Board of Education Meeting February 24, 2026

001This is a special presentation from the Brighton Central School District Board of Education. >> Good evening. Welcome to the Brighton Central School District Board of Education Education meeting and budget review for Tuesday, February 24th. This meeting is called to order. A little bit different order tonight because we're going to do our regular session now at 5:00 and then we will uh recess to exec session at or about 6 o'clock and we will have a community forum here at 7 o'clock. So, a little different order tonight [snorts] with that. Uh, besides at 7 o'clock, we also right now will provide the opportunity for public participation. Is there anyone here who would like to provide feedback or ask questions of the board? Seeing none, we'll move on to next. You all have had a chance to review

002the agenda. Um, any edits, changes, or uh corrections to the agenda? Motion to approve. >> So, moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Second by Susan. All those in favor? >> I >> also had a chance to see the minutes from our last meeting from February 10th, our business meeting. You've had a chance as well to review those for any edits, corrections, or question. Are there any of those things? Edits, questions, or corrections. Motion to approve to approve. Jeez. Motion to approve the minutes as presented. >> So move. >> Moved by Esther. >> Seconded by Carrie Lynn. All those in favor? >> I. First up, we're going to get a Council Rock Primary School Capital Project update from Lou and the OACM team. OACM owner, architect, construction manager, just for those who have got that. So,

003Lou, I'll ask you to take over and uh do the presentation. [clears throat] >> Oh, good. He's going to you're going to pass it to him. He's going to pass it to me. So, Matt Tomlinson is going to come on up from Marathon Engineering uh to present. And again, many members of the OACM team here uh and appreciate that. Matt is going to give you a brief overview of uh the possibilities around play surfaces at Council Rock. This was part that we pulled out and we pulled out very candidly and transparently because of the conversations that we're having in our community around natural turf versus synthetic surfaces and uh asked our team to develop some uh possibilities. Matt's going to walk through them. At the end of his presentation, I would really like to ask

004you if you uh are good with us moving ahead looking at a natural surface as opposed to synthetic. And I will tell you there's a significant difference uh between this project and the projects happening here on campus in two different ways. One, we were looking at this as a nice to have a council act that would increase access during the winter months to that space. It was nice to have the project on the campus. We look at as a need to have relative to participation in athletics and field space for an athletic program as opposed to fizzad activities, play activities at council rock that are nice to have as opposed to need to have. One would make the argument that everything is nice to have, but we proposed to you [clears throat] that relative to

005everything we've been talking about, we really need the facility upgrade here on the campus. The other difference from a practical perspective is that uh the space I'm sorry, the resolution and the referendum, the seeker resolution and the referendum that was adopted by taxpayers for this project did not specify synthetic service. gives you the flexibility to look at this differently and be responsive to the questions that have come up. Not because we think that the surface is dangerous, but that people have raised questions about it enough so that we say this is a place that we feel it is would be nice to have it, but that we don't have to have it. We could be responsive in this case differently than the purpose of having a synthetic turf on the campus. So, Matt, can you

006tell us a little bit more about that and then we'll finish up with a discussion. >> Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Uh, as mentioned, I'm Matt Tomlinson with Marathon Engineering. Uh, we're the civil and design engineers for the exterior improvements at the school and, uh, J joining me tonight is Jake Calib, who's also uh, working with Marathon as well. Uh, we were also the civil engineers for the first round of the capital improvement project. So, very familiar with the school. Uh, as Dr. McGowan mentioned, we're the purpose of the improvements and what we heard during our information gathering uh in the design was really a desire to expand uh the usability of the area at the rear behind the gym uh between the gym and the and the existing playground there and the souththeast corner of

007the school, excuse me, southwest corner of the school. And um there's a there's a grass area there that's used for PE overflow from the playgrounds. It has a pretty decent slope to it from the school down to some drains over there. Um there was concern about uh just the usability of it and the functionality of it. And so uh uh in meeting with the focus groups at the school and some of the various things uh putting in a typical synthetic athletic style synthetic turf field is what was selected. Uh and there were a lot of reasons for that. We tried to put some of those bullet points up there. Uh obviously extending the seasonality when it's very wet in the spring, muddy, uh when it gets cold out, again, muddy, a lot of rain. Um

008improves the sloped area safety as it goes down to the drain for the kids. Uh reduced maintenance uh instead of the lawn picking up the leaves. Uh you know, those kind of things. it would be able to be groomed with the similar or same maintenance uh equipment that the uh that the grounds would have on your main campus here because it would be kind of a consistent uh synthetic uh field and surface. So that would be uh synthetic turf profile, rubber and sand infill very similar to what's out here or what was proposed to be used at the high school. And that total estimated price with all the improvements, which was uh new sidewalks and paving, fencing, uh retaining wall to level it out, the turf itself, around $600,000. Uh so, as uh requested, we've

009been looking into what other uh viable alternatives would be there in order to try to satisfy many of those design uh and wish list items that were there. So, the first one that we looked at uh was what if we keep it a grass field but do a lot of the improvements um that would level it off hopefully potentially extend some of that seasonality. Uh anytime that you have a natural grass field uh that is uh very susceptible to the weather that we have and in Rochester sometimes it's great and sometimes it's not so great. So, uh it doesn't really extend the seasonality significantly. Uh, one of the reasons for that is that when it gets cold and the ground freezes, um, the synthetic turf drains so quickly, uh, that retains its, um, sponginess or

010or elasticity and is able to be used quite a bit better than frozen ground. You're able to remove snow from it, which you can't do as functionally with the with the lawn. And the cost savings would not be substantial. But we would still need to provide drainage, still have to do the retaining walls to level it out, the fencing, those kind of things. And in order when you add drainage, uh that's great for wet seasons, but then in the uh later parts of the spring, summer, early fall, that gets really burnt out. So you actually have to add irrigation in order to keep it functional throughout. And so, um, that in conjunction with, uh, if we were going to do a turf establishment, saw it, seed it, that extends it. With synthetic turf, you put

011it down, uh, you groom it, and it's ready for use right away. Um, that natural grass option would extend the unusability of it potentially into uh, the school year for kids as that gets established. and the maintenance requirements ongoing with the mowing and and so on would be similar to what is out there today. Uh synthetic turf with other uh potential infills. Um and so it's our understanding some of the concerns are related to PFAS, chemicals, those kind of things within um some plastics potential for some of the rubbers and and the infills. So we did take a look at several other options. Uh the primary uh reason not to select these options are uh mostly related to uh cost and warranty period. So the synthetic turf that we had originally um specified or been

012planning on has a 12-year warranty. Uh most of the alternative infills that we've been exploring have an eight-year or less warranty and a lot of that is wear and tear um based on the infills that are there and an 18 20 to 30% premium on cost for those uh utilizing and it's typically the same turf carpet but the infill that goes within it that provides that cushioning or padding uh is different there. um potentially requires different maintenance equipment. Uh a lot of these are natural which sometimes have a perceived risk or potential risk for allergens as well. Uh so th that was something that we also explored but again cost and uh maintenance and lesser warranty was were some strikes against that. And then the final option that we took a look at was while

013we are looking to do synthetic turf, the need for this space with uh younger children um lesser stresses on it than uh for an athletic field are not quite the same. An athletic field has specific requirements for the athletes with planting and cutting on it. Larger uh athletes obviously than uh who would be utilizing it here. And uh the athletic turf uh profile is specifically designed for impact injuries and there's periodic testing called GMAX testing that's required for safety and some other things. And so while of course we want anyone that falls on this to be safe, uh the ratings for that and specific to this playground style turf that I'll expand on in a minute is really related to the fall height and the safety from falling somewhere versus being driven into the ground

