001Good evening and welcome to CO City School District Board of Education meeting tonight, November 19th. I'd like to call the meeting to order at 6:00. You please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Please take note of our emergency exits. There's two on this side and the one that we came in. We would meet out front for any type of an emergency. Can we please have a roll call? here. >> Mrs. Snder >> excused. >> Mrs. Gendron >> here. >> Mrs. Paradis >> here. >> Mr. Jeros >> here. >> Mrs. Fwell >> excused. >> And Mrs. Geller. >> I'm here. >> So again, welcome to
002all of you here. Uh, first I'd like to turn it over to our Exysio board member here, Miss Britney Valencia for a report. >> Hi. So, um, I'm just going to talk a little bit about the haunted house and a little bit of the stuff that we're trying to work on to make student council a little more of a student government. So, this year, the haunted house have the largest um turnout that we have in the past years. We raised like a little bit over $1,000. And to give back to the community, we share um part of our of that money to the Cahoo Fire Department cheer for children program. And I believe um I think it was yesterday where they went to get the toys and stuff to donate for the um um the
003fire department. And some of the stuff that we're trying to do to make student council a little bit more of a student government. And one idea that we came up with is having like a suggestion box for students to write some of the stuff that they think maybe the school should improve. And we were just like discussing if we should we should have a personal one or a digital one. And we will talk about it in the meetings. Just like grab some stuff and maybe see if how can we improve it or maybe talk to it about it to see if we can make some changes and bring it to the board to see what can what we can do to make it better. And yeah, we're still trying to figure out what could work
004better. And yeah, we're just trying to come up with new ideas to make a little bit better and for students to have um just like somewhere where they can give suggestions and things that the school maybe should improve on. >> Yeah, I like that idea. >> And you're doing that through student council? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> And what are your meetings? Do you meet like monthly or? No, we usually meet like every week. >> Oh, okay. Yeah. So, we will have like um meetings about that too, but we're still like working on it to have it to make it work. So, yeah. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much. >> How many members do you have on your student council? Um, well, it varies. Sometimes, but they usually like 15 kids usually go to like
005every meeting constantly, but sometimes they usually go more. >> Yeah. Depending on the events that we do cuz some kids volunteer >> for the events. >> Yes. For uh like haunted house, we have like maybe like 20 or more. >> So, yeah. >> Great. Nice. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um, so we received some good news today about one of our prek programs and, uh, Jaclyn Dera, who is our district prek coordinator, is here to share it with you. Hot off the press. >> Yes. Hot off the press. >> So, yes, I'm very excited to um share this information with you. Um two years ago um we um work with Quality Stars which is an improvement program that works with the state and um they have a rating. So you can get rated between a zero
006and a five star. Um two years ago we put in for the rating and that requires us to complete a pretty lengthy um application. It requires them to come out and do a site visit and then they give you a a rating. At that time two years ago, our rating, this is for the Abram Lancing because you have to do one for each site. At that time two years ago, our rating came out at two um which means needs improvement and you can't rerate um for 18 months after you get your initial rating. So time was up for us to get rerated this fall. As you know, we have a new director as well that we hired um Jackie D'vorick. So her and I worked very closely together and uh we wor did the rerating
007and um today we received news that we are now considered a four a four out of five star which means that our program is considered at the exceptional level. >> Wonderful. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> And just want to mention that what um the application is there are four different standards that quality stars has us look at. They are the learning environment, family engagement, leadership and management and staff qualifications and experience. And of those four standards, there's 66 I mean of those four categories, there's 66 standards within those four categories. And for all 66, you have to provide evidence for each of those 66 that have to be uploaded into their system um and to show and prove what you're doing to address all 66 of those areas. and each area gives you a
008certain number of points and then those points are added up. Um, so it's it's a pretty big undertaking. Um, I really want to give a lot of credit to Jackie D'vorick, our director that I work with, did a phenomenal job with it this time around. Um, again, it's a new person. Uh, last time it wasn't Jackie. Um, so we're really excited. Um, we will be um before Christmas break, we are putting our application in for the Vansike site and come the um spring, we're going to be uploading an application for the Harmony Hill site. So fingers crossed. I think we are in a really good um spot right now and good space with everything and um I don't expect us to be any less than a fourstar for those who but we'll see when that
009happens. So >> thank you. >> Excellent. Great job. >> Thank you. And now up the high school building leadership team and led by Dr. Carlo. >> Good evening. Thank you for having us tonight. We're excited to share the good work that's going on in this morning and may hear about it in bits and pieces, but we have our comprehensive plan that we want to share tonight. There are a few members that are missing this evening. Um there are holders on your table in front of you that have full membership roster. Um the departments that they on to for improve communication. We started that a couple years ago as well as some other handouts that we're going to reference in presentation that we wanted you to have and a positive ticket for your service. of the
010board. So if you want to enter that into the raffle with you uh so uh again Lord Tlo principal and I'm going to have everyone introduce themselves their role and I asked them to share how many years that they did. This is my 10th year at the high school. >> Yeah. >> Yep. I'm Amanda Gabber, one of the school counselors and this is my eighth year at the high school. >> I am Jenny Barton. I'm a special education resource consulting teacher and I have been at the high school for three years. My name is Sarah Austin. I am the attendance aid at Co High School. I've been in the district for 21 years. >> So, um, our first category that we're going to be speaking about tonight in our belief is high expectations for all.
