May 27, 2025 - Board of Education Meeting

001I call the regular board meeting to order. All board members except for Mr. Bulan are present. Dr. Singh, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music] May I have a motion to adjourn into executive session to discuss collective negotiations, employment matters relating to particular persons, and the superintendent's endofear evaluation. Dr. Spicer, second, Dr. Singh. All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. [Music] Mics are on. We got 16 more. My brother. May I have a motion to return the regular board meeting to public session? Miss Buckinger, Mr. Mana. All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. As we return to public session, all board members

002are present. Vice President Puland. Yes. I move the adoption of the following resolution. resolved that the board of education of the Williamsville Central School District upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools hereby approves the separation agreement and general release discussed during the immediately preceding executive session including the resignation of the identified staff to become effective as of June 1st 2025. So we have a motion by Vice President Puland second Mr. Mana. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Good evening and welcome to all in attendance. Please be advised that in the event of a fire and emergency and an evacuation should be necessary, an alarm will sound. Please note all marked emergency exits and evacuate well away from the building. At this time, we request that everyone turn their cell phones and other

003electronic devices to silent. Thank you. Dr. Brown Hall, I turn it over to you for item number three, recognition. Thank you very much, board president. So, first tonight we have board members who have received the New York State School Board's Association Special Designation for Board Excellence. These recognitions range from level one to level four. And we'd like to first acknowledge our parliamentarian, Miss Binger, who received the board achievement award. Congratulations. Oh, great. Thank you. [Applause] And when Nick gets back, we'll do pictures. Okay. Are you going to do pictures, Dave, or wait? Okay, then we'll we'll announce everyone. And our vice president, uh, Moren Puland received the board of excellence award. So, this is phenomenal. These are nice children. [Applause] Last but not least, our board president received the board mastery award. And so with

004that, you receive also one complimentary training. So congratulations to our board president, Crystal Casmmer. I said it right. [Applause] First two, please We'll continue. Learning and leading are two fundamental principles we hold dear in our mission statement throughout the course of the school year. We see these in action often. Earlier this month, the Williamsville South flag football team visited Forest and Maple West elementary schools to read to students and answer questions about flag football and their educational journey. These moments last with our students for a lifetime. I'd now like to welcome Windsville South principal Keith Borman to share more on this powerful initiative. Hello. Thank you for uh having us here. And normally we would have uh representatives from the team and maybe the coach here. Uh but they are fortunate enough to still be

005playing right now. So they were actually at practice a little while ago. Uh they were doing a team dinner and tomorrow night they have uh they have a game. So I told them I said you guys can you guys can focus on that. That's that's fine. Um, I think one of the things that uh we try very hard uh at South and within our feeder pattern is to uh kind of make a big district small and uh we try to connect ourselves as much as possible. Um, and in the past we've done a lot of different events. We we we sometimes incorporate our sports teams. Uh, and football has always been one uh where we've done it in the in the fall uh we have the football uh players go down and read. And so

006when the girls came up and kind of asked, hey, you know, well well why aren't we reading? I'm like, I don't I don't know. I said, there's no reason you're not. Um, other than the fact that nobody asked. So, uh, Mr. Wing, uh, sent me an email. Mr. Wing, the coach, sent me an email and said, you know, we want them to come down. Um, I think that the best part, uh, we had a chance, the administrators had a chance to, uh, see them off, and you could see that they were really excited. But the best part is watching the students when they come back. Um, there is no doubt in my mind, you know, I know that the elementary kids enjoy it. They don't enjoy it nearly as much as our high school kids

007uh, do. and the chance for a lot of them to go back to the school that they went to uh and read is is an absolutely phenomenal opportunity for them. Uh they were buzzing the rest of the day. You could just see how excited they were to be around those kids. Uh so it's certainly something uh you know our thanks certainly to our students and to Forest and Maple West who allowed our kids to go down there and have that opportunity. Awesome. Thank you very much, Principal Boardman. We have a video too. Right there we go. [Music] Lion, lion, what do you hear? I hear hippopotamus snorting in my ear. The Williamsville South flag football team every year we like to read to the kids. Elementary school is like one of the most I feel

008fundamental parts of school and you learn so many lessons through books and stories and it's just really nice as a team to come back and give lessons to little kids and just take that time out of our day. Look who's coming. It's Black Eyed PRS and Loose Tooth Teaple West was my elementary school. I loved it here. We were so excited to do this and we were thinking about it all week and when it came to this morning, we were all just so excited to come read to the kids. I loved it. The kids were awesome. Um, the connections we made with them, they were just so excited and you know, they're just happy to see you there and you're happy to read to them and it's just all smiles all around. It's just great.

009This is my favorite book. That's why I picked it. It's crazy. It's surreal because like seven years ago, I was walking through this hallway as a student. Now I'm like, "Wow." Like I'm in high school. I'm going to be a senior next year. It's kind of like a blast of the past coming back here and it's awesome to be back. Going into Mrs. Spiegel's class was like a full circle moment. I can remember when I was younger sitting on the carpet and having her read to me. And now that I'm sitting and I'm reading to her class, I was just like, "This is so nice." And she is just as sweet as I remember her being. Just overjoyous, smiling is just really nice. A big bug bit the beetle. Can you guys say that? Big

010bug bit the beetle. Look, you got it. Lyra was in my very first kindergarten class at Forest Elementary School. I distinctly remember her because she's cheerful, wonderful, amazing, and inspiring girl, even at 5. And now I get the privilege of having her come back and read to my kindergarten class. And it's a very powerful and wonderful moment because I know that teachers do have an impact on the students that they teach. And it's just seeing what they become. Some things take days, months, or years to get right. But if you keep leaping, dreaming, learning, trying, you'll do all the things you can't do today. Lyra is going to do nothing but good things in this world. And the same I can say for looking at the roster of those girls on that team. And I

011think we're just so lucky to be in a district track where our younger students see what they could become. We have such a beautiful community and amazing opportunities that we get to come back and we can see our teachers and see all these students and they can see us and be like, "Oh, I can get there because if they went here and they were a student, then I can get there and be just like them." That's awesome. Thank you very much. Next, we have a truly special recognition. We are proud to have professionals who are dedicated to ensuring our faculty and staff have the tools and skills to meet the needs of all of our learners. In our district, we pride ourselves on being lifelong learners. Linda Rule, the district's director of professional learning, embodies

012what this means on a daily basis. This year she was recognized by her colleagues as the school administrators association of New York State Region 12 director of the year. It is a well-deserved honor and award, a testament to her 14 years of professionalism, leadership, and mentorship in our district. At the end of this year, Linda is also retiring. Tonight, we wanted to take the opportunity to show our thanks and gratitude to Linda through the voices of those she has made an impact on. Let's take a look. I would describe Linda as a dedicated professional who has a passion for education. She has endless amounts of energy. She is knowledgeable in everything that she does and she really inspires people to do their best each and every day. I would describe Linda as knowledgeable, passionate, and

013intentional. Um, all the work that she does, she's put so much research and time into um, gathering information to be able to share out with us. And you can truly see her heart in all that she does. Linda is kind, she's supportive, and most of all, she's inclusive. She creates spaces where people feel like they're truly a part of the community. They feel valued and motivated to contribute to the community that she has set forth. She is one of the smartest people I know. She's so funny, charismatic, and truly cares about creating a culture where all students and staff feel respected and valued. Linda is the the guiding light in our department of a veteran leader who never gets too high, never gets too low, always looked for uh ways to have a positive outcome,

014whether it be something simple or a complex issue that took weeks and months to to resolve. Uh, Linda's always been that that role model that everyone really looked up to. Patience. The most important thing I've learned from Linda is patience and grace. And there's days that uh this job is very challenging and we're dealing with hundreds of people simultaneously. But she has a way of giving her full attention to the person she's working with. And that's something I always aspire to do in my work. The most important value I have learned from Linda is to be true to oneself, to show compassion when needed and to always um stay committed to what you are doing no matter what. The most important thing I learned from Linda is something that she says all the time that

015I love is that she says when we know better, we do better. And I think that's so true and I think that that just is Linda to a tea and she's always looking to gain new knowledge and that's what she's taught me over the last year. Linda has taught me so many things, but the most valuable lesson she has taught me is the importance of community and ensuring that all students and staff feel respected, valued, and truly accepted. She has taught me to stay true to who I am. She has taught me to be a teacher of integrity and compassion and always be part of a community that is welcoming and loving. Linda has impacted my professional learning and career because the way she teaches and models the practices that she's sharing with the staff

016through professional development um is the same way she would want us to implement it in the classroom. And to be able to see the those exact methods and ways have really shown that it's doable and you can put it right into practice the next day. She embodies a growth mindset. I mean, in everything she does, she faces that challenge head on. And that growth mindset has really allowed Linda to be a positive face within our department, within the district as she works with teachers, administrators, and others each and every day. Linda impacts my professional learning career almost by the minute. Uh she's available to me at any minute that I walk over to her office and is always willing to set aside anything she's working on to support me. and help me out. And I

