Putnam Valley Board of Education Meeting - February 12, 2026

001Good evening and welcome to the board meeting of February 12th, 2026. I apologize for being 10 minutes late. Um, we are reconvening this meeting after an executive session. Um, so I'd like you to stand for the pledge, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. I will now open the floor for comments on agenda items to members of the public. As a reminder, this is a meeting of the board of education that is open to the public. If you wish to comment at this meeting, we ask that you please be aware of all the protocols for public comment. The protocols are listed on the back of the public agendas

002that are available in the meeting room. They're also posted on signage in the meeting room as well as on the district website. Okay, I don't see anybody uh making comments. The treasur's report for November is available in the district office. We're going to move to the consent agenda. Um, Mr. Alvario. >> Yes. Resolve to approve the consent agenda items 2 through nine is presented to the board at this meeting. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? The consent agenda includes approval of minutes, approval of cseps placements, a revised 2526 substitute listing, approval of mid-year inservice credits and graduate credits, approval and amending and approving unpaid work hours for different staff members. Appointing a deputy payroll officer for the 2526 school year. That would be Matthew Cico at no additional compensation. Approving contracts with Putnham County for

003real property tax services for next year. Cardinal Hay School for Special Children for this school year and Dos Ferry Health and Welfare Contract for this school year. We're also approving budget transfers over $25,000 for the period December 10th through February 11th, 2026. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments? All in favor? >> I opposed abstensions. The resolutions pass. Um we're getting ready for our presentations. This is the 2627 budget planning presentation on curriculum and instruction. >> Thank you very much. So I would like to invite up Miss Lavine and she'll be joined with by Dr. Payne, Dr. Bodesta and Mr. McCarti during her presentation. >> Good evening. Thank you to our board of education, Dr. Lu, my colleagues, and our community. Delighted to be here to present our curriculum and instruction budget priorities for

004our upcoming school year. I am Jackie Lavine. I'm the assistant superintendent for curriculum instruction and HR. I'm going to talk a little bit about all of those areas and our budget priorities in those areas this evening. Um before I begin, I just want to say how excited I am about our blossoming prek program that we have at our elementary school. Um earlier this evening I was able to visit with the Y as they were holding theirformational night for the new families that um secured a seat in our lottery earlier this winter and um it was just such a wonderful large group of families who came out to check out their prek building and learn more about the program. So I'm fresh off of that and that was just wonderful to see all those families and

005meet everyone. All right, let's get into it. Um so I always like to start our presentations grounding all of us in our mission, vision and core values here in Putham Valley. Um our mission the PBCSD in partnership with our families and community will ensure that all students are engaged in a challenging student focused educational program understand and assume their responsibility for lifelong learning work to achieve their personal best and become productive citizens in a diverse global society. Um our goal core sorry our core value for next year um is empowerment that's our focus area and that is about reflective learners who empower themselves and others to always be better and of course our vision the child first and foremost. We are building a foundation for the future giving each child what they need to be

006successful and hit the ground learning that is always our focus. So that is the lens. Those three lenses are through which we look at everything we do in our school district, every program we choose, every teacher we hire. We're always asking ourselves, are we putting the child first and foremost? Are we preparing them for successful futures? And are we empowering them? Are we helping them to stay community focused, giving them all the opportunities we need, etc. So we use those lenses to make all of our decisions as we go forward. and who our are our Putinham variant learners they are um a combination of things so the three images that you see up before you the first is our IB learner profile the learner profile attributes guide the IB program that you know we have

007at our high school and our middle school but these are learner attributes that I believe everyone should strive for uh being a good communicator being inquirer being principled balance these are things we want for oral children um now when you put that along ongside the recently adopted New York State portrait of a graduate. You might see some familiarity. You might see a couple of words that are the same. You might see some colors that are the same. It's not by accident that the New York State adopted a profile of a graduate that very closely resembles the IB program. Um, so once again, Putinham Valley is ahead of the curve and even New York State is moving its learners collectively as a state closer to the goals for IB that we have set already for our

008learners. So, we're very happy to report that um, our Putinham Valley learners are already on the road to being what New York would consider the portrait of a graduate and are meeting a lot of those attributes as we speak in their classes every day. Further, we adopted as a district our core values and you see them there and we are working right now on a graphic that brings these three concepts together because we are IB learners. We strive for those attributes. We are New York State residents and so we are of course um going to strive for the portrait of a graduate which we've already established is very close to the IV learner profile and we have our own Putinham Valley core values that we hold near and dear to our heart. So we are

009looking for a way to make sure all of these things come together in a simplified graphic for everyone to really capture who is a Putinham Valley learner. Okay, so of course one of the biggest budget priorities for us instructionally is our staffing and these are just some of the staffing changes. We have our instructional retirements you see on the lefth hand side. Um a number of different retirements this year that will be replaced. And then we also have um our uh one resignation, a new teacher who um is going to be relocating. So we will have that position available. And we also have um a new position. Our middle school Spanish program is expanding. So we are thrilled to report that that is going to be um you know growing as a program because of

010our IB work. So, we need to make sure that the staffing grows with it to ensure that we can uh fully support all students and have enough sections for our our students in all grades. Um, >> uh, Jackie, if I can ask you a question. >> Of course. >> On these retirements, are any uh positions going to be eliminated or are we going to fill all the retirement positions? >> We are filling the positions we're not eliminating. Yes. >> Okay, good. Thank you. >> Thank you for the question. Are we planning on repurposing any of these positions? Like for example, if one going for this just an example, I'm not filling the gened elementary school, but moving it to another position or were you planning on sticking with the >> We are keeping the elementary

011gened position. We're not repurposing. >> Let me just like all of them like >> Yeah. No, we've reviewed each of the positions. Anytime we have a vacancy created either during a resignation because a resignation or a retirement we always examine whether or not there's a possibility for attrition and in these cases many of these individuals or sort of standalone or very small groups of positions or um are really vital positions that we don't have any wiggle room to reduce. So, um, while often times I think it's been probably many years since we've filled the gened position at the high school, um, many of the recent retirees have not been replaced. Um, and this is because our math department is probably our smallest of all the departments here at the high school. We have a math

012teacher leaving. We have to fill it. We don't have the capacity to offer the classes we have without filling that position. But the other ones like theater manager is one of them. Library media specialist, there's one of them. The senior offices, there's only one in that office. So those positions, the middle school has two reading teachers. They're both retiring. We can't they they kind of provide different services whether tier two and tier three services. So we there's no possibility to eliminate one of those without drastically impacting uh the middle school doesn't have the same level of wiggle room. Uh we have really three teachers across each of the departments except for English which is a concern and so we need to fill that position. That's one of the three middle school math I mean science

013teachers that we have to fill. So as we go through and then there just unfortunately this doesn't create an opportunity for um attrition per se. I would say if anything we do expect at the middle school there to be a gen ed position uh which is technically being eliminated through attrition as six sections of sixth grade go on to seventh. Um we're actually going down a section there. So that is six to five. What' I say? Sorry. fifth. Oh, sorry. The other way. Fifth grade is going down to five because they're they're taking in four. Sixth grade is getting six from fifth grade. So, >> thank you. >> The uh the reason I asked that question is that uh one of the really key positions especially here at the high school and for the community

014as well is the theater manager. So, I see that uh we will be replacing that individual. We will. >> It's It's key. It's key. We We That theater is run immaculately under Susie Cummings uh charges. And uh I I would hate to see any backpedaling on that. I I I I we had a meeting yesterday dedicated solely for the purpose of filling that position to come up with a job description taking all of the information that Susie shared with us the different titles she's had over the years and figuring out how to best um advertise that position. So certainly our attention and we had four of us sitting around the room for over an hour yesterday coming up with um a job description that we think best represents what that job will be. And I

015understand, you know, the some concerns about uh, you know, attrition, not replacing people, but uh, we have to, and the public needs to understand this. When somebody leaves with 30 years under their belt, you're not going to hire the next person at that same salary. You're actually saving a lot of money. You you're getting some new blood into the system at at a, you know, a much more reasonable cost. Uh so uh we we need these positions and they they should remain. >> Thank you sir. >> Okay. So just to review our enrollment by grade level um we are looking at uh the numbers on the far right for 26 27 um with a note about third grade. And uh the reason there's a note there is that um you know we're talking to the

016board tonight about the opportunities for grade three at this time. If we kept it at our four sections we'd have four sections of 24 or if we had five sections we could have 19 students in a classroom. So it's just for consideration and discussion. >> So may I ask a question about that because you know I'm all about low class numbers. >> You absolutely can. And I'm going to have Dr. Dr. Podesta come up here in case she has additional information to share to answer your question. >> Perfect. So just uh a question actually um perhaps for Mr. McCarti as well. If there is attrition in the fifth grade uh where is that going? Uh is it going up? Is it going down to be able to then support the third grade going into five

