001okay okay good evening everyone uh may I have a motion to return to regular board meeting to public [Music] session and all in favor the motion carries unanimously I call a regular board meeting to order all board members are present except Dr Litman Mr Mano would you lead the board in the pledge of allegiance to the flagge of allegiance to flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it one nation under godice [Music] please be advised that in event of fire emergency and an evacuation should be necessary and alarm will sound please note all emergency 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 um recognition Dr Brown absolutely thank you very oh no
002oh no hey tonight our school Spotlight takes us to Maple East Elementary School each morning throughout the year faculty staff and students begin with a morning meeting an opportunity to welcome listen and learn and have a positive start to the school day I'd now like to welcome Prince pool extraordinaire Dr Bill Bowen to share more about this initiative thank you very much Dr Brown Hall and good evening to our school board members is my pleasure here tonight to to be here tonight to share with you some information about our morning meetings that take place at Maple East morning meeting happens every single day in every classroom K to four across our school it's a very important morning ritual for the first 10 to 15 minutes of the school day it includes four different components greeting
003where kids greet each other and the teacher and the teacher has a chance to greet them in a positive warm and welcoming way a sharing activity where kids can share events things that are going on happenings uh in a supportive and caring environment a group activity which is a fun Energizer for kids to start the school day and then the morning message where the teacher transitions into the academic day uh there's a number of purposes for the morning meeting it sets a positive tone for all kids every single day when they walk into the classroom it gives gives kids a voice kids feel respected and heard every morning in our classrooms it builds classroom community and it allows us to Target important seal skills every single day morning meeting has truly transformed the culture of
004our classrooms in schools and we hope you enjoy highlights from our morning meetings at Maple East tonight thank you very much thank [Music] you the purp of the morning meeting is to build a safe and trustworthy environment it encourages the students to get to know each other to trust each other um it also is a way that we can have social emotional learning on a daily basis good morning friends today we're going to start our morning Circle the morning meeting has four parts to it the first is greeting that's where all the students will greet each other the second is sharing this is where they're going to share something maybe about themselves and then they'll do a group activity this encourages inclusion cooperation and then the final part is the morning message do you think
005that quizzing each other on our spelling words helps us become better spellers yes it builds our class community and our class culture brings us together like a little class family um and it helps everyone kind of get into the mood of the day and and everyone's always laughing and smiling I see the biggest change in them um just their demeanor with each other they care they do listen so well to each other that It ultimately helps them be more caring individuals our activity plays a huge role in our morning meeting it gets the kids up and moving three two one go ahead we all love playing night in the museum everybody stands like a statue and if the night guard catches you moving then you get out it's just like a good way to start
006the day and I think it's just like the way that we Bond because we always like talk and stuff about it I think the kids are G ging a connection with each other building that classroom Community a positive Community where they feel safe to learn where they feel safe to share with each other morning meeting really helps to build a rapport with our students they seem to be more connected with me they seem to be more connected with each other and it's a fun friendly and a really powerful way to get each day off to a great start all of our classrooms now begin their day with a morning meeting who do you see I see miles looking at me morning meeting has had such a tremendous impact on our school culture and climate kids
007have a voice in the classroom they feel respected they feel heard it also builds important seal skills and competencies on a daily basis kids get off to a positive start and we've seen the benefits in our teachers students and staff on a daily [Music] basis that was awesome thank you again thing I turn it back over to you thank you I any board acknowledgements oh yeah I have one this evening a rather sad one we had a long time wiv employee pass away or she was a lunch lady Aid at will South Mrs chernick and I just wanted to express our condolences from the board in the district thank you thank you uh the next item is public expression I call on Miss blacker to review a public expression format welcome to all who have
008come to observe this regular board meeting for policy 1510 the board allows up to 30 minutes of public comment a time when we invite members of our school Community to share ideas opinions and concerns with us while we are here to listen carefully we take your concerns seriously public comment is not designed to be a discussion therefore please do not expect us to respond tonight instead you will receive a response by email after our meeting because we want to maintain mutual respect and civility please ensure that comments are delivered in a respectful manner to the board directly also under state and federal privacy laws we are unable to entertain any comments related to employee Personnel information or any topic that may disclose information about a particular student on these matters we ask that you go
009through the appropriate administrative channels please note that individuals are required to sign up prior to our meeting and each speaker is allotted three minutes for comments you'll be signaled at two and a half minutes so that you may conclude a remarks at this time we will begin public comments after I call on you please step up to the podium and state your name first one here is Jenny Sandell hi my name is Jenny Sandell my son is a third grader at Dodge Elementary and I have a younger son who will be entering kindergarten in the fall of 2024 my husband and I chose to open en roll our sun of Dodge in 2020 and have eagerly been awaiting next year when our youngest gets to join his big brother over the past four years we
