BOE Meeting, November 18, 2025

001[music] Good evening everybody and welcome to the Tuesday November 18th 2025 regular board meeting the West Sonica Central School District. If I can have everyone rise to the pledge. I'd like to call up the West Middle students to lead us and we have a microphone set up right over here for you guys in front of the TV behind Mr. Zack. That's right. >> 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. >> Thank you so much. Move on to our roll call. >> Mara >> present. >> Lorine >> Ryan. >> Kale. >> What was that? >> Kale. >> That's what I'm You're over there. Cale >> pres. Excellent. Charlotte >> present. >> Adam,

002>> present. >> Laura, >> present. Sarah >> present. >> Jeremy >> present. >> Zack >> here. >> Excellent. And I'm here. And of course, Dr. Move on to our school spotlight. West Middle. If we want to guys have you guys come up, actually. Oh, you made it up already. That was quick. >> They're trying to speed you along. >> Yeah. Hello, my name is Kendall Kolinsky and these are my friends Josh Madison and Carter Rick. At West Middle, we live by the motto be good, do good, go west. Let us show you this motto in action. In September, we held our annual Westfest. Hundreds of students and their families attended and enjoyed activities such as gaga ball, mini golf, making a beret, and hitting a piñata. One of the biggest reasons West Middle's the best

003because of our principles. Miss Smart decided to surprise our principles with an appreciation wall filled of our students gratitude for Mr. Kane and Mrs. Bondio. We really appreciate all the great programs and activities our principles support at West Middle. We also want to acknowledge our elementary principles as well. Thank you Dr. Froley, Dr. Quinn, and Mrs. Brady. This is a wall that the students of that the students at West Middle, [music] they made in our study halls or English classes. [music] It's just a bunch of cards saying one thing that we appreciate about our principles, Miss Bonjiovani [music] and Mr. Ke. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> So that that board highlights how thankful we are that our princip of about what our principles do for us and how

004they help us. One of the funnest things that West Middle has to offer is our grade level dances. The sixth graders at West Middle just had their first dance. It consisted of costumes, games, and limbo. These dances offer West Middle students an opportunity to have some extra fun and to get to know their peers better. This year, Mr. Keen implemented the Westing Games where each grade level strives to have the most points for five weeks at a time. Seventh grade won the first competition was an award in Italian ice, an opportunity to go to Highark Stadium to meet the Bills rookies. Several Buffalo Bills rookies interacted with the students. And yes, Dion Walker is very tall. While we are talking about turf, West Middle once again held turf nights for each grade level. Students and

005staff look forward to the annual tugof-war games and 100yard dash. The students also look forward to the challenge of beating Mr. Keane in the 100yard dash, which really wasn't a challenge at all. [laughter] The SPCA's Pause for Love program brings a lot of joy and comfort to our building. Yogi is a 135 lb New Foundland therapy dog. Students and staff enjoy taking a brain break while meeting Yogi. West Middle is super excited to have Paws for Love visit West Middle this year. Fun Fridays are also another hit at West Middle. One Friday every month, students have the opportunity to participate in a variety of sports and games. One of our fun Fridays, we played basketball. And if you got lucky, you might have seen Mr. Kane doing a layup or two. We all thank the

006school board for giving us the opportunity to tell you why West Middle is best. Be good, do good, go west. >> [applause] >> Excellent job. Thank you so much, West. >> Thank you for that. We'll move on to our student exeicio board member report. Um, Cal's not here, so go ahead, Cal. Thank you. >> All right. I'm going to go in chronological order since we've had it's been a while since I gave my last report. So, couple weeks ago, West beat East at football. Uh was not a clean game at all, but they did come out with a win. Then, more recently, we had our Veterans Day ceremony last Monday, which we welcome many veterans and had three give remarks. And then last Friday, our boys volleyball team won the section and now are playing

007in states this weekend. And tomorrow is the last day for students to donate to the Thanksgiving food drive which Key Club ran. >> Okay. So, our sports teams had a lot of games last week and they're finishing up their season. So, the East had their championship uh yeah, their sectional championship football game last Friday. Fortunately, they lost 44 to 22. Cross country also went to states. Uh they took Max Nulv and Austin Austin Maluk Malookski to participate there. Uh boys volleyball had their semi-finals last week. The score was 25 to 11. Unfortunately, they were the 11. Uh then girls volleyball also had their playoffs last week. They had their first home playoff in a decade. So I say that's a win for them. Um, and then this week and ne last week is the start

008of sports tryyouts. Uh, we have two new clubs at East consisting of the first responders club and the African-American studies club. Our music department had a lot going on as uh they just finished their play called Too Many Detectives in the Murder Mansion. That was on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday last week. And musical auditions are already starting. The musical this year is Spongebob the Musical. Um, as well as a couple weeks ago, many students across the district participated in Buff State's uh, honors band where they had a conductor from Yale University uh, conduct and teach and rehearse with all the students. Uh, Key Club has having a has been having a food drive the past couple weeks. Uh, the will be end like Cal said this Thursday. And a couple weeks ago, student council had

009their CLA craft show. It was a success raising thousands of dollars for our school and they already have 85 crafters signed up for their spring craft show. >> Wow. Excellent. Thank you guys. I'll hand it over to Dr. Krueger. >> Thank you. I'm happy to share with you my superintendent report. I wanted to start by making the board and the community aware of a step that we had to take at Win Winchester Potter Elementary School to ensure our student safety. Um, we will be undergoing an emergency demolition of the playground on the campus of Winot due to unsafe conditions of that playground. As you can see here photographed, there's actually a section where we've got an orange cone and caution tape where a section of railing has been missing um from the playground. Due to

010the age of the playground, we cannot get replacement parts for it. I have a few other pictures that highlight the the rust and the deterioration on the playground at the campus of Windpot. Um this particular picture of the deck students would be running across the deck of the playground above or playing underneath it. Um I've summed this up to my colleagues as that's a tetanis shot at best and it's a significant injury at worst. Um having that exposed sharp and rusted metal. So, we are taking the step right now to do an emergency demolition of that playground. There are some other pieces of equipment on the campus at Winchester Potters. There's a bank of swings and there's two smaller pieces of playground equipment that have been purchased generously with the support of the parent teacher

011organization over the years. Um, but just to to recap and I guess tell you where we've been and where we're headed in the future, the replacement of playgrounds was something that we did put out to voters in December of 23. That was part of a threephase proposition uh to voters and unfortunately the playgrounds uh were not supported by the voters at that time. We will be going back out this May for our next capital improvement project and we are prioritizing the schools and the playgrounds that are in greatest need of replacement. Uh Winchester Potters being at the top of the list. So we are doing this as a temporary step in hopes of having a a greater long-term solution with the support of our community. We will be buying a piece of playground equipment using

012funds out of our general funds. We've allocated about $25 to $30,000 that we anticipate buying one piece of playground equipment now that we can then add on to through the support of a capital improvement project. But it's important to note that that emergency piece that we're going to buy now for about 25 to 30,000 is coming out of our general fund and we will get no state aid reimbursement back on it. So, the best way to purchase playground equipment, the most coste effective way for the district and for our residents is to do so through a capital improvement project where we get state aid back. So, we will be again asking for our community support this spring for the needed playground replacements that we have. I would like to um transition now to something much

013more positive and recognize our colleague Robin Brady who was uh recently honored as a distinguished alumni of uh Mount Mercy Academy. So congratulations to Robin. Uh myself and several of our colleagues had the honor to see Robin be recognized at a dinner that was hosted recently. So congratulations to Robin on that great honor. I'd also like to recognize um our board members and specifically our exeicio student board members. Uh this is the first year that we've had exeicio student board members serving on our board of education and they have completely and utterly impressed me in every way. They go above and beyond. They are busy students who are active and involved in things outside of the classroom. Yet, they make the time to be here for our board meetings and they also participate in learning

014sessions that are hosted by the Erie County School Boards Association. So, I just have some recognition there of participation that both Charlotte and Ryan had at recent Erie County School Boards Association sessions. So, many thanks to them for their continued leadership and their involvement on the board. I'd also like to recognize the efforts of our school counselors who hosted a career exploration and partnered with Erie 1 Boseies to do so. Uh this was hosted most recently for some of our elementary schools. We have another on the horizon this spring so that all five of our elementary schools will get this career exploration experience where they got to learn from students who are currently juniors and seniors at our high school participating in various career programs through Erie oneis. So, our students got to hear from

015students who are in programs such as building trades and early childhood, culinary arts, cosmetology, and just learn about what their um career aspirations are and learn a little bit about the learning that they're doing through Boseies. We also hosted our annual ENL dinner. Uh this is an annual event where we celebrate the diversity in our school community and invite our English language learning families uh to this dinner where we can celebrate their culture and it's a great community building experience. So I would like to recognize all of the faculty and staff that were involved in hosting that event. We um really honor our schools and the time that we have together to make unique and fun memories for our students. Um beyond academics and beyond learning, school is a a special place where students make

