firms to see what we're lacking um security wise because you can't always just trust one firm you need to take advice of from a few different firms and that's and anybody you interview whether it's construction or whoever um my background as you know is law enforcement undercover narcotics for the Organized Crime Control Bureau so I have a lot of knowledge as well as Pete when it comes to security we do have a lack of cameras in this school specifically the first second third hallways certain parts of the school part of the outside of the school is missing cameras I'm not going to get into it for safety for the students and

090for people you know our children obviously but that's my number one Focus there should be no nothing in the budget that stops to make sure the children and the teachers of the school are safe okay we talk about the bulletproof glass or preventative glass going into the you know the Cotto Windows what about all the Cottle kids that are Exposed on those classroom windows up and down that road it's a they're very easy target it's it's scary you have Middle School classrooms on ground level I don't know what's being done to protect those kids if there's an active shooter we have six security guards three retired encodile three retired here they are not armed why have retired cops from Eastchester in the building if they can't carry a gun most people aren't for guns I'm

091not but they're retired Eastchester police officers I think with regard to security it's important to re-examine and continue improving it through security training ongoing training ensuring that windows and doors are secure that there's one point of entry so anyone who enters the building they keep track of it they know when they've entered and when they've left um also I think it's very important to speak to the students about security so that they're not accidentally or inadvertently opening the door to somebody that might knock that can happen and it's very dangerous so I think it's very important to be transparent with the students and discuss all of these things with them um Ascot was also saying I think it's important to interview other firms regarding safety to see if there's something that we could we could

092be doing better making sure that the doors that are not the point of entry are locked at all times as well as the windows I know that at the middle school there are windows on the ground level as well as caudals so I think it's important to ensure that the children in those classrooms are safe at all times okay thank you the next question we'll start with Ms Gerald would you be supportive of adding more clubs trips and extracurricular activities for students at all grade levels if it meant raising taxes is that for me no thank you I think that that would be something that we would need to uh go out to our school Community with the survey and have them come in and have some forums to discuss I don't think that that

093is something that a board or School Community do can do or should do without the involvement and the boys hearing the voices of our taxpayers so that would be something that I think we would need to put into place before we really explore that I am definitely open to having our students have field trips and and those things those experiences outside of our community is a whole big world out there and I would love for them to have the opportunity to explore that world within the confines of our curriculum and instruction and how it ties back and and how they can apply it into real world experiences so that's how I would handle that Mr spaghetti sure um listen I don't think we need to raise taxes to have more trips you know if I

094when I look at this budget and I've been studying it for a while we can allocate funds for class trips we have plenty of parent volunteers that would go on those trips along with some of our teachers so the stipends don't have to be as high if we can get parent volunteers you know the Middle School recently had a trip to Boston which was the first in many years my son seventh grade went on there was an eighth grade trip to Boston it was a huge success the excitement in these children to leave the building to go to another city was it I brought back my memories of when my trip went to Washington DC we are 30 minutes away from the most diverse cultural city in the world it's called New York City right

095our kids 9th grade 10th grade they can get on a train and have a day at Carnegie Hall listening to music how music and where it comes from they can go to Cultural Arts centers they can go to museums you know if they're learning a lesson that you know that eighth grade maybe they're learning something it's a lesson that they can go to a museum and actually visually now see it we should be supporting this auth 110 percent I wholeheartedly support the addition of clubs trips and extracurricular activities at all levels at the district I believe that it enhances the students education and there are creative ways of funding each so that the taxpayers would be minimally affected there are very involved parents in this District who would volunteer you know provide open up a

096club they'd be willing to do it if it's possible for class trips oftentimes parents would pay for that if it's an option I think many parents would be willing to contribute to payment for a class trip because of the way it enhances the students education it not only is it fun and allows a social opportunity but the students are learning outside of the classroom and then they're bringing that what they learn back in the classroom they're having discussions they're learning real world things when they're out in the world they're learning how to take a train how to speak to somebody how how to pay for something there's many many good things that come come out of having these class trips clubs can enhance their education as well so for example my children participated in the

