001Welcome everybody tonight. We have a lot of great things to celebrate tonight. It's going to be an exciting night. Welcome to everybody who has decided to join us here in the board room tonight. Come on in. So welcome to everybody here with us tonight. Welcome to everybody that may be watching at home. Thanks for being involved and staying informed and those that may watch the video stream later. Like I said, we've got a lot of great things to celebrate tonight. A lot of great things going on. Highlighting a few more of our programs tonight so that our community and our board members can, you know, learn a little bit more. And Mr. Wright came back so we didn't scare him away. So that's positive, too. Michelle, do you have any agenda changes for this evening?
002>> The only change I have is that we did add a closed executive session at the end of the meeting. I apologize for that today. >> Okay. So our next item on the agenda is recognition of the valedictorian for the class of 2026. Would April Wayne please step forward. Number 26, Valedictorian with a 98.96 GPA. April is a New Visions Health student, student council president, Johns Hopkins University bound, and one of the most well-rounded students this district has ever produced. April, we are extremely proud of you. I actually had to leave the office and the next student was called down as they were also celebrating Miss Sacket's birthday, which was a wonderful time to celebrate these two amazing students. Um Anthony is our Salutatorian. He had a 98.38% GPA. He's a National Honor Society member,
003a varsity tennis player, and on the president's list at SUNY Jefferson. Anthony will head to RIT this fall with plans to transfer to Georgia Tech. Anthony and his family, congratulations. One thing that I want to say about Anthony, and I don't know if I have a second to say if I'm telling the truth or not. When we recognized Anthony, when she had the opportunity to call him down, she asked the students that what she can call the family to notify them of this accomplishment. And then Anthony's like, "They're busy. Can you please try on Monday?" So, he waited the entire weekend without wanting to interrupt his family with this terrific news. So, that was a lot about Anthony who was in the Paige Murray. Paige Murray Jacobson is our Jefferson-Lewis Outstanding Vocational Student with a
00497 GPA. A New Visions Health student who placed third at the New York Skills USA competition. Paige is headed to the University at Buffalo to pursue biomedical science and ultimately medical school. Paige, well done. And a word from the principal. Make this official. Whereas this Board of Education takes great pride in the area of academic achievement of its students, and whereas April Wang has excelled in academic excellence and has been declared the valedictorian of the class of 2026 at Watertown High School. For her outstanding academic achievement based on an overall average of 98.96. And therefore, be it resolved that this Board of Education congratulates April on this significant accomplishment and hopes that this will be one of many such honors for her. April, you are a credit to your family, school, and teachers. Congratulations. Need
005a motion. All those in favor? Any opposed? This is official. This Board of Education takes great pride in the area of academic achievement of its students, and whereas Anthony E has excelled in academic excellence and has been declared the salutatorian at Watertown High School, I mean high school. Salutatorian of the class of 2026 at Watertown High School for his outstanding academic academic achievement based on an overall average of 98.38. And therefore, be it resolved that this Board of Education congratulates Anthony on this significant accomplishment and hopes that this will be one of many such honors for him. Anthony, you are a credit to your family, school, and teachers. Congratulations. All those in favor. The motion carries. Congratulations. Whereas this Board of Education takes great pride in the area of academic achievement of its students, and
006whereas Paige Marie Jacobson has excelled in academic excellence and has been declared the Watertown High School class of 2026 outstanding vocational student for her outstanding academic achievement based on an overall average of 97. And therefore, be it resolved that this Board of Education congratulates Paige on this significant accomplishment and hopes that this will be one of many such honors for her. Paige, you are a credit to your family, school, and teachers. Congratulations. Nelligan, all those in favor. Any opposed? It's the mission. Congratulations to all. Please to all of our outstanding academic leaders who are a credit to this school, truly, uh and your families and your community, and we hope to hear great things as you move on to college and the rest of your life. Uh we are on to the student voice. Our
007Youth Alliance of Jefferson County is here with Heidi Williams. >> Um good evening, everyone. Um I'm only going to take a moment here and then I'll finish at the end of the presentation because I want to give my students a moment um to go over this uh really wonderful initiative um that has taken place here in Watertown. Um but I am with Youth Alliance of Jefferson County and we're housed at the Hub. So, you know, you have some civic counselors in the school district, so we're all kind of working together. We just do community-wide projects. Um they are school-specific. Um and I'm going to bring William up here. Um Katie. There we go. All right, William, you're up first. >> Good evening. Thank you so much for joining us. My name is William Thompson, a
008seventh grader at Case Middle School, and a member of the Watertown Youth Alliance. These are some of my friends and a member These are some of my friends and Youth Alliance members. We'd like to take a moment to go around the room and so our coalition can introduce themselves. >> Hello, my name is Iressa. >> My name is Katie. >> My name is Chris. >> Uh my name is Kweeny. >> My name is Adelina. >> I'm Ana Sophia. >> My name is Angela. >> Youth Alliance is a youth-led, adult-guided coalition that focuses on drug and alcohol prevention among youth. There are several across the country county. But we specifically serve the city of Orange. While it may not be every day that a group of teenagers calls to their community leaders to make a change,
009we believe that it's important to speak up when we see something that affects our generation. As youth, we have unique perspective and a desire to create positive change in the places we live, learn, grow, and play. The project we're going to talk about Project The project we are going to talk to you about is just one small step toward making our parks healthier and safer for everyone. >> In the summer of 2025, we started off this project by collecting data. We wanted to know how many people are smoking or vaping in Thompson Park, and how many cigarette butts, vaping products, or marijuana products we could find. In just 30 minutes of walking around Thompson Park, we found over 300 cigarette butts. And that's not even counting e-cigarette packaging or vape products. What really stood out,
010however, was how many of those were near playgrounds and picnic areas where children and families spend a lot of time. The effect of smoking in proximity of young children and teens can be detrimental, especially if they suffer from respiratory issues such as asthma. Considering many families go to parks to spend time together, having a picnic, playing games, or even going on a casual afternoon walk, inhaling secondhand smoke could cause a lot of discomfort or even deter families from returning to the park in the future. Aside from the negative health impacts, when young people see others smoking or vaping in public spaces, it can normalize the behavior and even tempt them to try themselves. >> We are going to talk about the dangers of second hand smoke since 1970s and how it affects both people and