014or other uh tackles and those kind of things that can occur during uh the sports with the athletics. So, two of the products that we've taken a look at are um Forever Lawn Playground Grass, uh which is a synthetic turf used all over the place, uh Disney World, San Francisco parks, Indianapolis parks, uh play museums, those kind of things with an envirill, which is a polymer coated sand. Uh both of these are antimicrobial. Uh all of the options on here uh have testing results from third parties that uh the suppliers can provide that demonstrate no PFAS found in in either of them. Um all of those sound great. There's a premium cost to many of these. Uh the pricing or the sections that we've explored are up to a 5ft fall height. We have a

0154ft high chain length fence. If kid climbs up it, we want it to be safe for that. And it has a has a padding underneath it. So, two of those that we've looked at are Forever Lawn, like you mentioned, top turf. Um, these are sourced through different uh contracts as well, which is always a concern, making sure that they can be competitively bid. And then the Envirill Infill and Safety Foam Pro would be part of the section, and that's a typical section that's shown there. And 10 to 30% premium on the original design synthetic athletic style turf is what we would be looking at for those. So, I know that was a lot of information, but those are the pieces that we've explored and looked at. Um, if there's more information for specific systems, we'd

016be happy to provide more information. We've kind of looked at it at a higher level to see what direction the board may or may not be interested in us exploring further at this point. >> So, walk you through kind of the decision point in a second, but do you have any specific questions about the systems or the approach for for Matt specifically? Can I just clarify the envirill envirrill infill and safety foam pro would be the fill for both the top turf and the other option. >> That's correct. The padding and the infill would be the same for both of those systems. >> Okay. >> And I just wanted to, you know, reiterate just the use of the space. It's not an underplayground. This is like an open space for running and jumping. And so

017when we talk about the fall height, you know, certainly for playground equipment, there's a real specific height that you have. You mentioned the chain link fence is the highest thing around it that a child could climb up, but we're certainly not encouraging children to climb four feet up a chain fence and correct jump down on it. It's more of like an open space >> basis of design with an open space for PE and and games, that kind of thing. That's correct. Y >> you mentioned No, go ahead. You mentioned the um in the first slide the um the turf uh the approximate price would be 600k. How much more would it be to maintain approximately the natural grass? >> Uh, I don't know that I have those costs to hand because I think a lot

018of that is done in-house by the district folks. Um, so I I don't have that answer with me today. I'm sorry. >> Okay. Thank you. >> The good news on that is that >> answer we have to consider construction costs are close. I would say it's close and then we would have to consider irrigation. So we're I think from campus and ourselves that it would be cost but then there's the ongoing maintenance That's going to require something. >> The good news is relative to long-term maintenance, we're currently cutting the grass. So, right, it's not necessary. >> We aren't irrigating. We are irrigating. >> Is the other contention that a benefit to the artificial turf would be kids would be outside, be able to be outside more often because they would be able to be on

019the surface as opposed to if it just rained, it's real money out there. Yes. Yeah. The original intent was that by having turf, kids could be out there longer in the fall and earlier in the spring. And I think, you know, listen, very candidly, there will be people that will look at this as hypocrisy and well, if you'll change it there, why won't you change it there? And that's why I tried to be really clear at the beginning to say >> it's two very different use cases. >> And this was a nice thing that we could do. different sized people, but athletics versus fizz versus playtime and recess time. Um, and I don't want to sound frivolous because when we say nice to have, it makes it sound like, well, it was just like this

020frivolous idea. Oh, this is great. We could just do this. No, we really intentionally wanted to be able to do that with kids. >> But we also would like to be responsive. And when one of our arguments to the community is the necessity of the surface here, I I just don't think we can say that about the surface at council rock. I think it would be nice to have it would improve uh access for kids and that's great. I just can't and we just can't I think say that it is as necessary. Likewise on the campus, one of the arguments we've made is kids will participate on turf regardless at away contests at our current stadium field, particularly at the varsity level, but JV level as well, just with very poor scheduling and long nights,

021etc., but that the new turf surfaces will allow more access at better times for everybody. Well, councelor Rock, that's not the case, right? That that can't be part of the argument either. It would improve access, but not in the same ways. We don't have kids then that are currently on turf that will be on better turf or different turf [clears throat] or more classes. It would be an entire change from grass to turf. Uh that this is an opportunity, I think, to be responsive in that regard and say some of our other rationale just doesn't apply here. >> Sure. And uh that there is there is right now the opportunity because this hasn't been bid yet to say let's look at natural grass, write the specs for natural grass, bid it that way. We can

022talk internally about it. Are there alternatives considered within that and talk to our design team about that and this is also not a formal vote that you have to take because this would be the direction that we'll give the team. We're just asking you to uh let us know how do you feel about us approaching this with a natural grass solution as opposed to tur >> I just want to say [clears throat] you know you had mentioned like you know it could be taken as frivolous to say something's nice to have but you know I don't think anyone on the board treats this as frivolous like a child's access to physical activity or opportunities to play but it could be taken that way but I don't think any of us like would ever consider it

023frivolous [clears throat] in any way and I hope that it's not taken that way we think about all these decisions really really strongly. >> I wouldn't want somebody to I guess what I was trying to say just in our is I wouldn't want somebody to look at it after the fact and say, "Well, they said it's a nice choice as opposed to a need." Well, we're not presenting anything to the community that we don't feel would be impact on the kids and and [clears throat] you're very thoughtful about stewarding >> resources that way. I just think there's a difference and we have an opportunity in this moment to look at this project differently. >> Um the other issue is again go back to the practical side of it. The referendum did not specify synthetic surface.

024The referendum that people voted on in this community for the project here on campus specifically said synthetic service. This did not. The seeker also the motion that you passed did not specify synthetic. The others did. So it there is a big big difference there from a practical perspective. You should know and let's also own the fact that in the promotion of this project and the discussion in the community we did talk a lot about a synthetic surface and we did absolutely promoted as such but the the referendum that people voted on the actual referendum did not specify a synthetic surface rock [clears throat] >> correct >> but it did here on campus. I mean, I think when you think about the maintenance short-term, long term, um the irrigation, um that will continue to have to

025be ongoing if if it's grass, um the usage and the cost. I mean, I think it makes sense to approach it this way. We don't have to back ourselves into a corner. Um and this is clearly different than what we're thinking about campus here. So, I think it makes sense. I I really do. >> Thanks. Anybody object to moving ahead with a natural surface for this? >> No. >> Great. Thank you. Thanks, Matt. Appreciate it. Thanks, team. >> Yeah. >> Anything else on that? >> Next item is a budget update. Um, property tax cap. We'll ask Lou to come up and provide that for us. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> What we wanted to present tonight is the final tax cap uh computation. Uh we've been able to consult with our financial consultants. We've

026gotten our numbers from Boseies. Um again revisit the impact of the executive budget proposal and then just highlight what our next steps in the budget development process are. So here's our tax cap calculation as it's sitting in queue with the um office of the state controller. So where we look at this we look at our base year budget and again the factors that are first applied in the formula are the taxbased growth factor and as you'll see this is 1.0. So we get zero dollars for uh any new property growth in that. So it generates no new revenue for for the district. And then we look at the impact of the change in the capital. And this just proves to the community that we're meeting our commitment to have stability in our tax levy as

