001good evening everyone we have a motion to return the regular board meeting into public session Mr Mr Mana all in favor motion carries unanimously I call the regular board meeting to order all board members are present except Dr lman Mr ban would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag pledge of allegiance to the flag United States of America theice please be advised that in the event of fire emergency and evacuation should be necessary an alarm will sound please note all marked exits and evacuate well away from the building at this time we request everyone turn their cell phones and other electronic devices to silent thank you Dr brall I turn it over to you for recognition awesome thank you very much Bo president sing so tonight our school Spotlight takes us
002to Williamsville North High School as we highlight the UniFi basketball program over the last decade Unified sports have grown immensely each year at North the UniFi unified basketball program and its student athletes are celebrated with an assembly and scrimmage however this year's event was a bit different as it marked the first time a league game was played between two Williamsville unified teams I'd now like to welcome assistant principal athletic director Miss Kristen Jurgens Tong unified coaches and student athletes to share more about this incredible game and their experiences thank you everyone for having us here tonight along with me I do have coaches from both our Green in our gold team we have Tracy finiki Chuck spki and Tracy Fitzpatrick awesome come on up along with we have a whole group of our athletes as
003well come on [Applause] up so we have drew Obby Paul we at Molly trust him Colton Connor Sam and David awesome so on May 3d we were able to have our assembly game this year uh I've been a part of many of these games in the past what made this year's super super special and what I thought was super cool about it was we did have two Williamsville teams so it Williamsville versus Williamsville with a pack gym of all of their classmates and teachers it was electric from tip off to the final whistle again music going cheering didn't stop I think they can all say great game to be a part of yeah awesome experience so not they get to experience it all the time at every single game but the entire School Community got
004to experience how much fun and how rewarding unified is on top of it at halftime we were also able to unveil our unified Banner which now is hung very proudly in our North gym along with all of the other Varsity banners awesome so on the banner we're celebrating all of our volleyball basketball as well as bowling champion ships so gold played today won their game as first part of the culminating event green will be playing in Madina tomorrow then both teams will be in Williamsville Thursday hoping to add two more championships to that Banner in the gym that is awesome awesome awesome so thank you Dr Brown Hall and the entire board for all of your support the UniFi program would not have grown to the point it is in this district and obviously I
005could say we're probably one of the strongest programs in all of section absolutely strong to be part of job thank you very much coaches thank you and especially our students thank you very much good to see you guys awesome awesome thank you very much and now we're about to see a video now too right Nick awesome thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] Unified sports is a way for our special ed students to participate in High School athletics today we had two of the Williams little teams laying each other so we had a pep assembly where all the students at North were able to attend and cheer on our athletes from the green and the gold team the purpose is to highlight unified Athletics and to show what these kids are capable of our athletes do a
006great job and our partners put them in great positions to be successful they really enjoy having a big crowd and it really amps everybody [Music] up are awesome feel like a winner with my winning team being with all my friends like a family yeah and getting Hoops having great friends and Team by your side that's what keeps me strong Unified sports brings all the students together in the school they learn a lot about helping each other and improving their basketball skills but also their friendship skills so much learning is happening going both ways to see everybody get really excited for the kids is something special I want them to see how unique it is to be a part unified it's a fun experience and I really enjoy it and I just want people to maybe
007do it in the [Applause] future it's exciting even though I don't get the shot sometimes it's exciting watching other people's faces when they get it in like like today example so today was it was a great game everybody had fun seeing my friends watched me it felt more exciting than usual it feels good it's our goal to have everybody make one basket every game it's so nice for everybody to be highlighted and to see that their whole school came out to support them for our kids they recognize more people's faces and are excited to see them you see kids high-fiving each other in the hall calling out each other's names it just is a lot more school integration it's one of the best experiences I've been a part of I have like the best time
008ever I think it's so fun it's such a great thing to be involved in everyone is Unified together and you work together it's just an amazing thing to be a part [Applause] of awesome thank you very much [Applause] thank thanks guys awesome thank you next our students continue to strategize conceptualize and engage in ways to enact change amongst their peers within our schools and Community challenge to change is a program that allows students to work together share insight and perspective and be agents of change this year all three Williamsville high schools got together at Damon University in the first of what will be many opportunities to work together I'd like to welcome Andrea ransi assistant principal at Williamsville South Kate Wendling assistant principle at WHSV North and Lisa aari Brown teacher at WHSV East along
009with students to share more about this [Music] endeavor thank you very much Dr Ron Hall good evening everyone we're really excited to be here with you tonight and to share with you um a little bit about what we're referring to as our try High challenge to change event um I would like to introduce you to some students who played an integral role in the event we'll be sharing a little bit about their experiences we have Jay Bush Gabby Rivera Lamar Ward annah Ramadan and uh Devin ruic um we really again would like to thank you for making this event possible um without you we wouldn't have had this wonderful opportunity for our students uh challenge to change started as an a regional event where Western New York school districts collaborated um with the University at
010Buffalo School of Social Work um The Summit provided an opportunity for students to engage in discussions centered around diversity inclusivity and increasing understanding across differences in schools this year's event centered around the theme of unity and action with the support of our keynote speaker Dr Javon Hunter and our Workshop facilitators AJ Rockwell who is a teacher candidate from Buffalo State University and will rascoff who's an English teacher and sources of strength adviser at Williamsville East High School um student leaders from each of our high school buildings explored issues that our students face in schools every day um and they came up with ways and things they can do to combat those issues really starting the following day but but looking into the years to come um our students courageously reflected on and shared their experiences
011and ID identified ways we can build a greater sense of belonging for all students um we really are proud of all they accomplished that day and look forward to what they'll accomplish in the future they came with open minds demonstrated courage authenticity empathy and a commitment to change and growth and with that I'll I'll pass it off to them to share a little bit about their experiences at the conference sure go ahead or Lamar you want to go first sure hello I'm Lamar wart from willville South um I just wanted to say that being a part of the challenge to change program it was really encouraging to be around like-minded people and really um intelligent adults that helped us spread like that sense of community throughout our school it seemed it seemed really um important