011the environment. The city of Watertown has a rule that bans smoking within 100 ft of playground. But the only place this rule was posted Um but the only place this rule is posted is on the city's website, not in the actual park where kids and families spend their time. That means most people probably don't even know the rule exists. Personally, I didn't even know that there was a website. The truth is, most people don't check online for park rules before visiting. And without signs in the park, there's no real way to remind visitors of this rule. Especially when it comes to protecting children. We understand that smoking is an addiction and we don't want to shame people for struggling with it. But when someone smokes or vapes near others, especially near children, it becomes a
012public health issue. Second hand smoking can cause serious problems for kids, both short and long term. Kids come to the park to play, have fun, and enjoy fresh air. Not to breathe in smoke that could harm your health. >> In January 2026, Jefferson County received settlement funds from the lawsuit against Jewel Labs. The settlement is a result of Jewel's role in the youth vaping epidemic where they intentionally misled youth about the dangers of vaping. We believe we can make a simple but powerful use of these funds by placing no smoking signs in our local parks, especially near playgrounds. These signs would help discourage vaping and smoking in family friendly areas and also set a positive example for younger kids who look up at teens and adults. We worked together to come up with a short
013presentation to request that a portion of the Jewel settlement funds support this project by purchasing the signs for all 11 playgrounds in the city of Watertown. We invited public health, parks and recreation, and Pivot to meet with us to make a formal request and ask for their support. >> On paper sign that got posted at Thompson Park and I wanted to formally thank Tina Tina Lane for coming to the park to meet with us that day. It was a really wonderful event and the news came so that was really awesome. But they also designed this sign so I want to just really point it out that the kids have been instrumental from every step along the way in this project. So this sign was designed in the middle of an event that they came to
014table to volunteer at and there were so many of them that volunteered. I was like, "Well, we need something else to do." So we worked on the sign and this is what they came up with. So once it got approved by the city we had it just printed right at or made right at Inkwell. Here's a few pictures from the park that day. So they did get points from the mayor that are of the city and it's really cool and that was the first sign that got put up. And the mayor did award us with certificate order for the city of Watertown. So thank you to the mayor for really supporting our project. We're so grateful. And so what's next? They recently been scanning smoke shops in the area looking for smoke shops who do
015or do not have a distinction sign. You know, are they appealing to you? You know, that kind of thing. And the same thing we have some really good things coming up with that as well. So and that's it. If you have any kids that are in 7th through 12th grade in the city of Watertown or the school district, I'd be more than happy to get them on our coalition. I have quite a few students graduating this year so I'm really sad about that and I'm looking to add more students. So thank you. >> I I I have a couple of things. What an accomplishment to be honored by the mayor in that way. That's something that's going to live with you as you on through our our community and other communities Uh uh to lead.
016Couple of points that I want to mention. Um one is um Tina's going to talk about it later today regarding the On Track to Finish Strong. The Watertown City School District also won uh money regarding the dual enrollment. Um and when she touches base later on the On Track to Finish Strong, she'll make that connection so you see where we're using that money. The other thing I want to say because sometimes students don't realize that they have a voice. And they don't realize how far their voice carries and make a positive change for our community. And last year, Heidi, uh I had the opportunity um to join Heidi and the group um at the mayor's office to create a joint letter, and Leslie you'll remember this from last year, um for prom and to make
017sure that we sent out a communication to really warn students against driving and drinking uh during prom. And that's that experience, even as your superintendent sitting through that experience, this year when I noticed another community struggling at some choices that maybe were not safe, I as an adult went back to that experience in the mayor's office with you students that were there last year speaking about that, and I felt compelled with Mrs. Atkinson this year to put put out a letter of our own to kind of follow in your footsteps. Often times students follow in footsteps of adults, but it's a rare opportunity and an amazing opportunity when adults follow in your footsteps. So continue uh leading in that way and making a significant difference for your community cuz it's amazing. >> Thank you. >>
018Actually, going to pass this card and doing a see them and they discussed and I was always worried when my kids were younger that they would pick them up. What an amazing idea to try to figure out just how big of a problem this is. >> Yeah, I think like last summer it was a joint effort cuz like a lot of times I have solutions and other solutions as well. The Parkville building has seconds but they're not really active over the summer but this group I think of them to work all summer basically so and they don't complain so so we're like okay so what are we going to do over the summer and why not go to the park? I mean you know if we just so happen to do something educational in the
019process then great. So we met at the park we had everything and popsicles I don't know and then they just see in the park and within 30 minutes I mean we weren't long away at the stuff that we saw. That's not including like the alcohol containers that you know that we saw up there um So yeah so then we really started thinking like how are we going to get this information out and then we initially I think the students initially had wondered if we could maybe change policy for the city and put in a in place a a rule that you can't smoke around the playground. So it's already there. We just nobody knows about it and it was only posted on the website. So so the signs were their best option and it was
020a good use of funds. >> Any other comments from our board? Okay the other group we'd like to talk to tonight is our middle school capstone projects. I don't know if you want to kind of introduce everyone. >> I'm the new social studies curriculum at Mason Middle School. Uh several years ago, I attended the Seal of Civic Readiness workshop, a way former social studies teacher, now administrator of the Zarrow Middle School column. Uh the Seal of Civic Readiness is one of the pathways to graduation at New York State wants to be offered to students, and I was at a nice to conference in April, and I learned that Water Town is one of only 500 districts that is currently offering it. Uh nice to also offer this year a grant to help provide support for
021Seal of Civic Readiness. And with the help of WHS Principal Kevin Top, uh I was able to write and secure a grant of $2,000 to purchase materials needed by our students to learn how to earn the Seal. In 2023, Mr. Cole and I brainstormed plans to get the majority of our students qualified for the Seal of Civic Readiness project through their four years at the high school, which the high school began implementing in 2024. Students need to earn 10 points to qualify for the Seal, and one of these points can be earned through the middle school capstone project, which we started this year at phase four of the project. The social studies department decided to fit this into our seventh grade curriculum. Uh and the team of seventh grade teachers, Mrs. Janet Palm Mitchell, Mr.
