001[Music] Good evening everybody. Welcome to the June 17th Mount Vernon City School District regular board meeting. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance 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 for all. Trusty Mcdana present. Trusty Marabel present. Trusty Mitchell present. Trusty Middleton present. Trusty Anda here. Trusty White present. Trusty Kerwin here. VP Kelly here. President Saunders here. Okay, we have a quorum. So, tonight we're going to do the Edith Kaplan Awards. This Edith Kaplan Scholarship Awards uh presented by the PTA. Everybody is awarded annually to high school seniors. Tonight, we would like to present the Mount Vernon PTA Edith Kaplan Scholarship, which is awarded annually to high school seniors who demonstrate exceptional academic growth and
002a strong commitment to their community. Um, this year we had the most applicants that we've seen. Um, over 60 applicants applied for the scholarship. Um, so it was a very um competitive process with our committee to to to pick the um the recipients of this award. Um, I'm now going to have um Erica Peterson, the president of the Mount Vernon High School, present to the Mount Vernon High School recipients. That's my shocking beauty. So, first up, we have Good evening everyone. We have Mount Vernon High School. Last night, we had our senior convocation awards. So, I saw lots of these students that I'm about to call get plenty of awards last night and we had so many students last night who got convocation awards that we almost ran out of seats. So, that's how great
003Mount Verna High School did this year. First, we have up our saludiatoran, Miss Friendelli Fabon Rojos. Is she here tonight? There you go. We have Mr. Shotput King himself, DeAndre Shephard. We have Carol Daniela Fuentes Luna. We have Sarah Amare and we have Tokazani Sambakansky. [Applause] Next up we've got Janine Fertil with the Steam Academy. Good evening everyone. I wasn't prepared with such a wonderful speech until Erica started. So, so on June 12th, we had a convocation at the Steam Academy and lots of our students also got awards. You know, we almost ran out of seats as well. And so, um, so I'd like to present all of our students. So, first we have Ameilia Anderson, [Applause] Alla Ferrer, [Applause] Janelle Highland Wilson, [Applause] Isaac Amuzu. We also have our valadictorian here, Isaac Alva Alvarado
004Calderon, Ethan Williams for [Applause] Zelina George, [Applause] Tessanne, Tiller Long, [Applause] Andalin Ferraria, [Applause] This one's a little special. Spencer Richardson, [Applause] Lauronia Smith, Kayn Vitador, right? Omarian Seymour. [Applause] I know Marian is always bringing up the rare, let me tell you. Correct. Shante Hart, [Applause] Mark Arthur Febrier. [Applause] Oh, okay. And our saludiatorum, Aiden Jacob Forum. Flavia Lucatch, [Applause] Alana Delgado, [Applause] Michaela McGregor, [Applause] and last but not least, Toby McDonald. DeAndre Shepard, we called you earlier. The shopood king has come in. Come on up and get your award. Did you do this? Oh, no. Okay. Okay, for the Denzel Washington School of the Arts, we have Amamira Dawkins. [Applause] We have Elizabeth D. Grand Prix here. And oh, there she go. Oh, shoot. and Jayvon Vincent. Oh yes, Mom. Come get that award.
005Thank you so much. Well, she's going to say something. Um, so, uh, right now we would like to, um, have our student trustee, Elizabeth de Gra, um, say a farewell. Can everybody hear me? Yes. So, I would first and foremost like to thank my principal, Miss Thomas, who um put my name into the hat to have this position. I'd also like to thank all the board trustees for letting me sit with you guys this year. Um, being the Mount Vernon Board of Education student trustee has been a once in a-lifetime experience and has taught me not only how government works, but how the school system works. It was a privilege and honor to be able to be the voice of all the students in the district and represent them this past year. Thank you to
006the board for also supporting my journey. It was a pleasure getting to work with all of you. Thank you, Miss James, for all your help and communication this year and the absent Dr. Kim Smith for letting me be part of your team and happy retirement as well. And to our new student trustee, I wish you all the best next year. [Applause] Excuse me. I'm going to say something real quick. Can I interrupt for one sec? Miss Trusty Dempry, thank you. All right, I'm just going to really fast because All right, she was very instrumental in a lot of different things, but she especially was passionate about the food service and what her fellow classmates were dealing with, what they're eating. She constructed her own survey that went out for her classmates. So, thank you for
007actually showing us how a student trustee does a student trustee. Thank you. Good. Good evening. And without further ado, for Miss Elizabeth the Grand Prix, we have a significant certificate of recognition for you. So, can you please come forward? [Applause] The certificate reads, "This certificate is rewarded to Elizabeth the Grand Prix in recognition for exemplary service and leadership as student exeicio of the Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education for the 2425 school year given this 17th day of June. Congratulations [Applause] So, now I'd like to welcome our new student trustee for next year. His name is Leonard Orduro. [Applause] Leonard. Leonard, you can um Leonard, you can come and stand at the podium if you want. Leonard is entering 12th grade in the fall. He's also a member of the MBK and he'll
008be sworn in on the 25th of I'm I'm sorry, on July 1st, 2025. if you want if you don't mind. You have a a a long resume. If you want to tell a little bit about yourself, you're more than welcome to to share with the rest of the community. Hello. Hello. That's a mic. Um hello. Okay. Can anyone hear me? We can hear you. I just hold it. Um hello everyone. My name is Leonard David Oduro. I am um steam I mean I'm member of steam academy and I got I'm the new um student trustee of the district. It's nice to meet each and every one of you and I hope I do my best but you will okay if you have anything else to say you can but if that's it that's when the
009first I mean um being that I already sent you my resume well uh which was quite long I didn't put all of it there but sure um well I have gone around mine helping a lot and doing my best to see its embedment and I as the uh student new student trust of the district I with this power I would use it to embed better it more so I'll [Applause] Thank you. So, uh, we were going to go into executive session, but the legal counsel is not here. So, we're going to go right in. Yeah, Tom's here. Oh, he's here. Tom, wave your hand. Oh, okay. So, we're going to go into executive session for what? 15 minutes. 15 minutes. We'll be right back. Okay. Let me I got a motion. Can I have can
010I have a motion please to enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing pending litigation the financial history of a particular person or corporation or matters leading to the appointment employment demotion discipline suspension dismissal or removal of a particular person or corporation and to receive legal advice on a pending matter. Can I have a motion please? Motion second. Okay. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. We are in executive session. There is no legal requirement to recognize public comment at meetings of the board of education. However, the board recognizes critical importance of community discourse and involvement in the education of Mount Vernon's children and accordingly members of the public are invited to speak at each regularly scheduled board meeting subject to the terms of the board policy. Please state your name, address, and organization,
011if any, you represent. A speaker must register in advance by no later than 400 PM the day of the meeting by contacting the district clerk in person at 165 North Columbus Avenue Mount Vernon New York by phone at 914665-5235 or by email. The board welcomes all respectful comments whether praise or criticism. However, identifying and criticizing a specific student, parent, teacher, administrator, other Mount Vernon education official or employee is strictly prohibited. Any such complaint must be presented and addressed through the proper administrative channels. Each speaker is allowed three minutes to speak. Up to one additional minute may be used for the speaker to summarize and conclude their remarks. If appropriate, board trustees and or the superintendent or other staff members at the direction of the superintendent may immediately respond to a speaker's remarks. Our first speaker
012this evening is Laura Fishlock Cleero. Oh, good evening. Laura Fishlock, Claro, Steam Academy teacher. I taught 13 of those group board recipients. Just saying. All righty. Good evening to all attendees of this meeting. I come to speak to you this evening because of something that has been troubling me and my colleagues all school year. To the mic. Sure. I come to speak to you this evening because of something that has been troubling me and my colleagues all school year. Burnout. I have never seen so many of my colleagues who are tenured and excellent with the students working so hard to leave as I have this year. People who have been here over a decade, who previously had no notions whatsoever of leaving Mount Vernon, who called this district a home, are willingly applying for positions
013that will almost certainly mean a pay cut and will absolutely lead to instability as they go through the tenure process again. Why is this? They're burned out. We're reaching our breaking points. What has happened in this district is a retraction of trust. Teachers have been handed an inord inordinate amount of new initiatives to their workloads without any voice in the matter. In my English department at Steam Academy alone, we have received 21 new initiatives this school year along with being assigned elective courses without any input. It's incredibly defeating to hear that we have to upend everything we have been doing in our classrooms and disregard our own education in best practices because the district has made a decision without consulting us. A prime example of this is the case of testing. We have moved to
014testing our students every five weeks with standardized tests that do not actually yield beneficial data. But we have been a have we been asked to come to the planning table with administration to add our knowledge of best practices and current educational pedigogy to this discussion? No. The result is over testing students to a massive degree. Imagine if you had had to take a 2day test in every subject every five weeks of school when you were a student. You would have absolutely burned out. Additionally, we now have to administer final exams to students taking a regent exam. Beyond this, the freshman students have been given even more rigidity in their curriculum without any actual evidence of efficacy. In Steam, our freshmen use Achieve 3000 to increase reading comprehension. We've used it for years and it works
