001[music] Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the work session of the Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education. Today is Tuesday, May 5th, 2026. Let's stand for the pledge. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Brown. >> Trusty Kelly. Trusty Mcdana >> present. >> Trusty Middleton. >> Trusty Peterson >> present. >> Trusty Scott. >> Trusty White. >> We have Trusty White joining us remotely. >> Okay. >> Present. >> She said present. >> VP Mitchell >> and President Marabel >> present. >> Okay. We have a quorum. Student trustee Doro. He's not here. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you everyone. Um I am feeling a little under the weather today with allergies. So I am going to ask my vice president uh trustee Warren Mitchell to please uh chair tonight's meeting. So thank you.
002Good evening. >> Thank you, President Marabel. So, we're going to start with uh presentations. Uh our first presentation, do we have I don't see I don't see Mr. Austin. So, we'll start with uh Miss White on student discipline. She's assistant superintendent for student personnel services. Thank you. Good evening, uh, President Marabel, Vice President Mitchell, board of trustees, families, staff, community. Uh, thank you for joining us this evening. My name is Lewan White and I am the assistant superintendent for student personnel services and tonight I'll be sharing with you our uh student discipline and support. I'll be presenting on that uh to date for 2526. Uh my purpose this evening in this presentation is first and foremost to be fully transparent. Um, I'm going to share with you not uh just what happened uh but what
003we're doing about it and the topic that we'll be discussing this evening are suspensions. Next slide please. I want to start with you this evening um and opening around the fundamental truth that drives everything we do with the idea of the quote that's on top. Every minute out of class is a minute that matters. I want to just key, you know, bring some key points to you regarding um one suspension is one of the strongest predictors of dropout, juvenile justice involvement or pipeline into the justice system and long-term academic failure. You will see as we look at the numbers that students with disabilities are suspended at more than twice the rate of their non-disabled peers. And so in this presentation I will share with you our district's commitment to the data transparency because we have
004to call a thing a thing equity and continuous improvement. So again, I will not share with you just what happened, but what we're trying to do about it. So in preparation for this uh presentation, I had to I asked myself, I would love to know what the history where did the whole idea of suspensions even come from? Um and I started to sort do some research because you know you do these presentations but it really sort of ignites you to want to know more. Um, so I looked into the history of suspensions and we had to understand, you know, this stretches back over 175 years. And it started with what they called the birch rods and it took me back to my grandparents when you got in trouble and you were asked to go, you
005went went out and got your own switch. Um, which I didn't really understand that, but when it goes back that far. um in one room schoolh houses where there were zero policies back in the um early 1800s and then it uh went from that to the zero tolerance policies in the 1990s. The landmark moment came in 1975 when the Supreme Court ruled in the Goss versus Lopez that students have due process rights and that schools could no longer simply remove students without notice and a chance to respond to what transpired, what they did. Then there was the gun-free acts of schools um in 1994 which sparked the zero tolerance policies that ballooned the suspension rates and then that applied uh from everything to weapons to minor acts of disrespect. Today the research is clear. Suspensions
006accelerate the schoolto prison pipeline. Districts across the country, including ours, are shifting toward positive behavior interventions and supports as well as restorative practices to keep our students in the classrooms. So, we're going to look at some data. And I'm actually um I want to be again very transparent because the data does look good overall, but I have to also share that the lack of reporting would probably show even more significant good data, right? But we also know that there was a student information system that was implemented a few years back that I'm don't think there was a full training on. And so there may have been behaviors that may have transpired and may not have been put in the student information system with fidelity. Now that is definitely happening. If you notice, what we're doing
007is we're comparing the data from last year 2024 2025 to this year to date. Uh from to date meaning as this presentation, not until the end of this year because clearly it hasn't happened yet. In 2024, total number of suspensions was 641 suspensions. To date, we have 316. The suspension rate overall was at a 10.4% in the 2024 2025 school year. We are now we've cut that in half. Our average suspension length shockingly was an average of 10 days for suspensions and that has been cut down to 5 days. Um, and the instructional days lost, and this was powerful, 6,649 days were lost due to suspensions in the 2425 school year. We are now down to 1,737 days lost. So we're also looking at total suspensions year-over-year. I must say although ISS we ISS also
008known as inschool suspension it is a suspension. It is the removal from the classroom. Okay. So it is still considered and documented as a suspension. As you'll see, our OSS numbers in the 2025 school year were 571 and down to 246. ISS pretty equal and the there's 74% fewer instructional days lost and that was uh represented in the uh slide prior. Specifically going to take a look at the types of behaviors that are commonly suspended for um and you'll see the codes. You'll see the hit and we uh WA DISR those are short versions. The HIT is for physical altercations and clearly that's showing that that is where the majority of our suspensions lie. weapons, possessions, disruptive behavior and disrespect, acts of disrupting school operations, and drug possession, use and sale. Again, you see the
009numbers have gone down significantly from last year into this year as well. You know, this is always a hard um num. These are hard numbers to take a look at because when you look at our overall representation in our district, when you look at our black students, the majority of our students in our district are black African-American. So, you see these really high numbers and it could be somewhat misleading. Um, but you'll see our males are often suspended a lot more than our females. We have our student disabilities. I reference the numbers being rather high. Our L students, Asian, white, Hispanic, and black. And you see the percentages again much higher last year, declining this year. Good thing just went over those subgroup suspension rates. Overall district suspension rate in 2024 2025 at 10.4%. down
010as I mentioned earlier half now this is something that is revealing itself as we are meeting with the code of conduct committee and I'll go a little bit more into that we talk about recidivism right we talk about those repeat offenders those students who are repeatedly suspended if you notice that hasn't changed much. That's a red flag. Next slide, please. Taking a look now at our overall district, our K6 78 912. Again, numbers are going down significantly. Um, but if you're looking at the key findings, all of the grade bands have improved, but high school still represents 70% of all suspensions. These children that go to high school were in elementary school at some point or another. We have our K8 schools, K6. Um but as a whole uh as we can see the K6
011and 78 have shown a dramatic reduction and the early intervention uh strategies that are being used are helping to contribute to that. Next slide. So some of our key takeaways, there is a dramatic overall reduction. Uh the repeat suspension rate has remained stable, which again is not a it's not great, right? The thing that stands out, the physical altercations are decreasing, but the thing that stands out is the continued disproportionality. our students with disabilities remain significantly over represented and that has been a historic issue. Uh even down to when we looked at our um audit report that was something that stood out and still continues to stand out as something that we have to focus on. So how are we approaching this? And this is some of the work that has already started, but we're
012going to take a deep dive. So PBIS and MTSS, so the positive behavior interventions as well as the multi-tiered systems of support are areas that we are focusing on in engaging our students. There's been a lot of work with restorative practices that has um been done in the past, but we're going to look to taking a deeper dive into that work. Uh some of the conversations that are happening with the code of conduct committee are some traumainformed professional development. We're also looking at some inschool alternatives, not just limited to inschool suspensions. Um, I've also reached out to a lot of our building leaders and other staff. There are a lot of community-based organizations that are in our schools. I mean, the list is long and I don't think and hopefully down the line we'll be
013able to to speak more to the community partnerships, but there are some significant partnerships in our schools that are actually helping our numbers. And so we need to celebrate them and call that out and also some of the uh looking at some diversion programs the alternatives uh to suspensions for those students who are first time I mean where they're learning is in schools where they're learning socialization where they're learning um behavior modification happens in schools and so we expect our students to make mistakes in schools. uh that is the purpose of the code of conduct. So currently and for the past I want to say maybe two months or so um we have a code of conduct committee um that is made up of district administrators and and principles uh some general education teachers, special
014education teachers, counselors, social workers, TAs. We have families, um, parents, uh, students that are a part of this, uh, committee as well as well as our community and advocacy partners. And we have been working on updating our code of conduct. So, it's not just being updated by those uh, who work in the district, but having the voice of those who are impacted by the code of conduct. The code of conduct is simply not to reinforce punishment uh for our students. It is to ensure due process rights and to keep all our students, our families, and our staff safe. So, our work this year is we reviewed our suspension data and identified equity gaps. We looked at the language and we're looking at um the law regarding our students with disabilities. We've drafted some revisions of
