001Hello. Can you hear me? >> Just I don't want you not You come to every meeting. I don't want you not to hear us. >> Am I on now? >> There we go. I'd like to call the meeting to order. We're going to start with an executive session to discuss a personal matter and collective bargaining negotiations. Do I have a motion to go to executive session? Thank you, Dennis. Do I have a second? Thank you, Don. All those in favor? >> I motion carries. >> We'll be back at 6:30. I'd like to call the meeting regular meeting back to order. Um, can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
002indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Thank you. We're going to move to the roll call. I believe we're just missing Mike tonight, correct? Everyone else is here. >> Approval of the agenda. Um, has everyone reviewed the agenda? >> If so, I'll take a motion to approve the agenda. >> I'll take a motion. >> Thank you, Dennis. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? >> I um the minutes from the last meeting and executive session from August 18th, I went through those. Anyone have any changes or comments? Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve last month's meeting minutes. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Trisha. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Adrienne. All those in favor? >> I. The motion
003passes. Announcements. Do we have any announcements tonight? Hearing none, I'll move on to correspondence. Um, while I am not on the correspondence, I have been told we've received correspondence regarding the Tim Hortons. Unfinished business, we have none board reports. Um, a facilities committee meeting. >> Uh, yes, I have the uh report from August um 19th. The committee met um we discussed the capital project update and the timeline review. Um the um completion of the bid process will be taking place. And then once that takes place um there will be a full presentation uh for the board of ed. Um we also discussed the energy performance contract the EPC um and with an update to that timeline as well. The lighting component will fit into the scope of what is allowable and the work should begin
004uh this winter um or spring. Uh we also discussed the capital outlay project plan and recommended several different projects that will be completed in the coming years. Uh we discussed the maximum heat log. Um interventions at 82 degrees include lights off, shades lowered, fans, water breaks, and increased overnight air intake. And at 88 degrees, instruction may move to cooler spaces or schools may close at superintendent's discretions. Um summer work update. We reviewed a list of summer work uh completed this summer of 2025 by the buildings and grounds department. and it included paintings, reconfiguring spaces, installation of panic buttons, new security cameras, carpeting, and a few other things. >> Thank you, Cindy. Anyone have any comments or questions? >> Hearing none, we'll move on to the CEF meeting. >> Dylan, >> thank you. We really haven't
005had any meetings, but we have been going back and forth um on our upcoming events. So, we have um our community uh carnival which is right after the fun run which is um Saturday October 11th. So, we have secured our sponsors and we'd like to thank again Extreme Mattress and Webster and Northtowns Federal for sponsoring the carnival. >> I'd like nothing more to run, Don. >> I know you would. >> Thank you, Don. >> Yeah. I do have one other thing, James. We also have a on October 18th a CISA fall fiesta. If you want to go to our website, we have details on that. >> Thank you. >> Um PTO meetings, I know they're just starting up clearance centers. Our first one is tomorrow. Anyone have any PTO meeting updates? >> I have an
006update from Lio. I wasn't able to make the meeting, but I touched base with um Kelly and she did um let me know that there's no big changes for this year. They will be funding the teacher grants again um which last year they felt were very successful. Um they purchased new signs for the library. Um they purchased art drying racks, portable nets for the gym, and an accessible whiteboard for one of the special ed classrooms. Um she also said their that their fall fest is coming up on October 24th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. That's their biggest community event and their biggest fundraiser of the year. >> Thank you, Cindy. Anyone have any other PTO meetings? Hearing none, we'll move on to Erie County Association School Board Representatives. Any reports? >> No, we start our
007meetings this week. There's a a delegate assembly and a budget and finance this week. The only thing I I would want to mention and maybe I should have done it during announcements that um we were recognized in the um New York State School Board's on um on board magazine our Harrisville sensory room. We got a full page back cover which is really nice. >> Maybe we can post that somehow. >> That would be great. Yeah. >> Thank you, Don. >> Um moving on to superintendent report. Um Dr. Frame. Thank you, President Boli. Um, we have three different reports this evening. Although I had been messaging with Avery Collins and she has a field hockey game tonight. So, she did put together a written report. You'll find copies of that at your tabletop. And that is
008the only problem with having student leaders who are busy and committed to different uh activities. So, we wish her well tonight and we'll look forward to seeing her at our second meeting in September. So, again, you've got copies of her packet. There are two additional reports this evening. In just a second, I'll head down to the microphone. The first is to give a report on the first week of school and have highlighted uh some different things that folks would have recognized or uh departments that really went above and beyond. So, we'll go over those items of note from the first week of school. The second thing is uh really talking about our hiring and onboarding process. And as we get this school year up and running, we're going to approach the communication of our strategic