017know she does that with others as well. And it's just truly remarkable and and something that I try to emulate in my practice as well. An impact on my career is immeasurable. From a professional standpoint, Linda's provided so many resources for me and the team to just work with teachers, get better, provided me with resources from the PD world, uh, that I never knew existed, whether it be a a guest speaker for a meeting or just working in community circles. My message to Linda is to enjoy your retirement. Um, you've put so much time and effort into all the work you've done here in Williamsville. um beyond professionally, you've put um your heart into the people you work with. Thank you for all of your guidance and leadership over the last year. I wish you

018all the best and look forward to continue collaborating with you in the future. My message to you, Linda, is to enjoy every minute. Enjoy your family. Enjoy Bethany Beach. Enjoy Disney. Enjoy all the vacations and trips you're going to take. Enjoy the adventures of your grandchildren. My message to Linda is to please enjoy retirement and to not worry about us. Um, we know that she'll always be here. The community that she's made for us will live on. Linda, you're going to be missed. You can't be replaced, but I know I'll see you again next year. My heartfelt message to Linda is one of immense gratitude. Thank you for being an extraordinary colleague and a cherished friend. Your mentorship has enriched my life in countless ways. Your lesson memories and smile will stay with me forever.

019what you have done and the foundation that you have built within your time in Williamsville and as an educator uh will live on for many years to come. Congratulations. Join me in congratulating Linda Rouue. [Applause] Well, that was unexpected. I promised Karen I wasn't going to cry, but I didn't know that was going to come first. So, I don't know that I'm going to keep I'm not going to cry. Good evening. Thank you to the board of ed and to the leadership team for this recognition. Is certainly an honor for my friend and colleague Karen Greco to have nominated me for the ses leadership award and equally to have been selected by the sees region 12 awards committee to receive the director of the year award. But it is also a great honor for me

020to have the Williamsville School District recognize this accomplishment and honor me honor me this evening. In my acceptance speech at the SE awards dinner, I spoke about the role of community in my career. The ways in which I've contributed to the various educational communities that I've enjoyed membership in and also the ways that those communities have supported me in my work and therefore share in any success that I've experienced. So for 14 years, now I'm cutting to the end of that speech. That was much longer than this is. For 14 years, I've had the privilege of membership in a number of Williamsville communities. I've been a member of the Williamsville district community broadly, as well as a number of Williamsville district committees led by Dr. Brown Hall. More specifically, I'm a member of the instructional

021team, a community of dedicated serviceoriented district educators and leaders led by Dr. Balen. Through this community, I've enjoyed the additional benefits and responsibilities of membership in the Williamsville Director's Association. And while I'm not a formal member of their specific communities, I've had the privilege of working in community with our principal groups, our assistant principal groups, their faculties, the WTA, various induction cohorts of teachers new to the district, my community of teacher mentors, the PTA, and others. To each of these Williamsville communities, I brought my commitment to their important work and in turn, I've been well supported by them. I treasure my Williamsville colleagues as work partners and as thought partners and I acknowledge and appreciate the role that they've played in my career. The morning before my awards dinner, I was reading a New York

022Times article called Belonging. No, Believing and Belonging, written by Lauren Jackson, and I stopped when I got to the words, "People need to be in strong communities to flourish." Needless to say, those words spoke my mind. People do need to live in strong communities to flourish. and I'm here tonight due to my membership in many strong communities throughout my career, but most recently and most importantly, the Williamsville School community. I thank you. Thank you, Linda. [Applause] I don't like I turn it back over to you, board president. Thank you. Are there any board acknowledgements this evening? Mr. Bulan. Yes. I had the honor and privilege of attending the unified assembly basketball game. Absolutely. Friday at North. Dr. Brown Hall was there. I have to say I've been involved with Unified for seven years. That that

023program has just taken off in the district and I say this to you all the time. It is the absolute best thing that we one of the best things I should say that that we do as a district. Um that that room was electric and kids, everyone was into it. Um I can't thank the coaches enough, the faculty. Um, I do want to mention coach Sorski who coach is coaching his last game I think at the Rock tomorrow pro probably because I think their their team won today. Got it. Versus the two Williamsvilles. Um, and he's I think he's retiring from coaching after this. Wow. And I just want to say that was just so much fun to be. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Are there any other board acknowledgements? I'd like to um acknowledge

024all of our um musicians and artists that helped with the atmosphere at our election last Tuesday. Um because that that was such a good demonstration of the commitment that we have to the arts and their commitment to become proficient very proficient musicians. I'm always so impressed with what they do. Indeed. Thank you. Other board acknowledgements. Okay, seeing no other board acknowledgements, we'll move on. We would be on item number four, public expression. It is my understanding that no one signed up in advance of the meeting of the meeting. So, we will move on to items 5 A through H. And I turn it back over to you, Dr. Brown. 5 A through H. That sounds like a lot because it is absolutely. So first we are going to welcome Caroline Tagert from VIA evaluation. So

025earlier this school year we were discussing both our strategic plan and our DEI plan and the question came up how much does our community know about each plan and the progress we're making on each plan. So we asked via evaluation to survey our school community on our communications plan, our strategic plan, and our DEI plan so we know where we need to put additional emphasis to really bring our stakeholders in our school community additional awareness to these plans. Caroline, thank you for being here tonight and I'll turn it over to you. Great. Thank you very much. My name is Caroline Tagert. I'm with VIA Evaluation. I was here last May speaking to you about the staff survey results. Can you bring the microphone a little bit closer? Yeah, sure. Thank you. And this year I'm

026going to talk about the three parent family surveys that we conducted. So, uh, this there are three surveys. It's a lot to talk about. We're going to keep it short and sweet. So, I'm going to present a lot of information as quickly as possible. Uh, you do have the full reports and there are responses to open-ended questions and I encourage everyone to take a look at those because those are interesting as well. So, um, real quickly, we had the timeline. December and January, we developed the surveys. I'll talk a little bit more about this in a second. In February, we selected and notified families. And in March, we administered the surveys over a course of two weeks. The purpose, as Dr. Brown Hall said, was really to try to gauge more understanding of where the

027awareness was around these, particularly the strategic plan and the diversity, equity, and inclusion plan. We also had the district communication survey that was modified from the previous internally designed communication survey that the district had administered in prior years. We wanted to understand how well families felt the district was communicating and how timely that was and also what kinds of tools they were using to interact and engage with the district's information. We put together about 34 questions for the district communication survey. Uh that was shorter than in prior years. When we got to the strategic plan and the diversity, equity, and inclusion plan surveys, there were a total of 11 questions. And those two surveys mirror mirrored each other. They were almost exactly the same. The difference of course being that one was asking about strategic

028plan. The other was asking about diversity, equity, and inclusion plan. We did not want to send three surveys to every single family in the entire district. So instead, we identified the heads of household. Uh we got about 6,100 email addresses and we selected three groups at random from that list. They uh each group was about 20% of the total population. So 60% of families or heads of household received a link to a survey, one of the three surveys. In uh March, Dr. Brown Hall's office sent out a notification to all of the heads of household letting them know about the survey in the survey process and saying, "You may be randomly selected to complete one of these surveys and we'd invite your participation, which always helps with response rates." And uh I used an anonymous

029email collector to send out the survey that allows me to see who had completed by email address. It keeps it anonymous. can't see who said what, but I am able to send targeted reminders again to try to help encourage responses over the administration period. We're going to talk about the communication survey first. We had a 13% response rate. This is not great, but uh when we talk about family and parent surveys in school districts, it's not always easy to get a response to those. So, uh keep that in mind as I talk about these surveys. These are uh the survey results of people who did respond to district communications about district communications. When I put these bars up here, uh the the blue is good and there's a lot of blue on this screen. So,

030um over 50% of people felt the district communications and school communications keep them very informed and almost another 50% said they keep them somewhat informed. And we also see that people feel the district communications are timely. These next three slides I'm going to go through real fast and then I'll talk about them after I go through them. This is uh how are people overall getting information and what are they interacting with? Then this is a same version of the question but asking specifically about district communications and then about school communications and the headline here is that Witz is the star of the show. People are going to Witz. That's where they're getting their information. They also like going to the district and school websites and reading district and school newsletters. What they don't like as

031much is meetings. So people are not attending meetings and also kind of a surprise um not that interested in social media and viewing social media. So most of the information is going to wits going to newsletters and district websites. When people are going to the district website they tend to be going once or twice a month. Uh whereas with Witz they're going daily or weekly. We also see overwhelmingly people are looking for calendars. They want to know what's going on schedule of events. They're also looking for school news. uh when people navigate to the district website, the third option is district news and um with wits, they're looking for athletic information. This year, the district introduced an app and uh over half of people did download the app. Among those people, we asked how often

