Clarence Schools Board of Education Meeting - February 9th, 2026

001Start with a motion to go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter. Do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, D. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, D. All those in favor. I I We will be back at 6:30. Okay. Start our meeting with the pledge of allegiance. Which direction to play again? All right. There's two. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Thank you, Dor. >> Roll call. I believe we're all here. We're not missing anyone. Um, approval of the agenda. Can I have a motion to approve the agenda, please? >> I'll make a motion. >>

002Thank you, Dennis. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Cindy. All those in favor? >> I The motion passes. Approval of the minutes from our last meeting, which is January 12th. That includes the M meeting and executive session. Anyone have any comments on those meeting minutes? Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve them. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Mike. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Cindy. All Thank you, Kusha. All of us in favor. >> Announcements. Do we have any announcements, T? >> Yes. I um last Wednesday had an opportunity to attend the board uh teacher forum that we do every year, and I thought it was a great productive conversation. Um James George talked about the RISE program and explained how you

003know this is a program that helps students uh you know in a non-traditional setting. Uh we asked we had an agenda. We asked the teachers to talk about things that are going well and also what are some of their biggest uh challenges they're facing. Um we talked about partnerships with the community and uh tapping into feedback with our recent graduates. So it was a very productive meeting and always look forward to that every year. Thank you, Dennis. Any other announcements? Hearing none. Um, correspondence. Um, we did get not get any significant correspondence since the last meeting. Unfinished business. We don't have any. Red Devil recognitions. Dr. Frame. Thank you, President Bleoli. Um, it's nice to see so many people here with us this evening. If you haven't watched or attended a school board meeting before,

004you'll know that um once uh every month we take time for something called Red Devil recognitions. It is an intentional way for our board of education to recognize people that um really go above and beyond when it comes to four different values that are extra special to our school community. So those values are those of hard work, respect, kindness, and compassion. And so we on a rolling basis have a group that look at these nominations that come in and they're maybe the the the thing that we most look forward to every month because we get to acknowledge and highlight people from all corners of our learning organization. So here's what we do. Uh we have a screen in the back. Um we're going to call folks up one at a time. So we'll call up

005the person who was nominated. We'll call up the nominator. Mr. Baglioli will come up and I'll actually read from the nominations that people received. We'll have uh a group photo up there. So, our communications uh specialist from Erie Wan Boseies will put something out a little bit later in the week. Um and we have a couple tokens of thanks. We have a certificate, we have a pin, we have a mug. Um and just want to again pause and and recognize some people who do really special things uh for our learning community. Um so, first up, we will be taking a moment to recognize u Mrs. Joselyn Candidate, a member of our PE faculty at Sheridan Hill, and Kelly Frell, who nominated her. So, if you'll join us back at THE I believe, coach, you had

006to do a game right after this. Sorry. So, I'll read I'll read quickly. Um, so coach candidate, like I had said is a member of our PE faculty at Sheridan Hill. And Kelly Frell, a colleague at Sheridan Hill, writes, "It's with great pride that I nominate Jocelyn candidate for this award in recognition of her unwavering dedication, compassion, and commitment to every student she serves. Jocelyn is the definition of a hardworking educator, someone who shows up every day ready to give her best no matter the challenge. Her love of teaching is unmistakable and shines through in every interaction, every lesson, and every moment she shares with students and colleagues. Jocelyn goes above and beyond to ensure that um all students feel valued, included, and capable, whether they're in general education or special education learners. She consistently

007seeks creative ways to adapt lessons, build connections, and nurture a learning environment where every child feels seen and supported. Her efforts often extend far beyond her classroom responsibilities as she readily steps in wherever she's needed for the good of our students and our Sheridan Hill staff. A true team player, Jocelyn is someone her colleagues know they can count on. She collaborates with grace, problem solves with positivity, and contributes to our school culture with unwavering kindness. Her steady presence and willingness to help make her not only an exceptional educator, but also a cherished member of our community. We at Sheridan Hill are profoundly grateful to have Joselyn as part of our school family. Her dedication enhances the lives of students and staff alike and she exemplifies the very best of what it means to be an

008educator. For these reasons and so many more, I wholeheartedly and enthusiastically nominate Jocelyn Kennedy for this honor. If you would join me in giving her a round of applause. And good luck tonight, coach. >> Next up, we have Cindy Munich, a member of our Ledge View faculty, and Eleanor and Aaron Harmon, who had nominated her. Welcome, Cindy. So, And so I'm going to read from the nomination that was shared for Mrs. Munich. So Mrs. Munich, first grade teacher at Ledge View Elementary, embodies the positive attributes of the Clarence uh school district by her meticulous care and respect for students and their families. In particular, she welcomed and supported our son, who recently moved literally the night before the first day of school from Texas. Mrs. Munich routinely checked in with Jude and us as parents

009to help ease the transition. As a hard-working individual, Mrs. Munich took the time to reach out in order to optimize communication. As a kind and compassionate individual, she ensured that Jude had developing friendships among his classmates to foster not only his academic but social growth. I'm confident that Mrs. Munich treats all of her students with a special regard and respect. Please accept our most enthusiastic enthusiastic nomination of Mrs. Munich for this honor as someone who has been in her classroom. Uh, every word is true. We are so thankful for all that you bring to our students uh and families here in Clarence. So, if we can and we'll scooch in for a photograph. Next up, we have Mr. Dave Smith, who was nominated by a colleague in the science uh department, Jeff Cook. Jeff Cook,

010a Red Devil recognition recipient in his own right, I believe, from earlier this year. But Jeff writes as a a colleague in the high school science department. Uh Dave Smith has been encouraging the young ladies of Clarence High School to pursue studies and careers in STEM related fields for his entire career. During these past three years, he's done so more publicly by facilitating the Clarence High School Women in STEM seminar. Despite advances in workplace equality, women are still under reppresented in many STEM fields. Dave has not only provided a safe and supportive environment in his physics classroom for these young ladies to learn and prep prepare for their careers ahead, but he has also continued to stay in touch with them and encourage them along the way. He has now created a platform for these

011women to network with each other and support each other as well. In doing so, he's proven to be a strong ally of women in STEM. Now in its third year, the women in STEM seminar has become a meaningful and visible schoolwide experience in the high school. Uh this year the event brought together about uh 60 students for a STEM class fair uh highlighting academic opportunities uh and a panel discussion. So somebody who has been there, it is a powerful learning uh experience each year and has really created a community of current students and alum uh in this area. So um thank you Dave uh for an incredible experience for our students. offer him uh our congratulations. And last but not least, um, Miss Julie Tiko, an ENL teacher, and Sheridan Hill. And these are the

012best when students nominate their teachers. So, if uh, Miss Tiko and her students would join me up at the front screen. So, these are the best and this one in particular because it's in their own words. Um, so I'm going to uh read some of the things that they had shared. For folks that aren't aware, uh there are four different elementary schools in Clarence. Uh if a student uh receives ENL services, then they would go to Sheridan Hill. So, um, Miss Tico has the chance to get to know kids from all corners of the Clarence School community. Um, so these are in their own words, uh, not a summary. So, you'll get to hear why Miss Tiko uh is such an important part of their learning experience. Um, so Alexis um, in grade five writes,

013"Miss Tico should receive a Red Devil recognition award for leading international night because she always makes it feel like you can explore many different countries without leaving the gym." Although this year they left the gym because the event has grown. it has outgrown the gym. It is a really special evening. Uh Hudson in grade two had said it's fun to learn about other countries. Um Seria had said uh in grade five, Miss Tico is a really nice teacher and she does a really good job at planning international night. International is always really fun because I get to see everyone's different cultures and I get to eat really good food. So if you haven't been there, um that is true. It's a night with different presentations and dancing, music, food, posters, um traditional dress or um

014dress from different cultures. So, it's a really cool event at Sheridan Hill. Um Rohan in grade three writes, "It's fun to taste the different foods at International Night." Um Karina in kindergarten says, "I really like all the foods at international night." Um Ella Ella says, "Miss Tico does a really good job at planning international night. glad that we have an international night because I like sharing my culture with everyone and seeing and tasting everyone's culture um and with overwhelming support and gratitude from their parents. Um so if you will join me in congratulating Miss Tiko Oh, I botched it and I even had Oh, I got a corrected email and I read it wrong. Uh that is 100% my fault. 100%. Oh no. Oh jeepers. We'll go back and edit the video before it posts.

