Board of Education Meeting, September 25, 2018

001someone like to make a returned the regular board meeting to public session please mr. Mecca first second this is leather bear oh thank you any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously I'd like to call the regular board meeting to order all board members are present except mrs. beaker mr. gornstein mrs. vansice and dr. Vinay Durr on that know what we do seem like we're a little light tonight I apologize we actually do have board members that are here we just have a conflict this evening where we have open houses going on simultaneously and most of our board members are parents as well as board members so you will see them arrive about halfway through the through the proceedings here this afternoon or this evening I'd like to ask dr. Sara please to lead us

002in the Pledge of Allegiance be advised that in the event of a further emergency and an evacuation should be necessary an alarm will sound please note all the marked emergency exits and evacuate well away from the building at this time we do request that you please turn your cell phone on to mute or silence any other devices thank you would someone like to make a motion to approve the agenda as amended mrs. leather barrel second mr. Meyer any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously dr. soft do we have any other board recognitions this evening this evening thank you mister Liu man in bill we value the strong partnership we have with our parents and tonight we are proud to recognize two of our schools and their PTA units for earning the designation as a

003National PTA school of excellence this recognition program supports and celebrates partnerships between PTAs and schools where families feel welcomed and powered to support student success high middle and maple West elementary were among only 278 schools across the country to receive this two-year designation for 2018 through 2020 this is the third time high middle has earned the award and the first time for maple west which also won the National PTAs top honor for their commitment in building an inclusive and welcoming school community I would like to invite our principals and their PTA leaders to say a few words about this important designation beginning with mr. Jeff Tchaikovsky principal of high Middle School mr. Tchaikovsky Thank You dr. marks off and thank you for mrs. Laura brand for being here are current PTSA president at high middle

004we are honored and proud to be named a National PTA school of excellence for the third consecutive time this award recognizes the positive partnership between high middle school and the parents of hinds students I would like to thank our former PTSA code presidents Amy halls and Amy McDermott and current PTSA co-presidents Laura brand and Terry Perino for their leadership and unwavering support of our school our goal at home is always to make families feel welcomed and empowered to support student success our PTSA is a key partner in this endeavor the school in PTSA encouraged family engagement and help parents build positive relationships with school staff connect with other families in the school environment and enrich the educational experience and overall well-being for students we appreciate everything our PTSA does for high middle because we truly

005believe that it makes a difference in all of our children's lives thank you next we have dr. Charlie Clouseau the principal at Maple West Elementary School good evening and thank you if there's an old saying that it takes a village and at Maple s we truly have a village and it's not just the village at Maple West our village includes dr. mark Slav all of our assistant superintendents and the Board of Education that help us with our children to raise that village we also want to send out a special thank you to dr. cieariy as we know this is our last board meeting tonight and when you talk about the word inclusion and you talk about the word wellness and you talk about PTSA you have to think about dr. cieariy so on behalf of

006us we like to thank you for being one of the leaders of our village so so along with me tonight I have mrs. ice who was our current president mrs. Cristen Appleby is one of our vice presidents and mrs. Smith Sarah Smith Ronan who was our immediate past president and mrs. Smith Ronan's going to address the board thank you very much I really appreciate having the opportunity to speak with you all about this we are absolutely thrilled to receive this award from the National PTA dr. Glazer said it so perfectly about being a village and I think that I would be remiss not to say our village leader is dr. galuzzo he is the one that has set the tone at our school to welcome and include families he starts every single open house by

007giving his cell phone number out and making sure that every parent feels welcome he sets the tone by attending all of our PTA meetings and he was the one who was instrumental in really including the eol learners that allowed us to receive this award dr. Glu's oh thank you [Applause] thank you somebody let the cat out of the bag I think here this is doctor series last evening and I know if I say anything more than 15 seconds long I'll be scolded and yelled at later so I will keep it very brief but I did want to say congratulations you've done had an excellent career here you've made a lot of significant impact on the district and I think I speak on behalf of the entire board that we will severely miss you at our

008tables here on a monthly basis and the overall presence that the district will will miss with your departure so I do congratulate you and I hope you have a very well-deserved retirement are there any other board acknowledgments this evening Clarion would you please read the board's public expression statement welcome to all who have come to observe this regular board meeting for policy 1510 the board has set aside 30 minutes for public expression a time when we invite members of the community to share ideas and concerns with us we welcome this opportunity to hear from you each person is given up to three minutes in which to address the board you will be signaled with a yellow flag at two and a half minutes so that you may conclude your remarks this is a meeting held

009in public rather than a public meeting which means we will not be engaging in a dialogue with members of the community this evening rest assured we are listening carefully and we take seriously what you have to say I would also like to ask that you demonstrate respect for us and for one another by speaking to the issues give us ideas and share your opinions but not engage in any personal attack thank you for your cooperation and at this time we have no one who has signed up to speak at public expression if there's anyone in our audience who does feel now they would like to address us or come to the podium you may certainly do so seeing none thank you but someone like to make a motion to Peru to approve the consent agenda

010as presented mr. Mecca a second mrs. leather barrel thank you any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously marks off is there anybody we like to introduce this evening yes at this time I'd like to introduce to the board our new principal at East High School we'll be starting as soon as possible once we can find some temporary replacements to help out with the administrative oversight at North High School certainly he's done a tremendous job as an assistant principal at North and prior to that as a physical education teacher and a coach at North High School and certainly he's going to be a true credit to East High School as he assumes the principal responsibilities there so I'd like to introduce ladies and gentlemen mr. Brian SWAT one thank you I thought I lost my

011notes for a minute so they wouldn't have been good first of all I'd like to thank the Board of Education dr. marks law dr. CRE dr. Balin mr. matter ski and dr. McKenna for this opportunity to lead Williams at least high school I'd like also like to thank the staff at North for helping me become the administrator I am today along the way I've worked with many great principals in the district and really I was able and fortunate enough to learn some invaluable lessons from them Mr Bowen who preceded me at North High School has been instrumental mr. small niche has helped me along the way and to them I thank them I'm blessed to have two veteran administrators and mrs. DeSantis and mr. gray and I'm looking forward to beginning our work together and

012finally I cannot tell you how excited I am to begin to be a part of the culture of excellence that exists at East High School and engrained myself in the community my primary goal is to meet the staff the students and the parents and to learn all the greatness East has to offer thank you again for this exciting opportunity and thank you [Applause] someone like to make a motion to approve the minutes of the regular board meeting held on August the 7th its 2018 mrs. leather barrel Thank You second dr. McClaren thank you any discussion come on favor motion carries I'm just double-checking our notes here one two three four yeah well it technically does not carry because mr. Meyer you are not at the meeting you have to abstain okay I'll take you not

013abstaining for this time thank you motion carries Animus Lee would someone like to make a motion to approve the minutes of the special board meeting held on September the 11th 2018 though mr. Mecca second this is leather Baro any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously unanimously would someone like to make a motion to approve the minutes of the special board meeting held on September the 18th 2018 mr. Meyer second this is leather Baro any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously opening day for staff and support staff and faculty was held on Tuesday August the 28th 7:15 a.m. at North High School Auditorium we had mrs. Beger mr. gornstein mrs. leather barrel and myself in attendance the opening day for support staff was held later that morning at 11:00 a.m. at East High School

014mr. bernstein and myself attended that board visitations coming up between now and our next meeting we have one visitation that's on the calendar it is Monday October the 15th at 8:00 a.m. this is the a I am the alternative instructional model building I currently show right now mr. gornstein mrs. leather Barrow and myself is there anybody else here at the table that can also attend that more no okay moving on to Erie County Association of school board the board presidents vice president and superintendents reception was held Thursday August the 23rd [Music] Commissioner Maryellen Elia had a Q&A there with the the members in attendance she spoke on broad topics like PSA standard our excuse me East essa the state mandated testing state standards federal mandates appr we did I shouldn't say we I had a

015slight dialogue with with the Commissioner on regards to appr and at the end of that dialogue we concluded that she will be coming to visit us here in Williamsville to bring her appr Roundtable two to the Williamsville facility and faculty sometime in September or October I don't believe we've had a more formal date other than that so far and being the last week of September I'm when I guess it's gonna be October then we have the delegate assembly that attended September 6th and dr. McCleary attended that do you have anything to report on that please I did submit a report but basically it was an opportunity to have a roundtable of how the beginning of school went for all the various attendees in different districts and everyone seemed to have a good beginning of the

016school year thank you legislative committee was on September the 13th followed by the Budget and Finance Committee mr. Mecca you attended both of those you want to give us a quick update on both please yes president Lamia thank you for the heads-up via email prior to giving this report this time I appreciate that there will be a legislative roundtable meeting open to all school board members on 10 11 so mrs. karey I know is arranging board member attendance if interested and I think people have had the opportunity opportunity to reply at this point with respect to that meeting one of the legislative priorities the EC ASB is to bring New York State in is an equal partner in terms of the percentage of total statewide expenditures for public schools the high point for state contribution

017was 2001 2002 when the state paid for approximately 48% of all education related expenses for public schools currently New York State picks up about 41% and looking at the country as a whole the nationwide average for States is 47% so our goal is to bring New York State up to be an equal partner in sharing the educational expenses across New York State not on a per district basis with respect to the EC ASB Budget and Finance meeting which was actually before the legislative meeting there was discussion of the restructuring of the leadership roles from one director to two separate leadership positions both of those positions would be part-time one of the leadership positions would be filled by David Lowery who is starting to transition into that position and he he will focus mostly on the

018day-to-day aspects of the organization whereas the other position filled by dr. Bruce Fraser will focus on advocacy fundraising through sponsorships as ahead of schedule for EC ASB and there are plans to improve the sponsorship program so coming oh sorry about that coming up October 4th there's the fall leadership dinner which I think you mentioned did you mention that not yet okay you will be mentioning that the October 11th legislative roundtable and legislative meeting which I mentioned November 15th speed boarding on the use of strategic data and December 6 there's an Albany update thank you as mr. Mecca already gave away the annual school leadership dinner will be held on Thursday October the 4th 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the protocol restaurant 6756 Transit Road Williamsville New York right now I show only to board

