001Please rise. Please. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the flagis everybody that's here tonight, those that are here by choice. Uh welcome to everybody uh streaming online. Lynn, thanks for joining us virtually. >> Um nice to see everybody. Hope everybody's having a a good start to their new year. Um do we have any agenda changes for this evening? >> Um the only change I had was an updated personel reported everybody with fresh copy and I did highlight. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Uh we now come to our student voice. We've asked some of our amazing musicians to come back and give us a little uh update on how things went in Rochester. >> Hi everyone. >> Hi. So, um Miss made these incredible programs for you guys to
002look at while we talk to because we have so many different groups represented. >> Disclaimer, I didn't make them. I just collected them. >> Thank you for doing that. >> I'd love to take credit though. They were beautiful. >> I'm gonna leave it to you, Tina, because you were so excited. So, we're all fans of our music program. I hope you guys know that. But Tina Flutoo is a super fan of your of our music program and so she really wanted to have you guys come back uh to find out how Rochester. So I'm gonna Tina, I'm gonna let you take >> Okay. Thanks. So what did you do? I mean like when you get there and stuff, what do you >> So we all rode on the same kind of little tiny little bus
003band there. Um and we were part of three different groups like we mentioned last time. Me and Felicity were in the same one. Mixed choir, you were in trouble choir and you were in symphonic band. So the ride up was really fun. Uh we were, you know, reviewing music, playing music, had a really good time. Um it was awesome. And then we get into Rochester and at least for the music people, as in like vocal, we do a part check upon entering. Basically, they choose believe we have >> three songs and they check a random bit of it just to make sure you know what you're doing. And all of us passed it. And I know you I believe you have to do it online. And no one in mixed choir, I think, failed it,
004which is awesome. I don't know if anyone failed. Okay, that's awesome. So, everyone, you know, had everything together, which is great. >> Um, upon entering, there were so many kids in there. Um, I know for I'm speaking just for mixed choir right now. Um, there was a huge array like diverse group of people, so many different like ethnicities, sizes, people. I it was wonderful to know that there were so many different musicians that were all so different and we were all coming together um having overcome the same obstacle with the exact same goal of making music. Um after we got settled in, we went immediately into rehearsal. We had >> such a tight schedule like seven o'clock. >> Yeah. >> First rehearsal. >> That was the first block for us too. And there was also
005at least like for the vocalist there was also water everywhere because you had about I think in so we were all in the same hotel the vocal people and I know you were in a separate one. They I think we had like 500 kids in that hotel like >> the hotel was >> oh yeah hotel. >> We had insane amount of people and it was I maybe I don't travel much but it was the most beautiful hotel. It was inside it was like completely open. It had this like there was natural light and like the It was great. I loved it. So I Do you guys want to speak on like the trouble choir and the symphonic band when you guys came in? Because we got separated at that point. We can see poor Elanor
006for like the whole separate though. >> I I know for trouble choir when we entered we all had to get in this line and get chucked in and stuff and that's where we received badges where sorry we received badges that we wore the whole weekend so everybody knew that we were Nisma students. We were allowed to be in that hotel. >> Yes, we wear those the whole time. Very very strictly told do not take them off. you will be will exit from this building and not be able to return. >> Uh so we got these we got all registered and then that's when I said bye to Andy and I went into rehearsals. >> We saw each other maybe four times like the whole time. >> The only time we saw each other was breakfast
007and dinner. >> Yeah. But we went into rehearsals and basically everything we did over the course of the weekend was in our hotel which was very interesting. all of our rehearsals. Maybe your guys's rehearsal was in a ballroom. It was cool. >> You guys, yours was in like a lunch area. You had a way smaller. You had a way smaller choir than >> I actually saw like the photos of when we were on the stage and our choir like mix choir was so big that we had to like like I was in the front row for sure and the first three rows were not on bleachers. They were rows of kids on a flat surface. Um, mix choir had an insane amount of kids and the first thing I noticed in rehearsals was, oh my
008gosh, our sound, >> the balance was just something I've never hearing it. >> Soing many different voices. It I have never like sung in a choir where everyone is just on it immediately like that. Everyone everyone has had such beautiful shapes when they sang >> it. It was wonderful from that very moment like I I knew I didn't want to leave as soon as I got my director told me our choir on our last stage before we departed. She said, "Man, it's been so fun working with you all. You're all so talented. You're going to be so sad when you go back to your school of choirs." And I I went back I I came back to select that following Monday and man I'll say it really was awesome. But it's I'm home. >> I'm
009back home with all the people that I know. But so when you did rehearsals did like everybody >> from everywhere that was in your group. >> So there was like hundreds of kids in each group. >> Yeah. >> And then you rehearsed for what? What happened after all that? What did you have to do at the end? um the end of the visit or the end of like just you got there and tested you run the little parts and stuff and then you go on into rehearsals did you all sing again? >> Um >> yeah so um the whole point is at the end of all the performances are at different times. So like treble choir was in the morning the the day did you have perform on the same day or were you >>
010No, mine mine was Saturday night. your guys. >> Yes. And I know what time did you perform? >> Um I think right after >> Yeah. So we all performed for like an audience at different times. But as far as like and then after that you you're you're done with conference all state. So the amount of rehearsal that we did though um was it was literally like each rehearsal block each rehearsal block free time rehearsal block. >> Yeah. like we would have dinner and then we would have rehearsal and um it was great though. I'd love to talk about our directors too that we had um because I also didn't get to hear about like the instrument director too. >> She was awesome. >> Yeah, I'd love to hear a little bit about her. >> Yeah,
011she was um the concert band at University of Michigan. So, she came all the way from there just like for us which is really cool. And like she the way she like did so cool to like doing like doing all these things like area all states, five counties, conference all state every time. It's so cool to work with like conductors because everybody does it differently. So like you can learn so much more with like your conductor. >> Yeah. When I was um Andy's conductor who's very big about your sound, your vowels like I've never annunciated that much. >> I know. Yeah, we also our um director too. I have never gotten to have an experience where you know you perform songs by many different um composers, many different lyric like lyric people and you never
012get to actually like meet them or and you only meet them really through their music. Um our director put two songs in the program that he had written himself, he had composed. So it was amazing to have a music exper experience that was you know what we performed that night that was the most genuine interpretation of the music we could have possibly had because the source of it was literally right there. There are so many different interpretations of different pieces from you know like the vowels like dynamics what you choose as a director as a choir and to be able to have such an intimate relationship with the piece with the director who had written it right there to direct it was it was amazing. It was a once in a-lifetime experience. I that I
013don't I don't know if I'll ever have the experience of being able to be taught a piece that someone literally wrote it. It was wonderful. He was um I believe he was from Mississippi is what he said. He had a very thick accent. It was amazing to listen to for hours. He had a wonderful dialect. Um >> I don't know. >> Actually, some of that is a point. some of the songs that he wrote it had that dialect. Like we um sang songs that were from like African-American dialect for example where certain you know the way I'm speaking is not the way they wanted us to speak in the song. And it's interesting because you think of a vowel as you know when I'm saying one single vowel this is how I talk but how