032have you used it? Uh and we did have about a third of people who said never, but twothirds of people are engaging with the district app. The final questions we wanted to know were around ease of use and uh ease of finding information. And again, there's a lot of blue on the screen for all of the tools, the district website, Witz, and the mobile app. And WITS again used most often and is easy, very easy to use for people. So, now we're jumping to the plan surveys. We had the strategic plan survey and the district diversity, equity, and inclusion plan surveys. Again, these mirrored each other, so the questions were really the same. We also saw very similar responses. I'm going to point out where there are some differences, and then you'll see those as

033I go through this. So, we had a I'm sorry, I should have said we had a slightly higher response rate on this. It was 15%. So, we found that um 72% of families said they were aware that the district had a strategic plan. That means 28% of people said they they didn't even know the district had a strategic plan. Among those who said they were aware, it was a very small percentage, a total of 11% who said that they knew what was in the strategic plan. So, we asked uh all of the people in the top two bars of this chart. So, if people said, "I didn't know the district had a strategic plan." Or if they said, "I am aware they have a strategic plan, but I have no idea what it says." We

034asked them, uh, how would you like to engage with this going forward? Like, how would you like to find out more information? And here I'm going to point out a difference between what we saw here on the strategic plan survey versus the diversity, equity, and inclusion plan survey. Twothirds of people said they'd be interested in reviewing an overview of the strategic plan. About a third said they intend to read it. And we had a really small number. 11% say they're not interested in learning more about the plan. We did probe those people and say, "Why aren't you interested in learning more?" People said a variety of different things. I'm busy. I think probably the district's doing a good job. I don't really I'm not really concerning myself with it. We did also ask people who

035said they're interested in learning more. How would you like to learn more? Uh we found that the number one overwhelming was to read a dedicated email or newsletter. And then we also saw visiting district website or looking at information on the mobile app. people are not interested in attending meetings or town hall events about this. They want that kind of information given to them so that they can look at it on their own [Music] time. So these questions only went to people who told us that they were familiar with what was in the plan. So remember that was a really small percentage. It was only 11% of our overall respondents. So um I didn't even use bar charts and percentages here. I literally put out the icons of the people. This is exactly how they

036responded. There were only 17 people who answered this first question. How satisfied are you with the current strategic plan? And then 18 on the next two questions. And you can see satisfaction is kind of mixed. It's split. Um there's not a ton of people who are very satisfied. This is another area where we'll see difference with the diversity, equity, and inclusion plan. We also asked, how much progress do you believe the district has made on the four goals of the strategic plan? And you can see at the top here, communication. People said there's a lot of progress being made on that. And then it sort of goes down from there. Notably, I'll point out that um only a couple people said, "I don't know how much progress has been made on these goals on this

037plan." This is different again from the diversity, equity, and inclusion plan, which we'll jump to. Now, we had an 18% response rate. This was our highest response rate of the three surveys. We found out that 80% of families are aware of the existence of the diversity, equity, and inclusion plan. That is higher than the awareness of the strategic plan. And interestingly, you'll notice those bottom two bars on the blue bar chart. um I'm familiar with the plan and I'm familiar with the details of the plan are almost twice as high as what we saw with the strategic plan. So people are more familiar with the contents of this plan versus the strategic plan. And then the big difference is down there in the uh the pie chart in the corner. So you'll see there if

038you remember before that orange section I don't want to learn more about the plan was only 11% with the strategic plan. With diversity, equity, and inclusion it was three and a half times that. We did ask those people why not and the vast majority of them said they don't believe that the district needs a diversity, equity, and inclusion plan. That's why they don't want to learn more. When we asked why, how would you learn more? This is exactly the same as it was with strategic plan almost. So, we're seeing a repeated pattern here. People want to get information through a dedicated newsletter or website uh and they're not really interested in attending meetings. satisfaction levels for the diversity, equity, and inclusion plan were actually um a little bit higher than the strategic plan. And what

039was a lot higher was the very satisfied category. So, we only had like one or two people who said that they were very satisfied with the strategic plan, but here it was about a quarter of the respondents. They were also very satisfied um with a quarter of people were very satisfied with the extent to which the community has been informed and the uh extent to which the community has been engaged in the process. Interestingly though, when we get to this one, we had a lot of people say, "I don't know how much progress has been made on the various goals." So, you'll know, remember I said there's like only a couple gray I don't knows in the strategic plan, but here there were a lot more people who said I don't know. Uh even though

040they indicated that they were satisfied with the progress, you also see generally speaking um people believe that there has been more progress made on the diversity, equity, and inclusion goals compared to the strategic plan goals. So key takeaways, uh, families feel very informed and are staying connected through tools that they believe are easy to use, but families are not engaging deeply with district plans. So a lot of families, even if they were aware of the plan, they did not know what the contents were. They didn't know what the goals were. Interestingly, the methods that they requested to be used to keep them informed are methods that are already being used. So, there is a little bit of a a question about why they're not receiving that message or why they're not going to the website

041and navigating there and looking up this information, but families do like to stay informed on their own schedules. They like the things that are like wits. They can log on, they can read newsletters, they can go to the website versus being pushed something on social media or obviously attending meetings. And if anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Dr. Spicer, I don't know if it's a question for you or maybe the district. Um, what is a head of household? How is that determined? So, if there's two adults in a house, for example, how is that determined? Nick is the one who provided me with that list. So, I'm very We worked with it on it and I can't remember how that was identified. Okay. Yeah. I think my understanding is and this is

042from I work with a lot of school districts. My understanding is that usually there's a designation of a primary contact within a household. And so we wanted to make sure that the primary we had a list of primary contacts versus having, you know, both people within a household be contacted about the survey. Miss, you're going to probably have to pull the mic down. Compared to other districts, you said you work with a lot of districts. Do they have a higher level of acceptance rate? No. The response rate. the response rate yet. So there's a a huge variation. 30% response rate though with a parent family survey is a great response rate. 20% is around more average. We did a big project with about 20 districts in the southern tier and our response rates ranged from

04320% to 30% or I'm sorry 2% to 30%. So it does span it. I will say parent and family surveys are the most challenging. I do surveys of all different types of populations, professional groups, all different types of things and parent and family surveys in schools and districts are the hardest to get responses. We have talked to people about that. I'm a I joked with Dr. Brown Hall said I'm a parent in East Aurora and I haven't filled out surveys and what I do for a living is surveys like I I just I always feel terrible when I when I don't do it. But you know people are busy and so it is very hard. Um but there are ways to improve those that that we work with districts on. When we when we spoke

044to um Miss Tagert about how to improve it and a lot of private companies offer incentives, right? And that's something because of taxpayer money. can't, you know, give a gift to public funds or give gift cards to have their surveys completed. So, that's one of the reasons why we're not able to get a larger response rate. Mr. Ma, thank you. Um, really ju just a comment. Um, I think it's one of your first slides. We talk about families feel informed by district and and school communications and think that these are timely. I mean 97% responded, do you think district communications have kept you very informed or somewhat informed? How much better can you get than that? The next question, do you think school communications have kept you very informed or somewhat informed? You're 94% think

045that they are. And I'm part of the communications committee and so is I think Mr. Morales, Mr. Philipski. And what we hear time and time again is not from parents and from other stakeholders is is I I can't find the information. I don't know where to look for the information. It's there's too much information which I don't know if you want to dial back too much information because then you start dialing back people's access or people's you know ability to get the information but I mean I that's a credit to to to the team here uh that you know 97%. Do you think the district communications have kept you very informed or somewhat informed? So, outstanding work. And there is a question about too much information, not enough information or just right. And it came

046out the majority said just right. So, just so you know that is in there. Okay. Any other board member questions? Thank you so much. All the time when we use the evaluation. Thank you very much, Caroline. Next, um, we have a great presentation from Principal Andrew Bowen. Um, Andrew, principal Borman. I can't think tonight. So much long day. Principal Bowen is a principal at North High School and he has chaired our distractionfree school zone committee um, since the inception. So, I want to thank him for that work. As we all know, we've been waiting all year for the governor to issue what schools will be required to do in regard to the distraction-free school zone. We thought it would be uh September of last year, then it was pushed to Jan the budget that has

047been adopted and so principal Bowen will be what the committee has come up with. Principal Bowen, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you so much, Dr. Brown Hall. Uh let's start from the beginning of um I of um where why we are here and that is because of a mandate from our governor um to have a distraction-free school loans. So uh we received the information let me just go through the timeline is uh that we actually received the uh initial proposal in January and that's when we put together our uh school zone committee. We put uh information out to the public that we had uh uh any anyone interested could uh simply uh express their interest. We did a random draw and we got a representative community uh um a representative committee which I