019members attending dr. Erma Clary and mr. Mecca there any other board members here that would like to attend kind of narrowing it down to 2 sorry legislative committee is Thursday October the 11th of 2018 6:30 p.m. till 8:30 p.m. this will be the Erie County Association school board legislative roundtable forum held at Erie one BOCES building a rooms 1a through a4 excuse me a 1 through a4 and then I show dr. McClaren mr. Mecca and myself so far signed up for that um this is leather barrel or mr. Meyer and interested nope moving on does anyone have anything else to report under the Erie County Association of School Boards this evening okay moving on to New York State School Board Association the education 2030 summit dr. McCleary attended that the the summit that was held

020on September the 12th in Buffalo here um dr. Meyer Claire do you want to comment but give us a update on that please again I did present a written report but very briefly it was an interesting they called it a summit there were probably about a hundred or so people there it was a interesting to be at at Buffalo State it was a brand-new building this was the first event that was held in the Alumni Center in Buffalo State they technically hadn't even had their like opening ceremony but they held the conference there it's a very nice facility and so in terms of the the summit the first speaker was again commissioner Maryellen Elia and the whole focus of this particular summit it was called education 2030 and so it was talking about things that

021we and education and school districts and teachers in a classroom need to do and how we should be focusing our energies and the things that we do for students for students who are going to be heading into a future for which many of the jobs that they will be taking have not even been created or thought about yet and so there was discussion about how we can do things to help work for the future not just maintain things the way they are and Commissioner Elia did talk about that change is inevitable and it's our responsibility to embrace change and this is in terms of various pieces of technology and then there was a gentleman from Education for IBM corporate citizenship it was kind of interesting to hear him talk about Watson which was the computer

022that was on Jeopardy that won and he was talking about uses for Watson in the classroom and all the different free items that are available to teachers and then dr. bill Daggett also talked about focusing on forward-thinking schools as opposed to future focusing schools in terms of what we need to do and what we need to do for the future that's the rest of the details are in the report thank you thank you the board of officers Academy is this Friday September the 28th from 8:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the Hilton Garden Inn Rochester University and Medical Center located 30 celebration Drive Rochester New York one for six to zero I believe I am the only person in attendance and I will report back to the board on that the 99th annual convention for

023the New York State School Board Association will be held in New York City at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel on October 25th through the 27th 2018 currently board attendees I show mrs. beaker isleta barrow mr. LeMay mr. Mecca mr. Meyer and mrs. vansice I do need to ask for a new volunteer to be the the voting delegate alternate as mr. Bernstein had some unexpected business and had to withdrawal so those going mr. Mecca okay great I can talk to you offline about what we do and how we do it if other people are interested - I just rose my hand is somebody that might be interested but I don't want to preclude anybody else not a problem appreciate it in your packet this month for the proposed 2018 bylaws and amendments and resolutions

024please make sure you review these as next month I'll be with given recommendations that I would like to vote on on behalf of our board at the Annual Meeting this will give everyone enough time to review and discuss these so that we're all in agreement someone like to make a motion to approve and send the letter for supportive increase to salary cap bill as presented in your packet this is leather pero thank you is there a second mr. Meyer any discussion all in favor okay motion carries unanimously does anyone else have anything to report under the New York State School Board Association this month nope the community forum the next community forum put on your calendars now Saturday November the 17th 2018 this will be at Williamsville South High School from 9:00 a.m. until noon

025this is a Saturday again for those that don't know what a community forum is this is the opportunity for anybody in the community homeowners teachers facility faculty staff students parents anybody that's that's related to anything in the district - to have a two-way dialogue with the board members unlike coming to our normal board member or a board meeting excuse me where we open up the podium and it's it's kind of a one-way presentation this is the opportunity for you to ask questions tell us what we're doing well and question what we're doing on other things give us ideas and suggestions on what you'd like to see so I encourage everybody to please come again Saturday November 17th South High School 9:00 a.m. until noon would someone like to make a motion to take the August

0267 2018 motion from the table and second discussion and approval of the board retreat dates dr. McCleary is there a second this is leather barrow so the 200 I'm favor sorry thank you motion carries unanimously the two dates through the one that was really in question this whole time has been the December date looks like we have consensus now that it is going to be Saturday December the 1st 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. that'll be here in district offices now that we have the date we'll work on the facilitator for that the other date is Saturday the March 30th 2019 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. as well so make sure you block that off in your calendars [Music] okay would someone like to make a motion to approve the board retreat dates as presented

027this is leather barrel the second mr. Mayer all in favor Oh horse carries unanimously thank you or goals we get to take a glamorous pause in our meeting here as we scoot along and pull up our board goals from last night we're gonna take a look at implementation plans if you remember last month we figured out what our board goals were you know and the first ones up on the screen right now board district and Community Engagement to foster an enhanced relationships while continuing to improve two-way communications to students families and community stakeholders the the idea now is how do we implement how do we gauge how we're doing what is the sure sign that we're succeeding at this goal how do we put something tangible to to benchmark against here I know there was

028some jesting excuse me some suggestions put down on here we don't necessarily have to accept all of these but we do want to you know tweak them modify them look at them if there's any question on it that maybe they are not tweaked in as well as we want so this is kind of an open discussion so we'll start with the first one here again under board district and Community Engagement the first activity was to serve as liaisons to PTA PTSA um SEP some meetings and submit liaison reports I don't believe we have a liaison deception anymore so that's got to be updated to just show PTA PTA meetings the timeline is ongoing and of course the indicator here and is that all board members would completely his own reports 100% of the time and

029share board related contacts with fellow board members I know we asked her at the board table on this goal typically to let other board members know with enough notice that we can fill in for you I have asked the district clerk this year to kind of keep an ongoing tally for us so that we can kind of this year gauge how we're doing and she's gonna report on that before every meeting for us any changes to this bless you yes that's true it should probably just say serve as liaisons to various bodies are various because there's a lot of them now we have the Erie County we have we have the shared decision we have right I'm open to any way to verbalize that board members completing liaison reports a hundred percent of the time

030and share board related context with fellow board members I would say the progress indicator there is is the board should strive for 100% attendance and reporting and when one cannot facilitate will or one cannot attend will facilitate a substitute whenever possible yes I certainly know that situations arise and emergencies and people can't go but I still believe firmly that if a person does attend then that person does need to do a report so I'd like the report faction to stay at a hundred percent right yeah I would agree strive for a hundred percent attendance with 100 percent reporting something like this is Wilfred I know we don't have a slide up there that we're reading in real time is that the problem can we just take notes or I'm kind of leaving it to both

031of you mrs. take notes you both well okay well thank you I know normally we we edit on fly but that's not necessary tonight thank you showcase the work to the district subset groups and regularly scheduled board meetings identify at least one group that would be willing to attend board meetings and give a brief presentation in the group's mission goals and activities I know we talked about this quite a bit in the fall do we want to put a number on this how many times I know it was suggested monthly oh and I think we came back that said monthly was a little overbearing maybe three times a year I'm just throwing an arbitrary number out there three times during the academic calendar year sound good reasonable dr. March love if it's not reasonable Academy

032here would please Thanks respond to individuals who contact or speak before the board listen to and acknowledge all feedback from stakeholders I guess this is just there as an ongoing thing I know any any correspondence at the board we reply to we make sure that we were applied to in a very timely manner so this is just an ongoing I don't know that we can actually put a a metric to it hold to board community forums throughout the year we are having one in November and April forums are offered attended by community members that's pretty self sufficient is it all the schools and districts abilities throughout the year to listen to employees school visits in each activity board president to complete a report on each visit representing information shared by all board members in attendance

033where the goal here is to strive for three board members in attendance for each visit on that on a side I also suggest that every board member to try and strive for attending three board visits if possible I do know job responsibilities sometimes preclude that and make that difficult but whenever possible to try strive for that anything else for that line or is that sufficient good okay schedule a minimum of three meetings with union leaders I don't know that we need to put three down um I think this is one area that we could probably change anybody wants to jump in and suggest the change I'm thinking we the ideas is that we want to be open transparent and available obtainable so I think instead of scheduled a minimum of three meetings with union leaders

034open them I'm trying to think how to phrase it open yeah go ahead and slow the barrel first I wanted to point out that we have scheduled with union leaders perhaps we need to specify which unions since we have several unions in our district last year we met as a board with the WTI or the board met with the WTI three times three times I think perhaps we changed the wording to invite to continue them if that is the pleasing of the WTA as well so perhaps instead of saying schedule we could say invite WTA Union leaders to participate in two to three I'm gonna suggest to invite all union leaders and if they're willing I mean we could send out a letter from the board inviting them and if they're willing they can reply

035and say yes we'd like to schedule a meeting we like to have ongoing meetings whatever but allow the opportunity for all the Union bodies to come and meet with us if they choose they ain't they last year most of the unions turned down the offer like take off the number and just use the word invite invite union leaders to meet with the board throughout the year I don't think the intention is at the same time I think it's tended to be a one-on-one invite I don't know if we need to specify that or not but I I would suggest that it even though we want to have it more broader I think it does need to say invite the union leaders of the leaders of each employee union or something like that to attend do

036you need to spell out the unions I don't think you can send a letter to all seven right but I think it does have to say somehow that it's a specific meeting with a specific group not that we want to have one one large meeting okay so invite invite union leaders to a one-on-one meeting with the board I hate to use the one-on-one but I can't think of another way to say it a private meeting with the board well we'd be inviting and most likely to executive session so WT when we formed a committee to meet with them so okay that might be fine because if you look at the progress indicators that Gordon superintendent meet with various union leaders an executive committee throughout the school year I don't believe it's an executive session correct

