001It is 7:17. We have six board members present. And we stand to pledge allegiance to the >> flag to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. >> This time we will move on to presentations. First one is board appreciation. I should say good evening. Welcome. So, last week officially was board officiation week. Uh we're recognizing our board tonight being here for Frank this evening. So board appreciation week is an opportunity for our community to pause and express our gratitude for the invaluable and often underappreciated work of our board of education. Our board dedicates countless hours and energy to ensuring that every student has the opportunity to learn, to grow, and succeed in school and eventually in life. For those
002in the audience that may not know, there are 690 public school districts in New York State with publicly elected school board members who set district policies, create a shared vision for the future of education, determine how schools operate, excuse me, and how student success is measured. board develops and approves an annual multi-million dollar budget, hires and evaluates the superintendent, and engages the community in dialogue which impacts students, families, and teachers to ensure equitable outcomes for all students. I would like to personally thank each board member of our seven member board for their support and their commitment to public education. Beginning first with Kim Colleen, who's been on the board since 2022. Round of applause for him. [Music] These are in no particular order. Uh Penny Eggware, who has been on the board since 2024. Derek
003Gardner, been on the board since 2020. [Applause] Rebecca Lanir, who's been on the board since 2025. Elaine Smith, who's also been serving since 2025. [Applause] Not with us this evening, uh, is Mr. Frank Zwack, who is our board vice president. Frank's been on the board since 1983. [Music] [Applause] And our board president, Katie Murray, who's been on the board since 2012. So I know we have a couple things in gratitude to our board certificates jumping to hand each of you and we also have um some student guests as well. So, we're just showing our appreciation from the BCSD PTO as well. Thank you so much for your service and your dedication. We have Asher Vancouin, son of our new PTO president, Renee Vancurin, who we're so grateful, joined us this year, and we just So
004happy user is here too to help us show our appreciation. So thank you for everything you do. students and the board together. You know, it's coming. I'm sure Julie and Rene, can you come in for a we have anyone else that is part of our PTO that would like to join teachers or former PTO members? All right. Okay. >> Hey, Ashley, you want to scoot in on the other side of Luke? >> Maybe a little bit. >> It's okay. >> There you go. here. Good job, >> beautiful. >> Hey, thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you to the PTO. At this time we will uh move on to the report the student representative. >> Good evening. Um so far we've had a good school year. Um fall fest was this
005past weekend with a large turnout. All participating classes and clubs had a successful day of fundraising and we have been raising money to support making strides against breast cancer. And so far we've raised over $100 with our bright pink bracelets and all the donations we collect this month will go to making strides group. We have started our fall spirit week and so far there's a sports day and today was dressed as your favorite character. We will be holding a pep rally to celebrate fall sports and the fall ball which will take place this Friday for high school students. My classmates are excited to attend the dance. The cafeteria and lunches this year have been much improved with the selection for the menu and we appreciate all the effort that goes into satisfying students taste along
006with the requirement of the dietary guidelines. The regulatory of menu items like pizza Fridays is nice and predictable. Students have been expressing their enjoyment regarding meals. Thank you. Thank you, Bella. The next is the announcement of the 30-day comment period for the updated 2526 districtwide safety plan which uh will add the appendix of the cardiac arrest and AED response plan and that information is available on our website as well. >> Just the board of the committee is aware uh Disha's law is a new legislation. this kind of effect schools are required to to meet uh by January 20th is the deadline to adopt. Uh essentially it's a cardiac arrest plan that has to be in place. Um our plan uh big thanks go out to Tim Levan and Tom Olsen for assisting with identifying our
007team members. Um and there'll be training involved as well to make sure everyone is uh able to respond the event to cardiac emergency uh districtwide. Uh, so it's going to be something added into our district safety plan and we're required to have a 30-day comic period. So after the comment period, then we'll revisit this and next month and hopefully we can adopt this into our districtwide safety plan for the new response team. >> I had a question. Well, I have a lot of questions. So is that something that we do online like through the policy committee or should I ask my questions now or wait until the end? >> You can ask. Yeah, because the speed opportunity for us if there's speed we need to go back and look at but then we can sort
008of circle back and >> so all right so here okay so there's the people that are listed as being trained um I think there's seven people that would be I guess sort of you know in charge if there was a situation and it's at school and extracurricular activities or weekend like fall fest also. >> My understanding is during school day hours of the people's staff that would be here for the school day. I don't believe this pertains to like weekend events. >> If they weren't if they were there, they certainly can respond to it, but we tried to identify both elementary and middle high school, both buildings. >> I think um I think it's H2. It it did say something about um for school approved curricular or extracurricular events or activities, the school officials and