022Ralph Centola, Mr. Ronald Camera and and myself, uh continued this with our students last year. They brainstormed issues that face our community, chose which issue they wanted to focus on, researched and planned how they could make a difference, and then either carried out their plan or did community service, or wrote a detailed action plan. Students also had to present their projects to their classmates and reflect on their actions to qualify for the middle school capstone point. 60% of our nearly 300 students successfully earned this point and will be starting high school one step closer to getting the Seal at graduation. We have several students who did an excellent job going through show and show what they have learned. And that's the and Gabriel Galvan and Mr. Gabriel Gonzalez. >> I want animal items. I clean
023the room. And also gave gave animals social interaction. This helps because of well-being. The final message from this project is even though there are many strays in the world, they still help. Volunteer, donate, and adopt. This is why I adopted the little puppy. >> collection of gifts and all the work that teachers are doing with their families, but in the support of this initiative. How much did it cost students to give back? It's one person to change someone's life. And I think the journey that you went through with these projects, I happened to come across one of the projects when I read it online. I was so inspired to see that it takes a person, whether being adults or students, to really make this our community to live in and helping the homeless, helping the
024stray animals. I do feel that your parents all the good things that they did was just wonderful reflection of the hard work and I do hope that you continue giving back to your community cuz it is a beautiful thing and then I also hope that the work that your teachers have put in that you continue pursuing your seal of civic readiness. So when you graduate high school in 5 years, you can have that. >> This is just a small token of our appreciation for our seniors. You guys have the time. It's fun to see you so Mr. Mendoza has some um items for our capstone projects and for our alliance friends. Some of our other board members have a small token of appreciation as well. >> Thank you for everything that you've done. >> All
025so well spoken. Thank you for sharing your time. It's not easy to get in front of a crowd as I demonstrated earlier where I couldn't pronounce a word that I didn't know how to pronounce. Um but at this point you are all welcome to stay and watch the rest of the meeting if you want to. But if you don't want to, now is the time to head over to the door and finish the rest of the meeting. I don't want to kick anybody out. You're more than welcome to stay but you're not required Um I don't know I love the fact that you have great ideas for everything small what can we do right now today 2023 Saturday too. What can we do long term to help solve this problem? You have a good point.
026Uh we are at the first public comment session of our evening. Our board policy for public comment is 2306. All speakers are to conduct themselves in a civil manner. Obscene language, libelous statements, and threats of violence will not be tolerated. It is not the practice of the board to respond during the meeting questions posed or comments made but the board will certainly take any questions or comments get it under advisement. As always, the board welcomes written comments and all board members and superintendent can be reached through regular mail or email. We do have a 3-minute time limit. When you hear the buzzer, you finish your thought. You don't have to be alarmed. Do we have anybody here this evening for agenda-related items? Nobody rises to the podium. We will continue on to our board and
027staff reports. And we're going to start with our FAF committee report, Mr. Colangelo. >> Um so, start with a quick report and update at the end of the third quarter. The girls lacrosse game they're losing 10-9. >> So, it's a close game. 11-11. Excellent. Um okay, so on to the report. We actually had a jam-packed meeting on Monday afternoon. We got a lot accomplished. A lot of starting with the $100 million project updates. Um first of all, the FEMA continuation of the study into northern long-eared bats. Um the EPC was approved by the voters and so 100% will be received. Um that's phase 1A. That is the bad news which you already know. They're over a little bit, but um we've been told fear not. They've already started at Starbuck heating system. Um and then
028an update on phase 1B. The governing initiative applications have reopened. Um we then discussed the track, pencil vetting two lanes, um and the cost of this. Um currently the track um will be covered by money from FEMA. Um adding the two lanes would not and it is an expensive um project. Um then we went on to the capital outlay updates. $3,000 approved. Um we began work at the high school focusing um on the entryway, the heating stack, um the heating stack being of safety concerns with regards to our back 13 million dollar project update we're done by June 30th and close out and is very close and talked about a tax certiorari reserve and if I could practice that >> [laughter] >> I'm not going to say it again. All the appeals getting increased this
029concern by a possible 62,000 dollars. Um the internal audit review these were two different audits that were done fixed asset inventory and food service cash receipts and as of course you know that the district chose to have these audits done and it was requested to meet the requirements. We then discussed the marquee and once again the marquee has not been approved but if it were to be where the money would come from and how the money is already set aside for this project. We had a PK updates Ohio playground financial replacement of the slide. Um >> We didn't get good news on the slide the question came up whether or not if we purchased the slide is just under 13,000 dollars for the slide and installing the slide with Ohio as one of the schools
030that's getting a playground in the renovation capital project so that they can't take that out of the budget so that's >> Um good news the baseball and softball fields discuss that the expense over the timeline and such projects and facility use policy we briefly discussed that and the difference between for profits and non profits and the change in the fair. And then we had an update from the record facility as well ground appearance the flag the new waiting case and obviously the finance issues. Um what we have with them. Any questions for the board? >> I want to thank the the um committee for being there yesterday um and for being there longer than an hour. It's about just over an hour and a half. Um I mean the agenda. Uh but I do want
