Board of Education Meeting November 18, 2025

001to order and I I will uh invite forward Mr. Riddick and some students to lead us in the pledge. So, if everyone could please stand and join our students, I believe in >> pledge of allegiance. Whenever you're ready to flag the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you very much. You can be seated. to open. I am looking for a motion to approve the agenda for the November 18th, 2025 board of education meeting as presented. >> So moved by Laura. >> Second by Jess. I am actually going to seek an immediate amendment to the agenda. We are going to add item I guess we'll call item two uh C2 uh a presentation from the connect life

002club. So that will move C2 and that will move two and three down to three and four. So I'm looking for that amendment to the agenda just to add that item to the agenda. So moved by Tom >> Second by Laura. Uh so looking for an approval for the amendment to the agenda. All in favor? >> I. All opposed. That motion passes. And then I'm looking for an approval of the agenda as amended. >> So second I think we actually already had that but all in favor I. All right. Good. Uh, all right. Now that that clumsiness is out of the way, we will move to item B1 and I will hand it over to Mr. Adams for some recognition. >> Wonderful. And the recognitions have nothing to do with any clumsiness. Uh, my clumsiness

003was the cause of that though with regard to that. So, my apologies to Bell and Jenna for for that. I would like to have Natalie Frell come forward, please. Can do it super super quick because you're a state champion. This is Natalie Barrel. She's wonderful. Uh, she won last June. uh she won the class be New York State Pentathlon title which is like amazing. So, we're gonna APPEAR [applause] [applause] RIGHT, [laughter] RIGHT? We got the high jump. All right. That takes place of course how many days? >> Two. Two grueling days. and you won the radio state. So, want to congratulate you. You also are a great competitor in volleyball as well, a wonderful student and uh pretty great person and a wonderful family as well. So, we have a little certificate for you. uh

004certificate of recognition to Nally Farrell for her efforts and achievement earning the title New York City Penta Champion the district is proud to have her represent the excellence that is so congratulations to you. Well done. We're going to ask that you have a picture. We're going to invite our president for good. [applause] And now we move on to keep it rolling another presentations. Yes. Could I have Mark and Tina Landola come forward please to the local department. [applause] >> I will I will soon explain why we in a moment. So Clarkina I just can't thank you guys enough. You are not only uh wonderful uh staff members and leaders at the high school, but you're also folks uh who work extremely well with uh with our GSA at the high school. And you were recently

005honored, as you well know, uh for uh you won the the Marvin Henchar GSA uh the Gary Alliance Advisor of the Year Award. Your exceptional efforts at making all Hamburg students feel welcome, acknowledged, and included are greatly appreciated. Your dedication is illustration of the best of what we can see. can't truly uh it's just like you make a difference in kids lives in all kids lives but uh in this in this category as well thank you for all your work there so thank you very I round. [applause] [applause] Okay. You did you have any more that we missed? >> No. >> All right. We'll move on to uh continuing with the fun stuff. We're going to get a school building report from Armor Elementary. So, Mr. Riddick, the floor is yours. >> Thank you. Good

006afternoon, everybody. Thanks for having us here today. [laughter] That seems way to my house. Oh, sorry. for the kids. Uh so before the kids get going here, I just going to talk for a second myself. Um this year like our building focus is uh been a bu building on the last three years of all the great things that our staff and our families and our kids have been doing here at Armor. Uh they've been off to a fantastic start. It's like we never left off. We came back in September and got right going with everything. Um, here's a picture of us at our playground, the brand brand new playground on the first day of school. Uh, the kids have been loving it, having a great time out there. It's amazing. Even on like days like

007today and yesterday when it was blustery, a little bit cold, uh, still so many kids out there playing and having fun. So, here's our building focus uh, in a nutshell. Uh, and it's really built off, like I said, last year. And we're like wanting to make sure that everyone feels welcomed, included. and we're celebrating everybody, having a good time with new experiences, promoting that individual growth, um, and just embracing our roles as learners and trying to push it on to like what it means once we move beyond Armor, once we move beyond Hamburg schools, like how does this impact our life and that's where my composting crew is going to come in in a second. So our success criteria that we have, we have four from this year and um it's all about persistence, responsibility,

008engaging in authentic problems like compost um and understanding the impact beyond the classroom. So you'll see a bunch of our composting crew is there. You'll see uh Mrs. Boozak with the fake worm and also with a bunch of real worms today um in the big bin next to her. So why don't I have my compost crew come up? I think this is the opportunity for you to come up while I show this little video of you in action uh from last week. [snorts] >> All right, we'll show [snorts] the video first here. Let the compost crew introduce themselves. So, this is a group effort by all of the fourth grade. They all have jobs and roles. You'll see there's 40 of them moving around the building all at once, uh, collecting, measuring, weighing the different

009waste, recording it on their charts. This is where the worms are. So, that's a little ta taste of them in action there. It's pretty impressive. >> All right, guys. Let's all turn the audience here. All right. Tacos composting the worm [laughter] and compost snack scraps that come from plates. We put centers onion in the tumbler but not the worm t. The worms break down food scraps and make nutrientri compost. The compost gives us nutrients to our school gardens. It's a natural fertilizer. Collecting composts help reduce food waste. So far, we've saved 68 pounds. We made jars of compost so you can make compost te. >> We would like you to meet our farmer words. [laughter] So, the kids made a little compost tea for all of you to take home and give it a try.

010There's a recipe on the side here. You want to go pass those around, honey? >> Does somebody want to explain what compost tea is so that nobody's like going up and drinking? [laughter] >> Thank you. Uh, you're just add water and wait for a few days and it will turn into like really good fertilizer for your plants. >> Thank you. >> So, yes, compost tea is for >> drinking for plant plant use only, not for [laughter] clarification. >> But I want to thank uh all the fourth graders who are, like I said before, really doing a great job. They're going around collecting the scraps. It's really quite the process. Mrs. Boozak and Mrs. Murphy have um a whole spreadsheet on the wall. They got everybody running to different parts of the building. They all their

011different rolls. They're collecting the buckets. They're rinsing them out. Keep the fruit flies down, Mr. Jordan. um getting the worms and composting outside um and then the worms when it gets chilly uh can come inside and stay inside their little house. So, thanks everybody. Great job. Thanks for coming outside. THANKS FOR [applause] UH, so while they're getting packed up, I do have just a couple other things I'm going to hit on some of the other success criteria we're doing. Oh, I forgot to thank Mrs. Miller, too. Trisha Miller's here. [applause] Uh, the kids have so much fun uh with all the the things that Mrs. Miller and everybody does in the garden. If you get a chance to see some of the videos that Mrs. Miller's made uh with kids for the announcements, uh they're

012fantastic and really funny. It's great to see the kids personalities come out. Um so, thank you. But moving on, um one of the other success criteria we have um is wanting to engage in honest and solution focused dialogue uh to meet the needs of our uh school community and our learners. On the left hand side, we have a new group of students um that are led by Mrs. Castilia and they work closely with uh Mrs. Londola from the high school. They're like a big brother big sister program. It's called our bulldog buddy scar and armor. We're trying it out this year. We had a meeting of them about a month ago where they came over. The older kids like volunteer to come over and play games with them, have fun, run around, have a little

013snack and just get some energy out. It was really wellreceived. Um the kids on the lefthand side are some of our recipients of our armored shoutouts this year. Uh last year we did a lot of uh kind of like a student of the month top dog program and only about 20 kids a month were recognized for their hard work, their character and all the things that they were doing in school. So this year we started to build on um doing shout outs individually for seeing things that happen on a daily basis recognizing the students uh the teachers uh their own staff staff and then kids write them to themselves or to each other um and then I come around to the classroom and present them. So you'll see some of our armor uh shout out

014recipients there on the right hand side and it allows us to reference rec recognize about 20 kids or more every single week versus when we were recognizing 20 kids uh every month. So it's really we still do the top dog and recognize those 20 kids but we also give an opportunity to recognize on a smaller scale. So the next is a video that uh Kayla helped me make last week. Um, I would say that it's bad acting, but it's really not. This is a pretty honest representation uh of what I look like um on a daily basis going around to the classrooms. Um, so hopefully Oh, >> sorry. I skip over. Oh, here it is. >> I want to share. First one, Julian. No way. [laughter] Julie has been doing a great job paying attention

015to class. Makes the classroom a positive environment. Goes out of his way to be a good friend. And this one is for helping others with their homework in order to help them better understand before they went home. Good job. All right. This one first sharing with a friend. [laughter] You got a shout out too for talking next to a friend when she was sad. I have a shout out for your birthday. Happy birthday. Sit with her so she didn't have to get along in music class. What a great friend. [clears throat] [applause] >> [applause] >> So, I'll have to work a baby on a delivery on some of those. [laughter] But I I really wanted everybody to get a taste of what it really looks like authentically in the classroom. Uh the one was in

016the cafeteria. You got 100 kids in here all talking. I come in, I'm like, I have a shout out. As soon as they see that piece of paper, everybody quieted down super quickly. Um they really enjoyed it. You can see the way they celebrated their friends. uh we do them for other staff members. I came into class the other day and was uh celebrating a teacher with one and uh putting it up. The kids have really found a lot of ownership in them, a lot of pride in them. And you see that some of them are for like something like helping a friend, some of them are just simply for helping a toy, but it's a level of recognition that that everybody's able to to get to. Um, and I think that this recognition like

