Board of Education Meeting December 2, 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 meeting for Tuesday, December 2nd. This meeting is called to order. To begin with, we'll ask Dr. McGawan to do our Bright and Believer Awards. >> Thank you very much. Uh very excited to have uh so many people here to recognize some wonderful people in our community. The Bright Believes Council selects nominees to receive a Brighton Believers Award for demonstrating the Brighton Believes character traits of integrity, respect, responsibility, kindness, and self-control. The award winners are students, teachers, staff members, parents, coaches, and community members. The nomination form is available on the website bcsd.org/believers. We encourage people to nominate uh wonderful humans like those that are being recognized tonight. I'd like

002to ask uh first that uh Elelliana Celino and Iona Jamanis uh come on up please with Dr. Hall to be recognized. in front of here. Come on over here. Right in front. Sorry, >> we just asked if their speech was all ready to go, but we saved time for Mrs. Hulith instead, so we won't do that. Very uh excited to recognize Ellie and Iona, students at Brighton High School, nominated by assistant principal Mark Lincoln and principal Dr. Tom Hall in June. and they wrote, "This past spring, Elelliana and Ionis collaborated with teacher candidates at Nazareth University to research and present at the launching youth leaders in action conference. Iona explored the complexities of youth criminality and delivered a powerful solution focused presentation to an audience that included members of the BHS administrative staff. Aliana also

003made a strong impact through her thoughtful participation, demonstrating both insight and commitment to creating meaningful change. Their contributions together at the conference reflect not only their outstanding communication and leadership skills, but also their dedication to making BHS a more more empathetic and inclusive community. For this and so many reasons of them being wonderful people in Brighton believers, we congratulate them and award them this evening. Thank you. Rosemary Holith, could you come on up along with Miss Coggins? Ann Pavet Coley Winkle Black if you could also come up too. One of the nominators and her family. Anybody from your family? Yep. Come on up. Wonderful. The more the marrier. We have big stage to fill. So feel free, please. and Mr. All right. Rosemary Holith, a French Road Elementary School teacher, was nominated by Fres teacher

004and parent Kohley Winkled Black and her family in June. She wrote, "It is hard to capture in words how much this human being means to me and my family. My family would like to nominate Rosemary Holith for the Brighton Believers Award because she changes the lives of so many families, ours included. And I'll also add to that and ours included. We're a three-time Rosemary Holith uh graduate family. One of the things Mrs. Holith often says is, "I am so glad you decided to come to school today. What would we have done without you?" And I've thought about this statement many times, how these two sentences can shift a person's entire being. It lets kids know that they are seen, valued, and most importantly wanted. I'm not sure there's a more powerful teaching method than loving

005students so deeply that they want to learn from you. Sense of belonging and community are not the only things you'll find in her classroom, though. Mrs. Hulith also teaches what my family calls third grade 101. Because Mrs. Holith isn't just teaching students curriculum, she's teaching a college level course that prepares them for life. She volunteered to be my daughter's running buddy for Girls on the Run. While running the race, Mrs. This whole taught my daughter how to get through the hard parts of the race while also also teaching her mathematics of running a 5K. Fun fact, did you know that she runs marathons? And of course, she runs them amazingly well. She is Mrs. Hulith after all. I have so many Mrs. Hulith stories, but I'll share just one more. My daughter did something impressive,

006and I asked her where she had learned that. I fully expected her to say that she had learned it from me, but instead she said, "Mrs. 12 fifth. I I'm sorry. And of course, uh, this happened several more times as third grade continued. So, I simply began asking, "Did Mrs. Hlith teach you that?" And of course, she always had. Every time I asked that question, I was grateful. What would my daughter have done without her? Mrs. Holith's teaching and sage wisdom had such a profound infect to asking each other, "What would Mrs. Holith say even when we were in a pickle?" Mrs. Holith has that effect on you. She has a way of making you believe that you have it in you to do the hard things. Mrs. Holith changed my daughter's life. When I

007look at my daughter thriving in fourth grade, I think of the amazing person who helped get her there. Thank you, Mrs. Hulith. I always wanted my daughter to be this version of herself in school, and you made that a reality. CONGRATULATIONS, RIGHT. Thank you. Emma Mandia, please. A high school student, BHS student nominated by fellow studenta Chazoom Bon Pan. Could you both come up please? Bon Pan. Thank you along with Dr. Hall. Now, I should also point out that uh not only was Emma nominated by Weiata, but weaata was also uh nominated by Emma. So, both of them are being nominated tonight. So, I'm glad they could both be up here. Uh first, Emma, a BHS student was nominated again by fellow student. She wrote, "Emma exemplifies the bright and believes traits through her outstanding

008dedication to service, leadership, and character." As an active and committed member of Key Club, she has consistently participated in meaningful service events like the backpack school drive, the ice cream social, bright and kuanas kids zone, and making cards for fellow Brightonians. The contributions go beyond participation. Emma brings positive energy and initiative to every event, making a lasting impact to those around her. Her commitment to leadership is also seen in her attendance at the leadership training conference for three years during which she has shown growth and confidence. Through teen institute, Emma has embraced opportunities to show responsibility, empathy, and team building. As a close friend of hers, I personally witnessed Emma embody the values of integrity, respect, self-control, and kindness. She is someone who uplifts others with her encouragement and humor, creating a positive environment wherever

009she goes. In her job at the YMCA, she continues to model the brain believes qualities to children and families, serving as a role model through her patience and dedication. Despite her busy schedule, working every day after school, Emma manages her time responsibly, prioritizing her academics while remaining dependable and a good leader. Emma is filled with kindness and compassion. I believe she's very a very deserving recipient of the award. Weata, a BHS student also was nominated by Emma. As I said, she wrote that she has demonstrated many Brighton believes qualities throughout her career, not only in high school, but even dating back to the fifth grade. She has participated in different service clubs such as her position as New York District Lieutenant Governor of Key Club. and Key Club. She has shown leadership like no other,

010always communicating with other district members and board members with her weekly newsletters and frequent Zoom calls. Additionally, she participates in Friends of Rachel, is the vice president of friend and me, and is also a member of Teen Institute, a club made to build and promote leadership amongst its members. Weata attends events to give back to the community such as backpacking, stroll for kids, volunteering at the Jewish home and cleaning our parks. She also helps our schools by participating in ice cream socials at Council Rock, Thanksgiving baskets, and donating clothes. She has also shown to be a reliable student who always asks insightful questions and includes everyone into conversations, making sure no one ever feels left out or out of place. She's a reliable friend to her peers, always granting a listening ear and a shoulder

011to cry on. Furthermore, she has demonstrated her helpfulness in her family. She helps her family whenever needed at her family restaurant. Even with her many APS, family responsibilities, and club activities, she is also able to play varsity tennis. These are just some of the many reasons I believe that we ought to demonstrates the key values here at BHS. Congratulations to both OF YOU. WHAT great people and we really appreciate the opportunity to recognize them. Great job to all of you. thanks for making us far better because of your work. I do have uh two other people to recognize. I'm sorry, three other people to recognize uh as part of a the next piece on the agenda, the bright the um headlines and heroes awards. And this is a little bit of a different twist. They're

012not the uh Brighton believers awards, but just recognitions when we become aware of great things that happen in the district and the types of wonderful work that is being done by uh staff members. We'd like to point that out. Jamie Porter uh our high school chemistry teacher was recognized by the Rochester section of the American Chemical Society. They recognized Jamie as its high school chemistry teacher of the year in October. The award recognizes local chemistry teachers for their dedication to students and colleagues of professional the professional development in their field memberships in scientific or teaching organizations and leadership. Mr. reporter was recommended for the award by BH student Maria Shalima. Alpa Kandar. Uh the Brighton Town Board recognized BHS chemistry teacher Alpa Kandar in October for embracing her students and South Asian culture by serving

013as the adviser to the Bollywood dance club and the South Asian student society which raised money this year to cater an afterchool Dvali party and organized Dvali themed art displays that were stationed throughout the school. The town thanked Ela for her devotion to educating others and encouraging all Brighonians to learn more about the festival of Dvali so we may all embrace the uniting concept of the triumph of good over evil. And finally, Derek Beiel received the honor of achieving the amazing person award for technology from the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. The award recogniz recognizes members who make exceptional contributions to the profession within their section. Derek was nominated for the presentations he shared his work teaching technology in uh physical education at Sunni Brackport and the resources he

014created and shared on social media and websites like cbhp.org for PHP PE teachers worldwide. He presented three sessions at the conference all aboard the tech express magnificent middle school PE and all the small things practical intentional planning ideas for creating a positive class culture. So, thank you for the opportunity for us to point out the great work of those three individuals representative of our outstanding staff here in the community. >> Great news and glad to hear they're on our staff. We can give them a round of applause even though they're not here. >> Uh, next up, I know we have a number of people here who want to provide feedback on the upcoming turf project. Dr. McGowan as agenda item four will do an update on that project and respond to a number of the

015community questions we have received. After that we will have public participation. Dr. >> Thanks very much. I appreciate that. Just want to give people a second who are not uh compelled to listen to this fascinating information to uh to exit. I know that some folks are looking to head home before school and uh commitments tonight too. All right. Well, thank you for the opportunity to uh clarify some information and provide uh some additional answers to questions that have come up in the community. Sort of a frequently asked questions uh summary and uh make sure that we really have the right information in people's hands regarding uh the project that is uh underway. Uh first of all, it's important to point out the timeline and important uh process steps uh for this project to kind of

016go back and help people understand where this came from, how things started, and make sure that we're really uh clear in that. In terms of projects of of this nature, any of our capital projects, uh they begin by being developed internally as a response to needs that are articulated through the strategic planning process, uh through our interactions in the community, through what we see as uh needs assessments in the district. And when we essentially are assessing what our duty is to provide adequate facilities uh for our students and for our staff and then those projects once they become a little bit more further internally developed and we start to engage the board in this conversation about what should we be doing again for the facilities uh we dig further into this concept with the OACM

017team. So the owner architect construction uh management team. A couple of the benchmarks in this particular project that are important to consider as a framework is also the sale of the Brookside property and the purchase of the church property right next door uh to us. And the Brookside sale was really because we were presented with an opportunity by a buyer, the eventual buyer of the Telmudic Institute, uh to sell that property, a property that we really didn't have use for and was a long-term significant liability for the district. So, we're able to convert that asset actually into a significant resource to go into our capital reserve and contemplate additional projects uh of this nature and the several other projects that are happening. We then were able to purchase property next door when approached uh by