037well I know the waa came to executive session last year no but the meetings that you held last year with the WTA those were not executive session meetings that's correct because we went there in a quorum they were private meeting with what we're asking to continue that it would still be a committee of the board so if it's a committee of the board it couldn't be an executive session you're right and then it wouldn't be an executive session but I'm trying to think of how that would work because the language like really simple and just say invite right right right okay so board committee so we would change the progress indicator board committee and superintendent to meet with various union leaders in their executive committees throughout us the school year thank you for the the

038wording there and I think we just leave it as invite union leaders to mate with board committee and superintendent and we leave it broad like that absolutely okay any other discussion on this okay move on Student Wellness support physical mental and emotional needs of students by providing necessary appropriate resources for wellness program and initiatives here we have two activities monitor and review the annual wellness report and use data to get to guide decision-making for example mindfulness initiatives and the K for recess program the progress indicators here are reports presentations by the district and Wellness Committee do we want to modify this this is yes mrs. Merrill I would suggest we just take off the part that's in parentheses so as to make sure that we're keeping it current okay just delete the parentheses on so

039it ends it to guide decision making any progress indicators to put to this other than just reports presentations by district wellness committees okay support district initiatives and programs that address drug use and other mental health issues affecting the youth in our community see report on search Institute survey results to include recommendations this is not about I'd like to suggest that we remove the selectivity only because I don't feel it's a board oh I feel like the more of a district goal I agree I think this is left over from last year yeah so spring 2019 I would graze there any other student wellness activities that we could put down in its place number one takes care of it our role as the board is to monitor and review I have a question please I'm I

040probably had said it when it first went up there that I don't believe we can use the word support because that's not measurable so I would be an agreement with removing activity number two but I would also like to take the progress indicator about the search Institute material and move that up to a progress indicator for number one because the search Institute material does talk about wellness and so forth and so on okay so we'll move that indicator up and then delete activity - any suggestions or recommendations that we could add to that we will be also working on the implementation of the mental health literacy component so that might be a piece that could get blended in with the presentation just the updates that are happening so that's going to be an activity that

041dr. baylow and I and mr. moochick a-- will be presenting on this evening so that could be something that would be may be of interest to the board we also are working actively on social-emotional learning and so that would be another component that would probably fall under there and the last piece I will share with you we do indeed have our search Institute results back we just got them recently and so all the buildings do have that information of those that participated which are the Middle School in high schools and that could certainly be information it could be presented from a district aggregate level and you're gonna come back and present that to us I like that so instead of just annual wellness report do we want to extend on that we can freak out

042everything she just mentioned I would cuz I mean no or you can leave it generic because that is I mean those are gonna be various presentations to us from the Wellness committees over the over the course of the year so both captions will capture that data and just so I'm clear we're studying this tonight so that we vote on it next month no we're done setting up will vote on it then we will come back in January to get a gauge as to how we're doing and then we'll wrap it up in June excuse me they're additions for Student Wellness okay student achievement provide the optimal environment for learning creativity and engagement by supporting the fundamental educational needs for all our students we have three tests under here receive data on instructional program and student

043performance and use data to guide decision making that would be to analyze information received to ensure that the instructional programs are leading to improve student performance that's okay let me read through the whole page and if nobody says anything we'll move on bullet to remain remain informed and advocate and the issues of affecting children of public education including but not limited to legislative matters the impact and changes in federal and state laws and regulations including the New York state priorities education funding an instructional program and curricular with a progress indicator to meet at least once this year with the state and/or federal elected officials attend and be active in the Erie County Association of School Board as well as the New York State School Board Association item three monitor that the district's professional development plan

044is meeting data team goals connects to district curriculum standards and aligns of the New York State teaching standards and the district appr plan is set forth by the district and indicators progress indicators reports presentations by the professional development committee and the data team members that word monitors in there I know you don't like that support okay okay oh this sounds okay everybody mm-hmm okay moving on board efficacy identify and implement best practices transition to searchable digital format of meeting packets at agendas attachments than anything is made available in the both board members and to the general public the digital format and training for new system board Docs will be the transition format utilized in 2018 2019 and that is a definite measurable indicator because I believe we're gonna cut over to that next month is

045that correct mrs. karey we're working on training just it would be October 16th and then hopefully planning to be everyone on board by November November okay but that's definitely a progress indicator good share all board related correspondences through email with all board members evaluated spring board retreat school board time to monitor and evaluate board goals excuse me schedule board time to monitor and evaluate board goals that's kind of what we're doing right now isn't it um to set them and then we're gonna monitor them in January and June so I would put that down in the final report column mrs. Carrie that those dates that we're gonna come back around to this complete evaluation to present during public board meetings so that would be on those two nights whatever the board meetings are those two

046months hold two retreats to discuss board operations and our board development falls ring conduct retreats with the board quorum in attendance we do have them set for December 1st and March 30th finalize those this evening so again trackable transition to a more technologically efficient programs for evaluations and goal-setting activities this be a fiscal year long I know we are starting to utilize new tools like super eval Google Misbah I know we've also talked that our spring retreat that might be the topic of that how to kind of work more closely with district and board to set goals that sound good here any additions changes modifications oh good so far okay moving on budget development and fiscal oversight oversee a fiscally responsible budget that upholds the mission and the values of the school community oversee the

0472018 2018 okay oversee the 2018 capital project to enhance district facilities and increase New York State aid to the Williamsville Central School District requests that administration provide implications to budget offerings of varying tax rate levels the indicator administration provides requested information prior to the budget adaptation mr. Mathers key we always look to you heavily for that and you do us a good deed so thank you collaborate with district administration to establish priorities related to the instructional program and facility needs and then we make budget recommendations to the district as an indicator any other questions on this one budget development physical oversight we're missing anything do we hit on the head do these all seem obtainable that we can put numbers to we can crunch and say yeah we can do this yeah we didn't we

048succeeded it's the goal this year is to be more responsible and evaluate our own selves to make sure that we're hitting our goals but that we're also operating well as a board so this is a major piece to it that being said we'll come back around so would someone like to make a motion to accept the board goal implementation plans as we've just discussed mr. Mecca is there a second doctor McCleary thank you all in favor motion carries unanimously would someone like to make a motion to authorize dr. McCleary is the voting board delegate for the 2018-2019 shared services countywide committee mr. Mecca second mr. Meyer is there any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously if you don't it doesn't pass Oh okay doctor do you and your community update please Thank You mr.

049LeMay I just like to echo the comments of some others at the board table and in the community that have thanked dr. Anna Sierra our assistant superintendent for exceptional education and student services for years of service to the district and her complete utter dedication to the Williamsville Central School District thank you dr. CRE for all that you've done for so many years for so many people you really have a an extremely positive outlook and always strive to find the good in every single scenario no matter how dire might appear from the outside and I'm very thankful for your leadership in in your area as well as many others it's hard to imagine how mr. scans uzo is going to replace all the responsibilities that you oversee and take care of for our district I understand

050he probably won't be spending much time with his family anymore given the immense job responsibilities but you've certainly worked hard for a long term a long time and you deserve a long happy and safe retirement so thank you very much and best wishes to you and stay in touch because you never know you might come back [Applause] that's it okay how about the opening day school opening day report then please yes I would like to thank our leadership team our assistant superintendents and also all of our administrators across the district as well as our teachers and our support staff for all the work and planning that went and throughout the summer leading up to the start of the school year it's really been a terrific start despite some of the construction going on in the

051community most of our buses have run pretty well in terms of being on time and that certainly has taken a great degree of planning and effort and communication with everyone certainly in our schools were fully staffed ready to go our class sizes were where they needed to be and we welcome students with open arms in a warm setting that supports their physical and emotional health and growth so thank you to everyone that's played an important role in that it doesn't happen easily or without a lot of hard work sacrifice and planning so terrific opening very proud of all the work we've done and hope that we continue on with an excellence clear thank you the board has received the 2018-2019 district goals implementation plans does anyone here at the table have any questions about these

052plans nope okay but someone like to make a motion to adopt the resolution for the certification of lead evaluator lead excuse me evaluators as presented you know I was gonna make that mistake dr. McClair is there a second mrs. leather bear oh thank you any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously would someone like to make a motion to take the August 7th 2018 motion from the table for a second reading and adoption for the following of the following policies policy number 7 131 education of students in temporary housing I believe that's it right yep this is leather barrel thank you is there a second dr. McCleary thank you all in favor okay so it's back on the table would someone like to make a motion for the second reading an adoption of the following

053policies have 1 1 3 1 an education of students in temporary housing this is leather barrel second mr. Meyer is there any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously would someone like to move the first reading of the following new policies policy 7 135 education of students in foster care and policy 752 2 head-injury MTBI concussion management mrs. leather barrel is there a second mr. Meyer excuse me mr. Mecca is there any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously would someone like to make a to move to table the motion for a second reading and adoption of new policies at the October 23rd 2018 regular board meeting again this would be policy 7 1 3 5 education of students in foster care and 7 5 2 to head-injury MTBI in concussion management this is leather

054Baro second mr. Meyer all in favor motion carries unanimously but someone like to make a motion to approve the resolution to appoint the dasa district and building coordinators as presented mr. Mecca is there a second dr. McClaren any discussion all in favor substantial motion carries unanimously moving right along would someone like to make a motion to approve the property tax settlements as presented mr. Mecca sake mrs. leather barrow is there any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously dr. marks laughs would you like to introduce us to the Medicaid presentation please Thank You mr. Liu may one of the requests from the Board of Education this past school year was to learn more about our Medicaid excuse me excuse me Medicaid plan and processing and so this evening dr. C area mr. mature ski will