009administrators responsible for such school facilities shall ensure that the presence of at least one of those voluntary people. So, I guess mine was and I wasn't sure if this was like in place right now or going into the future, but it just seemed like for all the weekend stuff like difficult to and maybe it will happen. I just was like I don't think it's happening right now. Um, >> definitely not happening right now. >> Yeah. >> And then Okay. So, that makes more sense to me now. And then um >> if I can just speak to that piece then I'll go back to Tan on it but sounds like we have to put our best effort in trying to have people available for when there are any events but obviously with seven people coverage is
010going to be >> okay >> you know I'll talk to Tim for sure on that it's meant to for short school day throughout the day when students or staff are here make sure both all those are covered and then you know beyond that for weekends I'll ask required to have somebody on the team here on the weekend I'm not sure That would obviously require, >> right? Or they have to change the wording. >> Yeah. >> Y >> um and then the other thing was there was actually just a sentence or word that I really didn't know what it meant at all. Um so it's saying that only those people that are properly trained listed can use the AED. a health care provider, a person who's certified, thinking maybe an EMT, and then the last person
011that says that's allowed to participate in this AED or grab it or help somebody is a person acting pursuant to a lawful prescription. I don't know who that is. I I believe that's the good Samaritan law with that. >> That makes sense then because I was like, well, what if none of those people are >> Yeah. So, essentially you're qu you're you know, if you're trying to assist somebody and you're not trained, but you you're effort there, you're able to do so. >> Okay, that makes sense. Okay, I think Yeah, I think that's it. And again, maybe just think about that extra. >> Yeah, absolutely. I'll I'll check with him on that. That's what the comment period's for. um we have 30 days and we would be able to then approve it and we still
012have until January officially if it wasn't for next month ready to go yet but I'll circle back to that. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Y [Music] >> thank you. >> Next item is minutes of the regular meeting held on September 16th, 2025. Can I get a motion to move the minutes as presented? >> Motion by Rebecca. A second. Second by Kim. Any discussion? >> Sorry. Ken, how do you vote? >> Yes. >> Derek, >> yes. >> Rebecca, >> Yes. And I'm yes. So 6 and the next set of minutes is from the round table held on Thursday, October 2nd. We can get a motion to move minutes. A motion by Derek. A second. A second by Rebecca. Kim, how do you vote? Penny >> abstain. >> Derek, >> yes. >> Rebecca, >> yes. >>
013Elaine, >> yes. >> And Amma, yes. >> So that passes four with two abstains. The next item is uh the first reading for policy 8636, which is the AI policy. This was mentioned by a board member at our um discussion of the code of conduct. So we will read it. Um I think three readings, >> correct? >> We have to do the three readings. Um so tonight is the first reading of this policy. Um, if there's any questions or comments, we can discuss it now or we can come together after the next meeting to discuss. I actually can't get anything to work on my computer right now. So, either So, you can either I don't know what's going on with the Wi-Fi, so I can't bring it up. I can just comment with the a
014policy. First of all, thank thank our committee. We have a policy committee. Um, both buildings look at this. Jody, Dave as well, part of the committee. Uh it's important with AI that you know the lines between fact fiction are sometimes get blurred with AI. I think we've seen a lot of these online sometimes you're wondering is this is that real is not not real. Uh it's definitely the wave of the future when it comes to the workplace where students are doing and using. So it's important to embrace it and definitely utilize it. However, we need to have guard rails around it. So many districts right now are in the process of looking at AI and adopting a policies and you know that's that's our charge right now is is putting the proper guardos in place
015so we can really start to utilize this more with our with our students their staff our students really are using it already but even more so the classroom applications now that teachers looking to utilize as well we're just trying to get the policy in place before we can really um get that out to to everyone. So I'm optimistic for this in terms of what we're going to be doing in the future with it. More and more using it, students using it and preparing them for the future. But this is an important one to have um have our guard rails there as I said. So there is a policy uh draft there for review for first reading. It will take three meetings. So this will take some time to get adopted and we'll hopefully get things
016moving just so we can start to utilize it more in classrooms this year. Um so any case any feedback? I don't know initially if everyone's had time to look at that when it came out or not, but it is there in the uh agenda. >> Thanks, Ken. Is there a lot of things that are crossed off, is there a way to get fresh references or cross the cross references? I don't know that why that is. >> So, we were so weially left it there. So NSB sent over the original draft to us and then our attorney then did a review of it so that we had lined out some of the changes. So that was to show where the changes were from the NISMA to what's been customized for for us. We certainly that that
