001See how >> that works. Okay, it is 7:17. I will call the meeting to order. We have uh five of the seven board members present. We stand to pledge allegiance to the flag. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America to the stand. At this time, I will turn it over to the student council um for their field trip presentation. Hi, my name is Saint and Murray. The middle school high school student council is planning a field trip to Philadelphia April 30th to May 1st. Now we want to go to Philadelphia. It is rich culture but important as diverse. Explore a diverse cultural scene. Government insight gains understanding of local government. Bridge history. Discover the area's vast historic background. Educational museums. Visit museums that offer educational experiences. Hello, I'm Taylor and
002I'm the Trevor Middle School student council. I'm in sixth grade. Uh there's diverse attractions and you can wide range of attraction attractions. Rock will access all of the attractions are easily accessible on foot. There's neighborhoods. The city of neighborhoods has a distinct areas like old city known for its cobblestone streets and local sites. Brighten house known for its park and boutiques and fish town which is known for m music venues and art scenes. Exploring all these areas allow students to experience the city's campus. Day one, April 30th. At 4:30 in the morning, we will leave the middle high school. It's a 4 and a half hour drive and we'll make one stop on the way. At 10:00 a.m., we'll arrive arrive at the Philadelphia Zoo. From 12:30 to 1, we'll have lunch at the zoo.
003And at 1:30, we'll depart from the zoo and head to Independence Hall. Hello. Hello. My name is Aaron Scott. I'm in the grade and I'm the student council vice president. At 2:00 to 4:30, we will be at the Independence Hall in Independence National Park. We will be visiting the Liberty Bell Carpenters Hall, Betty Ross House, Jacob Graph House, and the Elfred Hall alley. From 5 to 6:00 p.m., we will be having dinner. At 7:30, we'll be participating in a ghost tour. Then finally, we will check in to the hotel. Um, day two, May 1st, we're going to have breakfast at the hotel. Then from 10:00 to 12:30 we're going to visit the Eastern State Emma Sanctuary. And from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. we're going to visit Rocky Steps. >> Hi, my name is Stevie Brooks
004Hoffman and I'm the secretary on student council. From 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. we will have lunch at the Reading Terminal. At 2:30 p.m. we will leave for the middle school high school. We'll have dinner on the way home and we'll arrive at the middle school high school around 8:00 p.m. >> Hi, I'm Karen Webster. I'm in sixth grade. Um, in in student council, we have 29 students in middle school student council and 15 students in the high school student council. Hi, my name is and I am the sixth grade vice president. Um, and the cost of the trip. The cost of the trip would be $125. Um, the hotel will be $56 per person which includes buffet breakfast. The bus will get $100 per person based on 35. Hello, my name is Quinn Mler.
005What's included is zoo admission, zoo box, lunch, ghost tour, and tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary. Students are responsible for two dinners and one lunch. >> Hello, my name is Maline Clark and I'm in sixth grade. I am the sixth grade middle school student council president. Hello, I'm Reington Jones. I am in sixth grade student council and for this we are going to be talking about the fundraisers we are doing. One we are doing is Little Caesar's Pizza. Another one that we will be doing is flower bulbs. We will also be doing Berlin t-shirts, sweatshirts, and bleachers in the spring. We are looking for more ideas. Does anyone have any questions? >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I was going to say to >> I'll make the motion. We have a motion by Frank to approve
006the trip to Philadelphia. Do I get a second? >> Second by. >> Okay. Derek, >> yes. >> Rebecca, >> yes. >> Frank, >> yes. >> Elaine, >> yes. Kim, >> yes. And yes, as well, carry 6. Congratulations and have fun. >> Great. Okay. The next is the report from the student representative. Good evening everyone. Here is a rundown for student. Um I've been volunteering with some classmates and both the teachers at the elementary school after school enrichment and some of the things that we did with the kids were making soft and learning to code robotic cars that the school district. The elementary students really enjoyed the activities. On Veterans Day, Mr. Golden and the Super Troopers organized a great assembly to honor those who served in the different branches of the military. Local veterans and
007Senator Jake Ashby joined us for breakfast and the celebration that included performances by the band and chorus. The high school student council organized and helped and held the fall party. Students and staff seemed to enjoy it. Students enjoyed open gym for basketball, open pool for swim, and open mat for wrestling. All levels are excited to start the winter season and I noticed that they're able to fix the broken basketball student in the gym thanks to the buildings and promise team. The National Honor Society held this year's induction ceremony. Many families attended the superior scholars and we're proud of their accomplishments. Our next academic celebration will be for the princes of quarter one and we're looking to celebrate those who have good. Thank you. >> Thank you. And um ability to provide information based on the