055be leading a presentation on this important topic so I'll turn it over to them thank you dr. Mertz laughs I'm going to begin our exciting Medicaid presentation for everyone this evening and then Tom will be jumping in toward the latter part we split the presentation this evening so I'm just going to give a little bit of background on the school supportive health services program which is what SSH SP stands for back in 1998 there was a lawsuit filed relative to how New York State was processing Medicaid claims and there were the examples of non-compliance at that time included things such as progress notes evaluations recommendations not being signed or dated billing from agendas as opposed to from IEP s or CSC meetings that were held no documentation for ot PT or speech services and what

056the federal government felt felt at that time is that schools were transferring educational costs to federally supported health program so as a result there were some requirements some changes that were required to be made by New York State with regard to this program one of which included the naming of compliance officers and as you see there Tom and I are named as your compliance officers for the district compliance officers you might be asking yourself a question can they be anyone they cannot be a consultant the compliance officers must be employees of the district and they really serve as contacts for whistleblowers so there has to be an opportunity for people to report anything that they might perceive to be inappropriate practices and to do so in a way that can be confidential and where there's

057no retaliation potential for retaliation what also was required is a compliance program school districts entities that claim over $500,000 are required to have a compliance program and you as a board annually approves a compliance program as you know in January for our school district and compliance some of the things that are required are written policies and procedures an employee vested with the responsibility for the day-to-day compliance program operation there's training components training requirements again the ability to report anything that of concern and several other requirements the program from start to finish is exactly what it looks like here this is probably one of the most simplistic slides in terms of Medicaid processing which is a very complicated process what must exist is there must be an educational need and a medical necessity there must be

058a documentation of service delivery and there are specific claiming practices that must be followed which time will speak directly to what is of a school supportive health services program it's a New York State Medicaid program as its articulated they're claiming is all encounter Bay and what is an encounter it's defined as a documented face-to-face direct medical service visit that was provided pursuant to the recommendations of a student's IEP by a qualified provider so this isn't pre-session planning or post session write-up it is the service that's provided to the student the requirements and I'm not going to go through each and every one of these we thought we would provide you with the information through the slide and I'll just highlight a couple the service as I mentioned must be listed on the students IEP there

059also must be medical necessity one without the other does not allow you to claim submit a Medicaid claim what is medical necessity it must be documented there has to be a written order that's signed and dated by a New York State enrolled practitioner who is also a New York State licensed and registered and/or certified as required and it may be a physician a physician assistant or a nurse practitioner and as I mentioned not only well I don't know if I mentioned this yet but I'm going to mention it now providers must also be medic Medicaid qualified so what services does the district fill for under s SHP we bill for speech therapy we built bill for physical therapy we build for occupational therapy and for special transportation we also have you do s which is

060under the direction of and that is for our co TAS who operate under the direction of our ot hours so our certified occupational therapy assistants under the direction of our occupational therapist registered occupational therapists this is important for you to know because there's some very specific guidelines that must also be followed when you're claiming under you do the OT are must see the student at the beginning of and periodically during the provision of service they must also be familiar with the treatment plan they have to have input into the treatment plan and to the type of care or service that's provided they must have continued involvement in the care that's provided to the student they must review the need first for continued services and they also assume the professional responsibility for the services that are

061provided under his or her direction along with the continued need for service or the provision of service the written order or written referral again must document medical necessity it has to be in place prior to the provision of service we have to keep this documentation on file the ordering provider bus must be a New York State Medicaid provider and it must include all the essential elements on the written order which I'm going to get to right now and here are all of the elements on a written order a written referral so we have to have all of these pieces before we can utilize that written order for the claim you can imagine that if there's one element that's missing we have to go back to the person who's providing the order and ask them to

062complete that order comprehensively the other piece I would share with you is sometimes people think that you can right where it says frequency and duration some have the misperception that you can do a reference see IEP you cannot it has to be the specific frequency and duration elements of a written order continued again not going to go through each and every one but it's very prescriptive we also have to make sure we have session notes for each of the services that are provided these are very detailed as well the session notes have to include all of this information in order for us to submit for Medicaid reimbursement session notes I'm just gonna point this out for everyone sometimes there's a belief or a perception that session notes are the same as progress in the progress

063notes which we're required to also submit under the IDE a to parents with regard to progress on IEP goals and objectives they are not one in the same there are two separate documents and a progress note would not satisfy the requirements for claim submission under the Medicaid provisions parental consent it used to be prior to the year was 2013 yes 2013 prior to 2013 we used to have to get annual consents we no longer have to obtain an annual parental consent it is now a one-time consent but and must be obtained before the first time you submit a claim okay prior to obtaining consent however and annually thereafter we have to provide parents with written notice of their rights so one of the things that's very important to know about this is that the parent

064understands and it has agreed in writing that they they understand the scope and the purpose of what they're giving consent for they understand that consent is voluntary and can be revoked at any time it's important that parents know that that they're fully informed that refusal to consent does not impact services so for example one of the other things I wanted to point out is that let's say you have a referral that indicates 2 times per week ot the IEP indicates 3 times per week ot what's your obligation as a district you must provide three times per week ot you can only build claim for two times per week øt okay so parents have to be informed that they have the ability to refuse consent and it will not impact IEP service delivery their child's right

065to receive their services as articulated on their IEP and be fully informed that accessing Medicaid does not affect lifetime coverage some of the Medicaid claims Anja's are articulated there getting that not going to highlight all of them it's important to note a few things if an order one of the things that has been a challenge is let's say you get an order from a referring physician and the scope of that order goes from september 8th 2010 and make this up to September 8th 2011 and the student receives summer services that referral would not cover the summer services because the new school year begins in July ok so again remember you also can't say per IEP and sometimes that happens the other thing that is sometimes a challenge is the requirement for contemporaneous notes and Tom's

066going to speak a little bit to that in terms of one of the supports we provided to our staff was with regard to some technology to help facilitate the contemporaneous notes or session notes which is documentation of the services that have been provided as close to the conclusion of the session as practicable and there's a certain timeline that we have to meet with those notes at one point in time they also did random moment time studies that was I think ceased for a year or so and has now come back on so we have to make sure that any service provider is listed in the system and then periodically on a random basis they will receive an email asking them to submit information with regard to a service that they provided scripts may have must

067have enough information to provide services may have enough information to provide services but not to claim that's a challenge for us traveling therapists when they're in multiple buildings that you can see could impact contemporaneous notes when information is missing from scripts we'll need to go we need to go back to the physicians to ask them to provide that information which can create some frustration and everybody's part it's a time intensive process there are significant training requirements so there are a number of things that present as potential challenges with the Medicaid processing we also have to sorry verify Medicaid eligibility what we need to do is get the cin number from families and and that's difficult as well or a social security number what we do is we ask parents through parent contact you see some

068of the suggestions that have been provided to school districts in terms of acquiring that number we try to be very sensitive to respecting families confidentiality and protect the information as to who is or who is not Medicaid eligible so some of these suggestions what we would want to do if we were to ask for that information at a CSE meeting for example is to ask all families for that information at a CSE meeting so that any party who's participating in that meeting has no idea what families may or may not be eligible if that makes and I think it's to mr. mature ski so I'll just pick up from there and I think when you begin talking about the claims process you can you have an understanding of how rigid it is every piece of

069the documentation that Ana has reviewed must be in place for us to be able to put in one claim I'm gonna go over some of the specific items here but claims can be rejected if you do not have all those pieces of information you'll see and you've already seen the fact that a lot of acronyms are being used and most of these are actually from the medical community the medical industry so the IC D codes is actually international class of diseases it stands for the NPI numbers is a number provided to our school district in this particular instance that represents our ability to actually put in a claim with a specified number so and then as you see there's all the other codes and claim numbers that are associated with us when we do put

070in a claim so when we move forward to to the process of claiming as I just mentioned we may have to make sure that all of these areas of documentation are in place and and a lot of this is already what what Ana had mentioned and it all has to be done in the correct order if we do not have the information even in the correct order or as regarding the complaint the session notes and items like that then it would not be considered to be correct documentation so as you can see all those referrals all that information has to be in the documentation of service the evaluation reports the session notes the sign offs from the parents in transportation dogs I'll be talking about very shortly all that information has to be put together

071in in addition to this this is the what I would call the claim end there also is a back-end to all the work which results in us having to send in on a more than an annual basis sometimes to continue to certify our school district that we have the ability to put in those claims and those are forms that that come in they're notarized and sent back to the agencies and they use various other agencies such as eMED and EPA's to allow the district to use those portals to submit our claims so that's really the portal system that's being used when we put in all this information and and do those submissions when one other thing on the submissions I want to mention is that we also work with the consultant in this you can

072imagine that it's it's as we said we don't want to miss anything and and that is one reason why we do use a consultant they assist us they review our claims and they they prompt us for providing them with additional information that can maximize the dollar amounts that we're actually getting out of our medicaid special transportation they these expenses are claimable in the summer it's a little bit different it's a little more specific we have to make sure that when we're claiming transportation we have bus rosters every single day it must list the pick up of the student the drop-off of the student it lists the times all that information is required for us to be able to claim the transportation expenses in the summer regular school year is not as specific we just need

073to make sure that we have them on the roster and then again we have just a general pick up that's showing their attendance in the school so as I mentioned the medical claiming process it is what we work through on a I'm really an ongoing basis some of the items here are just showing again that we you know we have some difficulties and challenges that we have to be on top of and I can say that we have a great internal organization here it's a very close relationship between the Special Education Department the business office as well as you know our consultant and we all are working together to make sure that all these pieces of the application process for a claim are put in place again I'm not going to go over each one

074of these items because we've already talked about them we've talked about how we need to maintain the items one thing I will mention though in regard to the last few items here is training and reporting requirements our reporting requirements do require us to do an annual report that is a certified report to the state that is done every December so we put in and and those reports are then sent in this past year there was an additional step that we had to do as of August and that was to go back and certify the claims from 1314 1415 and 1516 and and essentially what they wanted us to do is they gave us the reports from their end it was a reconciliation process we had to go in and reconcile and then there would be