010have fully invested ourselves at Dodge actively involved as a partner in my child schooling I've been volunteering as a room mom supporting school events and most importantly building strong relationships with my children's peers and the staff this is important as my third grador thrives on strong bonds and structure the open collaborative relationship I have with the teachers have resulted in a successful kindergarten to third grade academic and social emotional experience however the recent news of removing open enrollment at Dodge for their younger siblings has put in undue hardship on our family there are only a couple options available for my family and others in the similar situation my first option is enrolling my youngest incoming kindergartener for 2024 in our home school him Elementary and keeping my current Dodger at Dodge this is a problem
011is having a separate having to separate my children into two different elementary schools is not an option for my family the only other choice is pulling my oldest out of Dodge and enrolling them both at him Elementary for next year I have serious concerns about changing schools for my oldest as it could result in behavioral issues schooling difficulties and negatively negatively impact his social emotional and overall mental health sadly we would also lose our Dodge family and the meaningful relationships that have supported both of my boys growth my youngest son has been overly excited to officially become a Dodger although I'm pretty sure he considers himself already a part of the school for how much we are there my oldest has shared his emotions with me regarding possibly having to leave Dodge and I can
012tell it's weighing really heavily on him please consider the families that currently have open enrolled children and their younger siblings there are five incoming kindergarteners in the fall of 2024 that should be joining their older brothers and sisters at Dodge we're hoping for something that can accommodate us allowing us to have them grandfathered in to the school in 2020 due to the pandemic our children were subject to more changes than any child should ever have to handle and it lasted longer than any of us has imagined would have imagined as our children emerge and recover from that time I ask that you revisit this decision on a personal level and realize they've been through enough thank you for your time thank you you Sally Hearn good evening good evening my name is Keith I will
013be speaking on behalf of Sally but uh Sally's writing um concerning School excuse me the Williamsville Central School District's decision to close open enrollment to the siblings of children uh who currently attend Dodge Elementary School she understands that like many situations this is a complex problem that requires open and respectful communication I'm grateful to each of you that's taken the time to hear my concerns as I attempt to advocate for my family friends and Community regarding this matter excuse me first I'd like to assure you that I am in the belief that elementary schools in the Williamsville are very reputable institutions staffed with highly qualified teachers capable of delivering a quality education I know not all school districts can boast of this and are grateful to live in the area that uh provides a rigorous
014education regardless of one's street address however I chose to open enroll my children at Dodge not because of a superior education but rather because it was a place that championed the community having recently moved to the state and not knowing a soul I valued the various ways that the staff at Dodge included my shy tentative children into their school family and despite prevailing covid regulations my child was seen valued and through various classroom and schoolwide incentives felt he was very truly a part of the most dynamic school on the planet at Dodge like-minded individuals work together to foster a community that Embraces kids with open arms regardless of their individual needs or the adverse childhood experiences they may carry Dodge's desire to establish Lish Community was particularly Paramount to me as I have had the
015privilege of being a foster parent to dozens of children over the past several years the children that I've been entrusted to my care are truly remarkable not only in their strength and resilience but also with respect to their unique trauma and their various social emotional and developmental needs having taught prior special education before coming before becoming a foster parent it was great comfort to me to know that the children in my care would received both academic instruction and emotional support from qualified individuals who had previously established relationship with my family this known made welcoming children with exceptionable needs into my care much less frightening in a world of unknowns I knew my children's team and more importantly they knew and cared for my children on a similar note the friendships formed with Dodge parents assured
016me that unique needs of all children in my care would be met with kindness and empathy that comes from time spent in proximity and relationship with one another my foster children made friends at Dodge at the Events book fairs festivals Field Days school plays and Dodge dashes as well as countless hours spent on the playground after school over the years my racially diverse foster children some of whom are now adopted children made friends with other kids who looked like them who shared similar life experiences as and sorry thank you thank you Cindy preci good evening my name is Cindy P Casas and I want to express my heartfelt concerns regarding the potential removal of open enrollment opportunities for siblings of existing DOD elementary students I'm I am a mother of two children Sebastian a thriving
017third grader a Dodge and Amelia and excited soon to be kindergartener eager to join her brother we moved from New York City three years ago and chose to open and roll my son at Dodge since he was only receiving virtual class classes due to the pandemic at that point he was also receiving speech and occupational therapies last year he grad he graduated from both we cannot thank enough all the teachers therapists and staff in general for all the support we receive the collaborative partnership we have built has yield remarkable results for Sebastian both academically and socially we don't want to separate our children or disrupt Sebastian stability by switching schools we want to continue being part of the invaluable Dutch family that has become instrumental in the growth and happiness of both of our children