017is not only like part of what we're doing as a bigger school picture, but it filters down into the classrooms where you're seeing the, you know, like third grade doing the Hall of Fame or their Walk of Fames, uh, the way that they're recognized kids calling out to parents. So, it's really great part of a bigger process of the way we recognize kids uh, from the top all the way down to the bottom. So, it's a great great program for them. Um, here's uh, Mrs. Messing's class the other day went around um for gratitude this month and they wrote letters to staff members who they were thankful for. Uh you'll see some people like Mrs. Anastasia, Mrs. O'Donnell, uh Mrs. Mills there. They former students that came back, talked about things that they remembered from

018when they were um in first grade and in kindergarten. Really a great way for them to authentically um voice their gratitude for teachers that they've had in the past. You'll see uh Scarlet and Marlo up in the back. Uh those are two students. They were the first two students this year to actually write a shout out to another student. Uh so I want to give them some recognition of like taking that ownership of this shout out beyond just my recognition. Um and then our last one, which I feel is one of our most important criteria, is making sure that parents and families feel welcomed and included in our building and that they belong here. And this really starts with our teachers and our staff. Baking is such a welcoming place. Uh families that have like

019lived here for generations and just love anytime that we open that door. I feel like people just like swarm in and we like almost have to like kick them out at the end of the night cuz they're having so much fun. Um you see our Halloween parade. There's some fifth graders. We're watching our kindergarten and first grade parade. Uh we have a dad and his son over there from the uh armor fun run where we did the colors this year. pumpkin palooa, all the car pumpkins they did. Uh, and then some fifth graders, fourth graders, sorry, packing up our um, food drive and we're wrapping up tomorrow. So, it's been a great opportunity this year. Um, and that's really all I have. I just wanted to like highlight some of the good things, uh, that

020everybody here is doing, uh, the kids, the staff. Um, and it's been great. I think we're off to an awesome start and I hope that, uh, year continues as great as it's been going. >> That's all I got. >> [applause] [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Red. And thank you to your students. If you guys want to file out, nobody would blame you. You're welcome to stay, of course. >> Zero judgment. >> Um, so next, I'm actually going to hand it back to Mr. Adams to introduce our next group. >> I've got my friends who I thought were going to go in December because I didn't wasn't wasn't paying attention during the agenda setting. So I want to introduce to everybody Bellica Parkco and Jenna Coloststik. They are representatives of our connect life club. Uh my

021first experience of the connect life club was that they sent out a seemingly very very gentle kind. Hey, you want to participate in a blood drive? And I said sure. And then I went to it and was like oh I haven't done this in a little while. So uh you helped me you helped me through it and the snacks at the end were great. Um but they're going to tell us a little bit about the blood drive and they're also going to tell us about a hygiene product drive that they're going to have too. Thanks ladies. >> All right. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Bella Park and I'm the president of life club. >> I'm Jenna and I'm the treasurer of the life club. >> We are so excited to share some great news

022from our first blood drive of the year. This past month, our club worked hard to promote the event through a spirit week and a hygiene drive to raise awareness. Thanks to everyone's generosity, we collected over 500 hygiene items which will go to individuals and families in need. I'd like to take a moment to congratulate Mrs. Stjack's home room. They donated over 50 items, which is really amazing. For the blood drive itself, we had more than 50 donors signed up and collected a total of 43 pints of blood. That means we helped save 129 lives. So, thank you to every single person who donated. A special shout out goes to Mrs. Fraser where nearly 40% of students donated. That's really incredible. If you donated at this drive, you'll be eligible to donate again on December 18th.

023Here's something a lot of people don't know. Anyone can donate at our school blood drives. You don't have to work there. Just stop by the main office. Let them know you're there for the blood drive and they'll direct you up to the library. Our [clears throat] next drive will be on March 20th from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. And a QR code for signs will be available at the beginning of March. >> If you're 16 years, if you're 16 years old, you need a permission slip signed by your parent form of ID. And if you're 17 or you just need your ID. >> Thank you again to everyone who donated and everyone who helped organize and promote the event. Your truly makes a difference. I hope to see you all in the next. [applause] >>

024So, thank you for that. Just to be clear, so outsiders can come. >> Yeah, anyone can come. >> Okay, great. I was going to go to the last one and like I wasn't sure. It was like the middle of the day, so I'm like, can visitors go in in the middle of the day? I didn't know. Thank you. Um, all right. Again, anyone who presents who would like to leave, no one, no judgment. You are free to go. Uh, next, I'm actually going to pass it to Colleen to introduce our next presentation. >> Sure. >> All right. Well, thanks for having us. Caitlyn and I are >> talk loud and stay right where you are. >> Not to use a microphone. it just >> um so um this evening Caitlyn and I put together um

025a presentation that will allow you to see a little bit into our prek to 5 um classrooms in the area of ELA. So in a perfect world we would just go and tour all the classrooms where we have wonderful staff and wonderful students working. But we know with time constraints that's not possible. So what we did today is we're bringing the classrooms to you. Um again we'd love to highlight every single classrooms. There's so much good happening in all of our buildings. Um but we did take some time so that you would get a visual. Um so the overview of the presentation this evening um we're going to talk a little bit about who we are as a district. We're going to talk a little bit about the board goals that we worked on over

026the summer. Um if you want to just go back in one second. Thanks. Um and then we're going to talk a little bit about what classrooms used to look like. Um if you can get your postit ready, we're going to have you do a little provisional writing. I'll have this be a little interactive. And then we're going to talk about the why we've changed a little bit in the classroom when it comes to ELA instruction. We're going to tell you exactly what we're doing here in Hamburg. Um again, we'll show you a visual representation through a video what some of our classrooms look like and then we'll certainly provide some evidence that will allow you to see how our students are growing and learning in the area of ELA. And that's again from preK to

027fifth grade. Um so with every presentation you saw it in Armor's presentation we always like to focus on our focus on our vision mission and core values. Um why all of them are important today we want to focus on uh the second dot point of core values where it says inspire the love of learning in every student. Um, and I don't want to give away the end name, but there'll be a picture at the end that I think you'll be able to connect back to the core values because that really is what drives our students and our staff know this and they make sure that our students um, every day find that love of learning and that joy in learning um, because that helps every student achieve. Um, and if we go to the next

028slide, if you remember at the board retreat, we worked on our board goal uh, which was to demonstrate the district's commitment to our mission to create, carousol, and discover. And some of the pieces that we talked about was exactly what Caitlyn and I are doing here today, which is to bring you some more detailed information that will allow you to understand what we're doing and our commitment to making sure all of our students meet that mission to create care and discover. Um, so today we'll give you a little insight into that. So this is your provisional writing. So this is something that we have our students do. Um, it's a good activity to kind of let students have their own time to process. Um, but we also use it with our adult learners. So, as

029Caitlyn and I present or any of our administrators or any of our teacher leaders present to adults, we also do this with adults. It's just a good kind of tool to use to help you process your thoughts. So, if at the board table, you could take that post-it note that's attached to your uh slide deck. And we just want you to take one minute and just do some dot points of what reading looked like when you were in school or if you want to think about if you have your own children, what it looked like when you were in elementary school. So, what are some things you remember when you were learning to read? Either you yourself or maybe if you want to think about your children, like what it looked like in elementary school

030in particular. I will just give you no pressure 30 seconds to write some points. >> I feel like I should play like the Jeopardy song or something [laughter] right now, but [clears throat] there's not going to be a quiz and you're not sharing. >> Do you need some help? >> I'm like, can I remember that part? Think about the environment. Think about activities maybe that you did. >> The red group, the yellow group, the green >> time a second. Give this processing time. It's really important for adult learners but also for our student learners. All right. So, finish up your last thought on your postit. We are not going to have you share just because of time, but it was um like I said, just a tool to kind of get you to think about

031maybe what you experienced or what your kids experienced because now I'm going to turn it over to Caitlyn who's going to talk a little bit about what reading did look like and what it's looking like now when you walk the halls of our school here in Hamburg. Um and I need to give a shout out to Caitlyn, but she's not going to enjoy me doing this, but um she has really been working hard to make sure that we as a district understand the science of reading and the shift and making people feel supported. Um, we were never doing anything wrong when we were teaching reading, but as we learn and we grow and we know more, it's up to us as educators to make sure we make that shift as well. And Caitlyn has been

032a huge champion for that. Um, and so I just want to give her the kudos that she deserves um, in leading that charge for the district as well. So, I will turn it over to Caitlyn to take you through some of the more detailed parts of our ELA program. All right. Um, so a few things just to think about. um what our literacy instruction used to look like versus what we see more of now in classrooms. Um back when we were under more of a balanced literacy framework in our district, we saw more of an emphasis on choice reading strategy use. Uh I'll get to the one in a second. Um now we see more explicit instruction in phonics, language, vocabulary, and comprehension. Um previously we did a lot of guided groups, reading level groups.

