001Call to order. Start with our pledge of >> allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Welcome everybody tonight. Uh everybody that's watching at home or maybe watching this later. Um it's nice to come back to North where my children went to school and I know um feels like home and I know Caleb feels like home too. So um always nice to be here. Um Michelle, do we have any agenda changes for this evening? >> We do. I just have one under items for board action. Uh J. >> Okay. Um under items for board action. J the approval of paid administrative leave. That is the only one. >> Okay. Thank you. Um public comment
002section. So I just want to remind everybody the public comment portion of the 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 in 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 to the superintendent of schools during regular business hours. All speakers are to conduct themselves in a civil manner. Obscene language, lialist statements, and threats of violence will not be tolerated. It is not the practice of the board to respond during the meeting to questions posed or comments made by speakers. Therefore, while the board will certainly take any questions or comments you might have under advisement, we will not
003be responding to any questions. This is for agenda related items and we did get one request and Millie that was you. >> Work. >> Hello. >> That's for the live part. So, you won't hear it in here. so that people for the streaming. >> I'm sorry. Okay. So, um >> I believe this is agenda related. Um on our agenda, I just wanted to take the time to remind the board members and specifically the new board members that we do have a section in the agenda that is written as items for discussion and information. And in my two years on the board, we barely ever use that section. And I think that that is an excellent part part of the agenda where you John as our leader and our president of the board you drive the
004agenda for the board meetings and given all of the things that have transpired so far this year and we're not even at the end of September that it would be nice if the community started to hear some feedback. I feel like what's going on every week is there's people coming to the board meeting. We're all speaking about our concerns. Um the upset that's going on and there's never any feedback from anybody. And I know that according to the board policy, you don't have to respond. But I just think that with respect to all of the outrage in the community with multiple things that I'm sure there's people here tonight that are going to talk about that that maybe in the future we want to tap into that part of the agenda where you actually we
005can hear your thoughts like we have no idea what you're thinking. It's very hard for us to stand up here and talk and we just see it blank faces. We get no response and maybe you should just choose some subject matters that are super sensitive and the community and people who attend the meetings can just get a little bit of your thought process and understand where you stand with some of these things. We just need to hear a little bit more from our board members being that you are our elected officials and you technically are the mouths for our community. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mauie. Anybody else for agenda related items this evening? Okay. Any communications? >> I do have a communication from uh the Jeff Lewis School Boards Association. There is a fall
006dinner coming up on October 2nd for the board members. Um they did get this in an email. Um it is here in Watertown. Um the topic is student board members. Um and I I will need an RSVP by the end of the week. so I can let them know that uh who's interested in attending. Um I do have Melanie St named down as one of the attendees. >> Thank you, Michelle. >> Yeah, you're welcome. >> Uh board and staff reports. Welcome in student voice with Mrs. Sandra Kane, principal of North Elementary. >> Good evening. I'm going to use the microphone that I have for the building with these awesome speakers up there. So, it's just what I'm used to. So, it's what I have. I should bring. Okay. Strategic plan. This is the focus for
007our district throughout the entire year. Everything we do has to come back to the strategic plan with our ultimate goal graduating our fabulous children here from Watertown. One thing I want to draw your attention to is the picture and I know it's hard to see. It's a big room, small tiny picture. And that is a picture of our graduating seniors from 2025 who came through the North Elementary for their parade. They do it on a special senior day. They have lunch, I think afterwards, a picnic lunch. And we try to do a lot of fabulous things here. So, one of the student voices we have is from one of our graduating graduating seniors. And I'm going to play that right now with patience because it's on my phone. Just joking. Give me one second. >>
008I got it. I am technology weak, but I am stretching myself and doing hard things right now. Okay, I need to get closer, I think, to the machine that's going to register it. Hopefully, it's contemplating one. Mr. Shanley, do you remember when I said I was just going to hold microphone up to my >> cell phone and play it and you said, "Hey, connect it through the Bluetooth like I was going to my microphone." All right, try again. Everybody here is doing a great job waiting for me. Thank you. Hopefully this sounds good. >> Hello, my name is Harper Lane. I am a 2025 graduate from Watertown High School. I'm now a freshman at St. Madventure University where I study psychology and occupational therapy. I went to North Elementary kindergarten through 4th grade, so about
0092012 to 2017. recently, right before graduation, they held the grad parade that they've held in the last couple of years. Um, it's such a it was such a wonderful experience to be able to see all of my former teachers and all the staff members I knew and even my own mom because she does work at North. Um, just there lying through the hallways ready to celebrate us. The students were there. Some of them were in little graduation caps and they had all these fun decorations and signs for us. It was such a wonderful experience. North always does such a great job with activities like this and to see everybody that I that watched me grow up was such an amazing experience. Um, we ended the parade in the cafeteria where we got to take pictures
010and they presented confetti and balloons to us and overall it was such a wonderful experience. I think that North does such an incredible >> I'm not fighting with the technology anymore. But that was Harper Lane. She is fabulous and she was so kind when I texted her to say, could you please just give us your feedback on what the parade was like at North and this is something this this is our three years I think we've had the parade now and it is by far one of the favorite things that we do here. We play music. We try to get songs that the seniors, the current seniors like. So the parade has music as they're going through and we always love a nice confetti situation here at North. So always fun. And something that was
011a little bit different this year, we had about three or four parents that arrived uh at the start of the parade and Mrs. Finister and I decided as they were here that they wanted to follow along and we let the parents follow follow along their seniors and it was just awesome because it's such a huge time for our seniors to be able to celebrate that and their parents were able to come in and take pictures. So that was a new thing that we added having the parents in. They just had never been here before. So that was awesome. We love it. That one's going to stick. So just wanted to sing that. So moving on, we're going to talk a little bit about Dibbles data and we are going to focus on kindergarten. Dibbles is
012an assessment that we started giving last year. It gives us a really good indicator how our students are doing in the area of reading. One of the things I want to feature is our cute little kindergarten children of last year that are now going into first grade. And I know it's a little bit difficult to see again because it's so far away and whatnot, but BOI stands for beginning of the year and EOI stands for end of the year. And the gist of that is we had 51% at the start of kindergarten who were not making proper standards, but by the end of the year that dropped to 37. So we had a lot of kindergarten that made a lot of growth. We also know that the path that we are on with all of
013the intervention that we are doing, the reading league, the sixstep lesson plan, all curriculum things that we have started that are based in the science of reading take about three years out before we start to see this growth start to blossom and become even better. So, we are off to a great start and we're very excited about that. In speaking about curriculum, we have a lot of new things that started last year. Uh maybe the year before some of them, no, most last year. Whether whether it is letters, viewfly, spring math, all of these things is what's helping us to tackle those scores that we have had back on those state assessments that were not looking necessarily fantastic. and we put some fantastic things into play. I want to talk a little bit about letters.
014To be honest, a lot of teachers coming out of teacher colleges don't always have the focus on the phonetic part, the in-depth way of teaching letters and letter sounds that we really need. And we, this district has been doing a fantastic job. We've been teaching our kindergarten, our first grade. We're moving on to other grade levels and sending teachers to this letters training which is basically a college level class coming out of Boseis and it is strengthening the way our phonics instruction that component of the science of reading. Now phonics is just one part. There's a whole other part to it, but that is definitely an area that we identified as something that we needed to grow in. Spring math and number worlds. Number worlds is new to us this year. We dabbled a little
015bit in that last year with some afterchool math support and now we are going to be moving into our walk to intervention model with number worlds being the foundation for that. And just to explain a little bit what the walk to intervention model looks like, intervention is a time when students get extra help in the areas that they are struggling. Whether it is reading or whether it is math, we have separated uh we have different groups, different groups based on skills. We give different math assessments and it says if maybe you aren't strongly at two-digit addition, maybe you need extra help in multiplication. all the students then for during an extra help time are able to get what they need at the level they are at. Sometimes you will also have students that are on
016or above in any of those subjects and those students also get to go to another class where they get to get pushed a little bit more and to stretch themselves and what they need. And we we tried a model similar to this right before CO, but then COVID happened and a lot of changes happened and it was hard to get back to it. But I I honestly believe that this model right now is why we're seeing the gains that we are seeing academically with our curriculum. And I think the further we go along that is even going to get better and improve anymore. So, I am very psyched to say the least about what we're doing right now. And I've been here I think it's my 16th year at Watertown I think. But to be
017honest right now feels just amazing. Teachers know when you're doing things that feel like you're doing the right thing for your kids. And to have so much of what we're doing right now being based out of the science of learning and the science of reading is just awesome. And I this sounds a little bit crazy, but sometimes I have different conversations with either my instructional coach or teachers and I geek out a little bit on it, but it is so much fun. It's fun when you know what you're doing is the right thing to be doing. So anyway, oh back, we are now going to head over to the instructional coach, Kathy. She's going to come on up. I have Kathy all year again. We had her last year and Kathy's a little rock star
018and she's going to talk about that. I'm not gonna talk about being actually want to start out by saying that Lyn Gaffne is a rock star because all of the things that Sandra just talked about, Lyn Gaffne has really spearheaded and brought to our district. So, we're really lucky to have her. So, I am the instructional coach at North Elementary. If you don't know, um, we have an instructional coach at all of our eight buildings in the Watertown City School District. So, basically, our role is to support the teachers, provide professional development, provide resources, um, hand out materials, all of those things, which there were a couple of coaches today in the basement of WY in the dirty basement going through map boxes. So, we're a little jack of all trade sometimes. Um, the first
019thing I want to show you are all of these things that we're doing throughout the district, but also at North. I'm not sure if everyone has seen these. These are the cyclone six. These are effective teaching strategies. So again, we'll we'll get Lynn Lynn researched and um compiled a list of the best most affecting effective strategies that teachers can use to help our kids because that's our goal. We want to help our students learn because they all can learn and we want to make sure they do. So those are the six strategies. I'm not going to go over all of them, but what we're doing at North is making sure that our teachers understand these, they practice them, and maybe even observe each other using these strategies. So, at North, we have a lot of
020things. Let's go over here. At North, we have Thank you. Yeah, there. So, we are doing a lot of things at North. We are trying to obviously be the best that we can be and we're trying to incorporate these strategies. So what we're doing is we have grade level meetings every single morning. So each day is a different grade level. This picture is us sitting around the uh table in Sandra's office and Peggy's we um are talking about intervention groups and what are some strategies that we can use. This is about fluency groups and what we can do for our students to get them to be more fluent in their reading. >> Yeah, I think I did it. Here is another uh picture from grade level meetings. What we did here, this is also with
021intervention. These are reading screeners that the students were given. And Sandra just talked about how we're trying to see where those gaps are. And what we are doing here is dividing all of their screeners and their different tests and we're analyzing them. We're digging into them and seeing what what each student needs and then we group them and we continue talking with the teachers about the best strategies. We are okay. Two more things. We did a book study last year after school at North and we had quite a few teachers that came and I was really impressed with the amount of teachers that wanted to learn more about their craft. So, we read the book Just Tell Them and we came together after school um I think it was every other week and talked about
022the strategies and how we could use them in the classroom. This book is about um explicit teaching. Zach Rashelle has been to Watertown several times, so our teachers know him. He has worked with the coaches and the administrators and all of our teachers. One more. And the last thing I want to talk about that we're going to do in October is Blow. Glow is an initiative where the teachers get to observe each other in the classroom. We're going to focus on opportunities to respond, which is one of the cyclone six. The teachers will go to each other's classroom, watch that teacher, and they will trade off throughout the day, and then we'll have debriefing sessions where they can talk about the strategies that they saw and how they can incorporate it into their own teaching.