016memories with their peers on a daily basis. And I'd like to thank our transportation department um who hosted a spooky school bus for our students to enjoy at some of our trunk or treat events that we had in late October. Also um our academyy's program held their annual Mad City money event and this is with community- based organizations and business partners where students got to experience real life world finances. They were given u a career, a budget, and had to interact with various uh individuals to try to work out their household finances and make some decisions along the way as to whether they would rent a a house or purchase a house or buy a vehicle or lease a vehicle. And throughout the morning as they were engaging in this, they had to maintain their

017household budget. Um, it's a really hands-on way for students to learn about personal finance. So, many thanks uh to the entire team who hosted that event. Like to highlight the work that we are doing and continuing to do in our cafeterias. We invested this summer in replacing a number of pieces of our equipment within the kitchens, but we've also done some things to um renovate the way in which our cafeterias and serving lines look. These are pictures at West Middle School where we have done some vinyl wrapping on the serving lines. Um, which just makes it a much more attractive and bright space for our students to enjoy on a daily basis. We're continuing to do that and hope to expand that into other schools. I'd like to recognize also West Senior that recently hosted

018their production of Little Shop of Horrors. Uh, congratulations to the cast and crew and everyone that was involved in that successful show. Like to transition now and highlight some amazing things from our fall sports season. Charlotte did a great job of summarizing the success of some of our sports teams, but we also have some sports teams who did some amazing fundraisers, uh, such as our volleyball teams who hosted Dig for a Cure, which is a volleyball tournament, and they raised thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society. Our cross country team had phenomenal success this year with both an individual female student um who made it to states, Bella Rose, and also an entire team of cross country uh students who made it two states. Our football teams had great success. Charlotte mentioned um we

019had the ability to go to Highark Stadium on Friday night to cheer on East Senior. They have the distinct honor of being one of the last varsity football teams to play at our NFL stadium. We just learned recently that in the new stadium, they will not be hosting high school playoff games. Um, so this is really a a distinct honor that our students had to be able to play on the field at Highark Stadium and to have that honor in an NFL stadium. So the the outcome wasn't what we had hoped for, but what a great um opportunity for our students to celebrate their hard work all season. So congratulations to East Senior. East and West boys volleyball teams had a phenomenal year and West Senior's volleyball team is still going as Cal mentioned. Uh

020they were will be in the Fingerlakes region this weekend for Far West regionals. So congratulations to them and good luck this weekend. We're getting into a very busy time of year where we start a lot of our holiday concerts. I've highlighted some upcoming events for you here. Uh but it is truly a wonderful time to see uh and have our students be showcased for the amazing work that our music department does. So, please do check out our website where all of our concerts and upcoming events are listed. I've just captured some of them here for you. >> Thank you. >> Excellent. Thank you. If you want to dive right back in, we'll do uh number two, our redistricting reconfiguration presentation, please. >> Thank you. >> So, I am happy to uh share with you the

021latest developments that we have in our redistricting and reconfiguration plan. And this is on the heels of about three years worth of work. I want to give recognition to our redistricting committee and the work that they did which led to a a recommendation in June. And to recap that recommendation in June, at that time the board asked us to go back and explore a few other options and we did that work this summer. That led to us giving an update to the board of education on October 7th. On October 7th, we presented the redistricting and long range facilities plan uh at the October 7th board meeting. And following that presentation, starting on October 8th through October 31st, we engaged in a public comment period where the public could give feedback um regarding the details of

022that plan. And I'm going to share an overview of the feedback that we received. We had really high engagement um in in this day and age. We get a number of surveys and certainly through redistricting. This was our fifth survey that we sent out to families asking for feedback. And we had 958 participants that engaged in that thought exchange. So I'd like to summarize some of the feedback that we received and then present to you revised recommendations that are based on that feedback. So just to recap, this is what our community and residents were giving feedback on. On October 7th, we had made a recommendation for a long range plan for not only solving our building capacity issues, but also a long range plan that really looked at how we want to use our facilities

023in the best way for the long term and for our future. So we could have just looked at this in a more simplistic way of redistricting which would be moving students from one school to another school and that may have solved the issues of capacity uh in overcrowding that we have at some of our schools. But we wanted to do this in a much more thorough and complex and comprehensive way. And to do so, we wanted to look at what is our future plans for the use of the Ebenezer building where some of our district offices are located. Yet, we get no state aid back on any of the work that needs to be done at the Ebenezer building. And that building does need substantial work to be done if we are going to maintain

024that building and keep that building either used by students or used by our employees. In addition, we have the Winchester Academy that's been leased by Boseies. Boseies intends to vacate much of their programming by the fall of 27 when they move into their new facility. So, we need a long range plan for for the future of the Winchester Academy. We also have needs in our transportation department with a landlocked transportation facility that is really keeping us hamstrung on our desire to expand our fleet of buses. We currently have 28 buses that are contracted by a bus contracting uh service. And if we wanted to expand our fleet of buses, we're going to need a bigger footprint to do so. And then lastly, there's been discussion around the use of our high schools and whether or

025not we should have our academy model the way the academy model is or should we look at using our high schools in a different way given consideration to things like specialized schools or magnet schools. So, in order for us to do this right and to do this well, we believed that it was much more important for us to look at this not just as redistricting and solving elementary or middle school capacity issues, but really looking at a comprehensive way for how do we best want to use our buildings long term and for the future. So, we presented that on October 7th and as I mentioned, we then engaged in a public comment period where the public could give feedback. I'd like to summarize that feedback for you. Now, as I said, we had 958 participants

026who responded to the survey. The vast majority of the respondents were parents or family members of our students. Second was our faculty and staff members here in the school. And then community members or students who gave feedback. We asked participants in that survey what their building affiliation is. what schools do they have a child or children um attending and this is the breakdown of the representation of those that completed the survey. The next question asked, have you viewed the long range redistricting and facilities presentation which was the October 7th meeting? I appreciate the honesty, but we had 14% of people who gave us their opinion despite having seen the most recent and revised plan on October 7th, and some of the comments were indicative of that. There were comments and feedback made regarding plans that

027had been eliminated from consideration going back to June. So, I know this is a lot of information and and maybe parents weren't keeping up on it every step of the way, but nonetheless, we had um 86% of the participants did make an educated opinion before weighing in on this. They did either watch the board meeting live or watch a recording of it so that they could share their opinion as to what we were presenting, the stakeholder feedback. Um, I I would really like to, I think, just pause and commend our board for the time that they spent uh in allowing us to go back and revisit some of these plans because um the feedback from our community is really overall quite positive. When you talk about something that's a controversial topic like redistricting, to have

028more than half of your participants in a survey, think that you're going about this the right way is is pretty telling. And so this particular question asked, do you believe that the district has developed a plan that will solve capacity issues at Clinton and Allenale? And of the respondents, 61% agreed or strongly agreed with an additional 20% kind of feeling neutral with only 16% either disagreeing or strongly disagreeing. And again, when you're talking about a controversial topic like redistricting, to have the vast majority of the feedback be positive is is pretty overwhelming. Additionally, this question, I believe the district has been responsive to feedback shared by stakeholders. Again, the vast majority believing that we have been responsive. And I think if you've been following this along the way, you will see that the plan that

029was presented in June versus what was presented on October 7th versus the update that I'm going to give tonight shows that there has been refinement and tweaks along the way based on the feedback that we're getting from stakeholders. The next question, I believe the district has created a long range plan for future use of school buildings and facilities. Here, 59% um positively weighing in with their feedback. This next uh summary took all of the comments from our participants and it was uh the ability to analyze those comments as to are there emerging themes through the comments, things that were trends in what people were sharing as feedback. And on one side of the issue, some of the feedback is that there is a belief that elementary base redistricting would solve the capacity issues. But on

030the other side of the issue was a loud and strong voice of participants who said yes, we believe it would solve the capacity issues. However, the preference would be to go directly to that long range plan. not to start with elementarybased redistricting and then move to the prek to2 3 to5 model but rather advocacy to move directly to that greater long range plan of the prek to2 3 to5 model and what both sides can agree on is the need for a long-term solution that um we have in the past been riddled with what's been perceived to be short-term solutions and short-term fixes and what both sides can agree upon is that there there is a desire to have a long-term plan that makes sense for our district. Some other themes that emerge uh emerged were

031themes around the timing of this. Um I I'll underscore again that there is um definitely a desire for us to make a decision and to take action that this has been studied for about three years now and that now is the time to do something decisive and to take action. There's also uh some feedback that we received regarding the timing as it as it relates I would say to students having multiple moves throughout their elementary experience. In one of the models uh which would be elementarybased redistricting then going to our long-term plan. There may be some students who would be in one school, say for kindergarten and first grade, potentially go to a different school for second grade and then go to a a school for grades 3 through 5. And there was concern that