033So those red groups, yellow groups, blue groups, [clears throat] um the turtles, the tortoises, you know, rabbits. >> Yeah. Um now we see more skills based, small groups, um which is informed by the data that we are are collecting in our instruction. Um back then it was really more about students discovering patterns in reading. Um the more text we gave them, the more we hoped they would learn how to read it. um where now we are teaching patterns explicitly rather than just hoping that they're going to figure it out. Um reading taught as one act. Here's you know a text and we're going to teach it to you as one whole thing where now we really develop reading through interconnected strands which we'll take a look at. But really looking at word recognition and language

034comprehension is two separate skills that we have to develop in order to read. So why the shift? Um, and we went through this uh when we went through the adoption process. So, some of these things may look familiar, but we wanted to just kind of level set again since it's been a few years. Um, but as we were going through the adoption process, uh, some other things were happening simultaneously outside of happening nationally. And some of those things were reading proficiency data nationwide was declining. Um and at the same time research on how children learn to read and the need for more explicit and systematic instruction was finally reaching the field. So the people who were delivering the instruction were finally getting the information um that was really being kept more at the um the

035the college level and if you didn't pursue a degree in literacy education you were getting very minimal information on this um prior to just a few years ago. So, uh, nationally, I pulled up the NATE, um, a summary of the NATE results from 2024, which is the National Assessment on Educational Progress, right? Correct acronym. Um, for fourth grade, I pulled 2024 rather than 2022 when we really started this process, just so you can see what the most recent uh, data has showed. um scores uh below prepandemic levels in all test grades and subjects. Higher performing students are driving most of the progress made in 2024, but those gaps are continuing to grow between our high performing and low performing students. Uh reading scores are down nationally in fourth grade, and no state saw any reading

036gains compared to 2022. Um, and approximately 40% of fourth graders across the United States are below the NATE basic level, which really translates to they haven't mastered those foundational comprehension skills such as identifying the idea, summarizing the text, understanding character, or author's purpose, um, all of those skills. So, this was a lot of information to take in and we were also seeing locally that we were not making the progress that we should. Um so as we went through the process of of adopting we also dug into the research that was out there um to help inform the work that we were doing. One of those pieces um you see here it uh came out I want to say around 2020. Um and what this really shows you is that all students virtually all students have

037the ability to learn to read when they have the proper instruction and supports in place. only about 5% of students may have a cognitive disability or impairment that would prevent them from learning to read. So if we are uh using the correct resources and tools um to teach kids to read, most of our students should be able to to achieve that. The other piece is our rope, which is a model that kind of brings to life that last graphic that we saw. Um and this model shows that reading is not a single skill. It really is a rope woven from many strands that strengthen as they come together. Our instructional materials that were adopted in 2022 um build every strand from phmic awareness and decoding to vocabulary, background knowledge and comprehension. Um with that research

038foundation in 22 uh the board of education adopted evidence-based programs and supported professional learning that brought these students to life in our classrooms. So what do we use? Um we use two programs. Um in grades K through two we utilize uh CLA or I'm sorry K through three we use Amplify CLA and then in grades four and five we use in we also have a number of supplemental resources um intervention programs and [clears throat] u resources that students can use to practice and we're going to highlight just two of them uh real quick. >> [snorts] >> So, I'm guessing that probably sounds different. than what you recall [laughter] uh either learning yourself. Um that comes from secret stories and really highlights just knowing letter names isn't enough. Students really need to know what the sounds

039are so that when they're reading and encountering those letters, they know what what sounds they make. Um the other one we have is we will write and uh in our next video we'll actually see a little bit more of this. Um but this is a gamified writing experience for our students. Um it is brand new this year um in most of our classrooms. We had a few teachers try it out last year. It's a pretty new program that's out there um in existence. Uh but what it does is it creates uh teams. Students get a prompt and the more they write uh the better usually it is. Um but then students get to vote on which pieces they feel answer the prompt best and they do a whole thing in the class. We'll see a

040little bit of it in a minute. Um, but kids are like clamoring for more of this. It's getting them excited about reading. In one of the clips, and I don't remember if it made it in our total video. See, um, a student was saying that they wanted to take their paragraph that they wrote and go write in a Google doc to expand on the writing. So, it's also encouraging that love of love of writing that some of our students struggle struggle to find. So all of these resources between our core instruction and those uh supplemental pieces when we put these tools together alongside the expertise of our teachers we see instruction that is systematic, responsive and engaging. The next slide we're going to watch a quick video. I did speed it up a little bit

041so if someone will obby paced so that it fit in a short period of time. Um but we're going to look at what instruction looks like in a very small snippet. um in our free classrooms. >> They sound a lot like they sound like Everybody [snorts] tell me why have two letters. Okay. H sound. Sound [clears throat] only one Say tree. Let's do it one more time. treat yourself. I would like to use my writing. Take a word or two out there and change it. We're going to meet a person that studies animal hunting for frogs. Frogs are really good at hiding. Frogs are really good at this practice in the future. [clears throat] What color is anime green to a yellowish sometimes notific Yeah. There can be more than one theme in the story.

042Right. And this reminds us of the question we ask ourselves to help figure out. So what is author? >> Good job describing their head. It sure is a beautiful day. All right, everybody. dialogue after a human maybe a turkey. I don't know. You're going to see So we are very early in our implementation. We are just starting year three of full adoption across uh grades 8 through five with surveilling and into reading. Uh but our teachers are deeply committed to ensuring that every student becomes a confident reader. Our work reflects mission. Students are creating understanding, solving through literacy, caring about their growth, and discovering the joy of reading. Um and up till now you've seen what literacy looks like in our classrooms, how students experience reading, writing, speaking, and listening. at least a small snapshot

043of it. Um, but we want to show you what those experiences produce. The data you're about to see spans several years. Um, and it represents just a part of our story of the instructional work that our teachers are doing. From our early literacy in grades preK through two to reading development in grades three through five. Taken together, these measures help us understand how well we're building the foundation, how well our students are progressing, and how prepared they are for the demands of grade level reading. As we walk through these graphs on the next couple pages, we're looking not just at the numbers, but at the impact, where shifts are taking pulled, where we see meaningful growth, and where we have work ahead. This evidences uh that our efforts matter, and that it guides us in

044our next steps. So, at the top of your graph, you will see the fall of 2022, which is when we started um this process with a few of our classrooms uh piloting different programs. And at the bottom you'll see the fall of 2025 for our K through2 early literacy screener. Um this is what a universal screener we use in all of our K to2 classrooms. Um so there you see growth over those years in grades 1 through five. We use star reading. Um again fall 2022 is at the top before we were fully implementing any of these changes with fall of 2025. uh was just given the first couple weeks of school and then >> this is like astounding. >> That's great. >> So am I am I understanding these numbers right? Can you like

045so three years ago we've improved whatever that is 18% more of our students are reading >> at the highest level now than three years. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Right. That feels like that's remarkable. Like I would >> Okay, go ahead. >> What we're what we are doing we are seeing is working and this is just one measure to show that there are many others that we use on a daily basis. Um but something that we know is consistent across our buildings when it comes to assessments. This is something we can can look at and and see that growth. Um, the other piece that I included here is our New York State 3 through5 ELA data, which we will take this with a grain of salt. Not every kid takes it, but this was given

046in the spring. Um, but I did pull our spring of 22 data through the spring of 2025 data. Um, and even with this, we've seen significant growth um, over that time period. Um it has been a 40% gain since 2022 in our students who score at a level three or four which is considered proficient by New York State. All right. So our closing connection here um we wanted to to leave you with a graphic of just what reading looks like in some of our classrooms. What you've seen tonight is more than just a curriculum shift. It really is a cultural shift for us. Our classrooms today reflect the best of what research tells us about how children learn while staying true to who we are as a district that values curiosity, connection, and care. This

047is what it looks like when we live our mission of educating modern thinkers who create care, solve, and discover. Um, and with that, we would like to close by expressing our appreciation to the board of education. On behalf of the curriculum department, our dedicated three teachers, specialists, and support staff who bring this work to life every day. We thank you for your continued support, and we are grateful for your partnership and investment in this program. >> Thank you. [applause] I just want to thank the you know this is uh this is what happens when uh like the the work that you saw is something that goes well beyond just one person certainly you saw the the the practitioners in the classroom and Colleen is totally right she instead of going to the classroom they brought

048the classrooms to us tonight and that was just a very real look at what happens there but I want uh thank Colleen immensely for her leadership on that. I talked to her uh about the idea of a of an idea for a presentation. Uh and this my my my thought was can you talk to us about reading a little bit? And uh and this is what it what it turned into. And uh and that's her her you know amazing collaboration with with with Caitlyn the work that she did and then uh Cayla with documenting it and uh and then and then all the classrooms that were opened up. Uh then she shows the comfort level too. You're not always going to get that of like the level of comfort that our staff has uh when

049folks are coming in with a camera or some folks coming in uh who who work at district office. That's what you're that's what you're seeing with it. So I just like super super amazed by by it all and and sort of like one of those not surprised but still amazed. It's a it's a nice feeling. >> Yeah. I mean, that must be so incredibly validating to see those numbers like that because it's not just a small increase that you can explain away by the by the demographics of the kids or I mean it's a stark improvement. >> Absolutely. >> Well, thank you. Any other comments on that before we >> the smiles like that that it would it's not just about you know the scores and the data but seeing the kids look like they're

