001All set. >> All right. I'd like to call this meeting to order at 602. Please stand for the pledge. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The emergency exits are behind us, behind you, and the door that you came in on. Please get a roll call. >> Mr. Jackson >> here. >> Mrs. Snider >> here. >> Mrs. Gendron >> here. >> Mrs. Paradis >> here. >> Mr. Dros, >> excused. >> Mrs. Burwell >> here. And Mrs. Geller, >> excused. >> All right, we'll start tonight off with our exeicio student report. Hi. So, we've been talking about the snowball dance for a while and for many reasons, we just couldn't find the right day to do it, but we
002come up with um a solution and we decided that the snowball dance will take place March 21st. We still have a couple of n some kids are not really engaged in the dance yet, but we think as the date um gets closer, more kids are going to start talking about it. They're going to get excited and hopefully we'll be we will be able to have a successful dance. Another thing that we've been talking about is this having a spring a spring pepper rally and we try to talk about it as soon as we can and we have brainstorming many ideas and we want students to um give their ideas and try to come up with new things that they will enjoy. So, we just try to make that and talk about it as soon as
003we can. So, we have everything ready. And something that came up in our suggestion suggestion box is that a lot of kids want a Potter volleyball game and we've been trying to make everything work and a lot of kids are really excited about it. So, we've been thinking we've been thinking about it and we want to do it during spring break. I mean during spring week and it's going to happen probably April 1st. So, yeah, we're really looking forward to that. >> Thank you. >> And now I'll turn over to Miss O'Shea for district boards. >> Thank you. And I just want to mention, so when I was in the high school the other day, I did see all of those board games that were purchased that were based on the recommendations of the student
004council of the box. So that I'm glad that it's working and thank you for talking to the students, bringing it back to uh us and vice versa. Really appreciate. >> Yeah. >> So before we start our school budget presentations, I just wanted to review the process. So Stacy, uh, Tim, Larissa, our director of special programs, uh, the secondary principles, and I met with the various secondary department teacher representatives and, uh, to hear shared successes and needs. Um, we also met with the, uh, principles and their building leadership teams at the elementary level. You'll hear um, from the elementary principles in two weeks. Uh each of these groups first canvased their buildings or respective departments to hear the needs. Uh principles then brought this forward to our budget committee. And I'd like to thank again Mr.
005Jackson and Mrs. Snder for serving on that committee and we have hopefully our final meeting on Friday. So uh thank you very much and then we'll review and make the recommendations to the board. So tonight we'll start this evening with Laura Tarlo, principal of Cahose High School, presenting the high school budget. Thank you, Superintendent O'Shea. All right, so we're going to start this evening with just some numbers to take a look at. Um, enrollment has been steady the past several years. At one point, we were over 600. A couple years ago, we had a little bubble. Um, but we're seeing some steady increase still, which is always good. Um, one of the things I want to point out, I included on here just our our L's, our section 504 and our CSSE students because um,
006what I wanted to share was while we're a smaller high school, I guess considering in the area when you're looking and comparing um, with under 600 students, about 20% of our population um, has an IEP, but then 30% of the population um, has a lot of needs in terms of how they need instruction delivered um, differentiation just things that need to happen to make sure that they're successful. So, we don't use that as a as a crutch. We use that as a springboard into how we have to deliver instruction differently and how we have to make sure that we're staying really current. Um, today I had a chance to go down to Sunni Albany and spend the day um with some national organizations as well as Tech Valley High School um which was heavy in
007content on project based learning, the benefits of it and then how it plays into portrait of graduate. And we spent, you know, I'm thinking, okay, give me all a portrait of a graduate info so I can bring it back. They said, you can't even talk about that yet. Because we spent a whole day talking about how to go from compliance to agency because we all grew up in a school system where you were told exactly what you had to do, when you had to do it, and what would happen if you broke those rules and violated those expectations. shifting and moving to a system that says here's a bunch of different ways that you can be successful and graduate from high school in New York State based on what you're interested in, based on what
008your strengths are, and that the students have to have agency as do the faculty and staff members. So, what seems like it would be a simple conversation was very in-depth. Um, but I was able to go there and leave with a lot of information that can be turned over not just to the high school, um, but really to the teacher leaders throughout the district and to Dr. Tim Wandelle and to Peggy, of course, to share with everybody on this continuum of how we move from compliance to agency. And just one of the quick takeaways was they're not mutually exclusive. They don't have to be separate. So, we're still going to have reporting. We're going to have regions exams. We're gonna have certain compliance measurements that we have to adhere to. However, how can we do
009that? and make sure that everybody has agency in their educational system system so that students are saying well this is what I want to do can you help me get there so that was a really exciting exciting day for me to go down there and see that um I just listed I always sit stumped you know what am I most proud of there's just so many things that I'm really proud of and when I go to PDS and I go to things um you know and I see familiar faces are like you're the coas person you love kah I'm like I do love cos you Um, but I'm so proud of so many different things that we do. I try to highlight a few of them. Um, one of them being Mr. Douglas, our new
010assistant principal that we were able to on board this year, who's done a lot of work in bringing his counseling background to the high school, a lot of time and space committee work. We think we've developed a really solid proposed bell schedule to be looked at and thought about um that will really take us into the future with Portrait of a Graduate. Um, allow a lot more time. wanted to talk about the needs, but there was a large through line in how teachers can collaborate and how they can actually have time to think. So, if you're in chaos all day and you're busy running from one class to another, when do you actually sit to think and when do you talk to your peers and your colleagues? Um, so we think that that bell schedule
011would support that and also support student learning. Um things like elimination of um all of those little quiet studies, 22 minute, 44 minute, 22 minute throughout the day, addition of recess, uh addition of an advisory period, a little more passing in between bells so kids have a chance to decompress, say hi to their friends, and then get on to their next class without being late. Um uh we extended into a home room opportunity where we could do our P2 work and our social emotional learning time. um and a few other things. So these are just some of the ideas that we've been working and we started time and space in November and we said just tell us everything you guys want to do students, faculty, staff, what are your dreams? And then of course we
012talked about um opportunities and restrictions and then we tried to use AI and other models to to pair down a a schedule. So um I've shared that with the district officials. We have two new courses to our course guide this year and both are dual credit which is which is the goal to add new courses that offer that opportunity. Um one of them is going to be Spanish 5. We currently have uh all of our world language classes are dual credit. So adding the fifth uh this the Spanish five is to be conversational. So I have a child in Spanish 4 and if I say tell me a sentence and espanol and I'm not sure that he's there yet but um that's the goal is to be able to talk in the language and conversate