031to mention with the tax certiorari um increase of over $600,000, uh that is not something that the district budgeted for. Um it is also something that the district doesn't get to decide. Um remember we receive those appeals from the city. Um we are expected to put those money in a savings account or a reserve, and that money sits there, and it could be up to 3 years where that money is tied up. So, at the end, if those appeals are won, then we have to pay that tax money back. Um and some of the properties that were appealing their taxes um were going from 10 million to saying they're really only worth 1.6 million. So, we're not talking $100, $200. We're talking about significant uh potentiality for for fiscal uh distress of the district doesn't
032add up. So, uh we are having to increase those reserves to cover that. Um I think that was it. >> All right. Superintendent of Schools report, Dr. Larry Schmiedel. >> There'll be some overlap. Uh first and foremost, the the closest thing to my mind was last night's concert. If you had the opportunity to attend Sherman's concert last night, um it was absolutely amazing. How kindergarten students can stand on a stage that long on risers for that period of time, uh that teacher did an outstanding job. And at the end of the concert, I had to go up to her cuz I was like, "I think you did seven or eight songs." She's like, "No, we did 11." Uh that is a lot of songs, and it is unheard of at that age group. So, kudos
033to all of the work that that teacher put in with those students and all the teachers that were there to support last night's success. They did a wonderful job. Uh positive news at North Elementary School. Um we will be breaking ground this month or mobilizing with the tennis court project over there. So, we are creating a an outdoor classroom, per se, at North to add some spirit over on the north side. So, we're excited about that. Uh Kelly mentioned this briefly. Um FEMA, we did have a meeting again today. It was two that that FEMA meetings. Um they did push our um project down the road for about 30 days. Um so, at the end of this month, hopefully, we'll get positive feedback on that. Uh as you may recall that I mentioned in the
034past, we decided to pull out uh the FEMA project so that we can move forward with the capital project so there's no delay there. Um so, we're going to continue moving forward. Kelly mentioned this briefly, but I'm going to give more context to it. I have and I do want to thank um I've had less than about five people in the community email me um about the baseball softball field. And um I just want to thank the people that uh feel um comfortable enough to reach out and ask questions. And um a lot of the questions are some, you know, misconceptions on school finances. School finances are very different than obviously our personal finances. Uh but also how capital projects work. Um our capital project, when we looked and we took the bus tour with
035the board at that time to look at these, it was about 260 million. And and I go back, digress a little bit, because the price was 260 million uh 2 years ago. Um those prices, as we've seen in this project, it's already 1.6 above uh million above, that those costs with the tariffs and other things increased that. So, what I wanted to mention with the baseball field was oftentimes when there's a community concern, a community desire to improve something, it's immediate. Um what I can promise you, and there's been board members around this table for years, a lot longer than my time here, um projects, when it comes to public spaces, and particularly when I'm speaking to educational spaces, do not happen overnight. Um there's a lot of work that goes into uh putting a
036project together. Uh the the project that we just broke ground with we've been working on for 2 years. Um, the $30 million project that Bree is desperately uh trying to close out before the end of June. Uh that $30 million project on this campus was years in the making. I've been here this is my fourth year now. Uh but the project in in sense started before that, the planning phase. And so, what I want people to do is be patient um and understand that there's a lot of things and with those lot of things we have to actually look at prioritizing. Many of our buildings, the infrastructure, the roofs were not okay, the doors were not okay, the windows were not okay. Uh we literally had boiler systems, our heating units, HVAC weren't uh that
037has been duct taped together um costing our district and taxpayers thousands of dollars each year to keep them glued together to run uh so that we can keep school operational. There are legal requirements that we're attempting to which must be on the cold end and the hot end. Um, and so when we looked at the $260 million worth of capital projects, we had to prioritize all of those critical need things first. Um, we had designed a baseball field and we've also designed softball field uh with hopes of getting it on this campus but it will not be able to happen in the 110. It was not a part of that project. Um, but it is something that's on our list and it is something that we're doing. What I do want to mention and this
038is kudos to Bree and the the maintenance department. They have been doing a lot of work to try to build up the trades and for those of you that have been a part of this community for decades, a lot longer than I have, um, there was a point in time in Watertown when things broke, our maintenance team fixed it. We got to the point in this district where everything was outsourced. We paid for everything. Our current director of facilities and maintenance um and Mike Colab, who is an amazing veteran retired director from Louisville. Between the two of them, they are trying to learn as much as they can. We We're spending a hundred thousand next year on masonry. They want to learn how to do masonry. So, when bricks are falling out, we can try
039to fix it ourselves without hiring outside agencies at a hundred thousand. Bree and I saw a picture today at North Elementary School. That gym floor was done by our crew. To the savings of tens of thousands of dollars, and the floor looks like glass. They're able to learn it, and they want to do it. They're hands-on. They've got people coming in and providing professional development. It is a huge kudos to that department, Bree, under your leadership. All of those things are happening, and we're going to continue building the maintenance department up so that we can continue doing those things. Um, and that was not happening four years ago when I got And and so, it is happening now. Um, so what we are going to do this summer The last coordinating the marquee was mentioned.