017would be kicking out on the final draft take it out now if we wanted to but that'll be helpful for to see the changes what was red line and moved versus not having there. So >> just reference. So it's not you don't you're not showing anywhere in the actual policy what you change or to customize it to our school, right? >> Um yes and no. It was both thresh. So the policy. This policy is written by NISBA approved by our lawyers and who who's on this committee that's been working on making these changes. So, it goes from NISBA sends us a draft and then it goes to our attorneys who then uh edit and then it goes to our policy committee. And the policy committee in this case was on it is Dave Cody, myself,
018Ariel, uh Colleen, um summit with us came on it. Um so we had actually a lot longer than we thought to to look at it and comment on it and committee felt it was ready to go forward first first read for the board just based on what was there. It wasn't obviously a lot of changes that the committee itself had had recommended once it went through review from the from the attorneys and certainly something that we can in the future also as we learn from this certainly can go back and make changes to as well once it's adopted. So this is going to be sort of going into it and trying to figure out what what really works for our students and where there's again needs to be tight regardless what right now we have
019no policy pointed out. So we're trying to get something in place. It is pretty dense. I'm not going to lie in terms of what's there for information. So um yeah >> if you could just include the blind version that would be helpful also for us. And then >> Bella, if you could just give us the next perspective of a student, that'd be great. >> Thank you. So, >> so just clarity counting as the first read, not counting. >> We can count today as the first read. It's been presented and we have two more >> and then a clean clean copy without anything on anything. And then um >> I asked Bel as a student on the policy. >> Does anyone else having problems with their Chromebooks? I I had problems with the internet. Okay. I
020I also just want to comment too over so if there's feedback from the board, it also will go back to the policy committee again for the policy committee then to take that feedback and then further look at those those things. So perhaps the next time a clean copy too if there's items there we get a little deeper into it and we look at the committee. >> Can I send you an email throughout I can this month or I wait till the next board meeting to make any comments? >> No, you can send comments. Yeah, if you have things we can discuss in public, >> you can send it and then we can discuss it in public. Okay. >> If you have some comments ahead of time, too, it gives the committee a chance to digest
021that before and at the next meeting. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Any other comment on the policy? >> Okay. The next is public comment. vote for the first. >> Oh, we have to go vote for the first read. Okay. So, um the first region of policy 8636. Again, this is just the vote for the first one. It does not make the policy final. Can I get a second to um accept the first reading of the policy? Uh motion by Kim, a second. >> Uh second by Penny. Kim, yes. Penny, >> yes. >> Derek, >> yes. >> Rebecca, >> yes. >> Elaine, >> yes. >> And yes, >> public comment sign up. Sign up, please. Public comment on the consent agenda items. Okay. Consent agenda items six A through G with H being approval of the consent
022agenda items. Are there any items um that we would like to pull? >> Okay. Can I get a motion for 6 A through G with HB and the approval? A motion by Derek. A second. A second. A second by Rebecca. Kim Haro. >> Yes. >> Penny. >> Yes. >> Derek, >> yes. >> Rebecca, >> yes. >> Elaine, yes. And I'm a yes 6. Okay. Moving on to uh the president's report. And my report is um very brief but on a very important topic um and the emphasis of the importance of attendance at school. Um you know this is a goal in both the middle or the middle school, high school and the elementary school to increase attendance. um the district and the taxpayers in particular can invest in the best programs available for education. However,
023without student attendance, the programs can't be taught. So, with that being said, I encourage um attendance at all, you know, levels of education um to help maximize resources and help our kids with success. That's all I have for the president's report. I move on to the superintendence report. >> Thank you, Katie. Good evening. I would echo um what Katie said regarding attendance being so important. I know uh both of our building leaders are uh working that focus this year. It's been a focus to be a focus, but really diving even deeper into strategies that will work with the staff to and families to promote tenants. uh joining down school. I saw uh open house had poster boards out and the communications going out and Dave his team are working on weekly meetings and attendance chats
024and area we're really trying to look at data and home visits and working with friends county to try to get kids in school so they can learn. There's absolutely a link between student student achievement and attendance. And studies show that students who by third grade are not in school, they start falling on reading and math and that just continues on throughout their education. So, it's so important that we have kids in school as much as possible. So, thank you for that. I want to congratulate the class of 2026 for a successful fall festival. I was able to attend my family on Saturday. It was wonderful to to meet many new people and see the community come out. I'm always amazed in my time here in the district how such a a rural spread out district.