015What we didn't get wrong is how special Miss Tico is. So, thank you for a really cool nomination for being here with us tonight. Can we have one last round of applause for all of our recipients this evening? So, um we so thank you for being here tonight. You are more than willing to stick around for a bit of the meeting, the full meeting. We also know that it's a Monday night that there's probably homework that needs to be completed, dinners that need to be eaten. So, if you are here for the Red Devil recognition and need um neither want to leave, we certainly understand that. So, thank you again for being here with us. Okay, we're going to move on to board reports and we have the finance committee meeting which I believe just

016happened. Yes. Who wants to report out on that? >> I got that, James. >> Thank you, Mike. >> Yeah. So, um, one of the agenda items tonight um will be uh a budget update um to the board and a lot of that we reviewed in advance this evening. So, I won't go into all the details because we'll cover it off shortly. Uh, but as far as the finance committee meeting this evening, uh, in addition to reviewing the budget presentation and talking about key drivers, we um reviewed the revenue updates and where we sit with the tax cap calculation that will be coming um, due March 1st. Uh, the foundation aid from the original go governor's budget which I think also is in the presentation this night uh, tonight. uh which uh we're receiving the state

017kind of minimum, if you will, 1% increase, which is not great news. Uh we also reviewed initial uh elementary enrollment projections for next year and what the staffing uh requirements would be initially as we uh complete kindergarten roundup activities. Um and then we talked about budget priorities given uh what we'll see tonight and in the coming uh months. the presentation, the revenue picture doesn't look great and expenses are rising in some areas uh greater than the pace of inflation. Um you know, priorities of staying within the tax cap while maintaining current programs and staffing levels. Um and then we we wrapped up with just reviewing vote day communications and activities. We will be meeting again on April 14th uh to review uh final numbers before we go uh come to the full board to adopt

018the budget. >> Thank you, Mike. Anyone have any questions on the pre-board hearing? None. We'll move on to CESF. Don, >> thank you, James. Um, just two things. March is going to be very busy month for CEF. Um, on March, Thursday, March 5th, we're introducing a new event for um, high school seniors, which is going to be benefiting postp promises. And Avery is going to talk about that during her presentation. And then also save the date for March 19th, which is the faculty basketball game, which is always a favorite of the kids. >> It's a great time, Don. Thank you. Um PTO meetings. I will start. I went to the clearance center PTO meeting last month. Um I gave them update on the capital project improvements are happening in their building, which they were happy

019about. Um we talked about technology a little bit. Um and I solicited any comments they have on use of technology since we're looking at that. And we also talked about the upcoming budget which um I just gave them an update on where we were with that. Any other PTO meetings, >> the high school PTO meets Thursday, >> three days short. >> All right. Erie County Association of School Board Representatives. >> Yes, James. Um we had our legislative team meeting on January 22nd. Uh was a good meeting. We had a presentation on the Arch Angel project and this project monitors the internet for warnings about dangers that could occur in schools. Uh we reviewed the fall legislative dessert form and they used a new format this year where about every 20 minutes we did a roundroin

020approach and we met with our area legislators. We also reviewed the Erie County School Board's takes a stand document which runs for two years and it talks about the things that we believe in. Um, we also reviewed the capital conference. We had the virtual cap capital conference this past Friday. There were a number of good presentations from uh New York State school boards, association reps, uh, SED reps, and uh, area legis legislators throughout the state. Also, tips for those attending the in-person lobby day, which takes place Wednesday. I'll be traveling to Albany tomorrow, uh, representing Clarence. Um, and, uh, I met with Matt last week. We talked about uh things that we want to uh lobby for uh particularly a increase in foundation aid as as um Mike mentioned the governor's proposal is just a

0211% increase um but also looking at some other things that uh that would really uh be an issue for us. We're looking at it perhaps 33% increase in electricity next year, health insurance 8 to 9%. And so uh you know we want to uh lobby for an increase in that uh foundation aids. I'd also um be talking to we we also hope to get uh better uh clarity when the Senate and Assembly pres present their uh uh budget proposals. Uh personally I always will advocate on the electric bus mandate. We need to put the brakes on that no pun intended. Um but also uh unfunded mandates are always an issue. So I'll be doing that uh traveling to Albany tomorrow. will meet with a lot of legislators on Wednesday morning. >> Thank you, Dennis. Um

022that any other board reports will move. >> Thank you, President Bali. We have uh four former reports this evening. First up to hear from our middle school team, then an academic achievement presentation, our second budget planning update, and then as always, our student representative Avery Collins will give a report. Um so I'm going to turn things over to our middle school team. team and as they're heading to the microphone just to thank them for a really informative um start to the day. The board of education was here for about an hour this morning visiting classrooms and talking with our leadership team at the middle school and uh really impressed with what they have going on. So, uh Miss Driver, we'll turn things over to you. >> Yeah, I just want to make sure you can

023hear us. Ben, are you good with the way that is? I think you're good. Um so, with me today is Beth Chalis and Chris Martin. Uh we're all going to speak a little bit to things that we're proud about here at the middle school. It's nice to be in the library, too. Little different than the auditorium. Um so, thank you to all of you who are able to tour the building and see some of the great stuff that goes on here each day. Uh in terms of uh the strategic plan, um and the parts that we're talking about tonight, a lot of it starts with the work that we sit and plan for with adults so that they can do good things for kids. So, we're excited to share um our thoughts on all of

024that. The first area that we're going to speak to is progress with purpose, which is a focus on instructional technology. Uh our board members saw quite a bit of that this morning on their tour. Going along with the adults kind of being the leaders here. As um observers of teachers, we have noticed things like teachers not using Chromebooks as much. We've seen a little bit more people using paper, increase in paper use. So, we've made these uh informal observations, but we actually did a uh survey of the faculty to kind of get their sense of or get their feedback on all of this. Um so, our faculty is really thoughtful and intentional when they use instructional technology. They don't just tell kids to open up Chromebooks. They sit there and they plan for it. Uh

025historically, the middle school has been a leader in this area. So, when Schooly was first introduced, the middle school went with it and they implemented it. things like that. Um, our teachers are highly engaged in professional development in this area. The pie chart there shows you that 83% of our teachers identified that they have taken a course around instructional technology. Um, most of those are offered by Dr. Over Holtz's uh department. So, thank you to her for hosting so many great uh sessions for our teachers to engage in. Uh, they are also reflective and not afraid to change practice to best support student learning. So even for example, you know, during the pandemic, we had we were kind of forced to use more instructional technology and our teachers have been reflective on those practices to

