The Board of Education Meeting and Budget Hearing of May 6, 2026

001Good evening and welcome. I'd like to call the Wednesday, May 6, 2026 board of education regular meeting and statutory budget hearing. Uh please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. >> All right, item 1.3 on our agenda this evening is a superintendent's update. So, I'm going to turn things over to Miss Mary Fox. >> Thank you. Um, good evening everyone. Uh this has been a really super busy time of year in all of our schools. So um we have a lot to share tonight. Over the past week, we recognized our staff members for teacher appreciation week. It was also school nurse day and

002school bus driver day. Um those you might have catched it, our celebration and recognition of our school bus drivers actually made channel 12 news on that day. So, we thank our dedicated staff members, our teachers, our nurses, and our bus drivers for all that they do for our schools and our students. A big big shout out and congratulations to Tearsa, Quander, Frank Murphy, Olivia Wallace for winning gold at the WACTSO competition. and they are advancing to nationals with an all expenses paid trip to Chicago in July. That is phenomenal. Phenomenal. Okay. All three students submitted their research projects for science category. Ti won gold in earth and space science. Frank won gold in chemistry and Olivia won gold in biological and medical sciences. Tasja Carver also won a bronze medal for her research in the

003biological and medical sciences category. So, congrats. Our K5i science show art show, sorry, open this evening at the Austining Public Library. The exhibit will be on display from May 6th through May 12th. So, please if you get an opportunity to drop by, take a look at our creativity and our wonderful students and their artwork. Our Austining High School seniors are taking the next steps and excited and headed in different directions for college, career, and military service. I'd like everyone to check out the studentrun Instagram page at aing decisions 2026 to see where they are headed. There a lot of um special emphasis this year. Well done who's running that Instagram page, but it's very exciting um every day to see where people are choosing to go and to travel. Right. Um, we are proud of

004our Austining High School robotics team that recently competed at first championship world tournaments in Houston, Texas. The tune had the team had an opportunity to compete alongside incredible teams from approximately 16 countries as well as organizations such as NASA, MIT, and leading Silicon Valley companies. a great experience and I want to thank our chaperons and everyone who volunteered to provide this great experience for our students. Last Friday we had the honor of welcoming New York State Commissioner Dr. Betty Rosa, the new New York City Chancellor Kamar Samuels and members of the New York State Board of Regents, Regents Chin Ferrer and Willis to Aening High School. We had a wonderful student panel that um There were a lot of adults in the room who had tears in their eyes listening to what they were saying.

005So I want to thank Owen for moderating that panel and um they went to visit classrooms and uh we they left here with such wonderful comments about our high school and district overall. We are very grateful the opportunity to share the incredible work across our district and for the time spent engaging with our inspiring students and our dedicated staff. To quote the commissioner and I know Roger and Christine were there, she she picked two districts for the commission for the new chancellor to visit because she was asked to do that and she picked Austin and Terry Town. So, we were thrilled to have her. Our ANI High School ASL students had a wonderful visit with our kindergarteners at Park School. Was absolutely adorable. They shared the joy of learning sign language, teaching basic signs, and

006connecting through communication in a whole new way. Um the AMD spring band concert took place last night. Um the band, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. The jazz band, excellent job. Claremont held their incoming third grade orientation. Very excited parents as they transitioned from Brookside to Claremont and our Austining High School Ed Prep Academy students visited Sunni Newports. They proudly presented on their experience as future ed educators in the program sharing their growth, their passion and their goals. The visit also gave them the opportunity to explore education degree programs as they begin preparing their transition to higher education. And when they're finished, we want them to come back to Austin. Uh we're asking everybody to join us uh for the Saturday explore and learn community wheels and summer fields. Right, Megan? Uh Saturday, May 16th from

0079:30 to 10 at the middle school. Um there's a pack uh day filled with lots of great activities and we have lots of our uh community partners who will be attending and I know Megan will highlight a little bit of that later on but everybody mark your calendars and the Austining High School Human Rights Club and MBK had the honor of hosting Michael Blake from the New Deal Leaders Organization. We are grateful for the opportunity to learn from his insights and leadership and for the inspiring conversation on civic engagement and community empowerment. I know number of our administrators representing the district office were able to attend and he had a powerful message for everyone. So, um that's my update. >> Thank you very much. A lot going on. Spring is busy. All right. Um next

008on our agenda is 1.4 for our exopysio student board member Owen Brennan has a very special update for us. So come on up and join us. Owen Hi everyone. So the I wanted to present tonight on the newly implemented internet enabled device ban that is statemandated and it is something newly implemented into our district and widely newly implemented into the state as a whole and kind of the as I've been at the board table this year I've gotten some questions from the board on how it's being received by students and how it's being implemented. So uh I've worked with Miss Langley, Mr. Ducos and the rest of the administration team at ONING. Um, and we developed a survey for students to kind of get their opinion on the ban and how the ban is being

009implemented at the high school and if any if they have any comments or questions about the ban in itself. So, we had a total of 831 respondents of this survey which compared to any survey or census ran at the high school it is a lot more. Um, and it just kind of shows how much students care about this issue and and how much they they want their voice to be heard in this issue. And it was composed of eight questions, six liyker liker scale questions that asked their opinion on the ban, their ability to focus, the overall impact of the ban, and the following of the rules. There was one multiple choice question that asked their biggest challenge with the ban and um why that challenge was and one free response question asking if they

010had any suggestions um about the ban and if changes were to be made what would they um say. So the first question was a liyker scale question and it it asked them to strongly disagree or strongly agree with the statement I support the state's rule to ban internet enabled devices during school hours. A one was a strongly disagree and and a five was a strongly agree. And as you can imagine, uh not a large amount of students strongly agree with the ban they don't want their phones to be taken out. And kind of the biggest skepticism I've gotten towards this question and the survey as a whole is, you know, really what's the point? The it's a law and we would love to incorporate student feedback and student opinion, but it doesn't really matter what

011they think about it because it's a law. But this question is actually really important if you look at it in the context of the the following two questions. So this question shows that roughly 77% of students have an overall negative attitude toward the ban. But then if you look at it in the context of the second question which asked them to strongly disagree to strongly agree with the statement I am distracted by phones or other devices less often than I was before the rule. We can see that roughly 62% of students said they disagree with this statement. And it's about a 15% net change um between the strongly agree from the first question and the strongly agree from the second question. Showing that even though some students don't like the ban, they still some students