011and we've really done a lot of conversation and worked around the past couple years and really trying to look at ways to improve that. Um, and so I'm gonna um pass it over to Jenny to talk about this and Karen Dard is not here this evening. So Jenny first. So, um, we've we've worked a lot to increase our dual enrollment classes and increase the rigor of our coursework at the high school. So, I know we've added a lot of dual credit classes, especially across a lot of different areas, too. So, not just our core subjects like English, math, social studies, and science. We've worked to add them in electives, too, to give more students the ability to be able to take a dual credit class, whether it's like an art class that they're already planning
012to take for music or something like that. Um, so our goal is, you know, to have 95% of students who graduate have taken at least one dual credit classroom have the option to be leaving high school credits. >> The next action step we have is to implement tiered interventions and MTSS supports throughout the building in all classrooms and learning spaces. This is kind of to align with um how the district is going to be revamping MTSS. The whole building is taking on the BLT team, faculty, staff, district office and as well as the building administrators. This is going to be a multi-year project. Um, with change comes unique times to implement things. Some of our measurements will include staff training for the MTSS interventions as well as collecting data through the IST team. both not
013only the teacher data but the ISC review data as well and this is in the the planning stages. Now this all led to the creation of a lesson plan template which is in your folders um to increase student engagement and learnings in the classroom as a tool for teachers. This is not a mandated form that teachers have to do, but it's kind of like a guideline or a checklist to help them as they're going through planning their lessons, units, or curriculum mapping. This also aligns with the book club that we held last year, engagement by design. Um, this is also planned stages. We are starting to implement it. I know I know at least one teacher has used it. And at the end of the year, we're going to be providing the faculty a survey
014to see how well the tool worked for them. Um any improvements we can make to it as well. And then we also have implemented the securely pass management system um to help with you know flow of um flow outside. outside of instructional time we want the students in the in the rooms as much as possible to get that core instruction that they needed. We are hoping to have uh 25% reduction in pass abuse fractions as well as reduction in test trillions. >> Uh and I think we shared we believe roll out of that a little bit because of the science uh langu project. So we were all very excited for that to open uh recently and we were able to implement securely kind of roll it out. Um we had a lot of support from
015CTA and from teachers or staff really piloting it and ahead to kind of work out the kinks. Um so thank you to our CTA members really helped with that. Um so we are on the full week two of rolling this out week three. Um and as anything new there are things to learn and to work through. Uh but to have everything in data, to be able to talk with families, um to be able to have um the opportunity to have two students not go out together in the hall if they're if they're struggling. Um in one in the first week of implementation, we had two students try to leave the classroom over 600 times together. Um, and that is great data for us to have for parent meetings, um, CSE meetings or other other types
016of student success meetings for so that's just one little data piece to share. Um, our next belief is a positive school climate and culture and uh, Sarah, I believe you're gonna start. >> Yes. So the building goal for this is encourage students and parents to be involved in the school community. And one of the action steps that we're doing is implementing the attendance success plan. In your folders, you should have a form that says my success attendance plan. And basically it gives strategies for the students to have a goal for us to have better attendance to help work on our chronic absenteeism and try to encou every day when they come in whether it's 8 o'clock on the dock or if it's at 10:30 11 o'clock in the morning just checking in get a vibe
017for their day see how they're feeling to see where they're at and try to help with this um attendance plan. Another um action step. Oh, I'm sorry. Um we are uh sharing this uh attendance plan with the smart team uh using smaller group versus our SST. All of our CHS members are using global notes for tracking. So something happens and there reason every day we have not assistant and everybody in the building guidance counselors, teachers, staff can all see as to why what's going on the attendance problem and how we can resolve it. It is ongoing when we're measuring it and we're looking to measure it by the end of the school year and we're looking for a 2% reduction in the chronic absenteeism rate and it is currently in progress. Um the second step
018that we have here is positive phone calls home to build rapport with families through a culture of inclusivity with high levels of engagement. I've noticed using um schooly and parent square and phone calls with the parents um a lot of engagement has been coming through especially in the attendance office. Um all faculty and staff administration are all involved on this. recommended is three to five times a week throughout the school year and the tracking of data is being done in global notes and I noticed that some of the phone calls that come through talk to the parents and try to get on a level with them so they're a little more relaxed and not as nervous talking on the phone and worried about why their child's late and just help them understand that we're here
019to help them as much as we can. Whatever they need, that's what we're here for. And hopefully with this attendance success plan, the students understand that we're here to help try to get things going for the best that we can. Um, our next two action steps are focused more on like safety in the building. So promoting like um a positive school climate for our students. So the first one is to enhance physical or enhance physical safety um and reduce you know fighting in the hallways through the teach like a champion strategy. So having teachers stand at their doorways because passing time utilizing the 1010 rule and securely helps allow that because we can, you know, limit students that are out the hallways together, we can limit when students are requesting passes. Um, so that's nice
020and I think, you know, we're able to track referral data based on that to see is that working? Is that a strategy? So I know that's something we've been implementing over the last couple years. We're continuing to monitor that. Um and then the next one is again something that we've continued to do the last couple of years is to use positivity projects to present mini lessons to students about you know some of the character traits that we want to instill over students and then relating them to the tiger way too. So about like compassion um and understanding for others feelings and some of those like soft skills that we want our students to lead with and that align with the new portrait of a graduate standards that New York City is moving toward as well.
021Um and again we're kind of measuring that through referral data. Um and then also the the positive tickets um that you have an example of. So students can earn a positive ticket by exemplifying that we scale for P2 and the teacher can give it to them and then they can enter it in like a raffle drawing. So it kind of gives them that immediate feedback of hey thank you. Thank you for exhibiting some of these traits that we're looking to. >> Yeah. We've had some good luck with community partnerships and corporate partnerships like for example with Dunkin Donuts. refresh your truck there a couple weeks ago and they handed out every student got a $5 Duncan card and a sample refresher drink. So, they were they were pretty pumped about that. Then they gave us
022hund hundreds of dollars worth of gift cards to hand out for the positive tickets. So, we were able to hand out a lot of those when we did the drawing with Jeff quarter one. We shared those games out on parent square. So, you know, we're always looking for opportunities to make those partnerships so we can get those things to students. Um, and then the last thing to reference would be the continuation of just working as close as we can. You know, Britney mentioned earlier talking about the fire department and partnership with the fire department, but we work very closely PD. Um, they stop by almost daily to just walk through to say hello, check on things. They are very in tune with what's happening in the high school and the community at large. Um, handle
