001To 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. So James has James Bleoli has already taken his oath. I'd like to um apply the or administer the oath to Adrian. [Music] I'm coming down here. Raise your right hand and please repeat after me. I do solemnly swear I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the State of New York and the Constitution of the State of New York and that I will faithfully discharge the duties and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of school district board member of the office of school district board member of the Clarence Central
002School District district, Erie County, New York. According to the best of my ability, we're officially sworn in that sign and bring it back to me. Thank you. Congratulations, [Applause] to ask for nominees for president of board of education. I'd like I'd like to nominate James Boli. Do we have any other nominees? James Bagley. Um, now I would like to ask for a nominee for the vice president for the board of education. Do I have any nominations? I'd like to nominate Mike Fuches. Any other nominations? Congratulations, Mike Fuches. I will now turn the district the meeting over to the board of education vice president, Mr. Fuches. Thank you, Betty. Um, before we move forward, do we have to the board of code of conduct to sign this even? I do. I'm going to You just want
003to pass it down and that would be great. Thank you. Um, okay. I guess I'd like to call the formal uh public session to order. Uh, 603. Uh, roll call. All board members are in attendance with the exception of Mr. Bioli. Uh, we have um in our packet the approval. Uh, well, I guess first off, can I get approval of the agenda tonight? I'll make a motion. Thank you, S. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you, Dennis. All those in favor? I I carries. Uh we have in our packet uh the list of 2025 2026 school year appointments and required resolutions. Um I know we had a advanced read last month and then it was sent out in advance of the meeting uh tonight. Does anybody have any questions? Hearing none. Can I
004get a motion to approve? Matt, excuse me. Just one thing. Um Mike on the one there was a correction that needed to be made on number nine mentor plan. It should be 2425 school year. So be number nine under the um that's the item that uh in the resolution in the resolution language the the document itself is accurate. Yeah. All right. So noted. Thank you. Um okay. Anything else? Okay. I got a motion to approve the uh list of appointments and required resolutions. I'll make a motion. Thank you, Dennis. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? I I That carries. All right. In our packet, we have one set of meeting minutes to approve. Uh that includes the public meeting and executive session from June 9th. There's no questions
005or comments on that. Could I get a motion to approve? I'll make motion. Thank you, Cindy. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you, Adrian. All those in favor? I I that carries. Uh does any board member have any announcements tonight since I guess I have two since I don't see that we have the um PTO or CEF announcements on the agenda. So I'll just say it now. Um CE is holding two summer events. One a pickle ball tournament which is Thursday July 24th at the town park or town place park on Goodrich. Um it you can register online starting today and registration opens at 5:30. The event starts at 6 and it's $15 a player and that includes a drink and um a hot dog. Then also they're also having a summer fundraiser
006which is a end of summer fiesta which is August 9th which is from 6 to 10 at the town park clubhouse. Tickets are $25 or two for 40 which includes food and one beverage. And that's it for CEO. Thank you Don. Mhm. Okay. Anybody else have any other announcements? Seeing none, um, next up, correspondence. Uh, don't have any to note since our last meeting and I'm not aware of any unfinished business. So, with that, uh, Dr. Frame, I turn it over to you for the superintendent's report. Thank you, Mr. Fuches. Um, one additional introduction um of Avery Collins, who's sitting all the way to my left. Um Avery Collins was recently elected to be our student representative to the board of education. So Avery will get you sworn in as well. We'll have you swear
007the oath. Um and as soon as we get back in session in September, Avery will start um regular meetings uh just like her sister Olivia. So it's a family thing when it comes to the Collins family. So Avery, we're super excited to have you joining our board team. I wonder before we go much further, would you just give us the cliffnotes addition to um your background in terms of your interests and and involvements in the high school and then what led you to run for the student representative position? Sorry, should I leave? Okay. Um sorry. I've always been really interested in student council and I thought that running for the board rep would be a great opportunity for me to be involved in my community and give back to the community that gave so much
008to me and to be able to be sort of like a middleman to communicate between the board of ed and like the schools and especially like student council to help them out with like planning everything and I thought it would be a great opportunity to like um sorry to like be helping with everyone. Very good. Great. Well, we're thrilled to have you with us and thank you for making time for us tonight. Uh I believe that you have a softball game at 6:30. So, if you have to take off, we completely understand and we know that the summer is a busy busy time. Are we Can I have a quick question? I know we appoint a mentor for the student liaison and I want to throw my name in the hat for that. If are