097diversity Club they had an amazing experience they learned about various cultures they've become more worldly they understand and they know more about the children that they're sitting next to in the classroom so I'd like to see more of that as well as extracurriculars I think that the only benefit can come from varying or extracurriculars to give all students a voice thank you obviously I'm for the expansion of Club trips and extracurricular activities as we said before I don't think that um the budget or or tax dollars is really an impediment here um there's plenty of money um in the budget to to support these activities they don't tend to be um all that high cost and that's not I don't believe the barrier that we're facing um in in adding these things we have been

098adding quite a bit but I don't think that's it's not really a course driven thing it's it's more about you know the logistics and volunteerism and and um and getting the support from within which which we have been getting in terms of class trips I know our our community and our parents are are even probably willing to here and there you know uh contribute on on a Class by class on a trip by trip basis so I don't I don't see um budgetary or or tax dollars being an independent year um I think we can expand those with with the existing budget um easily okay um thank you the next question uh first to Mr bogetti recent headlines from other parts of the country have described controversy on some school boards over issues like book

099Banning critical race Theory lgbtq Dei and other topics that have become politically polarizing where do you stand on these issues is there anything in our district that you believe should be banned or stopped I'm not going to bring politics into school okay Taco Taco was built on diversity from when my dad graduated in 1964 to when I graduated here in 1995 and that's what makes our community so special you know my parents chose Tuckahoe because of diversity we had the opportunity to move to when we left Mount Vernon to my mother said you know what we're going back to Taco where your dad's from because that's the community I want to raise you in so listen as a board member I hope potentially who knows but you know that's something that's a that's a complete

100board discussion with the superintendent director of curriculum that's something that I don't think should be addressed this evening because it's a very difficult topic to approach on a public forum a lot of thought goes into it but diversity and education of course we could we can we can educate without books to be diverse right and I don't think Taco has that problem again more cultural experiences outside of the school to me probably enhances more than a textbook that's my opinion but again again I think this is an opinion of the community taking surveys and hearing from the Board of Ed as a team that's superintendent and of course our director of curriculum and teachers and as a whole that's when a decision is made I think the district has done a great job with regard

101to diversity and inclusion for example some of the things that were done the PTA donated colors to the art program so that students could see themselves and and you know use other colors than just you know the peach and brown they're included in the standard crayon box there's a whole palette of Shades another thing is there are more books with diverse authors and diverse cultures that teach the students about things that they may not even be aware of and it's great so we've also as parents as class parents we're trying to enhance the program and create more opportunities within the classroom so that students can learn about each other and diverse cultures so I think we are doing a great job there's nothing that I can think of that I would ban at this District

102but I think it's important to keep reviewing our programs having discussions with the superintendents getting feedback having a superintendent get feedback from the teachers and staff to see what is required and what people what the students and the parents want so that we can continue to meet those needs and make sure that everyone in the district feels like they have a voice could you repeat the question again one more time please for me sure headlines from other parts of the country have described controversy on some school boards over issues like book Banning critical race Theory lgbtq Dei and other topics that have become politically polarizing if elected where do you stand on these issues is there anything in our district that you believe should be banned or stopped so yeah very um sort of nuanced

103topic and a Hot Topic I would say look I think I'm very proud of of our district and our community um I don't think this is really an issue here in terms of um you know we have a lot of diversity and I think we do it well that's been evident by you know just recently uh I think Miss General mentioned before we have done some climate surveys in the last two years and everything that we've seen from those surveys say that our kids feel they're in a place where they feel they belong they feel they're safe they feel that they're included and that's really what matters um I I mean I'll be very blunt um and when you say CRT which is kind of not really a very well defined thing but in terms