012still appreciate the efficacy of the ban and the reason behind the ban. And some of them even feel that they're less distracted because of the ban. Then if you look at the first question and context of the third question which asked uh this rule had a has had a positive impact on the overall learning environment in my classes. We see that roughly 57% of students don't think the ban has had a positive effect on their learning environment which again is a 20% net change in the disagreement between the first question. So again, although students don't think the ban is helpful and don't and don't agree with the ban, they still appreciate the ban in some way and they believe in the efficacy behind the ban. Now, uh, the challenges with the ban, this was a

013multiple choice question and it asked students which of the following describes the biggest challenge with the current rule for you. And a majority of the students, roughly 43% of students said that their inability to use devices during off periods was the biggest challenge with the ban. And now this is very important because um a lot of criticisms of the ban has at the high school level has been that students aren't able to use their phones during off periods. Um they agree with the ban during class time, but during off periods is where there's there's some there's some criticism and there's some push back. So this is data behind that point and this is showing that students want to use uh their devices during their off periods when they're not in class. Now the second biggest

014um uh option here was the difficulty to contact family and guardians uh families and guardians and it was about 31%. Um now this is this is kind of taken with your discretion because when speaking with Miss Langley and Mr. Ducos um we understand that a lot of students aren't contacting their family and guardians during the school day and if they're trying to they're able to through the various resources. So this this might be this might be inaccurate and it's it's something that you could take um in into your discretion in your opinion. And then the other one was uh 11 point 11% the inability to use devices for learning. Now this is an ongoing process with the high school administration. Uh, I know to give an example, um, in our student council summit earlier this

015year, a, um, student raised a concern about not being able to use a certain software, um, during class because of the ban and Miss Langley was in attendance for this and they got they started talking about it. They got in conversation about it and that problem was fixed. So um when I presented this um to the faculty on Monday and when and students know this as well that if there is an issue with software not being able to be accessed or class time not being able to use effectively because of the ban then they can bring that up to administration and it could be solved quickly. So it is an ongoing process um but it's something that can be resolved. Now this was the free response question. and it asked students about um anything concerning

016the ban, if they had any suggestions or any implementations for the ban. And as you can imagine with 831 responses, the responses from students varied a lot. Um uh there was a lot there, but um we were able to kind of look at it all as a whole and identify some common trends. Now again, the biggest trend was the use of devices during off periods. Um, students want to be able to use their phones during off periods and they want to be able to use their devices during off periods. And a lot of students acknowledge that they shouldn't be using their phones during class time. They acknowledge that that's not the best use of their time. That's not the best use of their devices. Um, but they don't understand why they can't use their devices

017during uh off periods. Um, so that's so that's kind of the second point. There's general support for no student no phones during instruction. um students understand that they shouldn't be using phones during class time. Whether they would abide that by that understanding if given the liberty, you know, we don't know, but they have that understanding which is a good thing. And they have a desire for a less restrictive and more balanced policy. And a lot of the responses to this question, a lot of students went back to the policy we'd had last year. And last year at the high school, students were able to turn their phones in into a box in the beginning of class time and then retrieve their phones at the end of class. So they didn't have their phones during class

018time on their body, but they were able to have it during passing time in the hallways. Now, when I presented this to the faculty on Monday, they had some concerns with the policy last year, but they acknowledged that, you know, it it students were focused during class time and they were a able to be engaged and not on their devices because their devices weren't on them. Um, and a lot of students appreciate that now that we have a full band and not able to have our devices on them at all at any point in the day. And then there's also some concerns about fairness and consistency of enforcement and kind of the tone of enforcement. Uh, a lot of students mention that, you know, when security guards or um staff is taking their phones away,

019there's a little there's um kind of some disrespect and some, you know, forcefulness. and some students really expressed that. So that's definitely um something that we talked about with um Miss Langley and we made sure that um we're addressing and the biggest thing that students also said is this ban is not reducing their device usage. It only makes it more hidden. Uh there the problem with the whole ban the reason the ban was implemented in general was to kind of limit distraction in the classroom but students don't feel that distraction has been limited. It they just feel that it's become more discreet. Um they feel that now that they don't have to turn their phones in during class they can secretly use it in the back of the classroom when they have it on their

020on their body. So kind of some key takeaways that we took away from the free response question and then the survey as a whole and then also looking at the policy as a whole was that enforcing the ban really does not solve the problem. You know the biggest again the biggest issue and the reason why the ban was implemented was because was to create a distraction-free environment but students are talking about how they're distracted more or they're distracted the same amount and it's not really doing anything. And the ban is not addressing the root cause of the problem. The root cause of the problem is that students are using their devices too much. They're addicted to their devices. And simply taking away their devices or saying they cannot use it during a during a period

021of time during the day isn't really addressing that addiction or that um use of their device in general. And it also questions if the ban is causing more distraction than before. Um, I use this example that if I'm in a class and a teacher is presenting uh and giving a lesson and they see a a student using a phone in the class, they have to stop that class and they have to take away the phone. That interrupts um instruction and it's something that wouldn't really happen if we had the the policy from last year because that phone would not be on their body. It would be in the front of the classroom in a phone box. So you know there there was some question there and there when I presented to the faculty again on

022on Monday there was a conversation about that and you know some teachers acknowledged that this ban is causing more distraction um and some teachers acknowledge the opposite. So you know it's really how teachers are implementing the policy from how they implemented the policy from last year and how strict they are with the policy from this year. And then there's also a question on how we're teaching students to manage their time and how we're preparing them for post-secary. So my idea with this is that in the point of high school obviously is to prepare a student for post-secary whether it be a college or a job or whatever they want to pursue. And in a college or in a job they're not going to have someone over their shoulder making sure they're doing the right thing

023or not being on their phone. And you know this is kind of doing that. It's being over their shoulder and being invasive in their in their space and not letting them really understand the consequences of not doing what they're supposed to do or using their devices. So, it questions are we um is is this ban really implementing um the values that high school is supposed to do and and how we're trying to approach it. So, that's all I have. Um I don't I'll take questions. >> Are you open to questions? >> I'll take questions. Yeah. >> All right. Does anybody um at the board table here have any questions? >> I have questions for others. >> Um I have questions about um sort of what does this look like and what's the expectation and what's