012and I feel like everybody there took that took that initiative to take back to our schools and spread that sense of community thank you hi I'm Jay Bush I'm from Williamsville North um when I went to the challenge to change thing it was it was a nice experience like he said being around people with um like minds but also um when I went there there was a lot of kids that like didn't look like me like we didn't look like we would be in the FR like in the same friend group and everything but then like once you got to like one of the big things about being at challenge to change was like perspective of how you view people and stuff like that and some of these people in there like I never really
013thought that I would ever like talk to them and stuff like that because like we don't have like similar friend groups but like nobody really knows what everybody's going through and like the views that everybody has and honestly when I got into a group with some of these kids that I really never thought I would talk to before like it kind of opened my like opened my mind because I was like wow like these people really aren't that much different from me and it's like I think what we could do a better job on is like including everybody and stuff like that and challenge to change really helped me like view that and stuff like that because now I'm friend with like a lot of more people because like I never really thought I would
014talk to them but like now I do so it was really nice to have that awesome hi hi um I'm anah Ramadan and I'm from Williamsville East um challenge to change was really amazing um it was really great to see it actually come to life and see the growth that we have from just like the small club that we started with and yeah I mean it was just amazing like it was just great the rotations that we had there were three rotations that we had and they were amazing like each person that spoke had a message that had to that they wanted to get to us and I think it really did get to us and it was the activities that came along with it made it also like interesting and intriguing to want to
015keep you know doing it and stuff like that things like that thank you thanks tonight hi um I just wanted to thank the district for providing us with the budget to be able to do something great like this we were able to have lunch and breakfast as well as the speakers the transportation and being able to have it off campus was really it was really great it made a really special day for us and I feel like seeing so many people who aren't active members of the club come together to like Embrace challenge to change really was really great to see to see so many people um come together and get to know each other and learn a little bit more about what we're trying to do within our schools every day thank you oh
016now we have the video As Leaders you possess empathy commitment authenticity flexibility and courage today you're going to be challenged you're going to be asked to look at yourself and those around you and to make a commitment to change change is hard but that's where the courage comes with you we will make this world a better place it's really important to know that everybody needs someone to be there for them and everybody needs support no matter how strong you are no matter how much you think you can do yourself it is also important to have Community there because like for me I know that just being able to have other people there Lifting me um as like inner as inner thoughts and feelings it was a lot harder to just have one person and you
017feel your own weight just kind of dragging you down but with other people there you can kind of disperse your where you can breathe you know and I think that is really important too is having that community and if even if it is friends or family or someone that is close to you even if it's your like parents and stuff like that it is super important because I think that like especially as us being teens we feel like we need to do things by ourselves and at least that's just for maybe that's just for me or that's for you um and I know that a lot of people do tend to like try to do things their own way and be independent but and I think that sometimes we have to stop and realize that
018we do need that support and we do need the community this is what Unity looks like as a right inner McKenzie is supported we all have our in own inner McKenzie right who will help the when she feels unheard unseen unappreciated who will help FY when we feel unheard unseen and unappreciated it was really really powerful to just feel supported and listed the overall thing that the aspect that we kind of focused on were the issues that we going on right now with our generation and just youth overall and then how to um resolve that and fix it so we talked about expressing our ideas and what we could do to help so we kind of talked about the beneficial um factors on what we could do about creating um ources of strength within our
019community and then we also talked about colle Collective action to create Unity within our community as well we can be seen when we acknowledge who we are when we take that place that we already have in our school community and that's what we want to try to empower other people to do we know from research that not only having a trusted adult in your school building is incredibly important as protective factors go but feeling a true sense of belonging is one of the most protective things to insulate our students from adversity and so trying to build that sense of community and belonging today by talking about our unique identities I think it's just a great opportunity to have this kind of trickle down its way into the buildings so we know that change happens when
020communities have shared goals and shared values and this is allow this allows students to see that we the adults in our district hear them value their voices and that they share commonalities among each other so sometimes we're adversaries on the sports field um or even the nisma competitions but here we're together we're all in it together uh hoping to shake the world into a better place awesome great things happening in the district Dr sing I turn it back over to you sure one more oh I'm sorry I have to turn the page I forgot I almost forgot and this is very important also so tonight we do have special recognition for many of our board members also who have received uh New York State School boards Association special design designation for level one to four
021of board achievement so the first certificate I'd like to give to our president Dr suut Singh congratulations we'll do pictures in a minute the next certificate is for total leadership development training totaling 75 points and that's for board member Moren pulin [Applause] um Dr Litman is not here this evening but I will acknowledge Him He also receive recognition for leadership development training totaling 75 points and last but not least we have recognition for our vice president who received leadership development opportunity points totaling 150 points so she has a board Excellence award and that's vice president criso casmer Bogner [Applause] so if we can assemble over here for a picture please board members e e e leave her hang all right Lynn see this is why I tell everybody we just I want to say thank
022you to our district clerk L keeps us on our toes thank [Applause] you all right now Dr sing I turn it back over to you and good luck to the unified team for the next game yeah they both one plays tomorrow and then they both play Thursday awesome maybe they'll be back at the next board meeting yeah I'll report back hey any any other board acknowledgements Mike uh I had an acknowledgement um kind of put my parent hat on here but uh about two weeks ago we were invited to Maple West uh Mr van SC second grade teacher Maple West have been doing this for years my oldest son got to do this unfortunately it was during covid so the parents couldn't come in but um you know he put a whole presentation together and