009plan in a slightly different way than we have historically. So usually what we've done is we go through our strategic planning committee process in the spring. We use that feedback for uh leadership development and planning over the summer and then we communicate it right when we come back. What we'd like to do this year is take the four different pillar areas and in four meetings give an overview of that component section and then highlight a small sliver of that strategic planning area. So we're going to talk about the people component in a little bit more detail tonight. Then Mr. Michelle is going to talk from an HR perspective about hiring and onboarding. When we go on to our second meeting, we'll talk about the learner experience. Then we'll talk about uh progress with purpose. And
010then we'll talk about health and safety. So those four different priority areas as we go. Uh before I head down to the mic though, I do want to introduce a new face all the way in the back. Officer Peele, if you would wave. Um we're thrilled to have you as our school resource officer at the middle school. Um, so as you know, our board team had committed to expanding our SRO team from three to four members. Uh, we do have a new hireer who's splitting time at two of our elementary schools with a retirement at the middle school. Uh, that's how we have Officer Peele. We've got a great team in place. So, really, really excited about the year. The only thing that could have been better, Officer Peel, is if we' hired your wife,
011uh, who also is an SRO and the stronger member of the Peele SRO team. But bad jokes aside, we're absolutely thrilled that you're here. Also, y >> probably should have during the Erie County School Board's announcements introduced Jane Sullivan. >> I was waiting for you to do that. You're a member of the team. I thought Mr. Priori would do it as a legislative uh pro. >> So, here we go. Jane, thank you for coming. Jane Sullivan from the Erie County Association of School Boards is here today >> and just uh on on behalf of us, Jane, thank you for all of your advocacy and and your work for students and schools in the region. So, I'm going to head down and we'll dive into our two reports tonight. All right. So, it is typical that
012when we start a new school school year to just visit on uh how things have gone and recognizing that starting a new school year is a big endeavor and one that doesn't happen without a lot of planning from a lot of people uh to get us up and running. So you'll see a picture of the senior sunrise from last week. We're just starting our second week with students. And again, we just like to highlight a couple different things that uh we tend to do this time of year. The first is to give an overall student enrollment snapshot. And so this goes back to show two additional years prior. I would maybe highlight two different things as we look at the chart. One is that our enrollment has been fairly consistent. We are projecting a slight
013growth as we look five years out. Uh we have our meeting with the town every August and we get a sense of where the new developments are in the Clarence Central School District. So there are some spots that we're always keeping our eye on. Um so you'll see uh essentially the same uh overall student population. Um what's remarkable is that in most of our school buildings the population is pretty close year to year except in one. And you'll see that in Clarence Center over the last couple years that there has been a pretty significant amount of growth. And actually if we had backed up two years on the chart and gone back to the pandemic, we would see an even greater increase uh coming out of that period in time. So we have seen a
014significant amount of growth in Clarence Center. So we're always looking at our student enrollments across buildings and that helps to inform our programming. It also helps to inform where we locate different programs so that there is a certain amount of equality and equity between buildings making sure that we can support uh the our students and and programs in those different buildings. So you get a sense of where our student enrollment is as we start a school year. Uh when we gathered back in June, we said goodbye uh to an incredible group of professionals and as we start the school year, we're welcoming in a really really talented group of new professionals here in the district. This is a picture that was taken during our new teacher orientation a couple weeks ago. And you'll see a
015large group. They're gathered in the high school media center, the high school library. And I want to just talk briefly about what that experience looked like for new teacher orientation. And in a few minutes, Mr. Michelle and I will make a connection between this slide and between a strategic priority area for the district. So, with uh regard to our new teacher orientation, we had 14 or 15 new probationary hires because of retirements coming into this year. We also had some long-term subs because of people who are out for different uh reasons starting the school year. So, we had a large group of people when they come in for new teacher orientation. It is a really robust and thoughtful experience. It's a three-day period of time here in the district. It's coordinated by Gretchen Row, by
016Dr. overhalt and a whole number of uh teammates that work together to make it a success. But Gretchen Row really is the quarterback behind this experience. Uh they're paired with a mentor. To become a mentor in the district, you have to go through an interview and a training process. We actually have a really deep bench in terms of individuals who have expressed an interest and who have been approved as mentors here in the district before. So they're thoughtfully paired with a mentor. when they come into that new teacher orientation experience, there's a component of it where we want them to be excited. We want them to feel like they're members of our school community. And so there is sort of rapid relationship building, not just with members of the group, not just with their mentors,