023with care has continued success. That's been wonderful. um stop DWI day, working with Rachel Marcel to look at speakers that we can bring in for mental health and just overall wellness and safety. And then we'll measure that through frequency of events, um communication plans, correspondents that we send out. You know, we can track how many handles with care we get, how we share those out, and how students are um provided with intervention immediately as a proactive solution rather than reactive. So that's been going well and um believe their future ready knowledge and skills. Um you're going to talk about this a little bit. Yes. >> Yes. So everyone school has access to right and one of the reasons why we roll this out as two two forms. One is because kids nowadays all have access
024to a smartphone and because of the implementation of the smartphone kids are getting more and more less and less engaged with their peers or engaged in the classroom. So we wanted faculty to be able to understand what's coming into their classrooms. What kind of mindset these students are coming right uh and we also want to make sure that faculty have this book so that way they can read it. That was the first app would be great. Second half of book is really data driven. Um but if they did want to read it, we made sure that they have access to a podcast and armature expert podcast there book and all the strategies that families can apply but also what strategies school can apply. What's great is that Cahose because it's a walking distance a lot
025of students are engaged with walking to school picking their siblings up. So they have a little bit more autonomy than some of their we want to link that with the roll out of the young approach. Right. So now we want to make sure that we are no no screens from the time they enter school to the time school. We're hoping that reduce devices. Um, we believe it is, but some of the data later might looks like it's not, but we're now seeing more engagement in the classroom. Kids are not on their devices as much. And because of that, some of the things that are happening outside of school is not being brought into school because they can't connect with their parents say, "Hey, guess what happened in third period? Hey, can you believe so and
026so said this about me during lunch?" Right? So those are linking the book and beyond across together has been very successful. >> Um I'm going to mention uh the work we're doing in student outcomes. We've looked deeply at everything from reading scores to pass rates in classes. Where are their challenges? Where are their opportunities for growth and then utilizing working proceeds on instructional coaching which has been great particularly in the STEM classes at this time. working the math coach comes weekly um deep dives into data as far as what questions are students getting wrong, what topics, what standards and really deeping it diving deep into the data. So instead of just looking at overall scores, really getting to how does that translate into instructional practice and that's been wonderful. Uh the coach that we work
027with, I mean is is terrific. We also recently brought on a science coach to really help with the new earth and space science and to help with transition to biology and just the new standards um for science as a whole. We have a lot of young teachers in our building. They are ready to go. They are just a wonderful energy. They they need some guidance in terms of that instructional delivery. So, between the work that BLT and Jenny have done with a lot of the MTSS and here's how to build a quality lesson. We're not telling you you have to do it, but we're giving you that aligning to coaching, talking about student outcomes, ultimately getting to what are we here for to graduate these kids to make sure they're successful, postsecary, whatever field that
028is. Um whether they're going military, they're going post college, you know, post high school into college, if they're going into workforce, we want to make sure that they feel prepared. Um, and I know it's not on here, but Jenny has done an amazing job doing a lot of career work, um, and a lot of careers, getting tons of exposure to job fairs and field trips. I mean, we are we're all over the place on on the daily, which I think is great. And I'm a big proponent as a building leader of get out of the building and see what else is there. We don't want you all the time in class, but we need you to see what's out there. And that's our job to expose the students. Um to that point to serve everyone
029we have launched our alternative program which is housed here in the middle school grades 8 through 10. Um alternative programs offer a lot of challenges but they offer a lot of opportunities too. So when we're talking about how can we get kids to acrew credit at a young rate so that they can go to BOCCTE and explore those workforce options um they need to have a certain number of credits to be eligible for those programs. So the idea is to be proactive instead of waiting for them to fall behind to hit the ground running. So that without a doubt bumps starting any new program and trying to refine what needs to happen. Um but again using data as our guide. Um we've been working on you know really looking at every kid. What did they
030pass? What did they not pass? And I'm excited to say that 75% of the students quarter one in the alternative program are eligible. meaning they've passed all classes or they've only failed one class. Um, and the students that are ineligible that are fa failed two or more are mainly due to attendance. And we know attendance is really difficult to move the needle on. It just is there are a variety of factors that play into why a student does not come to school. Um, so even with the reduced school day, even with um the work that's being done, we have some bumps in the road, but I want to focus on what went well. If that 75% of students are on track to acrue credit, that's mainly what we're working on and that we can quell
031behaviors, we can work on social emotional plans, we can meet families, but ultimately we are trying to get them as engaged as possible. So that is that is the new alternative program. Yes. >> Any questions for Laura or her team or any other information on alternative program? >> Can I just ask far as the all program location is working? Um support is like how is the location working? How is support working? I know that we're transitioning our teacher leader um at at the time. I'm not sure. We didn't necessarily discuss what what that looks like as far as, you know, day-to-day, nor do we have to, but I just am curious to know if there's any support on on our end um that could be useful um knowing that it is a new program. We
032have tried so many times to have something that is a a successful program that will continue on. And so I don't I just don't want to lose any kind of and I love the forward motion, you know, talking about 75% is a huge number when you're talking about such a low end size of students like that that's that's hugely successful. So, um, you know, I guess I'm just curious in more of the day-to-day things on if there is a need for us to provide any further support so that we can, you know, make sure that this is a longstanding. I think we've had great dialogues. I mean, first to answer your question on location, it's a double-edged sword. So, you're in a building, there's a nurse, there's security, there's principles. I mean, there there's a
033safety piece to that. On the other end, it would be great if it was off-site and it didn't feel like traditional school and it had more of a workplace job training component or some type of skills component to it, but that could be something that we work toward attaining as we keep this program going in the right direction. And it's not that everything has to be done year one and done right. We have to be able to move it forward and we have to be progressing. So, we're mindful of behaviors. We're mindful of the academia because ultimately that's going to do the program. So all of the teachers that are teaching in the program and just yesterday they went to their second of four trainings to become certified project based learning teachers PBL through BOSIES.
034So then the idea is to take those PBLs to have through lines in your core which aligns with phenomena which is what Finland does and we were training on that which is what a lot of POG work that you know the program you know the profile graduate and we're talking about where things are going with that. So try and get them to then take that through line and then offer field trip that drives home. So we there's a lot of growth that we're hoping will happen quarters two, quarters three, quarter one getting it off the ground. Here's how you come to school. Here's how you check in. It's a lot of procedure process um things that we had to get done. The coordinator position is kind of brand new. It's a you know sort of
035a pseudo teacher leader position. that person was only in the role a few weeks when they had moved away from that position. So now we have someone else in that role that we're really hoping is going to be a great fit. And it's all about fit in alternative programs. It's all about the teachers and you have to love working with those kids in those programs. If you don't, kids know >> and that's not that's not right. So fit is really important. Um so I think that's really what we have to work on. And then Heather as the middle school principal, myself as high school principal, we meet every other week with the team. Uh we built in a common planning with them so that every day they could start their day together with common planning.