023email it to the parents but uh he does every year uh an animal research project and presentation where the kids in second grade actually write out a six to eight page uh paragraph essay I mean so at a young age in second grade they're learning how to write a research project they do a you know a Works sited page and what he does for those kids educationally but also you know socially to get them in front of a group of parents some that they don't know um and present it was incredible uh some of the kids you know I'll brag a little bit my son wasn't even reading the script and there there it's just the presentations were awesome the parents learned things that you know we didn't even know and um you know I
024I Mr van is an excellent teacher like the majority of our teachers in this district and it was just wonderful to see those presentations um so I wanted to recognize Mr van SC and maple West for what he does every year that is awesome the anal presentation so thank you I I just wanted to give a shout out to the administration of Williamsville North and the board for making Unified sports a priority in the district and making that pep rally happen because that takes a lot of work to get the whole school in the same place at the same time so I just want to give a shout out to the principal and and everybody else thank you I wanted to thank the whole team including our district clerk Lynn Cary for the very smooth
025annual District vote um I'm always amazed at how efficient everything is when you walk in there and then you have plenty of time to listen to the musical performances and see the amazing Student Art so just thank you to everyone that's involved in that setup okay uh moving on to public expression I have two people that have signed up I don't know if they're here Olivia Bell [Music] hello my name is Olivia Bell I am 17 years old and I am a student at the Williamsville District I attend school at Williamsville South High School and I am here today to bring up an issue that has surrounded much controversy for myself and my fellow classmates for the past few years the issue that I'm concerned about is the reading material we have access to in
026the library there are a few books that are very inappropriate for teenagers to read the first book I'd like to bring to your attention is called this book is gay written by Juno Dawson there's a specific chapter from the book that is called the ins and outs of gay sex here are a few of the quotes from the chapter that I hope can show you guys how perverted this book is and how un sane it is to have a school with minors and underage children just warning everybody they're really kind of graphic so I will try to make them as non-graphic as possible but I think youall might want to hear it perhaps the most important skill you will want to master as a gay or by man is the Timeless classic the hand job
027a good handle is all about the wrist action rub the head of his back and forth with your hand yeah another one oral sex is popping another dude's peen in your mouth mouth or indeed popping yours into his another one how do you know if you're a top or bottom it's easy the thought of having a big hard thing poked up your tush is arousing you're probably a bottom and I will get rid of one of these because one of these is a little much but I will tell you in one more the clitoris really does like being licked and kissed again girls can take it in turns to perform oral sex or feeling adventurous they can perform it at the same time me this is even written on here but me as a student
028seeing this is the most one of the most disappointing things I could ever see this is only one of the many books that has this type of language in it there are is another called the big S cleer sex and the language in that book is the exact same if not worse than the quotes I just read to you all that's why I didn't include any I have this picture this is me when I was 13 years old this is me this little girl who was so excited to go in high school as a senior leaving Williamsville South is hard for me to come to terms with the fact that the new incoming freshman of the class of 2028 will be able to get a hold of these disgustingly perverted materials at only 13 or
02914 years old as a very active member in my community with thousands of service hours of volunteer work under my belt and two medals for my academic success I think it is not only horrifying but evil to have this gross proper propaganda in any school my closing message to the board tonight is to not only exemplify how extraordinarily disappointed I am in not only the Williamsville District as a whole but also the educational board for not being more involved with the books and reading materials students are allowed to receive in a place of academic growth excellence and success thank you thank you for your comments I failed to read the instructions um prior to you did a great job Olivia but I just want to read this is um Katie Dunlop here before I continue
030no okay that was [Music] it okay thank you moving on to superintendent report Dr brall thank you very much Dr Singh so we have a few items this evening the first we will have a presentation from our director of social studies and Library Sciences Karen Greco and she will be reviewing our policy 8290 community service component of the particip participatory government course so there are some things we looked at I know last year this policy was brought before the board to allow students to have the entire school year to do their government hours as they're called so we are examining this policy again and director Greco has taking the lead on that so she's going to present to you where we're at at this point thank you Dr Dr Bron Hall good evening board members
031good evening just give me one second sorry um thank you for the opportunity for me to provide a brief update on community service in Williamsville in the next few minutes I will highlight information on the impact of the March 2023 revision to The Bard ofed policy 8290 it will share feedback from high school social studies teachers on community service provide information on the Seal of Civic Readiness program in Williamsville and share planned next steps in March of 2023 the board policy on community service was revised to allow students the school year to complete 20 hours of required service during the year in which they are enrolled in participation in government or its AP equivalent to gather feedback on the impact of the revision government teachers completed a Google form which indicated the number of students
032assigned in incomplete at the end of the first semester as a direct result of not completing the required service four students out of 169 districtwide received an incomplete as you can see from the slide most students completed the required hours while enrolled in participation in government but for those who did not and incomplete allowed them the remainder of the school year to complete their service government teachers also indicated the number of students entering the spring semester either partially or fully completing the service requirement out of 327 students districtwide 22 students completed the requirement at the start of the semester and in additional 130 students had completed some of the required hours as you can see from this information it is evident that having the school year for students to complete the service requirement has been
033beneficial collaborative dialogue on community service is ongoing with our high school social studies Department this includes team meetings department meetings administrative dialogue professional development anecdotal feedback from teachers as well as curriculum team work as recently as March of 2024 High School social studies teachers were asked to provide input on community service using a Google form um this feedback was shared with teachers and administrators and used as a discussion tool to reflect on service uh our Reflections include that most teachers in the department do believe that service is valuable for our high school students they also believe that the school year having the school year to meet the district required service hours has proved to be beneficial and most teachers believe that students should be afforded the summer preceding the school year in which they are