014other people talk it's completely different and that reflects in our music. So we got to sing songs from many different you know cultures and it was amazing. I know you guys sung something that I >> talk about. What was it? Fireballs. >> Fire. >> Yeah. One of my songs, Pebble Choir, had no words to it. It was all sounds and it was a mixture of body percussion and for lack of a better term, screeching. But um it came together so well which was from my point of view a little shocking because we got in there and we sang it for the first time and we went what are we doing? Why are we just making awkward noises at each other? It doesn't make sense. But then we learned more about the history of it and
015how we were talking, not talk, how we were vocalizing a literal element of the world and creating it through vocalization. And something that our choirs did was we actually performed two of our songs for each other. And I think that was my favorite part of the weekend. >> I love that. Yeah, it >> was awesome. >> One thing I want to mention too is Oh, talk. I'm sorry. Okay. >> Okay. Are you sure? And that you have to go after I need to shut me up. Okay. >> Um all the people I met the other students I I was I mean yes I was worried because we were meeting so many people from so many different districts and NISMA too. We all got similar scores but like there could have been so many different levels
016of like talent. I was afraid I was going to go in there and be like the worst person there and there were going to be people so much like better than me and we had a variety you know different levels of talent but everyone there was so warm and welcoming even in like area all site in like by counties I've been to I have never met a group of people who were that you know unified having not met each other at all um I even people you know in like treble choir um when we had the like actual conference um and like the convention we went to and we got to talk to people from all across, you know, like like the band room and the coral room. Everyone was nice. I had no bad
017experiences with anyone. Everyone was very open to talk about, you know, why they were there, you know. No one was also like embarrassed to get too into the music either. Um, there were people like swaying, dancing while we were singing, you know, like moving their body. And it's really really nice because you know it's very vulnerable singing and being with people who understand the vulnerability of it and you're just fully being yourself when you're in that room with other people and you're not afraid and that was wonderful. >> You what you said like everybody there like they all want the same thing as you like they want to like further themselves as interesting and like they just they're there for the music and like nobody's there to like have a bad time. Yeah, everyone had
018a positive attitude. >> I think like a lot of the times when you're in, you know, smaller more like local choirs and this went for like everyone there, we were all talking about our like choirs back at home like because, you know, you're doing it every day, sometimes get mundane and sometimes kids are like, I don't want to sing today. I don't want to practice today. I don't want to do that. Everyone had a a very like can do attitude. Everyone, you know, wanted to sing. Everyone wanted to practice, perform. Everyone wanted to, you know, we were working on a part for hours. Everyone wanted to do that. And I think it they really chose all the people who this was their passion. And it was also nice because everyone not everyone I met there
019was going into music too because I'm not going into music for like college. And I was afraid that everyone there would be and I would be left out. But no, I met several people who want to be like technicians and doctors and like teachers like not for music. And it was great. The bonds are built, at least for me, like I still talk to so many times, especially my roommate. I love my roommate so much. So, it was just so special meeting people with your same interests and hobbies and um like the the determination to keep going with music. It was really special. Your concerts were phenomenal. >> I bet I have to watch him sing all day. Um, your choreography was pretty good. >> Yeah, you guys did a great job. I'm glad you
020came back to talk about it. Thank you for inviting us back. I could talk about this experience all night. I have to I'm sorry. I love you so much, girl. I have to brag about the three of us for a second. You know what I say? Uh on our drive to Rochester the night before, we had actually received our cast list for the high school's musical. And I I want to brag about us for a second. Andy Felicia and I were casted all together as the three leads for Spongebob this year. and we're very >> So, I'll be playing Spongebob. I'll be playing Sandy. >> And I'll be playing Patrick Star. >> We're gonna be very We're working excited. How tense was that night though? The night before Allstate and also the castless night coming
021out. I like didn't sleep last night. >> I I packed the night before with us and so I used that as a coping mechanism and uncle isn't coming out till 9 so I'm going to pack for all distract myself. Then we talked about it for at least an hour of the drive. >> Was there any uh cyclone karaoke in the van on the way up? >> Was the person doing it? Was not the vocalist. Thank you for coming back and sharing your experiences. Um, we're glad we got the pull back and see how you guys don't always get that opportunity. Good luck this month. >> Make sure to see it in March. I can't think of the exact date. >> Oh, we will have the date here and we will make >> my brain. But
022yeah, thank you so much everyone. >> Thank you guys. >> Jesus. So we'll go see you Jack. Right there everybody. Um the next item on our agenda tonight is we're privileged to have our hostess district superintendent and here with us tonight and so that I will turn it over to Dr. >> So I would like to introduce everyone to Chris Defolio our new district superintendent Jeff Leos. >> Hi everyone. Thanks for having me. That's a tough act to follow. Uh but I think that's great to get to hear from the students and um I wanted to know if they'll tell Yeah. >> Was it the desatur? >> Okay. >> The window. >> Well, it sounds like it was really nice. Congratulations to all of you. Um I I'll be brief. I really wanted to just
023come out and meet you and and put a case to the name. So, my name is Chris Pio. Um I've been uh with Boseies now this is my third month and prior to that um I was a school superintendent in a small district of roughly 1425 students uh east of Syracuse and prior to that I was at OCM Boseis most recently as assistant superintendent for seven years I won't give you the rest of rest of my career uh but I'm really happy to be back at Boseis because uh we get to support um component district and largecale initiatives for students. I I have with me Pete Monaco, uh Sandy Young, Steve Der, and Olivia Young from our our board of education as well. And um I wanted to just compliment Watertown. So, thank you board
024members for uh volunteering in tough roles that most people don't understand. So, they become a board member. um and uh students need your service. But under the board of education and Dr. Schmegle's leadership, I noticed some things the past few years that Watertown's really excelled in uh beyond um I think what maybe other school districts throughout the state have been able to achieve. So, I wanted to compliment you on that. But graduation rate from 64 to 84% um is really remarkable. the record-breaking capital project. And then what I first heard about Watertown that I was really most impressed with that I'm sure is helping the graduation rate as well is this idea of the night school. These are really impressive things and I know they had to be supported by all the people in this
025room, Dr. Kindle and his leadership team. So, I I don't know who's responsible for all these ideas, but uh they're really um something not to sneeze not to sneeze at and I think that uh Watertown has a gem of a gem of some accolades here in the North Country. So, congratulations. Um in your packet, you just have some information on career and technical education. And some of it you may have seen before, but last year our Boseies was unable to provide a weight list 23 students career tech programs. So there's another long list of information of all of the items that Boseies is working on under Mr. Kod's leadership and our board of education. And now I get to uh take the football and try to flee to the end zone. But uh we're making
026a lot of movement essentially right now in Lewis County and that's going to help us open up more spots for students in Jefferson County and um you know something that I think everyone in Watertown and I know we're proud of at Boseies are the programs that we have at the Globe here in Watertown and also really nice gem for the city here. But our enrollment over the past five years in career and tech has gone up about 50%. And just because I know we have a mixed room, just so everybody has the same baseline. Boseies, we we enroll what districts want us to enroll. We don't make any money. We're a zerobased budgeting entity. So we're just a municipality that is around to help districts share services. And then you receive FOC's aid. um as