026not just keep moving forward with it, but see what is best for students. We asked teachers what types of programs they're using with students. Uh those things fell into three main areas. The first was interactive and engagement tools. So there's a bunch of things listed there. Uh our board members saw some of our teachers using Wayground today. So we know that teachers, the great thing about this is it not only gets the kids engaged and kind of practicing things in kind of a more fun way, but it gives teachers on the spot feedback about how kids are doing. So as kids are working, teachers can see who they need to go over and help and do more things with. Another area where we um support students is assessment practice and skill building. So, a lot

027of those things listed there help students and teachers identify where kids are at with a certain skill. It allows kids to practice their skill. Things like Quizlet, kids can go in on their own and practice on their own. Um so, there's a lot of opportunity there for kids to get better. Um creation, collaboration, and expression. Those are other things that people use in the classroom. You saw a teacher today using Canva with her students to help them um take the research that they had done for an ELA project and create something meaningful to demonstrate their understanding. All right. And now if you were able to tour the building today, what you saw was instructional technology in action. But if you toured the building every day and went into classrooms, it might look a little different

028than what you saw today. So when we surveyed faculty and staff, what they said was the majority of them are using Chromebooks in their instruction um at least once a week with 20% of them using it on a daily basis. In terms of using Chromebooks for homework assignments, the majority are using Chromebooks um occasionally or most of the time, but with only 8% using them daily. So when we interpret these survey results, what this kind of kind of tells us is that um students and teachers are not using Chromebooks on a daily basis both inside and outside of the classroom. They're really finding a balance between using instructional resources and paperbased resources um in their instructional practice. So, if you look at the pie chart on the right side of the screen, um this survey

029result tells us how teachers are using Chromebooks um now versus when the district first went onetoone with devices. So, 3/4 of teachers are actually using Chromebooks less now than what they did when that policy went into effect with about 50% um using them significantly less. Now, in terms of paperbased resources, teachers are reporting a lot of positive outcomes from using those. Um, one of the big ones is student focus and engagement. So, when students are not using Chromebooks, they're not being um distracted by games on their Chromebook, switching between different tabs or being on websites that don't necessarily relate to the task that they're working on, which then has led to higher quality student work being submitted and better completion rates on assignments. As middle level educators, we also believe in the importance of supporting

030students in their social growth. So using traditional resources like paper has helped students interact with each other more um and increase dialogue between each other. And paper is also essential for other things like note takingaking, solving different problems in math um science activities and reading longer texts. So teachers have really found a balance between using these different resources um and this has benefited their instructional practice as well as student outcomes. Now I'm going to turn it over to Miss Ch. Okay. So some of the why behind the balance and the shift. Um 54% of our teachers said that um they're using uh Chromebooks significantly less in the classroom on a day-to-day basis since we started onetoone. Um so that's significant to us and they're telling us that the devices are most effective when they're using

031them for authentic purposes which we'll outline in a little bit. Um some uh an example of an authentic purpose would be uh what you saw today, drafting, writing, that kind of thing. Um assessments, um whether they're on Schooly or another platform, self-paced um knowledge acquisition activities um that we outlined um some of the platforms in which we use those. And then also special accommodations um speech to text, that's just one example. So that's when our devices are most effective. Um some concerns with overuse. So again the Y for the balance is what Chris already talked about but the decrease um in attention spans. Uh this rise of apathy in um students and also the rise of AI highlights again um or well brings light to um plagiarism. So we're combating that again um with the

032use of AI and then also um with um the increase of technology then that means a decrease in social interaction. So the next area is our favorite area um the one around safety and belonging. I think when a lot of people think of their middle school experience, they like cringe or people gasp when you tell them you're a middle level educator because they think about their own own middle school experience where, you know, something terrible happened or they didn't feel like they belonged or they were embarrassed or whatever, you know, something like that. Um, but for us, we work really hard to try to make um not only our students, but our adults feel like they're part of an inclusive culture. Um, as we work on that with adults, we see it um with students.

033like even some of the stuff that we've done with our faculty then comes through when we meet with teachers at the end of the year for their APR and now steps projects that all comes out and it it's really rewarding for us to see adults talking about the great things they're doing to help kids feel like they belong. Um so we are intentional about our culture. uh you know, if you come here on a Friday during the football season, we're all decked out in Bill's gear. And it might just kind of look silly, but it's stuff that we do like that to show everybody that we're on the same page. We also have our house color day on Wednesdays. Um we often overlook our house system, which has been around for quite some time now.

034Uh but the house system is really important to holding this all together. It's a big school. As you work walk through the building, you can see the different colors. But in the offices, we work with our counselor, um the different PPS members who are in our staff, our secretaries. We have regular meetings with our secretaries, regular meeting with our PPS um teachers to make sure we're all on the same page, giving consistent message to families and kids around um simple systems or even how we approach uh conflicts that students may have so we can resolve them for kids. Uh our HQ programming, we always take pride in that. Our teachers who lead that are excellent. Um they do great work in helping kids feel connected to school without academics being connected to that. So kids

035have some sort of feeling of belonging um even without thinking about math or ELA. Our monthly assemblies, um we try to celebrate stuff at our monthly assemblies. Our December assembly highlighted our music department, but we also use it as a time to make sure that we're all on the same page um with expectations. Uh our faculty meetings and communication, we take pride in making sure our faculty feel like they know what's going on. Um that they can approach us and ask questions so that they feel like they're part of something. Uh even um we do stuff where we provide them professional development, but we also bring them together to get to know each other and celebrate things. So the picture there is where we had Mr. Plenino bring together um some of our orchestra students.

036They played some music for our faculty and then we did an activity to help our faculty bond. So those are some of the things that we do to really um make sure that belonging is at the forefront here at CMS. Uh if you already don't know this, we have awesome teachers here. Uh and so they're a huge part in creating the atmosphere and the environment for belonging. Um so some examples are authentic learning environments that they create in large group events like the Uganda Water Project or the sixth grade uh wax museum. Um or even smaller things like everyday activities that um Jacob Manard creates in our eighth grade business class with personal finance experiences. Um uh last week um a little plug for our orientation program. We welcome fifth graders um for phase one

037of the orientation program which is to preview uh the musical. And while it seems like oh that's a simple event. Um we uh couch it by asking the students to look at where you think you're you're going to belong when you get here. Is it on stage? if it's not on stage, is it behind the scenes? Is it at the soundboard? Is it an art club creating part of the set? So, experiences like that. Um, we have students think about before they even enter our hallways. And then this year, um, something we're really proud of over the summer, we had a committee of teachers get together to work on our larger community building events. So, in sixth grade, we had a day at the camp, um, a day at town park called camp day. and

038seventh grade students part took in a bill or a grade level um live game of clue which was unique seeing that students of that age don't actually know what the game of clue is. Uh so that was really fun to watch them participate and we had teachers uh dress up and also um there were clues that students had to work together in their HQ to solve. We haven't done anything like that in the past. Same with the camp day. So, taking a pause on learning and really building that community atmosphere with their HQs. And then our eighth grade trips, they're historical. Uh but something that has blown up since we've been around is um you've got the two cities that students go to and then the students who stay back. There are day excursions that