034enrolled in participation government or its AP equivalent in order to complete service and with the Imp implementation excuse me of an approved seal of Civic Readiness Plan a majority of our teachers support District service that is required for students moving along to the Seal of Civic Readiness um just as a reminder it's a formal recognition that a student has demonstrated um Civic knowledge skills mindsets and experiences necessary to become an actively engaged citizen the Seal of Civic Readiness is a distinction on a student's High School transcript and a diploma that shows that the students understanding of and commitment to participatory government civic responsibility and Civic values it provides universities and colleges with a method to recognize students for their attainment of an understanding of social studies skills and experiences um it demonstrates to universities colleges
035and future employers that students have earned the recognition for their civic knowledge skills and experiences and it also recognizes the value of Civic engagement and scholarship to school communities in our society at large in order to obtain the Seal of Civic Readiness a student must complete all of the requirements for a New York state local or regions diploma and also earn a total of six points uh with at least on the state's Matrix with at least two points in Civic knowledge and at least two points in civic participation the chart on the screen is a menu of options designed to allow allow for flexibility the chart is not to be used as a checklist it's necessary for a student to earn all to earn points in all of these categories um to I'm sorry in
036all of these categories to earn the seal however a student must earn at least again two points from the Civic side uh the knowledge side and two points from the participation and then two more points for a total of six points and while service is not required for students to earn the Seal of Civic Readiness completion of a service learning project while in high school with a minimum of 25 service hours and a reflective piece that could be an essay a presentation or a written reflection earns a student one point towards the required six points for the seal uh points for service can be earned multiple times um the criteria that has the estk next to it on both sides means that it can be earned multiple times but in regard to the Seal of
037Civic Readiness Williams ville's application to said will be submitted in the coming weeks with Ned's approval Williamsville will offer the Seal of Civic Readiness to students beginning next school year so as we move forward with our seal of Civic Readiness application and the board continues the review of policies we are working diligently to provide recommendations to assist in informing uh revision to policy 8290 a committee of representatives from each High School are work working to make these recommendations which will include recommendations for uh the required number of service hours continued association with a particular course so for example um is will it be the recommendation of the committee to continue on the association with the government course um time period for students completion of service be it during U the school year the entire year
038all of high school um we're not at that point yet but inclusion of a local distinction or tiered recognition for students completing more community service than what is required um but through all of this we are discussing ways to ensure continued voice in such recommendations and that is all I have this evening I appreciate your time and attention thank you thank you thank you very much Karen board member buan you have a question yeah I'm the history teacher and so this is I've watched a lot of these presentations and I think they're really good but I'm gonna ask a difficult question question outside of New York State what does that seal really get the kids like because the colleges and universities of New York state will know what it is but will Alabama will Nebraska
039will UCLA so many states throughout the country have a seal of Civic Readiness program and each of those programs are unique to the state in which it is offered so it's similar to a region diploma I mean it it really is dependent on uh where where a student is headed do you think it's worth it of course I do I absolutely do it allows our students to um show their passion for social studies to be an actively engaged citizen it allows them to give back to the school community in a variety of ways while also uh attesting to um the effort and time that they're putting forth to gain knowledge and experience in the social sciences thank you absolutely K great present thank you very much greatly appreciate it and we will update the board
040once we get more feedback we're working to make sure we're also elevating student voice which is part of the cr-s um education framework we want to make sure we get the student voice in there we'll be back to the board with what the rep recommendations are so thank you very much for that next we have 5B and that's a review of the code of conduct the code of conduct is actually in um the agenda for approval but assistant superintendent scano is going to um just us through our our process for um feedback thank you Dr Brown Hall um excited to talk to you about the code of conduct um here is a printed copy of it I think it looks amazing um I'd like to congratulate and thank uh the district Wellness committee for the
041um work that was put in to revamp and Revitalize our current code of conduct um really fulfilling one of the goals of the Strategic plan uh to update this code of conduct and have it reflect um some of the goals of a restor type piece and uh a theme to it um I think that um you know we uh we did a really nice job in making it an easy read I think students staff faculty um will enjoy reading this it's and it's a great go-to piece gives you a lot of insight about how things are are handled uh within buildings um from a procedural standpoint when it comes to um you know code of conduct and and students maybe not reaching the level of EX expectation in our buildings um we had our um
042uh public expression piece uh available for for for 30 days um we had 44 responses uh our district Wellness committee had uh enter we had a meeting uh we reviewed the uh categories of the uh of the responses they really came in like three different areas one was kind of like formatting and edit concerns that that that people saw which we had updated and made those changes as they were coming in um the other two areas one kind of really had to focus specifically on dress code there seem to be a lot of conversation about student dress primarily at the middle and high schools and um you know as opposed to kind of having um concrete or or documented examples of of what was appropriate or what's inappropriate um we we wanted to keep it
043where the buildings are gonna we had conversations that are are principal meetings about the enforcement of our dress code policy and what that looks like from a consistent y standpoint and empowering our staff um our faculty and staff to make those decisions about you know what would be what we we consider inappropriate um and um so that was another area and the other area I had to deal with um really just more of a a faculties from The Faculty perspective is being an essential partner with the code of conduct and ensuring you know some clarity on building relationships um making efforts to accommodate families promote participation to tier one Community circles and um you know it was It was kind of come to the the agreement that we were going to provide training in those
044areas uh to provide our staff with more of a uh an updated expectation of what what the restorative practices model looks like um we've been incorporating this since 2017 when we when we incorporated mindfulness in some of our community circles and that's all part of what restora of practices is but it's really about um you know empowering all of our our teachers to to be tier one intervention when it comes to just creating um um relationships with students that make them feel like the kids said here in our presentation welcome um make them feel like they have trusted adults that they can go to um and um you know and kind of you know help them in situations or in times where where maybe they're just not themselves just knowing that there's so many there