015well with our students in our scheduling. However, because scores were low in other buildings, our students were then forced to add the Renaissance reading comprehension program to their workload. It practices the same skills but less effectively. Have the teachers been asked their opinion on the program? No. Were teachers even given ample time to explore this resource, adapt it for their teaching style, and develop a plan for the best way to implement it? No. We were given a one-hour Zoom session about how to set it up along with a 45minute follow-up Zoom session talking about some of the features. How could this not lead teachers to feel they're not being trusted as experts in their field who are capable of developing lessons to engage, enrich, and empower students? And what does this clear lack of trust
016lead to? Burnout. I've never been one to present problems without possible solutions. So, this is what I need our board of education and district administration and especially our new superintendent to hear. We are experts in classrooms. You are experts in management. Both are necessary, but both need to communicate with each other to give students a chance at success. I will never entertain the notion that I could understand how to keep the district running in compliant. I'm not trained for that. I respect people who can do these things but the same respect is not flowing in the other direction. Your teachers expertise and training is not being valued. So now your workforce is depleted, deflated and defeated. My suggestion is this. Teachers must be included in the discussions. Teachers must be trusted to utilize their expertise
017to benefit their students. Quality over quantity will speak volumes. We need to slow down, reflect, and have real discussions about we ask about what we ask our students and staff to do that include our students and staff. That way we can burn these feelings of frustration and defeat right out of our district. Thank you very much. Thank you, Miss Ward. Go show them your face. So that you I want you to see her face. I want you to see her face, please. I want you to see her face. Show them your face. Just walk around and show them your face. I'm here. Hi, my name is Miss Ward. I'm um I'm from Mount Vernon. I live in Prospect right now. I got to hurry up and get through this. I brought my daughter here because
018last week she hit her she had two incidences that involved her face. Two incidences that involved her face. On Monday, I got a call from the nurse's office to tell me that although everything was fine, my daughter was in the nurse's office and was receiving ice because she got hit in her face with a ball. I said, "What kind of ball?" She turns to my child I can hear on the phone. Thank God I had somebody else on the phone too to hear it because then I would be a liar. She said, "What kind of ball?" My daughter proceeded to say, "A bouncy ball. Go ahead and sit and go back to ABC Mouse." She said, "A bouncy ball." I said, "Okay, I'm thinking it's one of those balls at the supermarket that when you
019bounce it, it go sting. A big ball. Something that couldn't obstruct her eye or or hurt her face really. Maybe she was just in pain and she needed ice." However, I asked the nurse, I said, "Okay, can you just send home like an incident report?" Mind you, I'm a former dis um district employee and I'm not going to jump down that rabbit hole. So, I'm calling it an incident report, not realizing there's an actual report called incident report. But the nurse had enough common sense to send home a note indicating what happened to my daughter and why she was sent to the nurse's office. So, when I read, so when Bianca came home, I said, "Bianca, um, what kind of ball hit you?" She said, "Oh, you know, a white ball, um, a green ball.
020My daughter is in an ICT class, and that's and that's where I'm going to leave that. she's in an inclusion class and she has her own disabilities and um that should be noted in the nursur's office or whoever's dealing with my child so they know how to deal with her so they know how to follow up on on different things that happened to my child or anybody else's child within the schools so I I'm thinking to myself now um a volleyball because I used to work at the school she's like you know the white balls and the and the green balls I know there's a neon green volleyball I know there's a white and black volleyball. But no, when I open up the book bag to look at the note, lo and behold, it's a
021tennis ball. A tennis ball that could have obstructed her eye, cracked her jaw, any her cheekbone. I mean, anything. So, I'm not getting accurate information. Then the very next day, I get a call from her teacher early in the morning. Hey, just want to let you know, you know, Bianca was in the auditorium and she bent down and she hit her head on the chairs in the auditorium. They're wooden chairs with a metal lining on them. She went I took her to the nurse. She has ice and everything. Lo and behold, who who didn't call me? The nurse. Was I really that shocked? No. Am I going to fight the fact that the nurse didn't call me? But someone called me to tell me that my child was hurt. No, I'm not going to fight
022that. Did I get a note? Did I get a note? It's a week later. Her face is still bruised and I didn't get a note. When I emailed the principal and I CC see some of you on it, not all of you here, but some of you. Um, I stated that I didn't get that note. I have one minute left and I'mma use it. Um, I said uh I said in the email I said look I didn't get no note. What's going on? Now I'm getting a response from the principal after I already got condenset and stuff from the um from the secretary. All this all this that and the third. I don't have time for that. You see that earn right there? Have you ever had to bury a child or burn one? Some
023of you don't even have kids. She's my only living child. All I wanted was a note. But the note that came in the email said Bianca hit her head on the bus. I got the father emailing me asking me the bus. All I wanted was a note. I don't care if I called it an incident report. I don't care if I call it the blue note, the green note, the white note. I don't care. I just want the note. What if she had seizured that night? What if something else had that happened to her the night she got hit in the head? Then I go to the hospital. It becomes hearsay. I don't want hearsay. I want a document. Take it to Thank you, Pat Rosamanda. Good evening board trustees. My name is Pat Rosen.
024I live at 215 Hillrest Road and I am the civil service administrator for the city of Mount Vernon. I am here with the president of the Civil Service Commission, Joan Battle. I am back here once again to address the erroneous information surrounding this pending layoff and the accusations that have ensued. All the classified titles within the school district are under civil service. I understand a vote is to be taken this evening based upon what HR has submitted to you. I caution you from doing so and moving forward. After speaking on May 6th addressing the issues and the lack of involvement of civil service in the layoff process, communications completely ceased, coming from your HR office and buildings and grounds. Numerous messages and voicemails seeking information and clarification were never returned. 7 to 10 to be
025exact. As I had to rely on Dr. Smith for all communications, civil service completed their process of listing titles and employees by seniority as outlined by civil service law. That information was sent back to HR for review on June the 2nd. Still no communication, but finally a response from the senior clerk from HR on 610 on behalf of Mr. Campbell. The focus was on highlighting all my typographical errors on the employees names listed from our roster cards, which have no effect on the outcome of this layoff. I never have a problem owning up to my mistakes. And yes, the typos were mine. I understand a meeting was held last week with the CSCA unions and with the employees and HR. A list was distributed to your employees. What was the nature of that meeting and
026what list was distributed? I was told it came from buildings and grounds. However, the employees were told it was distributed and put together by civil service. Why was civil service not provided any information as to the context of this meeting? Several employees showed up at my office the following morning and they were and showed up and wanted to know why civil service distributed this list. I was unable to answer any of their questions because of the incorrect information relayed to the employee. I referred the employees back to Mr. Campbell and Dr. Smith for clarification and I will continue to do so. We are being pressured to complete this process right or wrong. The HR office has continued to work in a silo and this has brought us to the point of no resolve. the audacity
027to call me a liar and state that I am not willing to work together and move forward. You ignore me for few for four weeks and accuse me of not collaborating. That is the farthest thing from the truth. I can and I will speak publicly as I am doing here this evening because I have nothing to hide. A statement was made, civil service does not have to be involved in our business. Oh, but to the contrary, the board of education is the business of civil service. [Applause] The law states, "The City of Mount Vernon Civil Service Commission has the full force and effect of the law. Should any of these reassignments that are incorrect be made, we have the authority to accept them from your payroll." And that's the very last option that we ever
028want to take because this impacts the employee negatively. I am in constant contra in constant contact with New York State and what they find most disturbing about this process is the lack of concern for employees. Your employees keep your schools operating open and clean as to allow your students the opportunity to receive a good education. This is not a fingerpointing game to play with their livelihood. They count on salaries for themselves and their families. A question by was asked by you, one of your HR rep. Why do the employees call civil service so often? Because they don't trust what is coming from HR. Recently an employee of buildings and grounds try to wrap it up please for the explanation of a change on a job spec he was told by the buildings and grounds administrator
029that civil service changed the spec. Let me tell you well to correct what that employee was told the civil service office cannot change any spec unless it comes from the hiring authority. Miss Rosa Mundy please wrap it up. Okay. We have 13 speakers. I did provide the employee with a copy of the email that came from the administrator. He asked why the administrator couldn't be honest. That is something I am able to answer. The June 30th deadline is approaching quickly and the premature vote will accomplish nothing. This information needs to be reviewed for accuracy. I did speak with Dr. to the Smith this morning and we will be meeting tomorrow morning at 9 9:00. Why did this have to come down to the wire? Remember, civil service is not an option. This is the law