015things that we would like to see. We looked at other districts codes of conduct as well. Uh we've gathered some feedback. We've had some very passionate uh conversations in our code of conduct committee meetings. Uh because again the representation that's there is everyone from parents to our students to our staff and uh we will present our final recommendations make modifications and once we are done we will be presenting our updated code of conduct to the board. So what are our goals for next year? Uh we are clearly to reduce the student with disability suspension rate uh to continue to decrease the total uh instructional days lost. And our goal as well is to really implement the positive behavior intervention systems as well as our multi-tier systems of supports in our schools. And we would like
016that 100% with fidelity across all schools in our district. So to wrap up, clearly our data tells the full story story where we have room to grow because we clearly still have room to grow. We are acting uh as far as updating our code of conduct. There's some other work that's happening uh in the department of student personnel services with our students with disabilities and outlining and ensuring that people understand the uh part 200 laws, the rights of our students with disabilities, um MDRs and how we're meeting the needs of our students. And then also we're setting some measurable goals where we'll be checking in quarterly to ensure that we're on track. And so I want to take this opportunity uh for those who are participating in the code of conduct committee to thank them
017uh because they're coming and spending two and three hours with me at a time uh without additional pay. They're just giving of their time uh because they're believers in this and the passion. Um, and it's really really nice to to to be a part and hear from parents and staff and even our last meeting to even hear a students perspective was powerful. Um, so I want to thank those people who are uh contributing to updating our code of conduct because it did need some updating most certainly. Next slide. And that wraps up uh my presentation. And so I want to thank you and at this time I'll take any questions, comments or suggestions. >> Thank you Miss White for this presentation. Um do we have comments or questions from board members? I'll start from my
018from my left for Trusty Mcdana. >> Thank you. Um let me first just by saying wow. Um this is the world I live in. I you know I I I work with uh students with complex behavior uh problems and I'm often called into situations and trying to get kids back into into school and this is just astonishingly good news. Um and I'm I'm really really grateful for the work you guys are doing. Um I'd say this change is super meaningful. Um we look at the aggregate but underneath there are individual lives here and what you're doing is changing future probabilities. You're you're you're turning future hardship, potential hardship for who knows how many kids. I mean, you've changed hundreds there into hope and opportunity. And that is incredibly important, incredibly important. Um, I think the
019big drops in K through six are going to pay dividends down down the road. Um, we'll see that that um influence things. I think the repeat offenders, you know, it's high, but it is stable. And now that you've got an eye on it, we can we can focus there. Um and again I think you're going to get your hands around that and that'll be really big big change that hard-to-reach group um stable reliable data collection here um is evident and that's important to get those repeated um measures over time that we can come to trust um that will help us identify the variables that we need to change. I would say this is conference level data u maybe not this year but in a couple of years what you're using is what we would call
020a treatment package. um PBIS uh multi-ter systems of report of of of support restorative practices trauma-informed staff in school uh alternatives mental health part these are this is a package of treatment and if you get a couple more years of data and we see this trend we should really take this on the road this is important data I go to conference in behavior analysis every May I'll be there in in San Francisco in a few weeks and I often am going to sessions uh on things like this um and this is that's why it caught my attention at home and I pulled my wife in who's also a behavior analyst and we were like look at this because this is this is huge. So, uh hats off to you and uh and and the team
021here. Thank you. I appreciate that and and I really you know our our teams and our schools uh because there are times when there's push back but the good thing about this is the dialogue that's being had um on this level and on the school level around what are we attempting what are we trying to promote here you know with our students and when we talk about discipline and so I really appreciate that it it initially just even questioning saying, you know, is is an out of school suspension absolutely necessary or can we look in in another way. And so, um, I get a little push back, but but with passion for the right reasons. For the right reasons. >> Thank you. Uh, do we have any other trustees who'd like to Okay, I'm going
022to go with Trusty Peterson, followed by Trusty Middleton and Trusty Scott. Uh good evening, Miss White. I absolutely um enjoyed uh this presentation because it is something that I have asked of previous administrators here in the district, previous superintendents in the district for this data because I saw that something was wrong. Um for the past several years, I feel like maybe I don't know the past six, seven years I have asked this. Um, especially since knowing that black boys and girls get suspended have a it's a like three times more likely to get suspended than their other racial counterparts. And not only that, do they not only get suspended three times more likely, they're much more twice as likely to receive harsher forms of discipline, out of school suspensions, five days, 10 days, seven days.
023Um, and for a district that is majority African-American, it is it's painful to see when they don't. But it's like I'm like, but don't they get it? Don't they see that this is because just like suspensions, you get we get harsher forms of suspensions. It's the same thing that happens in the courtroom as adults. We get harsher sentences, people of color, and you have to draw they for some reason, I don't know, they never drew the connection. So I love with this presentation you mentioned about that that that classroom that pipeline to prison. Um uh you mentioned that you you look into although you know there is still a school that I feel is suspending students at a way too high a rate for a K to6 school which I have talked to to the
024superintendent about and even in then it is educating and I hope I'm not sure if they have already the building leaders the principles the assistant principles the social workers um the guidance counselors to educate themselves on the discipline of children of color and the effect that it has on them because it is something that I have had to deal with and it is something that it's serious. It is it tears down their instead of helping to turn them around, it tears them down emotionally. It tears them down personally. They're taken out of school for 10 days. They go back in and their classmates are like, "Hey, well, where was Johnny?" "Oh, well, you know, he was," you know, it is it's demoralizing. Um, and it they don't I feel like I've always felt like a
025lot of the administrators that overdisiplined students, they didn't see that aspect of it and so the children lose friends behind that and it's it's all tied together. So, I just I really appreciate that. I really hope that we are and it sounds like because I see you're getting the push back from that we're educating our building leaders about the effect of the long-term effects of this and like Trusty Mcdun said the fact that the K through six that suspension that went down that is a good turn it's like okay so I wanted another four or five years when they get into high school how that's going to affect you know the change also so thank you so much for putting this together I really appreciate it >> for uh can we can the superintendent to
026make a comment real quick first. Yes. >> So, uh, Trusty Peterson, you raised some great points. I just wanted to comment on something because I'm starting to hear lingo out there. The building principal only can suspend up to 5 days. >> If there's anything more than that >> at a time, >> that is illegal. >> Correct. only the superintendent can sign off on anything longer than five days. And as you um said, we've we've some of them have gotten sent back because if you don't follow the law and give the child the due process rights, um sorry, that's they're going back. So, I just want to be clear, nobody should be getting suspended more than 5 days. Uh, if it is more than 5 days, they should be seeing uh the hearing officer. Um, you
027know, hearing all the the different uh rights that they get. Um, but, you know, please let me know if if that's not the case. I I need to know that. Trusty Middleton, >> I just want to say thank you. Um, great job. And I want to say that data is definitely critical. um and critical for all of us that are sitting here and all of us all of those that are listening because I have been in the system and saw how even from K to 6 on kids are labeled by suspensions and especially when they're repeat suspensions. So by the time they get from K to 6 and they get to seven eight they can drop a pencil and they're labeled. And so to follow this path and to bring it to light as you
028have, um I want to say kudos and that um great job and I'm glad you're doing it. And we definitely in all the years that I've worked here have community partnerships which is great that have blessed us to help keep our kids right Mr. Woodbury on the right track. And so um you know it's it's great. Thank you for the data and we pray that the numbers continue to decrease. Yes. >> And not increase. >> And so, uh, thank you. >> Thank you, >> Trusty Scott. >> I'm echoing what all have said before me in terms of thanks for this information. I'm a visual person, so being able to see this data clears a lot of things up. And I've been having some discussions around the issues in Mount Vernon. people saying that they wish