027it relates to capital projects and how much money that we're we're leveraging or raising. So you see that $1.4 million in the base year compared to the $1.4 million that. So again, that's tax levy neutral. The next component is that 1.02 02 and that is the lesser of the rate of inflation or the um 2% and that's where that 2% nomenclature came from. That's just one piece of the formula. So this year a rate of inflation is higher but the property tax cap formula is limited to the 2% growth. So with that we see a resulting tax levy what's in the tax levy limit calculation of 62.46 million. That's a 1.95% increase. Last year, if you recall, was just over a 2%, it was 2.03%. And as relates to spending, the 1.95% in the tax

028levy represents a 1.1% increase in spending. So essentially, that's unrestricted revenue that can be applied against inflationary costs uh at the rate of 1.1%. So I put this in here as just kind of an illustration of where we are. We've always built our budgets with the foundation of our educational programs and the tax cap and the continued, you know, application of the formula and the limiting and growth uh that revenue that it generates, you know, very much put us puts us into this triangle on the right hand side where revenues and then we're trying to back into everything. That's very different from how we've operated as a district in the past, but it's the reality of kind of where we are. We're at very restricted revenues and very limited revenue growth. When we put it

029all together with the uh the state state aid formulas, which is the second biggest component of our of our revenues, we see a reasonable increase in in foundation aid as it relates to a percentage. Right? So you hear 7%. Oh, that sounds great. But when we boil it down to the actual numbers and the dollars that it represents to support program and to support inflationary costs, it represents another 1.1% increase. So really, that's a 2% increase in in spending with the two most significant revenue formulas. And I've mentioned before in the previous presentation, everything to the right side is expense driven. So none of that increases in that allows for any relief on the local property taxes. Essentially reimbursing us for spending that we've already uh committed to or've already um um incurred in the

030previous fiscal year or the or the current fiscal year. So, we put it all together, you know, we're looking at a 2.99% increase in revenues, but again, you have to discount the building aid because that matches our uh debt service. So, essentially our mortgage payment for the capital projects that the voters have authorized. So, you have to discount that any increase in that money um is is really restricted in use. So, it's not able to support program. It's not able to support the inflationary uh inflationary factors. So again, this is a illustration we used last year. I mean, the strategies at this point in time are to review the budget assumptions, which we constantly do. Every month, we're scrubbing our numbers to make sure that our base budget is the foundation for future projections. So,

031we we do that on a on a monthly basis. We do need to identify some areas of spending reduction to be able to balance the budget with limited growth in uh revenues. Uh I got some horrific news today. Uh if you remember in the budget presentation earlier I we were carrying 50% increase for retirey health insurance. Well >> just 50 >> 50% correct and that was I think I >> reported $2.2 million was the impact of that. >> Well we got our quotes from Etna today and because of shifts in risk scores and utilization and everything that number has increased to 117%. >> Oh my god. >> What's the dollar amount there? >> Four. >> It's gonna be >> double that. Close to $5 million. Oh my gosh. >> So that is an expenditure that

032we really can't intervene on at this point in time. So we're something we have to work through. I just learned that today in my RASH meeting. So something again we'll have to continue to evaluate the impact of. Um and then on the revenue side of things, you know, we again we're reviewing our assumptions. I just presented our revenue budget. We're continue to scrub that based on updated information. A substantial part of our revenue is doesn't come in until June. So it's it's tough to do that and it really doesn't generate that much money. Again, we'll have the opportunity to evaluate the use of reserves and explore any additional ability to generate um generate more revenue and other sources unrestricted sources. So again, next steps kind of what I outlined. Uh and next month we will

033um or Dr. McGaw will review the thought exchange data and present the community's thoughts on on the current budget situation. >> [snorts] >> With that, I'm happy to entertain any questions. >> Just in regard to that over 100% increase that was unexpected. I mean, I imagine other school districts are in the exact same boat. That is not unique to Brighton. >> That is so it's not unique to to Brighton. It's not unique to our consortium. Actually, this is Medicare Medicare funding, you know. So it started with the inflation reduction act and the changes in Medicare funding and subsidies and then so districts across the state are receiving I think Dr. McGawan said, you know, when talking with this guy like some are receiving expecting 150% increases. >> So, it's all based on the complex for

034you of Medicare funding, uh, Medicare Advantage plans, things like that. >> So much of it is just outside of our control and it's it's really the federal purse strings being maneuvered. >> I don't I don't I don't have any questions. I'm guessing and looking at Karen that we'll hear about this at district operations tomorrow because we'll get the rash update there and get some feedback on that as well. So, um until I have time to think more about that, I don't have any comments or questions. If I want to stop short of throwing my hands in there, go what do we do now? Because I just don't know the answer and neither do you. >> That's where it turns out. Let's go. >> The one house budgets haven't been set yet, right? So, we have

035the governor's proposal for foundation aid and our [snorts] locals have said to us what we propose will be higher. >> What do we think, >> Dave? >> Because if this is happening across the state and and we're not even in the leakiest vote. >> So, our foundation aid increase was better than many. >> I know. >> And in the governor's proposal, I don't I don't see it getting >> Well, I don't see it getting worse. I don't see it getting tremendously better >> for for us in particular, possibly for other districts. >> Correct. >> I mean, part of the reason why it's getting better, it's they're somewhat honoring the formula, right? That's what we've been advocating for. It's looking at our increases in pupil needs index. It's looking at the stability and enrollment. [snorts] It's

036factoring inflationary factors. So, the 7% is what it's supposed to be. It's just relative, you know, magnitude of impact of that increase relative to $10 million budget is is the problem. So, I guess I share Dr. McGowan's I I can't see it getting better without, you know, manipulation of the formula, which you've been kind of advocating against. >> I just uh we'll go through expenses over the next several meetings as well, but what Lou's getting at when we say that number is being honored, it means it's need driven and need are real human beings. And need are real and we don't have a choice. This is not whether or not to add an AP class, right? >> There's just specific programs and services that are mandated and required as they should be. >> We don't

037blame it on that. But that is the that is the real answer is you have to hire a staff member for this group of people to receive the program that they're entitled to receive. Period. That then drives that number up. But it's not a large s that has to go directly to support that program for that job. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. We've got to do the approval of the tax. >> Yes. >> Is that a line item? >> What? >> The approval of the tax cap levy limit. Is that a line item? >> Yes, it is specific. >> Has and you're just approving as presented by Right. >> But we don't have to do individ We don't have to take do a roll call. >> No. No. >> Okay. >> Uh that was the

038budget update. Property tax blue limo. Not good news. We'll be working through it for the rest of the year. Um any questions with regards to the the tax cap levy as Lou just described before we put it up for vote. Seeing none, I'll ask for a motion to approve the tax cap levy limit as presented tonight. >> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Seconded by Christina. All those in favor? Hi. >> We do or do not need to line it up. We're good. >> We're good. >> Good. Thank you. Uh, now let's get on to the work we also want to hear about and the successes and statuses of our blueprint. So, I don't know the order if this is the order it's going in or >> go. >> Okay. I think we're going

039to hear from a bunch of the stakeholder leaders uh on the blueprint. Get their updates, please. right button. There we go. All right, Caitlyn and I will go ahead and get started to review a lot that has been going on in um the area of mental health, wellness, and student support. I'll kick us off with student support since I was last here. Lot of professional development that has been happening across the district at the K12 level, both internally and um attending different sessions uh from Boseies in particular. The first bullet there, I'm not going to read all the bullets, but we had over 40 participants on uh functional behavioral assessment and behavior intervention plan training. Really zeroing in on focusing in the intensive needs of students who are exhibiting some social emotional behavioral needs. As

