001[Music] Alrighty. Uh 6 o'clock. Uh let's call this meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. At this time, we will have an I Ready math presentation by Mrs. Lar Roa. the Rosa, director of curriculum and elementary principal. Tonight, we're going to give you um an update and an overview on our I Ready Math program, which has been in place for three years in addition to the pilot year. So, I have our math instructional leaders here to fill you in. We have Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Funk, and Mrs. McNeel from the GLP. All right. So today we are going to discuss the program highlights of I Ready,
002our roles as instructional leaders and some of our I Ready data that we have collected so far this year. Next I can't that's a try. Yeah, try discuss. So we have been following the try discuss connect routine in all of our classrooms um K through five and it is student centered and focused so that teachers can engage more with the kids and be more of a coach and this has grown you can tell already the kids that I had this year in fifth grade came in ready to follow this routine and it was already built so it didn't take as long to build it so we could get started right away with all the good work of them partnering and talking with each other and giving their reasonings to the whole group. um they were
003definitely more engaged within working with partners this year than they have been in years past just because they've already built this protocol. So that was nice to see it transition from when we started way back when to now. um part of the in of the I Ready program all children after they take a diagnostic they're put on an individualized program um called my path and the students work on that daily on their iPads or their Chromebooks um and it's at their own individualized level all right so for our role as math instructional leaders we led data analysis in our building this here provided student support and also provided personalized teacher support. And on the next slide, it talks a little bit more about in detail what we did. Um over like at the end of
004last year, we created a scope and sequence for all of the teachers to follow that planned us throughout the entire school year. Um we made monthly meeting agendas um for what we were going to cover in each month's meeting with classroom teachers. Um Jess taught and modeled lessons for teachers to observe her doing that try discuss connect routine. Um we ran data meetings and we were definitely the point people in the building for questions and issues. We get lots of phone calls and emails. There was a couple times that I snuck into people's classrooms. Um they would ask me just to pop in and watch their center groupings or their lessons just to make sure that they had a good flow or to offer any suggestions or feedback. So, it was nice that doors were
005being opened more for people to be willing for us to come in and give us like give our opinion towards what they were doing in the classroom. So, again, I feel like that was something that we went more towards this year, which is a good step. So, I'm the instructional leader at the GLP and we do very similar to what the elementary did. We provide the pacing calendar from September to June for each of the grade levels. We conduct monthly meetings with classroom teachers to to discuss how we can support them, how we can support the students um not just the ones that are um in AIS, all the students. We do comprehension checks. We go over my path results, quizzes, help them with any kind of resources of that nature. Um we focus on
006the prerequisite reports to help with instructional groupings for all the students in that class. And then there's a little video. Oh, wait. All right. So the GLP data um right now the little ones take a lot longer to finish their third diagnostic. They're in the midst of doing that right now. So for our data we included the one from September but you can see there is diagnostic one and then we chose to do the diagnostic two um which was in March no January. And you can already see the amount of growth in just those few short months. So, I'm sure once the data for the third diagnostic were to come in, you would see even more improvement with that data. And then um we are almost finished with our spring benchmarking. We have about 15
007more students that need to be completed. So, we do have from the fall diagnostic on the right there um to our diagnostic three, which is what we they just took. So we grew from 25% on grade level to 67% and we really shrunk the yellow and the red below grade level. So it's really showing that the program is working the way that we want it to be working. Yep. Yep. So I am really proud of two things. I'm proud of our instructional leaders for really stepping outside their comfort zone and being able to work with teachers and provide that support um across K5. So, good job to you guys. And then also, I'm very proud of our students because when I go into classrooms, when Mrs. Carter goes into classrooms, we hear mathematical talk. We
008hear we see them in productive struggle and not just doing simple problems. So, they're really working on those critical thinking skills within math. So, good job. So, I I just want to echo what Mrs. Losa said. It takes it takes a significant amount of courage to be willing to lead your colleagues. And what I heard you say is there's a um a lot of doors that are being opened now and and you're being welcomed in and and so on so forth. And it takes a lot of courage to have a colleague come in and and and assess you. So I congratulate and commend all involved uh including uh our administrative team who who led the way in terms of doing the pilot. You said three years ago now four four years ago now that I'm
