Cohoes CSD BOE Meeting February 11, 2026

001Good evening and welcome to Cajo City School District Board of Education meeting tonight, February 11th. Like to call the meeting to order at 6:00. If you could please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance. Just to take note of our emergency exits. There's two on the side here and the door that you came in out from. Uh could we please have a roll call? >> Mr. Jackson >> here. >> Mrs. Snider. >> Excused. >> Mrs. Gendron >> here. >> Mrs. Paradis >> here. >> Mr. Dro here. >> Mrs. Burwell >> here. >> And Mrs. Geller, >> I am here. and thank you very much for coming uh to join us tonight. I will turn it over to Superintendent O'Shea for our district report. >> Thank you and good evening everybody. So I'd like to thank

002Greg Clo and Paul Nickerson for joining us this evening from CS March to provide the capital project and HVAC audit update. All yours. >> Well, thank you. Walk over to the podium. Thank you board for having us uh in today to report out on what we've been working on with the districtwide HVAC audit of the existing mechanical. So today we'd like to cover um a few things. So we're going to cover where we're at with the summer uh 2026 $2 million project update. Uh we're going to get the mechanical equipment HVAC audit and we're going to talk about the 2026 capital reserve project planning and just a refresher of where we'll be entering for the 2026 building condition survey. Uh so for the summer 2026 projects just a refresher on what what the scope items

003are placing site lighting along Mickey's way the high school and the back access road the high school over to Columbia Street. Uh the high school cafeteria courtyard refreshing that area with some hard surface seating areas outdoor learning. We're constructing a new uh metal storage building for athletic storage. We're replacing auditorium house lighting. Uh we're providing a new outdoor walk-in cooler at the HR Lancing School and then outdoor walking cooler at the middle school. So the schedule update on that is we're getting ready to submit design drawings in for permitting. Planning to do that at the end of this month. Um it's the currently the SP review period is much shorter than it has been traditionally. You can probably recall times when it was six months, eight months for sea review. Right now, they're tracking six

004weeks, which is really great news. Um, so that being the case, we're hoping to be able to bid in April, receive bids in May of the spring, and uh recommendations for award in the spring. Construction would start in summer. Part of it would extend into the fall. So, we're targeting a substantial completion. the walk-in coolers in December of this year, the storage building site by December of this year, and the auditorium lighting the autumn of this year. And so close out would occur by June of next year. Any questions about the current summer project before we get in with the audit, please? >> No, thank you. >> So, goals and sets. So mechanical equipment HVAC audit. So goals is to identify mechanical equipment and assess condition and expect useful life. Uh so the record document

005analysis is complete at this point. Gone through all the old drawings, all the old documents specs been able to put together plans that kind of indicate where all those units are and the age of those units. Um, what's started and is going to continue on for the next couple of weeks is the on-site verifications. So, our engineers have started going out on site going through and double checking their drawings of what's actually in the field. Most of it has been pretty pretty well documented, but we feel we'll find a few things here and there that will better inform our our analysis. Um, and then the next piece is assessing the air conditioned areas. Um, so so far we've documented what's currently air conditioned and what's not air conditioned and we'll review those in the plans

006to come. So the next piece is generating conceptual solutions uh to expand air conditioning areas as needed. And then um lastly we want to generate an order of magnitude budgeting for the system improvements and prioritize um taking the whole chunk on or or splitting up into pieces as budget allows. All right. So, this will bring us into sort of the plan reviews. I'm going to try to go through these fairly briskly just because there's a lot to get through. So, the first one is Vance Ges tool. Um different colors are indicated for the different systems and their vintages. So, Vansite for the most part all the classrooms are unit ventilators. The different colors there, the different purples and blues are different vintages of of air of unit ventilators. There's also some rooftop units and air

007handlers for the for the gym, the larger spaces. Boilers are also indicated. Um, if I can I know you can't read any of the any of the verbiage up there on the screen and nor can I. So, I jotted down a few notes to refresh my memory. But for the most part, the unit values are Van Skike are 2000 or 2009 vintage. Boilers are 2009 vintage. Next slide. And then going upstairs, um there's a rooftop unit for the gymnasium and air handler units for the uh for the offices. Next slide. Um and then this this pictorial shows what what areas of the building are air conditioned. Um so the green area is the offices and sort of cranberry colored is the nurse's office and then there's a server room up on the second floor. So

008the classrooms um are not air conditioned at so so we did this so graphically you guys can see you know pretty quickly where and where not you we don't have cooling throughout the district. So as that's become a hot topic in the last couple years with mandates from the state. So just so you can quickly see the previous slide that had all the equipment listed that also indicates what has cooling and not. So that information is there but this graphic really shows you quickly where you have cooling where you don't and then the root plan is also shown on this page as well just getting the equipment. Next slide brings us right into Harmony Hill School. So Harmony Hill School is mostly ventilated by air handling units that are down in the lower level. The

009yellow um is the same on both floors and the orange um is the same on both floors. So there's one air handler unit that supplies the yellow spaces and one that supplies out those orange spaces. And then there's also pin tube for um residual heat as well. I guess the exception is there was a classroom built in 2009 that has unit slide the gym and the cafeteria handling uh rooftops for the for the gym air handle for the cafeteria. Most of the equipment at Harmony Hill School is 1985 image. It was original to when the building was constructed originally. Um, and we'll we'll get their life expectancy as we go on, but that's some of the older equipment in the district is at Harmony Hill School. And then again, cooling. So cooling at Harmony Hill

010School is primarily the offices in red and then the resource rooms that were constructed, the old locker rooms in the 2025 and air conditioning. the roof. So, we'll keep going over to Abram Lancing is rooftop units primarily. Um, so the yellow rooftop unit um supports those classrooms as well as the cafeteria. There's some radiant heating panels in cafeteria as well. Uh the green is a rooftop unit for that portion of the building and the pink area is a rooftop unit as well as that has radiant floor heating. The office area also has a split uh split air conditioning unit cooling space that the gym has air second floor. So the first and second floor air handlers are are connected and then the air conditioning. So a lancing it's basically the office area and then there's

011a server closet down in the basement. Now vintages for the a lancing is mostly either 1997 or the the 2008 2009 edition vintage. So brings us to the middle school. So middle school has quite a few different things going on. So most of the yellow you see there, those are unit ventilators and they're mostly 97. Then the office um areas, that's an air handler unit that's located over near the gym and an air handler unit for the uh for the gymnasium as well. Um valator oil on the tertiary darker pink space be roast. Go ahead. Going upstairs. The library has an area unit which is air conditioned. Again the classrooms probably use ventilators. Next slide. I'm sorry if you could go back one. I'll just point out so that the air handler unit for the

012office areas on the first floor is located in that blue that blue box over. Thank you. >> Uh that's an exhaust fan. Yeah, I'll come over and point this evening here the air for the offices on the floor. All right. opportunity. >> Thank you. >> And then up on the third floor, the former office suite is an air handler unit which is located down in the basement um by the cafeteria. Then unit ventilators, the science rooms and the other classrooms like third floor. Next slide. So the roof and then the boilers are indicated as well. Those are the two air units for the library and that office suite off the um next slide. And then the air condition spaces. So the offices at middle school are air conditioned. The library there's a computer room up

013on the second floor which is air conditioned and then the third floor former office suite is air conditioned as well as some of those interior resource or smaller conference rooms are also air conditioned. Uh kitchen is air conditioned. vintages of the middle school is mostly 1997 with the exception of the um of those opposite the classrooms off the back of the gymnasium are 2010 vintage >> and high school uh high school is also a fairly complex project in terms of HVAC. Um so most of this floor is either 2010 vintage air handler units or it's 19687s um air handler units. The old gym, the dark blue, uh that paint color um the cafeteria and the green kitchen. Those are older units there. Quite old as well as the maintenance area has some old fan coils