024the reality? Um, for example, is it that your phone is supposed to be in your backpack, not in your pocket, like in your locker, not brought into any class at all? Is that the expectation? >> Yeah. So, the expectation is actually you put your phone in your locker at the beginning of the day. Yeah. Um, but it it's, you know, again, the you know, the biggest concern with students, one of the biggest concerns was kind of the consistency of enforcement. Um, so if students are in the hall, you know, and they, you know, they have their phone, is it going to be enforced? Is it not going to be enforced? That's kind of one of the concerns that they brought up. So, yeah. >> Now, do you notice, and I don't know, this like isn't

025a specific survey question, so I guess I'm really just asking anecdotally, do did you notice that in the beginning of the year where we're seeing much less phones and now as we're approaching end of the year, we're seeing more phones? I think I think that depends who you ask. I think it's been difficult for juniors and seniors to uh adapt to this policy because it's been so different um for us for the first two or three years of high school. Um but you know at AMD they've had no phones for you know a while now. So it's it's it's similar for e seventh and eighth graders that came in and now freshman and sophomore. But for us it's it's more difficult. So, I think it's I I think it's stayed the same. It really depends

026on the grade level. I think um Yeah. >> And then do you see in your classes teachers give me that phone? You know, I saw that phone. It's not supposed to be here. Give it to me now. >> I think uh yeah, I I mean, maybe not that aggressively. I think if it's if it's blatant usage, if they're, you know, out on their phones while the teacher is teaching, like not even trying to hide it, then a teacher will stop instruction. Um, but most of the time, if it's kind of out, then a teacher won't immediately stop instruction, but maybe wait till there's a a lull in teaching and and go over and talk to the student. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Um, yeah. I'm just kind of curious, uh, I guess, you

027know, if I appreciate that it's hard for the juniors and seniors, right? But we're also, it's a law is a law, right? So, it's something has to be done to comply with the law. I would be curious what the suggestions are from the students and your classmates on how is it that we comply with the law and what's sort of the most equitable way to do that that makes >> the conflict less the needs less the sneaking it anyways less you know like that is sort of the brainstorming I don't I don't think anybody knows the answer to that >> yeah so I I can actually like when I presented to the faculty on Monday. One of the things I said was, you know, a lot of students are appreciating the ban, the rule from

028last year where you put it at the beginning of class and you don't have it. But then when I said that to staff, then I had so many hands raised with opinions about how that that policy was good and that policy created less distraction. And then I had another half of teachers saying how that policy um did wasn't effective and and didn't create um less distraction. So it it is it is difficult and I think there's there's never going to be a perfect answer. We're just kind of work trying to work with what's better for us. And what makes it especially hard at Austining High School is we're an open campus. You know, there's students leaving the building every single period um and coming in every single period. So it's and that that's one of

029the aspects I can say I mean I don't I'm not 100% sure but I could say is one of the best things about Austin that we're able to to come and go um freely and based on our schedule. So the fact that that makes that implementation of the rule even even more difficult. >> Got it. >> All right. Well, >> more to come, I guess. >> Um Archer, do you want to go? >> Does anybody else want to go before I ask any questions? I'll go the edge. >> Okay. So, Owen, um I think this is great that you um got this survey together. I a few questions on this one because this is always a hard thing. Anything that's like implemented like this and it's always hard like that first year because there's a

030lot of getting used to on this, right? >> Um you know, and even when you say to no to somebody, there's more of a you know, let me poke that bear and challenge that a bit more. That that's a natural phenomenon, right? So, And I I kind of get that. So I guess the question here that and this is not something that I don't know that you'll be able to to necessarily say without it being anecdotal, but are we seeing any measured results of increased engagement in the classroom? Are we seeing in numbers of something to the effect of increased uh you know um involvement, increased learning? Are we seeing any of that? Right? because there's that aspect of well okay you know and this is not a criticism so I'm just asking the question

031is more to understand >> I is it much more of you know hey look we we hate this this stinks we don't like this the rule because it's telling us what to do um yeah your point is taken in terms of no when you're in in college and the working world you you develop your behaviors up until the point of a certain teenage years right your behaviors start to set in a little bit more and what you train on in the earlier years creates a discipline in the later years, right? >> That's the that's the ingoing belief in this. And whether that's true or not, you know, I guess let the scientists figure that out. But I think the reality is on all of this is that you know what becomes hard the first year

032to do does that become easier the next year? And I think you raised a point about the fact that you spent two years where you did have this and two years now all of a sudden you you're going to be without it, right? This will be next year will be year two. So it just becomes do >> when when we get to four years of of students who actually have not had this previously >> does anything change significantly because when you're in that those transitional points >> it's a difficult thing to accept that. >> Yeah. Um so just just a point of reference I any point opinion on that would be great. >> Yeah. Um so when we kind of when I was making this presentation with Miss Langley, one of the points we discussed

033was really the the teaching and learning benefits aren't going to there's no way to tell now and there aren't going to be seen until the four years of students that are be being implemented. Um but kind of the from what I've seen is that um it it it again it depend like if it depends on the class that I'm in. You know in obviously the more advanced classes you know students are going to be more engaged and they're going to be um more more off their phones and off their devices. Um but in the general classes you I've I've seen that too like in in physical education for example where it's pool of everybody together. There are people off their devices less and it's more engagement. So I think that that is definitely a positive

034um and it's something that kind of the band was looking to do. So I I think that answers your question. Yeah. >> Okay. I I I do appreciate you putting this together. I think there's a lot more information, a lot more data to come. But again, you know, again, not to sound like anything other than the fact that maybe this is transitional, the first year of adoption of anything new is even when we did our MTSS, the first year adoption is always like >> there there's always that tension that that exists. It doesn't matter with MTSS or anything new, right? That's always just a challenge. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. >> Yeah. >> Um Oh, and I appreciate that you uh took the time to present this to the staff. I think that's really um

035interesting because they play a big role in the implementation of this ban and I think especially when it comes to the consistency of enforcement con speaking from my just own experience in general that's difficult as a teacher because you don't want to be the one teacher that's laying down the law and then the next period everybody goes and that that teacher is not doing it and then it makes it harder for you to enforce it if you're a teacher that is trying to follow the policy. So, um, in that way, I think it's that to me is a benefit of having it like it's out of our hands and and so I know nobody wants to take their vitamins and sometimes that's what this feels like, right? Um, I I my biggest curiosity as you

