001like to call the meeting to order. All right. For a salute to the flag, followed by a moment of silence for Anthony Kangalloce, the father-in-law of Susan Kangallocei, Diane San Severino, mother of Janine Ratundo, Donna Cercio, mother-in-law of Alice Curtio, Elise Elizabeth Oldenorp, a retiree, James Lattis, father-in-law of Nick Papis, and Lewis Bonagora, the father of Randy Bonagorian to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. There were some communications to the board by Jay Berlo and Jay Garbowski. Now I turn the microphone over to Mr. Magname. >> Thanks, Mr. Graco. Good evening, everyone and welcome. Thank you so much for attending tonight. Uh, as is our tradition, we always like to start off
002with some uh some good news from around the district. Uh, first off, we we invited our um all county winter athletes to attend this evening. Another successful season for our winter athletes. Uh, so we just wanted to take a moment to recognize them. Uh, we are um, you know, our our coaches put in a tremendous amount of time. We're super fortunate to have really dedicated folks that do do a great job and and get some great results. So, I'm gonna invite our athletic director up, Jennifer Keane, uh to recognize the students, uh that we're all counting. We're also just ask when the students come up, we have a certificate we'd like to share and then we're going to gather on the stage uh for a for a group photo. So, once you receive your certificate,
003if you wouldn't mind just to walk up to the stage and we'll we'll join you there for a photo. Jen What' you say? >> Good evening everyone. Um, congratulations to our uh, winter um, all county and higher athletes. Um, they have done an amazing job, put in a lot of time and hard work. Thank you to the parents for your continued support of your student athletes. So, at this time, I'm just going to call those individuals up. So up first we have gymnastics all county Samantha Nielsen. We have for cheerleading we have all county we have Mia Sanui and we have oh I think you have two there maybe missing one and for cheerleading as well we have Emma Palmisano Congratulations. Uh for boys basketball, we have Joe Nicholson. They had a game tonight. So
004for girls basketball, we have all county Isabelle Ferraro. And we also have for girls basketball, we have Kayla Manx, who is all county and Nassau County Class A Player of the Year. Uh for wrestling, we have so both of our wrestlers are actually uh at nationals. Um so we have Jonathan Catron who was all county as well as a New York State state qualifier. And we also have Jordan Hill who was also at all county. And then we have for winter track we have Ian Frasier who was all county as well as a Nassau County champion in the 1600 and the 3200. Congratulations. That's for our winter athletes. Thank you. One additional recognition for Ian is that he was a News12 scholar athlete this winter. All right. We're also uh just going to take a
005moment to recognize some of our retiring staff members. Uh we have uh quite a few to recognize tonight. Uh I don't know if it was something we said, but we've got a lot of retirements. Um, but we're thrilled uh thrilled tonight to take a moment, you know, with it's um we we we spend this many of these folks have spent, you know, 30 plus years here uh as as their careers and um you know, we get during tenure night when they first receive tenure get an opportunity to speak about them. Uh and then we wait 30 years and we get to say some nice things again. Uh so it I I like to take a moment to to do that. I'm just going to transition over to the other mic. Uh we'll speak about each
006one of the staff members and just ask them to come up. We have a a plaque that we'd like to share with them and and just uh recognize their their dedication to the district. I'll start with James Romeo. Is James here this evening? I know he was not sure if he could attend. Okay, I just want to uh Oh, there he is. Come on up, James. James is a member of our custodial staff, uh, dedicated member for the past six years. Uh, does an outstanding job for us and we are certainly going to miss him. So, congratulations to James. >> Congratulations. James, >> yeah, we just got to do a picture quick. All right, I'm gonna ask our teacher aids to come up. Uh, Jen Barrett, uh, Marie Siaini Sapina, and Kathy, uh, Gada, if
007they're they could come up, please. All right. Um, I want to start I'll start with uh Jen. Um, Jen has been uh great to work for the past few years. Uh, 25 years here in the district. Uh, she took on the leadership role of the uh the teachers uh bargaining unit. Uh, so we've had the the pleasure of of working with her uh in that capacity. uh she's worked at all levels uh within the district uh and just does an outstanding job here for all the right reasons to support our kids and does great work with them every day. So, congratulations to Jen. >> Sorry. >> Do one more. >> Have my high school graduation. >> There it is. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, Kathy. Here you go, Kathy. Congratulations. Um, I
008think, you know, often times our teachers teachers aids, their work goes unheralded. Uh, Kathy is just a a great example of someone that has uh worked so hard uh in our in our special education program. Uh really knows the students, understands what they need each and every day. uh that when you look at her reviews over the years uh from the teaching staff that she works with, they can't say enough things about how hard she works, how dedicated she is, how much time and effort she puts in uh and her ability to anticipate what they need, what her students need before it even happens. So, uh we want to thank her for the past 20 plus years, uh and her dedication to Lon School District. All right. Uh we have a total of 11 teachers
009uh that are retiring. Eight of which, uh I believe are able to join us here tonight. Um and um you know, we're we're we're losing some uh some legends. uh some some folks that have been with us uh that that really kind of embody uh Wanau and the Wanau School District uh over the past uh 30 plus years. Um I'll start with uh Deb Dimmo. Uh Deb, could you come on up? Uh Deb didn't want to be first. Um Deb is a a speech teacher at Wanto Middle School in the high school. Uh and just does outstanding work with with our students each and every day. Uh she joined the district in 2005 after uh working with one of our independent contractors uh metrotherapy uh and also over at the Manhasset school district. Uh she
010spent the past 21 years here in the district. Um and my first year here as assistant superintendent I was sitting in my office and um all of a sudden there was somebody completely decked out in the scariest Halloween costume that I've ever seen. And I looked up and I had no idea a who it was and it just startled me. So, uh, thank thank you to Michelle Leel, who was my secretary at the time, bailed me out. No, that's that that's Deb. That's Deb. Um, but that kind of just tells you a little bit about Deb, the passion that she brings to what she does. Uh, you know, when when you look at the what folks say about her in the classroom, it's the high level of energy, the connection she makes with her students.