025Um how many people all of a sudden can show up on one campus and just great to see so many people here. Um really love seeing the vendors which I saw at this the Smith 5K back in the spring as well. That's really a cool part. But also the haunted house was awesome. My 18-year-old went through it. I went through it. My wife was a little bit afraid but that was fun to see that. The car show by the class of 2027 was amazing. Um just to see that see that up front. I think it was a great way to draw people in. Uh really cool cars. I'm not even sure who won honestly the results there, but I had I had the green truck out there as my winner personally. So >> yeah. Who
026won what? >> Well, there were five. >> Corvette. >> I would have driven pretty much any one of those cars off the lot. So >> thank you as well. Thank you. Yeah, it was great. Great job. Great turnout. Great event. So just nice to see. really positive. Um I also I want to promote and acknowledge and announce a career trade expo coming up. Um Mr. Burnsley, our counselors want to thank them for the collaboration and making this happen. It's the first of many great things. Um the council center's really been moving forward some good ideas and one is getting kids more uh exposure to all areas going looking at colleges looking at trades all those different things that are going to hopefully happen to them after they graduate here. So who's falls Armory on 10:29
027there's going to be an event there where bring students right now students are able to sign up in grades 10 through 12 to go to the falls Armory. Uh Mr. Mr. Burns and I are going to be up there as well with students and they're going to meet with experts and learn more about some really great careers in the trades, healthcare, education, manufacturing, business, finance, uh you name it. There's a lot there sounds like to offer. So, we're excited to get some students up there for some good exposure to those those things. It's all about pathways and uh meeting kids where they are and helping them to find their path to success. Uh, also speaking of partnerships, um, there's been some really great partnerships with state and local government leaders, uh, which also strengthens outcomes
028for students. I want to thank and acknowledge Assemblyman Scott Bendett who visited Mr. Viner's economics classroom. Mr. Viner brought him in uh, last week. Uh, assemblyman Bennett Bendett shared his experiences in journey in politics along with his background entrepreneurship and community service. This is part of the new civic seal pathway which is now open for our seniors this year and hopefully it'll be open to more students in the future. So, it's great to see him come in and our students be able to uh gain some valuable information from someone who's very successful in the area and and serves as well um to our community and our county. I also want to thank Senator Jake Ashby, New York State Senator for the 43rd district who visited with Colleen and myself and Rachel recently. We will discuss
029some issues that are facing um the state government and challenges that are impacting rural schools including funding, transportation, teacher shortages, access to resources for students and families. I'm excited that Senator Ashby will be back visiting Berlin again soon to recognize our veterans. Um we appreciate his willingness to listen and dedication to being part of solution for small rural schools are often overlooked as well. So, it's great to see um you know, some some government in action here in Berlin and people recognize our district and looking to help us to move forward and support our students. That's all I have for this update. I just thank the board again for all the hard work and and uh congratulations, I guess, just in terms of so far this year and what we've seen so far happening. Great
030things and many more things to come as well. So, thank you. >> Thank you. We will move on to um administrative snapshots of business office. Just briefly, we're still working with our auditors and we've got to put a little bit submit our ST3 which determines a lot of our state aid in the coming year. So, we're making every effort to find little bits and pieces that maybe have been disclosed in the past that are put in the correct codes now so that we can put this over. >> Thank you. >> Right. So, I'm going to give the update from Sam Higgins for MTSS first. Um, she cannot join us tonight. Um so she shares that groups have begun at bees on Monday October 6 for NTSS. Parent letters were sent home for all students on