017sections? Is that the idea? Um so that there's it's a costneutral right um change um to be able to support five sections because one of the things we have to consider um is that in four sections of 24 any student in the district could you know could move in at that point at which we are now at 26 per se maybe 25 students in a classroom >> in their first year of testing. So, we need to be really um cognizant of that. That third grade year is monumental for instruction and I, you know, I would certainly like to see us do whatever possible to keep those numbers as low as possible without, of course, impacting the budget in a really negative way. >> I agree. >> Yeah, I don't know if >> Thank you for

018that. Um, just a little bit of background on this cohort who is currently in second grade. wonderful group of students. In first grade, it just so happened people moved. There were some changes. So, in first grade, those classes were between 16 and 18 each. So, going up to the next grade, the children are getting a little older. It went down to four sections. Being fiscally responsible, looking at the class sizes. So, I just did the math after talking to Dr. left this afternoon just looking from June through now we've had 13 to 15 students move in because Putham Valley is a great place to live. So they've moved into that cohort. We've had other students moving in too as well. But why it's affecting that group right now? It's because we do have four sections

019in second grade. So those are the options up there looking at grade three right now. numbers could change up or down, but it would be four sections of 24 or five se which is what it is right now. Four sections of 24 or 25 in second grade right now. >> Okay. Very good. And as far as the middle school attrition, like >> so if you're counting sections from K through six >> without increasing the sections in elementary school, assuming we get five kindergarten sections in, then it would the elementary school would stay the same. Since fifth grade is going from six sections to five sections, it is one less teacher. >> So if you count total number of teachers from K to six, even if you add this section, it would be a wash budgetarily

020wise. That's exactly what I was thinking. Okay, perfect. So, we can make that happen without an implication to the budget and keep our class sizes low. >> Yeah. And I'll just add at this point in any year, we don't know for sure how many kindergarten registrants will have. So, that's always a guessing game. The registrations are, you know, the numbers are there right now, but it, you know, you can't predict it for sure. Just going back one slide. Sorry, Jackie. You can see um the number total for our building. We've lost some bigger class sizes and you know you can see that the numbers are going down a little bit. It doesn't feel like it is because kids are moving in all the time but the total number you know gently going down for our

021school and we are very happy to have UPK on our campus and involved in some of our activities. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Good. >> Very exciting. Yeah, support that. >> So, moving on to our secondary grades and our middle school. And again, all the way on the right hand side, you'll see our projected numbers for 26 27 and our high school numbers. >> That's seventh grade y uh for next year. >> Seventh grade. Well, how many sections in sixth grade right now at the 140? >> You have six. >> Mhm. >> So that will continue the following year. >> Well, seventh grade doesn't operate in section. Yeah, they they have that cohort, right? >> So we we Yeah, we anticipate being able to serve the same number of students with the staff we have.

022>> Okay. >> It's interesting to see, for example, fifth grade losing four and sixth grade to seventh losing five. It's decreasing in middle school but increasing in elementary. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So, we're going to get into the different initiatives that are our focus area. Um, as we talk about these, I want to remind the board there are so many different areas um, of work and support going on in our schools, but we have specific high priority areas that we're focusing on tonight that remain our initiatives that we stay laser focused on um because we recognize that doing too many things at once doesn't make anyone successful. So, we want to uh call attention to these particular areas. Um the building leaders are joining me tonight to share a little bit about each of their

023buildings and this work that's going on there. So I'm going to invite back up Dr. Margaret Podesta. >> Thank you. >> And you can see in the picture the big hit this year, Mr. Mason, who is a wonderful addition to our building in so many ways, very loved by the students um and the staff. So the main initiatives that we're looking at at the elementary school along with the work that we do every day is continued focus on true quality um explicit writing instruction, looking at the benchmarks and the expectations for our young writers and focusing on the strategies of the writing revolution. Our small building writing team just met today, looked at a whole school writing prompt, went through all of the grade levels, K through four, looking at our continuum carefully and our

024rubrics. That's just outstanding work and the children are showing it. I think you remember last spring Mrs. Berdett's first graders came in and kind of blew you away with their writing at the end of first grade and that is we're building on that all the time. So that's a continued initiative. We are also looking at a new universal screener, the Dibbles M8, which has been highly researched and proven to be a true um data point for schools. I had been to a conference up in Albany and um one of the professors had said if you don't have a universal screener, of course we have I Ready grades 2 through 4. We use our reading levels for NSG, but um this Dibbles M8 was highly recommended and so we will get training with that. that our

025classroom teachers will get to know their young readers in a in a universal screener type of researched way and it's quick, it's efficient and it just gives us information for who needs what kind of support. Also, foundations which we use with Fidelity K through three has a fourth grade component now and um we're very excited to find that it's extremely teacher friendly. It's extremely studentfriendly. Um, we're really continuing that phonics and word study, but the vocabulary is a large piece of it. So, we'll we'll be excited to take that on with our fourth grade teachers who haven't even seen it yet, but they're such a great group of teachers and um, you know, we want to build that literacy. We're introducing a vocabulary word tier 2 every morning on the morning announcements and just really

026focusing on that. And then our literacy curriculum review team continues to just really analyze all of the literature components that we use teaching reading and writing through K through 4. It's not a literacy curriculum choosing team. We have Scholastic. We're in a contract with Scholastic. We pull in Heggerty. We pull in Foundations Wordly Wise. We have so much going on with literacy, but this team is really dissecting it and we're using the reading league's chart to see where any red flags might be that are not in line with the science of reading. I'm happy to say we don't really have red flags. We made up our own term called yellow flags. Things that might me need a little more attention in classrooms or a little more PD for teachers. And so, um, this has been

027great work. Liz Bryan's led the way. She came in and helped train us how to do this. I've shared it at our principal meeting at Boseies to say how you get going. It's it's it's hard work. It's tedious. It takes time. You're looking through materials. You're talking to colleagues, but you learn so much from it. So that continues into next year. I am sure. >> Margaret, >> uh are you going to do the dibbles in addition to I Ready? So they'll do both of two. Yeah, it's I I think especially for the first year, our I Ready is only two through four and it's math and reading and the children take the exam on the Chromebook. This is sitting with the teacher, the classroom teacher. It's a five to seven minute um check. Okay. >>

028So, I we'll do both next year. Yeah. >> I just want to say that the additions to these already wonderful literacy initiatives are so well done. Um, I just looked up Dibbles 8 to see what they provide and they're very similar to Ames Web and um, being able to not only benchmark students but progress monitor them um, in a CBM, right? A a curriculum based measure that's, you know, a very short amount of time to get a snapshot of if a student is growing and if the curriculum in fact is moving them forward. And many schools do not have that as a measure because they don't truly understand what assessment needs to look like. And it it seems like we now have a comp more complete assessment pro portfolio for our students for teachers to

029then make decisions about where they will go instructionally, which is really exciting. I'm also super excited to hear about uh foundations for coming in. Um they also have a fifth grade portion, so I'm going to just throw that out there, Travis. Um but uh it it it is very teacher friendly and it is more condensed. Um, and it does have an incredible focus on um, word work and and and word work in the in the sense of vocabulary, understanding the roots of words and where they come from and how to be able to build on them through, you know, prefixes and suffixes. So, um, just so incredible to see the portfolio continue to grow in literacy. It is not ever a silver bullet and I think that you guys, if there would be a silver

030bullet, you have found it. So, thank you so very much. >> Thank you so much. >> That's fantastic. >> Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Podesta. And yes, to follow up, there is a foundations five and um we have started our work with diving into the science of reading at the middle school level. Um Travis will talk a little bit more about that tonight and I can answer any questions. Um because the state hasn't yet given the depth of literacy review and resources that they have for prek3, we have been kind of doing it on our own and investigating on our own a little bit and learning as we go. And um our middle school will talk a little bit about the literacy review they're doing right now as well as the science of reading workshops

031teachers are starting to attend more frequently. Um, and I will be examining the foundations five to see if it is a good fit for our teachers before I ask our teachers to unpack it and see if it's a good fit for them. Um, but I have high hopes and foundations has yet to let me down. So, um, I firmly believe in the program. I think that it's been wonderful for our elementary school. As you know, we uh developed a foundations facilitator because of how much we want to support that work and make sure that our teachers have what they need. So, it would be great to expand it up if it feels like a good fit for our teachers. So, without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Travis McCarti, our principal of