030that governs your classified positions and we are not going away. So, if you would like to do this properly, you know where to find me. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Shanja Booker. Shandra Booker, Raquel Holmes. Hello. Good evening. I'm speaking on behalf of my son. He has a IEP. Um, in the beginning, can you speak into the mic, Miss? In the beginning of the school year, I was told that Graham had the best program for him with his needs. He was transferred to an inclusion class with students with more what with different needs than him. Um, my son only has behavioral issues. He does not have learning disabilities, but the district never placed him in a general setting and I got frustrated
031with that. Um, no one never placed him in a general setting. I got frustrated with that. No one cared enough to even see if he was capable of learning. I shouldn't have to bring up ideas to the people that has degrees in the area in this area of expertise. In a CSC meeting, it was agreed that he'll be placed in a general setting. Unbeknownst to me, they put him in an advanced first in a f advanced first grade class. I found out that I found this out at the next meeting when the teacher was present and she stated that it was an advanced class. Why is it okay to place a child in an advanced class that never was in a general setting before? Um, he has never really been learning. So, I just thought
032that that wasn't that wasn't nice. They ended up saying that they was going to place him back in the same environment because I guess he wasn't learning fast enough, which they only gave him a two week period. And um which his behavior ended up getting more severe. So what ended up happening was the copycat the copycat behavior. They ended up saying that they wanted to put him on homebound on May 30th. And mind you, he is six years old. Um, they told me that somebody would be reaching out to me that Monday. So, here it is a month later and I still don't have no teacher. I still don't know what's going on for summer. I still don't know what's going on next year. When I tell you I reached out to everybody I there
033is to reach out to. People say, "Oh, I don't know about this. Oh, I don't know about that. I don't know about the third." I don't want to hear about what you didn't know. If you didn't know about it, then you're not doing your job. Like, y'all are failing our kids. And there's no reason why I should have to call. Did you speak to this one? Do you want to speak to this one? Do I want to speak to that one? Why are they not reaching out to me? You know the circumstances. He's six. You want to homebound him? This is three weeks later. There's still nothing in place. Nobody got in contact with me to say nothing. Three weeks and two days. School is almost over. Why would you even make that decision a
034month before the school year is over when we Ben said placed him out of district? Y'all only tried that a week before he said, "Oh, let's homebound him." Mind you, he's six years old. So, what y'all doing is you don't want to deal with it. And being that he's not in the district no more, in school no more, y don't care about him. Nobody's thinking about him. There's no reason why I have to constantly keep in calling the board. I work. I'm a full-time work a a full-time employee. And then I'm a full-time parent and he's only six again. So he has issues that I can't even comprehend. And you guys are the experts. You set up TAs and oneto ons with these children that are not certified to be with our children. They're not
035certified. They don't know how to handle our kids with IEPs. So why are they sitting there with them? And then as soon as they get some good something goes wrong with the kids, then you want to point it blame it on us, the parents. And then you want to blame another kids and then disown them and kick them out and then neglect them. Y'all are being neglectful. Not only has he been out of school for three weeks, but y'all had already spended him the maximum days, 10 days. And he has a IEP. He has been out of school for almost 60 days. Go look at it. This school year. So this is a problem. I also have a student advocate. Her name is Lois Solomon. And I and she wanted me to let you guys
036know that because there's nobody else I can speak to. Nobody's giving me answers. And I spoke to from the biggest fish to the smallest fish and still got nowhere. I don't have time. I don't have time. And it's a shame that I can't even represent my own kid. I have to get somebody else to represent him for me. That's a shame. I can't even advocate for my own kid. So that's where I'm at with it. Thank you, Linda Castro. Hi, I'm uh Linda Castro and I live at One Park Lane here in Mount Vernon. Okay, that's okay. Um, I was on vacation with my family when the board met on June 3rd, but I did watch the video of the meeting and I was deeply moved by the young woman who spoke up about her
037suspension for advocacy. Her extreme intelligence is obvious. Her courage is commendable. She's a role model for every one of us adults. Um sadly her experience reinforces a painful truth that students concerns are often overlooked or minimized and also that advocacy often comes with a very heavy cost. When those in positions of of authority ignore or minimize negative behavior, the result is lasting damage to our children. We owe our students much better than they've gotten. We owe them protection, respect, and a learning environment where they are seen and heard and safe. I respectfully ask the board um has the board at this point taken any steps to implement in-person training for the staff? Thank you. Ava Wang, Reagan White, Trustees. Good evening. Hello. Okay, now I can't I can't hear myself. Yeah. Um I just have
038some concerns. I'm one of the painters for the district. Um been here 36 going on 37 years. And uh my concern basically is uh you know one day I come in to work and a consultant tells me that we're doing sealants, but I had to explain to him that that was never in our job description. So, uh, he says to me, "It is." So, I tried to figure out what was going on. So, he I guess the information I go back and I make some phone calls to civil service and they said it was change. So, I try to figure out why again. So, they said uh we didn't do that. It didn't come from service. Came from HR. So again, I'm trying to figure out what we got to find because I said we
039had always did siblings on overtime because again, it was definitely not job description. So when I come back, I'm trying to figure out why we ain't heard nothing yet. And this has been going on for a minute. The student thing, like I said, because uh again, it was never was not job description. Basically, uh I'm just trying to figure out why I was never brought to the table with civil service, you know, with us to sit down and negotiate that. So again, nobody has yet to sit down with me and said, "Listen, this is what your new job description is, nothing to today." So I found to be that that was a big problem for me. And again, it was never negotiated. I don't know how they could do that to us. Um, so I'm
040making it real short and brief, but I thought hopefully that this would be we be able to resolve this in some kind of way without just walking right into us and telling us this is our new job description and nobody never came to me and I'm supposed to be leaving pain at this thing at this point. So, uh, hopefully I'm hoping that we can rectify this at some point and, uh, so that's pretty much where we are with that. Thank you. Thank you. Elaine Singleary. Hello everyone. Hi. Good evening. Um, I came here back in 2024 and I'm here today. I've been very humbled. Haven't emailed anyone. Haven't said anything to no one. I've been very humble. But right now, I can't be humble anymore. I'm not going to be. All these fake emails and
041meetings I've been having with a human resource person. Oh, he's not here tonight. It's a mess. There was a student last year that ran out the building and sat in Harley Park for hours. I called out sick. I passed out in my house. I was in the hospital with tubes and everything in me. They didn't know if I was going to make it. So two days later, I was transferred Why? I asked for an investigation. Nobody did nothing. I'm getting all these letters here from human resources. All these fake mess here. Why? Why you keep putting me where you want to put me at? And I asked you where I wanted to go. Nobody not investigating this. I've been working for this district 25 years. The place I started with was Graham School. None of
042y'all in here didn't train me. This ain't my only job. When I came into y'all, I was trained by the state. I knew my special ed stuff. And I still know it well, very well. That is the problem. Singleary, Lady E, whatever y'all want to call me. Don't know nothing. That's a lie. I want this to be investigated because the mother is coming for me. I hope she's watching. I don't care who go tell her in Mount Vernon cuz I'm not from Mount Vernon, but I live here. I don't care. Mama, look at me. And I hope you're watching because I told someone to tell you I can make you rich because your son was out of that building for hours and it was not taken to the police station. Not even upstate. The state
043didn't get it. I went to Mount Vernon police station and sat with them. They turned the computer around to me and everything. They said steam is in trouble. Yeah, that's where I came from. Everybody brand new up in there doing whatever they want to do. But forgot that Miss Singleary did this for 25 years and I got transferred within two days and I've been in that building 25 years and got senority over everybody, even teachers, security. I came to the president here. She gave me her number. Did you get in contact with me? No. I told you what happened to me. Did you get in contact with me? No. Miss Smith decides Yeah, I'm sorry. We don't supposed to say names, but she decides to email me from 2024, two months ago. I thought this
044was settled already. It was never settled. So, they sent me to Pennington School. Oh boy. Oh boy. The way I was treated the first day I walked in there was horrible. There was a student in the lunchroom. Lord forgive me. And she was doing something in that lunchroom in front of everybody. Security, anybody, teachers. I go and get her cuz she's my one to one. I grabbed her hand. What you think got on me? blood from a young girl doing what she did in that lunchroom. I'm telling it all. Yeah, I'm a whistleblower. I'm this. I'm that all over this district. I don't care. They made me walk around all day with the blood on me. Nobody from that building would look at me and send me home. But they call me to the office
045to ask me what happened. I'm tired now. I want everybody to keep coming for me. I got something for you. Single Terry, can you wrap it up, please? Oh, I will. Next thing is my check was being held. The next thing is no one should be emailing me to tell me who to talk to because they're a lawyer. Let me tell you something now. I got plenty, sweetie. It's coming. I didn't call nobody house. They called my house to check on me cuz I worked with them for months. It's not because they made that incident happen. They can call and check on me and tell the truth. I wasn't on no phone. Ah, that came out to be the truth. Me and a young lady was just talking. I got knocked down by a child.