104of I'm not for and I would be against any sort of curriculum instruction that focused on dividing our children or focused on things like privilege or victimology or anything like that that I'm not for that at all um I think that's moving in the in the wrong direction that's not to say that we don't recognize inequalities and things that have happened in the past we certainly do but I think it's it's about moving forward my emphasis for me is making sure that everything we're doing um is is about being inclusive and I think we need to we need not to be so binary about this discussion about this that this issue people tend to go to one side of the other I think it's important to be open-minded and really focus on making all kids

105feel comfortable on regardless of their background and safe that's my focus thank you Miss Gerald yes I I think that we have really come a long way in most of these areas I believe that we are a school Community who Embraces all people and ethnic experiences I'm one for our students having diversity and and um diverse experiences and have it building relationships with people that's how we overcome areas that divide us I'm the one who years ago brought the idea that we needed to have a diversity committee Diversity Program A diversity engagement with us with our students that program was instituted it's now evolved to whatever it is now and I think that those are great ways to celebrate our differences and highlight our commonalities and I think that our district with respect to our

106leadership our administrators and our teachers for the most part making sure that we are making our children not only not only can we say that we're diverse but we're making our students who don't look like other people feel that they are a part and so that's why we have climate surveys to keep our fingers and our in our on the pulse of where our kids are in that area okay um okay thank you the next question first to um Miss Leto excuse me what is the current board lacking and how could excuse me and how can you improve upon or change it thank you I just want to say I think the current board is doing an excellent job of using innovative ideas and improving the district um the one thing I I think is

107lacking is a parent who has students at Cottle and represents the the younger students in the district so I think that's something that I could bring to the board by the time if I am elected by the time my term is up I will have a student in each School in the district so I'll be fully aware of what's going on I'll be completely invested so I think that I can help bring great ideas to the board on how to improve how to meet students needs what the parents are looking for and what may be lacking in the programs okay Mr Cason this cardboard is perfect no um we do have a we do have a really good board that works very very well together and um it's a very very collaborative environment so I'm

108very proud of that um I will say the area where I think we've fallen short of late and I would like to improve if I'm lucky enough to stay on is how well how the lack of communication I think or doing better communication is a better way I could say it better communication internal to the school with our stakeholders I think we do a very good job as a board of making ourselves accessible to the community and communicating well with the community but I think over the last two or three years we have allowed and I'll take responsibility for this as the board President we have allowed ourselves to become a little bit siled with regard to Communications with our stakeholders within the school I think that was done maybe um in a little bit

109of a overcompensation For Me Maybe in the past some some folks feeling at the board in some areas um was not you know sort of staying in its Lane I don't necessarily agree with that but I know that was some some of the some of the accusation and I think in an effort with the new superintendent who was very good at board relations to sort of keep that in line we may have overcompensated a little bit too much and I think if I'm lucky enough to stay on um I would definitely look in my next term to improve that get back to doing regular periodic meetings and sit-downs with different stakeholders in this school that's an area we definitely can go back and recover so Cottle is represented with me as I am a former

110and actually still am an elementary school teacher mother of three and I have my Doctorate in Education so caudo is represented with my seat I'm always fighting for those little babies always have always will and also the middle school and high school are represented by all of us and I support our teachers I've got many letters over the years from the teaching staff thanking me for advocating for them I do care about our teachers I do bring up our teachers I'm definitely concerned always about their well-being I think at a recent in fact at a recent board meeting I I did inquire about the um the how the the climate and culture was within our teachers are they feeling overwhelmed are they feeling supported so those are definitely areas that I'm definitely in tune with

111and I do inquire and I do whatever I can to support both our students our community members and our teachers without them we're not going to get very far and and not only are teachers but our support staff so I'm not going to say what the Sport's lacking that's that's not fair I think they're doing they're doing a great job I think what to Julia's point with some of the lacking is the fact that I have a child in every part of this school high school middle school two and coddle so I am on the ground with those parents and those teachers um I can hear those parents complaints I can hear their positive things which I hopefully I hear more than complaints right and also speaking to the teachers you know on what they're