036were presenting was the difference in age. Like there's a difference between a 13-year-old and an 18-year-old who's in school all day legal adult saying I'm being treat, you know, feeling probably like they're being treated like a toddler. >> Yeah. >> Um and I can appreciate that. I can understand that. Um >> and hopefully it sounds like they have the understanding that there's very little that's actually within our control locally. Yeah. Um >> uh in regards to this, but one of the things is where this the phones are stored. Um it is allowable to have the phones in the classroom under the law stored away um in some sort of you know >> cubby or whatever um >> versus locker um which effectively is often away because right we're not checking lockers for phones right so

037that's effectively probably uh what's happening right >> yeah I mean and nor do really people use lockers at high school, >> right? >> Which is, you know, >> um, so it it's it's just very I I I hope like we can't sometimes get these high school kids to fill out a panorama survey. And we really take that data very seriously. And so the fact that so many kids were um eager to share their thoughts and I think probably part of that is because it was coming from you, right, like a student. Yeah. >> Um to solicit that information. And I'm sure they were filling it out thinking, "Oh, and tell go tell them what it is, you know." And so, um, I can't tell you how deeply I appreciate that this is a task that

038you decided to take on because there is some I mean, there's little that we can do, but it's nice to know um where everybody's at. And I I'd be willing to bet that if we disegregated this um data by grade level that you'd have stronger negative feelings the older the students are. >> Yeah. Yeah. And >> yeah, I say I say that seniors are more likely to disagree with the band because they've gone through three years, but I think it is always going to be seniors just because, you know, the we're on our way out and we're kind of being again being treated, you know, like >> I I would understand it feeling is what I'm saying. >> But um yeah, so I I agree with that point definitely. >> Thank you very much. I

039really appreciate the effort. I I think that this was a nice thing to dive into. It kind of marries I feel like it marries nicely. I know your science research stuff dovetales on this like tech and youth. Um >> and so this was and I can also see that your >> the skills that you have learned there carrying over into this work as well. So >> um I appreciate that. >> Thank you. Your advocacy for students is so well appreciated. It it it's noted. So, >> um, can I ask or Melissa, you're next. >> I thought so. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. I thought, >> are we popcorning or are we going around? >> Meant to go around, but I'm sorry. >> Okay, go ahead. You started. >> You go. It's your turn. >> Okay. If

040you insist. Um, so yes, I was also going to bring up um what I think is out of everything that is very remarkable. I can't I can't express to you how remarkable it is to get over 800 persons to respond to a survey, right? You >> you don't have to do it here, but you got to share your secrets. I'm telling you, because that is remarkable. Um, a couple of things that I think I'm hoping, especially out of over 800 students, that you recognize and hopefully some of them recognize some of the inspiration that can come out of this. I heard you say some students might have said like, "Oh, what's a law? What's the point?" Well, you when you advocate, you share your voice. Laws can be refined. Policies such as ours can be

041refined through people exercising their voice. So I hope uh students are inspired to know that there is value in in speaking your truth. Um I think there's also you brought up that you helped people recognize that if there are barriers to learning involved with the ban that they have pathways that they can go to to rectify that, right? So you gave them solution let them know that there are solutions to some of the more you know um problems that are are just like not having to be you know tied in with the band specifically. So I like that as well. >> Um so I think even though the the questions were targeted at certain um you know criteria, there are also some some experiences that came out of this that I hope some students um

042appreciate it. >> Yeah. >> Um I did also like the transparency that some of the students provided recognizing within themselves that there's a dependency issue. It's not simply take this phone away or even correlating it with it was better when you just took my phone at the beginning of class and I didn't have the urges and I didn't have to manage the urges during class. Right. So I think that is really crucial data. I think, you know, hopefully more people like yourself are looking into like what does this look like? To your point, >> I think there's like a longitudinal study aspect to this, right? But it has to start somewhere. And so I'm glad that you know you are one of the people on the forefront of just starting to unpack what this looks

043like so that we can refine the policies, the laws and also recognize um the balance between healthy, you know, cell phone use, not even specifically internet, but just the cell phone dependency versus, like you said, preparing students for the real world and what that looks like. how do we find that healthy balance and also respect the independence of the upper classmen and all that stuff. So, thank you for this study and all the different angles that um it provided as far as the experience itself um and just you modeling to students, you know, how you can share your voice um regardless if you think it's, you know, not loud enough. Yeah. >> But, you know, it it it's impactful. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Um I am curious what off periods look like for

044students like what are they doing during those times and does off periods mean like periods where you don't have a class or walking through the hallways lunch whatever it is. >> So off periods generally you are encouraged to go to a common space um so either the cafeteria the library or the third floor common space we have a bunch of chairs and it's like a lounge area. Um when it's nice out, you can go to the courtyard in in the um in between like surrounded by the the the building. Um or you can go outside and if you're a sophomore, junior, or senior, you can go off campus. Um for me, uh my off periods, one day I have two off periods, one day I have four off periods. So, usually I hang out in

045the uh science research room because it's open to everybody and uh no matter if you have class in there or not, and you can go in there and get your work done. If not, I go to the library. Um, and yeah, and there usually one of the off periods is a lunch period for students. >> So during these off periods, is there like if you're in a common space, is there socializing? >> Definitely. Yeah. Um, that's probably the main thing. Yeah. >> I can show you some hacky sack videos. I'm just curious how um, you know, there's some feelings of being socially disconnected from peers and then, you know, the inability to use devices during off periods. has engagement between the students increased at all is kind of what I'm wondering with my questioning here.