017but with supervisors and veteran colleagues and even a handful of students as they go through that three-day experience. Uh Dr. Overhalt, Miss Row and her team, they do a lot of work with regard to instructional programming and strategies, things that are important here in our school community. They have a chance to meet with key department uh members. Um so, for example, the HR department, the tech department, student support services will all come and present so that people can put names with faces and have a deeper understanding of what's involved with those different departments. Uh there is my favorite part of the experience which is a panel where veteran teachers and students talk with new teachers about what they found to be successful and meaningful in our school community. And then on the last day there
018is breaking bread together and fellowship between uh mentors between new teachers between members of our board of education uh members of our uh CTA uh who serve in leadership positions and then new teachers have a chance to plan with their mentors. So for us it's looking at this new group and saying how do we wrap a tremendous amount of support around them so that they have a really good start to the year. So when we think about starting a new school year we have a week that really is focused around our new teacher experience. Then we have a week or three days that's really focused around faculty and staff and then we welcome students back. Perhaps the most powerful part of our welcome back for all faculty and staff is a mini conference that's organized
019by our curriculum team. And you'll see some key information about that mini conference that took place two weeks ago. Uh there were content specific offerings. So it really was something for everyone coming into this mini conference. We had close to 100 sessions that were offered and they were staffed by local experts who are members of our school community here in Clarence as well as outside partners who possess a certain level of expertise. And one of the components that was really thoughtfully done this year is that Dr. Overhalt and her department put together thematic strands to drive those session offerings. you can see them listed and if you're looking at them and saying, "Boy, it seems like there's some connective tissue between those thematic areas, between our strategic planning areas, and between our board goals, that's
020not an accident. It's saying, what are those things that we've identified as really important here in Clarence? And how do we make sure we're all going back to school and we're uh we're keeping up on our learning in those key topic areas." So, as we engage in supporting our new teachers, we think about our own professional learning. We're also making sure that our buildings are in good shape, that we have transportation set up, that we're prepared to welcome students safely and successfully back to school. If you go back a year in time, uh you'll remember that um much like in in a lot of districts, we have been uh hit hard with some driver shortages in recent years. We had transitioned to a new uh technology routing software. And that routing software had drop run
021content right before Labor Day weekend. And so our transportation department, despite coming in for Labor Day weekend, still had to work through last year some sna uh snags and obstacles. Uh I'm pleased to report that our transportation team has done a really really remarkable job this year uh working through some typical first week hiccups uh and providing a really safe and really smooth experience for the vast number of students and families in our districts. Some of the reasons that um this happened is a credit to our leadership team and our drivers and our attendants and the transportation department, but they put together a really detailed and really aggressive timeline where they had finalized run information two to three weeks before what is typical out in the department. They are very very familiar with a routing
022software having one year one year under their belts. They'd also worked with the tech department and the company to make sure that we had backed up run content. So if there was a technology issue, we didn't lose that information. Uh we had shared last year the need for approximately 20 runs contracted outside of district. We're really proud of the fact that we've come close to having that number as we start this uh school year. We've been able to hire a driver here, two drivers there. So, we've gone from 20-ish runs to 10 full-time runs and then a couple runs that do some afterchool uh local programming transportation for our students. So, that really is a credit to our transportation department and the culture that they create uh that they create for drivers and attendants. Um
023that they had a a larger team available out in the bus garage for first uh week communications. So, if parents were experiencing issues and they called, there were four or five people staffing the department. if buildings had questions, they could call and they could get someone immediately who could answer their question and help to uh uh work through different issues. And maybe more than anything, I would just like to credit Linda Forester, her leadership team out in the transportation department for the culture and environment that they have been able to create out there. Uh board members have been out there to help celebrate and recognize drivers and you know that there is a connection between members of our transportation department. They care for one another. there's a family feel and just a reminder that that