112missing you know to Pete's point on the silo communication I think we do need to create strategic Partnerships with the stakeholders I think that needs to be you know that needs to get better um you know also representing the taxpayers who don't have children in this school are seniors right um that was brought up to me the other day for my neighbor who's a you know senior citizen has no kid in school he's like hey I don't want to get banged over the head for forty thousand dollars in taxes and you know you're gonna have that um accountability I think that's important I think we need as a board to do a better job of hold people accountable in this school administrators and teachers there's been a lack of that for many years and I

113think we need to go stronger on that and I think we need to provide that link between the community and school with advocacy and transparency and by me having that line to all those parents that provides that link thank you okay at the next the next question uh first to Mr cassen there's been recent discussion about the district moving to the international Baccalaureate system do you support this and what are your plans of action and and what what would be your plans of action should it move forward I certainly support I think it's a very exciting program and I think we're lucky to have our new middle school high school principal who's who's going to be coming in next year actually has some experience with implementing this program so I think we should leverage that

114when when he gets here and I think we should look to to see if we can put it in place um and and I think it's worth supporting I'm not quite sure really what what the financial price tag is on that but um whatever it is I think we should support it I think it goes back to a lot of what we've been talking about tonight from a lot of different ways which is just really trying to reward on our kids Horizons and giving them different exposure to different things and getting them to be more culturally diverse and enriched and that program does that so um I am very much in favor and I think it's an exciting program I think it does a lot to excel our sort of level academics and again it

115goes also back to the point about being more attractive to parents at the high school level who would think about taking their kids elsewhere so very much supportive of it and I think we're fortunate to have a a principle coming in that actually has experience with this program we should leverage that and we should we should try and get it in place agreed I absolutely agree with all of that we did discuss it at a board meeting recently about the IB Program we've actually taught actually brought it up quite a few times it is a very expensive program um so that would have to be something that is explored perhaps that could be when we revisit our strategic plan perhaps that's something that could be considered in the development of a new strategic plan which

116we will be working on I'm sure soon so that we can hopefully at some point implement the program here within takahoe now the principal who it will be coming the new principal brings a wealth of experience certified in the program has had worked with students within the program brings that skill and knowledge that we can all learn from he mentioned that he looked forward to perhaps implementing whatever parts or elements of the program into our current system without the funding to back it up for the time being so that's really a great start we can leverage his experience and bring in elements to it and of the program into integrate it into our system and then hopefully when we look at our new strategic plan maybe that's something we can explore to actually bring in

117and benefit some students yeah I agree with Lori and Pete you know I'm in favor of this and I think it's going to help broaden our kids and I think you know if we if we can financially support it again that's going back to the budget line by line and see where we can allocate funds and if it's not a monster price tag you know I'm in favor for it and I think obviously we have to support the middle school high school principal coming in you know if he has experience in this you know this would be one of the first things that we should Implement and you know to support him and anything he wants to you know try new to Endeavor because it's you know having someone new is always good no matter

118where you go and you know new ideas new approach you know a new type of learning um it makes everyone smarter and it brought in zip it broadens the teachers skills and our children's skills so I'm all in favor IB IB is a rigorous curriculum that focuses on expanding students Global Knowledge to Foster empathy and understanding of different cultures and practices foreign language is mandatory I think it's a great initiative and i would support it um however I think they're also and we have to be fiscally responsible in implementing it and ensuring keeping in mind the taxpayers those who do not have children in the district and trying to see how we can bring that in and balancing the needs of all people in our community also another thing that I think this would come

119to question is how do we prepare the youngest learners for this program are they just going into middle school and having to learn foreign language for the first time or is there a way that we can introduce it a little bit earlier in elementary school so that they already have this knowledge and they can become fluent in that language and have proficiency I think these are all important things that we have to consider and when the strategies when it comes time to develop the new strategic plan in 2024 I think these are all things that we can include starting a foreign language early will lead to higher success rates on tests like the SAT it will give students an opportunity to become fluent I study foreign language since first grade and I it definitely helped