023So, we have a lot going on at North and we can't wait for this year to begin and see our data improve and improve. Thank you. So, North Elementary, we piloted a new thing called prek bridging. It's to help our incoming kindergarten children be a little bit more comfortable when they are getting ready to start kindergarten. So, next year, I believe it will grow to all the elementarymentaries. Children that came to it were from all all over Watertown. So, we're going to talk a little bit about that, but we're going to talk to Everly. All right, Everly, now's your time. Come on up, sweetheart. We started with a gradu graduating senior. We are ending with a kindergarten student named Everly. We first of all, I want everyone to know that Everly and I came in
024here earlier today and there were probably 84th graders sitting in here when we practice talking on the microphone. Is this is this scarier or easier than the fourth graders? [Laughter] >> All right, we'll start with some easier questions. All right. So, Everly, first of all, 3K bridging was about three days. I think three days. Three days, a couple of hours. And they were able to work with a couple of kindergarten teachers and they also visited the library. Do you remember going to the library? >> She did remember earlier. Do you remember going to the art room? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Did you make a craft in the art room? >> We made a color monster. >> Good details. I didn't have that one earlier. Okay. She had a color monster. Excellent. Did you have I
025feel like you keep trying to get away from me. Back up to you. Okay. Do you remember getting a t-shirt? Yeah, >> we have we have gone through this a couple of times. She remembers to teach. >> I think all of you are making her nervous. Do you remember having snack? >> Yeah. >> Do you remember what you told me your favorite snack was? >> Scooby-Doo. >> That is what you told me. Yes. She likes the little Scooby-Doo snacks. Those were her favorite. Excellent. And did you meet any friends when you were here at the the bridging? >> Yeah. Are any of them in your class? Um, no. I am positive that answer was yes earlier than me. >> I love kindergarteners. You never know what you're going to get. But thank you very much.
026You did an awesome job. All right. Awesome job. Oh, that's right. Everly. Hold on one second. It was wonderful. It eased a lot of nervousness. That is what the first part of kindergarten is. It's nervousness from the children. It's nervousness from parents. And having an opportunity to come over the summer and basically practice doing what kindergarten looks like helps alleviate a lot of stress. Just like when we moved our open house to before school starts, the amount of stress that that takes off parents plates when they have already walked to the classroom, they've met the teacher, they've seen the space, having those visuals helps children and the parents to feel just more at ease as we start something new. And doing something new is always a little bit hard. So anyway, thank you so much
027for being here at North Elementary. We are going to have a fabulous day per usual. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Kane, and all of your North staff and Everlay as well. Um, we're on to our policy committee meeting report. Mrs. Lori Converse. >> Um, yes, we went over three different items today. Can everyone hear me? Because I knew you would tell me now. Um, we went over three different items today. Um the first one was fiscal management policy 45504 and that is just an update regarding expense reimburse excuse me where went over expense reimbursement regulations on policy 45504.1 and that's to change that we can only do a 20% tip when you're and and it can't exceed that because we were finding that some people were doing 50% so the business office changed that
028so we're not spending money. Not necessarily. All expenses need to be brought to the business office within 30 days is another change. That's all that we changed on that policy. Do you guys want to review that further or can we put it up for the next meeting? >> Any objections to put it on? >> Okay. >> Um All right. So then for use of credit cards, which is policy 4601, this is the change is the district shall establish a credit line not to exceed one card at $10,000 for extra classroom account for community bank. What that is, extra classroom account is going to be for musical activities and club activities. It was asked that we put it up to $15,000, but FNF and the business office said that that was too much, that 10,000 is
029more than enough. Sally Parker has that card in her office. It has to be signed out and has to be approved by the superintendent of finances and she approves all transactions. So, the card can't just be picked up and you can go do whatever you want with it. Everything has to be approved. I know that FNF did see that policy as well. Do you want to put that up next meeting or review it? >> Put it up. >> Okay. And then next, I brought up that we need to go over the use of um vehicles. Um we do not have a specific policy right now. All we have right now is 6401 transportation of students, 7401 student and staff automobile use, but that doesn't really cover the vans, the Tahoe things that we have trucks.
030We don't have anything covered right now with that policy. So therefore, we got an example policy from what Boseies currently uses. We asked them to give a more specific policy for the whole board to review. I do not feel that this is a policy that just the policy committee should be discussing. So we did >> Can you just say that last part? >> Yeah, for sure. Um, so I just What was that? Can you not use the microphone here in the audience? >> No. No. Because we have them for up here. It will cause interference. >> Um, so the policy I said that we should not just do it for the policy committee. We should all discuss it as a whole because it's a big policy. The example itself is what is four pages. So
031it's a lot of things to go over. So we want to discuss it as a whole once we get the sample back. um and look at other districts as well and would like to discuss it as a whole because there's a lot to go over. Um I did mention about adding something with athletics because I do know in the past that there's been problems where we've had a media day where students have gone on media day and personal vehicles. That's a huge liability that needs to be covered in this policy. I feel that the um vehicles need to have a logo on all of them so we know that it is a vehicle of the schools. So they also they're already working on that. So there's a lot of things to go over who can
032drive the vehicles, when they can drive the vehicles, where the vehicle should be parked, and we did discuss that today, but we all need to discuss it as a whole. Do you guys agree that we need to discuss it as a whole moving forward? >> Is there anything else that you guys want to talk about regarding that right now? >> The only other piece that we added was the drug test piece so that when the vehicles are used and um we purchased a new system this year called Lens. Um, some of you that own businesses in the community may be aware of that. It's a system through DMV that when you put a license uh through that, it tells you whether there's a DWI, DUI, any kind of driving history that you would not want
033them driving a district vehicle. So, we also talked about that and how to fuel district vehicles. >> Can I just ask so absent a policy, we don't have one, what's the current procedure for that? So right now with the way the current policy is written, it was for the policy when you look at it was intended for a bus driver. I'm not sure if it was 2016 when that stopped when the tardy bus. So a lot of it doesn't necessarily apply to the current, >> but if someone currently wants to use a district vehicle, is there are they talking to the principal or >> Yes. So if so, right now we're working on this policy. We worked on creating Brie has it. We looked on a pre-trip inspection, post-trip inspection. Um we're looking at the
034lens system that we're already paying for and modifying a regulation which was not does not require board approval. Um that adds a line. Right now the board is used to seeing field trip permissions when they come on there. It'll say district use so district owned vehicle. So that is something that we are looking at making a change as well. >> Like our like our current automobile policy is just regarding permits and things like that that we went over a few years ago. It doesn't say anything about we, as far as I had found, we don't even have a policy for our maintenance vehicles currently. >> Yeah, there's like a minimal thing in there about student transport in person. >> So, we have we have a lot to discuss. >> Any questions for Lori and policy?
035>> Thank you, Lori. >> Superintendent of Schools Report, Dr. Larry Smeaggel. >> Good evening, everyone. You're going to see a picture behind me. Um three years ago we instituted a student advisory committee. Um we started with just over 11 kids that served on the student advisory committee. Last year I think we had roughly 20ish kids that served probably 16 kids actively. Today was our first student advisory council meeting. We had 36 students. So each year we keep increasing. We've had to open the wall to WY, but we're excited about that. Um, similar to last year, our students that serve on this, uh, superintendent student advisory, um, they have to do two things. One thing is they have to mentor a student, an underassman. The second thing that they have to do is look at a
036problem of practice in the district, something that they would like to improve. So, we're excited about that. The next thing I'd like to mention is last year when I came out at the budget time, I talked about our insurance increase. Our insurancees as a district went up 40% based on claims. One of which was here at North with the gym with the windstorm uh and that wall. The other one was a significant flood to the high school, minimal flood to case. Um I uh upon my request, Bri and I had a meeting with Udica National. And the goal was is to review all of the things that we have put in place over the last 3 years from an insurance mitigation standpoint to look at reassessing that. Um and so they are promising us they're
037going to type up a report and look at all of the things that we're doing. What I will say, the risk assessor that uh sat with us on that call and we went through all of the different systems and procedures we put in place was overly pleased and said that she wished her own kid went to the district with all of the things that we have in place. Um so we're going to continue um uh working in that direction. What we want to try to do is mitigate significant increases due to insurance moving forward. Um the next thing I've been updating the board um each uh board meeting regarding FEMA. We're in a holding pattern right now. There's a new procedure with FEMA. I had mentioned this before um once FEMA approves it through CRC.