014in it as well that flew over on the right. than that. Um there's a gymnasium has air handling in it. There's also a chiller. So all that that sort of section of the gym and the lobby, the offices in the auditorium all are all air conditioned. Boiler rooms both below the kitchen if anyone curious upgraded in 2006. Next slide. So second floor of the high school shows the auditorium but this is basically double light space. Air conditioning and a guidance suite and GI classroom classrooms on the back of the the gymnasium with unit ventilators 2009 vintage with air conditioning. Then the purple and that light is my notice again 2000 vintage new ventilators and primarily air conditioned in that area. And next one up on the third floor. Um so most of the mechanicals uh

015for that new part of the building is located on that third floor me right and those units are all kind of colorcoded with which spaces they are. Uh the green those are the science classrooms that we did in the 2020 class project. So those are new unit ventilators with air conditioning. And then the purple are um the 2000 unit ventilators. There is air conditioning. A number of those that have computer classrooms and then the those two the one time were technology classrooms. Those also have air conditioning. Next slide. And there's your roof plan. Next slide. And uh so areas with cooling. So basically again on the first floor the newer gym, the lobby, offices, auditorium. Up on the second floor, the offices in that one section of classrooms, a library as well. Then up on

016the third floor, the science swing and then the computer classrooms and then former tech on. All right. So those are the plans and the very kind of broad brush kind of passed through off. Next slide. All right. So uh so that was kind of documenting what was the right. So then the next step was kind of evaluating life expectancy. And so what we did we turned to ashray which stands for airing society refrigeration air condition >> this is a test multiple choice. All right. Anyways, Ashray is a well-known organization which kind of helps mechanical engineers kind of do their work essentially, right? So, they have um Ashray has a has a life expectancy chart which we use and and I showed a snip of it in this presentation. So typically you know things from air

017conditioners are 15 years they say have a life expectancy boilers are you know anywhere from you know around 20 25 ventilators are typically around 20 as well um but that that's really a guideline um in the real world some equipment may be serviceable much longer than the life expect um so taking that into consideration um our next go ahead next slide We looked at um how how we would prioritize these different systems. So most of the systems are getting beyond what Ashray considers life expectancy. So we created four different priorities um based on units or items systems that were greater than 15 years past their life expectancy is priority one. Priority two is um systems that were 10 to 15 years faster expectancy. Priority three systems that were five to 10 years passed and priority

018four systems that were easier, you know, right after see within five this um don't pay too much attention to those numbers yet because those are the first pass at them still valuations and we're still kind of moving things around a little bit in terms of prioritization. Uh however, we didn't you know wanted wanted to show something for this at this point because we're we're getting into planning future projects. One other point I I'll indicate is we included some um budget numbers uh to include districtwide temperature controls and management system integration. Usually when you're replacing a system, you're going to replace the controls with that system. But there might be something beyond just that system that better integrate with the whole building in terms of the head or additional additional relays and sensors. >> And and

019this is really identifying a one for one replacement. So it's a unit ventilator that's 30 years old. We put a number to replacing a unit ventilator in kind. So if we wanted to say okay well let's provide air conditioning to that space then that would become another level of of analysis and that's kind of what we have to start thinking about that's kind of how we broke the air conditioning out separately so you can start to see the order of magnitude. So this is basically saying place in kind you know keep functioning get all your to within their useful life. So when when we're looking at these site maps, this does not include any uh wall units or window units um or it does. >> So yeah, through the window units or through the wall

020units um were not included as far as access in terms of whether the building has air conditioner or that space has air conditioning. We excluded those. SUV has guidelines that they're tracking because those units don't provide fresh air as well. They're just circulating the interior. So, their guidelines are air conditioning that provides fresh air. >> Okay. >> I just wanted to make sure we all had a full because I was unsure whether we were talking about, you know, sticking in the window and it's there and it's assigned to that room. >> Yeah. >> Um, okay. Thank you. >> Those certainly do function and provide cooling, but in terms of the fresh air aspect, they don't. >> Right. >> Thank you. >> All right. So 2026 capital project planning. So the scopes to be developed, right?

021So proprietary terms to the HVAC audit need to prioritize um whether it's in kind replacements or it's replacements and adding cooling. So your our dollars would go to a certain extent for inind replacements. And if you're adding cooling, maybe those dollars don't go quite as far. more strategically identified. Um, and then we also are are looking into districtwide PA and security uh integration beyond the smart schools funding. So, in terms of timing on that, um, in order for a May 19th vote, public vote, we would like, um, could come back and present the board of education for a resolution in March with those guidelines on that potential open 19th and then design and follow instruction would be 27 and 28. Next slide. Um this slide really just kind of talks more about the public address

022and security system upgrades um that we like to include. And so um CSSE standards being developed for classrooms and building level. Uh we're looking at adding message boards for CL and PA functions at classrooms place corridor speakers adding large message boards and public spaces adding blue light security notification. enhancing security features, hammers, door access control and intrusion detection. Utilizing existing cast 6 cabling as possible at the middle school classroom is underway and middle school advanced guide priority locations for them. Any questions on that please? Okay, next slide. uh the 2026 building condition survey. So your district is part of the 26 uh protocol. So it's every five years recurrence. So fieldwork is really going to get going over the summer and then we'll look to come back in the fall to report that out. Um

023upload is required by March 27th. And uh we want to involve the facility committee with priorizing for future capital projects planning starting with capital 27 slide that's conclusions questions. So if if we're looking you're looking for a march uh for the for the next phase of this you know to present and then then approval would go to state ed and looking to start this project at what point? Yeah. So upon the board's um approval of the project, it would go to the voters and after the May vote design would start in it go to Sed probably towards the end of the summer, early fall and then it would be bid for summer or for summer 27 construction. >> Okay. And is there any um health and safety issues that would be prioritized over another? I

024know that we've had those conversations um within our last capital projects as far as things that would be addressed first within have we gotten to that point? I understand this is more just in the audit phase. >> So yeah, some some of it will be you know when we do the field verification. So for example um there in Harmony Hill and it became evident when we see the slide that shows the air conditioning right there are some lower level um spaces that I think they're maybe speech or resource that based upon the information we have they don't have air conditioning they also don't have exterior windows so something like that would be a priority because by SCT standards that should have obviously fresh air and air conditioning if it doesn't have if they don't have

025windows or natural ventilation. So spaces like that we'd start to say yeah we should that stuff should be addressed. Um those I think maybe the just really old systems like some of the other 1960s or 70s systems would be a higher priority as well for >> Okay. What about the public address system? Is is that something that would be priority as well for those? So we're thinking Vans and um middle school. >> Yeah. Yeah. So I think those are those are systems that you've been having issues with and some of them more recurring and more frequent, right? So yes, those would those would rise to that. So I think the the and that that's kind of when we started talking about this in the office relative to trying to prioritize all that mechanical scope. You

026saw we had $9 million of mechanical movement, but how do you start to break that down? So that's why looking at the equipment that was the oldest and the farthest beyond Ashray's useful life, right? So that's when you start to pair that down. Okay, here's a there's a more reasonable chunk of of work. Um, and you know, our next step is to really progress the PA and security part so we know what that cost is and then you can back feed with, okay, how much mechanical equipment can we do? Um, and kind of one of the decisions as you move into the longer range plan, you know, if we have a wing of unit ventilators that are 30 years old and we say, okay, we should replace those, then we say, are we going to