029they could see what is happening because they don't know what's happening. They can't put a hand on it. They can't, you know, go out and say that um the students are getting what they need. And this allows for that information because it shows how you're putting effort into the students, not along along with the principles, but with students, with parents, with advocates, and so on. Mhm. >> So, this is a tool that they could use to go and say, "This is what we've been talking about when people go out in the community and say how great Mount Vernon is, how great our um professionals are, how great our students are because of things like this. So, I just want to thank you for this information because now that it's out, >> I can use it
030>> in my discussion points when I'm having those talks with folks around certain things and why they should, you know, do certain or make a certain decision, >> I can point them to this. So, I really appreciate you um putting this together with your team and I look forward to seeing what happens. But um I was talking to the state monitor like, "Wow." You know, I don't know if you saw my mouth open, but it was Hopefully not, but uh [laughter] but to see what happened from 2425 to now is just amazing. So, thank you. >> Absolutely, >> President Marbel. >> Yes. I want to say thank you so much, Miss White, for this information and for the data that you've shared with us. Um, I would like to see um maybe even for the
031board just to drill down on some of the data in terms and I'm sure you have the data in order to compile it um cumulatively that you may have some of this information in terms of school by school um maybe even grade by grade um just to kind of see where we have some of the hot pockets. number one. [clears throat] Number two, also because what we also realize and what the research tells us is that when children get suspended in lower grades, they become numb. So by the time they get to high school, they're like, "Oh, well, I'm going to get suspended anyway." So they kind of brush it off. And so the the the the uh K to6 information is truly valuable because it speaks to the fact that we're trying to provide
032the resources and it informs the resources that we we may need based on either grade level or um gender or whatever the other the um demographics may dictate to us. Um, also I want to just say thank you to your code of conduct committee for the valuable work and for the volunteer time because we know that that's not valuable time cannot be returned to you. So I just want to say thank you to them and it also informs the school leaders. As a retired school leader, I know that it informs them to say, "Okay, I may need to provide some additional resources to the staff members in the building based on some of the drill down data you may receive to whether or not they need that in that uh training in order to uh
033enhance their classroom management to ensure that maybe maybe there are places that you can actually um mediate some of those situations inside the classroom as opposed to sending them outside the classroom. So, I just wanted to say thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> We're going to entertain uh comments from our in-house legal. >> Um thank you. Thank you for the report. This is the first time that I've seen it even though I'm part of the cabinet. And there's a reason for that because I like to see the information raw and then give an opinion about it. >> And one of the slides that you showed was focus on recidivism. Yes. Right. And we saw that that number was basically unchanged. >> Correct. and um to the point that when we we have to
034look behind that number because that number could reflect that, oh, we're doing all this work, but the people that are repeat offenders, we're not denting, right? We're not making a difference, right? They may be labeled and so they say, all right, I got suspended in fifth grade, so I'll do this again and I'll get it suspended in 10th grade. No big deal. Um, but there's also another story behind those numbers, and this goes all the way up into the criminal justice system, is that we've argued for years, we defense councils have argued for years that there really isn't any correlation between behavior and punishment. >> The punishment can be as severe as it can be. At the time that the person is acting, they're not thinking about punishment. >> They're just thinking about the acting
035part. So when we look at suspensions and we say, "Oh, well, we want to increase it to 10 days. We want to increase it to 20 days. We want to make it six days." That'll stop that person. The reality is is that it may never even have a dent on that person's mentality because that person is only looking for the moment that they may be doing the misconduct if they see it as misconduct and not looking at the punishment. So we always have to balance that. Punish more does not mean a decrease. >> Right. it it may have no bearing on it whatsoever. >> Thank you, Mr. Russell. Um, I'm going to, you know, say that, uh, thank you again, Miss White, for this presentation. It speaks to some things. It speaks to safety in
036the district, right? It's something that we've been talking about. I know I've been talking about we've been hearing about our parents have been coming here to this board room and speaking at that microphone about things like the safety and the lack thereof in our district for the better part of the last six years that I sat on this board. Um, for once we are seeing the data, we're seeing the actual fruits of the labor and it speaks to the loyalty what you said. It speaks to the loyalty of the people who are working with you and spending those hours and not getting those extra dollars. And it also speaks to when you said that we have so many community- based organizations that we don't even realize there. So many grassroots organizations that are put that
037are pouring into our district students that we don't we don't ever hear about and don't hear enough about, you know, from the youth bureau as well. It's a lot. It's just a lot. And um what I was going to say was I had to write it down cuz I'm getting older. So in school suspension. So I remember that was in place when I was in high school not too long ago cuz I'm not that old. But I remember the point of it was the how important it is now is because when you suspend a child, all you're doing if you're sending them home is you're sending them into the street to do street things. >> Yes. >> And then you feed the school to prison pipeline. So the importance and the crucial balance of having
038no let them come to school cuz mom and dad still got to go to work while that student is sitting home. What is he doing? Tick tocking all day. She they doing what are they doing? Nothing productive until now we outside talking about we outside we bored so we smashing up McDonald's. I love the idea and the the that I love the fact that it's still in place. We need that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Oh, who was that? What say? Oh. Oh, and I'm sorry. Thank you, Trusty Middleton, for your statement as well. For what? >> Yes. Yes. Cuz you asked for this presentation, didn't you? Didn't you put in for this? Yes. So, let's let's [laughter] >> No, listen. We seen >> it. It is. Yes. I know PPS, you know, this is
039what we need. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yep. Thank you for um requesting it and we finally we get to see things that we asked for. This is wonderful. Okay. So, um I think that's it. >> Okay. So, we're going to take a step back to um You're welcome. Thank you, Miss White. We're going to take a step back to Mr. Austin, Kevin Austin, who's going to speak to us about the building condition survey pre-bond project discussion. Uh and I'm just going to ask the question in advance. Uh Mr. Austin, this is the exact same bond documentation you gave us in 2023, correct? >> Uh, yes. >> Yes. >> Uh, 23 24 25. >> Yes. Okay. >> Uh, so to begin, I'd like to uh thank everyone again for allowing me to be able to speak
040with regard to the uh facilities and the pre-bond uh project discussion. And you two things may come to your mind. How are we talking about pre-bond at this moment as well as how do we move forward if it's only a discussion? So the reason for the pre-bond is and I might tell a short story uh rhetorical of course uh how many have been to the doctor and the doctors have informed them you need to work on your cholesterol, you need to work on your blood pressure, you need to work on this, work on this and how many especially men have not necessarily heeded uh the warning and it only grows. Well, in essence, that's the most serious because we care for our families. We care for our wives. Our children count on us to be
041healthy. So, that's the reason why I use that illustration because it is one of the most important things. If you don't care for yourself, then you're not going to be able to care for others. It relates to the buildings because if we do not give attention to the needs, you can continue to hear them, but if you do not care for them, then it's only going to get worse. So this pre-bond discussion centers around what SED the um state education department has informed the district of problems within its buildings that's affecting the students. So in this instance every five years you are required to inspect all the buildings to then go through architect engineer to say where are the deficiencies how are uh how is everyone being affected by this? How is everyone being affected
042uh by the conditions of the buildings? They have labeled them in uh four categories but we'll just discuss three. life safety, health and safety, property and damage as well as infrastructure which relates to building envelope critical interiors. So that's our discussion for today. If you look at the next slide, we could say that previously uh as with um we tell our doctors, well I worked out last month, last year I went swimming, I did some exercises. We could say we had a capital project and we did some work. The answer is yes. That's good. That's wonderful. But as noted, the focus was on educational improvements. It really did not address the condition of the buildings. So therefore, the focus of the upcoming or the discussion of this bond is around infrastructure repairs as well as
043replacement of poor and failing systems. to highlight the seriousness of it. Just like your doctor giving you the honest facts, uh you would love to hear the good news. You would love to hear I got a perfect bill of health. But the reality is it's his concern about you that causes him to express the truth to you so that you can do something about it. So in this instance, the building condition survey that was done in 2023 highlighted a number of areas that are very important to the district uh and important to instructing the students. specifically the life safety uh the uh architects uh KG&D architects reported that life safety uh items represented $14 million uh health and safety uh 32 million as well as some infrastructure items 58 million. So in total you can