018thank you for taking the time to consider our perspective we sincerely hope you will find a solution that acknowledges the needs of the families who have put Faith in Dutch Elementary School and allow our young children to experience the same nurturing environment their siblings already enjoy thank you thank you Linda gacher no no Linda here oh okay okay Danielle or Colin Hastings hi my name is Danielle Hastings I currently have three daughters attending Dodge Elementary School and I have a son who was set to enter kindergarten in the 2025 26 school year and another daughter later who will enter in the 2028 29 school year um so though the board's current decision to stop open enrollment at Dodge does not affect my family this coming school year I cannot just sit back wait and Hope
019we enrolled our oldest daughter at Dodge for the 2020 school year and have subsequently open enrolled our children each applicable year thereafter we chose to open and roll a Dodge for a few reasons one Dodge's reputation my niece and nephews have attended Dodge Elementary so we knew from their experience how truly Dynamic Dodge is also many of my neighbors um who we have come to know have informed me that their older children were open enrolled at Dodge as well number two location plain and simple Dodge is the closest elementary school to our home I can leave my house and arrive at the Dodge rout the Dodge Road School Entrance four minutes later and this makes for much smoother mornings and afternoons number three continuity of peer group if my children did attend our home Elementary
020School most students at that school go on to attend Transit Middle School my children will be attending Casey Middle School which is just a block away from our home it's important to me that my children transition from one school to the next with core friendships intact over the past four years we have had a wonderful experience at Dodge and are fully invested to continue that experience with all of our children our family has developed close relationships with our children's teachers all my currently enrolled daughters have had the same teachers for each grade and we hope to continue that their teachers already know and are looking forward to the rest of the Hasting children coming up the ranks through their classrooms I'm certain there are other families that feel the same when I open enrolled my
021oldest daughter at Dodge I honestly never thought for a moment that her siblings would be denied the privilege to also attend I was unaware it was a decision made by the board on a yearly basis or that families were not guaranteed access for all children if the board does not Grant siblings the ability to open en roll where their older siblings are already attending I'm afraid the only option for my family is to pull my other children out of Dodge as well while this would be heartbreaking for me after the close amiable working relationships that I have formed with their teachers at Dodge I worry more for the effect it will have on the emotional well-being of my children my children are already prone to anxiety and worry and a move to a new school
022in the middle of their Elementary careers would be very taxing on them it would likely negatively impact their mental emotional health causing distress that may lead to poor academic performance behavioral problems and just overall sadness when discussing this as a potential future possibility to them they are very upset and are already worrying about it according to the school office there are approximately 15 families total at Dodge that will be affected by this board's current decision to not allow Dodge to open en roll I'm asking that you please consider accommodating my family and the other families that this Effects by granting access to Dodge Elementary for the siblings of those students who are currently attending the school this set of school children are those who are deeply ected by Co and its impact on the beginning
023of their school careers they are in the core of their developmental years that will shape them emotionally for their teenage and adult years ahead they have had one major upheaval in their young lives already and I hope that you reconsider your decision thank you for your time and consideration thank you and last we have Brienne artiz [Music] hello my name my name is Bri Aris and my daughter is currently open rolled at Dodge Elementary School I say currently because as you all know of all of us talking to you that um next year we've been told that that is not the case and I currently have my four-year-old son who would not be allowed to attend kindergarten next year the same school as his sister this news is extremely upsetting as my family has spent
024countless hours forming a beautiful community at Dodge not to mention that location wise Dodges down the street and Country Parkway is a 15-minute logger drive time we are active members in our Dodge Community as demonstrated by having joined the PTA volunteering at the after hour school events volunteering in the classroom as room helpers and providing free Z beanie activities which is a music and movement class I teach for students at Dodge we have worked very hard to establish roots and be active participants in our school community and we are so thankful to have forged the friendships that we have during this time my my children are mixed race and attend school in a district that is composed primarily of people who look very much like me um in an effort to ensure that my children
025have friends that look like me and look like my husband we have intentionally built relationships with a wide community of diverse families these friendships have been wonderful for both the parents and the children however like all good things forming Community takes intentionality effort and most of all time starting over at a brand new school will be devastating the relationships we've established at Dodge will continue of course but will be lessened and that we will see the friends occasionally as opposed to daily um my children like many children are Co kids to un necessarily disrupt their learning environment and their socialization yet again seems cruel from my financial standpoint relocating to another school district will be devastating as I provide after hours care for students from Dodge whose parents work full-time moving to another school will
