28b Board of Education 5 25 21

001good evening and welcome to the may 25th 2021 gilgamesh central school district board of education meeting would you all please silence your cell phones and recite the pledge i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay so first on the agenda tonight we have a list of public comments and so i'll start with the first one i apologize there's a lot of tabs open and comments so just give me one second okay uh this public comment is regarding a statement made by benjamin goes at the board of education meeting on may 4th 2021 mr goes begins his statement by lamenting on an ap english lesson he was a part of he started his memory with

002something that took me completely by surprise quote i posted a short essay arguing in favor of the right of private businesses to discriminate against homosexuals unquote there are a few things that i take issue with number one lgbtq rights are human rights they should not be debated by teenagers for the sake of an english class speaking on behalf of someone who is proudly part of the lgbtq community plus community i find this set in very poor taste mr goes tries to defend his argument by saying that he fears his heterodox beliefs will no longer be tolerated but what mr ghost does not seem to take into that homophobia is wrong plain and simple it is not something that we could be that could be argued or debated topics like these that come up in class

003just open up the floodgates of students assuming that if they are civil about their prejudice it's okay he claims his fear is for students to be alienated but by debating on the topic of human rights you are doing just that you are making students feel as if their rights are not deserved because you have to even question them in the first place i understand what mr goes was trying to get across but the way he went about it was quite harmful to a large population of the gilderon school district thank you isabelle better a public comment number two my name is sonia jerome i am a concerned student at ghs while watching the board of education meeting that took place on may 4th i could not believe the statements made by benjamin goes his homophobic

004hatred and bigotry that he spewed his at the meeting was not only hurtful but should never have taken place i'd like to reiterate that a man who feels comfortable enough to say the things that he did in this meeting has absolutely no place on the board i'm incredibly disappointed in the school for allowing his statements to take place i'm a black queer student i'd like you to imagine how it feels to know that people who believe you should be legally allowed to be allowed to be discriminated against in private business is in a is in a place of power at my school to make matters worse benjamin goes is on the board of equity and diversity committee why in the world is a homophobic man on the diversity committee another thing if mr ghost feels

005comfortable enough to say things like this in a public recorded meeting what do you think he's saying to his friends what do you think he's saying in the comfort of his home i'd like to say one last thing you can have every gsa meeting every safe adult every ally but at the end of the day if the people running this school are bigots then that means nothing i hope you take action and truly understand the severity of what happened best sonia jerome public comment number three to the gilman board of education having listened to recent conversations about the work of the diversity and equity committee as well as the creation of the edi administrator for the district i feel compelled to share a story that i think shed light sheds light on the need for

006the work to continue and the desire of us us for some of us to make it happen i have been a seventh grade social studies teacher teaching early american history in the gilderon central school district for over 23 years i've even taught one of the current board members a number of years ago in my tenure here i've always tried to teach students about the different perspectives and opinions that exist around historical events and people and provide as many different sides of an argument as possible for students to begin to form their own ideas and opinions about historical events my job has never been to judge but to provide students with a foundation for them to feel safe to use their voices to ask questions to think sometimes the topics have been sensitive in nature but

007i feel to ignore them is a disservice to students if we truly want our students to walk out of our classrooms with as much knowledge as possible we can't and shouldn't shy away from the hard topics we should not deny the fact that past events have a direct impact on what we're seeing in the news today as i say to my students sometimes the conversations we have make us uncomfortable but it's okay if we're learning from them a few months ago my class was learning about the beginnings of slavery in north america i presented information to the class through a variety of different different resources including primary sources of what it was like for an enslaved person during the middle passage i also included images from the museum of african american history and culture so

008students could try to visualize what it was like for those listening who don't remember what the middle passage was it was a transporting of enslaved africans from their home countries to the americas conditions were brutal demoralizing and and dehumanizing it was during the description of the middle passage that a student of color in class bravely spoke up and said that he was feeling really uncomfortable with what was being said and it was just too much for him i asked if he could elaborate on why he felt this way and he uh and what was in what was told of the word slave that kept being used i was horrified that i was saying something that made a student feel so bad without me being aware of it i asked the student if he could stay

009back after class so we could talk the student knew and could see that i was visibly upset i had been crying before we talk he comforted me and told me it was okay but for me it really wasn't his mom showed up at the meet the student is a remote student and i was so thankful that she did she shared with me how she teaches her her children that slaves weren't just slaves there were people they had lives before they were captured and forced to go to america most often that kind of information is never shared with students she also said she teaches her children that black history isn't something you should just teach about in one month out of the year it is so much more it was then in that interaction with that

010student and his mom that i was given the opportunity to understand how powerful the words are that we use how each person has a different life experience that we can't simply brush aside we need to have more of these conversations with someone who is knowledgeable and willing to facilitate them these conversations can't be one and done training or professional development opportunities it needs to be ongoing by all stakeholders to deny or ignore the feelings and experiences that others have is not teaching tolerance or acceptance the wrongs of the past cannot be undone but are we supposed to ignore them and sweep them under the carpet because others feel uncomfortable we are not indoctrinating students with misinformation as some community members have claimed it's time for people to take their rose-colored glasses off and take a

011hard look at what is happening ignorance is not bliss maybe some people need to ask themselves why they feel so threatened about bringing to light the inequities of the gildan community sincerely colleen siddig 7th grade social studies teacher fms public comment number four i'm writing in response to the may 4th 2021 board meeting specifically ben go's presentation towards the end of the meeting i agree that different ideas and opinions are important within group discussion and decision making at times this is important for understanding different perspectives but there are certain fundamental ideas that are respected especially when presented representing a public school district protecting basic human civil rights and protecting all students from discrimination is a shared idea that is non-negotiable in education ben references ap high school paper and support of private businesses to refuse

012sale of goods or services to someone that is gay this debate regarding the legal rights of private business owners to discriminate against individuals based on sexual orientation may be a debate for people with differing views and opinions in the private sector but ben's support raises a concern here when representing gildan school district ben is listed as being a member of the audit committee business practices committee and policy review committee so as a community how are we supposed to know that his votes and feedback will protect equity for our lgbtq students when he is voting on budgetary and policy decisions if he is willing to discriminate support discriminatory acts against members of the lgbtq community katie de pirro public comment number five when will the mask mandate go away will it be done for the fault

013next fall please show us the signs that masks for for children there's plenty of science showing it doesn't work thanks theresa may public comment number six to the gilman board of education i'm writing on behalf of the high school physical education department in support of installing a turf field at ghs the proposal of this project would have a positive impact on our physical education program and the students at ghs our high school curriculum offers a wide range of activities that align with new york state department of education physical education learning standards newly revised 2020. our department is focused on offering the best opportunities to our students and having a turf field would not only expand what we are able to offer but also a safe well-maintained environment for students to learn many members of our

014department have been teaching and coaching at gilderlin for numbers a number of years and we always look forward to being outdoors with our classes any chance we can get we are very fortunate to have access to the fields on our campus however there are many times we are not able to use those facilities due to weather conditions field maintenance and athletic competitions a turf field would have preset lines on it making it easier to teach field hockey lacrosse football and soccer the preset lines would also loan itself to other activities that would require boundaries we would also be able to have more than one class in a block to use the field due to the size of the space several times a year our physical education program is displaced from the gymnasiums for school or