018the church next door uh asking if we'd be interested as they sought to divide their lot in some different ways and take advantage again of the asset that they had. And that presented us with uh you know several opportunities to reconsider the safety of our current exit and entrance from the driveway. True that up with Newton in fact, but then really to think about redeveloping that field space that for school purpose is really underutilized and difficult for us to use given the weather and the current quality of the of the asset. Right? The fields are not in great shape for competition the way we would like to. um that has also resulted in us having to play uh varsity baseball games at um Buckland. You know, it it's a home game that tends to be

019away. It is also just not the best scenario for us. So, those fields certainly have been problematic and although used as practice fields are not in the condition that we would hope for for uh full use and implementation and weather plays into that as well. Um so then in terms of some of the benchmarks uh for this we had a board meeting on December 12th held here actually at the high school uh where the project was presented and then approval of the seeker resolution adopting negative declaration for phase two for the project uh was that night that specifically deals again with uh this particular issue and I've highlighted I won't read all of these things at you but the definition of uh seeker but that's essentially the state environmental quality review which is a rigorous

020standard for us to be reviewing environmental impact um and ensuring that we're we are um respectful of and protecting the health and safety uh of the environment and the people that will be using those uh spaces essentially requiring us to assess environmental significance of all actions uh that you have the power to approve, fund or uh directly assume. So the resolution to authorize the capital project then happened on February 7th, 2024. So in other words, the board has to first accept the seeker, make that determination, and then move on to um authorize us to have a vote, and then the community gets to decide from there. And what we're presenting to you at that point and to the community is the concept, right? Essentially the promise that these are the things we would like to

021do. This is the essential concept and this is what the cost will be to the community and the expenditure that we're asking to be able to spend. More detail again on the state um environmental quality review. Important to point out that we completed all three parts of the full environmental assessment form and all three were subject to attorney and state education department review which is an important concept in all this. Also the seeker review for all the site improvements focused on circulation ADA compliance athletic field upgrades including the new synthetic turf fields storm water management and parking traffic enhancements. again all uh then uh presented uh to you and approved at that point the additional meetings and communication beyond that that happened community forum public hearing on January 31st uh so following that held in

022the boardroom architects engineers construction managers were in attendance to answer people's questions we had a board set up with images of the concept of the project and answer people's questions on that night and had a board meeting on February 6th uh where we included included the project in the blueprint presentations and a reminder of course from President Larry Davis uh about the vote signage uh banners about the vote date 12 corners and in front of schools. Uh we also had a United States Postal Service mailing mailed the postcard to all residents prompting the community forum and vote also with a QR code to go to the website for additional information uh that was posted there. We had a variety of social media and other messages that were put out put out as well. uh the

023first post announcing the project on December 22nd shared the website a post that promoted presentation the presentation on the 8th and the fact sheet and then a series of posts uh with additional information January 29th 30th 31st February 1st 2nd 5th 6th and 7th so a lot of information put out there for people to uh take a look at and and have questions answered gather additional information uh we have dedicated website of course with information on the project also variety of parent square announcements. Uh December 22nd, January 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th, also February 2nd, absentee ballot information was also shared and dedicated posts reminding people of the January 9th presentation sent before that, the community forum sent uh prior to that and absentee ballots uh reminding people a couple of different times and then vote

024reminders uh sent on February 7th as well. The other additional pieces were the board of education meeting that was held on January 9th at the middle school presentation on the project introduced the fact sheet and another reminder about both the vote and the community forum and then a meeting on the 23rd included in the budget presentation. U we approved election inspectors for the project and again a reminder for Mr. Davis to to vote. So the vote then was held on the 7th um and the proposition was approved 703 to 102. So 805 voters in the community participated, 87.3% voted yes in favor of the project. The designs themsel are important to point out, right? And the process for that, um, I'll get into some more detail about this, but you go from concept then to

025actual designs. The project can't be designed with the designs that are submitted to the state ed department until the voters approve the concept of the project and the financing for the project. So once that happens then the architect is authorized to begin the process of designing the project um in in earnest and that then resulted in these uh specific designs. So again the initial drawings and designs are the concept what we intend uh to do and accomplish in the project. Just a sidebyside comparison of the schematics. So the the conceptual framework at the beginning and the direction of the fields which is different from where we landed at the uh end of the project or the end of the design I should point out. Um and exactly how that was laid out. a lot of

026consideration in terms of how that gets laid out because once the design process starts remember that it includes a significant amount of work to look at utilities st storm water mitigation weather playability direction of the sun um again a wide variety of factors are considered a very complicated in-depth process of of designing this and very importantly submitting it then to the state ed department which is a a high bar for projects to be approved questions are asked throughout that process. Uh sometimes changes are required by the state education department, but it goes through a full architectural review by the state education department before the project um can proceed. We have had an additional design submitted by a community member um with you know some some different questions about where things could move and and some

027of it would not meet uh the the objectives. Right. The current design does optimize the usage opportunity. In other words, the on the far right of your screen, you'll notice the the modified uh baseball field. We would lose that if we were to move the fields in different directions. We would lose parking. That was part of the design of this project as well. uh by moving that we also would potentially lose the full size by modifying the size of these fields the full size aspect of each of the fields which allows it to be fully compatible with competition sectional play etc. So really the maximum use uh for that space really requires this type of design along with the required storm water uh mitigation. So uh those were the really um key aspects uh that

028were um part of this I again I think there might be a little bit of a misunderstanding in the process. So I want to make sure I'm really clear on that. Also, they're developed conceptually and the community is voting on that concept, right? The concept of uh turf fields, the concept of having a baseball and softball field, those were important parts of it. Uh we we presented on the idea that they would be multi-use fields, right? So the overlay of lacrosse, football, soccer uh fields as well. Those were all important concepts uh to this. And the final design reflects then the concept that are voted on by the community. So the design phase happens again only after the vote. So the community has to to approve the concept then we design submit to the state

029ad department. State ad department then issues their approval. Once their approval happens then bids are put out to say to the world of contractors here's the work. What's the lowest responsible bid to get that work done? those bids are reviewed and then contracts are developed to award the bids to the lowest responsible biders uh that can meet the needs of the project. So the SED approval triggers uh the ability to bid. The bids then trigger the ability for contracts uh to be approved and awarded. Financing is being arranged then on a parallel track at the same time. Another important uh part of the project and then com uh construction commences. So in other words, this is a very long, thoughtful, detailed process that we are uh very far down the road of and already uh

030past the point essentially of changing. The project is as the community voted uh for it. the community. Again, 87% of the people who voted authorize that and we have a responsibility to continue to move ahead and there are significant um problems if there were to be any changes in that very very costly problems along the way. This is an example of the uh alternative design that has been suggested uh by a community member. And I think there's a couple of things uh again to to point out. it would not allow the modified baseball field uh to remain and uh the setbacks are not necessarily physically achievable. Again, we'd also lose some of the parking. Emergency access is another issue. Remember our designs also want to point out um the way this is designed. It's also

031to maximize the efficiency of the use of utilities of potential uh stand areas in the future, pressbox area or recre or um concession areas uh that could be added later on that can be shared between uh those two fields which is not necessarily something achievable in the same way with this particular uh layout. Uh so it would pinch down the space between uh those including again future toilet rooms, concessions uh as I mentioned and uh press box area and then the competition field in the north south direction is not ideal for those particular sports either. So uh some of the that design aspect would be problematic if modified right which is frankly not an option but if modified I would like it to be clear uh what that would mean the layout that's accounted for

032the field side by side allows for the ashvault and concrete walks again in between to be shared bleachers came scoreboard speakers to be utilized by both fields right so it's again maximum efficiency uh re-engineering of the site to accommodate potential new layout even if it was possible would be a significant significant significant cost to the project. Re-engineering is not a simple project. It's not just turning things around. It's re-engineering every aspect of how the fields have been designed. Again, utilities, storm water mitigation, everything that goes into this uh significant change in cost. The design pathways for the electrical con conduit uh that are needed to run underneath the turf uh would have to be redesigned if the fields are no longer sidebyside. More conduit, more wire, more expense to accom accomplish the needed electrical work

033as well. And any potential for future field lighting, which would have to be approved and is not currently part of this project, uh would uh certainly be problematic as well. And the locations would have to be again re-engineered. the cost of the additional work would be uh borne by the district at this point. So again significant impacts site contracted site contract has already been awarded to the lowest responsible bidder defy construction and any modifications significant cost and potential litigation. uh probably guaranteed litigation. Frankly, it would impact our ability to use the new fields for the spring 27 season, continuing to landlock our kids and our opportunities that uh kids have right now, which are limited by our lack of uh usable field space during particular seasons. If we were to shift the fields, it would

034make the existing modified baseball field also no longer available for use. we'd be down then in that space to one baseball field which would really kind of fly in the face of what we were trying to do. It would decrease the number of fields. We at least currently have two not great fields. Uh so that would really not help us at all. And the current layout allows again for future design and installation of the press box area that could accommodate uh both fields which uh a change in that would of course be problematic. So it really again it isn't possible at this point to change uh with without not being responsible to those that approved it. Number one, uh but responsible to taxpayer funds that have approved this project under this concept and it would

035cost a significant amount to make any changes and the changes would be problematic and not follow through on what our commitment to the community is and follow through on our responsibility. Another concern that has come up are PFAS. Uh we have you know researched this extensively and our suppliers for the rubber infill like so there's the three pieces of this rubber infill the underllayment pad and the the synthetic turf itself all have responded to concerns and state that the PFAS are not manufactured with or included in their uh product specifically uh in a letter from a turf the the bidder for uh this for the turf itself testing of products and raw materials has not indicated any pops or PFAS in any levels that exceed the limits defined find for unintentional trace contamination. And so

036I say that because the reality is in terms of what we are exposed to as human beings all around us all of the time. We know that there are trace amounts of everything, right? Water, for example, we learned this several years ago when we worked through lead contamination and water. What is the acceptable level? We'd like to think that there should be no lead in water anywhere. Well, that that's not feasible in the world. there is a level that is an acceptable amount, right? And it's a parts per million. It's very very low and it's a very common um issue. So, anything that is free of in our world is not entirely free of it. The point is these products, the underllayment pad, the turf, and the infill all do not get manufactured or added

037to with PO uh PFAS or pops. And again, we have a a commitment to additional testing on that as well. Uh the the two other uh items included here for you are for both the underllayment pad and the rubber infill. Field access has come up. Uh there is a perception from some people and a concern that the facility would result in less access to the fields. That is not the case at all. In fact, I'd make the argument that there will be more access to the fields. So the two areas where people access the field on either side in the neighborhoods both will continue to be wide open for that access other than when closed for construction purposes. But the point is as the project proged it's wide open and because of the installation of