027an incentive for sharing those services. So, I don't want you to think I'm here saying we need to add students to our program. It's actually Watertown who says, "Hey, we're going to add students to the closest program." That's the way it works. So, the other thing in the packet you have is I'm available. I'm the commissioner's representative in the region. So I'm a regional leader and liaison for the nearest education department as well as our goi. So I report to the commissioner and I report to the board of ed education and I can it's of no cost. I'm not here selling anything but anytime if you want to mix me in with m with misba retreats attorney retreats uh I I do put together a fun retreat. A lot of my background that I did
028prior and another BC is centered around superintendent board relationships and evaluation of the superintendent, but I can certainly work with you and your team and put something together so you can have a nice night together and and work on your government. So, that was really what I wanted to do. just give you a basic gist of what the district superintendent does, give you a little background on the facilities information, be available to answer any questions, and make sure you know who I am. I don't know if anyone has any questions. >> All right. Well, my contact information is in there, and if you ever need to reach out, I'll help any way that I can. I was really impressed with the student voice. I think it's a great way to open the >> Yes. If
029our students want to uh be for the doorways, now is your time. Thank you guys again. >> Yes. >> This is much I have. All right, we're at our first public comment session. Just a quick reminder, public comment portion board of education meeting is designed to give members of the public the opportunity to address the board related to school district operations. The board will not permit public session discussion involving individual district personnel or students. Persons wishing to discuss matters involving individual district personnel or students should present their comments and or concerns the superintendent of schools during regular business hours. All speakers are to conduct themselves in a civil manner. Obscene language, lielist statements, and threats of violence will not be tolerated. It is not the practice of the board to respond during the meeting to
030questions posed or comments made by speakers. Therefore, the board will certainly take any questions or comments you might have under advisement, but we will not be responding to any questions. This is the agenda related portion of public comment. Uh just a reminder to everybody that the policy is in place, excuse me, three minutes per individual. Anybody this evening for agenda related comments? Okay, we're on to board and staff reports and we're starting with our capital project update from Ken K. So uh for those of you who don't know me I am Jason Benedict with game for me tonight is Michelle Fer project manager yes important proud with construction associates who I think knows everyone and with us online is Cece she's with her for landscape art so um actually just a loistic thing from a
031perspective of the hand the presentation handout that you'll have in front of you. We will walk through it's a little bit different than what is online just for security and safety. We have some floor plans that we'll keep private to this group as far as students and staff there. So with that said, um >> yeah, clicking in the wrong direction and I will walk through each of the components, but I'll start off um first with the agenda for this evening. Our focus is talking about the $110 million project that passed nearly a year ago, just shy. Plenty of time for I was thinking about that as we're sitting in the previous meeting as well as now. Um but our focus is uh talking about phase one specifically and just as a reminder uh when we
032talked about pre-referendum prior to the vote being passed this was very strategic to have multi-phase phase projects so that the billing could be maximized and we could have um maximum cost allowance reset. So what we're talking about tonight is only phase one there will be two and three in sub subsequent years or so. Um, phase 1 A is a difference in a recent change in the design process that we're going to have a slide that talks a little bit more about the components of it, but essentially speeding up the schedule that was originally planned. So, we'll talk about that a little bit more detail. Um, we talk about scope, schedule milestones, touch on briefly swing space and the need for it, and then district standardization. So that will be phase 1 A. Phase two, excuse
033me, phase 1 B will just be a very high level reminder of the scope of work that's included in that that phase of the project. And then lastly, an update on 256. So uh from a phase one perspective, off to your very left is a gray box that had the original pre-referending schedule. This was high level. It's a reminder of the buildings that were impacted. So the six buildings were High School, Case Middle School, WY North, Ohio, Starbucks. The vote, as I just mentioned, was March 2525. Um, and we had those timelines for each of the major milestones. And just as a quick reminder, when we talk about schematic design, design development, think about it, 30,000 feet, it's very schmatic. As we go through the project, we keep getting closer to the ground. And that
034closer to the ground means closer to getting the project, no pun intended, but with with actual construction. So, >> but um ultimately you can see what was originally planned and then what is changed is phase 1 A is now a reflection of a much I'll say accelerated schedule. We are intending and actually we've been working on SPAN design since April of last year. uh through July. We've completed that phase. Design development as well is complete as of October. And we have been working diligently with key administrators, staff, associated groups to to essentially get to a December city, excuse me, city submission. And so, as we sit today, phase 1 A is at the state waiting for approval. Um, and then once we get that back, we'll talk about this again a little bit more detail,
035but February, March is our ideal time frame to subitting the project, which we're on target for. Then ultimately starting construction in April of 26. Um, phase B and Okay, there. Thank you. Phase B will be the balance. So, and actually, I apologize. Phase 1 A is Ohio and Starbucks very specifically. Um the remaining phase 1B will be the high school case by North. Um and you can see those similar schedules that we just talked about for phase 1 A. We will and again there's another slide that will talk about this a little bit more detail. So we'll go to next. Um so relative to the benefits of breaking this uh up into a phase 1A indeed first and foremost when I presented actually with Kyle uh during pre-referendum we talked about the overall schedule that
036time at that time SED had a much longer review time frame it was six eight nine months at some point and that dramatically changed through retooling that the state has done um and ultimately reduced actually as we sit here today it's usually one to two weeks panical was up to maybe four weeks that significantly impacted the the process and so when we talk internally it made sense to essentially not lose summer of 26 as far as construction and so we looked at what buildings make most sense to ultimately put to a phase one a uh hit summer 26 and then also all the repercussions of that which you can see on the screen uh MCAS maximum cost allowance those schedules move up a year for those buildings because we have additional work to do uh
037in the future um it also allows uh for us to to this is more internal but there's a new building code that's being implementmented was 123125 but so that gives us a little bit more time to understand what that is to impact the bigger project which was phase which is phase one A or excuse me phase 1 B. Um and then we've got a number of other things that are being talked about at this time. We have an energy performance contract FEMA and a number of other projects. So >> we've got the EPC RFP will be going out. Yes. And one last thing, you know, relative to the advantages of this, um, carbon and Ohio were two buildings that did not have secure vestibules. And so that was another key component to get that work
038started sooner than later and have that safety and security with students and staff. >> Okay. With that, we're going to do a design update for 1A talking specifically about Ohio and Starbucks. So, in your packets, everybody has the scope list and the list is what I'm going to go through. But also in your packets, if you flip to the next page behind that, you'll see an overall floor plan of Ohio. That is basically the scope list translated in a graphic way. So, you can kind of see where we're working in the building, what areas are being touched, as well as kind of the remainder of that list. There's some things that are hard to show in graphic form such as fire alarm replacement and things like that, but all of that list is in there.