045to advocate for them and for those who really need additional supports um you know it's great that the teachers have the ability to to intervene and and and kind of uh maybe make other people known of these students who who maybe need additional supports like their social workers School psychologists or counselers uh to maybe reach out to these kids as well so having said that um extremely proud of of of the work that's done um on behalf of our committee which incorporates teachers Administration Board of Ed members community members and students um super proud of this uh code of conduct awesome thank you very much assistant superintendent skano are there any questions from board members awesome um item 5c is the annual District energy update and you can see that document is in board docs
046but our natural gas consumption and cost are down as well as our electricity consumption and cost so that report is in board docs under 5C and now we'll go on to the community update item 5D can you pull it up Nick a lot to discuss this month first and foremost thank you very much to our entire School Community our 2425 budget has passed along with our capital reserve fund establishing the new capital reserve fund and allowing us to use our additional capital reserve allocation for the elementary school air conditioning project so thank you very much for our entire School Community all three of those items passed and we want to congratulate our Board of Education members that will be continuing on the board our current president Dr swarup Singh our board member Morin Pand and
047we will have a new board member joining us July one for a three-year term and that is Miss Dawn Fletch so these are the three highest vote Getters and they will begin their three-year terms on July 1 congratulations last Friday we were um very very fortunate to have Governor Kathy hok VIs it she visited Williamsville East High School to meet with students and staff regarding social media and mental health so I want to thank our advisors of our different programs at Williamsville East Miss Lisa aaroi Brown is one of our advisors that was there with her challenge to change students and they were able to speak with the governor just about social media and mental health concerns so we were very fortunate to have that opportunity and again elevating student voice so we appreciate the
048governor for choosing Williamsville to visit to hear from our students on last Friday our cak update so cak is our special education advisory Council and this Council meets monthly and it really is to provide feedback and to get input on how we're advancing with the recommendations from the Western New York Education Service council's six Monon special ed review so at cak we were updated on the strategic planning team and they adopted the mission and vision statements we received input from Members about next year's goals we are able to hire two additional Behavior texts because of the reallocation of budget funding because we will not have that fourth self-contained class at Transit Middle School we updated the group on our director of special education interviews and we're very fortunate in our packet we do have a
049recommendation for the board to consider for our director of special education our fourth position and the district special education summer school program at high middle school and professional development opportunities over the summer for staff and EGS were also discussed so our administrator hiring process I sent out a message and I appreciate the Bor feedback the PTSA feedback just about um really demystifying what happens when we have administrator openings and we wanted to identify what our process was and that's why I have it here in the community update so anytime we either get a resignation or an administrator advances to another position we look to see if we're going to need an interim person to fill that position and if we do we actually look at the administrators we currently have in the district we conduct
050interviews for acting and then we place someone in acting position if it's necessary we then proceed with a job posting We assemble an interview committee they meet me to determine what questions will be asked and then we actually review every resume that we receive to figure out who will be invited to the round one interview to meet with the interview committee after the round one interviews take place we have candidates that are then Advanced to the second round interview and the second round interview is with myself and the entire leadership team the cabinet members then we select individuals that we will do reference checks upon after that a final decision is made that candidate is offered the position after approval from the board and then the Board of Education um approves and then we appoint
051that person to that position so we do have two individuals that will be considered by the board this evening for probationary positions and we're very excited about that I wanted to make sure that this was in the community update so anytime community members have questions about what the process looks like they're able to refer back to this school start times many of our community members know that this is is something that we've been looking at it's a multi-year goal we are very pleased to have the principal of South High School uh Keith bortman be the chair of this committee but it's really looking and examining the research on appropriate school start times for elementary middle and high school students so from the fall of 2023 to April 2024 they began the research Gathering and development
052April 2024 they began the transportation information gathering this month they're looking at the initial advisement and recommendations and over the summer we're preparing for focus groups now as soon as school starts back we will be holding our focus groups with parents students staff members October 2024 we will have our transportation plan development and final recommendations will be developed December of this year those recommendations will be brought to the board um either in December or January 2025 the board will consider the board will ask questions we will open it to a 30-day comment period and we will look for board approval after final consideration in February of 2025 then from February 2025 to August 2025 we will have our informational campaign and we have to start early because we know that scheduling is done very early
053in the spring for the following school year so this is our timeline when we are considering any changes that may need to take place to school start times based on the research of what the best start times are for our elementary middle and high school students we have our reging exam schedule in the community update just for ease of reference I won't go through every exam but they are all listed here so that if parents are wondering the exams are already posted and these are when they are being offered one of the highlights well many highlights during the school year but one of them as we end the school year is our senior memory walk and that will take place on Thursday June 20th um each memory walk will be recorded and shared through the
054district and school newsletters and social media channels what this allows is for our senior high school students to actually wear their cap and gown and go back to their elementary school so the teachers that gave them their Foundation can actually see them in their cap and gown as they walk through a senior parade through their elementary schools and it's so great because the elementary schools actually also call back retired teachers to take part of that day also so it's just exciting um and everyone loves it I can't tell you last year there are so many teachers and students that were crying it's an emotional day but it's very very exciting so that will be on Thursday June 20th we're very excited about that we have our summer school dates here and we've had this for
055the last three months of community update and we also have have our 2024 summer school website updated and available so elementary and middle is at Transit middle school high school will be at Williamsville East and special education summer school at Heim Middle School Heritage Hall at Maple East um this is very exciting I can't wait for Nick to show this video but Maple East had their unveiling and their ribbon cutting for their Heritage Hall so Nick can you run the video please the Heritage hallway is a result of a survey to our families and staff to ask which countries and languages were important to them when a you know a new family is coming into the building this is going to be one of the first hallways they see when they're going on a tour
