Haldane Board of Education - November 4, 2025

001Welcome to the November 4th, 2025 Haldane Board of Education business meeting. Please stand for the pledge. I >> alian to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice. >> Okay. Vice President Valentine here. >> Trusty McNall >> here. >> Trusty Copper >> here. >> Trusty Clemenson >> here. >> Student member Sanders >> here. >> Um, approving the agenda. We had a couple of changes, but I think everybody got flagged in time. So have the recommended action. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the agenda as written. May I have a motion? >> Move. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Any oppose? Um all right. We the

002next meeting of the Helian Central School District will be on December 2nd, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the middle school high school library. Uh we get a bit of a break. Um and we're going to hear about the findings of our transportation audit which should be information packed. Kind of looking forward to that one. Um and I just wanted to say, you know, we're in it. The first quarter of school ends this week. Um, and as a person whose role in the district doesn't require me to live the work, I guess on a daily basis, um, I just wanted to express my gratitude for the administration, the teachers, and the staff, and everybody who is in the trenches with the kids all day long. Um, and I just I really I think I can speak

003for everybody when I say we love hearing about it. Um, that's why we're here. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Oh, public hearing first. That's okay. We have a public hearing. Um this is we've approved the hang, let me pull it up here. We've already approved the um uh districtwide safety and emergency management plan, but we had a change. We have an update to it. Um so the state requires us to hold a public hearing so we can hear comments from the public. Um, and the updated the update was made public on October 1st, so everybody had a chance to look at it if they wanted to. Um, so I hereby open the meeting, public meeting. And Gail, you're going to give us an update on what? >> Sure. So, every year we do have

004to approve our district-wide safety plan. This year, all uh districts in the state also had to include information on cardiac emergency response plan. So, that's details on where our AEDs are and which individuals are trained within the district. So, the plan is pretty much the same. We just added that one section to the plan. >> Okay. Are there any comments or questions from anybody? Okay. Um I think we can move to close the public hearing and we will vote on it later on to get it set. And now >> Okay. So, I just had to bring tonight hot off the press the updated uh latest version of Heling Horizons. I love this publication. And I just want to thank Megan for all of her hard work in terms of making sure that she's reaching out

005to each of our schools, to teachers, to the administrators, to students. Um, I especially appreciate that we're really trying to bring forward this year the housing essentials. So hopefully you if you've had a chance to go through, you'll see every month now we're trying to highlight each of the essentials and the teaching and learning that's connected. So one thing that's highlighted in here is an experience that one of our eighth grade teachers, Christopher Blair, is involved in. He's involved in the Hudson Valley writing project out of New Paul. So was just which is just a phenomenal professional learning for educators, but I've had the chance to see him in the classroom with the students. And it's just another way to bring your writing really to elevate it to to [clears throat] the next level. So

006he was asked to teach a Saturday seminar last Saturday about including jazz music as a way to help students use improv in their writing. And so the lesson that I saw in his classroom, he had music on, >> students were writing, but then he was having them think about how to revise as maybe a jazz player might when they're playing their song. And it was just like a very neat way to connect writing to music. So he was being highlighted and actually taught a seminar at the Hudson Valley Project in New last weekend and he is highlighted in our house. So I just wanted to kind of bring that forward. Lots of great things going on in his classroom. Um, what else? So, it's been a great, you know, couple months. I can't believe it's

007November already. I have experienced my first Halloween here in Haldane. So, it was wonderful standing at the top of the hill to watch the parade. And only here in Haldane can you really go from prek to grade 12 in just a line. So, the little ones are dressed in their costumes. Their principal is walking, you know, big smile on Christine's face as she's walking up the hill. parents aligned on the streets and the kids are walking up big smiles coming up to visit the high school and the high school teacher. So, it was just so much fun to see that. And then we also had our trunk or treat at the um at the high school after to kind of help support the high school seniors. So, again, it was great to see our oldest

008kids interacting with the younger kids. I was not here at night, but I hear wonderful things about what happens on is it parrot street? Yes. Right. So, all things good for um Halloween. And then just continuing with some authentic experiences. I had the chance to attend a middle school yoga class um on Monday and Mave, am I saying that right now? Okay. So, Mave is the instructor and she's been here for many, many years in Haldane and it's wonderful just to see her engaging with the kids and you heard a lot of I can't touch my toes and I'm cracking. I'm like, I can't touch my toes and I'm cracking too, but let's try a little bit. So, it was great to actually physically be on the mat with the kids. So, I really enjoyed

009that. And then I'm taking a a hike with what do we say, Max? eighth grade is that on Thursday. So, that'll be fun to go experience that with them. And then I'm really looking forward and I want to thank Julia and her staff for all of the work ahead of time. We're looking forward to welcoming our Garrison and Manitou students tomorrow morning for their annual tour, the current eighth graders, and then their parents tomorrow night. Um, just looking at the presentation that was created, it's amazing how and we know that the high school does this so well, but everything that you were able to capture within the presentation like lots of things to be proud of and we're looking forward to sharing that to with Garrison and Manitou. And then last but not least, we

010had our conference day today. I did add this in the board update on Friday. Lots of great learning in different ways. And so we had the opportunity in the morning to come together as a staff and we talked about wellness and I led just a brief activity reminding staff that if we don't take care of ourselves first we can't be the best version of ourselves for our students and families. So that was kind of the message and then all throughout the day there were lots of different workshops at the high school level looking at our new science looking at different standards in each of the different content areas. Um, we had some sessions on student health at middle school and then elementary was diving into the new ELA program, the benchmark program and there were

011many more activities. AI workshops and technology as well. So, great day of learning and I think it's important the community knows when we have a day off from instruction. Our teachers and administrators are still learning so many different things to then bring that back to the classroom. So, that's a nice overview to get us started tonight. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. And now we get to hear from our exclusive student board member Matt Sanders. >> So I met with Mrs. Jamman and Dr. Silky over the past month and they gave me some interesting updates with the elementary school. We they had their student council elections and they got a board of education lays on May Schneck. So, I'm going to be in contact with her when I meet with elementary school. They had an

012author visit from Nancy Castaldo, who's the author of Whales in the City, and they held a read a readaloud in the small gym. They did their big apple crunch, which was sponsored by the PTA Garden Committee with Apple donations from Fishkill Farms. And they are having a book week supported by the Hian School Foundation. And they passed a grant so all students can purchase books. So, every kid leaves with one new book. And as Dr. Duffy said, the Halloween parade and Truck Treat was a great success. And some upcoming events for the elementary school is they are hosting a movie night on November 7th. They're watching the live action How to Train Your Dragon. And then yesterday, the Dia de los Muertos celebration. Had an excellent turnout. And then with the middle school, there's an

013eighth grade trip to Minowaska State Park. And I was talking to Dr. Silky and she's her and doctor her and coach C are trying to incorporate more hiking and outdoor education. And also it's good for eighth graders because it's preparing them for when they go to Frost Valley later in the spring. And with the high school college application season has begun, we had 14 students apply early decision to schools, including myself. and then 44 applied early action and many students were working right up to the November 1 deadline. So we wanted to give a special thanks to Mrs. Cotchin and Mr. Rosa and all the teachers who dedicated time outside of the school day to write recommendation letters and Mr. Sniffing and Miss Julius. And then uh we have a Manitu Garrison visit scheduled for

014tomorrow and students will begin with a meet and greet in the auditorium followed by a campus tour and then a student panel presentation and lunch. And then with athletics and clubs, our student verse faculty game for benefiting the senior class got rescheduled or maybe it's sorry the junior class got rescheduled to November 12th. Model UN leaves for their annual Yukon trip this Friday. Chaperoning our Miss Core and Miss McGrath. How the History Club and Youth Court are co-hosting a Veterans Day triviaable at the VFW on November 14th where students and veterans will compete together in teams. And then Leo and Raar Club is hosting its 10th annual Kongsgiving drive accepting donations from K to 12. And we're having members of the club go into the elementary schools and kind of explain to them what it