032was expressed on that, the number of moves that a child may need to make during their elementary years. And that was really underscored by a theme of student stability. That if we can solve this with making the fewest student moves possible, that that was um preferred. And also keeping students together with their peers rather than peeling out a small group of students to go from school A to school B. If there's a way to keep large cohorts of students together, such as a reconfiguring model was preferred so that students would have that stability to move with their peers and stay with their peer groups. And then lastly, some emerging themes were simply general support. There was a lot of positive comments that people appreciated that from June we went back to the drawing board this

033summer. We came out on October 7th and then further sought feedback. People appreciated that that it wasn't um just a few people in a room making a decision, but that there's been transparency throughout the process and that we've sought feedback and have really listened to that feedback to influence uh the influence our final recommendations. There's also um an overwhelming sense that there was positive sentiments that people do trust the district's decision-making process and a willingness to proceed with a recommended plan. So based on that feedback, um the board of education and I had a work session on October 21st. While the feedback was not yet closed, we were able to get a sense of some of the preliminary feedback and then uh I'm sharing with you the final feedback after the public comment period closed

034on October 31st. So with that, we have some revised recommendations that I'll be presenting to the board of education and for us to consider as our long-term plan to move forward together. So to recap, this is what was presented on October 7th, which was referred to as phase 1 elementary base redistricting, which moved some students from Clinton Elementary to Northwood and some students from Allenale to Winchester Potters or West Elementary with then the long-term plan of reconfiguring our elementary schools with preK to 2, 3 to 5 uh designations based on the schools. What I'll also note here uh that I failed to mention earlier is that the solution for West Middle School would be to fill in the pool and utilize that new space as instructional space where we anticipate three to four classrooms of

035additional classrooms which would tremendously have a positive impact on the capacity issues at West Middle School. So this is what was presented on October 7th. Based on the feedback, we have revised the plan. Some of the elements um you know certainly will be the same. You'll see, but we are eliminating that step of elementary base redistricting based on the feedback uh that we received and and based on the fact that we we concur that it would implement another transition and another change for our students. So foregoing the elementary base redistricting step and going directly to elementary reconfiguration. The recommendation is that we do elementary reconfiguration this fall September of 26 at Clinton Elementary and Northwood Elementary at those two schools first. Clinton is our greatest concern and one of the greatest needs for us to

036explore either redistricting or reconfiguration. The class sizes at Clinton are not class sizes that we are that are acceptable by our standards. And this would allow us to tackle those two schools first for the fall of 26. So come September, Clinton Elementary would be a prek to2 elementary school and Northwood would be a grade three through five elementary school. We would be able to focus all of our efforts on doing it well and supporting the students and families in those two schools for the fall of 26. Then in the fall of 27, we would do this same model, but now we would be addressing the westside schools. So reconfiguring our elementary schools where Allenale and Winchester Potters would now become preK to 2 elementary schools. And this building, West Elementary, would become a grade 3

037through 5 building. This building, to remind folks, or if they weren't aware, this building was actually designed to be a junior high. It was never designed to hold pre kindergarten or kindergarten classrooms. And so we deal with challenges of trying to have little students in this building. There are no bathrooms in the classrooms here as an example as what you would commonly see in a kindergarten classroom. So having this building be an intermediate school is really smartly using this building the for the manner in which it was designed. And then phase three and our long range plan would really look at utilizing our buildings in the greatest extent possible to meet the needs of our community. Winchester Academy, we would be re reutilizing that as a school um building with Boseis vacating that building. Boseies

038does anticipate still needing to lease about 6 to 10 classrooms with us. So that would allow us to maintain students in that building, making it eligible for state aid on any capital improvement projects that we do. But this would also allow us to concentrate our family supports. Right now, our family supports are not concentrated. We have central registration on the campus of East Middle School. We have our clothing closet at the Ebenezer building. And we do not have a family support center. Our vision is to have all of these family support services in one location at the Winchester Academy, which would house a family support center, our clothing closet, central registration, and we have a vision of a boys and girls club at the Winchester Academy. So, this would really be a community hub to

039serve our children and to serve our families. East Elementary would host our central offices. Right now, our central offices are not centralized. Our district offices are actually in three different locations. Special education is located in this building. Some of our central offices are located in the Ebenezer building and some of our central offices are on the campus of East Middle School. By having us take over that space that was the former East Elementary School, it will allow us to centralize all of our district offices into one location and ultimately vacate the Ebenezer building so that we can sell that building. That will alleviate a burden to our taxpayers. We will have one fewer building to maintain, whether it's the electricity or snow plowing, one fewer buildings to maintain. and it is a building that we

040get no state aid back on and it is in need of repairs. So all of our central offices would go to the East Middle School campus in the former East Elementary School. And then to solve the capacity issues at West Middle School and to also bring about some enhancements to our educational program. We have a vision to fill in the pools at both West Middle School and East Middle School and to repurpose that space to have innovative STEM classrooms or steam classrooms. that would allow us to relocate the current technology or art rooms to that new space that's being filled in uh where the pools currently are and allow us to repurpose those spaces to to garner some additional instructional space. Um with the board of education, I've filled them in on kind of the

041status of swim in schools. Most middle schoolers do whatever they can to avoid swim and fizzed class. We underutilize our pools during the day and they are a tremendous expense to a school district. The ongoing maintenance of a pool from heating, filtering, chlorine, and chemicals to the personnel expense. Whenever you have children in a pool, you need multiple adults that are CPR certified to have eyes on the pool. We are not utilizing our pools during the school day um to make it justifiable to invest about $3 plus million in each of those pools just to keep them open and functioning. We would maintain our pools at the high school level and in talking with our community education director. Having two high school pools will not only meet our needs for our athletic program but will

042also meet the needs that we have of our community education program. We do have learn to swim programs and things of that nature that are enjoyed by our community and we don't want to discontinue that. We will be able to support those programs by consolidating and going down to two pools, one at each of our high schools. That of course will be dependent on voter support of that plan in order for us to repurpose our pools and have them be additional instructional space. We will be putting that out to voters this spring in a capital improvement project in May. And so if this plan is a plan that the community supports as a long-term plan for our school district, I hope that the community will come out and show their support of that plan. This

043is our vision not only to solve the elementary redistricting and capacity issues that we have at Alenale at Clinton and at West Mill but really is a comprehensive plan that looks at the use of our facilities on a long-term basis. So with that just want to summarize some of the benefits of this revised plan. It is first and foremost ref responsive to stakeholder feedback. If nothing else, I hope the community sees with full transparency that our minds were not made up on this back in May. We have worked, reworked, and reworked again this plan based on the feedback that we got to really try to develop a plan that is something that we believe is reflective of the values of this community. It keeps students with their peers and classmates rather than a neighborhood being

044dislocated to a different location. It keeps peers together. Students will be together kindergarten through fifth grade and they will transition from that primary school, the prek to2 building to the 3 to 5 building together only to go on to middle school together. So we will really have students cohorted in a large group of peers from kindergarten all the way through high school. It avoids ch children attending you know potentially multiple different elementary schools and having those transitions in the elementary years. this plan and the roll out of the plan with phase one being Northwood and Clinton in the fall of 26 and then our Westside Elementary Schools in the fall of 27 really allows us to focus our support to do it well and do it right at only two to three schools at a

045time. It'll allow us to really focus on transitional supports for our students and our faculty and staff. And there's a lot of logistical things that we will need to work through. It allows us the time and the resources to be able to make the furniture and equipment moves um to be able to have Clinton be a primary school and Northwood to be an intermediate school. The furniture and equipment we have in a kindergarten classroom, think little tables, little chairs, is a lot different than the furniture and equipment that we have in a fifth grade classroom. So this summer we are going to have a lot of those logistical moves to make so that the instructional space is developmentally appropriate for the students that are going to be entering it. We'll be able to focus that

046support at Northwood and Clinton this summer and then the summer of 27 give that same care and focus at Allenale Winchester Potter and West Elementary. And then lastly transportation and transportation logistics. uh we have done some preliminary work on transportation because we wanted to ensure that the plan that we were presenting tonight was a feasible and viable plan from a transportation perspective which it is but we also anticipate some transportation efficiencies. One thing that I'll note here is that if a family has a student in a primary building and an intermediate building, so let's say you've got a first grader at Clinton and a fourth grader at Northwood, we were sensitive to families and the needs of families. We didn't want a bus going through a neighborhood two times for elementary kids. That would be