050really enjoying what they're doing and not just at desks and you know engaged and older and younger kids that one slide really resonated with me. >> Okay, thank you again. Um so now I believe I'm passing it to Sean for capital project update. Thanks. >> All right, everybody. Um, before I get into what those pictures are, just wanted to again use the report that's in front of you to kind of run down a little narrative of, you know, where we were, where we are, and where we're going because essentially we're getting really close to wrapping up phase two uh at the high school specifically. Um, looking at the schedule stuff, we see that it's largely complete. We're really just finishing work in the weather room. It's a matter of work. So, [clears throat] not too

051much has changed fiscally, honestly. The last report we had for phase 2 committed costs was just under the $29 million mark. It was now we at about 29 just under 29.1 million. I bring that up because uh our change management tonight obviously we're asking for a lot of change approvals tonight in total a little bit over $400,000 that kind of represents a closure of phase two there's a lot of things that we carried through our contractors to the end we negotiate old credits and kind of at the end you see these big slugs that were around for phase one it was similar where a lot of close out happened that last month [clears throat] we've seen so many of them this month because we are trying to physically close the project out right now cost

052reports done phase two which is advantageous to submit those state this year wasn't easy it was a lot of work we got there so looking at some of these pictures quick changes if you're wondering yourself what the heck is going on in there that's that's your go high school and that one change that's the plumbing contract of $170,000 we're asking for approval it's this work that's ongoing Essentially what we're doing there is typically when you're doing rooms you may just add new floor drains right to take off sanitary drainage run through old pipes that exist under the floors there. We came to find out the project that the pipes we were going to utilize to to establish drainage were pretty much compromised original pipes from the 50s when the building was built. So we decided

053to kind of go all in and give you a whole new sanitary drain system to really protect your investment of millions of dollars of equipment down there. A lot of groundwater infiltration down there. So we're basically solving two problems at once and subcontractors are down. right under the slab to dig in all new pipes down new pumps you have really investment investment to protections down there that's one of the major changes in those pictures the rest are really just a culmination of a lot of other work we added on decided to do now the contractor again is that the phase is going to end up around 29 >> I guess just to comment the um the column is that the right was 56,000 right so that what we consider project so a few months ago

054was actually early July when we discovered demolish those foundations completely compromised that room. So we had to stop short roof up, cut it out, take out the foundation foundation, new steel column, rein it, close the floor back up and start where we thought we next day. work an effort to save the schedule of all that work,000 to the general contract pulled that off in about 9 days of how long it took to do all that. I mean, that's I recognize that's a lot of money, but also it's less than I I would have guessed given the the panic that that incited and the importance of that structure. So, >> came in less than we thought that went. [snorts] >> Yeah. >> What we ran into. Um if nobody has questions about the change or I

055was just going to also run down use report to contextualize phase four which is where [clears throat] big project school um you'll see we've been tracking kind of a total budget maximum for that phase current 21.23 two or three billion have to report at this point is summed up to $13.4 million roughly. We're projecting 14.5. So we got a really good million project. What that allowed us to do is have a bunch of alternate scopes. You'll see that brought the total data floors, stair hallways are being reconstructed pleasant side. We're doing a lot of the roofs and we're getting 125. >> That's such great new. Like what do you think's driving that? Like it's a stark difference from the the story we were getting even a year and a half ago. >> So there's it's

056scope specific, but like roofing we're seeing huge bust for work. There's not a ton out there. So all the schools are coming under budget on roofing. Likewise, the site works small smaller than this. Um, our estimates were really solid on GC numbers task. I think it's just a the stadium starting people are looking forward. >> Yeah. >> The next summer 26 and especially 27 and realizing they're looking for work coming aggressively numbers. It's a big big part of that. It's very favorable. Uh, basically those are the five open bid contracts that are approved tonight. Next month we'll be contracting. Does anybody have questions about those? All right. So, just running through the usual pictures here. Um, again, this is room the high school just ongoing work right now to update the sanitary system. This will

057be done in about a week to two weeks and it'll look more like this which is the pump room next door that is kind of coming together and finishing cleaning up. Once we are done with that sand, we're in the boiler room. All of these spaces are getting epoxy flooring done as well as as a changed really give you a nice clean finished product to keep it floors clean, water running to all the new drains. Picture on the bottom right is the last one I was going to point out. That is actually where chimney was in that bother. You're calling a decision to take it down the rest of the way. have the opportunity to potentially expand storage. This is kind of the second level catwalk that space. [clears throat] Took the chimney down, found

058there was actually no wall behind it. So had to rebuild a rated wall there and that cost is actually something that 56,000 platform will be built there for district. Schedule wise phase two nothing new. We're basically fiscally closed out the end of November. Uh final cost report will be in by the end of the year. Phase three, same thing. Pretty much all closed out there. Final cost reports going in. that period C construction had to start one see auditori for the most part. Lastly, nothing's changed here. This is a next project October 27. >> Yeah. I just wanted to share with the board. I'll be sending out uh the building condition survey to board members after this meeting. Okay. the facilities committee got to look at it today during that meeting and I'll share it

059with the rest of the board. >> That's a tip towards this next. >> Thank you. >> What a great update. Things are getting cheaper. We can do more. That's right. >> You guys have to stay actually. >> Thank you. >> Bye. Have a good night. >> Okay, moving to our information items. As he's walking out the door, I just want to acknowledge Dave Lowry. Thank you for coming. Dave Lowry is the director of the ECASP. Is that the right title? Thanks for coming, Dave. Your dedication to your communities is not is not overlooked. >> Uh just in time there. I should have put him earlier on the agenda. Um board briefings. Uh that was just uh the draft notes from our last meeting. Uh items for information only. Sorry, I lost my spot and my

060Wi-Fi here. I don't believe there was anything in there. >> Um future board of education meeting. So we have uh you know obviously a December and January meeting. And we also have in there uh Ashley and I primarily Ashley set up the um building visit which is the steam day at Charlotte which is going to be super fun. Uh we're going to I think participate right in the the opening ceremonies and everything. Right. So hope everybody can do that. I believe it's 9:30 on [cough] [clears throat] Monday the 24th which is you guys locked at 9:25. Yeah. That's probably to ensure the 9:30 right [laughter] idea. um meetings and workshops. There was the NISBA stuff slows down a bit, but there was something in here. Somebody helped me out. I lost my Wi-Fi. Is there

061any? >> Yeah. So, you got the lunchtime webinar for NISSBA. >> Oh, that's Friday. I'm going to be on that. That's the local government. How could schools and governments work together? [snorts] >> Um and then their online um criteria is still there. We have some budget transfers. These areformational budget transfers. and then uh board committee and individual reports. Uh so we will start with our student rep Max Max. Max, tell us what is going on in the schools. So we just had a huge me meeting that we didn't get to finish. So we're going to finish that this Thursday. Um but so we have threaded together which is um next year and uh we're planning on shooting it on January 31st. >> Okay. [snorts] >> Next year as in 2026, not the next school year.

062>> Figure. Yeah. >> So that's going to be ran similar to next year. Um it's going to be 9 to3 at the high school cafeteria. Emma Ruth is um spearheading it and working with Trisha Miller um for farm to table. So they're going to be um selling um healthy snacks for people there. Last year we did food trucks, so this year we're doing healthy snacks. And PTSA is going to help us collect clothing u from the elementary [snorts] schools in the district. Um and that's going to start the week of January 19th. So, I know that I think 19th is MLK day. >> So, we know that. Um, and then Emma just has to reach out to the principles about the collection boxes and then we should be in good spot for that. So, in

063the meeting, um, we voted and we plan on sponsoring five families for the Thanksgiving drive, which that's $500. Um, so last year we took away the kindness tree that we had, which was um a thing that um it was uh it was a tree that was themed for like um seasons and stuff like that. And students would put like, you know, words of kindness or phrases and stuff like that. and we took that down because it wasn't getting enough involvement. But Grace Tomzac is bringing that back. She's taking that on as a solo project and she's going to be working with Miss Sjack to get that back up. Um along with Thread Together, we have Ball for Bucks. Um we're just getting started uh with thinking about that. Um but the junior class wants to

064um do chevetas the same day as golf for bucks. >> Probably a good idea. >> Yeah. >> Um and then we're planning um the spirit week for December Christmas. Um we're going to finalize that in the meeting on Thursday. And then we're also voting between deck the halls and deck the doors which we have a lot of teachers um asking about that. >> And then um [laughter] um there's interest in bringing back um powderpuff. Everybody know what that is? >> Yeah. Um >> you could explain it though just in case somebody's afraid to say no. So powderpuff is basically instead of um cheerleaders cheering for like football team and stuff like that, it's the guys cheering for the cheerleaders. And um I believe uh Jacob Kirchberger brought that up and is going to try to

065get that running maybe later. >> So thank you. That's all I got. >> Okay, >> thanks Max. >> Thank you. >> First one without a soccer game. All right. >> What's your sport now? >> I take the winter off, but I got track in the spring. >> All right. >> Good luck. Enjoy the break. >> Yes, >> Ashley. >> All right. Uh, since we last met, I was able to go to the Rick Tims dinner. >> Oh, yes. >> Dave's not here for me to give him my personal feedback on that. Um, was delightful. It gives us a lot to think about moving forward. There was a broad range of topics that he discussed. Um >> bit of a sky is falling though, isn't it? >> Yeah. No, [laughter] a little bit. But you gota