075any adjustments were to be added back to us we would receive those adjustments and we did receive some claims due to some prior years this year and and you'll see how that has positively impact and impacted our revenues so again this certified public expenditures is the report that is due usually in December and then again it's also done through another portal called the public Consulting Group I would also mention that as we go through these we receive updates sometimes on a monthly basis sometimes on a weekly basis it's it's really quite challenging at times to keep up with all the changes but we do that it is a good system that we have cross checks in place I can say with again the special education department the consultant and the business office and that's really

076how we are able to make sure that the not just the documentation but the claim processing is all occurring according to the right timelines so when we maximize revenue I've listing here our consultant is called management advisory group we have been using them I think for the last ten years they provide what I consider to be a very cost benefit service to us they also assist if there were to be an audit they would be there to assist us in in reviewing the information so they are truly in my view a great benefit for us we meet with them twice a year face-to-face and with that we go over claims we go over what's on our list what what's in the pipeline and then what challenges might be there and and although we are quite

077experienced now in knowing how to process these items they always offer some additional suggestions that they might receive from other school districts as they work with many school districts throughout New York State so coming to our revenue history here you can see that in 1718 our revenue was 329 972 2016-17 it was 275 855 and it was 213 955 so the reason why it's been climbing is really due to some changes and allowing us to claim some additional expenses as well as the work that we have done internally to again try and maximize it I will say that the 1718 year end expenses I can report that very positively that that number has grown due to our audit and it's not that our audit did anything it's that when the audit was going on we

078were able to receive some of those prior year expenses they came in and so we had to accrue that revenue so again it wasn't anything the audit did but it was something that came in so it results in that number for 1718 actually going up quite significantly to 932 thousand five hundred seventy seven dollars now we will not receive that again in the future that was due to prior year's revenue coming in but it was a very nice one-time revenue that we received this year due to those past years which were really held up by various federal state type requirements and then they released the the funds to us one thing I will note our revenue is half of what really is received by the by the state they receive half of what we claim

079so it benefits New York State that school districts are putting these in claims and and that's how the process has worked so with that thank you any questions mr. Mecca hey thank you for the presentation and really do get a good sense of what you're doing to try to maximize the dollars that were bringing in through Medicaid billing and you anticipated a lot of my questions I think as you were given the presentation one question that I have is it's a relatively small amount of money that we're bringing in through Medicaid and it seems like for me I don't know everything that goes into it but it seems like a lot of effort is it worth it well we have had conversations at the very what when this whole change in process happened and at

080that point in time we thought about whether it was worth not claiming and I think where we really determined is that if you were to say to our community that you were going to not put in claims that would be a difficult conversation to have so I think we have a process in place I think dr. CRE anaphor for you know really orchestrating it on the special ed site because that's really where the documentation and all of those issues are and and where they really have now it like a well-oiled machine and and that's why I think it works and the other positive thing is we are able as you see from the revenue climbing we have been able to claim significantly amounts of revenue and that's really due to that process so looking at

081the services that we bill for and notice there are a few Medicaid eligible services that we don't go for and I wonder if you'd be able to give us some color as to why that might be like psychological counseling or psychological evaluations for instance there are only certain licensures under which you can bill for psychological counseling and evaluation so it's a licensed psychiatrist a licensed clinical psychologist some of those titles which many school districts don't have within the district proper so that's part of that reason there's also very structured processes that you have to follow with regard to evaluations we do a comprehensive evaluation so when we do our evaluation they are not standalone reports they are a comprehensive written report that has all the elements included we are actually looking at that right now

082mr. Mack gotta see if there is a way we can build even with that type of structure we think it's a more meaningful report for families instead of these separate evaluation reports and so in Prior consultations with our consultants we weren't sure if we could build with this the way we write our evaluations and so that we're looking at that right now if we could add certain structures to our current evaluation protocol can we submit the evaluations for claim so that's one of the questions we have outstanding following up on that I guess I'm wondering who does the psychological counseling pretty much in terms of title in the school district or is it does it vary it varies depending upon the needs of the student again thank you to the board because we have a

083nice full complement in our buildings of school psychologists social workers and school counselors you know I'm always advocating for more so my last hurrah to get that in but they do a wonderful wonderful job and it does again very it could be anyone of any one of members of our staff gotcha Thanks any other questions mr. Mecca I might have more but I'll let I'm just wondering if all of our claims what what percentage is being rejected and how has that changed over past you know so many years really at this point in time we're not seeing that many claims that all rejected I I would say it's less than 5% and then those that are are being corrected so we get a report and that's where those face-to-face meetings are with our consultant they

084come in and they say we have this in the system and so for the most part everything that we're able to claim is being claimed and it's in within the timeline mr. Mecca to kind of like bigger picture state federal government type questions I guess we spoke earlier about New York State being an equal partner and funding public education statewide at the 50% level apparently there's no problem with collecting 50% of the revenue that we bring in through this program is that statutory decision like that's in state law somewhere or I do believe it is I can't quote the law but it's been that way for many years okay and then just to follow up I don't know it just kind of anything you might have heard about the federal government's support for the for

085Medicaid in the Schools program I had heard a while ago that the federal government wanted to shut this down or reduce the impact of this on on their budget have you heard anything lately about that that's that okay that's saying that's all thank you would someone like to make a motion to approve the school district legal counsel as presented someone misses leather girl thank you is there a second doctor McCleary thank you with someone like to you make a motion to table this I move that we table it okay thank you is there a second mrs. not a barrel all in favor we have discussion on it before I guess we could have discussion I'm sorry go ahead are we tabeling it because we basically don't ever know we don't have a quorum Thanks that

086may change later in the evening and if so we'll bring it back if not it sadly I'll have to go till next month yeah okay all in favor okay motion carries unanimously if you have any leaves on a conference reports please send them to mrs. Carey through its list of meeting dates have been given to each board member please let the board know if you're unable to attend a meeting so that another board member is able to cover you in your absence does anyone need any coverage for any upcoming meetings that they may potentially be missing no okay are there any legislative matters that anyone would like to discuss no dr. Marr slav can you give us a report on the summer school program please yes there's information in your packet that details our summer

087school program and at this time I'm going to turn it over to dr. Baylin who can discuss a little bit of that further and answer any questions board members may have thank you dr. Mertz off and thank you to the board for this yearly opportunity I'd like to take this just a few moments to express my gratitude to the to summer school principals they are unable to be here this evening but Cory gray served again as our elementary middle principal Thomas served as our high school principal I have the great pleasure of visiting with summer school on a few different occasions of the program ran very smoothly and a lot of very positive students experiences we had in your packet as we've done before you have a few tables at your disposal providing a big-picture

088overview of our numbers and each level of instruction elementary middle and high and then earn an overall total we were also fortunate enough again this summer to offer other programs there's actually a variety of summer school programs under the summer school umbrella we hosted again our English as a new Language Academy summer music and a whole host of other programs last but not least our budget is at the conclusion of the report again just for your information and we're happy that summer school was a very positive experience for the students I'm happy to answer any questions that the board may have so correct me if I'm wrong but I believe such as Algebra one our new those students that were converting the non Regents to a Regents those are students taking the course as a

089new course for the first time we actually that's a great question because we do have a few different opportunities for students in that regard that is actually the whole course condensed down into a summer school session we do also have and you'll notice different terminology throughout as we have review courses and we also have tutorials and in those cases those provide different opportunities again in a more condensed fashion it's not the entire course it's to fill gaps and really the end goal is to provide the students with the appropriate instruction in order to be successful on the end of course measure so we have many students who come to summer school as you know for advancement purposes to take a new course and to advance in the program of studies but we have several also

090who come to improve their outcomes both in the course itself as well as the exam we also what you don't see on this chart is we have about fourteen percent of students who are also coming just for the exam so in that case the students aren't taking any class they're just retaking the exam which on New York State does allow the students to do and just the other question I have is do you think as a district we could ever discuss potentially having some classes that are considered non Regents allowing and making available students to still be exposed and be able to take the Regents exams we do have the opportunity some are called conversion courses I think moving had we really should look at that carefully because those have been shown to be very

091successful for students I've gotten the idea there is to supplement the instruction they've already received fill in any gaps and then prepare them to take the exam so there there's some of that already occurring but certainly we should look at that and see if there are any further opportunities to even enhance that morsel thank you where is it more parents have the opportunity to refer their children as well it is remedial in nature there is actually a very comprehensive process and protocols that we follow there are data points that we certainly look at but recommendations are also a part of that typically the recommendations come through from the teachers through the principal but we always invite with any conversation any parent feedback but really what we're looking for and again this is a more comprehensive

092overview and looking at several different pieces of information and not one indicator as to the need that presents itself in at this time math or ela perfectly and then to piggyback on that is there any separate program for English language learners or would they be in the same elementary middle actually both they are part of our program our district program for summer school in addition we do offer an academy and what that's designed to do is for students who really need that intensive language acquisition approach direct instruction by the ESL teacher so really the broad program would not in that case serve those needs they're referred to be part of the Academy during the summer and we as you can see we've been running it for a while it's actually supported through our grant monies

093through Title three and we're very lucky because that provides very intensive instruction in language acquisition for those students but we have owls in our district summer school as well as needed if they're referred with the English language learners if you have newcomers to the district and it's their first time are they able to enroll in the summer program before starting school in the fall for their first time ok can you repeat that one more time I want to make say a family moves here in May and they're starting school in September to enroll are they able to sort of like jump start is what they referred to it in in Buffalo public school they were here part of Round of a school year yeah it's very possible and here through referral as long as they're

094enrolled in the district again it's a there's a process behind it so that we would look at each individual's needs and if it's appropriate that that student would benefit from being part of this program parents do have the option to they don't have to obviously sudden the student they're offered an opportunity some of the challenge comes in is which program is more appropriate would it be district summer school if they're recommended for that as well or the Academy so really it is based on the students needs but as long as they're an enroll student and we feel that and through that recommendation process there is a need for a referral to be made to either either or both programs we do work with the families and the staff to see what would be most appropriate