044say things that we need to fix that you must give attention to or that will have a negative impact uh today tomorrow or those things that I'm going to bring to your attention. It would be nice if you can do it but the state says in this instance we realize you can't do everything all at once. So the reality is you separate it by priority because like with any family that has had difficulties they're not going to fix everything all at once. So in this instance, we've been able to identify that which needs to be addressed so that we are aware of it. And even though we may not be able to do anything immediately about it, just like a wife will tell her husband, uh, let me remind you, uh, we haven't addressed this
045and that's a hard discussion to have, but you know, it's out of concern. So if you look at the next slide, this is a breakdown of those uh most important items as it relates to each of the buildings. And it also kind of tells us uh similar to like a doctor, well, why would these problems be happening? Simply put, look at the first column. How old are the buildings? You cannot have a building that's over hundred years old and think that with use every single month with students teenagers that you're not going to have things to break or things that they break. So this highlights the age of the buildings but it also identifies the buildings the priorities. Priority one is the health and safety and because of the closure we can say that the
046health and safety in yellow under priority number one is around 10 to 11 million. Uh priority number two the health and safety is between 22 to 24 and we give these ranges simply because depending upon the market the time uh prices can change escalation uh the problem can extend be much greater once you investigate the problem even more so. And then we have the exterior and infrastructure problems at probably between 14 to 16 14 to$15 million. So total the minimum health and safety 46 million to 50 million. Next slide. Just to take one example of uh why this is so important. Uh Mount Vernon uh high school uh back in 2023 it was reported that the roof replacement the canopy needed to be replaced as soon as possible. uh that has not taken place. Uh
047there's HVAC infrastructure improvements that are needed especially for things that uh air handlers that are not working or inoperable. Uh when it comes to the quality of the air, the circulation, all those things can have an impact on instruction. Uh there are certain site work items that need to be given attention to as well as the building envelope. This is a representation of one school for $4.5 million. that's kind of representative of all the schools that you could break down a a list of things that are needed for uh repairs and uh renovation. Next slide. How important are ongoing building repairs? So, as you can see from this slide, uh this was taken literally just a few weeks ago. on the left in the red box uh you would simply see a box and some
048bricks. The reality is look to the right when you zoom in all those bricks have been taken down. The reason being is uh because of the water leaks and the roof leaks at Lincoln actually has now gotten behind the actual uh facade to now uh corrode the ties to the bricks. And what happens when it freezes? It's called freeze thaw. So now you're walking past Lincoln and you see a bulge of bricks also not knowing that behind it it's not tied. So therefore with the steel corroding over time as well as now the bricks bulging out you have a situation to where you have to address it. So this is work that is uh being done now because of the annual budget that you have. If if sufficient funds were not in last year's budget
049to kind of address some emergency repairs or at least some repairs, this would not be necessarily be able to be cared for because where you going to get the money? There were no capital projects last year. There were no capital projects this year. There's no capital projects for next year. So therefore, your budget is actually carrying an emergency situation of immediate needs within the district. But the question is still at the bottom. How important are ongoing building repairs? Look at the arrow right above it. The arrow shows that this is where our students are walking right by. Right? So it only takes one one small accident to happen to now impact the students to impact other passerby community or what have you. So all of this highlights going to our next slide for next year
050as stated there are no capital projects. They're only repairs and there limited repairs. But notice the extent of them. electrical repairs, plumbing repairs, mechanical, uh general uh uh contractor repairs, window repairs, building exterior, roof repairs, and the list goes on. That's just some of the key items. It's not completely covered in next year's budget, even to repair those immediate items, but at least the current budget does carry sufficient enough funds to address them as they come along. And as a good doctor would always say, uh, these are immediate, these are important, but we cannot ignore the long-term impact. So, as SED continues to remind the district, as they do all 700 districts within the state, they have a building condition survey for a reason, so as to not forget, despite how busy we are or
051despite how challenging it is, we cannot ignore that this exists. and then we do the best that we can as a community as a family to address well how can we move forward. So the current budget does again uh on the positive side does address being able to uh continue with the repairs but we have to realize it's a pre-bond discussion because we can't ignore what the future reality is. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Austin for this presentation. I'm going to take comments, questions from board members. I'm going to start to my right this time. Anyone? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. [laughter] Trusty Brown, please let us have it. >> Good evening. I want to thank you for your presentation. Um, I'm going to come from my uh professional hat and just reviewing um this
052capital needs assessment in my world, right? Um it's sad that we don't have the funds to do this because I know we've met at at this school and we both talked about it and a number of schools that we've been um doing walkthroughs at. Um, and so with that being said, um, it definitely needs to be updated. We need to take a fine tooth comb because one thing I will say is that the district has been attacking the lowhanging fruit. So, there are things on this list that probably can come off of at certain schools. Um there are certain schools that need to be updated because there are things that have come up that we have noticed or I've noticed in my professional opinion um that need to be addressed. And I've and I keep
053saying we need a capital improvement. We need a capital project for this. This is a capital project because a lot of times um building leads and teachers and the custodial staff only think that it's focused on their particular building and it's not. It's districtwide windows, locks, um, HVAC's, like that's all districtwide. And so it would be wildly unfair to just single out one school. It would need to be all the schools lumped together. And that would require a capital project. Um, so I know now that we have our superintendent here and I feel like we have a good grasp of where we need to go. I'm excited to continue to work with the district and the superintendent and the staff to see where we can address these things and how it could all be lumped
054in. It'll also be a huge capital savings if it was a hu if it was like little micro capital projects because that's really what it is and again attacking the lowhanging fruit which the district has been doing. Um could it be on a grander scale? Absolutely. anytime you start digging and you know when I was in the field and we would do construction sites and someone would say, "Oh, can you uncover something?" I'd say, "Get out your spoon." And once you get out the spoon, you start really getting into the nitty-gritty of where the things are. Um, so I I thank you for this. Um, I will say, you know, last year and I don't like to go back, but sometimes you have to do that retrospective takeback. And so to have you really call
055it out and it's not like under smoke and mirrors and you're really calling out is is I appreciate that and I hope the community appreciates that because a lot of times you weren't given the information. You weren't given the meat and potatoes. You were given like the final product and sometimes you need to see that. you need to see the intricacies of what is going to go into this. Um, so I am happy that you presented this. I know we have a lot of work to do. Again, we have a lot of old buildings. Um, but I see that the superintendent is committed to making sure that we attack these things. Um, even if it's little small leaps, we're taking them and we're doing them. So, I'm I'm excited to do that and I'm excited
056that I'm able to lend my expertise to the district free of charge. Okay. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Any other trustees have comments, questions? >> Oh, no. I'm coming. I got a little something, but I'm going kind of going this direction. Trusty Kelly, do you have anything? Trusty Mcdana, go for it. >> Okay. So, [clears throat] yeah. Um just so I understand the priority one after closures 10 to 11 million priority two after closures 22 to 24 million right and the priority ones are that's not something that we have the option of of avoiding right if it's a health and safety concern we can be compelled to have to take those projects on and if we don't have a bond in place a construction bond in place, a capital improvements bond in
057place, it's going to hit. We're gonna have to somehow fund it through operations. And if we don't have the we don't have a fund balance, we don't have a capital projects fund in place, then we are very vulnerable um to something catastrophic happening. Is is that is that a reasonable assessment of the situation? >> Uh no. >> Okay. >> That's an absolute correct statement. >> Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, I just wanted to be clear on that. So, it seems to me that we we are um I know people don't like to talk about this, but we're we're forced to really fast track looking at getting a bond in place for us. That's that's financially the best way to tackle this this level of of of of project. Um it can't be done through