039And then on the couple pages behind that are we focus more in on the more designheavy aspects of the project. So at Ohio specifically that is the new secure entry, the main office, the nurse. There is an existing floor plan that is grayed out. So you can kind of do a comparison of that page, the colored page behind it, which will be the new plan. I'm not going to get into the weeds of those plans tonight, but obviously we are always available and we've kind of given that rundown already to Kelly and Randy. Um, so they've heard that and we'd be more than happy to come back and meet with you guys if you want to go through that in more detail. Um again for the sake of the safety aspect we're not going to
040go through those designs in that much detail at the moment. Um and then Starbucks is similar right behind that. So overall floor plan of Starbucks um main office nurse secure entry as well. And then Starbucks also has um some work involved with the cafeteria reconfiguring space for new kitchen and serving line as well as some other um offices in that space as well. So that kind of highlights that. But as for the scope um of 1A, similar scopes between the two buildings. A couple of differences. Um both Ohio and Starbucks will receive some site improvements. So at um Ohio, the west parking lot will get repaid. That's you're looking at the front of the building, the parking lot to the left. Um there'll be parking lot lighting replacement. The asphalt walks to the back of
041the building and over to the playgrounds. Those will be repaved and widened. There's some new fencing going in. And then around the front of the building up to the main entrance, um sidewalk and curb replacement, stair reconstruction, and um the ramp as well. And so that'll be some ADA improvements there. Um Starbucks, some site work there, a little less um than Ohio. Sidewalk work along the main road there. um reconstructing the driveway aprons into the parking lot, new parking lot lighting, and also some new sidewalks and accessibility improvements there as well. As mentioned, both buildings are receiving the new secure entry vestibules as well as the main office and nurse renovations. Some additional work at Ohio specifically. Um there are, if you go down the corridors, there are interior walls there that have the glass
042kind of above. So all of that glass is coming out. Those won't become real graded walls as they should be. Some door replacement with that. And then the exterior windows of the building are going to be replaced inside um the classrooms. The existing what we call unit ventilators. So the big kind of metal boxes that sit on the outside of the building that bring the fresh air in, those are going away and we're kind of revamping to a more vertical style. That'll be in the corner and that'll be ducted up through the ceiling and that allows for more even distribution of air throughout the space. Rather than it coming from one singular source at the window level, it'll now come up and kind of come out through the ceiling similar to what you see here
043with these diffusers. Um, so that'll be all throughout the one wing of classrooms that has kind of the gray highlight on the plane and on that overall plan. Um, there'll be some LED lighting upgrades kind of in the newly renovated areas as well as ceiling replacement throughout a majority of the building. Fire alarm be upgraded, data cabling replaced, some building controls, and then some masonry restoration on the exterior. So, a little bit of everything everywhere. Um, and then back to Starbucks, again, I mentioned the site improvements and the secure entry vestibule. Also talked about the kitchen and serving line renovations as well as some finish upgrades to the cafeteria to kind of tie all of those spaces together. Some renovations to what is currently um where the existing stage is in Starbucks. That is going
044to come out. We're going to lower that floor and that's going to become the new kitchen. and the kitchen will be adjacent to the cafeteria. We can kind of take advantage of all of that space and what was the old K kitchen formerly faculty room that will become kind of the new teacher work room. There's a couple rooms in there. Um and then the big thing here mechanical MP wise is the steam to hot water conversion. So current building mechanical system is steam kind of outdated converting that to hot water. Same thing will happen at the high school and north in phase 1B. The Starbucks is kind of the first in the smaller building to see how that all works out and that will affect um all of the classrooms in that building kind of
045along the perimeter of the room. So they'll get new case work to build new walls to hide and things like that. Um so that'll be limited limited classroom upgrades will happen there. Also again LED lighting upgrades, ceiling replacement in select areas, fire alarm data lighting and controls as well. That is the Ohio bulk of the Ohio and Starbucks code. So talking about all that, how are we going to do that and kind of how did we get here? This is just kind of an overview slide of the schedule and milestone date thus far. So, as Jason mentioned, we've been working on this project really since it voted last March. So, since April, we've been having our bi-weekly planning meetings with the district and staff. We've held design meetings with Ohio and Starbucks principles and team
046there. So, we've gotten all of their input and they've seen these designs and we worked through some things, some edits with them. Um, we did schematic design and design development page turn. So we bring our giant set of drawings and we arduously flip through all of them page by page for a couple hours each time and go through and make sure everybody's on the same page as far as how the designs are progressing. And then as mentioned as of last month in December 15th we've submitted this project to the state. So it's in their hands now. Um so that arrow is kind of where we're at in the process. So, for the next couple months, we're expecting review comments hopefully by the end of January around that time frame. And then we'll talk about putting
047the project out to bid. We're eyeing end of February to open bids in March. Again, all pending SED review. And then construction kind of mobilize and get started in the spring and be ready to go once summer hits. Um, there's the note at the bottom about swing space, which I'm gonna make Kyle talk now. Yeah. So, hello. Um, so the swing space, just to kind of give everybody on the same page, there's a lot of construction that's going to have to happen. Talking behind you. Um, there's going to be a lot of construction that's going to be happening over the next few years. Um, this is going to be a nice soft start to that. With that process, we are going to have to come to the school and say there's going to be times
048we're going to have to disrupt classroom space. for this particular project. Um, being that we'll be starting in April, we'll be doing a lot of make ready work, kind of getting some once the heating can be turned off, we can demo some of the piping notasive to the classrooms. That'll get us to the summer where we'll do a lot of the common spaces that have to get done over the summer. And then once we get to the fall, that's when we're going to be requesting that swing space will really need to be required. For instance, over in Ohio, um when we start talking about window replacements, you have to understand from the point of bid to getting the contractors to then ordering the windows, there's a delay. There's a long time they have to manufacture
049the windows. It's not like going to Home Depot or Lowe's and pulling something off the shelf. It takes time to get that equipment ready and on site. Once we get that and we have to replace all the windows around the exterior of the building, we're going to ask for a couple rooms at a time, but we'll have to vacate. Maybe if we're lucky enough up to four classrooms at a time. So we take four classrooms offline, get those completed, turn them back over, then the next four classrooms will slide into that space and so on. But we're really thinking of a bunch of different options that we'll come and we'll meet with a smaller group with Dr. Sheagel and kind of administration to kind of say, okay, this is our plan. This is what it
050looks like. Here's what to prep for. The big annoyance of what we do will then come in this September, the start of the school year where we'll start shifting things around and moving around asking for spaces that you know can be utilized as classrooms so we have that space to work. Um so that's kind of the that what that little note is kind of saying is I thought it's coming. It's going to happen. Um and we're planning for it right now for the logistical plan the milestone schedule to give as much notice as possible to each of the buildings today. briefly on you know we've effectively looked to try to see if we could import trailers what that take and money that come from >> right um we did even the space within the district
051we did look at that as well um ultimately at the end of the day it costs significant money and that takes away the bricks and mortar both from what you can do with our project there is also significant time frame that you actually need because there's a whole submission to SED to make sure that the modulars are up to code for SED standards. Um, and it's just a lot of obstacles that you have to go through and costs that we didn't think were appropriate here. Um, and there schools, Kyle knows this, he does it every single day as well as us. We have schools doing renovations all the time. And it is absolutely a disruption, but it's no different than in your house when you have to do renovate your kitchen. There's we make the
052living room where the toaster oven is. And so it's that type of process. But I think in the long run with flexibility of the district, we can work around that and it'll save money and again put more bricks and mortar work into the project over 24 million. So if you look at all of those additional expenses, we're going to be able to get further along and have moved up the timeline for Starbucks with the scope. So just really high level standardization is something as well as strategy that we're talking about internally to help Tim and ultimately uh everyone that moves forward with these projects into the future have an ability to maintain and work on equipment that is hopefully very similar across all these buildings. So, the process is a board required action. Um, we