036Ask how things are going. What do you have planned in the coming weeks? What are you doing for your throughine for your your PBL and what are you planning for upcoming field trips? So we're really driving home like we want to see what your plans are and I think with the right coordinator that's going to be really important to get that work done. Um, but we've had some virtual author visits. We've been doing some good projects in there. We have a social worker that goes down every Wednesday to do SEAL work with those students, make sure that they're getting support even though they're not in the high school that they're here. And then of course, Heather and the middle school team has been a wonderful support when kids are in crisis or if there is
037an emergency here in the building. So you asked a question and I'd like to ask you a question because I don't know. Right. So program we know that the more engaged students are the more likely they're complicated. So I guess my question is is there enough in the program so that way either quarterly or students can get offsite to go to places when they're learning to getting out the classroom. So whether that's you know co stones learn about science or museums learn about history. So whether that's the funds to take them off campus funds to uh allow them to get some funding. So >> yeah that's a great point. I mean, we obviously review budgets annually and so those individual program budgets would have been reviewed um you know uh early on last year, you
038know, around this time. We're starting to talk about budgets for next year. But understanding where you're going um and what you want to do with the program helps then to identify what that budget needs to be and where we need to look for next year. So um not to say that I certainly don't have a number. I you know we don't necessarily look at you know building level. I don't monitor that to know exactly how much is in everybody's budget item line. Um, but we I could we could certainly research it if if it were to come down to that. But again, I guess the point is like now that we know this is kind of where we want to take this, then we look at our budget and we do our return on investments
039and we and we think about is this enough or is it something where we need to, you know, branch out or change things. Um and so those will be conversations at the budget committee um before it gets to us unless anything else wants to contribute. >> So in the meantime we do have some flexibility. I think we could work with Rachel Marcel in terms of the office of mental health grant that we receive and look at that because really that is what you know the grant is for to help uh improve students and provide help and provide the opportunities. So, um, as the team gets together and says, you know, these are some key things we'd like to do, then we can we can definitely have those conversations and look across some of our our
040current opportunities, but then again, uh, planning through the budget process for next year. >> Just two final thoughts on the program. Um, I'd really like to dive deeper into community partnerships. So, okay, maybe we can't be housed at certain places in the community, but can we visit them once a week, once a month, can we partner with them? Um, the community center reopening peacefully soon. Can there be partnership in that? Can they get their lifeguard certification? I mean, I I just I'm thinking of everything that we do throw at them. And then the second piece of feedback that we do have to consider as an administrative team. We've had discussions about is is it best practice to have eighth graders mixed in with our nth and tth graders. Um and I I'm not sure that
041it is and I think principal broad would agree. So we have to explore is there a need for a 78 sort of alternative world and is there a need for a 910 or are there other things that can be done at the middle school that are not necessarily alternative programs and then the alternative program is more of a 911 program. Um because sometimes I get a little nervous about what happens after that grade 10 if they don't go into Boseies and if they are not on track with credits which I know counselors stress over. So having that extra year of a buffer to take some classes that impacts, you know, it will probably minimally impact staffing, but it doesn't impact staffing because right now we have our eighth graders embedded in our freshman courses to
042minimize the physical impact to the point to the FTE that are needed to run and operate that program. So to piggyback on what Laura said, we have had these conversations with uh Heather and part of the whole districtwide and buildingwide MTSS framework is making sure that there are um interventions put into place, you know, proactive interventions for students. So, um the preliminary conversation, uh is that um this might not be needed for next year's eighth graders based on some of the um programs being put into place at the building level. So, it's still early. We'll continue to look at that. Um and then the the point, you know, and we can do um so right now there are a couple middle school students that might have some more individual plans. We can look at things
043like that um and then look at the 11th. But again, that's part of the budget process, too. And if, you know, things change and middle school says, you know, there really still is a need for a program like this for for a group of kids, we'll we'll look at that through the budget process as well. Um but I would agree that uh uh from what we're learning that a se separate programming battle >> I mean I think we all understand there's a risk involved in trying to do something different and trying to you know um revisit a problem that we have tried to revisit and and I say problem but it's not it do you know what I mean like just just trying having that taking the risk to do something that we're not sure
044is going to work. And though it is early in the school year, it's still high stakes. Like these these are still our kids and we need to make sure that we're doing the right thing. And I guess, you know, part of us asking for an update is to is to make sure that we are we are keeping our eye on it and and that we are um doing what whatever we can to make sure that that we maintain a level of success and expectation for for all of our programs. um but especially something new uh that that we're just trying out. So, thank you. >> Has been incredibly supportive. Our district officials and want to thank everybody. You know, alternative programs are expensive. >> Cost per people when you break it all down, the amount
045of support that's needed, the class sizes, and there's just no way around that. So, it it comes down to if it's working, you know, if if program is expensive and not working, right? That is something to really I think that's an easy answer but if we are making sure that kids are being successful that graduation rate doesn't really move too much it works within a fivepoint flex from year to year to year to year to year when you look at the data and so how can you move that how can you move the attendance rate and I think it's through programs like this we had kids that would not come to school last year we couldn't get them to come to school and they love it I don't know if my >> I mean that
046speaks for itself. >> You know it's not >> I mean you can't put a price but they they are engaged and when I came down to watch the author presentation uh kids that were in the office every day were sitting like this and engaged in the lesson. That's a win all day long and that's qualitative stuff. >> That's right. Just show up on paper. But there is a lot of good stuff happening. Are there challenges? Absolutely. Are we working through them? Yes. We're not ignoring them and say we're not going to, you know, pretend this is all great. No, we're we're down there and we're doing the work and trying to figure out how to make everybody successful. And if the kids aren't attending, we got to get more kids in there. We got to
047get different kids in there because we can't just put 25 kids in and 12 show up and that's it. So, we are constantly monitoring. It's very much a living breathing program. It is not in stone. Great. Um, as far as your presentation itself, I I just wanted to commend you guys because I think that we often talk about rigor. We talk about, you know, the academic points of school. Like, that's what we're here for. We're here to educate our children and to have them walk out and and be as highly intelligent as they possibly can. But it's also important for us to make sure that they know that they're cared for and they invest in their own lives and they know, you know, what types of decisions they need to make on a daily basis
048to be successful. Also, we're asking them to learn a little bit differently and behave a little bit differently without having access to their device or their screen. Um, you know, and and you the the pass system is just another piece. So, there's a lot of things going on that are just basic management functions of of how I am as a student being in a school and how does that work and and and we're kind of mixing it up a little bit by changing that. And I think that all of these things once built in the foundation then allows the conversations about the rigor. I do see the emphasis on the the dual credit and I think that's important because there are so many studies out there that show that even just one class gives that