011Um, and is truly amazing. Uh, one of the big things that she's really helped us with over the past few years is having our kids make connections to the greater school community, in particular the students that she works with. I know she's very passionate about that, uh, and really has just done an outstanding job in that regard. So, uh, De, we wish you all the best. We're certainly going to miss you. All right. Uh, Dr. Purcell, we're going to move on to Meredith. If you wouldn't mind joining me up here, Meredith. Um, Dr. Pcel uh attended Emery University in Atlanta and uh got her masters at Queens and then continued on for her doctorate. Um after doing a leave replacement over in the Shore and Waiting uh River School District, uh we were able to
012steal her away and bring her here uh where she uh has spent the balance of her career. Uh she joined the staff of W Elementary School in in 1994 uh and uh and has uh been nothing short of remarkable for the past 32 years. uh she's there to support our certainly our students and our parents uh but also our staff. Uh when you say when you talk about the role of a school psychologist and being kind of a quasi administrator in the building and a go-to person and a leader uh one of the first people that comes to mind is is Meredith in in in that regard. Um she's a great resource not just for our students and staff uh but for our uh our families as well. Uh she's a go-to person in the
013building to say the least, a team player u and just the utmost uh professional. So uh she is going to be greatly missed. Big shoes to Phil Wel, but we thank her for her dedication over the past 32 years. All right. Uh, also we'll stay at Wantel. Denise Burkart. Denise here. There she is. Denise is a reading teacher over at Want L. Uh, Denise has had an amazing uh 26 year career here in the in the district. Um, she um, sorry, wrong one. Apologize. 25 years old. 25 years old. Where'd it go? >> Oh, there it is. Sorry. Um, she, uh, joined the district in 2000, uh, as part-time reading teacher. She had been over in North Bellemore and Plane Edge prior to that uh, and became full-time in 2001. Uh she's been spent a
014large portion of her her career over at Mandalay Elementary School where she uh certainly embraced the community. Denise is also a resident here uh and a large part of the community. Um some of you may be aware that Denise moved over to Want Elementary School a few years ago uh and has just done an outstanding job there ever since. Um I often when I when I hear Dr. Bonagor speak to her, she talks about students that need that kind of motherly influence. uh and she says this is a this is a Birkhard kid. Uh this is a kid that that that needs that little little bit more a little bit of attention uh to be successful. So we thank you for your dedication to the district uh and wish you all the best in retirement.
015All right. Uh, we'll switch over to Far Lake. Barb Muller. Uh, huge congratulations to Barb Mueller. Uh she uh began as a teacher here in 1995. Uh leave replacement teacher and then uh received a a probationary appointment the following year. Uh and has been here for the past 31 years. Uh attended Dalling College for both her undergrad and her master's degree. Um and in recent years she's been a staple in second grade but has taught multiple grades over her career. Um and plain and simple everybody loves Baro. Uh it's impossible not to. Um she is kind, she's caring, she's personable. Uh she loves what she does. She loves working with the kids each and every day. Uh she is an absolute joy to be around and Forest Lake is going to be a different place
016without her. Um when I got a little teared up when she came by the office to uh to say that she wasn't going to be uh uh coming back next year, um she is just a constant professional. Uh just cares so much about and puts so much into everything she does each and every day and just makes unbelievable connections with families and with their their and with uh their children. Uh she is going to be greatly missed and we wish her all the success in retirement. All the best. Uh, Maria Brown. Is Maria here? There she is. All right. Maria's got the biggest crew here, I think. Um, huge congratulations to Maria. uh after uh teaching in in Brooklyn uh at the New York City DOA for three years. Uh she joined the district in
0171997 and is completing her 29th year here. Um when I think it was my second year here, I got a letter from a parent. Um and it was about Maria. Don't worry, it's a good letter. Um uh and um she she talked about uh two Marie was teaching fifth grade at the time and she talked about the two her two children uh the youngest of which was just graduating Manderlay and moving on to the middle school. Uh both had some significant needs. Uh and they and they um the parent was extremely anxious about their placements each year. Um and uh the mother wrote and just said uh that the from the time both of their her children stepped into uh Mandandalay uh and were in Miss Brown's class, she was just put at ease. The
018level of communication, the um the thoughtfulness that went into working with her children each and every day uh was tremendous. Uh she wrote, "Mrs. Brown went out of her way to make sure children were safe, feel safe and comfortable in her classroom each and every day. She always proactively contacted me with any concerns to make sure my children were included in everything. We will sincerely miss this outstanding educator, Mrs. Brown. So, I think that sums it up. All right, we'll stay on the uh the brown theme. Is Dawn here? Wait, Don Brown, where she Oh, there she is. Congratulations. Uh congratulations to Don. Uh Don has been with us since 1992. Uh she had a leave replacement position for a couple years from 92 to 94. uh before ultimately uh moving into a probationary spot
019in 1994. Uh she attended St. John's for undergrad degree in Hopster for her grad degree. Go St. John's tomorrow night. Um and she's currently a second grade ICT teacher. Uh and uh taught first grade ICT for several years before that. A long time in fourth grade. And I think certainly her legacy is going to be her work that has uh she has done in the ICT program. Uh she's a master at at that. uh certainly understands uh what a collaborative relationship is with a co-teer and how to work best with them and also really support the needs of the individual learners in the classroom, ability to differentiate instruction, uh and um and just so thoughtful about what she does to support kids each and every day. Um and she's leaving us with a great present