095for the student thank you I think up writing up providing the Academy is such a wonderful option because you know with my background working with English language learners just being able to provide basic communication language skills Thank You thanks for stealing my questions Thank You dr. Marsh laughs would you like to introduce the mental health education literacy in schools presentation please yes this was based on another board request that came in last spring to hear more about how it is we are involving mental health education literacy in our schools and so I'm going to turn it over to dr. CRE and she's going to introduce our other folks who will be taking part in the presentation doctors here Thank You dr. marks laughs joining me tonight our two familiar faces dr. Balin assistant superintendent for

096instruction and mr. Christopher Chris Lou chica he's so we're gonna share the presentation honors this evening and I'm going to begin but we're gonna bounce back and forth with one another covering various topics you'll note that some of the slides our slides that we created and some of the slides for those of you that are familiar with the PowerPoint presentation prepared by the state will notice that we took snapshots and included those in our presentation as well so just beginning with just make sure I have this beginning with mental health literacy and meant the importance of mental health mental health is critical critical part of overall health and well-being it's important throughout the lifecycle it affects as we all know thinking learning feelings actions and ultimately relates directly to healthy decision-making educating young people about

097mental health increases the likelihood that they'll be able to effectively recognize signs and symptoms in themselves and in others and how and where to turn to for help when help is needed the focus of these efforts include things like reducing stigma increasing help-seeking behaviors improving academic performance and most importantly saving lives in May 2018 the Board of Regents adopted amendments to the commissioners regulations which clarified that a sector satisfactory program in health education developed in accordance with the needs of pupils and all grades must include must include instruction in several dimensions of health to include mental health and the relationship between physical and mental health and enhance student understanding attitudes and behave that promote health well-being and human dignity the comprehensive guides first section mental health education in the classroom and second section multiple dimensions

098of mental health have been specifically developed for educators instructing on mental health in the classroom to be used as a framework for developing their own local level local health curriculum it's important to note so we're not being provided by with a curriculum by New York State they're providing us with the resources and tools to develop our own local health curriculum and Chris will be speaking to that shortly along with dr. Baylin the framework supports the current New York State learning standards for health physical education and family and compute commuters consumer sciences at three levels and is to be used in conjunction with the current New York State Health Education guidance document to achieving New York state learning standards in health excuse me one minute well therefore key mental health literacy components important to everyone's well-being

099and you could see these articulated here again understanding how to obtain and maintain good health decreasing stigma related to mental health enhancing help-seeking efficacy that's so important that our students know that adults know how and when to seek support obtained good services and promote self-care taking care of oneself understanding mental disorders and available possible treatments research has shown and we've talked about this quite a bit about the importance of school climate on students well-being mental health physical health and achievement performance in school we've talked about the importance of connections with others we know that this is critical the school climate school connectedness emotional and physical safety is essential in order for students to learn achieve and grow so integrating mental health instruction with existing curriculum will facilitate the creation of positive safe and supportive environments

100as well as provide opportunities to build and practice relationships develop resiliency and social-emotional competencies and we've talked about social emotional competencies before and I'll just touch upon them very briefly tonight we also know and we mentioned this earlier tonight one of the board goals we also know that there is from the long-standing asset development research that the greater a number of assets a student has the less likely they are to engage in unhealthy risk-taking behaviors so as an example tonight I'm just going to provide you a little snippet of a future presentation from our recent results our spring results developmental assets in terms of the district aggregate results is what I'm going to share with you this evening on average students with zero to ten assets now you know there's 40 developmental assets so on

101average students with zero to ten assets possess 3.0 thriving indicators and 6.2 risk-taking behaviors now watch what happens as their assets increase 11 to 20 assets 4.1 thriving indicators and 3.9 risk-taking behaviors 21 to 30 5.4 thriving indicators 2.0 risk-taking 31 to 40 6.6 thriving indicators less than 1 risk-taking you might be asking yourself how many thriving indicators are there we have our highest is 6.6 are there 20 thriving indicators 30 40 there are 8 so when you think about the number of how important developmental assets is and why our work in this area is so critical this data provides you some of that information the thriving indicators just examples for you and I can share with you all 8 school success values diversity maintains good personal health helps others informally exhibits leadership resist danger

102controls impulsive behavior overcomes adversity those are the thriving indicators risk-taking behaviors things like alcohol use binge drinking marijuana use smokeless tobacco use illegal drug use driving while drinking early sexual activity vandalism inhalant use smoking using a weapon eating disorders skipping school shoplifting gambling depression hitting and/or hurting another person trouble with the law fighting in groups carrying a weapon for protection threatening to cause physical harm attempting suicide and riding with an impaired driver so think about the statistics I just shared with you as add some assets go up so to do thriving indicators and risk-taking behaviors decrease so in the next portion of the presentation what we'd like to share with you is insight into the classroom application in the classroom perspective and what our teachers are doing and what we're going to do to further

103enhance our efforts at the school level it is important to note however before we get into that phase of the presentation is that on several slides it really talks about a full district or a full school approach so while we're highlighting classroom practices really we're looking at things that we've come to know very well in this district things like SEL things like the asset development so this this is not meant to be all-inclusive or highlight just one portion because there are so many things that our district has been involved in in doing and really a leader in that regard but with respect to the classroom again is dr. Siri mentioned we we've not been provided with a curriculum we're very lucky and and you've heard updates before regarding our curriculum development processes at the heart

104of that our our teachers who deliver our programs in partnership with our district administrators in this case mr. moochick ah there is a real effort to share best practices to reflect on current curriculum to look at what a action schools staff and teachers are taking to address in this case mental health and overall health and well-being of students part of what we do on a regular basis under this umbrella is also to identify any need areas or areas for further emphasis and also really look to developing or securing necessary resources to supporting instruction and certainly as you know with our robust professional development program it is also about providing any professional development opportunities or training to staff we actually have as one of these efforts for at the elementary school level for example and we'll

105talk about middle and high school in a few moments we are bringing together teachers and other staff members to have this kind of opportunity with mr. musica to talk about what they're doing at their schools to talk about what they're doing in their classrooms to look at our current curriculum for health to look at these new mental health components although not entirely new ensuring that our current efforts and any future efforts that we take are doing everything we know to do to support the overall wellness of our students we're very excited about it I've already gotten several teachers I was sharing with Chris earlier to email us and say how excited they are to be part of these efforts and we're really looking forward to this as I mentioned best practice sharing opportunity because I

106do think it highlights what's already occurring but we have to be forward-thinking as well if there are opportunities for looking at things that perhaps need some refinement or enhancement of any kind it's really also partnering with these professionals to have that discussion and really look at how we take our our next stop by steps it really does require in this regard as far as the mental health is concerned and we're reminded of this by the quote from the World Health Organization is really ensuring again that all of this although not entirely new as I mentioned it's really a shift in mindset that we embrace and have embraced and will continue to embrace and a very comprehensive manner that mental health is integral to overall health of not just students but everyone in our school community

107this is really a direct effort to make sure that our instructional program also includes these elements and that we are attending to this through any direct instruction that needs to take place so I do think it's a very very positive opportunity for us now and moving forward as part of overall health and wellness mental health includes the following items that you see on the slide before you but it's important to also recognize that a fuller definition of mental health also takes into consideration aces which are for those of you that are not familiar with that acronym adverse childhood experiences because of the significant impact upon individuals health not just children but adults as well so it's important that as we're doing this work we fold into consideration that concept and look at trauma-informed care moving

108forward we've done some work already in the district but we need to do more in that area it's important that when you think about mental health in the educational setting we're supporting our children and our youth in the development of positive routines and practices physical activity exercise and play good nutrition proper sleep habits stress management skills caring relationships that we Institute efforts targeted efforts to reduce the stigma around mental health that we foster warm and caring relationships we talk about that all the time but we have to take action in order to foster those promote positive school climate and culture support the development of social-emotional skills and help seeking behaviors provide support to students with concerns about mental health of thirst of themselves of their friends or of their family members adopt the use of

109an interdisciplinary partnership with an approach to accessing community resources partnerships with members with resources and agencies in our community and develop support for school staff for their own mental health and wellness so we would just like to highlight for you and you have this and more comprehensive nature on your slides what's reflected in the New York State framework for mental health education instruction and again you'll hear some themes and topics repeated that we've already mentioned but things like self management developing self awareness that's essential for mental health and I mentioned the self-care it's also about resiliency talking about one's feelings the relationship piece that's already been addressed one whole section focus is on resource management really the intent here is to again remove a stigma about asking for help where do you go for help

110who's available to help you if you need help and again it's advocating for self and advocating for others so there's a real component here of caretaking for for other people and that relationship piece again there's a whole section on physical education and what a quality physical education program includes again this is not an exhaustive list but things such as stress management self-confidence in self esteem independence self-control healthy eating habits in proper nutrition again you've heard many of these things I'm throughout the years as related to our overall health program as well and you know one of the items again that that we're very proud of and and certainly moving forward one of the things that we want to talk more about is our social-emotional learning so I'll pass that back over to Anna social-emotional learning

111as you know as you recall involves the development of five core competencies and those core competencies are self-awareness self-management social awareness relationship skills and responsible decision-making so it's important that we provide explicit instruction in those areas for our students we have been working as a district to provide professional development opportunities around these core competencies we've trained a number of staff in the through the use of resolving conflict creatively program mindfulness has also been a companion complement to social-emotional learning it is a tool to enhance social-emotional learning skills so mindful awareness practices which we've been we actually did an assessment to see how individuals in our district have been trained and it's well over three hundred now with regard to that to the IRP program we are well ahead we had a recent training with our