015community sponsored events having a turf field further supports an additional teaching space to conduct our classes and deliver the intended curriculum without students losing valuable class time i've spoken to other physical educators in other districts that have a turf field they have shared with me some of the benefits mentioned above as well as having a turf as well as having a field they can depend on regularly which helps for planning and consistency when creating their curriculum for their program in closing i would like to thank you for taking the time to read this letter and to consider the positive impacts of having a turf field would would be for all of our students in the ghs community sincerely allison relia public comment number seven as a community member and parent now of graduated student athletes

016i strongly support the addition of a turf field at ghs the benefits of having a district her field far outweigh the one and only downfall initial cost of installation perhaps 10 or 15 years ago a turf field was deemed a luxury item for a district to install however today we are one of the few suburban council schools without this needed amenity the time has come to give our student athletes and community at large the facility it needs and deserves a turf field keeps money in the gilderon community instead of paying exorbitant rental fees for turf use at off-site facilities i was actively involved in the guilderland girls lacrosse booster club for a number of years we worked hard to raise funds in order to rent turf time for our teams this was a necessity because

017our graphs grass fields were often not ready until three or four weeks into the season additionally many away games were played on turf and all sectional championship games were played on turf thus our teams needed to practice on that surface the game is very different based on the playing surface in my years involved with the booster club we pay we paid between 3 000 and 4 500 per year on rental fees while i am glad we were able to assist our teams in this way it also created problems since teams had to travel to and from the rental rented turf fields the time student athletes had to commit was above and beyond the norm my daughter often missed dinner missed time to uh talking about her day with family and had to factor in time

018to get homework done all these problems could be remedied with a district turf field at ghs not to mention the potential the income potential is a huge bonus the field could be rented nearly year round i could easily go on listing the benefits of a district turf field as it would benefit so many students to the gilderon school district but i feel the main takeaway from this letter is for you to understand a turf field is not an extravagant item for the gildan central school district to purchase it will level the playing field and bring us into the 21st century thank you for your time and consideration lori mccullen public comment number eight dear members of the board of education i'm writing to express my strong support for the addition of a turf field at

019gildan high school i graduated from guilderland in 2018 while at guilderland i participated in lacrosse four years on varsity field hockey four years on varsity and gymnastics six years on varsity while my experience as a student athlete at gilderlin was very positive even helping to prepare me to play collegiate division 1 lacrosse one major piece was missing a turf field my experience as a varsity lacrosse player was also positive guilderland's girls lacrosse teams has historically been very successful including during my four years on the team our booster club fund raised tirelessly to afford us the opportunity to rent her field time for practices and even games had it not been for the booster club our success rate would have been questionable many years we could not set foot on our home grass field until after

020our first game this would have meant practices either in a gymnasium or parking lot thank goodness we had the turf field rentals because either myself or teammate could have easily been injured playing in a small gym or worse in a parking lot while i am grateful for the booster club's efforts and turf field rentals it also had its drawbacks a traditional two-hour practice was easily extended to three to four hours due to transportation to and from the field the extended time for practices led to less time for dinner family interaction and homework field hockey is a sport meant to be played on a smooth surface while the maintenance crews did their best to make our grass fields playable it could just it just could not compare to a turf field playing field hockey on a

021grass field can lead to more lofted balls and dangerous situations numerous opponents in the suburban council had the advantage of both practicing and playing games on their home turf field from time to time we had the chance to practice on a turf field but not enough time to prepare us for competition against teams with a turf field at their disposal during my four years as a varsity field hockey athlete we had strong teams with a lot of talent we did our best but had sparse success i can only imagine how far we could have gone with the home turf field i heard that since my graduation the field hockey team had the chance to rent a turf field for nearly the entire season and they experienced great success i'm thrilled that the gilman school district

022is discussing the addition of a turf field at ghs a school of our size and caliber without a turf field is a thing of the past a home turf field is not a luxury item it is a need why must the student athletes of gilderlin participate with subpar facilities they deserve more sincerely courtney rafferty public comment number nine to the gilran school boards gilders school districts board of education we write you we write to you in regards to acquiring a turf athletic field at gilbert high school investing in a turf field would have many benefits for the whole gilroy school community from the maintenance crews to the student athletes who would both practice and represent their school on that turf field our student athletes are representatives of our school district's talents in spirit and providing

023them with a field surface to excel on is respectfully overdue a turf field would reduce lawn maintenance and increase safety for our student athletes who would now be able to place safe clean weather conditions that would normally threaten scheduled practices and games turf fields don't flood like grass fields and provide a more stable surface an added bonus would be less cancelling rescheduling of games a turf field would also allow guilderland teams to remain competitive the same sport played on grass is very different from play on turf most schools most area schools have now now have turf fields which provide their athletes an advantage over our athletes who are unable to access practices on a turf surface our field hockey has seen firsthand the disadvantages of not having access to turf our oldest daughter joined the

024program in eighth grade and began playing on grass it was evident even to us as newbies that when our team went up against schools on their turf fields that were not prepared to truly we were not prepared to truly compete our field hockey program led by coach sykes then made turf acts as a priority her program began fundraising so guilderland's team would not have that disadvantage the field hockey team has paid approximately 12 000 a year these past couple of years through fundraisers just to have our girls take the field on the level playing field that is all anyone wants for their kids this takes a lot of work and coordination from the coaches players and families the team has figured out how to get all players safely to and from aphroms for soccer sorry

025for practices and games about 15 minutes from school traveling to practice takes precious time away from these athletes who balance school extracurricular activities and their sport before covid hit delivering an alternative sports season this hard-working team brought home the section two championships i'm sure if you asked any field hockey enthusiasts they would tell you that having a turf access played a significant part in their ability to bring home that honor can you just imagine what a dedicated and hard-working team like this could achieve together if that fundraising effort could instead be placed into learning and excelling and playing at the game and playing the game having a home turf field would lessen that stress of having to fundraise just to play competitively just as important it would be as it would build a stronger school

026spirit amongst players and their peers who could catch a game while waiting for a ride home or spark a new interest in a sport they otherwise would not be able to see an action as a parent of five athletes in the guild in the district we strongly urge the school board to approve a turf field to give all guilderland athletes the ability to compete on level with their competitors the sooner the process is started the sooner the benefits for the community will be seen for from the groundskeepers to the athletes to their peers who can easily watch and support their friends on the field at their guilderland home these athletes and coaches have the determination perseverance and grit needed to excel now let's give them a true home field advantage sincerely david uh kim chelsea

027carly sarah rachel and henry king public comment number 10 and mine is not opening one of you mind reading public comment number 10 like try to get the next one and my 10 isn't opening either sema okay well i can go back i can go to 11 and i can do it oh thank you blanca my name is melissa mooney does that sound right dear board of education members my name is melissa mooney and i am writing this letter in support of guilderland central school district getting a turf field i am currently a long time resident of gilderlin central school district and have two children who are proud graduates of the district both of our children excelled academically and through sports within the district our daughter kaitlyn was an excellent student on and off the