020and that's her daughter Kristen uh who is an outstanding uh PE teacher with us. Uh and we're thrilled that she's she's here as well. So congratulations Sedon. All right. Uh Mary Coons. Is Mary here? There she is. Back there. Um Mary is an outstanding member of our uh math department. Um she we were uh fortunate uh to to get someone with some experience a few years back uh in 2003. Uh she had previously worked at William Floyd in the Valley Stream School District uh before joining us and has been here for the past 23 years. um dedicated, hard-working, unbelievable colleague. Um you know, supporting younger colleagues in her department, taking on student teachers, loves her subject, loves working with kids. Uh just has the unbelievable ability to break down math instruction so that our students
021can understand it and succeed. Uh she gets outstanding results every year. Uh and that's that's no fluke. It's because of her dedication, her hard work, uh and everything that she brings to the classroom every day. Uh we're going to miss her greatly. Uh and we wish her all the best in her retirement. >> Uh Michelle Hawk Road. There she is. Michelle has been an outstanding social studies teacher uh in our district. Uh 32 years of service since 1994. Uh attended Oni and then LU for grad school. Um and uh when you think of Michelle, you think of someone that uh makes learning fun for kids, keeps kids engaged and keeps them connected. Uh two quick anecdotes about Michelle. Um it was 2020. We were in the midst of COVID and we were tasked somehow with
022giving out uh COVID tests uh one evening and so we're out in the parking lot and Michelle was nice enough to join and who's out there? I look and just dancing just dancing. She said she's handing out a COVID test, happily giving away a test and just having the time of her life. Um and I right there I'm like I really like her. Um uh then uh fast forward to this week and I I got um we we just recently posted Michelle's position in the social studies department and I received a cover letter and I usually don't get emotional when I'm reading a cover letter. Uh but I the cover letter was from one of Michelle's former students that was actually applying for her position. uh was a student that graduated in 2006 and she
023had attended sports night uh a couple weeks ago and at sports night Michelle gave out the trophy uh in her last year here and it was announced that she was retiring. Um the the student felt compelled to apply for the position. She went on to speak about how Michelle was the reason she became a social studies teacher. Uh she was the reason that uh she she went into education because of the connection that she made with her in nth grade. uh so many o over 20 years ago. Uh and um I think that tells you everything you need to know about Michelle. Uh the connections she makes with kids each and every day. Uh she's at everything. She's at every time I turn around at a sporting event, there is Michelle. Uh sports net, whatever
024it is, she's there just because she loves being around our kids and getting to know them outside the classroom. Uh she's going to be greatly missed and I just wish her all the best in her retirement. All right. Um, all right. We also have an administrator retiring. Uh, and that's, uh, Frank Misio. Frank, if you don't mind joining me up here. Um, we are truly fortunate to have uh, Frank Frank NMO here in at uh, in the Wah School District. Frank has for the over the past 15 years plus 15 years has been serving as our director of guidance uh but longtime member of our guidance department as well uh someone that has been a pillar of uh the Wanau community and uh certainly the Wanau uh guidance department. Um Frank is a just a
025complete gentleman uh and he is someone that uh is such a great resource for all of us. Um he's a great sounding board. He is someone that really understands uh why we're here and what we do. Um he is puts in countless hours uh giving presentations to our families, guiding them through the college process and financial aid and all sorts of things. Uh Saturdays for SATs um running our AP program. Um we went to post Frank's job and Stephanie said to me, "Is it okay if I go on to a second sheet?" Which we never do. Uh the responsibilities just kept coming. Um, and it just, you know, Frank has just grown into the position and taken on so much more. Um, Frank, we're going to, uh, greatly miss all the great work that you've
026done, but more importantly, we're going to miss you as a person, uh, and, uh, and all you've brought to our district over the past past 30 plus years. Congratulations. Uh, one more recognition for me, uh, and that is Wanto Middle School. Um, several years ago, uh, three years ago to be exact, uh, middle school was designated an essential element school to watch for New York State. uh and every three years they go through a redesignation process. Um probably one of the nicest uh interviews I went through uh when we met with the uh the folks from uh from the state organization that was kind of reviewing the work that um Anthony HFO the principal there and and Rachel Quattrochi the assistant principal had done over the past three years. Uh they could not say enough
027nice things. Uh there no tough questions. It was just praise for everything they put in place. uh you know just including revamping their advisory program and uh the MTSS work and and and uh all those pieces that they put in over the past several years, the teaming and uh increasing the strength of that structure. Um this was kind of born out of a conversation Anthony and I had a few years ago. Uh and he just kind of jumped right into it. Um to the point where now they have him and Rachel go out and review other schools that are putting in for the designation. Um they're also now looking into the national uh recognition uh which will be the next uh next phase. So uh we wanted to take a moment to recognize the work
028of the middle school. We'd invite Anthony and Rachel up and any of the other middle school staff that's here is welcome to join us. Thank you. All right, we're going to transition over to the business portion of our meeting. It's very exciting stuff. Um, but if you'd like to stick around, you're welcome to. If not, uh, this would be a great opportunity for for you to exit. >> Yeah. Who? Frank Denise. All right, we're going to move along to the next portion of our meeting uh which is uh repair reserve expenditure. Uh we're going to hold a brief hearing uh and talk about the expenditure. I'll turn it over to Anthony Sedona, our assistant superintendent for business. >> Thank you. Um, so anytime you The repair reserve is are funds that are already set aside
029in a particular account called a repair reserve. It's meant to um be available for things that come up when they're unanticipated. One of the requirements to use this money is to have a hearing, which is what this is. The purpose of the hearing is just to give a a brief update as to what it's the funds are to be used for. um because a little bit on in the agenda when we get to the uh approving the agenda items in the business part, there'll be a resolution on there authorizing the use of the money. So, in this particular case, the request is up to $110,000 to make repairs to fire alarm systems and components in all five of the buildings. Uh specifically in the boiler rooms, um as some of the the rules change and