008policy that we will discuss under policy the AI the AI policy. Okay, I will move on to meetings. We have minutes from October 21st which is the regular meeting. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes as presented? >> Motion by Kim, a second. >> Second by Elaine. Any discussion or comment? Okay. Derek, how do you vote? >> Yes. >> Rebecca, >> yes. Frank >> abstain >> yes Penny or not Penny's no >> yes >> and I'm a yes as well so it is a five z with one saying so pass and then we have the minutes from the round table which was held on Thursday November 13th can I get a motion to approve the minutes as presented >> I'll make it >> a motion by Frank second >> second a second by
009Rebecca any discuss question or comment. >> Okay. Derek, >> yes. >> Rebecca, >> yes. Frank, >> yes. >> Elaine, >> yes. >> Kim, >> yes. >> And Amy, yes. So, carry 6. We will move on to policy. So, we have our second reading um regarding our AI policy number 8636. And um Bella did provide us um student feedback on our policy. Um is there any additional comments? So we we received this tonight so we can review it. Is there anything that you would like to present on top of this? >> Okay. So we have this we can digest it and then um hopefully bring the answers back before we the policy. Thank you very much. This is a very detailed response. I don't >> question I've got is can this be tagged to some type
010of reborn because AI is changing so fast that we should be looking at it every year are we current we need to make tweaks especially with students feedback uh that we keep looking at because it's going to be changing >> so actually that was one of the comments um that Bella had is how often will this policy be reviewed and updated to keep pace with technological advances and will stakeholders such as parents and students be involved in those regular reviews? >> I think it should be part of the resolution that it forces us to look at it annually >> and then we don't forget about it. >> Okay. >> It could be the top heading or something buried in the the policy because we say we'll do it then we forget about it and maybe
011you want to put it on the docket for the organization in July. I have some questions about the uh policy. I'm not sure who to address the questions to though. Um so am I correct in interpreting this policy to read that we are putting the onus on the teachers to determine what sort of use of Gen AI would be allowed in their classrooms. Um that's what it seems to be reading. So, every teacher could have different expectations that would need to be communicated to their class. Could a teacher of an advanced class have different expectations for their students than their regular class? Um, do do AP kids get different standards? I mean, every every teacher could have do something different with the way the policy is written right now. >> Just clarify in terms of
012which you say how it's used right now. What what what what's what are using it? >> I don't know how it's being used right now. I'm just saying that the way it's being the way it's the policy is written it's saying that instructional staff must be clear by their expectations for student use of genai and the sentence before that are that you know part number three says the board respects professional capacity of the instructional staff to assign work that is less susceptible to student use of genai to circumvent learning and allow for multiple methods for students to demonstrate competence and understanding. So, it sounds like we're we're putting the onus on the teachers for saying you know how to do your job and you know how to use AI effectively in your class and you
013can set the rules for how it's being used. That's sort of how I read this policy to be and I think it's kind of it's putting a lot of um different power. I mean it's it's the same power but it's putting each each teacher could do something different with it, right? because there's no oversight on those teachers and I'm just kind of confused by how it's reading. That's how >> I would interpret it as former classroom teacher as teachers autonomy just like the classroom instruction for teachers to be able to take the New York State standards and adopt the curriculum and two teachers could deliver this a lesson much differently depending on their professional opinions on how it should be delivered. We've been working right now currently the AI we've held back on allowing some
014of the apps to request until the policy is in place. So in terms of being used right now, it's really not been unleashed yet in the building buildings. We're looking to do is have the policy and then teachers wouldn't just float and just do whatever they wanted to do, so to speak, be working with our leadership team um around some general guidelines for implementation and structure around it. But there would definitely be autonomy for professional autonomy for teachers, which I do believe they should have in the classroom. um you know there's teacher observations there's still walkthrough observations there's oversight to that and support most importantly as well and if we need to provide professional development um we'll do that I for example yesterday was at NY's conference we spent a good afternoon working on um