047inefficient. What will happen and what we envision in in the model is the bus will go through the neighborhood one time picking up the kindergarten through fifth grade students. And then I'll show you a a draft of what we've put together of what that could look like for potential pickup and drop off times. Some limitations of this res revised plan. I wish I could say that there is a perfect plan that doesn't have limitations. If there was, I'm sure this committee would have found it uh three years ago. But some of the limitations that we do need to realize is that this will mean that some of our families will have children in two different elementary schools. They may have a child in kindergarten in one building and in third grade in another building. That

048may not be preferred by some of our families, but I think the benefits that we saw on the previous slide outweigh that limitation. And it does add a transition for our students. Yet, they're not transitioning away from their peers. Their peer group is staying together. They will all move together to the intermediate school and then ultimately onto the middle school. So from here, should the board of education vote to adopt the plan tonight uh as we're recommending it, our next steps are immediately to shift gears from what is the plan and and how will this be solved to now we have the plan and we're going to get to work on the logistical details to ensure that it is smoothly rolled out come September of 26. We intend to communicate the finalized plan to our

049faculty, staff, and to our families so everyone knows what is on the horizon. We will work with our parent teacher organizations and principles and all stakeholders to ensure that any students who are going through a transition to a new school will be supported through that with things on the horizon like open houses and meet and greets. and we'll focus on that support specifically at Northwood and Clinton in the upcoming year and then in the following year being able to focus that support at Allenale, Westell and Winchester Potters. We will also finalize the bus routing plan. A preliminary plan was done to ensure that this is feasible and it is it is feasible but now we need to look at it. It was a model done with our curtain students. Of course, our fifth graders will

050be exiting. We have a new cohort of kindergarteners and we will be um revising that routing with the students that will be impacted by this come September of 26. We will also need to finalize the Northwood and Clinton start and end times. It's anticipated that we will go from having four tiers on the east side to a staggered start at tier 3 of approximately 10 to potentially 15 minutes apart. So right now to summarize for those who may not be familiar, we have a four tier bus model. Tier one is our high school bus run. That is the earliest run of the day. Tier 2 is our middle school bus run for our middle school students. Tier three is three of our elementary schools. So we have three elementary schools that have an earlier start

051time. Tier four are our two late elementary schools. So moving from those traditional three four tier start times to allow for that um new plan on the east side at Northwood and Clinton. And then of course we have some logistical details with staffing assignments. staff may be shifting grade levels or potentially if they prefer and would like to transfer to a different building going through that process to account for any of our staffing shifts. And then lastly, the plan to develop um all of the movement of furniture, equipment, and teaching materials. what we have and what we anticipate in a primary library that would have an abundance of picture books will be different than what we anticipate in an intermediate library. So, the time to be able to develop a plan for all of those

052logistical details so that each school developmentally reflects the age of their students. I want to share with you an example and I underscore example in no way, shape or form is this finalized but I wanted you to see an example of what start and end time could look like. As I mentioned right now we have tier three and tier 4 at the elementary level and those tiers are about 30 minutes uh difference in start and end time. In this model, we would have a bus go through a neighborhood and pick up all K to5 students. The bus would stop first at Clinton Elementary and drop off the kindergarten, first, and second grade students. The older students would stay on the bus and continue on to Northwood Elementary. We anticipate Northwood Elementary would start potentially 10

053to 15 minutes later than Clinton Elementary. In the afternoon, it would be the reverse of that. The bus would first pick up at Clinton Elementary. They would have the earlier end time of their student day and then the bus would go on to Northwood Elementary to pick up grade 3 through 5 students. So, a bus is going through the neighborhood one time as opposed to sending out a primary bus and an intermediate bus. The bus goes through the neighborhood one time. So, a family that has kindergarten through fifth grade students, all of their children can be on the bus together and we would have staggered drop offs um at those two schools. This is again an example of what that model could look like. We have additional work to do to finalize what the exact

054start and end times would be, which is why I've underscored it as an example just so that you can conceptualize the model and what that would look like. And we have more work to do before finalizing that. And of course working with our stakeholders, our teachers, our parents and communicating out any of those changes when it comes to start and end time. So that is the revised recommendation. I will put it up um on the screen again so that you can reference that. Um, but I would like to simply at this point allow the board to give any feedback or ask any questions that you have regarding the revised plan. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I want to start. We got some questions. >> Start with you. >> Um, is there anything parents

055or families can do or be proactive, you know, if they are affected by this redistricting? My my best and first advice is to talk positively to your children about this. If your children see that you as parents are upset, scared, or concerned about this plan, that that will be felt by your child. This is an opportunity for them to have a new cohort of peers that they will be staying with through high school. Uh the way in which we as adults talk about this will directly impact the way our children feel about this change. And if we are excited and eager about what's what's on the horizon and an opportunity to meet new friends, uh that will be impacted by our students. So I think that's my my first piece of advice is when you

056talk with your child about this, please be mindful that the way in which we embrace this will be directly how our kids embrace this. Second, our schools are beautiful hubs of the community. Go to and visit a school. Go to their Christmas concert. Go to the playground. It's an opportunity for you to start to get uh children familiar with the school buildings prior to the change that's either coming this September or next September. And when we have those opportunities like meet and greets, open house, scavenger hunts, I would encourage you the best that your schedule allows you to to be actively involved in that and to take advantage of those opportunities. you know, we will certainly make those opportunities available to help support students through that transition. >> Good. Anyone else? >> I just on

057that, Lisa, I think you were saying that um for students or I should say more so for parents who can't do that in the evening because they're working. Is there going to be a time during the day that students will have a field trip so that every student has the opportunity and that if their parents are working and they don't have transportation in the evening that they would get that uh >> we can certainly consider that. What I'd like to do to help develop those plans is pull together our parent teacher organizations, teachers and principles to look at what what can we do such as field trips for students who may not be able to come uh during an evening. But I think that's a great suggestion and one that that I'd like for us

058to explore. >> I'll I'll piggyback on that. I'm assuming there's almost going to be like a transition team for this. Um that is that the kind of concept there? >> So I've already started um we have two meetings on the calendar already. Um one with the building principles. uh the other where we're pulling in some of our teammates who will help with the the logistics on this like our director of facilities, our director of transportation. We anticipate having subgroups that will be tasked with all of the logistical details and planning for example transportation and a subgroup on that and the director of facilities around the actual physical moves of any furniture and equipment. And one of those subgroups will be the social emotional transitional supports for students because that's more important than moving desks and

059chairs is ensuring that our students are are well prepared for this transition. And I think some of this is going to be a mindset shift. Forever we've been doing kindergarten orientation. Well, now we will likely have a third grade orientation because our students will be going off to third grade in a new school and we will need to think of that in a different way as a transitional year just as we think of sixth grade orientation and freshman orientation. So, I think some of this is going to be a mindset shift for us, but ensuring that we have a subgroup um for transitional supports and the social emotional support for students. >> Excellent. Um, and and again, if this is already being developed, I'm not looking to micromanage the process. Is there a way what

060I'm going to get, and I'm sure what I've already gotten and everyone else is going to get is, well, what about this? What about this? What if this questions that kind of I don't want to imply are um individualized per parent, but every parent that is going to be involved in this is going to be thinking about, well, with their kid, what about this? What about is there maybe um similar to where we used to have like you can email the board if you have questions so we can compile and we see if there's similar questions developing maybe we can address it right on a website instead of like every parent calling the principal or calling you or call like just a chance to get their questions out and then we can kind of get

061the answers as we can come up with them. Um a fun a way to funnel them into one spot. Is there is there going to be an opportunity like that? >> Sure. We have an email account established that we've been using throughout this process to accept questions. And from that email, when we re receive questions, if they were very individualized questions, we would respond to that individual. If it was a more generalized question that we thought might be beneficial for everyone to to hear not only the question, but the response, we developed frequently asked questions and we pushed out an FAQ uh in May or June. We had the FAQ that went out based on the number of questions. When we would get repetitive questions, we thought, okay, this is something that we need to

062clarify because more than one person has a similar question. And we we can certainly do that again uh and develop an FAQ if we're getting a pattern of questions. But you're right, there will be, you know, particularly for our children with special needs or that are in a special class, there may be parents who have very individualized questions and we want to help support them with that as well. I have something. So, just to reiterate, um this reconfiguration plan beginning with Clinton and Northwood would not only alleviate the class size burden but also allow for adequate space for related service providers. Correct. That's that is correct. uh the building capacity that we looked at not only looked at classrooms, what I'll call traditional classrooms, but also all of the space needed for interventionists. So things

063like AIS services, reading specialists, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech, speech services, all of those interventionists and related services were accounted for when we looked at building capacity. And >> Dr. Dr. K. I just had a couple more questions. Um, it also allowed to um Sarah's point some space for special education classes in those buildings. That is correct. Right now, our special education classes, as I think the board is aware, have not been at the forefront of planning that we've done. Self-contained classes specifically, have been placed where wherever there's capacity out out of that need. As an example, this building, West Elementary, currently has nine self-contained classes. That is a lot for a building. Um, when you account for the the supports that those students need, um, the supports that they need for their program, the

064the number of teacher aids that are needed to support a program or related services. Having nine self-contained classes in one building uh, does put a unique strain on a building. This is going to allow us to not simply look at it as where do we have space and that's where the class goes, but instead look at grouping classes together in a manner that's best for the students and for the program, whether that's our 161 classes, our 181 or 1121. So, there will be the space to be able to do that in our elementary schools. and Jackie Fowler and Joel Burke have put together preliminary plans on a a continuum of services that utilizes our elementary schools, but also is much more equitable in how many classes and what programs are in each of our schools.