013but also to write and so for students that want to go into to language that's a goal for them. And then um hot off the press we met with um Dick Blaze and his team from RPI on a collaboration with the semiconductor course. So Hudson Valley has a certificate program already in place. I think it launched in 2022. Um where students can go and it's a a program where they can start the semiconductor work and they get a certificate to then metriculate to a four-year college after that. So there's some agreements in place. So the idea with this course and bringing it to Cahose is that it would be that engineering interest for students who might want to take physics look at physics. We currently offer it full year. Should it be full year? Should
014it be semestered? Can this be semestered? Can this be full year? So, we're still developing all the logistics of the course, but the way it's been proposed is it is a PBL course, so it's a project-based learning course. It is designed for a year for right now. Um, Dick Blaze and his team developed Project Lead the Way. Um, years ago, he was a technology teacher at Chernando schools and and then went on to form this national organization. So, we're really excited to bring that course in. We're still tweaking and working out the logistics, but we have a solid idea of the description, what the course is, and what it should offer. Um, but I'm really excited. We've been talking about engineering as a district and STEM for a long long time. So to see that
015uh come into the course catalog makes me very excited. We launched our alternative program. Um Dr. Tim was sharing with me earlier. It looks like we're in a good trajectory for potentially having this offsite next year hopefully. Fingers are crossed potentially at the community center. And a lot of the ideas that I have for that are bringing in lensure and certification opportunities for those kids if it's down there. Can we get them babysitting certified, CPR certified, maybe lifeguard certified, um maybe even part-time employment, you know, just really embedding them down in the community and downtown. Um school safety initiatives, thank you for the support, of course, of the metal detectors. We've talked about them. Um we expect them to be delivered mid-March, but just really thank you for investing in our safety. Um, school safety
016has gone from like a part-time officer in 2016 to, you know, this fully robust system where we are in constant contact with the chief of police and the co police team. Um, which is just amazing. And then Matt Lab Bombard and all of our safety officers and all the hard work that they do is just really going well. Um, we also did some upgrades to the front security office so that they can better monitor cameras from throughout the district to make sure that safety is is paramount. We piloted dracking. And I talked about this last year for our 10th grade STEM courses with the idea that um if you were currently as of last year, if you were a freshman and you were taking algebra prep, for example, um you couldn't challenge the algebra exam
017at the end of that school year. It's a stretch course. You would have to take algebra 1 sophomore year. Or for example, if you were taking Earth systems, um you could not take the Earth and Space regions. So the idea is to give our students as many opportunities as they can to pass these regions exams. So the idea is to make everyone at regions level or above and add extra supports outside of that for the kids that need it rather than lower the rigor, put them in a non-region class, stretch it out, they can't take the test and then you're cohorting kids together based on ability. So you can't talk about equity and do that at the same time. So, one of the things we want to do for next year, we've already got a
018model in place with humanities and ELA. We do our AIS through courses. We name them, we give them curriculum, and you earn credit. So, truth and style, argue like a lawyer, that sounds a lot better than AIS. The students buy into it a lot more. It's more exciting. Um, and they get high school credit for taking that. So, um, our STEM program, so our math department and our science, we want to take all of that AIS and develop some courses, too. that would be STEM AIS. So maybe STEM skills one, STEM skills two, maybe something more creative. Um but that would give those students be the chance to really be successful um on regent exams in those courses instead of going backward. Um maybe if this dtracking, we have a lot of data to run
019in the in the summer. If it goes well, it could be, you know, scaled down to nth grade even. Uh instructional coaches for math, we ordered and invested in some new Numworks calculators. We brought in trainer for Bethlehem schools that Mr. Douglas knew um to train the teachers. We've heard great feedback. The kids like them. They much more model like a like an electronic device, a cell phone rather than a traditional calculator. They're easy to use. They're allowed um and the teachers got training on them to just kind of go through things a little bit differently in tandem with instructional coaching. So, we're not saying here these calculators are going to fix all of our math problems, but um that paired with instructional coaching is really going very well this year. So, we're really excited
020and hopeful to see a different outcome. And then student exposure via field trips. This is this year I think is the most I've seen field trips just all over the all over the board in in a really positive way. Overnight trips, two overnight trips this year. I don't think I've seen an overnight trip since I started and we had two this year, which was awesome. And then just little mini field trips, you know, whether it's career jam or we're going down to do women in law or we're going down to visit the state police barracks. I mean, we I've tried to support as many of these trips as they can. Not that we want kids missing school, but we certainly want them getting out and seeing what else is out there outside of the school
021building and being exposed. So, that's gone really well. What am I asking for? Um, not too much this year because I've asked you for a lot the past several years, but this is a a year of refinement. So, I was able to take like I think it was like 53 pages of needs assessment um use AI to kind of sift through it and look at through lines. And when I was really able to do that work and keep asking intuitive questions to get to these answers I was looking for, the programmatic uh bullets that I put were really the four main points. So, it's like thank you the board and the district has given us tons of resources, our teachers, our programs, what we need, but now we really need to refine what we've done.
022So, it's not enough to just say, okay, we spent the money on that. How do we know if it's working and how are we developing it? So, prioritizing curriculum and PD. Um, that's a big goal across the board. That was an ask across the board, but also time, and I mentioned that earlier, just time for collaboration, planning, and alignment and how we know that we're doing that. and the coaching. Everybody loves having a coach. Um, so if we could prioritize getting some coaching funding, that would be great, particularly for math and science at the high school. U, not that it couldn't benefit the humanities, but it would definitely help with STEM. Um, we're hoping the alternative program can be moved off site. We know that environment is crucial for programs and so if we can
023get that in another uh location that would be great. And really just continuation of the school safety. There's no uh separate asks there per se. Our club numbers are are good. Um the ARC is our peer tutoring and that's the one every year we've just really struggled to get kids that are able to peer tutor during the school day. But if you look at all of our other numbers, um I just briefly look back at years past and they all seem like they've grown. And that was I know something we've talked about each year at this presentation is if we're going to offer things. Um, Try was a pilot last year. They have 26 members. So, that's doing very well. And then this year, um, also, uh, model UN and those numbers are very strong.