038So right now one of the $2 million project was approved. That was basically to reimburse the insurance cost um the insurance rate that we received um for that. Um in addition, there's about a $7 million. We don't know what the exact dollar amounts are going to be yet, but right now I think it's just over 7 million. So, we're waiting on the um CRC to approve that. The new step that they added once that's approved is it goes through Homeland Security. Once Homeland Security approves it, those uh monies are obligated and then the district can move forward. What I have said in previous meetings um is that we we built some things in the capital project that may be covered by the um when you look at high priority items that may be covered by
039FEMA. In addition to that, once we find out what that percentage is, that dollar amount with FEMA, that dollar amount that I mentioned for 7 million is inside. Once they determine the dollar amount that they are going to obligate for the district, then we get that same dollar amount for potential mitigation. One of the things and that mitigation will be for the main campus and also uh North Elementary School where we sustained damage. What we're looking at um that's a part of the project is the track um at the high school that has significant cracking in it that's in there. In addition to that, we've got subp pump issues at case that we need to look at and other items. So, we may have some things that shift. Um, but we're going to remain hopeful,
040uh, that we hear something soon with CRC and then it'll be off to Homeland Security. The next thing, uh, you would have received a public communication, um, our district office. We are now, thanks to WY for hosting, uh, we are entering through the WY, um, entry that will be the same for the next board meeting that's at the district office. Um, the concrete work, we're building a sidewalk from WY to the district office and a secure vestibule. So, that project will be done in hopefully the beginning of December. So, we're excited about that and to have that completed by this Friday. As far as the concrete work, um, one of the things, uh, we've been working with Shane Ryan with the Watertown Police Department, um, our SRO Jeremy Foot and our, um, SSOs as a
041district. It has been involved and also uh, facilities and Bri and myself. Each building is getting a safety assessment and so we're doing some coordinated efforts there to see what we can enhance in our buildings to enhance our safety and security. The next thing is that I will update the board and I've got to refer to my notes. Um I have been investigating the potential of uh Massie Learning Center. Uh prior to my arrival that dis that building was used. I believe there was one prek classroom in that building. I had the opportunity last week um to review that building with our architects and engineers. Um that building sits at about 25,000 square feet. Um we were looking at it for possibly hosting uh 12 UPK classrooms with a max capacity with the ratios in
042prek it's 216. um the total renovations um to get that building, you know, the classrooms, the hallways need to be a certain square footage, just over 900 square ft. Um the prek classrooms up to today's standards have to have individual bathrooms. Um so when you look at that, our architects are suggesting that that cost could be 12 to 15 million. What you would have heard me say um in prior meetings was that a building that does not have students does not generate building aid. So any of our buildings that have students gets 93 cents on a dollar and that 7 cents would be covered locally. Um what we thought what was told to us in the past um was that any building that does not have students would be the taxpayers's burden to get to
043that up to par and then we could house students in it. What the state has since said to me last week is that if we apply for a project to move students or to create a program that we could potentially look at the capacity that that program can hold and apply for aid that would lessen the burden on our taxpayers. Roughly to do that, you're looking at about a 30 to 36 month lead time between bringing it um up to par and getting state uh approval. The project in that building, if you have not been in that building, um then you may not be aware, but if you have, the building does require gut renovations on both floors to to get up to par with the bathrooms, ADA compliance. Um there has to be a
044um playground inside and outside and a kitchen that uh currently exists but would need major updating. Um it would also need flooding. The lower level in that building floods and then in addition to that it would need egress. With that being said um I am researching I do not have answers on this yet but I am researching with father demo on other possibilities to present to the board but that's all I have regarding that at this time. Any questions? Yeah, I I have a couple questions if that's okay. >> Yes. Um, >> so you mentioned about the safety assessment. Can you update us regarding the high school? I know there's been a lot of complaints regarding the kids being late into class. >> That's coming at the end of my speech. We have Jeff is
045going to talk about open gate and the radio. >> All right. And the radio, please. Okay. Well, never mind. >> I thought you were talking about the uh anybody any questions regarding the Massie Learning Center? >> Sorry. I thought you were like I'm sorry. I do have Jeff. He's going to come last. Um the next thing, uh just a reminder that our student board member, Caleb, attended our student advisory group today with the other 35 students and tomorrow. We asked Michelle and I at the beginning, uh when the state was changing the law. Um every sitting board member has a class that they have to take within their first year of office and we had asked them to create one for students so that our student board members get that same level of education. Tomorrow
046is that first opportunity. So Leslie Atinson and myself will be driving Caleb and participating and it's open to any district in our region. Uh that was one of the other requests that I had as a district superintendent was to open it up so that Caleb gets the opportunity to meet other board members uh similar to himself. With that being said, now I would like to invite Jeff, our director of um IT and cyber security to talk about our security enhancements. Uh good evening. Um I'll talk loud so everybody can hear me. Um so uh before I even start that, I'd just like to have a good uh thank you and kudos to our IT staff because today is IT professionals day and we they've been working very very very hard to get everything up to
047snuff and get all the systems running. Kind of like one arm paper hangers right about this time of year. So they thank you very much to all of them. Um, since I've been with the district now five years, we've done extensive projects around security. Security is in my title, but it's not just cyber security. I've been doing a lot of physical security stuff as well because we've been bringing all these systems up to speed or adding on and enhancing the systems we already have. So, there's two systems I want to talk about um and kind of give a brief outline of where our project status is as of today this morning. Um for open gate which is our weapons detection system. We have uh gates at the high school and case uh they were installed
048at the south lot entrance which is where the the students that drive or get dropped off come in on the high school and at the auditorium in the lobby is where the other entrances for the high school and in the case lobby. Um since we've been doing it 9 days now we've had almost a 46% increase in the efficiency in screenings from the first day of school. So as expected we did anticipate we have 1100 students at the high school trying to get them through getting used to the system understanding what they can and can't bring in what they have to bypass the system with um when they you know put on the you know take their Chromebooks out that type of thing so they aren't uh creating false positives. So it was about an
049hour the first day and now we're down to about 30 minutes. So we that the high schools made significant improvement. That's 1100 students at the case is a little better a 53% increase um from the first time that they did it and that's about 600 students and they've been getting them in in just under a half an hour. We've also used two gates at the at the turf field for soccer and football and we that's been working very well. The one thing we noticed is high gusty winds can cause a problem with the gates. They do not like to be uh shaken while or moving while they're they're doing their job. So, um I've ordered um they have specific stabilizing uh arms that we can put on them to help minimize the shake. I've ordered
050those are on order. Um and then the policy just so everybody understands or the procedure I should say is that all students are screened uh at the beginning of the day. If they leave and go on a school sanctioned thing, they don't have to be rescanned again. All right? So, if they go to Boseies or if they're on a field trip and they're constantly supervised, there's no need to scan them again. But if they leave to go a medical thing, a doctor's appointment or something and come back, yes, they do. They have to go through the front door as well as all visitors. So, any non-school, we screen them. So, that's going very well. The next phase is um we uh is to just firm up a little bit of our procedures. We met with
051the high school staff today, talked to them about some changes we're going to make uh just to tweak things a little bit and make it a little more efficient. Uh any questions on open gate? Good. So on the digital radio project, all radios have been distributed. We have approximately 130 radios that were purchased uh to be dispensed in the nine buildings including you know Massie and all the eight schools. basic training and how to use the basic functionality of the radios has been given to all the administrators in those buildings as well as the secretaries and the next steps are to finalize some minor programming changes. We got a couple little tweaks to make to make it a little bit easier to use for our SSO and SRO's um and we're going to get them
052done and then we're going to do more advanced training as well as setting up it so that they can actually initiate a 911 call from a radio as well as um emergency lockdown buttons. So, uh, an administrator, a principal who has an administrator, uh, radio, anywhere they are in the district. These things will work both inside and outside the building. I've done a lot of testing with them. I mean, I've been all the way up the top of Washington uh, street and and had no problem calling anyone as well as all the way over the north with one radio and um, so you can initiate a lockdown from the radio from anywhere. Just press a button and it'll initiate a lockdown. So, that's pretty much nice to have because you don't have to go back
053to your office or to uh where a lock down button is. Um, so once those programming changes are made, we'll meet with staff again and have some more advanced training. I know athletics is using them now out on the field when they have events. Um, additionally, um, my IT staff are all going to be crossrained on the more advanced features and they're going to be able to do additional support and training as we dispense these out. In the final phase, the last thing we have to do is actually integrate to the phone system. So, a teacher in a classroom who doesn't have a radio, well, how do I talk to the principal when she's outside doing something or the the secretary or they're in a hurry? They can actually dial an extension and call the
054principal on a radio or any administrator. So, there'll be extensions assigned to each radio for the just the key people that need that functionality if there's a problem. So, that's where we're at right now. Any questions? You want to add anything to what the meeting that you had today to try to >> Yes. at the high school. One of the things that I think is going to difference tomorrow that we're going to allow students into the building at 7 a.m. The buses were not tomorrow. That'll start at 7 a.m. when the bus doors open as well. We'll pull students into the building. We're going to actually add minutes that time. I think it's going to go much more. some additional supervision outside and then some techniques we're using today uh that will be integrating and
055making some changes. We actually did a good one out today. So I I do see even more improvement 46%. >> Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it's definitely improved and I think we can do a little bit better. We'll tweak it a little bit. the students have been troopers and you know I can I've been watching them on the camera system uh as they go through every morning and and they're starting to adapt to the changes and they it's almost a lot of them it's second nature. Um students that have extra equipment is going to be a problem in the sense it's going to take a little bit longer. So athletes and musicians specifically um they have more stuff that has to get you know screened differently. So but overall it's working very well. Jeff, how many do
056we have at each door? Like, so the main campus for the high school, how many are at that door? >> There's two at the auditorium door and there's a single one at the south lot. Um, so there's three at the high school they use for screening and there's case because there's less students, they just use the two at the front door, then they have a second another set that they use for rescreening if necessary. >> So, have we discussed at all yet about maybe adding one more at the high school? already already on the way. >> Okay. So, like for athletes in general, maybe they could just go through the one screener so you're not holding up others. >> Yeah. We're going to we're going to make it a little more efficient for them with
057that extra one. Yep. >> Thank you. >> I think it was like a six >> and additional training for the staff who weren't able to attend over the summer. We'll have training coming up here for them up here and lay eyes on how close going to give us feedback. Okay. Is there is there any way parents can help that with their children with things that they should not be bringing to school that's holding up the line and getting them their education? >> Yes. I mean I I some of the students are adapting already because they just don't want to have to deal with it. And um you know the big things that trigger uh that it going off are three- ring binders, umbrellas and laptops or Chromebooks. Um, sometimes the heavier metal cups will uh
058is so if they try to avoid they they have to bring their Chromebook. So that but that's an easy thing to pass. But the other stuff they take it out it can cause problems. So >> students are wearing their backpacks at the front so they're able to unzip take the binders out and them around. the high school we're still kind of becoming wearing, you know, not in fact so that it's easier to answer. >> Yeah. >> Little things like that will make a big difference as well. >> Yep. >> Any other questions from the board from Jeff or Tina? >> Thank you, Jeff, for your presentation. Thank you. >> All right. So, we're moving on to items for consent agenda. >> So, that consent agenda items A and B are hereby approved. >> Take a