046Now my spine is messed up. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. So, what you going to say about that? Why don't you investigate that and stop sending me to different schools getting hurt and getting told off? Now I got to know that I'm going to Denzel Washington. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Singleton. Fix this. Okay, cuz I'm not going there. I'm going back to Steam cuz something happened there with that child. Can we cut her mic off? Thank you, Mr. You can cut it off all you want. Thank you, Mississippi. I don't care. Y'all need to know what y'all doing. And you're not right. And this community need to know what you do out here. Thank you. It ain't right. And I never don't say nothing to nobody. I'm quiet, very humble woman
047when I'm working, but I know my job and I'm taking it to human silver services. I ain't took it already. They're already investigating it. Thank you, Mr. Singleary. So, before I leave here today, I'm going let y'all know what's going on. Give me my job back. Leave me alone and explain to that mother what happened in that building. That's a serious situation. Okay. And none of y'all contact me at all knowing me for 25 years. People walking around get dressed up in their suits and they dresses and stuff. That don't make no sense. And not helping us. Not even helping us. And then there was a supervisor at Joe. Joe never knew I was working there. Joe, we heard you. She never knew I worked in there. She thought I was big enough. Can you
048Can you have her? Can you She thought I was busy. Can you help her all over my clothes? Can we help her to her seat? Okay. Who's our Who's our next speaker? I'm good. I'm tired now. Okay. I'm coming to say what I want to say anytime. I want to tell anybody to do what I want to do. We appreciate your comments, Miss Secretary. Thank you. Ain't nobody up in here. Okay. Don't say nobody scares me in this district. Nobody. Next speaker. Who's our next speaker? Next speaker, Thomas Keller. Who? Tom Keller. Tom Keller. Tom Keller. I was too husband looked at me. A fiance hit the floor. Pick his face up off the floor cuz he saw something beautiful. I'm not hiding nothing no more. I got treat me. I'm fly up in here
049every day. Come dress the way I supposed to. professional and mind my business come out. I think we can we can Okay. All right. Okay. Tom Keller is up right now. Thomas Keller, 12 Pasadena Place 10552. First thing I want to thank um incumbent trustees. Trustee Gail was a an incumbent, didn't run last year, unfortunately lost this year. Trustee Helen is leading the board. Trustee Kerwin, especially Trusty Saunders who's put in 12 years on this board for zero pay. Congratulations to her and I hope some of you people that I've mentioned will be back on the board in the future. Also to uh I guess acting superintendent Kim Smith took over two and a half years ago in a very difficult situation. I wish her all the best. And now I want to point out
050that most of the problems of this school district are because of the city. The city is the opposition because they owe the district so much in taxes. Ken Silva, who unfortunately left the board, left the district uh year and a half ago, he told me he wasn't offered a contract in February. He was going to be out of a job in June. He had to look out for himself. What a mistake. I worked with him on on a budget committee and uh knowledgeable as uh as anybody uh I I work with. Um okay, as you know, after two years, it's not the responsibility of the school district to collect the taxes that are owed. It's the uh responsibility of the city. and you have to um send the city after two years those property uh
051owners that haven't paid their taxes. And it's only then does it get recorded and um and and they're supposed to go around and try to collect. It seems the board of education started collecting taxes four or five years ago and they collect a higher percentage than the city does. I think the board is something like 96 97% and the city is under under 95. I don't know why that is, especially because school taxes are more than city taxes. But in any event, um they're the opposition. Ken Silver told me that if the city owed up and made us whole after two years, we wouldn't have any financial problems. But congratulations to the board, those incumbents. For nine of the last 11 years, there was no increase in the tax levy. There was an increase in
052taxes. You know why? because assess assessments have been going down in this city most of the last 15 or 20 years and when assessments go down and the tax levy is the same our taxes go up. Okay. The other thing is pilots keep bugging the city on pilots. Thank you. Um, pilots have been distorted. They were supposed to be for commercial development like the Target Center down on Sanford Boulevard. You give a developer a break for 10 years. Let's say an example, it's $1,000. Full assessment is $1,000. So the first year you do 100, second year 200. Today you get the full assessment after 10 years. these pilots. I don't know why people in this state don't change things. 30 years at a fraction of what they're paying. And who's paying? Every one of us
053tax taxpayers, homeowners, commercial property owners, we're the ones that are paying to stop this city. Keep on opposing pilots anywhere, any any ways, any any means possible, lawsuits, whatever. Now I understand the the measly amount of money that the city's paying us 650 a quarter or 650 a month. They're behind in that. Um what am I out of time here? Thank you. Just one more thing on the reorganization. It's unfortunate that the incumbents that ran lost because of the city. When you have a 3.3% tax levy and you have this reorganization of three schools being closed, it upsets the community and and the people that won won because of that. Mr. Keller, please. Thank you, Mr. You got to redraw the lines whenever there's a change in populations. Ken Silva said the school that should
054be closed first is Williams. It cost the most to operate. It's got no recreational facilities and no parking, Mr. M. And then we go from there. This could have been done in a in a smooth way over the last few years and it wasn't. Then all of a sudden it hits this year and incumbents lose because of that. Thank you so much. We appreciate you. Sure. Okay. Cynthia Krensha, thank you. Next year. Thank you, Mr. Keller. Cynthia Crrenshaw. Um, Cynthia Krenshaw, I know at the last meeting um, concerning BC um, you said that there that was over, but it was only over because she ran her contract out. That's why it was over. So, can you say what her findings was? and we paid over a million dollars for two superintendions super superintendent including a10
055to12,000 bonus for the lawyer that's over the bridge moving on I want to talk about giving people positions and not considering seniority I understand a nurse has been hired a couple of nurses has been hired with less seniority head custodians has a position that should not have and he only have that or she I don't know who it is should not have that because of family association counselors has been unfairly treated releasing people to move friends up. Where is the union? Well, and I know was silver service, but they are here. You said that we had zero dollars, but yet I see that you want to give the employees to year 25 to 26 $1,114 and for I'm sorry, $1,114,000 a year as an increase. You want to give another person $78,000 almost $79,000 a
056year. You want to give another person I believe $99,000 increase a year. Another person $99,470. But yet another person 76,500. These are all increases for 2025 and 2026. Another person 87,500. Another person 76,500 for this year. But yet you said you don't have money. You closed three schools but you given all of these increases. Where is this money coming from? So if you got money for this, why our teachers don't have a raise, which is the bread and butter of this community. All these certificate that these kids are getting is from our teachers who cannot get a $15 raise. But yet you're giving $80,000 on up increase to your friends. It's not fair. You closed three schools, no money. Where are you getting this money from? It's not fair what you doing. I heard two
057of these young ladies talking about how they are being this badly treated. You have to stop. And what I'm getting ready to say now, it might go over your heads, but he sits high and looks low and it's going to come to bite you. Trust me, what you're doing is not fair. How can you give all these raises and our teachers can't get a $15 raise? how you closing three schools, but you coming up with this money. Something is wrong with this picture. And I just want to read this from the family of Robert W. Parker and family. Um, my name is Robert W. Parker and I am the proud grandson of Miss Cecil H. Parker, one of Mount Brendon most beloved and trailblazing educators. I am writing to express my full support and deep
058gratitude for the opportunity to have her portrait displayed at the Mount Vernon Public Library located at 28 South First Avenue. Cecil H. Parker made history as the first African-American school teacher in Westchester County, New York. Over her decades of service, she not only taught but later became principal at what was formerly Nathan Hail Elementary School, a school that now proudly bears her name, Cecil H. Parker Elementary School. She was more than an educator. She was a pioneer and a deeply respected leader who helped shape the lives of countless students and fellow teachers. She stood for academic excellence, personal integrity, and community empowerment. values that continues to resonate today. Unfortunately, as you are aware, CISA H. Parker Elementary School is set to close at the end of the 2025 school year. While the closure marks the
059end of a historic chapter, it is also reinforced the importance of preserving her legacy in meaningful ways. This is why the display of her portrait in the Mount Rena public library holds such powerful significance not just for our family but for the broader community who knew her and continue to be inspired by her service. We are humbled requesting your support for the display of her portrait and related school uh remor as a permanent tribute to her life work and enduring impact on education in the Mount Vernon school system. Please feel free to contact me and our family. I thank you sincerely for your time, consideration, and commitment to honoring the legacy of Cecil H. Parker. Warm greetings, Robert W. Parker, grandson of Cecil H. Parker and the Parker family. So, please do not put this
060portrait stored away. It would be very helpful and I think very considerate if this portrait was to be placed at the Mount Vernon Public Library. It was um he paid $3700 for this picture to be painted. So please consider that it was given to Parker School, not to the board of education. Thank you, Miss Thank you, Miss Quaw. Mark Stucky. Good evening. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. No weapon formed against Mark Stucky shall prosper. I stand here because I am the whistleblower. The last time I stand here, I mentioned about an incident that was taking place. How an individual who works for this district will punch in at 6:00 in the morning, go do a paper out, come back two to three hours later, and it was okay. I mentioned that those who