039um fun and exciting to see. So with that being said, we have our group here today. So Danielle Madison and our students Vince from our service club, they all embody what CMS is, a place where people belong. There is community outreach in what they do and they just are kind people. So So Danielle and kids, come on up. Hi, my name is Hannah and I'm in eighth grade. My favorite community service club project so far was Sleep in Heavenly Peace because we actually got to make the bed that children without them could use. Last year, we went on a trip to Sleep Heavenly Peace warehouse to learn the process how the beds were made. We sanded the wood, nailed the wood together, coated them with the stain, and built the headboards. The workshop leaders told

040us how many beds they delivered each delivery day, and it was a lot. I realized just how many people were sleeping without a bed in our community, and I was happy to make an impact on those people's lives. >> Good job. Great. >> Hi, my name is Maddie and I'm in sixth grade. My favorite community service project so far was the nursing home because I saw a positive impact it had on the elderly. We played games like Nerf basketball and handed out coloring pages that the school made. We could tell many of the residents loved talking to us and had a picture had fun having a picture to hang on their room. At first, I felt nervous about visiting, but now I know that it was so much fun. Hi, my name is Autumn and

041I'm in sixth grade. In December, we had people come in from the Dream Center come to talk to us about feeding the homeless. In January, we had a schoolwide collection to collect as many things as we could for the homeless. The most of something we collected was 320 granola bars. We filled 81 bags and had extra items as well. They will go straight to the homeless people living on the streets and to Cornerstone Manor for women and children in need. I feel proud to help the people on the streets to stay warm and healthy. My name is Addison and I'm an eighth grader. When I first joined this club in sixth grade, I wanted to help out a bit and be with my friends. However, it ended teaching me a lot about leadership, teamwork, and

042creativity. One moment that stood out was our trunk or treat event at the high school this year. I suggested adding a fun interacting activity so kids of all ages could participate, not just walk by and grab candy. Seeing people actually stop and get involved showed me how one small idea can improve the experience of lots of people. It made me realize that contributing ideas matter. Even the simple ones can bring people together. Overall, service club gave me opportunities to be part of a community, but help me grow as a person. I'm really thankful to be even a small part of this group. Thank you. >> I just want to say thank you to the kids. >> Yeah, they did a great job. >> It's a great service club is really great and giving back to

043the community and the people around you is really important and you know that to some of the board members who are on the board that's what we do and you know someday there'll be an opening so you should think about that >> Danielle really does an excellent job of course >> thank you very much and I'd like to say thank you for the tour this morning it was great and what we were looking for and also I really appreciated the data that you provided um by doing the survey because you know one of our goals this year is to look at technology throughout the buildings and kind of come up with and policies and think about where we are and I was here when we rolled out one to one devices or maybe I was

044just after that but it's been a long time and things have changed um and I really appreciate it getting an understanding of how it's being used in the middle school and um certainly the teachers today it was pretty impressive and it's nice to see that they're kind of dialing it back a little bit so it was just a a great day with the middle school. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you for coming. >> Anyone have any comments or questions? >> No, just it was a great morning. Thank you for spending all that time with us. >> Great morning. I was just um as you were speaking for our our student leaders um our board of education sets goals and priorities every year and one of them is in the area of

045artificial intelligence and instructional technology and what our administrative team had shared was really impressive and nice to have data that goes along with some things that we may be seeing um feeling or just kind of anecdotally noticing. Um so to actually have some pie charts is really helpful. They also talk a lot about establishing partnerships uh because we're lucky to be in a community that that really is rich in terms of opportunities with uh different organizations. So, as you were talking, I was I think we all were really really imp impressed with who you're already connecting with. Um so, really nice job. You're you're not just getting ready to make a difference, you are making a difference now. Um so, you're what make us proud. um our board of education when we have student leaders

046come to a meeting um we we often like to grab a photo with um some current leaders in our district who sit on a board and also our student leaders and members of our administrative team. If you would be up for it before you take off, we'd love to have our board of education come up to join you in front of the screen. I'll take a photo and then um I send a message to your um parents every Friday and I'll include the photo there so that you can see it and um we'll give you a shout out. you did a really really nice job tonight. Um, and appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to connect with our team. So, why don't we have our board members go up there? I'll grab

047my uh phone. And for our parents that are here, you should be really, really proud. >> Nice shirts. Here's creeper. >> It is. All right. Why don't we have our middle school administrative team? You got to sort of switch. All right. Ready. One, two, three. over here. Thank you. For folks that may uh follow different board reports and presentations, you'll know that on an annual basis, Dr. Overhalt gives us an overview of academic achievement here in the district. Uh if you're saying, well, it's February. Why haven't we talked about it before? You have to know New York State and how they release information in a little bit more detail. By the time they go through their embargo process and we can do some number crunching, it usually is toward the second half of the year,

048but appropriate as we talk about uh presentations from September through January, February that focus more on programming and then February on that focus more on finance, a nice bridge in terms of what we're trying to support as we think about a spending plan. So, Dr. Overall, we'll turn things over to you for a report on academic achievement. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Frame. Um, and just before I I begin, uh, I just want to acknowledge, uh, Susan McGlaclin from Erie Boseies. Uh, Sue is our, uh, data coordinator and she's worked very closely with me on compiling this data for tonight's presentation. So, I just wanted to make sure I acknowledged her before I began. Um, so, as Dr. Frame mentioned, um, these are going to be the data sets we're going to, uh, talk

049about this evening. And what's very important is that we will use uh regional performance as a point of comparison. So in terms of that data embargo, we don't we we cannot get that regional information until January. Hence why we bring this to you today. However, I want it I want it known that as soon as our data is made available to us within the district, we are already looking at this information very closely. So, we start at the beginning of of the year in September. We are already meeting with our building teams, our our our principles as well as our uh teacher teams unpacking this data and making uh instructional plans for the school year. So I just wanted to make that point known. So we will be looking uh at at Clarence's performance as

050compared to the region specifically. We'll be looking at three through 8 uh both ELA and mathematics as well as science data. Our region's exam performance, our advanced placement exam performance and our common formative assessment data that happens here locally. I think it's important to see uh this collectively because it really shapes our work uh on the K12 continuum. So again, just for a a a historical reference, these are the districts that have performed in the top 10 uh in terms of Western New York business first. Now, we're still using um niche rankings along with business first, but these are the districts you'll see compared this evening. So, we'll start with uh 3 through 8 ELA. Uh before you, you see uh the percentage of students proficient, that's students scoring at a level three or four.