032the middle school, to talk a little bit more about our middle school initiatives. >> All right, good evening everyone. Um, so I just want to uh start off by addressing our initiatives. Um, starting with our IB middle years program work. Um, we appreciate all the support of our board and uh our two uh IB middle years program coordinators, Stephanie Chakala and Mary Kay Cohen, who continue to work with our staff on a weekly basis. So, um they dive right in. They work with our grade level teams um and all of our content area teachers um writing units. And our goal by the end of this year is to have um at least two full units. And we upload that into a program called Tattlele, which is like an electronic curriculum mapping system. And what's really

033neat about it is you can see the grade levels and where their units are month by month and you can look for any areas for growth. So if we're not addressing some sort of approaches to learning um then those areas are addressed with those curriculum coordinators. Um so this is ongoing work and they actually upload student work and uh once we uh are up for um re-evaluation in three more years they will come and take a look at all that work that we've done on toddles. So we're continuing to grow. Our hope is by year five to have a full year's worth of units kind of mapped, but we're starting off and continuing our work. They came in um we became authorized. Um and really their minimum they were looking for is at least a

034unit. Now we're growing to at least two units and then next year will be three, four, five. That is our hope across the board um with our IB work. and um you know some of the challenges have been you know retirements new teachers so getting them on board where some of our um staff has been here for the full length of time so just building in those systems and again Stephanie and Mary Kay have done a tremendous job we actually have a meeting tomorrow with them so we meet twice a month to discuss the progress we're making um science of reading as Jackie mentioned Um our new term in uh reading is kind of uh starting in the elementary school and kind of moving up to middle. We have sent a couple of staff members

035to workshops lately at Boseies um just to learn more and to make sure that we are um investing in more vocabulary and comprehension skills. Um, and a couple of areas that continue to come up for us is teaching explicit vocabulary, which we do through Wordley Wise. Um, but also, um,formational texts, and we're trying to weave more of that in, especially in our older grade levels. Um, and of course, we use I Ready. So, for those of you that don't know, we do our I Ready benchmark assessments three times a year, and we have data meetings to look at the growth of our students. it's a pretty good um projection of how our kids are going to do on our New York State assessments. So, we really appreciate um the feedback that the program provides for

036us. And then the kids have something called my path where they practice their areas of growth during our academic study classes and teachers, our ELA teachers and our math teachers can assign um skills for them to work on in their classes as well as in our academic study classes. Uh science curriculum and assessments. Uh I mentioned to the board earlier um this year that we've purchased a couple of um workbooks that are more aligned to the next generation science standards. We're continuing to do our investigations across the board and um our science teachers are really collaborating well on those standards that they're addressing. The one thing that's unique to the science curriculum is it's 6 through 8. So the kids that are measured in eighth grade, we share that responsibility. And as I mentioned to

037the board earlier, that fifth grade assessment is shared with grades three, four, and five. So it's really divvying up those standards and spiraling our work. Um because it's not necessarily based on content. It's a reading assessment with the content being science. So, they really have to look at charts, data, and kind of put it all together for claims. And uh I'm seeing everything kind of pushed down for what we used to learn in older grade levels. They're now learning younger and younger and younger and having that pressure. Um writing instruction across content areas. So um Miss Zea is uh heading our um writing kind of push in which we are looking at um writing across science, writing across social studies um in math and just asking for the same requirements across the board. We find

038that when kids go from uh content area to content area, those expectations in ELA classes, the kids kind of shy away from in those other content areas. For instance, like on a science lab, they might put one or two word answers as opposed to writing a full sentence, providing the details and such. So, just that common language across our content areas and having those same expectations is key. In the elementary school, when kids have the same teacher all day, those expectations are carried across those content areas. As they go up to fifth and sixth grade, um there's a few more teachers, but then in seventh and eighth grade, they have different teachers for every subject. So, um those writing expectations across the content areas are key. And then finally, executive functioning. So, um, we have

039some modules that we've been sharing with our staff during our professional development days, um, that, uh, Dr. Lavine brought in, um, earlier in September and our teachers are able to kind of dabble in those modules to then apply it to our students. So, um, that's kind of another area or initiative that we're pairing up with our IB work. questions, comments. >> Great. Thank you all. >> No, Travis, I'm sorry. >> Can you talk a little bit about uh >> It's just a joke to think you were going to sit down. >> I have good wait times. Sam, >> the the Spanish uh instructor. Uh I I see that we're going to add another uh this will go down to the lower grades. >> Yes. So, we currently offer Spanish in sixth grade, um, year one

040of our, uh, middle years program, IB work. And what's happening is, um, with Mandarin Chinese, um, kind of filtering out, now all of our students are taking Spanish. And, uh, we have some larger sections coming up. So although we only have four sections in 8th grade, we're going to have six sections in seventh grade and we're going to have six sections in um sixth grade. So that need exists and uh I love that we're adding to our language programs. If anyone knows a Spanish teacher out there, please encourage them to apply. Um it is a field in which we're seeing smaller and smaller numbers of certified um staff >> and it's so important. It really is. And I I keep saying this over and over again and I know I'm repeating myself but we're in

041a bilingual country. We we truly are. And I want to see our Spanish pe speaking youngsters speaking English and our English speakaking youngsters speaking Spanish. That that would be just uh ideal. I believe uh especially considering the uh makeup and and homogeneity of of all our kids together. Thank you. I I I love that that that you you're doing this. >> Absolutely. >> Bless you. >> Thank you all. >> Thanks for this. >> Thank you, Mr. McCarti. And I just want to add a note about that executive functioning and its critical importance at this point in our students journey uh through school. The more we can develop the executive function of their brains through uh regular practice through um intentional teaching, the explicit instruction of those approaches to learning that um Mr. McCarti mentioned in

042the IB program, uh the better our students will be and more successful they'll be as they get older. So, we're really working on that. We have um a partnership with ID um which if you're familiar with Dr. Nancy Culla, she does a lot of work used to do work with the Latic model and other models of that nature. Um and so she has a lot of content and material about executive functioning in her platform. And so we have modules in that and also project- based learning. So, our teachers have choice during their PD hour to continue writing their MYP units, which is an expectation anyway, or if they want to use that hour to dive into executive functioning or PBL, they can do that as well. So, um that opens up choice and opportunity to

043our teachers while also focusing on areas of need for our middle school. And we are moving on to our high school. And here with me tonight is Dr. Leticia Payne. Mr. Matt Melo, our principal, could not be here. So, Dr. Dr. Leticia Payne was kind enough to say she would join our presentation this evening and talk a little bit about our high school initiatives. So, Dr. Payne, thank you and good evening. So, at the high school, we are continuing our middle year's program implementation. Um, we have um Cat um Schutz that's actually working with our teachers right now um within our building, you know, in a collaborative way. We're going to continue that work into next year. We're looking to add an additional uh coordinator um to support the authorization process um as we move

044into planning for the spring of 2027. So that's one budgetary item that we'll be working on. We also will be continuing to send some of our teachers to IB workshops so that we can continue to improve on the programs and you know each year couple of years some of the subject areas they change the curriculum that's within the the programs to refresh it. So we want to make sure our teachers are a breast of that information. We're also like um in the middle school where they have the toddle um learning management system. We are now um including that into our um high school so that the teachers would be able to be able to collaborate their unit planning using the TDLE system. Um they also will have access to rubrics and learning materials within the

045the TDLE system. Um also we're going to be examining um grading practices and policies. We started about two years ago where we uh were reading a book together as a staff um grading for equity and we're continuing that conversation. And I know that even in our building steering committee, we have engaged in that conversations with families, students, and staff. And so, as um a staff, we're also continuing to work on how we're going to align grading and practices within the high school. Um Jackie referred to, you know, our um New York State is looking at the portrait of the graduate. Um financial literacy and climate literacy are requirements. financial literacy is um expected of the high school in the 2026 2027 school year. We do have our economics program, but we're also looking to make

046sure that we have it integrated um maybe throughout some other um courses that we have within the high school. Um the climate literacy um they look for it to be in 2027 2028. So next year will be a year of planning um to ensure that we can integrate and embed it within our curriculum um for the new year. >> Okay. >> Leticia, will that be climate literacy? Will that be like in a science class? >> It can be within a science class or it can be um a standalone um curriculum program. But that's ne next year would be a year to start to plan and see where would we place that within our courses. >> Okay. Thank you. Can you give us a quick synopsis of the direction that climate literacy will be going in?