024So, I mean, NHS 70 students and we just had a selection committee that picked another 30 students the other day. So, you know, our numbers are really good. There are some areas that are low and just like anything some days on clubs like more kids are there but we ask the teachers to give us like their regular membership and who shows up to most of the meetings. So those are our enrollment numbers as of February 1st. And that's that's it for the high school. Any questions? Good. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. and Miss Bra, principal of Cahose Middle School. Good evening, everyone. How's everybody doing tonight? I don't like the microphone thing. I can't get used to it. I'm very loud without it. So, I'm just gonna step to the side. Um, in
025looking at the middle school projected enrollment for next year, I want to take a look at this year's enrollment. Um, something I'd like to point out is our small cohort of the seventh grade. this year. Um, our cohort of seventh grade, and I'll get into it in a little bit on one of the next slides, too, gave us some flexibility in the schedule to try some things that we haven't tried. Um, we've been meeting with other middle schools in the area to look at their scheduling and what are they doing in regards to AIS, in regards to SEAL, um, recess, a lot of different avenues. How are they utilizing their specials? What does that look like? And so having that low seventh grade number allowed us to do that with some of our teachers. um
026create some push-in models. So, with that cohort going to eighth grade next year, um it's looking about the same as of right now, we're hoping to try it with the eighth grade classes next year. Uh another piece I want to look at is the increase in the ENL program. So, the fifth graders coming into us, there are 14 projected as of right now. And um we have a scheduling meeting scheduled for this Friday with our ENL teacher um Deanna who is creativity brain and has you know a lot extensive work schedule um as well as Stacy Nolan to see you know what is how are we going to meet the needs meet the needs of 14 incoming sixth graders right and it's it's a shift from a a brand new building for them um and
027that's a lot of a lot of kids so we're going to start looking at it early what do we need to do to meet the needs of those kids. Um, we wanted to put some I Ready data on here and in fairness to the building since I wasn't there last year, we didn't include any of last year's numbers. Um, we I'll share on the next couple slides the momentum and everything that has been going really well this year. Um, in the conversations in the fall in regards to I Ready were, you know, it's it's a brand new program to me and I tried to learn it as best I could before coming in and even still giving it in the fall. I still was not as familiar as I would have liked to be. But
028when we started to talk about what the winter diagnostic would look like for kids, um, we we piloted in one of our the split team for the students to take it. So typically what happens in the diagnostic is it's a three-day diagnostic and it's measuring the students where they are grade level wise on a variety of tasks for reading and math and the teachers usually do it it over a course of three periods and then it's kind of um it's hard to get the kids to make it up because they already a lot of those three periods. So students are absent or they had to miss this class for a reason. So what we did was in team five we floated out the idea of having all of the students take uh the diagnostic in
029periods 2 through four five and they were all on their team. We let the specialist teachers know that we'd be taking them for that period and we came back and looked at the data with team five and they said it was amazing. I mean they had kids the the growth that happened was more than they've seen in a really long time. They took percentages. They had I ready success parties, you know, they gave out rewards to kids that had the most improved scores that went and jumped the most. Um, we had kids coming up to us and they were running up to us. I have the highest score right now, you know, and for me, I I don't know if that's ever happened, but that was exciting that these kids are excited about their scores,
030right? And and it became contagious, right? So the the conversations in other teams now are well we want to try and do that half day too. So, we started it with reading and then we did it for math. And it was it was a good use of our resources, right? We're not wasting three I mean, as a former math teacher, wasting nine days of instruction is a lot to ask of teachers and and we're having the conversation with the teachers. Okay, now what? Right? We have the diagnostic results. What are we doing to use this resource? Um, so in the fall our scores were, you know, if we look at the higher end, our middle above grade level and, you know, single digits in math, which I'll get to on my in a couple slides
031also. Um, but we made some growth, which is ultimately what we're using this tool for, right? And so some of our push and AIS models that we have been using have been able to get our scores to jump. It's not where we want to be yet, but no great change is going to happen in five months. So, there was growth and we're going to keep that momentum going in regards to I already. So, I took the these assessments for the middle school and I put them all on and then through conversations I added more and Peggy said to me, "Can you make it one slide?" So, I had two slides of a lot of positive pieces that have happened in the building this year, and it was hard to figure out which pieces to take
032off and what to leave on. I would say the in looking at what the teacher leaders had shared out. I tried to summarize that the best. Um, securely and yonder rollouts were phenomenal. We just did a midyear BLT survey. haven't shared with anybody yet. But um we we asked you know the faculty what on a scale of one to five how do you feel the implementation of Yonder went and it was mostly fives, fours, a couple threes. Um same with Yonder. You know the staff really is happy with its implementation. So we will be continuing that. Um the creation thank you to Deanna of the split team for seventh and eighth grade is phenomenal. The team five is talking about looping with our seventh graders next year and research shows that that is a you
033know I mean you're starting next year with kids that you've already had full for a full year. You know what their academic strengths are, their behavioral weaknesses. You know what home looks like for them. You know what their um what makes them tick uncertainties. So that was a a really great creation. Um it split up the cohorts too. The eighth grade cohort is a really big class. So to be able to split them up and kind of get some kids that are friends away from each other, they're they're excelling where we're watching our eighth graders really grow and mature. Um we the physical placement of the teams. Um so in talking about the smaller seventh grade, we had smaller class sizes because enrollment was so low. So we took one of the seventh grade um
034math teachers and pushed him into a math class for an AIS model. And I met with those teachers last week. We looked at the high ready diagnostics. We talked about what we're going to do with this or the kids that we want to move in, want to move out of that class. Um, they are over the moon about how the model has been working. They It's as a former math teacher, if I had another math person in with me, I can't even imagine the growth that we would be able to see in students. You know, it's not giving somebody a answer key and hoping they know how to teach it. it is two people that know the content better than you know anybody in the building and they're able to really work with the kids.