040The money that we have saved, and I want to thank you for mentioning, the money that we saved for that is equipment money. So, that money can't be used for the field. It can't be used for staffing and those things. That has to be a technology purchase. What I do want to say is each year we look at the list of repairs that we can do as a district. Bree and I and our director of facilities made the conscious decision to take some things off of the list that we had earmarked for this year. So, that's money the voters approved last year for this year. We put that in our general fund, and we were going to use them to replace maybe painting in a building, carpeting in a building, etc. We decided to pull
041a couple of those items off in order to use some of that money to put infield mix at the at the baseball down here on our main campus. We also decided to use additional resources to purchase an equipment tool, and I forget the exact name of the tool, but it will allow them to rake the infield mix, which we had never owned in this district. And so, we've been buying bags and bags of infield mix. You're a coach coach baseball uh softball, so you you understand it. What What we're going to do this summer is bringing two truckloads of infield mix to try to lift up our current baseball field to solve the drainage issues and to make that playable until we can get it to the point where it's a part of the capital
042project. So, I wanted that uh I apologize for being long-winded. I am long-winded in general. Um but, I really wanted our community to understand where that comes from and where things go. The next thing I want to mention is NYSERDA. I mentioned a couple of board meetings ago. We are trying to leverage and our architects met with uh Brian and I and our director of facilities today. And we have so many things going on with FEMA, with the capital project, with the $13 million project, with the FEMA piece and the NYSERDA piece, there there's different revenue sources that we're trying to leverage because we understand that our buildings need more than we can do with $110 million. And so, with that being said, the NYSERDA grant, I submitted the application today. They're going to move
043forward It doesn't require board authorization if I'm making any board members nervous. So, I signed that today. It doesn't cost the district any money. They're going to move forward with doing that assessment. And then, if we can, we're going to submit our application. And that application can potentially take Knickerbocker out of the $110 capital project, freeing up some other resources, and allow us to get uh that building down and potentially turn that into a geothermal uh school. So, there is a lot of positive things and it's just another thing that we're adding uh to the wheel uh to make sure that we can level leverage additional money. Uh the next thing I want to mention is the girls varsity lacrosse team. We had a wonderful send-off today. Kudos to them. Hopefully, the score team only
044give us the score when it's getting going up. Uh 13 12. Kudos to them and to every student teacher that brought their students to do the send-off. Uh that is appreciated and you can tell with the girls and the smiles on their faces when they left. Um today I signed our auditor engagement letter and then one went to our board president as well so that we can begin our external auditor services for next year. And a huge kudos. Yesterday I worked with our director of athletics um to put in the show tell for our press release for our boys varsity baseball, you know, for a huge accomplishment they have not accomplished as a team in 35 years. So kudos to them. The next thing I want to mention is UPK. Uh this is great news
045for our community. Um the governor's budget is enacted for education and we're so we're excited about that. Um we are going to be ahead of the game again. Um and our district is going to open the door for 4-year-olds whose parents want them to attend UPK. And so with that being said, we're work we're going to continue with CBOs and those things will be coming up in the future board meeting for board action. But we will also be leveraging um our budget um to uh move two teachers that were teaching other grades. They're not new teachers to the district. They're not an additional expense. We are moving those two teachers and we will be opening two additional pre-K classrooms. So the Watertown City School District will host two at Knickerbocker, uh one 3-year-old program and
046one I think I'm currently one 4-year-old program. And then we will maintain our two programs over at North Elementary School. Those are our 4410 programs and we will have one for age three and one for age four. And we are looking at going to 29 potential classrooms next year uh to accommodate for that. Uh this year I think we have 26. Um the other thing I want to mention is we've been working with the board and it's on the agenda today for board action um to add transportation. This is something that when the governor's budget was enacted did not include transportation. So it is something that the board and the community is going to act on tonight um whether or not we can offer transportation to our four-year-olds. We were not able to add three-year-olds.
047There's a significant cost to that and three-year-olds regarding DOT and licensing require 5100s and so forth. So our transportation and it will follow the same trans portable limitations that we currently follow for our kindergarten students that K through four span. So you'll see that on the board agenda tonight. We're excited about that. The next board meeting and Tina's going to elaborate on this more but our next board meeting is going to be packed. So please make sure you bring your caffeine. We are going to be recognizing our retirees. We have 17 retirees that were not all able to be here but the majority of them will. With that we have Mrs. Spanswick bringing her students to sing them a couple of show tunes and then in addition to that we will be inviting up our
048student athletes that broke records and teams for this spring season. And then we will also need to have a public hearing at the next meeting and during that public hearing this is an annual requirement we will bring our SSO contracts in front of the board and in front of the community for any public comments. That is because of the firearms that our SSOs do carry. So that will begin at exactly 6 p.m. at the next board meeting at the front of our board agenda. And that concludes my report. Thank you very >> Assistant Superintendent for instructional report Linda. >> Everybody good morning to me. Our summer professional development registration is well underway. We have a large number of educators registered for training and also a large number of educators that are meeting with the teams
049that we need to be caliber of professionals we have at Watervliet we continue to place student teachers still vacant and in addition to that we have a significant number of those. We're really looking at as an interview to something that we do in the winter time and often we end up hiring some of the teachers to work with us. Uh, we're very close to the start of summer school. I'm going to give you our enrollment numbers as of today. Um, our elementary summer school has got 104 students. Our grades two through four STEM camp is down to 115. Grades five through eight STEM camp has 51 students. Um, and Lisa King also shared with me that they had 14 outstanding student applications for STEM camp lab assistants. And they interviewed all of them last week
050and selected five of our students to work alongside of our staff this summer. So, that's also really exciting. Um, grades five through nine communications camp has 31 students. Our extended school year is 80 students. Our bridging program, which bridging, if you haven't heard about that before, is between schools. So, we have pre-K to K, um, fourth to fifth, sixth to sorry, fifth to sixth, um, sixth to seventh, and eighth to ninth, we have 78 students. Um, we have all fifth grade, 25 students enrolled in that. That's run by Lisa Winkler. Uh, high school's enrolling, we're currently at 95 and case middle school is still enrolling, so I don't quite have that number yet. Finally, last week I had the pleasure of attending the WCA Cares to Work Ceremony. It's one of my favorite things to