015a couple of really cool AI AI uh programs that we were taught and I was planning on next cabinet meeting to show our cabinet team what those are and talk about potential uses um that they could be sharing with staff as well so what I see is it being a team effort and will be some oversight to it, but I also be careful not to um put such strict guard rails where teachers feel confined in terms of restricting to it as well. But to your point though, I mean it just it shouldn't be something just unfettered and just go and do it so to speak. So we're definitely going to work as a leadership team and >> well that should be in there then it should be in there just saying that you know admin
016is going to be working with with this with the teachers on developing you know protocols or something you know like right now it's just saying that you know we respect their professional capacity which we do but it's it's it's putting the onus on the teachers and that makes them like fully responsible for the results which I mean it's I think everyone should be responsibly results. >> I don't want to speak for teachers, but I think you flipped it around from the teacher perspective. They'd probably say they prefer to have the autonomy that >> you're looking at, I guess, in terms of it's a onus. I guess that word for ownus to me is, you know, I'd be curious about how teachers input would be to it as well. Would they would they >> see it
017that way or they as responsibility and it's falling on their shoulders or they see it as gives them more flexibility because certainly we could certainly adjust that language. But I do believe in terms of why it's written that way is to provide greater flexibility for people to use the professionals in the classroom to do so. And with that, we know that there would be oversight through the leadership leadership team and support for it. But I would be happy to work and try to get more feedback from teachers. I think it's worthwhile to see how they dealt about it where they felt like it's falling on their shoulders or they feel like they they would prefer to have more flexibility to it. I mean, I think that they absolutely need to be involved in that question,
018but like in number seven, it says employees may only utilize genai tools if they have received express approval from their supervisor. So, it's basically saying that teachers right now, the way it's reading, it's saying teachers can do whatever they want, how they want to teach their their students in terms of allowing them to use Genai, but if they want to use it as a tool themselves, they have to get permission from their supervisors. Well, I think that what what that means and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Ken, is that they have to they can't just go and start downloading a bunch of apps and and allowing >> students to download several apps onto their Chromebook without administration approval of those specific apps. >> There's cost considerations. There's uh and 2D compliance considerations as
019well. I know with working with Ariel instructors here in Albert, there was a request for an app that teachers really wanted to utilize. We spent a lot of time already looking at it and Ariel would probably tell you I pumped the brakes big time on it and as a leadership team we spent a whole meeting just discussing one program. We had a demonstration to it. I guess what I'm trying to say is there's a lot that goes into these decisions and being very thoughtful about them and it's not going to be something where that's meant to put some restrictions on. So some people are just going to be able to whatever they see I want this I want this. Um Ariel went to a recent training on a program with Lebanon that they were looking
020at and we talked about afterwards say no it's not for us. Um, so that part is just to make sure that just because it's there, you can't just go and grab it and spray in the classroom. Maybe some some reasons why it's not >> good for for kids. >> Okay. So, yeah, go ahead. >> No, I was going to say, well, you know, with our policy committee, which is we're looking at this, that's where the teacher input on that committee and maybe we need to bring another teacher to into that committee as well. I know Jod's on it, Dave's on it. Um it's definitely leadership heavy, but we certainly between now and the next meeting um can look at what teacher input we have on that committee representation as well to get certainly I'm not
021dismissing your comments at all. I'm just saying that I think that >> the language there I >> I wait I I support having teacher perspective and I know autonomy in the classroom what you teach and how you teach there's some freedom there and balancing that piece with the responsibility to use it correctly as well. So I think for the elementary level and for the middle school high school make sure we have some input there to see how they look at that in the language there. We can certainly modify it if it's not correct too. >> Yeah. And and definitely look at what um Bella all these questions too. I mean she has a lot of the same questions that I have. So um I feel like I feel like the policy she read the policy