035Um we did the we changed to the positivity project. It was curriculum that we use at the high school. So we moved away from second step that was also on the BLT survey and that was reported with mostly fives some fours but most people are liking that. It's very autonomous. You can teach a 46 minute lesson on positivity project or you can make it your do not for the day and it's five minutes. So every day there is a different subject that is in charge of positivity project. So the kids are seeing that every day. As you guys have seen the building has really gotten a facelift. Uh Jason Cribs and his team Bill Darcy they were a huge help this summer. Um they painted the walls. Uh then they came in over break and
036we got I don't know if you noticed the new lights on the second and third floor. They're just as bright as the first. Um which means we need new paint on the second and third floor because it's so bright. But it's it's all just getting a facelift and that's been a really good piece for the building. Um the hero parties I stole from Jackie Diurro. She implements be a hero here every day ready on time. So, we give kids uh you know just simple rewards every five weeks when they hit a certain attendance threshold and it's just like hey thanks for being here and we give them a sticker and we want them to know that attendance is important. We're trying to drive that home to the kids. Uh as alternative learning program has been
037successful the implementation of that. Uh we have mediation matters that Jill Havens works really closely with. So, some of our students um that have been identified by their teachers as needing some more SEAL support or the students that aren't working well with peers, uh they come in and meet with our students monthly. We brought our modified basketball games back to CHS with the help of or CMS with the help of Jeff Huno. That was a hit. We the parents really liked uh you know coming in and being able to see our building. We have all the decals and the rugs that Jeff got us downstairs. So that's when they come into the building through for the gym, they get to see that. Um, we implemented the academic word of the week. So we've been talking
038a lot about vocabulary and reading. And so that was an implementation and every week there's a new word of the week. We have around the building you'll see too. Um, we we're trying to promote it as much as possible to give our students that academic language that they might not be getting when they leave this building. Uh we had myai which is a museum of innovation of science organization. They came in with GE last week and yesterday our faculty meeting was cancelled due to the weather but I was going to share with the staff that the guy that ran it when I went in to see how it was going. He said your kids are absolutely amazing. and he went in they went the team went into our tech classes and he said the scores
039that they are getting and I can't speak to exactly what they had to do because he was a little above me. I'm sure Rick might be able to help me out with that. He knew one of the people that came in. Um but it was great. The kids were all engaged. They were interacting and he said he's been doing this since the 80s and not every building he gets to go into is as good as this one. So that was really nice to hear. and he had said too that uh the scores they were producing were fantastic and it became really competitive if if the one group was winning the other group wanted to win so they'd go back to the drawing board and try to figure out how to fix it and make it
040better. Uh we're training our staff on an MTSS model with the help of Rachel Marcel and Katie Ramsey who is the uh resource allocation review coordinator. She has been fantastic. It's a lot of working together as a team and we'll start to roll that out next school year and of course a successful production of Into the Woods by the Junior Drama Club. Um I I could go on and on and on for the building. But we've just been having a really successful year this year. So in terms of what we asked for for our needs, um we're asking for a math as teacher. If you remember from the I Ready slide, we only had in the fall 5% of our students were mid or above grade level and then 9% of our students in the
041winter diagnostic. So, our math scores are low. Uh we have the data to support our state test scores, our I Ready scores. Um our kids are struggling in math. Our it's a district problem. It's not a building by building problem. they get to the high school and our regent exams scores are not good, but how could those be good if our math scores here, right? So, we want a a math AIS teacher to fully implement and that would look um like a variety of ways. So, we would push in and pull out. Uh we implemented a reading lab this year. So, all of our students, we just started this in the second semester, all of our students, with the exception of the honors kids have a 20 minute quiet study opposite of their lunch. So
042the research the research to the MTSS pro model has been showing that 20 minutes three times a week is the target for AIS. And so if all of our kids have that 20 minutes, typically our honors kids wouldn't be the ones that need the AIS. So they're the only ones that don't have a study hall, which is fine. So we were able to increase how many kids our reading interventionist was seeing. So I think his case load was approximately 20 and we were able to add about 30 kids to that. and he's focusing on right now our kids that are not secure in phonics. So, right, we have sixth, seventh, and eighth graders that are not secure in phonics, which is something that, you know, research shows if you aren't secure in phonics by third
043grade, you're going to continue to stay behind grade level, and we're trying to combat that. Now, um he's going into team this week and working with the team to identify what kids he has on his case load and what data he is seeing and collecting for them. and the teachers are just welcoming it and just saying, you know, this is what we're teaching this week on this unit and how can we incorporate some of the strategies that you are doing with those kids during our class. So, that's been um really helpful. So, we're also asking for a secondary instructional coach um as Laura said for the high school building. So, we currently have a Boseies contracted instructional coach who is phenomenal. However, she's only here three days a week. So, she's at the middle school
044for two days and the high school for one day. Uh, having worked at both buildings, I know that our district would benefit from a secondary instructional coach. Uh, instructional coaching is something that's been done. You know, we talk a lot about what are other districts doing. We're behind the ball when it comes to instructional coaching. When I spoke earlier about the um visiting the other schools, we were in Lancingburg and they have I believe four instructional coaches and they've been in those roles for seven or eight years. And so what this person does is helps look at the data, right? So they break down, you know, where are your kids um skill deficiencies and what what standards do we need to look at and then how do we implement engaging lessons to increase the rigor?
045That is something that we would like 5 days a week at the secondary level programming. We are asking for a tutoring center model similar to the one at the high school. Um today in the middle school we had a lot of interesting behaviors and we have really great families that are trying to support their kids and they don't know how. And sometimes our kids are struggling and they can't even verbalize why it is that they're struggling. So, the tutoring center sometimes a good place for our students to go that um you know a variety of options. So, when we have kids that are on long-term suspension, it's hard to find tutors. They have to uh every student has to be tutored for three hours a day now and it's hard for teachers that are working
046from 8 to three to add on another three hours of instruction. Uh Stacy and I ran the numbers and it is not costefficient. the model that we're using right now. So, we'd like to have one staff member run the tutoring center in two sessions. Um, and that can look for that could be for our students who are on short-term tutoring. They have the option to come after school when it is then school's dismissed. Uh, the attendance in that isn't great. So, this model is beneficial for families. We've had families that have asked us like, can we do a shortened school day? So, this could be a place where kids can kind of, you know, as they're working out through um, you know, in middle school, I'm learning a lot a lot. I'll just say that.