024really shouldn't be taken for granted. Uh that is something that is built over time and it really is a credit to the people uh that occupy that space and make sure that uh they're safely transporting our kids every day. So I did want to highlight the good work that they had done. I also wanted to acknowledge the good work that our buildings and grounds department has done. We know that when we go into the summer months, that's a time when everything can be taken out of classrooms. It can be taken out of office spaces. We can go through a deep cleaning process. All of that happened this summer and so much more. If you look at the slide in front of you, you'll see some really important accomplishments from our building and grounds departments. They
025used a combination of full-time staff, some part-time and student helpers that came in over the summer. The number of classrooms and hallways that have been painted in buildings over the last two to three years is really remarkable. So, they've had an aggressive painting schedule that you'll notice when you're in our different buildings so that uh spaces really pop uh like they maybe hadn't done in years prior. They had been able to work toward different security enhancements. Uh we have panic buttons installed in all of our buildings. There have been work done on doors. There have been work done on security cameras and making sure that when our students and staff are back, there have been those meaningful security upgrades and then how the exterior buildings present. If you have been visiting our different buildings, you
026know that they are clean, they look sharp uh and welcoming as students and staff come back. So, a real kudos to our buildings and grounds department. And then one last uh slide is just to acknowledge the incredible work that our teachers did welcoming students back last Tuesday. A picture is worth a thousand words. And when it comes to uh when it comes to teaching staff and uh and building principles, um we're the best in the business. We just have an incredible group of adults that work with kids. Uh so many smiles. Our students are back in their regular routines, connecting with teachers, connecting with one another. Um just a really fun time of the year as people get back and they're able to not just reconnect, but deep deepen relationships and begin uh that that
027important process of learning. So, we're so excited to be back. So, I'll pause for a moment just to see if there are questions or feedback on our first opening of school. If there's something that doesn't quite make sense or something that I skipped over, something that you may have heard about or have a question about. So, any questions, feedback, reflections on the first week of school? >> Dr. Gastello, >> I think I wondered how have been forgetting to ask. How are mentors selected? What is there a process or is it um based on recommendations? >> Great question. Uh I'm actually going to turn things over to Dr. Overhold to talk about how the mentor selection uh takes place to go through the the nitty-gritty details. >> Sure. Um at the end of every school year,
028we uh we actually post the mentoring position to which then teachers apply. Uh as part of the process they then meet for a pretty informal interview with Gretchen Row metro liaison and myself uh where we ask kind of a series of questions and after that uh we then determine the matches and there's actually three criteria that we primarily use in that process. Uh first and foremost is usually proximity. We look at the building in which the the new teacher is going to be um serving. we then look at uh the specific uh discipline that the teacher will will be will be teaching and then we we tend to also then look at the actual course. So if we can get that specific and and match for example a middle school math teacher with another middle
029school math teacher we we make make those um selections then. So that's kind of just in a nutshell the process >> and at this point also I'm sorry um we do at this point have over 100 teachers who serve in a mentoring role. They're not obviously all assigned uh every year, but um we do have over 100 teachers in our mentor pool. >> And I will say that this is a they did a great job with transportation this year and I got a lot of positive comments and I know last year we were having more of a difficulty. So Linda Farer did a great job and so did everyone out there. I think we should acknowledge that. >> Yeah. >> Not easy to move all these kids around. >> Yeah. Not easy to move all
030the students around. There's a statistic that our transportation department gives and I looked at said there's no way that that's possible where they said we transport 5,000 students to fif to more than 50 locations every day. I thought that's I mean we have 4,200 students in district so how is it 5,000 students? It can't be that number. It is because we have private school transportation obligations and you go through the different run locations. It is more than 50 locations every day. And so it's hard to throw a perfect game when it's that uh uh that level of complexity. and would just credit our transportation team to being by the phones making sure that when they get the calls they get right into the routing system to see if they can smooth out whatever the issue
031may be. Um, so thank you for noting that. All right, I'm going to invite Mr. Michelle to join me down uh at the microphone. Uh, I'm going to offer a couple thoughts on our strategic planning process and then I'm going to turn things over to Mr. Michelle and encourage you to provide uh feedback, ask questions as we go because this is a component of our strategic planning process. Um so as you know we have a strategic planning process and committee that goes back decades here in Clarence. It is a really really talented group of people that come together on an annual basis. There are more than 40 members of our team. Uh the team is made up of different stakeholders. There's faculty, staff, administrators, students, community representatives, board of education members. Uh they review a