022I read the policy and we kind of both came away with. We don't think these questions are really adequately answered. This is a policy like this is something that we we're like going to be using and yet it's it's got a lot we have a lot of questions from this policy. >> Sure. I haven't seen this is the first time I've seen it and our policy committee no one has responded at all to the policy committee. So it's very hard we come to the table and then the table now we have discussion about it but in between there's not any dialogue. So it's for us to be able to get this right for the board. I need to have that feedback along the way. So I think right now if we can working with Jody
023and Dave and even Thomas is looking at the teacher organization and then saying what's the feedback from the teachers and even students they're looking at this blog. I haven't even read this yet so this >> we just got it. Okay. I didn't know if you saw first I have not. So >> yeah. So I think in the time being I think we should hold off on approving the second. We'll come back with these answers. Okay. >> And then in December we can approve the second based on the answers and then modifications come up with it in January. The only thing I would caution that's still kind of is that there are things that people are looking to start to utilize and ask for teachers. I've been holding back the damn with trying to tap in
024and I'm not saying that's a rush to something but the longer we >> the longer we take to approve the policy longer it takes for people to be able to tap into the tools they want to use. So let's put that on our radar as well. So the more we can get done between the meetings and have the reading take place. If you want to do a second read today and count it, we still have to approve it, but so we can come to to the next meeting and say we have the ability to approve something. If the work gets done, I want to put the work in with the team to say, "Let's get some feedback." >> That is a good idea. Yeah. If we can we can improve it that way, we can
025still change it if we need, right? >> And the Frank's point too, I completely agree with assessing it. It's it's going to be changing and evolving. Um, and you know, we need to keep an eye out with the policy, making sure that it's matches what what's out there, what what people utilizing. Is there something we can do in the meantime to start rolling it out because I think when you start rolling it out, you're going to have all of a sudden eye openers. I need to change this, this, and that. So is there something we can give the superintendent the village to start rolling it out and get some feedback of sample uses that could be also incorporated in our decision in December through the second reading but start rolling out some aspects of it
026get feedback if we need to tweak something else so we get as close as possible in December like you said you want the teachers to start rolling some things out to start some things well I'd love to get bring you back to the board for the next meeting and that would be when you would when you would be Yeah, December 12th, I can bring the actual feedback to the table. At least you can have that in front of you uh before to see what teachers teach your inputs on that language there in particular and start looking at what Bella has here for the student input. >> Um you got to try to try it at that meeting then we can from there then plan to adjust accordingly >> but you need to try stuff to
027really be certain this path down. >> Well, that's also why we could revisit it in you know in a year too. we, you know, go through a semester of usage basically after December. I mean, revisit it even in the summer's time. Well, you know, if you start it and then you start at the rework, that gives you the July to do your first, the August to your second, and then September to the Yeah, we could even just include that in here. So, we >> that's revisited. >> That's what Frank's comment was to do an annual. >> Yeah. Like not a year from now though, but like >> at the reorg just question, there's um a lot of references to the education laws. Um but without me just knowing those laws, which I don't, or looking
028them up, which I don't have time to do, um could we attach appendixes at the end of this just to like show us what those laws are that that are being referenced? you know, log 2D C policy. There's a lot of like references to other things in the input restrictions. >> Some of these are quite lengthy, >> are they? Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Some I think we'd have to probably consult the attorney to ask as well like a specific question. Ed2D is one that I can explain to you talk about more just in terms of privac privacy information that can't be shared, but there may be others that we just would have to or just give us the links >> or Yeah, the links. Exactly. Just give us the links or a quick summary of
029what that law is and then a link or something so you don't have to, you know, we we don't get bogged down with, you know, a huge page. >> Exactly. But jargon you can't read if you don't have time to read that. So, you know, like that's >> Well, you read it, you don't understand it because you're like, >> well, Nate's in the back there right now. >> I like this song right now. I do. >> Hey, we need links. We links please. I'm teasing. I'm teasing. >> I'll make a motion for the second reading. >> Okay. Is there any other additional comment before we move forward with the motion? >> Okay. Frank made a motion for the second reading. Can I get a second for the motion? I'll second it. A second by Rebecca.