047I mean, are they going to be talking about EVs and stuff like that or >> come out there yet? >> I can answer that for you, Sam. We actually don't have the guidance yet from the state to know what they're expecting. Um, I'll be touching on New York Inspires in a little bit and some thoughts about where that is headed. Uh, but at this time, we don't have >> I love weather. I I love to answer the question, but I don't have enough information. But weather is different sometimes when the political >> winds influence an area. So essentially the state has not yet disclosed what that even is. >> Correct. >> Well, she said she knows the answer. Her answer she knows is that we don't know the answer. >> Correct. >> Because we're waiting

048for them to tell us. >> Thank you. >> New York State consistently doesn't tell us what they want. >> Are there any further questions? So the high school. So you're >> does every teacher that teaches whether they teach in the mills program or IB have to go out for training or do we send a few people and then they turn key and train others like how does that >> currently right now for the middle years program cat is working with the teachers directly within our school building um during our collaborative periods and then depending on the different subject areas they'll be sent out for IB training. >> Okay. The requirement is to have one trained for each department. Okay. >> Is what IV looks for for when they come to do authorization. >> So like

049for the in the middle school for the for the 9th, 10th and 9th and 10th grade. >> So they will have a coordinator like in the English department. >> No. So we have to send out like an English teacher, math teacher >> or a language teacher, subject area teachers, >> and then they come back and work with their colleagues and the coordinator >> to build out their lessons from there. >> Okay, good. >> And when new teachers come on board, what does their IB training look like? I know that you do an amazing orientation with them, Jackie, but um IB is is a lot to unpack for a teacher that might be walking into an IP course in September. So, what does that look like? >> So, that's such a great question. And what happens

050right now is the coordinator will work with that new teacher um to develop units to um assess whether or not they need to go to training. Perhaps no one in their subject area has gone to training. Maybe that person is replacing the person who went for training. So they may need to go out for training if they're the last in the content area. Um but they get direct support through their coordinator and time on during PD hour and superintendent conference day to not only learn but to also um get guidance in developing their unit, especially if they don't yet have one available to them in something like Toddle or that's been written the year before. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Jackie. One more question just about the curriculum piece. >> Um that

051curriculum is consistently on undergoing revision, right? Is that a regular process? >> Yes. So um and do you mean by IB itself or our own? >> I mean the IB units that are being created for the courses are consistently >> part of IB is the reflection process. So teachers are constantly looking back at their unit, reassessing, re-evaluating, reflecting. Um, you know, that's what's beautiful about IB is that the teachers are regularly going back to look at their units and rewriting those units based on um either whether it's shifts that comes particularly from IB or things that they know did or did not work in the classroom and they want to change it or just make it better. So yes, they are consistently looking back. Those units aren't written and done forever. The whole purpose of

052IB is to be a reflective learner. So you are always revisiting. >> Very good. Thank you. Sure. Okay. So to talk a little bit about the ways in which we are keeping up with the state um the science of reading uh and again the science of reading is a term used to um discuss the body of research that has emerged about the brain and how it learns how to read. So it is not a program the way scholastic or foundations is a program. So what we're really doing when we're talking about science of reading is understanding the research and how that gets practiced and applied in the classroom to better help students learn how to read. Um so that's about taking codebased skills which is like phonics and meaning based skills which is comprehension and

053putting those things together teaching children how to decode words and and encode and teaching them then how to put all of that together to better understand or write. So um we are working on that K12. We um are kind of learning a little bit on our own right now in some grades. We have a lot of explicit guidance from the elementary school but we don't necessarily have explicit guidance in the secondary areas. Our Boseies local Boseies partners are starting to come out with some great secondary oriented workshops and um opportunities for teachers to learn more resources for teachers to learn more. But we are doing a lot of work um independently as our middle and high school to better understand what does that mean for middle and high school teachers and what does it mean

054specifically in the classroom? What we're doing right now and how does that have to change? So it's a learning process. We're learning new things all the time. Sometimes something comes out that sounds really good and then all of a sudden people bring it back and say, "Oh, never mind. That wasn't so good anymore." So um everybody's learning, everybody's evolving, and the area is evolving. The research is evolving. So uh and we learn more and more about the brain every day. So um that's where we stand with the science of reading and that New York State initiative. Um our district initiatives, these are um some of the newer initiatives that I'm speaking about tonight. There's still a lot of work going on um that I've mentioned in previous presentations, but these are of the newer um

055items that we have adopted and are moving forward with. So uh we have our culture and discipline committee and um which Barbara sits on as a member of the board. She is there as well and that is composed of teachers and leaders. It's facilitated by um a consultant who comes in to support us in having conversations and the effort of that team is to come up with guiding principles that everyone will be guided by in terms of our discipline and support for students and the overall culture of our school buildings. um our steps plan. So that is new and uh that is replacing APR. So in the past you've heard about APR which is how we supervise and evaluate teachers, instructional staff and principles. And the state has given us until 2032 to come up

056with a revised version of AR based on the teaching standards that they've set, teaching and leadership standards. So there are seven standards. we have to use a rubric to evaluate teachers based on those standards. Um it doesn't mean we can't use our Danielson rubric which we've been using. We can um but right now we have a steps plan team that is meeting regularly to uh develop this plan and submit it to the state. We are ahead of the game. We're actually really close to coming up with the terms we're going to agree upon as a district. Um I have a number of teachers including our head building mentors on this team to help me work on this. And um I anticipate being able to have a new plan in place by next school year. So

057uh more to come on that, but that is just again how we supervise and evaluate teachers. It's the change from APR. Um New York Inspires is something we touched on. We'll talk a little bit more about it in a moment. I'm going to show you a timeline that the dis um that Boseies and the state has shared with us about what they're expecting and when. Uh but that is the state's new initiative to get everyone on board with the same New York State portrait of a graduate, change diploma requirements and so on. Um we have a new mentoring plan which I'm very excited about. Our new mentoring plan includes uh moving from a single year induction program even though there's a 4-year tenure track. um we only had specific mentoring, single one-on-one mentoring outlines for

058one year and then a headbuilding mentor to support teachers for the remainder of their time. What we've added is in their second year, they will take a course uh that'll be led by a teacher um um an teacher here who's actually studying a course to deliver to them. And the course is called studying skillful teacher. And if you're familiar with this course or this book, it is a book that has um a lot of research behind it. It is uh the gold standard of what instructional practice looks like. There's a map of pedagogical knowledge and it talks about how you take that map of pedagogical knowledge. You build a repertoire of teaching strategies and skills and you have areas of performance and you match the repertoire, the skill in your repertoire to the situation at

059hand with your student whether it's a behavioral situation, a curricular decision, um just an attention obtaining move and you learn how to be a skillful teacher. So our teachers in year two will be in that program and we'll take that course once a month after school and then in year three they will do a deep dive into literacy and international balorat. So all of our new teachers will better understand the important initiatives going on in our school district and have intensive training there. And their fourth year they will um develop their portfolio which according to steps plan they kind of have to work on all throughout their four-year tenure. Um but that fourth year will be a final development of that portfolio that uh we can have them share and uh will just be a

060wonderful opportunity for all to really capture what they did in their first four years with us. So um that's what our mentoring plan looks like now. We're very excited about this. I did this in collaboration with our headbuilding mentors and our instructional specialist Rob Leb. We worked on it over the summer. We introduced it to the union. It was accepted and we're really thrilled to move forward with it. So, I'm super excited about the studying skillful teacher course that'll happen in year two for all of our teachers because that is where we are going to develop high expertise teaching in our newest staff members. Um, parent learning opportunities. We continue to keep our eyes on the things that parents need to know about what's going on with students, whether it's mental health issues, whether it's

061AI, whether it's new technologies. So, we continue to offer parent learning opportunities to our families and we will continue to do so in the future with an eye toward again more AI instruction. That seems to be something our families are really in need of as well as how to support when we get our guidance uh our guiding principles from our cultural and discipline committee. How to support your children in that and also training and executive function and what you can do at home to better support your child there. um our co-eing for instructional support. We're taking a look at our co-eing teams and how we can better support them with innovative and high um high expertise co-eing instructional strategies. So we will be um in during our superintendent conference day on March 20th. We will

062have a training for our teachers that are in co-eing teams and then we will have some job embedded coaching going forward from there. Um Rob Lee is working currently on a lesson study opportunity which would allow teachers to kind of engage in action research around developing lessons and then de delivering them revising etc. So again coming at that high expertise teaching skills and strategies from a different angle with teachers that are not necessarily new or untenured but with tenure faculty and people who may want to engage in a really close look at their lesson development. And of course, very exciting, our facility dog. Um, we have wonderful Mason at the elementary school. I did make an announcement in our newsletter that we had approved title grant money in title 4 for another facility dog that