120me understand and root words cultures and practices foreign language classes would be a great addition throughout the district thank you okay thank you the next question first to miss Gerald what is the biggest challenge facing the Tuckahoe school district and what is the district's greatest strength sorry take my notes um I think that one of the biggest challenges of our school district is um really one of the gifts that we have it's it's a challenge both a challenge and a um and a plus is that we're a small District we only have you know two two buildings uh the middle one high school or in the same building we're sitting in even the district offices so with that said it has been a challenge to bring in a lot of the program that we would

121like to expand our AP courses and electives we're doing a good job with that we have more work to do but it is very challenging to do that and finding quality candidates who with certification in some of those areas science and math in particular is difficult to find people who can come in who are excellent at teaching it and so I think that that is a big challenge for us being both a small district is a plus because it's really a we really have a school Community everyone tends to know everyone else and that makes it good and makes it so that we're approachable you can call you you know your neighbor and say this is what we're doing what do you think about this and I definitely get those kind of stops when I'm

122in CVS or the grocery store and having conversations with our stakeholders within our community so it's a plus that we're big but it's also can be a little bit challenging and I think we can do better in our areas of focus Mr spaghetti yeah and I'm going to piggyback off that I do agree with Lori I think the challenge is being the small district with a small budget right we're not the large city schools we're not a school that you know has a has a fiscal balance that can go on and on so to deliver the courses to hire the teachers you know to give the electives that we need for our children to succeed is tough It's a challenge and that goes with being fiscally responsible and how we could diversify funds to make

123up for being a small District um you know Taco's been doing this for years as a small district and we've always over overcome right it's uh you know kind of My slogan that winning is believing right at Taco you know the strength of our district the number one strength is our community I think pound for pound Taco has the best community in Westchester County and I know a lot of my friends live in other districts and they always say oh my God your school the spirit the children the kids the parents no one has what we have in this District whether you live in the village Chester Heights Bronxville Manor we are one and that's something that can't be duplicate duplicated we will figure out the challenges of how to increase this budget how to

124bring more curriculum in how to advance our children that's the board's job with the superintendent and the principal and I can guarantee you we will get there and we'll try to do our best to bring these courses in for our kids I agree with Scott having being a small district with because we do have lofty goals we would like to add classes to the high school make the program more rigorous but how do we do this in a fiscally responsible way managing the budget that we have so I think these are all the questions that the board will have to answer going forward and I think in line with this is how do we meet the needs of the diverse Learners on this budget how do we provide programs for every student so that no

125one falls through the cracks I think that's also very important you know not not using a cookie cutter approach because that's all that we can afford but really diversifying the instruction for every student and I think the greatest strength that we have are like Scott said our community we have an amazing Community we have supportive parents we have parents who are willing to do anything for their students to enhance their education we also have wonderful teachers dedicated teachers I think that's that's another strength that we have here the teachers really go above and beyond for the students they communicate with the parents they differentiate the instruction within the classroom so that within the general education classroom they're able to reach each and every student and I think that's commendable for strengths um some of them

126have said that I'll repeat them size size is definitely both the strength and await weakness I agree with that um our small size gives us a lot of opportunities to provide more um focused instruction and SEL and and also is conducive to project-based learning but of course our size it becomes sometimes a challenge with getting um class sizes and getting more electives and APS in our teachers are certainly a strength we have some of the best teachers in Westchester county in the state probably in the country so our teachers are certainly a strength I agree with Scott our community is a is a tremendous strength we have a very strong very supportive diverse Community it's a massive strength um a couple others come to mind our music program people forget about that we have probably