030whatnot, there's some additional wiring and stuff. So, for example, uh fire alarms can't just have a sound, an audible sound. They also need a flashing light. Um this in particular is related to carbon monoxide detectors because those rules have changed over the years. So, the detectors are there. Uh but the requirements surrounding what they're supposed to do when they go off has changed. So, again, because it's a safety issue and because it's unanticipated, uh therefore, the request to use the reserve. So, um, this point I don't know if the board or anybody has any other questions. Otherwise, that it's as simple as that. Uh, in terms of the hearing portion, >> no questions. Questions? >> Thank you. >> We're also in the middle of um budget season uh coming to an end. We've had two
031budget forums so far. Our third is this coming Monday uh here in the high school in room 1501 152. Uh we we are continuing to work through the process. Um Monday's topic is personnel and then between Monday's meeting and the April business meeting, we'll finalize the budget with a goal of adopting a budget that's within the cap at the April meeting. So those are the that's the remaining dates up there and like I said, it'll be uh Monday evening. Um and then uh lastly tonight, um also on the agenda this evening, uh we had given an update on this last month. Uh the district had entered into a tenative deal. Uh still having to go through a due diligence period for the sale of 1865 Beach Street. Uh and um the district now has uh
032finalized that deal. That's what the board will be voting on tonight uh to put a referendum onto uh the uh ballot in May. Uh so on May 19th uh we'll be asking the community to vote uh on the sale of that building. Uh we have a buyer that is interested in uh putting two homes on that site. Uh and it's a purchase price of $1,75,000. Uh the building has really gone past its usefulness uh to the district in terms of uh the significant amount of of work that it needs. The small size of it uh really doesn't fe fit any of our needs. Uh and um it we we we felt at this point uh made the most sense to recommend the sale to the board. So the voters will be voting on that in
033May. And that's it for my report. I'm going to turn it back over to Mr. Greco. Oh, I'm sorry. Hold on. Before I do, I have Caroline uh to talk about the blue ribbon. Yes. I apologize. Okay, I can I can space it for you. Take it just in case. Go. >> Good evening, everybody. So, I'm going to um just give you an update on um the New York State Blue Ribbon Commission on Graduation Measures. Um, so a lot of you may have heard kind of whisperings that the graduation measures are changing. Before I kind of really get into the presentation, I just want to let you know that um I'm going to share the ideas that are being proposed. Um, but as of right now, it's business as usual. Um, so nothing that I'm
034going to talk about right now is official. Um, but it potentially can be official once the board of regents votes on it. The only thing that is official is the New York State of a graduate which is I'm going to talk about it in a little bit. All right. So, I just kind of want to pose these questions just for you guys to think about um potentially why things u may need to change because sometimes change is uncomfortable. Um so, what I'd like you to just reflect on and the thought focus is not necessarily what students did in the classroom. I want you to think of how you as a student accessed information on your own. I'm not asking these questions in reference to what you did in the classroom, but if you're home and
035you wanted to learn about something, for me it was like dinosaurs and I opened the encyclopedia and I read all about dinosaurs. Okay. So, um the teacher, the textbook, and the library. So, what role did the teacher, the textbook, and the library play in shaping your own learning experience personally? Next question. Okay. So, now I want you to think same question. What role does the teacher, the textbook and the library play in the current students access of information? So if student wants to learn about something like me, want to learn about dinosaurs, how do they get the information? Okay, most likely it's either from a learning experience that they get in the classroom or from the museum or from going out on camp or on the sports field. their teacher um or they ask the
036chatbot. So what skills do students need to take responsibility for their learning and apply their knowledge effectively in the real world? And the reason is if we go to the next slide is because our students learning experience differ from ours in one very important way. They are not preparing for an information scarce world. They are preparing for an information saturated. One may not be reliable. It may not be credible. It may be true. It may be false. But the students have knowledge at their fingertips. And it's what they do with that knowledge is what we really have to start focusing on. So you're going to see that the standards are changing, the assessments are changing, and now what you're starting to see is the graduation measures are changing. So New York State um put the
037blue ribbon commission together on graduation measures. Uh it addresses the in inequities, ensures the reflection of 21st century skills, creates flexible and inclusion graduation framework that offers multiple pathways. Um they put out a survey um and they had about 59 recommendations. They drilled them down to 12 and then they became four. Those four transper transformations are the portrait of the graduate. the redefining of credits. So, as of right now, um credits are it's about 22 credits and it's based on what used what was called the Carnegie unit. It actually dates back all the way to the actual Carnegie. Um and it's a seat time, how long a student stays in a seat learning about a particular course. They earn that course by passing the class. And then we also had the region's assessments, which leads
038us to transformation three, which is the sunset of the region's exam requirement. And then finally, you guys are probably familiar with um the different diplomas that are offered. So you have non-regentious diploma, the regions diploma and the advanced regions diploma. Um we are shifting towards just every student would get one diploma and then for advanced or honors those would become seals or endorsements. Um so on their diploma they would get kind of stickers placed on the diploma to indicate those seals. Okay. So here are the six attributes of the New York State portrait of a graduate. Um so we have academically prepared, creative innovator, critical thinking, effective communicator, global citizen, reflective, and future focused. Um academically prepared is what we're kind of pretty much familiar with. That's going to be the um attribute that's aligned