027make them so they're air conditioned, right? Because that all impacts budget and you know the long range plan of when you start to implement that. So one of the issues you guys have is that all your buildings are multi-story, right? So we you can't even really use the criteria. Okay, let's start air conditioning the second floors, you know, because really all your companies have second floors, right? So you can't even use that to start to whittle the scope down. So, there's a ton of information there and um but knowing that the PA and security really is a health and safety issue, some of this other stuff is equipment that okay, we realize we need to plan to get it replaced, but it might not impact you today. So, I think that's kind of what will

028help drive this next month of figuring out what's in this first this first go in May of 26. So, >> okay, >> that's what I wanted to hear. Okay, thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Anybody else questions? >> Thank you very much for coming tonight. We look forward to seeing you again in March. So earlier this year we discussed a midyear presentation to share some of the highlights of the work we've been doing in schools and as a district and uh this is a perfect time to do it as we're entering our budget presentations and I'm going to turn this over to Dr. Mel. Hey, hey, today's the best day of the year. Pitchers and catchers reported to spring. >> Good to know your audience. >> Thanks for uh for the task of making

029this presentation. I want to welcome everyone here. It's a great crowd. Awesome. Great to see a full house. Uh but the crowd is really up here and so you're my audience tonight and um but I want to welcome everyone out here as uh our constituents tonight is this presentation is going to be not about updates. It's not going to be about details. It's going to be about what our commitment is to launching every tiger excuse me to their future. And it's defined by three words. It's defined by intention. It's defined by purpose and it's defined by alignment. And so as you look, I'm going to ask that the the five of you, seven of you that are here um listen to the presentation from a high level 30,000 foot governance perspective. You're probably going to

030hear things that you already take as common sense, but for the edification of our audience, it's important. I understand human beings in groups. It's important that groups hear things over and over and over again. It's like practicing foul shots. The more you do them, the more your brain remembers to send the signals, the right way to send the signals, and the more proficiency you get. So it sounds redundant and if I leave my time here having sounded redundant in this organizational speak I've done my job. Um but so look at it from a high level. Think about alignment purpose. I want you to think about the vision and beliefs that you've adopted. You've done a great job in leadership and governance in that area. And that's guided our work from July to today and will

031guide beyond. Um, I want you to know that we're accessing current practices always and we're finding and projecting our next steps on every program, every system that we put in place. Okay, I'm going to call it a purpose and plan for all. And this is the state of the district address for 2026. And it's really a recap of the months of July to January, but it's also a time to reflect and begin to plan considering where we are in our program development and where we want to go. And so as you look at the slides for content, consider uh where we've been, what we're aligning to, what purpose to identify, and how we're applying our intentions, why this matters. Now, Miss Mag's done a great job getting all of our budget booklets out. We've had

032needs assessment meetings already, budget committee meetings already. There's lots of information already in the air, proposals in the air. It's important to bring our thoughts back to linking what we're going to hear over the next several weeks from budget builders to our vision, our beliefs, and our commitments because budgets reflect our values. How we spend our money reflects what we value. And so therefore, if we're here for children, we should be considering that with every budget decision that we make over the next few weeks. And having done that and doing the speak about it, our community and our constituencies will get that as well. We can never overcommunicate in this regard. Our purpose alignment remind ourselves why we're doing these things. It's a strategic evolution. Every day in a system, in an organization, evolves with

033the efforts we make at tweaking the systems that we have people work in. And we want to meet new challenges every day. I understand the urgency here to be innovative and out of the box. And I promise you, the organization moves as fast as it can, but it also moves as slow as it must in order to bring people along. And uh and most importantly, we want to tell our story. We want to celebrate this story where we are. And we want to declare where we're going. Tonight, we're going to make clear what that declaration is. Let's start with the who are we. Well, we're 1842 little tigers, big tigers. Tiger comes in three years old. We talk today about a little three-year-old and and our 18 year olds who are ready to walk across

034the the stage in gym. We're diverse. We're 59% white, 14% Latino, 13% black, 10% multi-racial, and 2% Asian. We have needs within our system. 71% of our students are economically disadvantaged. Yes, let me say that again. Seven out of 10. Remember class of 2014, those students have issues, social emotional development, challenges that go on every day that are related to that frequent status. We can call it poverty. We can call it trauma. We can call it a lot of things, but we need to help them navigate that and develop resilience. 20% of our students are students with disabilities. We need to tend to those needs, make sure that they're getting fair access to every program that's available to them at their level of of ability to perform and engage and grow those abilities to perform

035and engage. 7% are homeless. 5% are English language learners. This is our population. This is who we are. We embrace it and celebrate. What about the talent that we have to serve those students? Well, we have 346 Aerodox employees in the organization. We have about 175 faculty members instructing students each day and providing delivery of service. It's interesting to note that 83% of the staff has been here for four years or longer and consistently. Now, here's a belief I have that data brings us to where we want to look deeper. That stuck out for me. 83% have four years more of service. And I connected it with anecdotes that people are filming. People stay here and they like it here because they're committed to students and to the community. And so that piece of data

036reflects that very belief and that very feeling that exists within the organization. It's interesting to note that in in that 83% we have a bubble of faculty members who will be aging out and moving on to the next phase of retirement. Maybe they'll work again. Uh but we need to prepare for that and that's part of the challenge that lies in front of us. We have an 11 to1 student toteer ratio. That's a phenomenal opportunity. A phenomenal opportunity. This is who we are. It is a reality. And so we embrace that. Here are the the most recent grades three assessment results. Uh the bar graph is the aggregate data uh of my grade level across the district. And then uh on the far right the bar is the grade speaker total together. We've sorted the

037data by by building and by grade level for to numbers taking the test and the proficiency. Uh we had this uh on Friday. So I'll leave you to reviewing. This is standalone data. It's not comparative to anything other than New York State and New York State's proficiency. It gives us an opportunity to see where the gaps are. We can see guys as we we've seen this is probably very similar data as to what has been presented in the past. The difference this year is it's one year further away from COVID and so it's one year more reliable and with that other data that we received uh in terms of ESA accountability data uh conditions of that accountability are being reestablished because the data is reliable. things like attendance, things like CT credential, those things are

038being readded to the essay accountability criterion because we now have multiple years of data. Student growth in performance is being added back into the essay accountability data uh making it just more broad and more comprehensive. Those some of those items were dropped during the pandemic period because we didn't have data from testing. So the data wasn't compliant. Um so this is just standalone data but standing alone by itself we can see gaps. We need to embrace those gaps and ask ourselves the question what are we going to do about that? This is the the math results and the science results. So what do we know? We know that we have a system here. We can see the gaps and we know we need better alignment. We know we need to have consistency of student experience

039across elementary settings in middle school setting and in preparation for being in the high school setting. So that's where our work lies. ensuring that there's that consistency and that alignment, new systems that are put in place, uh new new expectations at different grade levels, new proficiencies of uh that we expect. All of that needs to be consistent across buildings and aligned with the vision and beliefs that we have. The intentionality of creating that student experience needs to be a prominent priority for all of us in the system. They are our customers and we should treat them as as customers and provide them the things that they need every every single day. The community there are external communities and internal communities. This is one of our superpowers. There's a profound sense of connection that I find

040inside this system. Indeed, the folks who have stayed rather than look for green being a passion somewhere else have this connection with one another as colleagues connection with students. Students have connections with one another. Parents and families have connections to the activities their children's belong to sports, extracurricular clubs, theater, etc. This is a profoundly important uh concept when you match it with the idea of belonging. It's really a superpower. So what is belonging? If we're all connected tonight because we're in attendance in this room and we share this experience tonight, that's one level of depth. But when we can look at one another and see and understand each other's value to contribute to this operation and governance school district, that's a different depth of value. And if each of us can find in ourselves the