053would ultimately work with the district's legal team. Once we have a list of items that might make sense to standardize on that you would as a board approve and ultimately doesn't forego necessarily the bidding process, but allows the district to have some consistency in certain equipment and products and potentially manufacturers. Um, and so we listed a couple of examples. Door hardware is a really good one. You don't want different hardware across eight different buildings at the end of the day. That's just a maintenance nightmare. It's not efficient and it's not cost effective for this. It's not fiscally responsible. Um so what we want to do is identify that list of items that make sense. Fire alarms are up there. um temperature controls and mechanical equipment is somewhat already in play because we're entertaining potential state
054contract with a vendor in their products. But ultimately this is a strategy that we want to implement so that we can have consistency costs projects moving forward. So more to come with this. Okay, I think that's the end of the phase 1A update. Did you just ask any questions? If not, on to okay. So, phase one B, I'm just kind of bringing this back into the forefront. This is kind of our next step is to really get back into this. We've been working on this again the last couple of months as well, but really now that um we've gotten to a good spot with Ohio and Starbucks, we're going to focus back in on these buildings. So again, phase 1B involves the high school case, WY and North. Um the high school case and WY,
055as you all know, it's one large campus, so there's a lot of site work that is going to be happening in these buildings. um a lot of parking lot reconstruction, um repaving, drainage improvements, sidewalk and curb replacement, stair reconstruction, accessibility improvements across all three of these buildings. Um these are the buildings that are also very much intertwined with the FEMA project that we mentioned. So um sure everybody remembers the flood a couple of years ago. Um, so we're kind of working in tandem with FEMA to try to figure out what was damaged versus mitigation that we can do and then also tied to the project that we kind of already started designing with that and how do you say all the trains are >> how all the trains have left the station, how we get
056them all there at the same time. So, we're continuing to work on that. Um, part of the site work as well at the high school track reconstruction and drainage improvements there. Um, toilet room renovations. They don't seem very exciting, but they'll be very needed. And then here, again, mentioned it at Starbucks, but steam to hot water conversion and the boiler plant replacement. So again, Kyle already talked about kind of the huge lift of that kind of work. It's going to be like times 20. The high school just given the size of that building. Starbucks is very small. High school is very large. So again, that conversation about swing space when we get to it, having to work with the systems, tie it with the heating season and that we'll have to get um pretty creative
057with that, but working on that. Um also some air handling unit and rooftop replacement around the building. Um similar to what I mentioned at Ohio with the classroom unit ventilators, high school will be getting the same treatment as well. So again, those kind of low horizontal unit ventilators that are in the rooms will come out. They'll become a vertical unit kind of in the corner that's ducted out. Um, in tandem with that, actually, a lot of the we say or louvers where the fresh air comes in at the high school are low to the ground or actually low to the roof of the next floor. So, we're going to be removing those louvers, infilling them, which will also help kind of with any future flood mitigation or something were to happen or snow intake, things
058like that, getting them up higher off the ground, and those will come through the window system. Now, um LED lighting upgrades and ceiling replacement throughout that entire building and then some upgrades as well. Um work at Case is minimal. the newer building even though 2002 doesn't seem that new in compared to the high school which is in the 60s it is very new. Um so again mentioned all the site improvements but um within the building as well fire alarm system upgrade and then there is some light pools getting replaced and additional site lighting getting added um here at WY and um site improvements which also include new playground and creating a new kind of bus loop dedicated away from the currently everybody now you know the buses come up there's parent drop off the parking
059lot is very crowded. We're kind of out of spaces. So, we're trying to maximize um parking there and then as well as create a separate um separate bus loop away from that parking lot to kind of increase the safety there. Um the exciting thing at WY is the planetarium and that's kind of tied into now a larger library media center renovation as well. Um, at one point we had looked at kind of relocating the planetarium potentially to one of these actually larger atrium spaces, but in looking at it again, I think we can kind of keep the planetarium in a similar central location in the building and kind of work in the media center and give that a whole refresh as part of that. So, I'm excited. That's the part I'm most excited about in
060that direction with the lighting, the natural lighting classrooms on the inner walls. >> Yeah, that was the thing too. These spaces, they're not just um there circulation for one, there a lot of egress for some of those inner classrooms, but they also do let natural light in. And when you've got a planetarium, what you don't want is light inside of it. Um so that's why those as we started to dive in more and look into that that's we kind of made us rethink and um it was going to be challenging to kind of capture what was needed for that planetarium and maybe the size of it in a space like this where you still have to leave so much room to egress around just mentioned you know that takes away from some of the natural
061light that those classrooms were getting. So we think kind of keeping it where it is in a way, but then again kind of opening it up more and incorporating it into the media center use of that space and kind of make it feel like a very exciting spot that you know that's a lot to be in. And then we can kind of leave leave that atrium space alone and it can still continue to function for the circulation and natural light. The last thing under WY is the fire alarm system upgrade as well. And then lastly at North again, steam to hot water conversion there as well. So same scope as the high school, some other air handling unit and rooftop unit replacement, LED lighting upgrades and ceiling replacement. And then the big one there is
062the entire roof system getting replaced. Um, and that is also an element Jason mentioned the new building code coming out. There's some changes there. So, we really need a lot of time to study that building as well and make sure we've got everything there. There's reinforcing requirements and snow loads and things like that. As we all know, get a lot of snow up here. So, we want to make sure that um that is designed appropriately. And then lastly, controls upgrades. So, lots of exciting, some might say not exciting, but I think it's all pretty exciting stuff that's happening there. Um, and then kind of next steps with that. So again, J Jason already went through kind of that overall phase 1B schedule, but more on the design side. So in the next over the next
063couple of months, we'll start to have those. We've already started to have some of these, but more staff feedback and design meetings. Um, specifically related to the toilet rooms at the high school and the planetary and media center at WY where we need input from more people and go through the the steps of that, the iterations of that. We'll continue to work on our drawings. Usually, I like to get some final design input from the staff before everybody vacates in the summer. So probably towards the end of June, you know, we'll have some really great designs fleshed out by then and we can um present those and then while the staff are out for summer, we continue to kind of work on those construction documents, fine-tuning, getting all the details in there. And then our
064goal for phase 1B is to submit that to SED in August of this year. So in the next few months um and then September, October, usually before we bid the project as well, we'll kind of review that once more with our admin team here and then we'll look to bid that like late fall, early winter. So kind of similar schedule as to what we're doing now with Ohio and servo this year later. Any questions on that? I think that brings us to then just a brief update on the 2523 capital outlay project. So here um that project focuses primarily on accessibility improvement at North Elementary and ultimately in your packets on the last page is a graphic um or plan again of what kind of is currently at North on the left and what the
065proposed is on the right. So, we're looking at adding a new ADA compliant ramp in part of that corridor. Currently, um that entire wing, I believe it's a fourth grade wing of classrooms, about eight or nine classrooms, is not is only accessible by stairs. So, by adding that ramp in, that now is um an accessible way for more students to be able to get down to that part of the building. Um that project has already received SED approval. It's currently bidding. Right now we have our bid opening a week from tomorrow. Today Tuesday yes a week from today. So we'll be back up here next week. Um so have that bid opening and as long as bids are good. We've got a successful low bidder. Then construction will take place over April's break. We're trying
