Board of Education Meeting December 16, 2025

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 business meeting for Tuesday, December 16th. This meeting is called to order. Also want to acknowledge Bill's festive gear. Thank you very much, Bill, for being in the mood. He's also got socks if he wants to show them to you. >> Uh, with that, as always, we will begin with public participation. I do have cards here for people [clears throat] who have asked to speak. Our rules u remain the same. We allocate three minutes. At the two minute 30 mark, um you'll hear an alarm go off. You have 30 seconds to complete the thought. Um these sessions, as always, are intended for us to receive feedback from the community

002we represent. And um we stay away from mentioning specific people, whether they be teachers, students, staff, or anyone else. With that, I will ask Helen Frank from Brighton to please uh go to the podium. >> Good evening. The first time I learned about about microplastics was in 2015. I was in sixth grade and talking to my friend Dalia at a recycling club meeting in 12 Corners Middle School cafeteria. Microplastics research between 2015 and now has grown from an average of six research articles published per day to 125 per day in 2025. To say that Delia was ahead of her time would be an understatement. Superintendent McGawan has stated that the turf material materials are manufactured without PAS and pops. In response to that, I have two questions. One, where is the public able to find

003the specific materials to be used in the turf? And two, did you know that even plastics and synthetic materials without PAS and pops can still produce secondary microplastics through weathering and environmental stress? I am a Brighton alumni of 2021, a former two season student athlete, and I hold a bachelor's degree in physics. For those who don't already know, collegiate athletics and the fields of physics and engineering remain male-dominated to this day. In these, as well as many other spaces, women, trans, and gender non-conforming students face more barriers to success than their cisgender male peers. I also know firsthand how severely institutions underfund women's health research and the suffering that this causes. This is not just in gynecology, but across all fields of medicine. With this background, I warn you that the continued installation of this

004turf turf furthers gender inequality. The developing bodies of children and adolescence are exposed through food, air, and water to greater levels of microplastics per pound of body weight compared to adults. This microplastic toxicity is linked to oxidative stress, inflammation, and metabolic disorders. By moving forward with the turf installation, you are predisposing your students, particularly your female, trans, and gender non-conforming students who are already disadvantaged when navigating the medical system to chronic and underressearched health conditions. All I have to say regarding this is shame. We as a community and you as authorities in this community can and must do better. Superintendent McGawan has maintained that the only way to move forward with this issue in a democratic way is to continue the installation while providing answers to community members questions. I challenge that this is the

005only way. An institution that does not adapt its practices to promote the health and equality of its members in the face of new and emerging science is dysfunctional. regardless of if it believes itself to operate democratically. In its most idealistic form, a democracy prioritizes social justice and equality over convenience. You have the power and privilege to respond in a meaningful way and have already been presented with many excellent alternatives by the well-informed people speaking out. I regret to this day that the TCMS recycling club didn't do much with Dia's findings other than share them internally in the club and with a couple other friends in 2015. If you'd like to believe that BCSD fosters brilliant minds that go on to lead in the fields across the arts, sciences, and humanities, then it would be a

006true folly not to listen to them when they sound the alarm. Thank you for your time. [applause] >> Next, I have uh Cheryl Frank. >> I'm good. You can go to the next person. >> Okay. Thank you. Is there is there a tech problem? Are we good? >> Okay. Uh, next up, I'm I'll apologize in advance. I'm going to try to get these names all pronounced correctly. Bridget Platin from Brighton, New York. Good evening, Dr. McGawan, members of the board, administration, and community members. My name is Bridget Platania, and I am a Brighton parent. >> I apologize for the name of pronunciation. >> No worries. You're not the first. You won't be the last. Uh, last week I spoke up at the forum related to the capital improvement project currently in process. I stated my

007trust in you as educators and forward thinking thinkers for our school district and I asked you to utilize the habits of the mind framework that Brighton so beautifully teaches our students. I asked you to pause and examine the current and emerging data on the topic of synthetic turf. This week I come to you from a different perspective. My professional training in pediatric health care has taught me to be a critical thinker and to utilize evidence-based resources when seeking new knowledge. So, I did just that. I contacted environmental experts at a local university and I performed a literature review on the topic of safe playing surfaces for children and athletes. I do not claim that my efforts have made me an expert. Quite the opposite in fact because my queries have left me with significant questions

008and concerns. The concerns I have specifically ra related to synthetic turf are as follows. The short-term safety in terms of injuries both orthopedic and heat related. The long-term safety related to known carcinogenic and toxin exposure. The turf industry influence in lobbying and biased studies. the fact that elite athletes and professional athletic associations prefer a grass surface over the synthetic with the Buffalo Bills making the transition in their new stadium. The environmental impacts given the need to replace the product but the inability to recycle it. It is essentially a very large plastic carpet. And lastly, the New York State Senate Bill S6868 that is currently under review and highlights health and safety concerns. If passed, and I quote, "The bill prohibits the installation or replacement of synthetic turf at outdoor athletic fields and facilities owned or

009operated by municipalities or school districts in the state. Should it pass, what will be the district's plan and cost to taxpayers to remove the synthetic turf in question and return it to the natural grass surface?" I would expect that in your process of due diligence, you were left with the same questions that I was after reviewing the literature. But respectfully, I have to ask, were you? I voted for the capital improvement project in February 2024. I fully support youth sports as an avenue to health and wellness. But right now, we have an opportunity before us to teach our children that we can change our minds and our course with new and emerging information. We can teach that a pause and a re-evaluation of sound data are always a viable option in a decision-making process. After

010all, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars and to protect and promote the health and safety of our community. Thank you. Thank [applause] you, >> Christopher Ross. Right. I don't know if I can do as good a job as my wife, but I will try. All right. Uh, good evening. My name is Christopher Ross. I'm a registered [clears throat] nurse and also have professional experience in education policy analysis and clinical research. My wife and I have owned a home in the district for 10 years and our daughter is a student athlete at TCMS. I believe in youth sports. I'm a product of them. I've coached them. As many of you know, the skills kids develop, teamwork, resilience, persistence, self-confidence are invaluable and last a lifetime. I would support most of this

011project if it had a natural grass surface. U [clears throat] my comments this evening directed to the board. It's concerning to me that during the December 2nd meeting when Dr. McGowan asked if you had any questions following his turf presentation, there was silence. Well, after the meeting, I poked around and found that David Teter Consulting, one of his cited sources, has been hired by multiple municipalities and school districts across the country when there's community resistance to artificial turf. The other two documents, also from synthetic the synthetic turf industry, say that there was no PAS in their product, but they only tested for nine compounds. Current estimates are that there are more than 12,000 PAS compounds and testing can only identify 40. So, I found your your silence disappointing. We elected you to represent us, to

012be our voices in the room when decisions like these are made, to do your due diligence on projects great and small that affect the health and education of our children. Your children in your board role. They are all your children. I'm somewhat confused by the inconsistent messages the district is providing to students as well. Last Wednesday, a 200-year-old tree was shot down to make way for over 200,000 square feet of plastic carpet. Then on Friday, in the weekly e-news bulletins, green tip of the week, families were given suggestions for plastic free holiday gifts that prevent waste like bamboo utensils and toothbrushes, a zero water ser uh a zero water service or plastic free clothing. It doesn't feel like the right hand is talking to the left hand and the children are watching. I was also

013cur I'm also curious how the project aligns with the district's zero waste policy. What was the feedback of the district's environmental committee on the project? Are you entirely certain that this project that contains known neurotoxins and carcinogens is safe for children? Are there really no safer viable al alternatives? Have we exhausted all options? As some shared publicly at the last meeting, they voted for this project without fully understanding its scope or the unnatural nature of artificial turf. We all make mistakes. We teach our children that indeed playing sports teaches them that. Sorry. [clears throat] When I helped coach my daughter's basketball team last year, the girls would invariably commit a turnover or take an ill-advised shot. Sometimes they would hang their heads afterwards. The first thing the coaches yelled when we saw what was that

014was, "Forget it, next play." But this wasn't their their mistake. It was ours. Kids can vote. Their voices are diminished or excluded as a result. They expect us to make the best choices for them. [clears throat] Not enough adults paid attention to this or other elections. Not enough Not enough of us showed up. We failed the kids, but they shouldn't have to pay the price for our failure. We are here now. I'm imploring you to have the courage to pause this project. Thank you for your time. [applause] Pam Delaney. >> Uh, good evening. My name is Pam Delaney. I live in the neighborhood just south of the Fields. Um, as Dr. McGawan said, in a democratic society, the people voted on something, they approved it, and that is what our obligation is. So, where is

015the obligation to deliver what we voted on? We do not want a fencedin storm water mitigation area. This is not what we voted on. This plan was not shown until November 18th, minutes before board approval. We are asking the school board to request the submission of a nice change order to allow for underwater storm water mitigation to preserve our children's safe walking paths and recreation areas. While Dr. McGawan has suggested it is too late to change this plan, that couldn't be further from the truth. As part of its capital planning process, the New York State Education Department allows change orders to quote officially make changes in a signed contract for capital construction. A change order may be required to accommodate a discovered job condition, to add or delete certain portions of their work, or to