047But also, I'm learning that the people, you know, kids are learning new things about themselves and learning about new things that they're not familiar with. And, um, med management for some of our students, right? We're trying to figure out the counseling piece and what's going on at home. Uh, and sometimes families are like, "We just need a break." So, that could be another lens that we could use the tutoring center for as well. So, it' be three hours a day in two sessions. Um, our club enrollment is pretty steady. The middle school runs their clubs every week and it's fantastic. You know, a lot of times the parents that are calling and saying, "I want my kid involved in something." Well, we have a a variety of clubs for our kids. Uh we have the
048robotics club which they you know that that's it might be a different kind of student than in the mixed media club. Um there's a there's a large spectrum for our students for what it is that their interest may be. Middle school students are really just figuring out who they are and so giving them a variety of options is helpful for them. >> Any I think that's my last one. Yeah. Any questions? The only question I have with the um instructional coach, would that be a full-time district employee? >> Yes. Okay. >> Yep. That's what we're asking for. >> Is that it? >> All right. Thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> And now Jeff Hun, our athletic director. >> Everybody, >> um just go over some athletic highlights from so far from this year. Um
049our boys soccer team played in the sectional final. in a class A sectional final back in the fall. Um great game and you know I just put on there talk about the Tiger way. Um that that just they showed relentless effort and resilience during that game. They were down 4-1. Came back to make it 40. You thought the game was over. They came back to make it 4-3 and actually had a chance to tie the game um in the last seconds. So uh girls bowling won the class B championship though they did not advance to the state championships because of the small school. Uh we had a team edge us out by a few pins to go and represent us in the states. Uh April Garnell, however, will represent section two at the Nisa Bowling
050Championships on March 13, 14, and 15. So we'll let you know how she uh she does for for our section. In the fall, we had 47 NISMA scholar athletes and in the winter uh just did those 42 win uh winter scholar athletes. So that's uh you know a scholar to be a scholar athlete you have to have over a 90 average um playing a varsity sport. So that's that's pretty good. A lot of kids doing the right things. And then uh you know just some excitement anticipation for baseball and softball to use their new finish facilities uh this year uh you know including having the outdoor batting cage uh which is going to help us with you know the the lack of fields for for three teams and both sports. our participation numbers in the
051fall. Um, girls soccer was 17, JV was 13, and modified was 12. So, the good numbers across the girls soccer program. Uh, JV is usually one of the sports in the league that and even in the section that we lose the most teams because they can't feel the team. So, um, those were good numbers. Boy soccer, we're 17, 14, and then 21. Um, we started with a low amount of numbers and then next thing you know, a whole bunch of kids wanted to join boys modified soccer. Uh football were good numbers. We had 33 uh at the varsity level and 26 at the modified level. Football year was 15. Boys cross country, we did not have any varsity runners. We had two modified boys runners. Uh girls cross country, we had five. And we didn't
052have any modified. So, we're trying to grow that program a little bit more. Those numbers are actually coming up, believe it or not. Hopefully getting more kids interested cross country. Uh girls volleyball are good numbers, too. 11 13 and 11 across the the board. And then our esports team had five uh five students uh for that one. Didn't have as many games uh that they ran this year. That's why the numbers were cut. For the winter, uh boys basketball was 15, 12, and 12. Um good numbers. Same thing. Girls basketball 13, 12, and 13. JB was 12. uh girls again that's you know a sport and a level in in the section in the league that usually uh teams drop. So that was good. Boys bowling we had 10 um but we also keep we
053we keep some younger kids on a JV team when they they don't go to away matches but we let them pra they practice during the season um which helps build them up a little bit um their numbers over the course of uh their career. Girls bowling is nine and that's a really good number for girls bowling. Um so, uh they've made rules to lessen it used to be six scorers for to for a bowling match. They actually dropped it to five because the lack of participation sometimes in girls bowling. So, uh boys indoor track is 31 and girls indoor track is 25 and girls indoor track um is, you know, is one of those sports that we were kind of low a couple years ago and that's kind of coming coming up. Uh unified bowling,
054we have about 10 or 12 students uh participating right now. And then these are projected numbers just based on family ID registration which ends tomorrow. Um so we'll get a last minute push um probably tomorrow when I post it again and uh everybody's email and uh you 10 people will sign up tomorrow in various sports. So uh baseball there's 24. I didn't put them as JV because we have it's varsity and JV signups together because that way when they have triyouts the coaches then put put the students where they belong where they think they belong. Uh 18 at the modified level is solid. Softball is 24 for both levels which is good and modified is at 15. Girls lacrosse we're at 12. Um we're need to get that number up a little bit as 11
055play on the field. Um we're actually higher than we thought we were going to be at first. So, we're doing some recruiting um for for that sport. Boys track is 36 right now, which is a huge number. And girls track, we see that again, 39. We're talking like 12 to 15 girls probably three years ago. So, that that that um that program is coming up a lot. Unified basketball is like a month away before we start, so we don't exactly know, but they'd be in a 12 to 15 range, and esports are up to 10 for the spring season. So >> Jeff, when you do have the final numbers where you just have editing rights, you could just add change them and then >> um athletic needs and requests. Um so we're looking for a
056head athletic chap, which would be a stipen position um just to give u give help to the athletic director um to support them and give them uh someone another person at games. Um it's nice to have the same person doing doing that position instead of just uh uh you know having a different chaperone at each game so they can follow up uh follow certain duties that we we want them to do and then it's it's not a huge hit to the budget but it would be because we already have the chaperone budget so it would be a stipen position. Um basic materials and supplies for all sports. Um we you know we look at the coaches let me know after each season what they need and uh we try to get those things for them.
057There's always a wish list and then what they definitely need to run the sport. Um football is one of those sport sports that we have to just monitor very carefully. Uh specifically helmets, they have a 10-year life. Um but then sometimes they come back even after one season. Um if there's damage to it, it's it'll it would be rejected. Uh we just got them back and there was wasn't any rejects from this past year. Uh we potential need for a new sled uh for for the football program. We'll be looking at that and well different ways, you know, what size we would want, what works on turf, what works on grass. Um, ours is was really really old and it was it was broken and and trans moving during the project. Um, continue to cycle
058through uniforms. We usually go about every 3 years for uniforms and then we change them out and we have a list of who goes each year. Um, obviously the white, you know, having the white uniforms is very difficult. Um, they get quite dirty. Uh, just continue to brand our facilities. Um, Heather mentioned the middle school and then the high school. Those are those are huge things. Um, you can talk about when people come to our buildings and the comments that we get. Um, we had a a young lady from uh, Snap Mobile uh, for for fundraising at our coaches meeting the other day and it's like the second time she's been there and every time she comes there she says how nice that how nice our school is. U, we had BSN representatives in today
059to look at the gym and they uh, you know, same thing they we want to see the weight room that we've heard about and things like that and all the branding. Um, that's really important to our to our our school and our pride. Alumni gym floor we've been talking about. it needs to be resanded and repaint. All the lines repainted on it were at we're at our our our level. We weren't happy with the job. It was done a couple years ago, but um we found out that it's because we we need a full resand. And that's an opportunity to, you know, change out the the colors and and the uh the logo and things like that. Uh the wall padding is as well needs to be, you know, just needs a little TLC as
060I said. Um you know, just taking a beating over over all the years. um gets little holes and slits in it from kids running up against it and things like that. Weight room equip equipment, we monitor the age and condition of exist existing equipment um just to to make sure that they're they're safe and then we always look to add, you know, something to it um that is functional for our for our athletes to get stronger and even for our non-athletes that like to go in and use the space. And then just some finishing touches of the baseball field. Once we get that turned back over to us in the spring, uh we'll add need to add a few things. We talk about, you know, a home run fence. The way we configure the fence