026not allow me to provide these services with the people that I have forged a relationship with I know it may not seem like a major disruption to you but to be perfectly honest this doesn't affect you in the same way it will affect my children it will impact their education it will interrupt their socialization it will disrupt their sense of integration and more than anything it will make them feel isolated lonely and not valued but they are valuable their voice does matter I tell my children this every day and I'm here today because despite an overarching cynical sense of dread I still believe that advocating for the betterment of those who are marginalized does make a difference just like I tell my daughter when she's learning how to write a persuasive paragraph so please please
027Recons your take time to think about the various ways this decision disrupts our children's education impacts our financial situations and teaches our kids about the power of advocating for what's right thank you so much for your time thank you is that here thank you for taking the time to address the board at this time we will have a district share decision making team report Dr BR thank you very much so the report is actually in board docs it's not a formal presentation of the report but I do want to take this time to thank our new chairperson of the district Sheriff decision team making Beth and diado MC Phillips um from country Parkway so she has stepped up and she is the new chairperson of the district share decision-making team and her statement is what
028we have in item 4B in board dos and some of the highlights she explains every month each of our 13 schools School shared decision-making teams meet to set and ex execute goals for student learning and growth it is the district's team's responsibility to support the efforts of our building teams and ensure they are following New York state regulations for the shared decision-making progress process in doing so the district team maintains a web page providing information to the building teams and Community stakeholders and the district team reviews the school based teams reports to make sure they're in line with what is necessary to be in those reports um so her statement is item 4B and board ducks and we are um definitely in compliance with what we need to thank you Dr Bron Hong the next
029item is the budget development presentation Dr Brown Hall and Mr matusi um at this time I also want to publicly thank Tom matki for returning to be our interim assistant superintendent of finance and Management Services so I'll turn it over to Tom okay thanks Dr brownall uh at this time I want to uh provide both the Board of Education and our community with uh some initial information we have on the development of our budget so each January um we begin our budget process in Earnest and one of the things that we start with is uh this type of report which shows uh the starting budget it it's referenced in this situation it's called program continuation which um on this particular report it's items that we would need to increase in our current budget in order
030to sustain our current programs uh you'll see that it's done in two categories one on the left is going to be uh what we're doing for the next fiscal year the 2425 year and then there's a look ahead just so that everyone can understand that not every expense carries over all the time and I'll talk about that a little bit um in in the future here uh the other thing I just want to mention is that the expenses are categorized by either being mandated contractual inflation driven or to support program so those are your uh your categorizations so just to go over the items uh the one thing I want to start with most of these are related to General items we have on an ongoing basis um total employee salaries for all of our
031contractual agreements uh for this coming uh fiscal year 2425 again we're looking at a 3,766 128 increase um we have some additional Social Security payments or FICA that would be included uh as a result of those salary increases of $352,000 and then health insurance we have a larger number $ 4,782 23 and I want to just reference the fact that we are self-insured um and there are really two major plans the district and our employees um are covered by one plan our teachers have another plan which we are required to also help fund um as a result of those two plans they're all experience-based so what that means is we're paying the actual expenses every year on what are incurred so this particular year and in the past year we've had some higher expenses in
032this area so you can see that the increase that's showing is a little bit of a um a range um 8.84% to 22% that's due to the fact that we've got a couple different plans here and that the the expenses um uh have changed within those plans so again that's a larger increase than what we normally would expect uh going forward um we have our um Board of Cooperative Educational Services bosis a planning number here of $725,000 that can support everything from student programs direct student programs occupational education programs as well as administrative items that support our district everything from technology to buying um instructional software uh and then go moving down I have listed their bus transportation uh this number is also larger this year $1,585 700 and again uh this is going to
033be the 2425 year the first year of our new contract with student transportation of America it's a five-year agreement um and then again you'll see how that decreases in the subsequent years and then lastly there's a cyber security increase of $250,000 and essentially we're um in we're purchasing additional soft Ware enhancements that protect us from cyber threats uh it ranges from different softwares to using Consultants to making sure our systems are going to be um more threat resistant so in total for the program continuation expenses uh it's 10,697 551 that's a 4.79% increase and just looking at that right side what would be going out to the 25 26 year the only thing I want want to point out is that you're seeing um the salary and benefit pieces being about the same um health
034insurance goes down significantly again that's based upon some projections in working with our health insurance consultant uh and then you're seeing B's about the same and a significant decrease in the uh bus transportation line we should level off in the following year and at this point we can't make a decision on whether or not there will be a cyber security increase or not um moving to the next piece is what we would say our program enhancements um and so in this situation our special education area this the study that's been ongoing working with our special ed education dep Department um has determined that there will be at least at this point in time two additional self-contained special education classes um at the high school and one at the elementary school so that's 279,000 $135 that