058the operations. There's just no way. I remember what happened up in Austining when they they got caught and they wouldn't approve a bond. So, we have to start to I think analyze that and map out how we get that in place soon. Um, so that's all that's all I would say I'm making the pitch for that. >> And just to add uh an an explanation, the reason why you cannot do an annual uh have it in your annual budget is simply because of the burden that it would carry to the community on the tax side. So that means you're going to do your house repair all rooms in the same year. Every family knows that that's not practical. That's not reality. Hence, you take out a loan for 15 years. The state will provide you
059back uh some 70% uh for every dollar that you spend or 70 cents on the dollar is what you would currently receive back. And by spreading it out over the 15 years, you now do not put the burden on the community all at once. You're able to spread it out so it's manageable. Again, similar to how you would manage a household. [clears throat] >> I'm going to we're going to um entertain a comment from in-house legal. >> Also, one of the things given your presentation in reference to [clears throat] uh being forward thinking is that we also have to look at it from an insurance perspective, right? We also we look at it from the injury perspective, but we need to look at it from insurance perspective because we're self-insured. And the reason why we're
060able to get the rates that we're able to get now is that they look at our overall portfolio as to what has happened in the past couple of years. And if all there is is employment or personal injury from someone slipping and falling, not a ceiling caving in or something catastrophic, that puts us in a better position. So that's just something that we need to think about. Thank you, trust uh President Marbel. >> Yes. I just want to be thank you um Mr. Austin for this presentation and I know we've heard it before, but sometimes you need to hear it several times in order for it to sink in. Uh number one, but number two, I just want to be clear that we are not asking the public to vote on a bond during this
061cycle. Number one, not that we don't need it, but we are not and we have not put forth a bond issue and we have not applied for one. Correct. >> That is correct. So, it's only a discussion to simply acknowledge that that's what um uh teachers, administration, and families have seen when they go into the buildings and they say, "Did you not know?" And so, the the answer is yes. We have it fully documented by the professionals, architects and engineers to specify how much it is, what the priority is and now as a board at some point you will plan a proper way to be able to address those needs in priority order and at the appropriate time. But no, there is no uh discussion at this point of when a bond will take place,
062how much it will be or any of those items. The state simply requires that the district is on notice that you have these issues and the buildings are classified to the state as being unsatisfactory because of these health and safety issues. >> Okay. Does that also impact the fiscally distressed status that we receive? Do you know? >> Uh I'm not aware of that. >> Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you. >> So, Mr. Austin, we've we've slapped five plenty of times. We've talked over the years. All right. So, I want to call out the fact that these priority ones and twos are not new. This report came to us in 2023. >> Correct. Okay. So, we're three years behind the ball on priority ones and twos. We're talking um dangers danger to life, right? >> Life
063safety. Let's say I'm trying to make sure I said it right. >> Yes. >> Now, I've sat here over the years and I've been a facilities person. I've been all over facilities from the playgrounds to the bathrooms to the this to the to the ceilings crumbling. We want to talk about something catastrophic. Let's talk about leadership academy having ceilings collapse. It happened. Okay, this is based on having no fund balance. We have we're the fund balance for the district is what we're actually relying on with it with there's almost nothing in it for catastrophic and we're again reactive no proactive we're trying to get to proactive and I think the point of it you everybody remembers the 2016 bond everybody hey wait a it was an educationally structured intended bond because we were going K
064to8 we had to upgrade the buildings so that middle school kids in and elementary school could be in the same building. We had to add labs. We had to update um the facilities and things like that, the bathrooms. And we know that we saw money being spent in different places more than others. Changes were made to that bond after votes were made. People had to come back, vote again. This is not the same thing. This is about This is not about let's try something new. Let's make a K to8. No, let's This is about, hey, I'd rather have my whole head not be caved in by a piece of brick because this building is 108 years old and a piece of the facade just fell off while I was walking past. And it speaks to
065and this I want to if you weren't looking at this report, this report is this report is online, isn't it? On the district site? >> Yes. >> If you weren't looking, >> this is a short version, by the way. So, there's a much >> Yeah, I got that one. >> I have a 60 page. >> Yeah, I have that at home. I still have it. I walk around almost with it like ID. If you we were closing buildings and I asked this question, was anyone looking at this because we closed buildings that did not have anywhere near the repair bill that others did? And I'm going to call out Parker. It was $1.3 million compared to buildings that had more than $4 million worth of repairs that were needed. And we closed that building. Make
066it make sense. You're listening to what you're being told and you're seeing things happen and is it making sense? Are you looking at the pennies, the dollars and cents and you're looking at it to make sure does it make sense? You got to hold this where we hold each other accountable. So, let's just be straightforward. Um, you know, the fact that just the fact that it goes all the way back to 2023 scares me. I still got babies in this district now and I am concerned. And the southside, the southside buildings are in the absolute worst condition. I'll say that again because I've said it 12 times. The southside buildings have been neglected for the better part of 30 to 40 years. So when you look at the buildings on the southside, look at what
067they're looking like. And again, I say look at the numbers. We closed buildings. Who was telling us why? And why do we close those buildings? It just doesn't make sense. But I digress. Priority one and two, the bond conversation needs to begin and it needs to include every last resident here in Mount Vernon so that there can be no question as to why and what. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I'm sorry, President Marbel. Um uh again, thank you. Um, Vice President Mitchell, um, is there a reimburseable amount for a bond with the state for districts? And if so, what's the percentage? >> Yes. So, each uh each district has a building aid ratio that's calculated uh each year, and it depends upon the assessed value and the wealth within each of the districts. complicated
068formula, but at the end of the day, they give you a number and that number is roughly 70% building aid or reimbursement for every dollar that you spend on qualified projects. So certain things will not be qualified or you could have the extent of so many problems that it's over um uh in this case if it's site work they don't encourage as much. So therefore for an elementary building it's 80% on the construction 20% on incidentals and site work falls under an incidental. So therefore if you had a lot of exterior problems it may not be aidable. So therefore, that's another reason for the plan or having a wellthoughtout strategic plan to be able to maximize the reimbursement from the state and um and currently I'm actually working on a project um within the region
069also because we're so close to New York City, the regional cost index or regional cost factor they call it um in my estimation and my analysis is incorrect for Westchester, which applies not just to Mount Vernon, but to all the districts. So, we're actually contesting that up to the governor's office. uh in 2018 uh Mount Vernon was the proud sponsor of that uh con uh uh contested uh number and actually the state changed the reimbursement rate uh for the regional cost factor which is considerable for Westchester because we're so close to the city. Uh, so we're endeavoring to uh do that again, but I'm working through another district for that. But just letting you know that we're doing everything possible because, you know, Mount Vernon is kind of home for me. Uh, so therefore, any
070way that we can ensure that you're getting the most money back in reimbursement, that's what we do and that's where planning comes in. >> Okay. and the you indicated that in the current budget that you've seen that was presented that none of these costs pretty much are included. And so this is basically outside of the operating budget that we we're basically the operating budget is just talking about maintenance and repairs. It has nothing to do with these capital improvement type requirements for the pri priorities for life and safety and everything else. Right. uh practically 95% of what's on your building condition survey as being a problem is not in your budget. You basically have a budget to maintain operations similar to how you would have a home. Like we can't go out and get the
071renovations, but I can at least patch this, I can patch that, I can do this. Uh those items are important. Uh hence, you know, why I mentioned about the budget because if you lower it, then of course that's less uh funds available and um uh you're just basically doing the best that you can depending upon where the water flows, right? If it comes out of this building, then that gets the money. If it's this one, wherever the emergency is. And in this case, uh, uh, back to, uh, Trustee Brown, we are going through the, um, uh, uh, health and safety items that were reported in 2023 to qualify that they are still there. Uh, and also to note some other emerging items that are not on there. Uh, like in this case, a facade on
072uh, uh, at Trap Hagen uh, at near the entrance has to be addressed. If you have exposed rebar as an example, uh that means you have the potential of more spalling or concrete uh coming down. So therefore, we're going through looking at those areas kind of in an informal way, not a reinspection, but just to further qualify this stands as it is and it's a need and it's only growing as just like with Lincoln uh you know uh just as that one example with water it will only get worse. Water will never as much as it's lifea lifesaving to a building it's destroying Yeah. Anybody? >> Does anybody else have any questions or comments? >> Trusty Middleton. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> I just have one more um question. So, the bill I'm sorry.