041things that we can contribute to the group in a constructive way that's a deep form of value as well collectively is social emotional capacity of a group and individuals that emerges a sense of belonging. When you put that together with connections there's real power in this room to make changes to make shifts to literally transform the system. So it serves students better and when we model that students will know do what they see and so the community and sense of connection and belonging is our superpower. What about other resources? We have solid leadership in our system. We have good directors. We have new principles. We have seasoning principles. We have seasoned central office personnel and and seasoned teachers, skilled teachers, support staff commit every day. Builds other people capacity and we have strong people uh

042capital. We have I said healthy financial resources. I went out there, but that's because I see all the grants that we have and we have a lot of grant resources. We have local resources, but there's resources in our partnerships. Had a great meeting this afternoon at the community center with our architects. And you'll either just touring the facility and having our architects look at that facility for what state ed might want to uh look at for approval to use that facility for a program. And the conversations about partnerships make part the potential there are were really great from county level to city level and and school level. There are real opportunities. We have some elite partnerships that we've been working on. And so what so we know who we are. We know our challenges and

043we accept the idea that we have resources to meet them. What challenges and opportunities are ahead? For decades, the metrics of success in New York State have been relatively narrow. Did the student pass the regent exam? Did they earn enough credits to graduate? And while those benchmarks do still matter, the world our students are entering when they walk across the stage this year is different. It demands more. We're currently standing at a crossroads in the history of New York State public education. 170 years of history of public education in New York State is about to make a landmark shift like we've never seen. I used to say to some of my teachers when I was a principal, I've been in this business so long. I've se seen six border region reform periods. Well, this one

044is not reformed. It's transform. It's changing the whole system from the inside out and from the ground up. That's historical. Puerto Rico's been bold in adopting and uh state ed has pushed out information on portrait of a graduate as a model for instruction in New York State and we really haven't had the chance to talk about that over the past six months in this room. So I want to take a few moments to talk about that if you don't mind. Um, New York State is rethought what it means to be a graduate. Port of graduate is a model and many districts will see this as a challenge and it can feel like a mandate and often that can be either stepping back and waiting for things to happen or doing some things just checking off

045boxes. We comply with that. We complied with that. There's another way to look at it. We've chosen the professionals in this room, teacher leaders, building administrators, directors, ed and council, including non-instruction folks at summer workshops at the CT facility. We chose to say here, we remember the Tom Cruz book back in the 1980s. What the Let's make it happen and embrace it. And so we're embracing this challenge and we're going to get ahead of this curve. We don't see it as a hurdle. We see it as a massive opportunity. We see it as a time where we can align our system of prohibited. We see it as as an opportunity to fulfill the real promise that is a purpose and a plan. So what is it? Well, in the portrait of a graduate, a couple

046of things are going to happen. Instead of a local diploma, a regent diploma, and an advanced regent diploma, there's only going to be one diploma. And that diploma is going to reflect the different kinds of credentials a student may have earned. These seals of readiness, one of which is civic readiness. There will be a seal of financial or personal finance readiness. State is evolving those seals as we speak. We don't necessarily We have two new mandates recently about the climate and financial literacy. We don't know exactly what they want us to do. We just know that we have to teach them nothing. So, we'll figure it out. Um, so that's one major change. The focus is on ENL services for those who need it and a lot of CT programming opportunities. Why? Because that's what

047they heard from the field as the blue ribbon commission went out and spoke to the field across the state. And so that's embedded in in the portrait of the graduate. So it's our opportunity to say what are we doing in those areas and how do we chase those areas. But more importantly the real value important of a graduate is some real sustainable and durable skills. It means being a critical thinker. I want you to remember the words. One who doesn't just memorize facts but solves complex real world problems. It means being an effective communicator who can lead a team or present an idea with confidence. It means being a global citizen who understands a responsibility not just to this community but to the community around regionally and the state and across the world. It means

048being a global citizen uh earn earning a seal of civic readiness and our focus on financial literacy. These aren't just classes that'll be building blocks for a tighter standard. Other words, the portrait of a graduate and and the skills, the durable skills include being creative, an innovator, academically prepared, reflective, and future focused. Keep saying, notice the words. This is the moment where we decide who we want to be as a district. In these ideas, we find our niche pathway. we find our lane where we're going to decide to be the best in the world at what we do. And that's going to take courage and resilience and commitment. We accept that challenge now. We're proactive. We're choosing to define the coast graduate ourselves instead of state doing it for us. By building this portrait today,

049we're securing our purpose and ensuring that when we say a purpose and a plan for all, we have a framework to do. How will we do the work? And this is where it gets repetitive and redundant. Going to come back to vision and values. You use beliefs and commitments. vision and beliefs and commitments. We utilize purpose and plan for all as the vision and that's concise, precise and succinct. That's a communication skill, a delivery skill. Make it simple and direct and almost cliche like a tagline so that it goes into the memory and stays there because it's a catchy hippy fragrance. But it has a lot of meaning. Purpose is something that's willy-nilly. It's strategic. It's determined. There's a reason for doing it. All the things that generate intrinsic motivation. So it's up to us

050all as individuals in this room and in the roles that we have. Board members, central administrators, building administrators, department administrators, supervisors, teacher leaders, leaders, teachers on the ground, support staff, clerical staff, maintenance staff, facility, custodial staff. Everybody has a role and it's important that we play each of our roles with purpose and responsibility short and concise. Our promise we don't just graduate students. We want to launch students to their future. It's a difference between graduate and launch. That's power work. That's how you communicate. Find the power. Keep them concise. We got to tell the story in seven seconds in the elevator and that purpose is planned for all for lunching students. You've defined the pillars high expectations for all. You've embedded language like personal growth and individual learning plans. When I saw that 12 months

051ago, I'm in the right place. If I students can have an individual education plan, why can't every student have an individual plan? Why can't we help students learn how to define their own plan? probably if they define their own plan they want to achieve and then what goes away problems go away the hater problems go away so why are we working on that more why are we helping them to figure out how to what they like to learn and then become really good at it every single one of them because all means How about positive climate and culture? We had we had the architects here talking about climate inabilities, right? That's a safety thing. It's a health thing. It's a wellness thing. You cover that in your beliefs. We're taking care of that with the

052resource with the resource that we have, right? But climate is something else. It's the environment the kids live in every day. It's it's what they feel when they walk into school, what they feel when they wake up in the morning and think about having to go to school or not. And so we've got to create the best climate in the building that we can for them. In fact, we got to create such a good climate that what we do every single day becomes the culture of the building. Because we know this, Peter Darker said this, culture needs strategy for progress. If we don't bring culture into place, doesn't matter what reading program we buy, it's not going to work. We have a lot of connections. We have a lot of sense of belonging in our

053schools. We build on that every day and we make these expectations part of the culture. Climate and culture. It's about safety, wellness, and it's about caring relationships, future ready skills, prioritizing creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving. Your words in and the commitment that goes with that. your words. Equity of resources, ma maximizing the efficiency to ensure fairness that every student has access to the programs that they can navigate and that they would like to navigate. Why do the words matter? Because it's important that in these four pillars, these four core beliefs, we all understand what's supposed to happen because the beliefs should be in the form of verbs. We need to engage students in high expectations. We need to support students. We need to prepare students for the next day. We need to help them

054develop their individual plans. We need to lead them through career education. We need to engage them in carrier relationships, engage them in high quality instruction. We need to uh have open communication with them. Show them how to be cooperative and collaborative. We need to maintain their wellness and safety. We need to immerse them as thinkers and learners and problem solvers. We need to develop their communication skills and show them how to be collaborators with one another. And we need to show them how to be innovative and equitable with others. Throw verbs. We can define them and we can make KPIs out of them. key performance indicators so that we can measure the impact of the things that we're doing. It's the systems alignment with action planning. And so, uh, that's how we'll do this work.