040you see, we're really looking at how are we addressing um inclusive practices? How are we supporting our students with complex needs across that's the theme really of all of the bullets here. Big shout out I want to give to um some firsts that are listed here. We had our first CPSE to kindergarten transition meeting. Um shoot shout out to Terry Lawson, to Emily Hopkins, to Katie Schaefer who helped facilitate a fabulous session for students who in the preschool arena are receiving special education supports coming to kindergarten, coming to Council Rock. And I think the people I'm looking to Matt who also saw some of the the families leaving our session who are really feeling embraced and supported and we've got your kid and we are going to support them and their unique needs. Another first

041that I'm really proud of that we just had happen at French Road is we welcomed our students and families [clears throat] our families of students who are in the 1214 program who are transitioning from grade two to grade three. The team at French Row did a fantastic job thanks to Mrs. Wheeler and her team and to Katie Schaefer again, Emily Hopkins for supporting families being present and you'll be able to hear about the experiences and the transition for um that particular program. So, a first and a forever, that's what I'll call that one. And in a few minutes, um you're going to hear us talk about together around the completion of the mental health program evaluation. And I'll turn the next part over to All right. Um, so focusing kind of on three areas for

042my um, section tonight, but really want to highlight a couple pieces within the URMC partnership. You hear us talk a lot about this, but I wanted to pull some specific numbers for tonight. Um, so we talk a lot about the consultations that happen within our URMC partnership, but just to kind of highlight what happens within that, last year, um, we had close to a hundred consultations happen. So that's our work with URMC, our um mental health staff, our teachers, our administration, our families working with URMC to build capacity, guide interventions, um tap into their expertise to support us. We had um 82 referrals for students at the middle school or the high school that were accessing the mental health provider that's at that um mental health site that's at the middle school and the high

043school. So, a lot of students are accessing that support. Um, Dr. Heatley provides that direct training and professional development that we've talked about. Um, and then you've heard me talk a lot about connecting for kids, which is that new initiative that we've been launching this year and highlighting. So, that's really that bringing together of all those different youth serving systems. So bringing together our school system, pediatricians, mental health providers to have conversations to improve that collaboration. We are kind of proud of our we've been taking our tour on the road. Um Diana and I have been going to local pediatricians offices to just do like a presentation about what is what is RTI, what is special education, what are 504s, what are IEPs within Brighton. um and just having really great conversations at those pediatricians

044office and it's really just another extension of that partnership with URMC and getting us out there and supporting us with how do we then support kids when they're sitting in front of us in the classroom. And we continue to address chronic absenteeism this quarter. Um towards the end of the quarter we've tried to address like overall communication to all families. each of the buildings sent out communication that all of the families got um about the importance of attendance, how to support um attendance, what are kind of those best practices, and then continuing to address with those targeted interventions. And then again, just we've kind of targeted with some of those subcommittees within the mental health team. And one of the things that we've been able to roll out is a new um K12 social history

045form. and that went out with all the or all the new kindergarten registration. So, we're proud of that. Now, everybody K12 is using the same form and we are getting a lot of information from families that will support our mental health teams with um their work with family or with new students. Very very quickly, we're very proud of the work u many people in the room here that participated in the mental health program evaluation um including Dr. Gasparino is our board representative. We had a K12 parents uh mental health staff providers and teachers and administrators several who are in the room participating. Um the end of last year we got to a point where we decided we needed more information and typically where a program of runs one year we actually extended into this year

046which included us looking at some focus student focus groups and some additional surveys. Caitlyn's going to very quickly review findings and recommendations and you all have those attached in your documents. Um, so some of the findings were that there was an kind of an inconsistent understanding of the social emotional tiers of intervention and kind of the MTSS or behavior or BST framework across the district. Our survey data showed that there's um a positive um feedback regarding our partnership with URMC. Our student focus group revealed positive relationships with mental health providers and retention of what students are learning within those lessons. Our mental health um survey that was given to our mental health providers indicated that the majority of those providers have a positive work experience connection to their team and feel supported by administrators. The

047survey data showed that the majority of the mental health pro providers do have a small percentage of students on their case load that do take up a lot of their time because of their pretty significant social, emotional, behavioral needs. And then the review of those mental health transfer goals, lessons and theCCL benchmarks. We have some some gaps or alignment, but we feel like we can effectively address those by some work to look at the current lessons, but then also some of those crosscurricular integration into different subject areas. Keep going. Okay. The recommendations we have is just okay. So just looking at some of those professional development opportunities for the faculty and staff, continuing that partnership with URMC, updating our culture and climate survey questions to ensure they provide the information that we need, and supporting

048those students with significant social and emotional and behavioral needs by looking at our current resources and how do we potentially reallocate those resources, updating those SEAL lessons, and then updating our comprehensive K12 um uh program, mental health education. program and then aligning that with the work that was completed in this program. >> We'll switch over. We're very proud of the work that was completed. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hey everyone, lots of great work happening from everyone today. I'm going to go through this pretty quickly, but you have a lot of things to look at in your board presentation. But one of the things I'm really excited about to share with you today is the work we've been doing around curriculum review in math across the district and really with a focus on

049K8. As you know, this year we started um actually last school year rather we started with a seventh and eighth grade math pilot to look at some different math programs. Both the seventh and eighth grade pilot which started last year and the K5 pilot which started this year have been very extensive. I'm super proud of the work that we've done as a district around our pilot at large. We surveyed all of the local school districts. We surveyed um U of R. We went through the math cadre that comes that comes together of all different districts around the area. And we use ED reports to look at curriculum that is out there and reviewed um across the state to come up with some different programs to be piloted um at seventh and eighth grade. And this

050year we're starting at K5. The seventh and eighth grade team ended up this school year piloting two different programs, college preparatory math, CPM, and connected math 4, CMP. And um we had um teachers that went through both of these pilots, went through training, um worked really closely with our math instructional leader um Andrea Doyle at the middle school level and with Julie Cop. And the long and the short of it is through a ton of work, professional development, gathering qualitative and quantitative feedback. Just a couple of weeks ago, we landed at um the new program we'll be using at seventh and eighth grade, which is college preparatory math inspiring connections. So, we will start that program in the fall for all of our seventh and eighth grade students with training for teachers in the summer.