032tremendous amount of detail. They make a lot of recommendations that help to guide our organization. We have for the past four or five years had um fairly stable uh strategic planning priority areas and we have really tinkered with action steps and indicators from year to year. Uh if you get into research on strategic planning, a lot of the research says that every 3 to 5 years it's good to take a step back and to consider changing some of those strategic priority areas. And it might not be starting a new, starting a fresh, um, but really sort of taking a step back, reassessing if you're focused on the right areas and making adjustments. And so that's what we did last year. In addition to looking at some quantitative data and doing a program review, we also
033sent a survey out to members of our school community and collected a lot of information. Some of the good news is that when you ask members of our school community how likely they would be to recommend uh they would be to recommend the school district to a friend uh more than 90% of people said uh I already do or I would have asked. So that's a really good indicator of health of a school district is that when you talk to people there's a lot of pride and there's a recognition that Clarence is a a very very special place to be. Part of our school community though is making sure that we're always trying to get better and it's picking apart that strategic planning information. Really working with our team to figure out what do we
034need to focus on to make sure that we're constantly getting better and we maintain the same level of program and excellence that our school community has has come to value in this corner of the world. It was interesting when the team met last spring. They went through a tremendous amount of information. Dr. Overhalt and her team had set up a protocol where people carefully went through different data. They made different recommendations. They had a chance to vote on priority areas. The number one thing by far that people said we are proud of. It has been the driver of our success historically. We're worried about moving forward. We need to focus on is the people. If you pull random strategic plans, oftentimes what you'll find in districts is there's some program implementation. So that is a
035part of their strategic planning. It is a program. When we go back to our team, they talk about the people that we have been a great place to teach and and learn for years and years because of the people that are able to do great things for kids. We know that there are retirements not just here in Clarence but across the state. There is a shortage in terms of certified qualified candidates that are willing to take uh those positions and we want to make sure that we're bringing the very best people here to work with our kids in Clarence. So by talking about the fact that it's the people that we're really focused on attracting, developing and retaining, it's not to say that that has not been a strength of Clarence for years. It's saying
036how do we in this current environment make sure that Clarence is a place where people want to come and be a part of something special and stay. And so I want to just read the very top and then talk a little bit about these four areas and then turn things over to Mr. Michelle. And again, I'll encourage feedback and questions because we want to fine-tune this strategic planning area before we adopt and publish later on this fall along with three others. So, if you look at the priority area at the at the top, people first always making sure there's an ongoing recognition that education is a people business and we need to be focused and invested in that. So, deepen an organizational culture where talented individuals want to come stay and grow. So when we
037went back to our strategic planning data, we went back to our survey results, we came back to what the team said, when we picked apart the information, these four themes really came up. The first is how do we recruit and how do we induct really, really skilled people, not just for members of our teaching team, but also for administrators and also members of our support staff. And so this really gets into how we're advertising positions, how we're communicating different vacancies. you likely would have noticed changes in terms of how we've shared those opportunities uh with members of the Clarence community, members of the Western New York community, and also reached out to local um higher education programs to try to attract the very very best. We had just made a couple comments on the mentoring
038experience that new teachers receive here in district. Uh if you go back to a meeting last year, Miss Row came and gave a really really detailed presentation in terms of what that new teacher and mentoring experience looks like. But it makes sure that when we when we start, we have really rigorous hiring processes, really rigor rigorous recruiting processes, and from the moment people get hired, we're wrapping support around them. The second piece is when we do hire someone, how do we help them develop and grow? And again, we had just talked about the new teacher experience. We talked about a mini conference. There's a tremendous amount of professional development that people can take advantage of. We also though want to make sure that we're taking advantage of the skill set that people bring in and
039recognizing that a lot of new professionals are bringing in cutting edge uh training from different institutions or from other districts that we can learn a lot from. So, we want to make sure that we're attracting the uh the very most talented people that we can, that we're helping them grow and develop when they're a part of our Clarence culture to make sure that when they become a member of our our buildings and our departments, this is a place where they feel like uh they can collaborate and they can have ownership and contribute. When we're making decisions, when we're identifying key initiatives here in the district, people have a voice and they're part of what we're doing as a school district. And the last thing is the celebration and the acknowledgement and the recognition uh of