059motion, please. >> Melanie and Tina. Discussion. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Items for board action. Approval of the 202526 school comprehensive education plan. >> Uh resolved that the Nicerbacher Elementary Schools uh school comprehensive education plan for the 2526 school year is hereby approved. >> Motion please. Lori >> and Lori discussion contra I think we told you in the spring um was identified as a targeted support school um due to one of the subgroups not performing as well as the state um sets the standard. So we met several times throughout the spring. There were parents, there were um teachers um administrators on the committee and we formulated a plan after doing needs assessment and that needs to be submitted to the state for approval which it was approved by them but it
060also needs to be submitted to the board. Um it has three action areas that we'll be working with um the teachers. One is explicit instruction. The other one is professional learning communities and the third is instructional coaching. We did have elements of those in Nicarbacher but we're enhancing those. And then we have specific goals for our students as well. >> And remind then what happens next after that? Is there another? >> So you have to once you are identified as a target school, you will be on that list for two years and you do get support from the state. So we were able to get more professional development. We're getting a teacher assistant to help with reading. um if we don't go we don't get off the list then we could be further identified and
061it goes up in severity but we're not planning on that happening. >> Thank you m can you touch base a little bit because the the um groups are now they went from 30 to 20. Can you speak to that as far as the assessments? >> Sure. Um so what Dr. Negle is talking about with the accountability system in New York State under ASA that every um student succeeds at the subgroups. It used to be you had to have 30 students in a subgroup for it to count for a district and it's gone down to 20. So what that does is it makes districts more vulnerable to being identified. If you have a very small population, you could be identified for not not having a sufficient performance in self. And those are not like it's not
06220 students and it wasn't 30 students, it's 20 assessments, right? So you take a fifth grader that's taking a math assessment, a science assessment, and an ELA assessment, there's three towards your 20. So it's it's going to be much easier for schools to get identified for those subgroup. Any other questions? Unfortunately, Caleb can't move a motion or move a resolution. I apologize, Caleb. If I appreciate the enthusiasm. I do like it. Um, so we've got a motion from Tina. I do need a second. >> Oh, Lori. >> Lori. Thank you. Any further discussion? >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Uh, item B, approval of lead evaluators of principles. >> Uh, be it resolved that the board of education for the Watertown City School District has determined and finds that Dr. Larry
063Smeaggel, Lyn Gaffne, Tina Lane, and Brienne Durham are hereby certified as qualified lead evaluators and principles, having successfully completed the training requirements prescribed uh pursuant to the New York State Education Law in the district's annual professional performance review plan and is hereby approved. >> I'll take a motion, please. >> Lori and Melanie. >> Melanie discussion. All those in favor? I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries. Approval of lead evaluators of teachers. >> Yeah. Further resolved that the board of education of the Watertown City School District has determined and finds that the administrators as presented to the board are hereby certified as qualified lead evaluators of teachers having successfully completed the training requirements prescribed pursuant to the New York State Education Law and the district's annual professional performance review plan and are hereby approved. >> Motion Tina
064second. Randy. >> Randy. Discussion. >> All those in favor? No. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. D. Approval of personnel report. >> It resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Dr. Largel the board of education hereby approves the following resignations appointments uh probationary instructional probationary probationary non-instructional literacy coordinators cyclone academy part-time instructional STEM programs permanent provisional part-time non-instructional substitute instructional substitutes non-instructional >> would like to make a motion Lori >> Lori in the second Tina discussion. All those in favor. >> All right. Okay. Any opposed? Any abstensions? Motion carries. Item E, approval to dispose, recycle, auction, or donate unused maintenance equipment. >> Whereas the Watertown City School District has identified unused maintenance items and equipment that are no longer needed. uh resolved. The board authorizes the sale of these um items via public
065auction or other reasonable means. Uh further resolved, any items not sold may be discarded or recycled at uh management's discretion in compliance with applicable regulations. Uh further resolve, the director of facilities is authorized to oversee the sale or disposal um process and is hereby approved. >> Who would like to make a motion? Randy >> Randy in a second or colleague discussion just >> have a curious question I don't know if this is a brief question and you may not know but do we have any sense of how many of each of these options end up happening do we >> so we try to look at the cost benefit analysis of putting stuff on auction international sometimes putting stuff on there actually cost the district money to put it on and other times it's more profitable
066so uh it's helped having my collad here as a veteran district or director of facilities So, he's done a great job looking at these items to try to assess what their value will be and then he works with Auctions International put the things up. Um, sometimes they go up and they don't sell and then they have to be disposed of. >> We know in general like our what's our general rule on donating? So, I notice that's an option. >> So, there's you you have to follow the New York State Controller regulations on donations. So it could be a nonprofit, it could be a Catholic organiza. There's different organizations that you can donate to um that are acceptable. So we would have to make sure that that's the case. But any anything that's being discarded, if
067people are interested, they need to reach out to the director of facilities. >> It's quite the interesting list. >> And we've even done with some of the the old desks. We're trying to scrap them for metal so that there's some kind of return on investment. Good. Any further discussion? All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Item F, approval to dispose, recycle, or donate unused books from Watertown High School and Nickerbacher Elementary. >> Resolved at the disposal, recycle or donation of damaged, outdated, and unused books from Nickerbacher Elementary School and Watertown High School as per the list provided to the board is hereby approved. Motion, please. Tina. >> Tina. Second. >> Lori. Discussion. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Motion carries. Item G, approval of extracurricular activities, clubs, and adviserss for HTY
068Intermediate, Case Middle School, and Watertown High School. resolved that the approval of extracurricular activities, clubs, and advisors at uh Watertown High School and Case Middle School and HT WY Intermediate for the 2526 school year are hereby approved. >> Motion. >> No. >> Tina and Melanie discussion. >> Do we know what that they were adding? Is that what we have? >> If you don't have it, fine. I was just curious. >> It's on board doc. Yeah, >> I was just saying it for other people. It's fine. You don't have to look at >> there's five attachments that are >> I think it's the advisor for all of the clubs that are currently >> we were adding those clubs. We were just adding advisor. There are a couple that advisors haven't been appointed to play yet. So
069when they do, I'll bring it back to the board to let everybody know. >> Thank you. >> Any other discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. H. Approval of educational trips. >> Resolve that the educational trips as presented to the board are hereby approved. >> Motion. Second. Randy. Discussion. All those in favor? >> Any oppose? Motion carries. I approval of a donation. >> Resolve that a donation of $250 from stage notes uh to support the Watertown High School AV Club. Uh this donation is gratefully accepted and approved and will be acknowledged in writing. >> Motion Lori. >> Lori and a second. See any discussion? Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good work. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? That motion carries. A&J approval of a paid administrative
070leave. >> Resolve that upon the recommendation of Dr. Larry Schmegle, superintendent of schools, the paid administrative leave of a non-instructional employee effective September 14th, 2025 is hereby approved. Motion a second. Randy. >> Randy. Gotcha. Randy first discussion. >> All those in favor? All right. Any opposed? That motion carries. >> That is the end of the resolutions. >> Uh we are at the public comment section for any non-aggenda related items. And we did get an email to request to speak from Miss Mandy Burke. >> Um good evening. Uh John. and I did get your email and I just want you to know that I tend to be respectful of what you said in there. Um, so I'm actually here tonight to speak out against the actions or rather the inactions of district leadership in regards to
071a uh Facebook comment or social media comment that was made by a teacher of the district that was very concerning um about the murder of Charlie Kirk. Now, I understand that free speech is to be protected. I'm a big proponent of free speech. Um, of course, you have the right to an opinion. You have the right to state your opinion and verbalize your opinion. However, free speech should not be equated to freedom from consequences or, you know, I can say whatever I want and keep my job, especially when that speech incites violence or it's said by somebody that has the responsibility of shaping the young minds of our community, such as a school district teacher. Um, I don't care who you are or what you felt about Charlie Kirk, whether you agreed with him or
072not. Every single one of us should be condemning his shooter, the actions of his shooter. Every single one of us. It's a scary place that we live in when people are celebrating the murder of somebody just because they didn't have the same beliefs as you. And I know that as a community, we do not condone that kind of behavior. But I think it's especially important for community leaders, including school district leaders, to publicly condemn the shooting and stand up and say, "We don't agree with this at all. Um, I I think that that's where like I'm struggling with and that that's my biggest concern is that the school district leadership did not stand up and condemn uh this shooting and not only that, but did not take swift action against an employee that very concerning
073comments that are public that students can see. Um, I'd like to remind you that we just spent a fortune putting metal detector systems in the high school and added security measures to prevent a school shooting to keep guns from coming in our schools. But the reality is that school shootings don't start with guns. They start with a mindset that thinks that it's okay to enact violence on another human being just because they have radically different beliefs than you. And by not condemning and not standing up and condemning the shooting and what took place, there's a subtle implication, the subtle message that the school district or community to say that maybe there is a time and place that we should shoot somebody when they feel differently than us. And that is frightening. Um Charlie Kirk, you
074know, this is my opinion, but I believe that he's going to go down in history as a human rights activist. um that he, you know, he stood for free speech, he opens dialogue, he uh was not afraid to talk about hot topics, he stood up for truth, for justice, he stood against corruption. And I think that it's really important for us to um to realize that not condemning his shooter is putting a stance that can be very ambiguous and very we have to be really careful about that. Um, my 11-year-old daughter after his death came to me sobbing and asking me not to stand up and talk about injustice because she's afraid that I'm going to get shot. So, is that what we're going to teach our kids that they need to sit down and
075be silent and not speak up because you could get shot for not having the same beliefs as someone else? I think that we can do better as a community and I think that why not? Why are we not standing up against this kind of violence and condemning it? Um, I hope that I teach my children not to be silent, to stand up and to speak for truth and to speak for justice and against corruption, no matter the cost. Even if it cost you everything, even if you're ostracized for it, even if you uh lose friendships over it, even if you're retaliated for it, even if you lose UPK classrooms because you stood up against some corruption. And by the way, I received RFP scores yesterday. Um, and it's very clear that the treehouse was retaliated
076against and that was targeted, but that's another conversation. Um, so tonight I would just say that if Charlie Kirk taught us nothing, it's this that this is not the hour to remain silent. This is not the hour to do nothing. And then I would ask the board to really take a good hard look at our district and ask yourself what what should be done. Thank you. That's it. just like to remind the public and each and every one of our students that we do have a see something say something policy. We take violence very seriously. Um I believe the district came out forcefully and quickly with a statement uh about online statements that were made. Um and we are dealing with personnel matters in an appropriate manner that is consistent with our policies and the
077laws of New York State. So thank you. Um, I do know that nobody else uh emailed in, but there were some people that were on the list. Uh, so if there's anybody else that would like to address the board for open comment, >> my name's Kyle Zimmerman. I wasn't planning on speaking tonight, but now I'm going to. Um, I'm glad you're all proud of your actions you took on this. You gave this one paid vacation. Congratulations. >> I said they gave this woman a paid vacation. Isn't that wonderful? >> Swift actions. So, um, my kid go I went to graduate high school in 1995. Um, I was proud of the school back then. I will say I'm not proud of it at all right now. Um, it's disgraceful to speak, I must say. Um, yeah.