031Octo or Friday October 3rd. And we had a student who had exited NTSS in the high school and that letter was mailed home on October the 1st. So as a reminder when a student exits it means that they met their goals and they're now back on track. and she hopes to share that she'll have more exit letters that can be mailed home in the future as students continue to make progress in those NTSS supports. Uh she shares that data meetings were conducted with grade level teams at both buildings including going over beginning of the year data and looking at ISL to see what it has to offer in terms of different reports and how they can best use that information to promote student growth. Similarly, data meetings along with MTSS meetings will be scheduled for
032later in October, beginning of November to keep posted on student progress and address any concerns that arise to help address those shifting needs. Then just for my update in special ed, I just wanted to thank the stars program for putting together a wonderful appreciation dinner. I think it's a wonderful tradition that they've started. It's great to see the kids in a different light. Um, they did a great job. I'm biased, but they did a great job. Um, and just within my office, I wanted to share that we've been working on getting prepared for annual reviews. And I know it seems very early, but that is the timeline that we need to follow to make sure that we are ready to go come this spring. So, that's all. >> Thank you, Tom. Transportation Good evening board
033members and community. Congratulations to the board members on your recognition. You well deserved and much appreciated. Um, everyone is in in the swing of things in transportation. There's not really a whole lot going on. Not a lot to report. We did have a glitch with our Spot by bus staff yesterday. Parents reached out to Janette and the drivers. We reached out to Spot by bus. They quickly diagnosed it, had to wait till overnight to get it fixed. It worked well today. Um, and the surplus vehicle auction um, finished today. I feel it was a nice success for the district. We're getting rid of some equipment and making a little money in process. And that's it. Any questions? >> I also failed to acknowledge recognize transportation. I want to thank Rick in particular and Janette, but
034Rob Rick gave you a little tour of the district. I snuck out Rachel for see me. She didn't know I did it, but Rick brought around the district for about two hours and got to see all parts of the district, parts I did not even know existed like Babcock Lake and some really cool parts and windy roads and whatnot this week. So, it was great tour with great weather for it. I really appreciate his time with us to bring around the district as well showing. So, thank you. buildings and grounds. >> Thank you. So, it's been a during busy month. Um, I've spent a lot of time researching information and contacting vendors for quotes for the slate roof repairs at R Elementary School, also for the repair and replacement of the door hardware here at
035the middle school high school in the auditorium so this space can be adequately secured um when necessary. Um, I've been contacting applicants and with the assistance from other administrators and some of my buildings and ground staff. We've conducted interviews for the building maintenance worker. Um, we've checked references and I believe an applicant was put before you this evening. If you appointed that person, I thank you very much for that. Um, I believe that he'll be a great asset um to the building the grounds um department going forward and hopefully he'll have a long career here. Um, we held a pre-construction meeting with Doug Dickinson from CS Arch and a representative from the contractor that was awarded the project at Berlin Elementary School um for the capital outlay. Uh, work is expected to start soon and
036should only take a few days to complete. Um, at which point it will completely refurbish the north portico. Um, and the state aid for that project will come back in next year's um, school year. independent contractors been hired to inspect and service the gym equipment and the folding petition here in the gym at the middle school as well as the gym equipment at Berlin Elementary School. It was determined that one of the gear boxes on uh one of the basketball backs stops here um had faulted and during the replacement of that um as a result of that that backs stop would not go back up in the air without tripping the electrical circuit. um continually. So, we had to have it replaced. It was about a $2,600 repair of that uh replacement of that gearbox.