051And what you'll see is uh Clarence is tied for the highest ranking within the region at 72%. When we look at that data historically, we see upward trends. So even just looking at last year's data, we had 65% of students proficient. So again, we see an upward trajectory in terms of our our performance, which again is a strong indication of the work we've been doing uh both with uh alignment focusing on structure structured literacy programming. Certainly that is uh showing up in terms of our student outcomes. When we look at the data year-over-year, this is a comparison of last year's data to this year's data or last year's performance uh or I should say two years uh two years ago in 2024 to 2025 spring. What you're going to see is notable gains in multiple

052grade levels. So you can see in grades 3, 5, 6, and seven, we have notable gains. And we although we see those slight decreases in some grade levels, this is also an opportunity for us to dig into uh common common formative assessment data, which I'll talk about in a little bit uh in terms of targeting some of those areas um that need more attention. But again when we look at our gains overall uh we certainly see improvement when looking at math again um at 76% proficient uh this is also like ELA an increase in performance from previous year's uh uh performance. So last year uh we came in at about 74% proficient overall. Again, we are very strong in terms of math performance across the district. So when we when we look at individual grade

053level p performance again, we'll see uh notable gains in in grades three, four, uh six as well as um we see again upward movement and in math 7 as well as math 8. So for science uh we are currently in uh ranked fourth across the region at 74 uh% proficient that again uh is an improvement from performance last year. Now this was the second administration of the new again there's a new science assessment in grades five and eight. Um so again looking at this as an opportunity to certainly dig into uh inquiry based uh learning. Um certainly there's opportunities for growth there but again we're seeing that upward trend in terms of student uh outcomes which is a very good sign. So now we're going to move to the regions uh performance. So when we're

054looking at our data set um for this first and foremost what we'll see is we have a broader view of academic uh outcomes. Again obviously having uh more of our disciplines represented by way of regent exams. I thought I wanted to pause here for a moment. This again really important points of celebration here. Not only do you see uh many of our disciplines averaging around that 90% proficiency mark, but also to point out our mastery percentages. So not only again do we see uh performance in terms of students passing but what those mastery rates are telling us is that there's also a depth of understanding within those subject areas which is incredibly important particularly when we we think about academic rigor as well as college and career readiness. very proud to report that when we

055look at uh the these are the Erie 1 Bosey's component districts. So unlike the three through eight comparison we are comparing uh all 21 component districts when we look at our performance we outperformed uh all tw all of those all of those districts here in this data set. So, uh, averaging when we take a look at all 10 of those regions exams, 93% of our students performed at proficiency. Again, that's a 65% or higher. So, certainly a point of celebration. Uh, again, showing that we have instructional um strength at the at the high school level as well as academic rigor. And speaking of which uh another mechanism to to again explore is our advanced placement exam performance. So uh again at the high school we offer currently 24 different advanced placement courses. Uh we had

056a total of students uh participate in those classes. Uh we had 816 exams passed, meaning that students performed at a level three or higher on those exams. And you can guess probably by those numbers, many students are taking more than than one advanced placement course. Again, coming in at an overall average proficiency of 88%. And I believe uh we just reported out by way of social media how well our students performed on advanced placement exams. So another again point of pride certainly for the district. So when we look at an individual performance across uh the advanced placement uh courses again very high levels of students receiving a three or better. Um again, this data also helps us though look more closely uh at coursework that potentially may need additional supports or um again curricular um

057uh support that uh we could we can certainly further provide. So again, just to kind of generalize from the information set that I've prepared for you tonight, we see the highest percentage of students scoring at proficiency that we've seen um certainly in my time in this position. uh coming in in that number one spot in terms of performance in uh three through eight ELA and second highest in the region within the the mathematics grades three through 8, fourth at uh performing in in science at grades five and eight and then ranking first for overall performance on our region's exams. So I always like to take a moment to talk a little bit about what are we doing internally. Um so the information I'm sharing this evening in terms of state assessments we would refer to

058those as summitive assessments. Okay in summation those are the exams that we're giving at the end of the year that allow us to kind of externally validate programming both curricular as well as instructional. This is really important stuff. So these are our interm assessments. When we look at common formative assessments, these are topical in nature or unit topics that we now have in place uh for all grades, grades K through five at our elementary school, both in ELA as well as mathematics. So, our data repository, also known as performance matters, allows us to look at this information with pretty significant uh granularity. So, we're able to align every question to the standard that is being assessed. What you'll see in this data set before you is this is actually a series of about seven topic

059tests. We can drill in and look at uh standards performance and identify where are we strong, where are we uh and where we need um to further our attention in terms of possibly where our students may be struggling in terms of a particular standard. really powerful uh information for us and again this is in real time data. So we're again teachers are able to use this information and make um you know informed decisions about curriculum about instructional practices and really make it um make those make those decisions uh in a very timely manner. And this is just another example of what we're looking at in terms of standardsbased performance. again being able to give you a glimpse of what teachers are actually utilizing on a day daily basis in terms of being able to inform

060their instruction. So this also, you know, all of this information we taken to really inform our multi-tered system of supports, also known as MTSS. We've really, again, I've mentioned this before, but certainly doubled down in terms of our supports and our investment in terms of evidence-based structured literacy at the elementary level. Again, this data is a strong indication that those methodologies are working. So when we think about uh phonics, explicit phonics instruction coupled with uh reading comprehension, we're really seeing growth in that tier one, but also refining what's happening in terms of our intervention systems. So again, looking at tier 2 and classroom interventions as well as also um the the tier three interventions or remediation that's taking place. All of this information is helping us kind of guide what's going on instructionally in in

061all tiers. And then lastly, just again honing in on those common formative assessments that that has really been a gamecher in terms of our instructional supports and and certainly looking at curriculum and making making changes there to better our student outcomes. So with that, I'll take any questions uh that the board may have. >> Can you uh first off, this is great information. Thank you. >> Um and not to get into details, I'm sure you have it. I'm just from the board just context. So you're uh the grades three >> through five scoring. >> Yeah. >> Um is impressive. >> You go to a building level. One of the things we've strived as a board is to try to pro bring the resources to all the buildings and kind of provide this for the same

062experiences and support. Are you seeing we had some buildings that were lagging others in the past? How are we looking? >> I can speak to that and and I think when when we you know look at this work structurally what has been transformational is being able to bring teachers together from each school to dig into this data together to then inform curriculum development. So right now um we are more consistent than we've ever been and and I can say that um with great pride but that is because we have the ability to bring a representative from each building and every grade level together to these district uh meetings where those decisions are made and then they bring as teacher leads that information back to their respective teams. So, um I think that's also a big

063reason that we're seeing the gains that we're seeing across all all four elementary schools for sure. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Kristen, when you see a big leap like some of these scores on the math um assessment, like for example, 8th grade 2024 was 65%. M and then it jumped to 77. >> What is your hunch or what are some possible things that that could be attributed to cuz >> Yeah, >> it's so impressive. I mean, one thing I want to also make note of too is one of the factors particularly with eighth grade that I I want to make note of is that our uh algebra performance is also in included in those numbers as well, which could could skew that a little bit. So just keep that in mind. So

064that performance on the algebra we've then added into the performance. Now that goes for both years but that's the those data points are included. >> I think you know again by way of being able to utilize many of the tools even that our middle school administrative team talked about today. Those are formative assessment that is informing our instruction, but it's also in real time allowing us to intervene with students much much earlier. So, I would say we're also seeing improvement in student outcomes because of the tools that we're able to to put in their hands to inform our instruction as well. So, we definitely see gains across the board in that way. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Dr. Hold a ton. Looking at the um AP classes, we have I mean great

065job. There's what eight >> classes that did 100%. Yes. >> So my eye is drawn to the 44. >> Sure. Structural change in that exam. So the that one particular language uh this past year, so 2025, there was a significant structural change to that AP exam. So we again are thinking about potentially an implementation gap with there being a new structure to that exa to that exam this year. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> If you're really looking at things like AP exams and we did just receive a silver designation on the AP honor role, but they're looking not just at achievement, they're also looking at access and they're looking at the number of students that are taking a test and really try to balance those two things. We certainly want our kids to