035process is still ongoing so there may be changes in that as well as the previous information I shared as we go through the budget development process so again if you were only looking at that as a percentage of our total budget it's a almost a tenth of a percent so looking at the totals here um what we're looking at is a total increase in January for a working budget of 10,976 68 6 which is a 4.91% increase and that provides a total working budget amount of 234 m364 689 and then again looking forward to what we're going to be seeing uh really in the February meeting um that's when we should have our information on revenues we will be getting the report from the governor very shortly uh likely uh later this week which will
036give us some estimated state aid information information we will also have information on our other revenues our sales tax and all the other revenues that we add into each budget to balance out on the expenditure side um and we will also have the tax cap calculation which will tell us what the maximum amount of our tax levy can be in uh the two4 2425 budget thank you very much Mr matki President Singh I turn it back over to you um any questions well going on to the next item it's um repair Reserve proposals Dr Bron Hall and I turn it back to you and then we're going to turn it right over to our assistant superintendent of Finance for the repair reserve and these items um just for the public is item 5A in board
037docs so Dr Brown Hall um each year we do the repair Reserve uh hearing and this has become extremely valuable to our district uh it upkeeps our facilities it actually minimizes future expenses because we're taking care of things um on an ongoing basis and doing some major repairs rather than letting those go and then it cost us a lot more um in future years through capital projects uh so in this year the repair Reserve what we're looking to request approval for is a not to exceed amount not to exceed of $950,000 for the work I'm going to describe um initially we're going to look at doing the refinishing of the North High School gym and with that we'll be repainting the ceiling uh also if you look at what we have done with the music
038Edition and you look at that top part the white uh part which we call pre-cast it's very white and if you look at the pre-cast around the building it's not so white so we're going to do a get a cleaner out there to clean the rest of the building so again it it makes the appearance of that building look better and it also preserves the pre-cast from the mold and other things that could happen underneath it additional to that um we're going to look at relighting the Capa that is over in um uh South High School it's a historic piece of our of our whole District as well as the Williamsville um itself and so we're looking to do a relighting of that and then replace the broken sidewalks that are in front of it
039now it's not a complete sidewalk repair but if you walked through that sidewalks in the front of the building especially more toward the Western end you'll see that they're cracked they're old we're going to replace those uh we're also going to do some work at Mill Middle School some of you may remember last uh 22 um the winter recess the whole storm that we had we had a pipe burst in the seawing at mil middle and so we are going to we temporarily put carpet in there we're going to take care of that through the repair Reserve that requires the carpet to be brought up and that's um asbestos related tile so all those tiles are going to have to be abated and then we'll put new tile in those areas Transit midle School we're
040going to replace their emergency generator that generator is over 10 years old and um it has had some issues when it has been called upon to um to be used so uh we don't want to take any chances with that we're going to replace that and then lastly here we're looking at replacing the chiller um here at casc middle school and that will be um part of this this service as well um and you can see uh if you look at the agenda item there's also a fee that we pay one architect to do all the design all the management of this and that's estimated at $40,000 so again all this work would be bit out uh it's not to exceed $950,000 and then the last thing I'll just note is what is the total
041value what is the amount we have in our capital reserve or our repair Reserve it's 5,259 687 so there's definitely funding there to support these items I have a question Mr mki where did you come up with that $950,000 uh it's done through estimating the cost of all those items then we add a little bit into on top of that for change orders which may happen um but usually we underspend that but we would rather have a little bit more in the not to exceed than to um than to have it under and then we can't do something my next question was if it exceeded the 950 then what would you cut projects out or just come to the board and ask for more money no we would likely reduce the the the scope in
042that particular year correct uh any other questions okay we will now have our public hearing for the proposed repair Reserve projects only I request anyone wishing to address the board regarding the proposals may go to the podium and sign in at this time okay moving on we will be approving this repair Reserve projects in agenda item 14b later in the meeting for the well Dr brall I turn it over to you for agenda items 6A and 6B me again great thank you so if Mr filipowski can please put up the community update we have um some updates for our community what I do want to say first is I know um by board policy we do not address the speakers but as part of the Community update I will let the community know that the
043board has asked us to look at the numbers for students who will be siblings entering Dodge Elementary School in the fall in kindergarten and so assistant superintendent skano has provided us those numbers so we will compare those to the census numbers to the report that we received on enrollment from the red group and see going forward what that will look like all right so the board has asked myself and Senior leadership to do that and um we just make that part of the community update not responding to speakers got it board members got it awesome so the first update we have our superintendent 2024 speaker series back all of our speaker series events will be virtual this year and I've been attending PTA and PTSA meetings across the district I know I saw board member