066you got to reframe the thinking on that and think about what can we do like of all the of all the things they present you with like what what can we address and are we making the baby steps towards the big things because if you look at just the big things the sky is falling things like I mean it seems overwhelming but he did take the time to kind of break it down like into smaller pieces including things about electric busing and Mary's not here to talk about that either. Um so maybe we'll table that for another time. Uh we also got to I know it wasn't just me but I got to attend the career fair at the middle school which was absolutely delightful. Um so glad we do that. So nice to see

067the community members there. Uh shout out to Boseies who brings like former students um to talk about I think it was the welding program whoever else was there. But to see our our Hamburg students talking to the Hamburg students like the connections there were just super valuable. I mean, they loved everybody, but I liked particularly seeing that, seeing them really engaging that way. Um, and just everybody else was in the community in there. It was delightful. Again, super glad we can offer that. Um, we have our building visit coming up. We already talked about that. Finance committee meets later this week. And I didn't make PTSA or the ECASB event. However, I know Jess was there. I think Clara was at least one of those. Maybe ECASB. Dave said you were gonna go. Sorry. I

068was trying to try to give credit to you. I was not there. Um, but yes, Jess was there, so she will update us on that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh, Laura, I'll go last. >> Okay. Um, we had a fruitful facilities meeting right before this. I think you just saw um that presentation we had. And then, um, I went to yesterday to the high school to see I never know if I'm saying his last name right, Ross Sable. um speak about um mental health and it just we had um seventh, 8th, 9th and 10th all at the high school. Um it was so powerful and I was thinking about it um last night and relating it to some of the kids that I work with um at Global Concepts. And one of

069the things that he said that was so powerful I I think I you and I had a moment there because it was pretty emotional. he you can bring in all the speakers that you want to talk about bullying um or addiction or any of those things, but when students hear it from a peer, it makes all the difference. And I think that that's what catapulted him to what he does now was by saying, you know, I'll share my own mental health crisis with my peers, with my classmates, and maybe then they'll recognize um what they can do to support others. So, um I just thought it was incredible. I had missed him last time he came around. So, I was so uh thankful that I got to be there yesterday. Um and I'm looking forward

070to our um board visit on Monday at Charlotte Avenue. Um was just at the facility meeting. Um it's very good. Uh a lot of stuff we'll be going more into detail with uh as far as the building condition. uh as uh our partners said, we'll be approving some of the LS, which is nice that they all came in below estimates for the most part, which allows us to do a bunch of alternate work uh in Union Pleasant. So, a lot of stuff we were hoping to get done, we will get done um and start um the groundwork on the next capital project, which is which is exciting. Um, I love the fact and we've been doing this now. We've used Turner in this group. This is the second capital project that we've used uh Turner

071on. Uh, first one was the main project and that part of that was uh the libraries, both middle school and high school. Um, that was kind of our try it on period for Turner um to see if we wanted to use them for this bigger project. Um, what I love seeing is that they're learning from the mistakes that they made or things that they can do better. Um, I think what we're going to end up putting together is a much better long range plan. Uh, that's uh guided in what our older buildings need. uh as well as working with um the staff administrators staff in buildings as to what they need in the individual buildings. So I think that that's uh I was excited to see what what what it is and I think uh

072that was really positive. >> Good. >> Uh we had an AF meeting. Cam and I had an AF meeting. Uh probably the biggest thing um that we're working on uh I don't know if it's the biggest thing but the thing that'll be probably most visible um in the business wing we are going to work on putting in a stock ticker and a finance slab um to augment what we already do there. Bring a little bit more attention to uh personal finance. Uh that also kind of coincides with what uh New York State's looking for as far as personal finance requirements. Uh so it pushes that agenda forward. Um so that's all good. Um one thing I wanted to say is we got to the end of uh our election cycle. Um to remind everyone to

073be very thoughtful of how we portray ourselves if we decide to support particular candidates. Um we're all allowed to do whatever we want to do. Uh but keep in mind if you speak at the comm when you speak in a community event, when you're at a community event, uh when you're in one of our buildings, you are a board member. You're always a board member. So if you put something out, it for a candidate, it appears that what people can imply is that the board supports that candidate. The board does not support candidates. We don't endorse anyone. We are an a-olitical group. So, I just want to get that off my chest because I saw it. It really bothered me. >> I appreciate you um bringing that up because I do think it's important that

074the board represent themselves in a positive light in the community and I believe we've all done that. So, bravo to everybody. Nobody I don't think has done anything out of line that would need to be spoken about, but I appreciate you addressing it here tonight. Um I've had a very busy month that I would love to talk about that's focused on our students. Um, I did also attend Rick Tins and the career fair. It was wonderful. Um, I was at PTSA last night. Our buildings and the leaders of those buildings are doing incredible things each and every day. Um, our elementary buildings with their fun runs, book fairs, um, spelling bees. They are into musicals and mini grants. Uh, we were there for about three and a half hours last night just talking about all

075the amazing things that are happening. um around our district and in these buildings and it's possible because of the volunteers who give their time and their efforts and their energy on behalf of our students and our staff. So very much appreciated. Um rolling with that, I think sometimes people think PTSA or PTA is just fundraisers, bake sales, um and it's so much more. and that was on full display at the New York State PTSA uh convention. I believe it was last weekend. Um but our Western Region PTA, they put forth a resolution to um everyone at the convention for voting regarding literacy for all, which is focused on supporting our student population that um is dealing with dyslexia. Um that resolution passed with unanimous support. So now New York State PTA is going to be

076putting a lot of their advocacy efforts into supporting dyslexia um programming that we can put into place in our schools um and just really putting a focus on the fact that um while children may learn differently, we need to adapt to their needs. So that's just a spotlight on what PTA does beyond what we do at a district level. Uh I want to talk about I went to the Claris track events. I was here um Saturday night when Kentucky came in and met with the kids. That was honestly one of the best experiences I've had with some of the kids in our community. [clears throat] I have a daughter that plays basketball and a bunch of her teammates were there and to see these girls get excited because that somebody looks like them and wore

077that same uniform is doing big things. um these girls are dreaming and it's incredible to see and it's not just our girls but I think sometimes we need to highlight these achievements because um we've always seen the boys have great achievements. So to have one of our Hamburg graduates on this big stage and making a big impact it was so great for those kids um and myself um to get to see that. We also went to the game at UB with a bunch of those uh basketball modified and JV girls um which was so great. they were dominant and um she was excited to have some hometown support getting us into uh the game and cheering for her. So um thank you to everyone who put that together because I think that came together pretty

078quickly but it was executed flawlessly. So that's amazing. Um I did make it to the ECASB legislative dessert forum. Mary and I were there. Mary and I, we are really focused on uh putting Hamburg on the map in terms of advocacy and uh wanting to make sure that we are speaking with our representatives so they can understand what we need uh at a school level, district level, where the gaps are and what we need them to support so that we can do better for our students. Um we got a chance to talk to John Rivera and somebody from uh DPHRO's office. They were very receptive to a lot of the things we said and it was just nice to talk to other school board members who share similar concerns and are dealing with similar issues

079uh even though they are not in the south towns, north towns, all over. So, it's nice to get in front of our lawmakers and let them know what our concerns are and where we need support so that they can advocate for us um in Albany. Um let's see, what else did I do? Oh, um uh music boosters. Um Dave's not here to talk about it, which I'm I told Dave I would take care of it. Um music boosters, they had their faculty concert. It was absolutely incredible. Um I was there. I um it's incredible to me because our kids come home and they talk about these people that they, you know, spend their time with their teachers in this classroom and they tell us all these amazing stories. So we know how incredible they are

080just based on the feedback. But to go to this concert and to see our staff members out there really just living out what they love and sharing their passion and their talents with us. It was incredibly special. Um it was so great to see so many groups of kids, which I'm like, where are your parents? But they just wanted to come. They wanted to see their teachers. They wanted to be a part of that. I was blown away by the talent that we have. I know they're amazing, but to see them, they worked hard. They rehearsed. and to get on that stage, it was so exciting. Um, Mr. Adams in his denim vest, that was the talk of the town. Um, and I actually do have an update. Our music boosters crew is not able

081to be here tonight, but um they said the Hamburg school music boosters are unable to be here tonight as they are over at the high school coral concert, but they wanted me to share that they are so appreciative of the overwhelming support from the staff, administration, board, and the community of the first annual faculty and staff showcase last week. They want to remind you to please stop by their boosters table at the concerts over the next month to say hello and learn about ways to support them, including the opportunity to win a Pegasus gift card by helping us to grant music classroom wishes for items such as a boom whacker stand, reads, bows, buddies, and more. Um, so that was just amazing. I hope they do plenty more of those because that was something I

082want I want to enjoy again. That's it. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, so to close it out, uh, myself was a lot of my items have been well covered. Building visit Monday facilities meeting was was very very interesting. I, uh, really appreciated being a part of that for the first time. Um, Ross Zabbo, um, you know, my I attended and and my my kids were also in the in the group that attended. So it was um it it was it was very powerful to see them to to discuss with them after and hear their reactions cuz it was sort of silly at times and the kids got got a little boisterous and I wasn't really sure whether it had all sort of clicked and then to hear my my own kids sort of