055And it's important that you know that we've been doing this work since July. The meetings at CTE were deep conversations, long confrontation about these very topics about the portrait of a graduate, about our mission values and where we marry those things together in the system. It was a first sense of awareness. We recursively followed through on those conversations throughout the fall and the different activities we've been engaged in. One of the most rigorous activities we've been engaged in is building this NTSS system. Would you say Rachel? It has been laborious having the conversations. But it's good work. It's healthy work. It's deep thinking, deep collaboration, and and the colleagues are coming out of those conversations with an energy and a positivity and going back to their building and working with their built teams, building those

056systems out in those groups. And so, you're going to see that presentation later in the spring with Rachel about how to do that. So we have a framework. We have this v set of vision and values and commitments that go with those things. We have an engine. Uh we've got the RA project. But really it's about recruiting the best people to put in front of staff. Remember the bubble I just talked about? We got to plan ahead for that. We've got a succession plan so that we are ready and and prepared to be out there when when uh our our veteran teachers move on into the next phase of their life. We've got to replace that in a very narrow market. And so we've got to be thinking about that early and thinking about that

057often. And it's about alignment. What are we asking people to do? What systems are we asking them to work in? How are we going to evaluate that performance both from the adults and from the students? And it's about the resources. These three RS are the power that will jumpst start the engine. And what's the destination all portrait of a graduate all those skills we want students to develop by the time they walk across that stage and it starts at three years old in UP. It's about college and career readiness launching them to their future. It's about college and career readiness. We have a lot of students taking a lot of college credits. We have students who go to CTE. But you know what? Those two things today are more closely aligned than ever before. And

058students who are going to CTE programs want to go on to higher education and become engineers and scientists and researchers and so on. and have an occupation when they can explain the payoff of student loans. And so alignment ensures that every investment of time and money that we becomes a it becomes a step across the big bridge towards students launch into life. So what about the work that's in you've heard this fall and from the BL teams who have come here to present about the cell phone free environments in our schools and it's such a positive environment that is created the digital hall pass system we continue to hear about it through the needs assessment after the BLT presentations and then we have enhanced security and staffing programs so there's emphasis on on this climate

059for safety and wellness. Um, equity and community belonging our ENL students are going to be returning to their neighborhood schools. There's been a lot of work going on, peer work going on Hill, who have been teaching those students with the other teachers in the two buildings. And so they're they're getting ready and they're prepared. And that's an equitable situation for those students to be able to grow up in their neighborhood and go to school with all the children in their neighborhood and have access to the same environment. That's a bold step and everybody in rooms to be commended for that. We have these elite partnerships with RPI and on my side I think my coming of February, right? So the the next engineer program becomes a reality the week after vacation. Uh that's the launch

060of that partnership with GB and you all and we're excited to have that happen. This hill of civic readiness is there for students to consume. Uh there is I said new climate sustainability content that uh state is expecting and that should be rolled out very soon. They've already rolled out the personal finance uh uh requirement. Um it's important you know that part of the MTSS uh process was that we asked Eric to program a a new software system for us. We asked them that uh our school tool system and our envision system didn't talk well with one another. So we asked them to write a program uh so that those two systems will talk with one another and we can get data around the idea of where we're spending money according to where students needs

061are so that we can have the most effective and most informed information in front of us when we come to these these budget settings each year. So, we're really excited that uh right after the break, we're going to be meeting to see the the dashboard that they've prepared for us. It's a a great step forward for us. It's going to be critically important also for uh our MTS teams to understand in our RA programming uh to understand where we're spending our money and and what what things cost. Uh we've procured a new contract a new uh software called branching minds. It's going to store all of our uh MTSS data uh around accommodation interventions and the responsiveness of students to those interventions and how successful they were. So those are software programs that we've been

062using. In terms of the structures and organizational patterns in the buildings, you know, we have a a new middle school schedule. I commend Miss Kelly and uh Miss Brown for their construction on the schedule. I think probably Dr. also and uh but all all indications have been in that the addition of a home room, the relocation of grade levels into segmented areas of the of the buildings has cut down uh traffic helped by the digital uh hall pass system and the self-re environment. Uh we we added a half team which reduced class sizes. Uh helped have a better studenttoteer ratio. Uh but it allowed for adults to be able to sit during their planning period and talk about a similar group of students rather than having some adults check out because the students weren't all

063consistent with all with the team of teachers. And so that's been those have been positive developments in scheduling and we're excited for that. I keep saying to Miss Bevel, what's next? What's next with that schedule? Keep moving it forward. And but that that turned into a great conversation in one of our teacher leader meetings early on and the high school staff said, "We need to look at our schedule, too." And so the time and space committee was developed. I understand we've had a lot of work going right now, a lot of deep conversations and some great ideas and probably still more work to do. But those shifts of structures here are intended to mirror the shifts that we see in portrait of the graduate house structures that they deliver in this with these ideas. Um

064here's a KA uh writing focus. uh we did a reading resource inventory with all the members of the NCTSS districtwide team. We needed to get to understanding common understanding of well what resource sources are we using to teach reading at what grade levels and is that consistent in all three buildings? Welcome conversation and it was healthy, you know, were some decisions made to do some things more consistently and use resources more consistently in in areas of particular need with students. Um there's been conversations about developing interdisiplinary instruction. uh the project based learning training has gone on the personal finance structure instruction or I was talking about that trying to figure out you know what what are they expecting from teacher and how can we teach it in the personal finance course that we have or

065is there some other and then this idea of capstone project uh that's part of the portrait of a graduate kind of a capstone final project for uh the students to experience and and apply all that they've learned. And so this is the word in motion. I learned a long time ago. Anytime there's more than one person in the room, communication is complex. And so we have to keep saying these things over and over. It's also important that in the life of an organization, schools are organizations like our churches and fire departments and ambulance courts and sports teams. They evolve with time and we need to stay on top of it. Keep expectations out in front of people so that they can pursue them and continue to evolve so that we get better and better. I

066want to give the credit to Kyle and BC for going out of the box and using Canva for the first time to put these slides together. We really tried to match the color scheme including the old said that's bright yellow. And anyway, we found all the graphics that include them worked through camera to do that. Um and I want to spend a moment about communication and development. I I intentionally and purposefully said be conscious of the words I started with purpose alignment and intention and that was a purpose and intention. Getting the drift am I engaging you? And that's the point about communication. It cannot simply be pushed out information. It needs to engage. And how do we engage people? We talk with them. We think with them. We have emotion with them. People remember

067how you make them feel when you greet them and when you leave them. And so our communication about what we do should be just that. Greeting people, drawing them in, showing them what we're doing, showing them where it's really impactful and powerful. The data that helps us to know where those stories lie underneath the surface. And so we need to go under the surface and get those stories. We need to move from broadcasting to engaging. that will ensure us that our brand becomes alive and we live it authentically. There's something powerful that happens when those values and those beliefs and commitments are lived authentically every day by everyone in the system, students, adults. Not 100% that never happens. But every day we make a a little stride. It's a step forward. Every every day we

068make two strides. We begin to develop a habit. When we develop a habit, we develop a pattern. When we develop a pattern, we do things over and over and they become the norm. When things become the norm, it becomes the culture. We're pushing the envelope. The schedules are important. Instruction inside of those schedules are important. The support for students is important. The data collection is important because it tells us where to go. We need to keep our systems alive and moving forward. We need to act with purpose and conscience intentionally. And I've been through it before in in districts that were really struggling. And when it happens, the performance changes dramatically and it changes quickly. It will only take one or two years once the tipping point happens. Keep having this conversation. I'm done June

06930th and I thank you for the opportunity. I truly do. It's been a great great ride. I appreciate Miss O'Shea and the thinking together. I appreciate the hard work that the people behind me do every day. I appreciate the kids who come in ready to go. And I have empathy for the kids who struggle every day. I have to keep telling them the simple story. What do we want to be? Why do we want to be there? What's our pitch? How's how do we know it's happening? Tell the stories and keep pushing it out. Keep engaging people. Words matter. You have to find great words. They're all in the portrait of a graduate. That's half the battle. So, let's write and make it happen. The little tigers need to be launched into adult tiger hood.