016otherwise change a condition of the contract. The Brighton School District has issued 39 change orders this year alone. As you know, the school board must provide support and additional documentation anytime this order is over $35,000. You have done this 37 times in the past. So, it is certainly possible to change this plan. In addition, under New York State law, the negative impact declaration originally submitted must be amended anytime changes are proposed that may or may not result in significant environmental impacts. In the original declaration, the district and by extension you as the school board who approved it provided the following answers. The proposed action may create a new water body. You checked no. The proposed action may be visible from publicly accessible vantage points. You checked no. The proposed action may result in loss of

017an area now used informally by the community as an open space resource. You checked no. The proposed action may alter the present pattern of movement of people. You checked no. Attestation after attestation in the original seeker documents are self-evidently false under the current submitted plan. As Dr. McGawan said, he is beholden to the voters. As are you, school board. As our representatives, you have a duty to ensure that the district follows the law. You must demand the district submit a revised seeker as they are legally required to do when a plan changes. The community did not vote for this plan. It varies substantially from the original was swapped out without the public knowing and we the community are now rightly upset. Change orders can and do happen. Let's take a moment to follow the law,

018adjust the seeker, and modify the plan to ensure that this project reflects the intent of the voters and not simply the district administrators. Easy is not a substitute for right, and we, the community of Brighton, have a right to expect more. [applause] >> [applause] >> Finnegan Hayes. >> Um, hello. I'm a Brighton High School student. I'm in 10th grade. I'm probably not going to take up the full three minutes here, but I would like to say a few very quick things that I think the school board and um really everyone should be aware of. Um the first is that a very very small number of students in at least Brighton High School, I cannot speak for um TCMS, a very small percentage of students in Brighton High School actually knew that this project was going

019to happen. and almost everyone was shocked and talking about the 200 year old tree being chopped down. Second is that um from what I can tell given my limited knowledge of what people are thinking based on asking questions and hearing gossip and speech such as that um almost nobody at least none of the students actually support this. And when I say almost nobody, I mean like I found I think two people in my looking of about um 300 students that actually supported this project. Um and I have a question that I'm not sure you're going to answer right now if that's possible. Um the question is this. Uh what specifically would we have to do to demonstrate that the vast majority of Brighton residents do not um support this project now that we have a

020more complete understanding of what it entails because it seems like you understand what we want but you're not telling us how to get that which is something that we obviously need to know as you are supposed to represent us. Thank you. [applause] Betsy Cox. I applaud courage. um the young people in this world, in this audience. Um you're amazing and I really feel this is what Brighton um is what we why we moved into this district in the first place was for the individuals, the education, the teachers. We made an intentional decision over 25 years ago to move here to educate our three children. Um we did not move here for the athletics. It was nice to have. My children never once complained about wet feet or mud or anything else throughout their entire careers.

021I am here again as a a parent, a physician, a teacher. I currently work as a physician at the University of Rochester Student Health Service for almost 29 years. And the last two years have been teaching in a medical health pathway at East High School with underserved young people interested in health careers, trying to inspire them to um move to careers and uh a life that will uh be able to support their amazing um potential and strength. Um, I presented and sent messages to all of you um, within the last few days. Uh, once again outlining the science behind the uncertainties regarding this turf field. Actually, I should um, back up from the beginning and say I'm Elizabeth Betsy Cox and my pronouns are she, her, hers. So, I just want to be sure I

022make that also clear because I heard another young person uh so again bravely mention um the lack of re research, the lack of I would even say people uh that are providing the leadership on this project. I didn't see one um person um that was different from the other as they lined up the back of the room presenting all of um the the detailed drawings of this project. Um the Children's Environmental Health Center recommendations are extremely clear. They are from May of 2025. They were not available in 2023 when all of you voted as um Pam mentioned. Uh if we all read this the seeker um uh uh assessment, it is completely false. I when I was uh looking through these uh the bios of all of you who are representing us, I um again

023have to I'm again up here shaking because I can't even believe that we continue to to come here pleading you um to take care of the health of our children, our community, our earth. We have physicians amongst you. We have EDDDs. We have educators. We have people who have served on cancer action forums. We do not know what these uh toxins will do to our children. I have seen young people die of liver cancer, lung cancer, um leukemia. Um so a couple of things uh as well. If you all have visited the uh field, it no longer is what it was a few days ago. You will also see a sign that says warning laser light. The progressive contractor is using laser. avoid direct eye exposure. This is within about uh 500 feet of a

024daycare that's at the uh 12 Corners Presbyterian Church as well as the group home. So, what are we supposed to do when we're walking past and they're using lasers? Um that was not again if you read the secret it says within 1500 feet there are no children or vulnerable individuals. There's a church with elderly people. There is a daycare center with children, parents pulling up against your fence that is now um surrounding this field. Um we need to know when was this environmental impact study done? How did you study this? What is the plan to update the neighborhood, the community as we move forward? This is again not something that any of us wanted. Um I have sent you pictures of the fields for over 20 years. I have walked to that field multiple times.

025I included a poem by Maya Angelou which ends, "The rock cries out to us today. You may stand upon me, but do not hide your face." I thank you for your attention and hopefully some reason will come forth from all of um our impassioned uh voices. So, thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> [applause] >> We appreciate the ongoing feedback and are continuing um to review what has been provided. We are getting all of the emails. Um I think you can look forward to communication from us relatively soon as we work through a couple of things. Um, there were a few inaccuracies in in what was stated. And I'll, as a person who was involved in this project pretty much from the beginning, I'd never be involved in a project that purposely falsified

026records. And everybody can say what they want in today's democracy. And I get that. You can say your thought. I have integrity and I have honesty and um, stand by the seeker that was filled out in specific. Having said that, you all have come with feedback. All seven of us are responsible to represent you. We'll take that feedback and we'll take a look at it and we'll look to have a communication out as quickly as possible. >> Is there anything else you want to add to that? >> Uh, no. I I mean, I think you summarized that well relative to it's really important to find the right balance between not diminishing any anything that anybody has said and understanding that this is not formatted to be a debate. and uh want people's feedback to be

027accepted as your perception and your perspective on an issue. That doesn't mean that the seven board members or myself would agree with each of the things that you have said because people are not debating you or arguing with you over a particular point whether it be about seeker or any other item. So, it's more simply saying to you for the record that we may not see it the same way, but your perspectives are certainly being heard and the communication uh that will be sent out will really focus on opportunities that we may see to address particular concerns and uh acknowledge the fact that we have feedback from you. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Uh with no other speakers here, uh we'll move on for the approval of the agenda for tonight. You all have

028had a chance to review the agenda. Did anyone have any edits, changes, or comments regarding tonight's agenda? >> Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Seconded by Clayton. All those in favor. >> Also have the minutes from the December 2nd board of education meeting. You've all also had a chance to review the minutes from that meeting. Any changes, edits, or comments regarding those minutes? >> Motion to approve. >> So move. >> Moved by Susan. >> Seconded by Carrie Lynn. All those in favor? I am excited to have coming up next uh Diana Spagnola representing and I think she's got some special guests with her representing the student support services program and we're going to get an update from them. So Diana, I will turn it over to you. Thank you so

029much. It's exciting to be here and I know my other speakers are on their way in as well. Uh typically I have the opportunity and privilege to talk to you about the many areas of the student services office and department and I usually highlight one or two throughout my my presentation. And I'd like to take this opportunity tonight to actually highlight a unknown hidden treasure that we have in our district. Our Brighton Central School District transition program that's located at St. John Fischer program. They are going to speak. You're going to see see their authentic presentation. They created it. They selected the slides. They selected the pictures. They selected what they wanted to talk about that's important to them. A part a part of every aspect of the program. So, I'm going to turn it

030over in a moment, but great thanks to Mr. Wayne, teacher of the program, Mrs. German, who is the speech and language provider who supports the program, Mrs. Gabriel, one of our district psychologists, also located over at Brighton High School, and also administrative um direction from Mrs. Caitlyn Feny, who's also our director of special ed and uh overseas mental health services. I'm going to turn it over to Shawn, who's going to get us started. Hello and welcome to our Brighton board meeting of the postsecondary program at St. John Fiser University. >> Tell us more. >> We are students ages 18 to 21 in the Brighton transition program. Our classroom is at St. John Fiser University. We get to learn, work, and be part of the college campus >> and they love that. I'm Mr. Wayne. I

031teach the program. Um, and what we work on is we practice our our independent living skills, social communication skills. We have job skills that every student has a job on campus or off-campus. Um, and then we also work every Friday navigating the community safely. Um, and we have a lot of fun. Uh, next Sean again is going to tell us kind of what a typical day looks like because that's a question we get asked a lot. Want to come up here, bud? >> Here is what a normal day looks like. We start with morning work. Then we have recreation and social time. We eat lunch. After lunch, we go to our jobs on campus. We end the day by checking in together. >> Very good. So to start with our morning block, we always have