015is, what kind of what happens during holidays to dogs and cats and pounds and stuff. And then due to increased need, student council, they we have an annual K through 12 donation program for Thanksgiving, but we've increased its reach this year. And each grade is assigned to specific food items while teachers donate turkeys. And lastly, we wanted to also give a special thanks to Dr. Eric Cuper for visiting the high school to educate students about the science of opioids and provide Narcan training. And that's all I have for you guys. That's a lot. >> Lots going on. >> No, it's good. I just wanted to reiterate too that, you know, at any point during these meetings, any any presentation, please ask questions or give commentary. You know, you are we value your voice because you're

016you're in this every day. So please don't hesitate to ask or say anything. Um and now we have our special presentation on technology with our director of technology >> water. Hopefully it will not attack me in the middle of this. >> And as Leah's coming up I just I want to just acknowledge so she's been in this role for quite some time as a teacher on special assignment. And tonight this is her first presentation officially as a director of technology. And that's just something I don't want you to ever forget. your very first presentation. It's a big deal. We're very proud of you and even hearing today from teachers just the aspect of customer service and you mentioned a little, but I've also kind of heard from teachers and administrators having you in this role

017and the work you've done and other work they want to be able to continue to do. It's just a wonderful thing and people are very pleased with the work you've done and the sky's is the limit as we go. >> Sounds good. I love it. Thank you. >> So, I wanted to thank you guys for this opportunity to do this. It's been a I think my last presentation to the board was maybe three years ago at this point. So, it's been a while. So, I'm kind of looking forward to give you guys um an update. And again, yes, my title's a little different. So, it's kind of exciting. Um I feel like I don't know everybody in here or not that I don't know, but I don't know if you know my know me. So,

018[clears throat] I thought I would kind of bring you along my journey like this looks like so long ago. 2001 is when I started a housing. It was a long time ago obviously in the classroom. um teaching [clears throat] biology and then back in I can't believe how long it's been 2014 2015 is when I uh started [clears throat] this position. They had me I laugh because I was hired as technology integration specialist if you those of you that are around that remember but I really became acting uh director of technology managing the budget and PD and all the wonderful things that come with that title. Um so I've been working in this position for about 10 years. went back for my masters to get my administrative degree. Um, and then officially this July joined

019the administrative team which has been awesome and I thank everybody for that opportunity and for doing that for me. It's the biggest piece I think people have asked like what's the difference? Um, I think the [clears throat] biggest piece is I'm part of a team. I was sort I didn't realize how like I was sort of like on this island by myself not being part I wasn't part of the teachers anymore. I wasn't part of the admin and I also sort of wasn't privy to everything that was happening in the district. I was um I just you know things would happen I'd hear about them and now I'm like I get to hear which makes sense right technology is kind of the backbone so it's it's a joy to hear and be a part of

020things that we're doing. So I love the I love the change. Um this took me down a really a rabbit hole. Julia is going to love this because I this is what I did. I I didn't go back to 2001. I wanted to but you guys didn't want to wait that long for me to tell you all about the things that have changed. But I said let me go back to at least 2010 to see where we're at. So, this is fascinating to me. In 2010, we were only purchasing what's 4.5 megabits of bandwidth. And what that means is we only had one lane of traffic. Basically, our data had one lane of traffic, 4.5 megabits, and not a whole lot going on in here. We were one to one iPads in high school, which

021I think is very progressive of us and pretty exciting. We only had a handful of touchscreen TVs. We only had tech support twice a week back then. That was it. Um and it was kind of like just it doesn't like 15 years ago really doesn't seem that long ago. 2015 is when I joined the technology I became tech whatever I was integration specialist. We bumped up to a whopping 150 megabits. We got a couple more lanes in the data path. We only had 25 Chromebooks when I started in this position which now we have over 800 Chromebooks that we have. It's crazy how much has changed. Oh, I didn't mention 2010. I don't know if Julia Sniffen remembers, Julia Sniffen and Jen Wilson wrote a technology for dummies that was published and handed out to

022the staff in 2010. I really wanted to show it to you guys, but I only have a 20-minute limit. But it was it was like pictures of technology. >> Yeah. Had it was hysterical. It was how to turn it on. It was like really old desktops with like dinosaurs. Like I just I guess like sometimes you don't realize how much time has passed and now I'm like this is crazy. But that I we got to unearth that. It's pretty funny. I want to show that to you. Um, oh, I also found a history of technology that Dr. Dina Tally wrote in 2007. He wrote a history of housing technology dating back to like I don't know, I think he went back as 1975 and up. So, it was fascinating. It was a fun rabbit hole.

023This was a rabbit hole, >> but I dig I digress. So, 2020, uh, what happened? COVID, [clears throat] which I want to talk about, but we went immediately went onetoone Chromebooks. We had to like just get Chromebooks in students hands, get them home. We uh upped the bandwidth when we had 500 megabits. We upped Edgitech to five days a week because now we had all this other technology that we needed to support for. And then here we are today. A,000 megabits of bandwidth is what we currently purchase. K2's one to one iPads. We have 1:1 Chromebooks, grades 3 through 11. Um, the seniors are BYOD and we talked about doing that so that they have some ability to have their own device that I'm sure they enjoy that and that way it's this hopefully for

024some of them it's the same device that they're taking to college. Um, we felt like it made sense for them to be comfortable with that device. Now we've got a touchscreen TV in every single classroom. It took me a while to get rid of them. It was like whack-a-ole. We had projectors in every classroom when I started. Um, and we have ade twice a week. So we have two gentlemen uh and almost technically seven days of edge tax. So big changes and our bandwidth it's a highway with lots of I only put one free lane but we have a lot more than that. [laughter] Um on any given time we we usually renew our Verizon contract every two or three years and Verizon usually helps us like determine where we're at in bandwidth and if

025we need to increase it. We've never we barely touch half of a thousand. We really don't do a lot of traffic. So we've been in good shape. I haven't seen it since AI has started to come into place. I'll be interested when we re-evaluate that. But we right now have two lines. We have a 1 gigabyte with Verizon and a gigabyte with Optimum. So we have a backup line which has been a saving grace because if we lose Verizon, people don't even know that Verizon's out because it rolls over automatically to Optimum and vice versa. That there's a huge uh piece we got that helped us kind of be smooth. So I thought I'd be interested in bring you down memory lane a little bit. Um, so when [clears throat] it comes to technology, obviously

026the backbone of everything we do is the district mission and goals and the housing essentials. So everything that you know the PD, the software we bring in, the devices, um, the tech plan, which I'll talk about, we use this as our infrastructure, our backbone to sort of build off of. So it's a big piece of everything that we do for tech. And the other big piece is, it's funny, I I promise my sales I never use my cards. I always do and I'm like, here I go. I'm not using them. [clears throat] But the [laughter] the uh other big piece that we always talk about is these new state computer science standards. Um they're new for us and it was important for us to kind of figure out if there's a a gap. So I've

027been working towards um doing like a gap analysis to try to figure out what standards we're covering, what standards we're not covering, so that we can kind of come up with a plan to see where those gaps are and try to focus on some standards that we need to do. So technology does the missions and goals essentials and we also really focus on the housing I'm sorry the New York state computer standards. So one of the questions that the board asked me um specifically is they were like let's talk about technology in the housing classroom like what does it look like in the classroom on any given day what are students doing? Um so what I did is I reached out to teachers walked around the building I met rate levels. It was really fun