127the best music program now it's kind of snuck up on everybody in the last couple years then really anywhere around it's a phenomenal music program um and one thing that has become a recent strength of ours that may not be known as well is we become a very very good data Centric school district and this is something that's recent but we're doing a really good job now I think of really collecting and analyzing data on our children holistically um so that's that's one um and going back to the community and so I think a really good example of how of our strengths is how we navigate covid and that was a that was a a all-around thing challenges also budget budget's a challenge because we are a small District we have a small budget so

128and I would add to that also budget and trying to keep the tax levy down on our own community members which has gotten high okay thank you and um we have one final question and the question will go first to Mr burgetty how do you plan to improve the quality and experience of Tuckahoe schools for both the kids and the teachers foreign well for the teachers I'd like to see listen around the building right now is probably not at the all-time high that it should be so I think for the teachers to improve their quality is to bring morale up and to bring morale up that requires Town Hall meetings you know teachers should be in town hall settings just like corporations do right to learn observe hear the gripes what's bothering the teachers right

129now and the administration superintendent teachers union needs to get involved to get morale up off the belt to get morale better in the building um you know listen off-site events right collaborating right that's that's huge you know to leave the school district to get teachers to go to off-site you know team building events um that's that's a big that's a big win um parent involvement right we love parent involvement we want parents input teachers need that you know they Thrive off of it you know how what you know what can we be doing better what are we missing what are we doing right you know you I want parents to go to what you say oh my God your my son learns so much he thank I can't believe what teachers also need they need

130a pat on the back right just like an employee at a corporation does um sorry I missed the second part of that question I have two seconds left go ahead I'm sorry was there another part to that question um okay sorry thank you thank you I think one way to improve quality for kids and teachers is to provide professional development ensure that teachers have the resources that they need in order to teach the students and of happy students that are behaving in the classroom helping them with training for example for Behavioral any behavioral issues that that might come up they can be trained to prevent these behaviors from becoming an issue in the classroom providing antecedent Behavior consequence charts that's like something that they would do for ABA but it benefits everyone so this type

131of training could help the teachers if more effectively train their students I think strong leadership is extremely important we have some great leaders at our school and we're going to get a new leader at the middle school high school a good leader Fosters open communication and welcomes questions ideas and critical thinking I think it's important to understand what the teachers have to say and what they need um I think it's important to have the teachers feel heard and ensure their needs are met whether it's adding supports and services in the form of technology or instructional instruments within a classroom or additional staff understanding issues that may arise in each school and taking steps to address them so that the burden does not fall upon one particular administrator or staff member it's important to set expectations

132create a workable plan a system of accountability and also to celebrate their successes I believe having a workable plan with realistic expectations in place will build morale and lead to happy and confident staff who want to come into work every day as well as happy students thank you Mr cassen I'm sorry can you repeat the question again sure how do you plan to improve the quality and experience of Tuckahoe schools for both our kids and our teachers so as I'll start with with teachers first um I mentioned it before so I'll mentioned again I think you know better communication and and more collaboration between the board and and staff I think would may go a long way in figuring out how we can do that better so I think that's that's one way um more

133professional development I think is is a way that we show that we're supporting our teachers and staff something we've been doing of late but we got to keep going with that it's very important it benefits teachers and staff and it benefits our kids obviously so that's that's one area where I think we got to keep keep at it at it is professional development um you know facilities and I think that's an important way I think I think what we've done in the last couple years and what we're looking to keep doing making our buildings better making our our Fields better um our library our media room all of that I think enhances the quality of experiences for for all of our kids and even even our staff so I think keeping going with that is

134is another way we've mentioned it before say it again clubs activities things of that nature enhance the equality of experience for our kids um and you know um just continuing to support our staff I'm very proud of the recent contract um renewals that we did with staff I think we showed how much they we value our teachers and our staff in in the raises and support that we gave there so I'm proud of that um and just you know keep that going thank you exactly agreed with everything he said because I was part of that yes so what I think with respect to our teachers as I said before I do check in to make sure that morale is good and from what I'm hearing I'm hearing that our teachers are excited about the things