065And it has not been equitable in recent years. We've had some buildings with few to no special classes and other buildings with an abundance of special classes. Thank you. And I had just one last question. Um can you just clarify because this was very detailed and wonderful. So just for everyone to understand what the board is voting on tonight, what is going to the community for vote in May and then also looking at the long range plan with transportation on there uh to because I believe that is what's going to the vote in May as well for long range. Should something come available before 29, would that be able to be uh taken advantage of? So, I just want to make sure everyone's aware of what the board is voting on tonight plus what is

066going to the community in May. >> Great, great point of clarity. The board tonight is simply voting on the redistricting reconfiguration plan. So, focusing on what's presented here, phase one and phase two. It's really reconfiguring our elementary schools and creating prek to 2, 3 to 5 schools. The other phases the board is not taking action on tonight and that would be part of our long range facilities plan. One aspect of that plan is a capital improvement project this May that we anticipate. Um we will be bringing our architects young and right and campus construction to present at our December 9th board meeting. Uh the scope of the next capital improvement project is really starting to to come into clarity and one aspect of that capital improvement project is to fill in the pools at the

067middle school at both middle schools so that we can repurpose those pools and claim some additional instructional space. in terms of the transportation department that we don't do not have a definitive timeline for. If we find a property that meets our needs, it certainly could happen sooner than 2029. But in our long range plan, ensuring that we have adequate space to be able to um to accommodate our desire to increase our fleet of buses. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I have a question. I know staff and faculty are going to have questions that are specific to their building with shifts, changes even, you know, east uh with having all of central office on on that campus and what is that going to look like? Are there going to be opportunities for staff and

068faculty to ask those questions because I know many parents are going to go to the teachers first to start asking things. I just want to make sure they're prepared or, you know, when you're at an event and you know someone who kind of runs the building, you're going to be asking those questions of them, too. Our principles are amazing. Um, Mrs. McCarten, the principal of Clinton Elementary, has a faculty meeting scheduled for tomorrow. Mrs. Ferry, the principal of Northwood Elementary, has a faculty meeting scheduled for Thursday. So, those buildings that are going to be most impacted by this in the the immediate future have faculty meetings set up because I anticipate teachers may have questions around, you know, how will this work? um you know if I prefer to stay at this building or if

069I prefer to teach a particular grade level and we have contractual language around that that that dictates how we go about assigning staff and assigning them to a grade level uh as an example but nonetheless I'm sure there will be questions around that. So, we are starting with those two schools and their faculty meetings and communications at those buildings and then taking time um to share those communications at other buildings that are either less impacted or not impacted come fall of 26 where we have some more time uh for those communications. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> I would say um my only concern is for the long range plan. I thought we had come to the decision that we were going to work towards the one west senica where we were combining both

070east and west. And by no means do I want to say that I think anything was rushed because I know how much time we spent last year alone and then you know previous boards how much time they invested into it but it was always the same like utilizing the same buildings for the same exact reason. So elementary was always just those were the elementary buildings. Like never once did a discussion come up of converting one of the high schools into an elementary building and seeing how that would possibly fit into the plan and if it could and how many kids we could put there and then utilizing possibly like the middle schools as an intermediate and then whatever the other high school was is maybe like the 1012 or the 9 or I'm sorry. Yeah,

0711012 would probably make the most sense. Um because to me we have so much real estate and the way we configure it right now it works but there's probably ways we could be much more strategic with it and not need as much real estate which then is going to lower the cost of the district. And I just wish we could have spent if I knew we were going to be adding the transitions like the K2 35 um cuz I know we were trying to stay away from more transitions for these kids. Uh, I wish we would have spent a little bit more time and maybe exploring that type of option. It may not even be possible, may not work, but I think that would have been beneficial if we could have brought the entire district

072together and had them together the entire time they're in school. >> Okay, that that is feedback that we didn't get following the June presentation. So, that that was not something that was explored at that time. Um I think we had a group that did previously present um the the redistricting committee before I came to the district uh presented the concept of one high school and uh a junior high I'll call it in a senior high model of grades 8 n in one of the high schools and 1012 in one of the high schools and there was some tremendous uh feedback from the community. I would say if that is something that's desired by the board to to want to revisit high school configuration, the that would be the will of the board to be able

073to do that. Our charge as a a committee and and what I believe the board had asked us to do first and foremost was to solve the elementary capacity issues, which this plan does. If down the road we want to still look at and revisit the utilization of our high schools, there's nothing that would prevent us from doing so. I think whether it's exploring specialized high schools, magnet high schools, if the board wants to revisit that concept of an 89 building, and a 1012 building, we certainly could explore that. But I hope it would not prevent us from de delaying a decision tonight because there is the greatest sense of urgency around elementary capacity and class-size issues particularly at Clinton and Allenale. Um but I but I guess I would entertain, you know, feedback from

074the rest of the board if that is something that down the road the board would like us to revisit. You're not voting on that tonight. that right-hand column in terms of a long range plan and 2029 and beyond is not anything that the board is voting on. But if that is something that the board wants to explore, we certainly can. My request is allow us to to have our energy and attention right now on the elementary and middle school configurations to do that really well. And then if down the road we want to explore uh the high schools, we certainly could. In terms of real estate and and us being sensitive to taxpayers and the number of buildings and properties that we have, our plan to vacate the Ebenezer building will reduce the burden on

075taxpayers. It will be one less building for us to heat maintain uh a building that we don't get state aid back. So us moving out of the Ebenezer building I really do believe is financially responsible consolidating our the footprint that we have and bringing us to a building where there is an abundance of space. But you know if that's something that the board would like us to to visit down the road we certainly can do that. >> Yeah I don't want you to think I am opposed to what's being proposed tonight. Um I just feel longterm the realization is is I mean at East I believe we're under 800 now students west is floating maybe around a th00and um and in Tony's projections that he Tony day when he did his it it just continues

076to decrease so um when you explain that to the taxpayers if they don't understand it I mean shame on them it's just you're just dumping all this money into buildings that keep having less and less students there. When do you finally get to a breaking point? So, I'm not saying down the road we might not get more families having more kids, but it just does not seem like that's a trend anymore. Um, and you have to look longterm. I'm not saying we have to start this tomorrow. It's just because the more we invest into these buildings, then we end up with these big bonds on them for 15 years and then we end up being stuck in that building for another 15 years or we eat the cost. So, if it's something that is possible

077and it's something we can move towards, I think it's something that's worth investing time into. >> Sure. >> I think we have some time to consider that though because the population is supposed to stay fairly consistent for the 5 and 10 year projections. It's after that point that they feel like we're going to start to decline. So, we would have time to do that within that 5 to 10 year mark. >> Well, even Tony's three-year outlook had it dropped. It was a considerable number moving forward. So, >> I mean, if I may, Dr. Krueger when she came in wanted to make West Sakica a community where people wanted to come. So I did reach out to a few of our town council members to ask where we were with opportunities for more families to come

078in. Um and just from being on the board and working with the state, you have we don't realize is there affordable housing in our community? Are there daycarees that bring in um families? Uh so when I spoke with the town council, the thing that was pointed out was that most of the single family homes are by seniors. So in that 5 or 10 year plan, those seniors are going to move out. And now West Senica is going to be in a position, I think, where you're going to have young families want to move in. So I think we're going to put ourselves in a good position to make West Senica once again the place that people want to come. >> So the last development we put in, and I can't remember which one it was,

079it was approximately 200 houses and they were expecting all these families to move in with all these kids and I think it was a total of 40 kids total out of 200 houses. So >> you never know. You never know. But the fact is there's been a big housing crunch and there's nowhere for families to go so they're renting >> it around. So >> so it may but I think all these seniors are going to be moving out and moving on from their their current homes. And just to comment on your comment about the senior high school becoming for elementary those they're not built for elementary students. There's no way configuration wise, square footage wise, you might fit them all, but there's no way you're putting small children in a fast. Like even this building