028actually working with a lot of people got these are actually authentic our kids to you know working with their iPads and I was able to gather some data regarding like what the like the day in the life of a housing student is in technology. So the first got back to me is the iPads. The iPads they this is K1 um these iPads are mainly used they they do a lot of station work obviously in the lower grades and so the iPads are used for stations when they're doing phonics and blending boards. the kids kind of like rotate through stations. Maybe they're doing math and then they go with the iPad. The um teachers had mentioned to me that the uh iPads are so much easier for the kids to manipulate the touchcreen. They can like

029use their fingers to expand text with the blending boards. It was kind of fun. I saw the app they play with. Um they're able to just sort of grab pieces of words, put them together, and then the iPad can read it to them. So, really kind of great stuff. NWA which is our benchmark assessment. Um the kids are struggling in that grade level with the trackpads. Trackpads are hard. Like when we first brought in computer-based testing I don't know when it first started maybe seven years ago we first had to I think we had to start it with third grade as like a test run and those poor guys were really struggling with minute because they had to move things around and they just really struggled with the trackpad and sometimes the mouse even makes

030it worse. So, it was agreed upon that we would use iPads in lower grades to help them and then that way third grade would be the first year uh second grade be the first year of um Chromebooks. High school science was fun. I wanted to include some video clips for you, but again, I could probably talk all night about technology. Uh one of the specific ones that they brought up is there's something that we purchased called Pivot Interactives. And what it does is it's real lab simulations. So like we don't have the equipment or the space or the money to do some of these labs. I don't know if Max has done any of these, but what's cool about it is they can do the simulations on their Chromebooks. They can actually re change the

031variables. They can rerun the experiment. They can make measurements like if it's, you know, physics and they need to see how far a ball has gone. Um so it's really the kids, you know, the feedback has been that it's engaging. It helps um really get the kids interested in science and being able to run all these different tests. So, real fun stuff. If you look at Pivot Interactives online when you get a chance, you can kind of see some of their simulations and it's pretty cool. So, that's what high school science is doing. Um, math, you know, this was funny. I actually the calculator is one of the first things that came in like as far as in terms of the technology goes in the timeline. And I had dug into this when we were

032doing AI and we talked about I found uh quotes from teachers saying that the the calculator was going to ruin the world and that like once the kids started using calculators they would never think again. The library did the same thing. They panicked with the library like the encyclopedias were going to just ruin we wouldn't need teachers ever again. So it's kind of funny when you're like this is like such a great example. This is technology in a math classroom. They're using it to simulate real stock markets. They're using it um to do like life skills, math and money and how to manage your checkbook and things like that. And obviously the calculator um a lot of the tests like we were playing around with some of the um assessments today and you can actually

033add the Desmos calculator into the assessment so the two students can you know use the calculator during testing. So math is loving the technology and they're they were they had lots of great things to say about how they're using it. Social studies was fun too. This was um specifically a seventh grade social studies classroom. She had talked about some virtual field trips that they do. They visit 13 colonies which is she sent me to slide deck again. I wanted to show you the parts of this. It was pretty cool to like be able to sit at home and navigate like a house and different um historical areas, the digital maps they use. Um she talked about how they it helps them site their resources. Like I don't a lot of you in the room can

034remember like remember how hard it was to site resources in the right format. you know, it was exhausting to sight out do that. And so this sort of takes that piece out of it and helps them navigate citing resources and things like that. Um, so the maps and geography, like she had a big piece that she really enjoyed. Um, so that's the middle school, that was mainly middle school classroom. So then the other piece that was brought up to me, I was like, okay, so how does technology help to support UDL? And what I thought you guys have seen UDL, I think, you know, we we were introduced to it, the staff mainly were introduced to it about a year ago. it's been sprinkled throughout um the K12 teachers and what I thought would make

035the most sense is like okay how does technology specifically support UDL. So like when you look at representation and how the kids can represent themselves like I what I decided to do is I picked specific software that we currently use in the district. So we use read and write so the kids can do text to speech for that pieces. We use barisque AI which you'll learn a little bit more about later in the in the presentation. um a game of learning gimmick kits which is real fun game probably like it's a it's like turns like a typical quiz into like a video game which is kind of fun um although I got frustrated by it the other night um we use uh pivot interactives and co-paces to simulate um different things for science and co-spaces

036is virtual as a virtual reality design for the kids that use it in the fifth grade um and then we use Canva for digital portfolios for them to express their work coding the kids use scratch which we've been using that for a while um and obviously Google classroom helps them collaborate on documents and slides and things like that so UDL is definitely I would say technology I should say is definitely very strongly uh supports UDL and helps all of these kind of things um happen in the district so with all of these pieces and all the new devices especially my little history and timeline how many more devices we've The question is how is our um basically how is our network supporting all this like where are we today like how are we able to

037support this? So um and what are the things that we're doing to keep like sort of futurep proof our network so that it can continue to support all these devices. So number one before I even get to devices the bandwidth the bandwidth every time we sign a contract we look at the research we reach out to Verizon and we say how much are we using they recommend we haven't had to move it but they recommend that we need to increase bandwidth. So, so far our bandwidth has been perfect. Anytime online testing we've done, we've had a couple grade levels at one time uh with with like 20, you know, 18 to 20 Chromebooks in one classroom. We've had absolutely no problems with I should knock >> with online testing. The problems have been the state

038platform, which I'm sure you guys have heard about. Like we our devices already our bandwidth is great. the device can't talk to the state or last year was a little bit of a debacle where the tests got stuck on the Chromebook and we had to take the Chromebooks and wait till they got back online. The state got back online and we're able to upload the tests but kind of didn't really affect the kids too much. Um but so in terms of network um the infrastructure I you know we have everything on a replacement schedule the servers the switches our access points um we do the best we can to keep them within like you know the the recommended time frame in terms of how old they get. Um, Chromebooks especially, they're only out for three

039years, which is crazy when you think about it. But I make sure that they're in a kid's hands for only three years because once they hit the end of the third year, especially in the especially in like a middle school hand or students, which tend to be really rough on them, that Chromebook then gets retired to become backup. We do all of our um Chromebook repairs inhouse. A lot of schools send those out or they do insurance. Um, we've been able to do them in house. the screens are really um you pull them out of a Chromebook that might have a broken keyboard, but the screen's intact. So, we just keep swapping parts around and we're able to fix them, bring them back to the student, and uh keep them going. But, we try not

040to make them any older than three years. The changes that we've made is any new Chromebook moving forward has now eight gigs of RAM. So, in the past, the Chromebooks had four gigs of RAM, and that's the running memory. That's the memory the Chromebook or the device needs to process all the things happening. As you can imagine with these AI extensions and things like that, it's slowing down the processor. And so kids have been it's been a little bit of a struggle because they start to try to use Brisk or use something and it slows down the processor and it's a little bit slower. So we made the move to spend more money on the devices, jump them up to 8 gigs of RAM so that they run faster. Um, and so far the kids

041have reported they and even the staff, those are in staff hands as well, the staff have reported. But obviously that's not everybody. It has to be a little bit of a cycle to get them out. Um and that's about it everything. So the other thing that we've done is we've done a lot of um infrastructure in terms of like cyber security and protecting our network in the old days like you know today we get text messages and server goes down or a switch gets down I get a text message even it's a weekend like hey you got a server down so that we can get ahead before Monday morning to try to get these things back online. There's a lot of um pieces in place like we have filters on the Chromebooks that help protect

042the kids from uh going to inappropriate websites and things like that. We have a very robust firewall um which is unfortunately reaching end of life. It'll be about I think at eight years but it was it's doing its job in terms of protecting the kids. It keeps them from getting to everything that they want to get to necessarily um in the internet. But it's been knock on wood. The infrastructure has been great. Things are running smoothly. All the devices are um in good shape. So another question that was asked is how do we pick software? And if you think about it, software has changed so much since I started this position and it then it changed again when COVID hit. Uh COVID made everything free. I don't know if you remember that. So like for