046>> Honestly, I think that if you went into the library last year or the year before, then the engagement would be the same. Like it's it's not gotten down or gotten wor or gotten better because it was always been at a high level, especially in the library. Like if you go in the library or the cafeteria, you're always going to see people talking to each other regardless of there's a cell phone ban or not. um just because that's kind of where people go um to hang out when they don't have class. So I think the ban hasn't really changed anything because it's it's always been pretty high. So yeah. >> Okay, that's really good to know. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Just one quick one, Owen, and it's a really well-designed survey. The 11 uh

0471% we'll call 11% who's responded and said >> the the biggest concern or challenge they have is inability to use his devices for learning. Um do I mean you you your all your students I mean you have a do you have a schoolisssued laptop? >> Yeah. >> So are they able to use that in place of a personal device? >> They ha so you have to use the schoolisssued computer um because the ban extends to anything any personal computers or anything like that. So you're you have to be but um with the inability to use it you can always like for science research we have um we have special computers that include software that we might need to run tests or whatever and then I know for engineering also um they've been able to get

048software developed on their um school issue computers to do what they need to do. So, >> okay. So, a student who responded here is like in theory, well, >> they do have a device, in this case, a school issued device to do whatever they need to do, but the response here is like >> I prefer to essentially like I I would prefer to use my personal phone. >> And something else that like for photo class before the ban, uh students were using their phone to take pictures and and do that. So that's also been something that they're figuring out on how to still um you know have the curriculum of the class and and figure it out with. I think they're just using cameras now but um it's kind of been like I said an

049ongoing process with that. >> Okay. Thank you. You can if you have an off period and you need to do something for example you've arranged to have meet with a tutor or something right virtually you can connect with the guidance department and they will allow you to come in with your personal device and be in there as long as you're doing what you're supposed to be doing. So there is that mechanism there as well. >> Thank you. >> Thanks Owen. >> Thank you. >> Come back and join us at the >> Thank you. Yes, >> I think it was a great topic and um a NISBA clips I think two weeks ago there was an AP article on a national three-year study of of it and there were five takeaways on it and you know

050tough acceptance but actually highlighting what you just said. They haven't seen any change though in academic achievement three years later not seen that yet. I think it kind of speaks to those urges and that just you're still distracted in your mind because you want it. You want the >> why, right? >> More to be done. >> It's interesting just because it's kind of like a it's like one of those things where you there was also the aspect of well I'm taking a picture of so and so or I'm doing selfies or whatever it might be because there's also that level anxiousness that may not may or may not come through academic performance, right? So there's some of that. So, >> all right. There'll be more to discuss on this later, I'm sure. Um, we are

051now at our first audience recognition for agenda items only. This period is not meant to take more than 10 minutes. Um, I don't believe I see anybody in the audience who wishes to speak as part of public comment. Um, is there anybody online who wishes to speak? >> No. >> All right. We'll move along then. Uh, now we're on to our statutory budget hearing. And I've got a little bit to read here. Consistent with New York State law pertaining to school district budget votes, the board of education must provide a public presentation of the proposed school district budget at least 7 days, but not more than 14 days prior to the budget vote. The presentation is intended to provide the public with an opportunity to ask questions pertaining to the proposed budget. Uh this segment

052of the board of education meeting has been designated as the official statutory budget hearing. I will now turn the meeting over to the superintendent uh who will provide a brief budget overview to the community. And it looks like maybe so Miss McCoy, our assistant superintendent of for business, has a presentation um that aligns with the statutory requirements for the budget hearing. again as they're launching the presentation we as it was well articulated at the table it's a misnomer to have it you know just it's more of an information session and awareness session this hearing I like just the sense of the give and take but yeah >> we should put that on the legislative agenda to change the name of the budget hearing to the budget announcement. >> Proposed budget announcement. >> Yeah. I will

053say while we're waiting that article in the AP about phone, they basically say they were able to use GPS technology to see the phone band worked >> because the the level of pings on the phones had dramatically reduced. However, Melissa's point is well taken. That's a technical compliance issue, but still um you know the correlation between no change in academic achievement um that or student engagement they're not seeing it. >> Okay, Mr. McCoy. >> Hello everyone. Good evening. So this is the budget um the statutory budget meeting um hearing and we've been working our down to the wire um even today to get this presentation done and get the uh digitized budget book available for everyone. Um it's final now. Um so I'll show you that book in a minute. Um, but I'm going over

054the same thing that I used I usually go over except for I have to present the budget in a um in a f a certain format during a hearing which is cons which is called the cap. It's the capital administration and program. So I have to present that to the board of education and the community during this hearing. So I'll go over that as well. So this is the cap and um we have to break it down by law um what the uh portions of the budget are from year to year. Um and certainly the expectation is that the largest portion is for program and you can see that here. So in the two uh next year's budget uh it's 143 143 million and in um last year this year's budget was 138. Um administration

055is the smallest part uh which is almost $18 million uh for next year and it was almost 17 million. So um it is important to know that we do uh focus on our students and I had the privilege to attend um the meeting on Friday with the distinguished distinguished guests and Owen our exeicio board member. But um this basically shows that our budget supports the educational program that is here. Um, and so these are pictures from that event that was shared with me from uh, Shane. And I just wanted to say that when we develop the budget, we always are considering the educational programs that we are able to sustain um, and and sustain in the budget and hopefully maybe improve. So, I was proud to see all of the work. There's programs that they

056discussed that I didn't even know we had at the high school, but it was really impressive. And um Mary, did you want to say anything? >> No, other than just it was a great it was actually it was recharging, rejuvenating and um just to see that all the work that takes place to hear our students say that this is who we are and we're grateful for the opportunity. It's made a huge difference in what what in our impact and um also for the board to have that balcony view of you want a pathway to graduation. We have 38 courses that you can gain college um credit for um dual enrollment you can do PEK you can do the options were so it's such a comprehensive approach towards things so very eyeopening for everyone. Miss Langley

057felt afterwards she told us all because we all worked on this presentation together. She said this snapshot is just a great overview of the work that we do. So it's we're going to use it for other things too moving forward. Right. >> That's great. >> So um the revenue sources have not changed for the budget. Again the biggest portion is property taxes. Um and then we have the um our state aid. I do want to point out there were some changes from the last um revenue uh breakdown. We I worked with our attorney and um decided that it was important for us to use a ERS reserve um instead of using more fund balance. So I just checked to make sure um that I would be able to appropriate appropriate that to the revenue after

058you guys approve adopted the budget and she said that was fine. So um there's 453,191 that's coming from the ERS reserve. So you can see the fund balance it was 5.2 now it is 4.8 8 >> sorry can I ask really just a quick question just for clar did this the state budget numbers have come in is that correct >> this no this has nothing to do with >> No no no I know that that doesn't I'm just asking just as >> no they I haven't received them formally no >> okay no anticipated date yet right that we know of right >> I mean first of all >> first of all I I thought >> the good old days guys too >> I I thought there was a date that they had to land on