040what our adults are doing here in the district. So being more intentional. It's interesting working with our administrative team on some planning and teacher leaders on some planning. This really is not something where we're saying we're starting from scratch. It's saying how do we continue to refine and enhance uh with a recognition that we're going into a period of time statewide where the number of teaching applicants has really dipped and that we want to make sure again that we're we're creating something maintaining something enhancing something that people want to come and be a part of. So this is our recommended first strategic planning area priority area. Um, and as a part of this, the board in one of their retreat sessions had said, "We'd like to learn a little bit more about what new employees
041go through when they meet with Mr. Michelle and they uh and they engage with the human resources department." So Rob's going to talk about that experience and then we'll pause and again we'll see if there are questions and their feedback. So I'm going to turn things over to Mr. Michelle. >> Thank you Dr. Frame. So last year in my presentation, we talked a lot about what we were doing with the hiring process and how to not only make it more rigorous, trying to get the best candidates as well as how we were advertising, adding the additions of social media and multiple outlets we had not used before, but more importantly for me was how do we make it a unified approach? It doesn't matter if you're interviewing a clearance center, the middle school, or the
042high school. there's a set process that the principal needs to go through as they're hiring. Um, one of the things that we've added this year is there is a video that I that I worked with our team on that each person who sits on an interview committee needs to view that so that they understand not only the legality process behind interviewing and what's expected, but as well as what do we stand for? What are we really looking for in our new hires? So once we hire them, what does that look like? Onboarding is a is a a catch-all. Some people see onboarding very simply as uh they showed up to your office, you gave them a salary agreement, they got the paperwork, and then you sent them on their way. If we have people come
043in and have that experience, we're not going to keep people. We're not going to attract people. Very much so. One of the first things I say, I work very closely with with my payroll team to see where we can hire people appropriately. And one of the things I say to somebody who is so excited, it's the best thing I do is hiring somebody for their first job. You're not here to buy a car. So, I'm not going to first offer you the position and now we're going to get an uncomfortable situation where we're going back and forth about salary. This is about celebrating you coming in, getting you all the information so that you can be successful. There still are the nuts and bolts because you sit down with it doesn't matter if it's a
044new teacher, a new cleaner, all of the contracts are different. All of the benefits are different in some ways. And for some of them, they've never even talked about getting health insurance. When you talk to them about a 403b or 457, they look at you and say the what we're talking about for retirement. when I'm talking I was talking with someone today and talking about the importance of there are things in the local contract in the CSEA that if you're not a member of the retirement system you will not get that benefit at the end. It's although you're part-time, it's really important to be part of that process. The employee handbook is one of those pieces that we make sure we walk everyone through so they're they're clear at our expectations and some of the
045the legalities. One of the things I talk a lot about with our new members is the use of social media. Be careful. You are the face of the district. There are lots of things that someone can do that are absolutely legal. Is that how you want to be seen? So, always be careful in that area. creating accounts and badges and those pieces. As much as they sound to be mundane, it's a really big issue when the the teacher or the the new staff member gets to their site. They can't get in the building because they don't have a a badge. They can't log on to the system because they don't have an email. So, we've really worked hard with our tech department to try to streamline that process so that when they are approved or
046they're coming, they can hit the ground running rather than us playing catch-up with that. When I first started, we didn't have a team of four and the responsibilities were really organized differently. Uh we're lucky enough to have Hope and Angela and Sarah and Grace as part of a team. They work really well together. Um adding Sarah into our health benefits component um really has relieved some of the pressure on Grace who is our payroll clerk because just with the vast size of the amount of employees we're working with regularly, we really needed this team. One of the things that I talk with them about is we're the human resources team. No one should ever call and get scolded. People get help. People get support. Even if if they forgot where to find something, show them
047they want I want the office to always be where people know they're welcome and they will get support. And this team of four people really do an outstanding job. One of the books that we've studied recently was the power of moments. So after you get past the nuts and bolts, things like new teacher orientation or something special maybe that the principal does within their building when the person comes, be it a husky sweatshirt and swag or whatever it may be. It's building those moments because you only have one first day. We can't do that over. So we always try to keep that in mind as we're creating experiences for people as they begin to be part of our team. celebrating and supporting Dr. Frame talked a lot about our new teacher orientation that Dr. Hoverh