135that we're doing in the um in the schools and how we support them I also think that of course professional development I've already said that is key and also celebrating their wins and how great they are my daughter who is now finished med school and is in her first year of residency in a plastic surgery program at in Ohio speaks very highly of the Math teachers she had in her AP courses they have won now retired but she has said Mom they were phenomenal for me it really got her where she was in her biochemistry major as Magnum Laude and so here we are all these years later and then my son now at Howard University so we have great teachers and they need to be celebrated on the successes when their students go out

136those students need to come back and present how some of how their work helped to inspire their next and also we are doing it with having our teachers do our teachers or are doing little Snippets at the board meetings you will see how they are working with the students in the classroom and implementing the programs that we have in place so they are great and so are our students yes okay thank you and now we will have each candidate will have the opportunity to deliver a one-minute closing statement and as uh was agreed earlier we will start from the beginning Mr Kasson very good well first off thank you to the PTA and the women's legal voters for hosting tonight I appreciate it Miss alleren for all the hard work she put into this as

137I said in my opening I am running on my six year record of productivity and success at this point you know what you have with me in this role I believe my time in this position has shown that I am an action-orientated person who has the ability and the will to move this District forward with a Clear Vision I believe I've also demonstrated that I have the right temperament collaborative Spirit work ethic and integrity to do this job well so if you feel like this district is on the right track then keeping me in place should make sense if you don't then don't feel that way I'd understand if you felt you need to take your vote elsewhere I am seeking one more term so that I can see through the current strategic plan to

138its end and help complete the current capital Improvement projects that are in flight I would also like to utilize my experience and knowledge to help shape the new strategic Plan before before I move on I don't plan on running after this I think um it's good to have experience on the board but I think at some point it's good to have turnover as well so this would have been my last turn thank you for your time and your attention this afternoon this evening I'm sorry and I humbly request a vote on May 16th thank you my first term much of my advics advocacy work has come to fruition and our students are the better for it our students have now been accepted to Great colleges and universities such as Villanova MIT Princeton Howard Juilliard NYU

139and Washington University and our students in the last three years have received all almost seven million dollars in scholarships I'm an educator who believes that the culture educational program and support services must be informed and sensitive to the students bodies social and emotional needs so that each student is fully present and engaged in learning further instructional Excellence must be the norm and each instructional team member must be committed to professional Mastery and support it in a way that allows for its development and demonstration leadership makes a difference that is why we must continue our progress therefore I'm running to retain my seat on the board to continue the work that the great work that we do here in Tuckahoe for our students so there's a saying above us here in the auditorium and I want

140the camera to pick it up for our audience at home it reads knowledge planted in youth giveth shade in old age knowledge is the most important thing we can give our children because knowledge falls under many umbrellas for anyone that knows me well no matter what I take on in life I always give it 110 I am persistent and persistent always prevails I persevere and I overcome I'll always do my best to make sure the children of Tuckahoe come out winning together we are safer smarter and stronger and I will do my best to represent the students and parents of takao thank you it has been a pleasure answering your thoughtful questions tonight in closing I would like to assure voters of my commitment to ensuring the Tuckahoe Union Free School District continues to lead

141the way in coming years Tuckahoe is a wonderful place to raise a family and I am fully invested in this district and keeping my children here if elected I will have a child in or entering every school in the district by the end of this term I have been an active member of the PTA and volunteer at various events as much as possible volunteering has given me a unique perspective on the amazing things Tuckahoe has to offer as well as what could improve I am running for board trustee because of my passion dedication experience and interest in helping Tuckahoe continue improving its programming policies safety protocols diversity inclusiveness extracurriculars resources and Staffing for the benefit of every student in the district while maintaining fiscal responsibility I will work hard to be an asset to the

142board keeping the best interests of every student and taxpayer at the Forefront of decision making thank you all again for this opportunity okay and I thank you I want to thank the candidates the PTA into the community for supporting this event and please remember to vote on May 16th and thank you foreign