061now works out really nice. You got a left field finally a little bit higher in the center field, but then right field has nothing because that has to be another space. So, they make roll out fences that are a little nicer than the temporary fence. Um I think that would make that that space look good. That's called sport fence. and then adding some back back stop padding uh for protection, safety, and then also for uh pass balls. >> Uh so Jeff, if I could mention that uh we have a draft job description for the position Jeff said in position. Jeff mentioned uh we Jeff borrowed it from another district. We tweaked it a little bit to make it our own. >> Great. >> I have a quick question. Um, and forgive me. >> Yeah. >>
062What is a a football sled? >> Um, so it's like a a blocking sled. So, uh, they get down in their stance and they hit it and move it. >> Okay. >> Forward. So, it's it's good to train your alignment and things like that. So, >> teaches them how to hit. You need no line. Any questions? >> Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate it. >> I actually I do have a question. You said potential for a need for a new sled, but you said the sled was that we have is broken. >> Yes. >> So, wouldn't that be an actual need? >> It it depends. You know, um we're we're obviously looking at new football coach and things like that. What is you know, what is what is needed? You know, look at the price of things and
063and work on your you know, does it fit in the budget? Can it be a threeman sled? Does it need to be a fiveman sled? So all those kinds of things. And then in the spring there's always I start getting emails from like companies like BSN that have great great deals like they just got a football helmet buy 12 get one free. Like you get those options and you try to find stuff. >> Okay. So, like we need we could use a new scores table eventually too, but the one we have the our maintenance department fixed it a little bit, but again, just looking for a good price on one and one that's, you know, functional for our gym. So, >> thank you. >> I pass off this magic. >> Uh, thank you all for
064all the work you put into the budget uh and and your very thoughtful budget presentations. Thank you. Uh so a question came up about the elementary and now professional development that has been uh provided or will be provided. So uh Tim is going to take you through the next slide. >> There is >> I have it gladly share it. >> Ashley click for Tim. Oh, I can't even see that. >> You can get up and say this. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And my 64 year old eyes get worse every time. >> Um yeah. Um, last summer, uh, the elementary staff anticipating the move of our ENL students back to their community schools from, uh, Harmony Hill began to collaborate about what PD they would need to do to prepare, uh, in Lancing
065and, uh, in Vancite so that the staff would be ready to receive those students. Um the numbers uh bear out uh a little bit about what that intensity would be, but you know back in August the teachers got together for a full day of training with Arm that's the regional organization uh that supports uh teaching up uh u you know English as as a new language to kids and so they participated in that translation support tools communicating with parents and students were topics that they addressed They talked about assessment and various instructional strategies uh and translating that into the classroom with new language learners aligning classroom instruction in in the uh ENL resource document. So they've collected resources, they have a place to go where there's like a library of resources that they can use
066in their classroom and modify for the instruction of the kids. Uh they've had afterchool series uh of meetings uh in January. uh they focused on best practices as a classroom teacher. Uh Meg Cherabino conducted that and facilitated that here in our district. Um February 26 they met um they looked at ENL proficiency levels and what they mean to to a classroom teacher and how they might be able to strategize particular for individual student needs. um uh they they discuss what to expect when working with uh an EL ENL teacher that comes into your classroom uh to support students and and that is my my personal experience in watching push-in services whether it's speech and and language or whether it's special ed services or ENL services the push-in model is is the most effective model because
067kids feel comfortable they have have someone by the side supporting them backing away when necessary because younger kids are um but it's it's a really effective way and they don't miss time from the general lesson instruction. Um in March, uh they're following up from the previous two presentations. They're going to have a a Q&A. Meg's going to host that with Kim Angus uh and Bushra uh present presenting. Uh they're going to have a half day staff development day that we have next week. Uh and they'll again be focused on instructional strategies. uh specific for ENL uh students and and development of their lessons. Uh teachers are going to begin to visit back and forth bands Skype teachers visiting Harmony Hill and ALS teachers visiting Harmony Hill so that they can see and and visit the
068classroom and feel what it what it feels like. Um we've also uh recognized and noticed that we have uh our teachers participating in programs through frontline uh and as a professional development organization. We have we have them involved in uh courses like safe and affirming learning environments for elves family engagement for elves. uh developing language objectives for math and planning lessons for L's uh MTSS for L's. We've used that MTSS thing up quite a bit in the last few weeks. Uh ENL instructional practices for all EFLs and then uh ENL resources and supports again collecting resources and materials to be used in in their lessons. So the teachers have been very proactive in engaging with content uh to build their skills. Uh the Harmony Hill teachers and the and the um ENL teachers have been
069really fantastic in collaborating with their colleagues and that will continue to go on. So um I think they're they're feeling ready and comfortable. Uh the numbers uh are are moderate. We have that big bubble in what grade was it? going into six, but uh the numbers seem to be to spread out moderate. There's not a massive bubble in any one particular cohort or any one particular classroom particularly. Uh so I think there we're going to see a seamless transition back into the community schools and I do believe that this is the right thing to do for the students um and for the sense of community and belonging and uh so it's it's been a a positive effort. uh I know that they will continue that that work on their professional learning and we'll be excited
070to report back to you later on as as things unfold. >> Great. Thank you. >> I want to thank Jaclyn Dero and the ENL teachers and Harmony Hill teachers for arranging this. Another thing that is happening is uh training in Alexa which is the translation software. So we will be working through some training for uh clerical staff for for other staff as as well. So we're looking at those considerations too, just so you know. Um so next up is me, but I don't need the clicker yet. Um so I did want to give you a brief uh staffing update. So, we did have a finalist for a middle school world language teacher. Um, and uh she is very interested. Uh, we are checking references and just the the final interview uh was was yesterday. So,
071um if she accepts the position uh she will be recommended on the next board meeting, I would like to start her prior if possible because I know we're really piecing things together. So I will share further information. Um so the timeline for the co high school principal we'll talk a little bit more about why in the near future but um so uh the posting uh went out we've advertised both on OS and through senes which is wide reaching um and uh the deadline for that is March 24th. uh we will be doing the screening as applicants come in so that um you know right after the 24th we'll be ready to um call because our first um interview date will be April 1st um prior to break and what that does do is then gives
072a little time through the through the break for uh anyone to prepare for the second for the second round. So um That's that and then um we are also moving on to the second round interviews for the elementary principal surgery lancing and then those interviews will take place next week. Um so that's a staffing update. Um I have one more piece but Stacy do you have we didn't talk no nothing to share. Sorry we were busy today. I didn't think so. But um see, I didn't even tell you I was introducing the budget uh presentation. I'm just so um I wanted to talk a little bit about transportation tonight. Uh because um I know there have been some questions, a lot of discussion about transportation. I understand it's been a very long cold winter and
073and snow and ice. So, uh, I know that we we spoke about this at our last board meeting. I'll talk a little bit more about it today and then, um, get some more information to you in the future as well. So, um, just so that everyone is on the, you know, same has the same, uh, base line of information. Um, as you know, we do contract for transportation for our out of district placements uh for special education students. Um, for our special education students that do not attend their homeschool um for some medical necessity um law, the the law governs that if the child has the medical necessity, we can provide the transportation. Um and then that goes through our medical director with the the doctor and then for students who are homeless as required