051And we're really excited about that. At the K5 level, we are in the earlier stages of the pilot. We've brought together a team with representatives from every grade level. We have K through eight representative at the K5 pilot pilot which is great to see the connection as it grows to middle school and the team has reviewed three different programs and they're narrow narrowing down right now what they're going to be piloting next school year so we're like one year behind in that process. Sixth grade has been part of both of those pilots and they're going to see kind of like where is the right place to be. We've had them at both places. We've had them at the you know aligned to seven and eight. We've had them right now they're aligned to K5. So

052we'll kind of see where we land in that regard. really great stuff happening and probably one of the things I'm really proud of so far in our work this year. We are continuing our work around transfer goals, which you've heard me talk about for several years now, but I'm not going to read through this. You can kind of realign yourself to what is this, but the long and the short of it is that our transfer goal work is setting our students up for success when they leave us as graduates um and 12th grade. And we want to make sure that their experience from kindergarten all the way through 12th grade is is aligned and consistent and building upon each other and the skills and um the activities and the learning that they're doing. This really

053aligns really well with the work that has come out um around New York inspires the transformations that are coming down from the state and the portrait of a graduate just really focus on real world learning experiences and the transfer of skills. So, we want students to be able to not just know content, but to take the content and apply it to something else. And that shows really that they're learning um in each content area. So, we're spending more time on our upcoming superintendent conference day in March working on our transfer goals. Teachers at that point are looking at student work. So, what they do is they follow this cycle here of um the learning cycle for the transfer goal, which is, you know, they administer a task. They basically gather feedback by looking at student

054work across the span of 612 or K5 and then saying what do we need to shift in our curriculum in our assessment or in our instruction to better meet that transfer goal. And it's a continuous cycle of learning for teachers and looking at student work um and has really helped us to refine what we're doing to really um more discrete skills so we know what kids are doing as they move through the grade levels. We also have three um program evaluations going on. The mental health team has done an extraordinary job of wrapping up their program evaluation over the past couple of years and right now we are working on library PE and fax technology and business. Uh the library program of owl is pretty much wrapped up. We're working on our final recommendations now

055but we have some great data that we looked at in physical education and our fax tech and business are still going. So I'll provide updates on all of these at a future blueprint meeting. And then lots of professional learning happening around the district. You heard a little bit about it through our mental health team and social emotional learning. But we have, you know, work happening through curriculum council. We have more artificial intelligence um breakout sessions that are being offered by our teachers. We have almost 20 sessions that are being offered as breakout choice sessions on March 27th for our teachers and by our teachers, which is awesome. And lots of work around our executive functioning skills are continuing in all of the buildings. So just a quick snapshot right now and I'm going to pass

056it off to Jeff now. Thanks everyone. Thank you. >> Thank you. And excuse me, [clears throat] good evening. Sorry for those of us that heard that. Um student family experience. There's a lot of wonderful things happening in the district. Um these are going to be some highlights that pertain to the student and family experience. So when we're talking about student engagement, uh we are continuing our work around student leadership. Um in the pictures you could see, our mentor program between BHS and TCMS students continues. um had an opportunity to have some representatives from the black student union at TCMS to go to uh uh council rock and read to students um which is a wonderful program that we have. Uh we also had a wonderful assembly before break um regent Adrien Hail was a great

057speaker a schoolwide assembly at the high school um very very proud of the black student union to get the entire school um engaged around it. Our TCMS leadership team is also working to be strategic about finding out um the students that are involved in various activities um school activities that is and working towards encouraging students finding ways interest ways to get them involved. Um and that is also connected to the TCMS club fair that recently occurred. Uh constantly trying to let students know the various opportunities and ways to get involved in school. We want to continue to do that and get as many students um involved and connected to school as much as possible as [clears throat] it uh when it comes to family engagement. In January, we had several of our transition orientation nights

058um at at various buildings. It went well. The families uh received a lot of information from building leadership and we look forward to continuing those activities um into the spring. Um coming up in the next few weeks, we have a dodgeball game coming up. central office will be defending its title in the uh district dodgeball game. So looking forward to everyone's attendance and it all goes to good cause. Senior council does a really great job of uh giving back to the school community when they want when they cross the stage at the end. Uh Legally Blind was another wonderful hit uh to bring the community together. A lot of student talent um a lot of students and families an opportunity to have a wonderful event. Um and we are very very proud of that. And

059upcoming very soon, we have our Steamfest at uh the inaugural Steamfest at Council Rock. Super excited about that, having community members come out and work with our um little ones to teach about different careers in um in steam fields. And then parent university, we've had um as you can see, a lot of the uh topics that have been available for families to attend. Our attendance has been um pretty good compared to other districts as well. And it's really really wonderful to have an opportunity for families to um have choice in different topics that they may be interested in, learn a little bit, uh get some um tips from professionals and they get to do it at the comfort of their own home. So we are excited about that and looking forward to continuing continuing it.

060And then last but not least, when it comes to access to opportunities and resources, um the high school had a wonderful food fight, not a literal food fight, but raising and collecting uh canned goods and foods for those that may be in need. Um likewise at Council Rock with our two our toy in book drive, uh which was a huge success. Our uh the young man and the Buffalo or the Buffalo I wish it was the Buffalo Bills. the boys modified basketball team um did a wonderful job of uh making meals for the open door mission. So wondering or excuse me, want to continue to giving back to the community that's also going to be connected to our bright believers day which we have coming up which our entire school community K12 is going to

061be doing that. And then last but not least, we have our um wonderful uh tradition here at at BHS. brighten your wardrobe helps the sponsors say yes to the dress where many of our upper classmen have an opportunity to go and get some gear for the wonderful uh prom events and and and it's awesome. We're really really excited and it was a wonderful event as usual. So uh like I said, these are some highlights. There's a lot of wonderful things happening. I'm sure you'll hear about in some of the future reports from principles, but uh just appreciate everyone's collective effort to support our students and families. Could you just I just almost forgot who won the dodgeball tournament last year as defend >> the central office teams >> and killer bill and council rock and

062council rock >> and council rock we have the we have the trophy not any of the other three school buildings. >> Yes. So we're looking forward to it and it'll be another fun night. So hopefully we can get everybody there. >> Awesome. >> I'm an So yeah, look forward to it. >> I I still can't move my right shoulder on. >> Really? >> Yeah. I'm gonna throw underhand. I'm gonna stand in the back. >> Softball pitch. >> Yeah. >> So, touching on the big rocks that we debuted in the November presentation, we're going to focus on facilities and facilities planning. Um, and we've invited uh our director of buildings and grounds, John Novelli, to give just an overview of the conversations and summarize the conversations he's been having with our building principles, prioritizing resources, and

063beginning that long-term planning process. Mr. Noelli. Good evening. >> Good evening. Um so as we continue to address the emerging needs in our buildings and um we plan for future projects working with the principles um once we get to see what they actually would like to have done um then it's our job to start to go back and look at the current structure and the uh mechanical systems and infrastructure that are currently housed and uh what we need to do in order to uh move forward with this uh working with Mike and Jelly supervisor of mechanical services. Um we came up with a list um to address these needs um while uh meeting these needs and still promoting um our health and safety standards and uh throughout the the process. Most of the systems that

064we have identified are 25 to 30 years old. Um well past their expectancy. Um, I give credit to our staff um for the for the amazing job that they do maintaining pieces of equipment that are 30 years old that you can't find parts for anymore. Um, but they still keep them up and running. So, as we start to plan for these new projects, we start to put this information into it as well so that we can uh keep moving forward uh with these investments. Um, these are one of these things, like we've said numerous times, this is work that nobody will really ever know that even happened. Um, it's not something they're going to walk by and say, "Wow, that looks great." But, uh, without it, uh, there's no way that we can uh, continue,

065you know, with our daily operations and continue with growth. >> It's all It's all the stuff behind the walls and above the ceiling sees that makes the schools go. >> Exactly. Um we have uh uh you know rooftop units that are 30 years old that need replacing. We have uh you know systems in in our meter rooms that need be to be replaced as we keep moving on with to being able to meet uh the lead and water um as it keeps constantly changing. Um we're we're able to maintain the levels that we need to be to be able to go uh forward with it. um you know, continuing heat pump replacements, heating and air conditioning. There is always something else that's coming up that um laws are changing that we need to be able