063will be specifically assigned to the middle school. So, really looking forward to having a secured dog for the secondary campus. And again, this does take time. It took us about a year and some change to get Mason. So, I don't know when that will happen, but we're going through the process now of identifying people who are interested in being primary care handlers, applying to Blue Path, getting on their weight list, and hopefully um hopefully by October of next year, we'll have a Mason and a friend. So, >> but you do have a a pup at the middle school, right, Travis? Still, >> one of our counselors has a dog that is trained as an emotional support dog, but it's not necessarily a dog that comes regularly to school. This would be our dog for our

064building and it would be their daily meeting. >> But that pump won't go away, will it? I mean, you will still utilize that pup. No, they they might he might be able to take more breaks. >> Yeah, but they do they become very attached to, you know, the routine and remove that pup from that. >> I'm sure when Murphy comes to visit, Murphy and our new blue path dog will get along swimmingly. At least that's my hope. Um, but I do think that we've seen such a benefit in terms of social emotional wellness for our staff and students at the elementary school. I want to be able to replicate that at our middle and high school and have it. >> Don't get me wrong, I think that's wonderful. But I I I don't want to

065see the, you know, the cup that's now being utilized at the middle school. Like, no way. You know, >> hopefully not. Hopefully, he'll continue to come. >> Yeah. No, they they really are affected by that. >> And it'll maximize our K-9 support. >> I mean, you know that, Jeff. >> Oh, I know. I know better than anyone how great a dog can make you feel. Uh but yes, uh we're really really excited about the opportunity to expand that program and support all three buildings um in any way we can. So >> Jackie, what the steps plan does ST stand for something? >> It does. And I'm sorry I don't remember off hand specifically, but I know one of the words plan has to >> and one of the words is teaching and I'm sure uh

066the other two words if they'll if I have time probably >> just curious. >> We know >> we use acronyms a lot. >> Jeremy knows it. Jeremy's pulling it up right now. >> You should pick yourself. >> Standards based educational professional supports. >> Wait, there's an act. Wait, stand. >> We had another acronym in education. standards. >> Say that again. >> It doesn't >> standardsbased. >> I don't know where the T comes from. Standard. I guess it's ST for standard. Educator, evaluator, professional supports. >> All right. >> It's technically not. >> It's not even a good acronym. >> It's not great. >> It's not working for me. >> So, >> good to go. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, this is the timeline that I was shared at a recent um event. Matt Melo and

067I have been attending a um a collaborative of sorts at Boseies that we has met at least twice already if not three times and this collaborative led by Fred Andy and Greg Fredericks at Boseies is to bring schools together that are trying to unpack the New York inspires trying to better understand it and also feeds us new guidance and new information as it becomes available. um different from other initiatives in the past with the state, we have seen an increased amount of resources, explicit webinar directions and um pamphlets, flyers to be handed out to educators and families and folks. Um so that's a great thing. New York has been really good so far about sharing what they do know. Um but there is stuff that we don't have yet. And so among those things are

068explicit guidance about the particulars for um things like the climate literacy. Uh there is the idea that rubrics are coming that will be shared with us next year that are expected to be used but we don't know much about the rubrics yet. We don't know how the rubrics will be introduced, what time of the year next year they'll be introduced and they won't be final rubrics until the following year. So we're really still learning a lot about New York Inspires. I don't have a lot of uh a wealth of information to share. The portrait of a graduate has been the big focus this year rolling that out. Excuse me. Rob Leup and I attended a K5 inquirybased learning and the portrait of a graduate workshop recently to better understand where the states headed in terms

069of inquiry based learning at the elementary level given we are so focused on explicit direct instruction and those two things can live together. They just have to live together. artfully and um with you know real intention behind developing the types of lessons and units that bring those two ideas together. Um but what I will say is that again it looks a lot like what we're doing and I'm so happy to say that and I know it sounds a little cliche but it is true. >> Excuse me Jackie just a question about the financial literacy and climate education requirements. So, uh, is that going to be just a high school requirement? I understand that it's supposed to live somehow K through 12. >> Um, don't know what that's going to look like, but as far as

070courses might be concerned, >> what would that look like if it's high school or middle school? >> It wouldn't necessarily have to live in a course. It It could live in a course, right? It doesn't have to be its own course, a standalone. So, um, >> yes, you are right. It's supposed to be part of the middle school work as well. Okay. Um, but it can live in a lot of places. >> So, it'll be infused into current courses mostly. >> It reminds me of the seal of civic readiness, if you will, where they can earn a point in the middle school and then they can keep earning points as they go on through high school through specific work they do. So, it reminds me a little bit of that. >> And I think that's

071probably where the state is coming from. They want to see this work infused into most into the curriculum as a child rises through the grades, not just dumped in a single course everybody has to take in senior year. So I think they really are intentional about it being part of their educational journey. Um but what that looks like. >> Thank you. >> Losing my voice, but that's okay. Um okay. I'm really proud to report PV is still leading in so many ways. Um, Dr. Lu is the presidentele of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendants. We like jokey is the king of the superintendents. We say king. Um, I was elected the region 3 representative for the American Association of School Personnel Administrators. I sit on that board and I also sit on the NICED

072plan pilot professional learning workg group. So I've had a front row seat on the work that the dis that the state has been doing in a different lens for several years now. Um and so that work is continuing but um and the New York State Inspires is not necessarily a product of that but they do come together because the plan pilot was looking at three different models of school one of them being IB program schools. And of course, here we are now looking at the New York State portrait of a graduate and they call it inquiry based learning, but it's always been very aligned with what IB does. So that was one of the reasons I joined the work group years ago and I continue to stay on that group. Uh Dr. Grace Chan over

073here is a board member on New York Cooperative Liquid Asset Security System, New York class. I had to look up what that meant. So I know that one. Um so Grace is on that board. U Dr. Podesta leads the PNW principles forum and she serves as a SE trustee for our region. Um, and our region is pretty big, isn't it? It's a pretty big region. Um, and that's the school administrators association of New York State. Um, so you can ask me about a lot of acronyms. I know some of them. Um, Travis McCarti is the leader of the PNW Secondary Principles Network. That's middle school and high school. That's a new development this year. Congrats, Mr. McCarti. and Leticia Payne continues to lead the PNW assistant principles network. So, Putnham Valley leaders have their finger

074on the pulse of and lead other Putnham Valley other school leaders district and building level um and nationally. So, we're very fortunate here. We have a lot of involvement at the state, local, and national level. And that helps to make sure Putnham Valley priorities are always centered and we have a laser focus on what's coming down the pipe so that we can be prepared. >> And of course our students are leaders too and we empower them in every way we can to be leaders whether giving their voices as part of a tiger streak or in the community project. We have our wonderful middle school students engage in the community project this year and that's a new development. It is part of the IB program. it is a requirement to have. So what the community project

075is um a group of students will come together around a uh community service idea. They come up with the idea. They research it. They see what this what the community needs. They develop a plan and then they put it in motion. At the end of the year, we'll have a showcase. All of our different community service groups from the middle school. The eighth graders will share what they've done as a group. They'll present. Um, so people will be welcome to come to that and see the different projects that were put in place. And, uh, Miranda Hawkberg, our school librarian for the middle school, is the coordinator for that program along with several of our, uh, staff serving as advisers to these groups because all of our small groups need a supervisor to help them manage

076themselves and make sure that they're moving forward and being productive. So, uh, that is a wonderful new way we're empowering our students to lead. I look forward to seeing how that translates into the high school where the personal project is a requirement for the IB program. So down the line we'll be talking a little bit about the personal project and each student will have a personal passion project that they bring forward that they work on over the course of a year and present on and um we're looking forward to seeing how that comes together. Of course, we have wonderful things like stage crew and gratitude festival where our students always shine, build, create, lead. Um, and regional leadership area all state, our athletes, our musicians were always represented somewhere in ways students shine. So, always

077happy to say that our students are leading too, >> including on the board of education >> and including on the board of education. very proud of these items here where we empower our educators to lead here and beyond as well. Um, a couple of new leadership positions that we've added this year are K12 instructional specialist is a position. Um, again, not a full staff position, full-time staff position. These are uh stipended positions and um teachers are going above and beyond in supporting their colleagues and supporting the work of our school district. Uh we have our wonderful scholastic coordinator, our foundations facilitator. We have middle years program coordinators, two at the middle school and currently one at the high school. That's a newer position this year. Um Cat Schutz is our coordinator there and we will

078uh be working on splitting that position for the following school year so that there are two there as we have Mary Kay and Stephanie doing that position at the middle school. Um, we have transitioned from a TCIS. Um, I'm not sure I know the full acronym for that. If you give me a minute, I'll be able to think of it. >> Crisis intervention in school. >> There you go. And there's And instead we're doing handle with care. Same concept, but it's handle with care is the newer program that we're doing. And Danny Turner is our coordinator for that, which means he trains other staff and he is the go-to if there is an incident. and he is the chief deescalator, if you will. Um, we have our K12 community liaison who you've met before at