059and maybe they're >> coming first. >> Yeah. Okay, they've blown it. All right. >> They keep on passing extenders. I think they're up to the 11th extender. I can't I lost track. >> So, again, this is an overview of our revenue. And I just want to point out again, we earmarked the board earmarked funds uh for positions and programs that uh were taken away or um cancelled, defunded. Um so we are using 829,000 for that um from the mental health to replace the funds lost in the mental health grant um New York gear and MBK. So, this is a complicated uh tax cap formula. Uh, nobody understands it, but I'm just trying to uh demonstrate how confusing it is. So, I'm just going to skip over it. And um we know that there's three uh

060things that are most important when you look at the tax cap. Uh first of all, it's the biggest misconception that the tax cap is 2%. That is not um accurate. It it's rarely 2% for us, the school district, our school district. It varies. So, uh, for the 26 27 year, the cap is 2.43% and, um, we're going to our cap. Uh, the other thing to realize with state aid, uh, we are needing to use, uh, more tax levy dollars because our foundation aid has flatlined. they uh perceive the state perceived us to be a more wealthier district. So um because our in there was been a significant increase in our uh property wealth, a decrease in our federal federal poverty count, a dip in our overall student enrollment, and the median household in Austining outpaces

061the Westchester County average. These are this is an overview of the expenses and you will see here that the biggest expense is 80 million for salaries and then the 45 for benefits. This is a breakdown of the uh the expenses. And I should note that if we had um not had a major increase of 2.1 million in our health insurance costs, then our percentage increase from budget to budget would not be 4.1. It would be 3.2. 4.3. It would be 3.2. So this document, this graph is trying to portray the um amount that we're using to stabilize and not increase the tax levy. You'll recall um dur during our discussions about the bond, the $210 bond, we made a commitment to the community that the tax levy would not change. Um it wouldn't increase. Um

062and what we did was we took normally we budget 6.950 million um in our transfer to capital line. So we've been able to maintain that line and and not use it for something else but use it for capital projects that we're doing within our own school district. So we with the combination of our tax reserves that we're using and also uh managing the the different uh budget codes. So, our debt service is for is one area that we managed because we had uh the library debt falling off um last year and um this year we're using it. Next year we're using it for our um for some of our very important um capital projects. So, I I I try my best to try to explain this and you should know that I even asked for

063help from my staff and um it took me like 25 minutes for them to get it. So, um I'll try to come up with a better strategy for demonstrating what we did. Um I I'll try, but it's it's been very hard for me. So, if you have specific questions about why the debt service is increasing to $9.9 million um and our capital is 5.6, give me a call uh 914-941-7700 extension 1338. Sorry, Lisa. Right. And and Alita, I think also for people to remember at that chart at the top of that budget line, the capital reserve is the revenue that comes in. So you subtract it from your amounts. That's how uh we end up with the um same totals each year. So um it's just a listing of what we're using. So again um

064the 1.3 million that's in the capital budget for 267 for 267 2627 there was 1.3 million remaining from the 6.9 we took 3.8 8 from the capital reserve. There was uh money remaining for debt service and we move for the library. So that we moved that to um to transfer to capital and that's how we became up with a budget of 5.9 million of cap five million $5.9 million worth of capital projects. The debt service budget has increased because the library uh took out a ban um of $8 million of the $30 million bond. So the cost of that ban, the payment of that ban is $320,000. So we have to leave that in debt service. Our current debt service, the school district, is $4 million and we um the 6.9 million that we have

065maintained, 5.6 6 million of that is being used to pay for a ban for aing school district uh for our capital uh bond our $210 million bond. So that's why the debt service is now $9.9 million almost $10 million. >> Right. Right. So the um the uh budget's budget increase is 4.3. The 2627 budget amount is 186 337089. The tax levy increase is 2.43 and the unappropriated fund balance is actually 4.895.2. So, the bottom line for home numbers, homeowners, when you look at the median assessed home value, um it is currently $649,000. Um the property tax levy increase again is 2.43, which is the cap. And the estimated increase for homeowners with a median assessed value of 649 649,000 is approximately $185 per year or $15 per per month. So, I'm pleased to announce that

066again we are complete with our commitment to financial transparency. I want to thank uh Lisa Holmes, my uh assistant, and I also want to thank um Vanessa Tuscano, who is our uh data uh specialist, database specialist. All right. Any questions from the board first? >> Sure. >> Alita, just remind us again. Um I think you had said this at one point, so please um forgive me for being a little repetitive here. There was at one point you had talked about the the tax rate and the change in tax rate over the past couple years. Is it can you just confirm were we rel on a on a per thousand basis we were flat is that right for the past couple of years is that is true statement or is that incorrect >> I'm sorry can

067you say that again >> so there's that there's like a I think it was like a $19 and like86 cents flat per per thousand tax rate and I I think I can't I can't remember you said or it was said that we were flat over the past couple of years in terms of that >> for the tax rate. >> Yes, we were. And actually, when I'm able to open the budget book, >> Lisa, help. Uh, Vanessa, help. This link is not working. It's been a very busy week, so I apologize that these things are not working. Um, oh, maybe it's just me. So, I'm going to show you the budget book um in a digitized and I'm going to speak to the question you just asked um and where our tax rate is going um

068for um next school year. You'll see it's actually a decrease. So, this is an overview of the budget book and uh the table of contents are hyperl to um all of these areas. So you'll see the board of education introductions. You'll see our our our our central office team members and the superintendent, our district directors and the supervisors and building administration, central office staff. A note from our community. And this area that's uh flipping right now is about the district, something that the district worked on. That's not my work. I just included it in here. Uh we have a commitment towards transparency. Again, you'll see the breakdown for CAP. Um the commitment to our facilities. You'll see the some of the programs, some of the improvements that we're making there. Um so that uh $5.6