070Thank you very much. If there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. >> I don't have any questions. I just wanted to say thank you very much for this presentation. I think it kind of brings together a lot of the things that we've been talking about. Also, I love looking at this evolution of change um as to what the expectation is for our kids to leave as an opportunity and not a challenge. I think it really is an opportunity. Um I know our community and and we know our kids enough to know just because they're not a number on a page doesn't mean that they're there's no value, you know. uh so for so long we've been looked at as numbers you know as far as the state is concerned where where you

071come in on this test and where you come in on that test I think uh you made it very clear that you know some of those numbers do matter you know uh where we do have families in in struggle and and trauma at home and that kids having to regulate as soon as they get here but I think shifting that accountability um to allow kids to make decisions for themselves uh is certainly going to change and I think that the decisions that are being made at the state level are good ones um to put us in in a place where we can then choose kind of a template of of what that looks like. But ultimately um the kids are the ones that get to decide, you know, where their commitments lie. So, thank you

072very much. This is very well thought out. Um very informative. I appreciate uh the branding. um might take a couple of little things here and there. >> I might like to talk to you about >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So, uh a few more updates. Rachel Marcel has a few upcoming presentations as well as a grant opportunity that she's going to share with you. >> Super quick, just a couple updates. I had talked to you months ago about the tool settlement funds um that the districts were receiving. Gap region Boseis was willing to manage those funds. We had really hoped to be able to get Chris Heron, a former NBA player in um to share his story with the students regarding his journey through substance use, how it grew his NBA

073career, etc. Um I'm happy to report he will be here on Tuesday, February 24th for two presentations at our high school. we were able to work with water bleed and share the costs of his travel um to be with him or with them the next day. Um so he will be in the area for those two days. Um again all paid forward through the dual settlement and capital region is handling all of that payment to him directly. Um coming up hopefully on the next board agenda you will be seeing a contract holder of the mental game. Um which is another presenter I would like to bring in. Um this is Brandon Seho, a former ESPN analyst and forge reporter um who had his own struggle with mental health. Um while he's going around touring the

074world being an ESPN analyst, he was, you know, not feeling so well inside, finally did the right thing, checked himself into a facility to get the help he needed and now has created this mental game. Um he has a podcast. He goes around to a lot of colleges, a lot of schools speaking um around the country, interviews lots of musicians, um people in the sports world, has podcasts, um he's it it seems fantastic. We've met with his people virtually, we've talked about the program, we reviewed it. Um we've watched there's a little video on his website you can definitely watch. So, we are hoping um to finalize that contract and have them come in May as part of a mental health wellness event through the OM grant um that we have. So, it would all

075be grant funded as well. Um our high school social worker last year did a great mental health awareness event. She had some agencies come in and table from our other social workers. They were like, "We'd like to do something. We'd like to build on that." So, we're hoping to do an event in the evening um where all families K through 12 would be invited. we've had we would have some breakout sessions, different things, and he would be the headline for families to be able to adults to be able to watch him. The next day, he would then speak um to students at the high school. So hopefully you'll see that on a board agenda coming soon. Again, cost entirely covered by my grant. Um and then lastly, we are looking to again apply for Albony

076County grants. They have been opened up for the anti-bullying um and vaping substance abuse. Um, you might recall we received one of those two last year. Last year, I'm losing track of the years. Um, and I did get to go down and receive our check at a ceremony um down in Albany. Um, and we've been using that money to work with mediation matters who's been at our middle school doing some great work with our kiddos there. So, we are looking to apply to potentially expand that work um through the anti-bullying grant and then also to potentially bring Stephen Hill back to us who was a speaker that really hit very well with our kids with his journey through substance use that began in high school. Um affected him not being able to go on and

077play college sports. Um he is now an attorney doing fantastic lives down state with his wife and children. Um but we're hoping to bring him back um through that grant if we're able to get the substance abuse. Great. >> Thank you very much. >> And uh in a few minutes I have just a few small updates, but I'm going to turn this over to Stacey first. >> Thank you. I have a hand out. There's some available for the audience as well. So, I just have an update for revenues for the upcoming budget season. So, there's there's no changes in what we've discussed historically. I've just summarized it on a one page document here. Um, the last time we met, we went over state aid. So, uh, state aid according to the executive proposal is an

078increase about 4%. Um again the drivers are 1% on foundation aid and then the other areas are all expense driven a so it's supposed transportation aid and then our excess cost a which is our special education private placement division based um all other aid categories are are trending uh in line with the current budget so there's no outliers there uh the second item I wanted to talk about was the property tax calcation because that is due March 1st and we will be meeting again. We have talked about a 0% uh tax increase which is what's being recommended. Um I have an estimate for the tax cap. It's very low. Um it's less than 1%. It's a6%. That's a best case scenario, which is about $29,000. Worst case scenario would be a reduction of $10,000. That's

079there's no capital exclusion at all. So the the factor that's uh driving the test calculation this year is a pilot. Uh so we did have a change in our payments receivable. There will be a property that'll be coming off the assessment role um in July. Um I've talked to our school attorney today. I was able to talk to the city controller as well. So we are waiting uh the final agreement for that. We don't have a final agreement in hand. It is expected uh to be finalized in the coming weeks. Uh so it is appropriate for us to be assuming won't be on a tax roll and we're going to receive a pilot payment in 2027. Uh so that's the main factor that's driving the tax levby calculation. Um so again best case scenario would

080be good taxes 29,000 zero. Um, worst case scenario, we'd have to reduce the summary by $10,000 if it's if it's a negative outcome, which I don't expect it to be. Um, so that being said, it looks like our spending plan uh the proposal will be a 4% increase uh for the upcoming budget. as we go through uh the next uh set of sessions and we talk about the needs uh we'll have that in mind as far as what the growth is going to be. It's about 2.1 million. Okay. Uh and then I just wanted to clarify because it can be very confusing the the capital reserve um proposition and how that works. So, um it's a minimum of a twopart proposition. Um and it can't all happen in one year. So, on this May ballot,

081we will be asking the voters to create and fund a capital reserve and it's for all the items that we've been talking about. So, it's it's health and safety uh is the priority. HBAC and the PA systems are our priority. There's other items that have come up um such as windows, um screens, things like that. Uh that would also be health and safety. And I do fully expect items to come up on the building condition survey as well, which will happen over the over the summer. Um so we don't ask the voters to spend the money in the same year. So we won't be asking them if we can spend the money until the following year. And of course, we won't be able to spend money that we don't have. So there's no intention to

082um to have a tax increase uh as part of this proposition. So we would only fund if we have an operating surplus, which currently we do have operating surplus. We also have a reserve on the books for a tax or shi. So we'll be able to put that money back into the general fund and ultimately fund this reserve which is it's over a million dollars. Um so I just wanted to be very clear that this May we're asking them to create and to fund that capital reserve and then the following year we'll be asking them to spend a portion of that. You'll recall in our last capital reserve, we had three phases. So, it it could likely be many phases. We want it to be a manageable project obviously. Um, so it it likely will