028field and played three sports throughout her time in the district caitlyn especially loved being a part of the guilderland field hockey lacrosse and cross country ski teams while she is currently playing division 1 field hockey at hofstra college this would have not been possible if she did not play on turf in high school while most neighboring school districts have turf we struggled because we did not sorry we struggled because we did not when she started sports at guilderland we were often fundraising to pay for turf time for both lacrosse and field hockey we were at a huge disadvantage playing against schools who have had turf we simply could not compete at the same level as other teams for this reason thankfully during caitlyn's time at gilderland coach sykes joined the district she realized the need

029for turf over grass she knew in order to be competitive we needed turf for practice and games i will never forget losing to shenandoah and 21 to zero before we had turf the year my daughter graduated we beat shenandoah in overtime to win the sectional title this would not have been possible if we had not played on turf the game is fast and the girls don't plan turf simply don't have the same level of skills to compete additionally the consistent playing surface cut down on the many injuries that came with changing from grass to turf between both lacrosse and field hockey caitlyn many times turned to her ankles on her grass field which was also often not cut short enough to play the game i think it is important for guilderland athletes to be able

030to compete at the same level as other districts i feel very strongly we are at a huge disadvantage not having it it is far overdue when you look around at other districts thank you for your time and consideration for getting turf for our athletes to compete at the same level as other schools sincerely melissa mooney thank you blanca okay public comment number 11 is from phil and jen sykes dear gilbert board of education thank you for taking the time to read this letter at the may 25th 2021 board of education meeting my name is jennifer sykes and along with my husband phil sykes we write this letter to express our support as new community members for a multi-sport turf field to be installed at gildan high school jen is a member of the physical education

031department at gilderlin and the head varsity field hockey coach and phil is entering his 18th season as a head field hockey coach at the university of albany we decided to move to guildwin so we could be a part of what we have discovered as a caring community who looks after each other and the well-being of the community being someone who has taught in a district with a multi-sport turf field prior to my arrival as an educator and coach at gilderlin in 2017 i wanted to share some insight on why this would be more than just a field the number one positive aspect of a turf field in my experience was as a physical educator it becomes a huge outdoor teaching station outdoor units can be extended by sometimes months which would have been very beneficial

032this year during the pandemic instead of having to adjust for safety reasons for early morning classes due to wet field conditions the turf provides consistency through all classes no matter what time of day lines on the turf field can be easily coned off for safety providing a buffer zone for activities that are easy for students to follow to maintain a safe environment the second positive aspect of a multi-sport field is how it can improve the quality of life for pe students pe teachers student athletes coaches families parents siblings members of our grounds and maintenance staff and easing the burden placed on our athletic department to have to constantly reschedule games we often see home athletic contests scheduled for 4 15 p.m move to a school with a turf at the last minute due to wet

033field conditions at guilderland this means a lot of scrambling for our families and uncertainty in their daily schedules as they work around sometimes multiple children schedules it also means loss of a home game in which friends and families can attend family friends and family members can attend with ease compared to having to now travel to the opponent's turf field sometimes for much later in the day game times getting games started on time is such a gift for coaches and athletes who have already put in a full school and work day and have family commitments following the extension of their workday with athletics the third positive aspect of a multi-sports field is that it's very it is a very personal one to me has to do with what i witnessed prior to my arrival arrival at

034guilderland it was actually one of the main factors that motivated me to pursue both a teaching and coaching position at gilderwood in the fall of 2016 i was coaching modified field hockey and teaching at a suburban council school that has a turf field and is now getting a second turf field for their middle school i witnessed that guilderland field hockey team lose on a turf surface 21-0 due to the speed of a game they clearly were not used to playing on an even surface that was both safe and allowed for the ball to travel flat at a higher speed it wasn't for lack of grit or determination it was due to lack of facility nine of those girls were freshmen and experienced that loss were given the opportunity to train and play in a rented

035field at aphrom's sports for the next three seasons from 2017 to 2019. their senior year they won the section 2 title and got to experience a run deep into the state tournament this included winning against the team that that had beaten them by the largest margin i've ever heard in a sport that i've coached now for 25 years many of those players will forever have such fond memories of their high school experience the lessons learned from their incredible turn turn around can sorry turn around due to being able to practice and play in an even turf playing field are lessons they can carry forward in their lives a turf field a turf sounds just like a field but it's so much more our inaugural girls day in sport sports day in 2019 featured every coach

036of the girls sports at gilderlin and over 150 girls from our district in grades k-5 imagine the pride they could feel if they were able to add an olympic-style opening ceremonies and allow these kids to march onto a facility that we can call our own in front of their families and friends these are the types of community events i want to help continue to run and be a part of after so many months having uh having to be a part the idea of bringing members of our community back to gilroy and high school and being proud of what could be a consistent and up-to-date facility gives us sykes family great joy we are one of the last school districts that have not installed a multi-surface field that can be used for so much more than

037just athletics with the unpredictable weather we experience in the northeast the idea of making the daily lives for our families more predictable improves both academic performance and time for family we are excited to think of what could be for our school community with the upgrades and indoor facilities thank you for your time and consideration sincerely phil and jen sykes public comment number 12. good evening i'm very encouraged by the approval of this 1.0 dei position and what will it in and what will it mean for the progress towards diversity equity inclusion in our district i i have some thoughts and suggestions based on the job posting as it currently reads there are other districts who have used the same language along along the same lines of what am i i'm about to suggest to attract

038a diverse pool of can applicants sorry i think it would behoove us to do the same considering the conversations that we have had and especially after seeing the data shared by dr wiles compared to comparing student and staff demographics i would like to see language in the job posting to address the disparities between races that we see in our staff in admin in this position i see this position in part as an opportunity to take a considerably impactful step towards increasing staff diversity i would like to see language such as if you meet some of the qualifications above we encourage you to reach out for more information we know that historically marginalized groups including people of color women people from working class backgrounds and people who identify as lgbtq are less likely to apply unless

039and until they meet every job requ every requirement for a job therefore we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities and who are members of other marginalized communities or quote first-hand experience with systemic barriers that perpetuate inequitable practices this includes the ability to assist in disrupting systems and practices that perpetuate systemic racism the person in this role will inform larger dei strategies and programs by leveraging district specific and community-wide culture knowledge relationships and practices we strongly encourage applications from people of color or from communities that are historically underrepresented in suburban school systems the language that i have given as an example is of what our job posting could include is a combination of language from posting of other districts as well as the advice of an accomplished professional in the dei arena who has

040held the exact same position that we are hiring for in more than one district including one of our own neighboring suburban districts i plan to share their contact information and resume with the board and have permission to do so in the hopes that they can provide insight and advice as we move through the hiring process thank you for hearing my ideas and being transparent in this process by sharing the draft description nidra irway enl teacher at fms and equity and diversity committee co-chair public comment number 13. as we prepare to hire our district's inaugural equity coordinator i would like to make some suggestions regarding the job posting and interview process many of these suggestions emerge from a discussion that i and several other members of the equity and diversity subcommittee had with an equity coordinator