061was involved should be terminated. My question tonight is what's being taken regarding this incident? Who's looking into it? We have had parents who stood over here complain tonight about things that took place and how it's been slid up underneath the carpet. It's got to stop. The election that took place was for a change. That's what that lecture was all about. Kell wind up making a statement tonight and I must agree with him and I don't agree with the man about anything. His statement was, "You didn't have to close down all three. You could have done one at a time." And he mentioned which one. See, the taxpayers, you, the taxpayers, have listened to an individual on the north side of town for a long time who's been misleading you on how to vote. And now
062it caught up to you, the taxpayers, and it's going to hurt. The question winds up being is, am I going to pay my taxes or am I going to go get my medication? Am I going to pay the heat bill or am I going to pay my taxes? You've been mislead led, excuse me, for years, 10 years or so, you had individuals from the north side of town, including Mr. Keller who was on the budget committee. If something was going wrong, you will wind it. They should have came back and say, "Look, we have a problem within the district and this is what's taking place." But nobody ever did that. They rode that rhythm and got to what they want. This election, like I said, was for a change. Now, whoever have their hand stuck
063in that cookie jar and who's upset because of the change, I'm sorry, but it wasn't up to you for the change. God got his own ways of doing things and he made that change just the same way he's going to make the change on that person who stole time. That's illegal. and everyone who wind up being around it to support it. It was illegal. Not only that, but we need a person who's going to wind up overseeing our finances. Now, the question winds up being, we want somebody who can count, who could look at that budget and say, "Hey, okay, let's do this, let's do that, and blah blah blah blah blah." We don't need a person who can't who can't zip up his pants, right? Okay. So, whoever you put in that office needs
064to come to the table knowing his numbers and have his pants zipped up. Thank you, Mrs. Ducky. John Galler. Okay. Thank you. And Dr. Lynn Middleton. Oh my gosh, it's sad to see what I'm I saw tonight and continue to see for the two almost three years that I've been here. And I want to say Mount Vernon. I had to get my glasses. I want to say Mount Vernon in its entirety, especially the school district, we better wake up because we don't respond. We don't. So, I want to say good evening, Mount Vernon. All of y'all should know me by now. God has spoken. And thus, on Tuesday, May 20th, 2025, the people has spoken. Kudos to the new superintendent and to the new school board of trustees. Change has come. We must move forward
065first and foremost by correcting all that is incorrect. It can no longer be my way or the highway. It can no longer be that any of us calling calling right wrong that it is exactly that. It can no longer be do as I say do and not as I do. It can no longer be get along or I'm going to go along just to get along. So there is the power of community prayer which is real y'all. is real. May 20th spoke highly to it. And I just want to say that the creation can never be greater than the creator. Not at all. A powerful word that has been reiterated over and over again is be not deceived because God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man or a woman seweth, and y'all hear me tonight.
066Hallelujah. Whatsoever you seweth, that shall you also reap. Everybody got a turn. And how powerfully did it come to pass on Tuesday, May 20th? And that's just some of it. We all got to turn depending on how we treat each other. If you sew negative seeds in your soil, you will reap negative seeds. Trust me. Just keep on living cuz it's going to come to pass. Your rejection is my direction. Don't need to lose the battle to those who have already lost the battle. I'm not. And to those of you who can identify, you're not defined by what people think about you or me, we are not boxed in by people's narrative. So, I want you all to catch it if you will. You got to be doing something good. It's not always easy to
067be you. And know that some people leaving you is nothing but a favor. Dare to be different in the face of criticism. People don't know how to take you because they have never seen a good old you before. God God's got your back. And you got to know that he really does have your back. Another powerful word is fret not thyself because of evildoers. Neither be thou envious against the workers of evil. For they shall soon hear what I'm saying to you tonight. Be cut down like the grass withers, even as the green herb. Treat people like you want to be treated. Amen. Yes. Like you want to be treated. We kill each other. Yes, we do. We kill each other. While others watch on this side, watch this side. Hear what I'm saying without
068really saying it, y'all. We kill each other. They don't. And excuse me, cuz I'm not being racist tonight, but I know what I'm talking about. Been here 41 years. And as I close, just wanted to say a few things. Remember this to all newcomers. A definite and true word. No one pours new wine into wine skins, otherwise the wine or to old wine skins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins and both the wine and the skins will be what? Ruined. So, pour your new wine into new wine skins. And here's what it's all about. Change as I heard tonight. In other words, this metaphor illustrates the necessity of adapting new circumstances. Just as old wine skins cannot contain the expanded new wine, old ways of thinking or living cannot accommodate new teachings or practices
069and unfinished. But let us for the ensuing school year 2526 that are coming on board embrace new beginnings. and young. We can be open to change and understand that as all of us with a new superintendent must try to move this district forward with our children being our primary reason for doing so knowing that growth often requires a departure from old patterns or traditions I'm finished miss that no longer serve their purpose. Nelson Mandela so powerfully said in just a few words. I know you want to call my name. Education is the most powerful weapon, and I'm finished. Which you can use to change the world. As we move into this new school year, let us embark on the journey together. Remembering that our leadership, and that's a powerful word, and vision, can inspire not
070only the students, but the entire community. Yes, I'm Dr. Middleton. Yes, I am. Amen, miss. Amen. Thank you. That ends public comments. We're going to move on to superintendence report. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. I'll be reading a statement from our acting superintendent of schools, Dr. K. Veronica Smith who had an emergency tonight and cannot be here followed by a brief presentation. Good evening everyone. As it is my last regular board meeting as acting superintendent, I would like to take this opportunity to say that serving as your superintendent for the past two and a half years has been the most rewarding experience and the greatest honor of my life. Thank you. We have done so much for our scholars in that time. And I'd like to highlight just a few of the accomplishments that we
071have had. Just last year, the district was able to achieve the highest graduation rate in decades, including COVID, which loosened graduation requirements. With our fantastic teachers, staff, programs, and supports, student achievement rose significantly. Mount Vernon Steam Academy was ranked as the top 6% public school in New York State coming into this school year. A major recognition of all the great work that is done at the school to prepare students for college and careers. Even with financial challenges, we grew several programs including including CTE with new graduation pathways for students being added as recently as this year with the new hospitality management pathway. We also grew our partnerships with the city, colleges, trade schools, and businesses to help increase opportunities at all schools. We were able to forge a path out of our financial challenges by
072reorganizing our schools into a more sustainable state approved 13 school configuration which saved an expected 16.9 million in expenses. Most recently we passed a budget with a 3.3 increase to the tax levy which will be the first step towards financial prosperity. Thank you again to the community of Mount Vernon for showing your support for our students at the voting booth. Some would say I got a raw deal to be appointed in such a tumultuous time, but I don't view it that way. We were able to enact real change and solutions setting the Mount Vernon City School District up for a prosperous and sustainable future. I am very confident in the upward trajectory of this district. in large part because of the groundwork that was laid in these last few years. I wish our staff and
073incoming superintendent Dr. Strickland all the best as they continue the work that we only started. It won't be easy, but after so long in the district, I know that our students, families, and community deserve the very best. Thank you for all your support along the way. Again, a statement from our acting superintendent of schools, Dr. K. Veronica Smith. Thank you. [Applause] Stay here. And at this time, I have a presentation. We would like to acknowledge the following trustees for their service and commitment to the Mount Vernon City School District as they depart the board. We have certificates of appreciation for trustee Helen Thompson Jenga for trustee Lerna Kerwin and president board trustee Adrien Saunders and the certificate reads this certificate is awarding to Helen and Jenga for for your capacity as board of education trustee
074and your unwavering support for the betterment of the Mount Vernon City School District. We express our deepest appreciation for your hard work, commitment, and dedication to the community, staff, and students. Signed, Dr. K. Veronica Smith. [Applause] Thank you, Lorna Kerwin, for your capacity as board of education trustee and your unwavering support for the betterment of the Mount Vernon City School District. We express our deepest appreciation for your hard work, commitment, and dedication to the community, staff, and students. Signed, Dr. K. Veronica Smith. [Applause] President Adrien Saunders, thank you for your capacity as a board education trustee and your unwavering support for the betterment of the Mount Vernon City School District. We express our deepest appreciation for your hard work, commitment, and dedication to the community, staff, and students. Signed, Dr. K. Veronica Smith [Applause] picture.