030Derek. >> Yes. >> Rebecca, >> yes. >> Greg, >> yes. >> Elaine, >> yes. >> Can Yes. As well. I just like to thank Ken for sitting on the policy committee and going through this whole process. >> Thank you. I forgot the first. >> We are moving forward to uh public comment for consent agenda items. We have no public no public comment on the consent agenda. >> Okay, we will move forward to the consent agenda which which is A through J with K being approval of the consent agenda items. I have just one comment to make on the items but it doesn't require to be pulled. >> Yeah, I have a comment too. >> Is it just a comment or you want to pull? >> I have a question. Yeah, >> two vote separate. Um
031yeah, maybe just pull uh E >> E um >> surplus. Okay, I can pull E to discuss that separately. >> Yeah. And then um is it in the audit report that had that extra classroom? So I >> Okay. You want to pull those separate? >> Yes. Okay. >> Should be quick. >> Um >> do you want to just clarification or do you want to vote separately? >> Maybe clarification. Okay. before we vote. That's >> just clarification. >> Yeah, >> we can make the motion and second and then get the clarification and then we can vote on >> Okay. Yeah. So, can I get a motion for 6A through J McCabe and the approval of public consent agenda? >> Move it. >> A second by Frank or a motion by Frank and second. >> Second. Second
032by Kim. Okay. We will move to discussion the surplus. Yeah. What is it? >> And there's always like what models here levels are talking like equipment is like what? >> It is the telephones for um middle school, high school and elementary. I think you can see old phones. >> Oh, okay. >> If you look up it'll it'll say um the telephone surplus >> there. the overall. >> So all of that is just false. >> Okay, that's all see that sentence. Okay. Okay. And then I is the um external product report. Yeah. Um, so, um, I just want to confirm that there is, I'm reading this correctly, that there is money left over from the class 2025 in the amount of $3,700 plus a little more than that and it's up and this is basically recommendation
033recommending for advising board is to determine what to do with that money. So if you look on the corrective um action plan and you look down, you'll see inactive clubs and you will see the comment with the corrective action and um central treasurer has responsibility to close that out. Notify the board if there's any inactive or expiring clubs >> and um the board has to approve to transfer those funds to a different club. Okay. So, is that going to be are we going to just create a a policy moving forward that we will distribute, you know, any funds connected clubs to specific things or it's a distributed every year kind of thing? >> It's something that happens every year. They will so essentially this is through June 30th of 2025. >> So, technically that was
034still necessary club at that point. Yeah. And then we have to just we have one club that we need to which is that that class designate into a different club another extracurricular. We decide that though we decide that it says winter of 2026. So this winter we'll decide. >> Okay. Okay. >> So those on the agenda we'll just Okay. Um and is the central treasurer Colleen? >> The central treasurer is your extracurricular your ECF your extracurricular. Okay. So, it's not a person. >> It's Yeah, it is a person. It is um Sherry Kelly Wells. >> Okay. In the business office. Okay. Um and so that answers that question. Um and then my other question was about sixth grade. Um can anyone explain why the sixth grade clubs should be shut down? And we currently have
035clubs that are solely comprised of just sixth graders that are going to be shut down. >> I think you're I think that has to do with the club advisor and it's specific to sixth grade. >> Yeah, I'm not sure about that one. >> And I think what if you if it it talks about it action plan doesn't say why. I don't know if it was a you know >> Colleen probably would know better. not here tonight for table right now. >> You don't even know if there are just clubs that are just sixth grade. >> I think there's there must be at least one year. >> Yes. >> So, we vote for this. We're voting to shut down a sixth grade club. I don't know why. >> It's recommended some. >> Okay. >> I don't
036believe it's losing the opportunity. It's not I don't say kids lose actually losing anything and have in terms of it's reporting to do with it. >> Okay. >> If you shut it down, you can also bring it back. >> Okay. >> It's not shut off and it's done for life. No, we can bring it back. Recommendation is put that back in. We can do it. >> All right. So if you look at the corrective action, it actually says the central treasurer will recommend to the board of education that any existing grade six club account be closed. It's ongoing and it actually states in there that the club was closed in summer 2025. >> It already was closed. It >> was already closed. >> All right. So we're not bringing any cards here. >> That's it.