039with the standards. Um and then you have all these others um with the state is promising that they're going to release rubrics on how to assess it um in the near future. Okay. The biggest thing that I really want to drive home to everyone is that over the past 10 years, the New York State standards have been changing significantly and the teachers in this district have done enormous amounts of work shifting to transferable learning, shifting towards collaboration, critical thinking, knowledge building, sensemaking. Um, so really a lot of these shifts that you see in the attributes of the portrait of the graduate are alive and well in the halls of our classrooms. Um, because in my interpretation, it's really the standards that are driving these shifts. So I I really am confident in our ability to
040make the um shifts in the graduation measures because of the significant efforts that we've put into meeting the new standards. Okay. So, one of the things that we did um Dr. Gazone, he's here somewhere. Um so, he um kind of introduced us to LM notebook, which is a um program that is AI. Um and what it can do is it can take the attributes described in the New York State portrait of the graduate. And then what we can do is we can upload our course descriptions um for both our middle school and our high school catalog. And really what we wanted to do is we wanted to do some accountability measures to make sure I don't want to say that we're already doing something if we're not already doing something. Um but if we're already
041doing something I think we should be proud of it and really kind of say that we were ahead of the curve. So what we did was we took the course cataloges and we put the course cataloges in LM notebook. We compared them to the attributes. Eventually we can even put them with the rubrics that are rel related uh released from the state. Um, and then what you'll see is the check marks is what that course um, description aligns to. Um, so we have uh, media arts up there, but you'll notice that in basically all of our courses um, we check various attributes in different course experiences to the point where when the students graduate, they will actually meet these attributes simply through their course experiences. the um just real quick, I just want to make
042sure that you'll notice some of the courses don't have a check for everything. I don't want to make every course meet every attribute. That doesn't necessarily make sense. Um it's actually important that the different learning experiences actually really dive deep into one or two of the attributes. Um, and what you're going to start seeing in the course cataloges is those little icons are going to be in the course catalog so that it's a constant reminder to the students how their coursework attributes to the portrait of the graduate. So, up on the board is this was released recently uh was initially when they gave out the information for the portrait of the graduate. As you can see, I have high school courses and passing approved assessments up there um because that's pretty much what we do
043already. Um so there's a series of students uh courses that a student takes. They have to accumulate a certain amount of credits. In order to get those credits, they have to pass the course um and then they get um credit for the course. Um passing approved assessments. This is something that again we would have to wait for state approval. But this would be something um where maybe um the student made it all the way through the course, struggled a little bit, passed the approved exam, now we can give that child credit for the course. um or in vice versa there is some things where the where we may be able to offer the student a chance to take the test to maybe not move forward in that course. Um what we're doing now I just
044kind of want to mention to everybody as of right now we don't have any measurement for the attributes. So we cannot form a high school transcript any different than how we've always done it. Um, so we will still be maintaining the 22 credit graduation requirement for grades 9 through 12. Even you're going to notice even though there's going to be cohorts that are currently in high school that could directly be affected by this. We have acknowledged that if we continue the 22 coursework, we'll be able to meet those attributes based on the course mapping that we did. Um, and it will also allow the students to get kind of a well-rounded transcript that shows that they have experience not only in what they're interested in, but in those core academic coursework that is traditionally going
045to support them for higher ed or um the workforce. Um, the other thing that I just want to put out there is we are going to continue the mathematical hold harmless for the uh final assessments in the regent exam. um which means that yes the regent's exam will still count for a small portion of the student's average. The reason why we kind of settled on this is we feel that summitative assessments are not the entire picture of the of the students experience in the coursework. However, preparing for a test, studying for a test, working in study groups, meeting in the library, going to extra help, advocating for yourself in order to advocate for your own learning. These are all lessons that students will benefit from. And if there's not necessarily kind of not a whole
046emphasis on that summit of assessment, but if there's not something about it that makes it important, um we thought maybe uh students would wouldn't be as motivated to prepare for that exam. Um so we are going to keep that mathematical hold harmless. Why is it called mathematically hold harmless? Because the number that we chose does not have a severe impact on the child's average at the end of the year. All right. Again, the regent's exams are not going away. They are not taking away the regent's exams. They will still be at the end of every region's course. Um, the big thing that they are suggesting and what suns setting means is that they will no longer be a requirement for the diploma themselves. So you can pass the course, take the regions, fail the regions,
047and still get credit for that course. Okay. Um, so really what does that do? It elevates the students year-long academic effort. So the biggest thing is is what was the student doing in their class all year long? Yes, we're keeping that hold harmless. So yes, the final assessment, if it is a regions exam, will have a teeny slice in that picture, but really what is the big picture? What was the students learning experience that whole year? Course completion serves as the primary graduation measure, but it does clear the path for some of those students who just simply could not get that over that obstacle of passing the regions exam. And yes, we have experienced some students who need that English regions to get that diploma and they've tried over and over and over again and