032a warm-up kind of centered around the curriculum for the month. Um and Andrew is going to tell us a little bit about that. So that's our morning block. This is one of our mentors that helps and works with us. So go ahead, Andrew. >> In the morning, we practice math for jobs. We learned about time, schedules, and money. We also practice solving problems we might face at work. >> Very good. >> All right. And then next after we we have a warm-up, we have a meeting. Aiden, do you want to tell us about the meeting? You want to come up with me and I'll help you. Okay. You got you want me to help you? Okay. So, we'll have a morning meeting. We'll share about our weekend. Um Aiden loves sharing about the bills a

033little bit. Um, we share about what's going on that week, how our jobs are going, what we need help with, and then what we're going to work on at the beginning of the week and then towards the end of the week. Um, is there something you usually want to share, every weekend? >> Let's go. You're right there. Let's go. two of a buffalo. >> Let's go, Bill. All right, there you go. Feel better. [applause] Great job. Okay. Um and then so I I I spoke about what we do curriculum wise. So we have a theme each month. So usually our morning block um is skills that we're working on for that month. So September is money. October is taking care of ourselves. November was really healthy eating. Um, and then this month's been a lot

034about personal care, uh, and getting ready for real jobs. So, that's kind of what we do each month. We have a theme about what we work on. Um, we also in our morning block, we have speech and Sean would like to walk us through that. In speech, we practice skills we need for jobs. We work on asking for help, talking to supervisors, and giving clear answers. >> Awesome. Okay. Next, usually every Wednesday, we have Best Buddies, right? >> Yep. >> Andrew is going to walk us through Best Buddies. >> In Best Buddies, we practice interview skills. We also learn how to look clean, neat, and ready for work. >> Very good. >> All right. And then we have a wreck block. So usually have our wreck block that Sean spoke about earlier. And Aiden, do

035you want to come up and tell us about the recck block? Feel good. Now we get to choose an activity we can do. school, citiz block. So, usually after the morning, we have our recck block, we have our vocational block where everybody has training and has a job. Um, and Sean, okay, is going to kind of talk us through that a little bit. >> For for vacational blog, we go to our workplaces or sites on campus. Some of us work in dining halls, the bookstore, athletics, or other places. We practice listening, staying on task, and being professional, working on our professional selves. So, I'll go through where everybody works. Um, Andrew, you want to tell everybody what you do? >> I work at Murphy Hall. I I usually wipe down tables to help keep the

036dining area clean. Also, we stop napkins so the stations stay organized for customers. Also, for fold organized and organized towels and aprons for the staff and last but not least, I restock silverware to make sure everything is ready for a meal times. >> Ready? Sean's next. >> I help clean the tables and keep the dining area looking neat for everyone. I restock the napkins, not the silverware, and make sure the stations are organized. I know my routine really well, and it helps me stay on track with my job. I like working with the staff because they are so friendly and they help me when I need it. Okay, agent, tell about cyber. There you go, man. You got it. I keep the I keep the cafe clean and wing wiping tables and second the counters.

037I reck things that people need like napkins, cups, snacks, and more. When I finish a job, I like to ask for another one. I like to to stay busy. I can do most of my task on my own and I feel good about it. >> Very good. >> Uh and then lastly, our our last student works at the bookstore at Spectrum Arts. Um and then she or works at the bookstore and Spectrum Arts down in Monroe, but she couldn't be here tonight. Um and she enjoys it. It's just organizing, restocking items, getting materials ready for different classes. Um, and she's been pretty successful there. So, we're pretty proud of her for that. Um, I I spoke briefly about community- based outings. We have a lot of fun. The students plan them in places that they're

038familiar with and they like to um get familiar with their community in the Rochester area, the Brighton area or on the west side for things to do on the weekends. Um, and it's just kind of a culmination of the skills we worked all week um that we can work now and apply them in our community. So, those are really fun things that we really enjoy doing. um urban areas, campuses, local businesses, arts, museums. I think what we went to the candle store and then image city last week. You guys love that. Um so just being familiar with with the areas around us and we just we we find value in that and think that that's really important. Um our goals number one is that everybody's happy. Um and I think you know that's that's something

039that's super important. um increasing our confidence, preparing us for meaningful employment, strong communication and social skills as you see today. Um because these guys just did an outstanding job. So I'd love to give these guys just a big round of applause. [applause] Thanks for having us. Thank you to Mrs. Spagnola, Mrs. German, Mrs. Feny, Mrs. Gabriel, and our parents in our program that just just do a great job. Thanks for having us tonight. Thank you, [applause] >> Mrs. Spola. Before you start, [clears throat] I know we like it's hard to find the right words after that presentation. So, I just want to say first, Sean and Andrew, amazing. Been so great to watch you grow into the adults you are and what you are doing. Those workplaces like they couldn't probably find anybody better to

040do what you're doing. They they are so lucky to have you, Aiden. The Cyber Cafe. Amazing. And you get to go to school where I'm pretty sure I can't see her, but I think she's back there. Your mom went to school, right? Is that right? And your uncle Todd that I think I knew like 30 years ago, a little birdie told me would be so proud of you. That cyber cafe is not the same without you. I'll tell you, it's pretty amazing. And not to put too much pressure on Mrs. Spagnola. But I'm pretty sure that's the best presentation we had the entire year and probably will be. >> So proud of the [applause] team. I think everybody here today saw I'm just so proud of all of these young people and the work they

041put in, but great examples of persistence, perseverance, trying something new, sticking with it, being in the uncomfortable for a little while, persevering through that, maybe doing something you didn't like right away. And um some more upcoming things for this program I'm really excited about. Thanks to Mrs. who last week organized interviews, experiences right here at district office. So, everyone was interviewing with someone for a potential job or another placement someplace else, but with a stranger and what it feels like to be prepared for questions, but maybe some of the unexpected questions that you're not expecting in an interview and what that feels like to be comfortable in the uncomfortable. And coming up this week, we're really excited that um also with partnership with Dr. Whitney Rap through um St. John Fischer. We're going to be

042exploring some opportunities for some courses that they can participate in the spring that will be starting in the spring semester, including a new job rotation also as well where kids are experiencing working with different supervisors, different experiences. Again, some things they love, some things they might not like, but how we persevere. So, more to come and great developments for the program. How about another round of applause for all of you? [applause] >> Mrs. Spagnolo, Mr. Wayne, I think I already know your answer to this, so I'm actually more interested in Andrew, Aiden, um, and Sean's answer. Do you think it would be okay if we came and visited you? Could we come and see the program firsthand and spend some time with you? >> Would you like to show us what you do? Can you

043guys would you like them to come? >> Absolutely. >> Thanks, [applause] Sean. >> So impressed. Thanks, guys. >> Thank you. >> Uh next up, we have a principal reports. >> And to all four of the principal principles, good luck following that. Coach, we'll start with Danielle Edmonds tonight. All right. >> Andrew's Does anybody need a coffee? >> Yeah, I see that. That was >> No, that's not what I need right now. >> Thank you for patience, Samantha. >> Hey, Samantha. >> Yes. Power. >> No, I'm good. I'm good. >> Okay. >> Should we start without the superintendent, Danielle? Do you want to wait for him? >> Absolutely. [laughter] >> Go for it. >> Yeah, let's >> I'll wait. It's okay. I need to give a little space between that presentation and my own. So, you

044>> got no hope. >> I'm not sure I can follow that up quickly. So, >> none none of the four of you could even dream of following that. >> No, I'm not going to pretend to be able to. So, You know what? In all seriousness, Dr. Evans, let's get started. Okay. >> Great. Thanks for having me. I am here tonight to present about the mental health and wellness efforts in our building um from September up until this point. As you know, this is a big area in our Brighton blueprint. So, I would just want to share some of the things that we've been able to do so far and some of the areas that we're continuing to focus on for the remainder of the year. Our big four buckets in mental health and and wellness

045at TCMS are obviously and always fostering a sense of belonging. Our inclusive environments, making sure and really getting at the root of being sure that everybody feels valued and connected. As you can imagine, in a middle school, that's not always the easiest thing to do. So, that's always our our core center. Continuing to refine our support systems for all students at all levels. You've heard me talk about multi-tered systems of support over and over again over the last few years and we just continue to refine that to make sure that all of our students get their academic and emotional needs met. Um addressing absenteeism, it is a national epidemic, so we are not the only school that uh is working on this certainly. Um, but it is a focus for us at the middle school

046and we're trying to be as proactive as opposed to being reactive as we possibly can. And then always continuing that family school partnership and looking for different ways to um have families be more feel more included in the TCMS environment. So just looking at when we talk about tier one, tier two, and tier three efforts at a school, tier one is like we always look at a triangle. So tier one is at the bottom and that's what everybody in the building gets, every single student. So when we talk about tier one, every student, how are we fostering an inclusive environment for everybody? We're working on our social emotional learning efforts through home room and win lessons. We're working on teaching resilience and empathy and self-regulation, you know, aligning ourselves with the bright and believes qualities.