083um I guess relate what he said to their own experiences uh you know made me sort of realize that it was was definitely a good a good spend of our time and our resources to bring someone like that in and if one kid who's feeling a certain way reacts appropriately now because of that then I mean it's certainly worth the investment. Um the IDA uh so the IDA has had a bit of turnover recently on some members um and with the new town board that will likely continue. I think my standing is is probably fine as the representative of Hamburg schools. Um but um I've been taking on a little bit more responsibility there as a result of that. Um but really nothing major from a project perspective going on. Um just letting the board

084know of my increasing responsibilities there. Um AOF Tom covered that. We had a great meeting with our new sophomore class on my committee. We're actually planning the scholarship this year and the graduation. So, uh, that's exciting. And then, um, a couple updates for the board. Uh, we've been working on Mary and Laura and I had a couple, um, meetings over the, uh, superintendent evaluation. So, we know that that process last year was a little bit cumbersome. So, we've been trying to pair that back. I've been working with Super Eval, the company. Turns out we have a little less flexibility in customizing that than maybe I had had thought or hoped. So, we're trying to work within the capabilities of the system there. Um, and we'll uh get a an evaluation out to the to the

085board shortly after, you know, the subcommittee sort of figures it out and we work it out with Mr. Adams as we are contractually obligated to work it out with Mr. Adams before we we agree on it. Um, to that end, uh, we'll be planning a mid-year retreat. We did discuss having a mid-year retreat at the summer retreat. Um, so I'll be working with Brandy to solicit some feedback as to appropriate topics there and availability on dates. So stay tuned there. Um, with respect to that, I I don't think we need to do the whole 8 hour uh, deal again where we go somewhere else. We'll try to do this one a little more on the cheap and and um, and at a much shorter amount of time. Um, but I still think it's worthwhile to

086have that. Um, if anybody disagrees, feel free to let me know privately if that's how you feel. Um, and then I did want to highlight um the former director of uh a number of things. Linda Hoffman passed away last summer. Um, and there is a service for her uh this Friday, I believe, the 29. No, next Friday, I guess that would be. Um, so they I just wanted to highlight for for the board. I I think it's more of a fun event um because it's been a while since her passing, but um she was a she was a good asset to the school community and and uh you know took a keen interest in us at different points over the years. So anybody had hadn't noticed that I wanted to highlight that as well. So

087that's it uh as far as um committee reports. I will pass it one more time to Mr. Adams for superintendent reports. >> Sure. Thank Thank you everybody. Thanks for uh Max. Great great update. Pretty good. But uh good good to hear from you again. It's been been a little bit since uh you've been able to join us at the table. So we're thankful and Christian did a really nice job uh in yourstead. So just so you know, you're working super well together. I I want to um point out my mine will be a bit on the repetitive side as well because you've covered a lot of a lot of great things, but um there there are pockets of of greatness that I'm able to see each and every day. uh you know the the um

088the career fair being one that I was going to highlight the uh the music uh showcase another one that uh the the faculty showcase uh but the Ross Davo event for the seventh through 10th graders uh Cam was a was a big part of making sure that that could happen here. Colleen was a big part of making that happen here because she was part of the group who facilitated him speaking today at uh um at the smart youth mental health summit which was uh really really well represented by Hamburg folks and has its origin story um with Hamburg also that youth mental health component I mean this is like the uh we've got a lot of calling cards we got a lot of things that we can take pride in that we're part of but

089uh that is uh that is something that we can all at the end of the day agree on about the the value of that youth mental health focus and that was on full display today. Uh Ross will be the keynote speaker for that. Uh Kayla Deleó uh received an award what they call an impact award for uh for her role uh in in creating some just wonderful things like about reducing the stigma of uh of mental health and that's really the basis of it's foundational to to what to what to what we do. Uh it that strong foundation I think really is can be seen in the presentations that we've been having. Uh, and I know that was that was something that was sort of near and dear to the heart of the board and

090certainly Cam and his leadership with the idea of presenting sharing the work that goes on here. And we had our our connect life folks of course and uh, you know, one of our goals is about uh, capital is about facilities and capital project presentations like that that shows your commitment to it and I think uh, hearing from them lives up to that. but also with uh with with Colleen's leadership and along with with with Caitlyn um the report on reading and getting um getting the story. It's it's neat when you can get the qualitative and quantitative view of things sometimes. It doesn't always work out like that in education for that. That was an an awfully special thing to see tonight. So, I want to thank everybody who's involved in making that happen. Uh I

091want to highlight the fact that um that something that you as a board put in place and approved us having uh the Sandy Hook Promise uh program which is that anonymous reporting system um that's now been our students in grades 4 through 12 now been trained in that and that's been rolled out and like with anything that we that is is implemented you have an implementation dip like sometimes things don't work exactly as you want it but we've found um that our our really our endusers of that um program are are finding the folks to work with with Sandy Hook to be uh eminently flexible with that. And uh we've had some recent experiences where um our our village PD and our town PD have been able to work alongside them too. And that's uh

092um when I say partnership, just for partnership sake, um it really it really does it really does happen. Uh Jess had mentioned uh PTSA. I brought their agenda. Um and uh to say that I left after two hours and I and I made it just over 50% of the meeting was leaves me a little bit embarrassed on that. But uh it was uh it is fruitful dialogue though. It's people who love uh certainly they love their kids, they love their schools and they love to talk about what can be done to make their kids experiences better. And like that's our that's our vision. That's our create care, solve and discover. they're caring enough uh to have to have different ideas about about uh about about the work um that happens here and I just want

093to thank them uh for that one thing that we had uh what I think is pretty candid conversations about it was uh I sort of led through a bunch of dot points that I had but then I got to transportation uh and transportation has been something that's been on the minds of lots of folks and uh my review of of where we're at currently with transportation is something that I can share with you uh as well I think merits that. Um, recently we've had meetings with um with leadership at Fiser at Landmark who is the the owner of of Fiser Bus. Uh, and we had some specific areas where improvements needed to be made uh where communication uh needed to increase and they were responsive to that. Now, it's going to take some diligence. Uh,

094it's going to take that implementation and realize that just because you have a conversation doesn't fix everything overnight. Um, I believe that their their efforts are in are in good faith and it's my job to try to make sure that we're keeping up with that and making that good communication with them. Christine's done a great job with that as well u on her side of things. Just so for a couple updates, there's going to be uh training that they'll have with regard to the app, the myide K12 app, so um we can have a better experience for the folks who are using that app at home. Uh and um we're sort of in the beginnings of uh providing information for what will become sort of like the start of our roadmap to electrification. That's something

095that a lot of school districts have done. It's something that we have to pursue in terms of getting that interest regardless of where this law goes with regards to zero emissions busing. We have to start taking some steps to know whether or not uh to the FISER needs to start taking some steps to know whether that what what needs to be done to make that feasible and we need to provide some information for that as well. So that Christine just shared with me some information that uh u that she's having with Moses and with Fischer about that today. So uh I just want to encourage you to know that that's that's something that's more than just a discussion point um right now. Again, it's not going to be an overnight type of thing. Uh and

096we know that uh that that laws can change over over time as well. But uh um I just want to u make sure that people are aware of of that. If there are folks who are if you're seeing folks who are having troubles with transportation, if you're getting that on your end, encourage them to make calls to Fiser andor the business office for Christine and if that's uh and uh and I'm also available via via email for that as well. Um and I'd encourage the the public to know that too. Um that idea that came out of like and I'll close with with this part of it, but uh the idea that came out of Rosel sharing your story um that really is the heart. We we can have we can have questions, disagreements about

097all sorts of things and we do in a in a in a community like like like with any community, but u the idea that we're sharing each other's sharing our stories with other people and we're not feeling alone out there is super key and that for our kids to have a thousand kids walk out of that auditorium yesterday knowing that uh I think that was as you said a good investment uh good invest in time and resources. So um thank you for that. What is the with respect to transportation? I mean, obviously we've heard it a little bit at these meetings about that like how do we >> how are we doing? >> Uh I think it's a it's it's it's almost it's got a situational feel to it. There's some there's some uh there's

098some situations that I would say are acute in terms of our focus on them right now. that's um that's just requiring daily communication on it just to and right now it's more of a let's make sure that what started to improve is continuing to improve. But it's a but it's also it's it's it's a lot of thinking on your feet in terms of what they're doing at uh at at Fiser and what we're doing on our on our end as well. when we hear about something, we want to be able to act on it quickly in a in a uh um in an in a in an in an urgent sort of manner. Uh like this is not something to uh get back to people on in a couple days time. like this is this

099is stuff to to like this has become a point of emphasis daily for for folks in our offices and and folks at the at the building levels and and and Fischer as well because it's a daily point of emphasis for our families too >> of course >> and our families who've reached out to me they've been immensely gracious with me they've been absolutely wonderful so I don't want anybody to feel like they are bothering me by those types of conversations I need to hear that and we need to try to do what we can to help us become great partners with Fiser. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. >> Thank you. >> Let's with that, let's jump into the action items. [clears throat] So, we'll move to uh items F and

100G. At this time, any board member can make a request to withdraw a specific item from the consent agenda for individual consideration. Is there any such request? Can we pull out G5, the budget transfers? >> Yeah, I was going to suggest the same. >> So, with that set, I will look for a motion. We'll do that one after the consent, Jess. So, >> okay. >> Uh, I will look for a motion to approve all consent items F2 through G4. >> So, move by Laura. >> Second by Ashley. All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion passes. So now I will look for uh approval of item G7 budget transfers or a motion rather for item G7. >> So moved by Tom >> second by Laura. So now any discussion on that? >> I had uh a