078So, and I also I'm sorry, Jeff, when this all started, you told the audience to you don't tolerate any violence or remarks. Congratulations. said to us, "Well, you tolerate violence in your school and your teachers." Great. Um, I'm just disgusted to be honest with you. Um, and I I know I'm sure you've seen the post. Not only did it say who's next, had nice little orange next to it. We all know what that means. President Trump. So, you got a great employee there and you gave her a paid vacation. Congratulations. And the last thing I'll say is I saw this post on Saturday morning when I was camping with my children. My 10-year-old that goes to Watertown. My stepdaughter goes to IC at 9 years old. Keep this up. I see better school than you
079and you'll be close to IC. So that'd be good. And as soon as I saw this post, um, I immediately sent a parent square message to Mr. Fairchild that of course is non-existent again on Saturday. said I wanted a meeting as soon as possible with him and Mr. Smeaggel with his blanket response. I didn't hear back from either one of you. So, congratulations on ignoring the public like you ignore somebody that should not only be fired but also be charged with a crime and be arrested and be a criminal. >> Hi. Um, I'm going to try to talk really loud, but I don't do that naturally unless I'm angry. So, um, first I just want to say, um, this is only the second board, um, meeting I've been to, but sitting over there, you can't
080hear the majority of what's going on up here, and that's discouraging because I think that people do want to be involved. And um maybe we could do better for some like I know that those probably do the the broadcasting but >> the streaming. Yes. >> Yeah. But for in here it's hard to hear. Um so for those of you who don't know me, my name is Paula Fistal and I'm a proud parent of two children who graduated from Watertown last year. First I want to thank the members of this board, all of you. This is an unpaid, time-consuming responsibility, and your work does not go unnoticed by me, but by large, I'm sure it's a thankless position. Second, I'd like to acknowledge the many outstanding educators who have made a positive impact on my children's
081lives. I'm going to list several if you don't mind, just because they've been wonderful. >> Prefer that you don't. >> Oh, you don't want me to? >> No, I'm I'm sorry, but we shouldn't identify any of our personnel by name. I apologize for that, but it is our policy. >> That's unfortunate. Um, I want to be clear. My purpose tonight is not to attack the educators, administrators, or this board, but I do have serious concerns and a few questions that if you cannot answer tonight, I respectfully request written response in accordance with the board policies. So, I'm here to speak about the the seven News report. Much like the last two people, I don't care about that teacher's political stance. What I care about is her choice to publicly use crude, foul language to celebrate
082a man's murder. And to suggest that the president of the United States should be next, this is not political. It's disgusting. I fully recognize that she has first amendment rights. Every American does. But those rights are not a shield from consequences. Especially when you're a public school teacher employed by a taxpayer funded district. With that role comes responsibility. When you represent this community's children, your conduct online and offline reflects on this district as a whole. Ask yourselves, is this the type of person who should be a role model for our children? Is this someone who represents the values of our schools? Our children deserve better. They need positive role models like the ones I was going to list. Not teachers who glorify violence. I've spoken with many teachers who are just as appalled, but they're
083afraid to speak out. Those teachers deserve to know that this board and this administration will support them, the ones doing right by our children. That starts here with you. You must set the precedent that this behavior will not be tolerated. Our community expects educators to be held to a higher standard. Students deserve teachers that they can look up to, teachers they can respect, not only for knowledge, but for their integrity and humanity. So, here's my questions. Do teachers sign a contract or code of conduct that governs their actions, including social media? If a student posted the same words, would it violate the student code of conduct? Does the board have the authority to terminate an employee for this behavior? And has the board ever terminated employment of any individual before? As a board, what can
084you do to make it clear this type of behavior won't be tolerated by our district? In closing, I believe this community is energized and united on this issue. As taxpayers and parents, we demand more from our school district. We demand accountability and that's your job as a board to look out for the taxpayers and the children of this district. Please do the right thing for our students, for our teachers, and for the integrity of this district. Show our children that you believe they deserve better. Thank you. >> Thank you. I ask you two favors, please. >> Number one, will you email those questions to the board and Dr. Smeaggel, please? I want to make sure that you absolutely answers. And number two, even though you can't mention those teachers by name because if we mention
085them good, we have to mention them bad. We have to allow it both ways. So the policy is not to allow. Will you email those teachers and let them know? >> Sure. >> Thank you. Hi, my name is Ingred Bartlett and I'm a taxpayer here in the city of Watertown. I'm also talking about the social media post. Um, it was actually vile and disgusting. By saying who's next and posting an orange, we know that means President Trump. It is a way of encouraging someone, anyone, to assassinate the sitting president. It's condoning violence up to and including murder. I pay school taxes for the children in the of the community to be educated. There are no cameras in the classrooms. How do we know if these teachers are telling or influencing the children on their political
086beliefs? No student should know how a teacher feels about politics. I do not believe this educator should be allowed around the children in the school district. I'm asking what steps are being taken to remedy this situation. Paid administrative leave is not a punishment. If students can get suspended from school for a controversial controversial post on social media, then the same policy should apply to an educator. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter that has many people in this community upset. I hope that you will continue to be open and honest about the situation going forward. >> Thank you for your time. >> Good evening. My name is Judy Collins and I'll be honest, in my 80 years, I've never attended a board meeting. This is my first. It's because I felt it
087was necessary. I am the grandmother of a seventh grader at Case Jr. His parents would be here tonight, but they have a Zoom meeting regarding trying to find adequate afterchool care for their son. And why so late in the school year are they now trying to find school after school care? I'll explain. They were in contact with Cooperative Extension 4 after school personnel several times over the summer and were told that their son would be enrolled in the afterchool program at case. They even had contact the end of August and the 4 staff member confirmed that he was enrolled in the program the week before school started on a holiday weekend. They were told that they would not there would not be a program If you have children, you know how difficult it is to
088find after school care, especially for a special needs child. I could not understand how this was possible. So, I called the district office first week of schooling. When I explained the situation to the district office employee, she said he must not be eligible. I explained to her that he was eligible. He had gone through the process and was told all summer he was all set. I told her that I had heard from an employee from another district that the program had lost its funding and was not providing care, which I found is not true. I also heard a rumor that the program was cancelled last year, but knew that this could not be true because on the website that was upstate updated on July 7th, 2025, they told you where to call to enroll your
089child in the program. >> Excuse me, I have a problem. I'm not sick. You're fine. >> She indicated the girl in the district office that she did not know that the program had even been cancelled. She thought I was wrong. I said, "No, it's definitely been cancelled." She said, "I will inform the superintendent because I don't think he knew about it. I'm not sure. This is what I was told." She did call me back and said he was aware and was working on it. Now, this is the week after school started and he's working on it. We are now entering the third week of school and the family has not received any updates or communication. What about being proactive? Does the district office not know what is going on in the district? I asked how
090many other families were affected by this and they would not give me an answer. I went online and as of today, the website for Cornell Cooperative Extension 4 program lists a phone number to call to enroll for the 2025 2026 school year and list Case Jr. with the hours it will be operating. I have a copy I've got several copies if anybody would like to see what I'm talking about. It's on several different sites and including A1. It's listing Watertown City School District and it was updated July 7th, 2025. I am having a hard time trying to figure out how a school district the size of Watertown does not know what programs it offers does not contact the families when they abolish a program that has their child enrolled and has no backup plan. You
091evaluate your teachers for the job what they are doing. Who do we evaluate in this case? To me, it was unconscionable for the Watertown City School District to give the families less than three days notice on a holiday weekend that they were not having after school program. Somebody dropped the ball. Somebody's not used doing their due diligence. Who do we blame? As of today, they're still advertising online that there's an afterchool program. What's happening with it? Uh, we can find some information on that. I do know the 4 program is not a district program. We invite them into our facilities. >> Do you know how it's advertised? It's advertised Watertown City School District partners with there's got to be a backup plan when you're partnering with and you're online and online it says Watertown City
092School District has an afterchool program and it lists every building including case. You want to see the copies? >> I believe in I I absolutely believe in children that are in school, but do you know how difficult it is to find babysitters at your school where they have to come to pick them up? Let alone a special needs child. the alternative right now and my kids are calling Zoom meetings trying to figure out if he can get bus over the DPAO the other side of the city and they thought up until the day before Friday before school started he was enrolled in this program this is unconscious and I would like you to know this I copied them all Okay. Big letter. >> The Watertown City School District partners with Cooperative Extension to offer 4
093after school for students. This isn't today. Thank you. Um, I'm Amy Horton. You all know who I am. Um, I want to touch on just a little bit of a different subject. Actually, my 11th grader was going to come to speak tonight. Um, but he was unable to make it. he has trick that's going on right now because I think it's really important that we listen to the students about this new open gate um policy that we have of what it's like for these kids as they're coming in. So that's really what I wanted to touch on. Um and the main point was the disconnect from case to the high school. The rules of different things that they can bring into case versus the high school. So in my mind, case in the high school
094should be streamlined. Whatever we're doing in case should be preparing us to when we go to the high school. So, a parent square came out this evening from the principal just talking a little bit about how things have been going. Um, important reminders. Large three ring binders and trapper keepers set off the open gate weapons detection system. Each one must be individually individually checked to ensure no items are hit inside. To keep smooth and prevent students from waiting outside in the bad weather, we've instructed students to leave trapper keepers in their lockers at the end of the day. bring home only the materials necessary for homework. So, where I'll stop with that is, for example, a lot of these kids now because there's no backpacks allowed during the day at case. However, here's your disconnect.