037Thank you. I I actually do have a comment based on the audit. Um two years ago when we received our audit report, we had over four pages of recommendations um from the business office that needed to be corrected. This audit um last year they wrote it down to about half. This year we were at one comment which is four four lines long. So, could you do the business office, >> which is it? It's very nice to be in a an audit and um not have our hands slapped, I guess, is the next word. Okay, so we Any other comments? All right, so we already have a motion in a second. Derek, how do you vote? >> Yes. >> Rebecca, >> yes. Frank, >> yes. >> Al, >> yes. >> Kim, >> good bless. Yes. Oh,
038and I'll be yes. So 6 it passes. On to the president's report. Um kind of echoing what I just said. I would like to recognize the business office for their diligent work over the year and the results of the recent audit. Um the business office is continuously improving and the latest in uh audit indicates such. Um, tonight the board voted to accept the resignation for retirement purposes uh from Sarah Grant, the district superintendent of buildings and grounds. Even though he's not here, um, I would just like to congratulate him on his retirement and thank him for two decades of service that he has provided to our district. Um, it was brought to my attention about a post on Facebook regarding the merging of district offices and services between Burland and New Lebanon. Uh normally I
039do not entertain uh social media posts in this forum um because the board provides those in the public the opportunity for public comment. However, I think it's important to recognize the foresight that this board did have. um when both New Lemon and Barland district um would be undertaking the recruitment and hired of a district superintendent, the previous board president, which is Frank um did reach out to Questar about sharing such position. At that time, Miss Leing did not desire to have any conversation regarding sharing the services and declined a conversation with our district about such uh shared positions. So, there was some I heard some rumblings on there and I found the post and um we did actually reach out to 11. Um they're lost already. Um and lastly, I would like to encourage the
040public to review our district calendar and attend at least one of the events that highlights the diverse talents of our student body. And a perfect perfect example was a jazz concert tonight. It was very um well attended in my opinion and very uh entertaining. And finally, have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving. Superintendent report. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. Um a lot of great things continuing to happen across the district. I'm going to try to highlight as much as I can. Echo a few things that Bella had said very well earlier. One is I want to thank Mr. Gould. Thanks, Senator Ashby. Um, recognizing our Veterans Day uh veterans who came into the into the building. We had over 22 23 veterans that uh were here. I want to continue to get those numbers higher
041in the future and collaborate with the community and bring veterans in. It's so important, recognize them, thank them for their service to our country. Uh it's just great to see that partnership uh here in Berlin. I've seen it in some other places. U it's just wonderful to have here. So, kudos to to Mr. school for doing that program um to students who are involved as well and look forward to seeing that continue. It's also a great partnership with new civic skill readiness as well um and those initiatives that align with new pathways for graduation. Uh I also would like to recognize Miss Karen Day mentioned National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society. We had over 50 students that were recognized u week or two ago here in the auditorium for academic excellence, scholarship, character, leadership,
042service and that's just uh credit to our students and also credit to our families as well. So congratulations to all those involved and thank you to Karen Day for organizing that wonderful program for us. I want to congratulate our music program although I don't have their names in front of me. We have two students who have qualified for all state competition this weekend Friday and Saturday of proctors and that's uh quite an accomplishment for those two students. So our music department should be very proud. Um certainly I am I know the board is as well of of those achievements. So kudos to that department. Um, I'd like to recognize also Sar Grant. Congratulate him on his retirement upcoming uh in April and uh you know he's been here for many years u this district community
043member and um I enjoy working with Cerno and look forward to working the next few months while he's here and there's a lot of knowledge of the district and he's been a big part of of where we are today and so I thank him very much for everything he continues to do for us and uh congratulate him on his on his retirement. Um I also want to mention facilities and couple things that are happening currently tied into grants department. Uh one is that we recently um just completed upgrades to the swipe badge system at the elementary school. Um I know Matalo and teachers are appreciative of fact our swipe badges now work. The next time we have a round table the board be able to get the building. Um the front door was completely broken
044had to be replaced. Um but it's a new system that day automation has installed. Uh we're working through our smart schools bond act to pay for that. We're also going to be upgrading our camera systems as well with uh smart schools bond money from the state. Um so looking forward to that. Those upgrades. We also elementary school are in the middle of the capital outlay project. North Pico roof is being repaired. The project has started. Um hopeful that this next week we're going to really get finished with the project before the weather changes. But that roof is is going to be repaired. already has a new uh rubber roofing on it and there's more work to be done that should be happening very very quickly uh to bring that up to standard where it should
045be as well for our students and our faculty. Um I also would like to uh congratulate the business office. The audit report was outstanding. Um thank Mr. Prer for coming in earlier to share that with us and the only one comment on there is truly a remarkable achievement that things are going the right direction financially for our district. And to further that point uh currently this is the week of the state as well conference which is the school business official conference up in Saratoga. Uh the entire business office is up there and a big reason why they're all there is because today they received a collaborative award of excellence uh for the Berlin Central School District. Uh according to Asbo the newly formed team from Berlin has rebuilt trust, transparency and stability in the district.