041who has worked in public schools in the capital district and the northeast the person who fills this new role will have a lot of opportunity and a lot of challenges transparency about that could help us avoid a situation in which we attract someone but then cannot retain them i would suggest language describing our district's current situation like quote earlier in the school year the board of education established a standing equity and diversity subcommittee the successful candidate will work closely with this committee to improve equity in a variety of ways sorry a variety of areas including curriculum hiring and student life 27 of our district students today are black or african american hispanic or latino asian native hawaiian or other pacific islander or multi-racial the number of people of color on our faculty and staff lags

042far behind that some groundwork for greater equity has been laid by faculty and administrative initiatives in the various buildings and by student groups including the anti-racism committee the black student union and the gay straight alliance much work remains to be done and the successful candidate will play a crucial role in shaping the district's future i would like to see the district encourage people of color to apply for this post with language like quote we strongly encourage individuals from historically disenfranchised groups to apply this is a new area for everyone there are no college departments that turn out public school equity coordinators in addition to being to listing qualifications i think we should also list skills that the coordinator will need like these that i borrowed from an existing job posting in bridgewater massachusetts strong interpersonal

043skills and ability to build coalitions and collaborative working relationships with a broad range of diverse individuals and groups demonstrated cultural awareness agility and ability to trust and to build trust and credibility navigate complex political and ideological landscape excellent command of current diversity equity and inclusion concepts and issues in public schools or institutions knowledge of laws regulations and guidelines related to diversity inclusion and non-discrimination in schools including those mentioned an ability to articulate the importance of inclusion and diversity to the broader gilderland community elizabeth floyd mayor and so i think we have a few more public comments for number two is that correct dr wiles okay all right so just in quick response in reference to the public comments um the equity and diversity coordinator position will be discussed later in this um meetings agenda later

044on in the meeting under superintendent information in the turf field um i know a lot of people wrote about that i don't know if um marie o'neil if you could just give like a brief update that that is in in discussion in the next capital project we are um actively seeking members from the community to serve on a sort of actually two facilities committees to help provide guidance on a potential for an upcoming capital project that would include some items that were eliminated from our current capital project when it didn't pass but also look at the addition of a turf field so those meetings will happen in june so anyone watching with interest in serving um i'm not sure if we've missed the deadline but i think we're still looking for people to serve neil

045did i get all that correct or close enough you have it absolutely correct okay thank you dr wiles um okay and so yep the other ones we'll get to later down under superintendent info so we'll move on to the next agenda item which are the consent items this includes the minutes of the may 3rd and may 4th meetings cpsc and cse recommendations personnel action and the financials can i have a motion to approve uh blanca second bar any changes or questions barb uh it may have been corrected i haven't checked the website but the last statement uh that kelly made was about microaggressions not macro aggressions and i think linda may have already fixed that okay thank you any other changes or questions okay all in favor passes seven zero we'll go on to information

046items curriculum and instruction dr singleton thank you dr dr rivera i'm very pleased to extend congratulations to ghs student nikaya isabella rios who recently won the best actress award at the proctor's high school musical theater nikaya will be competing in the national awards show called the jimmy awards in june and this is of course a tremendous accomplishment and i've included the link to the times union story and we certainly wish her well in the awards and my next item i also want to congratulate gilderlin's deb o'brien who's our tennis coach and a pe teacher she was recently named the 2019 national federation of state high school association's northeast section girls tennis coach of the year the northeast section includes connecticut maine massachusetts new hampshire new york rhode island and vermont honorees were selected based upon

047the performance of the 2019-20 school year lifetime community involvement school involvement and philosophy of coaching coach o'brien has flourished as the tennis coach at gilderwin she has coached at least two seasons girls varsity tennis and boys jv tennis in every year that she has been at gilderland she has positively influenced thousands of students and student athletes during her career under her leadership guilderland's girls tennis have won have won several suburban council championships and section 2 championship as well she has earned section 2 coach of the year twice and currently serves as the section 2 chairperson for girls tennis so congratulations to coach o'brien very well deserved thank you dr singleton congratulations to um student and the coach and we'll move on to the next item superintendent information dr wiles thank you dr rivera i want

048to begin with a hearty thank you to our community for coming out in support of our budget for the 2021-2022 school year it was approved by nearly 70 of the voters who participated and they also approved our bus proposition um it makes a huge difference to have our community support so i just want to be sure to thank everyone who came out to vote and i also want to congratulate um newly elected members to the board of education we have incumbents black blanca gonzalez parker and sema rivera and we'll also be welcoming newcomer nathan saborin i also need to recognize neil sanders and linda livingston who do a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes to make the budget vote and election look flawlessly simple and easy to do but it is a tremendous amount

049of work particularly in a pandemic so thanks to both of you for your leadership in that area um and then i want to also recognize our boces capital uh region communications service who have assisted us for many years and over the recent months we've had kind of a changing um uh list of people helping us so it's been really quite a challenge to get our message out there but clearly it worked and so we're very thankful and my next item is the reason why we were a little bit late getting our board meeting started this evening just prior to the board meeting we had the pleasure of recognizing in person 27 staff members who received tenure we had a small reception in an in-person recognition ceremony in the high school auditorium it was terrific to

050see real people in actual seats and to be able to recognize this um important milestone in their career so my congratulations to each and every one of our new tenurees and then an ever-changing topic will be an update on our graduations and moving up ceremonies i am hopeful this will be the end of any changes um but i did want to point out that our graduation ceremony has been changed for anyone who didn't see the message that came out for mr piscatelli last friday but the class of 2021 graduation ceremony will now be held at the times union center at noon on friday june 25th um we moved for several reasons um but the main reason was that the capacity increased there and so we can actually welcome more family members for each of our

051graduates uh it is up to 2000 individuals who can attend not counting our graduates and that was just a strong pull for us to not have to worry about the weather and also have so much so many people be able to join in that momentous event i also have some updates on our moving up ceremonies perhaps the most awaited update is with our farnsworth 8th grade moving up ceremony we will be welcoming families to attend the moving up ceremonies for our 8th graders in order to maintain the appropriate capacity limits though we'll actually be having three separate ceremonies um they will be held in person um at gilderland high school in the football stadium and they will be held by house starting at 11 will be the first then 1 p.m and 3 p.m and

052each 8th grade student will get 3 tickets for family members to attend and i understand the middle school will be sending out communication to eighth grade parents tomorrow morning pending feedback from all of you on this changed plan and then the five elementary buildings all have a variation on a theme of how they'll be celebrating the fifth grade moving up um but they will all be in person um pine bush will have three separate ceremonies at farnsworth middle school in the cafetorium on friday june 25th and they will recognize both remote and in-person students and that'll take place at 8 15 9 15 and 10 15. um westmear will have their ceremony on tuesday june 22nd um at 8 30 a.m and this is for the bose students we'll have their moving up day at