075Jesus. [Applause] It's okay. And that concludes the superintendent's report, but I do like to um address one of the comments from the speakers regarding testing and the Renaissance testing from steam. Um the teacher did say that teachers voices must be included. Please note during the Renaissance testing, this was a requirement from NTSS. was also an item for the Judy Elliot report that was due. So, this had to be done, but teachers voices were included as well as students and administrators. So, teachers, administrators, and students vetted that program back in the fall. They looked at it, made sure it worked, make sure everybody agreed upon it, and that was the program selected. So, it wasn't done, it wasn't done from the top. It was done with teachers, students, and administrators. Thank you. Dog it. So that
076concludes the superintendent report. Moving on to uh committee reports. That would be audit committee. Trustee Kerwin. Uh we don't have any um report for the audit committee. Uh budget finance budget. No, we was scheduled to have a meeting yesterday, but it was postponed. So we don't have any um updates. Um, we don't have anything from the claims committee, education committee, uh, Trusty Kelly. Yes. Yes. I'd like to, um, so I've thanked a lot of people about the greenhouse initiative at Mount Vernon High School, but I would be remiss if I did not thank um, Mr. Rayundi and his uh, crew, which would include buildings and ground. Uh, Franklin Scarlet, I know he's custodian head there, but Matt Deora, I hope I said his name right, Josie Lopez, Alex Papa, Author Curry, and Mr. Basil. Um,
077they have been very instrumental in getting that work done and assisting the students in creating that um, edible garden. Uh, without them, it could not have been done. And I just want to say thank you in public and let everybody know the hard work that these students are doing to uh improve the community at Mount Vernon High School and the community at large. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that's it for education. I guess that's it for education facilities. Trusty White. Yes, we did have a meeting on June 12th, am I correct, Trustee Marabel? June 12th. And we discuss some of the um possible layoffs and that we were waiting to hear from CSEA tonight. Who did you call? Oh, wrong wrong committee. What were you talking Oh, I was doing HR. Okay. Okay. Well, yeah,
078you have it. HR. All right. I just did HR. I'm sorry. All right. So, HR is done. I'm going to jump on the facilities um so we can hear him get to HR. Um so, we recently heard, this is not the first time, we've heard from the Graham School community about the use of their grounds off our well into the nighttime. And you know, just realize that this is there's a liability for the school district as well because they're on our property and they're really not supposed to be on to pass a certain hour and of course without proper documentation. Um and the the community is impacted. They're coming to us. They're complaining. They've told us what's going on. And it's um we received video about how some of them some of the folks were
079acting. And um what we did, we uh brought it to Mr. Raundy's attention and Dr. Smith and um the board collectively discussed uh what we were going to try to do about it. So this statement is from the buildings and grounds committee uh written up by Mr. Raundi. Thank you. Um regarding unauthorized use of district outdoor facilities. Uh good evening. I'd like to take a moment to address an important concern regarding unauthorized use of the district's outdoor facilities, specifically the playground at Graham School. Um, while the district supports community use of our outdoor spaces, all use must comply with the rules and expectations established by the school district. We ask all individuals to be respectful of school property and considerate of our neighbors. Please be reminded that the playground and surrounding grounds close at dusk.
080Unfortunately, due to ongoing issues with individuals not following these guidelines, including disturbances to nearby residents and improper use of the property, the district will now be locking the Graham School playground daily once the building's custodial has staff has left for the evening. We want to be clear that our facilities are not open for unscheduled or unauthorized use by any group or organization. If any organization or group wishes to use district property, they must first complete a facilities request form. This form can be downloaded from our district website by navigating to departments, drop down buildings and grounds, drop down facility use requests. We appreciate everyone's cooperation and helping us maintain a safe, respectful, and orderly environment for all. Thank you. That's what I'm talking about regarding facilities today. And I talked to you about bathroom at
081Steam. I went over there. I sent you some pics. You told me that they were getting on that. I thank you for that. I'm going to take a moment to say thank you to Mr. Amundi. Mr. Reguzu is not here. And to our staff, our buildings and ground staff, our custodians, we appreciate you. You're our cleaners, our everyone who helps make our buildings what they are, clean, functional, open on time, closed when it's supposed to, and safe for our students and teachers uh and our visiting parents. Thank you so much for what you do because you are underappreciated and you are not appreciated enough. So, I'm thanking you and I know I'm not by myself. I'm not speak I'm speaking on behalf of me right now. But thank you very much for all that you
082do. You are appreciated. [Applause] And we also never mind. Yeah. Family and community. Is this on? Yeah. Family and Community Engagement met on Monday to review two things. The diagnostic tool for school and district effectiveness survey uh and the parent student uh family school parent student contractor. It's a compact, but it's essentially a contract per title one that just sort of outlines expectations, binds us together as a learning community. Anything else, Dr. Dog? Is that pretty much it? The results of the survey that reviewed was was the parent components because the parents of that committee helped design some of the questions. So, we let them see the feedback to those questions. Those questions, the results are preliminary. They're in draft form. Once we get the final copy from the company, they will be publicized for
083the district to see. Senator questions for questions surveys for parents. It might have been 10% for the parents. Um, and this company says that 15% is an acceptable amount, but we have 10%. Um, one of the things we noticed is that we have to do the survey a little bit earlier. Um, the window should open probably the end of January. So, if we can have it during parent involvement day like we normally had before, but if we started a little late, it ran into testing. So, we want to definitely hit way past 15% so we can get that information to make decisions moving forward. Thank you. So that's it for family and community engagement. That's it. Uh food service and wellness. Um we the we haven't met uh formally but um I will share that
084uh trustee grand I mentioned earlier that she's been instrumental with food with food services and trying to better what the what uh her fellow students are eating. Um what she did share with me was a petition. Um, and I'm sorry I'm going to ask Miss uh Trusty Deg Grandpy, can you just let us know what this what this petition was and just tell us about it? So, um, this petition was started at Denzel Washington and this was pushed to keep our current lunch staff that we have and have not have Aramark take over or the food service company that we have right now take over. Let me not use names. And it's things that students have seen, I've seen when I've gotten lunch sometimes, things that I've talked to from the current lunch staff there,
085from um the food head there. And I created the petition and then I gave it to the food head and as kids came through, they signed it and they talked about it with the lunch monitors as well. Thank you. So, I just want to share that this there this I got I got three pages of it. There's over 130 names signed to this and we're talking grades from 7th all the way to I believe 12th. This is the impact. Sixth, I'm sorry, 6th to 12th. This is the impact of our food service workers who have been here that were you know that are um and we we're going to it's going to get mentioned something about civil service and HR committee meeting but these are the food service workers who have been in this district
086have been working and feeding our babies for the better part of a quarter of a century. Um and this is the reason why you hear fighting about we can't we have to this is not right. This is good. Do it right. Do it right. This is the reason the babies are speaking. If they're not if we're not listening to the babies, then we then we're not paying attention to anybody. Don't listen to me. Don't listen to me. Listen to the babies. They're clearly saying right here, "Please don't get rid of my food service worker because they want these people in their midst every day feeding them because they care. You know, it's not easy. Transition change is never nobody's friend, but this is listening to the babies. Thank you, Trusty Gujari, for putting this together.