037In the process, some electrical issues arose. Um and it was determined that back in 2014 when they did the re-roofing of the building here, they actually drilled screws down through the electrical conduit which caused short um and wouldn't let power go to the um the gearbox. So, as a result, it wouldn't work. So, we had to haul in an electrical contractor to make those repairs. Um, and at this point now, everything is working correctly. So, um, very happy about that. We've been sending our district vehicles, um, out for undercoating and, uh, nearing state inspection, which is something we do every year to make them last longer, um, and look better. I just want to pass along my thanks to the transportation department. Um they had purchased for me some new tires for a couple of
038the vehicles that needed them and they've been um doing the oil changes and they mounted put those tires on the vehicles and they've been generally doing work to the to the um to the building and grounds vehicles. That's all I have. >> Thank you Sarah. >> Technology Elementary. >> Good evening. So um we have our intervention our interventionists had met at the end of last month who's our star specialist specialist to review our data from our fall assessments along with our um core integrity assessments and they work together to identify our um students who would benefit from the supports of tier 2 and tier three interventions. So those groups like Sam had mentioned in her report have started and are going really well. We also have started this last week our enrichment club well not
039club but our enrichment activities um too. So during that win time or what suit what I need time, students um have the opportunity to be be pulled by our music teacher and our art teacher for some enrichment and all students have that opportunity throughout the year rotations so as many students can benefit from that as as as possible. So um those are all up and running and students are excited to be participating in those. Uh we were very excited to welcome our li librarians from Steventown in Berlin who well um who visited our classrooms and spoke to students about the importance of libraries and reading and um showed around our library and also handed out cards to students so that they could get their own library cards. So I've been hearing that a lot of
040kids have brought them to the their library. Some have returned them to school and if they return them to school, you're going to get them to the librarians to then get them their library cards. So that's really exciting. Um we look forward to a great partnership with them. Also encouraging stu teachers to um have students come down and kind of read to me if they have time. Students who maybe achieve a goal or overcome a hurdle that they were really trying to read a book or um so I'm really encouraging that and they can come down and read with me and get I read with the principal sticker. So um I'm excited about that. So I hope kids will be too. I know that they really love to come and and visit me and share
041their her their skills and their experiences. And um we also look forward to welcoming Heidi Bramley. She's our quest math specialist. She'll be coming in on Friday. She's going to be in our day meeting with the teachers just to kind of get some feedback, see what support they might need throughout the year and then also work with our math specialist um this year. So we're excited to work with her. And just one last thing, we're um looking forward to our first monster match. So, I just want to I want to thank the PTO and also our drama um our staff who run our drama club and our helping hands. They've all done a wonderful job planning this event. And this year, not just are we having a dance, but we're also adding some really fun
042steam activities for students to be able to do in the hallways. So, we're really excited um about that on Friday night. And just again, thank you for all of your support and your volunteer hours throughout the year and the years that we've, you know, you served on the board. So, we really appreciate you. >> A question. >> Yeah. Um I we had heard that um the internet crashed or something with the elementary school and the transportation department. Was that just like a one day thing? And how well did that did you handle that? And you know, >> Yep. It wasn't even a one day thing. I believe that the internet was back by 9:30 in the morning. So there was a little panic but you know we know that we can teach kids without the
043internet. So we were teachers were ready and willing to do that if needed. So I think the phones maybe caused a little bit more unease and we didn't have phone service. Um but yeah by 9:30 in the morning it was up and running and it was fine the rest of the day. So it was just a short amount of time. >> Yeah. Because a lot of kids use the tablets now or something. They would need internet for that or not. >> We don't in elementary school they have they don't have well some of them have iPads. Some of them have Chromebooks, but they're really just support materials. So, they're not something that they need to have or that they use all the time. It's really they're only used at various parts during the day. So,
044um you know, there was no disruption in education or good for them. >> Thank you, J. >> Berlin Middle High School and Athletics. Good evening. Also want to thank you for all of your support um for board appreciation week. So I do thank you all. Um I just have a brief update of our fall athletic season. We had um 151 student athletes participate in fall which was a wonderful reflection of our students enthusiasm and commitment to our programs. Um we hosted a very successful unified botchi home match. It was truly inspiring to see our students competing and supporting each other. Um we're really excited. We're traveling to Waterford tomorrow for our next match. Um, our soccer seasons are concluded. Um, while cross country and volleyball continue to train and prepare for sectionals. So, that's what