047We leverage our TCMS strong students mentoring groups um and opportunities more than ever this year for reverse inclusive opportunities in classrooms to try and find ways to grow connections between students. Our school-based opportunity team is uh hyperfocused this year on the impact of social media and online environments with um in promoting a positive school environment. As you can imagine, um particularly with 11, 12, and 13 year olds who don't quite have the skill set yet to maneuver difficult conversations online, a lot of that is pouring over into the school day. Even though the conflict may happen outside of school, we um we are working on helping students resolve those conflicts in school. So, our school-based opportunity team this year is looking at um three different deliverables by the end of the year. an a family

048facing, a student facing, and a teacher facing to help um support students with uh you know like we've got our inclusive language protocol that we're using in school face to face in the building. How are we replicating efforts like that with uh families, students, and staff for online environments to try and help students have the skills when they're online um to manage conflict. And then of course our mental health program evaluation is continuing in its second year. We just finished up some great focus groups with each of our grade levels to gain some impact uh get input on the impact of our mental health program at [clears throat] the middle school. Um and our mental health team I just sent on some data to um to Caitlyn and Diana about the great work that our

049mental health team is doing. They do not stop ever. So um we were able to actually see that in the feedback that we got in our in our mental health uh focus groups for sure. So tier two and tier three, we're kind of going up the the triangle. So fewer kids um need tier 2 supports and then tier three, the the fewest amount of kids need those supports. Um but that looks like our counseling uh department doing small group and individualized counseling uh connecting all the time with external professionals like URMC. We have a great collaboration with them. They really help us in terms of consultation with complex cases but also in seeing students in the building. We of course have our Aspire and our path programs which are very specialized programs to deliver that

050intensive support to students who have higher needs in the social emotional area and then continuing to look at the work that we're doing with students and the impact that it's having on students and refining as necessary. Certainly uh Miss Masters has been a great value ad in um looking constructively at some of the systems that we have in place and helping us make them more efficient and more effective. Always working on staff wellness and building morale. Um I've told this story before, but I one of my only memories of middle school was sitting in Mr. Kipling's biology class and seeing a banana come hang down outside of the the classroom window. the science teacher upstairs was hanging a banana down to give to the teacher of my class. And I just I remember that so

051vividly because I saw my teachers playing with each other and enjoying each other and being with each other. And that's what we're always trying to replicate at the middle school is just that staff enjoy being with each other because when they're happy together, the kids are going to be happy. The kids are going to see that the kids are going to feel safe. The kids are going to feel valued. So always working on staff wellness. We have a spirit week going on right now. Today was white out day. Tomorrow is wicked. So pink and green. Guess what? I'm Alphaba. Betsy is Linda. So [laughter] um but so we've got things going on like that. We had our um our gathering last week, our holiday gathering. Just lots of different fun games going on. Recognition every

052week. We've got a what's the brewin doing? It gets assigned to a different teacher or staff member each week. Um, we have a kudos section in our weekly update of just little things that teachers are doing and kind of did you know just to share the good work that people are doing. We're sending positive postcards to students. Teachers are are sending them out weekly to strengthen the relationships with families but also to affirm the positive behaviors that we're seeing in the building because the students are doing great. And then we are in the middle of planning our centennial celebration for the spring. More to come on that. um emergency procedures. Sometimes this seems weird to tie into mental health and wellness, but I think all of the work that Teresa has done with us and

053our safety teams in the building helped people feel more safe and secure just by nature of knowing that we have procedures and protocols. So clear response protocols, partnerships. Teachers are seeing the work that we're doing with the Brighton Fire Department, with the Brighton Police Department, um with mobile crisis, with the brighter days, um emergency mental health care areas, and that's making them feel more comfortable and safe in the building. We've also changed our re-engagement protocols for students who have been on long and short-term suspension so that it's not just a simple re-engagement. It's a long-term sustained support system for students in their return to school. chronic absenteeism, continuing with staff education and awareness, communicating with families, and um it's really about the personalized student support to see what the driver of the school avoidance is

054and then developing uh case-byase specific plans for students in order to address those root causes. And then we're continuing with our weekly updates, looking at our mental health team is finding different ways to communicate the resources that are available to um to community members. And um Caitlyn's been a great job of giving us some information for our newsletters around uh family wellness and staff wellness. and um Jeff Green worked with the mental health team to develop this new relationship or this new uh website here that has um all of the different supports for families as well. Working on supporting student transitions always we talked about the mentorship and community ties and then clubs and activities monitoring those who are involved continuing to find ways to get those who aren't involved involved. And then of course

055we've got wake uh break coming up. I can't believe at the end of January in a few short weeks we're already doing our 506 orientation and I know Tom is going to be doing his 809 orientation already. So kind of crazy that we're at that point. >> Uh just a a quick comment as you're going through the tiers um for that piece. What what impressed me was I know Dr. Hall will talk about making sure that every kid is somehow connected and I can see in what you're doing with the tears there. you're basically doing the same thing. How is every kid connected? And if we find one that's not, what do we need to do? So, I greatly appreciate that. I think that's very important. Thank you. Questions from the board for Dr. >>

056Edmonds? >> Colleen Coggins. >> I just keep taking them from the corner so it's the longest possible wall. Happy December. It's been a busy few weeks and we've got a busy couple of days ahead of us. Um, this fits in well with what we're doing with wellness and um, prior to Thanksgiving break, we had a local company come in and work on promoting healthy habits with our kids and self-control and physical fitness. You can see there's a lot of fun learning all the different um, movements with the taekwond do. Um, the kids are excited, the teachers were excited, and you could hear the giggling and the excitement all the way down the hall. So, this was organized by our PE teachers, and it was a really successful event. Last week, we had a local parent

057or a parent, James Gilbert, from Channel 8, come in. Um, he also had one of our fourth grade teachers and he did a lesson with the students on weather. He did the tornado tube. You can see that on the left. Um, he went back to visit Mrs. Higgins, his own teacher. Um, and it was just great for the kids to learn from somebody they see on the news and someone in the community. Um, Michella Peters reached out early in the school year and asked if she could bring um, the TCMS strong kids down and do some collaboration with our kids. So, the fourth grade teachers worked alongside with Michella to create a schedule. And you can see here that the students came down, they read books, they did activities, they talked to the kids, they

058built connections with teachers and kids alike. Um, I had teachers sending me pictures all day. I probably had hundred of them. But you can see that the teachers and the middle school kids had just as much fun as our kids. So, it's something we're hoping to continue moving on in the future. If you haven't seen a group of kids with a VR headset at the same time in a classroom, pop over to French Road. Um, if you see the kids in the top left, they're actually moving through an actual heart. So, they were in the classroom moving around, seeing all the valves, seeing how the heart was built, squealing, giggling, getting themselves a little dizzy. Um, but it was a fantastic way to wrap up the arts and letters unit. Um, they're also working on

059the literal heart. You can see the kids were cutting out and doing a paper pencil project and there was an additional um, puzzle they were working on in the middle. So, this was set up along with Katie Fallon as well as Ellen Harp, our fourth grade team. Um, and it's been in the Bright Lab for the past two or three weeks. So, it's been a lot of fun watching the kids move through with us as they finish the unit. This is our technology class. If you look really closely, there's these tiny little Autobots. They're little coding robots that the kids were using and they were plowing the streets of Brighton. So, if you see, they've built these plows with the Autobots and they're pushing all the snow into different piles. So, they were coding their

060different robots, working through different streets that they created. Um, and this was done right in technology class. So, it's been a lot of fun getting the kids working and also looking at the collaboration between our instructional leaders and Mrs. Hart. This is the kids' favorite time in art class. If you're a parent of kids at French Road, you can see there's a lot of clay fun right now. Um, with Mrs. Tobia on the right hand side, she's teaching all about the different states of clay. So, the kids have been working on building their projects, working on the coil, working on the different scientific properties of the clay. And then once that dries and is put in the kiln, they'll be moving into glazing. So the kids have been very excited and Mrs. Tobia is going

061to send us some additional pictures soon. As December comes to an end, we're doing everything to build community amongst the kids and staff. Um we've been doing our 12 countdown days to winter break. Um it started with a plaid day. We had holiday hair. Today was a bright and bruise day. Um we had a white out day coming up on Monday as well as a reading um in her pajamas day. So that is coming up. A lot of excitement. The kids are having so much fun with each other. You can just see by the smiles. I said to one, "Can I get your picture?" She goes, "Well, can I pose?" So she was doing her little poses and you can see little candy canes and hearts there. So it's been a lot of fun to

062see the kids come together three through five. Mrs. Eden and Mrs. Godfrieded have been working with the um the veterans and the honor flight for years where the kids are writing letters and sending those on with the veterans down to Washington DC. This gentleman was unable to make the flight was very disappointed about it but the class still did the letters and he stopped in to see us to see if he could set up a day to talk to the kids and we said you know what we can arrange for that now. You can see how excited he was. Um Mr. Stout is a local veteran. He went in and talked to the kids, talked about his experiences, but more importantly, he talked about how their letters completely helped him reflect on his life, what

063he did for service for the country, and he's going to come back at Flag Day, we hope, and um talk to the kids as a school. So, it was pretty exciting seeing not only kids excited about this gentleman coming in, but to see what it did in giving back to him. And also, I don't know if you have any kids that have taken part in writing the letters um with the teachers in fifth grade. Many of the families will actually go to honor flight when they come back and when they leave and send them off with other letters as well. When we look at mental health, wellness, and student supports, um this summer we had quite a few work days along with um Caitlyn Feny came as well. We pulled our mental health team together.