009aging rapidly because it seems like it was just yesterday. Um and and and I want to start and I just want to remind the board that when you um brought the idea of a pilot, you looked at a couple of different things. Uh and teachers were involved in that and and then when you moved to the the selected um um product, if you will, you you did so with with a lot of support and that's why it was successful because that that the teacher voice and and and how we're getting through the curriculum is so important. So, thank you for your leadership there and thank the three of you for your your your courageous leadership and again your colleagues for accepting you you in and allowing you to do this really important work. Results are
010outstanding. Results are outstanding and I I was really glad when you said at the end green I I'm thinking in my mind green is good. We want more green. Green is good. So, thank you. And you wore green tonight. Perfect. So, I I've got I've got one question in the regards to the data. Um so, the beginning the first assessment when we talk about grade level. So, you know, that's a third grader just starting out third grade. So, is that looking at that time of their their life or is it what they should be doing at some point in time during third grade? The test that we have is an adaptive test. So, they will start out if they are a third grader, they will start out with a third grade question. If they get
011it correct, they will get a harder question or continue with third grade. If they get it incorrect, it might go down to second grade. So, it kind of finds the level as they go through each of the strands of math um of what grade level it is and it gives a grade level equivalent at the end. And we've definitely noticed a big jump from diagnostic one to two because we have exposed them to that grade level curriculum at that point. Um and then we tell them coming up for the third one like now we've exposed you to all of the curriculum. So now you can show us just a little bit more push and growth. Now, will they so like let's say it, you know, going through the third one right now, if they're getting
012all that right, will that start pushing them towards possibly fourth? Yeah. I um currently in my classroom, I'm a fifth grade teacher and I have a student that is in eighth grade and seventh grade in her in her bands. And the my path is nice because during, you know, her independent time, she can work on that seventh and eighth grade curriculum where, you know, Jess is not going to be able to do that during her normal classroom time, but she can work on that curriculum where she's at. So, it's in my opin. Yeah. So, it keeps it very personalized. a lot different than I want to bring it up. Oh. Oh, that's loud. Are there any other districts in the area using this program that we know of? I went to a couple trainings at
013Frontier. So, Frontier is definitely using some pieces of the program. I know a lot of districts around our area use just the diagnostic piece and not necessarily the full curriculum. Um I came from a district that that is what we did. So to see the diagnostic piece and now put it into play with the actual curriculum, it's amazing what the difference is especially in seeing their diagnostic growth. Um but we have a couple districts because we've gone to trainings at Frontier and there have been a couple local districts with us there. I mean it's a great program. I've had two of my kids use it. So I think it's great. How do you know since other schools use it, do you know how Eden's numbers compare to other districts or what our benchmark is like
014what we want every student um the scores that we get like the the triangles that's the national norms so it's nationally normed that I think data would be considered private data. We Erin and I did go to um a numeracy brief training recently also put on by New York State and it just talked about eight different kind of ideas that New York State really wants us to be doing in math and it was funny a few times during the training we both turned and looked at each other and said I ready because we're already doing the things that they want us to be doing. So that was really reaffirming to know that I Ready is doing those things that we're supposed to be doing. them. I think Frontier is using it because they contacted us
015and they we met with us and we sold them on it. So, that's great. I just want I want to point one thing out, Jess. You said that that some districts are only using the diagnostic and and we're using the full shot, right? And that that was a conversation that Mrs. Lar Roa and I had about what the differences would be and and why going full force ahead was important for our district. And then that's a conversation that that we had together when we built the budget. So, this is kind of a serendipitous uh presentation because as you'll hear numerous times tonight, we're going to give the full budget presentation again because we have people here to hear it. Kidding. Okay. Um but that's what that's what we ask our stakeholders to invest in. That's
016what goes into a budget. The the the type of of tools that our teachers need to help our children be successful. and and this is a a great example of that. So, thank you for that. Are there any requests to remove any items from the consent agenda? No. That upon the recommendation of the superintendent, consensus items be approved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. This is the approximate position and time that the board is designated to receive statements from individuals and groups. The board will review all statements, then respond appropriately at a future meeting. All persons in attendance are required to sign the attendance sheet and designate the representation status. For example, a parent, teacher, bus driver, chamber of commerce, etc. There is a two-minute time limit. Nobody.