087And let's listen to the to the babies. Sure, please. So, I was at lunch one day and I actually saw some of the teachers working the food line and not our current food service working. Not not not the Mount Conist, but the food provider that we have. Okay. That's not one for me. That would be something else. So, um HR you reported already? Yes. Okay. Um, IDA. Okay. Yes. I'm not I'm not built for this in this setup here. I gota My arms are too long for this. Uh, yeah. The IDA met on the 12th. Um, there was a good dehus development report. There was a ribbon cutting for Pearl Pak Dentress dentist um on Broad Broad Street. That's good news for the community. A pediatric dentist is a is a good thing to have,
088I think, when the time is right. uh once the the dentist gets established, I'm thinking about approaching them about taking on uh special education dentistry for students, which is a very that's a a high need area. Yeah. Um I actually recently attended a lecture about the challenges. Um and what tends to happen is kids with special needs get overrestrained or drugged in order to get their teeth cleaned. and with an with some appropriate training, pediatric dentists can do it with much less restrictive um intervention. So, it could be a really good thing for for for us if uh if they're willing. If they're not, it's understandable. But um there was a ribbon cutting for a Home Fre, which is a new burger joint on Graton Avenue. That's a that's good. I haven't been there yet,
089but I heard it's pretty good. Uh there's uh discussion of the ongoing protected places program with Motorola, which is installing cameras in the business district. So far, four businesses have volunteered to have the cameras put up to stream it. This is a safety feature for the downtown business area. Um, and more are online. This is through ARPA funding. Fun City, the indoor amusement park is still slated to start in July 2025. I know you're going to be all over that, Trusty and Jenga. Um, there was a full day conference with the US Conference of Mayors. I believe this was at the Warberg uh last week. the there was CEO of Dazznney was there. That's big. Dazznney is dormatory authority at state of New York. They do a lot of construction financing in the state. Um
090this was to discuss what's called P3, the uh private public partnership program and it was hosted in collaboration with the association for the improvement of American Infrastructure, AI AI. It sounded like it was a good thing. Um people are interested in development and Mount Vernon. Go figure. um urbanomics. This is uh the contract that I've talked about in the past was signed. This I think could be good. The scope of work includes some some repeat work of the demographic study that was done by Boseies in 2023 about changing enrollment here. They'll redo some of that work and they'll expand on it. They're also going to create what's called a school a child mitigation tool which will be um basically a method of predicting the impact of new developments on the school with more accuracy. I'll
091be involved with that hopefully as as uh this company urbanomics starts collecting data I'll be in a position to um you know make sure that it's a valid tool and that it serves our interests. Um, and lastly, Q West, the closing is this month. And just today, um, Jose Formosa had contact with the developer, sent the invoice so we can get paid the $2 million that they owe us. They and they should pay that $2 million before the end of the month. That's it. Thank you. Um, so insurance, we don't have a report on insurance. policy uh committee uh met uh we should have a first reading of a policy maybe next weekend at special meeting uh safety and security trustee Jenga. Uh no nothing and special education. Mr. Mcdana, you have anything for special
092education and finally technology? Trusty Maribbo? Yes. Um just to give you a a followup, we are still currently waiting for the instructional purchase agreement for the students for CBT testing. We are almost at the final stages and I I will have to say that I have come to appreciate in-house counsel because in-house counsel has worked with Boseis and has also worked with our um director of technology in order to not continue to do to rubber stamp these contracts that we are receiving and to ensure that our um needs are met and that our students rights have been um evaluated before we sign the off on these contracts. So I I appreciate that. I also would like to say thank you to Dr. Dogget and to um Mr. Ramirez for ensuring that all of the things
093that we needed to do in order to get ready for CBT testing and moving forward in September that we're moving forward with that. The um there was a question last uh board meeting regarding requests for videography equipment. um just as a followup that that um item actually falls under facilities budget line and I believe there's a budget line for about $10,000 for uh that equipment. Uh that ends my report. Thank you, Trusty M. That concludes committee reports. Uh follow up on old business. There was no any business old business to follow up on. So we'll go right on to the resolutions. 8.1 Can I have a motion please for 8.1 128A certified motion? Can I have a second? Second. Questions, concerns, discussions? All in favor? Oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. I have a motion for 8.2.
094Two, human resources 128B classified. Questions, concerns, discussions. All in favor? I oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. Can I have a motion for 8.3 request for a leave of absent? Second. Questions, concerns, discussions? All in favor? I oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. Kev. I have a motion for 8.4 leave replacement appointment. Clerk James, I did request that this uh resolution be pulled. There has to be a vote on that. Um for leave replacement 8.4, what's the reason? Number one, this is not a leave replacement. the uh person that's being identified is not on leave, quote unquote. Um, in addition to that, the role of an assistant principal is to cover when a principal is out of the building. Um, we just finished paying two superintendent. We should not be paying two principles. And Rebecca Turner was not identified
095or designated as a school in 2024. Therefore, a principal position was not required. So, I'm going to pull the board if they want to pull this resolution or leave it as is. So, can I have a show of hands in favor of pulling? May I ask? I could pull it just to see it. Oh, you have your hand up. Five, six. All right. So, we are going to pull 8.4. So, can I have a motion, please, to pull 8.4? I move that we pull resolution 8.4. Second. All in favor? I oppose. Abstain. I So we have trusty cerwin abstain. Okay. Motion carries to poll 8.4. Okay. Can I have a motion please for 9.1 approval of pupil personnel services memorandum number 22 dated June 17 2025 second questions concerns discussions all in favor opposed Excuse
096me. Abstain. Motion carries. Have a motion for 9.2, authorization to hire additional staff members for the 2025 summer cse committee. A second trusty. Questions, concerns, discussions? All in favor? I oppose. Motion carries. Can I have a motion for 9.3 authorization to hire the 2025 extended school year preschool staff members? Have a motion. Motion. Questions, concerns, discussions. All in favor? I oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. I have a motion for 9.4 authorization to hire the 2025 extended school year school age staff members. Motion second. Questions, concerns, discussions? All in favor? Oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. I can't see. Can I have a motion for My numbers are cut off. N 9.1 10 10 Approval of the extension of uniform bid contract number 23-24-05 for the 20 2526 school year. Motion second question. I seconded question. question I have
097is I requested that the that the original bid be public facing. Was that added to the public facing district site? We're extending the contract, right? It's extending the contract for I'm sorry. Am I looking at the wrong thing? Oh, okay. We're extending the bid. Is that what you're saying? No, not this one. There was not this one. Okay, never mind. No, we can move on. We're on 10.1. 10.1. I'm looking at the wrong one. It was on the wrong one. Everything is slow. Yeah. Second. I second it. Who? Who first? I did. Okay. Why is everything? All in favor? Oppose? Abstain. Motion carries. I have a motion for 10.2. two. Just one moment. The system is slow. Okay. 10.2. Um, authorization to award Delta Electric bid number 2024-25-05 for the 2025 2026 school year. Can
098I have a motion? Second. Questions, concerns, discussions? All in favor? Oppose. Abstain. Trusty Mitchell. Okay, motion carries. I have a motion for 10.3 authorization to award Crown ACP bid number 2024-25-06 for the 2025 2026 school year. a question. Um, yes. So, back to what I said earlier, I had requested earlier that resolutions 102, 103, 104, 105, and six have the RFP or what the RFP or bid documentation inclusive of any dollars on the public facing site. The people should see how their tax dollars are being spent, but from what I'm seeing, it's still not there. anybody? So, I didn't receive any requests. So, district clerk, we sent it to you. I sent it to you directly. Uh, I sent everything to them. I don't know. I didn't receive requests as far as that. These should
099uh these are extensions, right? And I as far as like publishing the bid with the bid numbers, I don't know if that's a foil request or not. I don't know if we can make that public. We're going to have to check with legal's right there. Request. It's a four request. So, we're voting to extend the contracts based on the original bids, but we're not going to attach it even I even asked for it in executive content. It's an exact It should be an exact contact, but for it to have it. So, so it has to be a foil request. So, the public has to foil to see that documentation. Correct. Okay. Correct. Thank you. Exact. Okay. All in favor? Any oppose? Abstain. This is 10.3. 10.3. Um, Trust Trusty Middleton, you abstain. Okay. Motion carries.