064We worked on our bright and believes qualities. We worked on our social emotional lessons that they do during Bruins time. We worked on our grade level supports and what we're doing for um our monthly assemblies that we've been doing. We've also been refining our systems for chronic absenteeism. And it's been nice because we've been working on consistent communication, working on our letters. We've been working on making connections with our new families, kids that are transitioning into the program. We've been logging kids to make sure we have connections with the families and kids alike. Um, other things that we've been working on is we've worked on an executive functioning professional development for our staff. Um, we find the root of a lot of the things with the kids is do they have the executive functioning skills

065to do things in class, to do things socially. So, building into all of our faculty meetings, we've been bringing in a minieries and doing those lessons. We're also doing that in conjunction with UIMC and um Melissa Heatley. She'll be coming in and doing some trauma-informed instruction and trauma-informed practices on responding to kids who are going through trauma, what those ACEs are as well. So, Dr. Heatley will be coming in in January and we'll be following up with executive functioning strategies after that. Um Diana's been very helpful working with our um BIPS and FBAs for the training on our staff. We've also been able to send um special area teachers to Boseis to work on our integration for our special education program. So there's just been a lot of things happening with a lot of different

066staff and it's really bringing that back to the teams within the school. And finally, as we get into December, we are in full concert mode. We've been doing assemblies in the school day as well as in the evening. We have pajama day. The kids are just counting down. The snow has been fun. Big snowballs out back. You can see the kids trying to play as much as they can. We're getting ready for summer. Um we have our summer camp and activities fair in January and we've been working with the parents' partners webinar. So we have another two of those coming up and then [snorts] we have Martin Luther King Day. So we're going to take the winter break right now while we can. >> I I think we had a board member at one of

067your concerts last week if I remember correctly. Clayton, two quick comments. I love all the pictures of kids up moving while they're learning and collaborating. I think that's awesome. Second, huge fan of flannel day. Always always very good. Well done. right up here. [laughter] Oh, we'll do we're going to do a flannel night one night here at the board meeting. Uh, any other questions from the board? >> Great job. Thank you very much, Dr. >> Hall. Okay. Anyway, >> would you did you say tie? >> No, I said any way to not wear a tie. If you want me to say it real good. >> No, you're you're >> I love it. Dr. Hall, >> if I can get through until the new year without having a tie on, I will certainly do it because

068I'm in the spirit >> my mind about that. >> I'm in the holiday spirit with the the Bruins and we have a theme day every day. Today is team jersey day. I love it. >> I don't think I've ever come to a board meeting with an Ernie Clement [laughter] jersey on. And ironically, >> it's kind of liberating. I felt really good today. >> So excited. >> At some point, they're going to have to host a wear a tie day. [laughter] >> Plenty of ties in the new year. >> So, there's a lot of similarities between the other buildings, but one of, you know, I'm just going to throw out there our friends of Rachel um FO uh club. It's basically a service club. all their purpose, the purpose of Friends of Rachel is to do

069good things for our student body. Um, volunteer events, donate time, donate resources, provide fun activities for our students, and that all builds into our whole sense of belonging. What could be more sense of belonging than ice cream? Um, non-dairy, uh, and just, you know, there's also fruit juices that they have have there, but the general population is jumping right in to the ice cream. Where have you seen these big tubs before? I mean, nobody sees those anymore. They don't exist. But they come to our ice cream socials. And the cafeteria was packed. There were probably close to 200 kids just eating ice cream, having fun, socializing as part of a just to come down. We about a half hour in the cafeteria. That was part of their purple week, which is basically be kind to

070others and do good deeds, make people feel good, fill their buckets. So just a feel-good week. And I want to thank friends of Rachel and advisor um social worker Lance Mitchell for helping to put a week worth of activities together and the ice cream social iss toppings and serve. I want to give Dr. Paddock a little kudos here. She >> did. >> She did. She um she oversees our Aspire program both the middle and high school as you know and she and the the counselor um there um Trisha Zeller came up with an idea for our kids to get to know the faculty better more on a kind of a uh it's like that banana coming down the window. I didn't know where you're going with that at first, but the banana coming down the

071window and the teacher taking it. It's kind of like that, but they get to see who these teachers are, the introduction, what what are some of their their um their favorite pastimes, what are their favorite animals, hobbies, music, you name it. So, they did it for all the faculty in the Inspire program, and now they're doing it with the students and putting that up on the walls and everybody loves to see pictures and find out about themselves. But thought that was a great way to kick off, you know, as we ended the the second semester and or first semester, second quarter. So, thank you to Dr. Paddock and Miss Zeller. Uh Dr. Rio and I had an opportunity to go visit our students out at EMCC. Um as you know, we pro we send about

07245 students every year from the high school between junior and senior year out to the Eastern Monroe Career Center where they are learning skills and trades to get off into the world. Whether they continue in these trades or they go off to college or another job, uh they're learning skills. And we have a nail program. Um, we have a nail and tech program. We also have a criminal justice program where there's students in the middle with all the fingerprints and some yahoos on the left there pretending to be bigwigs as we're walking around. Um, an automotive program, a nursing program, uh, our welding program up in the top right corner. He is amazing. My father was a welder, so I always love to see what's going on in there. He does amazing work. And then

073our Cisco program, which some of our very own IT people, Peter Marian, graduated from the Cisco program at EMCC. We also have a construction trades program, culinary service, and again, nail tech and hair services. So, we had a great time out there. We'll be visiting our afternoon students in the new year. These were all the morning seniors. Basically, their secondyear advanced services and uh just it's just an incredible time to go and visit and take part. Uh, we have a food fight. Every time I hear that, it gives me a little aid, but then I remember it's a good thing. So, they call it the food fight to get people going. We're collecting food for the Brighton food cupboard. December 1st to the 19th is part of Exec Council's um, uh, spirit of giving. So

074far, juniors are in I'm sorry, sophomores. No, juniors are in the lead, followed by the sophomores, followed by the freshmen, and then we had two items donated for the senior class. [laughter] Kind of sad. That's a I got a thing of peas and some Mario cherries. Mariano cherries, but it's getting better. They have they're much better now. We'll get results out and we'll let everybody know. Maybe you're going to comment on that for the border report. Those seniors though need to step up their game. pretty sad. Um, but they're gonna get there. It's a good friendly competition and they're gonna Somebody dumped I don't know like 60 boxes of mac and cheese in the bin on the very last day just to put them over the edge. Who knows what will happen. There's our outfit.

075So, Kevin, you can see what I'll be wearing over the next several days. [laughter] Flannels tomorrow. Uh, I'm not wearing pajamas. It's gonna be another brewing day. I'm sorry. I don't wear pajamas. We also had our new student lunchon to welcome all of our 46 new students from around the world. Our furthest student is from Mumbai, India. Um we had uh a beautiful lunchon for them. All of our new kids who came. We also went away and with some Brighton merch. Thanks to Miss Carter for helping organize that. Our mental health, wellness, and student support goals well underway. I'm just going to highlight with our our annual DASA presentation, student engagement, sense of belonging. We're doing a lot with trying to make kids feel better about being in their school when it comes to um

076body image. That's one of the number one things they report every year that students violate DASA is just comments that they make about other people's bodies. So, we're really attacking that head-on with our students, getting them in involved in that and trying to get that to stop uh in our conversations together as a student body. Um, we are having one-on-one meetings. Our assistant principles will meet with all the new students. I meet with all of our new students and then the counselors meet one-on-one with every single new freshman who comes on their case load during the year. Um, and then of course they will meet with all of our students doing program planning for a one-on-one uh, visit. Uh, we're certainly working with our kids on navigating the cell phone policy at all place in

077a mental health and wellness. We do have some kids who are kind of going through some withdrawal on a given day. Uh, we're working with those families, not in a penalizing way, but really trying to educate them. some great resources from the U ofR. Uh we have some um courses that we're actually putting them through on phone addiction, but for the most part it's working really well, but we're trying to use it as a partnership and education tool. Uh regular attendance, I think that's K12, that's another we're not trying to be uh penalizing to the students, but really trying to educate them why attendance at school on a regular basis and being present is so important. Um, we have a lot of activities coming up, too. Class of 2020 reunion. Remember, they had no graduation.