066be successful. We also want to make sure we're challenging as many students as we can. So, a ton to be excited about and to celebrate. It wouldn't happen without students, staff, and families all pulling in the same direction. The part that I know that gets you the most excited is the second half of that presentation because that's where the gains are. That's right. It's really looking individually at students and figuring out how to strengthen them as learners. And um that's the that's the usable data for us. Sometimes the the state data comes out so late after the fact, it's not usable information. and it's something to celebrate, but it's the stuff that we can actually uh take action on during the school year. So, big credit to you and your team. >> Thank you. And

067I just wanted to highlight one more point and I'll talk quickly back to Mr. Fuches's question, but it's also taking that data as uh Dr. Frame pointed out with my my team and now uh with the uh instructional coaches that we have in place that they're able to now be in the classroom working directly with teachers. that has also been I think significant in terms of where we're seeing student gains as well. Thank you. >> Uh third presentation this evening is a budget planning update. As you know, we go through a series of these every winter. Um as they go, they'll get more specific in terms of information. As I go through some of the slides tonight, I'm going to try not to be repetitive for content that was shared at the the last board

068meeting, but to really just call out and highlight information that has been added or changed since the last time uh that we met. So, uh Ben, I think you're pulling up a third slide deck. >> Oh, Jeepers, that's me. It's on me. Yep. Thank you. I can't get good tech support anymore. Um so, again, budget planning update. You can see an agenda that will guide our conversation tonight. We're going to focus briefly on expenditure and revenue assumptions and then we're going to get into three different areas of our learning organization uh in the area of operations uh and talk about some changes. I should just say at a general level that uh our finance committee talked a lot today about as we go into this budget planning process, we want to make sure that we're

069balancing programmatic needs for students with fiscal realities. uh being committed to staying uh under the tax cap, at or below the tax cap, and then also making sure that we're doing all we can to protect uh existing programs and services that are important for our school district. Um not an easy task this year when we look at expenditures and we look at revenues. Uh you can see where we are in the process. It's not an overnight process. It's one that happens over a period of months. So, we're right in the middle of that in our our second budget planning session. With regard to revenue projections, we spent some time talking about this slide the last time that we met. Uh we'll be able to finalize our tax cap here in the next few days. We're

070waiting for one last number. We don't think that it's a a number that will end up being outside of the norm in terms of what we've seen for uh recent years here in Clarence. That number has to be reported to the state in March. So, we should be able to share that information the next time that we report out for a budget conversation. Uh we were able to see um draft runs come out after the governor's state of the state. As we went into that, we thought there was a good chance that foundation aid would stay level for clearance. The good news is that it didn't stay level. The bad news is that it didn't go up dramatically. There are a lot of districts across the state in their foundation aid area that saw a

0711% increase. We're one of those districts. We know that with all of our expenditures, they're going up more than 1%. So that is not a number that keeps pace uh with needs that we have here in our school district and that foundation aid is the most significant that comes from Albany. So that is a change from the last time that we had met and then no change uh with regard to uh local sales tax. We uh since the last time that we had met. So when we think about revenue coming in, we really are looking at monies that are levied locally and we look at monies that would come uh from New York State in the form of aid. With regard to expenditure updates, again we have talked about these. I do just want to

072call out a couple of them in note because they are significant budget drivers for us perhaps more than anything. Uh our draft health care numbers uh are in the area of an 8 to a 9% increase when you look at the industry standard. That's not outside the norm. That is a huge impact on our budget. We're talking about close to a million dollar increase just in the in the form of health care costs. Uh and then really keying in on utility costs. We're seeing significant increases now and anticipate those going into next year. uh anticipating over a 30% increase when we look at our electric cost u for next year. And then special education, we always want to make sure that we can uh provide programs and services for all of our students, but those

073change and we also know that we have students and families move into our district at different points in time. So, those are some uh areas of information that are worth highlighting. >> Frame before you move on. >> You bet. >> I see the electricity increase. We have our lighting project coming up to replace all the light fixtures with um more efficient LEDs. >> Correct. So, we anticipate some level of savings there. It's also worth noting that when we think about our overall utility cost, we also have gas cost. So, some may be up, some may be down. We're just anticipating a really significant electric cost even with some advances in terms of LED uh lighting. So, that is a project that you just noted that'll be taking place in the spring and summer. Um so,

074it will be in place for the bulk of next school year. So, we're going to uh talk specifically about three different departments at this board meeting and then the next time we gather, we'll talk about three other areas of the budget. I will just say at the outset that our focus is on maintaining what we currently had, not about uh increases. And so, some of the information that we may have gone into more detail historically should be familiar information for our board of education. and I'll really focus on uh uh items of note and things that may be different uh than what we've seen in the past. So uh the first department we're going to talk about a positive programmatic sign for us. It is also also a positive financial sign for us uh just

075due to the cost of those runs even with the aid rate that we would receive uh with this particular department. So looking at uh our current year 25 26 anticipated expenses and then 26 27 and then a percent change we we know that a lot of our needs are going to be consistent this year to next year. So we shouldn't see huge spikes. Um and then whenever we do see a large percentage increase it's it's worth asking why we see that percent change and then also to look at the dollars associated with it. Sometimes there will be a real swing with regard to percentage, but it will be a relatively small dollar value when we're looking at a budget that's this size. So, we look at our staffing level about a 2.5% increase. Uh you

076can see that contracted runs amount. Uh it is a number that is based in large part with a CPI factor that's put into it. Uh there's a contractual cost for us. It really is coming out of insurance for transportation which is uh categorized in this area as well as some software costs as we have shifted software and there's training and support costs that come with that and then supplies tools and totals. So we're looking at a budgetto budget increase of just under 3% for a transportation department and worth noting that with regard to transportation aid about 60% of it would be returned to the district in the form of aid. And again, just focusing on things that we keep a close look on, it's the number of runs that are contracted out. So, we still

077have um a really aggressive push to add members of our own team here in Clarence. That's a credit to Dr. Grupka, Miss Forester out in the transportation department. We have brought on a number of new drivers in attendance this year. We're hoping that trend continues uh and that we can work our number of contracted runs down. So, that's our first department of review tonight. Uh there also is uh a resolution anticipated resolution in May that would focus on a bus or vehicle purchase. Uh a little bit over a year ago we had brought in an outside partner through on board to do a a review of our transportation department. They had made a recommendation in terms of uh our bus fleet uh the the percent that we would want to have in reserve if something

078were to happen. So we have adjusted our transportation. When we talk about a bus vehicle replacement schedule, it is a 10-year schedule that's in place. We're looking at buses that have hit the 10-year mark. They're off of warranty. They have a certain number of miles and they have wear and tear on them. So, this recommendation aligns with that. If you go back to the last couple budget uh presentations and proposals that we put forward, there are different types of vehicles in there. Uh here are the vehicles that would be um parts of that 10-year plan. So the second department this evening is to to look at our buildings and grounds department. It's always a little bit daunting and impressive to look at the grounds and buildings that our our buildings and grounds team is tasked

079with uh caring for every year. Uh we're lucky to come to a place that is safe and that is clean thanks to these uh this talent talented team of people. Our staffing uh team has stayed the same year to year. In terms of expenses again just to go down and and focus on some different things. The first looking at uh staffing in the buildings and grounds department you can see for cleaners custodian supervisors uh just over four and a half percent about uh about 4.7%. We really are looking at the individuals that make up that team and their years of service and different contractual commitments that come in there. You can see our our building maintenance mechanics uh our contractual cost and repairs. Uh the biggest bump when we look at this slide again we