046Uh established sound financial proceeding processes, ensur compliance and brought professionalism and purpose uh to their work. I'm very proud of each and every one of them as my colleagues and proud of the direction the district is going from a financial standpoint as well. So, I congratulate the business office on that fine accomplishment and that award as well. And that is it for this update. I'm looking forward to next month. Uh we're going to have a lot of things exciting happening here in December. It gets busy. I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. >> Thank you. We will move on to administrative snapshots. The business office um >> business office there's not an update today. >> There's not an update in their effort. >> I do have transportation and I have facilities as well. >> Okay,
047perfect. Uh PPS and MTSS currently working to fill a number of positions within the department including the CSSE secretary position. It's a key role especially as we are gearing up for annual reviews. Um and while it is a challenge and to have that change mid year, it is certainly granted some opportunity to kind of adjust some of our processes and review things that have become, you know, routine and give us a chance to look more closely at it. I do want to thank the board for approving the creation of the point for speech position. It is going to be a challenging position to fill, but it will give our speech providers a much needed much needed support as they are every single minute of the day working with kids. It's truly impressive to see them
048run around the building and fit in as many sessions as they do. I know that they will appreciate that additional support as well. I did have an interview with a candidate who had recently retired, but unfortunately she's not able to take on that much of a position right now, but she did refer a number of her friends who are also retired. So, here's to hoping that we can find somebody in that role. Um, and again, we're working hard to lay some groundwork for another successful annual review process. It is quite the project to get up and running. Um, I feel like I talk about it every single time I talk with you guys. So, uh, it is quite involved. Um, also just wanted to share that we've been continuing to collaborate within the PD committee
049about some of our focus areas on curriculum development and some really great conversations uh going on there about what we need to prioritize and what we need to focus on and what our next steps are. So, I'm really excited to have conversations about long-term growth as well. I think we get caught up in some of our shortterm pieces sometimes. So, I also want to kudos to Kenny for bringing those long-term conversations to the leadership team and Kathy as well. I think those are some important long-term thinking to have about where we want to be and how we're going to get there best. So, a lot of great a lot of great discussion going on and I look forward to continuing that work with the committee. >> Thank you. >> Um I just have a few
050updates. So MTSS the meetings have been going really really well um in both buildings and we are seeing some really good student um growth and gains towards their goals. Um looking forward I'm going to be setting up the winter ISL diagnostic where hopefully we can continue to see um the student growth but when I'm tracking some of my MTSS students they're already growing from the fall diagnostic when they're using ISL. So, we're just really excited to see um what the kids are doing right now. >> I actually question you how you said they grow out of the program level two to level one. >> Does that happen in January after they take the ISL exam or does that is a continuous process? So the student can be exited through MTSS from like tier 2 to
051three or two to one at any time as long as they're making that proper growth and hitting like those grade level goals and hitting their MTSS goals. So it's not necessarily like we have to wait for the diagnostic. It can be done at any MTSS meeting that I have hold with the grade level team and the providers um when we look at how the students are doing. >> Thank you. Thank you. Transportation provid y um so Janette says that things are going well in transportation started winter sports shuttle back up this Monday with games following in the coming weeks. She's happy to report that Rick just completed step one of training for his SBDI school bus driver instructor certification today. In fact, Jet's been without Rick for a couple days of training. um very busy.