066to capitalize on getting really that week like getting the ramp in place and then so that when students come back that is functional. There might be some finishing some painting here and there that has to happen after school or when students aren't there. Um, and then also some work in the adjacent like a book room. Now, there's also some data servers in there. It'll kind of become more of like a storage data closet after this. Um, there'll be some more work that has to happen in there, but that can also kind of also be contained in that space and out of the way as students are in the building. And then that would be substantially between June one of this year and then close out for June 30th. So tight timeline, but again really small
067work and then we'll already start to talk about the next get right back into it. I think that is all for us. Um, so Stacy, I don't know if you wanted. So, one of the things that we asked Stacy to be on call or is any questions you might have for FEMA and the efforts that we were dealing with with that process? I don't know, Stacy, you just want to really quick uh where we are with that, >> right? Um so we have been working uh kind of juggling between what's happening with the design work for the um capital outlay project for site work across the campus at um WY and Case in the high school and trying to figure out you know what what sort of storm water mitigation practices we can incorporate into
068that master plan design um that we were able to work through um and kind of start incorporating some of the ideas that we had obtained from the construct uh excuse me the traffic study that was conducted about a year uh yeah maybe about a year ago from uh from today. Um so we've been working through that process with FEMA. Um, we were able I I've been able to kind of get to a good uh point in the like the overall campus design where I can start um really developing those storm water management practices um to hopefully get some additional funding through FEMA to uh support and be able to um get a little bit better storm water management system for that campus. Um, so we're kind of in just the home stretch of finalizing our
069estimates and our storm water calculations to be able to submit that into FEMA. Um, and hopefully be able to uh proceed forward successfully with them. >> Thank you. >> Any questions? that I hear. >> I think it's it's super exciting to start to see everything, you know, everything was conceptualized and what we needed and we did the tours and buildings. Now to see it starting to come to fruition out, I think it's very exciting. Our teachers and our staff members, our students are very happy. Thank you so much for your time. >> All right, we're on to our SAF committee reported here. and more specifically performance contract which we um posted this week actually tomorrow for that uh we discuss FEMA briefly the million dollars some have been received and hopefully around 7 as well
070then the capital outlay updates the accessibility project at north elementary more specifically we can add a sensive list some notes on that for um ideas for the next capital outlay for this upcoming capital outlay. Nice part about that was having the structure associates there kind of um pass on some smart ways responsible ways to approach the decision making. I'll talk about a $30 million um project update which is invested which see which um looks great and will be done by the end of the month. Um then get into the capital um project timeline. The updates phase 1 a Starbucks 1B water pump phase five more information just went over. So much detail about that. Um then have a little bit of time left for um 26 27 budget updates budget calendar has um the tax
071cap which um fal advisers will present to the board on February 24th. um we will vote on to meet the March 1st deadline and the fund balance which are early discussions and many variables and unknowns to that. Couple more items on the agenda that we were not able to get to time superintendent schools report Dr. So we had our meeting today. So we are not going to repeat that. We had a great conversation about mitigation. We had our calendar meeting to talk about next year's school calendar. And then uh most importantly, I just want to welcome our student back to the uh school year and uh ask that everyone as we tie up the end of the second quarter to make sure that we finish strong. >> Thank you, Dr. Assistant Superintendent for Instruction. Uh
072Lind. >> Good evening everyone. Um just a couple items from me. First of all, our office is actively gathering and reviewing the necessary information for the impact aid application which will be submitted later this month. Also, our superintendence conference day which took place on December 22nd was a great success. We had our teachers sharing their expertise with each other. We had sessions on instruction, technology, sports, injury prevention, SEAL, writing, math instruction, science investigation, 3D modeling, literacy, and CPR, and more. So, we're very pleased about that event and looking forward to doing it again next year. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lynn. >> Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Student Services, Tim. >> Good evening. The district's newly hired student extracurricular wellness coach began her official duties on January 5th, 2026. During her first two days, she visited
073multiple athletic practices to introduce herself to student participants and coaching staff and to explain the wellness supports and services she provides. In the coming weeks, she will also visit performing arts councils and other extracurricular settings to ensure broad visibility and access for all extracurricular participants. This position will help to enhance students extracurricular experiences by providing consistent proactive wellness support that helps students manage stress, build resilience, and perform at their best while participating in activities they value by embedding wellness supports directly within extracurricular settings. The role strengthens student engagement, promotes positive school connections, and supports sustained participation across athletics, performing arts, and other extracurricular programs. We look forward to the great number of benefits this position will bring. Thank you. >> And finally, under board staff reports assistant superintendent for operations and finance, Brienne Durham. >>
074Thank you. A couple of updates from the various departments and food service participation in the subs and salads program continues to grow steadily across the district. Um at the high school, we've introduced a weekly special that has been wellreceived by the students. Based on this su this this success, we plan to roll out the same concept at the middle school in the near future. Near future from the IT department, we have made significant progress on upgrading technology in the two classrooms at Case and Watertown High School that support our Micron initiatives. The project is about 90% complete and represents a substantial collaborative effort. These upgrades included the full Adobe Creative Suite and AutoCAD software which are resource intensive applications that required additional hardware and configuration beyond the standard deployments. And finally, um we successfully uploaded
075all audit reports to New York State and made them available on the business office website so we can close that door and open up the next one. Looking ahead at our budget cycle beginning on January 12th with department presentations, um health insurance and workers comp premium increases will be to determine later this month, which is a big part of the budget. Um the board will begin receiving budget reports in February and we'll also receive a tax cap presentation from Ben Meslona of fiscal advisors on February 24th for also your vote. >> Thank you, >> Michelle. Items for the consent agenda. Resolve the consent agenda items A through H. >> Motion and second discussion. >> All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Items for board action. Item A, approval of annual meeting, budget hearing, budget
076vote, and school board election calendar for the year 2026. of the 2026 budget development calendar for the annual meeting, budget hearing, budget vote, and school board election vote is hereby approved. >> Motion, please. Calling a second discussion. All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Item C, approval of personnel report. I'm sorry. I'm I'm good for that at least once a meeting. Uh approval approval of IRS mileage reimbursement rate for 2026 that the IRS reimbursement rate as of January 1, 2026 will be 72 cents per mile for business miles driven and is approved. Motion to please this had a second team discussion. Remember when it was 28 cents I'm getting there. >> At least none of us remember what it was extra hay for the horse. I'm sure I'm sure. Are you sure? All those
077in favor? >> Any opposed? That motion carries. Now we're on to see approval of the first resolve that upon the recommendation Dr. table. The board of education hereby approves the resignations, retirements, appointment probationary instructional term nonbationary instructional literacy coordinator uh two years after school programs permanent provisional substitutes instructional substitutes noninstru Take a motion, please. Randy in the S. Melanie. Discussion. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? That motion carries. Item D, approval of increase substitutes rates. result of the substitute tutor and summer school teacher rates of pay are increased uh following the review by the board of education effective January 1, 2026 hereby approved motion for second discussion. All those in favor motion carries. Um, item E, approval to increase rates of pay for election inspectors. >> Resolve that the approval of an increase in
078the election inspector rates of pay to an hourly rate of 1650 per hour and 1750 per hour for the chief inspector. This new rate will take effect for the May 19th, 2026 school budget and board elections and is thereby approved. Motion, please. Melanie, we have a second. discussion. >> Yeah, I just try to encourage my participation in government students that it's not a bad game for a day. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Uh item F, approval of new courses. >> Resolve that new courses for 267 school year at Watertown High School. Our bio sulture 3 and 4, chemistry 131, A2 chemistry, JCC edge, um, bio 105 and environmental biology, bio 106 biology and advanced manufacturing level three motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Any opposed?