100Okay. I have a motion for 10.4. Authorization to award extension RFP number 24-05-01 to KG&D architects for the 2025 2026 school year. Questions, concerns, discussions? Question. Uh why is does the scope of work include three buildings that we're closing? So this is an extension of a contract that was awarded last year before any of this took place. So this is work as needed. So this allows them to work on any district property because although the buildings are closed, the district still owns them. And in the event that architects are needed for any reason whatsoever, this gives them that green light to do so. And it's only it's only buildout is needed. This is just the approval that they can look at those sites and work on them if the district chooses to. Okay. The documents
101that we see there was specific scope of work for those particular buildings. So is it is it as needed or is it the scope that's actually included in this document? I don't I don't have the document in front of me to answer correctly. So this could have been and part of this is with the bond. So, at the time when we were going out for the bond, the architects would have to go out and perform services in those buildings to submit paperwork to the state. Now, if those buildings are no longer going to be considered, then they won't be build against the district as far as services rendered. So, maybe that's what you're referring to. Again, I don't have it in front of me, but that could be it. When they submitted their proposal, they
102had a price to look at those buildings, and now if they're not being considered, that price is no longer relevant. But it's still in this document. But it's still in the document. So they they can't work without our authorization. So even though the document states that if we say you're not going to do it, they can't override us. But this vote gives them authorization. No, this again I I can't see it in front of me. I'd have to look at it. All in favor? I oppose. Oppos. Okay. Even though it's for that school. Motion carries. Can I have a motion for 10.5 authorization to award bid number 2024-02 to Waste Management Services Suburban Cardan for the 2024 2026 school year. A motion please. Second. Questions, concerns, discussions? Question. So, similar to the last one, this
103has specific um carding for the three buildings that are closed. Is this at a reduced schedule than it would have been in prior years? Because that's what I'm trying to figure out. I'm looking at the schedule for other buildings to see if this would reflect a reduction in services, but I can't I can't see that. Does it or or no? It it does. This these all these awards are not actually awards. They should be termed as extensions, and we can make a correction to that. So, this was an extension of a bid where those buildings were open and we would need a price for services. Now that those buildings are going to be taken offline, those services aren't going to be utilized at that same rate or at all. So we would see a reduction
104in our invoicing to the district, but we need to know what it would cost at that time to service those buildings. And if we're no longer servicing them, then they wouldn't bill against us. So it would go down. So they won't there's no minimum. There's there's no expectation. Exactly. And it can be done as needed. So for example, there's there could be cause to remove trash from those buildings. will still have the availability. Okay. Yes. And we know what the cost will be for the district so it protects us from price gouging. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you. All in favor? Oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. I have a motion for 10.6 Six, approval of food service management contract with Sudco. Motion. Have a second. A second and question, concerns. Do we not see the contract here either?
105Executive content. Hold on a second. Let me try it again. Hold on. I'm logged in. I don't know if I saw that one. It's not there. I I think something happened. We have the contract. Something might have been corrupted with the file when we're uploading it, but we do have the agreement and everything is in order. When are we meeting with Sedexo? And will the board be able to meet with Sedexo? Sure. Oh, I'm sorry. Let me speak for me. When can I meet with Sedexo? I mean, it's all right. I I'm good with I'm on it. Um, when will I get a chance to meet with Sedexo? So, as soon as we vote them in now, we can start the process. And when do you expect that? What's the timeline? We're talking weeks. No,
106we can probably meet. I mean, we have a representative here. We can have a conversation afterwards and set up a meeting. If not this week, next week. I like it. Thank you. One be on that. All in favor? I oppose. Abstain. Okay. No, no, no. Can I ask one question? Can the contract be uploaded to the resolution after? Yes. Once we resolve the Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, all in favor? Oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. Yes, I did. System is slow. I have a motion for 11.1 authorization for the approval of external auditors 2023 2024 corrective action plan. Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Don't do anything yet. Okay. Now, can I have a motion? Second. Questions, concerns, discussions? All in favor? I oppose abstain. Motion carries. I have a motion for 11.2 authorization for approval of
107internal auditors 2023 2024 corrective action plan. questions, concerns, discussions, all in question. Oh, this is a question. We're resol we I know that um Jose's not here, but are we addressing unresolved issues in the corrective action plan? Is that what this is? Yes. Thank you. All in favor? I oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. Can I have a motion for 11.3? Authorization to reject RFP number 2526-2 pre kindergarten services for three year olds. It's rejecting an RFP. Yeah, it's just to reject the RFP. Yeah. He said that um um they said that Kia, can we have a little context? What I don't even know what this bid was for. Wait, what were this? What were the services? It says to reject I know, but I don't even know what what the RFP was to reject RFP for
108pre kindergarten service or three-year-olds. What What services were being offered that were being that we're rejecting? The recommended action is top. So, can we request a copy? Yeah. No, no. I I understand we're rejecting. I don't understand what we're rejecting. Like what are we rejecting? What s like speech services for preschoolers? Occupational therapy for recommended action. You see that? Why are we rejecting? I guess my question is I'm why are we rejecting it? But but what what services area? What? Educational services, food services, air conditioning service. What what do what services? Kindergarten services. Yeah, that's vague. Explain it. Yeah, without seeing the actual RFP. I don't even remember when the RFP went out. Does anyone And same thing with 11.4. I mean, it's fine. I'm just curious to know what what it is we're rejecting,
109right? And why are they going to reissue? Is that why we're it's a rejection? So you can you can look at the entire RFP on our website. You can see the whole document. From my understanding with this, we are rejecting it because the grant funding the prices came in higher than what the grant can fund. So it's to go out for more competitive pricing within our grant. Thank you. Just a clarification in the future, can when we when these things are being rejected, can we have them in executive content so we can actually review them and we can refer to them? Thank you. So yeah, should be simple. Wrong. Be normal as it mindal. Never mind. Never mind. All right. So I don't think we got to a motion for that. So motion to um
110to reject. Yes. Can I have a motion, please? Motion. Okay, questions, concerns. We already did that. Discussions. All in favor? I. Any oppose? Abstain. Motion carries. Can I have a motion for 11.4 Four, authorization to reject RFP number 2526-02 pre kindergarten services for four year olds. Motion question is yeah is this the same topic that the services offered are beyond what the grant is covering. Um, is there any way we can have a just a simple split what the grant is that we were awarded so that we can understand this? It'll helpful. It'll be helpful if then if we had that RFP so we could say okay yeah this makes sense if it's I don't have a receipt I can't believe anything right thank you okay all in favor I oppose abstain abstain motion carries
111have a motion for 12.1 approval of contract track agreement between Lisa and the Mount Vernon City School District. Questions, concerns, discussions, question. Oh, I thought we discussed that we were we were not doing any of these contracts without um until we resolve these other contracts that need to be resolved. So, should we pull them? Please. What do we what do we discuss? No, it's about all contracts. We have said these people have the year's contract whatever is it these are expiring contracts. This is a if we look at the last year contract and we look at the salary and we look at this one. Why are we doing this? Are you stating that they're getting a raise? Is that what you're It's an $11,000 increase over one year. If you guys going to pull it,
112pull it. Let's pull it. I think or if you're going to discuss matters in executive session, then let's discuss it in executive session. 12 to six. Yeah. 12. 121. All the 12. I move that we pull all of these contracts that are requesting increases. Yep. Every one of them. Can I have a second? Second. All in favor? I oppose. I oppose. Saunders, you opposed. Kelly opposed. Yes. Oppos. I just want to discuss it in exact first. Yep. And that request is failed. Right. No. No. What were you? I was I was uh Yes. The request. You can move a poll. Motion carries. Motion carries. All right. So, we are pulling 12.1 to 12.6 resolution. Okay. Can I have a motion for 13? Sorry. Yeah. Go. System is slow now. Have a motion for 13.1 authorization
113to accept appeal options. Motion, questions, concerns, discussions? All in favor? I oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. Can I have a motion for 13.2 adoption of the 2526 board educ board of education meeting schedule? Wait, wait, wait. Motion. Wait, wait, wait. The system is playing catch up. Okay, so um Trusty White, that's the board. I have a second. Second. Questions, concerns, discussions. All in favor? I oppose abstain. Motion carries. Have a motion for 13.3 approval of settlement agreement and release. Motion. Second. Questions, concerns, discussions? All in favor? Oppose. Abstain. Motion carries. We have a motion for 13.4 approval of agreement with General Star Identity Company. Second, questions, concerns, discussions. All in favor? Any oppose? Abstain. Motion carries. I have a motion to enter into executive session for the purpose of discussing pending litigation to financial history of
114a particular person or corporation or matters leading to the appointment, employment, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of particular person or corporation and to receive legal advice on a pending matter. Can I have a motion, please? Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. We're in executive session. Returning to the public. I can't answer. What did he say?