048they just can't get there. So now if this is passed that barrier would be removed and it would if they passed English 9 10 11 12 then they're good to go. All right. So this is the most current state guidance timeline. So um last year we finalized the portrait of the graduate. Um, you may have heard of the MLE. That's that major life exemption. So, basically, if something really traumatic happens during the window of the regent's exam, typically we would have had to have that really hard conversation of, I'm so sorry this happened to you, but you need to come back and take the regents in August, which places you two months away from your learning experience, and and you're missing that opportunity. This allows us to say we have deemed this a very um
049severe incident that has happened in your life that allowed you to realize, hey, you know, I I can't I can't show up today. This is what happened. You can fill out a form um and use that MLE. I just want to advise that this this isn't something where, you know, I didn't this student doesn't want to come to school that day because there's a test. This is this is a real major event in the student's life. Okay. Um what we're experiencing now is the commissioner regulation um 100.2 which is increasing financial literacy and climate change. Our science department um as well as our elementary science teachers do a really really good robust job at teaching climate change. Um and I would like to thank Dr. Rossley and is Mr. Musio still here. Um our career
050and uh our home and careers. Right. Right. Right. Okay. Yeah. um classes are um going to include uh financial literacy lessons in all our six um seven and eight home and careers classes. So by the time the students exit the middle school, they'll have a a nice foundation in um financial um literacy. Um the release of the portrait of graduate and and and the rubrics. So the rubrics for the attributes will be released in 2627 by 2728. um one diploma. The first class tentatively to supposedly receive this diploma is the class of 2028, which I think is the current 10th graders. Okay. Um and then by the 29th, um the state is going to release the new transcripts. So, one confusing thing, if you really are looking at all the information on the NYED website,
051and I have to admit it is a little overwhelming. Um, I go by graduation year. Um, the the state likes to go by cohorts, which and the cohorts are when the child enters ninth grade. So, it's a little bizarre to me, but I just want to point that out. So, if you're looking at a cohort, your child is in a cohort based on when they entered ninth grade. Um, so entered nth grade in 2022. That's going to be our 12th, 2023, our 11th. Current credit requirements, one of the three diplomas. Uh then we have our 10th graders, our ninth graders, and our eighth graders. If everything gets approved by the board of regions, that's going to be the current credit requirement. So, we're still going to stick with the 22 credits. Um the students need
052to take the regions, but as long as the um suns setting of the regions is approved by the board of regions, they don't need to pass the regions to get the diploma. And then that's one diploma. Uh entering in ninth grade, these are our seventh and sixth graders. They're going to have the new credit requirements. They're going to have the seals, the endorsements, and the advanced designation. And then the ninth grade, uh, excuse me, the the last cohort is our fifth grade. So, our current fifth grade are the students that they're projecting are going to have all of the rubrics, the new graduations, the new diplomas, the new transcripts, and everything there. Okay. Uh, so the instructional committee um worked together. We are beholden to the attributes of the New York State portrait of the
053graduate. Um, but we wanted to pull all of our staff and make sure that um, when we're looking at the portrait of a graduate, we kind of personalized it to want. Um, so this is how we have defined all of the attributes from the lens of a specific want student. Um, so this was collected by staff members and member uh, and other members of of the um, instructional committee. So in summary, what what is this going to look like? This is our current mo model. We have three diplomas, a twofold system with has credit requirements, assessment requirements, the region's requirements, and the district could add a local graduation requirement. So, for example, when I had to graduate, I had to complete a senior project, and if you didn't do the senior project, then you didn't
054graduate. Um, so districts can't do that in this new model. The new model, one diploma with seals. um the C if you're thinking about advanced uh diploma or um with honors the regions they still are saying the regions is required. So if if you're thinking about your child pursuing what is considered the advanced regions diploma that would still require the students taking the regions um evidence-based system so it wouldn't just be se time it wouldn't just be those Carnegie units there'd be multiple ways to prove um how they did that and the district cannot add any local graduation requirements. Any questions? Okay, thank you. >> We'll turn it back over to Mr. Greco. >> Thank you, Mr. McNamera. Item E, approval of minutes. Do I have a motion? >> Second. All in favor? I. >>
055Item F. Item F1, financial reports, and item F2, budget transfers. Do I have a motion? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Item G, personnel, G1, approval of personnel items. Do I have a motion? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Item H, contractual and other authorizations. H1, close out of capital projects. H2, use of repair reserve on the fire alarm system modifications. Item three, budget increase. Item four, use of funds from reserves. And item five, educational data services skil trade bid. Do we have a motion? >> Second. >> All in favor? Hi. >> Item six, Nassau County directors of school facil facilities purchasing consortium. Item seven, health services agreement. Item eight, special ed services agreement. Item nine, the RFP for universal prek program. And item 10, memorandum of agreement with WHISA. Do
056I have a motion? >> Second. Second. >> All in favor? I item 11, facilities use agreement for Camp Invention. Item 12, the facilities use agreement for Warrior Sports Baseball Clinic. Item 13, facilities use agreement for the Wanto Foundation for Educational Excellence. Item 14, Professional Development Consulting Services. And item 15, data privacy agreement writer. Do we have a motion? >> Second. All in favor? >> I. Item 16, extra classroom activity charters. Item 17, donations. Donations are being made by the Wanto Elementary School PTA Lifestyle Sports, the National Financial Group, and WTO SEPTA. We like Do we have a motion? >> Second. >> All in favor? We'd like to thank them all for their generous donations. Item 18, disposal of obsolete books. Item 19, disposal of old motor vehicles. And item 20, disposal of equipment. Do I