101question. So a lot um a lot if not all of these were related to transportation. Um, and I know it was in anticipation of the increased cost, but were there any specific items that are in there that we've already that are not transportation related or that we paid for regarding transportation that we weren't anticipating? Well, the in terms of and I'll answer Christine. Certainly, you welcome to to to jump in, but here's my my initial on that is that we adopted a budget >> uh at this table prior to the knowledge that they weren't going to renew a CPI. >> So, the RFP comes out and we've already budgeted, you know, we put a we put a decent percentage increase in, but we didn't put the 20% increase in. So, what it amounted to is

102like on the very just for starters, we were in about an $800,000 difference between what we budgeted and what the contract was uh for that to fulfill that R that that that RFP. So, this if I and as I took a look at the budget transfers, it amounted to somewhere in the neighborhood just north of that $800,000 um with that. So, it's the idea of rather than having this hang out in another budget line for the a good portion of the school year, it's make those transfers now so we know we have that set to be able to pay that transportation. And I know that, you know, you take a look at a an attachment and it has that size of figures. Yeah. And it's somewhat like it's a it's it's it's sort of jaw-dropping,

103but like the number we knew we know the fact of where it comes from, I think that brings some question too with it. But as anytime like you're you're trying to make the best predictions you can in a budget >> uh as as we know and um and there are budgets that are there's budget lines that are sort of really to the bone uh the actuals uh and then there's some that are super conservative with it because we know we're going to have adjustments throughout a school year. You might remember last year we had a uh we had a need to transfer over about $300,000 uh regarding a uh a court case uh that lingered from the 70s and 80s. Uh so there were transfer that needed to happen from lines that were conservatively budgeted,

104but that's there because you can't you don't know what those are going to be. Um, and it's just that it's a um we'd love for that budget prediction to be fully accurate, but I I I do think that's a that's a next to impossible type of a task. I don't know. I can't do it on the home front either. But >> I was just looking cuz some of them were very like round even numbers and then there was one that was very specific like down to the the cents. So, I didn't know if that was a specific item. >> I bet Christine can weigh it out. >> That's what I could take from that line. >> Okay. to make up for what I anticipated the, you know, uh, transportation expense to be through June 30th.

105>> And then those lines were pulling from. How did we, do we have excess funds in those lines? How did we choose those lines? >> That's where excess is. So, you always have, like Mr. Adams was saying, you always have to budget conservatively. Your biggest lines are salaries and benefits. That's where it's going to come from because that's the biggest dollar. you can't transfer some supplies. There's nothing there. >> Um, you always have to build the budget conservatively >> because what would happen if you didn't, you would end up making mid-year cuts. Nobody wants that. So, last year we're able to transfer for legal expenses. This year it's transportation. next year it might be families who move in with high cost special ed needs that you know like just a couple families could be quite

106a few hundred thousands of dollars of expense >> and then so that um I know you have a question um the transportation costs is that why the freeze on the budget happened earlier this year >> the budget did not freeze earlier that's the same time it has since I've been here and even before me >> is there a reason we freeze so early in the year. >> Um, yes, because you want to start, like I start the budget process next week with principles, like I start the meetings together. You want to know where you're going to end up. You don't want >> um, and they're very good about getting what they need by now. So what happens mostly what comes through are unexpected things, things for graduation, buildings and grounds when things fail and you

107have to replace equipment or get service on a vehicle, stuff like that. But really teachers are really good about getting their orders in actually in July and August. So they have them in September. So there's really not a need to prolong ordering stuff for very long. They they get what they need early on. And you're like, this is terrible because you have to say the same things you are. But I'll just say it from like the building principal perspective. Like we would always order from a certain awards company for like our June awards and it would be just like that email from Christine would come out and that would just be our cue to say let's get that in now so that money's going. It's not that they can't it's not that there won't be

108money for that. It's just we need to make sure that we're accounting for the fact that that's going to be spent. So it does it does kickstart the planning uh earlier than you know you you might like but it's also something that our folks are really really used to. Okay. >> Um and so those that that order comes in and that money is encumbered. And Christine, you can correct me if I'm wrong on that, but that's that's how it feels. >> The idea is to get it encumbered. So even if you don't know the exact dollar amount, what I tell principal to do it put in um not to exceed amount. Okay? So encumber $10,000 if that's what you need um you know for whatever purpose and they're really good about that. >> Okay. And

109there's there's times I've got like specific points that I can turn to and say like this specific need came up at the building level and it's an it's an you know all right who's gonna email Christine who's going to talk and she's been wonderful with that and really and again I'm talking about when I was in the building uh building level leadership with that and it is like she you know helps us find a way with things so it's a freeze but it's not that there's not money being like we're not purchasing things in the spring that does happen still >> and the other benefit is it helps us earlier on to put a prediction in for where fund balance will be at the end of the year. >> Okay. >> I mean, you need

110that when you're doing the budget process to allocate. >> Yeah. >> To appropriate to the next year's budget. It just helps it a little earlier. >> Okay. >> Can I just rewind back to to the budget lines that we pull from? I know you said that the easiest area to pull from is the largest area, which is teacher salary and benefits or salaries and benefits in general. >> Um, and as I'm looking at these, a fair amount of money was pulled from like the teacher salary line or a special ed teacher salary like >> but salary there and you had mentioned like if a family moves in, we could have that cost. Where do then we pull from to make up for that? if we would get families that could incur large costs like where

111>> we do have a healthy special ed budget. I will always have that because you just don't know. Um if we go above and beyond that then we again would have to look at where are we. So ERS and TRS are pension expenses. Those are coming up in December. So I'll have a better idea after December if there's anything left over there. Again that that's benefit line. >> So there's more >> there's more behind these is what you're saying. >> There could be. Yep. I'm just looking at that because I we spent a we had a wonderful presentation about reading tonight. Wonderful. I absolutely super psyched about our commitment to science of reading. Um especially [clears throat] that my daughter got to experience that coming up. But it does trigger like my thoughts of like

112so we have students that didn't get to experience that and we're going into middle school and when we made those budget cuts several years ago, we don't have a dedicated ELA teacher for sixth grade. on all the teams we have a we have rotating teachers coming. >> So yeah. >> So I'm looking at this and I'm seeing $150,000 transferred from teacher salary line and I'm just wondering if maybe 50,000 or whatever our teacher starting teacher salary is from that couldn't somehow be found in there to support that? Like I I'm looking if we have so much money set aside, is there a way to continue our great work with reading? And >> my super annoying answer to that is that the sixth grade teachers are all elementary are all elementary certified. So they're all like

113they and I I know what you say like the the way the schedule is set up. Uh it's it's the you know the idea of saying like well we've got this we're going to hire an English teacher for sixth grade is that's that's not uh that's not not a a mid-year thing we would do with >> regard no not right now but if we're budgeting and we had that much left over that we can distribute it >> there lies the conservative the conservative budgeting with it. I understand your point. I I I really do. like the the the idea of being able to make sure that we're not so close to the vote that we can't absorb other costs that come up. That wouldn't be, you know, that's a that's not being responsible on that

114side of things. That's >> that was why I was curious what where we have some of those other funds sitting because in like a 80 whatever what do we have? $88 million budget, $89 million budget. Just >> worry about that. Yeah. But again, you always want fund balance because you're appropriating like we appropriated $2 million um to this year's budget from last year. >> Yeah, it's just part of the process I wanted to talk about. Like it's that's a discussion. >> It's an idea. It's a thought. Just >> bringing it up for future discussion as we enter budgeting season. And what you said you're starting to look at that in another month, right? >> Yeah. We start soon with the with the principles. Yeah. >> Yeah. That's so so I'm just I'm moving forward. There's

115nothing to do [clears throat] today, but something to consider >> as we go on. >> That's that was that was my only question. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Uh we have not approved this yet. Any other discussion on G5? >> All right. All in favor? I >> I. All opposed? Motion passes. Okay. Um, now to the detailed items. H1, I have a motion to approve the 2627 budget development calendar. So moved by Tom. >> Second by Laura. Any discussion on that. See, we kept the full full prep um prep meetings like we did last year. So that was a good move. Um, all in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion passes. H2. Can I have a motion to approve the defense and ademnification of the Hamburg Central School District and its administrators? >> So

116moved by Jess, second by Ashley. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion passes. New York helps. Item H3. Can I have a motion to approve the resolution for the New York Helps program? >> So moved by Laura. Second. >> Second by Tom. >> Can we have a discussion on this one? >> Yeah, I think Colleen was actually going to give us rundown on what this is. >> Sure. Um, so this is a new program that um, New York State Civil Service and that each county had the ability to adopt or say they wanted to join. Erie County decided to join. Um, what that means for us is that our titles that are under civil service, this is a real general, but I'll give you a sense of it. Um, we have the

117ability to have provisional employees be hired under what's called New York Helps, which allows the time that they're sitting in a provisional appointment count towards their permanent status. Right now, as it stands, without New York helps, you have to um take a test, you have to be on a list, you have to be reachable. And so what they've done is developed kind of this other track we're calling it um where certain titles can um be hired in that and then your time spent in that can then transfer you over to permanent not using the list and not using the test. Um for example, in times past we've had people that have been with us for sometimes years and then they don't score well on the test and unfortunately they're great employees and we have to