048will discuss about in just a second. Uh we met several times between February and May um to craft our our uh the document. The proposal itself is pretty straightforward, but there is a lot of information that we really needed to think about and to um and to really um um uh be very thorough in our analysis. So, um from here, I'm here right now. We uh moved up our timeline in terms of our presentation in order to give uh the public a full 30-day comment period. So, it is my pleasure to go through some of the details, but I have to thank my committee. They were a fantastic committee. Uh we um we absolutely um uh everyone gave it their all. They really were um quite representative of a lot of different opinions from across

049the district. Um and I will point out that uh many of our final thoughts or final decisions really came from our students. Our two students that were on the committee were very helpful in finally getting to our final proposal. I do have to give a shout out to um DSP who is the student from South. He is going to be one of the student board members and you will get the pleasure of working with him and um it was a wonderful committee to work with. So thank you all. So we wanted to really when we started our committee we didn't actually look at the proposal right away. We wanted to focus on our why. Why are we doing this? other than the uh the governor said that we have to do this. We used uh

050the anxious generation as an anchor text and uh we uh there is a full uh CBS news video. Uh we're going to play a little clip of it right now. Uh the whole video is about about 10 12 minutes long. It is on our website. It is definitely worth the time. It gives you a great synopsis of uh of the whole book. And thank you. It's about a minute and a half clip. He grew interested in the ways the modern world was changing his students. That research led to the anxious generation where height argues kids were first made a weak by overp protection for mostly imaginary dangers, then given devices that gobble up their attention and let parents keep even closer tabs on them. So, who has a phone? Their own phone? We checked in

051with sixth graders in Manhattan and the New York suburb of Port Washington. How many people have a phone? Height calls this the great rewiring of childhood. You make the case that this is literally rewiring people's brains. Yes. Think about neural development. Think about a brain. The neurons feel their way out and they develop based on feedback from experience. But what happens when kids instead of playing with blocks in each other, they're on screens all the time? You're radically changing the inputs. Kids are now growing up in a sea of screens. He says this rewiring which started around 2012 and he can't stop his hands from swiping created the anxious generation. There's a tidal wave of mental illness and it's especially anxiety and depression and tragically we see very much the same pattern with suicide and

052this is what happens after 2010. more than doubling of the suicide rate. And uh the author's argument is that all of these uh rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide rates coincide with the advent of the forward- facing iPhone. So, um why do we want a distraction-free learning environment? According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of high school teachers think that uh cell phones are a major distraction in classrooms. You can certainly see on the graphic, 33 for middle school, six in elementary school. Uh there so teachers are have our concern about cell phones being a distraction. There's a growing concern about technology and the impact on mental health. Uh there is a lack of regulation from tech companies. Uh we teachers will talk about wanting to have more of a focus on face-to-face interactions. As

053you know my or as you may know my Williamsville journey uh to I spent the last 10 years at Country Parkway Elementary School and now I'm back at the high school. I started at North High School. Um that's one of the major differences that I see in the past 10 years is that students are in cafeterias on phones not engaging with each other. Even though phones were accessible and students certainly were using them, something has definitely changed. So, um and of course we have a desire to keep kids as safe as possible. We wanted to decrease harm and violence. So, some um uh research that has been pulled for for uh for our consideration here is that 95% of teens have a smartphone. Teenagers use smartphones for an average of 4 and a half hours

054a day and uh and about 43 minutes during school time. Teens receive a lot of notifications on their phones. About 237 and about a quarter of them come during the school day. When students get a notification, it is that dopamine cycle then starts all over again. It's a cheap hit of dopamine. uh you put the phone down and then you need more dopamine and and it's that addictive nature of uh that we have with cell phones. 53% of tween and 69% of teens reported using social media uh that social media distracts them when they should be doing their schoolwork. So what are some of the effects of phone use? I already mentioned the dopamine hit. The addictive nature of phone is uh addictive nature of phone use is associated with poor academic performance as well

055as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, low life satisfaction and loneliness. Adolescents who use social media for more than five hours a day have lower school connectedness, more negative perceptions of school, their school environment, parents, home life, and their moods. So remember back in the day and I'm gonna quote Linda Rouay when you know better we should do better. Do better. Absolutely. So back in the day smoking or non-smoking right we learned that the there's negative uh effects of secondhand smoking and eventually in our culture in our societies we've eliminated smoking in restaurants. So I would like to make an argument that we are in the in the start of a cultural shift about using our cell phones. Again, the author of anxious generation indicates that this is a rewiring of our students and our student brains

056that we might want to think a little more careful of what we're doing. So now let's get back to the specifics and the nitty-gritty of our specific uh distractionfree um school zones. um over uh um policy that we are putting in place here. Um it is a full school day ban bell to bell. Now some people thought like bell to bell is that like beginning of first period to the end of first period and then the beginning fourth to the end. No, it's the full school day ban. So student use the personal internet enabled devices and the associated headphones and headsets are going to be prohibited during the school day including instructional and non-instructional times. So this all this is to ensure that no distractions arise from personal devices during instructional non-instructional periods. So, uh,

057personal internet enabled devices include, but are not limited to, and I'm going not going to read the list. Uh, the committee had a great time trying to come up with as many examples as as we could. This is where our middle school teachers who had just finished some of the New York State testing and they had to read all of the things that are not allowed in the classroom. They were very helpful. So, again, we want to make sure that our our list was extensive. So, let's talk about storage. What what where are we going to store these devices? We spent a lot of time talking about this at our at our committee level for elementary. It seemed that the most logical fit was if students bring any internet enabled device that it needs to

058be stored in their backpack and turned off from the time they enter the building until the time that they leave. For middle and high school, again, the conversation bloomed and took a long time to get to where we ultimately wound up landing. Um, we had conversation of should we have a collection of phones at the beginning of the school day? Do we lock them up in first period? Do we give students some sort of storage container where they hold on to it the whole day? Do we just say, "Put it away. I don't want to see it." And we ultimately landed on storing phones in lockers. And this is where that point where I said about our students, they actually were the ones that said, "If it's on me, if it's in my book bag,

059if it's in my pocket, I'm going to use it." Thought that was really interesting and pretty wise and very honest of our students to say that. Um, so, uh, we also wanted to go with an area of trust. The vast majority of our students are going to follow the rules and follow the expectations. That's what we have here in Williamsville. So we wanted to also uh put together uh or we wanted to go with the angle of we are going to trust that you are uh to trust you as much as possible. So um we that's on placing your uh locked uh uh your phone off and in a locked locker. Okay. There are exceptions that were um in the governor's legislation. The first you can use your personal internet enabled device authorized by a

060teacher. So, and this needs to be for a specific educational purpose. So, just because it's study hall and you have nothing else to do not mean that you can go on your phone and play video games. Um, this does include personal owned laptops. I've had several questions throughout the months of of um from parents and from students asking uh if that is something that will be allowable and the answer is yes. What I would say to our students is make sure you clear it with your teacher first. So a second exception would be health care needs. Uh that would be as required for tracking health conditions or medical purposes as per an individual health care plan. Uh an example would be diabet diabetes monitoring. Our fantastic school nurses are able to uh put together individual

061health care plans and communicate that well um with the with all um students teachers. We had a lot of discussion on the event of an emergency as well. So what defines an emergency? So there's like well that's a paradox because they can use their phone but it's an emergency and it's locked in the locker. How do I get the locker if they were in an emergency? Right? So um an emergency is more than just a lockdown. When we think emergency, we think a lockdown. The emergency plans need to be followed in every single step and for every single loca uh situation. So if we are in a lockdown, we want students to follow the directions of the teacher. And in fact, law enforcement that I have worked with um indicate that as well that that

062is something that actually phones are a distraction for students. If we are in a lockdown, I want them focused on the teacher who is in charge and knows their safety plans. That's going to keep them the safest possible. There are other situations that might be emergencies that students uh may need access to their phones. So, for an example, if we evacuated the building or had to have an early dismissal from school because of weather, that might be a situation where students might be a would need to contact their parents. Uh fourth exception would be translation services as needed for English language learners. Uh this next one, this was actually an add-on from the proposed legislation um to the actual legislation. Um and this was on a case- by case basis for student caregivers responsible for

063the well-being of a family member. Uh there's uh next exception would be required by law. And finally what is if it is in a student's IEP or 504 plan we see that as being limited in scope and uh we are developing a structured process that will be developed and that can be evenhandedly um um um thought through with uh at the individual levels at the building. Part of the legislation called for uh articulating contact methods. How can a parent contact or guardian contact their child? Uh what we will articulate is that parents may call the main office and leave a message for their child. In addition, students may use their classroom phones. We have phones in every single classroom or in every office. They can certainly as well, we always like to work with advocating,

064right? We want students to be advocates of their own needs. So um they might need to go down to the school um counseling office if it is maybe a personal situation right it might be more than hey can you just bring my cleats back I I left them at home if it's something more personal they might they might need to advocate uh for themselves and that is okay u the next bullet is when when appropriate parents may also witmail their own child that is currently a function that is not turned on but we can turn that on and will uh the last is um a bullet Down here is parent notification. Parents will receive written notification of how they can contact their child through our family handbooks through the school website which which uh homepage,