079Motion carries. Item G, approval to amend the 202526 academic calendar. >> We all that the Watertown City School District Board of Education amends the 2026 school calendar as follows. January 20th, 2026 will be a testing date for grades 9 through 12. Grades K through 8 will have a regularly scheduled day of instruction. take a motion please for public discussion. >> Unfortunately, we don't get the dates far enough to be able to particular next year's calendar. >> Further discussion? All those in favor? >> Any oppose? Motion carries. Item H, approval of educational and/or athletic trips. >> The educational student trip has presented here by approved. >> Motion, please. Melanie see discussion. All those in favor? >> Any oppos? Motion carries. Item I, approval of a donation. >> Resolve a donation of San Food Service Department. school
080accepted this generous contribution allowing items to be purchased to sponsor two students in need during the holiday season. The board gratefully accepts and approves this donation which will be acknowledged in writing discussion. Sounds like this was CN filling type situation. All those in favor any days you ever just get to a point. >> Uh item J, approval of a donation. >> A donation of $500 hereby accepted. this generous contribution to support the water city school district program. The boardfly approves and accepts this donation and take a motion or any discussion. Say thank you very much. >> All those in favor? >> Any oppos? Motion carries. Item K, approval of a donation. A donation of $100 from Bridget Mardly accepted this generous donation designated to be used for students needs or supplies during the holiday season
081or in the near future. The boardfully accepts donation will ensure it is in motion. No. And a second team discussion. Very nice. >> All those in favor? >> Any oppose? Motion carries. And item L, approval of a donation. Three gift cards each in the amount of $230 and one gift card in the amount of $100. This generous donation for designated support for the deans of students um during the holiday season at elementaryfully accepted. Let's get a motion, please. See, and a second discussion. All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion. We are at the second public comment section of our meeting today. Uh same rules apply. Is there anybody here for public comment on non-aggenda? >> Hi, welcome back from break. I hope you guys had a great holiday. Um, okay. So, last year the community
082based organizations that partner with the Watertown City School District to help administer the EP programs, we came to you guys and brought some serious concerns to the front. Um, those concerns remain unressed. So, I'm here tonight because we're coming up on RFP season. the RFP for the UPK will be released next month and I would like to revisit some of these concerns, bring them to the forefront because it does affect potentially how this RFP is going to be rolled out. Um, and I'm just hoping that we can maybe avoid some of the pitfalls that were experienced last year. So, I just have two things um that I would like to put on your plate here. So the first one is that we are asking for a 15% increase to reimbursement rates so programs can meet
083district expectations and state mandates without compromising quality or financial stability. And the second one is protecting partnerships with CBOS who actually operate OCFS licensed childcare centers within the district and ensuring UPK classrooms within the school buildings only go to Watertown City School District children. And I'm going to explain that one in a minute. But on that first one, that 15% increase, that's nothing new. We brought that to you guys last year. And quite frankly, I don't understand why we're not getting an increase every year. Um, we sit here, we talk about finances, we talk about budgeting, we talk about the increase in insuranceances, workers compensation, mileage reimbursement rates, the increase in costs for staff salaries. Your budget goes up every year. Um, January 1st, the minimum wage went up to $16 an hour. Do you
084know what it was 10 years ago? $9 an hour. 10 years ago, we're receiving the same rates as we did 10 years ago. And actually, we're receiving less than we did 10 years ago, but I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole. So, and even just tonight, the substitute teaching rates, right, were approved to increase because why? Because we need to be able to afford to pay our teachers at a fair rate and to pull them in and get competent, highly qualified people. So why would you think that the CBOS don't also have increasing costs every single year? So last year we went to you guys and we were like, "Hey, like behind closed doors, not publicly, did you know that we are not getting any increase year after year after year?" And what
085were we told? We were told we can't increase your rates because we can only give you what the state gives you. And I will say that the state really does need to step up and change some things and we need to advocate for that. I'm 100% down with that. But you guys turned around and you approved $1.2 million of taxpayer money to fund your own two UPK classrooms and not didn't give a penny more to the community partners. That was a huge slap in the face to your community partners. >> Finish yourself. >> Um, yeah. So anyway, uh for the record, that the 15% increase that we're asking for, that equates to about less than $540,000 for all of the UPK partners for one year, and you guys allocated 1.2 million for two classrooms. So,
086>> thank you for your thoughts. Your time's up. If you have additional thoughts that you'd like to share, >> are you really going to cut me off, John? >> Yes, that's the policy. >> You're really going to stick to this policy? I want you to remember you did this because there's going to be other people after me and this could be considered retaliation. >> We're sticking to the policy. >> Okay. Because I think it's really important that you hear the second one which is that you have non-district students who please feel free to share it via writing or at a different meeting. Thank you. >> All right. You can share that one. >> I really seriously we we talked about this. The whole point is not redundant. I have a whole second point, a whole
087second issue that I need to bring to light. >> No one ever, no, no other institution in our community does this. City council, county legislators, like this is a public forum. If we're not going to exhaust like just, you know, talking about the same thing, like I get that, but seriously, that's just ridiculous. It's offensive and that's consider considered censoring the community. What she wants to finish saying that you don't know and I know you don't know this is that we have a UPK CBO um in in our system water city school district that Larry granted a contract with to that is not OCSF certified. What does that mean? If you're not OCSF certified, that means that when something goes wrong within that in that little um prek program, they're not accountable to the state.