056of the school so just knowing that you know their Heritage is going to be respected within this building I think goes a huge way to building that not only within the classroom but within our families at Maple East I feel proud because like you can see where I come from and like it just makes people feel more connected and like less separated Heritage helps us understand what their background might be and we might even share something with them like for example like me and him both share India and we be like other like a few other kids might share Italy for example I feel that's and maybe that might help them connect a little [Applause] more we've been an updating the display on a annual basis with information from new families so if there's a
057language not there or a country that's not there families will just be able to scan a QR code and we will add additional countries and add the languages as we get new languages coming into the school Heritage is important because it shows different beliefs and customs of the culture I'm unique because my parents come from the two different countries China and Mexico so when I look at this map I can I think about where they came from when a child walks through the hallway and say hey that's the language I speak at home and the student will say Mom and Dad I went to school I saw our language on the wall I think it's just something to reassure the students say hey the school recognizes your your culture your presence um so you know
058have have fun and know that things are going to be okay thank you very much well how great is that right how awesome is that and and that is actually the end of the community update but what a great segue in to item 5e our diversity equity and inclusion update presentation now I will say this I won't go through the entire document our Dei update and all the great things we're doing in our district that are align to our de strategic plan this is 36 pages long it it is a very long document but it shows you that Heritage Hall shows you exactly what we're doing in our district to make sure that we are appreciating the diversity in our school district we're looking at everything we do through Equitable lenss and we're making sure
059that our buildings are intentionally inviting and students have a sense of inclusivity when they walk into our buildings leading to a sense of belonging I will highlight just a few of the things um for example our goal of creating a diversity equity and inclusion culture in the district and schools so one of the things that we've done is we've building level Dei teams have been formed in all of our buildings and our meeting regularly and they come up with ideas like the Heritage Hall they're engaged in and supporting a variety of building level initiatives including but not limit to professional learning opportunities student assemblies with Dr Javon Hunter book studies for example belonging through a culture of dignity schoolwide ralog using diverse text challenge to change our cultural diversity clubs you all saw the challenge
060to change clubs here today we had that try High challenge to change um conference at Damon University collecting developing and or providing Dei resources to faculty conducting belonging surveys and analyzing results to inform future team goals so this entire document is full of what we're doing as a district to really reach our Dei goals not only that we will also be highlighting on each school's individ individual web page what those schools are doing that are unique to them that are in alignment with our Dei goals so again I can go there's so many great things in here but again it's 36 Pages it's already 8 o' and I know a lot of board members are like okay Dr Brown Hall we get it but there's a lot of great stuff in here so I encourage
061you all to please read where we're at on our diversity equity and inclusion updates okay and that is it for the superintendent report I know it's a lot but that is it thank you very much Dr sing I turn it back over to you well thank you Dr Bron for keeping it relatively [Laughter] [Applause] short uh mov on are there any committee members from the onboarding committee would like to comment on the report um yeah we actually have a presentation do you have that next up no um while he's getting that up sometimes it takes two or three years of Schoolboard service for a member to actually become knowledgeable and confident and be effective on the school board so part of this committee myself Moren pulin and Dr Carrie Spike Spicer felt um it was
062very crucial to ensure a smooth transition for our new school school board members um to have these specific items in place I can okay no problem I'm gonna keep reading that um so this equips new members with necessary Knowledge and Skills and fosters their understanding of their roles and responsibilities ultimately enabling them to make informed decisions that positively impact the educ education system and the L Community they serve so of these topics I won't read them all but um going through the the the bylaws um onboarding documents that Lynn will be providing to our new member um also what we have new on here is the mentorship program so what we're going to do is um have volunteers of who would like to me Mentor our new members and then the President and Vice President
063will decide on who will be mentoring our our new member in this case any questions on these items or our on boarding process or any comments yeah I'm just going to make a couple comments one um a lot of the things that were on that slide are things that have been going on an ongoing process in the past and we have to commend our excellent district clerk for um keeping all of us on track with so so many things and the wonderful job that she does in on boarding so the added piece of the mentorship is um a reinforcement basically of of that so that a a new Bo brand new board member without the alphabet soup knowledge that we gain very quickly as a board member as as background we'll have some reinforcement of
064somebody to readily go to to ask questions but also all when you presented with a whole bunch of information all at once it can be a little overwhelming and not really be have ready access to know when to grab it when you need it so that will be a part of the mentorship to help people negotiate that um and to reinforce some of those things at the appropriate time so report um in the board dos representatives from do we and that there's a question there since we are adding a piece to our what has been our practice of onboarding and we do have an onboarding policy um we're adding going to be add adding mentorship to that is that something that we need to at this time take a vote to approve of as a
065board and or do we need to add that into our board policy um do we need to review the board policy and how do those things all interface so that's kind of where we are without I'll make a motion to have that mentoring piece added to our onboarding policy second any discussion yeah I have a question what what do you define as mentorship I mean only because I'm you know I'm finishing my my first year on the board and it's so much to wrap your arms around you know I mean what is the goal what is the plan what is mentoring mean because it's an ongoing mentorship program I mean being in my first year I constantly ask the superintendent or Lynn or Nick or anybody on the board question so what does this mentorship
066mean what does it mean is it program is it uh have a person to go to we also have a detailed preparation of timelines and dates um that they'll be able to go to that Mentor with additional questions so there's more detail than than what was shown on these slides um but it will be spelled out in our boarding policy there's there's a a checklist of the mentor and the mentee will um meet at various points there'll be a kind of a structured process to meet at various points to hit points that are appropriate at that time so it's a checklist much like um Lynn has a checklist of the pre boarding stuff that she does prior to July 1 so this would be information going forward from July 1 on well I would like