053westmear elementary and then three more separate ceremonies for remote and in-person students will be held at farmsworth middle school in the cafetorium on thursday june 24th and they will take place at 8 15 9 30 and 10 30. linwood elementary school will host two ceremonies in the cafetorium on thursday june 24th and they'll take place at 12 p.m and 1 30 p.m altamont will host its ceremony on june 22nd it'll be at 9am at bozen kill park and last but not least skilldillon elementary school will hold two ceremonies at ges on wednesday june 23rd they'll take place at 10 a.m and one outside if the weather allows and inside if it does not and each of those buildings will be communicating directly with families with more details about each of the events questions comments thoughts

054on those i just had a comment that um i just wanted to thank the administration especially to mr laster for making the eighth grade ceremony um to allow them to have parents i know that there was it was a big lift to ask and there was a lot of background information happening with regent's exams and the high school practice graduation so i just want to thank mr lester for doing that i'm sure he will appreciate that and i know he's working with his team to pull it all together so should be a lovely day and a wonderful event events um and speaking of um wonderful events i have some update on awards ceremonies and this is as of now some of these things are still getting refined but i did want to point out the

055national junior honor society um this awards ceremony will take place uh tuesday june 15th it is a completely virtual and will be launched at 6 30 p.m uh the president's awards these are awards typically given to eighth grade students they'll be given out during the eighth grade moving up ceremony uh junior and senior awards at the high school this awards ceremony will take per uh take place virtually and it's currently scheduled for wednesday june 2nd board of education awards for grades 11 and 12 the board of ed awards will be listed in the virtual program on the junior senior awards ceremony and for eighth grade board of ed award winners they'll be announced and distributed during their moving up ceremony and all other recipients those are our sixth and seventh and ninth and tenth graders

056were will be mailing home um certificates for everybody and we're just looking for the best way to do those announcements so stay tuned on that um last but not least uh the senior athletic awards there'll be a virtual award ceremony during the week of june 21st it's really late because the spring season is going right to the very end of the school year and we'll be sharing more information when that becomes available so a lot of things going on my next item i know we've got quite a bit of public comment on this i just wanted to point out this is the job description it's not necessarily the job posting for the position so this was the first attempt to capture kind of the big picture of the expectations for this new role so i

057uh when i met with sema and gloria friday to review the agenda we thought it would be um very helpful to bring it to the board at this portion of the agenda to get some additional feedback and we've also gotten some nice feedback from some community members who have written in so i will open it to thoughts comments questions on that draft i just have a couple comments i think you all saw that i had some track changes that i sent um and nidra irway's comments that she sent and i think she wrote in public comment too in the beginning i really think the suggestions she made were were good so i think maybe we should consider those to sound more welcoming um and then there were just two other things that stood out to

058me um number number six like the way number six is written just sounds like you have to find a miracle worker and it just seems like impossible like they're going to do everything in the school district and then it says a wide variety of student wrapper it just seems so big that to me that would seem daunting if i was looking at a job position and then the last part was under objectives at the bottom to not use superior to maybe describe it a different way that just comes off i don't know comes off kind of cold oh rebecca sorry do you have your hand raised um i just wanted to say i agree that um something i hadn't considered before the public comment which i'm of course trying to find now and i can

059but i think it was the second to last public comment about um appealing to um people from disadvantaged backgrounds that they may be hesitant to apply unless we specifically spell out um that we're seeking those applications i thought that was a great idea thank you sorry i liked um specifically nedra's second recommendation first or first-hand experience with systemic barriers that perpetuate inequitable practices um i think that's i'm familiar with nursing you know nursing uh job descriptions and such and sometimes in lieu of a degree for example they'll qualify that firsthand experience so i see it as something similar and i think it would be beneficial uh barbara well i also had a question on that number six um why would that individual be concerned with central registration student transfer requests um i couldn't understand that

060maybe murray can explain that well i think those are decision points or transition points within the district and i don't know that this individual would do that work per se because we we have a central registrar right but they might be mindful of the work to make sure that it is happening in a equitable manner so it's more of an awareness because those are those are um those are kind of gatekeeping things i mean student transfer request this is a student that's going to another district right i i read it as requests to move from one building to another which we do get oh okay okay all right uh the other question i had was in the qualifications this is a position that probably will cost the district about 150 000 but it doesn't require

061a master's degree uh it would seem to me that this high level of position would at least require a master's degree or a uh administrative certificate um why was that just left as a possibility i think it broadens the pool i mean the starting salary will will be probably in the high 80s low 90s we so um i think we tried to walk a line there to open the door to qualifications for of diverse and varied experiences um but also signaled that we do appreciate the extra level of schooling and or certification okay number 10 organizers coordinate an assistant program reviews audits and surveys uh hiring i mean we have a director of human resources why would this individual be involved directly with hiring well i think the part about recruiting and building pipelines to

062um expand where we're drawing candidates from i don't think they would be doing the hiring i think they would be assisting with that part and reagan i don't know if you want to jump in there no that was that was perfect you know to be involved in the conversations when we're recruiting and and to serve on committees when available i think barb brought up a good point could you just explain what an administrative certificate is for those of us that don't know sure so in order to be [Music] an administrator considered an administrator within the state of new york you have to have one of a handful of certificates just like it's like a teaching certificate only for an administrative level and they can be building levels certificates district level certificates business administrators certificates it

063signifies a level of course work and also the participation in an internship and passing several exams is that something that we should consider making a requirement i mean it really sounds like they're going to be in a very high demand position that is really like an administrative position is that something we should make a requirement it will narrow the pool that's really the only reason to keep the door kind of open there um barbara but isn't this an administrative position we listed it as such so wouldn't that individual have to have a certificate an administrative certificate i was puzzled by that because this isn't just a you know a regular teacher position this is an administrative position well yes and no it could be um this individual won't be supervising anyone which is one of

064the reasons why you are required to have an administrative certificate again i think we're trying to have a a wide casting net and an administrative certification in education is not necessarily that so i i think we look for expertise and skill sets um i don't know that you have to have a certification in order to have that expertise and skill set but you said this person would be part of your administrative team and i'm on your team administration i consider cliff noonie and danielle poirier members of our leadership team they're not administratively certified however they are definitely district leaders yeah okay um cena and then ben i just wanted to say that i i think leaving it open is is going to be an advantage that there's already a small pool of people that we're

065going to be looking for and then you know the types of questions being asked already seems unwelcoming and if you know someone was going to be looking to work here they would just have to watch you know a few board meetings to realize you know what they're coming into so i think um you know i think we need to think about that if we wanted to set this person up for success some of these uh the points that people are making in questions and i understand that asking about the administrative piece is a reasonable question but this is also an inaugural position has nobody ever been in this position before at gilderland and it's brand new i also think that yes it would be nice to have you know a master's degree etc but i

066think we all know just because someone has a degree doesn't make them a professional and good at their job ken i agree with the very first thing that siema said in the very last thing that sema said um i think that we should leave it open to um more possibility you know i think that this is an opportunity to bring in um a different voice who's going to look at things differently and uh i almost want to take away the the requirement that they have five years of teaching experience because you know someone baked into the system can't always change ben that's why the or related field is there to give some some level of flexibility uh barbara um my question i i'm unfamiliar with what ethical studies are i haven't heard of a major