080isn't meant for them. So, I just don't think it's going to work. >> Classrooms. You made it work. So, >> well, it sounds to me like we want to have a great conversation on the next level. Can we move it to >> I'm ready. Let's go. >> You want it now? [laughter] No, >> can we regroup on this and then we can probably I'm going to guess give us a couple of months to settle in and we can have a whole work session and we can add part of that to it. >> No, no, I just wanted to put my two cents in. >> No, I I love your They're not making pennies anymore, so how about a nickel? Um, but you know, I definitely like I don't want to debate whether the high schools

081hold kids or not now. Um, but we definitely can continue uh continue that at a work session or other board meeting if that's cool. appropriate. Okay, good. Nickel nickel. >> Are there any other questions? >> Anyone else on anything? I want to throw out there though, you mentioned uh Ebenezer and selling it. That puts a property back on the tax rolls. So, I think that's a positive, too. If I mean I mean it's not going to necessarily make or break the town, but it's a pretty big chunk of land, and if someone buys it, they're probably not going to be another school district. So, it'll be back on the tax roles hopefully. >> Right. >> That's a positive. and and I don't want this taken out of context. We don't anticipate closing um any schools

082in in the near future, but there is a pathway to do this should the numbers dictate that. Um what we will have on the west side are two prek to 2 and a 3 to 5 school. If the numbers dwindled, Allenale is the smallest elementary school with the smallest footprint. there could be a future where there is one 3 to5 school and one prek to2 school on the west side. So there are pathways and options if the numbers dictated that. But right now that's not the case. That's not the case in the foreseeable future. um utilizing our spaces and the configurations the way in which they are um is is certainly something that I think the redistricting committee and and our stakeholder feedback um was was pretty resoundingly loud on on those fronts. >> Anything

083else? If I can just take a moment, I I really want to recognize the board of education um for their dedication to this process. And I I do hope that the community sees that this was not a decision that was made and done back in May or June or three men in a room who made a decision. This has been years of of work with a committee. Stakeholder feedback gathered at five different points through surveys and also through two different community forums that we held. And each of these iterations has been evolved and tweaked based on the feedback that we received. So, I think that's reflective of a leadership team that really does care about stakeholder feedback and wants to do what's right for the community and what the community values, but equally a board

084of education that takes their oath as board members to represent the voice of the community. So, uh, this has been a long time to get to this point where the board is actually making a decision and and I just wanted to recognize again the efforts of the board and the efforts of the redistricting committee. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, any other ideas or anything come up later on, you know, feel free to shoot an email to the board and we'll make sure we bring it up and we'll revisit it at the next meeting. Um, we're going to move on to our public comment section. I have one person signed up and there may be others. Um, I'm going to read the the little speech that we give. The board of education will now

085entertain public comment for 30 minutes with each speaker given 3 minutes. When called, please step up to the podium and state your name and address. Please be respectful in your comments and do not divulge any personal or confidential information. Um, and I believe we have a timer for three minutes. And if not, I'll use my phone. And if I can have uh Ken come up, please. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Uh, Ken Thompson, 109 tutor. Um, so I was prepared for a whole different kind of conversation or speech here. Uh, you know, to stand up for what I thought was best for our kids. And to be honest, the feedback that I saw and the work that was put in is kind of impressive. A thousand participants. I even created a petition. I had, you

086know, I keep a small circle. So, for me to just get 50 plus people to kind of to sign to. I wish I had more time to get to some of the parents that, you know, maybe didn't look at the redistricting um plans. Uh obviously we saw some people didn't watch and stuff but uh I think the feedback and the participants were awesome and it looks like I mean the the feedback was taken and we made the changes to kind of that I was going to advocate for. So I just wanted to come up uh and say that I appreciate that and thanks for making me have to rewrite and redo this. So uh I [laughter] mean there was talks about buying a new house, property, rental agreements, all sorts of stuff. So like this

087has been taxing on us and a lot of people and I think the end result uh you know it's going to be the most the fairest way possible that we could do it and something for long term. So um you know it's not going to be perfect but I think that uh it'd be the right decision to vote and move forward with this uh you know tonight. So I just I guess I just wanted to say I appreciated it and thanks for the time. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, I do not have anyone else on the sheet. Is there anyone else in the room that would like to come up and give their two cents? Nickel. >> Sure. >> Um, sir, if you please state your name. Uh, Vincent Vanderlip. I reside just over

088there, 52 Sunset Creek Drive. Um, I just want to uh express my appreciation to everybody that's been part of this. It's uh I've obviously had a front row seat through this entire process and watching this um evolve from an idea into a plan and I think it's been done with incredible skill and strategy and the type [clears throat] of the type of work that school communities should be taking. We should be listening to one another. We should be making decisions that are based on data, based on good information that create the very best environments for students to learn in. And I think that for a number of years, we've been somewhat rudderless. And it's been very difficult to get the right people in the room to lead this. And uh I thank you, Dr. Krueger

089for being able to spearhead that and take all of these wonderful ideas and his feedback and basically synthesize it into a plan that takes us into a direction that we've needed to go for some time which includes not only the here and now but down the road. It does set us up as Mr. Maloney you and I are on the same page. Should we be looking at a single high school down the road? Yes, everything should be in play, but you need to do the first things first and make get those right and then continue to move in that direction. I think this gentleman's statements here are indicative of what the community probably feels right now is that they've been heard. We've gained your you've gained their trust and in doing so, we can work

090together even more because people will be more willing to come to the table if they know that their voices are heard and valued. So congratulations to you on that. Um that's it. Thank you. Thank you. >> Anyone else? Are we close? Sir, gentlemen. >> Howdy. Uh my name is Mike Straw live at 78 Bronx. Like Ken, I had a whole different plan for how this was going to go. So I do thank you for taking the feedback. Admittedly, when speaking with my wife, there was trust if feedback would actually be heard. We've been involved in these in different districts, and it was kind of clear different districts just kind of said they took the feedback, didn't really take it. The only real concern left at this point, and I know it'll be addressed when faculties

091have their meeting like at Clinton tomorrow and and Northwood later this week, is staffing and relationship with students. for example, without giving my son very tough to trust staff and get close to to to faculty. There is that worry because we have kept him filled in this whole way of who he'd see, what staff will he have his his social worker, for example, who he he sees multiple times a week. Will that follow? Will he have to learn? So I think these are questions that still kind of need to be answered and addressed for the kids who require them. One bit of feedback that I did have through this whole process because I asked had anybody at the school made made him aware that this was a possibility made any of the students as someone

092who works with data for a living for a while it felt like we were treating the kids as just data numbers data points not thinking of their emotion through the feedback and there was that worry going into tonight that a decision would be made without thinking of their emotional state and the relationship. So, it is nice to see that they're actually being considered. But like I said, I had a whole different thing set, but I do appreciate all the time and commitment that's clearly went into this. And I think the staff and relationship aspect with the kids is the next logical solution that needs to be found. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, close public comment. Again, thank you. Thank you for everyone who spoke and if anyone um I guess if anyone's watching at

093home we have we're going to have the way for you to send in questions and we'll figure out answers for you. Um let's see public comments. So now we are going to move on to four personnel. May I have a motion on 4 A, please? >> I'll make a motion to approve. >> Jeremy motion to approve. May I have a second, Sarah? Second for Sarah. Is there any discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? Okay. Passes 70. B. 4B. May I have a motion on 4B, please? >> I'll make the motion to approve. >> Jeremy's making the motion to approve. A >> second. Second. And is there any discussion on 4B? >> 4 B or not? 4B. Okay. All in favor? I. >> Anyone opposed? >> Passes 70 consent. Okay, we'll move on

094to five consent agenda. If I may have a motion on the entire consent agenda, please. >> I'll make the motion to approve nine. >> Motion to approve. May I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Second. We do not do discussion on that. So, all in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? Okay, passes 70. And I believe at this point we get to person speak again. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Cerone, would you like to come up and join us for personnel recognition? Uh the board just took action on a number of agenda items which included uh some retirements of employees and also some appointments of new employees. I believe the clicker is there. Dr. Thank you. Appreciate that. Dr. Cougar, board of education. Uh thank you for having me up here. Um first like to

095recognize uh some of the recognitions of the staff members and employee groups in our district. Uh school psych psychology week November 3rd through the 7th. Uh educational support professionals day as um was November 19th or is November 19th and substitute educators day. Uh small plug, we need substitutes. If you're interested in working with us, you can call the human resources office anytime. All positions are in need. Uh but we recognize and thank all of those serving as our substitutes on November 21st. We did have uh quite a few retirees. I've worked with a great number of the people on this and I know we will recognize our retirees typically in June, but certainly would like to thank and recognize the years of service of all the people listed here. Uh, and we do expect more