051do. It was wonderful to see so many students recognized by their teachers in so many different ways for different reasons. I look forward to that celebration every year and I also look forward to the events for the WCA Cares. >> Wait, one thing I want to add is kudos to you and your team because Linda does a lot of work behind the scenes writing grants. And when you look at other districts and budgets and where they have to move, unfortunately, for summer programming, a lot of districts cut summer programming because of loss of aid and revenue. Um, a lot of the programs that we're offering in the Watertown City School District is a result of the grants that we received to fund them. So, just uh kudos to you and your team for writing those
052grants. >> We actually submitted one this week. It's a Better Beginnings and it's up to $750,000 to do for five years. So, we submitted this grant. >> And our Assistant Superintendent of Personnel and Student Services, Tina Lane. >> I'm excited to share that this Thursday, June 1st, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., the Watertown City School District is hosting our On Track and On Course Community Expo, picnic, and a movie on the turf field. It's a free family event designed to empower youth and connect families with over 50 community partner agencies lining the track, offering valuable resources for children and families. We'll have the Flower Memorial Library there doing library cards, Watertown City Police Department will be doing bike licenses. We have all kinds of community organizations there with great resources for our families. >> So,
053did you get tremendous funding for that particular grant that I spoke earlier about the dual sets? >> Yes, we're using those funds to fund this event. We're going to give away I'm going to I have a school that they're going to report on. Um, we have uh free dinner for all of our participants. We have popcorn. Regal Cinemas is donating 600 portions of popcorn >> That's awesome. >> Uh, books, activities, and kid zone, movie, free capes for the little kids for our students. And masks, school supplies, graphs. As an added incentive, attendees will have the chance to win a bike. 50 bike helmets were donated by the Victim Assistance Center. Those will be given away as well. The building with the largest percentage of students and staff attending will win an ice cream party. Free
054transportation will be provided for the children. And with those funds, uh we're able to provide this event free for all of you. So, we spread the word wide and far, and uh with a beautiful forecast of 80° now, uh with sunny skies on Thursday, it promises to be a wonderful evening for our entire community. We look forward to a tremendous turnout. I'd like to give thanks to my committee. So, today I met yesterday and the committee works to be and they are doers. They're making this event happen for our families. So, there's really walk around the track, you're going to see everything from uh how do you secure a library card for your child to like I said, the library cards to get the alliance. How do you get our community? She's going to be
055there with her students. We have entertainment with students. Uh it's just going to be tremendous uh tremendous event. So, I'm looking forward to it. You're all invited to come and join us. >> Uh Thursday night, we should have a copy in front of you. >> Yes, we have a live as well. This past Saturday evening, I had the great pleasure in attending the Great Indo-American. I was truly impressed by the outstanding performance of our marching band, my school marching band, and color guard. Our students represented the Watertown City School District with tremendous pride. Impeccably uniformed, delivering incredible sound, most importantly having a great time in it. It was such a joy to watch my daughter be the exceptional talent in their district. A heartfelt congratulations, sincere thank you, goes out to Mrs. Fran Seymour for
056her dedicated leadership in providing her students success. I have Our entire community should be incredibly proud of these young men and women and all the things they need to accomplish. It's truly incredible to watch them. And finally, I would like to remind the board and our school community of the Watertown City School District retirement reception which will be held June 16th right in this room at 5:30 p.m. in the district office. We're honoring 14 retirements today. This special event provides us with an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the dedicated employees who are retiring this year. We thank them for their many years of service for our students, families, and community. We're also pleased Eileen Middle School ensemble will be providing entertainment for the evening and we look forward to honoring our retirees, celebrating their contributions
057to our school district. Thank you. >> Questions for Thank you, Tim. And Assistant Superintendent for Operations, I ask for your report. >> Thank you. I apologize because I probably have to ask overlap to Colleen and Dr. S. Uh first on the internal audit, we have completed the field work for our annual internal audit. Uh we have worked on the corrective action plan which the FAF committee did review yesterday and those reports have been sent on to the auditor who has already sent us the final reports to review. We're also in conversations with Questar BOCES who is our internal auditor about moving up our annual annual reporting timeline. Right now, the board isn't receiving those reports until several months after the fact if you remember that from last year. And by the time you get those
058reports, the issues have long been resolved and the issue is no longer useful. We want to make that reporting more timely, more relevant and that same concern applies to our annual risk assessment which that was also emailed to you today and that work was done, you know, 9 months ago. On the external audit, as has already been mentioned, our external auditors are getting started. The engagement letter has been signed by both parties today. Some preliminary work will happen this month but the bulk of the field work taking place taking place in August. Food service, the department is gearing up for summer feeding, the end of year field trips and the senior breakfast. Very busy time of year for that team. In IT, the department has a number of projects underway including upgrades to the camera
059systems in our in our elementary buildings. And then finally, a couple of updates from facilities. The maintenance crews are actively working on district-wide spring grounds and athletic field preparation. Custodial staff have also completed an extensive round of spring cleanup, mowing, trimming, and field pepper across the district, all in support of student activities, athletics, and community use. And I'm also pleased to report that we've completed all required fire inspections, and those results have been submitted to NYSED. We're currently awaiting their approval for a certificate of occupancy. And I will have a further uh report later under this discussion section for the school safety action plan. >> Questions for me? Thank you, Brett. Michelle, items for consent agenda. >> I move that we adopt the consent agenda items A through G are hereby approved. >> Any motion,
060please? Melanie and Steve. Discussion. All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Items for board action. A, approval of personnel report. >> It resolved that on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, acting with the resolution of the Board of Education, hereby approves the following: Appointment, probationary instructional. Appointment, teacher on special assignment. Um appointment, lead teacher. Um appointment, permanent. Appointment, substitute instructional. Appointment, substitute non-instructional. Leave of absence. And resignations. >> What's that? >> [laughter] >> Uh Thank you, Brett. Thank you for taking this up. Congratulations for stepping outside of your comfort zone, leaving your classroom in good hands, and taking on a much larger role to help the instructional part of our district. >> So, Jonathan's going to be a lead teacher instructional coach. So, that's going to be a little forward with this challenge.