118say no thank you which is a horrible spot to be in. So, we're hoping to use New York helps to um keep our great employees around and do it quicker so that they're not wondering and worrying for being provisional and we can move them to permanent quicker. [clears throat] So, it's a win for the employee certainly went through the district. Um right now they're on for a year. We'll see what happens after a year, but we certainly um want to use this program here in >> Would this be a So, you said a year. Do we have to renew it each year? >> So, right now it's on our hands. Our job is just is right. So, they've decided to do it for a year. If I had to predict, I think they probably see

119how it goes and they'll continue it. Um, but for right now, they're just saying that they have agreed to it for a year. >> Is this new to schools? Because I know it's been around um with government jobs like Erie County puts jobs out, some are Service, some are New York helps, but that's been around for at least a year. So, is it new for schools now? >> Yeah, it was just brought to us a couple months ago is when we um learned about it, learned that. So, we >> So, they started approving. They approved titles. So they started approving titles in other areas and then they got to school titles. >> Okay. So New York State is the one Erie County opted in but New York State's telling them which titles are eligible and

120Erie County is as well. Um but then as a school district obviously we hold certain titles different than maybe a government agency. And so we just I'm just trying to think I keep looking at Christie. We both attended the same meeting to get the information like two months ago I think. And it's been an ongoing process. It was two-part meeting about you know, this is this is how you post something. This is what you do once you hire somebody. So, a lot of details that went into it, but we just got an email, as I'm thinking right now, yesterday about other titles that were approved. So, they're still in the process of actually approving titles that would make sense to us here in the school district. So, if someone was hired under the old guidelines,

121but we approve this, we can then get them permanent status, like they're kind of grandfathered in, even though they weren't hired under this provision. >> Yep. There's definitely steps we have to take. It has to be on um a certain list. There has to be all these forms that are filled out, but it's definitely an option that we can um explore. Okay. >> Um we just sent a message to our union heads that this would affect that we're looking into it getting more information because it's so new, but um again, it's going to help the employee. It's certainly going to help us as a district. So, >> could it in any way harm any of our employees? >> I don't think so. I mean, our goal is always to have our employees be permanent employees.

122>> Okay. Um, and the one thing we don't control is when they put the test out, how long their results take. And that's a really frustrating part. So, um, what I think it does is it gives, um, support to our employees that work hard and do a great job and we're able to honor that and move them to a permanent status quicker. So, >> okay. Um, >> irrespective of how they do on some social services. >> Correct. >> Um, and let's remember that system's been around for a very long time, >> including the tests. >> We we just approved the same basically the same motion on both. I think they said they had 240 titles or something that became eligible. So >> just has a bit of a different workforce than we do. >> Yeah,

123>> for sure. I appreciate you asking the question and I think it gives a lot more transparency to what it is, but again, it helps our employees. It helps us as a district. >> Okay. >> Funny, I asked the same question about the grandfathering of employer. >> Yeah. I mean, I want to make sure that they weren't like, "Oh, you weren't hired with this, so sorry, >> take a test." And one of the first things we did, and I keep looking at Christine, we're working on this together, um, in our HR department is running a list of who could this possibly affect and what do we need to do and how can we start that communication. Um, so that's something that we're working through right now. >> Okay. >> All right. Any other discussion on

124New York Alps? All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion passes. Item H4. Can I have a motion to approve the addition of the following civil service position? Clerk. Clerk. >> Cook. Cook. Not clerk. Cook. >> So moved by Ashley. >> Second by Jess. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed. Motion passes. Can I have a motion? H5. Can I have a motion that the board of education authorizes contract for the micro computer technical support specialist as listed in confidential schedule A? >> So moved by Laura. Second. >> Second by Jess. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I. All opposed. Motion passes. Personnel changes. Did this in a bit of reverse order, but this is to meet the civil service requirement. So, can I have a motion to approve

125personnel changes as presented? >> So, moved by Jess and second by Laura, I believe. >> Uh, any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion passes. Item H7. Can I have a motion to approve change orders 20114 1516 2025 2045? >> It's almost there. >> So So moved by Tom. >> Second by Ashley. Any discussion on these? We had a good good discussion earlier. All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion passes. Item H8. Can I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of Gordon Jones Associates Architects on the reconstruction work for the 2526 capital outlay project general work contract 154 awarding the bid to Greyco Corp of Upstate totaling $76,425. Laura moved by Laura. >> Second by Jess. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion passes.

126H9. And I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of turn of construction on the site work for the 21 capital project site phase 4 site work trades contract BP400 awarding the bid to MC Colo excavating totaling $196,000. >> So moved by Laura. >> Second by Tom. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed motion passes. H10. Can I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of Turner of Construction on the general trades for the 21 capital project phase 4 general trades contract BP 401 awarding the bid to concept construction totaling $5,449,000? >> So moved by Tom, second by Jess. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I just reading. I'm reading. >> All opposed. Motion passes. H11. Can I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of

127Turner Construction on the electrical trades work for the 21 capital project phase 4 electrical trades contract BP 404 awarding the bid to Fry Construction Corporation totaling $1,898,000. >> So moved by Ashley, >> second by Jess. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> All opposed. Motion passes. H12. Can I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of Turner Construction Company on the roofing trades for the 21 capital project phase 4 roofing trades contract BP 405 awarding the bid to Grove Roofing Services totaling $1,68,820. >> So moved by Laura. >> Second by Ashley. Any discussion? All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion passes. Can I have a motion to approve uh 13. Can I have a motion to approve the letter of recommendation of Turner Construction on the demo and abatement trades work for the

12821 capital project phase 4 demo and abatement trades contract BP 406 awarding the bid to Metro Contracting and environmental totaling $1,558,900. [snorts] >> So moved by Ashley, second by Tom. Any discussion? All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion passes. H14. H14. Can I have a motion to approve a contract between Hamburg Central School District and Flourishing Hope ABA for the 2526 school year? >> So moved by Laura. >> Second by Tom. Any discussion on this? >> All in favor? >> All opposed. Motion passes. Can I have [snorts] a motion to accept the donation of $500 from the parent child connection to put towards the cost of youth speaker Roso? >> So moved. >> Moved by Ashley. >> Second by Jess. Any discussion on this other than thank you to the parent child connection. Very generous.

129All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion passes. Finally, age 16. Can I have a motion to accept the donation of $1,000 from the Connor Car Foundation to put towards the cost of youth speaker Roso? >> So moved by Ashley. >> Second by Laura. >> Thank you. Again, any further discussion on this? >> All in favor? I. >> All opposed? Motion passes. Um so with that we will move to public expression. Um we will uh I'll just read quickly here. [snorts] Some topics are not to be uh not permitted to be discussed in the public forum. For example, any topic related to an employee or that can be applied to be related to an employee, special ed placement, individual student situations. If the topic is inappropriate for public forum, I will instruct you not

130to speak, but rather present your concerns in writing for the board's discussion in executive session. So, with that, I don't think we have any concerns with this speaker. Uh, Meg Commer, if you'd like to address the board, >> you guys think I know the rules, right? >> I assumed, >> right? Uh, somebody spoke earlier today, I believe it was the armor principal, and he stated that his is focused and the district is focused but honest solutions focus which I think is amazing. It's a beautiful spot to be as a parent that some arenas some arenas we have it's a good goal to work towards but pushed me to speak tonight this Mr. talking about our concerns with transportation. In an era of honest solutions focused dialogue, transportation kindly helped me today, told me of a

131change that was going to be made. I expressed my concerns offer two alternative solutions because the solution they offered was having six elementary school boys through an active construction site and cross pleasant in a non plus route area. So nobody's used to that traffic in the morning or in the afternoon coming back to an active construction site. I just drove by it on the way here high pile basketball boys will be walking over school boys time of their lives school mothers be like please don't fall in the pit next to it and was kind enough the administrator I wor with it was not secretary she was lovely she was doing a great job I had to speak to supervisor I have true safety concerns are two solutions. One of them the bus driver has been

132doing for the past two days I thought was ingenious. Great idea. Safe. The kids are good. They're getting to and from school. We're all pivoting money. I was told I don't need to speak with you. You are not my client. I don't need to talk to parents. I'm sorry. I'm offering you two safe alternatives that may prevent you from considering them. But I'm certain we have a problem putting six little boys walking through active construction sites pleasant at 7 o'clock in the morning and again calling their families 20 minutes before dismissal that they're going to be down there and somebody's got to get down to get kids. So since we're all in an era focused honest open conversation I thought it was important that the entire board hears I have been encouraged to just email

133the board but I was reluctant because I the conversation would be everybody in the board. So this is just one example. We have parents who are willing to work with the district. We have parents who are willing to work with vendors truly here to help you with this. Thanks Mike. All right, that was the only uh individual signed up to speak. So with that, we are the remaining item is an executive session. So I am looking for a motion to enter into executive session for the purposes of discussing community member requests for independent [cough] review of conduct and potential lit litigation related to the same. >> So moved. >> It's moved by Ashley. [snorts] >> Second by Laura. All in favor? >> I I >> opposed. We are in executive. So we will be taking

134no action and the meeting will effectively adjourn when we return. Thank you to everyone for coming.