049kid the confidence to say I could do this. I could go to college even if it was not something in their family past or not uh you know a pathway that they thought that they could be on. So I think that that singular focus is so important because it just does give give kids that confidence to say what if I can and I did you know um so thank you guys all for your presentation. Do you guys have any questions? Uh, I just want to say I didn't get a chance when the middle school came and did their presentation to complement the middle school and all the improvements, but I was up at the high school recently dropping some stuff off and I came away actually I mean I went there so I have a
050certain feeling about it in certain ways but it just has a different feel to it. It is so positive. the the banners, you know, like I know that it was a long construction period and you know, but even riding on the street now that's nicely paved and everybody in the school was so happy, so friendly, so cheerful and I just wanted to say thank you for putting that atmosphere out there and just, you know, making it a positive vibe because honestly, like I drove away and I called someone and I was like, I can't believe that I drove away from the high school and it looked beautiful and it really did and it just gave me a lot of pride. So, gave me a lot of tiger pride. So, thank you. >> Anything else? So,
051next, while we still have Laura with us, um we're going to do a disciplinary comparison of the high school and middle school data from first quarter last year to first quarter this year. >> So, um I can just speak to the data uh itself um and kind of share. I think and Peggy uh alluded to this at a secondary team meeting today how positive it is having Miss Brat down here myself the high school um we're all on the same page with where our vision is the train that we're on and where we're taking the the district. So, um, numbers don't always tell the whole story, but I think in this, uh, situation, you look at the middle school to have a 57% reduction in out of school suspensions, that'll change the culture overnight. And
052walk in here, >> you feel it. >> Yeah. >> To your point, Sue, you feel it. So, there's some numbers here and some data to look at. Um, again, there's a I think a deeper breakdown on the next slide. And when I see 340% increase in cell phone violation, that means we're doing our job. That's what that means. Um, it's going to get worse before it gets better. And it is human nature to test out what you are told you should not be. You are of a certain age. So, uh, I think that that's the story. But when you look at the big ticket, the things that happen, physical patience, right? When you look at you can't conduct yourself properly in school and you look at the decrease in those things from our sixth, seventh,
053and eighth graders that is really exciting to me as a high school principal and what I'll be getting up to high school training in. So I think that that's very exciting. Um and I think for some of the uptick areas and we're going to see that if I just jump ahead and then I can come back and go to the high school. There are uptake areas in disrespectful behavior, inappropriate language. Um, and I'll share just this humorous I story the first week or so of school. I got a radio call. We need administration to the cafeteria right away. So, when I hear that, we all assemble and we go running. We don't know what's going to be down there. And I'm out of breath. And I get said, "What's going on?" And the uh the
054supervisor said, "They're throwing things. They're yelling." I said, "Okay, which table?" They said all of the phones, all the tables, but there's no phones to bury your face in and to look down. So what we're seeing is we are seeing 1980s, 1990s, early 2000 behavior, which is what high school and middle school should be like, right? And so uh in a sense teachers and the adults in the building were like not prepared for that. We were prepared for their phones to go away, but they are going to fill their time and energy with something else. Um so while we have seen an increase in certain areas, we've also seen and if you were going to we looked quarterly, but if you were going to look September to September, October to October, um we went through
055the whole end of September with not one physical alternation coming back to school, which is like under a rough and then October, you know, things got ramped up a little bit, but um so it says 0% change, but if you were going to look at that data differently and you were going to bend things, um it was a really good start to our school year. and anonymously um verbal altercations just outbursts as a whole or the way that kids are are behaving. Are we interested to look at our quarter to date? And so uh again comparatively if you look at we have four grade levels um and there's three grade levels here. So the three grade levels here at the middle school have 343 referrals at the high school four grade levels at 338. just
056wrong, but I'm just joking. But we also had quite a reduction over third reduction in our suspensions out of school. We've been trying to do everything we can to keep kids in school. There are some non-negotiables. You got to go home, but you need to be in school learning. Period. Um whether that's a tutoring center plan, whether that's you know a day in in school suspension to deescalate, whether it's a counseling team plan, a parent meeting. We have had a ton of parent meetings um only a quarter into the school year and they're all based on student success plans and what can we what can we do to help your child be successful? You know, we've already in November had multiple senior failure meetings to say we're worried that your child might not graduate. How
057can we help them? So we're using data a lot to do that. And I think when you look between the high school, look at the middle school, um the story it tells is that we're trending in the right direction as a secondary program. >> Thank you. And then uh finally, as you know, safety and security of our students and staff is our top priority. And um thanks to our district-wide safety committee, board of education, we've implemented many things over uh the past years. First with the addition of campus safety monitors and now a campus safety team leader uh the yonder pouches and uh securely those are making a difference. Um la three weeks ago uh Laura myself and Matt Lumbard who is our district safety team leader uh visited Watervaly High School. Watervite has metal
058detectors. They implemented them starting this September. Um so we wanted to look and see the process. Um they are branded in school logo. Uh two posts not the kind that you see um at the airport. We watch the process. Uh we talked to um their safety and security team. Um so we wanted to start the discussion with you because we feel that is a natural X progression in our you know ensuring our you know campus is safe and secure. Um and while Laura is here this was perfect timing. So we wanted to um you know bring it up today. I don't know if you have uh want to talk a little about what we saw and >> what we saw it didn't look um like you're going through airport security and I think that's important.
059You don't want to come to school and feel like you're getting an airplane, right? So um it was very minimal. Uh they were two sort of pillars. They have different um levels of sensitivity that you can turn them up to all control through an app. They are weatherproof. They can be brought outside for big events like homecoming. They can be used for big in indoor events like um basketball games, graduation, things like that. Um you almost don't even notice them and students kind of pass through uh and they had a very smooth collaboration. Um I had reached out to Amsterdam City School District 2. They use a different vendor. Um theirs were a little bit bigger, a little more imposing. Again, if they went with a different vendor, they had some different goals. It depends
060on what the goal of the district is. Um certainly I feel like there have been instances and there's data to support um the need. I think it you know when I went to school and many of us thinking about going for a metal protection system just seemed weird. Um but now we're hearing more and more about that from schools and it is um equitable so every student goes through it in the morning um not just depending on if you forgot your phone or if you need to have a limited search or whatever your situation is. is um quick and easy. We walk we as a walking district would have an even easier time getting kids in and out of the building because they are our bus district. So those buses pull up and hundreds of
061kids come off and have to come in and it's still very very quick and very fluid. We open the doors at 7:30. Students trickle in through 8:00. Some are going to wait beyond 8:00, of course. So it's very smooth right now with the check-in every morning. Um, I think it would even be quicker, so to speak, with with the metal detectors. I think it's peace of mind. Um, I've walked with parents that say, "I know they're not supposed to bring something to school, but they walk home every day and I'm nervous about it, and so I'm going to give this to them. I know they're not supposed to have it." And the parents aren't trying to be rude or difficult or disrespectful to the school code's conduct. I think they are genuinely worried about their
062child sometimes. So, um, that's not every story. There are certainly other stories. Um, but I have found a lot of times when I call a parent and a student has something on them that they shouldn't, the parent already knows um that they have it on them, >> which is very interesting dynamic. >> So, how do you handle that? >> What's how do you handle that? >> Uh, well, depending on what they have, you know, we work closely with law enforcement if it requires us to call law enforcement. Um, but we confiscate what they have. Um, most of the time it's given over to the host police and then it's handled uh with the code of conduct. it's a it's a violation. Um if it's a weapon, it's an SSC violation. So, it's it's very serious.