078Uh, no traditional graduation. We're meeting with whomever comes out. Bagel Land donated the bagels. We'll have coffee for them. They're getting together at the high school at 10 o'clock on Saturday. Um, college career night coming up the week after break, two weeks after break. And yes, we are welcoming the class of 2030 to the high school on the 21st of January. 22nd of January. Sorry. >> Any questions? >> Yes, it is. >> No, great job. I question I'm sorry. Questions from the board for Dr. H. >> Well done on the jersey. >> Principal Tappen [laughter] at Principal Tappen. Just a clarifying question. I think at ice cream socials at Council Rock, I've seen big tubs of ice cream, right? >> [laughter] >> That's probably got >> correct. For real. >> Of course. I heard they

079get some ice cream truck. >> He has ice cream and he's wearing a tie. Look at that. >> Oh, yeah. >> You can do both. You can do both. [laughter] >> I can do both. >> Uh, >> we can do hard things. >> You can do hard things. Um, [laughter] >> so, uh, my report is, uh, goes way back because I was sick at our last, uh, at our last board meeting. So, thank you for letting me bring uh some things. So, when you see things, especially people at home, like, wait, why are we still talking about Halloween? Before that, this was this was the presentation. So, uh Halloween at Council Rock, it was not traditional because it rained and poured that day. However, what we saw was we did a parade inside for students

080only and they got to see each other more than we do when we do the outside parade. So at team leaders, we discussed doing both, an indoor parade just for students and then an outdoor parade for families um because we know that that is cherished by our families, but it was really great to see the kids see their friends and be able to see each other's costumes. So um we have been doing I heard some coding over at uh French Road and at the other buildings. Um we did some really great stuff with Katie Fallon, our technology uh instructional leader. Um, and so this was trick-or-treating with uh Halloween, but I walked by today and saw that our second graders who are studying urban, suburban, and rural in their social studies unit were doing some

081work with the BBOT as well, coding. So just integrating um the the technology along with the curriculum that they are currently working on. We had the most amazing vis visit from Sia Farooqi uh an author. She was here for the MCC author festival and we tied into her and got it. It was really great. And I think probably the best part of the day was attending, if you look at that center, we invited some kids who during the pre-lesssons had expressed excitement about making connections with the characters in the books, whether it was culturally, whether it was their families. um and they got to have a special time with her to talk about their traditions, their families, um and some things and and share some ideas with her and she just was blown away um

082by our kids which is always exciting to hear our our kids with their questions, our kids with their preparedness. So, special thanks to everybody who made that happen. PTSA. Um, we got several grants through that and especially Adele Mozkavichas, our librarian, who works so hard to make sure that it ties in so well with uh what the kids are learning and that they are prepared. Miss Farukqi said she's never been to a school that felt so prepared. She said she's walked into other buildings where she didn't even know if they read the books, but our kids knew the books, knew her background, knew a lot of things uh about her. So, it was really, really awesome. >> [clears throat] >> We had a PTSA meeting with the principal in partnership with special education um parents

083as advocates uh Laura Huritz who's also a parent in the district but she is the uh face center school age resource and referral specialist um so she was there able to talk about the role of parents in uh the cse and the roles that they can take how they can be prepared for it who they can bring to support them questions they can ask and I thought it was really a very informative. Um, always not the best attended. Um, but we were able to to tape it and then be able to share it out as a resource for everyone. Um, which is great um to be able to do that. So, I don't know if the video will work, but okay, it will. This is this is a creation by Max Kger. So, on Veterans

084Day, the kids got to vote um for what they wanted uh Mrs. Schaefer and myself to do. So, this was the information about the voting. So, they were voting what we will do at a future. What the hell? [laughter] >> So, I bet you cannot guess what one. Uh, we will be pied in the face. Uh, it will be on our stay in our PJs and read day, which is next Tuesday. The kids were all like, "So, we've been doing assemblies once a month and all through November. Is today the day?" And I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no, not today." So, we've been doing those every Monday. So, that would have meant we needed to do three different times to get pied in the face. We're doing a special assembly where we will get

085to read to our kids instead of being able to go and run around the building all day. And at the end for each grade level, so we will get pied three times. >> Wow, that's >> But it will all be in one day. Um, and we are excited about that, but I think the kids are more excited. So, uh, another tradition uh that our first grade teachers do is uh disguising Thanksgiving's uh turkeys to try to persuade families not to eat them. Um, so you can see we've got an avocado up there. We've got a candy. Um, but my very favorite uh so this is a pig, but my very favorite was Josh Allen. [laughter] Uh, and then if you look down there, I am right there cheering them on and breaking the table. So,

086very creative uh ways to uh to disguise the turkey and persuade people not to eat them. Uh, a tradition before the Thanksgiving break, we did balloons over Broadway, which is from uh a story book that talks about the history of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. So each of our second graders were able to in a variety of different ways create uh some kind of a float of a character that they love and then they paraded around uh the building to some beautiful parade music. So um we had a opportunity for Rochester Museum and Science Center to come to Council Rock for our second graders. Again trying to maximize as much of these experiences. It's pretty expensive to go to the Museum and Science Center. So we brought them to us. Again, this was uh in uh

087very much supported by a couple of grants that the second grade teachers wrote for this. Um but you can just see their faces like of in awe, wonder and awe. Uh for sure. So I'm on the previous blueprint. Uh so I am on the student and family experience, but it really does connect also um with the mental health health and wellness. So, our inclusive language protocol, our December and January faculty meetings will be continuing that to build what that looks like at Council Rock to talk about developmentally appropriate and how we can interrupt and how we can have those uh really great but difficult conversations with our youngest learners. Our school-based opportunity team is really looking at our urban suburban, examining the norms and what we as professionals, what's best practice for us to be

088doing within that as the staff to support, but also talking about our famil family's experiences when they start with us in kindergarten, first or second grade. Um, we're relatively new in the Brighton experience to that. So, I thought it was really important for us to take that on to start to think about that and make sure that we're all on the same page. uh our child study and mental health team are really looking much like the middle school uh French road and the high school at looking at proactive [clears throat] communic communication about uh absenteeism and attendance and really working with the families to try to identify what are the barriers and then as uh Danielle said really looking individually and providing the supports that kids need at that moment or families need at that

089moment. A lot of the times at our level it there are some family uh needs that need to come into play to be able to support the kids to get to school on time and regularly. We also um had TCMS readers come. So this is so old that we had them come and guess what? They're coming back tomorrow. Um so uh it's just the most amazing experience. So not only for our kids but it's like this win-win like all the way around. Our kids get it. We see our TCMS students coming back and gaining confidence and uh reading with our kids. And then in the bottom corner, our teachers just love to see their former students. You know, we end at second grade and sometimes we don't get to see all the progress that kids

090get to make um as they continue to move through. All right, so we've got Steamfest coming up in March. Um and we are really excited about it. we are plugging away um at you know planning for it but we still need volunteers um so if you have [clears throat] any interest um you know I don't know we have a pediatrician in the house we've got we got some things um but if you have or a family member um has [clears throat] anything that you could share in terms of steam and then we're going to be over the next few months asking for volunteers for the day we hope you all would be able to come for the day and spend part of the day with us to see our kids really exploring. Um, that's the

091goal of it. And then we're going to have a whole list of things for donation. One of the coolest when we visited another school and we're going to try to replicate it is the break apart room. So if you've got a VCR or a DVD player or an old computer, kids can just break it apart and see what it looks like. >> When we were visiting Honeyway Falls, the kids were breaking a phone apart, but they had no idea what like it was a rotary telephone. They had no idea what it was, but they sure loved breaking it apart and seeing all the parts and then trying to put it back together. So, um we're really excited about the day. Again, Katie Fallon has taken a major lead on this um to to make this

092happen for our kids. So, upcoming events, we've got Stay in Your PJs and Read Day uh next Tuesday, then holiday recess. Uh we have a PTSA summer activities fair that's in combination with French Roads at French Road cafeteria. And then much like everybody else planning starting to plan for the future, we've got our incoming kindergarten information night on the 15th uh to welcome the next class. >> Which class are they? >> Oh god, I don't know. Uh 2030, no two 2039 maybe. I don't know. You said 2030. 2039 I think. 2039. So yeah, >> almost there. Well, we're we're we're happy you're feeling better and would expect >> the next principal report we would see film footage of pies flying and whatever. >> I'm sure that there will be some some video footage of that.