017Mr. Sorticio, you want to do the budget presentation, I guess? Um, no. But I do want to let people know that there are plenty of seats up front that are empty. If you want to come up and have se Josh, if you want to come forward so I can I can see your baby, that would be great for me. All right. Nobody that upon the recommendation of the superintendent after successfully completing her probationary period, Andrea Olrich be granted tenure as a special education teacher effective August 30th, 2025. Second. Any discussions? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Congratulations. Andrew here. One second. True. Just so you all know, um, we're going to receelebrate tenure a little bit later in the meeting, so don't think you're getting off that easy. We're going to say some
018nice things about each of you. Uh, that upon the recommendation of the superintendent after successfully completing her probationary period, Adriana Pella be granted tenure as an elementary education teacher effective August 31st, 2025. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. Congratulations. That upon the recommendation of the superintendent after successfully completing her probationary period, April Agel be granted tenure as a library media specialist effective August 31st, 2025. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. Congratulations that upon the recommendation the superintendent after successfully completing his probationary period Andrew Brunner be granted tenure as a science education teacher effective August 31st 2025. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. Congratulations. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent after successfully completing her
019probationary period, Diana Harvey be granted tenure as a special education teacher effective August 30th, 2025. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. Congratulations. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent after successfully completing her probationary period, Claire Walker be granted tenure as an elementary education teacher effective September 15, 2025. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. Congratulations. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent after successfully completing her probationary period, Shelby Merkel be granted tenure as a music teacher effective August 31st, 2025. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. Congratulations. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent, Cynthia Casper be appointed as a 12-month head bus driver effective July 1st, 2025. Salary is based upon CSEA contract level
0208, step nine. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent, Nicole Baldelli be appointed on probation as a teacher aid effective April 23rd, 2025 and ending December 23rd, 2025. Salary is based upon CSCA contract level 4 step two. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent Stacy Pagan be appointed on probation as a cleaner effective May 20 May 27th 2025 and ending November 27th 2025 salary is based upon CSEA contract level five step three second any discussion all in favor I I any opposed any abstained motion carried that upon the recommendation of the superintendent the following be appointed for summer position positions. Dylan Meyer, summer laborer, effective July 1st, 2025 and
021ending August 30th, 2025. Hunter Pettit, summer laborer, effective July 1st, 2025 and ending August 30th, 2025. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the following employees be appointed for 2025 summer transportation. E. Peter Belgian, driver, attendant, and bus cleaner. Janet Boncar, driver. Kathleen Jenko, driver. James Henry, driver. Karen Kenneth, driver and attendant. Allison McKenzie, driver. Elizabeth Rogers, driver, attendant, and bus cleaner. Gordon Rogers, driver and attendant. Bradley Cissana driver. Dwight Seymour driver. Cody Shamrock driver. James Sullivan driver. Lori Koopal attendant. Daniel Field driver. Paul Winter driver. And Rebecca Kurz attendant and bus cleaner. And oh Francis Phillips attendant. Judith Rzone attendant. And Beverly Sissana attendant. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. And upon the
022recommendation of the superintendent, the results of the 2025 budget and board of education vote be accepted as follows. Proposition one, annual budget 364 yes, 233 no. Proposition one, budget. Proposition two, use of capital reserve funds for the acquisition of school buses and construction and maintenance equipment. 416 yes, 180 no for proposition two. Board members reelected, Donald Sutin reelected with 397 votes. Jennifer Delapenta reelected with 450 votes and Marlene Grunder reelected with 428 votes. Second. Any discussion? Can we get another presentation? This may No joking. Uh all in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent the overnight ban trip to New York City from May 30th, 2025 to June 1st, 2025 be approved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. That
023upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the board of education hereby approves the architectural services proposal for capital outlay project 2025 2026 with young and right architectural in the amount of 10,000 not including reimburseable expenses or hourly services. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. That upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the board of education hereby approves the architectural services proposal for capital improvement project 2024 with Young and Wright architectural in the amount of 1,220,382 not dollars not including reimburseable expenses or hourly services. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the board of education hereby approves the campus construction proposal for capital improvement project 2024. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained?