080anticipate being in the area of utilities. So there's some up and some down when we think about gas and electric, but that overall anti anticipated uh increase with regard to electricity um is what has us uh most nervous about next year and you can see a budget-to-budget increase of about 4.3%. There's that uh anticipated utility cost again and also thinking about some special summer projects. So, in addition to a deep clean, making sure that we can continue on a replace or a painting schedule for hallways and classrooms that we've been able to tackle the last couple summers, as well as some driveway repair. We know that we're doing some work at the middle school and high school this current summer, Sheridan Hill and the high school the uh the summer after. It's not that. We're

081talking about your cold patching and your filling in of potholes that many of you probably have experienced entering our different uh our different parking lots and buildings. So, we know that when it begins to fingers crossed, warm up, uh, our team will be out doing some repair for our driveways and and parking lots. Um, the third area is a focus on technology. Uh, again, we have a consistent team in place for our IT uh team, a really really talented group of people, and if you need evidence, just take a look at the lefth hand column there. They are incredibly responsive, incredibly knowledgeable, um, and closing out a ton of tickets across the district. Uh again, probably more than any department when you look at the percent increase or decrease some significant swings and wanted to

082just note those reasons. Uh at the bottom in terms of staffing, uh just over a 3% budget-to-budget increase in terms of equipment, it looks like a big swing at minus 18%, when you look at the dollar value, it's maybe not as dramatic as the percent change. And then when you get into contractual things with Boseies and data processing, these really reflect industry standards and to support a lot of the different instructional tech that we've heard about at places like tonight. Just some increases that we're seeing. The biggest change though comes in the area of supplies. And this this was installing and replacing access points in the middle and high school for this current year's spending plan. Uh at the elementary school, that work will be done in a capital project, but we had an expense

083for this current year. we do not have the same expense for that year and that's why you can see the decrease in terms of spending. Uh again the biggest items of note for us is that making sure as we have this onetoone device plan we can replace those as devices are expiring and again just more and more software being able to support uh increases that we're experiencing from the different vendors that we work with. So for us next steps we'll finalize the tax cap calculation. We'll be advocating with our elected officials. Uh Mr. Priori, just to again note that you'll be hopping on a train tomorrow, going to Albany with a team of people to advocate. We appreciate you taking the time to do that. We'll continue to work with faculty and staff to refine

084our recommendations as we move forward uh and closer to uh our vote date which is coming up in May. Uh again, you can see the time location. This is the same general approach that we've had on an annual basis and the different propositions that people would be voting for. Uh, I know that with some of the slides I've moved fairly quickly, but some of the information you're already familiar with. If you do bump into a friend, a neighbor, someone who has questions or wants to talk in more detail, please, please, please have them reach out to myself or Dr. Grubka, and we'd be more than willing to set up a time to talk, a phone call, whatever they would prefer. So, with that, I'll pause to see if there are questions or comments from members

085of our board team. >> I just have one question. I'm not even sure you have an answer. you might have to get it. But looking at technology and they do 7,000 tickets and there's 5.8 employees, like how long does it take to get a ticket responded to? Is it a long time? >> I should uh turn things over to Ben. Um my my guess is Ben didn't think he'd be presenting this evening. My guess is that some are really really quick to resolve and some are really complex to resolve. So these are students, these are staff members that have some issue. It could be an ink cartridges out. It could be that they have an issue with their camera that they are, you know, blocked out a password. And so to make things as efficient

086as possible, we have a queueing system so that it goes into one place and it can be assigned to members of the team and they can resolve them that way. Uh my guess is there are certain times of the year where those numbers really spike. So thinking for example the end of August, the beginning of September when students and staff are back, they'll see a huge surge in some of those ticketing items. It also owes a credit to our team. We have a fantastic IT team, top to bottom. Uh, incredibly responsive, great with people, which is really important because we want students and staff taking chances with instructional tech. Um, and for a lot of us who are not as comfortable in that area, won't do it unless we know that there's a team to

087depend on. So, it's a group that works really well together and they do uh resolve a ton ton ton of issues. >> I I have a question. Um, since we're talking about uh transportation, when I attended the capital conference, they talked about like the electric bus waiver. Um, are we going to be applying for that? >> Yeah, it's an it's an interesting uh interesting question. So, we have gone through this study. We are waiting uh currently for information from our power supplier. uh actually ENSSA which is the professional group for superintendent is organizing a panel conversation with different electric uh providers not uh from the angle of advocacy but from the angle of learning and better understanding. I believe we have a couple members who will be attending uh with myself and in the next

088couple weeks. Um so that's where we are in the process. There is a 2-year extension that you can apply for. We do intend to apply. Uh it goes into effect when you file the extension. So for us it's sort of looking at where we are in the process and then actually maximizing that extension as we look about moving forward. This is one of those areas where uh it's important for us to be advocating for some sort of legislative change because when you talk with power companies, they don't believe they can supply the power. You talk with bus companies, they can't supply the buses. And when you talk about communities, they would be responsible for the increased cost. And if you are following news clippings from across the state, we're seeing those projects go down. So

089asking local communities to bear the cost does not seem to be a winning combination in a lot of different places. >> That was one of the questions I put in the little group that to ask the people and they kind of said, "Well, if your community votes it down, that's one one of the boxes you can check on the waiver." >> So that was the answer they gave. They I said, "What happens?" I mean, because normally >> Yeah. And the the cost being astronomical. So just that combination of factors I think for most folks certainly in upstate New York has have serious serious hesitations and wanting to make sure that we're communicating that to legislators. Again, not discounting some of the uh value that may come with an EV transition, but recognizing that the timing

090may not be right for every single school community. And >> and I'm going to and Dr. Grupka provided some information. I'm going to be talking about things we are doing to be green and to save energy. you know, even though we think the bus mandate is is unrealistic, but I'm going to be talking about some of the good things we're doing. Thank you for providing. >> And it sounds like a couple of our elected officials are talking about partnering together with proposed legislation. So, making sure they're aware of it and they can speak to that in addition to the foundation aid uh to continue to beat that drum. Again, when we look at some of the the anticipated costs and and revenues that quite frankly don't don't match up to that. So, all right. Thank

091you. And I'll turn things over to Avery for a student body update. This past week, the middle school put on their musical Matilda. This incredible cast performed for three nights. Despite sickness and weather, these students powered through and performed three incredible shows. Congrats to these actors for their amazing performances. Congrats to the new NHS inductees at the high school. National Honor Society is a prestigious national organization that embodies the attributes of service, leadership, scholarship, and character. 96 juniors and seniors were inducted. Artists at the high school participated in exhibits at Montabara Heights at Brothers of Mercy through the National Art Honor Society. Multiple students placed high, including Emma Devon Young for best the for the best in show, Norah Sho Walter for first place, Alex Burgerer for third place, and multiple honorable mentions. as well.