069million I spoke to is actually being used to improve uh classroom ventilation at park and replacing air handlers at park and the high school. We have infrastructure renewal. Um, we're replacing the steam main steam uh system at Roosevelt and retaining wall replacements at AMD. Um, because it's insecure right now, so it's actually a hazard. Uh, we are uh replacing our carbon monoxide detectors districtwide and we're renovating eight classrooms uh across the district uh four in park and four at the high school. We're replacing the uh windows in the gym. uh because they're energy inefficient. So a lot of people get confused about the budget codes. So this is an overview the anatomy of a budget code and this is the training that I use with the administrators over the uh summer um during their training

070or their um retreat. So when you look at a budget code and this is across all school districts statewide, the first four digits is the function. So the function is like uh 1010 is the board of education. Those are the first four letters. 1240 for example is the superintendent's office and 1310 is my office. Then when you go into um those are the 1000s. Anything that starts with a two is 2,00 and that's directly related to um program. So 2010 is uh curriculum development. That's Maria's department. uh for example uh attendance is 2805 and um the biggest one that we would see is 2110 and that's just teaching regular school. So you'll see all the salaries in that code for the most part. Uh the next code um is 55 and basically 55 is anything

071that has to do with uh transportation. Uh 5540 is um our contracted transportation. We use uh Royal Coach. Uh 70 7140. We do not use this code, but it's for recreation. And 860 is actually Megan's code. Um and she'll speak to all the programs that she has. Um so, and then you go to the object code. So the object code is the next three digits. So one is uh salaries. Uh we know that anything that starts with a one is a salary. Uh if it starts with a two, it's equipment. If it begins with a four, it's contractual. If it begins with a 49, it's boseies. If it begins with a five, it's supply supplies and material goods. If it's six, it is um debt principal repayment um of bond or no principal. 7 is

072debt interest and point8 is the biggest one also employee benefits. Uh location codes are the next two digits and uh 11 is the high school, 12 is AMD, uh 13 is Brookside, 14 is Claremont, 15 is Park, 16 is Roosevelt and 000 is districtwide. Those are department codes. Those are location codes. We also have department codes. So um the last four digits are like for um STEM. So ASA has um ASA's uh math code is 5017. Uh equity um is 3550 and districtwide is always um four zeros. And these are the common revenue codes. Obviously the biggest one is property taxes. We have a very small pilot. Uh 241 is interest earnings. Uh state aid is the biggest one and um uh Medicaid. So I did try to explain this again in this document. Um,

073but I'll keep trying to focus on the difference how why there's such a change in the um, debt service budget code. The community transparency that we're committed to basically outlines the uh, different financial terms that we use um, so we can become more transparent and people can understand the budget better. Um, so hopefully this will help. The definition of a ban is here and that's a short-term borrowing and you'll see it's different from a bond. Um you'll see the definition of the capital reserve fund. Um so that's there for people to see as well. These are um more uh terms which include the reserves and these are the ones that we actually have. Um and um you'll see the description of those reserves here. Um I also included some educational terms, a glossery of educational

074terms. Um now we begin at looking at the budget from the revenue perspective. I went over this the breakdown here. Uh the budget expense the breakdown is here. And um now we start with the school building allocations and goals. So the data related to staffing came from Miss Dr. Mara's office and the data for um the the the the overview of the school itself came from the principal. The same for Brookside and and you'll see their budgets after their um overview of their school. So this is their budget. Claremont, Roosevelt, AMD, and the biggest one is the high school. They have the largest budget of 24 million. So, we look at our uh district department allocations. Um the director of cultural arts, you'll see her budget here and her overview of the um her program.

075Uh facilities is um I put this in here. Um you'll see the capital projects that we're doing as well. Um literacy uh which is uh Dr. Mson, Laya Mson's code. Um, you'll see her budget here. Uh, mental and baby behavioral health. They don't have a budget. It is in um within um the special the special education budget overall, which uh Kim Kim Morauricio manages multilingual programs and world languages. This is uh NY's budget. O prime. This is uh um Megan's budget and PE and PE health and athletics is Miss Kim Saxton's budget and school counseling is Jeremy but Jeremy's budget. Special education is here as well. Um STEM is here and student success and technology, transportation. And then here we finally see the overall budget. all the the budget broken down by function. So the

076appendix we normally include to answer um a trustee bad's question we normally include the estimated tax rate for the upcoming school year. So you will see that in 2526 the tax rate for aing went is going from 19 per 10,000 excess value um and now it's going down to almost going down to 18.47. So there is a dip of 2.81% 81% for um oening. There is a dip of 1.97 for Newcastle and um Yorktown is um is you can see that their their equalization rate is um very different from from uh Yorktown. They have a 1.6%. So, I'm not sure of what their dollar amount is when you look at the their their increase in um taxes um or the tax rate, but um that's the only difference there. That's why it's important to understand

077that um that that's the reason whying um is it the changes are in going so high within school uh um houses is because they're being assessed every year. Um, so you can see that here as well. So I will take any questions or comments that you have. And again, thank you uh, Vanessa and Lisa for all your work and support and staying those late hours and actually texting me while you're watching me on um, camera right now and helping me out. It's been a rough week. All right, questions from the board. All right. Any uh questions from the community? I see nobody here in person to ask a question. Is there anybody uh who has any questions virtually? >> Just a Can I make one one quick comment? >> Okay. You have a comment? >>

078Just just one comment. I when I said about the um tax rate being flat or down, that's almost an um it's an inverse relationship to the increases in property values in that. So it's kind of like to balance each others out. It's not to say on the record that taxes went down. It didn't it's you know usually because the higher that you know the more values there are the more demand that there is for housing in that community and that drives prices up essentially you're it's going to be offset and balanced based upon that need for the tax levy across municipalities and to school districts. So I just want to make sure that was a point of clarification and it wasn't to say that our taxes are flat. It's not nothing like that. So for

079clarity >> make one comment too. >> Sure. >> The um thank you for the work that went into the book. It's really pretty remarkable at the end of the day the level of depth that's there and you know explanation. So really key stuff and again Roger I echo the tax rate is something you look at as a factor but the lowest tax rate in the county is in Ry because they have the highest property values and so when your property values go up your tax rate will go down and so it's an argument that you know just what people traditionally say is even the conservative state groups say look at your all-in tax bill which still very advantageous across the county but to your point tax rate doesn't mean your taxes are going down. >>