043teachers, every single software solution under the sun was was like basically marketed to teachers and students. and we picked it all up because we were teaching from home and we were trying to manage the kids and just try to get through the every day. So now my job is I'm focused on trying to narrow those down. There's a lot of overlap and making sure that we don't have that sort of overreaching and purchasing too much software. So right now the the process is a little bit and we're looking at ways that we can tighten this up but right now the process is that there's a Google form I have out there that's available to the teachers. Teacher typically the teacher is like a pioneer. In other words, they've either researched it on their own or

044they've [clears throat] gone to like PNW Boseies and and seen it, you know, at at some sort of workshop. So, they're like, "Wow, this is a really cool tool. I'd love to try to use it in my classroom." So, they usually fill out a form, which I see. I bounce it off the principles like, "Hey, this teacher is looking at this software. This is what it's used for." I check for Ed Law 2D compliance. So, New York State Ed Law 2D is about data privacy. So, I have to make sure that it's um not collecting data. It's not using student data for advertising. There are some rules about where the data lives. What happens if we uh break their don't purchase them again next year. Where does that do they they have to destroy the

045data or give it back to us? So there's understandably a lot of regulations for that. If the software checks at launch 2D compliance, they have to sign our data privacy agreement. Um and then that goes or if they are through Boseies a little bit streamlined, Boseies has like an umbrella DPA, data privacy agreement. So, as long as they've signed Bosey's DPA, we can kind of jump on that bag and it um and then I just double triple check that it's not already something that we purchase. I make sure that um it's really serving its own its own um people. But this is pretty much, you know, what I I think what we'd like to see moving forward or the changes that I would like to see moving forward are to find ways to like figure

046out like maybe a rubric, right? a rubric for teachers so that or even for ourselves to say okay what are the things that this software does to enhance technology um and in order for us to give it like almost like a grade and then determine if this is something that we think housing should purchase and spend money on. But I think what's important is we've got to give the teachers the ability to be the pioneers and test stuff out. We wouldn't have even something like Brisk that came from the teachers um and we love it. Everybody loves it. And if um we didn't give them that agency to be able to try to test things out, we wouldn't be able to see some new technology. So that's our software. With the software and everything else,

047as you can imagine, comes professional development. So, um, typically we have ASSDs throughout the year. I don't know if you're I'm sure you're aware at this time that a lot of the ASSDs are run by teachers. Our teachers have the most experience with this stuff and they're the best people to lead this and turnkey it. So often I'll have teachers that I'll reach out and say, "I'd love to run an ASSD on there's a software called Wade Round, which is like a online assessment software, and they'll run a a uh ASSD." They get an extra hour from facilitating and running it, and then the teachers participate in it. Um, so lots of ASSDs for them. PMW Boseies has a ton of different um sort of professional development and different collaboration. I was just at one

048I think a week ago on um uh it was uh it was fun. I was just at one that was about alternative assessments and uh um assist of technology and it was great collaboration to talk to other teachers and see what everybody's using. So our teachers go to PNW a lot and then days like today so pretends conference day I was given the time to we had three sessions set up for the teachers. It was like sort of like a breakout like a choice. teachers could sign up to do Brisk. Uh we had a Brisk intro, a Brisk um intermediate, and then I did I called it online assessment speed dating because we have a bunch of online assessment tools that I just wanted to show them quick examples of and then have them create

049an assessment. So, lots of in-house uh PD being built uh for the teachers and then at PNW. So I feel like AI was kind of like we definitely need to have I couldn't have this whole presentation and not mention AI. So I what I wanted to talk about and highlight is some of the work that has been done at housing for AI. About two years ago a focus group myself included went to PNW Boseies and became a part of this AI group that collaborated worked together shared tools. Um and in that group we learned about things like Brisk and Magic School. We'd also, I don't know if you guys have seen this, and I'd love to share at some point, but we started these draft of what we called the Howing um AI guidelines. And

050what we said is like if we're if we know teachers want to use AI on the AI in the classroom, it was important to us that we built kind of guide, you know, like guard rails for teachers to help kind of like make sure that they understand like what's the what's the proper use, what are the pros and cons. So this document it's in the um the presentation so you guys will be able to look at this a little bit more closely but it was a great uh great work that these teachers did building this kind of guidelines for teachers and then they also did a rubric because just like the software AI is coming at us like insane it's insane every we've all seen it every single thing we touch today has an AI

051component like my banking app I'm like does the banking app need to have an AI component like so what we thought is like how do narrow these down and like find ways to focus on them. And this was our the uh we came up with this oops this AI rubric and it was like you know basically how can we write this similar to what I was saying I'd love to have from software um accountability critical thinking how does it integrate things like that ethical use what was very important is that educational AI can be AI that's used to te it can't use our information to learn like chat GBT anything you put in chat GBT it's taking that information to learn about to learn it, use it, and spit it out somehow some other way.

052Anything that we subscribe to for educational purposes has to be a sandbox. It can't take our student data. Well, there's no PII in there anyway, but it can't take anything that we put in it and use it to learn. And that was important for us. We made sure that like any AI tool that we were choosing um followed those guidelines. So, a lot of work has been done. A lot of work is still yet to be done. Uh I know that a lot of teachers are Some of them are still afraid to like I think like anybody people are afraid to use it. Um we've been really good about we did a whole bunch of special like u uh professional development last spring about AI with the teachers talking about like PII personally identifiable information.

053It does not belong it doesn't belong in a lot of places but it certainly doesn't belong in AI. And there's nothing wrong with using AI for a resource and trying to even if you were trying to use it to help come up with ideas about meeting IEP goals. That's fine, but it can't have anything personal in there. It has to be. Uh so we did a lot of that those pieces. So ongoing exciting. I I I'm excited about it. It's scary and exciting at the same time, but I feel like there's a lot of great tools out there. Um Oops. I got to go back to presentation mode. Am I in it still kind of Okay, so next steps. Um the technology plan is due this June. Uh New York State requires that we write

054a technology plan every three years. So this will actually Julia and I think my first technology plan I think was in 2001. Uh when I first started I jumped on the district technology committee and uh Julia like grabbed me for help and we wrote the tech plan back then. So I don't even know how many this has been but this is another one. It's student June and I take the whole year and I focus on these things when we're building the tech plan. Um, the whole point of the tech plan, which I wanted to, again, I didn't use my note card. I don't know why I even bother. I'm not good at it. I just keep talking. But I wanted to just in case. Let's see. So, the tech plan outlines, it has to outline

055a district's strategy for using technology to improve student achievement. That's the goal of tech plan. So, it's important to us that we use all of our sort of like basic framework in order to build it. Um and then I thought what I wanted to add this is my personal feeling like and this is a little bit of me doing some research and what's out there what are next steps like what are we what's the future for us and absolutely AIdriven personalized learning that's what brisk is you know brisk is definitely it's a AI teaching assistant um it's basically you know getting to the point where teach or students can basically uh identify how they learn best is it audio audio auditory or visual and the lessons can be catered using AI like very quickly to

056help meet the students needs. Um, so that's really exciting and that's going to change your teaching. The interesting piece I thought is the social learning platforms. The what's the biggest piece or the biggest struggle we're having now, especially if you have teenagers in the house is socialization. We feel like at least the old-timers in the room feel like Snapchat and some of these things have like isolated our kids, right? They're they communicate through these through these apps and not face to face. And so now there's a big push to find them, find them ways using technology to communicate and to work together in groups so that we can try to help them become more social um and less hiding behind that one device. And then oh I want to share this with you. So this