093I I'm not sure. So, >> questions from the board for principal tapping. >> It's not too late to submit a proposal for the March 13th date. >> Oh, it is not. I got you. >> Okay. And and if you if you don't even want to write the paperwork out, you can even just call me and talk to me about it. so that we can skip that step. Uh really the only reason we wanted the proposal was to make sure people really understood because we're not looking for a like lecture style. We're really looking for kids to be making interactive and kids are going to come and go throughout. So we don't want to have something where someone's planned like a 40 minutes. We want it to be something they can come in maybe get like

094five or 10 minutes and maybe some individual talk but then as they complete something be able to move on to to the next activity. So >> nothing's going to come from this collaboration, >> I don't think. Thank you very much. >> All right. Next up, we have our report section. First, as always, we do need to approve the financial summary and the treasures report. Thank you, Lou and Dalia and team for doing that. You've had a chance to review the financial report and the treasures report. Any questions? >> Motion to approve to approve the financial report submitted tonight. >> So moved. Moved by Karen. >> Seconded by Sue. All those in favor? >> And I want to thank Samantha for being so patient and getting through some of that stuff. I felt like a little

095bit you got trash talk talked by Dr. Hall, but we got your back up here. Okay. So, we do want you to go ahead and uh hear. >> Don't listen to the guy without a tie on. >> Yeah. He's not wearing a tie. There's nothing I should [laughter] I shouldn't say anything. Clayton's got a tie, so I don't go. >> Samantha's class had like 10 pieces of food in the food fight, though, right? Not like two pieces. We had >> I don't know. >> You were up there. You weren't the last. You weren't last. >> I have the numbers from this week, but not last week. >> Okay, there you go. >> At least 60. >> Okay. >> 60. >> Perfect. >> I'm sorry. We're interested in hearing from the student. Thank you. >> Samantha,

096you're up. >> Um, we had our exec council had our food fight. Um, and the winning class for each week gets money towards their class fund for their prom and ball. And last week, sophomores won with 99 items, juniors with 91, freshman with 70, and seniors with 62. >> BHS math team came in sixth in our division at their November math meet. All band groups had their first concert on December 9th, and all orchestra groups had their first concert on December 11th. The football team made it to states finals on December 5th, getting second, and Boys cross country finished sixth overall at states. Upcoming BHS a capella groups will have their aapalooa on January 9th. And January 10th and 11th is senior high solo festival for band students. >> Always a lot going on. All

097going well with finals. >> Yeah. >> Good. Thank you very much. Now, um, Board of Education, we'll go through our first Monroe County School Board Association reports. I know we were running long in a couple of past meetings and didn't do any updates. I'll just quickly say our last district ops meeting was back on November 19th. I forget what the subject was. That's how long ago it was. >> We talked about the committee on preschool special education. We had her name was Katie. >> Yeah, she was excellent. >> She was excellent. presenter was a a local attorney who specializes in special education. >> Yeah, >> I'm sorry I don't have more. I did bring the paperwork. It was a good update. Um grateful for that. Anything from in We don't meet again until January. There's

098no meeting in December. Um anybody for information exchange? >> No. >> Okay, perfect. I'm not surprising. Legislative. >> Sorry. Um >> don't be sorry. There's a lot there. The one update [clears throat] I'm going to focus on is that um we have a special relationship with Joe Morelli given his long-standing work um in the New York State Assembly and now as our congressional representative and th this was a hugely big deal for us, a big win. He [clears throat] arranged for Monro County School Board Association legislative committee leaders and some of our executive committee members to meet with Blake Washington who is the New York State budget director. um we've never been able to get a meeting at the state level with an office that is quite so important in the the budgetary realm. Um

099so it was a fantastic introduction. We had a Zoom meeting. We're hoping to be able to meet with someone in their office um in March when we do our visit to Albany. um he didn't have a lot of very specific information for us, but developing the relationship right now is is what's most important to us. Um Mike Vespie, who is the um the budget official in Pittsburgh, led the meeting for us. Um it was great to have his expertise on board. Um so I'm I'm really looking forward to navigating and exploring how we can advocate for Monroe County Schools with that kind of connection. It was a good opportunity. Thank you for your work there. Um, Bowie's report, um, I don't have Mark's update. I promise I'll give it next time. Just continue to be

100grateful for Mark Kanovich's work representing our community at Bosey's. Saw Dr. Hall and Dr. Rio out there and the EMCC and some of the benefits we get there. So, grateful for that. Other board member reports. Clayton, I'll start down with you if there's anything. I know we're at a slower time right now, but Clayton, anything else? I don't have anything to report this car. >> Um I attended curriculum council on 124 and something different. We had two different um groups of teachers from the high school proposed different courses for this upcoming year which was really cool. I'd never been part of that before. Um Sam Rizzo presented on an AP business with personal finance. Um and then there was another course that was uh presented by Micah Hearn and John Clement on modern US military

101history um World War I through present. So it was great to hear their pitches for those two particular new courses. Um and then we dove into the different strands when it comes to um technology and I didn't write any notes on that and I cannot recall. I thought I would remember and I can't. It was a lot of great Allison could probably help me out with it, but we looked at different strands to identify what we thought would be the most important to start focusing on at different bands of, you know, K through two, three through five. Um, and I remember the resounding uh idea was that we need to really focus on digital citizenship amongst our students. I think I got it. Note to self, write notes the next. So, that's it. Oh, and

102I've been to a ton of concerts in this last couple of weeks. And I just again, I always need to say this to our our team of technology people and our music and our all the people that put so much effort into putting these concerts together and our students. They're incredibly talented and just amazing to see. So, always love the season. >> I'll I'll quickly acknowledge all of you with kids in various arts and athletic activities. Sometimes on a given night we have a board meeting have having to balance that with getting to a kids event and I know from our perspective we always encourage you to go to your students event first and that we got your back. So thank you for running all those balances and for that feedback. >> Thank you for

103your understanding. >> Mrs. Fezywig [laughter] >> no nothing to report because of that. So apologies. Apologies. >> I'm hearing great things. Thank you. >> Thank you. Nothing to report. Um I have two updates. Um I received the minutes from both of these meetings as I was unable to attend in person. Um on 129 the mental health program evaluation meeting was held where um the team reviewed survey data that all the mental health team members had the opportunity to take and reviewed data from the student focus groups that each of the buildings had conducted over the u preceding few weeks. Um secondly, on 1211, um an in-person meeting of the district-wide safety committee meeting was held um where they received construction updates. Campus construction reviewed safety plans and precautions being taken in response to upcoming construction

104at each of the four schools. Um an update on reunification. Terresa Moer reviewed maps, roles, and responsibilities for execution of the district's reunification plan developed after the district's participation in the I Love You guys Foundation training. There was an update on the TCMS traffic pattern. Um, at the meeting, the district provided an update on the barriers to implementing new traffic patterns for TCMS drop off. Um, we will be engaging a site engineer to explore reversing traffic from central office and fully utilizing the bus loop on the Monroe A entrance and site improvements are required to exit on Monroe A from the TCMS lot. Terresa Mosher went on to provide updates on the new process of reporting safety and security concerns and she refu uh reviewed the format of the log and data elements that will

105be reviewed on a regular basis. And lastly, um Terresa Moer um and our committee's leader, Lua Limo, reviewed the safety security benchmark data um from September through November. So, it was a productive and busy inerson meeting here at district office. >> I uh I applaud everyone who tries to figure out how to address that pickup on Monroe Avenue at the middle school. >> Yes. >> And um just all I can say to all of you is just keep trying. I believe there is an answer out there. Site engineer certainly helps >> people who are trained in this sort of thing. Absolutely. Great. Thank you, Dr. Lee. >> I have nothing to report. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. And I'll pass as well. Um talked plenty about construction. Um BTA Kristen, how are you tonight?

106>> Good. Good. Um I'll start off with Council Rock. Um at the first grade level, uh the school counselor, Mrs. Read is working on SEAL lessons and um she did a gratitude project and each child wrote what they were thankful for at Council Rock and they created a tree on display in the lobby with more than 700 leaves. Um second grade English is a new language program. Mr. Northrup students had a purposeful play project where they had to plan, budget and then shop for Thanksgiving dinner. And they used habits of mind while doing this. Um, striving for accuracy while planning, sticking to a budget, finding humor while shopping around the classroom and using play money, and then thinking about their thinking while reflecting after the experience. Um, at French Road, students in teacher Ma's fifth

107grade class um were able to use the micro:bits to do some block coding. Um they had borrowed the tech from Bosey's multimedia lending library um which will be at the middle school tomorrow actually for uh teachers to check out so that we can spread this over to the middle school. Um Katie Fallon has been in charge of spreading the technology through the district. Um and the kids loved it and so did the teacher and you'll see later in the report she's used it in lots of different ways in her classroom. Um Mrs. Covert's extended studies classes created personal culture collages to highlight traditions and values and experiences that they've had that shape who they are. Um there was a faculty sponsored food drive. Um Robin Leenby and Pave Kohi Winkle organized the staff food drive