044blinger at the Mill Middle School PTSA meeting last night I saw board member um Carrie Spicer at the South High School PTSA meeting the other night and so we had our topics for our speaker series I just didn't have the actual dates so now we have the dates listed here for our speaker series in the spring so understanding your middle level child will be held on Tuesday January 23rd what to do when your child is struggling and school will be held on Thursday February 29th and enhancing student learning through instructional technology will be held on Monday March 11th so all of the dates are here our executive director of communications Mr Nick filipowski will be sending out the official announcement for the speaker series and the advertisement so families can register to be a part
045of these speaker series again they will all be virtual and they will all be from 6 PM to 7 pm Sak with the Board of Education Sak stands for the superintendence inter High advisory Council so I want to thank our board members that spent Monday morning meeting with students from North South and East High School the superintendent's inter High advisory Council actually surveyed their classmates to see what topics they would like to discuss with the Board of Education and the superintendent and so the topics were vaping in school mental health and discrimination and the superintendent inter High advisory Council actually sent out articles for their classmates to read before a meeting with the board members and those articles were also shared with the board members and the superintendent and I thought it was great dialogue
046it was from 8:30 to approximately 10:30 on Monday morning and we want to do this again in the late spring to get some followup for our students so thank you board members for participating in that our special education advisory Council we had a phenomenal special education advisory council meeting on yesterday on Monday January 8th I want to thank assistant superintendent Tony skano and our new director of special education Kathy Rexel they are the new facilitators of the cak and on yesterday's meeting we talked about establishing special education action plan subcommittee now that subcommittee will be the task force that will be working on the special education strategic plan and I want to thank board member Stuart buan for sitting on that team also um on our cak we are fortunate enough to have four board
047members that sit on cak our vice president we have board member Balia we have board member buan and we have board member kry Spicer that sit on this team and that really helps because it shows how invested we are in our special education turn around of the district one of the things that's going to be a priority for our 2425 school year are the addition of the 811 transition classes at North High School for students who are coming from high middle school and supporting as you saw in the budget program that assistant superintendent matki just previewed we are adding special education classes so allocating resources for areas of immediate need that was also already showcased in the budget that we are taking those recommendations from the Western New York Education Service Council and we are
048acting upon them you saw from the previous meeting we hired a new director of special education and assistant superintendent skano is in the process of redefining what the special education department looks like with the support of the West stor Education Service Council our next cak meeting is Monday February 12th they are held on the second Monday of every month beginning at 4M sepa information and events the sep sepsa is a special education parent teacher student Association so the next general membership meeting is Thursday January 25th and one of the programs that sepsa is sponsoring is the gifted education program it's presented by our very own Dr Denise stappenbeck who is our director of student services and that will be held after the general membership meeting we also have highlighted some of the other events that
049are either sponsored or advertised by sepa they will be in the community update so please feel free to click on these links if you are interested in some of these other programs that are sponsored or advertised biceps computer-based testing we want to make sure we have this reminder in every Community update in the spring of 2024 the district will once again participate in New York state testing for students in grades 3 to8 parents will have the opportunity they will continue to have the opportunity to determine their child's participation in the testing that will take place in the Spring Elementary assessments will remain paper-based however middle school will be implementing computer-based testing while testing does not begin until April our students will have an opportunity in January to be engaged in the brief technology systems check
050and that will occur this month anticipated spring testing dates have been shared by the elementary and middle schools to their families job openings and this is very important as I look over to our executive director of HR Dana floriano we have a number of job openings we have laborer openings we have cleaning openings we have food service openings we have teacher Aid openings and we have substitute teacher Aid um openings and substitute teacher openings and as you see we actually revamped our sub substitute teacher pay scale I wanted to highlight it here because we are either competitive or above what other districts are offering for substitute teachers so I want to highlight that here also so if you know of anyone that might have two or three days available during the week and they are
051interested in it in any of our positions we are going to be very flexible in our hiring and the days that are required for work and we really want to get our positions filled because we know every position fills bu benefits our students winter weather for all of our students and families but especially our elementary school students who continue to enjoy outdoor recess during every season when appropriate please be sure you're dressing accordingly we know the value of our younger students being able to enjoy time with their classmates outside of the classrooms for families with students who walk to school or ride the bus please make sure students are prepared for the elements as they make their way to and from school each day so we have had a mild winter this far and we're
052very appreciative of it but as I'm told and we know February is around the corner cold weather is is coming so we want to make sure our students are dressed appropriately for it last but not least the Williamsville Wall of Fame so the Williamsville Education Foundation is looking for nominations for the 2024 Williamsville Wall of Fame applications are available online you can click on this link if you to the community update and board dots and then nominations are due by Monday April 15th the induction ceremony will take place on Friday November 8th and that is a community update for January 9th 2024 are there any questions from board members yes sir just one on the computer-based testing um when you do the practice one in January are all the schools doing at the same time