024Motion carried. That upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the project proposal for Eden Elementary School roof repair be approved. Second. Any discussion on this? Yeah, just to make the board and the community aware, we have a a kickoff meeting for the elementary roof repair uh next week. Um we will start to mobilize in uh sometime in June. Um obviously care will be taken to make sure there there are minimal to no interruptions to the instructional process, but we need to get started so we can get finished. Uh the goal of course is to have the entire roof replaced this summer. Uh things being the way they are, it likely will will carry into fall. But it's a big victory that um most of that roof will be uh replaced uh via the our insurance company
025um stepping up and doing the right thing on our behalf. And I'm sure that Mrs. Larosa and her team will look forward to the days when they don't have to worry about leaks in various parts of that building. Thank you for your patience. Do we have any more events in that auditorium this year? We'll discuss that. I have to there was stuff dripping down last night. Board members aren't allowed to stir the pot. Jen, listen. Any other discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. that upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the following items be declared excessed and disposed of as the district deems appropriate. Those serial numbers, portable jacks, generic guardian plus generator with that serial number. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstained? Motion carried. At
026this time, we will have the business report from Frankie May. I am not giving a full budget presentation tonight. Um, but I just want to say congratulations to all those that are receiving tenure. Uh, what an exciting night for all of you. So, congratulations. And then lastly, just want to thank everyone that was involved in the budget development process, especially the board of education, Mr. Sorticio, uh, building our principles, our department level administrators. Uh, it's been a long six months, but uh, very excited that last night we did have both propositions passed. So, thank you all. Next we have the superintendent's report. Well, next time I'm going to check what you're going to report on, so uh we're not redundant, but um you know, I want to I want to thank our community for supporting
027our budget. Um as those folks who work with me know, I I I'm nervous about this every year. And and it's it's right to be nervous because we're asking the community to to make a commitment to the school, not not just with words, but with with their finances as well. uh it doesn't go lost on on anyone that that's involved in the budget development process. And by that I mean the board, our administrative team, our teaching and support staff uh and and you as well, Mrs. May. I'll get to you in a second. Um that we're asking our again our community to make that commitment and and we understand uh that that um expenses increase at home and and and we also understand they increase at work. So um thank you to to all who
028uh chose to vote. Uh it's truly appreciated whichever way they cast their ballot. Congratulations to those board members who are reelected. Uh those were eight-year terms, by the way. Uh and I want to say too publicly, Mrs. Mayor, it was it was a pleasure working through this with you. Uh you brought a lot of insight and and experience that uh our district benefited from. Uh so thank you for that much with much appreciation. Okay. Um I also want to um make everyone aware uh and although I don't think he could be with us this evening, Mr. Jay Wanco was recently recognized with a pretty pretty outstanding award and it was uh it was given to him on behalf behalf of section 6 athletic directors. Um he was selected as the chapter's 2025 Liam Frolley emerging
029athletic administrator award. Uh Liam Frolley Emerging Athletic Administrator award is earned by an athletic administrator who has been an active member of Nissa for five or fewer years. They must be employed full-time as as an athletic administrator and their school must be a NISPA member school, which of course we are. Uh the individual must show contributions to community, local chapters, state ongoing commitment to athletics, willingness to get involved in constant professional development and continuing education as well as striving towards their CA or CMAA. Uh Jay has met the mark and then some in that regard. and um he was honored uh recently at a section six luncheon and it was welld deserved. He has grown professionally because he and I are about the same height so I'd never say he's grown. Um he's grown professionally
030in an amazing amount an amazing amount over the last five years and he continues to take on on more responsibility within our district and with our greater community. So when you see Jag say congratulations to him for me. Next. Oh, are you done? Sorry. Are you I'm done with that part. I know. I know. Sorry. I'm not seeing a student here. So, if you would like to skip down to the tenure celebration. I Well, that's what kind of what I thought. I looked over and I didn't I'm starting to hear some little ones make some noise back there, which is fine by me. It's music to my ears. Are you? Yeah. I didn't want to interrupt you. That's No, no, go ahead. I can go on forever. These people want to eat cake. Well, so
031could I. But um next uh tenyear celebrations presentation from Mr. Certisio. Hey, thank you for that. All right, this is one of my favorite nights of the year and you know May and June we do so much celebrating of of our student success and rightfully so. Um but we started this tenure celebration a number of years ago and it's it's so fun to recognize uh our teachers who who who have you know been been have earned tenure. Um and you know in a variety of different ways of course um tonight our invited teachers um well let me skip that. Tenure is not a right of passage. Okay? You don't pass through tenure, you earn tenure. And what it means is you you've successfully demonstrated to your supervisors that you've got what it takes to do