009we doing that tonight or how are we going to handle that? I'll reach out to Mr. Bleoli and let him know about your willingness to serve in that role and uh go from there. Okay. Thank you. Um, for Avery or or folks that may not be familiar with a reorganizational meeting, it's something that's required in New York State. School districts have to hold a reorganizational meeting by July 15th every year. And it often times is the shortest meeting of the year. It's really the the team coming together. There's the swearing in of new members. There's the establishment of leadership and structure for the coming year. There's a whole lot of business that's done very quickly. A lot of the appointments for different partners in different outside organizations tend to be the same groups year-toear. So
010it can seem like a lot if you're not familiar with the process before. So in in some ways it functions as as a bit different meeting. So that's why we're gathered here tonight. I have a a handful of just informal uh verbal updates to share. When we get back on our August September meeting schedule, we'll transition back to more formal presentations. Um but I'm just going to walk through uh a number of different updates verbally and then I'm going to turn things over to Dr. Grupka for our safety plan uh public hearing and to just talk a bit about that process. Um so maybe most importantly um happy new year everybody. It's great to see you. I'm lucky to be working with this uh this team. Uh it's an exciting time as we think about
011starting a new school year and um for returning members and and Avery were we're thrilled to have you here. Um I would like to extend a note of thanks to Mr. Smith and his high school team for a really wonderful graduation uh ceremony a couple weeks ago. Um somehow we lucked out and had the perfect weather evening. It was about 70 degrees. There was cloud covering. It was really really nice. Um a a wonderful group of students. Incredibly well organized and just can't say enough about all the work that they did to make that a special moment for our students and for our families. I'd also like to thank our um high school faculty and staff volunteers that uh volunteered to come out in the evening and make sure that the event went out went
012off without a hitch. So we have graduation. things tend to quiet down for the Fourth of July week and then very quickly things ramp back up again. Uh I had spoken with Mr. Kiglio and Mrs. George today. Mr. Kiglio is the summer school principal in the high school and Mrs. George is our ESY program, our extended school year program that's being housed at Sheridan Hill this year. Uh they both have had good smooth starts to their summer programming and uh appreciate their work and and the work of our faculty and staff. Um with regard to uh board work moving forward as everyone here knows uh in terms of structure we have three different committees uh that meet of members of our board of education. There is a policy committee uh there's a finance committee and
013there's a facilities committee. Uh this I believe will be the third year that that structure has been in existence. Um Mr. Bioli and Mr. Fuches generally will take in interest information from board members and then we'll make committee assignments. They'll also make safety team assignments and strategic planning committee assignments. Um, I'll put out a message at the end of the week just reminding people about this, but I would encourage people to think about their interest areas and u be willing to share those with Mr. Bali and Mr. Fuches so that they can make those committee assignments. Um, I would anticipate holding committee meetings for all three of those groups over the summer months. That's not something that we do every year, but there's um there are different topics and and different issues to work through
014it in all three of those different areas. Um so if people can share interest areas with Mr. Baglioli and Mr. Fuges, I'll also get out a series of doodles where people can share their availability and we can get uh meetings on the calendar. So a quick note about committee committee assignments and meetings. Um, in in the category of um, not great news, um, I know that people likely saw this in the national media and certainly have gotten things from different board organizations, but um, schools recently received information that the federal government was holding back more than $6 billion in terms of uh, public education funding. Uh for us, those are title grants, title two and title four, uh close to $150,000 of funding that we have um counted on and relied on for a period
015of years. Um there was something put out by NISBA, the the state association for schoolboard members um talking about um the importance of advocacy and reaching out to legislators uh to let them know that these are important for the operations of uh school districts. So there also are mentor funds uh in the amount of about for us $50,000 that tend to come a little bit later on in the summer months or fall um that we're concerned about. So for us that could be close to two $200,000 uh all all told. And so when we think about our role as good advocates um for our students and our school community, uh that may be a place to direct um some of our advocacy work. Um, I'd also like to just highlight uh and I I realized
016that I'm moving around to different topics, but I told you it was going to be sort of a quick uh informal verbal update this evening. Um, I got a a message from the sheriff's office today and a message from Supervisor Casilio that Sheriff Garcia and Supervisor Casilio had put together a public service announcement video that talks about um the summer months as being a time when we all want to be outside. We want to be having fun. Uh but it also talked about the importance of safety and a fairly recent phenomena certainly in the community is the use of ebikes, minibikes, um dirt bikes, and we'll see people often um traveling on them on uh roadways, on bike paths, um and through neighborhoods. And so they do a nice job in terms of talking about