073So, this is from 2023. So, the longer that we delay these priorities, the higher the higher number of the incidents are the worse the issue gets, number one. And number two, the higher the cost rising to pay for it. And so, but the 1.99% that we're that the um that we have proposed to the public is basically for maintenance and repairs, not for capital projects. So, we're basically putting band-aids on something that pretty much needs surgery. >> Well, and I think the 1.99 is for the escalating things that are beyond your control, such as health care, right? the charter schools that alone will soak up more than the 1.9. >> So therefore, there was actually potentially you would do the math and say there's actually cost >> nominal >> or reductions in other things in
074order to pay for health insurance as an example. >> Right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Dawson, I want to just say that, you know, no no tax increase or zero tax increase is part of how we got here and it's why we will remain here until we begin to be we get to realize you can't make it's one thing to do more with less, but it's something completely absurd to do something with absolutely nothing. It's just doesn't work like that. Thank you, Mr. Austin. Thank you. We're going to have our superintendent uh Dr. Deario Strickland who's going to talk to us about summer school programs for 2026. >> Very great evening, President Marvo. uh, Vice President Mitchell, board trustees, and the greater Mount Vernon community. Uh, I am presenting on behalf of Dr.
075Jamal Dogget, who is a little under the weather. Um, and, uh, um, yeah, he can't talk. Uh, so I'm talking for him, but [clears throat and cough] I'm pleased to present this very brief presentation around summer school 2026. Next slide. So as you can see we have a programming overview. Uh one of the things that we want to do is focus on diverse academic and developmental needs of our students. [clears throat] We um want to provide enrichment opportunities, academic retention and skill replacement. I want to say that again. academic enrichment and uh academic retention and skill reinforcement and strategic partnerships with outside agencies. Uh enrichment programs will uh extend learning through engaging hands-on experiences. Uh academic retention programs will focus on reinforcing reinforcing essential skills and addressing learning gaps to ensure students are well prepared
076for the upcoming school year. And we are um collaborating with our community uh based organizations to offer additional programs in uh our summer schools. Next slide. [clears throat] These are the the many or the various summer school programs that we are offering uh this year. Um we are having a district-wide K to7 summer enrichment program initial credit recovery uh credit program for students entering grade nine. So in thinking about the goals one of um the district goals for increasing the number of students that earn five or more credits. We are now giving them the first opportunity to go in with uh w with earning credit uh this summer. Uh we're having a district-wide K8 intervention and retention uh summer schools. So those students who are deemed below grade level or not meeting grade level standards,
077they are going to be recommended for summer school um programming. Grades seven and eight, I'm uh talking with you specifically uh because no longer can we just continue to pass on students uh that are not meeting the expectations. Um students must pass their classes um or they have to go to summer school in order to be promoted to the next grade. Uh we are having our high school credit recovery program. Um we are offering our mandated ESY full day and ESY halfday programs. Those are for students uh that show regression um or that may show regression and we're mandated to offer that program. This year we are bringing uh an ENL academy. Um and and that's going to be very important with our rising ENL numbers. Uh the students that are ENL need a program
078that is tailored to them. We have a kindergarten transition program. our smart scholars program, grade eight summerbridge programs, and our outside agencies are using some of our buildings for programming. Next [clears throat] slide. Just to remind us of the district goals. Uh ensure that every scholar has foundational skills in reading and writing and arithmetic. Prioritize teachers use of data assessment to drive instructional practices in classrooms. and increase scholars achievement districtwide by at least 5% in all core subjects with particular attention to subgroups with special needs. Next slide. So you can see before you um our district-wide K7 summer enrichment program that will be offered at Grimes and Pennington uh from July 6 through July 30th. Uh the time will be 8:00 am to 3 pm. Um we're offering up to 350 students and then we
079have projected staffing for each of the programs. Next slide. Uh here's the initial credit recovery uh program for students entering grade nine. Um that is uh going they're going to have the opportunity to receive 0.5 in health and 0.5 in studio and art. um for a total of 1.0 high school credits. Now, that uh hopefully can be combined with the fact that the student may have integrated uh algebra or biology um from their eighth grade year or also foreign language. Um so a student can realistically go into high school with four credits um initially which sets them on a very positive trajectory uh to graduating within four years. The number of students that will be serviced is 150 students and that is from Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and that is
080by uh seat time. Next slide. K to8 intervention and retention uh will be offered at the Graham School July 6th through July 30th uh Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 23 2:00 p.m. Um number of students 300 students. [clears throat] Next slide. Credit recovery will take place at Mount Vernon High School. Um the dates are July 6 through August 13th uh with regent exams um being taken or delivered on August 18th and 19th. Uh that program will be Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 100 p.m. uh up to 700 students and that is for individuals from all of the high schools. Next slide. our ESY and E ESY full and half day programs. Um the ESY full day program will be uh located at Benjamin Turner Academy July 6th through August 14th 8:30 to 3:30
081p.m. uh Monday through Friday. Um we don't know the amount of students uh yet. It's based on the needs of the IEP. Um, and uh, our half-day program will be at Rebecca Turner Academy July 6th through the 14th. And that is the half-day program from 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Next slide. Our ENL Academy that will service students K through 8. Um, and that is a summer summer language immersion pro immersion program. Um, and it's really helped uh it's really there to help students uh continue to acquire the English language uh throughout the summer. Uh that will be located at the Hamilton School July 6th through July 30th, Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with us targeting 100 students. Next slide. our kindergarten transition program. Um that is for students that are enter
082entering kindergarten uh in September. Uh that will be located at Pennington and Graham July 6th through the 30th 8:20 a.m. through 2:45 p.m. And that is uh for 72 students. And we are providing that program to really help gear up our students, our littlest babies, uh, so that they're ready for, uh, the kindergarten experience. [clears throat] Next slide. Um, I want to start off by saying we, um, have been looking deeply into smart scholars. Um we are finding that smart scholars um we we have not been meeting state metrics for smart scholars. In fact um you know this year I've been delivered with penalties because of the lack of acquisition of credits. Um smart scholars you should be earning no less than 24 credits. We have only been uh providing up to 22 credits. [clears
083throat] Not to mention, we also have not been fully providing the engross model in which students from our district are going onto the college campus to get those credits. We're doing a total revamp so that we do not lose any additional funds as we continue to move forward. Um, we're going to have to actually put out another RFP to find another college partner that will help uh over the summer um help get our students onto the college campus and taking those courseworks. Um, so that they are earning from 24 to up to 60 credits. Okay, they should be earning from 24 up to 60 credits, but a lot of our students have been falling short of 22. And when you're not at 24, you have to take a penalty. Um, so we are working on
084um, we're definitely working on that this summer. It'll be Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 30 students at each site. And again, we're um working on uh many logistics. Uh this will be shared staff with the summer bridge program. Next slide. Um we have set aside some of our title dollars to do a summer bridge program. All incoming ninth graders will have an immersive experience at the high school that they will be attending in the fall. it is going to be very important for them to actually walk around the building, start to get to know the staff, the teachers, um, and understand the overall layout. In addition, the goal would be that those students are given their schedules so that they can hit the ground running on day one because everyone's first day
085of school is September 3rd. Everyone's first day of school, preK to 12. Um there's no alterating or you know alterations to that. Uh so that will take place at each of the high schools and again it's really designed to give our ninth graders uh a fresh a good start. Next slide. We also have provided or we have partnerships with many organizations uh through the city that also provides uh camp opportunities for our students. Um, as you could see, the multiple uh different camps uh through the youth bureau are available and we're only showing this so that parents see the array of options that are available to their children. Um, it's just very important to continue to highlight there is there are things to do in the summer. There will be things to do in the
086summer in Mount Vernon. Um, they can get lunch, get enrichment, get academics. Um, they can get it all. Next slide. This is just um outside agencies continued. We're still gathering more information uh on these uh camps in particular. And then finally, next slide, next steps. Um we we are posting for summer school positions. I think that has already been done. Um we are going to then select staff. Uh we are reviewing the curriculum options uh for all of the programs. uh create the instructional framework that'll continue to live on throughout the school year likely. Uh send registration forms to parents, student selection and enrollment, uh advertising and then providing training to teachers. I want to say this. If in fact a summer site is underenrolled, we will have to reduce staff and possibly shift students
087to different programs uh in order to maximize our uh financial resources. So, while you might be offered a position, it is not guaranteed that you might stay at that location or you might work the summer if we don't have the students sign up. Um, so with that being said, um, that's the end of my uh, or Dr. Dogget's presentation. Um, uh, I I'm sure I still can answer your questions. >> Thank you, Dr. Strickland for this uh very important presentation. I'm going to start with comments and questions from the board. Starting from my left, Trusty McDunny, you have anything? Trusty Kelly, Trusty Peterson. >> I'm just I'm I'm really happy that this presentation came out today because I literally was asked by two parents over the weekend about summer um uh the summer programs for