096obviously as we work through the winter and spring, but congratulations and thank you for making a difference uh for our students and our school community. I don't believe any of these people are here, but if you are, did you want to stand to be recognized? Okay, congratulations to our retirees and our appointments. I also do not believe any of our appointments uh that are that were made tonight are in attendance. If I am wrong, please let me know. But I'd certainly like to welcome all the individuals listed here to the West Senica School community. Uh we look forward uh to you supporting our our community, our district, and our students. So, welcome. Um going on to a 10-minute recess. Uh what we're going to do is we'll throw 10 minutes up on the clock, and

097at the 10-minute mark, I'll probably come back to my seat and start banging my gavvel that we're going to sit down and continue the meeting. Thank you. We'll move on to number 11, the redistricting week reconfiguration. Um, I'm going to ask for a motion motion um that we resolve that the board of education accept the redistricting reconfiguration plan as presented on November 18th, 2025. >> I'll make [laughter] a second. >> Okay. Okay. Well, I'm going to go with uh I'll >> give it to Jeremy. I think he was first. He spat it out. >> Well, I'll accept the motion from Jeremy to accept the redistricting plan with most other board members jumping in on that. And I have a second from >> Sarah. Sarah. >> Sarah. Excellent. Uh any discussion on the matter? Again, I'll

098just throw my two cents in as Jeremy would have earlier. Um I just want to again thank everybody with the board. We had some great ideas over the last couple of couple of years. Lisa, Dr. Krueger, um your faculty, your staff, everyone. I mean, really, this is I've been involved in this for 12 plus years, and this is the first time it's really seem to have just gone with whatever the community supporting the board, the ideas, what you guys think is best for the kids. I really appreciate just the full community involvement on this. So, thank you and thank the board for doing this and thank our previous board members for uh getting us to where we are. Um, any other discussion? All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone opposed? It passes 70. Thank you

099guys. >> We'll move on to actually if I could have a motion on the remaining >> the motion to approve me through our [laughter] >> Jeremy approves. Okay. Got a second. >> Laura seconds. Any discussion? >> I I do have a question. Um, absolutely. I see that we are making a taking action on the spring sports being combined. I know we got a last minute winter sport combination. Um, are we going to take action on that in the future or is that already the girls um varsity basketball team at East now joining with West for the season? >> Let me look into that as to whether or not the board has taken action on that. I I don't want to misspeak Sarah. So, if if you don't mind if I look into that and then

100follow up with the board and if we need to take action, we can add it to the December 9th agenda. >> Yeah, I know it was a last minute kind of decision based on um the number of >> students that signed up to participate. So, >> and and I don't believe that the board has yet taken action on that. So, thank you for raising that and we'll make sure that it gets added to December if we need to. >> All right. >> That was my only question. >> No, thank you. and and my apologies if that was an oversight on our part. >> Any other discussions on it? I do want to point out that we got some trips approved which I think is great. Um we didn't vote yet. >> We will have some

101trips approved. That is great. I was just looking under the commoding teams resolution. I really thought the basketball was on there. >> Just the unified basketball. >> Oh, that's why I made the mistake. >> Winter basketball is not for girls. >> Okay, that may have been an oversight. So we'll correct that. Thank you. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? Passes 70. Yeah. Oh, thank you. That's what I was looking for. Um, I do want to point out and thank people for the donations. Um, we got four band saws donated uh to use at West Senior High School from from donor. Some donors donated four band saws. We got some money donated from get notice promotions to the East Senior class of 2028. We got some office furniture donated to East Middle Winchester

102Potters and buildings and grounds from Buffalo Field Office, Department of Homeland Security. It's kind of cool. 700 from World Taekwondo um to Northwood Elementary to be used towards physical education equipment and $1,150 from a parent fundraiser to the West Senior softball program to be used towards team apparel, functions, and activities. So, everyone who's donated, thank you. Uh means a lot to the whole district and the community. Thank you. >> Thank you. They're not voting on 12 because it'sformational. 13. Board of education discussion. We'll move on to board of education discussion. We'll start with our work session November 25th. I know Jeremy is chomping at the bit to have one, but do we actually need one? >> Can make a motion to cancel the board meeting. I don't know if we actually have to officially do

103that or not, but I'll take a second. Anyone want to cancel? I mean, I think we we just made some pretty big steps today and unless there are specific issues that we need to talk about as a board next Tuesday, I think it makes sense to cancel it. >> So, you would like to make a motion to cancel it. You'd like to second that? >> Yes. >> Okay. Mar will second. Any discussion other than that? I do think we have a lot that we've accomplished and I know next week's going to be crazy. Um, we'll just have to make our next work session a little longer. So, uh, all in favor of cancelling it if we need an official vote. >> I. Anyone opposed? >> You guys opposed? Can I add something real quick? >>

104Yeah, absolutely, sir. >> So, next Tuesday happens to be my birthday. So, thank you ALL FOR GIVING ME. [laughter] >> SO, thank you. >> Happy birthday, Anna. >> Thank you very much. >> We could have had a cake for my leans and everything. So, I think he is expecting everyone to stop at E Senior to wish him a happy birthday. >> Yes, we will do that. >> That would be very well appreciated. >> Happy birthday. One week early. >> Um, the next thing we are going to talk about is sports related fees. Um I know this is something that we want to kind of look further into at a future work session, but I want to if you want to >> um discuss it. >> Yeah, thank you. I just want to bring it to

105everyone's attention and it's definitely a larger larger situation, but it had come to my attention this week. You know, there's a lot of students that are probably having conversations around kitchen tables at this time of can I afford to go on the class trip? Can I afford to do a sport? Because there are some sports who are requiring at time of making it a significant fee that I'm not sure is appropriate. Because my concern here, especially with all the conversations we've just had about east versus west and things aren't the same, um is I really think that with all of these teams combining, are we creating a have versus have not? and are we combining because we don't have the people showing up because they can't afford it and that is the last thing I

106would want for this district that there are students or families who think that they can't participate whether it's cheer or a softball or football because of fees and I know that we've all been very clear about wanting that participation and it would just break my heart if that is what's happening because there's a mandatory choreography camp mandatory backpacks are something that in the grand scheme of things is not mandatory when we are just voting on paying coaches stipens. I come from a world of theater and dance. I pay you for a dance class. I expect you to choreograph the number. So, I just I don't know what's behind that. I would like to find out more because these students have been looking forward to these class trips. Speci specifically middle school is what came to

107mind for me. Um, and now there's conversations around kitchen tables around what they can do and if they don't sign up for the trip because they're going to try out for cheer and if they don't make the cheer team now they've got nothing. So I just want to make sure as a board on a grander scale what are our families paying. I would love to know what is required, what are we paying for them and and what is um what is happening. I can respond in a general sense and then then I think this would be something that would be a work while worth work work session topic where we could invite our athletic director to be part of that conversation. But in a general sense, individual person personal items may be the responsibility of

108a family. So think of things like mouthguards, something that's a personal item for a student. Um, beyond that, when it comes to uniforms and and other equipment, those are generally supplied by the school district. Some of the things that that you've mentioned, I did look into the backpacks for the cheerleading uniforms. That was optional. Maybe it wasn't communicated well to to be clear that it was optional, but I think this is a worthwhile conversation for us to have. We have a large number of children whose families um may struggle to be able to pay any additional fees. And as a public school, we want our students to be able to access our programming, whether it's the music program or athletic program. But I think for us to get a a sense of what are some

109typical things that a family can expect versus those things that would be above and beyond that we wouldn't want a coach or the athletic program um to charge a family would be a really worthwhile discussion. >> Thank you. >> I mean the reality is I mean we just approved for what hockey and for West and baseball for West things the team is going to do. So the one is for going to a tournament out of town and it says right in there it's current fundraising and then the baseball trip is spring training camp is 500 bucks plus whatever from the fundraiser. So there are costs for sports which I I don't believe the district should pick up and you know I don't know the extent of this choreography camp but then if we open that

110door that okay we're going to cover that for the cheerleaders now are we covering like a pitching camp for baseball and this for lacrosse. >> That wasn't my intent I'm not saying to cover it. We have to be very cautious on how we uh >> uh address things like this because you could open a door that would cost this district so much money it would be cuz the second you give it to one you got to give it all. >> I wasn't saying that we need to cover it. To me that example is I come from a world of when I pay a dance teacher that dance teacher choreographs the number. So if we are paying cheer coaches why is there an additional camp? That's my point that why are the families paying for that?