048Holt and her team put together which is just absolutely outstanding. Uh some interesting things about this group they they're pretty wide range. We have some people who are have master's degrees that are are just starting. We have some with bachelor's degrees that are just starting. We have seasoned veterans that have decided to come to Clarence to continue their career. Uh, I kind of joked. I said, "Raise your hand if I was your principal." And three of them were, which to me speaks to our alumni are coming back because they're engaged and they love their community. Probably my favorite part of of new teacher orientation is the bus ride. So, we take all of the new teachers, we put them on a bus. Uh, Mr. Kohler comes back and does the history piece of it, but
049it doesn't only give the history of Clarence, which is very interesting. He does an outstanding job. But thinking about I'm being hired for Clarence Center. When again will I go around the district and see all four of the different elementary schools and where the middle school is? And not only the all of the the different parts of our community. Harris Hill does not look the same as Clarence Center and it does not look the same as Spalding Green. So when they finished that bus ride, not only did they get a really nice piece of history, but they also got a global concept of the students that they're serving. So next steps, one of the things we have to continue to work on in our onboarding process is not only the consistency, but the consistency for
050every position. It's usually a challenge when we're talking about are we hiring a teacher? Are we hiring a competitive position that we have to go off a civil service list? Is it something that is a non-competitive position? There's lots of different types of positions that we're hiring for and they all have a little bit of a different process. So, finding how do we onboard them as consistently as possible, but making them all feel valued no matter what their position is is something I think the team continues to work on each day. Attracting new employees, two quick notes. We had probably two or three bus drivers that left other bus companies and speaking with them in my office, they said, "We absolutely love working in Clarence." I met a a teacher aid this morning and I
051noticed she was from DEPW and and some of her material said that she was looking for a position in Depw. So I said, "How did you get here?" She said, 'Well, a good friend of mine who just moved here said they had just received an email and it would be a wonderful opportunity to come work in your school district. So, the word is spreading about how great it is to work here and the word of mouth very quickly is getting some of those people that they're not looking at the bee for for one ad. >> Do you have any questions at this point? I just want to say that I sat with two new teachers at the lunchon and they talked about the bus ride for 20 minutes. So, and talked about how wonderful it
052was to actually just what you said, maybe they work in Clarence Center, but they're not familiar with the rest of the district and to see what the district looks like, what the other buildings are like, what our facilities are like. And you know, in some school districts, you never know. You'd work in the elementary school, you never know what the other buildings look like. So, they were very complimentary of that. And I think it I was there we a lot of us were there for the lunch in a lot of us there for the opening day cere ceremonies before we kicked off and I just want to say it was a wonderful idea I think great for morale and just a good start all around >> questions or comments about my remarks or Mr. Michelle's
053remarks >> I guess I'd just like to make one comment. We go on and talk about how we have the um conference the mini conference days and it's it's for all staff not just teachers because we had AIDS come this year which is a little bit newer. So if you maybe want to talk about that >> bump Mr. Michelle um and to make maybe two comments one for Mr. Bull and one for Miss Snder. You had talked about the bus tour which is a staple of the new teacher experience. It's given by a recently retired teacher who also is the Erie County historian, Mr. Kohler. Um, that's the bar in Clarence is that when you walk into a middle school social studies class, history class, if Mr. Kohler were here, he would correct me in
054terms of the language that I'm using. That's a caliber of teacher that Clarence has had historically. One of the many conference sessions that I went to was given by Mr. McGrevy and it was talking about the power of place and it was all about local history. He's the Clarence historian. So when you walk into a high school history class, he is the community historian. And so that's the bar here in Clarence that we have to make sure that we're meeting. Miss Snutter, you hit on something really important. And we hope to develop this as we move further into the strategic planning process. It's not just doing those things for our members of our faculty, but members of our administrative team, members of our support staff, and recognizing that this whole thing doesn't work uh without
055us all pulling in the same direction. And that really is a credit to Kristen and a credit to members of our CSEA who have met over the last three years to help design those professional learning days and even present at them. And so I had popped into a couple sessions where members of our support staff, a couple teacher aids and particulars had given fantastic fantastic presentations for um 20, 30, 40 uh audience members on really complex topics and saying we want to make sure we're providing cutting edge professional development. We have experts right here in the district that can do it. And so that's something that the board has heard feedback on when we meet with members of our CSEA that Kristen's team had put into action. But just want to give a special acknowledgement