017safety. They also do a nice job in terms of talking about um legal limitations on those. what's permissible and appropriate for the bike path, for example, what's appropriate for different roads. I'd also like to just take an opportunity to say that when you look at our code of conduct, all of those types of vehicles are inappropriate for our code of conduct. Those are violations of our code of conduct. So, um, we'll take a look at our signage in terms of making sure that we communicate that clearly to people. Uh, but that is not a new policy addition. School districts are not places where if you have four-wheelers and snowmobiles and dirt bikes that you can you can come and just use the grounds. Um it would have to be something that was uh school sanctioned
018and and school approved and and the social or um regular use of those devices is not. Um a couple more quick updates. Um I did want to just add some comments on uh the distractionfree schools uh policy that you'll see later on in the agenda. I'd be happy to answer any questions or uh talk about this in in more detail. Um but as you know, a major part of the governor's legislative and budget proposal this year involved the distraction-free um schools piece of legislation that was eventually signed into law. Uh it had a fairly quick timeline in terms of uh requiring that school districts adopt policies by August 1st. As you know, most public school districts have uh policy committees or processes in place where they can do a first read, a second read of
019a policy. They can talk about different things. They can request more information. The timeline that that was established really moves us along a little bit quicker. Uh if we go back three or four weeks in time, we had communicated some draft guidelines to our uh students, staff members, and families. We'd opened up a survey link which is still open if people want to provide feedback on the draft guidelines that were shared. One of the things that we had talked about with faculty and staff and families is that because things have moved so quickly, it's likely that additional information will come out as we get further into summer. And just as anticipated, last week an online resource um web page from the state department of education opened up. It gives an overview of the rationale for
020the policy change. It talks about a lot of the details in it. It gives links to districts that have model policies. It also has a frequently asked question document. And I would encourage people to visit the online resource to review the the frequently asked question document and also to read the the actual legislation language when we talk about cell phones and we talk about social media usage. We all have as human beings different comfort levels, different opinions in terms of how they should be involved in a school environment. Um, all of those opinions aside, when we look at the legislation and we look at some of the frequently asked question documents, they're it's pretty restrictive in terms of what's permissible. Um, so what I am recommending is that we adopt a policy uh this evening,
021which you'll find a bit later on the agenda. Um, it wouldn't go through the through the typical first read second read process, but um it is general enough in language where we could adopt the the policy. We could always amend it if need be. Uh but as you know with policy they oftentimes are more general statements and then more specific language may may appear in the code of conduct or different guidance documents at at the building level. I guess I'd like to add one more note on this topic of distraction-free schools resource page wherever you fall in terms of the appropriateness for cell phones and social media use. When you go back to the legislation and you go back to the state education department's interpretation of it, for us, it seems like the the biggest
022question is when students come to school, if devices have to be away, where would they be? And there are some local school communities that have individual sealed pouches. So, when you come into a school building, they may have some detection system. They may seal up devices and they would have them unsealed at the end of the day. That's not something that anyone has expressed an interest here in in our particular community. there uh there's a local district that would have in their home rooms at the secondary level secure cases where students would come into that home room or first period class. They would check in their devices, they would remain there all day and they would check them out at the end of the day. It seems like the norm certainly in Western New York
023uh is that students would come to school, they would keep the devices in their locker during the school day and then at the end of the day would take them out of their locker and go home. Uh in reviewing survey feedback that was submitted, there's a real split. a lot of people wanting devices to be kept on students and again where I would encourage people to read the legislation and the FAQ is that it's very clear in the language that backpacks and pockets are not appropriate locations for devices and so that is a a specific question that is asked and the answer is no. So when we look at the continuum of options the least restrictive at this point for us would be having at the secondary level um students uh store their devices in
024their locker during the school day. So, I I wouldn't change our approach at this point. I would recommend that we continue to gather information to see where best practices uh land and and learn from some schools that have established policy and have different experience in this area. Uh but this is on everybody's uh mind and and the policy does appear a little bit later on this evening. Um one final update uh for me before I turn things over to Dr. Grupka uh in the field of safety is that uh for the past year we've had three school resource officers. the board had prioritized adding a fourth and in partnership with the town had posted that position. We also have uh a retiring school resource officer, Mr. Deserbo, who will be missed. Uh but it creates