065district website, district app, and district calendar. Uh from our last presentation, we will not have a meeting to discuss that. We will do we will find other methods to let parents know how they can uh contact their child. Um enforcement. This was another long conversation that we had at our committee. um we want the enforcement to be um consistent regardless of what's what stage you happen to be at. So if we see a phone out during the school day, the response is may I have the device please. The first offense will be the device is confiscated parent notification a warning and it will be returned to the student at the end of the school day. The second instead of rep re uh return to the student return to the parent or guardian for third and

066beyond we'll follow the same procedure but then we will talk about additional school consequences. So um that is meant to be progressive in nature. It is meant to fit the specific age of the child. It is meant to uh meet the needs of the individual student of for whom we are working with. We do want to say that a refusal to comply will be considered um at in in subordination and at the middle and high school level. Uh a day of inschool suspension will be assigned for refusal to turn over a a device when asked by an adult. A little more on notification. Uh another question that has been asked, are you going to use pouches? So, in my research, I have um I've spoke to a few different principles in Western New York that

067have uh different um um bands. The one principal that I did speak to uh currently they use the yonder pouch. And in speaking with her, uh her advice to me was if I could do it over again, I would probably put the yonder pouches as maybe a tier 2 intervention. meaning that I wouldn't use them right away with everyone but rather if needed for students um who might need a little more support uh we we I would consider using it at that point. So uh that is what we are going to be doing as well. So communication, how will we communicate this policy to all of our stakeholders for students? Students will receive all the information through classroom lessons and assemblies specifically at be over the summer as well. We'll certainly start our campaign over

068the summer to notify the entire community, but uh we will specifically um have conversations with students uh at the classroom level and at uh large assemblies. For family communications, we will communicate the policy through all those articulated ways that we already have uh and we will notify parents prior to the start of the school year um by and their role in supporting a distraction-free environment. So for our educators, uh we will uh we will receive or we will um uh administer training for all of our uh teachers before the school year begins regarding the policy and how to enforce it and how to communicate effectively with parents. So, some of our next steps, um, we're here right now. The comment period for stakeholder is, um, on our website right now. We have a letter that

069is ready to go, which we will send out to the entire community inviting for, um, uh, for feedback. Um, on June 25th, the distraction free school zones committee will meet will meet to review and discuss feedback. uh by August one, we have to have a policy in place and it has to be uh on our website in the 12 most spoken languages um here in Williamsville by September 1, we have to have the distraction-free school zones implemented and uh every year after that we do have to publish a report on our website deal detailing the enforcement of uh including demographic information of that policy and I'm ready for any questions that you may have. Thank you very much, Principal Bowen, for chairing the committee and then providing this presentation and then the details of that

070policy for consideration. Thank you very much for that. You're welcome. Board member questions. Thank you for your thoughtfulness. You're welcome, Mr. Bulan. Okay. I'm a teacher. Real world. This is putting a ton on a teacher's plate. Yep. And how that is going to work in the classroom. I can only imagine. Johnny, give me your phone. Yeah. No. What? How does that work? Like how do I I can only imagine my own classroom. I I've seen it happen. Sure. So, um as with any rule that we have in school, it is a shared responsibility. Um it just can't be your principles and assistant principles, right, running around the school. Um it is there needs to be uh communal leadership. um certainly our teachers as well. Um why we wanted to be as uh and this is

071also part of the training that you we will need to do with our teachers and what are our expectations um for that. What does that look like and training of um uh how to engage with students, right? This should not be um like the last thing we need is an argument situation, right? It is it needs to be transactional almost in nature, right? Your phone please. No, put it put it away. Right? and then you move on and then and uh that that student is referred and we will follow up certainly as as needed. Um the um one other principal that I did speak to started a um started a band mid year to which I asked all of those questions and actually we it's independent we actually have a very similar um strategy. Uh

072that was one of the questions that I said is like tell me how this worked, how did we like what was the burden, right? The um because again we've gone for the last eight or nine years with allowing students to use their phones during non-instructional time, right? Quite a change and they did their change midway through the year. Um he reported that a his building is louder all of a sudden, right? All those great things that are there, right? But I asked specifically like ho how much like what did this look like? how many um how many refusals did you get? How burdensome was this on your teachers? And like anything, the first few weeks weren't really that great, right? And which I would expect. But if we're consistent, right, in our messaging, if we're

073consistent in our enforcement that these this two shall pass. And that was really my next question. I'm a teacher. I know that I enforce something, she may not, right? And that's that's where that's where trouble breaks down. Yeah. Correct. And that's almost unstoppable like you can't correct because no one wants to be the mean teacher, right? No one wants to be the heavy but I think this is which is also why we are um asking students to put their phones in their locker. So we have right it shouldn't even be out right that's going to be the start of the conversation that um um and to your point consistency is absolutely key in all of this and I would say that would be the consistency regardless of anything whether you're writing a pass to right

074to the school store right some teachers don't some teachers do it just creates problems so if we band together for united and we are a united front um and that would be the job of the principles and assistant principles to articulate that message and get everyone on board. Um, uh, it makes it a lot easier. Dr. Spicer, Mr. Bowen, thank you. I want to say thank you as well for all the time and research you've put into this um, and for the presentation itself. U, I had a lot of, uh, logistical questions and some of which you've answered. So, one of them was the wits mail. We can't currently email our students. So, thank you for addressing that. Um, I appreciate it. Um, so one logistical question, one timeline question. Um, the storage and lockers,

075I'm curious of the two high school students represented, did they discuss issues with lockers? Um, me mechanical functioning issues of lockers. Well, yes, they did actually. The student Yeah. So, the student from South actually did an informal survey of, and this is why it's so great to have student members on the board of education, right? We're going to be very fortunate. He did actually an informal survey of do you know where your locker is? Do you know your combo? Do you use your locker? He found a third, a third, and a third, which was actually pretty striking to me. A third actually know that where their locker is and actually know the combination. Like I was thrilled. Like a third already know. Great, right? Um a third have like no idea locker locker combo. No,

076nothing. And then a third, we're in that middle of maybe I know where my locker is, maybe I don't know my combination. So your question, so um yes, students absolutely spoke to that. I will say that in general that mechanical issues with lockers typically and again this was in my I just took a 10-year hiatus and like one of the major changes that I've noticed is students don't use their lockers, right? It is I think uh and from what I've been told it is the co postcoid phenomenon right of of maybe social distancing and just something that just stuck around um so uh because at some point we we couldn't use lockers and so you know kind of like stuck with us right that's something of a tradition now that has carried itself through so

077um back when I was uh originally at North High School and locker issues really stemmed from you have everything and everything in that locker and it is so jammed packed there is like you can't even like shut the door right so those were the mechanical issues that we have um what we absolutely know is that um and again according to my very informal survey given by DSP is that twothirds of our students are not going to be familiar enough with their locker so we do need to build that in into our our first days of school reacquainting yourself with your locker Yeah. And I and I asked that and Dr. Brownh Hall did also acknowledge it, too, because I some of the um I'm not DSP, but some of the student feedback from I only

078got North and South, but just also lockers, the built-in locks, they jam often. Apparently, there's something you can do with a pen cap to unjam it. I don't recommend, but um but there is some Yeah. some mechanical things to think about and obviously um you know tardiness issues and things like that with locker usage that Sure. It is a shocking culture shift from going from middle school where locker is a must to high school where hardly anybody uses it. It's it's wild. Yeah. So, and speaking of a lot of c there are going to be uh you know the smoking versus non-smoking, right? We're going to have to do a lot of cultural rethinking and then our behaviors will pro most likely change uh due to that, right? Another convenience factor is that if I'm

079a teacher, it's really easy for me to say to my students, "Okay, grab your phones. We're going to play a cahoot, right? Because the phones are so easily accessible and we can, right? And we're all on it." Now, we're going to have to say, "Oh, let's use our Chromebooks, right?" So, that's an additional step of getting out of your seats and getting a Chromebook and logging into the Chromebook, right? So, we're just going to have to rethink things differently. Same thing with uh announcements at the end of the school day, right? practice, golf practice is canceled, right? Well, the coaches are sending those through a reminder. We don't get as many of those announcements anymore. We're going to have to rethink um how h how we how we communicate with with our students and and

080how we learn and how we teach. Yeah. Um I just had one more that the timeline question. Obviously, you are we are all handed a a wonky timeline, let's say. Um, so with exceptions and I can only speak specifically to just the IEP 504 timeline. A lot of students have already had their committee on special ed meetings. Um, so how what are our thoughts on navigating um that if if somebody is wanting to discuss that in their CSSE meeting? Yeah. So it would need to be a requested review. Uh that would have to uh I I would um encourage any families to reach out to their their child's case manager and to initiate that conversation. Uh we certainly will have some more we'll have a procedure and process that we will have in place uh