056to members of our support staff who really did a fantastic job last week, two weeks ago. Any other questions or comments? >> I would just like to see the HR video at some point. If you could share that with us. >> You bet. So, I will um forward a copy of that along. I'll also forward a copy of the email that uh new teachers received that has a second video clip uh that have I believe Mr. Bleoli uh Miss Dunn is in there. And I'm trying to remember if anyone else has highlighted. What happens to staff members that don't have email? >> Good question. Uh that's where we've got to get better is thinking about that new that new employee experience for everybody and recognizing there are some challenges. We have a lot of uh
057a lot of staff members that may not have an email account or that access to technology. So trying to figure out an appropriate way to extend a welcome as well. So when we talk about areas to grow, that's one of them. >> All right, that's it for reports this evening. moving on. Um, public comment session. We don't have any public commenters, Miss Rot. Okay. Um, finance. Dr. Gupka. >> So, today I'm asking for approval of the financial reports and bills and check warrant for the month of July. um approval of our community education instructors and then approval of a donation to Harris Hill Elementary from two anonymous donors for $10,000 each um which will be funneled through the CES uh program. >> That's a great donation. Do we have any questions on items F1 through
058F4? Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve items F1 through F4. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Don. Do I have a second? I'll >> second. >> Thank you, Cindy. All those in favor? >> I The motion passes. Personnel Mr. Michelle instructional. We have one amendment to a previously posted proctor rate that was approved. Uh one request for leave from a teacher. Prior appointments this month. We have a few substitutes and additional proctor and some Paul sports coaches that were hired last minute. Appointments. We have one regular substitute. The extracurricular assignments from the high school mentors and some additional training. P5 was one additional day for a summer guidance counselor. In P6, we have a tenure approval that you reviewed last board meeting. P7 are the curriculum writing projects from Dr. Overhalt.
059Both P8 and P9 are presentation compensation and P10 are changes to our substitute list. >> Thank you, Mr. Michelle. Any questions on items P1 through P10? Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve items P1 through P10. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Trisha. Do I have a second? I'll second. >> Thank you, Adrian. All those in favor? >> I I non-instructional, Mr. Michelle. >> Uh we have an amendment of some start dates and some additional hours for employees. Resignations. This month we have two aids and one monitor. The changes in status encompass teacher aids, building assignments, eight hours to support students, and out of title work. P14 is a request for a leave and P15. Our prior appointments this month were summer hours, two bus drivers, some buildings and ground staff, as
060well as two aids appointments. We have three custodians that we're hiring this meeting and P7 or changes to our substitute list. Additionally, in front of you on the yellow paper, there is an addendum. The addendum is the resolution to approve the funds for the CSEA contract that was ratified on Saturday. >> Thank you. Any questions on P11 through P17? Hearing none. I'll take a motion. >> I'll make motion. >> Thank you, Cindy. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Don. Is that you? >> Yes, it was. >> Thank you. >> All those in favor? >> I. Motion passes. Muska, special needs and student activities. >> The committee on special education met for 12 days and it's requesting the approval of recommended services for 25 students. And the committee on preschool special education
061met for one day and is requesting the approval for the recommended service for two students. Thank you. Any questions? Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve S1, S2. >> I'll make I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Adrian. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? >> I We have board development policy. We have five items, B1 through B5. This is our second read. We went over them at the last meeting and the policy committee has made a recommendation that we adopt them. Anyone have any questions on those? >> Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve items B1 through B5. motion. >> Thank you, Cindy. All those in favor? A second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? I >> I thank you.
062Committee, the whole items, we have our schedule of county meetings. Our next meeting is September 22nd. Please don't forget it's a clearance center elementary school. Um, not >> No, it is not. Uh, he's trying to confuse you, Miss Rob. >> You just told me I thought you knew our schedule. First meeting in October. >> First meeting in October. We're here. >> Next meeting is here. Two meetings from now is at Clarence Center. And then for the buildings October, sorry. Oh gosh. Will anyone show up at that meeting? It may just be me and Dennis >> here. >> Yes. >> Great. So, >> but they don't have the correct locations for some of them >> because we need to be updated. >> So, calendar is out. Big credit to Miss Sutton for all her work with
063the team at Erie Wan Boseis to make sure that happened. And then uh we do have updated information on the meetings and moving back to a practice of when buildings are uh the focus of the meeting. We'll have the board meeting uh in those facilities. So that starts the first meeting in October. >> Y >> I apologize. >> We got it. I apologize. >> Um upcoming upcoming events, they're in the packet. I'll take a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Dennis. >> Second. >> Thank you, Trish. And all those in favor >> I the meeting is closed.