038synthetic turf that space will be much more usable from a weather perspective than it currently is. Uh so we would say the entire community would benefit from additional access that hasn't uh been possible. Storm water mitigation has been asked about as well. There's concern about runoff from the synthetic surface uh being put in a retention pond causing groundwater contamination or standing water will pose other risks. There is no intent for there to be standing water. The point of storm water mitigation is any time in a project like this you are disrupting that space you have to mitigate for where the water would go or it would go in people's basement and on their property. So you have to mitigate for that. So this is part of every one of these projects. We have to go

039through storm water mitigation. That's the design and that's what the intent of this is. It's not about runoff. It's not about standing water. It's not about creating a pond. The construction again has to have it protects the adjacent properties and the infrastructure for that is um underground. The cow fence so to speak, so a low wooden fence is intended to demarcate that area so that people would know that and where it is wetter not be essentially trapesing through that if it is in a situation where it is more muddy than the rest of the grass because that's where water is going to. But there's not any expectation that that would be any kind of retention pond. Um any kind of measurable amount of liquid um in that space. And again in terms of the runoff

040issue, I'd go back to the POP and PFA's issue. Uh there's a misinterpretation that we've had to create this pond because there's chemical runoff. That's not the case. And that is not the um intent at all. The field locations I mentioned uh quite a bit around the direction and the layout. Again, just would like to reiterate that the point of the layout, the way they've been designed is playability and use, efficiency with regard to the space that we have, appropriate field direction considering both weather and sun. Emergency access, right? So, to back the fields up as has been suggested as well, would limit the ability for emergency service providers to access both those fields and the current uh turf field. And then the maximum distance from the property line without losing parking or field space

041on the other side. We are 30 feet away from the property line and the town code only requires five feet. So, uh we're we're well beyond as a good neighbor what would be required from any of us doing any kind of uh work at our at our homes. And then field lighting, there is not a plan for field lighting. Again, it is irresponsible for us to not lay the conduit for that in case that's a decision that in future years is of interest to the board of education and the community. Uh we do have a responsibility again to be planful and thoughtful. If that was added later on, you'd have to tear up the construction that's being done to get underground to lay that or co have more cost to go outside of that in

042different ways, which wouldn't make any sense. So, we're just laying that simply to leave that option open if that's something in the future that the community wants to consider. And that's uh certainly an option. No different than the fact that we decided to build Council Rock with a structure in the renovation that would allow for a second floor. There is zero plan to add a second floor to council rock, but it would have been irresponsible to not build it with that as an option later on, not knowing what may uh happen in the future. We've heard a concern about potential legislative action. Um to be candid and direct with all of you, there are thousands of bills in committee in the state legislature that never see the light of day. And these are uh examples,

043I think, of that. Perhaps they will. We don't know that, but we know that right now they continue to be in committee. Uh there's a Senate bill and an assembly bill as well. There uh will be perhaps study findings, but there is no pending legislation and any of the research we've been able to do about those uh are does not seem at all problematic. Right? So, this is not something that we're installing and then something will change with the state that we'll need to make a change. Uh the the legislation in fact does not even currently have a co-sponsor. uh has not moved out of committee. The January 1st 26 date for implementation would obviously not be feasible. It's not even out of committee or taken up by the legislature. It would have to be

044rewritten later on. I think it's important to point out on the state senate website, there's good information about this for people to realize how this process works. And I want to quote, "The committee system acts as a funnel through which the large number of bills introduced each session must pass before they can be considered." The system also acts as a civ to sift out undesirable or unworkable ideas. And after consideration, the committee may report the bill to the full Senate for consideration. It may amend the bill or it may reject it. Senate bill S797 was proposed under a different bill number in fact in the 2324 legislative session and also failed to move forward from the committee. So we do not anticipate there being any legislative action on this moving forward. that that is our

045advice to you and what our uh perspective is. Other important considerations we think for people to keep in mind uh the benefit of the installation of the synthetic turf is really significant. Right? Those sign those benefits include student use of the space far more than it can be used right now. More students perhaps participating and participating at more reasonable times. Right? So where we've had to push many practices late into the evening and limit the amount that the fields can be used by youth programs that would change significantly with the addition of these fields. Community can still use the fields and use them far more. We won't be limiting access from either neighborhood uh to use of that space. In fact, I'd make the argument that accessibility will be increased both because of weather, but

046also uh the ability to access the fields and accessibility uh for wheelchair access, for example, being used in that space as opposed to in the mud, which makes that unreasonable. And the district will no longer, excuse me, use an away location for home baseball games. um really far more equity with both building a softball, excuse me, and a baseball uh field in that space for our athletes. And the facilities will simply help us achieve what has become a standard in terms of the facilities being used throughout the region. And that's I think really important for us to continue to think about school district to school district to school district. This is a very common project undertake. Excuse me. I believe in it deeply, but I'm not choked up. I'm literally just dry. So, uh, though

047that's really, you know, some of what has been important right along the line, providing our community and our children with facilities, uh, that are are standard and on par with neighboring school districts. We feel like we owe that to them. We owe that to our community. And again, we owe that to the 87% to people who approved the project. uh that was welldeveloped and well presented. We would like to continue the dialogue with our community too and answer questions that people might have. So would like to invite folks who are interested next Wednesday 7:00 in the boardroom if uh people would like to come and answer ask any other questions. Uh we'll have representatives available for our construction management, architect team, design and district uh team members uh uh as well. really want to make

048sure people understand uh factually what we're doing here, what we've done, the due diligence that has been done uh to make this a a really great project for our kids, families, and our community. Can I answer any questions from board members at this point? >> Uh no, I've been involved with the process for a while, so I'm all set. I'll defer to the rest of the board. >> Okay. Thank you. appreciate it. >> Uh we now have the opportunity for public participation and um so that we are organized and everybody has a chance to speak. Our our sort of standing rules in this regard is and I'm sorry about this because we're not typically on the stage but it's concert season so we couldn't get down on the floor. We're going to ask each speaker

049to step to the podium where Dr. McGawan was. Um we allow allocate rather three minutes per speaker. Um Karen Hatch, raise your hand. Karen has two cards. At the 2 minute uh 30 second mark, she'll raise the yellow card and at the 3 minute mark um we'll ask you to finish your thought and be done. Um I will note and um I've got uh if you have if you do want to speak and you filled out a card, I've got it up here. If you haven't, there's cards down there and we can get them. Um, we do not take uh, we'll say it this way, do not take criticisms of specific individuals, whether they're students, staff, or community members. This is just for us to be able to receive feedback um, from the community. Um,

050I've got the cards right here and so I'll just start I'm sorry. And when you speak, I'll ask you to state your name. I'm hoping I get the names correct and just the town you live in, please. And I'll start with Dennis Connelly, please. Yeah. And I'm sorry. And I'll do this. Uh, Dennis, while you're come up, I think I think this is Steve. Is it Dyr? Um, I'm not sure I'm pronouncing that correctly. You'll be the next speaker. So, you can prepare to uh be over there. door or I'm sorry about that. Uh Steve or you'll be the next speaker. Dennis, >> thanks Larry. >> Yeah, >> thank you Dr. McGawan. Thank you board for hearing us tonight. Um I just have a couple questions. One has to do with a sequel process that

051you talked about earlier. That happened in 2023, correct? And then the redesign occurred after that which now includes the retention pond. Has that does that require another re-evaluation of the environmental impact? >> So I think there's two things are important and I don't want to steal Mr. Davis's thunder, but I'll say this. Um the questions that that you might have for us to answer would be better for next week. >> Oh, okay. just because in in a board meeting format it's public comment as opposed to a question and answer session and I don't want to take your three minutes answering that but I I want to make sure I'm clear on one thing there wasn't a redesign right so the design is done after the secret determination and then after the vote and then design

052happened so I I want to make sure we're clear in that design was done after the community authorized the design to be done the seeker is done in contemplation of that design Okay. So the secret does take into account the retention pond. Okay. Um so I guess my next question is um or I guess the uh concerns that we have I think have to do with that uh runoff impacting the the uh the land and and the u storm water. And if the design takes into account the potential for that to leave the property, what what is the potential impact to the groundwater? Um, if you have 245,000 square feet of material, is that all going to drain to that pond um or retention area? Uh are there concerns that well or we have concerns

053I guess that that material will impact the soil and groundwater? Um and I guess I I will follow up with uh the meeting next week. I'd also like to uh uh or I wondered if we would be getting any of the information at that meeting uh from the manufacturer associated with the products they plan to use and their uh determinations that their negligible impacts from the um materials of construction that they use. Um do you think that would be available then? Uh yeah, it's possible we can we can sort of see what's available. I um I don't want to take your three minutes, but I'm going to say one other thing. Uh these three minutes are for us to receive back uh receive feedback rather, not necessarily as a question and answer session. No, but

054I want to I do want to say one thing. >> Um we approve the design of these fields, but the design is done by licensed landscape architects. So the questions with regards to storm water mitigation, things like that are done by licensed professionals. So um we can provide some of those answers next week in a in a sort of Q&A format. Okay. >> But um the design is professionally done. I mean that's not a skill set anybody on this board has. >> I I I understand that. Um I guess my last uh request would be to um understand how the testing is going to be done on the materials. You mentioned that in your presentation and um hope that will be available for for uh distribution to the the community when it's available. Thank you.