083be multiple phases. And again, we'll have to prioritize, but we have time to do that so we don't have to feel rushed that we need to be able to do that by this because we won't be asking to do that until Okay. So, want to make sure that was clear. So, um, I guess my questions are about, so we've mentioned the PA systems. >> It could potentially be health and safety issue. Is it a health and safety issue? Does it need to be addressed prior to us waiting for a year for this plan to get get approved and allow us to have money expended? if if our teachers in our classrooms can don't have access to the PA, I don't know at what at what level. Um, you know, we need support. So, I just

084want to make sure that we're very clear about, you know, the extra versus the need and and where those fall into the budget and what we're discussing. >> If it's a if it's a need, maybe addressing it through the local budget. So, we did have some needs come up. There's five classrooms identified um at the middle school that I couldn't hear about. So we we addressed that um through the local budget and then uh the PA system failed at Skype. Um so we again um made that correction through the local budget. So what we're talking about here is changing. It's a whole new design. Uh it's not just um I don't want to say mandating but mandating old um old systems. It's the creation of the new system what the model classroom looks like. What

085what what the what the security features are. So it's the it's the new system. >> I just felt we need a little clarity on that. >> Sure. Sure. Yeah. So if it's identified as CG may address it as as quickly as we can through the local budget. We don't wait >> knowing that as we move forward uh some of the systems are old and so there might be some changes that need to be made. and Stacy. So that March 1st um submission deadline is committal to the 0%. I just wanted to make sure everybody is good with that before. Yes. >> Because then because the calculation is so low, it's certainly >> Yeah, agreed. I just wanted to make sure everybody was on board with that is the decision and that's where we're going because

086it's due by March 1st. >> Perfect. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Anything else, Stacey? >> Um, so I want to give you a staffing update. So, we have been unable to find a Spanish teacher for the high school. We did there's a point to French recommendation on tonight's agenda. Uh so uh Heather has been working with Miss Brat sorry has been working with both these to explore potential virtual solutions for the three courses. We currently need to staff um two sections of Spanish 7 and one section of um Spanish 8 French 8. Okay. One section of French 8. Um the model I know that it might not be as ideal as a in person. I have seen the presentation by a middle school virtual learning or language teacher. So it does seem like it

087would help meet our needs or be a teacher assisting uh or a teacher assistant in the classroom. So we're getting more information very shortly from both seats on that. Um, so can I just ask with our struggles with staffing for world language? You know, a prior conversation was exploring different opportunities that would allow our kids to have a similar experience but not necessarily tying this into the script, you know, Spanish curriculum or, you know, we talked about American Sign Language or, you know, other potential opportunities. Um, you know, I think Spanish is very important for us to offer. Um, you know, but at the same time, I I just wonder where we are in those conversations because initially it was that it would have to start obviously at the middle school and in order to

088build up the program for American Sign Language and I know that we could talk about it a little bit more during the high school and middle school presentation, but had some conversations or um also the feasibility of funding some staff that we could as well. >> Okay. Um so >> obviously it's hard enough to get staffing and this is an area that we're really struggling in and you know twos are not ideal. >> One one thought though is that as we develop the grow your teacher the teacher pathway. So, uh, our music, uh, position, there is a a resignation on tonight's agenda and closes on February 13th. We already have a few qualified applicants before closing, so that's good. We have an opening for teacher assistant still, Lancing, and and middle school. Um, interviews for

089cleaner, who's living on the 28th, happening right now. Um and we are down a special education aid at Vance Sky um and some parttime aids at company accepted full-time positions. Uh on the next agenda you'll see a point to recordation form with point 2 special education and children. I know we had talked in a previous meeting about special education. Uh Lissa had meetings with each other families and um it is for some of the students. Um we'll be around. So we have that um and then um as you know there are a number of retirements we work through the internal shifting of staff. I think the final deadline for one is um Thursday by three and once we know that we'll be posting right after break and then our first round elementary principal interview is

090on September 25th September >> February September I'm looking forward to next year so February 25th um so the other thing I wanted to discuss briefly is uh the process to determine school closures and delays. Um so just so you know, I work very closely with Bill Darcy and and Jason Cribs. We um all watch the same weather uh app very very closely. Um we look at predictions of snow, ice, temperature and uh windchill which is indicated as the feels like temperature. Um, Bill and Jason work very closely with the rest of the facilities crew and in their quiry of the conditions of our uh sidewalks, parking lots, driveways, and also the conditions of the city streets, the low temperatures if needed. And then I'm also on a group with the 24 capital region uh superintendent.

091Um, everyone has unique considerations of their own districts, but that does allow me very early on to also know what other districts may be doing or our surrounding districts. We try to inform parents and staff no later than 6:00 a.m. if possible. Um, there was a a bit of a glitch when parents were um not going out as an alert last time. So, uh, everyone still got it. It just means that if you don't have it on your phone, um, it's an alert. It bypasses and it goes to both email and text. So, it will be posted as an alert in the future. So, I just wanted to go through the process and see if there were any any questions. Weigh things with delays very carefully. Um, you know, our students do there is a

092delay. They do not have um breakfast because of the the time schedule. back and give them to me on the the the two meals day. Um and also many times when there's a delay, our attendance is down in the 60% range um compared to um you know if if any questions. I just thought it was timely for us to bring this up so that we could actually just discuss out loud, you know, we have a plan of how we make those decisions. I mean, the reality is we probably could have canceled and or delayed school every day for the last two weeks, but you know, many of our kiddos rely on us for resources and and a a structured schedule, and I think it's really hard. I know delays are very hard. Um, you know,

093I was going to say as a former parent, I mean, I'm still a parent. They're just grown-ups. There's they're just grown-ups now. But, um, you know, delays are are very difficult. But I do understand, you know, I think uh it doesn't hurt at at any point for us if if we're aware of incoming weather to just communicate with our families. Of course, you know, I think that all of our building principles would understand. Uh if someone were to call and say it's hello, I'm not walking my child to school. Okay? You know, there's not anything punitive there. You know, there's been conversations just kind of also I think some confusion about busing versus not busing and you know who's responsible for those those costs. It's not the city of Cahose. The mayor has nothing to

094do with school busing in CO. Uh it would fall under the school district budget. Um we are talking millions of dollars for a fleet. Now fleets are required to be uh converted to electric vehicles which are also you know uh an unknown at this point as far as you know their reliability and consistency. We would require location. We would require an entire department for staffing. Um, and you know, the way that transportation is reimbured, and Stacy, please feel free to jump in, but the way that transportation is reimbursed, as far as I understand it, is that the outlying areas of our district because we are centrally located. We are a community school district. So, our kiddos on the island go to Vansike and then they go to the middle middle school. And so really the

095only areas that we would allow to, you know, get reimbursement for are the far areas of Baker Avenue and then like Falls View down on Delaware in on the island. Is that is that accurate? >> So those are the only places within the district that we would allow uh that the state would allow us to get any reimbursement for transportation. Correct. >> Correct. >> Thank you. Um, also just wanted to mention we did obviously some of our members here were were on the board when we had a relationship with CDTA. Um, that was several years ago. It was precoid. Um it was a great partnership with them, but it was also a pilot program to see what worked and what didn't so that they could kind of work with our district in a new format