066to maintain certain temperatures andor whatever that we need to uh make sure that we're able to do that with the equipment that we have and that will uh eventually need to be replaced as we move forward. Um, again, just want to really just give the emphasis to the staff that we have. Um, they do an amazing job. Uh, they do so much inhouse that a lot of other districts have to go out of district to have it done with. So, um, just big kudos to them, uh, for the amazing job that they've they've done over the years maintaining these systems. Um, and they would be very happy if we could start replacing them at some point. So, Any questions? >> No, I just appreciate I get we get a lot of feedback from the principles

067and how they consider the particular building leaders as partners in terms of doing what they're doing. So, continue to appreciate that collaboration as well and that next level leadership you're building up there. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, John. >> Thank you. >> So, again, kudos to John and our mechanical services team and our head custodians and much appreciation to our building principles. um they are tremendous partners and they treat our head custodians like gold. They are their [clears throat] their partners and you know right-hand people. So I just appreciate how they treat them and and the input that they give them in planning you know the building operations. The next uh slide we'll talk more a lot more in the um March meeting. Uh so just to give an overview this is

068the scope that we've prioritized for um for to pair with our operating budget in May. Uh you can see on the lefth hand side there's all the the work that we highlighted um last month about what we need to finish uh due to the budget overages with the phase 2 project and then the new scope that's being proposed. Again, a lot more information in the uh in March um as we finalize the scope and and we continue to um narrow the the financial impact, how much reserves may be necessary and looking at overall financing plan considering all of our out all of our capital projects. The remaining slides are just the visuals that you saw before from our architect. Again, just to prompt any questions or um you know any additional uh input that the

069board may have as we're planning those those projects. So, appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. questions with regards to any of the blueprint updates. We do not obviously have a chance at this. Next up, we'll do the uh principal reports and I think we'll start with Kylie Coggins, please. >> You'll see. Just wait. So, lots of joy the past month at French Roads, end of January, early February. Um, a little bit off on the pictures. Um, what you'll see here is the TCMS uh, language team came and talked to our fifth graders. Um, as part of that presentation, they were able to talk about all the language opportunities they have next year at sixth grade and our fifth graders got excited about part of that transition. So, it was a very exciting time for

070the kids seeing that middle school is on the horizon. Um, Something else that was fun this month is we had the mobile [snorts] museum of tolerance come for our fifth graders. This was parked out in the parking lot at French Road um right around Martin Luther King Jr. um day and our fifth graders are able to go onto the bus. Senator Cooney was there as well for one of the presentations and they learned about identity. Um we had a fabulous speaker and the kids loved it. We asked if they' come back for third and fourth. They haven't gotten it down to that level yet, but it really was neat to watch the kids ask questions, interact with the presentation, and do a field trip up right on campus. It matched really well with what we

071were doing with our school-based opportunity team as well. Um, the school-based opportunity team pushed into every classroom in the month of January and February. We had some snow day hiccups to talk about identity and learn more about each other and about themselves. And you can see some of the kids from the multicultural club also jumped in to lead some of those lessons. So, it was nice just to see all the classes have the same learning experience from our school-based opportunity team as well as some of the students um as part of the multicultural club. And this lent itself really well to our Black History Month presentation kickoff at our Bruins done at the end of January, early February. Um this year we decided to focus on local change makers in the area. Um our ILT

072Liz Files who is in charge of social studies and science, she put together a really neat gallery and online um I'm going to call it like room through magic school where the students got to interview all these different local change makers and it was neat because one of our teachers had a connection with one of the local change makers so she was able to share what they were doing um and the local history changemaker wrote back to the school so excited to be part of what we were working on and it just gave the kids the opportunity to ask questions do a little research within their classrooms and also put some information out on display um by coming together at our brewins den um as a school we were able to practice this together and

073then they went back to the classrooms and did the work individually within their classes. Um, I mentioned it was a joyful month and if you look at these kids, these are kids in third grade as well as fourth grade and they're all in middle of arts and letters. Um, the kids up in the top left corner pretty excited to have their hot cocoa with uh Mrs. Willis's class as they were working on some of their arts and letters lessons. And then our little guys at the bottom are part of our third grade classrooms and they were um doing some work in groups and it's just fun. You walk in, they start teaching you Um, if you were anywhere near French Road during third grade bingo, you probably could hear the screaming all the way down

074to Monroe Avenue. Um, the kids were so excited, screeching, squealing, lots of joy, lots of excitement, and we're excited to bring the second graders in later on in June as part of our two3 transition. So, it's a fun time. We're grateful for the PTSA support. We have a lot of staff that help support that as well. You can see the smiles. It's a really popular time and um a lot of joy and a lot of excitement. I mentioned Bruins then and that's when we come together once a month as a school community. Um not only did we kick off the Black History Month events and what we were doing, but I had fourth graders come to me with a 20page PowerPoint of everything they thought that they they needed to do to make FRA a

075better place. And they're like, "We want to present it at Bruins done. We've got the whole PowerPoint ready. I think they're going to talk Matt Lazoski out of a job on what they're going to do to clean and pick up the building. So, we settled on a couple goals as a school and they said they can all do their part to make the building a better place and it will start with just picking up the things that we've dropped. So, they've set a challenge for their peers. They got up and were able to do some public speaking. They put their PowerPoint up there and now they want to know when they can do their next part of their presentation in March. So, it's just nice empowering the kids, getting them up and leading their peers

076as well. >> Um, I have to say last week was one of my favorite events. And Karen, we're missing pictures from you, too. [clears throat] I was looking through all the pictures. I couldn't find one, but we had our science and social studies fair. It was over two nights at French Road. We had, [snorts] I think, about a hundred participants. And these kids worked with their parents and worked with their peers. They could do any project of their choice, science or social studies. And the stuff they came up with was absolutely fascinating. We had kids jumping and measuring um their jumping distance and how it affected gravity on different planets. We had dancing sprinkles. We had things on K-pop demon hunters. We had historical things. We had kids working on glazed fruit. The stuff they

077came up with is absolutely amazing. And it's about the whole thing runs itself. The kids do their presentations. They take turns seeing each other's presentations. Um there's takeaways that they can take home with them. and they're just so excited to share with their peers and I I just wish every child could take part of it because it really is an amazing night. You can see in the middle picture the cafeterium was just packed and that was just one night of it and this was two nights alto together. So we had a ton of people participate. In my three years at French Road I think the participation has probably doubled. So it's awesome. If you can join next year we would love to have you. >> Fair warning. Peggy wants to bring our 25-year-old tortoise next

078year. >> I'll see what I can do to talk about it. pretty awesome. Um, if you didn't see what we had going on at Fres before break, Rosemary Holith was um, awarded the Golden Apple. It was a pretty emotional and exciting time. Some of her past students from middle school came down as well as some of her current students. She was completely shocked, which made it even more fun. If you look at the bottom right picture, you can see we had a lot of staff, a lot of her former administrators um, were all there to celebrate along with her husband and it was really exciting and the kids wanted to know more about it. So you can just see the joy and shock on her face. So we're thankful to all those families who nominated

079her for that award. Um some fun things to celebrate with staff. It was our mental health team. Um we honored them last month. We made it sweet. We had lots of sweet treats for them. The kids were able to honor their counselors, the social workers, the psychologists, and everyone who supports us at school. Um the PTSA is kicking off an appreciation lunch in May, but they already sent our invites. You can see it's a wicked theme. And it was just fun watching the teachers get all excited about, you know, being on team pink or team green um and get their little invitations in their mailbox. And then again, end of January, we were celebrating the bills. And unfortunately, it did not end well, but we did do a a little tailgate with the staff just

080to get them all together during the lunch day down in the faculty room. Everyone brought a dish to pass. So that was something fun. And then as we look ahead to March, we've got our concert on Thursday, the district strings. We have our book fair that was moved from the fall to next week. So we have a family night on Monday. Um we have read across America next week. We have festival of ideas. We have our urban suburban family social. Um we're getting ready for bright and bleeds day. We're once again working with happy birthday chaa. So that will be exciting. Um we already have a huge dodgeball plan up our sleeves and then we're moving into Eid and Superintendent Conference Day before spring break. So, it was a busy January and February, but I

081think it's going to be a really busy March as well. >> Thank you. >> Great. Great. Great. Uh, Daniel Ads. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Happy end of February. Um it was a very busy month even though it was shorter than most months. We packed in a lot. We started in well January um and uh and then moving into February. So, we had for Martin Luther King Day, we did not get to report on this, but our students in all of our clubs created a video that um they actually created multiple videos that were shared each day of the week on the morning show and they talked about um attributes of Martin Luther King Jr. and what that meant to them both through the lens of their club and as a student at TCMS.