055Thank you, Steve or Good evening. Uh my name as stated is Steve our uh my wife and I live just south of the uh of the ball fields the fields in question. Um I have a number of somewhat disjointed questions and points I wanted to make real quick. Um but first can I clarify because when I see the drawings they each time I look at them they seem different. What types of fields are you intending to build? And and is the the varsity baseball field going to move back over there and they're going to play on turf? >> Yes. >> Have you asked Ernie what he thinks of playing on turf? >> Pardon me. >> Nothing. It's a joke. >> What Ernie thinks of >> I I mean baseball is not played on turf all

056that often. >> It It's actually played on turf quite a bit now. Our teams play on turf quite a bit at visiting the field. >> At any rate, um what else other fields? Is there another field laid out? really both baseball b baseball fields or is there soccer? It's hard to tell. >> The two fields that overlay the baseball and soft. So, there's a varsity softball, varsity baseball, and the two fields that overlay that are soccer, lacrosse, football fields, >> what we call square fields, rectangular fields, excuse me. >> Okay. Um I you know I know you've said the lights is not a plan although you're installing the conduits in case it becomes a plan. It seems likely to become a plan if you're going to play varsity baseball there and if you're going to

057build talking about press boxes and loudspeakers and all that kind of infrastructure those lights would be awful close to people's houses much closer than the lights now I think on the the current field. Uh and that would be a real problem. Um I think so. Um at any rate I um I guess the will the new fields be fenced? >> There is yes but not uh not entirely enclosed. Right. So it it depends. >> I mean can can uh people walk their dogs on >> they would >> can kids learn to ride bikes on them? >> So you wouldn't want people riding bikes on turf. >> Pardon me. You would not want people riding bikes on turf or walking dogs on turf. There will still be the grass area that is the modified um baseball

058field. >> But I mean a lot of the the I mean obviously a lot of the grassy area will be lost. Yeah. >> And a lot of the So I assume you don't want dogs uh doing their business on the new fields. >> That's correct. Yes. But but I I think it's I respectfully I would say that our primary focus needs is providing space connected to our program. >> Can just neighborhood kids go over and play ball on them when >> Absolutely. >> nobody else is using them. >> Yeah. Oh yeah. Which currently happens on our turf as a matter of fact. So it would just provide more opportunity for them. >> Right. Okay. Um one thing that I'm I've heard back and forth I'm not clear. Is there an area uh that's going to

059be fenced off of soil like BMS or whatever you want to call them, swells? Somebody might have used that word. The the storm water mitigation area will have uh like if you can picture what's at French Road on the left hand side of the property, the what I would refer to as a cow fence, like the low wooden fence uh around it to demarcate that area. And yes, there are >> BMS, but I mean there are are there BMS being constructed of soil that are >> there will be BMS around the outside of that as well. Yep. >> And are those being fenced off themselves for some particular reason? >> No, the fence would go around all of that. >> Okay. Got it. We thank you for your time. >> All right. Thank you. And

060my last last question I would ask is um is the plan that's up there now, is that the last version we're going to see, could it change again substantially? No, because the project was bid based on the state approved plan, which is the plan you're seeing. >> Thank you, >> Mark Digory. And next up after that will be uh Annie Liry. Good evening, uh, Superintendent McGawan. Uh, board members, thank you for the chance to speak. Um, I'd like to begin by acknowledging the district's update tonight about moving toward a PASF free turf system and considering some of our design disc suggestions. Dr. Mong, I want to note that I don't agree with your assessment of the parking impacts and the field orientation where altered is no different than the existing field orientations of some of

061the other fields already present in the athletic field complex. I feel this is misleading regarding what I proposed, but I welcome a discussion about this at the forum. I appreciate that you're listening and responding to concerns. That responsiveness is an important step, but it has now been two years since the original vote and prior to November 18th, more than a year since the last public forum intended to gather community input. at the November 18th forum. I was the only uh parent uh community member that was present at that forum. A great deal has changed in that time. New scientific research has emerged on microlastics, heat, and environmental impacts. Neighbors now have a clearer understanding of how close these fields would be to their homes. And tonight, we heard new information directly from the district about

062materials and design not part of the original public record. Because of this new information, we are asking the board to take two constructive good government steps. Number one, explore and publicly report on alternative more natural turf materials, including their viability, maintenance needs, and long-term cost. The community deserves to understand whether safer, more sustainable options exist beyond plastic turf and infill. And number two, explore and publicly report on alternative field layouts that reduce negative impacts to nearby homes, increasing separation from backyards. These requests are not about stopping improvements. They are about ensuring that with everything we know now, we build the best, safest, and most responsible version of this project. And finally, I want to emphasize why this matters. Our children are watching how we make decisions. This project is an opportunity to show them what

063responsible leadership looks like. That when new information comes to light, when climate risks and pollution are real considerations, we do not defer them from to future generations. We adapt, we evaluate, and we act proactively. And in doing so, we model thoughtful future focused decisionmaking. We show our kids that progress and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand. >> Thank you for your feedback. >> Uh after Annie Liry will be Dr. Victoria Love. I'll stand on my tiptoes. Um, all right. Thanks for having us. Thanks for holding the meeting. Um, before I start, I know you said we can't stop this, but we teach our children, um, that there's always a way to solve a problem, and so that's why I'm here. Uh, my name is Annie Liry. I'm a Brighton resident, a parent of two

064Brighton students, a teacher, and a former envir former environmental organizer. I grew up on Holly Drive, which backs up to the fields. I no longer live there, but growing up, I watched fireworks from my backyard, putt through the fields to get to school, played little league by the big tree, and used the fields just to hang out in a space that felt like home. When my husband and I moved back here three years ago from Philadelphia, I was adamant on landing in Brighton because of its dedication to education, inclusivity, community life, and knowing the value of the few open spaces we have here. I didn't want a typical suburban town. I wanted the one that broke the mold. The turf proposal threatens the environment, the connectedness of our community and our children's safety and well-being.

065The entire field will now be dedicated to field sports in the name of keeping up with the Joneses or other towns. It will eliminate valuable green space, creating a more synthetic and toxic environment for our children. And not only will the turf proposal contaminate and alter the neighboring communities, but it will change the landscape of our community forever. These are there are numerous studies as we've heard um shedding light on the dangers and toxicity of PAS. But for me, it's also about something that shows what Brighton stands for. This proposal demonstrates that we prioritize what other others think of us and our sports program over our children's health and safety. What message does that send to our kids? What will we tell them in the decades to come when they no longer play sports and

066they didn't become professional athletes, but they're dealing with the side effects from the plastic playing fields we've provided for them? Prior to the vote, due diligence was not done to ensure that every member of the community was aware of the specifics of the proposal and the risks associated. 37,000 people live in Brighton. While I appreciate the list of ways you promoted this project and informed the public about this project, it clearly wasn't very effective. 2% of the population voted on this project. The turf was lumped into an overall capital improvement plan which did not allow residents to fully dissect and understand the scope and scale of this project. The proposed plans look vastly different from the approved plans. I understand you explained why that was. The turf is expected to cost almost half of the

067$10 million associated or allocated to the BHS improvements, which is not what I voted for. I ask that the public revote is conducted um for the turf specific proposal now that the community has the knowledge and information that we deserve. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Good evening everybody. Thank you for this opportunity to uh address this room and uh thank you to the BOE members for being here and providing this forum. I just have a couple of questions and um those include if the district can help the committee understand how the secret documents concluded that the capital improvement project including the installation of synthetic f turf would have no significant adverse environmental or community character impacts. For many of us, the conclusion is difficult to understand given what we know about field proximity

068to homes, storm water conditions, microplastics, heat, wildlife, and the large changes to the land use. We're simply asking for clarity about the basics for the the the determination and whether any updates or amendments have been made as a project design has evolved. And I would also like to ask because I have not yet seen any written evaluations that reasonably address the neighborhood level impacts. Things like proximity to homes, potential lighting, noise, storm water behavior, and changes to the community character. If those evaluations exist, I would truly appreciate seeing them. Thank you. Melissa Marangola and then uh David Maser will be next. >> Good evening. I'm going to speak about >> the same topic that everybody is here to discuss which is the capital improvement project at the fields. As you can see, you've said multiple

069times that you have a responsibility to the individuals of the community who have voted. Well, there are many of us who are here who live in the neighborhood of Holly of Lynwood who this project will directly impact who are speaking up and we're asking you at this time to have a responsibility to us. We are parents of students in the district and obviously many of us two years ago voted for the original concept which did not include a pond that will as we can see from your schematic that you had in your slideshow. one is significantly different than what we voted on and two will block the cut off the cut through that our children currently walk to school with now I will tell you there's many members from my community here there's many members

070from our neighborhood and I'm the one who's speaking on on behalf of all of us at this point we've all said to each other multiple times we stay in that neighborhood because we love the proximity to the middle school and the high school and we love the fact that we can send our children right down the street to play in those fields. That is why in part we agreed with the project. We agreed with the turf fields for the reasons that Dr. McGawan said to advance the sports in our community. We recognize that and we're not arguing about the safety or I'm not of turf. Um I know that's a debate that reasonable minds can differ on. But what we are concerned about is that two weeks ago at the meeting was the first time

071any of us in that neighborhood learned of the pond or the mitig uh the the water um storm water pond that we've heard multiple descriptions of looking at the schematic that was I believe on slide six or seven earlier tonight that you showed which is the final design that is drastically different than what we approved two years ago. And what we're asking for now is to repeat what other people have said tonight. We're asking for a new vote. Because what I think you will find, you will not have the support of 87% that you keep quoting. You won't. We're all here. And we're only a small fraction of the people we've spoken to that are against the most recent design. We're the only ones who are here because we got away from our kids and

072aren't driving them around tonight to be here. and we said we would speak up on behalf of them. But there is a large contingency of us who live in the surrounding neighborhoods and have students who go to this school who do not agree with the most recent design. And we reject the theory or the presumption that that can't be changed at this point. That's simply not true. There's been no ground broken. It doesn't even appear that all the field designs have been finalized. It's not too late and we think you owe it to us as board members representing us in this community to have a revote now that we have full knowledge of what the design is. Thank you. Good evening and thank you for having me. My name is David Mer and I live

073in Brighton. I have two kids in the Brighton schools and I'm here to call on the district to agree to bring an independent researcher out of the community's choosing to test any turf for contaminants prior to using this potentially dangerous product. Um to date, uh the research and information sharing on this topic, uh by the school board has been shoddy at best and misleading at worst. Uh as I told school board members at the last meeting, my day job is working on environmental and public health policy, including PAS policy. Um a couple of points, Dr. Gowen, to your presentation. Number one, you have stated that the district plans to only use PA pas turf. Um, I have a letter here from Melanie Taylor, who's the CEO and head of the synthetic turf council, which is

074the lobbying arm for the National Artificial Turf Manufacturers, saying that they haven't developed a PASF free product. So, I'd like to know how the district plans on getting a PASF free turf when the manufacturers themselves say they don't make one. Secondly, the district has shared and posted wildly misleading information about testing done for PAS on it. The proposed TUR. In fact, the slide you showed earlier and that's on the district's website which I brought with me here says as follows. Samples of recycled car and truck tire crumb rubber were analyzed for PAS. PAS was not found in either of the samples. Um, this is truly outrageous. PAS wasn't found in the samples of recycled tires because tires don't have PAS in them. You have to test the actual uh artificial grass blades for the PAS.