025two vacancies for us. Um it's a unique arrangement with the town where they create and post the position, but they really give the school district the ability to review paperwork, to interview candidates, and to make hiring recommendations to the town. So, I believe, Mr. Michelle, at this point we have close to 10 different applications that have come in. Um, we're going to ask our communications person to do one more final push and hopefully to uh finish up our application uh request by the end of this week, then to review them and to set up interviews so that we can make recommendations for appointment and be ready to go in the fall. Um, so that's the last update that I have and sort of transitioning from one safety topic to another. Before I hand things over
026to Dr. Gruffkco though I will pause to take a breath to see if there's any questions or comments from members of the board about anything that I've shared this evening. All right, Dr. Grup, I'll turn things over to you. Thank you. I just wanted to take a minute to talk about our safety plans and how we're moving forward with these. So, our district-wide safety plan is something that's required by SED and it provides general considerations for planning for emergency events. Um they include risk reduction, prevention, intervention, early detection, response and recovery. Um they included in the district plan is also any agreements you have with special officers, patrol officers, um a pandemic influenza plan, a remote learning plan, and technology plans. The district-wide safety plan is a public facing document and it's going to be
027posted tomorrow on our website for comment. Um different is the building level safety plans which are not uh public facing. They are more detailed and specific. Unlike these, they really are held at the building level for the building safety committees. Um and they have a lot more detail. Um changes for this year. Um in both the district level and building level plans, lockout shall now be referred to as secure lockout. And when we train people, they will be using secure lockout language. Um I think there there was some confusion because lock down and lockout were so similar. Um that secure lockout now will be the verbiage that everyone is expected to use across the state. Changes to the building level plans also include new sections for transportation during emergencies and cyber security incidents. Um to
028give you a little idea of what the timeline looks like, um there is a 30-day comment period. So, the district-wide safety uh plan will be posted tomorrow. Um this the board has to have one hearing. Today is that hearing where you you received a copy of it. Um on July, so so as of July 9th, that begins the 30-day public comment period. If anyone has anything they'd like to share, they're certainly welcome to email myself or Dr. Frame. Um the plan is post will be posted under the public notification section of the website. Um on August 18th, the schoolboard will adopt the districtwide and building level plans and October 1st, the building level emergency plans will be entered into the SED portal and shared with the state police. Questions? That's that's all I have. All
029right. And that is it for reports this evening, Mr. Fuches. Thank you, Dr. Frame. And um public comment is next. We had nobody sign up this evening. Uh moving back to you, Dr. Grupka, uh finances. Yes. Uh today I'm asking for approval of the May financials and the May schedule of bills and check warrants. Does anybody have any questions on items F1 and F2? Hearing none. Can I get a motion to approve the financial items tonight? I'll make a motion, Mike. Thank you, Don. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you, Cindy. All those in favor? I carries. Uh Mr. Michelle, uh personnel, uh for instructional this evening, we have one instructional resignation, request to leave by two teachers, some salary adjustments, appointments. This evening we have three teaching positions, four regular substitutes, summer
030hours for screenings, mentor training, mentor assignments, fall sports, high school and middle school activity adviserss. Um, Miss Watazak is with us this evening. So, I invite her to please come up at the end of the board meeting and meet the board. Congratulations. P5 is ESY summer school appointments. We have some grade level assignment changes within buildings. P7 are summer curricula curriculum projects. P8 lists our present comp presentation compensation for this month. P9 through P12 and including P14 are all summer school or summer activity appointments to either prepare for the school year or to facilitate the summer schools that are in place. Uh P13 we have TCI training and P15 just one change to our substitute list. Thank you Mr. Michelle. Is there anybody have any questions on P1 through P15? Hearing none. Can I get
031a motion to approve? I'll make a motion. I'm sorry. Except for P6, which is which is anformational item on a motion. Thank you, Dennis. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Adrian. All those in favor? I. That carries. Uh, non-instructional, Mr. Michelle. Uh, we have an amended date, start date for one of our laborers resignations this month. We have six aids, two cleaners, and a part-time nurse and a part-time clerical. P8 are changes in status for our codas to become full-time status for the next school year. Prior appointments, we had one custodian and some substitutes for both buildings and grounds and transportation appointments. This month we have a summer clerical support staff and some transportation TCI TCIS training and support stipens for aids who have fulfilled their requirement throughout the year. Full sports activity
032monitors and supports like clock operators and ticket takers and lifeguards for the 2526 school year. And lastly, changes to our sub list. Thank you for that review. Uh, are there any questions on the non-instructional items? Seeing none, could I get a motion to approve P16 through P21? I'll make a motion. Thank you, Trisha. Do I have a second? I'll second. Thank you, Cindy. All those in favor? I carries. All right. Uh, I guess Mr. Michelle, uh, continuing on with special needs and student activities. Uh, yes. The information from M. Nushka is the comm community committee on special education met for 62 days and asking for the approval of the recommended services for 165 students. The committee on preschool special education met for 36 days and is asking for the approval on the recommended services for