032the job. Okay? And each of you should feel like you've grown some in the in the last several years. Okay? And the challenge to you is to continue to grow and continue to to do more and and be and continue to be successful. It doesn't stop. The growth doesn't stop just because you got the magic tenure. Okay? It's that's a start. Just like commencement isn't an end. It's a beginning. Um and and and I know I know you understand that and I just like to say it publicly because it put turns it up just a little bit for you. Um the way our our celebration is going to go is that each of our principles is going to present candidates. Um, so when I when I ask you to your um I know Lauren's going
033to get us started. Lauren's going to come up to the to the podium and uh say some really nice things, really well-deserved things about some folks. Uh Mr. Suffin H has a certificate for you. So after um after you hear some pretty incredible things about you, um please uh make sure you see Mr. Suffin for your certificate. Okay? And I'm I'm going to I'm going to start though because I'm not getting the microphone back and I know how you people are. So once I turn this over to Lauren, I'll never get it back. I want I want everyone to know this is the second time in my career, second time in my career that I have handed a student their diploma and also signed their tenure certificate. And interestingly enough, both times it's been a
034music teacher. So I know there are three photos of me on the wall in your house. So this is how I look now. Well, um, congratulations to to to the Cypus family and you know, we'll get to that in a minute, but thanks Lauren. I needed a little I need an extra minute there. Take it away. I don't know using this microphone. Okay. So, again, I want to congratulate everyone who's getting tenure tonight. This is an honor to speak on your behalf. I also want to say although I don't use the word old anymore. I use the word seasoned. I learned that from someone as a seasoned educator. I don't recall ever this great celebration or getting cake when I got tenure and I got it as a teacher and an administrator and there was
035no cake. So congratulations to you. It's great that we do this. So I am going to start in order. So I'd like to celebrate Andrea Olrich on her tenure. She started in Eden in 2022. She is an amazingly patient, dynamic, and skilled teacher with a multitude of strategies she brings to our school each and every day. She currently teaches in our self-contained classroom. She teaches in a with a positive environment and a positive attitude that fosters independence and personalized learning for all of her students with the true philosophy of acceptance for all. She's an exceptional team player who is always willing to assist students and her colleagues to benefit the school environment and student success. I cannot emphasize that enough. If there's a call for help or she sees that someone needs help, she is
036the first one to step in every single day and I can't be any more thankful for for her for that. She's a member of our GLP IST team and is never ever short on ideas and strategies on how she can help a colleague or a student be successful. She is a committee member of the GLP math game night which is one of the favorite nights of students and parents in our building. She's part of our CARES team. We call it often and she's always there to help and she is an incredibly skilled member on that team. She's earned highly effective evaluations for three consecutive years and has certainly ear earned them. She supports district initiatives including the social emotional learning Kagan strategies and is a is collaborative with her paraprofessional team to create a truly
037inclusive environment for her students. Mrs. Olrich is an energetic, dynamic and dedicated educator. I am proud to work with her every day and we are definitely proud to recommend her for tenure this evening. I also am lucky to have all the babies of GLP here this evening and there's more coming. You've heard me talk about this. I can't fill their positions. So, tonight we're also celebrating Adriana Pachella. And this has been long overdue. So, Adriana has been incredibly patient as an Eden teacher. She started off part-time, part-time, part-time, and she hung in there for a very long time. She started back in 2018 as a part-time teacher. She is incredibly kind, patient, and positive, and she brings that to a pre kindergarten program, which is so incredibly important. She has also taught AIS math, and
038she came as a first grade teacher experience in another district. So, when she was asked to go full-time and teach part-time AIS math and part-time prek, she did that because that's what you do in Eden, whatever it takes. She is also certified with students with disabilities. So, it brings another wealth of strategies and skills that we need at a primary school and we're thankful for her varied experiences and degrees. She is a committee member of the GLP family reading night. She has been an outstanding support to all of our new preK teachers. She steps up and mentors whenever need be. She's earned highly effective evaluations for three consecutive years. She's known for wonderful student and family relationships. She is very supportive of all of our district initiatives, Kagan strategies, and the GLP programs, and is
039extremely knowledgeable in all of them. Mrs. Pachella is a very positive and accepting teacher who has continued to provide a wonderful environment for our youngest learners to thrive during their first experiences in school, and we are incredibly proud to recommend her for tenure this evening. Next is April Agel. So you know the Agel name in Eden. She's a proud Eden resident. She has children that come to Eden. She joined Eden in 2020 and she was committed to being part of the Eden faculty. She came to us originally as a certified elementary teacher. What we needed was a librarian. We needed a library media specialist. And April was willing to get that certification and she worked hard working full-time as a librarian and then got certified as a library media specialist. That was not easy to