075Can can I clarify one thing? >> That is with regard to the rubber infill which comes from the tires. >> Yes, I know that. >> Well, but you >> but if you're asking about you have to test the part of the product that we know has PAS in it, which is the >> So, there were three items and the slide included information on all three of the turf. >> Yes. >> The underllayment pad and the rubber infill. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> And like I said, the manufacturers themselves say they don't make PAS-free products. So >> without taking all of your time, I I I did explain PAS relative to trace contamination and those that have PAS added to them in manufacturing. >> I'll go on because I got the yellow card already. >> As

076I said, you have to test the actual artificial grass blades for PAS. It also ends up that the information from your slide is from the research arm of the artificial turf industry themselves. It's highly likely they knew they were testing the wrong parts of the artificial turf and instead they put out misleading information knowing that the lay person won't have the level of detail needed and then the district disseminates that information in these meetings and on your website. Lastly, the district says that since state officials have no plans to ban turf, then it must be okay. This is probably the first time I've ever heard anyone say that Albany, New York should be our moral compass when it comes to our protecting our kids' health. Every day, our kids are told to do their homework,

077get and check the facts, and do their research. Ironically, school officials are doing none of these when it comes to the facts and doing your homework and diligence on this proposal when it comes to PAS and other contaminants known to be in artificial turf. Thank you for your time. Uh, next we have um, uh, >> yeah, Omar Deertus. I hope I pronounced that correctly. this game. >> Yes. >> Good evening everyone. I just want to share experience I had these past two years that are concerning and uh thank you for letting me speak tonight. Uh I'm proud to be one of the captains of the soccer team this year. I worked hard. I tried to be a good leader and I care deeply about representing Brighton the right way. For the last two years I

078tried out for the basketball team. I worked hard. I care deeply about being a part of the program and I did everything I could to earn a place. Both years I was the only Muslim Turkish American student trying out and both years I was cut. This year in our meeting the coach told me that I had no skill issues, no energy issues, no attitude issues even and he told me that I dominated the triyouts and he praised my maturity. That made it even more confusing and hurtful when he later said that he didn't see me as a fit and that I might become a future cancer. Hearing praise and then hearing something like that in the same conversation was difficult to understand. When I played on the modified team, the coach used to motivate everyone

079by saying other schools didn't have someone like me. On JV, I was a starter for most of the games and played the majority of the minutes. The current varsity coach acknowledged this in our meeting, but last year when I was cut from varsity, I was told it was because I hadn't shown improvement. This didn't match the reality of my JV season or what my coaches had previously said about my growth. This year, I I was told juniors were given preference, but when I was a junior, that preference didn't apply to me. It felt like the criteria kept changing, and I was the only one who kept being affected. What made all this harder was the reaction from other students. Several came afterward and said they thought what happened was wasn't fair. Some even used the

080word racist. They didn't know terms like xenophobic or islamophobic, but I knew they were trying to support me. Hearing those comments made me feel like I was being singled out for something beyond basketball and something I couldn't change. After trials this year, the coach told me I would play a couple of minutes for across four games, almost as if he didn't want me to continue trying. But I still showed up to practice afterward. And he told me again that I had no issues with skills, energy, or attitude, just that I wasn't a fit. So, I have to ask, why am I, as a teenager, dealing with varsity basketball coaches who treat me unfairly and make me feel less valued? This year's head coach was last year's assistant coach. Both years, the coaches worked closely with

081one another. So, when the same student, the only Muslim Turkish American student trying out is cut two years in a row under shifting explanation. It becomes hard not to wonder why. Is it because I'm a Muslim and Turkish American? I don't know. But when I'm the only student from my background ching out and I'm the only one cut two years in a row under inconsistent and changing criteria, it's hard not to wonder why. And I want to ask, would you be okay if this happened to you when you were a teenager? And would you be okay if this happened to your children? And I want to thank you guys for listening to me today. >> Thank you very much. >> M deus. >> Good evening. Yes, this is MT and thank you for the opport

082opportunity to speak. I'm his dad. You can tell. Um, let me begin with something simple that happened yesterday. I believed you all had received my message on November 22nd. But after calling the board clerk, I learned that the sent message buttons on the board website were not functioning, none of my messages actually reached you. She apologized immediately, forwarded my message to all of you within minutes, and began working to fix the issue right away. That that delay wasn't intentional. It was based on an assumption. I assume that you received it on November 22nd. And I'm sure you all assumed the website links were working. Why am I telling you this? Because assumptions matter. All assumptions and assumptions can cause harm especially when they replace actual observations. During our meeting with the head coach in front

083of the athletic director, my daughter was with me, my son-in-law was with me and was with me. There were four witnesses and the fifth one was athletic director. The coach stated clearly that dominated the try out, had no skills issues, no energy issues, no attitude issues, and he praised Omar's m maturity. All of these statements were based on direct observations. But moments later, he said he didn't see Omar as a fit and that he might become a future cancer. That conclusion was not based on observation. It was based on assumption. And this raises a very serious question. Why didn't the atheetic director hearing these conflicting statements in real time intervene? Why didn't he pause the meeting? Why didn't he do what the board clerk did yesterday, recognize a problem immediately, take responsibility, and begin fixing

084it? Why were assumptions allowed to outweigh evaluations based on clear observation? And I must mention something that has now happened two years in a row. After meeting with the coaches both years, the athletic director told us that the district respects the coach's decisions and does not want to intervene. I have to ask, is this a written policy? If so, why is it a coach centered policy? We're talking about projects that are student centered when Brighton's mission and values clearly emphasize being a student- centered district. And if it's not a written policy, why has it become the consistent response even when fairness is questioned? Respecting a court's judgment is one thing, automatically deferring to it without examining the contradictions or concerns. Conflict with Brighton's commitment to equity and doing what's best for the students. I'm asking

085you to put yourselves in my son's shoes. He has big feet. Uh it shouldn't be too difficult for you to do so. Imagine a coach checks in on another student's injury, but not yours. Even though the injuries were identical, nose bleeding. A coach hugs and deps with other students, but only fist bumps when you extend your hand for a handshake. Think about it. A coach praises your performance and maturity, but cuts you based on what he assumes you might become. Cancer. If you were the only Muslim or the only Christian or the only Jewish Turkish American student on the court, what would you think? How would you interpret a decision that relied on assumption instead of observation? Dominated the try out is the observation. Potential cancer is the assumption. Before I close, I want to

086be very clear. I'm not asking for a special treatment for my son. He dominated triyouts. I'm asking you to use your authority to ensure fair treatment. Treatment that aligns with Brighton's values of equity, dignity, and student centered decision-m. That is all I'm asking for. Thank you for listening. Thank you both for your time. I do not have any other cards for anybody else who wants to speak. So, we will call public participation to an end and continue on with the agenda. Uh, next up, you all have a copy of the agenda. We're on our fifth item already. You have had a chance to review it um in advance. Any questions or edits to the agenda? Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Second. Seconded by Sue. All those in favor? You

087also have approval of the minutes from the November 18th business meeting. You've had a chance to review those. Does anyone have any edits, questions, or clarifications for those minutes? Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> I can't see. So is that Carrie Lynn? Okay. Moved by Carrie Lynn. >> Seconded by Clayton. All those in favor? Uh, next up we have a facilities improvement plan update at BHS and we'll be hearing from a number of different folks. We obviously had a chance to walk through some of the rooms being worked on right now before the start of the meeting, but I'll ask Lu Limo, John Nlli, and our representatives from campus construction uh to please come up. Lou, as you're as you're doing that, I know many people have left, but there are a couple communities

088uh community members uh left here, too. If there are any simple answers that we could provide in advance tonight to some of those questions that might be available, feel free to go ahead and >> Great. I think we'll have the opportunity as we talk about the construction plans for uh the site area, we I think we can address some of those questions. So, appreciate the opportunity and I appreciate our OACM team uh that Dr. McGowan referenced. So, we have representatives from SEI Design here. We have our representatives from Campus Construction. And then John Novelli and Rob Loose on our uh district owner team. And of course, Mr. Davis participates on that as well. So, tonight we're going to focus on the work that we have been able to achieve and complete or that's in process

089right now related to the 23 24 phase 1 project and then what's upcoming for the phase 2 project. So, first I'll invite Tyler Phillips up from campus construction to take us through uh the work that we've that's been ongoing, what we've been able to achieve and um what's to come. And then I'll ask SEI if um David or Brian, whoever would like to come up u maybe when we get to the site piece of it, you can address uh the storm water u mitigation piece of it and what that field is going to look like um as designed by Appel Osborne, who is our site architect engineers. Okay, Tyler. Thank you. >> Hi, uh Tyler Phillips with Campus Construction. I'm on the construction management team for the projects for Brighton. First off, we'll go over

090the phase one project and some items that have been u completed and then some items that are still in progress and then items that will be carried out through the rest of next year. First, we have the secure entry edition at door 20. This is the high traffic point of the high school. So, this addition was very important to get in place and ready for the school year. As you see on the left of this slide, we have the foundation, very important for that structure. Then you have your CMU wall and your steel up, your brick and CMU on the outside, and then your uh finished product to the right. This work started April break this year and then was completed for the ne the this school year. >> I'll know I know we're going

091to be in the middle of school in January and we were in French Road a while ago. I'll note as a concept the security of our entrances at school has been a huge focus on this project. Making sure kids and parents, everybody can be safe in terms of admittance to schools. Sometimes to me it's um I don't want to use the word discouraging. It's it it that it it just stinks that you have to think about some of those things. But I appreciate in all of these projects the amount of time we're taking to consider security for the students in the school with regards to our entrances. So just make a note of that because we're seeing that everywhere. Appreciate your work on that. >> Thanks Mr. Davis. Next we have ground floor hallways. uh

092from the left side to the middle to the end furnace product. A lot of work to upgrade the space, make it more inviting for kids to go to their classrooms. There's a lot of improvements with LED lighting which is more efficient. Um new ceilings, walls, floors, technology suite. This scope of work started in June this year and is going to be turned over for kids to get into the classrooms in January 2026. So from the left of this side um is the old shop room, outdated. We have a a big air handler out in the open, which you never really see nowadays in classrooms. Um a full gutted space in that second picture. You could see the other end of the technology room. In that third picture, we have um our framing getting there. You

093can see the outline of the space. And then in the the last picture is where we're at. We have paint on the walls. We have duct work up. We have lights um hanging. Um a great improvement for this area. The CAD room, computer AED design. This first picture really shows how outdated again this space was. And then uh the second, third, and fourth picture brings brings the space to a new level. Um new lights like I said before, shop room 112. So in this this current layout on the left, the whole tech suite was is now swapped. So this was the old robotics area and will now become the new shop area. So in that middle picture you can see we had floor trenching right in there. No walls were built yet. Wide open. And