03377 students. Thank you. And also we do have uh letters for the appointment of cse and CPSSE members uh the approval of impartial hearing officers, the employment of surrogate parents and the appointment of design for initial evaluation referrals. Does anybody have any questions on S1 through S6? Seeing none, can I get a motion to approve? Make a motion, Mike. Thank you, Don. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? I I That carries. All right. Uh, next up, board development and policy. Yep. Uh, four different uh areas. The first is board committee membership, which I had referenced before. Uh, just reaching out to board leadership and and letting them know what committee preferences are for this coming year. So, that'sformational. There would be an action item later. Uh, so to
034let folks know if that you would want to keep continued uh committee membership or if you're requesting a change. Uh B2 is an action item although there uh are changes from time to time. Uh we we try to appoint ECASB um liaison in different positions at the reorganizational meeting because they typically will do some work over the summer. Um so we have some people that have been in those roles for the past several years. Uh but I also know that there are changes. So um we can uh pause on this item in just a second, but uh that is an action item tonight. There's an action item for a field trip, a group of student leaders going to Washington uh DC in early 2026. And then there's the use of internet enabled device policy as
035an action item without a first read. And again, this is general language that was developed by a policy committee that uh that most of of New York State uses. So, um there's that policy language knowing that the details will be finalized as we get further into the summer months. Thank you, Dr. Frame. I guess getting back to B2, we do need to fill in uh the appointments for the um NISPA. So, the voting delegates for the NISPA convention, it'll be October 20 um 3rd and 20 to the 25th. Um ECASB delegate assembly, ECASB budget and finance team representatives, the rep and the alternate for both of those. Um and then the legislative team rep and alternative. Do the board have any wishes relative to continuing on? Can I just say that um normally I was
036the budget and finance team representative? If somebody else wants that because I'm now um taking on the role as vice president, I attend a lot of these meetings anyway. So if somebody else wants to participate, they can have that um representative role. Okay. Um I I'd like to continue being the delegate unless anyone has any objections. So Trisha, you have the preference to be the dele and the representative lead on the delegate assembly. Yeah. I'd like to continue with the legislative team. Does anybody else on the board have any strong interest in an alternate or a rep position? I believe I'm the alternate with Dennis and I'll continue with that. Okay. I'll do delegate I will do delegate assembly alternative you need somebody I mean I I've done the budget and finance team rep before.
037I'd be happy to do that again unless somebody else would like to do it. So then we would just need an alternate for the budget and finance team. I'll take the alternate for that one. you okay with that? Okay. And then the last is uh the voting delegate for the NISPA convention. Um obviously it's somebody that would be uh in attendance. They need a quorum. I know um we don't always have a representative there, but does anybody if they conducted it via Zoom the last couple of years beforehand? I thought they had gotten some good feedback on that. They did that or they done it before? Yes, it's through Zoom. Okay. Before the convention. Actually, a week before. Yeah. So, anybody have any interest in serving as a delegate or the alternate? I'll do it
038if nobody else wants to. As long as it's Zoom because I'm not sure if I'm going to the convention or not. Okay. Would anybody like to be the alternate? I'll be the alternate. Thank you, Adrian. Okay. I think we have every position filled so we can get back to ECSB. Thank you. Um and then I guess just vote on those. Yeah. Any other uh discussion before we got a have a vote? I know we have the uh as Dr. Frame outlined the waving of the initial read on the internet enabled device during the school day policy that is from Boseies. it's aligned with Boseis and then we will um work to internalize the procedures that work with our district. Correct. Uh between now and the start of the school year. Yep. [Music] Anybody have any
039questions or comments? I guess I'd entertain a motion to approve items B2 to B4. I'll make Thank you, Cindy. Do Dennis. All those in favor? I I that carries. All right. The last item in our packet is uh schedule of upcoming meetings. Uh the next board meeting is scheduled for uh August 18th. Uh that is also a joint meeting. Uh the board will have a joint meeting with the town of Clarence uh beforehand uh with the regular board meeting scheduled to start here in the auditorium at the middle school at 6:00 p.m. And that will then be followed by our next meeting September 8th uh also 6 p.m. here in the auditorium. Uh with that I would entertain a motion to adjourn to executive session to discuss a personnel matter and collective bargaining negotiations. Just
040quick Mike to clarify we're going to go right into executive session though at 6 o'clock. So the meeting will start at 6:30 correct presumably. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yes. So thank you for noting that Don. So for those that are not aware, uh while we post the meeting at 6, we typically go into executive session for 30 minutes at the onset uh with the public session to start at 6:30. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? I'll make a motion. Thank you, Dennis. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Trisha. All those in favor? I We're journed. [Music]