079different events like our holiday pot luck. Uh, our future of education team continues to work hard. A really exciting development with the future of education team is um we had a long meeting the other day thinking about our priorities. We've we're doing the AI work. We continue to talk about AI and the way it's evolving and keeping our eyes on it, but the future of education team is more than that. and they've decided as a team one of the things they'd like to do is start to look at innovative schools. What are they doing? What new practices, promising practices are out there? And how can we bring that back to Putham Valley? So, uh, think of them as scouts. They're going out and searching the world for the best, most promising practices to bring them

080back to Putham Valley. Similar to how we did with AI, we heard it was there. We saw it on the horizon. We went and researched as a team. We learned about it as a team. We talked about how it impacts Putnham Valley. We developed guiding principles for everyone or or guidance document if you will and um we shared that with the community. We shared that with our team and now that is how we are making sure to stay on the cutting edge. So we want to continue to stay on the cutting edge and see what other practices are out there, what other technologies are out there that we are not yet aware of. And um we always have our teacher led workshops both internally and regionally. Teachers lead workshops through the teacher center. They lead

081workshops at Boseies and they lead workshops internally for us. We have our wonderful K12 writing committee that's done work and presented here before. Our K12 multi-tered systems of support committee MTSS. Um our culture and discipline committee which I mentioned earlier is newer and a new addition. And our community project coordinator, a newer role that we added this year as well. We'd love to empower our community members to be actively involved in our school district and we invite parents to um all different kinds of opportunities whether it's building steering committees. Uh we're working on developing a district advisory committee. We have a district advisory committee but we're working on gathering more participants to that committee. Um, we continue to develop our parent learning opportunities and of course we have our beautiful, wonderful parent organizations that help

082us in so many ways from securing Mason to pocketbook bingo to just having wonderful book fairs in our buildings all the time. We're so so lucky for the involvement of our parents. We thank them so much for being present on our building steering committees and giving their input. We thank them for all that they do, whether it's the small touches of a teacher appreciation event during teacher appreciation week or um an event that they throw for families to not only give them the night out but encourage them to donate to the school. Um and of course we keep our families informed informed through our newsletters, listening hours, and opportunities to meet with us. Just I was going to mention this later, but since we're talking about it now, um the Janette and I and Jeremy

083met with uh the new town supervisor and and what the new town board members um to try to not reestablish but continue the the work that we've done as linking our community, town and school working together for the same goals. So, you know, hopefully that will continue. We are have committed the board is committed to going to every town board meeting and kind of reporting on what's happening in the schools. Um and hopefully we'll get some reciprocal um you know understandings from that. So >> it's wonderful. It's a great partnership to have. >> Uh the Oh, I'll ask him later. Never mind. So in addition to curriculum and instruction, I wear a new hat this year which is our human resources. And I wanted to talk a little bit about what is human resources at

084Padm Valley and what are some of the things that we've been working on this year, things that have always been in place but wanted to bring them to light to you and things that are new. Um here you'll see just a couple of pictures from our wonderful new employee orientation. As you know in the past when um we've had this opportunity to bring our new staff to Putnham Valley for a couple of days, this has been such a joy. We invite the board to the welcome breakfast. um folks ride the bus uh on the bus tour. And this is a real opportunity to not only just bring new teachers to our school district and welcome them, but also all of our employees. So, we have all of our employees join us for this couple of

085day event and um it's a great way to introduce them to all of the folks in our school district. So, some of the things that we've been doing and working on this year that are new, uh we've updated our reference checks. So when principles or other uh administrators hire someone new, they usually do reference checks on them. So we updated our form to make it a little bit more user friendly. Uh we updated our CSEA evaluation forms. Um we were adding a column to give a little bit more description on how someone is performing so that there was a little bit more than meets expectations or does not. But we wanted to make sure that we could say they were developing. Maybe there's something new they're learning like how to do the budget and it's

086new to them. They're not yet meeting the expectation, but it doesn't mean they're not doing something correctly. So we wanted to make sure there was a distinguishing factor in there and to give the administrator or supervisor an area and a chance to say a little bit more about that and say a little bit more about the skills they want someone to develop and also to ensure that all of those meetings when they are had between the um the employee and the administrator or the supervisor that they are productive conversations setting goals meeting those goals and ways in which they can develop to their skills more to meet new goals that are set. Um, I have always done a curriculum newsletter and we've kind of rebranded it now to a curriculum HR newsletter because we have

087so much information in there that's not just about instruction but also about CTLE requirements, certification requirements, um, important news and articles, research based usually about what they can do instructionally. Um, professional learning opportunities that are open to all and professional learning opportunities that are instructional only. uh teach status reminders, just a way to make sure that we're keeping our staff ab breast of what's going on in the district that they need to know, what's going on nationally that they might need to know about, superintendent conference day updates and schedules, things of that nature. So, we do that every other month that goes out and I work with um colleagues on that, whether it's asking them for specific information or an article or um something new that they need to know about registering for their uh

088certification. Um, we spoke a little bit about a new employee orientation. I think it's important to note that we do intentional introductions and learning experiences so that our newest employees are able to match faces and names. So, we have a section of every day dedicated to a different department, business office, human resources, special education, meetings with the principles, whether it's lunch or a round a roundt scenario kind of situation. So we really do intentional learning experiences that are going to guide those folks in welcoming them to Putham Valley, how do we do things in Putham Valley, what's important to us in Putham Valley, and also who do you need to know in Putham Valley to get the things that you need done. Um, and then of course we have our wonderful Putham Valley bus tour

089during that opportunity. So, they get to tour their community that they are now part of, and they get to really better understand where where our children are coming from, where our families live, what it looks like, what those high roads look like when it's snow daytime, um, and all of those other things in between. So, the bus tour is wonderful. Thank you, Sam, for always leading that tour with Mike and Dave. Um, and also our branding. You know, we get to give them things that will make them feel part of Putin Valley, whether it's a te a t-shirt that our athletic department donates to us or a pen with Putin Valley on it and a little bag for them to carry everything in. So, it's about making them really part of the organization. They get

090to know it inside and out in that short span of time and they get to feel like they're part of something big, which they are. Um, and of course, always staying current with laws and regulations, whether it's the workplace violence initiative that the state uh shared or mandate that they shared recently or Desha's law, whatever it may be, making sure we're staying ahead, staying on top of things, getting our GCN videos out that we need to do every year, making sure people are informed about the processes and policies that they need to be aware of. We had some new innovations this year, ways in which we're recruiting because we can know how important it is. There's a teacher shortage out there. We're really trying to make sure staff are coming to Putham Valley and know

091about Putnham Valley. So, we're doing a lot of different things to do that. Um, we had an initiative with our library media specialist. We piloted something called an open house where we sent out a flyer and invited anyone who had an active OLAS account for library of media specialist. We invited them to come look at our library, meet with staff, talk to the principal. Um, and we are still working on those types of initiatives, creative initiatives to get our name out there, to get people looking at Putham Valley and to getting people to come and visit us and take a look and consider us for their future. Um, Dana Lopez has been hard at work with social media posting. She is a wiz at this. Um, she makes beautiful postings via Canva. Um, and between

092she and Jeanie, Genie tonight, they are able to post widely uh things like Handshake and LinkedIn to really get the message out there, let people know the kinds of positions we have available, whether it's a school bus driver or a library media specialist, and really um highlight the great ways of working at Putinham Valley. And you'll see that the benefits of working at Putham Valley is one of our items because that's been added to our postings lately to really emphasize purposeful employment. We know that the newer generation is seeking purpose in their employment. We know they value that. So, we want to speak to that whenever we're looking for a new position. So, that is one of the areas in which we are um not only leveraging our technology but also being explicit about how

093we post for positions. >> Yeah, that Jackie, I think that's extremely important. One of the takeaways from this presentation this evening is the amount of retirements that we have. >> Yes. go forward about three or four years, we will lose almost >> half of the staff here at the high school. >> They all started at 2000 and many of them will be 55 ready to go and uh we have to be cognizant of that. So whatever you can do uh these new innovations are wonderful and and and keep it coming because >> uh you know as they used to say in Game of Thrones, winter is coming. Winter is coming. That is true. But I have an answer to that, Sam. So, some of our new innovations include things like total rewards and gratitude meetings.