067in ethical studies is that like philosophy or what what are ethical studies that are listed as one of the possibilities i'm sure there are programs out there that focus on ethics so i think it's not necessarily a major but if there were someone with a background where they looked at those kinds of issues it doesn't need to be there exactly barb where i work there's a biomedical ethics program so people are getting i don't know if it's certification or degree but that's their whole program well i have taken a lot of notes and sema i have your comments and i've got nidraz and um elizabeth floyd mayors why don't i take another stab at all of this and send it back i think blocka do you have your hand raised or is that from well

068i'm sorry blanca it's fine i was just gonna say that i agree with sema and ben and that i would be opposed to making the pool smaller and in general i'm opposed to valuing people strictly on what degree they have so is everyone okay with my plan to massage this based on the various feedback and try to get it back out soon we are hopeful to post this soon and the posting will probably be i'll work with regan in the posting not quite as much on the specific responsibilities and more on the kind of the philosophical ideas that we heard in some of our public comments too so we can work on both of those and get your feedback thank you and i think that's it for my report i'm just tracking dr wells do

069you want to mention the in the um in the consent agenda the new transportation i did thank you so much when the board voted on the personnel agenda as part of the consent agenda we now have a new director of transportation and his name is in hosuh and he comes to us from the albany city schools and prior that as the director of transportation prior to that he was the director of transportation in berlin and before that he was at north colonie so he is uh energetic and enthusiastic and looking forward to getting a start here in guilderland and we're very happy to have him great thank you dr wiles next we have board president information i have two items the first are a set of policies a through f um does anyone on the

070policy committee want to draw our attention to any of those specifically i saw some that looked like there was just some word smithing i i guess i had one question i don't know if you want to talk about it now with the homework piece i just didn't know if you got um if you did homework on that homework piece like did you ask um get feedback from teachers or anybody like other administrators about that um we were definitely always get feedback you know from the stakeholders and if you notice the the major change is sort of a reduction in the expected homework time and this was in response to particularly blanca wanting to have no homework whatever and we figure we'll take baby steps because there are districts that have actually um eliminated most homework

071but we're trying to make it possible that the homework that that is given out to students is productive it's not just busy work that um you know it might involve project work over a period of time or whatever but not simply homework you know for homework sake um we also really want the homework um to have feedback and if you if a child does some homework then the following day or within a day or so um we want them to have feedback on that particular event that you know that they uh proceeded with so as i said not major changes but sort of little baby steps towards you know perhaps cutting the time uh even further maybe in the future rebecca i think the reduction in homework is fantastic i'm just curious how it's enforced

072so in the high school kids have multiple different classes multiple different teachers if the goal is two hours cumulative maximum per night how can you possibly enforce that i think we talked about in committee this really is going to mean some work with our instructional administrators who work within their departments um but i don't know that we'll ever be able to um [Music] get it perfect you know for but i do think to raise awareness about it you know people tend to do a lot of assignments that end like right at the end of the quarter or the five week part and maybe to build some awareness across this across the departments that let's not have everything due like all at once at the end of a semester but i i do think it's going

073to be a work in progress to enforce that it's easier at the middle school when when they work in teams so they know you know obviously they're planning together and at the elementary level it's also much more doable but right rebecca that'll be the heavy lift on that thank you wonka um just in response to your question about stakeholders seema um marie was pretty vehement about us not stepping on the teacher's toes in terms of you know what did you call it murray something freedom oh academic freedom academic freedom so we did try to um respect that and take that into account with the policy thank you any other things that you want to the policy committee that you want us to look at in particular or no i think the other things are pretty

074self-explanatory thank you and so we'll move on unless people have questions we'll move on to letter b these are the proposed board of education meeting dates uh for next year so i think next meeting they'll be voted on this is just up for information does anyone have any feedback all right thank you so we'll move on to action items uh first is school business management i'll turn it to neil thank you dr rivera first item in this evening is the approval of the resolution and declaration showing the tabulation of votes cast at the annual budget vote and election meeting and just as a reminder the budget passed the 1754 residents voting yes 834 voting no on the bus purchase 1803 residents voted yes 784 voted no in terms of the board of education candidates seymour

075rivera received 1715 votes blocked and gonzalez parker received 1 488 votes nathan saborn received 1 407 votes and luciano alliance he received one thousand three hundred and twenty eight votes okay the motion to approve the uh resolution and tabulation of votes ben second judy any questions or comments i'll just throw it out there since he'll be on the board at sabrin i know that everyone's saying it wrong nathan's apron but um any other questions or comments you all in favor okay passes 7-0 next item is the approval of a bond resolution authorizing the purchase of various school buses and vehicles and that resolution is before you the total cost is one million thirty three thousand two hundred dollars and for the buses which is the majority of that cost we do receive state aid and

076about half the cost for the buses and this does require a roll call vote as well you know so when do you do the roll caller vote for this yeah do you want to do a motion first yeah i'm sorry can i have them to approve the um the let's see what is the bus the bond resolution for the school buses uh blanca snapping booty ready any questions no okay go ahead lynn sorry that's okay uh mr alonzi yes dr butterfield mrs frederick this is frederico yes mr ghost yes mrs gonzalez parker yes this is oh this person dr rupira yes this is slack yes thank you emotion passes 7-0 uh next oh sorry this is neil thanks uh next we have a a recommendation to approve the tax certiary settlement with oxford heights llc

077and this is an agreement between the oxford heights the town and the school district can i have a motion to approve the resolution barb a second julie or sorry judy any questions or comments we're all in favor pass the sevens more uh next is a resolution to approve the consulting agreement with needham risk management resources group llc for the upcoming school year in connection with health safety and risk management services can i have a motion to approve the agreement with needham risk management judy second rebecca any questions all in favor pass the 7-0 uh next is a resolution to approve change orders in the capital project for bunkhoff general contractors we have one at the high school or both at the high school one for the replacement of a collapsed storm pipe and the other

078four window replacement into classrooms can i have a motion to approve the change orders then second blanca any questions all in favor class of 7-0 okay thank you next is a recommendation to improve the agreement with siena college to make available college in the high school courses to students for college credit during the 2021-22 school year can i have a motion to approve the siena college and the high school agreement blanca ii and barb any questions all in favor oh bar did you have a question sorry uh it said it was 250 dollars for the i think it's for the semester for the four credits is damn you know that or not i i don't know for sure but i can certainly check into that okay it's a very good deal if that's the case

079yes thank you all in favor pass the 7-0 uh next is recommendation to approve the formation of the focus staff scholarship award this scholarship will recognize a graduating senior for their sustained growth during their tenure in the focus program can i have a motion to approve the focus staff scholarship barb second rebecca any questions all in favor blanca did you vote sorry that's the 7-0 and next is a recommendation for the formation of the gabriella casado scholarship award the student selected to receive this award demonstrates a love of art through their imagination and creativity and plans to pursue their passion for art after graduation can i have a motion to approve the uh gabriella cusada scholarship award barb i'm sorry blanca a second barb any questions all in favor pass the 7-0 nexus resolution to