112consultant I think it was a week ago now and she indicated to our steering team that we are well ahead many many districts and she travels across the country so thank you for your support of our work in that area why is SEL so important you'll recall this from prior presentations that leaf we have given its results and improved student attitudes regarding self others and with regard to school it increases positive classroom behaviors and there also some research that indicates a person 11 percentile gain on standardized assessment standardized achievement tests there's in addition reduced risk for conduct problems and emotional distress and long-term there's a long-term impact of social emotional learning skills increased high school graduation rates increased college attendance increased employment rates increased emotional and mental health and decreases in criminal activity and drug

113involvement so what do we do currently here's a little snapshot of our our middle school and things that we do we have the health triangle the physical mental and social health of the student stress management ways to cope with stress self-esteem body image and depression we also cover eating disorders and we address and dispel to mrs. Anna said and the stigma surrounding mental health moving to the high school a snapshot for you of the high school we talk about relationships we talk about mental disorders the symptoms and the characteristics depression suicide prevention you'll see the life lines curriculum in parenthesis there it's a comprehensive suicide awareness and responsiveness program for teens and again at the high school we still are addressing the myths surrounding the mental health topics moving forward and increased emphasis on the

114fountain I'm not going to insult your intelligence by reading but you can see connections to others how do we get students to connect and Anna mentioned before having the students connect whether it's through music through clubs through the arts through athletics maybe it's through a peer group that's in the cafeteria what brings them to school what makes school a positive experience for them what gives them a connection to their school environment and just seeing the the homecoming week that we have it south and east this week going on it's it's really you see the whole school come together kids have a purpose they're wearing their different shirts for their class it's really neat to see so there's so many things woven into what we already do but yes we can get better and we do

115have a good framework for the middle school and the high school but we're going to get better we have groups work groups facilitating getting together so we will get better at this as we go I'm actually I'm gonna do a little bit on this slide if you don't mind I wanted to share a couple of other things with you the greatest impact the impact is greatest when all staff is involved in mental health promotion as it relates to every aspect of school it relates to the culture the policies the curricula and the activities that we have for our students the goal really is to be thinking about the articulation of a curriculum that actively engages students and builds social-emotional skills not only in health and family and community and consumer sciences but in an integrated

116way across multiple content areas the importance of SEL can not be understated you're familiar with Daniel Goleman's work in terms of emotional intelligence defines that as the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others for motivating ourselves for managing emotions in ourselves as well as managing our relationships so an important study conducted by Spencer and Spencer of 286 different jobs at dozens of organizations across the world found 21 competencies that distinguished star employees from average performers 18 of those based on emotion emotional intelligence so don't ever underestimate the power of that work and the importance of that work what schools can do now promote positive mental health for all staff and students educate and support the school community on a wide variety of approaches that are culturally sensitive to support mental health increase

117the skills of students staff parents and school community to recognize the signs of mental health conditions or challenges decrease the stigma related to talking about mental health we need to encourage people to feel comfortable to reach out for support and to access that support when needed we don't have those issues with any other area of meeting support why do we have them with mental health decreased support to staff or excuse me provide support to staff through trainings including ways to recognize students when they're experiencing mental health challenges trauma-informed care suicide safety in schools training we have in this district through the support of the administration and the teachers and our staff we are going to provide suicide safety in schools training for all of our faculty for thank you to Tom for our transportation department

118we're working on our food service and nutrition as well as facilities in March we're hoping to provide the same to our all of our support staff that's important training for everyone in this district to have we're linking students it's important to link students and families to the wide range of available supports not only within the school but in the broader community provide guidance and resources to parents and guardians on how to talk to their children about mental health provide support to students living with mental health challenges their peers their parents and their caregivers so it's important for us to think about the whole school the whole community the whole child and you'll find that throughout this document this model includes 10 components emphasizes as dr. Valen mentioned a school-wide approach and acknowledges that learning health

119and the school as being a part and reflection of the local community so really talks about community partnerships and what are the advantages of community partnerships well many partnerships community members can provide staff development they can be involved in invited into our schools for parent education opportunities for student education opportunities to participate in mental health awareness events organized by our community partners so you many of you are familiar with the fact that we hold our wellness fairs and we invite community members into our schools to provide information to our students in our family's strong school community partnerships reduce the stigmatizing attitudes around mental health they facilitate help for students in a timely manner and they send messages to families that we're all here to support you many years ago when we hosted a reach out

120presentation to families we partnered with two other school districts one of the first things we did it was a very important thing though to do as a group we reached out to local resources to say if we were going to refer a family or a student to you are you able to receive them are you able to provide them with support and services in a timely manner we met with many of the agency local agency representatives one on one to talk with them about what services they have available the relationship between school climate and well-being I don't have to rehash this I do wish for you to know as you already do how many of the things that are happening across all of our schools and in all of our buildings we spoke about asset

121development we have sources of strength suicide safety for schools the challenge to change is occurring in November again as a partnership with local school districts anti-bias education safe and civil schools were disproportionality restorative practices were a myriad of school clubs intramurals and athletics service-learning projects and we could go on and on two important themes emerged when the Advisory Council was doing this work related to school climate and the work of the New York State Safe Schools task force and you probably are all familiar with the fact that they felt that the promotion and measurement of a school at positive school climate and culture rather than a focus exclusively on measuring school violence was the direction to go in and that is the direction the the state is moving in school frameworks for support for supporting

122mental health well-being it's important that interconnected systems that you have an interconnected systems framework and we spoke a little bit about that positive behavioral interventions and supports you're all familiar with PBIS restorative justice and restorative practices is another key component to this work we already mentioned trauma sensitive schools and multi-tiered system of support and the last thing before we conclude and give credit to where we obtained some of our information for our slides this evening I just wanted to share something with you that I hope you will all be proud about as a school board last week I received an email from two colleagues actually sent at separate times who were in attendance at the New York State suicide prevention conference they were doing there was a report that was being presented by the governor's

123Task Force they were highlighting best practices in the state and our school district was highlighted so there is a slide that has identified Williamsville school district as an exemplar in providing information with regard to suicide prevention and supports etc and so thank you for your support of our work in the district thank you questions I had to briefly for you one we saw middle school and high school examples can you discuss a little bit more of what we're doing at the elementary school - I guess - to make sure that no student is kind of left alone or actually the the first mention I made of the folks coming together and the partnership with mr. moochick he actually was the heart of our elementary approach at middle in high school the difference you have there

124is you have health instruction in a dedicated way with within a class that's not the case of course with elementary it's a common branch approach so most of our teachers are teaching everything so we do rely upon them as we have for many years to infuse health education and in this case also mental health education literacy into the curriculum it is time it's actually overdue time to bring some of these folks back together and that's where we hope to have these must practice opportunities reflection on what is happening in the schools in their classrooms across all grade levels K through 4 this will include classroom teachers we've actually had gifted programming specialists and and others who are teachers who support instruction out of the classroom also expressed an interest in being part of this work

125but they will partner with mr. miacca much like we do our curriculum development is we ask teachers to dedicate their time and in this case we're starting with three sessions they've all been scheduled already they're after school over the next couple of months this group will come together they will talk about current implementation in their respective settings and also any needs that they see so part of their task is also to identify any gap areas or needn't areas focus areas if you will and also any resources hopefully everybody's aware of all of the resources we currently have so we want to make sure first and foremost that we do a review of everything we have at our disposal we have shared folders and other system setup and teachers are also doing things on their own

126and implementing in their own way so IANA want to honor that as well so hearing from each other bringing all these things together and then also looking at as far as next steps are concerned where do we go from here what other areas do we need to further emphasize you see there's several areas that we need to really focus upon and discuss with them how they're implementing some of these especially the newly identified areas at the elementary level and of course like anything else make sure it's age-appropriate and something that's meaningful for the students as well as families my second question was and thank you do we have plans to roll out anything into wits or anything like that for parents or students to get more information or to look for the signs that sort

127of stuff don't know that we have any immediate plans other than what the districts are the building's currently share for families through newsletters etc we do have on our website as you know some information with regard to wellness we do have links to other areas that could be something that moving forward they do embrace and put some elements resource elements there are a number of resources that are in the guidance document that I would encourage the district to consider and look at because there are good there are good resources there mr. LeMay that could be shared and posted yeah I asked that because I know you know when students get into a crisis or something like that they're you know typically they're not picking up the phone they're on their cell phone doing something looking

128for something so if we have a document I'm thinking and whit's or something like that that tells them at 1:00 in the morning you know this is what to do just an idea thank you guys very much any other questions yes mrs. leather peril physical education curriculum is yoga anywhere [Music] Yoga is a lifelong skill so we are incorporating that yes so I know that a two of the three high schools currently we are going to do yoga so it's looking we're looking to make it a universal three high school and for middle school approach in phys ed yes that's fantastic and I just wanted to add that I understand that obviously that New York State came out with this requirement but when I reflect on how much we do as a district we could

129have schooled New York State because the work that we do here with the developmental assets that's been going on well well before I showed up at this table it's really outstanding and there was one particular slide that mentioned how mental helm has is sort of the building block for all academic and student success and if every school district would just get that it's so crucial it's so crucial and I think that's important for us to remember as a board especially as when we get into budgets it's really easy to say I wanna this you know money for this program this program this program if we don't have the mental health support staff in place the teaching Logan where you can't do the blooms until you do the mouth loves and that's so important you need

130that so thank you thank you again dr. Marcel would you like to report on the status of high middle and mill middle pools yes there was some discussion at a previous board meeting about the potential regarding closing a couple pools in the district at both high middle school and Mill middle school so we gathered some information and held some meetings with folks at both of those schools and provided the information here in this report to the board given the fact that even though the information indicates we don't use the pools as much as we could or perhaps even should it is not our intention at our meeting next week when we put forward our capital project presentation to ask the board for permission to close the high middle and middle school pools any questions comments