088the district. So, I'm glad to see this. and we um already created a flyer anticipating just saying it's happening. Uh what everyone the community uh trustees you all need to know is we just had a an extensive presentation about repairs. Every school cannot be used. So there's certain schools where there's going to be intensive work hopefully that can get done um in those schools uh to make sure it's safe in the fall. Uh so that's um sort of what we had to go through. Uh Dr. Dogget um Miss McCoy had to go and survey all the schools and say which ones are viable working with facilities uh so that we pick the right places. >> Trusty Brown is pulling up the mic. >> Got a lot to say. Dr. Dogget, I need you to answer
089these questions now. Um, I want to say thank you for this because as Trusty Peterson says, because we are parents with younger ones in the district, people come to us a lot asking, "Well, what about camp and and where can I take my kid?" And we're always like we're we know but it's good to know that now the district is being transparent enough to show all the programs that Mount Verna has to offer because before it was you who you knew to get your kid in camp and now it's like we are being transparent and they haven't had that in a long time. We've been fortunate to have a place for our kids to go, you know, for summer camps, but other parents don't know. And so now you're offering that to them. And that's
090amazing for me as a parent. That feels really good. So when they ask me or ask us like go to the go to the website, go to the district website because the information will be there. Um I'm going to ask as a parent, um if you if for next year, can we have this out a little bit sooner? And I don't know how that works for us because I know as parents we know in February, let's start looking for camps. That's just that's just what it is. You start looking because you want to get in early so you can get the cheaper rate. >> And um I didn't see any price points on here. So maybe that would be something good if you know I mean for what the community partner groups are offering because
091that's always really good to know as a as a parent. Um, I know the district is no cost, but you know, it's also good for for them to have that information. So, thank you um for pulling that together. That really it's really important and I'm so glad that we now have this connection here where we're not smoking mirrors for parents. So, thank you. >> Yep. No problem. Um, just to add, so normally I would want to do something like this in February. However, our title funds were all over the place. So, we had to make sure that we had a clear-cut plan for the title funds and actually know if we can afford to provide a summer school program. Money started opening up. We were then able to actually say we can go forth this
092year. We're on the money already with planning title. We're going to submit our application even before uh like the the the actual deadline and we have a plan for the title funding. So we are definitely um on track for having a presentation um earlier in the year. I will say though again going back to the conditions of the buildings locations and things like that may change. So you would just have to bear with us if there are you know up. This school is actually offline now. Okay. You're welcome Trusty Medson. I just want to say you have arrived. [laughter] Thank you um for that presentation. We need it and it's coming together and Oh Dr. Dorin, I'm sorry. Yeah, [laughter] but you know you get you get you see two is like one. But anyway,
093um thank you Dr. Dorgan >> and the coming together of that is great. It's coming together and that's a great thing. So you have arrived and you definitely have arrived here after all this time. So thank you. It's great. >> Yes, Miss McCoy has been a huge help as well, >> Trusty Scott. >> No, [clears throat] this is um great in terms of what you're presenting. The only thing that I think about when I'm a when I I am a parent, but when my kids were younger was um the extension because I'm I'm still working at 3:00, right? So, I don't know if in the future some of these programs can be can go longer hours till like five, six o'clock for those parents that don't get off at 3:00 and things of that nature.
094So something just to think about as we are continuing and evolving our planning on these um great opportunities during the summer um going forward. So just something to think about. >> I I would love to offer programming that late but you see the struggle even with a 199 we don't have no money in the future. Yes. But um I definitely uh do understand that uh parents are working. Many of our parents do work in the city. They're taking Metro North every day. Um I I I feel for them. I really do. Um but we have to really think about the equity, try to offer the um afterchool program right away earlier in the year so that that's off without a hitch. Um so you know we have to kind of pick and choose the battle
095the battles. Um, Trusty White is she's live and direct from her undisclosed location that's disclosed. Do you have any comments? We haven't heard from you. I'm so sorry. I feel like I have completely forgot that you have stuff stuff to say. You're on mute right now. You have any comment? I can't hear you if you're talking. >> Wait, hold on. Can we unmute her? Yeah. Can we unmute her? Yeah. Okay. Okay. We can't see now. We can't see her. All right. Okay. Trusty White, go. >> She muted again. >> No, it looks like she has to do it. All right. So, we still need you to unmute some kind of way, Trusty White. She's like very low. >> If you liked it, give us a thumbs up. >> It's very low. >> Okay. Uh Okay.
096So, is it that we got to turn her up, can we? >> Yeah. We still can't we still can't hear you. >> Okay. All right. So, um I'm just going to jump in really quick and say thank you for that presentation. Um you had a summer school knowing when summer school, where how um it doesn't just affect the students, it affects the teachers as well. That part about um us uh right sizing what we need for manpower is and the fact that it's going to be on a pivotal axis is important because it speaks to um our teachers money, how much they getting paid. if they plan on working through the summer and getting paid a certain amount, this is going to if this is going to be a pivoting access, they need to be
097aware of that so that if they sign up, they have to know that, hey, you know what? If you don't get enough people, enough students, we're going to shut this building and and consolidate. I just want to make sure that that communication is very clear to our teachers so that they have 110% clarity so they can make the right decision for them. Um, I didn't hear anything. I don't I might have missed something about uh gifted and talented, but before I say that, it looks like we're constructed a bridge program for almost every grade group >> through the summer, which I think that's kind of new. Am I nuts? Cuz that's So, let me >> Yeah, that's amazing. >> Yeah, it's new for us, right? I mean, not new in general, but that's new for
098this district. I haven't seen I think it's amazing. I thought that it was um that we were we kind of lost out because only certain schools were doing bridge program. mainly it was um Denzel Washington back in the days when they were still >> they that was one of my non-negotiables. >> So right away >> I thank you for that because it gives students the chance especially the babies that don't know that building don't know those staff. Gives them a chance to come in and get acclimated. It's really good especially for the preks coming in cuz they're in a total new atmosphere. >> Can we talk Did you mention anything about gifted and talented? >> No we only did. So we want to honestly the research is now starting to change to get away from
099the elite term of gifted and talented and really just highlight enrichment the enrichment program. So we are doing academics in the morning which means someone that may be gifted or you know they they are higher level they're going to get instruction at that higher level. Um, but they all get enrichment in the afternoon and and guess what? Some of our students that may not be at that level yet where they supposed to be flourish with enrichment. So there will be a combination of the two at uh all schools. Um, but uh you know that this budget uh that I presented uh multiple times before you um reinstated the Atlas program to for our district. That's good to hear, too. So, we also mentioned smart scholars, and I have a I have a student who is
100he's been a smart scholar for years now. Um, I want to make sure that our parents have the ability to obtain what their student has actually acquired in smart scholars grades with the ones that have taken AP courses and pass them. Those are gruesome uh uh uh things. But I also, I said this a while back, I would like to hear from former students who've graduated. They took they were smart scholars. They were IB. They earned credits or so they thought and felt and they worked towards. But I want to know I would like to hear from them as to how it really panned out when they went to school. Did they get those credits? Did it pan out the way they intended? And and and trusty and and I'm I'm asking this because Trusty
101Middleton brought it up. I remember at one time and I thought it was a great question. Um because I think you have a family member >> family member and she has friends and all of them like That was >> talking to the mic. Yeah, >> I'm winding down. [laughter] >> Same here. >> But yeah, 8 plus students 9:00, [laughter] >> but um you know they just felt slighted. They still talk about it. >> Yeah, >> they and they these are smart scholars for real. So >> 24 above and and they just felt, you know, they were promised and thought they would come down with two-year degree and all that kind of stuff out of high school, right? >> And they didn't get half of that. They didn't get what they were supposed to. So I
102hope that in the future in the days ahead that whatever you panning out to do that, it really does work because to disappoint >> and they were very highly disappointed. So to disappoint kids who are really doing something and you work with the ones who were trying to go there but when they are doing it working she was working like a >> but she really and and her friends and they were just you know anyway but I just pray that in the days ahead it's better than not and was well just to cut a long story short um we have some structural problems with the program. one, we're going to have to set up semester scheduling in some of our buildings. Now, even though our qualified teachers are teaching advanced placement, international balorate, um dual
103credit, in some cases, smart scholars actually requires that um or part of the requirement is that they actually are being taught by college professors. They're actually in those college classrooms. I think our teachers have been trained and they're able to do so, but we're missing out on that college onampus experience. Um, so we're we're going to fix it. We're going to fix it. >> Anything else from any other trustees, comments, questions? Thank you, Dr. Strickland, for your presentation. Presenting Dr. Dog's presentation so well. Thank you. Okay. So, that concludes comments. I'm sorry. We're going to go to comments from the board. Do we have anything? Can we do it? Uh, anything you can wrap up quickly so that we can jump into going home? Okay. Anything? Anyone? Okay. So, that said, we're going to move
104into our part of the meeting where we we start talking about um we're going to look at resolutions. We're going to group them. So, I'm going to give our board trustees, we need we need a to review human resources um resolutions 41 through 44. I'm going to give everybody a moment to digest and let me know if you have questions, any questions for 41 through 44. Okay, hearing none, I'm going to move on to number five, curriculum and instruction, and take a moment to digest 5.1. Let me know if any questions. Hearing none, we're going to move on to number six, student personnel services. Any questions? Digest 61 through 63. Do have a moment. Vice President Mitchell, I'd like to pose 6.3. Posing 6.3. Does anyone else have anything that they're opposing? No questions. Okay.