040do when you're working full-time at a primary school, but she made it happen. She filled it filled a void that we needed and has done an incredible good job at that. And what she brings is a diverse look at that because she not only is an elementary certified teacher, she is now an LMS certified teacher. So she brings a wealth of knowledge to that position. She supports the instruction in our GLP maker space which helps children build grit and creative thinking. She is certified again in LMS library media specialist and elementary education. She's a committee member of the GLP family reading night. She also has earned highly effective evaluations for over three con consecutive years. She organizes our GLP book fairs and she just recently organized an incredibly successful author's visit which was very exciting
041for the GLP. We have not had one in many many years. So we were really excited to have that for our students meeting a local author. She participates in a variety of area professional development opportunities to continue to grow and gather resources that she never fails to share districtwide, building wide and keeps on as a lifelong learner. April supports district initiatives, Kagan strategies, and collaborates to help integrate grade level curriculum into her teaching each and every day. Mrs. Agel is a creative educator who continues to create learning opportunities for her students that are relevant and meaningful to students and their community in Eden. We are proud to recommend her for tenure this evening. Last and not least for me, one of my many walkers, Claire Walker. Claire joined us in 2021 as a special education
042teacher. Claire also had a really interesting path in Eden. She was a Zoom teacher. She was a part-time teacher supporting students in kindergarten. Claire did whatever she had to do to make it work in her position. She's engaging and she's amazingly kind and creative as a kindergarten teacher. Her experience teaching both special education kindergarten and second grade has given her a variety of skills as she works in the classroom. She also has a degree in speech language pathology which I did not necessarily know. It's a new thing I learned about her. She's a committee member for our steam night. She's a committee member of the kindergarten celebration. She's a committee member for field day. I probably could keep going. Car Claire is very active in the things that we do at GLP. She's a member
043of our GLP instructional support team, which is a collaborative team to help students and teachers be successful. She's earned highly effective evaluations for three consecutive years. She is known for her wonderful student relationships. Students generally cannot walk in the door at GLP who have had her in the past until they go right first, then they have to go left to their classrooms. They have to go visit Mrs. Walker. Mrs. Carter, can I go visit Mrs. Walker? So, when she was out on maternity leave, it probably caused a problem for a little while for those students. She has definitely made an impact for her students each and every day. Claire supports district initiatives, Kagan strategies. She's incredibly energetic, dedicated, and is one of the most incredibly welcoming educators I have worked with. She uses a variety
044of strategies to instill the love of learning for all of her students. She is truly focuses on strategy so that students can be successful. She is willing to think out of the box to find a way for them to love coming to school each day. So we are proud to recommend her for tenure this evening. Hey, I am here to talk about our next teacher Shelby Merkel. Um she joined Eden in 2021. She is shared between the GLP school and Eden Elementary School. She is an exciting and engaging music teacher known for her wonderful student relationships. She really is contributing at a high level to transform the music department from the ground up. So she teaches general music prek to two. She teaches string instrument lessons for fourth and fifth graders. She conducts the fourth
045and fifth grade orchestra putting on a variety of concerts throughout the year. She's chairperson for the first grade holiday concert, second grade and the second grade musical and she's a committee member of the kindergarten celebration. Um she's really instilling a love of music and all of our students and I can say firsthand listening to the orchestra students start at the beginning of for you know when they start their instrument to our concert that we had last night. It is truly amazing. They sounded wonderful thanks to her and all of her hard work. She's earned highly effective evaluations for three consecutive years and she's active in our school community. She's a high school musical pit orchestra adult musician. She chaperones high school musical competitions. She's a member of the music boosters and she helped facilitate a
046sizable ukulele donation to our schools. Shelley Shelby supports district initiatives including Kagan and SEAL strategies. Um I'm tired just thinking about all those instruments and concerts that you put on. Um Mrs. Merkel is an educa Mrs. Merkel is an educated and dedicated music educator. Her contributions are definitely growing our music department here in Eden and we are proud to me recommend her for tenure. Next up, we have Jessica Johnson who teaches fifth grade at Eden Elementary School. She joined Eden in 2020. Um, and she is truly a teacher leader. You heard her present um a little bit earlier. She's an engaging, dedicated, and collaborative fifth grade teacher who stepped into the role willingly and happily to be a co-teer this year with Mrs. Gallagher in fifth grade. um they have an amazing classroom. Um she
047establishes outstanding relationships where students are excited to come to school and work hard. She brings fun into the classrooms into her classroom through celebrations like pi day where the students throw whipped cream pies at her um and glow parties that review the current um skills that they are working on. She has a very active classroom that goes outside quite frequently, does collaborative collaborative group work. Um, that's a very busy, vibrant classroom. She's an instructional leader for math. She chairs math game night for Eden Elementary. She co-chairs our character committee, which includes coordinating student awards and our assemblies. She's earned highly effective evaluations for four consecutive years. She also serves as our Bosey's math forum representative and was a lead pilot teacher on the math program. She supports district initiatives including SEAL, Kagan Strategies and MTSS.