094to the right we have new ceiling work, duck work in there. And that will be where all the shop equipment will be for the technology area. The dumpster enclosure. This is located right next to the B&G building which is pretty close kitty corner to door 20. Um, walk through the process. We had the original dumpster enclosure outdated and we had other improvements to the left of it with that door 20 edition and future work will accompany this work. Um, excavation was done. The foundation is shown right there. It is uh it's a lot there's a lot more that goes into foundation work than you would think. And um to the right we have the new dumpster pad. Fencing is getting installed with gates. This will be um a good area for the district and maintenance

095staff. Scope remaining for the phase one job. So after the technology suite is completed, we will be moving upstairs directly above the technology rooms which is the music suite. This is slated for January 26 to August 26 to be turned over for the September school opening. First floor hallway work just like you saw in our ground floor hallways. Same envision, brightening the space, making it more inviting for kids to go to class. Lastly, music storage rooms. Um this will enhance that whole movement with this music renovation with EV tech all of that heat pumps, ceiling, lighting, flooring and painting will be done. Phase two, high school athletic fields. This work is slated for this month and to be completed before the spring sports season in 2027. As you as we have talked tonight, 245,000 square

096feet turf um a lot of coordination has happened with the scope of work and I wanted to show our temporary facilities for this work. A lot of planning had to be in place with the neighboring church. We have worked with our site contractor and the school district making sure that we have a safe plan for construction to operate and get into their space and for the school and kids to get into the parking lot and staff and then also for the church and daycare to safely get into their areas. The high school boiler room, the the areas you don't see every day. Um right here we have this work starting this month and be uh to be completed in uh this next summer 2026. There will be new roofing above hand and steel work. There's

097a new cooling tower which is emergent. We are on that right away. The cooling tower helps with the hot summer season. New domestic hot water boilers and new heating system boilers. Uh there's a couple boilers currently offline because they're failing and out of commission. So these uh new boilers will be running at a more efficient rate and uh supplying spaces with the proper heat. New elevator and adjacent spaces. So in this slide I have highlighted in blue and this is the corresponding four floors that the elevator will be next to. Um, this elevator is slated to start demo of each floor uh this summer in 2026. The adjacent spaces in um in which I'm talking about right now are the brighten your day cafe which is on the ground floor, the main lobby, renovated support

098study space areas on the third floor, and then renovated language classrooms on the fourth floor. When finishing these areas, the elevator shaft will need to be erected and going up. And that space on the bottom will get started with renovation and we'll turn over spaces in sequence with that shaft construction. >> I'll just quickly note it addresses a significant deficiency at the high school today, which is ADA access to the fourth floor. So, it's addressed a longstanding sort of challenge we've had and I'm excited that we're going to resolve that. >> Correct. Yes. I I was just going to touch on that ADA access. Um visitors from outside will be able to enter the building from outside and reach any floor in the high school with this elevator project. Thanks, Larry. New entry lane and

099parking lot improvements. This is corresponding with um the other site work we have at the high school. So, this is uh restriping in a couple of the islands in the high school parking lot. site improvements, so easier traffic flow. And then the buildings and grounds parking lot and beginning to mill and fill, which is upgrading the current conditions as they are poor right now. Um concrete replacement along the side of the high school. Recently in previous projects, there was concrete done in front of the high school. So this will completely tie up around the building. Okay. Any questions about project schedule? >> Okay, thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Nice job. >> Just in response, um I thought we could take this opportunity while our design team was here to just go back to the

100one slide here and I would ask um David Hallmark from SEI Design to better explain uh what's happening in the sure where my mouse is. at that. But um in the area that's shaded there with that where we were with the storm water area and what's happening in that area, if you could just provide more technical engineering explanation of what's happening in that space in the corner of the project and what the what it'll look like after. >> Good evening. David Hallmark with SI design group forward. Thank you for having us. We're always happy to work with you. Um, you know, as some comments were earlier that the design that came up prior to the vote versus the design that we're seeing now is part of the design process. You when the board discusses what

101are we going to do for a project, how does that envelope happen? What's going to be a part of that? And then we get engaged to provide a solution to take to the public for a vote. Um, that solution is not vetted, designed, engineered all the way complete. its initial proof of concept and then we spent the next 12 months working out that concept, engineering this. Um, sitting down with the district and members of the coaching staffs and athletic director, we discussed what the needs are for these programs. What sports do they want to accommodate? How do they want to come to these sports? using turf to allow baseball and softball to have more access in the early season when the snow is still going and the water creates grass fields to be muddy and

102unplayable. Um, one term that was been used tonight that we want to clarify is uh storm water retention pond is a layman terminology. The actual terminology is water storm water mitigation area. So right now up in the top lefthand corner there are existing culverts that the water on the site goes to that area and then goes out to the street to the storm connection line. The water retent storm water retention area is built on top of that culvert area. So what this allows is these culverts and this flat ground water if it backs that up gets mudded up that will spread on neighboring properties will spread across the field and it has nowhere to go. So what this allows it's a it's a retention area to mitigate that effect of the water so that it

103can fill up as needed and then as the culvert allows the water to leave that space it goes into the facility storm water pipeline you know wrong term there sorry that the uh city has as part of their utilities and so that's what that main process is and having the cow fence is more for just the safety you know it could be muddy. There should never be standing water except for a torrential downpour. And so knowing that this area is lower in grade as it slopes down gently, it's going to be wet. Use some caution. The fence there as a caution. >> Thanks, David. So again, I just want to thank our design team and our construction management team and our owner ownership team um that participate on a really on a weekly basis with

104project meetings. Uh Dr. Hall is going to offer his reflections in his principles report. Uh so he'll be speaking to it a little bit as far as the you know how the what's what's working well and you know the challenges that he had to overcome with his team as far as scheduling, moving classrooms around because there's a lot more that goes into it on the building management side of it that Dr. Hall has been a great partner um and all of our principles have been great partners in uh working through. So, thank you. I do want to Lou just to highlight one of the things as we took our tour before the meeting today um in a few of the rooms. Uh it was noted and uh you know credit to you and the whole

105buildings and grounds teams where the high school buildings and grounds teams led by Dave Lu took on a lot of the work that we might have had to sub out and pay more money for and take on and complete that work and we saw some of their handy work and it was outstanding. So, um, savings were derived during that piece of it because of those folks taking on that work and doing an excellent job. So, um, I'd ask the board just quick round of applause for the buildings and grounds team just for the work they've done for some of that stuff. >> I I so appreciate you mentioning that because Dave Loose, the head custodian here, Mike and Jelly, his team with Chris Lebouti, um, they do so much in house. the talent that they

106have and bring to it. They save us tens and tens of thousand dollars every tens of thousands of dollars every year in this in the skill that they can do and you know the mechanical improvements that they make. So just kudos to them. We have a really have a great team, talented team. >> Also very cool with them is a number of them have great connections with a great number of the students which is really cool in terms of the the everyday work. So really appreciate that as well. >> Thank you. >> Uh next up we have uh principal reports. And why don't we start with Dr. Hall? So, so I c I caught part of that but not all of it. So, I'm going to look at Lou here and just ask him to

107repeat the question if that's okay. >> Um, so what what I think we were planning I think Dr. from McGallum challenged us and the team is to be there to be able to answer very the specific design questions on Wednesday yeah Wednesday the 10th. So they'll be there our site um site engineer site contractor that can really explain um the engineering and the architecture behind the infrastructure. >> Yes. >> All right. Good evening. I get start soon. Okay. Uh I hope all is well. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. Let's see. Um so I just want to share some highlights from the high school over the last uh month and a half or so. All of our junior classes are doing lit circles. And you know, I used to think that was just an

108elementary school uh project, but they're really like small book clubs. Uh they have anywhere from five to six books to choose from. Kids choose the book they want to read. They get in a group of four students typically. They'll prepare the lesson. They'll prepare the plans. And each student takes turns over the course of about a week and a half. And it's it's it's really quite remarkable to see in action. Um our studio art classes, uh they just finished up a unit on their favorite memories. They bring in a a picture from their childhood or from their life. and that means something very um it's it's near and dear to them and then they will actually create um some sort of art project um typically a drawing painting um demonstrating that project so they make

109their memories come alive in an art project. Uh we have a harmonies for healing club. Just to um highlight this. Um students who are musically inclined whether they play an instrument, they sing um harmonies for healing will travel to various nursing homes facilities just to be there with other um with elderly or disabled adults and youth and play and have a concert for them. Um usually one person playing one after another. Um it's very wellreceived and the kids who are doing it just absolutely love participating in it. Um if you didn't know the middle school high school we have as part of the blueprint with bringing our students together from both schools. TCMS counselor Michella Peters and our high school middle school social worker Lance Mitchell uh bring together a girls group and a boys

110group with um mentors from the high school meeting with students from the middle school as their mentees. Uh pizza games, boys playing basketball, uh having conversations. It's really an incredible uh program that they've developed and it's been a huge success. superintendent conference day we had about a month a month month and a half ago now. Um did a lot of work um on our blueprint plans. We worked on our grading for equity work and um appreciate this the board for giving us that opportunity. In our first year with the Bruin, I had two kids who volunteered to be in the brewing costume for various events. Second year I had zero. Uh this year we have nine and we had seven. Now, I actually have nine Bruins who want to take turns being the Bruin. And

111I just wanted to highlight all the different events they go to. And you never know. Sometimes the Bruins 6 feet tall, sometimes the Bruins 4 and 1/2 ft tall. So, you know, it changes a little bit. Um, but uh we have really enjoyed using that Bruin and uh we're probably going to need another one so we can share with our friends at K5. Um, just putting that out there for budget stuff, Luke. Um, Spanish Exchange. Uh we have an active Spanish exchange with OVO Spain. They were here in October. Advisors um Rachel Rivera and Suzanne Crowley. There were 24 students from Spain. Our students are going there in February over the February break. Uh Golden Apple Award. You heard Jake Provenano, English teacher, was nominated um by one of his students. That was a great

112celebration. Jake is an incredible teacher. so many different golden apples you can give out and it was nice that he was recognized. Our Diwali celebration similar to what we've done with Lunar New Year and Eid for Ramadan. Uh we've had special assemblies. Um we did one for Diwali in October and we're going to be recognizing Kwanza, Hanukkah, and Christmas in December. Students create the entire thing with the assistance with Eric Gruner for a video. They make projects and students are active um during the day to learn about different cultures and different uh holidays and celebrations. We have a very active geology club out at Men and Ponds learning all the things with drumlins and and kettle ponds and um bogs. Um Sean Mets is the adviser. They are out there on a very cold Saturday