108and donations were given to Brighton Food Cupboard. Um, so back in teacher Maza's fifth grade social studies class, they had some special visitors. Three parents who work locally in government, um, a couple of judges and, um, court attorneys as part of their unit on the US government. So they talked about what their jobs look like. Um, and so the kids got to see what they were learning and in real life action um, with their visitors. Um, French Road is um, also going through the concert season. Red Band, chamber orchestra, and regular orchestra played December will play this December 18th. Um, and the ensembles will also play an assembly for F students, staff, and faculty at school that day. In art class, um, each grade is busy with their own creative project. Third grade is working

109on collage landscapes. Um, fourth grade is doing coil in clay and fifth grade is finishing their Zenangle logo posters using the letters of their names to create bold abstract design. So, the slide asks you if you can find the artist name hidden in that piece of artwork. Um TCMS likes to sponsor a two sentence horror story. So students and staff can submit um their story and then they are anonymously voted on. So I've shared the three student um two sentence stories. It's pretty amazing what they can do in two sentences. And then I also have the um staff two sentence stories and the winners. Um as Danielle had shared, I was named middle school ESL teacher of the year for New York State. So [applause] that's been fun to get messages from past students and

110families. Um TCMS is busy with CrossFit in PE. Um working on rope hangs and pull-ups and push-ups and core strength, sled pulls, gymnastics, and power clean. Um music department's been super busy. They did a great event down um at the bubble entrance um for general music and the kids brought their drums [clears throat] and they performed out in the bubble area so that you could stop in to um see what they were doing um and then they were given a critique of their work. Um, we also had Mary Poppins the musical uh with 65 students involved in that and they used the stage at Brighton High School. Um, and the TCMS choruses have been working on their winter concert with the theme being celebrate the glow of this season and they've had uh some guest

111accompaniment um with Laura Duban and her husband Antonio Garrow and they were hoping that would be a great concert. Uh TCMS Julie Whipple in sixth grade science has hosted a couple of visitors. Uh father of one of her sixth graders, Dr. Michael Chen, um came in to talk to the kid about being a social scientists uh and to talk about experimental design. And the kids did um an experiment with him. And the Shin Shenim also came in um during the metabolism unit and they learned about different foods in Israel and the nutrition um and nutrients that are in those foods. um through the Aspire program at the middle school and the high school, the kids were able to attend a performance of Hamilton and the TCMS ENL department hosted families for our ENL Thanksgiving and

112we had our Fulbrights join from the Warner School. We had um family staff come with their kids. Um and this is all made possible through a donation from Wegman's to help purchase the food. Um, at Brighton High School, the kids were learning how to stretch their own canvases in advanced drawing and painting. Um, and [snorts] they're gonna then use those canvases uh in in a further painting project that they'll be working on. Counseling department hosted the program planning family night for 9th graders and new families. Um, this was the third out of six nights that they do. Um and the next one will be financial aid workshops for 12th grade families. Uh that just happened December 4th. Um high school science teachers were able to attend the San Science Teachers Association of New York State

113conference in Syracuse. Um in our Bridges Math program, uh students from different language backgrounds have to use [snorts] English to talk about their learning um and work together. and it's been great to see their progress. Also, kudos to Jamie Pora who was named the 2025 high school chemistry teacher of the year um in Rochester, nominated by student Maria Shell Shaliva um who had attended some of the club's meetings in the past um and had conversation with club members and then went on to nominate uh Mr. Ford. [clears throat] Um, and the German students had a chance to learn about um, from the Swiss intern, the language intern, uh, Willilhelm Tell, I never realized he was Swiss um, and the founding of Switzerland. Uh, so they really liked learning about the different December traditions in Switzerland.

114And the, um, AP literature students, sorry, this one's a little bit small, but um, you can, they were, you're invited to come in. They're going to be defending some papers. So there is a clickable link on this slide um for the presentations that they are wrapping up for their longest unit. They were working on a synthesis paper that explored essential truth that has emerged from their study of 12 different texts that were written by authors of color. Uh and they would be participating in a verbal defense of that final paper. um also at BHS Aspire has done some other work at the high school around Hamilton and they did a community building activity around titled who is the bullet and they had to they were challenged to guess which staff member did it based on

115their mug shots. Um, and then they have also done a couple of community service projects, writing letters to military service members who are deployed overseas through the holidays and then painting ornaments that will be donated to the NICU. Um, they thought they would their goal was 70 ornaments and they exceeded that in the first week. [clears throat] So, they're going to continue painting for that. >> And that's the report. >> Thank you very much and congratulations again. Thank you. [clears throat] public. >> Um, Dr. Castillo was not available tonight, so we will not have a report from the PTSA. Dr. McGawan, anything you would like to report on? >> I do have a couple of things. Uh, one, I just would like to on behalf of all of us wish our community members celebrating and

116staff members celebrating a very happy Hanukkah. Um, as they are enjoying this holiday ongoing right now. I believe today is day three >> and hope it's been wonderful for everybody. I I just keep reflecting on our kids uh from tonight and how incredible they were. Their teacher Mike Wayne, the program supported by Diana and Caitlyn of course as well. But um again to Andrew, Sean and Aiden, it was pretty awesome. I hope we can go visit them. I think that would be a really great experience. I talked to them in the hallway. They're very excited about that idea. They were also very grateful and expressive >> about the opportunity to be here tonight and wanted me to thank you for that also. They could not have been happier with their presentation. So, it was a

117great job. >> Oh, they were really amazing. And I want to echo uh Carrie Lynn's comments about concerts and all the things happening now. Kids are just doing great and it's fun to watch and be a part of. Uh at the same time, there's the transition, seasonal transition to new teams and kids uh practicing and starting to compete on new teams. It's, you know, always fun at this time of year as they're starting out now that next set like the second third of the year is fun to watch kids have all these great opportunities. So, um, it's pretty wonderful. On a on a more somber note, I do want to pause and ask us all to pause and think about Adah Ramos, uh, teacher aid at Council Rock, who just recently passed away. I want

118to thank Matt for his support of his faculty and staff and her family, most recently just a few hours ago at the services uh, right before coming here and uh, taking care as a pastoral leader of his people in that building. uh but again demonstrating what it is to be a a person for others in this district. So thank you Matt but really focus on Ada her contributions to kids the light that she was uh to everybody at Council Rock and in her family. If we could just pause for a moment in memory of Ada as well. Thank you very much and a very happy holiday uh to families who will be celebrating uh Christmas and a happy new year to everyone as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. Next up we have approval of

119second read policies. Uh I'll read each of them and then ask if you have any questions added or changes. Policy 3421 regarding Title 9 and sex discrimination. Policy 7350 timeout and physical restraints. Policy 7530, child abuse and malreatment. Some pretty heavy stuff. Um, a lot of these are updates associated with the law and New York state regulations. Are there any questions uh or comments or edits for Dr. McGowan regarding these three second read policies? Motion to approve the three second read policies. >> So moved. >> Moved by Susan. >> Seconded by Karen. All those in favor? Next up, we have a bid for uh food service, equipment repair, maintenance, installation service, cooperative bid. I skipped over the word cooperative. Obviously worked through posties and some of our partners to keep our prices as low as

120possible. Questions regarding this bid. Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Moved by Carrie Lynn. >> Seconded by Clayton. All those in favor? On the consent consent agenda, we have personnel changes, recommendations from the committee on special education and pre preschool special education. My mouth is failing me. I apologize. >> You're okay. >> Couple of field trip approvals in January for the New York State TEA student conference and the NISMA Allstate Performing Conference which is in Rochester uh two weeks ago. Um and then also I'm going to ask for a reading of the gifts. I think Carrie Lynn, you've got the first one. >> Yep. A gift from the Brighton Education Fund in the amount of $300 to Andrea Yammen for a project for Steamfest in March. Thank you, >> Clayton. I think you've got

121number two. >> The second one is a gift from the Brighton Education Fund in the amount of $880 uh to Zachary Cotch to bring in scientific experts from the Museum and Science Center here in Rochester to present demonstrations on solids, liquids, and gases for the entire second grade. >> Thank you, Dr. A gift from the Brighton Education Fund in the amount of $1600 to TCMS counselor Mrs. Peters for snacks for students participating in her mentoring program that connects high school students with middle school students to help the younger students develop better communication skills and learning strategies to improve their grades. >> As always, we appreciate all the gifts we get from a very generous community. With all of that noted, motion, sorry, any questions or comments with regards to the consent agenda? Motion to approve.

122>> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Seconded by Clayton. All those in favor? >> I. >> Two quick notes before I ask for a motion to adjourn. First, Mike and Bill were working without the supervision of the student rep tonight. They worked all by themselves. Let's hear it for them. Dollar Bill. Mike. Thanks very much. Also, our next meeting will be January 13th. So, it will be in the new year in right here in this boardroom at 7:00 on January 13th. At the end of January, we'll complete our school tour and be at TCMS for that meeting. >> Okay. >> Uh, with that noted, anything else for the good of the order? Motion to adjurnn. >> So, moved. >> Moved by Carrie Lyn. >> Seconded by Esther. All those in favor? >> I. >>

123We are adjourned. This has been a special presentation from the Brighton Central School District Board of Education.