057have a motion? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Item 21, amendment to the sale of property contract. Item 22, capital reserve expenditure proposition. Item 23, sale of property proposition. And item 24, authorization for legal notice. Do we have a motion? >> Move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Item I, unfinished business. We have none. Item J, new business. Item J, one, policy revisions. Do we have a motion? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Okay. Item K. Do we have a motion tojourn to executive session? >> Mr. President, I make a motion to move to executive session. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Now we'll have our reports from student government. Good evening everyone. My name is Kaitlyn Donahghue and I'm Alana Gimber. Over the
058last month of March, we've had a number of exciting events here at W High School. Most notably, student government hosted our annual Battle of the Classes event. Throughout the year, each grade has competed in activities like food drives, spirit weeks, and showcases, showcase decorating, all leading up to this event. On the night of battle of the classes, each grade filled the gym in their class colors and competed in games like tugof-war and three-legged races. After a great competition, the seniors came out on top. March also marked the start of our spring sports season, which is off to a strong start. Our teams have been working hard and are already seeing success, highlighted by wins from boys varsity lacrosse and boys varsity tennis. This year also marks the debut of WA's girls flag football team which
059has brought a lot of excitement to our school community. Looking ahead to April, the student government is preparing for our autism awareness campaign. We will be hosting bake sales, creating awareness videos, decorating the school showcase, and organizing additional activities to help fund raise awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding autism. Thank you and we look forward to sharing more updates with you at our next meeting. >> Thank you, Liz. >> Okay. Forest Lake PTA. Fifth graders had their pancake fundraiser at Applebee's on March 1st. It was a lot of fun watching the students serve their family and their friends. Fifth grade also had their rock and bowl fundraiser on the 13th and it sounds like they had a blast there as well. March 21st was our 32nd annual variety show. We were all proud to see
060our students put on some really amazing acts. It's always wonderful to see how creative and tal talented our kids can be. Fifth grade just started their spring apparel fundraiser. They're partnering with Lifestyle Sports and they're offering some really fun new designs. Our super successful enrichment program is finishing up the third session in April and signups for our fourth and final session begin tomorrow. Courses include fishing, gardening, sports, art studio, young detectives, digital newspaper, drawing, and many more favorites. This coming Monday, we have an exciting assembly for the students featuring the National Circus Project. The students will have the opportunity to attempt challenging skills, helping them to learn patience, self-discipline, and good practice habits while having fun. Backed by popular demand, we will soon be running our second principal for a day fundraiser. The winning student
061um on April 24th will get their own personal ID badge and the chance to help Mr. Burke with many of his daily activities, including morning announcements, assisting with morning program, supervising the snack cart, and eating lunch with Mr. Burke along with a friend of their choice. This was a huge success the first round and I know a lot of students are looking forward to potentially being Mr. Burke's sidekick. April is a quiet month and our at the next meeting we will update you on all the fun that's coming for May. Our next PTA meeting will be on April 14th. Thank you. Mandandalay PTA want to LPTA tiny. Hello, I'm Jen Schnitzer. Good evening. One of our programs that has grown exponentially in Wanto Elementary uh is our PTA reflections art contest program. Students participate in
062various art categories from UPK through fifth grade levels. This year we had another winner at the Nassau PTA level who was also one of our winners last year, Maxwell Reed, and he went on um to compete at the national PTA level again this year. So, we're very proud of him for that. Uh though our journey ended at the Nassau PTA level, uh we are very proud of all of our school level winners and participants as well as Maxwell for his Nassau region win. Uh he w attended the Nassau PTA winners reception last night um and was celebrated for his outstanding photography. Support of the W Elementary PTA allows our school to celebrate our participants with some special award ribbons and certificates which will be given out at our ice cream party in May. Uh, also
063some of our wonderful upcoming events um in May are our Adventure Land night. Uh, we just had our book fair on March 3rd through the 5th and our park week at the same time. We had various themes throughout the week, a bookmark contest, um, a great reading challenge, which was really fun. The kids enjoyed that. Uh, assembly uh, author uh, Darren Sardelli um, was known for poems and other um, uh, work of art. uh he came on March 10th, so we kind of kept our park week going into the next Monday. Um we just had our adult uh event springfest at MLK which was very fun. It was on March 12th and we raised u money for the fifth grade uh end of year events. So that's exciting. Uh we just had the clothing drive
064on March 21st, our spring clothing drive. It was at the W elementary cafeteria and we uh raised quite a bit of money for the fifth grade as well and we have a large class this year so that'll be very helpful. Um, our Applebee's pancake breakfast is coming up um this Saturday. It's the 28th from 10 uh from 8 to 10 a.m. Um, you can be served by our fifth graders. So, if you haven't gotten tickets yet, they need to be purchased in advance. Um, and they're $18 per person. Um, and also, if your student is going to volunteer, then they need to also purchase a ticket as well, but they're discounted. Uh, we are selling WTO war warrior blankets. It's $40. Benefits the fifth grade class. They're really nice. They're like a I don't know