081that we're working on and vetting at this at this moment and we will have to do requested reviews as as any any um at any time cse can can always meet. Yeah. Just wanted to for the sake of the table say it's not there's not a process in place yet. Not yet. Yeah. Mr. Viscalia. Um I'm not jealous of you having to do this work. Um so a couple questions. Number one, um actually just touched on it saying, "Hey, take out your Chromebooks." I have heard multiple times there's not enough Chromebooks in the high school high schools. So, how does a teacher navigate that when you want to play cahoot, when you want to do an ed puzzle, when you want to uh continue to work on an enduring issues essay, let's say in 10th

082grade, and and have it I mean, how are we going to deal with that? Is there been thought? Um, I'm not saying you have, but those are concerns of mine. I would like any teacher who is not does not have access to a Chromebook should work with their principal who will make a request to our IT department. I have not heard of a single teacher at my building saying if I only had technology that would be great. We I feel or from what I've been shared with or I I do not see that there's a deficit of of Chromebooks in in the building. Now some teachers don't have them because they're not going to use them. So we're not going to allocate a resource that that's not there because wasn't that an issue previously with

083rent, you know, getting I'm just going by what we No, no. What the issue was is when um at one of the community forums, the librarians said they didn't have enough to loan out to the students. We have so many class sets and we didn't want to take those to loan out. The librarians said they didn't have enough to loan out, but we increased that number also. Okay, that helps with my concern, but that's why I was asking. Um number two, um thank you. Trying to think how to phrase this. Um, so some of you know my sister uh is an Erie County Family Court Judge. She just went to a training, a national training. Um, you're 100% right. Cell phones are now considered a drug. Uh, the dopamine, as you mentioned, is essentially what

084ecstasy used to do in the 90s. You know, drip drip serotonin, dopamine makes you happy, want to go back to it. Um, are there plans in place or will there be plans in place going forward as um, kids begin to I'm not saying it's going to happen a lot in Wasil. I mean, where I teach is a little different. Um, but there is a possibility always is as anyone is addicted to something uh, of a violent occurrence. Um, do we have plans in place for that? Do we have a team that can go maybe skip train or something like that where we can deal with issues with that? Because um I I don't doubt we'll see maybe very very small percentage here in Williamsville, but it is a worry of mine and and obviously that's

085something I think we should think about. Now you can't do everything in a year. I know you can't. I know you worked hard on this, but that would be a concern of mine and I don't know if going forward we can think about that and continue to have this group together to develop plans when those things arise. So we we did have conversation on that because withdrawal is real, right? And those are real symptoms and now then these are our students that we need to assist with, right? uh one of the committee members um which she was so wonderful at at articulating you just can't take away we need to replace with something right and like what does that something look like um maybe we purchase and as silly as this seems maybe we purchase

086board games for the cafeterias right uh uno cards or whatever case may be that you have something positive that students can also turn to because ultimately if you had some natural dopamine right that's far more stronger than than a cheap hit of dopamine. So, can we u and that's just a very quick example, but I agree with you that this is something that we do need to think about, be prepared with and what are some other larger things uh systematic ways that we can support students as we go through this culture shift. And my last question, I don't even think it's a question. It's hard. There's no there's there's obviously no right answer. We were all districts were thrown that I mean we kind of had an idea this was coming but all districts were

087kind of you know at the will of the governor. Um I mean just I don't know lockers like yes you can trust 90% of the kids but the 10% like you know are they going to be hiding it? I mean the new place where I know I catch the kids hiding it is in their uh you know buckles right here and they're they're like you know I I just like or I mean is there plans let's say kids keep going to their lockers I mean that's that's the addictive part like hey I'm going to check my phone so like are we really and this isn't this is a societal thing I guess it's not even a Williamsville thing like how are we going to deal with that like is a teacher we're going to have

088to be watching the hallway not me but the teachers and the principles and you know it is a group effort watching the lockers now now it's taken away at the time of I get to talk to ABC student because they're having trouble with this I want to make sure they at it at the end of the lesson. Oh, I got to be out in the hallway making sure kids aren't going like this in their locker, which I've caught a thousand times and then they tell me to, you know, go down the street. Um, but I guess there's just I just found it a little unrealistic. And that's not your fault. It's it's difficult task. I'm not I don't want to put I Right. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer. I'm just

089I guess I'm just kind of complaining in my own way. the uh I don't even know. I I don't I don't think you came up with a bad plan. It's just the the the the piece that we all had to wrap our minds around is that regardless of whatever system that we come up with Well, there's going to be ways around it. There's going to be ways around it, right? And that's what I mean. I'm not trying to take I can collect phones, but someone can bring two phones, right? And I think I'm doing a great job and locking it up and they're using their phone. Well, even I even thought like, oh, have classroom teachers have like, you know, how they used to do the calculators. Yep. But then I think I'm then as

090a teacher, I'd be worried about, well, AB, you know, Johnny's going to play a trick on Sam because he's mad at him and take Sam's phone. Then all of a sudden, you have a that's all the fun, right? They're doing that a lot right now in the high schools in preparation for this. And that has been successful, the the phone jail, if you will, on the on the table. But the whole high schools start at 7:45 and you want them to get to their locker and get to first period first is definitely something that I stress more than the criminality of sneaking to the locker. Oh yeah, that's another that's another point I guess. So are we going to be lenient in the beginning of understanding that? Um I would add and on top of

091I hope yeah so that culture I'm sorry the culture shift takes a while right and so that's why we will have to we have to be flexible in the beginning right it takes it takes some getting used to with students you know just like and even with the families I mean with the parents absolutely right yeah things take time also like this is you know the common sense principles right here right you you have to you have to approach everything with a little bit of common sense Right? Are fresh freshman or late regardless on the first day of school? Right? I mean, and then they get the hang of it, right? Are kids going to like lose their locker combination? They can't find it and have to go to the office and now I'm upset.

092All the things, right? Um, you know, with everything, we support students. We're here for students. We're ultimately not punishment centers, right? Um, uh, and we're trying to abide by, uh, and keeping a distraction-free environment for all kids. All my comments and everything. I 100% agree with the governor in this. I mean, we it's definitely an issue in our society. I I want you to know you did a good job. I just Yeah. Oh, no. I just concerns I'm trying to air out and it's it's probably every district. So, sorry. Yes. The logistics are going to be difficult. I think Mr. Mana had a question. Sure. Thank you. Um, thank you for the work on this and I know you and I were were part of the panel speakers at the auditorium, the disconnect conference. Yes.

093that uh you know we had uh administration from Lacawana who did the the little bag. I think they're the ones you mentioned where they said they wish they did that as a progressive discipline type of thing. Do the bag for the second or third because those bags cost money. They do. And uh uh the to unlock them costs money and sometimes there's a long line of kids waiting at the unlock mechanism to unlock their phones. So I think it's a great idea that that's not the first step. So my my my questions really are enforcement and consequences. That's, you know, where the rubber meets the road on this. And and Mr. Biscalia was right. You know, 10% of the students are going to be 90% of the time we spend on this, I believe. So,

094just let me ask you a few questions, then you can answer them. So, when you say first offense, device confiscated, parent notification, a warning, return to student at the end of the school day. If I'm a student that has early dismissal, is that my end of my school day or the school day? I I'll ask my questions and we can answer them. um second offense and the third offense also it says return to parent. I'm a parent who works till 7:00 at night. When do I get my kids cell phone? My my last question is that when we talk about inschool suspension for refusals to turn over a device when asked by an adult. Just to be clear, the state law says you cannot suspend a student because they're accessing their device. So we are

095suspending or we'll do it in school suspension because of insubordination or something like that. So it's not suspending because they use their cell phone. So those are my questions. Sure. So uh I would say if a student has an early dismissal, we will return to the end of their day when they are leaving the building. Again, applying a little bit of common sense, right? um with uh the parent who um the the parent who works late at night. I have to tell you I have to tell you 10 over 10 years ago when uh phones were not allowed during any part of the school day and I did confiscate a stu young man's phone and he said I need you to return my phone to me and I said sorry and he said my parents

096are in India and this is my only way to contact them and I felt bad and for a little bit and then I forgot about it and then a month later there was the parent like I got the radio with Mr. Thy saying, "Mr. Bowen, can you please return the phone?" And like soon as I saw the parent, I went, "Oh my gosh." And the parent said, "Thank you for um holding my student account from holding my child accountable." Now, I realize that this is going to be an exception to the rule. Uh but I right um that's that that was a nice, you know, it turned out well, but there are some times where those are going to be some real um situations. We are obviously going to ask the parent to make time