082So you can see I just took snips, screenshots from their videos, but they talked about coexistence and empathy, um, taking action in the face of adversity, equity, and so they there were students from our select choir, there were students from a Muslim student union, there were students from a basketball team, um, and they all came up and gave their own authentic connections and those were shared throughout their week. So it was really um, awesome to have student voice instead of something that the adults had kind of put together for them. So, it was really neat to see the connections they were able to make. Uh, adding on with that, as Mr. Green talked about, both of our modified basketball teams um in were involved in creating 120 lunches for the open door mission and they

083also shared a lot of extra supplies with uh Brighton food cupboard. And then moving into Black History Month and also um celebrating World Hijab Day, we had our Muslim student union that was active and also our Black Student Union created a home room bingo game this year where um each day uh they create they called numerous bingo numbers that were related to a famous quote that Martin Luther King um had shared or other um important black advoc um advocates and activists. And so that was fun to see the home rooms compete against each other. We also had Mrs. Dubet um had her students create strange stories and she extended that beyond the unit in sixth grade to um strange stories about losing our retainer. Um, and so they wrote these stories and a local uh

084dental or orthodontics um firm uh was able to read all of the entries and then pick the best entries and they gave the winners a nice water bottle but there was a nice recognition for them. So so appreciate you know Mrs. debate is representative of all of our teachers and looking for these outside opportunities to kind of extend what they do in the everyday curriculum, but also love the fact of bringing community um businesses into the learning that we're doing every single day. It was it was a ton of fun. There were a lot of laughs and a lot of giggles. Uh Miss Coggins already talked about the transition that's going on 506. We had our world language teachers over there and then we uh celebrated our orientation night with families and 220 families have

085already selected their courses for sixth grade already. So um the you know game is on here. So we're moving forward and excited about that. One of our um definite hallmarks of the technology curriculum every year in 8th grade is the annual CO2 car racing. And uh I just grabbed this picture because you can see in the upper right hand corner that Mr. Darling is is in there. You know, he's like the face that just keeps coming back. This isn't an old picture. This was actually from this year um where he was subbing and heard they were doing the racing and decided to come in and help out with the championship. But uh the students have so much fun with that. Another thing that we're super proud of that's been ongoing this year is our school-based

086uh opportunity team is working on digital wellness and what that means for our students and how we can provide [snorts] support to all of the stakeholders in our community around digital wellness. So what what are we able to provide for students, for families, and then for teachers. So the school-based opportunity team has been working on developing a website of resources that um hopefully will be ready to unveil at the end of the year. I think it's got some pretty awesome uh things in it. But we also were able to collaborate with the Brighton Police Department this year and they came in uh to do assemblies for each grade level around digital safety and and awareness. Of course, we had our Quebec trip uh which was very very cold and so much fun and lots of

087maple syrup and dancing. So, it was great. I think it was like minus 19 real real weather, but uh it was great. The kids were all dressed appropriately. We brought all the kids back that we went with, which is always just a big win for me. So, um, [laughter] uh, we also had the mobile museum of tolerance in the week before break. Part of that work with school-based, um, opportunity team around digital wellness. We did have students engage in an online hate activity through the mobile museum of tolerance, identifying what mo uh, online hate is and how to respond to it appropriately. And then we also had some civil rights uh classes that our seventh and eighth grade social studies classes attended. Lots of just fun activities, sharing some things, some reverse inclusion, students out

088and about and uh integrating with different grade levels during home rooms and making new friends, hot chocolate games, community building and the like. We also were able to celebrate that the Growl, which is our literary magazine. Um, the first time this past year that we've had it in in very many [clears throat] years in TCMS, were recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English as an excellent publication. Uh, we talked about Mr. Green talked about Say Yes to the Dress. Mr. Mitchell took some of our students over to enjoy that. The picture in the middle is hard to see, but that was uh Mr. Wasserman was featured on a CrossFit podcast international podcast about the programming that we have at TCMS and how he is able to make it appropriate, developmentally appropriate for middle

089school kids and get them interested for life in the activity. And then of course we just came back from from Guatemala and those of you who went last year. There were so many predictable pieces about the trip that were amazing and felt so good, but we were in a totally different community. And you know, I'd love to share with you all the reasons why it was different. But one of the biggest things for us was it was a K5 school. And so our students worked so so hard uh while they were out there to contribute, but they played so so hard with the kids a lot. So, I felt so much more than last year. There was so much more interaction. Um, and it was just fantastic to see. And I I will leave with

090just this one takeaway. There were so many takeaways from the trip. But we walked through the village and we um were welcomed into people's homes, which I don't know that I could do that for 19 strangers to say, "Come on in and look at my home and look at how I live." But uh this this one family welcomed us in and there were at least three generations on the front porch, maybe four generations of women on the front porch and they were all weaving clothing. And uh some of it was clothing for them to wear, some of it was clothing for them to sell uh so that they could purchase their food and and all of their necessities. And at one point I just my son went with us again and I pulled him back

091and I just said, "I just want you to take this all in." And of course he's you know like what what are you talking about? I said, "Look at these women sitting in community with each other." I said, "They're spending the day together. Yes, there's a purpose. There's an end goal in what they're doing, but they're spending the whole day technologyfree with each other and they're just talking and they're telling stories and they are with they're just being with each other." And I said, 'Now remember what the the man who spoke to us yesterday from the community told us about mental health rates and concerns that they have and how they're almost non-existent in their community. And I said, I just I want you to sit with the idea of community and and what that

092looks like all across the world and how important that is. And I think our kids really we we reflected on it that night and that I thought that was such a big takeaway for all of us just to appreciate no matter where you are in the world, community is is central and the same and to give our kids that opportunity and for them to have really appreciated it was was amazing. So so thankful um for the trip and then of course all the things that we have in March, much of which has already been discussed. >> Very well put. >> Thank you. >> Well done. Thank you. Uh, Principal Tapp. >> Oh, come on. Seriously. >> Oh, she's not even getting it. Getting it on the screen for me. Camaraderie. All right. [clears throat] So,

093uh, Council Rock, that is not where we're starting. We're starting at the beginning. All right. So, uh, the C council roticott, I know I've reported on this kind of every year, but just a reminder that, um, our amazing librarian, Miss Mozkavichas, presents a whole bunch of different books that could be up for the uh, Calicott award. Um, and she's usually spot on and knows at least two or three that win awards, but our kids vote on them. And the winner this year was don't trust fish. Um so uh great thing for the kids to be involved in and to uh learn all about the cala award and then get our own. So we had February celebrations uh a lot of different ways it was happening. Lunar New Year was celebrated in the library but also