095You can have backpacks during the day in the high school. Now, when we were all in school, we probably didn't use backpacks. We used lockers. Fine. However, when you sign off on that Chromebook agreement, you're signing your life away and all this money. I don't really think it's responsible for a lot of these kids to be carrying around Chromebook. I would tell them to put it in a bag. So, a lot of it was, okay, well, get a trapper keeper. Then you can keep all of your stuff inside there. Here's the things that don't make sense. Okay, get a trapper keeper. Now, a lot of these trapper keepers have a strap. Trapper keeper, okay? Strap not okay. Does that make sense? Doesn't In my mind doesn't make sense. We're using these open gate systems to
096take away whatever they're bringing in their bags that they're safe. So, if they brought this into the school, their book bags, if they want to use the book bag because it helps them keep them more organized, then we should be encouraging them. So, like my daughter's like, "Mom, I forgot the papers. They were in my trapper keeper. They told me I had to leave the trapper keeper in my locker. Well, she goes directly to musical practice, to swim practice, to dance practice to Shrek. She needs to be organized. She has everything in this. But now, no, don't bring the trapper. And I said, bring the trapper keeper home if that's what keeps you organized. So, there is a major disconnect that why can't we use backpacks in case, but we can we can't use them
097in case, but we can use them in the high school. That doesn't make sense. We should be preparing our kids exactly the same. If they can't be used at CA case and they shouldn't be allowed to use in the high school because now you're going to enter ninth grade. Oh, you can use your backpack again. And it does state in this parent square that the principal put out that the teachers are trying to help and organize them. I'm sure that they are and I appreciate that. They're all trying to do a better job of helping these kids, but they're going through a thousand different new things. Especially when you're entering case, you've got all these new classes. is you've got to keep everything organized. Make it make sense. So, I would urge you all to
098please read over what these rules here are because it does say um there trapper keepers with straps are not allowed. Those function like messenger bags which are not permitted during the school day. We have those open gate systems to check the bags to make sure that everything is safe. So, if something is going to make a kid more organized, more prepared for the school day, we should be we should be encouraging that. We shouldn't be, oh, get all your papers. It just doesn't make sense. So, I would urge you all to please look into that that we are streamlining things from case to the high school. That just doesn't it doesn't make any sense. or explain to me later on an email why the reasoning that we can't at the high school but we I
099mean we can't at case but we can at the high school. So just I would ask everyone to just help me understand that. And I'll say one last thing about the open gate. I I think it's wonderful. Safety number one should I love it. I support that you did that. However, there was no preparation. These kids were like lost fish out there. They were like didn't know what the heck was going on. All the classes were Yes, I understand. They're getting there late. There should have been more preparation before we implemented something like this that these kids felt comfortable and these I I understand it's technology. The systems are going to be finicky. However, when I was talking to a resource officer, we should have maybe we should have gone the whole way and got
100even better systems because if we're going to spend x amount of dollars that you did on these, might as well spend all the amount of money and get the things that are going to be the fastest for these kids to get in because let's be real, most kids are rushing to get into their to get into school on time. So, they don't have time to wait, especially when you're, let's say, your first period, like I'll use my sonam example, it's AP um world history, you don't have time to miss 20 minutes. You miss 20 minutes of instruction, you're missing basically your whole your your whole instruction. So, I would urge you that anything that we do needs to be better evaluated before get a 100 people to come in and see how it goes. Um,
101and then please actually look at these rules from case in the high school and make it make sense for me. That's all I would say. So, thank you all. I appreciate it. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Um, I do have one thing. So, I thought when we did the policy for the new cell phones that we the high school was not supposed to be using backpacks. I'm sorry. I thought when we did the policy for the cell phone ban that the high school was not supposed to be using backpacks. the backpacks are not placed in the policy, but I can refresh. I'm not >> I thought that we Okay, I remember discussing exactly what she said that they because if they have the backpacks, they could still have their phones. So, I think we need
102to talk I want to add that to policy. I think we need to talk about that because I agree it needs to be in unison and the high school kids should learn how to if they're learning in case the high school kids should know how to manage their time even better than the younger students. So, thank you Amy for that. >> So, let's revisit that cell phone policy, please. >> Hello, Erin. Um, my name is Kevin Todd. I live at 103 Katherine Street and I did request to be on. I do like to follow the rules and I want the court to know when I come to speak because I want them to respond if they want to respond and not if they don't. I will address at least one thing that I did not
103plan to address and it really goes to Miss Lane. I think she does a phenomenal job. I am in Miss Lane's office constantly. I represent all the teachers in this district. There are 396 of them at the moment. >> And if there's a problem, she investigates quickly, efficiently, and fairly. She is an amazing boss to have. I am in meetings all the time and I can assure people without using any names or saying anything uh controversial that the district terminates people every year, right? They go through the processes. You don't have to believe me, but I hope you believe me. I'm in the meetings all the time. I think they do a phenomenal job. Um I came here to thank you all. Um I do think that the flow of history right now is very
104negative. I'm a person who believes that um your perspective um kind of changes the way you view the world. I'm a positive person. I want to thank the district for all the amazing things that you have done this year, the prior year, and the year before that. I've been involved with the union for the last 12 years and at times it felt like we were struggling against the impossible. We held meetings about behavioral issues with students for a year and a half. At the end of that meeting, we had five recommendations and nothing happened. Literally nothing happened. um students tearing apart classrooms, students with behavioral challenges, students with IEP needs that we just didn't have programs. Dr. Schmeaggle came on and I can tell you all five of those bullet points have been met within
105three years. All five of them. It is positions like the um at the elementary level we have a behavioral specialist now, which we never had to help classroom teachers with behaviors in the classroom. We have um at case we have uh teams set up PPT teams to efficiently process behaviors and to deal with them at a district level. We have at the high school and at Case and at WY and the elementary SSOS now across the district to deal with behavioral issues. We have programs that we never had. Matt Berdick is creating programs across the district that just did not exist. You know, they're all numbers, but you'll have to take my word for it that programs for students with special needs did not exist before and they exist now. Programs that we should have
106and we did not have. And I'm here to thank you for that because it takes a lot of effort. And I understand we can armchair quarterback at a certain level and say, "Why didn't we do this? Why didn't we do that?" And I understand there's a lot of drop balls and things that are not perfect, but to me, it's so much better than it was >> that we are addressing student needs. And I'll end with the thing that gets lost in all of the other kind of negative and I wish that it would get more play. I saw one article written about it. Dr. Schmegel last meeting announced that our graduation rate was 84%. 84%. I'm here to say that last year it was 69%. In one year now you can say oh it's a
107drop in the bucket or it's a a tiny thing. It's not. That is a struggle. We did the strategic plan. And I was on the strategic planning committee with many parents and we had teachers and we had administrators, we had students. We set the goal at 72% I think it was and then for next year 74% and maybe by the year after 76%. And we jumped to 85 and I don't think it's a one-off that it is the culmination of Cyclone Academy. It is the culmination of now Cyclone Academy Jr. It's the culmination of adding at every level school psychologists, social workers, having the science of reading, having proven programs across the district that work that support teachers. And I'm here to say thank you. And I understand there's a lot of other negativity and
108bad stuff out there. And I don't mean that in a bad way. It's negative because it's negative stuff. I mean it as in we're doing positive work and I really do appreciate it and I know the teachers appreciate it. So, thank you all. >> Thank you, Ken. Sure. You didn't think you were done with me. >> Oh, never. >> So, Kevin, you know, thank you for saying all of that because everything you said is absolutely true. And Tina, I don't think anybody's attacking you. In all the conversations that I've had in town, no one is pointing the finger at you. You do your job and that's fine. But the one thing I will counter with you is that this is just it. Like I think it's great that you're saying all those positive things, but
109every time this public forum here is for people to express their concerns, they're upset. And unfortunately, human psychology is you can be a great teacher, everyone can love you, but as soon as you do something wrong, guess what happens? the whole thing comes falling down, right? So, it's not that we come here to like attack administration. We all appreciate the board. I was on the board. It's not easy sitting on that other side. It really isn't. It's a difficult thing. But we do need to encourage more people to come out and speak. Like Mrs. Collins, what she had to experience with her grandson, if she doesn't come here and tell all of you, how's that ever going to be fixed? It's not. If we don't publicly come out and talk about how this community is
110hurt with Charlie Kirk, how's that? How are you guys supposed to know that? Cuz we're not having conversations with you on a personal level. I'm going to be very bold because I don't know how to be any other way. But really, the people that are here and have talked want to say that this teacher should be fired. She should be terminated for what she did. I went through the WIDA contracts. I went through the WBA contracts and I think there's a small clause in the D in the WIDA contract which is the teachers assistant contract that says something about small thing about social media but we really do not have anything in any of these contracts that go against people's personal comments on social media. However, there is a social media board policy that I
111obviously found and in that board policy, John, as a board, you guys really need to look at this because based on all the information and based on all the policies, the board does have the jurisdiction to terminate this teacher. Now, I know as well as everybody on the board knows there's a process. You can't just fire a teacher on the spot. You you can't. That just doesn't happen, Kyle. It just doesn't happen. But there is a process that we can follow and there are policies that protect this community uh in support of what Paula said, what Mandy said and all the other people are saying. So please make sure that you take a look at those policies because we do have them. And I do believe uh Kevin that you made a public you made
112a statement to the I'm assuming it was you. Okay. Well, some it says here Watertown a union representing it wasn't you. It was a great statement. I mean, it really was. It was just saying that teachers should not be able to say immoral things. You know, good riddance, who's next? That's immoral. And I don't think anybody in this room approves of that. So, I would encourage you guys to look at that policy. Okay. The other thing is Yes. >> It's a good thing because you know what? It makes the rest of the field feel that you're on the same page in terms of sentiment. So that is really what this is all about is everyone's upset and we don't want someone of that caliber to have a paid vacation. But the process has to take
113place and we'll see we'll see what the board does. Um I have a question. Um, policy 5600 talks about the display of flags. And in this policy, it clearly states that flags are to be flown half staff on September 11th, December 7th, which is Pearl Harbor Day. And when ordered by the president, the governor, or local official to commemorate a tragic event or the death of an outstanding individual, I would like to know if the district followed that policy. or any of our flags blown at half staff for Charlie Kirk. And President Trump put out a proclamation specifically asking every public building in the United States of America to fly the flag in commemoration of Charlie Kirk at half staff. And I would like to know if we followed that policy. Does anybody know if
114we follow that policy? >> I know that at the athletic field it is at half staff. I don't know if it still was, but it was when I was there last Thursday. Okay. So, we have more than one flag on campus and we need and I'm sure maybe some of you guys didn't even know we had this policy, but we need to be very cognizant. The city of Watertown did fly their flag in Capstone. And that also brings the community together because we are are all mourning whether you liked him or not. It's the loss of a father, a friend, a husband, and a public figure in the United States of America, which we all cherish. Um, the other thing is when I was looking at the flag policy, um, there is there's no policy
115in that specifically addresses what kind of flag we're supposed to have in our classrooms. So, I would urge the board to take a look at that because I've had several students to be particular, two particular students, so I shouldn't say several, I should say two, two students that have reached out to me saying that there are flags in classrooms that should not be there. So, I first looked it up. There is no specific um policy on what kinds of flags are allowed to be in our classrooms. We need to be looking at that. Don't want to be inclusive. offer inclusivity, but you also don't want to offend somebody. And if we're going to allow other flags, then we need to have that written policy so that we can fall back on that if anybody complains.