096that they were pro they do provide some transportation I think to Albony city school district but it's a different model. So they were trying a completely different model with us. we were able to get our kiddos uh 612 um on the bus to and and from school. Um but that pilot program after a number of years of participating it was realized by you know CDTA that maybe uh they weren't charging us enough for what was going to meet their needs and it was almost going to double in price. COVID comes, you know, we can't share transportation anymore. And so that pilot had expired without us renewing. Um, and I could estimate maybe we were paying 125,000 for the pilot initially and then it was going to go up to 250,000 a year. um which is

097obviously for less than the millions of dollars I'm talking about with with transportation, but also we can't find bus drivers. We were I I don't even know that that would be a possibility. I did ask um Superintendent O'Shea a couple of months ago. I don't know if you recall if we could look into other partnerships with CDTA. Some of the other issues, you know, not having district staffing on the bus was a problem. Having children from age 11 to upwards to 18 on on the same buses and for extended periods of time throughout the day. Um, that was a problem just because, you know, those who were coming from the island had to make the number of staff. So, so there was definitely some challenges. Not to say that we wouldn't be willing or um

098interested in looking at different, you know, different opportunities. type, but there has been a lot of conversation especially through social media and you know at no fault of anybody's everybody wants to see kids stay out of the cold, get to school safe, you know, have no um challenge or excuse to to to be here because, you know, you look at it as an equity issue and I think everybody on this board would would happily jump at the opportunity for us to provide transportation to our kiddos if we could um but I just wanted to dispel any misinformation um that has kind of been been sent out. So I um I did in uh late fall and November reach out to CDTA. I'd asked them two different things to look at the times that the bus

099runs are um to see if they could align them more closely with our start and end times. And also, you might recall get some graphs in the fall with the where the different uh addresses of our students were also to look at um what would it cost to do just outline outline areas. Um I got an email from them saying that they should have that information to me in in December. I have not received it yet. So, I did reach out I did reach out again. They did say during my conversation with them um that due to drivers shortages that they would have a difficult time doing the model that they had done before with us. So as soon as I get that information ask question to them. >> Very good. Thank you. have a

100question. >> Yes. That's one idea whenever us. >> Yeah. So part of the difficulty with with that we we did have um you know that's kind of what our model was was a pass um you know kids were issued a pass um unfortunately there was a little bit of you know usage outside of the school day by individuals who are not in grade 62. But um we also realized like they created a a bus route really for us that they don't run it anymore. So there's definitely buses that that go down Simmons Avenue, but it's not at the times of day that we need it to happen where school starting when when school is ending. So that would that's kind of the coordination that we're talking about. Um also Waterly has blessing Green Island. Um

101they are K8. I'm not sure that they have busing at this point. I think they're probably walking district. >> But I mean that is as we go forward there's always ways to look into other possibilities or might not have considered part of the Rivertown Consortium with other districts. So we can >> we certainly would not shut out any ideas. Um, let's just wait until we have a public comment and then Okay. >> Do you have other Okay. All right. So, at this point, we're just going to ask uh for comments on agenda and then we'll go to public comment and that'll be we'll we'll stay within our our agenda. Thank you. Okay. Any questions or comments on the >> Okay. Does the board have any um items on tonight's agenda that they would like to

102discuss? So this >> everybody I'm here to congratulate school is our teacher and I walked by her and she was fluently speaking to her students not in English. I was double I was a nth grade student and you only spoke English what's happening right now and she has become bilingual on her own time to be able to meet her student. She is one of our most patient, most kind and explicit educators not just in this building but that I've worked with in my group of education. She's driven by data. She has um the role of her leader initiator and she uses that data to do what is best for kids at the heart. Katie is always doing what is best for the students. So we are thrilled to give her a tenure and she's such

103an asset to this district and has also come full circle because she was ahead one of my math students. So we love as we all know welcoming our back. So again, >> uh so I just uh a little update before we go into the agenda. Just made me think of something. So um it was brought to my attention that when we're recognizing teachers for tenure especially those midy year you know we have the big celebration in June that we um you know be consistent at the times we teach here and there who might not know about this uh meeting does go through the principles but we've added a step through our HR that anytime someone is on an agenda for tenure that they are sending that email to that person as a as a second.

104>> Great. Thanks. Thank you. >> Any other comments on tonight's agenda? Any comments from the audience on just agenda items? >> Agendas. >> Listen, I'll give you a little wave. approval late. >> Okay. So, can I get a motion that the board of education adopt the following resolutions of the >> February agenda and agenda uh 7 A through I 8 A through P and 9 A. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second it. >> Mr. Jackson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gendren, >> yes. >> Mrs. Paradise, >> yes. >> Mr. Yes. >> Mrs. Burwell. >> Yes. >> And Mrs. Geller. >> Yes. >> Congratulations, Katie. That's official. >> Any comments from board of education members on anything else? Anything not related to the agenda? >> I just wanted to take a moment to congratulate I

105think our bowling teams um who have done pretty well. And I know that our fall sports are in full swing going towards the end of the season and just wish them all luck because we probably um will not be back until until after that. So just wanted to make sure gave them a little bit of a shout out. Um now is there any comments from the audience about anything not related to the agenda? If you could please just state your name and where you live. I am Andrea Secret drawing. I live on McDonald Drive. >> Thank you. >> I have seven of these. So hopefully you can share. This out. >> Good evening members of the board. My name is Andrew Cedar Dorne. I'm a parent of five children in this district. My oldest daughter,

106Rachel, graduated from Cahose and is now nearly finished with her bachelor's degree at the rip age of 19 years old. That success is directly connected to the incredible teaching and resources provided right here, and I'm deeply grateful. I've seen first firsthand how this district develops students into capable, thoughtful young adults and we have to make sure that every child can get here safely to benefit from that opportunity. I was so delighted to hear that you are open to any and all ideas because that's what I have. I have a proposal here. Uh, in a district without transportation, many students walk to school, including younger children and families, without flexible work schedules. During extreme weather, those students bear a disproportionate burden. I've submitted a proposal, equitable school access and weather response framework, which recommends two practical

107steps that don't include paying a bunch of money for buses. So first, the development of a transparent equity centered rubric to guide weather closures and delays, ensuring that walking exposure and student age are clearly considered in decision- making and it just eases that too late communication between district and parents. Uh so we don't well we'll still get angry people on social media but it may reduce it. Second is the exploration of a staggered start schedule. Right now we have an a descending start schedule with the high school starting first in middle school and elementary school. I'm proposing that we actually flip it on its head so older kids can walk with younger kids to school. The reason why I asked this is uh because it can uh better support younger walkers and working families with

108implementation considerations that are respectfully outlined. These are not operational mandates, but policy level guard rails that align with the district's mission of partnership and its commitment to safety and equity. I'm so delighted to hear about the uh the midyear report and all the things that you guys are doing in alignment and I feel like this plan idea could fit handin glove with all of that. So I respectfully ask that the board review this proposal and consider placing it on a future agenda for discussion. And I thank you for your time and service. >> Thank you. Can I just ask um before you leave today, can you just make sure that um Ashley has your contact information in case we have any questions? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. >>

109Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments >> from the audience? Uh we have no board policy review today. Um, our dates for producer meetings are March 4th and March 18th, uh, right here at Host Middle School at 6:00 p.m. Can I get a motion to enter into executive session at 7:47 to discuss matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of a particular person or corporation and to discuss the superintendent's evaluation and to discuss a litigation update and to discuss a student matter. >> I'll make a motion. I'll second. >> Uh, Mr. Jackson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gend. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Paradise, >> yes. >> Mr. Dro, >> yes. >> Mrs. Burwell, >> yes. >> And Mrs. Geller, >> yes. Thank you all again for

110coming tonight. We do not plan to return to public session.