057is all AI generated full disclosure. Um what I said to AI I use chat GPT I said okay can you tell me how technology can support the housing essentials and give me examples of what that actually looks like in the classroom. So I this is I just wanted to share it with you because I feel like these are the these are the fun stuff about AI. It's creating great resources for us things that we can use and um help us to me like it came up so much it was very quick to come up with ideas that maybe would have taken me a little bit longer to come up with. Um, so obviously AI will play a little bit of role helping us build the plan and come up with great ideas. Um, but I

058wanted to just share that because that was interesting. >> I think that's it. >> Great. >> No problem. Anybody have questions? >> I do some I have a question. Some questions. First of all, thank you so much. >> You're very welcome. >> Um, I um you talked about uh pursuing um doing a gap analysis and how the standards are applied. I'm just curious about what that process looks like. So, I decided to try to keep it as simple as possible. Um, teachers are super busy. The standards are intimidating. If you take a look at those standards, they're intimidating and it's hard to tell. Like you I had to sit with them and we had to actually look at the state's examples because some of it was like um so I said to myself, let me

059just start with the basics. So, what I did is I took uh the standards by they're separated in grade levels. I forget off the top of my head, but maybe it's K1, 2, 3, four, six, whatever it is. I broke those up and I met the teachers in um grade level meetings, department meetings. I gave them packets with their standards, appropriate standards and highlighters because who doesn't love highlighters? And I said, "Let's just sit together and just use the highlighter and determine like just highlight what you think you teach directly." Um use a different Some of the elementary hysterical. They start bringing other colors and keys and [laughter] it was just so different than high school. But like some people were like, "We'll use a different color for the ones that we don't really touch

060on. It's just sort of like informal." And so that's literally as basic as I could get to just get a snapshot because it's very quickly we're starting to see there's some standards that especially the ones that are like the actual inner workings of a computer. There's some pieces where that is supposed to be in the lower grades and so we're very quickly being able to see that there are some standards that are gapped. >> So just basic and then hopefully next steps after that. >> It's good. I'm glad you're using paper and highlighters. >> Yeah, [laughter] quite old school, too. >> Oh, I was going to say us oldies. So, um and I had another question in this one. Um you would uh um um you I'm curious. You said that we we I know

061that we repair all of the devices in house, but who's on that team? You say we, I imagine it's just you, but um >> Oh my god. No. Uh so we um we have we contract with a company called Edutac. >> So it is. They've been with us for longer than I've been in them. We used to use Boseies. Now we use Edge maybe let's say 15 years ago. Um and so the Edgitech guys do it with they they actually bring them here. We have it set up so the kids if they have a broken Chromebook they bring it here. They pick up a loaner. Our the guys are sort of trained to come through here pick up the broken ones. They take them up our space or the tech space up there is a

062district addict. They fix them all. They return them. So >> I was a question I was asking that question and kind of knowing it but we often hear the word empty. have replaced the screen. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> But I I think I feel like the word we hear of the we hear edg so often but we don't really >> Yeah. Ed >> they support the devices. Excuse me. They support >> obviously infrastructure. I was a biology major like you know they so like I've certainly learned a lot. Now I'm gonna lose my voice at least at the end. [clears throat] I've certainly learned a lot but they support the servers and >> the stuff that's like above me. >> Yeah. Water. Yeah. You want to go? >> You can go. You go. >> All

063right. >> Um, so you said uh kindergarten to second grade >> with the with the uh or kindergarten and first grade with iPads, right? >> Um had did you see any iPad use with the prek? >> No, I have not yet. >> And is that by design? And I think I think my understanding is that um they have she has iPads available if we need them. Um but she has not found I think there my understanding is that it's we're really waiting till kindergarten for those to start. >> Um it doesn't mean that there might not be something in the future that might work out for them to be able to manipulate, but um at the moment [clears throat] they're not using it prek. >> Just wondering. >> Yeah. and I'll just offer. So that's

064one of the I love all of our classrooms, but if I can only get into a couple, preK is where I start. And so it is a lot of centerbased um and I think even looking at grades one and two, I'm very happy in housing to see that we're not on iPads. We're not on technology just because we have access to it. So, I have been in other districts where it's no one's fault, but just when we have the tools, I'm just going to put the kid on an iPad or Chromebook just to kind of >> kill us some time or they're going to review something while I'm working with another group. I don't see that here. And I I've been looking to see how we're using technology. And it's very thoughtful. >> Yeah. >>

065And purposeful, which is good. >> And the prek, they're using their hands and they're painting. They don't >> they don't have time for the iPad, right? Well, that makes me happy because, you know, definitely, you know, like the tactile like fine motor skills at that age. So, important to do actual puzzles instead of like iPad puzzles, right? >> Yeah. When I met um second [clears throat] grade, they were really I mean, it's November and they were like, we really haven't like we start to teach them a little bit of like how to turn the Chromebook on. It was a lot of talk about starting to find ways to build in some keyboarding skills at that grade to teach them where the center is and shift and pieces like that, but they really I had asked

066them and they really like we really so there's some days we don't even there many days where they don't even touch technology in those grades. >> I enjoyed the walk down memory lane. I have to say the very first time I met you was 2016. My family was on the tour of the school. We were moving up here and you were in the library setting up for maybe one of your very first standardized test NWA or the map and you were freaking out. You were sort of like >> really hope that we have the bandwidth that's going to cr you know I think it was coming up in like a couple days. So um wanted to ask about the the device ban in schools like so everything I've been hearing has been really positive. So

067I'm just wondering as we're thinking about are we progressing students through technology? Are we do you feel from your perspective that we're losing anything by not having kids bringing their >> devices? Absolutely not. Like I I feel like they're the feedback my own husband as we know teaches here so we talk obviously a lot but he what I think is so amazing his biggest feedback is they the kids are talking they're like normally in the beginning of class you know what are they all doing the with their they're on their phones and not communicating so like the fact that it's like getting more face to face is amazing yeah it was a little bit of a learning curve I had teachers sort of in a panic because they were used to especially in the upper

068grades right you could use your cell phone to how many of our online games are QR codes. My my even support posters all over the campus are QR codes for the kids in the high school. And I was like, "Oh my god, that's not going to work anymore." So, it was a little bit of a scramble in the beginning. I think it was just a change in like, you know, how like you wasn't right there. That's not what you could use. You had to think outside the box. I think it's been positive. I think that um getting the kids to communicate more and Max could probably jump in. I I feel like it's they're talking. They're playing the games in the high school and um I think that's what we need. We need that sort

069of personal face to face. We're they're getting enough of the device at home. I don't think they'll miss, you know, during the school day. >> And I think the the panic I'm definitely jump in. But I think the panic of maybe the kids that were nervous about not being able to talk, my own son was like, "Well, what happens if I need to contact you?" And I was like, "Well, there's this thing connected to the wall that you can pick up the receiver and call." So, I think it was a little bit of a shift, but I think that it's been I think it's been great. >> And are there any um keyboarding class like are kids actually ever learning to type anymore? Does is that kind of obsolete since we're sort of, you know,

070using our thumbs or >> I think that's one of our pieces that came up as an area we need to improve. Yeah. >> Um uh Miss Seuss teaches the keyboarding skills and this I don't think it's until sixth grade. Um it came up in a lot of my work meeting with the teachers in the lower grades. came up like you know we wow we really should we there's absolutely time we can have them play because some of those games are fun if you've ever done them where you compete I'm very competitive >> yeah like a dance pad or something >> yeah so we there was a lot of talk of like finding places where like if a kid's done with the workshop worksheet or something early they could work on like the little keyboarding stuff