097available in order for um uh for them to come in and I think you have to I think if there's not you know the carrot and the stick for everybody involved here it's not going to go anywhere. Correct. The parents need to just like any other rule that is violated at school. The parents have to get involved and have to stress what the rules are or guess what? Now they got to take tame out of their day because my kid wanted to, you know, do a Tik Tok, right? Not that I wanted to inconvenience, right? I tick tock, right? No, like of course I don't like to inconvenience people. However, um this is school. This is we we are here to learn. This is a distraction. So we we do need to and again going

098back to consistent enforcement. Um, right. That's something that that we do need to hold on to. I will say that I'm sure the the parent responses will be um I I can guarantee, you know, you'll have the parents that are that will say, "Keep the phone. I don't ever care. I'm not coming in. Keep it as long as Right. You'll get that. You got the parents very upset, right? We'll come immediately, right?" You know, you you you work with who you have, right? Absolutely. Um the refusal to comply, it is not for using your phone. It is for insubordination. So the suspension would be the inschool suspension would be for insubordination refusal to comply with an adult's directions not for use of the phone. Thank you. You're welcome. Dr. Singh. Thank you principal Bowen. I

099think most of the questions I had already asked. Did have one clarifying question could be yes or no answer. So in effect we're banning laptops. We're banning all the devices on the list, right? Yes, internet unless d you can use them under under the direction of a teacher. So an example is I have my laptop and I I I'm taking AP Lang. Could I say to my AP Lang teacher at the beginning of the school year, do you mind if I use my laptop? And she'll say or he will say sure. Right. And but we want to encourage the AP students to get used to the Chromebooks because that's what they can use on the exam. Absolutely. Yes. Um similarly a question about the library. Can I use my personal laptop in the library? If

100it is under the direction of a teacher, so that would be a conversation to have with the librarian. That would be a conversation to have um with the library staff to to make sure that it is approved. Now, it is also then the teacher's responsibility to make sure that we're using the uh technology for an educational purpose. Thank you. Okay. I see Mr. Bulan again. I'm sorry. I just have a quick question. So, I confiscate the phone. I hang on to the phone. I send it to the office. What? And then the kid comes the student comes back to me or do they go to the office? They go to the office. Yep. Phones will be um confiscated and brought down to the office and stored in the office which again we want to recognize

101on teachers, right? That is an additional responsibility. It's an additional responsibility without question. Yeah. Right. And time and time 100%. All right. Thank you board members. Any anyone else? Thank you, Mr. Bowen. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you. And board members, I will try I still have uh letters C, D, E, F, G, and H to present. So, I'm gonna try to go a little bit quicker. All right. If we can get the community update um up because that's next. Thank you very much. First and foremost, congratulations and thank you community. Our budget has been approved for the 2526 school year. Our total is 242,719,867. Maintains all of our current academic and extracurricular programming for our students, increases our special education offerings, and it maintains focus on school safety and student wellness

102initiatives. Congratulations to our current board members, Miss Christina Breeninger, Mr. Mark Mana, and Mr. Steuart Buan for being elected for another three-year term. We can continue the exciting work that our board is doing. So, congratulations for that. And congratulations to our new three student board members from Williamsville East, from Williamsville North, and Williamsville South. Um and the Williamsville South student DSP was also on the uh distraction-free um internetabled device committee. So congratulations to all of these new board members and current board members. We've again received the 2025 best communities for music education award. This is our 17th straight year that we've been named one of the best communities for music education by the National Association of Music Merchants. And I want to applaud all of our music teachers and our director, Miss Jamie Pitnell, our

103teachers, and you all know you've been to the music concerts to the chorus concerts to the band presentations. They are just phenomenal. Our district calendar, this was passed a couple of board meetings ago. Please remember that the last school student day has been moved to Wednesday, June 25th, and the last teacher rating day has been moved from Friday, June 27th to Thursday, June 26. We were able to do this because the state education department assigned two rating days. And since we use fewer imu emergency closing days than we had expected, we're able to move that last day back. And that will be a half day for our elementary students. On Wednesday, June 25th, a Wix mail was sent to all of our stakeholders on April 23rd. It's been included in our weekly and bi-weekly newsletters

104and additional reminders will be sent home the week of June 1st and June 22nd. Say something anonymous reporting. Assistant superintendent uh Tony Scanuzo will be presenting on this at at our June 10th board meeting, but we have partnered with the Sandy Hook promise and say something anonymous reporting system so that we will have this available in our school district. Also, building communication will follow as we prepare for the training and their information is available on the district and school websites. Once the schools complete their training, their school will be activated in the Say Something anonymous reporting system and the training must be complete by Friday, June 13th. We're very excited to bring this initiative to our district. The Community Health Speaks and Department of Psychiatry are presenting at UB the film Can't Look Away. So,

105the UB community film screening and discussion of Can't Look Away will be June 25th from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public. It discusses the dark side of social media and its negative impact on young users. You heard some of that in the presentation that Principal Boeing just presented about our distraction-free school zone policy. And this information will be shared in the bi-weekly newsletters. Again, there will be a screening and a discussion on the evening of June 25th and it's sponsored also by the Jacob School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Our transportation efficiency study is still available on Wix and it won't close until June 2nd. We are right now at 57% of our parents and guardians that have responded. This will help us become more efficient in our bus

106routing for next school year. Reminders will be sent out next week to complete this information. We ask that all of our parents complete this information just so that we can have more efficient bus routes for the 2526 school year. Our summer school dates and locations are set. I know we discussed this last month. Elementary and middle school will be at Transit Middle School July 9th to August 19th. High school will be at Wimsville East July 8th through August 20th. And the special education summer school will be at Mil Middle School July 7th through August 15th. Information is available on the summer school web page. Our graduation dates are also set. Our graduation for Williamsville East is Friday, June 27th at 5:00 PM at the school. Williamsville North is the next morning, Saturday, June 28th at

10710:00 a.m. at the school. And then Williamsville South will hold theirs at the school on the front lawn on June on June 28th. Also, did I say January before? No. Okay. I'm like, why am I think June 28th, 6 o'clock p.m. at the high school. Thank you very much. The alumni association. So, this is very exciting. This is the partnership with the Whimso Education Foundation and the board liaison for the foundation is our parliamentarian parliamentarian, Miss Christine Binger. And we had discussed bringing this forward before. The Wimsville Education Foundation for years has discussed how would they be able to form an alumni association. So in discussion with uh board member Binger, we discussed having QR codes set up and Nick Dapowski set those up for us so that east alumni, north alumni, and south alumni

108can complete a form and we will begin to build a database. Our high school principles as part of the extracurricular um activities for next year, every school will then have an alumni coordinator and they are working on that right now. And so we encourage anyone that graduated from a Williamsville High School to complete this form so we can build the database so we can have active alumni at all three of our high schools. Our regent exam schedule will be in the community update. I know it's also been communicated by our high schools. And the monthly themes for June are pride month and Caribbean American Heritage Month. Any questions board members from the community update? Alrighty. Next, we have our diversity, equity, and inclusion update. Our annual wellness, nutrition, and fitness report, our green mitt green

109ribbon committee report on the draft application for 2526, our annual district energy update, and our capital project update. So, for the DEI summary, I'm very pleased with the progress that our district has made in each of the areas of the DEI plan. You will see by the examples the schools have submitted and the evidence listed from district-wide initiatives that we're moving in the right direction. As we continue to value the diversity present in our district, we look at our policies, procedures, and practice practices through an equitable lens and we work to create an even more inclusive environment for all of our students leading to a true sense of belonging. I encourage everyone to review the detailed report and board docs in each goal area. The first goal area is creating a diversity, equity, and inclusion

110culture in the district and schools. You will see and understand what that truly means. Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the curriculum where the full diversity of our district community and beyond will be reflected in the curriculum in order to ensure that students will both relate to the curriculum and respect the perspective and experience of others. Raising student voice is another goal where we honor student voice and have equitable opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities. Family and community engagement where we encourage collaboration between and among staff, families, and community members to build a welcoming, positive school environment in which all members feel they belong and are viewed as assets. And last but not least, ongoing professional learning where the district will provide professional learning opportunities that provide illustrative examples of best practices in encouraging student centered

111constructive dialogue around difficult topics and promoting social responsibility. From the presentation we received this evening, we see that more work needs to take place around the community understanding of what the DEI plan is and how we are adding to that work. So, we are currently working to create inform informational videos for the next school year that will be available on our district website because we know from the presentation that our community members don't like attending meetings. So, we want to make it more available and more easily available. Our green ribbon summary. So, the item in board docs surrounding our green ribbon application is very detailed. The application will be submitted once the state education department releases the updated application. um around November 2025. We appreciate the work of the entire committee um who I meant

112to list in board dots and I was not able to but I do have the committee members listed here and I'm going to read them off very quickly. So the committee members were board member Christina Blechinger, board member Moren Puland, Dr. Marie Balon, Clara Battle, Ron Bo Bowser, Christine Christy Giardina, Christine Harding, Heather Hornung, Cheryl Kersner, Keith Langlocks, Claire Lacata, Michael, Chris Mua, Kate Wling, Steven Drojuski, Tom Bird, who is a co-chair person along with Tom Mursku, who was the other co-chair person. and we appreciate their work because they're both retired administrators in the district and they co-chared this committee to make sure that we had an acceptable application to submit once the application is available. We have the opportunity to submit an application for the entire district or for a single school. So the