105Can we just get a little bit of an explanation on um the 6.3 >> 6.3? Uh Dr. Stricklin, do you can you give us some >> Miss White, uh can you provide clarification for 6.3 with the Open Door Family Medical Center incorporated? service. >> With all due respect, it may need to be pulled because I need more clarity >> on Hold on. >> Well, still the date is wrong. It's going to have to be pulled. And >> what is I believe the date shows 2526. Is that what we're looking at? >> 2425. >> Okay. That is a contract that um there was a change in name in the entity for which we already had a contract with and so they wanted to inform us of the change of name and so that would be amended.
106>> I have a question. President Marabel, >> I'd like to know if we have any data on the um success of that program before we reinstitute this contract based on the change of name and if you could identify what the change what was the reason for the change of name. So I'd like to pull it so we can kind of look at it a little deeper. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. But we can just withdraw withdraw it. >> So you'll just do 61 and 62. >> Trusty Peterson, >> I want to know what the opposition was with having mental health services. Why? Besides despite the the date being incorrect, but Open Door, we have we have other entities that offer mental health services on that's at my Vernon High School and unfortunately
107a lot of students from the southside are unable to participate in [laughter] that program because of the distance. So I don't understand what is the issue with open door when they provide mental health services for our families. >> Are you directing the question at President Marbel? >> Yeah. I Yeah, because I'm conf I don't know if we should have >> opposition was >> I don't know if we should have that conversation right here. Maybe we should have that behind the closed door or or would you like to >> President Marbel? I I don't have an opposition to mental health services being provided to our children. What I want to understand is the success rate of the program to date and the reason why there was a name change. So I'd like some more clarity and
108some more detailed information so we can drill deeper into it. That's I mean it's a new contract. I think when we have contracts that come up for renewal that it's an opportunity for us to take a real deep look at it and see whether or not this is a contract that we want to renew or there's something else out there that might be better for our children. That's it. >> We're gonna >> Jesse Peterson did that. Not really, but because it's if if I'm a a parent of a student who's receiving mental health services, I definitely What is what is what is the definition of determining their success or out? Like what is that? Letting you know how many sessions that I went I attended with my child, letting know if my child still has
109behavior issues like what is that what does data from a family oriented mental health service look like as far as what we're looking for? Because as a as a parent who has participated in a mental health service in this district, it to me I feel a little offensive to to to be asked, you know, we want to see what the the outcome was. >> I'm it it is >> Dr. Wilkins the number of students that they that they see the number Yeah. Can you talk to set it into the mic? This is important. Yeah. >> Talking to the mic. Um, but in all contracts, you really should be looking at deliverables and especially anything going on with your special ed with all the um um issues that are going on with special ed. You want
110to really look at the deliverables, but deliverables for all of your contracts when it comes to what they're actually producing because you may want to tweak the contract to have a little bit more into it or you may want to be looking a little bit less of what's going on. And so it gives you some perspective about whether they're deliver delivering the goods of the contract and how is it impacting with special eds with um with what they're looking for with IEP and services. >> But how do we measure that? >> How are we measuring? >> Well, again that we got to go back into the contract. That's what I'm saying. >> Hold on, Dr. Strickland. >> One thing I will say that we're missing in terms of staffing is a research analyst or some
111a program evaluator. and those individuals actually help support us getting contracts, getting um getting funding. Um so that is something that we're going to have to I'm going to have to, you know, pull from Peter to PayPal or whatever to get someone, but I certainly understand what uh Trusty Peterson is saying in that regard with mental health services. Trusty Peterson, did you hear what you need for the the main part of the question, which is why the opposition? >> Fix it and then >> and the next part is what you want to get from Miss White. Correct. >> We'll fix it and then put >> I mean, I read through the contract. I read through the contract thoroughly earlier and many it just focuses on confidentiality, which most mental health service contracts in the school
112district [snorts] would look like the fact of, you know, breach of confidentiality, things like that, patient privacy. So, I'm, you know, it is I'm just interested to see what more will be, you know, different with the >> Okay. >> All right. That's fine. Thank you. So, we're going to um I'm going to move to seven. We're going to ask for a motion on the floor to remove to um authorize S consent agenda items. Send send the items to the consent agenda. We're going to look at um 41 through 62. So we're only moving send we're only sending items to consent agenda items 4 one through 62. Do I have a motion >> hearing motion and form and correctly seconded? Can we please have a vote? >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? Abstain.
113Motion carries. Uh item number eight is a policy renumbering and first reading which will happen at the May 19th business meeting. That's just basically formal knowledge we're sharing. May I have a motion to enter an executive session? >> Can for the reason. >> Motion to enter executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel matter. motion. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any oppose? >> Abstain. >> Motion carries. >> That concludes our work session. >> Say one thing. >> Wait, hold on. Sorry, >> Dr. Strickland. It is very important that we uh wish our uh teachers and staff a very happy uh staff appreciation week. Um that that goes for everyone including our security, our custodian. Everyone deserves to be appreciated. Um so once again, we're grateful for all you do. And then don't forget
114May 13th, May 14th, 6:30, 5:30 respectively. Uh I have a uh the final two budget presentations. Denzel Washington uh for the PTA and then Hamilton School um on the 13th and the 14th 6:30 and 5:30. So thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Strickland. I'm going to just before we adjourn, Trusty Peterson, can you speak to we did have a loss in the district. Can you speak to that? >> Um definitely. I just would like to um the board and the um greater Mount Vernon City School District would like to extend [sighs] our deepest condolences and sympathies to the family of Miss Cena eps. She was a [laughter] a force to be reckoned with. She was not only a security officer, she was someone who as a parent to be told, "Miss Erica, don't worry. I
115have your boy. Don't you worry about him. It is rare that you come across people in this in your in your life like this. So, I just want to we all want to extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Miss Cena EPS. Miss EPS, you will be missed and you are and always will be dearly loved by us. >> Amen to that. Um, I'd like to close the meeting. Uh, we will not be reconvening to public session. Um, and thanks for joining us. We'll see you on May 19th. Have a good night.