116Um, so that's my comment about that. And um, so the other policy because I felt like looking at all the policies um, was policy 4204 and that is fiscal management. And really this policy is I would think that the the uh substance of this policy is for our assistant superintendent of operations and finance. So I think it behooves our assistant superintendent of operations and finance to make sure that we are follow following all our rules. And I have a question and I'm sure I won't get an answer because I never get an answer for anything, but I would like to know if our district policies are covering vehicles that are being dri driven by district officials or administration. Do we have insurance covering those individuals so that when those indivi when those vehicles are parked
117at a private home and they're driving around and dropping their children off on our campus if that person were to get into a car accident? Do we have insurance that would cover that individual because it is part of a district vehicle and that is very clearly delineated on the policy. That would be extra coverage. So, I don't know the answer to that, but that is something that needs to be looked at. And I I'm going to also say that I was glad, Lori, I'm going to dove tail off of Randy Richardson's comment because I don't believe that Ry's question was answered. And I was glad to hear that you as policy chair, you're addressing district vehicles because we have several now. But two weeks ago, I made a public statement about vehicle being driven. That
118is there's no there is nothing in a contract for anyone in this administration driving you, let alone an $85,000 vehicle. That vehicle was purchased for teachers to use so that they wouldn't have to pay for travel um gas mileage. that vehicle was supposed to be purchased to be used by students. That is not what's happening. I think it's offensive that it's been made public and that behavior continues to happen. And at the very bottom line, it's not even the offender that's at fault anymore. It's this entire because you guys are the ones who are driving policy. You guys are supposed to meet the the hierarchy of power is the board sits here and everybody else is on. I cannot tell you how many people and I know you all received an email. There is IRS
119rules. There is 1099s that should be given out. There is mileage that should be delineated. Who's paying for the gas? All these things should have been addressed and it's not. And it's truly the board's responsibility to make sure that if we don't have a district policy, then that behavior should not be happening. And it's offensive to me and everyone that has cornered me, not cornered me, but called and said, "You need to say something about this." That the behavior continues to happen. Like at what point do we draw the line of some decorum in our structure? This continues to happen. So does does that mean that you can take a district vehicle and take it home for a month? I don't think so. Can Jason do that? It's never been done before. Mr. Freley didn't
120do that. Mr. Lar didn't do that. There's no We're setting a precedent here. And I think it's very important that this board take a responsibility. You are offending taxpayer dollars. We paid for that. We paid for that. And we're not even being fiscally responsible by making sure that we have the proper insurance coverage. If you want to allow someone to drive a car, put it in the policy. That's it. I'm sure if there was a policy and it was part of a contract, said, "Yep, this person can drive this car." No one would be able to say anything. But you guys continue to allow it to happen. So, who are we supposed to be mad at? The offender? I don't think so. I'm not mad at the offender anymore. Let him keep doing it. If
121no one's telling me I can't do it, why not? I do it, too. So, I I I think we need to take our responsibility as an elected official and board member very very seriously. You are our voice. You do not work for the district. You work for the community. You work for the taxpayer. You represent us. You guys don't I know you have this thing where the president only answers. And thank you, John. By the way, you've been answering the emails from what I've been told. People are sending you emails. >> I at least want to acknowledge when people send me something that I've seen it. I've read it. >> And you know what? That's great because that doesn't happen consistently. My emails only get answered if they're good emails. But if I criticize something,
122for example, this setup right here, I sent an email and I said, you know, there's a lot of people who are saying, especially going to the city council meeting, the setup is really bad because the people at home are looking at my back. I can't even and I happen to have a big mouth and I'm loud so people can hear me, but some people like Lori, no one hears Lori. Like, it's terrible. We really need to like like Paula said, we really need to be more engaging. want to be a part of the solution and we just feel alienated because we can't even hear what's going on. So, John, I'm going to put you to test. I think you're a great guy sitting at the helm. I've worked with you for two years. You have
123a lot of common sense. This is your board. You need to drive the vote here. You need to set the example for the community that you're actually listening to us and doing the right thing by every single one of the taxpayers. Um, if I could, if you would please allow me. I just have a question for Jeff that I was confused at. So, you said in open gate that if the kids come in, but they're going to both, they leave the building, they come back, they don't have to go back to the metal detector. I know, but I I feel like that's a false sense of security. If you're going to a whole new building outside, they're not being supervised every two seconds and they're coming back. I'm sorry. >> No, I know, but I
124that's why I don't want to misunderstand. Are you saying that? So the Bose's kids actually leave the the Watertown High School facility and go to Boseis down on Arsenal, right? So that's what I'm saying. So on the way there or on the way back or whatever is in Boseis, I mean, how do we know that they can't have a friend meet them or something's going to happen? They should be they should be passed through the open gate thing again. I mean, that's just my if you leave like it's like TSA. If you go through TSA and you forget something which just happened to me, they make me go through the whole thing all over again. That's a consideration. Like I just I don't see the logic in that. Um and I I was a big
125proponent of OpenGate. I was I fought really hard for that. I think it's a great idea. But I just want to say go back and look at the videos. I specifically said to Open Gate, is this a metal detector? And they said no, it's a weapon detector. That's what they said. So, but now we figured out that it is a metal detector because everything's going off. But I think you are making strides. I think it's a good idea, but I think that also we need to be a little cognizant. Can we make things a little easier for the kids? Like I know the security is a big deal and we all want that virtually, especially recently we've had more shootings, but we need to be a little bit more cognizant. Can we make things a
126little bit easier for the kids? Um, so I think with that I finished and I appreciate the opportunity to talk to Secretary. Did you have a question for me Lori? >> Uh I just wanted to say so I so since you said you didn't hear me or could not hear me. Um, so the policy meeting for all of you to know so we have not met on policy since the end of June until today. So as soon as we could I brought up what you are speaking of tonight. However, I did not want to talk about that unless I had the entire board support and I because I didn't think that was fair. I don't think that I should make the decision without decisions with only two people. They all should be there. So, for
127full transparency, there was no policy meeting from the end of June until today. So, because we are volunteers, I cannot meet with everybody to discuss what you had at the last meeting as you know. >> Thank you. So, I just want to be completely transparent. >> Well, we talked today. Um, we're waiting on some documents to come back because we wanted, like I said, it's it's there's a lot that's going to be in there. Um, what we have as an example is four pages. It might be more than that based on what we were adding. Um, but I just for the community, I do want you to all to know that because I actually have been cornered many times about this because I am the chair of policy. It's kind of exhausting because I have
128a job during the day and I'm getting messages, emails, text messages regarding this issue. So, I am on top of it. I'm trying to do the best that we can. But again, you know, we only meet twice a month. So, and I do have a job. So, >> thank you, Lori. >> I appreciate I'm sure people appreciate your work, too. But this is what I'm talking about. Like, this should be an item for discussion. This should be on the agenda and we should hear what the board has to say and what their thought process. This should not be this is not executive material. It should be this is one of the examples that I'm talking about. >> It hasn't been discussed in executive session. I mean I mean I mean there was an issue. What
129do you do when you have an issue? You turn to policy. When you don't have policy, what do you do? You create policy. >> As soon as we have a policy that fits Watertown, it it will be discussed by the board. But I appreciate that actually sharing them because none of us knew that and we didn't hear a lot of >> I didn't think I didn't think that you'll work on the acoustics for next >> year. We definitely should have microphones in front of us since you guys can't hear us. So >> it it interferes with these. >> Yes. See the mics they have on is for the audiences at home. So, if you have another one, I know I know it's we could have a better system, but thank you. I appreciate it. >>
130Thank you. >> All right. See, nobody rise to the microphone. Items for discussion or information. We had nothing listed. Anything else? Um, I wasn't planning on speaking tonight, but um, I'm disappointed, I guess, um, for the approval of the paid administrative leave, I think, as a lot of people are. Um, this is my daughter's first year at kindergarten at Watertown School District. She, well, I guess she was in the Watertown School District. She actually went to the treehouse um before this, but she's at Nickerbacher. Um and I have seen the Facebook post as well. I also saw the response from Watertown uh calling it controversial. It's just disappointing. Um I don't think it's controversial. I think it's wrong. Um I think we all mourned. Well, I don't know if we all did, but somebody died.
131Um, I warned it. I don't I think a lot of people out here did. And, you know, he was peaceful. He was a great guy. He was a Christian. And I think um us allowing people to make that okay within the school district is it's wrong. And I hope you guys can do something. I plan on attending the board meetings to see what happens and I can only hope for the best for my daughter. >> Thank you. >> Lorraine, that's my fiance. So, I'm just going to kind of piggy piggy back on it some. Um, yeah, I do have a future stepdaughter that's in elementary school and kind to kindergarten and I have a new baby. Um, yeah, it's just disappointed really. Uh, just with the uptick of shootings in schools and controversy with teachers
132throughout the world. Um, I don't know about the rest of the crowd or people watching, but you're making a lot of us consider homeschooling. So that that uptick in student council that you guys are getting which is really great and I'm glad you guys are trying to expand. But if nothing is done about this throughout all the schools, you're going to have an uptick in homeschooling because we don't trust you guys. So thanks >> items for discussion or information. We had nothing less than any topic that anybody would like to bring forth. Okay. Upcoming dates. October 7th, Tuesday, FAFS committee at 5:00 at the district office. Also on October 7th and Tuesday, the regular board of education meeting at 6 PM in the district office. Please remember to use the WY entrance and a look
133around the district. Colleague, can I start with you? >> You can. Um I really don't have anything. Just want to thank um Miss Kane and Everly for the wonderful job. >> Thank you, Randy. >> First want to thank thank everybody that's here tonight. Um one of the most important things we do as elected officials is hear from the people who elected us to be here. And uh I think I could speak for everybody here to say that everything we heard tonight should be addressed in some form or fashion. And there should be answers. I think we expect you expect to hear that. And you know, we're all citizens just like you. We have kids in the district. Um we're upset too. Um we have a different level for us because we we are your elected
134representatives and but I think I can say with confidence that the items discussed tonight will be addressed. Um I take that very seriously. It's probably the most serious and important part of my role as an elected commissioner. Just wanted to say that. Um I did have a question I'm hoping superintendent andor Tina can address just in a sort of high level in the district. We have a issue with an employee, we have a resolution. Can you just frame sort of what happens from the issue to resolution in broad terms? So we can understand general process and timeline and rationale for perhaps putting someone on a lim stream for a variety of reasons. I think that's a valid question. So essentially um putting somebody on state administrative leave a um entails yes entails me being with
135the employee and uh with the union. There are there are laws, civil service laws, there's state education law that we have to follow and we're bound by because if we don't it puts the district in jeopardy u also. So um essentially uh when somebody's put on paid administrative leave uh there's an investigation that's entailed. There's many many things that go into the investigation. Uh everything from statements to consultation with legal to cons consultation with law enforcement. All those things happen and it takes a long time to compile compile. Sometimes it takes a day or two is too. Sometimes it takes longer. But we have to make sure that we follow uh you know education law and also you know consulting their lawyers and consultation with so it's hard to say uh depends on the situation.