074by uh law. So under education law, school districts um are required to bas trans provide transportation um based on certain mileage criteria. So um if the student is in K8 and lives more than two miles from the school, that is the criteria. If in grades 91 12 the student lives more than three miles from the school. So that's under state law. So districts can provide transportation under these limits. Um but it must be approved by voters and then applied consistently. So currently because um we do not go under the limit we we don't need to provide transportation to any children attending uh charter schools or private schools. If we did work to go under the limit uh in district we would then also have to provide transportation for charter out of district. So it becomes
075um you know even a larger number of students. So we have looked into the cost of busing in the past and uh the costs have been very prohibitive. So there's two different ways um to go. One is establishing in-house transportation and that is a a huge a huge uh capital heavy undertaking. Um and this is further heightened as now there is a zero emission bus mand which says by 2027 that uh the buses you purchase must be electric. So not only would this include um needing to have to purchase buses and that the electric buses are more expensive have facilities. Uh we'd have to have charging stations just very heavy capital. um as well as hiring um employees and I think you've heard there's a significant bus driver shortage. So another option uh is to
076contract and we do contract for the for um you know the students that I had mentioned. Um but these costs are still are still quite high. Uh I can in the future really start to narrow down some costs. I don't have it down to that that level. Um but we would have to determine how many routes based on chosen parameters and um a single standard route usually costs a district between 100,000 and 125,000 if if not more. So when when you when you look at that, we did some comparisons looking at Lancing where Tim has been involved in his district. Um you know with busing um those were were significant costs and what that would mean would then be uh you know cutting a significant amount of our our programming. Um really um you know
077cutting some things that our students really need. Um, I think um I've mentioned this before. I need to I have reached out again. I need to follow up again to try to get some of the information. Um, but I have met with CDTA. I know at one point in time um Laura met with with CDTA with with me. Uh met with them again. Um the the requests that I'm waiting for are to I asked them to please see if they could align their roots. Um in the past some years ago they were better aligned. Um things changed. Not sure why but the times are not aligned well and and there's some some rooms that are are now missing. Um I also asked them um because I think I shared with you where all of our
078students do a cost proposal for out outline students. So um you know as soon as I had that information and we can get a little more finetune with the others I will bring it forward. Um, but I just wanted to, you know, make sure you knew that we were really considering this, taking it seriously and and trying to find some alternatives. I think you might know in the past um and and if we could, this is was a wonderful idea. Um, we we we talked about walking school buses um walking school routes. You know, there's some other avenues to explore. uh you know I have had some uh parents reach out but you know I will be leading with them and exploring some other ideas as well. Moshe, has there been a district of a
079like size in the past, I'm going to say 10 years that has made this investment that we could look at, or is that really just an outlier? And you may not even have that information. I don't have that information, but we can I can reach out to um Marbos's district superintendent and see if she knows or if she could reach out to other DS to see what they know and then and get some information. >> I think an important factor um to operate transportation service is the aid that comes along with it. Most most districts in the capital region have an aid ratio for transportation that ranges from 70 to 90%. So costs that are aidable under the law, we get 70 to 90 cents back on every dollar we spend. Well, that funds your
080following year. The typical transportation program uh for a district our size if we contract the service would be between three and a half million and $5 million depending on what the specialized routes are. We have quite a few specialized routes. The Mckin Bento uh transportation needs that we under law have to provide. Um charter school uh associate mentioned and we we have many of those. Uh we have uh students who in special education placements in various places and so we have buses going all over for star and strand and that's just the special services. A district our size would would uh have between 35 and 40 routes. Um we're kind of a tightly compacted district because we're a small city school district. Uh which brings us to the the challenge. The radius of two miles
081for K6 and three miles for 712 uh puts much of the city uh inside of the bubble. We would not get a cost for and so only fringes of the outlying parts of the district are beyond the two miles or three miles. And so very few students would be serviced in that regard. And if you decided to service the entire district and there would be no aid. So that five million three to five three and a half to five million dollars of ex brand new expenditure uh with a current uh inflation rate of about 10 to 15% per year. Uh you're talking about $425,000 to $500,000 growth per year. take a deep breath. And so, and I say those things because in in managing transportation, I found the luxury that I had. I had a
082district of 129 square miles. We had 28 routes. We had a fleet of suburbans that brought kids down to the the the suburbs and cities to go to their various placements. Uh we were all over the place and it was a $4 million operation and I got $2 million in state aid every year and that was that was a big help and it allowed me to take tax dollars and use them in in different places. Um but here that that concentric circle precludes you the opportunity at the age so that you can be fiscally responsible and savvy in how you're using your dollars and the lift. Uh the diff there's a difference between the contracted services and and building your own in-house service. In this regard, you could take the contracted services route and and
083let the vendor provide drivers maintain the equipment, purchase the equipment, but those ED buses are coming and they're three times the cost. And that service may get the grants to cover the gap between what they're paying for diesel and what they'll pay for the EV. Maybe they won't, but they're going to pass that cost on. And that three and a half to five million is going to be something larger. And and so you're trapped in a contract and now you're at the win if you've made that step. So you have to you have to ask yourself, you know, where what am I? This is a big nut to to crack and budgets reflect your values and certainly the value of kids safety and and their health. uh and these are the two options on the
084table and how when you consider the the obstacles here and looking for solutions it's a lengthy process and it's not going to happen for September and it may not happen for 27 September um and there may be some other alternatives and Vegas has looked at those in I think we're all willing to listen to other opportunities. Having managed a service um rather robust service um and knowing contracts and knowing what it takes to maintain a fleet, we were always against it with the drivers. We're always and we were dreading the transition to m maintenance of the uh vehicles. Um and there was just articles the last few days recently, you know, um a district voted down a bus proposition for electric vehicles. I don't think the legislators thought about that. >> No, they didn't. >>
085What happened? The legislator spoke. The legislator spoke and the governor signed the the bill into law. But what happens when the voters say no, we have a say on this and that hasn't been resolved yet. Um, and then being trapped in a in a contract and with escalating prices is challenge. The the EV buses uh are are challenging from a charging standpoint and from a a range standpoint and a comfort level in terms of the the environment and the climate inside the bus itself uh during the winter time. So, it's worthy of thought. Um, and it's worthy of having information so we can talk honestly with our with our publics. And it's worthy of bringing our our minds back to and our hearts back to what our values are and helping our publics to understand
086those value decisions in an honest kind of way. And um, we'll find a way through that forest. you you have for so many years and and you'll continue to do it. >> Yeah. I I have to say personally I would struggle to spend three and a half to$5.5 million a year after listening to our request tonight where our students are so struggling academically and the things that they need to to help the kids do better to to help with phonics like like um Miss Bra was saying you know our kids don't know phonics we can't spend money in my opinion. Think about spending that kind of money on that to then say, "Sorry, you can't have your educational resources." That That's not That's not something I can that I could say we could trade is
087a is a good tradeoff. Personally, that's my opinion. >> So, more information to come, more discussions to come and uh again welcoming you know ideas that are We might not have done it. >> I have one more question. I'm sorry if I missed this. We talked about it before, but will we be contracting transportation for our ENL students next year now that they'll be back in home school? >> No. >> Okay. That's it. >> Okay. Thank you. That's it. >> Thank you. Uh does the board have any item on tonight's agenda they'd like to discuss? You may >> well there is a recommendation on tonight's agenda. So I am thrilled to recommend Laura Tarlo as our next assistant superintendent for educational services. Um I've had the privilege of working closely with Laura for 10 years.