048Mrs. Johnson is a caring, compassionate educator who goes about above and beyond for her students. We are proud to recommend her for tenure. Okay. Good evening, Board of Education. Mr. congratulations to all of our tenure recipients tonight. It's a big deal. It's a big night and I am happy for all of you. I have the pleasure tonight of presenting Mr. Andrew Brunner. We call him Andy AB Mr. Brunner Brunner and really a great addition to our staff. I had the pleasure of hiring Mr. Brunner and now I have the pleasure of presenting on his tenure. So Andy joined us in 2001. He has been an engaging teacher or 2021. Sorry, Andy. He has been an engaging teacher of seventh grade life science and our high school environmental science. He also dabbled a little bit in
0498th grade at one point. Uh he brings learning outdoors regularly. He leads schoolyard sugaring through the New York ad a initiative in the classroom. Andy founded our Eden environmental club in 2024 fostering student leadership in sustainability. He's earned highly effective evaluations. I think all of them have been highly effective. Andy, nice job on that. Um, he's known for his outstanding student relationships and real world teaching connections. Not only does Andy do great in school, we see Andy everywhere outside of school. He's our sound tech for our musicals. Uh, he chaperones band trips. He attends every possible event that I think we hold at Eden Middle or High School and Andy is typically around. So, we thank Andy for always being there and volunteering his time. He was a volunteer soccer coach in 2022. He also
050sits on several committees. He's on our MTSS, our multi-tiered system of supports committee. He is on the shared decision-making committee and he is on the technology committee. Uh he was a grant recipient for the Terara Science Educational Grant in 2022. And Andy continues not only in the classroom but outside developing himself professionally. Um he participates obviously in all of our Eden professional development, but he has done a 40-hour Earthed program from 2022 to 2024. He completed a 4-week course with the DEC at Rinstein Woods in 2025. and he supports every one of our district initiatives and leads them. Same here. Kagan strategies and our MTSS initiative. Mr. Brunner, you are dynamic educated or dedicated educator making a lasting impact on our students. We are all proud to recommend and celebrate your tenure. Congratulations. I have
051the opportunity to speak on behalf of two individuals who are getting tenure this evening. So for anyone for everyone that is receiving tenure this evening, congratulations to each of you. It's not an easy feat. Uh the first candidate was not able to be here this evening. Um she's trying to manage three kids of her own at home, but I'm going to speak on behalf of Kendall Bernardi. She's special education teacher here at Eden. She started here in October of 2021. She has 12 years of experience. She works with her students with disabilities and she also has her degree in math education 7 through 12. She's earned the ranking of highly effective for the past three years. Again, she's dy certified. She's strong in her code teaching which helps support our students uh both our gened
052and our special ed students in our ICT classrooms. She has a deep knowledge of the math curriculum and special education best practices as she's also our new department chair for the math department. She creates a very safe and supportive learning environment for each of the students that she works with and she uses and implements the Kagan strategies for cooperative learning. She is the math department chair which is wonderful to work with. She's also a part of our MTSS me. She's been a part of the MTSS team for three years. For committee participation, she's on the technology team, our shared decision-making team and our branching minds. At one point, she was a claims auditor. She's also a home instruction tutor, national honor society review team member. She supports the roles for school events and sports. She
053participates in community engagement efforts and student focused activities again as a co-eing. She's uh working with co-eing and edctrina trainer and support provider. And she supports all of our students during her lunchtime. There's constantly students in her room at all times. She does bring a wonderful leadership to the math department and I truly look forward to working with her this evening and in the years to come. And so Mrs. Bernardi who is a wonderful dedicated educator and who's definitely going to be making a lasting impact. We're proud very very proud to recommend her for tenure this evening. Congratulations to Kendall who's not here with us this evening. This next individual is Diana Harvey, who I had the opportunity to meet um probably about just she started the day before I did. Um her current role,
054she's a high school special ed teacher in our social studies department. She's dy certified in both areas. She started in September 2022. She has 11 years of full-time teaching, 10 years as a substitute. She teaches US history, co-ees in ELA and global 2, and she also works dedicatedly with our students in the resource room. She's been rated high she's been rated highly effective for the past three years. She builds she definitely builds strong supportive relationships with her students. Her dual certification and her deep understanding of both special ed and social studies makes her a wonderful role model in the classroom. her skilled teaching and her patience and co-eing, her inclusive practices go hand in hand with the Kagan cooperative learning strategies that she implements and works with her students as the one time we we
055were um she was sharing with her students the one time in an observation about Monopoly. Um and then watching those students the light bulb go on when they f when they were actually able to connect and they finally understanding why it's important to buy all the properties at a cheap price. um wondering why someone had all the money, someone didn't have properties and they were they were figuring that out and why it's important to buy homes. So, it was it was cool to see. Um she's also the first she's also sometimes the first her the first face that some of the parents and students see as she's outside um helping understand helping people understand how to use a traffic circle. Um shop runs on our school trips and the events. And like I said, there's