094So, I'll start with gratitude meetings because those are another term for stay interviews. If you've heard of stay interviews before, that's when an interview is conduct conducted before someone is exiting, long before they're exiting. It's actually meeting with them to find out how are things going, how do you like what you do, what can we be doing differently? And so we posed those types of questions. Um we started with our transportation department this fall. Dave Spittle and I sat together and we met with every member that would attend and almost all did. Um every member with uh the transportation department um and we asked them those questions and we took their feedback seriously and as a result one of the things that came out of that is we're doing an intentional training for them during

095superintendent conference day. Someone mentioned that um communication and team building is something they desired. So, we're going to have a consultant come in and work with the entire transportation department to develop those communication skills and team building skills. The other thing that's in the works, it's draft only right now, so I really can't show you too much of it, but I want to thank Dan Mahoney for being uh the mastermind behind this and Dana Lopez and Alicia Hunter for meeting with him to work through what is a a a dream of mine. Um, this is called total rewards. What I envision is that Dr. Lu will be able to sit down with anyone and at the click of a button, he can tell them their total rewards package with Putham Valley. What do they earn

096in terms of compensation, benefits, stipens, vacation, sick days, whatever it is, he'll be able to click a button and through a visual he can show them what their benefits package is with Putin Valley, their total compensation package. Um, we're still working through it right now. It's not yet ready for for prime time, but uh it is in the works and I am very excited with all the great work that dad has done already on it that it will hopefully be in place before the fall. So when we are meeting with those new folks to replace positions, Sam, I am hopeful that we're going to be able to show them the value of working with Putham Valley both in their compensation package as well as everything else in purposeful experience of employment that you receive at

097Putham Valley. No, much better to keep who we have here. I I agree with you. >> Those stay interviews will be very important. >> We we have to be cognizant that >> that's right. >> Many people, you know, after 25 30 years of instruction, it it wears on you. It tires you out. You know, I loved it completely, but 35 years I had and it was time to go. >> Sure. So, those are some of the things on the horizon right now. We'll be working on more gratitude meetings upcoming. Um and uh the total rewards is a platform that we're working on right now. >> Have we thought at all about a um teacher preparation program for our students to begin to build a pipeline for Putnham Valley? >> Absolutely. And we've spoken to a

098couple of colleges. There are colleges out there that work with school districts um whether it's in dual enrollment classes and those types of programs. Um and we are continuing to see what our best options are in terms of partners for that. but we're not quite there yet. Um, I know that Manhattanville is a wonderful school that sometimes does professional development programs with schools of that nature. Um, and of course there's always Boseies that has the early learning center. So, um, while we don't yet have a program, a formalized program in place, it's not that it's it can't be done. As a matter of fact, um, the international baloria program has its own CP program, career program. And one of those items that we could pursue if we wanted to in the future, one of those

099areas could be education as the career program. So, we're looking into a host of different options and hopefully we'll have more to report on that um maybe next year. >> Fantastic. Thank you. Sure. And in terms of leveraging our um our platforms and our innovative ideas, we are uh this is our human resources just a picture of our human resources web page. We've always had that. We're looking at that to innovate, make sure that it's up todate, make sure it has everything it's need, that it's userfriendly, people can find things easily. um FMLA. When folks go out on FMLA, we have an EFMLA platform that sends all their stuff digitally to them. Um so that is a really seamless and user-friendly experience. Um we're continuing to work with Frontline to make it a little bit

100more user friendly. Uh it's not always perfect. Um but it is the best program we have that talks to all of our or almost all of our platforms. So um we continue to push Frontline to improve their end and their services. Um, and we continue to look at ways that we can use it, whether it's changing a question in a form, removing a checkbox, adding a checkbox, adding a section that didn't exist before where someone could add a comment. Um, those are different ways in which we're using what we have to improve it um because it does work for us largely. And then um at the bottom leftand corner, we are joining our in-person Mid Hudson teacher recruitment day. It's an inerson fair uh job fair with teachers and in the past we've done a

101virtual one and we really haven't had the best outcomes from it. We haven't seen the best candidates. Those screenings are 10 minutes and very short and you don't really get a feel for the person. So we're stepping away from the virtual job fair that we've done annually and instead we're doing this inerson job fair in March. Questions do you have? Well, just because this picture made me think of it, um, and we've got all administrators from all three buildings here. Um, one of the things we discussed with the town was making sure that that the new town supervisor and the town is invited to our readalouds, the career fair, like whatever is going on. They may not be able to make it, but first of all, they see what's happening. um when we have an

102awards assembly at the high school, whatever it is, if we invite the town specifically, if they don't come, they don't come. But at least we've done the outreach and they're at least aware of what's going on. So, you know, um because I think it's great when you can get the community into the schools like this. So, >> great job, Jackie. And I just want to call out all your pictures. >> Yeah. Thank you. I have to give a lot of credit to Jeannie Dik and Michael Diamore for the pictures I have. Uh, but I know that Jeanie and even Dana went into the presentation to make sure our pictures were most up to date and that we had so many wonderful shining examples of all around our district. >> Yeah, >> thank you. >> Just

103a quick question about the code teaching. Uh, is that for all partnerships, special education, ENL, everybody? >> Awesome. Yes, we are looking at um we are looking at making sure our teachers of all coaching teaching partnerships have the best models and strategies to support students. >> Fantastic. Uh I'm just as excited about that mentor plan as you are. That four-year plan is amazing. Great job with that. I think that alone will keep teachers in Putinham Valley because to have such an incredible footing um be provided to you, it it's it's just wonderful to see that. So, thank you. Um and then lastly, just a little plug for the steering committee. First of all, if anyone would like to join, please make sure that you look for those emails at the beginning of the school year

104so you can join. We have wonderful conversations in steering. Um I am going to lobby just a little bit for the working parents though for there to be a virtual option at every school. Um it is sometimes impossible for us to leave our our positions, the things that put food on our tables to be as involved as we would like to be in. And I love that they're held during the day because we have more teacher participation now, which is great. Um, but it does for the working parent make it a little bit more challenging. Um, and so if we could consider that, I think that would be uh a more equitable way to get more families involved. >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you all. It's always impressive to see it all up here

105in our presentation and um I appreciate you all making the time to be here tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you all. >> Yeah. Thank you very much. Great job everybody. >> Good. Thank you. >> Okay. I have to go back to my I I just think it's impressive that um that our budget planning starts with what's happening instructionally in our buildings. >> So, I thank you, Jackie, for that. Um, student representatives, what's going on? You got it. You got your snow day the last time you called it. So, >> it was great. I slept all day. >> No, they'll be no more. >> I know. It's getting warmer. It felt like spring out today. >> It was nice, wasn't it? >> I know. And it's 30° and we all think it's warm. I loved it.

106>> Oh, your mom yells at you, too. That's >> She always yells at me to wear it. >> That's awesome. That makes me feel so much better. >> But there's nowhere to like We don't go to our lockers, so it's no one wants to hold it. That's why we don't wear a jacket. >> Thank you for sharing. >> Yes, that's that's the reason I like it. >> Cuz we are cold. Even if we don't admit it, we're cold. >> Um we had um our IB science, we had a a group four. I don't really know how to explain it. It was just like a science day for the IB kids. We like collaborated with the three classes, which is bio, physics, and sports med. And we did like a presentation on Wednesday. And then last

107week we had our honor society induction which is now all combined except for national honor society. So that was all done in one night. >> That's nice. >> And then we NHS hosted we hosted our blood drive last Thursday and then we have spotlight spotlight awards tomorrow and then our girls wrestling team won sectionals. So now they're going to states which is pretty cool. >> Congratulations. That's amazing. >> Yeah. >> That's wonderful. Yeah. >> Did she leave you anything, Dr. Love to report on? >> Yes, we got some other stuff. So, our fourth graders had their winter concert. Uh, many of us were able to attend the afternoon session because the evening session is actually too crowded to have room for us. >> Uh, but it's always impressive. I have to give kudos to uh,

108I won't name, but one student got up there and sang by himself, which I was extremely impressed by. Uh, but always amazing to see the students and the sheer number of them that participate both in the chorus and the band. So, our students are um enjoying both opportunities. Our cheerleaders held their tournament uh this or couple weekends ago, last weekend, which is a huge fundraiser for them and they used all those funds to bully me into letting them go to Florida for competitions. Uh we had a huge team from North Salem come here and visit. Uh they were curious to see about our high school community lunch program, our block schedule. They've moved to a later start. So a lot of the initiatives we started many years ago here in Ponta Valley are continued to