088Uh and I've had the privilege of knowing Laura for way more than 10 years. Um, so her knowledge and leadership skills and her strong collaboration has greatly benefit the students and staff and families at Cahose High School. And I am so looking forward to her even broader impact on the Cahose community as assistant superintendent. Now vote honor. A >> lot of pressure on this vote. >> Does the community have any item on tonight's agenda they'd like to discuss? >> All right. With that, could I get a motion that the board of education adopts the following resolutions of the March 4th, 2026 agenda and agenda 7 A through G, 8 A through O, and 9A. I'll make the the motion. I'll second. >> Mr. Jackson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Snider, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gendron, >>
089yes. >> Mrs. Paradise, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Burwell, >> yes. >> Congratulations, Dr. CARLO. Is very lucky to be getting it. >> All right. Any comments from the board of ed tonight on anything not on the agenda? All right, we'll open to the audience if there are any comments um from anything not on the agenda tonight. Uh standard rules apply. If you could come up the microphone, state your name and address um and try to keep it to two minutes. >> Hi, >> welcome back. me again, Andrea Seager Doring, 57 McDonald Drive. And I just want to thank you for really taking the transportation issue so seriously. And I know that's the first place that people go when they see kids suffering and not able to go to school. And that's exactly why my
090proposal didn't touch the transportation. I know that's a heavy lift and I would just like to state for the record that my proposal both items in it cost zero. So um and there are more creative ideas that we can come up with together. That proposal I put together in 24 hours. It's not perfect. I know it. But it's a start and it's an opportunity for us to have these conversations in and outside of board meetings. Miss O'Shea, we have a meeting on Monday. I'm very excited for it. And I want you to know on my end, I'm keeping the ball moving, too. I've reached out to every church leader in the city of Cahose to see what we can do on a community level. I'm going to do the same with common council and see
091what they can do on the city level. Warming stations would be a good solution for starters. Um, you know, of all of these people and all of these brilliant minds, we can come up with solutions. And I have a vision after working on this this issue that frankly does not affect me personally. I have a warm car to bring my kids to school in, but there are so many that don't. And after working on it, I've been inspired. I really have because everyone goes to, "Oh, Co doesn't offer transportation." We can build a future where people are saying, "Cohoose doesn't need transportation because every child is cared for." And after seeing you speak last time, Mr. Landal, I wholeheartedly believe that we can foster a culture that does that. So, just thank you again for
092your time. Thank you for considering my proposal and uh please reach out to me. Let's let's talk. Let's work on this. >> Thank you. Hi, I'm Danielle Malcolm. I'm the mother of two students, one in elementary school, one in high school. Um, I am one of the parents that don't have a car. The burden in the past two years that us not having transportation has put on my family has been overwhelming. The cost. You guys talk about cost for transportation. It cost me hundreds of dollars to get my children to school safely. The sidewalks are not plowed. Kids are walking in the road with traffic in other cars slip sliding on the ice. 30 minute any any period of time for an elementary school student in my opinion to walk to school is too long.
093It's it's not safe. Not all parents, not for nothing, but are going to even walk with their kids. I've seen very young children walking what I would think would be way too far and alone. And I understand the school can say, "Well, we're a walking district. Once they leave here, it's not our problem." But what good is spending money on academics and their future if they get abducted or hit by a car or hurt getting to and from school and 5 days a week. That's every day. Like if I don't pay for the transportation, my kids have to walk 30 to 40 minutes one way to school through the snow and the ice. Then they sit in class. Then they get all melted and they're all wet and it's 20° outside and then they have
094to go and walk 30 to 40 minutes home soaking wet and freezing. There's risks of hypothermia. And if you just take the weather out of the equation altogether, let's just say elementary school kids are walking to and from school. There's dangers in that alone. And not for nothing, but I didn't know until I came to Cahose that public schools weren't required to transport kids. I thought they all like all schools had to have busing. And when I heard that they they don't, that blew my mind. These are babies. These are precious children that should be protected and supervised at all times. They shouldn't be expected or given the responsibility of having to get themselves to school safely because mom and dad have to go to work or whatever the case may be. And so education
095is important, yes, but so isn't their safety. And I think safety should always be number one. And I think that any school that doesn't provide transportation to and from school is not looking out for the child's safety. And that's that's my opinion. Um we've tried to do the the walking thing. It it's not worked. My son Daniel is a broken hand and arm right now. Um slipping on the ice walking. So that's all I have to say. Anybody have anything else for tonight? All right. These four future meetings, uh, March 18th and April 15th here in the middle school library. Um, could I get a motion to enter into executive session at 7:19 to discuss matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion to motion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or corporation?
096motion. >> I'll second. >> Mr. Jackson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Snider, >> yes. >> Mrs. Jensen, >> yes. >> Mrs. Paradise, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Furwell, >> yes. >> We do not plan on returning to public session tonight. Have a great evening.