063Um most of the time it's a fiveday school suspension and probably going to go to a superintendent's hearing from there. Um but I think the peace of mind that the school and I have our teachers and our our employees here to speak to is, you know, just that feeling that if that's what we're catching, right, what do we not know is in our building? And that's just the reality. That's not to be negative. That's just to be real. um if this is what we're catching by happen stance, what is coming in every day that we don't know about? >> So, at um one of my trade shows that I went to a couple of years ago, they actually it was for healthc care settings and stuff like that, and they did actually have one of
064the vendors there with those. Um and they were saying that they're starting to go into schools more and more. So that was a couple years ago when I actually did get all the information and don't have it anymore. But it was more of not the metal detector type but kind of x-raying what the kids are bringing in and that was you know less intrusive but letting you know like what was in their backpacks or on them or whatever. So I do know that there are ones that are definitely out there that are and I think you know some of the hospitals are using them now and pretty much everywhere you go you're going >> something similar to that you know school days piece of puzzle number one puzzle number two is we host a lot
065of stuff at that building after not a lot of people are around you know we do have safety in the afternoon now um but we have games with hundreds of of folks from all over the communities and the we don't know and we don't always know what's coming in And when you said you can bring them out for homecoming >> and you made a point that you know when we were younger and going to school the idea of walking through a metal detector was like unheard of you know and we be like oh my god but we aren't facing what the kids are facing walking through into school today right you know so I do feel like you know going back to the book the anxious generation how much are we going to alleviate their
066anxiety about being in school by knowing that they that We're checking this and we're putting these safety measures into place, especially with them not having their phones at their fingertips anymore. >> It goes along with all the other preventative. Everything we're doing is prevention. I >> agree. >> We're all hoping not to find a thing. We're moving your phone away. We're hoping you're in class where we're supposed to be. We're going metal detectors as well. But it's all peace of mind that you're safe. You're an environment where you can just focus on learning, right? And then I think, you know, as a parent myself, that that is peace of mind that is, >> you know, valuable to >> Y. Okay. Um this is not the first time we've had this conversation. I we we've had
067it before. Um also, you know, when you think about um like what your typical airport security is, it is a little bit intimidating or like am I am I walking into jail right now? Right. Like it's scary. But to your point, you you have to go through you have to go to go through a concert now. Like you can't even go to a concert without going through Exactly. Right. Um, but I did uh see a picture of of what you're talking about and having the branding on it. It it does kind of just melt into the background a little bit as as far as like, okay, well, this is just our security threshold. Um, this is what we do and this is how we enter the building. You know, I think some of the conversations
068that we had at safety committee even over a year ago now, we had had these discussions and the difficulty was always that equity piece. It was always having the conversation about how do we make sure it's not a point of isolation and it's you know but at that time we didn't have a single point of entry where now we're so focused on having a single point of entry um for all of our buildings which I think is fantastic um that it does feel like less of a lift for us to be able to do it because it does feel like you know when we're thinking about covering multiple entrances and exits that now we're talking pretty break big price tags as far as you know what we need to support. So, you know, I guess
069next steps I I would have some conversations for sure about um you know, even even some conversation. We we talked about the handheld. Obviously, we have the handhelds. We purchase the handhelds and those are used for very specific scenarios. Um you know, if this is an everyday thing, I guess, you know, are are we looking at a specific vendor? like where are we in the process of from start to finish? It's like we saw this great thing. We think it would be useful here. Also, like you said, where does the white flag turn into the red flag at at some point where you're like, okay, we have incidents happening in the community that are maybe escalating to a point where our children are now involved where they weren't in the past. and at what point
070does that flag become proactive and and not reactive? So I think it's important for us to have this conversation. Just wondering like where we are in this process is as far as >> so water and they they just purchased them in August. So they they've done the research for different vendors. They have shared it with us. We we did like the vendor that they were using. Um, our next step is, and I I know that we we still need to compare three vendors. I um, so our our next step would be to have this specific vendor come meet with us, give us the, you know, give us the specifics for our building. Um, look through the other other vendors, determine if we want to have them come into or or we take the pros and
071cons from other districts. Laura, as you said, have had been reaching out to some other districts. So, we would like to do that, you know, ASAP. Um, and then have share that information. Uh, I did find out, I mean, you when you adopted the code of conduct, it does give us that leeway. We I found we don't need a policy. Um, the the code, we would reook at the code, you know, with our attorneys to make sure now that uh if we would be implementing it that the language is is is precise. So we would like to start and select a vendor and have those conversations and then a probably a meeting with parents very similar to the under pouch. >> Well I mean I think important things for us is you know what is
072the need? Obviously we're hearing you know the need is to have something but what does that mean? What does that something mean? Is it one column? Is it four columns? Is it six columns? How much do each of these columns last? What is the maintenance on it? I feel like there's definitely information that we need, >> you know, to make a decision as to whether or not it's going to be a budget item, but also >> we've already passed the budget process and where's does that money come from? So, >> all for like starting the research. So, I mean, this is just me personally. I'm not speaking for everybody. I'm just, you know, thinking if this is something that we want to initiate and we want to initiate right away. I just feel like there's
073a couple of things that we would need to kind of have details. >> So, in watching the water of relief, they have two different sets of two columns. So, and we felt looking at that because that's very similar to our setup right now with yonder. So, we felt that the two sets of two would be workable. Definitely. Um they're 25 25,000. I think they pass 800 plus students through their doors every morning because they're a 612 building. So we, you know, two would definitely work well for us because we have roughly 600. So we wouldn't have quite the volume. Um but right now high school every morning you're passing through green light, yellow light, red light. That's how the the the doors are set up. There's three entries and it's based on I have my
074yonder and I'm ready to go. I don't know where my yonder is or I'm not telling you. So you get you enter one of the doors and we're ready for you. So we would really replicate that and just the addition of pass through metal detection would just be another another point of that. But it would just I think be pretty seamless. >> So I believe they were 25,000 >> I think that that's what they said. >> They're rechargeable uh batteries. So, what happens is every night when they're they're done, the custodian um charges battery, then the either custodian or security, whoever comes in first, puts them in. So, we went through the we went through the process. Um you know, if if something there's a sign to tell students what they should have ready that
075could, you know, could set it off. And then um if something does uh light up then just like with um yonder there's a a separate table where where they would then then go. Um >> so to clarify these are straight up metal detectors then not the fancy x-ray ones where I just get to walk through and tell >> the fancy x-ray ones. I did a Google meet with vendor uh one that another very large urban school district is using and they were upwards of half a million dollars for their site. some huge cost difference. >> Sounds better. >> Um, >> not getting I mean, I feel like if our security staff is going to be trained on using these things, then they should be we we have someone employed at night, they should be plugging
076them in and unplugging them. But anyway, that doesn't need to I don't need to manage that. Just put my two cents. You know, of course, we would, you know, uh have considerations for people who can't go through met metal detectors for medical reasons or, you know, if there were a situation where someone had, you know, a metal plate or whatever. Like I I just feel like there would need to be conversations >> that this year we have one student with a medical note that we know cannot be wanted at any point. So like we we worked with the nurse and the health staff to make sure that we know that up front just regardless of yonder or whatever is in place >> clear specific protocols training et just like the yonder robot >> and this