113just exploring and and learning. Uh the Crucible, if you were here, it was an incredible performance. One of the unique things this year with our fall play is that every single junior student in their junior classes read The Crucible in the fall and then they act actually got to see a live performance here in school. We did an inschool field trip. um the students performed and one of I just hear one comment from a from a student who is more of an athlete, you know, kind of not a not a theater or music um musically inclined student said she had never been to a performance here at the high school. No concert, no play, no musical. And she was so taken back by our students making this play come alive that she learned that she's

114planning on coming to Legally Blonde in the spring. So, it was incredible to see and all the juniors were fantastic. I want to thank the teachers, the adviserss, and everybody who helped organize it. Our Crossroads yearbook still winning amazing awards, silver, bronze in the New York State awards ceremony that's at Syracuse University. Um, and our bright model UN, we have three major clubs now that are up over a hundred students. Model UN, DECA, uh, Distributive Clubs of America, and Math Team, believe it or not, those three are very popular. Our uh model UN was out in Hilton with a conference that draws over 700 students in the Rochester area, one of the biggest conferences they have, all the different students and how well they did. Uh thanks to adviser Brennan Quinn. Our unified bowling team

115took four fourth place this year. Um coaches Wasserman, Dwire, and many student volunteers who work with them got a chance to bowl with them one night and they are absolutely incredible and just amazing athletes and so much fun. And thanks uh for you as a board supporting that. Mr. Crest helping to get it together with their adviserss. Our cheerleading team uh did amazing this year. There, this is them at their sectional championship. Amazing group of uh young men and women. Our swim team took second place in sectionals this year. Did amazing. They're so close to taking a sectional uh championship. Of course, we had an amazing girls diving um uh girl, Alyssa, who was uh the Monroe County Diver of the Year. Um two sectional tennis player champions. And of course, our boys cross country

116who won sectionals. That's them just before they headed out to states. And then of course our football team um sectional champions and going into their state final potentially to win states this Friday at the the Carrier Dome in uh Syracuse. >> What time is that game? >> It's at 6 o'clock >> um in Syracuse. >> 6 o'clock. >> I just want to be there early. >> Oh, we're leaving here at >> Just kidding. I thought >> we have a student bus going leaving at 3:30. >> Got it. >> So, we're looking forward to it. Uh Ernie Clement, I think he was mentioned some point tonight. Um Ernie, that's a picture of him in high school. We're all very, I think, just like the entire district, maybe the entire town of Brighton, really into Ernie in

117the in the World Series this year. Uh we put it kind of a little dedicated spot for him with all of his accolades going from high school to college to um the ma the major leagues. And this is the picture that kind of stuck at me the most. The day after you had all these kids going over and I just kind of captured this. had no idea I was taking the picture, but just reading everything and I mean that's what it's all about and Ernie uh met with all these kids and we're hoping to see him here at school in the near future. Um >> can I just I want to make two comments. One, because I didn't get a chance to say it, he did play all of his home games in the playoffs

118on a turf field. But more important is this point. Ernie the other day spent a tremendous amount of time signing materials for kids. I watched multiple small children walk out of the Sheffield like floating as they left, meeting this superstar who is continues to be as humble and kind and uh just fantastic as he was as a student here, unchanged by his pretty remarkable performance and achievement. So, I know we keep saying it, but he he's a better person than a baseball player. So, thanks for bringing him up again tonight. No, he's it's it's he's a he's the role model you want your child to emulate. Like he is just he's allin with what he does, but he gives back a ton and he's just an ultimate gentleman and he's been that way. So just

119a credible young man. Um a lot of work going on with our blueprint academic excellence like I said the grading expectations recommendations document we rolled that out at the superintendent conference day. many other things habits of mind you heard from council rock French road middle school we're actually adding those comments to our first report card that went out um slow roll out but they are being used in the high school report card now the habits of mind characteristics and comments um family student engagement um let's see we are rolling with our attendance initiatives this year I'll be giving more data on that maybe in a future meeting but attendance daily period by period and being on time Um, and the, you know, just the interactions that I shared tonight with the middle school and high

120school mentoring program. That's a huge part of this family student experience. It's concert season. Tons of things coming up. Please join. Special event on the 20th. We have the class of 2020 coming back for their five-year reunion. And they're doing something in the evening, but they're going to be here for bagels and a meet and greet and take a tour of the high school for some of the new things that they missed. and that is a class that never had a graduation, never had a ball, um, and never did those final activities. So, we're getting together with them on the 20th. Um, as far as addressing the construction projects that Mr. Limo talked about and what we're looking at. I can't thank the board enough for allowing us to put in that new door 20

121secure entrance. It will be secure more than it is now. Soon when we get the other door double doors and everything gets finished, but it has been a gamecher for us to promote and keep the open campus feel that we have. We're one of the only high schools in the area that allow not only seniors to leave maybe during lunch. We allow seniors to leave pretty much anytime they have a free period and then uh 10th, 11th graders, fifth, 6th, 7th period and then freshmen will get that opportunity in the next semester. No other school does that. And now that we have our separate entrance, we don't have to mix them with visitors coming. We can sign them in, sign them out relatively quickly, and they're all coming in and out of the same door

122throughout the day. and the attendance office is now there. They get to see who comes and goes. Everybody shares information. We know where our students are probably more than we ever have before. Um so, thank you. It's been a game changer. Um the technology suite, we've been able to make it even with the hallway off since May of 2025. Here it is, December of 2025. Super excited. The creek people, as I'll call them, along the Big Creek, um have been great. Super flexible. A lot of drilling, a lot of sounds, a lot of smells. Everybody's been very patient to get us through. We're looking forward to that uh new project opening. The library, that's they pretty much gave up their entire library classroom in the fall. Two technology classes. I want to thank them. Everybody's

123really collaborated, worked together. Music suite will start very soon. Looking forward to that new space. Um the music folks will do all the rehearsals in this auditorium. Choir, orchestra, and band. They've worked out a schedule. It's going to go smooth smoothly. Um I'm I'm anticipating some good things and the the space that they've created that will be there for the fall of 2026 will be absolutely incredible. Um we talked a lot about the turf project tonight, but my I'm very excited about getting new parking spaces. Our seniors and juniors are certainly not the most happy campers right now because parking is definitely limited. It's going to get more limited. Uh but we're working through it. We're looking forward to that breaking ground and getting back in September of 27 with new parking spots in the

124entryway with hopefully the light. I think everybody will be looking forward to that traffic light. Um, and the elevator of course it's another game changer for our students and families who need it who want to be in the main office or in gym for for an event. They don't have to come all the way down to the basement and come to this side of the building and go back over on the second floor. So, I can't thank you enough for all of your support with those projects. Uh, we're looking forward to seeing them come to fruition. Thank you. >> Questions for Dr. Hall? >> Thank you. And thank you for uh the tour the before the meeting here, Tom. Greatly appreciate it. Danielle Edmonds. Good evening. Happy December. Can't believe it's here already. It's kind

125of crazy. And yet I'm presenting on Halloween. That's how long it's been since um we've presented with you. I think I think actually the last time we presented was right before Halloween was like the Tuesday before Halloween. So just wanted to share all the fun that we had at TCMS. As usual, the students had a blast dressing up. Most of them um enjoyed being with each other in the cafeteria and the hallways showing off each other's costumes. Um some really great group costumes, individual costumes, just a lot of fun and a lot of smiles throughout the day. Best part for us at school was that Halloween was on a Friday, so we didn't have to come in the next day and listen to all the rappers that were being un undone um in class. We

126also had our staff get really into it. Uh I had to put this in because you all know Dr. Stein, right? Right. So there was Mort Stein and then there's Dr. Stein the dentist and that's him in the middle. Would you ever guess that? Tell me he did. He is like truly rocking his costume. He's a TA with us and had such a blast with all of the other teachers who dressed up. Um I love the Louvre uh >> disguise there as well. So we had some really great teachers. >> We had some great group shots going on. The science department always shows up for Halloween and their group theme photos. And of course, you know, we are under construction. So, um we had lots of fun with that. The fall time of year is

127always fun at the middle school when we have our two-s sentence horror story. Both the students and the adults compete in that. So, I included some examples here for you. You can kind of read them on your own time, but some of them are a little a little creepy. So, uh you can enjoy those, but the kids get into it. Um they're a little morose and macob, but they're fun and it's always a big competition at the school. We also, of course, in uh November celebrated Veterans Day. We had a few veterans who came to school to share some of their stories with our uh student council over lunch. And then Miss Masters uh planned out an amazingly wonderful and um a great tribute for the veterans that were there. um was probably almost an

128hour long where students share the students sang the um the Star Spangled Banner. We had an individual from Honorflight come and talk about the mission of Honorflight and share what they do and encourage students to um actually, you know, go to the the uh airport and celebrate some of those who are able to go to DC on the honor flights. and then also um just shared a bit about each of the each branch of the military and um celebrate the individuals that we had there, the branches that they served in and the ranks that they achieved. So, it was really nicely done, great experience for our seventh graders. Of course, as Dr. Hall talked about, we continue connecting across buildings. Uh here you see some pictures from our students going to Council Rock to read.