088And why are they allowing this to happen? Because they're under the umbrella of the district. And we should not as taxpayers be giving our money to another county. And that CBO is from Lewis County. Did you know that? >> Ago County. >> Ouiggo County. Did you know that they have to give half of their slots to other school district children? While you have Watertown City School District preschool children on a wait list not getting services, but because you partnered with the CBO, other school district children right now are in those classrooms. >> I I'm just I I I really am disgusted with this whole forum. You are you are allowing someone who is that came to this community and put in all these new rules that censor our community and do not allow us to
089speak. That's wrong. And I'm asking you to reconsider because I'm going to tell you right now, John, you're going to get a lot of push back from this community. You are not You are part of us. You live here. You go to Price Chopper. You go to Target. Your children live here. Your family lives here. Your entire extended family lives here. There are people that are sitting up there that don't have to run into anybody that you live with. That's what's going to happen to you. You're going to run into all these people and they're going to say something to you. There's always been that question, well, how come no one calls me? Because they feel like nobody on this board listens to anybody. So, I get all these phone calls and I come up
090here. I literally have a bunch of things that I want to say, but I am disgusted that you would cut someone down like that. You guys have two pending litigations because you don't let people talk and anytime there's a question as legal, legal, legal, I I charge you, colleague, to find out as the head of the finance committee, you've been on this board. You are a veteran. You've been here longer than everybody else. Ask your CFO to tally up all the legal costs that you had prior to the three years that Larry was here. ask. I want to know what those legals across are. That is part of your responsibility to be fiscally responsible. It's disgusting. I'm really disappointed. I will get my points out and I think that what you're doing there, John, is
091really embarrassing. You're better and you're bigger than that. Is >> there anybody else that would like to speak to non-aggenda related items? Okay, we have no items listed for discussion information. Anything that we need to bring up. Upcoming dates. Monday, January 19th, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. No schoolings in the district will be closed. Tuesday, January 20th, policy committee meeting at 5. We're at Makerbacher on that evening, followed at six o'clock by the regular board of education meeting in the Makerbacher Elementary cafeteria. Um, I did want to point out for especially the board members the emails that we got. U Mrs. Neran is doing her uh case spelling be in the case auditorium on the 15th at 2:30. So, if spelling beans are your jam, catch that. And uh Mrs. Chatterton is doing her public
092speaking finals with her students in the large cafeteria on the 14th and the 15th starting at 4. I know some of us have attended that before and that's usually uh really impressive. We have some great public speakers and some great topics. Um I'll look around the district. Randy, you start have much to add. I do have a thought though. Um for some time we've had um conversations with Mr. passion from CAPC and I know some board members had an opportunity to be present for a warm discussion with him facilitating and I just wonder if you would benefit from some type of even informal conversation with few representatives of the organization just to begin to hear some of the things at the start. I don't know where that will go but I I'd like to see
093to me it's better than doing nothing and hoping for miracles. So, um, he's been very gracious in his outreach to us and has asked several times for this opportunity to have a conversation. I see him sort of as facto representative of that group and I've known him to be a very fair intelligent and kind person. So, I think that might be something I'd like to see happen. Um or even just one of the two of us and superintendent not award gesture of good will to >> kind of going off of what you're saying right now. I would be curious if you are aware of any um like lobbying opportunities at the state level. I would be happy to have conversations um and certainly we can have them a local level as well, but I do
094think we need to look at funding from the state level as well down to local. So, um, if anybody's aware of that, I am happy to have those conversations and start looking into that as some advocacy as well. Um, for tonight, um, I was happy to see the music students back. I was really hoping to pop out to Rochester that weekend, but the weather, um, kept me in Watertown. And then the other thing I think I'm excited to see is that the manufacturing class sounds very interesting and um to have such opportunities both in on campus and then to have OC's um being somewhat represented. So it's exciting for district students that you've added to our micron relationship. to many disruption of the micron relationship since they've kind of pushed back their timeline for our
095students are still interested in the courses sharing the case students that leave the high school case >> right before Christmas we had the American Federation teachers were actually here to visit the program. Anything else? Thank you so much. >> Um, first I have a thing to read. >> It reminds me um it says, "Good afternoon, Jim. I wanted to share a few prek highlights for our community. Our prek teachers have shown remarkable growth in both physical environment and teacher teacher child interactions. based on indicators from teaching strategies, creative curricula. Classrooms are increasingly intentional but engaging and supportive for our youngest. We are also deeply grateful for our teachers commitment to the top 10 daily dose of literacy, including um phonological awareness, letter and sound recognition, oral language development, vocabulary, and reading texts. multiple reading texts
096multiple times for different purposes. These daily practices are strengthening early literacy foundations across classrooms. We are incredibly proud of our teachers, thankful for the dedication to our children and thank you. Um I am thrilled that the kids came back. I am so glad to hear because I don't know what happens when they get there. you know, they we send them off states and then they don't know what else. So, I'm thrilled they were all able I could have listen. So, but other than that, I just wanted to welcome the kids Christmas and everybody great start to the new year. Thank you. >> Students are getting back into the schedule of things that administration from high school case and other schools are issuing notices out about the phone policy and about the state law recognition from
097what I know. Um glad to be back at school. That's all I have to say. >> I think they were still talking. Um no I just wanted to thank Chris books introducing himself them um and Tina for helping to reach out and organizing this place. That was awesome. The all stars um very impressive description of their experience. Um and I don't think for Stey could have a better picture. >> Um I've got a note from Dr. Andy Gharts. Um, she says, "Will's hygiene vending machine is sat empty for over a year due to the age level of the students and their ability to be able to only take what they need. With that said, rather than pushing buttons and automatically dispensing products, coupon reader has been installed and coded to the machine. Chad is working
098on a system for students to know who to get coupons from when they have a need. An adult will provide one coupon per product to structure the access to hygiene items and teach students that it is not a choice. Rather, it is meant to provide students with items they need when they need them. This is a very exciting step forward for WY. As hygiene needs are met, students are better able to focus on instruction in the classroom. That's good news. I'm glad it's it's back to being used and that we found a way to make that happen appropriately. Um been quiet over the last two weeks obviously with break. So, I will just say it's very exciting to to keep heading down this path to our building projects. Um it was great to see our
099music kids come back. They are obviously very excited about what they do and I can't wait to see most of them in Spongebob. Not my favorite musical, but I have a feeling that they are gonna make it one of my favorite musicals. Uh, and other than that, I'll just wish uh everybody a happy, healthy, and safe new year. And it's good to be back in school. And with that, we are uh in need of a executive session for the purpose to review the employment contract of a specific employee. and to discuss pending litigation against the districts. And I have a motion to enter executive session. See, and a second. All those in favor? I This motion is