045I have. Um, winter sports signups did open up yesterday. So, that will be open. Um, varsity and JB sports will start on November 17th and then modified to start the following Monday. 151 for Lebanon as well or is it just for student? >> It's combined. >> Y my bowling legs. Well, the great words of Harvey Burners and my father. I don't we don't need a day, a week or a month to uh say thank you. We appreciate you all around. Um, so, uh, we do appreciate what you do. I know you get paid a lot of money to be here and have all these meetings. Um, but we know that you love the district and you love the community and obviously you love the students. So, it's a great. So, thank you. Don't I am
046very lucky. I have a terrific, tremendous team, Ariel and Megan. Neither one wanted to be up here with me. I don't know why they did shower. Uh but I need to have them up here because they do so much work for my building, our students, and for myself. So I would be wrong about myself. I do want to say one thing. I heard about the um the librarians. I know that Ariel worked really hard to get that set up um and reaching out. Correct. So, I want to thank you publicly uh for what you've done with that because that's very >> Rachel's little piece of everything. >> Rachel always has a little piece of everything. She's all stuff. So, anyway, this evening and throughout the remainder of the school year, I'm going to change this
047up. I will present my monthly board of education reports through the lens far goals. I have three building goals. Improve student attendance. So bring that up. Uh narrow the achievement gap across all subgroups. Subgroups being students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged. Uh those are our two subgroups in the district. And strengthen student and parent engagement and ownership. In addition, I will include a student spotlight even though Megan stole a lot of it there. Um, as our students uh remain at the heart of everything that we do, these goals guide every initiative at Berlin Middle High School and reflect our ongoing commitment to student growth, achievement, and community partnership. Of course, if other important matters arise outside of these goals, I will not hesitate to share them so the board remains fully informed. Building one, proves student
048attendance, we are attacking this. Um, we have a lot of momentum. If you ever see me uh during the day, I'm driving around. I'm not leaving work. I am visiting houses. Um I think Ken wanted to put the uh what was that? The air finder, you know, >> air. Yes. Uh thought, but uh you know, but we are finding it makes tremendous difference going to the houses. um either with this person, you know, so that's important. It shows the importance of being in school. Our attendance committee continues to make strong progress this fall. Assistant principal Megan Reynolds has been leading grade level attendance uh attendance chats for teachers and counselors to review students who are considered chronically absent. These uh these data discussions allow us to identify barriers and implement targeted interventions. I think you
049probably realize it's very complicated why students don't come many times. It's a lot of layers to it. So, we have to spend a good amount of time. We've created visual charts for each grade level and monitor students approaching the chronic absent uh threshold. These tools help staff track trends and communicate proactively with families. In fact, as we were learning how to uh get data from uh school tool, Ken was there learning with us. uh as we were like I guess we were two uh two nerds we were both like oh I didn't know we could do that oh that's really good and we were like using the data so we were getting excited doing that Megan has also applied strategies from professional development she attended last year focusing on chronic absenteeism such as early outreach
050positive reports I I continue making home visit phone calls to families to strengthen relationships and emphasize the importance of consistent attendance as a foundation for academic and social success. This collaborative effort across our building is making a vis visible impact on re-engage students. I will say sooner or later, Rachel and I are working on a a banner for outside that we've created to uh be catchy in terms of attendance. So, we'll get that up there sooner or later. >> Building to excuse me, building goal two, narrow the achievement gap across subtlers. Ariel and I have been meeting regularly with department chairs and middle school team leaders to refine and implement academic action plans. These plans are designed to help teachers translate data into practice, identifying learning gaps, set the measurable goals, and embedding strategies directly
051into classroom instruction. We first focused on ensuring teachers could effectively interpret regions, state assessment, benchmark, and data. To be effective, you have to look at multiple data points. You should never trust one. Many shared that while they had access to data, they were uncertain about next steps. So what was happening? I was challenging them. I said, "You've gotten data before. Has anybody ever taught you what you do next with that?" No. You know, it's like me giving you a piece of new equipment. If you don't know what you're going to, you know, to do with it, you bought it, you're not going to do anything. So that's where we are really focused and get in the weeds for them to understand what to do with the data. Together we've been modeling how to use this
052information to adjust lessons, target instruction, and improve outcomes. Through these data and discussions, consistent finding has emerged. Our students struggle most with reading comprehension and vocabulary. Everyone of the teachers and you sent out a survey and RPD keeps coming back. They cannot extract what the questions are asking or extract the information they need even if they understand the question. We're find our students know content but the way that the state assessments are set up in in college as well reading comprehension breaking it down and putting their own words. That's where we're find struggling our staff in as well. Um to address this, Ariel delivered an excellent professional development session last week on vocabulary.com. Connecting literacy strategies directly to teachers data findings. Teachers across all departments recognize that literacy and vocabulary are foundational to success in