080approve budgetary transfers totaling one hundred eleven thousand two hundred and seventy six dollars as noted can i have a motion to approve the uh fund transfers judy the second rebecca any questions all in favor motion pass zero then finally this evening um we have several donations that we've received uh the first was a monetary donation from special olympics new york to help support unified bowling our second is the clarinet three student guitars and a student ukulele from barbara and soro the third is a bell kit from paul rimmer and finally a trumpet digital camera two film cameras and one zoom lens from andrew linehan can i have a motion to approve the donations judy second rebecca any questions or comments thank you for all the donations appreciated all in favor passes 7-0 thank you neil

081next we'll move on to superintendent action dr wiles thank you dr rivera i just have one item this evening and this is um a memorandum of agreement seeking approval from the board who authorized me to execute a proposed moa with the gilderland teaching teachers association along with lenoir aldi snow richard lasalle and marianne libertucci and this is regarding the change in retirement date to may 15th for this year only can i have a motion to approve the moa blancas nick and rebecca any questions all in favor pass a 7-0 thank you dr wiles next we'll move on to board committee reports start with audit ben audit committee met on may 12 to review the timeline for our district audit for 2020 the 2020-2021 school year um and we have no further meetings scheduled thank you

082ben uh business practices we have not met and do not have a meeting scheduled thank you and communication um we have not met since the last meeting and as far as i know i don't think we have anything scheduled uh policy we met last week and you have the fruits of our labors and we're meeting again on thursday thank you barb and equity and diversity i know kelly's not here but i know there's a meeting tomorrow at 7 p.m so we'll move on to uh board issues ideas and i'm sorry no we have public comment first so there's two public comments here and then i think there's two more in email so i will go ahead and read these public comments um okay so public comment number one dear editor in the article gcst proposes

083105 million budget includes diverse administrator in the april 22nd 2021 edition of the newspaper i have concerns and questions about the diversity administrator so this public comment is also directed at the gcsd's board for clarification the district proposes to allocate 113 800 salary and benefits for a position to develop policies to advance diversity equity inclusion and to implement such policies apparently this is to fulfill an expectation of the board of regents so i ask what will be the job duties and scope of services for this position what will be the measures that will be used to know when or how much diversity or inclusion or equity is or are achieved it seems that this position may continue as an expense year after year is this the plan in the natural order of living beings animal

084or human diversity is challenged by the observable fact that birds of a feather flock together fish swim in schools cattle and herds turkeys and herds whales and pods and infinite so it seems that forest diversity and maybe inclusion will be resisted by the students because it is not their natural inclination so how will policies be implemented furthermore the civil rights act of 1964 forbids discrimination on the basis of race color religion sex or national origin in hiring promoting and firing doesn't this law take precedence over the region's expectations at least as far as staffing goes this year of the pandemic has been difficult for everyone including teachers and most profoundly on our young students after all one is only young once so class time missed or denied is gone forever yet the district can apply

085for all or part 2.8 million from the american rescue plan for the next two summers should not summer school be part of the budget to help our students catch up what they missed in a 2018 ranking of schools worldwide china is number one for reading math and science hong kong is next in finland the united states are way down at 26th source id populish id population reviews we must do better my final comment is over the years public schools have taken on many responsibilities that once upon a time were those of parents things like breakfast lunch summer summer feeding perhaps possibly pre-kindergarten and importantly teaching the social graces of please thank you and respect for the property of others it seems right that teachers should teach and not need to act as surrogate parents or

086disciplinarians we have had ptas parent-teacher conferences but has gcsd done much or can it do anything to help or maybe push parents of difficult children to do better at their most important task of being good parents sincerely harry carlson public comment number two hello i wanted to let the board know that the beginning in september of 2018 my child was discouraged from choosing college track courses that would allow him to pursue an advanced regents diploma when picking his advanced math and science classes as a transfer student to ghs in ninth grade i spoke with his teachers guidance counselor assistant principal and vice principal each year many times over the past three years about this issue i learned this year after discussions with parents that white children who transferred in with the same or lower performance

087did not face the resistance to advanced placement that my gifted child did this year i spoke to barbara frederico and ben goes several times about the issue and they have yet to resolve this for my child here is an issue about systemic racism at ghs and months later neither of you have addressed it please come up with a plan to rectify the harm that has been done to my child's academic career i also want to say if i think you are prejudiced or racist it's based on fact i have called several comments by board members racist with supporting facts facts are not assumptions a reasonable person would find these facts as an example of racism or bias me as a black mother felt disrespected on the basis of my race and i spoke out about

088it and created an opportunity for understanding if you chose recently a retired new york state trooper engaged in a discussion with me saying that blacks had no right to complain about the killings of unarmed black people by the police as he stated we blacks killed each other more than the police did his opinion is based on false information and surmises that blacks are inherently violent more violent than other races which is not true he then told me a lot of other racist myths that facts lie absentee fathers laziness unqualified hires through affirmative action presenting ugly argument about why black deaths can be joked about on social media because we aren't worth respecting i do not want those kind of discussions in my children's in my child's classroom right now those discussions are ongoing just as

089they were when ben goes had his argument against homosexuality in class discussing a person's value is not a debate it's devaluing and disgusting debating strawberry or cherry is appropriate as no one is blaming the strawberry for being less desirable please just stop i'm begging for every child in your school stop karen lewis i think we have two more public comments ryland that are an email let me open them up this one is from lucy chesley good evening i'm writing with the interest of finding out more details pertaining to the universal pre-k that was mentioned by dr wiles summer's right around the corner and as parents we need to make a decision about child care for our four-year-old son for the fall i would appreciate any insight you have for us as well as other community

090members currently we need to pay a minimum of 50 percent of our daycare's weekly tuition over the summer in order to hold our sun spot in his classroom for the fall if we knew whether or not he would be enrolled in pre-k gilderlyn it could possibly save us the added expenses i'm sure many other families are in similar positions at the present time i appreciate any information you can give us in a timely manner sincerely lucy chesley and the last public comment here this is from andrew genovese i think we as a society generally miss the point of ben's commentary and i think we as a society are too quick to judge and label each other i believe he was trying to support rights of folks to a fair and open hearing of their opinions

091even if others may disagree with them or find them offensive many controversial opinions have either strengthened the ones they challenge or become accepted this has often been true in science and politics and we should all be careful of the labels we put on people they are always incomplete and often inaccurate we may certainly call out ideas and behaviors but people must always be treated with respect isn't that after all what equity diversity inclusion is all about andrew genovese member of the equity and diversity committee okay i think that's the last public comment do we have anymore linda no okay all right next on the agenda board issues ideas and sharing does anybody have anything um to share ben i can't tell if your hand is up or if you're just resting no it's not a

092book oh rebecca i just wanted to comment on how moved and impressed i was by um the recent anti-racism rally that many of us attended last friday at the high school this was completely student driven it was so well organized it seemed that every audience member from the students to the adults really kept wrapped attention throughout the whole presentation but even more importantly i was really moved by multiple students really articulately speaking their truth and voicing their experiences that occurred both inside and outside of school i think it's important i think we all agree with this that as a board we actively listen to those students real life experiences confronting racism both overtly and more insidiously the students comments were really in line with what we've heard from recent graduates and from community members and