053to make sure that is that the point so that yeah pass the technology overloaded or anything like that all right I just want to make sure so what Mr Balia is referring to is because we know that years ago when many districts around the state did their computer-based testing at the same time there was an issue and and it crashed and we want to make sure we're avoiding that for our students so we are going to try to do it um the simulation at the same time so we know what to expect and to see if there's anything that we need to do on our end to make it a smooth um day for our students thank you for that question board member Scalia oh I'm sorry I'm looking I'm like it's me again so
054item 6 B uh Mr Philip housi if you can pull up the 2324 District strategic plan goals update I appreciate that um board members in the community may remember when we had our district goals prior it it looked like an Excel spreadsheet with updates and so I want to thank uh Dr Marie bellan who is our assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and Amy vwin who actually reports to Nick filipowski for the redesign of our strategic plan updates and highlights so our strategic plan goals are our district goals and I'm not going to go through the entire document do I click here Nick or do you control it okay awesome I won't go through the entire document but you can see how we have each of our goals listed here we have our goal activities
055and statements on the prior page and for each goal goal statement 1A for example the district will improve communication and collaboration within and among the district and school buildings in order to effectively engage all stakeholders we actually highlight what we're doing to make sure we're reaching that goal for example the F first bullet says the district is continuing the speaker series public forums to inform and educate stakeholders on the programs and initiatives in the district and you just saw that in the community update the third bullet in that 1A column the district also established the email address contact Williamsville k12.org for stakeholders to provide feedback during comment periods throughout the school year we just saw that was effective when we had our Dei calendar recommendations come to the board we had a 20-day comment period
056where we received over 160 emails to that email address we also use that when we're looking for comments for our district code of conduct our district safety plan so it's important that we have that established lished if you look at the last column item 1 C the district will improve effective communication with families students and staff by enhancing and expanding the knowledge of our digital media presence so the first bullet in response to public feedback district and building newsletters have moved to a bi-weekly format for the 2324 school year District newsletters are shared on Mondays every other week while high school middle school and Elementary School newsletters are shared every other week as well and on different days of the week so we listen to our stakeholders and our families our families said there's a
057lot of information we're being provided and we appreciate that however is it possible we can stagger the information so that we're not overwhelmed and so that was a response to what our parents asked of our district and again there is a lot in here so I don't want you to think I'm going to read everything because I am not just highlights so on to Wellness Community and sustainability I want to thank assistant superintendent skinzo and his departments for these highlights so for goal 2A all students and staff will have Equitable access to instruction tools experiences and practices that support and enhance their physical social and emotional safety and wellness so when you get to the second bullet here it speaks about how the district's code of conduct the current language was reviewed by the district
058Wellness Council and modified to reflect restorative practices not only only that the second B Bullet From The Bottom says the District athletic agreement has been revised to include a restorative option for students who have broken the agreement so we see the new things that we're doing in our district moving more from the punitive to the restorative and these are the highlights that we have in this document I will move on to teaching learning and Leadership and I thank again our assistant superintendent of CH instruction Dr ban and her team for showing all the highlights that are in this section now as you see there's many Bullocks a lot going on right so I'm going to jump to 3B the district will engage in and continue to develop responsive educational practices opportunities and learning experiences that
059support and Advance leadership potential within a diverse community so the second bullet professional learning opportunities for librarians to support their leadership in the buildings we know that the libraries are a true resource for all of our students that's where there's so much knowledge in the library and students can actually access books that are of interest to them it increases their reading if you go further down you see we have a partnership with Dr Roman and Dr tamel salce around strategies to support English language Learners and then the last three bullets in that middle column the web leaders at the middle level student leadership clubs at the middle level student and Ambassador programs at the high school level and student government initiatives at the elementary level there's so much going on in our buildings that really
060support all of our strategic and District goals last but not least we'll turn to our diversity equity and inclusion and goal four the district will support and Advance diversity equity and inclusion in accordance with District policies in alignment with the New York State Board of regions policies Frameworks and initiatives their first bullet speaks to a lot of that building Dei teams are established and engaging in the work students included on some teams instructional support for work teams we have and we're very proud to have our Dei teams in every one of our buildings and we have teachers on the team we have parents on the team and in some instances we have students and there's a lot of work to be done in the area of Dei and I also want to highlight the work