053every subject. Let me repeat that. Literacy across all curriculum areas. I even had Vizette put the literacy terms up there on the whiteboard in case I find it so they're getting the message. By focusing on this area, we're addressing one of the root causes of the achievement gap and helping students access and apply their knowledge more effectively. This is one of several instructional strategies we continue to develop staff throughout the year. So, for example, real quick, vocabulary.com. I have a unit, US history, uh, the constitution, we could put the key terms in and it makes index cards. Two of my boys of IPs, uh, was 24, one's 14. And we used index cards with them. It helped them, you know, and my other kids as well. You've seen success. When we did this, we were
054supposed to do something else. teachers, they wanted us to stop and like calling us over to show them how to do it. And now they're using it. In one week, many of them are already using the classroom. Um, you wouldn't think biology, biology is huge in vocabulary. You have to know the vocabulary terms. Building rule three, strengthening student engagement, ownership, family and community engagement continue to be hallmarks of our school culture. Our recent fall fest was tremendous success. I'm sorry. I was in South Dakota helping my daughter move back. Um, but I heard it was tremendous and you know, they were very excited about the car show. Where's Miss Hayes? That was her uh uh baby there. And it 25, right? We have 25 cars here. So, that's tremendous. Um, we will continue to find
055creative ways to engage families and build student ownership of this school experience. The connection between uh home, school, and community remains central to everything we do. Very quickly, student spotlight. One of the most meaningful traditions at Berlin Middle School is our annual Veterans Day breakfast and assembly. This event led each year by Mr. W's strong support for Mr. Biner has become something both our school and community deeply value. Your dedication ensures that our students and staff have opportunity to honor and learn from the men and women who have served our nation. We are honored to welcome back Senator Jake Ashby. Even though he was here last week, he's coming back as an honorary guest and speaker for this year's event. Veteran Day, Veterans Day provides powerful learning experience where students gain a deeper understanding of
056service, sacrifice, and citizenship. While veterans consistently express how much it means to the next generation, listening, learning, and saying thank you. It remains one of the most heartful days of our school year. I am not going to say anything without bi there, but we are ready to roll tomorrow. If anybody's around the mechanic bill at 4:15, I have my pep talk ready. We're ready to go. Closing across every initiative this fall from data driven instruction to family engagement, student recognition, the common thread has been intentional collaboration. I don't know. I read that this summer. I like that. Intentional collaboration. Our teachers, staff, and students continue to embody the spirit of true mountain community. Resilient, reflective, and united purpose. Together, we're building a momentum that reflects the best of who we are. The bright future would
057create questions. The next item is opportunity for public comment. Any public comment that's not signed? Okay. There's no new business. I see something just business, but um I went to call Fest also and I was sort of able to drag my husband a little bit more because of the car show. So, thank you, Amanda. And um also the travel club, Mary Lu Hunt and Karen Day did um the alumni soccer game. So, there was a bunch of soccer players from, you know, from the past, some that just graduated last year. I think they they had some community members, so it was alumni versus community. Um, and I really enjoyed watching it. They had some concessions over at the soccer field and so of course it was a beautiful day, so that really was fun for
058us. >> Thank you. Can any other comments? I'll just say something real quick. So Elena and I were actually also at golf and at the alumni soccer game. Um and we also went afterwards to with um the Hudson's iconic >> Land trust. Is that what it's called now? Yeah. So um they're uh they took us to what they're going to turn into an outdoor classroom on um I think it's 834 acres of land that's between um the elementary school and the high school. And we got to see the location where they're going to put the outdoor classroom. and they're looking forward to collaborating with um different teachers and members of the community on building this outdoor classroom and uh it was just a really exciting thing to to see and I'm really hopeful that uh
059that turns into something it's not just like us talking about it for a year and then losing losing our you know enthusiasm but I think it's a great opportunity to get kids outside and uh there's a lot to learn in nature. So anyway, I hope that we can continue to grow grow that. I think Shannon Del was is one of the >> Shannon. Yes. >> And James Taylor shop. We've actually had uh two presentations with Khan uh Valley Trust on land with the cabinet and I know they're thinking hard about next steps with faculty and we're uh planning for the falls to be open and uh working with teachers to be able to start planning lessons and with you know transportation on the road and figure out ways to get there. It's not far but
060up the road. Um that's a great opportunity for our students and also thinking about portion of a graduate how that can tie in as well for student opportunity as well that are authentic. experiences for kids as well. So, thank you both for for attending that as well to the tour up there. I wish I'd been able to do that and then the time on Saturday and sports going on too stick around long enough for >> so many things happening. >> A lot a lot going on. It's a great day though. I'm great weather too. So, >> thank you. >> Moving on to date and location of the next board meeting. We have a round table scheduled for Thursday, November 13th. Um, starting at 5:30, we have interviews of architects as well as the presentation of
061the data from the middle school high school. And then our regular board meeting will be held Tuesday, November 18th, um, at this building as well at 7:15. We do not need an executive session. We're good for adjournment at 8:12. We got a motion motion. Motion by Elaine. Second. Um second by Penny. All in favor. Any opposed?