067to see exactly what that checklist is before I vote on imple adopting it into a policy okay WR that and I'm not accusing anybody of doing anything nefarious but I think if we're GNA adopt something we should know exactly what we're adopting with the definition of mentorship and what the plan is I was just gonna offer Mark as the the new kid on the committee um a lot of this is as Moren said there is the checklist that that we get um it covers things that a new board member doesn't have access to before July 1 so you can have a conversation with an existing board member to cover some of these things so it really covers some of the the gaps in in the knowledge um so that you don't have to call three
068different people to get the answer but you'll be connected with one person to have that conversation may I ask a question how would it change the policy I think that might be beneficial for board members to actually see the policy policy and how will it change so is this motion to to actually consider policy change or is it to add it to the policy just to add the mentorship up portion to the policy that's I guess I I guess I would amend it that we may just need to look at the policy as a whole and see how mentorship fits in there um IC that might be your best because I believe that you know I I was in I was in a different situation I was elected I was sworn in the next day
069I was filling the unexpired term of a Teresa leather Barrel so you know nobody mentored me I know exactly the mentorship and I think that you know the me part of the mentorship program should be time with every board member especially the younger ones the newer ones who say you know I wish I knew this when I first started maybe pay a little more attention to this aspect and even the ones who've been on who are more senior to say this is my experience after year one uh how you grow and how you learn things so I I think mentorship is just not going to one person two person it's talking to everybody on the board because we all share the same experience but we come at it from from our own unique perspective and
070I think to share that through a one-on-one meeting uh is valuable to to both to to both sides and I think that would be encouraged and part of the makeup of the committee was also folks who had varying levels of experience on the board so you know that feedback was given that it would we could formally design this mentorship experience while also understanding that we would of course be talking to everybody as as questions came up it's just a it's it's a point person so somebody has the responsibility I think is the main piece there so I guess in this case we're just going to review the policy as opposed to making any changes now I I will make a motion to amend uh the amendment amend the motion to be a review of the
071onboarding policy with the intent to include mentorship as a component sounds good anyone seconding Christina second any discussion to on the amend to change to the amendment can we just table it for I'm just throwing was an option I mean just to make it cleaner for the for the minutes but that's you know it's your motion I'm willing to entertain it so we take a vote on it a vote as amended okay everyone in favor of the change to the amending the policy on onboarding all in favor X5 so it's one two three six in favor and any opposed two oppos Dr Litman is not here so do we need a group to look at that policy or uh yeah do we have any volunteers to review the policy do anyone okay Mr Mana Miss
072pen would the policy likely be tabled at the next meeting or we'll do it in jly we don't have much time between now and we only have two weeks till the next meeting yeah okay okay a policy will be tabled in July so any other discussion questions okay in board dos we have representatives from the vote for graduations listed are there any changes or additions uh are any additions or changes to the board members who are going to attend the graduations okay uh Sak the student Forum met with the board of education on Monday and um are there any board members who would like to talk about it I have to say I really enjoy those I think that's the one of the more important things we do as a board member because essentially we
073answer to the students that those are our although they don't vote for us with a majority they they are the most important people in the district because that's who we serve that's who we serve and their thoughts and ideas are are really important and I enjoy listening to them and sort of hashing out their ideas and concerns I I I enjoyed it also I think it was great and uh I think there should either be more of them or spend more time at those ones to really get into you know even to divide up some of those groups so a couple board members are talking to a smaller group instead of you know 30 students throwing questions out and each of us trying to answer but but any way you do it it's very valuable
074and I enjoyed it Miss yeah I I did submit a um Lon report as a lison to Sak so that is going to be available you know they talked to us about three topics and they they're very insightful in their um understanding of the topic and their willingness to put forth ideas of how to address it so I I always commend them for for that because we don't always get that um when we have Community forums um in in any of our other community Forum forat so that's that's a testament to them I know that as a Sak um leaz on I have mentioned the possibility of rather than doing it in the format that we have done it to um actually go to each of the high schools individually and meet with the students
075from each High School which might give us more access to more students and give give us a bro broader so that's some that we'll explore with Sak moving forward any other the comments okay upcoming building visit the last one is listed in boogs are there any changes or additions okay moving on items 6D through 6h 6D the policy committee meeting for the 8,000 policies met on May 22nd updates on these policies will be coming soon 6E and 6f ECB and nisba items are in board doogs Miss pling and I will be attending the ecsb awards dinner Miss blinger has a volunteered to coordinate the basket donation thank you uh newly elected B Don board member Don flesh will be attending the mandated trainings through ecsb starting tonight June 1st June 11th and June 15th thank
076you all board members who volunteered time to ecasv committees under nisbah Miss pul and Mrs kasmar Bogner will be attending leadership in education event July 19th and 20th is anyone else interested in attending is this the one in Albany yes okay I guess not I'll see there okay the artificial intelligence a new frontier for school district policy was held on May 8th and 2024 nispa enacted state budget analysis was held on May 25th would any board member would like to comment on these presentations Chris sure just briefly uh the AI they provided a nisba sample policy for districts to consider as they're looking at how they would like to implement generative AI in schools both within uh staff in faculty use and within student use um and one of the speakers really talked about the
077advantage of using generative AI as a teaching tool and preparing students for the world that they will inherent which will likely include generative AI so I know our district is looking at this I believe it may be part of one of our committees that's already in process is that correct well I know well and it's not Dr Balan is leading a team of District administrators and teachers looking at AI per um so they they're doing a lot of work on that wonderful so so I just uh as a resource if if as the committee looks at it it may be helpful to look at the nbus policy thanks thank you um any other questions or comments regarding other ECB or nispa items six under board leason assignments does anyone have to report under leason assignments
078uh there's only actually one meeting left after this for this school year so thanks to all the board members covering building and committee assignments and Reporting on these meetings and in correspondence we have questions on budget cell phone policy and AI in the last month moving on to agenda items 8 through 12 the vote results minutes Personnel business and finance and exceptional education special needs and Student Activities may have a motion to approve the agenda items 8 through 12 has presented Mr Mana M Bogner any discussion all in favor the motion carries unanimously congratulations and welcome to newly appointed director of special education Christine b uh so thank you I just wanted uh to thank all of you for your time and effort exps uh in the interview process I can confirm what was up