071so I think we need to build that in better but the kids find a way that's the other crazy thing like do you remember do you remember having keyboarding skills >> yeah I remember doing it in sixth grade but I feel like it's kind of like as I remember like I never needed to learn how to. If anything, it made me slightly faster, but it's kind of just like I just learned how this happened. >> I didn't need to like >> explicitly keep practicing and practicing. But my mom, on the other hand, like I watch her out the computer and she's just like, >> "Oh, don't shame you." >> She like had to go through like [laughter] she had to learn this >> proper. >> So, I think it's always interesting. Well, the civil service

072test I think are they're starting to not require like you right you used to have to type so many words per minute and that's sort of starting to go out the window. >> Were you going to say something Max? I kind of >> um Well, I was just going to go off on that and then also I want to talk like seeing the different like AI usages with different subjects. I feel like it kind of also depends on the teacher cuz like I've seen personally like I saw there was like AP calc up there and like with the calculators and stuff like I brought in my own calculator one day and I bought like a fancier one that does more cuz I was do using it for when I was taking my ACT and I

073was sitting there and like I was talking to Mr. Sono and we I just didn't even need that software. Like I feel like a lot of it comes from like the critical thinking when doing math or science and stuff, but I feel like in the humanities department especially, the use of AI is a lot more helpful. Like in my APG gov class, Miss Core kind of gives us a rubric of okay, on this assignment, use AI to generate resources that you can use to create an argument on whatever paper. And I feel like there's a lot more you can be more creative with the way you use it. Obviously, you're not supposed to just write me an essay because that's not how ethically you should use it. >> But I do feel like the use

074of AI, it's kind it's variable throughout the different parts of the school and I think it's important to like understand when not it's good to use it. >> Well, Max brings up a really good point just I I don't really have a specific question, but we've been sort of waiting for this AI discussion. And I know like I don't know if it's a big presentation or something but with the policy committee we actually had to I think we have like a first draft I believe maybe of >> well it's something I think as part of this Boseies group that Josh was working on for a long time >> hopefully we're going to get because exactly what Max was saying on how it's different in every classroom and and you know maybe that's part of the

075policy is letting the teachers use their discretion I don't know but you know anything that I don't know if there's ever a presentation we can have just to sort of understand how it's being used and how Mrs. sniffen wants it to be used and you know that will help the direction of policy eventually >> have to get one of those um >> and if it's helpful a lot of districts and I think held did the same thing started with guidelines so a lot of districts didn't want to go right into policy just to get a sense for teachers and administrators what makes sense and so building off our guideline document and best practices then we could eventually move into having a discussion >> yeah that's going to be definitely useful for >> I think it

076would be fun to showcase too like I wish I had time for that. I wanted to like show you brisk and how cool it is and the tools and how it works for the student feedback but it would we need another presentation. >> Yeah, there are pros and cons in the humanities. So, one of one of the things um >> that I have found is that it um AI repeats the same errors that are crafted and repeated online. So it's an aggregator and then it for whatever reason students then believe that that's what true again so and also colleagues >> and so it you know a word of warning >> and caution um and so what is really fun to do is go through chat GPT and have a conversation with it. Usually it works

077really well with quotes that you pull from the internet. Um and then you you just put uh you know please source this, right? And then it'll go through a whole litany of where it actually can't find the source, [clears throat] >> right? And then you know you'll have like and then you can show the nice thing is you can show the students the entire run of your conversation with chat GPT where it's trying to um how do I put this like in a proper educated way? Um where it's trying not to show that it doesn't actually know. It's trying to >> gaslight. >> Yeah. Well, it's kind I had a better word, but it's it's a taped uh meeting. And so the issue is is like it it it will almost kind of like have

078a conversation in of in itself. And um it's it's wild. It it really is a wild, but people will just accept whatever it spits out right away. [clears throat] And that's uh that is striking. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So just be aware >> and it also seems to me that I mean the value of us thinking from a policy standpoint is that know we have to take our parents on the journey with us because >> the variety of opinions informed or not along that process >> will either sort of help us or >> prevent us from either >> following positive trends or you know putting the brakes on things that could be useful as detrimental to education. So, >> it's good for us to be as transparent as possible so that if folks have

079apprehension, there's an opportunity there to have a conversation. >> There's a large percentage of false quer of false responses to still within AI. Um, and and so, you know, I I'm not sure if it's still a majority of the responses back, but it's a very large percentage of responses that you get back are actually, you know, you you would deem them kind of inaccurate. >> Yeah. >> In variant ways. >> Right [clears throat] now, we have, but I would say the guardrails and the training wheels up for sure or down training wheels. Um, and what I mean by that is a lot of the stuff that like chat GPT is blocked for a lot of the grades because because of what I was saying, chat GPT uses info to learn. >> I just hear that.

080So when [clears throat] kids take their work%, >> right? Um, at least during like some of the stuff that we work on, especially the AI that like does feedback for the teachers, the teachers guide it and train it to talk to use the content and the things that the teacher like to like they use their own resources and lesson plans, you know. So I think the hope is careful. We move forward carefully and it's about teaching the kids especially to learn that not everything that you see online is real. >> Just like your friends ask questions. >> Yeah. And I feel like especially with all the fake stuff that you see on AI and all the inaccuracies like especially in sixth and seventh grade when you take classes like library and media, it's even more

081important now to learn how to fact check and learn how to do research because no matter like what you're getting from Chbt, like you should always be verifying it. So I feel like it's now even more important in middle school to get that sort of education. >> Thank you. You're welcome. >> I'm not dismissing. I don't have the power. Thank you. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> That was great. >> Thank you. I think this is our first communication from the public. Um, how Board of Education desires and values input from the entire school community. This first public comment session is reserved for comments on any special presentations or agenda items. For those who wish to address the board, please sign in and state your name. The record, please keep your remarks for three minutes or

082less. Disparaging remarks and discussion of district personnel are strongly discouraged. Although we do not engage in dialogue, we are this. We have anyone that would like to speak about anything. Is that >> okay? Um information reports here for everybody to read. We will act on these for next meeting on consent agenda minutes. May I have a motion, please? Second. Um, all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Yeah. Um, incentive financial. May I have a motion, please? >> Just want to point out the acceptance of grants from the Helen School Foundation. $67,000. Really some awesome looking grants. Some that I've speaking as a past board member. Um, it was just really interesting to take a look at them. $10,000 are from are part of that community um I can't remember what they call it

083the community grant program which is going towards uh specifically for kids whose families would not or um ordinarily be able to afford them going on a field trip. So it's really awesome to see that they've started that and just a plug their um um gala is this weekend where they do a lot of their fundraising to support um the grants. Um, so I just want to say big shout out to Heling School Foundation. >> It really runs the gamut the things that they support. >> Yeah. Lots of enriching experiences, field trips and materials. Yeah. >> Is there anything else we want to add there about personnel? Okay. >> No, we're good. >> Um, actually that's we're still in financial. Uh, all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Consent agenda personnel. May I

084have a motion, please? >> So move. Second. >> Um, all in favor? >> Can we just talk? >> Yep. >> Real quick. >> Um, on the last run I Tom's not here, so maybe JV basketball. I thought we just had a varsity and then we had enough numbers. Anybody? >> We had a JV and a varsity last year. >> No, on the run from >> Oh, from last year >> from the last meeting. you know what was kind of thrown up. We had a conversation about >> we were gonna Yeah, we're gonna talk about it. >> Oh, okay. >> Coming up here, but yes, that's happening. Were you talking about the A? >> Uh, no. I'm talking just having a JB team. >> Oh. Oh, just having a team. >> Yeah, I thought that there's