131on that yes so based on this we do see and it's already been presented that you know the first thing that comes to mind is cost-effective and we see that they're not very cost effective to keep all of the pools open by the report of the two committees that met it looks like this space could be better utilized there's other school districts that did fill in pools and used it for an extra PE space which I think is also very beneficial do you see then that potentially this might be brought up again as even the second set of eyes is a whole other issue having the lifeguard available we have so many pools knowing it is very important that students know how to swim I'm wondering if we are going to continue discussion with other

132options that may be if these two pools do close maybe there's a way that they can still visit another district pool within the year to still get the swim unit is it will this be brought back up I'm sure it will be a continued topic of conversation at Mill and hime perhaps at some other schools in the district the other option at some point in time might be to build an editorial facility with an Olympic sized pool that provides plenty of space for multiple schools that wants to use the pool our community to use the pool and things of that nature so there's a lot of different aspects to it I also think we need to figure out what the best use of the space is if we're going to fill in the pool should

133it be physical education space should it be music space should it be health science social studies what kind of space do we want to put there and there's a lot of competing interest in each building that we need to address in order to successfully do that welcome mr. Mecca thanks I enjoyed reading the report but more so I think the process was interesting to see that you involved state stakeholders at the various schools to contribute their viewpoints so that we as board members and you as administrators could see what the general feeling is at this time about the use of those pools I'm especially interested in that because my bias is that I support the idea of having swimming pools in the schools so it kind of you know brings me in touch with another

134point of view on the issue and you know if we go somewhere in the future with it you know at least we have that information so thanks for that thank you I personally I noticed that Mill middle gets a lot of extracurricular activity from community in the town of Amherst I don't know if there's a opportunity to exploit that more for hime or something like that I'm sure the revenue that it's brought in by those doesn't substantiate the operation of those I'm sorry which one are you looking at mr. Hill okay well usage where we see they've got scuba diving kayaking canoeing family swim recreational staff training that sort of stuff yeah and and sadly at home we saw that the PTSA had one event there mm-hmm I wasn't sure if there's anything we can

135do to to promote that more and again I don't know how much that revenue that that actually brings in but it was good to see that at least it's getting some use town of Amherst doesn't bring in any revenue because we have a joint facility sharing project with them where we use each other's facilities for free there is probably some revenue from community ed from people paying fees but not from the town gotcha thank you mr. Mecca go ahead just you know I like the idea that you brought up about the possible I'm not I'm not sure I know how to say the word pool structure shared pool structure natatorium or something like that right along with that I think there's so much opportunity in that with the feeling that people want to learn how

136to swim I took my daughter to a community education class here on district property learning how to swim and it was readily apparent that the facility isn't well suited for that endeavor the pools that like a Michael Phelps Swim School for example are better designed for something like that because it's mostly shallow and in terms of the pool so we you know if we do look at something like that in the future we could actually custom build something that would suit the community's needs you know that we see presently and and our desire for showing children how to learn teaching children to swim swim effectively so I just wanted to bring that point out thank you would someone like to make a motion to take from the table the district leads Gold Council motion from

137earlier this evening please mrs. leather borough is there a second this is vansice on favor motion carries unanimously now that the emotion is back on the table is there any discussion regarding the motion that's in your packet for legal counsel that being said put it to vote all in favor all opposed abstentions okay motion carries uh so we got six zero one I have that right yeah I do my math right seven eight nine yes six zero one John yes mr. LeMay um four since we have most of the board here now would you consider bringing back the minutes to ever approval yes I can we informally voted and we probably should not have thank you this was for approving the minutes from the August 7th meeting technically and mr. Meyer you have to abstain

138I'm sorry I'd like to bring a backdoor vote and mrs. leather Barrow also I'm mrs. leather bear oh okay yep just just for the record you're not required to abstain it's just common practice to abstain if you're not at the previous meeting and thank you and I'm going to follow that practice okay but earlier it was just just the five of us and I figured why not pass your minutes so we're just bringing back up the August seventh minutes for reproval I believe we already had a first and a second on the motion so it's just coming back up correct you want to restate I don't know who made those motions okay thank you was there any discussion on those minutes then now that we have the quorum here present no put them back up

139all in favor abstention opposed abstentions all right 5:02 on that one thank you thank you put it in the record to correct that there is nothing under personnel tonight facilities Improvement Plan dr. Mike Slav yeah we've completed a great deal of work over the summer leading up to the new school year and happy to answer any questions the board might have regarding each of our school sites questions on even Labor Day weekend I live right around from behind campus and they're out there paving the stripes and just all those finishing touches and just means so much and when you start off the school year and everything's all sparkly it's like a book thank you would someone like to make a motion to approve the Amherst youth basketball lease agreement as presented mr. Mecca second mrs.

140vansice any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously yes could I just could I just request that we make sure that we get a copy of the schedule or the youth basketball when they're planning on using it federal changes throughout the week during the whole winter okay I don't know what you'd even do with it if you got it okay I'm guessing it's on the amp vs. website it's good changes it changes all the time I think a way to know when there's a game so that we can show off for you and and double-check the day before if it really does usually for example Saturday mornings at Haim middle school transit middle school sometimes South High School is where they tend to have their games sometimes on Sundays and occasionally during the week in

141the evening you want to go to a game yes because we had talked when we were talking about how successful it was last year yeah I did not go to a game cuz any that I heard of we're kind of at the same time I had something else and I really had wanted to go so I thought well maybe if I knew ahead of time I could put it on my schedule but it sounds like it's not going to matter sure perfect thank you yeah what someone like to make a motion to approve the Chinese Club of Western New York BCS lease agreement as presented mrs. beaker second mr. Meyer any discussion this is leather barrel this is an example of where community forum really benefited because they they came to the forum disgusts wanting

142to be able to use the facility isn't it initiated discussion for the lease okay correct any other questions comments yeah okay all in favor motion carries unanimously someone like to make a motion to approve the appointments for the annual appointments as presented mrs. beaker or second mrs. vansice any discussion all in favor motion carries Canyon animus Lee would someone like to make a motion to extend the appointment of the upk consultant that has presented this is bigger second mrs. vansice any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously does anyone have any requests to or matter to discuss them to the committee of the whole did we actually vote under Finance C for to approve school district legal counsel to we'd I know we stopped them to go back I just want to make sure okay

143it's 5:02 o for the league six zero one thank you for the correction mr. Mayer abstained okay state that's why we tabled it previously yes I'm an obscene on the record we will change your vote to five zero that's what I thought yeah Holm I had a question your vote five zero to two abstentions mr. Mayer and mrs. vansice correct got it thank you committee of the whole mrs. vansice so I would just like to bring up two things that I know that I believe the rest of the board is aware of and the district and it's not looking at revising board policy but just continued discussion that I would like to bring up for two items one is in regards to open enrollment just potentially discussing extending that submission date for family requests just

144moving it back to a later date we've seen that it's caused some stress because it's a little early so perhaps we can visit moving that date back to allow families a little bit more time to request open enrollment and then the other one is just really looking at our current requirement for driver's add I did do some research knowing that the state does require 24 hours of classroom seat time in 24 hours lab which is considered behind the wheel I did look at four different school districts Orchard Park Clarence sweet home and star point each district does different things some allow absences some actually just require the 24 and 24 however if they miss a session they can make it up some charge a fee to make up some don't so just continue discussion I

145think looking at Williams VLEs driver education requirements in regards to maybe potentially you know maybe extending that a little further than where we're at right now I'll ask dr. McKenna to work with mrs. Moretz - okay changing our policy excuse me to have two days be allowed to be made up each summer if a student misses classroom or lab time for the driver education issue when it comes to the date for open enrollment we've had a number of conversations with our principals and I think the general sense is June first would be a date to push it back - so if the board is okay with that dr. Sarah will go ahead and make the change in the regulation - until June 1st each year and we can go ahead and do that tomorrow I

146currently open enrollment is February 1st correct that's correct okay so I would just like to say I absolutely appreciate that I think that's that's wonderful that's part of our job we've heard different things and just trying to work within a district to be that accommodating and already have that action plan for both those items that's awesome so thank you we've been waiting for dr. Sarah to do the but no that's action thank you any other correspondences to discuss missus bigger I'm just curious of a little bit of an update from the district regarding foreign language we had a wonderful presentation a few months back and I know the idea of adding foreign language particularly Mandarin has come up at our community forum so I'm just curious for a status update as to where our district

147is in what the process looks like for that whether or not foreign language can just be added or if there's a process moving us in that direction and based on some of the survey results and the interest we've seen dr. Bailey you want to inform the board what we've been discussing yes absolutely thank you dr. Mertz laughs so we have several things that as a follow up to the information the board received we are continuing to collect some research and do some of the benchmarking that we had mentioned in our prior presentation in addition and actually tonight was our first meeting we have a work group of members of our school community our teachers are represented there and some of us from district office and we are looking at this through the work group format

148as well what our goal is and this was something that dr. Birkhoff and I had talked about in response to what our next steps would be relative to what we shared with the board is we're gonna conclude with some recommendations coming from the worker but we also as you know have our survey that we had from our parents and community we have recently just surveyed teachers and we are planning to survey students so we have several different layers of information that we're going to breathe be bringing you know that will inform some potential next steps and recommendations that we're hoping to get that to you around December after all these activities have concluded thanks I'm glad to hear those bills are in motion thank you very welcome thank you will you share the results of

149those two surveys when you get those with the board please yes thank you any other correspondences i'm sorry any other committee of the whole I think that's none of the committee of the whole yep okay are there any correspondences board members would like to share yep okay we will now conduct our second public expression with the same rules as outlined in our first public expression anyone wishing to address the board should go to the podium and please sign in at this time our next board meeting will be held on Tuesday October the 23rd at 7 p.m. here in the district office would someone like to make a motion to adjourn the regular board meeting this evening mrs. Baker thank you is there a second mrs. leather barrel all in favor opposed abstentions motion carries unanimously