056students always in her classroom at all times. She's a go-to person. In general, Mrs. Harvey is just a really good person and she's a wonderful role model for all of our students here at Eden. So, it's absolutely my pleasure and I know the lasting impact that she will provide for each of our students and it's my pleasure to recommend her for tenure this evening. Congratulations. So, before we move on to to the next phase of our meeting, just a couple of things. First off, um earlier I challenged all of our our recipients, um tenure recipients to to do more and I'm going to resend that because having listened to all of what you're doing, just just keep trying to do the same and take some time for yourself at some point, breathe a little bit,
057but thank you. Holy cow. Um so I appreciate the nods. I know I know when I'm wrong and I'll admit it. Um so and secondly um after we conclude the meeting I would like um all the folks that we just recognized to meet in the hallway outside the library for a photo. Okay. Okay. Um you can move on though. Thanks. Next we have board report roundt. Okay. Go ahead. All right. Um I had a right time so I was in for it. So um I just wanted to it was brought to our attention today that um congratulate Carrie Hamlet was recognized as the connect life high school partner of the year for 2025. Um which I think is great. Is this I don't know. Is this something we can open up to the community like
058after three? Do you know the blood drive? I don't know. It was just a a thought because obviously it's it's a really good thing. Um I don't know, but we'll look into it. Yeah. Um but I do just have one concern about the blood drives is that there's no communication with parents about them. Um which for student athletes, I just want to make sure they're being communicated with a 14-day recovery time. And also, um as a parent, I would encourage my child to donate and also make sure they were well hydrated and had extra snacks. Um, but I think it's a great thing and I love that our school does it, but you know, I'm huge on communication and I just want to make sure we're in fact communicating things with parents. So, anything else?
059Um, just a couple things here. Uh, want to thank the community for everybody that came out and voted. Um, you know, it's kind of nice to to come into this after, I don't know, a month of hell. going through going through the budget. It's it's a challenge. Um and you know, we we really appreciate everybody's um input into it and you know, we really take everything into consideration as we craft this budget um for all the stakeholders that are involved. So once again, thanks for everybody that came out and voted. Um it it it really is, you know, I've been doing this for nine years now. Um there's a certain threshold we have to hit in regards to getting the people out to vote. So, um, when it's at 500, it's a challenge and we
060really need, you know, to get out to 6 650 700 people out voting to make sure that, um, the budget passes and and we're able to, uh, maintain the services that, um, we've all, you know, enjoyed here. And to those that uh, receive tenure, um, kind of looking back at things right now. So my youngest just graduated college last week and all your tenure teachers basically started through the whole COVID thing. I mean you were probably starting interview during that process and it it's it's really been a change to you know for what you have had to accomplish during these these past four years. a lot of strategies has changed, a lot of it's just been a challenge, you know, just seeing that from my daughter, both daughters in college, um, and where college education
061has gone to to where, you know, I've seen, you know, the whole schooling here and where that's gone to. So, congratulations. Um, it's a it's a good thing. And Mr. Sorticio, thanks for putting this after the budget vote. It's it's it's it really as a board member it's it's uplifting um because it is stressful here the last last two months of of developing a budget um not getting everything in it that you want to be able to get to paying attention to what the the stakeholders and the taxpayers have to um to accomplish and and and put up and you know dealing with all the social media um falsities that are out there. So, thanks again for for coming out and and congratulations. It's uh it's welld deserved and um like Mr. uh Sorticio said,
062just keep doing what you're doing because you're really making a difference. That's all I got. I agree. As with five kids still in the district, I know many of my kids have had a lot of the teachers who are here tenured or have already been. So, just thank you for being such outstanding teachers for all of our kids in our district. And um my family, my sister and her husband, their three kids have come through this district and now they're having children and my youngest niece actually worked at GLP for a couple years and then broke her whole family's heart and moved to Texas. But she's doing great and uh you you would have to find a sub for her if she was here anyway, if you get my drift. Um so but you didn't
063hear it from Aunt Cheryl. Um, but it I've I've I've met some of you. Um, and now the second generation of her brother and sister that are living here are going to start coming through and um, you guys are just amazing. So, keep up the great work and thank you for the budget, the community for the budget, too. The next regular board of education meeting is June 18th, 201. Um, it may be moved to the 16th. Okay. So, do I say the next regular board of education meeting it may be moved to the 16th or maybe June 18th, 2025 at 6 PM in the middle school high school library. And if you notice, we're done in an hour with the special celebration. So, come to more meetings. We're not that long. and the reorganization and
064regular board of ed meeting Wednesday, July 2nd, 20256 pm. And now that upon the recommendation of the superintendent, the board of education meeting be adjourned at 6:58 p.m. All in favor? I. Thanks for coming. [Music]