077is just for the high school like because I know middle school can be tough right >> so we would we would begin with the high school and then we could have conversations as part of the budget process but right now the the discussion has been solely you know the guys have further discussion. >> I'm not sure I'm there. >> I don't know. Well, yeah, just because I have to here, but >> yeah. Well, I mean, this is what the conversation is about, you know, >> some sort of a video. I personally am not decided which side of the line. Yeah, >> we'll share we'll share the the video and some information. >> We'll share the pictures. There's definitely some details that need to be >> so this was we wanted to start the discussion to
078so we will share those with us. >> Thank you. Can we hear you? Um again not first time we're having this conversation and they were brought up in smaller groups through our our safety committees. So um just at the time definitely not feasible. maybe a little bit more of an easier lift now, but um have to kind of investigate a little bit, get some details from them. >> We'll get you the details and we can get them relatively quickly because we have >> call them their our security thresholds, not our not our >> security thresholds. >> Thank you, Mr. Tara. >> Thank you. >> So, at this point, Jean, uh you you're welcome. You're welcome to to go if you'd like or you can stay with us for the rest of the evening. It's up
079to you. Um I'm going to turn this over to Stacy Mackey to talk about our draft reserve plan and we're going to share this We do the audit committee meeting will be December 10th. So right before the next board meeting will meet um at 5:00. So I'll have the financials for them. Um the purpose of the reserve plan is really prudent financial management. So there are uh several reserves that are um prescribed by either general municipal law or office of state controller. Um and we have um over the last decade funded uh several of these reserves and we are um in a a sound financial position. I'm very pleased to say because five years ago it was a very different outlook um with the state fully funding um this the state aid model and we've
080really um come a long way in in four years. Um so we we finally have a little piece of mind which is nice because we haven't had that um ever since I've been here actually. Um so I'll talk about um really what the priorities are. So throughout the plan, all of the uh balances are highlighted in yellow because again once we get the financials, I'll make sure that there's no rounding differences and uh make any adjustments. Um the workers compensation reserve is adequately funded, unemployment reserve adequately funded. The big talking point for us is going to be the capital reserve. So, you'll recall that in 2018, uh, the voters authorized for us to have a $5 million capital reserve over a 10-year period. And, uh, then the voters have authorized in three separate um, years
081uh, use of those monies. So, in 2019, um, the use was for the middle school roof and the Harmony Hill boiler, and those projects are are complete and done. Um, and then in 2022, the voters authorized us to spend 2 million of the reserve towards the current $20 million capital project, which is wrapping up. That's expected to be substantially complete next month. So, um, and then last last May, May 2025, uh, the voters authorized, uh, work that's being planned and designed now for summer 2026, which includes the lighting upgrades to the high school auditorium that are so desperately needed. It's a major health and safety issue. Um, the, uh, storage unit for the all the new athletic equipment, uh, that we just purchased. uh the courtyard uh renovation at the high school uh which could
082be used for outside learning space and as well as recess for the kids and they could have lunch there. Um lighting upgrades throughout the campus, the share campus of Harmony Hill and the high school and then the walk-in uh refrigerator units for food services for the middle school enable lancing to open up some space uh for those very tight cafeterias. So that's the that's the uh the majority of the work that's being done again that's being planned and designed now for summer of 2026. So that those three those three uh price tags are going to totally deplete that reserve. So, the next the next conversation is uh we'll go out to the voters this upcoming May uh May of 2026 and we'll ask them uh if we can establish a new capital reserve for a
083certain dollar amount over a certain period of time. And so we're doing some work now to identify what that price tag might be. Um so we have the HVAC audit that we're working on. And we know that our controls are very dated. Um each year we have a number of issues with heating and then we have the new requirement for um for cooling. Um so that's going to be a pretty lofty price tag. Um so once we have the the financial statements, we'll see that we're in a very good position. we'll we'll be able to fund um that reserve right away as soon as the uh voters authorize that. Um we're also meeting with the facilities committee and um identifying areas that need to be um we weren't able to do with the $20 million
084project but that have been identified as health and safety or priorities. So we'll be able to include that in the discussion as well. Um so that'll that'll be part of the budget discussions. uh but through the facilities committee. So that's going to be our number one priority as far as funding for reserves. Um the tax certiary reserve. So we do expect we did have three known cases, but we do expect that they're going to be settled and uh the most material case is expected to be settled. So we're hoping that'll happen this year. So again, those funds will be able to go back to the general fund and then potentially we could use that to also fund the capital reserve. Um so we could basically liquidate that reserve. So that's as soon as we know
085that we'll we'll be coming back to the table and talking about that. So we won't be looking to fund that reserve. We'll be looking to ex you know liquidate it which isn't normally the case. Uh debt service fund. So we cannot fund this. The only way we could fund this is if we don't uh spend all of the capital monies. So if there was any monies left over from a project, then it goes back to this to offset um what we had borrowed. So we used it instead of um instead of uh to pay down our debt that we that we had borrowed. So there's no plan to um fund this. We have most of our long-term debt right now um has expired. We only have 465,000 on the books right now for long-term debt
086because we have the short term that we've been doing for the project. That'll change this year. Um as we uh submit the financial cost reports um and the project is now substantially complete, then we'll look to bond that money and not have those the short term. It'll move to long-term. So right now it's uh 17.2 2 million, but it's considered short-term. Again, that'll change before I add the uh retirement contribution reserve. So, we have two. We have ERS and TRS. Um ERS we've had since 2014. Again, I consider this adequately funded. And then we funded TRS 350,000 um from last year. And again, I would consider this adequately funded. Um the max for this is 1.9 and we'll be at 1.6. So the only other reserve um that I would consider, excuse me, a priority
087for the upcoming year would be the employee benefit acrewed liability reserve. And this reserve we can use to fund our retirement incentives that we have um with our uh principal unit and our teachers unit um as well as the benefit that we have uh for our CSEA folks uh when they separate or or retire. So either they can leave on their own accord or or retire from the district. Um so as you'll recall there was a change in the gazsby standards and I had to recalculate prior year and we had to make some changes. So this this reserve is uh underfunded. So this will be the next priority but out uh our main priority is going to be the capital reserve and then if we can we'll fund this though this is be on our
088radar. So, um, typically I have several recommendations as far as what we'll focus on as a priority, but I only have the two. It's really capital and Eblar, uh, with the with the main focus being on on capital because we have lots of needs and we'll look to uh hopefully uh fill those needs um without having to go to the voters to borrow. Um, so that's a good position to be in and um something that's new for us. So it's good news that I'm happy to share. >> Good job, Stacy. >> Thank you. >> And and Stacy, when would this be on the board agenda? >> It'll be on the agenda next time we meet. Um, so as soon as I receive the financial statements, I'll update the numbers for any rounding and then I'll
089send it electronically. Um and then it would be an item on the agenda next time we meet and then it'll also go on the website uh for the public as well. >> So is there any areas um in the budget that you would say I mean if we're talking about reserves that that means that there's money's not being spent >> in the approved budget. Are there are there areas specifically that you would say were overfunded than than others? You know, I I feel like we're definitely not a school district who has all the extra, you know. So, I guess I'm just curious. >> So, this past year, uh, 2425, uh, there's a revenue side of the story and then there's an expense side of the story. So the revenue side of the story is with
090the legalization of the uh sports betting. Um we received additional funding uh that we didn't anticipate and wasn't forecasted uh with like wages and uh the betting aspect. So that was a um that was a a plus that we weren't anticipating. Um on the expense side, there's a lot of things that are going on. Um there is uh we have several students that were awaiting placements that um weren't weren't placed. Um so tuition wasn't spent in those categories. Um we've had vacancies uh because there's a teacher shortage, right? So, we're not able to fill vacancies and benefits attached to those vacancies and then uh we've had to have use existing staff and maybe it's a 5.2s or whatever the case might be. But that's a lot less expensive than hiring a full-time teacher with benefits.