136Every situation is different. Um but um you know I I I can assure the board Dr. O and I are working very diligently on this with the resources that we have uh to make sure that we protect our students. Number one, that's the most important thing and that's what we're we're hired to do, but also to make sure that we f follow again the laws that that are for us today and board policy as well. So Randy, I'm sorry I can't answer your question very specifically in terms of how long it'll take. It is a process, but the district is working very hard to acquire that. Let me try this one. >> Yes. >> How quick has it ever been and how long has it ever been in your >> That's That's a great question.
137Sometimes it's been two days, sometimes it's been two months. Just depends on the situation and uh many different factors play into it. >> And I just I guess I'll just close by saying and just from my perspective, violence or threats of violence, zero tolerance. we don't accept it with our students. We don't accept it with our employees. And I think again confident everybody around this table would agree with that. So I'm hoping the resolution reflects that and it's a great >> um so I I just want to touch on that. So the policy actually that Millie was speaking of is social media policy 5406 and we're actually held to that policy as well as a board. So my question is this um I don't know if you can answer this but do we have to
138pay someone? Is that a legality? Um because I do know if one of us did something like that we would be gone immediately. There would be no discussion. Um, I personally, and I don't like to get personal or political up here, but I'm going to today. Um, I have been a wreck about this. This is another thing that people have reached out. My children have reached out and asked me, and I'm going to try not to cry, but as a parent, this is disgusting. This is embarrassing. I'm embarrassed to be sitting here right now to have people think that I condone this violence. Um, those who know me very well know that I lost people due to violence and this is just I don't know my faith is getting me through right now because what
139Mandy had said I agree with and again I don't speak that usually at a board meeting but that's the truth and that's who I am. So for those of you listening, that's me to my board. Um, so with that being said, I just I trust that we are going to do the right thing here. And as Brandy said, swiftly. I'm hoping it's like tomorrow swiftly. Um, because there is no room for violence. And all I think that that is allowing the more days that go by is our students know that we tolerate violence. And that's where we're going to have a problem. So that's all I have. >> I don't even remember what my question is. >> Yeah. Do we have Tina? Do we have to pay them? Like do do we have to or
140is it just like is that a union thing? And if you have to say yes, it's a union thing, then that's that's okay >> on that. Am I through with that though? They have to be uh there has to be crimes involved. Okay. And then who has to justify it's a crime? Like it's long. >> Okay. So, like a school couldn't This is just hypothetical. A school can't press charges against something like that. Like we can't say like there's nothing that Yes. No. Can you answer that? Can you answer that? Like what? Like can a school say that that they feel like that's a crime? Can you answer that question for the public? They can. Thank you. >> Yeah. So, I just have I I just have to say with all the negativity that is
141going on, um there's a ton of negativity around our superintendent, um our staff. Um I just have to because I'm like Mr. cousin and I try I mean things bother me don't get me wrong but I try to think of some positive pronounce of that um so I wanted to say that I think that our students are making great progress due to Dr. Tina Lane Gaffne um Matt Berdick Mau and Lisa Blunt. They've implemented new programs and clubs and sports that I feel will just improve their progress. We do have great staff. We have one that's, you know, questionable right now, but everybody else in our district wants the best for our students. they wouldn't do any harm to anybody. Um, so in general, we have great people that work here with your children who
142want to help them improve and be their best. Um, so I know that this is not a question and answer, so I'm not asking you to answer my question. I just want you to stop and think for just a second. And would you like it if your name or your face was out in the public and a public platform for the public to look at and make you feel or look bad? Is that something that you would want for yourselves? Is that something you would want for your children? Would you want people taking pictures of your children and putting that out on a public platform when for whatever reason, would you want your child to be put out on Facebook or the news or whatever? No, I'm just I'm just cover but I'm just saying
143just just think about that and just think about that. So I'm hoping that our community can take a step back. Look at the positive that is going on here. Look at the great kids of the administration that we have. The teachers, our students are phenomenal. And they are getting pushed aside because everybody is so consumed with the negative. I get it. I understand where you're coming from, but we need to look at the positive. Um, so that's >> No, no, not no. This is not a didactic at this point. This is this is board. I apologize. So now I apologize is >> now is not the time. >> If you don't want it done to you, then don't do it to somebody else. We need to be kind to ourselves first and everybody else. Respectful
144goes a long way. And that's all I have to say. [Music] All right. I do have two reports that I would like to bring up with my former board members. >> Please. >> One on the open gate security one from the superintendent student advisory council meeting earlier today. I do come with the this report about our new security measures that we have established here in our schools. This security system has increased student attendance and has also decreased student worries about the threats made against our school. These the open gate metal detectors have been operating past expectation that we set in place for this school year. There is both negative and positive points of use from administration to students. Student from the high school has believes that the open gate system has I slowed down the
145time to get the first period and believes doors should be open that was addressed thanks to Dr. Smeaggel. Another another student voice their opinion about the open aid system not believe the open aid system is accurate enough to support our schooling. Another positive thing a student has said to leave sets the security system has been added added is that he feels safer that the school is sharing their best to have to ensure that we students are safer with a learning environment student said the security takes little to no time while getting through the line and that she loves the new security system. Talking with Miss Cook, the principal at North H at Case Middle School on September 11th, the middle school was able to cut twothirds of their time with the security with the system
146librarian of the middle school. They do not use the conveyor belt set. Instead, they give they give teachers Chromebooks folders to the teachers and they give them back after they go through. I believe that the high school should try this system to cut time with a conveyor belt. The high school is still finding ways to reduce the time so students can still make it the first period on time. As we found out, sports or bags will set off the metal detector and we're still finding out ways well still finding out objects that will set off the metal detector. The conclusion I have came to I I did recommend that we open doors to early to specific time that superintendent may choose and communicate with parents and school administration as well as the board of education
147before the winter college. With this report, I believe we will be able to cut time and make it easier on staff and students who go through these metal detectors every night. As the school goes on, I will communicate another report regarding the office that makes our school a safer place for students to learn that regarding the student superintendent of advisory council or the students of voice. student attendance, the student engagement with the class with classroom material, student behavioral issues, metal detectors, and new and that's all I have to say. I do think I do thank for advocating open system. It has made our schools a safer place and I believe students should not be pulled out of school for these actions. We cannot handle what other people have to say negatively upon our school. And
148I thank everyone for listening for my report on the op >> Jason. Um, I saw on News Junkie before I came that they have found a replacement at Boseies for Stephen Todd. Um, Stephen Todd uh would not show up and want grand to grandstand or fanfare, but he was an incredible and still is an incredible individual. um one of probably two teachers who really shaped my life um and my love for learning and I hope that he deserve or he enjoys the retirement that he deserves. Um and in light of of what everyone said, I'm in agreement with you much like everyone up here. Um comments were horrible. Um, I saw them as a funeral director. I don't know how anyone could revel in in someone dying. I think that that's very odd. Um, I'm
149not a I'm not a talker and you don't want me to go on, but I did write just a few a few things down that I wanted to say. And that is that we cannot teach respect if we do not model it. And we cannot ask our young people to grow into thoughtful citizens if the adults in their lives do not demonstrate what thoughtful citizenship looks like. Too often we get caught up in defending our right to say something without simply pausing to ask whether we should say it. Free speech is a cornerstone of democracy, but so is the wisdom to use that freedom with care, compassion, and responsibility. Moving forward, let's choose to simmer instead of boil. Not out of weakness, but out of strength, wisdom, and a shared commitment to the kind of
150community we want our children to inherit. That's all I have. >> Well stated, Jason, thanks. Millie >> feel like I can't follow that. Um that is very well said. Um in regards to the open gate system, I will say case does seem to be running very smoothly. It's about time I go to work in the morning, but um the high school still has a few rings to work on. So I do look forward to seeing how those changes um move forward. Um, and I actually spent um a morning I stopped by one of the elementary schools and I had a nice conversation with one of the administrators there and they're talking about drop off in elementary schools too and how though that that building they're looking to kind of clean that up too. So, um
151I think all of our buildings can kind of take a look at arrival and dismissal just to make sure that there is more safety involved. Um and to everyone who came today, I do appreciate you coming and speaking your thoughts and I do appreciate um kind and respectful information. Um I like to hear from you and I look forward to more of this hopefully for more positive things. Thank you. >> Um I do want to point out that our cross country team had their senior night tonight that it was their first home track meet. Dr. Schmeiggu and I were there to root on the modified squad following the modified um run. It was a senior night um because it's the only time they'll be at home. So I want to congratulate those seniors. Um it
152would be impossible to say that not just our community but our country is in a very rough spot right now. There are a lot of things going on um that are concerning. There are a lot of things going on that shouldn't be happening. For this board, the number one priority is and always has been the protection of our students. We can't teach them if they're not safe. If they don't feel safe to come to school, they don't come to school. They can't learn. If we can't keep them safe when they're in school, you don't send them. So much of what has happened in the last, I'll say three years since I've been on the board has been dedicated to making our buildings safer, to making sure that we have resources like our SSOs and our
153SRO's to make sure that our kids are safe in the buildings. Um, the open gate is is just a progression of that. The radios are a progression of that. Uh, I understand that some of this speech has been hateful and it's been concerning, but it doesn't represent what the Watertown City School District is. We have lots of great staff members. We have lots of great teachers. We have a board who knew that they were going to come into a firing squad tonight and still showed up to listen to your concerns knowing that it was going to be a difficult night. The number one priority is to protect those children first and foremost. And I would challenge anybody that thinks that we're trying to do anything otherwise. And with that, we're adjourned. I'm sorry. No, we're
154not. We have an executive session. uh the medical, financial, credit or employment history of a particular person or corporation or matters leading to the appointment, employment promotion to motion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of a particular person or corporation. May I have a motion? I've got Lori and >> Tina discussion. All those in favor? I thank you.