061Well, let's make this official now. Uh can I get a motion to approve the first hour of work? Tina has a second. Melanie, any discussion? All those in favor? Any opposed? Congratulations. Um item B, approval of distance learning probationary employment. >> Resolved that upon the recommendation of acting very stable superintendent of schools, team probationary employment of Annam Trout, 2018 through 2020, effective May 20, 2021 through 2026. >> Motion, please. Melanie has a second. Uh discussion. All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. C, approval of a revised policy. >> Resolved that the following revised Board of Education policy is hereby approved and adopted, policy 501, student transportation. >> Motion, please. Tina has a second. So, this is the one where we're just adding pre-K to transportation policies so that we can transport those pre-K 4-year-olds.
062Um any questions, discussion? >> You covered it pretty well. >> All those in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. D, approval of educational student trips. >> Resolved that the educational student trips as presented to the board are hereby approved. >> Motion. >> Melanie Anderson. >> Oh, discussion. >> I would probably look at the list at the next public session. >> All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. And the approval of a donation. >> Resolved that the board gratefully accepts a donation of two supply kits from the Kids in Need Foundation. Made possible through their partnership with the River Keep Foundation for Knickerbocker Elementary School. Each kit contains a variety of classroom supplies. The board hereby approves this donation and will ensure it is acknowledged in writing. >> Motion. >> Melanie Anderson. >>
063Discussion. >> Right up their alley. >> All those in favor? Any opposed? >> The donation. >> As the end of the resolution, say we shall. >> Uh we're at the second public comment section. Is there any public comment to see me following the same rules and policies 2306 for non-agenda related items? I did this for discussion or information. We did have one that was officially listed, the Utica National Insurance 2026 School Safety Excellence Award. >> I put together a proposal thing on this. You're pleased to inform the board that our district has been awarded the Titanium with Honors level of Utica National Insurance Group's School Safety Excellence Award, the highest level attainable. The program has three levels: Titanium, Platinum, and Gold, through which schools earn a meritorious distinction by meeting specific criteria to enhance overall
064safety. The honor is presented annually and recognizes school districts' safety efforts as they work to help keep students, staff, and visitors safe. Through the program, schools with their own transportation, schools with contract transportation, and BOCES are evaluated. Categories covered include bullying prevention programs, playground safety, and other areas, and are measured using specific quantifiable surveys. In recognition of this achievement, our district has accepted a certificate commemorating our safety efforts and a $500 grant for use in connection with the school safety program. As senior vice president and head of Utica National Specialty Lines, Mark Mark Angelucci noted, "Safety and health concerns continue to be a priority in our school districts. We are proud that our commitment to a safe learning environment has been recognized at this highest level." So, I want to thank Michelle and of course
065Tim's crew. They helped accumulate all the information we needed. There were policies, procedures, documentation, over all kinds of different areas with the district, um construction safety, playgrounds, facilities, technology. There's a There's a lot that goes into this, and I want to thank them for putting that all on us. >> And thank you to you and all of your folks and all of our administrators and everybody that was involved in helping to make that happen. It's good to know that we're being recognized for our number one priority, which is uh it's So, congratulations. The only official item we had listed for discussion is there anything else for the public or private session? >> Okay. Some upcoming days, the Watertown High School Awards Ceremony is Wednesday, June 3rd at 6:00. That's tomorrow. Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday,
066June 16th at 4:30 in the district office, followed by our retired recognition ceremony starting at 5:30. And then our regular Board of Education meeting also on the 16th at 6:00 p.m. Commencement ceremony, Friday, June 26th at 7:00 p.m. on the Case Turf Field. Fingers crossed for good weather. And I will mention just one more time, Thursday, June 14th on the turf field, the On Track Finish Strong Community Expo picnic and movie. So, how's that? June 4th, sorry. I can't read today. June 4th. So, coming up this Thursday. This Thursday, if you plan on attending. Um and then also the Food for Families Backpack Program fundraiser. I don't know anybody in Northern New York that doesn't love direct subs. If you go to Direct Subs on Saturday, June 13th, 20% of all sales for the entire
067day for the Washington Street location are going to go to our Food for Families program. Um so, thank you, Directs, for providing that opportunity for our students and families that need it. Um look around the district. The almost perfect day. >> Um I'd like to show that Marching Band in parade on Memorial Day. Um I went Marching Band in My daughter was carrying the flag. Grandpa had the uh pair of water bottles to keep hydrated. Um they sounded great. Um I'd like to point out that there's a good part of the parade where they were going up a hill and it was a good sized hill and they, you know, kept beating. You know, didn't miss a note. Um it was really cool to see it. Um I also want to know how cool it
068was at the end of the parade, all of the other marching bands were clapping and just cheering everyone on. It was a It was really cool to see. >> Thank you. >> I want to echo Vince's comments about the Carol Watts and W. T. Ellis mathematics. It's always fun to go there and see John over there, and over there. I just I really do celebrate all the stride of the district, all the stuff we're seeing now. Wonderful, but you know what happens all year long. This is just a I wanted to get to the last meeting, so I have a a delayed thank you. Um and as was said before, I apologize, but I wanted to do it personally. Um one I want to thank Charlotte Lovell for all her work on the budget and
069the the deductions. That's unsung hero of the district. You know, that you know, the district finances. And in my 10 years, I don't know that we've ever done as good a job as we did this year. Thanks, Superintendent. It was your own show. I was able to join you a couple times. Very well received by the community. Um sharing your vision for the budget. Um not just the numbers, but why. Had lots of lots of really good comments after these presentations. It was um good to be there with you, and I I was really um past pleased with um all your efforts to get out there and listen to your questions um and then share the the budget. >> And I probably have seen her first before you and Charlotte and everyone else. Yeah. That
070adding eyes for sure was a really I was a little bit nervous cuz I don't You know, there's a certain demographic that we hang out with that goes to 12th grade. Um but it was an amazing opportunity to connect with people that really are passionate and care about our school and our community. And the five or six of our retired to in City School District themselves. And we're asking me questions about the Cyclone Academy. I'm like, "Wow." I don't know. What do they know? Did I They're asking about Cyclone Academy and how it's changing lives for kids. So, it was great. I just thank you for that. And thank you for making it there. So, we were able to do that with your program. >> I remember in the early years, you laid out the