085a team. That's >> from last year. >> Yes, we have the numbers for Is that what you're asking around? >> Yeah, we had enough numbers. I thought that's great. >> I mean, it was a I would say a thin team in terms of bodies on the bench or on bodies on the court, but >> Right. Okay. Hopefully this will >> great. >> Yeah. Um all in favor? >> I uh any opposed? >> Um unfinished business. We have um the second reading and adoption of our universal prek policy. If there's any questions good looks exciting. >> Yeah. >> Simplifying it. Yeah. Um may I have the recommended question? Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby adopts a new policy for universal prek and a revision to

086policy 7120, age of entrance as attached. >> Do I have to do a motion or just have a motion? >> Move. Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Um, now it's the acceptance of the Gator Union Free School District student participation at in athletic placement process at how we spoke about this last time. Hopefully, I mean, can we say this is for the girls basketball program at the high school and hopefully this this specific rule is for exceptional players. So, >> as we follow and it's on a case by case basis, >> case by case, right? This is written for one specific student number 17410. So, if it comes up again, would have another we'd have to do it again. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> So, it's kind of exciting. Hopefully,

087it'll be a wonderful addition to our athletic program. >> Um, they have the recommendable option. >> Whereas regulations of the Commissioner of Education permit students in grades seven and eight to participate on a high school team in the receiving district for which the child intends to enroll for grades 9 through 12, provided certain qualifications are met. And whereas the Haldane Central School District has identified an eighth grade student from the Garrison Union Free School District who may be eligible to participate in high school sports and the district desires to provide such student with an opportunity to do so. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of the Haldane Central School District hereby permit student number 17410 to participate in athletic placement process for participation in intercolastic athletics at Haldane Central School District

088Schools with the understanding that Haldane has been identified as the high school of attendance for such student and with transportation to be provided by the parent guardian to from Haldane schools. And be it further resolved that administration of Haldane Central Schools shall be responsible for providing approval for the identified student to begin the eligibility eligibility process, including the administration of any evaluations and/or physicals. and the Haldane medical director and/or such other officials designated by the Haldane superintendent of schools shall be responsible for the approval of the student to engage in the athletic placement process either independently or upon consultation with Garrison's medical director or other designated Garrison officials on an as needed basis. This resolution shall take effect immediately and apply specifically to this student for the school year. We have a motion, please move.

089Second. >> Any questions or comments? All all in favor? I >> I >> and any opposed? Um, now we have to decide uh on a date or a time for our superintendent evaluation timeline. I actually think we have it in there for the for our next board meeting to have an executive session um on December 2nd if that works for people if you and we just have to decide if you want to meet before or after the meeting. after. >> Yeah. >> And um I'm trying to think I think we can we traditionally we've used that specific tool. So we'll make sure that everybody gets that uh I don't know if it's a PDF, but it has the the rubric. Yeah, the rubric. Thank you. The rubric in there that we can use to help

090foster discussion. Um yeah. Uh okay. So that's all I think I need to do for that one. And then new business um CSC CPSC recommendations may have the recommended action. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the recommendations of the committees on special education and preschool special education as presented. >> We have a motion. >> So moved. Second. >> Um all in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? Um, approval of overnight field trips. Um, go ahead. Sorry. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the following overnight trips. Model UN to Yukon, November 7th to the 9th. Boys varsity basketball to Springfield, Massachusetts, January 17th to the 18th. high school ski club to Gore

091and Whiteface Mountains February 18th to the 20th. The junior class to Washington DC from March 24th to the 27th. The senior class to >> Philadelphia, but it's not. It's Boston. >> Senior class to Boston March 25th to the 27th and 8th grade to Frost Valley May 13th to the 15th. >> Have a motion. >> So moved. Move. Second. >> Um, all in favor? >> Yes. No, that's fine. >> I'm an idiot. Um, we've done this before in the past with sports. You started it with the cross, right? >> An overnight >> and this basketball trip happens last year as well. >> This one happened again. So, and and so the teams that have gone have only been lacrosse and basketball. Maybe for overnight girls. >> Yeah. A tournament. Yeah. And girls basketball have done tournaments,

092too, where maybe they're not staying overnight, but it's a two or three day tournament, >> right? >> Definitely. And there were years that girls did overnights. >> Basketball in my time at For sure. >> The board adoption we just started doing um within the past two or three years and it was a recommendation from our insurance company. >> Gotcha. Okay. >> Thank you. Good. >> Good. All in favor? I >> I uh any opposed? >> Okay. Um approval of the updated Helen Central School District safety and emergency management plan for this coming school year which we just have the parents. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education hereby approves the Haldane Central School District safety and emergency management plan for 2025 2026 updated to include a

093cardiac emergency response plan. May I have a motion? >> So moved. Second. >> Um all in favor? >> I. Any opposed? And now it's the approval of the updated Helen Central School District building level school emergency response plans for this school year. May have a recommended action. Be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. The board of education hereby approves the Hing Central School District building level school emergency response plans for 2025 updated to include a cardiac emergency response plan. May I have a motion, please? >> So moved. Second. >> Anything else you need to say about this? Okay. >> And all in favor? >> I >> um any opposed? >> Um and lastly, uh monthly administrative reports. Wanted to chat a little bit about the yeah quick discussion on this.

094So, as we know, our current practice is that we have the admins share a monthly report during our work meetings. And in November and December, we only have one meeting and we don't have workshop for those two months. So thinking through that and then we're also thrilled to have Max and Luke this year as our student board members. And not that they certainly would take the place of our admins sharing monthly updates, but they're also giving some nice updates across each of the schools. So I wanted to talk with the board a little bit to see what your thoughts might be on do we continue with having the admin submit monthly reports or could we think about reducing the frequency a little bit? Maybe it's on a quarterly basis and then we could talk about

095what type of content we would like to see continued in those monthly reports. So I look from the student perspective, they're meeting with each of the administrators, you get to meet with student council and then whatever else perspective that they're bringing, but just thinking through really the purpose of the monthly reports. Do we still want to include them monthly? What do we do about maybe the months that we don't have that workshop meeting? And then what type of content you want to see in those moving forward? So, I just figured we'd start a conversation and I did come up with the administrators as well. So, I figured we'd start talking through and get a perspective from >> Well, we used to have them present at board meeting, >> correct? >> And so, we backed down

096to just throw us a report, >> right? >> And each one presents once a year >> and Right. And so, >> because we do a visit. >> Yes. >> Like a couple of us go on elementary school visit and then Christine will present, right? Mhm. >> Couple of us will do a middle school visit and then Mariel. Yeah. >> Um >> so now the suggestion is to go away from also the report to just a quarterly report. >> So the thought was just talking with the admins if we reduced it but then looked at the content. So when you look at each report we don't have a set format that we use. Um so the building principles might offer a report in one way. Our directors might share things differently. So, it's getting a sense

097of maybe first what the board would like to see in the reports and then is it necessary to have the month go if you're hearing some of the same things through the student perspective. Not always, but like actually Max and I tonight not even knowing I reported on some of the same things you did, right? Because we were both sharing different events. So, it's just kind of just talking out loud about what we think the purpose of the reports are. And certainly the admins and I will continue to provide what the board would like to see. We just thought it might make sense now that we have student board members as well. Are we providing the information you all want to hear? Do you want to see things a little differently? Is there opportunity to

098reduce the number of reports or is there not? So, it's really more you know a discussion. I think what the students are doing meeting with them in advance is great and you know presenting some of the things that are happening at the school like the events but sometimes there are you know more curriculum or instruction related things you know with Miss Jam and giving reports on how the new reading curriculum is going something like that I think is worth putting into a written report for us and then we would also get reports from M you know Josh Alder and Aaron Pay right and those aren't necessarily >> meetings that our student representatives would be with those administrators or they would only be meeting with the principles to get school updates. >> So our student reps