092Artists participated in the Western New York High School student art exhibition where their pieces were displayed at the University at Buffalo Center for Arts. Congrats to these artists. Congratulations to the Cash women's hockey team for placing first in their federation. Clarence Amherst and Sweet Home players combined to form Cash. For the first time in their team's history, they were first in the league. The annual middle school spelling be occurred in January. Sixth grader Benjamin Gibson placed first and seventh grader Avan Ava Ramachandron placed second. All competition had to spell difficult words for a chance to move on to a spelling be for Western New York. Congrats to Benjamin and great job to all competitors. Fourth graders at Leedby Elementary collected 925 pairs of socks to donate for the Harvest House in Buffalo, which is an

093organization to help those in poverty. These students wanted to make a difference in the community and help those in need through this service project. We are so proud to see students support support their community. The Ledge View mascot Leo the Lion had a birthday bash and was joined by Ledge View families and students for a fun celebration. Students celebrated part by participating in STEM activities and winter crafts. High school students are preparing for their annual musical which is 9 to5 as well. The chorus department has a chorus concert this week at Slee Hall at the University of Buffalo. Elementary school students performed in their winter concert and band concerts as well at the high school. We are proud of all the work these musicians put into their craft. Ledge view fourth grader Mora Britzelaro recently

094participated in the Buffalo Sabres kids takeover game and interviewed goalie Uku Uko Pekco Luconan. A goalie herself, she aspires to play professional hockey just like Lucinan. We are so proud for we are so happy for this incredible opportunity for young athletes. And then CESF will be hosting a bingo night on March 5th for high school seniors to raise money for postp prom um with the Clarence High School PT. And that's all. >> Good. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Avery. And that's it, Mr. Bioli, for reports tonight. >> How about comments? >> Hello there. My name is Michelle. I'm the snowbl representative for Club America and I'm also a wife, mother, veteran, and former teacher. I'm honored to be here in support of the brave students at Clarence High School who have the

095desire to be recognized, to be heard, and to be respected within their school for their thoughts and viewpoints as conservative students. Conservative principles are what our country was founded on. Conservative is not synonymous with Republican, nor is it exclusionary of Democrats. Club America is a 501c3 nonprofit nonpartisan organization that centers along the ideas of limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the free market. I like to consider what I do to be civics's education, constitutional training, and learning about civil discourse. I'm thankful that the federal equal access law provides a path for students to exercise their rights within their schools. What do you do when you hear an opinion that you disagree with? How do you debate an idea without attacking a person? These are concepts that students who are part of Club America practice regularly. Do

096you know who said this quote? Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech. That's Benjamin Franklin. This isn't our First Amendment game that students often play. What does it mean to be made in America? Did you know that presidents in America have a history of wearing Americanmade suits to their inauguration? President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump wore Brooks Brothers suits to their inaugurations. The opportunities to learn not just from our materials, but from each other are second to none with Club America. Our students across just our own territory are organizing veteran food drives like Trinity Co-op in Buffalo, supporting first responders by bringing them breakfast like our chapter at Fulton High School. Club America is an opportunity for these

097students to impact their schools and their communities. Our clubs, 3,200 plus across the nation are doing wonderful things and certainly Clarence High School will as well. Thank you. And I apologize. We're probably gonna go. These guys have been here a long time. >> Hello. My name is Jessica Fans and I am a parent of one of the students that's interested in leading this group. Um they could not come because they had um prior commitments unfortunately. The students that are in the leadership roles. Um it truly is a studentled endeavor because I as a parent I know very little about what they've been doing and what they've been working on um to get this up and going. But before I came, I asked two of the students just to give me a quick why they want

098this group. And um one of them said that they wanted to become stronger in their belief and have a place where they could come together to talk about their ideas before they become adults and make real life decisions. Um another student said pull it up here. Okay. The goal is to give students a place to hear different perspectives, thinks for them, think for themselves, and better understand how young people fit into what's going on in society today. The chapter would encourage open open conversations, leadership, and student involvement while making sure everyone's opinions are respect respected and discussion stay respectful. Um, I do know that there's other local schools that already have groups under way. Um, I think Lancaster, maybe Pioneer, you probably can speak to all the uh chapters that are currently running if you

099want to look to other schools to get feedback on how how they've been going in their schools. But I know the kids are excited and um I'm just here to support them in that endeavor. So, I hope you would consider it. >> Thank you. >> Okay, hearing no further comments, we'll move on to finance. Thank you, >> Dr. Um, today I'm going to be asking for approval of the December financial reports, build and check warrant. Um, approval of purchases through Peggy back and contracts for capital work. Um, one for Netwway Communications for the elementary access points and one from Lion Micro, which is a support piece for the middle school PA system. I'm asking for approval of an extra classroom activity club, which would be the approval of the Club of America at Clarence High

100School. And then finally, approval to dispose of outdated textbooks. >> Thank you. Any comments or questions? Items F1 through F5. Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve items F1 through F5. >> A motion. >> Thank you, Dawn. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Adrian. And all those in favor? >> I. The motion passes. Personnel, Mr. Michelle. Uh this evening for instructional we have resignations in the extracurricular area, one request for child care leave. Prior appointments this meeting is just one substitute teacher appointments for this evening. We have regular substitute at Harris Hill, some extracurricular appointments, summer school principles, and one high school advisor. P5 is notification of tenure for three instructional positions. That'sformational only. And P6 is notification of tenure that requires action. P7 in our curriculum writing projects

101from Dr. Overhalt PA contains changes to our substitute list. We have two resolutions this evening. The first is to compensate an employee for tuition for graduate courses and the second is to continue class coverage because we're lacking subs to be able to fill the areas of psychologist and some of the student support. Thank you, Mr. Michelle. Any comments or questions? Items P1 through P10. Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve item P1 through P4 and P6 through P10. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Dennis. All those in favor? >> Thank you. Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? >> The motion passes. Good call, Trisha. U Mr. Michelle, non-instructional. >> Non-instructional. We have five resignations this evening. Uh, two for retirement purposes. Patty Hazelton has served the district for 23 years and

102Camille Wilkinson has served the district for 28 years. Thank you to both of them. Prior appointments for non-instructional, we have a part-time nurse and a substitute aid appointments this evening, one clerk position and a teacher aid position. P14 has changes to the substitute list and P15 is the resolution to accept the recommendation of the hearing officer to terminate an employee. Thank you, M. Michelle. Any questions? Items P1 through P15. Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve items P1 through P15. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Cindy. Do I have a second? Second. >> Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? I. The motion passes. >> Miss Shishka, special needs and student activities. >> The committee on special education met for 11 days and is requesting the approval of the recommended services for

10327 students. And the committee on preschool special education met for 6 days and is requesting the approval of the recommended services for 17. >> Thank you. Any questions? Items S1, S2? Hearing? None. I'll take a motion to approve items S1 and S2. I'll make a motion change. >> Thank you. Is that done again? >> Yes, sir. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Cindy. All those in favor? >> I development and policy. Dr. Frame. >> Uh B1 is a recommendation, an annual trip to Quebec for a group of eighth grade students in the middle school. Uh congrats to our science olympiad team for a local victory. They're headed to state competition in March in Syracuse. And then second reads for three different policies that have made their way to the

104policy committee and first read. So recommended for adoption. Any questions? Items B1 through B5 hearing? None. I'll take a motion to approve items B1 through B5. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Adrian. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Michael. All those in favor? I >> The motion passes. Can we The whole items, our schedule upcoming meetings is in the packet. Our upcoming events are also in the packet. I'll take a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Dennis. Do I have a second? >> Thank you, Cindy. All those in favor? I >> The motion passes. We got the trim.