071budget and then you shared the vision for it, which is the numbers. You had so much power and context and the whys behind the what. It changed you and that was so Thank you so much. Thank you so >> It all went quite well tonight. >> After 35 years, our varsity varsity baseball team were able to state it as underdogs in the Section C playoff game, Melius winning 4-2 and Whitesboro 4-8. 8-4 going into extra innings. Our baseball team came up short in the 6th inning at sectional championship against West Genesee, but on a positive note, at our varsity track and field meet, boys and girls Section A two championships, 44 [clears throat] athletes ended up placing in the top six, overall placing fourth in the meet. >> Amazing. >> And I'd like to add
072something to your students. It is not often that you get a phone call from another superintendent that we're kind of running on our own islands. Uh, but I did get There were some community comment about that game in West Genesee. And I did receive a phone call on Monday from that superintendent that wanted to thank the sportsmanship of the Watertown City School District students. Uh, they nothing but positive reviews on our students and apologized for the actions of his players that did not support the, you know, district's mission. So, um kudos to the families who are listening to this, but that was a nice gesture that he reached out to let us know that he saw what happened, he addressed what happened, and uh recognizing that our students did the right thing and had a
073wonderful experience. >> Uh we are sending several athletes to the state qualifiers for track and field, including myself tomorrow, so I'm going to be down at CNS participating in that. uh state track Oh my Seems like a good event. I may go out and attend Thursday, June 4th. Um just overall, our athletic program's going up going up. Hopefully we can see the exact same results in the fall. >> [laughter] >> And good luck, Gus. >> You got it. >> Um I'm not really sure where I am, but I saw I don't know everybody. The most recent things that we saw recently were like a couple weeks ago. >> At least you get your dates right and you pronounce your words right. >> Um I went to Case, the drama club's play. I'll tell you something.
074Those kids were phenomenal. They were so into their parts, and if they forgot a line, because they had some kids that didn't show up, so these other kids took on their roles and only got the the lines that day, so they were nervous, obviously, but they were fresh on the lines, things, but everybody would help them. If you look at them, they would just tell them their lines. They would point and say what was going on. It was called The Baby Age at birth. And it really kind of put our lives in perspective watching that show or that play. I was like, "Wow, really?" Um but they did a phenomenal job and um I'm glad we have that vocal program because they really enjoyed it. They really enjoyed it. Um we went to um dinner
075at Adams Country Club for Danny. Um that was a great That was great. The whole thing was well done. Um well served and the food was delicious. That was That was fun. Um I think we went to the band last week. I'm not sure when it was. But but they were awesome. That I I really don't know how those kids can do what they do. And with Ram, she's only been here for a year. These kids were brand new to her. This whole thing is brand new for those kids. This whole thing is brand new for those kids. I don't know. They just blow me away every time they get up there and play. Her music program is pretty awesome. And the CARE Awards were good the same ever. It was nice to see kids
076get rewarded for something other than sports. I mean you were there. But it was nice. The food was good. Everything's well done. And it was I think it was >> I was very impressed earlier with all of the students who spoke. Um and then just the accomplishments of the valedictorian and the student council. Um and the um the outstanding vocational student. Um The students should be proud and families should be proud and that's just great to see. And then the alliance students, they really were well-spoken and it's nice to see our annual capstone project. Um student voice and advocacy and giving back and realizing that it really can start with one person. I was actually reminded at work this week just how insightful kids are and they don't always get credit for that. So, I
077would like them to get credit for it because they do some great things for And then we also went to the Adams County Food Service the food service recognition dinner put on by Jackie and it was so wonderful to go to that. It was a great event. >> Um I'm sorry I missed that but we had a meeting today but they had a a post-season game. Um on that note just to thank all congratulate all the student athletes. Um job well done. Um I will just say I'm here because weather's getting nice and we can celebrate all the accomplishments, all the positive things happening in the district that are good for the students and all you can get here. Um youth alliance is great, Heidi was great. Um I love the sign design and the
078fact that the students themselves Um capstone projects, I know we we heard from four of them but I think that it it helps open the eyes of the thoughtful group of young citizens and it's something I'm really excited to give back to the community. Um And on that note to thank Dr. Smeigh for recognizing me with the award. Um I know one student was very excited. Um waiting to speak. >> [laughter] >> Uh there's not much I can mention that you all have inventions. Uh so, uh it's been a a whirlwind for the last couple of weeks and juniors are really, really busy with all the events going on. Um but wonderful events. Um I just want to say to all of our athletics, all of our sports teams, if you if you're playing in
079junior year, you're still participating in your your sport junior year, you're doing something right. So, um our music program is is is doing amazing things. Our um some of our athletic teams are doing amazing things. Congratulations to all of them. It just sets the bar that much higher for next year. So, continue to do what our coaches are doing and what our um our music leaders are doing with the new band and and all of our programs. And um it's amazing to see these um uh Kids want to succeed. They want to they want to do well. They see the group in front of them do well and it's a challenge to them to do well as well. So, uh amazing stuff. Um And and in general, we have we have amazing kids. We just
080Some of these projects that these kids come up with, it just boggles my mind and it's just I've been teaching for a long time and I I I've become more and more confident that this generation is going to be the generation that changes the world. Um this is back on track. Starts bringing back what it means to be nice, generous, and kind to each other. I think this is the group. It's killer group. It's your group, Kayla. So, uh amazing kids here and saw them at the CARES Awards and we saw that tonight. We continue to see it every time. You know, every time we bring kids to the board, they're just doing amazing things. They're such great kids. So, we're very blessed to have that here at Waterville. All right. Uh with that, we
081are in need of a executive session for the medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a particular person or corporation or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or corporation. Can I have a motion to go into executive session, please? Ellen, can I have a second? Team of discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? We will go into executive session. >> Thank you.