094throughout classrooms and then a lot of black history uh celebrations. So we have um much like the brewing den at French Road, we have uh grade level assemblies and uh Mrs. Schaefer and I focused on May among the stars which is about May Gemson, the first African-American NASA astronaut to go to space. Um so it's a story about that and it's a really inspiring one. And then we focused on African-American inventors and scientists that invented really cool stuff that the kids would be able to like connect with to know what they were. The best one was the Super Soaker uh was invented and they were super super excited about that. And then our kindergarten classes, this is Mrs. Cunningward's class, did an entire study on Alma Thomas, an African-American artist uh and then a little

095bit on May Gemson as well. Um and displayed uh their work down in their hallway. So really exciting to see the kids starting to just learn and understand uh the amazing accomplishments. So, our first graders visited the Brighton Memorial Library thanks to the Brighton uh education fund. They provided this. This is the culmination of a unit in our ELA curriculum about the importance of books um and how important they are. All of our first graders got to visit, got to see it, and then also got to apply for a library card for their own library card. So, they all were coming away with their library card. Um thanks to the Bright Memorial Library for organizing that. They got to have a tour, get a story from one of the librarians and really get to know

096them. Uh we did some STEM Olympic bobsled building connecting to the Olympics that are just finishing all the second graders uh with Katie Fallon, our instructional technology leader. Um had them building and adjusting and flying those sleds down and then adjusting them. So it was really great. And then several of our second graders uh participated in Kid Inventor Day where they were doing all kinds of steamwork and steam uh activities uh and inventing and using their creative minds. So upcoming events, I know I've talked a lot about this. I know Mr. Green uh mentioned it, but we're really excited about the Steamfest that's coming up March 13th. We invite all of you to come stop in. It's going to be all day. Um, but this is just a list of the volunteers and the stations

097that we have. So, we've got Cornell Cooperative Extension coming for seed necklaces. We've got Lollipop Farm coming to do an entire uh vet clinic with stuffed animals. We've got art within there for and the fashion club from the high schools coming and kids will get to wander around during their hour and a half and just walk into rooms, experience it, and then walk out when they leave. We've gotten a ton of sponsorship from local businesses. The PTSA has helped. So, we're just really excited about it. And thanks to anybody on the panel or on the board who's who's uh joining us for to share your expertise. We appreciate it. We have our PTSA family dance this Friday uh for second graders. I will be there patrolling um to make sure that everything goes well. We're

098excited to host the urban suburban family social, of course, the dodgeball game where we hope to join forces and perhaps win again and then our steamfest. So, any questions? >> Just a lot going on as with all the schools. Thank you. >> You're welcome, >> Tom Hall. Fresh off of at least four hours of sleep getting back from Spain. We'd love to hear from you. >> Thank you, board. Um, yes. Uh and I have a little slide to talk about it but probably for the next meeting more. So um so we are also we also sponsor Black History Month. We had a incredible speaker Adrienne H one of our regents [snorts] and absolutely phenomenal. I know there are several board members who were there. Kids loved him. The greatest thing you know the positive message

099um that I think resonated with a lot of our students. He stayed at least for another hour and a half just to speak with the students who had questions and wanted to talk to them. Um, so we sat right out in front of the auditorium and took a seat literally and had kids one by one share things, ask questions and it was really phenomenal. Kids did a great job from BSU, our officers presenting. Um, really nice. Uh, it was a great presentation. Um, Legally Blonde, hopefully you got to see it. We had over 75 students in the cast, the crew, um, and the pit band. uh all enjoying the themselves, learning a lot and um I know they worked extremely hard under some difficult conditions being that our music rooms are all completely under construction.

100So they had to do uh quite a bit uh different things with changes of scenery and changes of their costumes and and work a little bit more creatively. But fantastic group of kids in all three areas of that performance and just want to give a big shout out to them and their um adviserss and directors. Senior nights, it's that time of year with our winter season. It's coming to a close. Spring sports are ready to start the second week of March, believe it or not. I'm hoping that's when spring actually starts, too. Uh but we've been going to various senior nights. We had a lot of students actually go down to Bristol and be with our skiers when they had their senior night. Hockey, bowling, track and field. Um our basketball teams, boys and girls,

101wrestling and uh again our our downhill ski team and represented here and our swimmers. So again, bunch of seniors off and running, finishing up that winter season and doing a nice job. uh part of our Asian or our Lunar New Year celebration, our South Asian Student Society or Asian Student Union held a Friday tea event. Uh the Friday before break, a lot of students enjoying some chai tea, bubble tea. Enjoyed it. And we also had our say yes to the dress event. Once again, um classes uh student teachers were bringing down students to uh scoop up a a beautiful dress, find some jewelry. Um we also had a young man who um vested a wonderful suit. Um, and all of that is for free volunteers and they did it in the lower library this year

102because the auditorium is under con or the auditorium is busy with all of the music uh groups and then they set up their um shop to tailor um each outfit for the students and the were getting materials doing it right there in our our maker space with the sewing machines their own sewing machines right there. We did have a wonderful trip that was the second full exchange to Odo, Spain to our friends in Maris. They were here in October. We were there over February break. More to come at a future board meeting. Of course, the district dodgeball team. This is who central office will be taking on first. Where are you? You are playing the seniors first. >> That should be fun. >> Exactly. >> What happens when you're champs, Dr. Halt? >> Yeah. Yeah.

103Well, we are we're doing the same thing. So, we'll see what happens. Who can survive the seniors? Um, lots of events happening. District strings concert, quite an event this week. Um, vocal prism concert a couple weeks after that. And we're looking forward to bright and bleed day and our college career night, which was moved to the 18th due to the um the weather last time they had to cancel. That's it. >> Hard to believe it's March on Monday. Thank you to all the principles for your updates and all you've got going on and glad that you were able to get home safely, Dr. Hall, with the with the Spanish team if you would. Um, we've got first the second read of policies. We'll have the approval for the second read of polic uh second read

104policies. Are there any questions, changes, or edits to those three policies? I'll quickly say the name and the number, then I'll ask for a nomination for a motion rather for their approval. First, policy 3210, community relations, visitors to school. Policy 5686, non-instructional business operations, maximum temperature for school buildings and indoor facilities. The policy 6550, personnel leaves of absence. Any questions with regards to these policies? Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Moved by Susan. >> Seconded by Clayton. All those in favor? >> I. Next up for the consent agenda, we've got the personnel changes which you have received. Field trip approval for the BHS softball team for early spring training March 30th to April 3rd. And then we have fundraising activities which include BHS math team of Chipotle. Uh the class of 2026 BHS dodgeball

105game as has been mentioned a few times tonight including by the superintendent. BG BHS girl up club at five guys in girls swimming and diving car wash in the BHS TCMS parking lot. Questions with regards to the consent agenda? Motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Moved by Carrie Lyn. >> Seconded by Clayton. All those in favor. >> And we'll quickly note that we'll have opportunities to learn more about the Spain trip and the Guatemala trip in a future meeting and we'll press your time period because we have the fourth coming up at 7 o'clock. With that, as always, thank you to Eden, Mike, and the Chuck Taylor and Dollar Bill uh for making this accessible. Uh with that, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. Second. >>

106Seconded by Esther. All those in favor? I >> We are ajourned. [clears throat] >> This has been a special presentation from the Brighton Central School District Board of Education.