109extend out to other school districts around our region. As we mentioned, the honors society induction ceremony for English, math, music, science, and world language was held. Uh the first time we combined it, which we our hope was rather than having five different 25 to 30 minute long award ceremonies that we'd have onehour long presentation and that's exactly what we were able to accomplish. So it work >> kudos to the high school and all the coordinators for putting that together. High school held their blood drive for the national honor society. As we mentioned a wrestling team, the girls wrestling team won the sectional championship and we have four students advancing onto the state tournament after winning the section one individual championships. That includes Julia the Michaels, Delina Grits, Madison or Maddie Keeler, and Alexis Keeler. So

110we wish the four of them the best of luck as they continue on to the state tournament. And we have a swimmer Oliver Rex Rex Whippy Wiki as uh going on to the state tournament in the 100yard backstroke. We had Barbara had mentioned the meeting that we had with the town supervisor and the new trustee and we're looking forward to continuing to expand the collaboration that exists between the school and the community. Um working towards one common goal of improving the Putham Valley community. Westchester Pinham School Board Association sponsored several uh meetings with state senators and assembly people. Uh myself and Barbara were on two of them today with Senator Harkham and Assembly person Levvenberg. So we continue to work on our advocacy across the region in hopes of better supporting public schools. Just some

111updates. Uh we've used three snow days so far and we thank uh Elelliana for making the call last time. It was very very impressive. >> Um, we're working on future plans for for the rest of them. >> Thank you for announcing that the night before. >> You're welcome. We were all really happy about that. >> It was only took us 2 hours to get the system to work. >> It wasn't my fault. >> I know it wasn't your fault. >> You poor girl had to record the message like three times. >> The system was not working. It actually it make you feel any better. It didn't work for a tour in LA either. Poor Mr. Dike and myself were up at 5:00 in the morning yelling at the computer. >> Why? Why it wouldn't work

112again? Um, so we had mentioned the lower Hudson Council school superintendent meetings. Uh, I continue to attend those as I take on the leadership position. Our capital project is still up at state ed through the approval process. So it made through its initial approval, now it's an engineering, then it goes to fiscal. So, we're hoping to get that project approved in the near future so we can issue bids and get it awarded so that some of the work can start this summer and our negotiations with our teachers union whose contract is up at the end of this school year are underway and have been productive thus far. Some upcoming events high school has their Aspire celebration where we unveil a student artwork that's scheduled for next week on 224. And the young artist night sponsored

113by Putnham Valley Education Foundation is this upcoming Saturday 2:28 or not Saturday, the following Saturday. Um, more than Saturdays I go. Two Saturdays now. Um, on the 2:28 and that'll be held at Tomkins uh cultural center. >> That's it. Thank you. I will say um at the National Honor Society the new ceremony I was very impressed with the handshakes because I don't know whether they practiced but they really did shake your hand like you know we've had years where they like just you know sort of like >> maybe it was due to COVID or whatever and nobody wanted to touch anybody but um really nice handshakes um students looking you straight in the eye and and appreciating the awards that they were getting which they had definitely earned. So yeah, >> that was a huge

114uh success. I I thought it was wellrun. Uh every organization was able to explain its history and its purpose and every student was recognized within that amount of time and and then of of course the reception afterwards. It it it was awesome. It was really good. >> Did the students like it? Was it you know that it was all that they didn't have to come back? the people who were in multiple honor societies didn't have to come back with their parents three different nights or >> I think their parents liked it more but >> yeah I don't know I wasn't there cuz I was already inducted to to them last year but I would have liked to not have four different ones to go to. >> Yeah it was not it was nice and and

115they did a really good job. I mean, >> I think they didn't >> they didn't like the candles and that kind of stuff, but >> Yeah. They didn't like that they couldn't wear the robes though because there were so many of them. They couldn't >> enough. >> Yeah, there wasn't enough. >> There wasn't enough what? >> Robes. So, like they robes. >> Yeah, that's what they always do. >> Fix that then. >> Yeah. Good. Good. >> They fixed it. >> It's a good point. So, >> we need to fix that if that's >> Write that down on your >> Got it. >> Great feedback. It's important. See, >> that's why you're great feedback. >> Love it. Um, okay. So, we'll move on to new business then. >> Yes. um resolved on the recommendation of the

116superintendent of schools to amend the previous appointment for Katherine Morgan who was uh approved as a one-year leave replacement special education teacher and appoint her to a 4-year probationary term as a special education teacher commencing on September 1st, 2025 and terminating on August 31st, 2029 in the 10-year area of special education at the high school on step one masters of the PVFT salary schedule. Miss Morgan holds a students with disability uh generalist 712 initial certification, students with disabilities social studies 712 extension initial certification, social studies 59 initial certification, and social studies 712 initial certification. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? >> Just a lot of certific certifications. Just a little bit of a unicorn. >> Way to go, girl. >> Uh, all in favor? >> I opposed. Abstension. The resolution passes. Number two, please. resolved

117on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools to appoint Alexandra Gagnan to a 12-week long-term substitute position as a general education teacher at the middle school effective December 15, 2025 through on or about March 13, 2026 or sooner at the discretion of the BOE at the substitute salary rate of $130 per day. Miss Gagnan's childhood ed 1 through six and students with disabilities 1 through 7 initial certification are anticipated to be issued shortly. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? All in favor? >> I opposed abstensions. The resolution passes. Number three, please. resolved on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools to appoint Trevor Spataphora to a four-month long long-term substitute position as a math teacher at the high school effective on or about March 5th, 2026 through June 30th, 2026 or sooner at the discretion

118of the board of education at the rate of 175 per day. Mr. Spaphora holds New York State math 7 through 12 initial certification and also appoint Mr. Spaphora as a substitute teacher at the high school effective February 9th, 2026 through on or about March 4th, 2026 at the rate of $150 per day. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstensions? The resolution passes number four, please. resolved on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools to appoint Christina Turner to a 4-year probationary term as a teaching assistant commencing on February 13th, 2026 and terminating on February 12th, 2030 in the teaching assistant tenure area on step one of the CSEA salary schedule. Miss Turner holds teaching assistant level one certification. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? >> All in favor? >>

119I opposed abstensions. The resolution passes. Number five, please. >> Resolved on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools to accept the resignation of social studies special education teacher Cole England from the district effective June 26, 2026 as per document 136/26 attached to the agenda and official minutes of this meeting. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? >> All in favor? >> Opposed? Abstensions? Resolution passes. Number six, please. >> Resolve to set the following dates for action regarding the 202627 district budget vote and board election. May 5th, 2026, final budget hearing, 7:00 p.m. at the high school cafeteria. May 19th, 2026, budget vote and board election at the elementary school from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? >> All in favor? >> I opposed. extensions. The resolution passes. Number seven, please. >>

120Resolve to authorize Clicker of the District to arrange and enter into contracts for all voting needs, including voter check-in, poll book systems, to have the necessary ballots printed, and to make other arrangements for the district budget vote and board election scheduled for May 19th, 2026, as are necessary and appropriate. This resolution shall take effect immediately. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? >> All in favor? I I >> opposed abstensions. The resolution passes. Number eight, please. >> Resolve to approve the notice of public budget hearing, budget vote, and trustee election for the May 19th, 2026 vote for the Pundant Valley Central School District as per document number 135-26 attached to the agenda and official minutes of this meeting. >> Second. >> Questions or comments? >> All in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. The resolution passes. Okay. So,

121topics for upcoming meetings. >> So, our next meeting is scheduled for February 26th and that'll be budget presentations for our facilities and special education departments. So, we have two presentations and the following meeting will be March 12th which will be our first full budget presentation. >> Okay. >> Um Okay. I'd like to open it up to public comment on any topic. I >> thought tonight's presentation was wonderful. >> Yeah, >> incredible amount of work happening. >> Just great. I >> think we jumped into board comments. >> Huh? >> I said we jumped into board comments. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> I thought you jumped into comments anyway. >> Sorry. That's fine. That's fine. >> I wasn't admonishing. >> You're part of the worry about from >> um Miss Leavine's presentation. Uh, >> no public comment

122tonight. >> No, I know. >> Wow. >> Well, goodbye, >> Joe. I got things to say. I have nothing to say. >> Okay. >> It's encouraging. >> Uh, Ford, you okay? Everybody good? Everybody's good. >> Yeah. Okay. >> A lot of good things happening here. >> A lot. Always. Always. Makes >> I'm looking forward to the spotlight awards tomorrow. I love that. I know >> to give recognition to these youngsters who really go above and beyond in many areas. >> Cool. >> And I'm glad they changed the time of the expire thing because I couldn't make it earlier, but I can make it now. >> 1 p.m. is good. >> So, cuz I always think that's impressive. I always like to hear from the student what motivated them to do their piece. It's just really

123pretty incredible. um all the stories that happen in this school community and community community that we don't always hear about but are so inspiring. So um okay. So I'd like a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Good night people. Happy Valentine's Day