079there is actually what happened that was the process I did go through as a new admin but I'm incredibly honored uh and excited to be joining uh the Williamsville Central School District it was a pleasure to listen to everything discussed here tonight uh unified the the community um everything that that this board and that this community is doing to really make everybody feel included and inclusive uh and as a director of special ed that is near and dear to my heart so uh everything here just really rang true uh with what I'm hoping to add to and be part of in the district so I appreciate and thank everybody for their their time and consideration thank you you very much welcome next one first and uh also congratulations and welcome to the newly appointed principal
080of casy Middle School Dr salvator curella how is [Applause] thank you uh good evening I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Brown Hall and the board of education for appointing me to the next principal of Casey Middle School this is an incredible honor and I'm truly excited for this opportunity I've been deeply privileged for over the last two months to work alongside the incredible teachers and staff of Casey Middle School I'm thrilled that we get to continue these collaborative efforts building a dynamic School Community where every student could Thrive academically social and emotionally thank you once again for this opportunity I couldn't be more proud to call Casey Middle School my new new home in this great District thank you [Music] [Applause] again e e at this moment I would like to thank
081the following retirees for the service to the district Mary jasica clerk typist High Middle School 17 years George subba laborer Maple East for 25 years of service thank you [Applause] policy updates is there a motion to take policy 1640 from the table for a second reading and adoption Mr Manor Miss beckinger is uh any discussion uh all in favor motion carries unanimously may I have a motion for the second reading and Adoption of policy in 1640 as presented tibul any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously may have a motion and to approve and adopt the code of conduct has presented M ban Mr gulan any discussion all in [Music] favor um motion carries unanimously moving on the committee of the whole um Mr man do you want to well I think there was some
082information shared by Mr Kelly um and I think uh vice president casir Bogner had a question did you want to follow up with that or we uh we did receive information about that did you did you see the information yeah uh and I had a question just about the amounts for level C versus level B which were sent to us now so my question has been answered so just you know because I'm not good in math so so you're saying that the uh I think in your letter you said that the somebody paying a non veteran with a $250,000 assessed value would pay $2.50 additional that's correct I mean assuming allers work out and that's what it look so what would the veteran save let's say let's say right now it's a 20 if they
083have a disability um and they're right now it's $20,000 uh exemption and we increase that $10,000 what additional do they save with that 10,000 I'm assuming if the our assessed value is $11 and some change per thousand it's just that $10,000 additional that they save so $ up to that amount I think up to that based on the assessment of their value of their house yes okay okay so the um if I I the board will have to vote now as committee the whole to make sure we have it on the next board um agenda and so if the board wishes to do that then we will begin the process it will require a public hearing and then a resolution okay well you're so for the July meeting the June meeting the June meeting yeah
084yes yes so we have a resolution for the June meeting which will go for public comment there'll be a public hearing at the June meeting okay got it I just have one question so with new assessments that happen in ammer which included Williamsville so the average house is around 400,000 now so you're looking at $4 more per per home give or take I know you can't be that's estimate estimate okay and just wanted to double check that was just right right and that that's all that's always the the the art of doing these you know exemptions that you know you're you're cost shifting um somebody's paying less and somebody's paying more and the I think you know responsible elected officials public servants who have to monitor what taxpayers pay or in charge of it uh
085to some extent you know I think the veterans you know especially in this day and age uh to save a few dollars a year it's not a burden on the non veterans and that's always the the the thing you got to look at how much are we shifting onto a group who's now going to pay more and in this respect a couple dollars a year I think is is inconsequential for the benefit that it gives uh the veterans who receive this benefit in my opinion well I have a couple of questions um what one is um do we know at what level the town of urst for instance is um are they a level a b or c gu we the only thing we have I'm sorry no go ahead thing we have are the
086other school districts and um we don't have the town of Amherst no we have the other school districts and the other school districts are at various levels yeah right we've been at C for how long now since 2015 that's when it was implemented was we started at C okay I I I I W say I'm positive but I believe ammer is B is B yeah I'm not am School District No Amer town oh the town okay I'm not 100% positive but I'm okay I think um I'm sorry um it would be nice if the board does vote to add this to the next agenda to have some examples so so that the community has a good understanding of how little it is going to impact their tax bill and also so we as a board
087have a better understanding what I know that these discounts are um or tax exemptions are up to a maximum uh cost but I don't think any of us understand exactly how that is calculated for the veterans and it's probably very complicated but any uh any additional information that we can have regarding that would probably be helpful as we make this decision and also so as the public will be have a public hearing so that they can have a better understanding then what we'll do is we will actually have it uh present it we'll put it in board docs and then have it presented before the public hearing so that everyone is speaking um not on fragile knowledge with all the information they have I think that would be best to your point but um I
088think also to Mr mana's Point having reviewed this since 2015 um realizing and looking at the numbers and what veterans have contributed and making sure that individuals know the minimal amount that will be placed on their increased um tax bill I think that's important for them to know also so thank you very much for all of that that and that's why I wanted to add with the new assessments and what homes are valued around here it's correct still not an outrageous right you know piece corre million dollar house is gonna pay $10 $10 yeah it's just it's you know i' like I know million dollar house I don't either either no but that's why I asked it that way definitely and I appreciate that and it's important that we have the public hearing so we
089can hear from the public so that's very important so thank you very much for all of that I think Dr Singh now you'll look for a vote to see who would like it on the I mean all in favor of bringing this item to an agenda item for the next meeting okay motion I'll make second [Music] all right backwards yeah okay M ahead item numbers 15 through 17 there are no matters under to discuss under instruction District facilities and legislative matters second public hearing is anyone signed up okay anyone for a second public expression does anyone want want to address the board okay I have a few things to say our next meeting and the last meeting for this Academic Year is on June 11th and the organizational board meeting will be held on July
0902nd may have a motion tojin the regular board meeting Dr Kerry and Mr scalian all in favor motion carries unanimously that was fine thank you thank you board m