065how to call it like a like a sweatshirt type material, but they're very good. They're not too too heavy, but they're great for uh spring sports. We have a Long Island Ducks game April 30th. Um the game time is 6:35, but the um and the tickets are $19. Parking is free. Uh the performance is at 605. It's our fifth grade concert band, fourth, and fifth grade concert orchestra and third, fourth, and fifth grade chorus. They'll perform on the field. And our next PTA meeting is Monday, April 20th at 7 PM. Thank you. >> 612. >> SEPTA. Our resource fair on March 18th was a big success. We had over 30 vendors attend and guests learned about recreational, therapeutic, and support services for families in the special needs community. We provided a grant to the Wanto
066High School Best Buddies Club so they could tie dye socks for World Down Syndrome Awareness Day. We are purchasing bracelets to support the high school's GOP efforts to promote inclusion during Autism Acceptance Month in April. And we are excited to see how all the different schools celebrate autism awareness next month. Our current fundraisers are our spring treats fundraiser with Tammy's Memorable Suits and Pietro in East Meadow for lunch or dinner on March 31st. Our third annual night at the races fundraiser is Saturday, May 2nd at the Merit Golf Clubhouse. All the funds we raise go towards continued teacher grants and student scholarships and scholarships and friend of SEPTA submissions are open now. Check our social media pages and weekly newsletter for details on everything we mentioned. >> Thank you. PDA Council, uh, Sports Boosters, the
067Po performing arts booster club. >> I can read it if you want. They sent us an email. Um, since the last BOE meeting, uh, they've helped to serve pizza and provided snacks and water for each of the ensemble days with band day planned for tomorrow. Yeah, kind of goes uh supported the middle school production of Disney's Dare to Dream uh with full lobby presents including concession, raffles, and kisses for the cast and crew. They also split snacks and water for the students during their tech week. uh they were able to provide a monetary subsidy to Wanto schools to aid in the funding of instrument travel for the recent performing arts trip to Disney World. Looking ahead, uh they're currently seeking food truck vendors for the Wanto performing arts pops concert scheduled for May 29th. If
068anyone would like an application, they can reach out uh through the email address. I think it's online. And uh we're they're requesting all applications be submitted by March 31st. They're also looking forward to supporting the high school production of Annie. Pre-orders of Candy Bouquets, Sandy, Sandy Plush, and Kisses for the Cass, Crew, and Pit are available through their giveback site uh until April 12th. Also, there's a scholarship application that's live for seniors through the Schooly platform that they'll be accepting until April 15th. They'll also be hosting a spring performing arts spiritware sale in the coming weeks. Please be on the lookout for more information. Their next meeting is April 30th, co-hosted with 612 SEPTA and Sports Brewster. Thank you, Adam. Welcome to a foundation. Right. At this time, I'll open the microphone of public comment.
069Good evening. Um, I'd like to start by saying congratulations to everybody honored here today. Uh, many of whom have taught me to advocate for myself. Um, so here I am. I'm here to speak about my consideration for a CTE program. First, I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here in hopes I can convince you to reconsider my request to attend the CTE School, that is Long Island High School for the Arts. I want you to know before I begin that musical theater and the performing arts are not a hobby, nor are they something that I take lightly. Musical theater will be my career. It is the trade I have chosen to spend the rest of my life pursuing. But in order to do so, I need an intensive training from
070industry professionals. And if there's one high school that can give me that experience, it's Long Island High School for the Arts. I've been pursuing theater for almost three years now and have auditioned for 18 plus shows and been cast in 14, portraying roles such as Little Sally in Your Town the Musical, Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, and Mrs. May Peterson in Bye-Bye Birdie. Throughout these experiences, I have learned a lot, but not enough to begin access a successful career. The first time I heard of Long Island High School for the Arts was whilst in 8th grade talking to my good friend Ashley Fukino. Since then and before, I have participated in every school related theater event and class possible with Long Island High School in the arts uh for the arts uh arts musical
071theater program in mind. I've repeatedly expressed interest in this program via conversations with my friends, family, and wonderful guidance counselor, Mrs. Piani, as well as in attending the program's one-on-one day last year. While shadowing my good friends Ashley Fukarino and Lorenzo Hillard, I learned most about uh I learned the most about this trade than I had ever had before. I met many kind new people who broaden my perspective of what musical theater is. I learned not only how to pace uh place myself at numbers on a stage, how semi-professional work rehearsals are run, and how to blend my voice within a group, but how to make friends, keep a positive working mindset, and even more. All of which I used when submitting myself for the Roger Reese Newf faces award for excellence in solo performance
072which I won under the vocals category. Not only being the youngest winner of the year but the first want student to ever win under the vocals category. It goes without saying that the things I learned that day were useful and very impactful to my life. If one day can make that much of a difference then think about what an actual enrollment in the school could do for me. Um, for example, Ashley and Lorenzo, due to their counseling at Long Island High School for the Arts, were both accepted into prestigious um, uh, college programs and conservations for the performing arts. If you remember nothing else I've said tonight, please remember this. Long Island High School for the Arts for me could mean the difference between a lonely high school student who struggles to make connections here
073and a thriving performer. I'm going to keep talking about this and I implore you to consider me again one more time for this. Um I also have here a folder that I would like to leave with you. It has a copy not only of my awards certificate from the Roger Ree Awards but um my acting um resume and a few production photos. And I would like to thank you for your time. That's it. being no one else, we'll end the meeting. Thank you all for coming and we'll see you next month. >> Yeah, just before we join, just uh uh thank you for your comments about Lisa. Much appreciated. Um you know, we we evaluate that on a kind of a rolling basis throughout the year. uh we had a high interest this year in
074our level one programs. Uh so now it becomes part of our budget discussion as we kind of progress through that process. So we'll keep in touch about that as as as we move forward.