099can meet with any ads. But so I don't want to I'm not saying because we have the students that we don't want to do reports. It's just kind of thinking through do we want to do them on a monthly basis and then if we don't have a workshop meeting a couple times a year. >> Typically they were presented during workshop meetings. So November we don't have a workshop meeting and uh December as well. the issue of of guidelines. I mean, I I can understand why a board would want to have certain things covered in a report, but then also I don't know, it feels almost like a burden, you know, also like, you know, >> feels less natural or organic to >> how someone is understanding their building and what's happening and kind of where

100they see it. of um I mean you could put out you know oh we we should see X Y and Z in these things but I don't I'm not 100% sure that's >> going to provide you the >> necessary information of which you would you know be educated on and then >> wouldn't just be then um I don't know like an irritating click for a administrator to go through. No, I and I think each administrator has a has a different personality. I think that obviously flows through to a degree. Um I do think >> you know when there is something to tie back to a goal or there's something that can tie back to an education educational initiative that's fascinating and I think that's that's you know and I don't know if that comes through

101every single month maybe you know so I don't know right in terms of >> well we can definitely be more thoughtful and purposeful when we're ready to report on goals. So I think for September you did see a connection to what building and department goals were. Maybe you didn't see that as much for October depending upon which report you read. So that's something we can talk about with the admin team that where we can report on goals we should that way you do get a sense of what the building is working. That's definitely something we can >> we can talk through. And I think you know sometimes we get a bigger you know a mass of sports scores and how the how the sports team which is great because you know you don't if you

102don't have a kid in school or you're not you know around as much that that's so important to have and maybe that's something >> more from the the student members. I don't know but um >> I don't know. I like the reports. I just feel like this is really our only connection to what's going on in the school. Not that I want to overburden anybody by any but I just >> I don't I enjoy the ones that are short and that are, you know, very precise to the point and I enjoy the ones that, you know, are a little bit longer. I just feel like all that information is so valuable for what we do. >> I think there's also a different perspective. I mean like I think there's just much more high level perspective

103that an administrator is going to provide opposed to a you know kind of a an update you know like you like you said you know there's there's going to be you know these people have you know doctorates and master's degrees in education you know >> let's be wowed by their knowledge of their school you know I think that's fine >> can I ask where the the impulse to stop reporting comes from and what the background on that might be. >> Sure. I think it's so not so much an impulse just a wondering since we now have students attending meeting is it necessary to always have both. I think that how the conversation started but the admins appreciate being able to talk about their schools and departments and so they'll happy to continue to do that

104but I think that's kind of where the wondering came. That makes sense. >> And we've had students before at board meetings get up and present. But now that we have someone at the table, whether it's Max or Luke, every meeting, that was kind of where it ste. >> I think I think it could just fill a different vibe, >> you know? I mean, I think the student, you know, reports >> would ideally be a different vibe and do different things than what >> the admin could do, right? >> You know, maybe that but then if I put that on like a sheet like how to word that out, >> that would get irritating, I think, very quickly. And needlessly bureaucratic. >> Quarterly is what would be every other month roughly. >> It could be, but

105it maybe sounds like we don't want to go in that direction and that's okay. It's really at this point we wanted to just kind of bring it forward to see thinking through November only one board meeting. December only has one board meeting. I didn't ask the admins to do anything for November since we only had the one board meeting. >> Oh, that's fine. >> Yeah. if it yeah I guess I asked that question because I I was curious if our admin staff felt that it was either a burden for them to do the reports or if it was a you know perhaps a wondering if we are interested in hearing from them >> it is I will say that when we step back from getting reports we lost the opportunity to read and have an

106interaction >> and now that it's something that's buried inside we get to this point in the agenda and it feels like well we've all read them But what do we do with the information that we have you know so I feel like it might there's also a kind of >> process about how we communicate about that or whether we want to redirect and so because it feels like it's done for us and us alone really you know we receive these reports and it's you know our duty in one way or another to then amplify or you know communicate about them in a meaningful way. So and I I thought that on occasion too. I read the report, I think, I've read this and I would love an opportunity to highlight this, but is that is

107there space for that? Should I do that? Are we saying that this is muted and for my eyes only? So, I think the process is also a useful thing to be thinking about that. >> That's super fair point actually. And then like, you know, it's it our admin team is excellent. >> Yeah. And they're super um responsive to anything that we, you know, ask or call or anything. Um but you know the purpose of the public meeting is that it's for the public meeting. You know it's not just hey let me you know I read this in your report what's going on. Yeah. >> So maybe the student members could actually highlight some of the things in the admin reports >> and then we could get a list of some of the events but also

108in the meetings with the administrators that could be talked about like maybe the student we so that we're still getting the reports and we're reading the substantive things that the administrators want to report on but then that would be an opportunity for the public to hear because I'm sort of in the same boat where it's like I want to pick out some things so the administrators know that I'm really interacting with it and unless I'm emailing them kind of offline with questions. It's like, are we going to have a conversation about all the cool stuff going on in the schools? So maybe that could be where the students could step in and say, I would like to highlight this thing that's happening at the school. >> That's already in the report is a good idea.

109>> That's already in the report. The thought where we could go with it. >> That's [clears throat] helpful. Thank you. >> So you speak now more at the meetings than most of us do. So maybe we could all do our own little reports. [laughter] >> That's true. That's true. Right. Or give more work for the students as opposed I mean in the past >> we could pick we could each pick a report and be like okay I'm on this report this week and then and highlight something. >> Yeah. >> In the past couple meetings at least since I've started it does seem that at the the second comment from the board some of you do highlight and the administrators do appreciate >> to call out. I would encourage you to continue to do that. That's

110the nice there's there's times in that transportation report from uh was so exciting and he you know it's only one or two sentences but it was electric bus update and and you just kind of sitting there reading parts of their reports but it's exciting. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely. >> So I I'll share this with the admins next time we meet and so we do have a December meeting. So it sounds like you would like to have a report from the admins in December since we didn't also have one in November. and we can connect it to I don't know who will be at will be Luke at the next meeting so he can highlight he can bring out some of the pieces that are in those reports. >> Great. >> Okay. >> Thank

111you. Yes. Thank you Laura. >> And Peggy I talked to her before just to prep and she was um comfortable having us have this discussion and wanted to hear was really interested in hearing what everyone >> um had to say about it. Um, okay. We're at our second session of communication from the public on about all school district matters. Is there anything anyone wants to say? >> Um, board reflections. >> I had an opportunity to do the uh go to the uh Dia Deas Mortis which was done by the uh PTA. Um I saw many of our admin team there. Uh it was uh it was excellent. Uh shout out to the teachers that uh you know obviously it's the PTA but the teachers did uh really showed up and and really helped out. Um

112kids were running um all different types of little stations. Uh it was just a really really great event. Very well attended. Um and uh Mr. Sullivan's bread was uh >> delicious >> was eaten quite well. Um and again just a really really special um event. And uh what off to the side if people notice there was just a really beautiful uh the offended right the uh you know people had put up uh meaningful images of uh staff members and of family members and that's really great. you know, maybe the kids noticed that, maybe they didn't, but that's that, you know, really important community piece. It's really good. >> Um, I just want to say that I know that we're kind of going through a period in which it's possible that there could be people in

113our community, individuals, who are losing access to support that they might otherwise have had to the federal government for SNAP benefits. And I just want to, you know, say that I'm I'm glad that we as a school at least are have the opportunity to provide nourishment for those families and those students while they're here, at least while this uncertain time sort of goes on. So I just >> want to highlight that. >> Max, anything? >> Um, nothing really. Thank you, Mrs. Fine, for a great presentation. Yeah. >> The words out of my mouth. Thank you. Any last thoughts? >> No. All set. I move to adjourn the meeting. May I have a motion?