111Not saying that we should pay for it. I just want to know why that is mandatory in addition to that's all. >> Yeah, that's fine. I'm sure that the families have the option to fund raise, but they probably have to do all the leg work and I sure >> it would be after the fact cuz the day you make the team, you got to fork up the money. >> Yeah. So, that's that's again what lead us to probably a really it sound like a really fun work session. uh looking into [laughter] this >> something that can look into may well I I have questions and ideas I'd like to talk about too um I think I think one of the biggest things we can look [clears throat] to do is put together maybe a hey

112this is what being in sheer could possibly cost you to give people a heads up to save for it just like the DC trip like I kind of knew the DC trip was there after my first kid kind of uh went through it so we started saving for my other kids um so maybe like a, you know, hey, this is the things that happened in middle school at the orientation during elementary school or something. These are ideas we could talk about once you come back to us with some information. Different different things cuz maybe if someone can't afford it immediately, but they can knowing, hey, my kids's going to want to be in cheer in high school, middle school, this is about what we think cheer could cost the parent. Something like that. Um, and

113something we can work on so we can >> I think that's a phenomenal point and it's something I actually wanted to bring up tonight. Um, I because I feel questions all the time from people in the public and if I don't know the answer, I I feel the appropriate thing is to then kick it to the superintendent and if she can answer it and I can just relay it or if it's something that we determine needs to be broadcast, whether it's at a freshman orientation or some kind of school thing, that's great. But I don't think that we need to turn every question we receive into a board discussion without giving the superintendent the opportunity to investigate it first. >> Yeah. And I I'll I'll re reiterate the board discussion would be on the the

114the different ways that we want to support it. So like the question directly like that she has specifically. Um, yeah, that that might be a specific thing you can get an answer to or work on, but we got to find out also what the board is interested in supporting or not supporting too, like ideas. So, I I do think if we add it to a current work session, we won't add another one. Um, we could have 10 minutes on it or we could have a half hour. Um, once Lisa collects her information, >> your 10 minutes is way different from my 10 minutes. >> I can go longer. [laughter] I'm I'm happy I'm happy to do the leg work and and get information for the board. Can I just ask for a little bit of

115clarity on the information that you're seeking? Is it information specifically related to cheer and the choreography camp or is this information on a bigger question about what are the fees that families can typically experience should they try out for basketball, uh, baseball, volleyball? Are you asking a bigger more generalized question or just to the specific example of cheer? >> Well, >> I think it's a bigger I think it's a bigger thing and in specifically cuz just in talking in general, I think we have we have a duty to let the community know and what's expected especially knowing that like sports boosters aren't aren't even a thing anymore. So, we can all sit here and think if our child's not involved in it that oh the other parents are working on this. there's the sports boosters,

116there's all these things, but if parents aren't stepping up to it, there is no more sports boosters, just like with the band. And so to think it's there and to know that when it was there, perhaps coaches weren't using it and asking for those fees, I think it's a good opportunity for parents, for students, for the staff, for everybody to understand athletics, especially at a time when I think participation is the slowest. >> Correct. >> So I think it warrants a bigger discussion. >> Let me be clear. I I don't believe if if you want to help Lorine with the answer to the cheer situation, I'm cool with that. Anyone else here, speak up. My point about discussing this at a work session is I'm not interested in giving you any directives or questions to

117answer at this point. The work session will develop what we want you to research. I don't want to just throw that on your plate. Now, if anyone wants to disagree with me on that, we can move in a different direction, but I'm not looking to really go into a whole discussion at all. That was my point of giving a preview. Um, but I do think if you need an immediate, I would be okay with that. >> I, as a parent who's who has friends of my daughters who I know there's these conversations happening. >> Yeah. >> I just want it brought up, >> okay, >> knowing I expect and as a board member, I think it's my duty to bring it to everyone. I expect the coaches who are getting paid thousands of dollars >>

118that they would be choreographing it. So that is a conversation you can have with them. I don't need an answer back. But the reality is what needs to be discussed is that our families are making choices and I don't think that participating in an activity like that should be something that has to be disappointed to a child in in this culture right now. >> So that's all. So I mean I would say that I'm sorry for but I would say like difference in like that uh what is it the baseball and hockey is it's not everyone is going to go like you have the option to go and but I don't think there's too many first of all I knew coming up like my son was big into hockey and lacrosse um so I knew

119well in advance that all this stuff would have come up when he was playing it at a younger age and It cost me way more than what these numbers are. But >> but we know that, right? Like I know competitive dance. I know my thousands of dollars that I was up for. But >> but the family's not what I was getting is the family for these types of things. The family's not forced to do it, right? >> Are the children under the impression or are the families under the impression? Cuz that was the impression that was happening. >> I'm No, I'm talking specifically about like this type of stuff. This is extra above and beyond. If they want to go on it, they go on it. I'm putting you two next to each other at

120the next meeting. No, I'm just saying like the east side, we just didn't have enough students to field a basketball team. We don't have enough students. I'm in shock that we don't have two soccer teams. Like, how do we not have these teams? And it's not cuz they're all traveling. Is it that when we look at our population, they can't afford it? >> Could be. >> That's what I want to know. >> Yeah. >> Because this is a public education. We will we have all the tools. We're paying for coaches. We're paying for uniforms. I want to make sure the opportunity is there. >> Okay. Well, we will regroup and we will discuss and figure out what we want Lisa to look into, what we would request you to look into. Um, and we'll get

121it all put together then. Cool. >> Cool. >> I know Cal, you want to jump in on that or you good? >> Okay. Excellent. >> I just want to Can I just um say in addition to that, I know these trips come up pretty quickly um for families. I'm sure there's fundraising available, but it would be, like you said, a really good thing at like freshman orientation to have all this information kind of detailed um as best you can. >> Yeah. Change, but >> it's going to be a trip in this year of school or in this year of the program. >> Here's a range of money it typically has cost in the past, something like that. Um to so that they have an interest and understand what could be a part of that. And

122I think with some of the sports teams specifically when the coaches are not coaches that are teachers in the district or staff at the schools, um it's a little bit more difficult to communicate prior to tryyouts and it's like tryyouts happen then the season starts. So there's not really a good amount of time to do fundraising and like get a product. So, if they needed to fund raise for the backpack or the warm-ups, it it's the end of the season by the time you're getting anything. So, >> like a a plan to kind of alleviate those stressors. >> Yeah. And I see that she's still writing things, but we'll we'll regroup and get all this put together cuz I it's it's very similar to what we did with the board over the last few years.

123We put together a timeline of the time it'll cost board members if they want to run or what, you know, what our dates are. I believe we set our dates in stone kind of like not in stone stone but we we put a plan together so people that want to get involved can know I would almost say it could be something like that but again we'll um you know for Jeremy's probably complaining about me talking too much again so not yet well we'll um we'll get together on a I think a work session would be good for that so we could just have them two go at it for a little while and I don't have to interject um we'll we'll figure out getting that in >> sooner than later I know I'm just kidding

124July July 1st, 27th. >> July 1st, 27th. [laughter] Um, is there anything else that we want to discuss? So, uh, >> just want to say >> Ryan, >> so I was on I've [clears throat] been on the bowling team for the last seventh grade the last four years and I can say we my seventh grade, eighth grade and nth grade year it was or 17 I don't know it was nth grade it was separate west had 13 east we didn't have enough people on both sides so we had to combine that after we combined it then it's just kind and east and west and now like we don't have to pay anything. It's more like if we want like if we're going to do equipment or stuff like that. We did a fundraiser football squares

125$25 for a square, four squares, you know, raise money for a trip to um trip like tournament stuff like that and you know it was nice. You didn't have to participate. They wanted you to participate but you know cool. >> Thank you. Thank you. Charlotte, I sometimes can't get you to be quiet. You guys have such No, you guys nothing. We'll get you to the next meeting. It'll be after your birthday. You guys can talk more. Throw in some throw in your nickel. >> I'll throw you guys some employers. Don't worry. >> Okay, last thing and I believe we can adjourn if everyone approves it. I do want to thank the board members for going to New York City for the convention. Um Sarah, thank you for keeping an eye on me, Zach Krueger, thank

126you for keeping an eye on me. But I do want to make sure I point publicly out U Melissa, you made that trip completely enjoyable for me and everything was covered from A to Z, credit cards, hotels, everything. So thank you so much for all the hard work you put into that and thank you for the community for allowing us to go to something like that. I learned a lot. I have a couple of articles that I'm going to share with you guys from the from the convention. Um I know Loren did a lot of work with some of the stuff. Sarah, Zach, Dr. Krueger. I watched them really just go toe-to-toe with some people on some information and work on some things. Um I think the best thing to come of it was the

127just time we got to meet other people, especially people we're going to be working with, um some knowledge. And uh Zach, I appreciate you. he found this giant pencil and he wanted to make sure we all had one and he carried it with him everywhere in New York. So, thank you on that. Um, so just wanted to point that out. Um, we will share some information that we learned from it and it definitely I think it definitely was uh time and money well well spent on helping this district. So, thank you. Thank you for that. May I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second. >> I'm sorry. Uh, Jeremy, did you say you wanted a motion to adjurnn? No, I didn't. I want to stay all night. >> Or

128a second. All in favor? >> I. Anyone opposed? >> Guys, have a great evening. Thank you.