093underscores the need really for us to validate those students stories of bullying and racism so i just wanted to thank ghs for inviting us to that and then totally unrelated um i was curious about the preschool planning only because i've also had many questions from the community in terms of daycare and preschool preparation i'm happy to comment on that so i'll just provide a tiny bit of context completely to our surprise we were allocated about six hundred and forty thousand dollars to offer pre-k um it appeared on our aid run when the budget was uh state budget was approved so we are working to put together a program with partners though we don't have space within our own buildings to offer a program for four-year-olds so today we released the request for proposals to the

094community we both advertised and sent it directly to several community partners who offer pre-k programs and so we'll be seeking their responses to our rfp it's due on june 11th and we'll look to see if there are qualified providers with whom we can partner that process just takes time however so by the time we review the written proposals we'll need to likely have some level of interviews with some of those partners and then award a contract it's really tight and i feel very much for our families who are trying to make decisions about what to do in the fall because i just can't predict who the providers will be or any of those things so i i don't know what else to say except we're trying to move as fast as we possibly can um

095to get um partnerships established so these funds can be used to support four-year-olds in our community and i know that's not helpful for the family who wrote in but we're going as quickly as we can just did not see this coming wonka i was also going to ask that but um additionally marie i know you mentioned what the next step is in terms of the turf field but for folks listening at home who who wrote in so after that committee is formed then what happens so the committee will work through the month of june and will bring to the board on july 1st some recommendations for what a capital project could look like to go before the voters in the fall probably october or november it'll be up to the board on july 1st to

096determine if they're going to accept those recommendations in some or in part or with some variations once if the board does approve going forward then there will be a lot of work with our architects and others to get this ready to go for a vote in the fall and then you know the voters will determine what happens next if it is if it's approved then we're also going to need to work quickly with state education department in order to get approval so we can begin this work during the summer of 2022 and some will spill over into 2023 but the turf since you asked about that would happen in the summer of 2022 along with the um the work with the high school track that would become one bigger project okay thank you i think

097it goes without saying everybody knows but i'm all in on this turf field i think the time has come for it my uh youngest child plays field hockey and she's one thank god for another parent in the district that drove her to the turf field that's being rented ualbany so that i can attend today so um those comments that came in that's all very very true bart if you're still looking for volunteers for that committee i mean i'd be glad to serve thank you barbara i just wanted to second rebecca's comments about the anti-hate rally on friday i was also really encouraged and honestly felt hopeful just in general for the future because these students i think you know they did a great job and they chose to be there on a friday afternoon in

098like 80 degree weather on pavement it was so hot but they were enthused and they um they just did a great job and i i don't know who all the advisors are for those clubs but i just want to thank them too i think the whole thing turned out really well i was really excited and proud and i think there's a video i think there's it's going to be to play tomorrow at tomorrow's meeting dr yes i saw the sneak preview of it earlier today it's still in draft form but the plan is to release it um tomorrow um i think the first release will be at the equity and diversity committee meeting but then it's going to be out on our social media channel channels it's really really well done i just have one

099more comment about the um the dei position i know this is just a draft and i'm trying not to be overly critical but i i know everybody's looking at it and i really am you know hopeful about this position so i think people are really looking carefully at the language that's used and um when i saw central office administrators it just made me think oh well we call our um district uh district office like i've never heard it referred to as central office so to me just makes it made me think it was not as thoughtfully put together and i know it's just a draft but i just hope that you know effort goes into crafting that well so we you know get the right person blanca um i was just gonna circle back um

100to what you and rebecca said about the activity the student rally um the students shared a lot of very meaningful and important stories that and at some points were difficult to hear their own experiences things they've gone through and i know there have been inquiries into the need for the diversity and equity committee and this position because we don't have enough data perhaps we've we've gotten those questions and i just want to say that those students provided what i would consider to be qualitative data their experiences are very powerful and speak to the need for not only the committee but the position totally unrelated i just want to report on a seminar that nisba put on on civic readiness and it was extremely well done [Music] the genesis of the workshop was the fact that

101following sputnik and then kennedy's challenge for us to catch up in the space race basically civic readiness our education was not stressed at all and that the stem subjects were brought to the fore and they shared statistics that one in four individuals that are tested don't even know that there are three branches of government and a whole wealth of other statistics things that you would think would be basic information to uh to a society and so the regents are are desperately working on trying to beef up civics education and they have produced a pilot program for this year called civics capstone project and it's a a way that youngsters at the high school level [Music] can increase their civic readiness and two of the most interesting people that presented was a an educator from shen

102who basically said that um what they require of teachers in their district the teachers should be able to argue both sides of any question and students should not know personal political preferences of their teachers and she stressed that intently and she said that they really stress dialogue discussing difficult issues and getting students to become critical thinkers the other thing that they they pointed out is that there's a lot of student involvement um so that the kids sort of become involved in in the democratic process and they mentioned that there are students on the hiring committees and i know on occasion we've had students on our hiring committees i don't know if we have them on all but one of the things that they find quite valuable is that there is a student representative you know

103on the school board and i know i think sema you've you've mentioned it a few times and we've never really discussed it in detail or found out exactly how one goes about doing it or even discussed the issue but she said it's a it's a valuable example of student involvement and the gentleman from syracuse was mentioning that even little children um you know the k to five kids uh can be involved in learning about what he called food deserts that some of their elementary students were involved in what he called the scarf project whereas they the kids brought in scarves and they placed them around syracuse it where the homeless population um dwelled and so that for winter you know these individuals you know would have a little bit of warmth and he said that

104in the middle at their middle school the focus is heavily on the constitution so that when the kids get get out of there they really understand their government in in the various things in the constitution and in high school he says they call it active citizenship um they have a youth advisory council and it follows what they call the national issues forum an issues based approach but again getting kids knowing who their senators are you know who who represents them how are they represented so this capstone project as i said um a number of school districts have applied to become you know pilot uh projects here i don't know if we have or not but um it sounds like a very very interesting concept and you know as you look at the world around us

105and the fact that so few individuals really know anything about their government these days um as i said it was it was a very worthwhile uh seminar and it will be posted because it was a free seminar uh on the nisba website you know if anybody would like to follow up thanks barb and i agree like you mentioned i've been saying for a while i know the student can't vote but to have a student rep on the board i think would be great um so maybe we can talk about that later blogger yeah i was just gonna say how can we make that happen i think i think we should maybe that would be something for the policy committee to look at you are happy to be in charge of the policy barb um so

106it's something that goes back many many years probably when you first got on the board but i thought someone had said that you have to put a resolution like before the public for this to happen um but again that that's a vague memory so maybe marie can refresh my mind because i think she's the one that mentioned that that is something that the board itself can't do but either marie or jeff would guide us you know along the way yeah i have to refresh my own my mind and do a little homework yeah so we can check that out and see what that requires um any other word sharing ideas or issues barb is that from before or no oh sorry okay that's okay all right so i think i need a motion then to

107um do i need a motion to adjourn and then a motion to enter executive session i don't know how we do it on this motion to adjourn barb second blanca all in favor i passed a 7-0 thank you everybody have a good night