052Uh Rick is going to be uh able to move on to his 19A certification in December. This will enable him to help him yearly and by annual staff training mandated by SED and New York State DMV for drivers in attendance. She also reports for the first time ever, everyone in transportation parttook in CPR training on the superintendent's conference day last week on the 10th. This included drivers, attendants, mechanics, and Janette herself. So we are all officially seeker certified to further increase safety standards on school buses as well as our department and she wishes all a happy Thanksgiving with their families. >> Very good. >> U so Mr. Grant um who is ill today uh he shared that he met with uh John Leco. Uh John Leco is from the Garland company. Um, I'll provide an
053update to the board a little later on about this, but essentially right now we're looking at the roof of the elementary school for repairs. We're running some hiccups finding uh a company to come in and be able to repair the roof. So, John Leco was nice enough to uh lend his expertise and take a look at it for us. He's recommended by Quest Star. Uh he came on Monday very quickly. Um he does report there is a minimal of 40 to 50 shingles on that roof right now minimally that will need to be repaired and that the age of the roof is approaching 100 years old. Um it's about 90 plus years old and those uh slight shingles have a lifespan of about 100 years and what happens is they do thin out and begin
054to fall off the roof. So, we have to consider uh patching the roof and repairing what's broken there or potentially really consider whether that the whole roof um should be replaced because at a lifetime point now even for repair. We're talking about four or five more years possibly. Uh in terms of the life of that roof right now and there are some significant uh slate shingles that are missing off that with holes up there that are visible from the inside of the building as well, which is likely why the water is coming coming in the building. that and the clock tower is in a state of as he describes um needing serious repair at this point in time. Um and that's also going to tie into the water issues in the building. It's not taken
055care of that we're going to continue to see water leaking the classrooms, other parts of the building. So these are some serious facilities issues when it comes to the getting that up to standard um repairs and bringing it up to speed wherever it needs to be with with the roof um in that facility. So those are ongoing discussions we have to have as a district in terms of how we want to allocate things shortterm and longterm to to take care of that. Um there was also an incident at the uh BES recently where an individual ran into the fence that was just installed in the back of the building with a all-terrain vehicle. Um the fence was damaged and uh right now zero reports that claim has been filed. uh photos have been shared against
056the individual individual's insurance and we are um going to be looking at repairing that fence and looking at um you know how we want to place the fence when it's repaired and that's in process right now. And lastly, several reports um positively that the drinking wood results are back and every fixture did pass except for one sink in the middle school high school bathroom and it's been labeled installed that that is not for drinking use at this point in time. um due to the drinking water test results that came back. This is at the middle school, high school, the one um the one bathroom. >> Thank you. >> Technology. Just a couple things to point out as I normally have to. High number of Chromebook damages to the degree this year that students are actually
057punching them. They're carving the casings of them. They're taking the backs apart during school during classes, believe it or not, and they're cutting the wires inside the computers and removing even the speakers out of them. So I do have a meeting next Monday with admin team to discuss how we're going to move forward with these type of damages. They're on the call for and it's very difficult for us to collect money back from these parents. Uh we also have approximately 8 to 12 Chromebooks right now that have been lost, stolen, misplaced, whatever. The students can't seem to find them. And that includes when the students don't have their devices. I let out loner devices. I have about 12 loner devices available every single day. With the volume of missing devices, that's depleted my supply, but
058even my uh tech loaner devices have now been lost. So, it's it's becoming an increasing problem and I think that we really need to come up with a plan of how we move forward with these onetoone devices. There's no respect for them at this point. A lot of severe damages. I am fortunate, as I've said before, when we surplus equipment because it's not functioning anymore, but I can salvage like screens and things like that. I do remove those screens to replace in any of the devices that have broken screens to try to cut costs, but we're getting into where keyboards are being picked apart. Even the facing on the keyboards are being destroyed. It It's just astronomical. So, I just wanted to bring that to the board's attention. Um, to follow up with Mr. Rizzo's
059comment about the bcotta control access uh down at Berlin Elementary. I believe that the fob readers are working. Is that correct? >> Yes. But the actual unlocking of the door schedule is not working. I was not aware of