113representative that we've been working with from the state education department explained that and they advised that most districts submit for a single school and that's what our committee decided to do to submit the application for Maple East Elementary School. The full committee met seven times between May 2024 and April 2025 to review the three pillars which are reduce environmental impact and cost, improve health and wellness of students and staff and to provide effective environmental and sustainability education incorporating STEM civic skills and green career paths. So the green ribbon designation has been a goal of the district and we will use the work of the committee to explan expand to apply for other schools in the future. Are there any questions about the DEI update or the green ribbon application board members? We'll move on. Wellness,

114nutrition, and fitness. The 2025 annual report is item 5e. The information provided in this report provides a summarized update that documents the actions completed by the Williamsville Central School District to meet the requirements of the wellness, nutrition, and fitness policy, which is policy 5661. The committee established subgroups whose purpose was to develop detailed information on the major aspects of the policy. The specific areas reviewed by the subgroup were reviewing the policy as it relates to the child nutrition program, reviewing the policy as it relates to physical education, reviewing the policy as it relates to community outreach, reviewing the policy as it relates to the aspect of recordkeeping and documentation, and reviewing the policy as it relates to communi communicating wellness, nutrition, and fitness information. So that entire report is available as item 5e in board

115docs. The annual district energy update. So in the 202425 school year, the district maintained all energy conservation programs that were developed since the inception of the policy. The report provides an update on the district's energy consumption levels and expenditures for the ' 04 2425 school year. The information in this report is based on actual payments through March 2025. The district projected the final school year energy use costs based on historical information. Energy costs are higher when compared to precoid9 amounts, but the rates for national natural gas decreased slightly while cost for electricity increased in the 2425 school year. Are there any questions about the district energy update? lot of information I know. I have a question on the wellness and nutrition. Um, will any of portion of that policy have to change due to the

116universal breakfast and lunch requirements? Oh, that's that's a good question. I'm not sure. We'll have to look at it with that lens. Because that is something that will be in place for next school year. Absolutely. Thank you very much for that. Last but not least, capital project update item 5H. So in board docs, there's a detailed update about the Maple West temporary classrooms, the KC structural support project, and the elementary air conditioning project. And remember that we're currently in phase one of the elementary air conditioning project and that covers Country Parkway, Maple West, and Heim Elementary. So the district is on track for all items and ahead for many others. This summer will be a massive effort to install below deck piping, more duct work, curb cuts, and roof structure to support the HVAC units.

117Phase two schools are Dodge Elementary, Maple East, and Forest Elementary. So, we're trying to schedule and coordinate to include some of that work over this summer also, especially the abatement. And so we're working on that and these plans are being finalized, but the district feels confident on accomplishing most if not all of the necessary work that we plan for the summer programming at those schools over the summer of 2025. Great. So board members, I know that was a lot from 5A to 5H, but I appreciate you allowing us to give all that information so that it is recorded and our community members know there is a lot more detailed information in boards. I turn it back over to you, board president. Thank you, Dr. Brown Hall, for all that amazing information. So, we're on item

1186A. Um, our board retreat will be held on June 17th. As recognized in the community update, our student board members have been elected and will begin their one-year term on July 1st. Um, Mrs. Carrie will be reaching out to those students to provide them with more information and they will be invited to attend an hour of our board retreat. Um, our remaining 2025 26 building visits to Dodge Elementary School and district office are on June 13th. And are there any additional board member comments or questions regarding the items in 6A? Okay, moving on. Items 6B through 6F, board representatives for the high school graduations, board liaison assignments, ECASB and NISBA events are all listed in board docs for correspondence from the community. We received um of course our emails regarding South High School event, residential

119development, lunch menu options, donations, special education options, and the concert calendar. Are there any board member comments or questions regarding items 6B through 6F? Okay, moving on to agenda items 8 through 14. That's the district vote results, minutes, personnel, business and finance, district facilities and support services, exceptional education, special needs and student activities, and other business. May I have a motion to approve these items as presented? Miss Puland, Miss Fletch, is there any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes unanimously. Congratulations to Danielle Alier. I knew I was gonna pause for this. I'll get it. Aliierro, is that correct? Okay. Aliero, the newly appointed director of professional [Applause] learning. Thank you so much. Good evening. Thank you to the board of education, Dr. Brown Hall, the leadership team, and Dr. Balen for approving my appointment this

120evening. I'm honored and grateful for the chance to serve as the director of professional learning and I'm excited to continue working toward a shared vision where educators feel supported and where students thrive through great teaching. Thank you so much. Thank you. Can you step over here for a picture? [Applause] Okay. Thank you to the following retirees for their service to the district. Carol Bellis, district office, student services clerk, typist with 21 years of service. Gail Delman, East High School clerk typus with 28 years of service. Donna Glenn, East High School teacher aid with 11 years of service. And Deborah Ratis, district office manager of educational technology services with 18 years of service. Congratulations to all and thank you. [Applause] We are now on item 15A. May I have a motion to take from the table

121for the second reading of policy 1210? Mr. Mana, Dr. Spicer. All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. May I have a motion for the second reading and adoption of policy 1210 as presented? Miss Fletch, Miss Puland, any discussion? Um, I did ask the question um about the getting some feedback from the high schools about the process itself and I know Miss Puland you shared you got some feedback. Yes, I did have the opportunity to um talk with all of the building principles um and all of them indicated that it had been a good process and it worked well for them. Um they did not see any change need for changes at this time. So well that's that's a it's a one-year assessment to be to be continued. I think also at our board retreat if we're

122inviting the three student representatives we could ask them their opinion too because they went through the process. You know, it's always good to get the candidates's point of view and if something was cumbersome or they didn't understand something, so you could even talk for a minute or two on that, but thank you, Vice President. Okay, so we have um the original policy as presented and then we had two potential amendments. So, are we going ahead and approving the policy as presented tonight or was there discussion regarding the proposed amendments? Vice President Puland. Yes. I I is would like to see us accept the policy as amended um with the first amendment. I know there was another line added as a potential second amendment. I think that's always implied in a policy that we can always

123change things going forward. So, um if we even though that gives us the prerogative to do that, that's a given for us. And if we would have if we would decide we wanted to change something, we would need to go back to the policy and be explicit about what that change was anyway. So um I think the first amendment is satisfactory. Okay. So you are proposing that we accept the policy as amendment that is labeled amendment. Yes. Okay. Is there any discussion about that? Actually I need a second for that. Miss Bleinger. So I have uh we are looking at the first amendment. I have a sec a first from vice president, a second from Miss Binger. Is there any discussion on the amendment only? Mr. Mana, I I'm confused. So which amendment are we

124voting on exactly? Is it the the first Well, the first one in green is the change Okay. So, if you look, it says policy update 1210. That was the original. And then underneath that, it says district policy 1210 proposed amendments. If you open that document, it's the first of those two proposed amendments. Yeah, you're in the right one. It's the first one. Not prop not proposed. That's 1210 and then in parentheses in green proposed amendments. That is the one we are looking at currently. And so, the updates would be the strikeouts and the language that is in green. Is everyone clear what we are looking at here? So, we're go still staying with the student election that is the standard policy unless changed by the board. Correct. Thank you. Okay. Any other discussion on the

125amendment only? I will just reinforce that um one year's feedback is good. More feedback is better. um you know, should we need to look at this policy again? Absolutely. Okay, so we're up for a vote now on uh the amendment. All in favor of the amendment? Okay, motion carries unanimously. And now, may I have a motion for the adoption of policy 1210 as amended? Dr. Spicer, Mr. Mana. Is there any further discussion? All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Now we are on item 15B. May I have a motion to take from the table for the second reading of policies 7120 and 7223. Dr. Spicer and Mr. Mana. All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. May I have a motion for the second reading and adoption of policies 7120 and 7223 as presented. Miss Bulan, Mr. Bulan,

126any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Item 15 C. May have a motion to approve and adopt the code of conduct as presented. Miss Fletch, Miss Blackinger. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Item 16 and 17. There are no instruction curriculum or legislative matters to discuss. Item 18, committee of the whole. Are there any matters under committee of the whole? Seeing none, we'll move on. We are on item 19A. That is our second public expression. I don't believe there is anyone in the audience. Am I correct? Okay. So, we will move on from that. Um, our next regular board meeting is June 10th and our organizational meeting is July 1st. 20B. May I have a motion to adjourn into executive session to continue discussion regarding the superintendent's end of the

127year evaluation? Dr. Spicer, Miss Puland, all in favor? Motion carries unanimously. We are injouring into executive session.