061that is done if you look at the second column the last bullet homework assessment and Grading work group exploring Equitable homework and Grading practices and that is led by our own Dr Balon so I encourage the community I know board members have already done so but I also encourage our community and our parents to really read through these highlights to see all the great work that is being done to advance and enhance the educational experience and opportunities we have in the womenv Central School District president Singh I turn it back over to you well thank you Dr blal I think the document is very well organized and easy to read you very much uh moving on um the board members met with sayak students on January 8th do any of the board members want to
062have any comment up as the Leon I did put in a um Lon report into board docs so that was there for everyone but I will just say I was very impressed with the um eloquence of the students who spoke to us yesterday morning they were very well prepared and very um passionate about whichever of the three topics that they were talking about um they really challenged us as adults to hear them I think one of the things that we've talked about so much is Raising student voice um finding more ways for their voices to be heard I did make the suggestion and ask them if they would be willing to work with Mr Philip house do some spotlights on some of the things that they talked with us about that we might include out
063with um Community updates from time to time um I will also add I didn't see one cell phone so there's that to be said um they can break away from them for whole hours so that was that was a good thing but um lots of food for thought I think one of the the uh statements that one of the students made um in regards to mental health is that the their transition from an elementary school where they were in a small group and everybody knew them and they knew everybody and they had relationships with teachers and how that stretches out to when they get to high school they don't feel like anybody knows them and so that's that's a challenge that's a challenge I I just wanted to add that I thought it was really
064informative also and I I think that we as the board need more opportunities to interact with students because it's really and as I said to you earlier it's really they're we're here to help them and we need to listen to them and that that was a really good opportunity for us to do that absolutely oh one other thing I thought overreaching thing was the the issue with guidance yeah like they seem to have a disconnect with what guidance is supposed to do and how they're interacting with the kids and I think that's really important that we need to fix that somehow like that the kids feel more connected to the guidance counselors and can get the information and the resources they need I just thought that was an interesting yeah disconnect um the onboarding committee
065met on January 4th are there any comments um yes I think it was a successful meeting we have um Lynn took some notes on that and we're going to be um updating when new members come on with me mentors um and additional documentation so that'll be helpful for new board members after school with staff conversations with the Board of Education will be held on Wednesday March 27th at high school at South High School in the cafeteria other events and building visits are listed in bardocks any board member wishes to comment or question any of these events okay moving on to items 7B through 7g the policy Review Committee 7,000 committe will meet on January 17th ECB and NBA items are in BO dogs are there any questions comments item 7e are the board goals progress
066report they've been updated and uh are there any comments I just had one comment uh oh sorry go ahead no I just wanted to uh do a quick update I was uh monitoring the board government's goal and I do want to thank our onboarding committee for the work that they did um already I did read the minutes online so I have some sense of what happened and I appreciate that work towards hopefully improving our onboarding process as we bring on new board members in the future and I just also wanted to point out um that in the board governments one of the one of the items that we talk about is ensuring that everyone is uh fulfilling their assignments including their liaison assignments and I know generally speaking I really appreciate it when people get
067those reports in in a timely manner so that I can know what's going on in the different schools as well as at the different ecsb committees so thank you to those who get those reports in in a timely manner and if we can continue to do that that would be lovely thank you um the one other thing is Dr brownall is constituting a green ribbon committee and uh has asked two board members if they want to if they would like to volunteer on that committee I know Miss blinger is already volunteered and Miss po Miss po and M now the next item is L on assignments and the listen assignments are in our board doogs so are there any anything else to report does anyone wish to discuss the correspondence we received the correspondence received
068from Community member included the question on the proposed calendar okay uh moving on on item agenda items 9 through 14 minutes Personnel business and finance exceptional education special needs and Student Activities in instruction curriculum and District facilities and support services may have a motion to approve the agenda items 9 through 14 has presented Mr Mana miss pulin any discussion all in favor motion carries unanimously at this time I would like to thank the following retirees for the service to the district Lisa Lee Dempsey school psychologist at Casey middle retiring on July 1st with 31 years of service Karen FY teacher at Transit Middle School retiring on July 1st with 31 years of service Thomas NAB art teacher at Dodge Elementary School retiring on July 1st with 31 years of service lesie Coral teaching assistant at
069H middle school retiring on July 1st with 15 years of service thank you all for your service to the [Applause] district at this time we have a second public expression if anyone would like to address the board at this time were there two people that signed in for the second public expression did I see no okay okay okay thank you moving on to item number 16 there are no matters to discuss under legislative matters number 17 Committee of the whole are there any matters to discuss under Committee of the [Music] whole okay uh our next regular board meeting will be on uh February 13th and that also includes the budget work session may have the motion to adjourn the regular board meeting Mr Mr buing all in favor motion carries unanimously thank you