091That's not a position that we want to be in. No. >> Um but that's unfortunately um several several times we found ourselves in that um predicament. Um we've seen savings and um benefits. Uh so with uh retirement contributions are dependent on salaries. So if you're spending less on salaries then you're spending less on retirement contributions um and health benefits. So that's all related. Um so I would say those were the main areas um where we we saw savings um that were unplanned. >> Um the out of district placements has been because there have been difficulties finding out of district placements. Um um but uh many more of our students are now finding uh placements for for this this school year. So, some of those things will vary as we end this school year. >> Okay.
092>> I mean, it's a fair question. We talk all the time about our needs and and how much, you know, we are understaffed and and we we don't have the supports in place and and then we're talking about, you know, reserves, which again, this is definitely better position. I I recall and I think Rick will too being on the board and every year you telling us that we are going to be out of money in two years. Like literally I I recall this and it was >> for oh what close to two terms on this. So I'm happy to be here. Uh but also I don't want to think that we have a savings plan because >> the intent is not to have a savings plan. It's to expend money that is needed to serve
093our students and to have programs in place. Um so unexpected savings >> um or um money coming in revenues right um unexpected savings by something that is beyond our control I understand um but I feel like I'm okay like or I need something you know Cliff needs something what are we doing if you know we're going to put it in our savings account instead of you know and I get that those are recurring currency recurring expenses. And I'm I'm not trying to say like spend all of our money, but it makes me a little bit uncomfortable to look at and think about um you know, not expending money and putting it into a reserve when we have a lot of need. Um so I guess I'm I'm not directing that at anybody at all. I'm
094just saying it, you know, it it is what it is. Um, >> but I think balance of that can also be that when stuff pops up during the school year that's emergent, we are agree. >> Yeah. >> How do we we do we don't always have this very p public forum to be like, you know, you guys it's just covered within the budgets that you cover it in. It's not necessarily like, oh, we had this huge huge expense and we were able to cover it because of some of the, you know, the different, we don't often have that conversation. We're having this conversation, >> but we don't often have the conversation of, you know, well, we were able to cover that unexpected cost that wasn't a budgeted cost because there was, you know, extra there.
095Also, you know, the fact that we did this $20 million project at no expense to our taxpayers, but again, this is still a taxpayer. This is still taxpayer money, you know, that we're saving towards, you know, future projects. Um, >> so I don't know, words, they're in the universe. I don't know. What do you >> I think we should spend the extra on the um $25,000 uh >> metal. Well, we'll send we'll send you information. >> That's probably why I'm not on the budget committee. >> Start with some microphones. How about >> Yeah, exactly. >> microphones are being >> Well, we don't need it today. Um, it is getting a little warm in here. >> Okay. Um, one other update not related to the reserve plan uh that I just wanted to share. um myself,
096the payroll examiner and uh HR attended uh a presentation at Boseies uh for SchoolFront. Um and we were all very excited about the system. Um so focused on um e personnel files and onboarding uh like a paperless onboarding system and HR was just thrilled out of her mind. Um and then the next uh the next session that I'll request would be uh timekeeping and uh attendance. Um so uh we started the process. Um it's a a smart goal uh for uh payroll and and for HR. Um for this it's it'll be a multi-year obviously a multi-year project uh to implement. um 24 local schools are using uh school front uh now for the personnel files and the uh onboarding aspect. Uh the timekeeping is a little uh lighter. Um so we're going to again shop
097around with the different vendors, see see what there is to offer, but um we're starting to explore this. We're really excited about it. Uh we feel like it would be a great uh efficiency. um would save uh time and um would open up uh people's time for customer service and so maybe some more wellness um initiatives um and really customer service has been the focus um so I just wanted to put that out there because that would be part of the budget discussion in the upcoming months as we um look at the different options and what the costs might be. >> Thank you. >> Um and then finally, I'd like to provide you with the uh timeline for uh assistant superintendent. Um so we will be posting the position uh on December 1st. It'll the
098advertisement will run from December 1st to the 19th. That means um then on J the week of January 5th. And this is this is in your um news and notes from before too. The week of January 5th is uh I'll be doing phone screens. Uh the week of January 19th, we'll have um the district-wide committee for round one, which is interview. Uh the performance task uh will be the week of February 2nd um with the anticipated recommendation at the February 11th board of education agenda. This does allow us some flexibility say if we need to um shift a little bit and because our original timeline was March I did move it back but you know at times there's something with certain candidates not being able to u make it or if we have to change
099a a date um due to committee members but so this is the anticipated timeline and uh seems you know very reasonable and like we should be able to accomplish it so I wanted to to share that today happy with that timeline >> seems reasonable. You have an updated job description for that one. >> Yeah. >> And then um uh you know you had the reserve plan tonight. I still owe you the communication plan for for discussion. So we'll get that description. Um and then and then finally some of our upcoming events. We're really looking forward to the elementary musical uh coming up this weekend and then our Lake George polar plunge and uh before you know it, it's Thanksgiving recess and then spelling bee. And if you haven't gone to the spelling be before, it's
100a it's a very exciting event here in the CMS gym. >> Were you in the spelling be? >> No. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you everyone for your presentations and updates. Um, we will move on to the agenda portion of our evening. Um, does the board have any items on tonight's agenda that they would like to discuss? Does the community have any items on the agenda that they would like to discuss? Okay, no discussion. Can I get a motion that the board of education adopt the following resolutions of the November 19th, 2025 agenda and agenda 7 A through C, 8 A through M, and 9A. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll second it. >> Mr. Jackson, >> yes. U Mrs. Jendren, >> yes. >> Mrs. Paris, >> yes. >> Mr. Dro,
101>> yes. >> And Mrs. Geller, >> yes. So, with that being said, we'd like to congratulate Matt Planner as our new uh cse chair person special assignment um with an anticipated of January 5th. Um however, we're hoping you can start sooner. So, we'll see. >> Congratulations. Okay. Are there any comments from the board on anything not related to the agenda? >> I would like to congratulate Dr. Laura Tarloc. Any other comments from the board? >> Okay. Any comments from the audience on anything at all not related to the agenda? >> Okay, we had no board policy review for tonight. Uh, dates of future meetings, December 10th and January 7th, I can't believe 2026, right here at the Coast Middle School Library at 6 PM. Um, can I get a motion to enter into executive session
102at 7:23 p.m. to discuss matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of a particular person or corporation? I'll make a >> motion. I'll second it. >> Mr. Jackson, Mrs. Gend, >> yes, >> Mrs. Paradise, >> yes. >> Mr. Dros, >> and Mrs. Geller, >> yes. >> Thank you very much for attending our meeting this evening. We do not plan on coming back out after we're finished. So, thank you. >> Presentations from the school.