129About a week or so ago, we brought students over to French Road to read. And um Miss Peters sent out an email today getting ready for the high schoolers to come over and visit with our students again. So that just keeps rolling every single month. Lots of opportunities for our students to be involved. Learning is always happening. We've got uh this the bottom left here is students um uh looking at conservation projects and looking at life in a particular village in Africa and how the women were carrying these um excessively large buckets of water and how and the duration that they had to carry them and the kids were practicing with buckets with sand that mimicked the same weight and they just had to walk from one side of the classroom to the other side

130of the classroom and they were exhausted. did. Um, so they they got a a real sense of what that felt like. And of course, we've got lots of science experiments going on, lots of smiles. We have um students who and teachers who are nominated for demonstrating their bright and believes characteristics in class um and throughout the building. So, this student here is celebrating being nominated for that. So, that continues to go on through the building as well. Of course, the fall always brings our area all state. We have plenty of students. You can see them here on the left for band and for chorus as well. So, it was a a great weekend. Our Aspire students also went to see Hamilton a few weeks ago as they're working with the RB uh TL and um

131their school programming. So, that was a great experience for them. There were some kids from the high school Aspire and the the middle school that went. We of course had Mary Poppins a week or so ago and over 60 students performed in that. what an amazing show and what uh they were able to do. Not an easy show to do. A lot a lot of songs that take a lot of work and a lot of dance. So, they did an amazing job. And then, of course, continuing our student and family experience. We talked about the cross building connections. Um continuing the work that we're doing around flex and MTSS uh to support our new students in the district and in our building. and then um working to uh track better track this year all the

132students and the activities that they're engaged in so that we can really pinpoint those who are not connected and try to find things for them to be involved in. And then we're continuing our work with the inclusive language protocol and trying to do um a more thorough job of sharing that with families so that they're aware of the language that we're using at school when we're encouraging students to use inclusive language in our building. And lastly, uh, uh, December is concert season for sure. We had the band concert last week. We've got vocal and show choir this week. And then we've got, um, uh, I'm sorry, we had the orchestra concert last week. And then we've got the band concert next week. We've got a few of our parents as partners webinars coming up. eighth

133grade activity night. It's their last official activity night as eighth graders, as TCMS students, because the next activity that they have is their spring dance. So, it's a little different than the the general activity night. So, we're hoping to get a good show for that. And then, of course, we have holiday recess coming up in a few short weeks. It's >> unbelievable. Any questions for Dr. Edmonds? Thank you very much, Colleen. So, it's been a busy few uh weeks at French Road, starting with Halloween is what kicked off um this last batch of uh events. And we had a ton of parents come into fourth grade and work on pumpkin science. I don't know if the parents had more fun or the kids. We had parents show up in full costume um getting right in

134there taking apart pumpkins and doing all the things. The whole hall smelled like a giant pumpkin farm that afternoon. Um we also did our parade. It was a very blustery, wet, windy day, so we did have to pivot the parade indoors. So that was sad that we didn't get the parents there, but for the first time we had the kids parade through the halls to the fourth and fifth graders. It was so much fun. Everyone's like, "So how do we do this again?" So, we do want to start a tradition where we go through the fourth and fifth grade halls before going out to the parents in the future because it was a lot of joy for all the kids and not just the third graders. Um, much like the middle school, we had a

135theme. It was more of a a sweet theme. Everyone was different candy. The kids had a ball with that. The music department was all decked out in pizza. We had a Domino's pizza delivery guy on top of it. Um, but it was just a day of a lot of fun, a lot of joy. Um, a lot of navigating around big costumes. Um, as we moved into November, we were teaching the kids about the election and Liz Files is our instructional leader of social studies and she put together this quick little video clip. Um, so the kids had the opportunity to vote for election day. So hear it. They had a vote on what Mrs. Beer and I would have to do at our Bruins done for November. and she put together this clever little AI

136video of us either doing a bubble gum blowing contest, um, a pie in the face contest, or a potato sack race. So on election day, the kids came down. They went into the bright lab were able to take out the iPads and vote on what they thought we should do at our next Bruins don. And I'm sure you had guessed that it was oops, a pie in the face. Um, so it was a lot of fun. We had two kids come up onto the stage and they definitely pied uh Shirley and I. And it was a ton of fun. Someone gave us a little hint to use shaving cream instead of whipped cream, which I was grateful for so I didn't smell like vanilla and sugar for the rest of the day. But you should

137have heard the kids. They were screaming and yelling and having a blast. Um, and I believe uh Mr. Tapen and Mrs. Schaefer will be doing this as well at the end of the month. So, we kind of shared the tips with them. Um, other things happening in ESS, the students were exploring autobiographies and learning all about their stories through data and using Canva and Magic School. They're able to put together bar charts, donut charts, timelines, pictographs, and create personal infographics about themselves. Um, it was a really meaningful project for the kids. It involved technology. involved digital literacy and these are completely lining the halls in the back hall. So, it's a lot of fun to see this project come together um for the kids to highlight themselves and learn about themselves as well. Um other

138fun things happening at French Road this past month is we're still continuing to see all the good work that was done this summer during a lot of the curriculum planning. Um in this class right here, the kids were doing mystery science and this they were trying to uncover what the next unit was going to be about and using see, think, and wonder. They were going through different envelopes. They were collaborating. There was so much noise, but it was all positive school dialogue and it was just great listening to the kids talk. This particular classroom is one of our ENL classrooms. And as the kids were uncovering everything, they were learning that they would be learning about culture. So, they were learning about food and traditions and dress. Um, it was a lot of fun. It

139was a multi-day project and it was a a nice experience for all the kids and we were able to go back and see it all come together at the end of the unit. Other things that we're continuing, um, we worked in the local history with fourth grade and you can see the kids put together their salt maps and anytime you can get the kids doing hands-on and creations, they're so proud of what they come up with. Some of the extracurriculars have been another highlight of French Road this past fall. Um, Mrs. Fallon is leading our STEM um, club before school and this was around the fall time. You can tell by the pumpkin. The kids were given index cards, straws, lots of tape, and they had to work together to come up with a structure

140that could support their pumpkins. So, at, you know, 8:15 in the morning, you just had kids giggling and trying and creating an engineering. Um, and it tied right into the habits of mind as well. So, this has been a very popular before school activity for the kids. I've mentioned in past presentations that we are doing a Bruins done, which is a schoolwide assembly once a month. We're bringing everyone together. Um, we finally got our brag tags in and you might have heard that those were purchased through the be um, Brighton Education Fund and this was done in memory of Beth Beth Jacqueline. Um, there was a set amount of money put aside to do something special and unique for French Road. So, we decided to do brag tags. Every student got a brag tag on

141their backpack the day that we got pied in the face. You can see the picture right there. It's yellow and it's got the little brewin on it. And we're challenging the kids to do things that represent the brain belief qualities. Respect, responsibility, kindness, integrity, self-control. Each month we're focusing on a different one of those, but the kids can earn the brag tags at any point for any of those qualities. And as they do things that exemplify that trait, now more than just once, teachers are able to recognize them. They get a new brag tag to put onto their stack. So over their three years at French Road, we're hoping they get a full stack. We have um different tags for things like Bright and Believes Day, um fifth grade moving up. So we're going to

142kind of let this grow and the kids are really excited and they all have their little bag tag proudly on the back of their backpack. Um, as we moved in the family and student experience blueprint focus, we've had a lot of engagement with families, um, as well as with other grade levels. TCMS just came down right before Thanksgiving and red to our fourth graders. Um, we've had parents in for curriculum night, lots of different classroom events. Fun food Fridays continue to be super popular. Um, we're moving into concert seasons. We have a lot of those coming up in December. Um, we have some members of the some parent members on our school-based opportunity team. So, we have some neat things happening in January. Can't wait to share those. Um, so we continue to do as

143much as we can to get the parents and involved with the kids. Um, in mentioning school-based opportunity team, we continue to work on the inclusive language protocol, but we're shifting this down to the kids right now. So, we're excited to teach them more about the inclusive language protocol. Um, we're going to bring the kids into the Bright Lab to do some lessons with them. We're going to have the kids help present as well. Um, brag tags I just mentioned and we're looking forward to the two parent university things coming up in December. Um, on top of that, for December, we have the parent university. We're finishing up our parent teacher conferences. We have lots of music, lots of concerts happening at school as well as in the evening. Um, pajama day. We're very excited. Any

144day it's snowing, you see the kids just running outside with their tongues out trying to catch snowflakes. So, a lot of magic right now in the halls at French Road. >> Questions for Colleen? >> Great. Thank you very much. >> Thank you to all the principles. I'll note that uh Matt Tapin is feeling under the weather, so we will not be doing a council rock report tonight. Moving on, approval of some first read policies. Three of them, policy 3421, policy 7350, and a policy 7530. All pretty important. This is a first read, I will note. Um, questions with regards for the first read. Motion to approve these three policies for a first read. >> So moved. >> Moved by Karen. >> Seconded by Sue. All those in favor? also have an approval for a cooperative

145bid for electric. We take advantage of the opportunities presented by Boseies and some of the work we do. Um questions, you've had a chance to review the bid questions with regards to that bid. >> Motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Moved by Carrie Lynn. >> Seconded by Clayton. All those in favor? >> I. >> Also have a consent agenda. Uh fundraising activities. uh tremendous opportunities for eating at Chipotle and at a pool party on December 12th at the BHS swimming pool. And uh Dr. Lee, one gift, >> one gift uh that we always read um a gift in the amount of 300 from Susan Miller to the Dennis Miller Memorial Scholarship Fund. Thank you so much for your gift. >> Questions with regards to the consent agenda? Motion to approve. >> So moved. >>

146Moved by Susan. >> Second. Karen. >> Seconded by Karen. All those in favor? >> I. >> A few quick things before I ask for a motion to adjourn. First, as Dr. McGowan pointed out with the speakers here, we have a session next Wednesday the 7, I'm sorry, next Wednesday the 10th at 7 to answer questions and have representatives from various disciplines within the turf project. in that overall. Um December 5th, which is this Friday at 6 PM, our uh Brighton Bruins will be playing in the state championship game at the Carrier Dome at 6:00. Um our next meeting is December 16th back at central office. That's two weeks from tonight. A huge thanks to the tech crew who got us all set up tonight. Even though we're on stage, which I hate, I greatly appreciate

147all the work that went into this. bigger crew because there's a lot of stuff going on. It's Eden, it's Mike, it's Dollar Bill, it's Hudson, it's Connor, and it's Ryan. Now, we can give them a round of applause again. Thank them for their work. Also, thanks to the BHS buildings and grounds team one more time and the folks involved with taking us on a tour and getting us in a short period of time to see a lot of places. And just a quick acknowledgement of our teammate Esther who continues to appear in Christmas Carol as both I believe Mrs. Kratchet and Mrs. Fezywig. We've missed her these last couple of meetings, but it's because she's uh spreading joy and cheer prior to the holiday season. Poss possibly. >> Unbelievable. >> Y >> as she always

148is. Amazing. Amazing artist. It's possible we also have another member of that crew, Dr. McGawan. Is there anything you'd like to say before we adjourn? >> I happen to think Belinda in the Holly cast is pretty amazing. Also, I am not Belinda, nor am I in Christmas Carol, but maybe related to somebody, but their performance is really, it's such a great show. It really is. So, good for them. >> Anything else for the good of the order? >> Nope. Thank you. >> Uh Kim, thank you for all your work as our clerk as always. And Dan Goldman for all the work you're doing on communications. Thank you as well. Um, with that I will ask for a motion to adjurnn. >> Moved by Clayton. >> Secondary. >> Seconded by Carrie Lynn. All those in favor.

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