080Right. That's right. >> Right. Right. Yeah. >> All right, Alita, thank you very much. And thank you um to the whole I know it's not just Alita, it's a whole group and it's it's really all of all of everybody whose name is somewhere in that budget book. Did a lot of work for this. And uh we appreciate all you know it takes the whole year. I feel like as soon as the school year begins, it's time to start all over. So >> we appreciate that. And I appreciate the the fact that that budget book just is so easier much easier to read, I think, than it ever has been. >> Yeah. I mean, we got a lot we gave I mean, we gave a lot of positive feedback when that came out. It was it's

081really impressive. >> Oh, I can share with you the um the number of clicks. >> Oh, >> tell us. >> I don't have it right now. >> Okay. Put it in an update or something. I'm dying to know. >> It'll be on my my weekend update. And as we segue to Megan too, she's one of the people that came back multiple times because we were transitioning from the old way to the new way and everyone got homework and they had to come back and visit us multiple times in November, December, January. >> All right. >> There being no further discussion, I declare the budget hearing closed. And now on to our work session and our equity item. We're going to hear about O prime. So we can have our uh Megan Master Jack Mo, our

082very own community leader, come on up and tell us about her work. We have two of our family engagement specialist here this evening. Want to thank you for all your work and everything that you do in our schools. All right. Hi everyone. Can you hear me? Okay. This mic is an interesting mic. >> Got a mind of its own. >> Yes. It it it feels like it's uh that mic. It's like a a low volume which I like. All right. >> It's also picking up for TV. That's the >> got it. Okay, >> just going to get organized over here. Okay, so good evening. I'm thank you all for this opportunity to present tonight. Um board of trustees, um I appreciate your continued support as we work to deepen and expand the community school work.

083Our cabinet members, some old and some new. Um, I also appreciate your commitment um in supporting our work and sitting at the table with me multiple times to discuss new programming, old programming, and how we further develop the work. I'm excited to also share that I have two of my family engagement specialists here with us tonight. They are also moms in the community. Um, and they are really the glue to this work. there to our community and schools. They go above and beyond. Um, and you're going to see that, I think, throughout the the presentation tonight. Tonight, I'm excited to share an overview of the community school work that has impacted across our district. Um, our approach is a center, you know, our approach is supporting the whole child academically, socially, and emotionally. We're also

084strengthening strengthening the connection between our schools, our families, and our community partners. I will walk you through what we've built, what we are seeing, and what we're where we're headed next. You should know that our work is always grounded in the district's vision for student success and profile of the graduate. The community schoolwork is the vision and ensuring that students have the support systems in place to fully um access their education. Our district's community schools serve as how we are supporting students beyond the academics. We recognize that it's important for them to succeed, but their broader needs also must be met. This includes access to resources, growing strong relationships, and meaningful opportunities both in and out of the classroom. Um so we use the portrait of a learner and now the um you know graduate

085portrait of a graduate to inspire our work to continue our work and then also ground our work when we're meeting with partners. Our work is also guided by the four pillars of our district. Um as you see highlighted here, family and community engagement is really the center of our work. But we also use the additional pillars again when we're working with partners to keep them aligned with what's going on in the district and how we further experience opportunities and uh ways to help get our community partners involved. These pillars also ensure that the work is not just isolated but instead coordinated and strategic. They allow us to align our efforts with again across our schools and our partners. So we're all working towards sustainable. So when Mary asked me to uh present, she said, I

086I want you to give us a timeline of you know where where you started and where you're headed. So this is just a brief overview of really where community started. We know that the vision of the work um was brought to us by our former superintendent Ray Sanchez. Um I had the opportunity to work very closely with him to help develop many of the things that you see here. Um but it wasn't just the two of us. It was also in partnership with our again district leaders. I sat at the table many times developing what you see here. Our principles, our staff members, whoever wanted to be involved was allowed to be involved. We welcomed everybody to the table, our board members as well. You have also been involved in this development. So, it it

087it's not just, you know, the team here, but but really everybody in the district. It's been intentional and it's developed over time. And when I looked at this, it's interesting. I remember when I first was in this position, I did a lot of professional development with the Children's Aid Society, and they always talked about the different stages of exploring and emerging and maturing and excelling. And when I sit here, I can see that right uh looking at this slide, I really see that we've moved through this nonlinear design of community school development. I think we've one year have gone forward, maybe the next year have gone back. Um, but I could proudly say that right now I feel like we're definitely sitting in stage three, sitting in between and maybe move back and forth between

088the maturing and excelling stages depending on what program that we're talking about. If you look at this timeline, you know, um also you could just what I want to note is that um 2019 I feel like was a very big year and if you remember that's when we really brought the community together. We were that was the launch of the block parties. That was the bookmobile. That was the summer calls and meeting in the park. For me personally, looking back at this, I always try to reach back to that time. I felt like that was a time when the district was really buzzing in community involvement and engagement. We had district administrators involved. We had all of our partners and it was just a really fun feel-good time. So that I I always hold in

089the back of my mind of how do we get back to those? It was really joyful. It was a lot of fun but also meaningful. Um, and then also, you know, I'm gonna talk about this in my next slide, but the development of the family engagement specialists, I feel like, is also a huge um add-on to this work. Um, I didn't realize that I needed them until I had them with me, right? One of those things. Um, and now I can't I I can't imagine doing the work without them. the connections that they have built in our community um with our families and how they've brought our families into the schools. We can lean on them for anything and everything and they do it so joyfully, happily. Um I don't think they ever say no.

090Honestly, I'm trying to work on that maybe with them. Um but they are wonderful um educators and team members. And the last thing I also want to say about this slide and I think Alita spoke to it today was the development of our budget finally on the map which is very exciting and thank you Mary for making that happen um coming here and one welcoming this work because I think that this is not typical work that you see in um across Westchester and Mary came in and really got to know the work and I think really enjoys it and loves it and I appreciate her leadership in saying what we need to move forward and how to sustain this work. So, that's definitely something that's happened last year with the budget development. But, I got

091to say, I'm not really good at having money. I'm used to doing things without a budget, so it's something for me to learn and grow and adjust to. So, now I'm going to um take you into the current year and things that we've done. But before that, I want to just touch base on the the family engagement specialist role. Um the three um you know goals of their work is one to support in schools and you can see a list of all the different ways that they're supporting in schools. How they they also support our community and district um meaning that they are part of stakeholder groups. They you know share re resources and then they help also the school that they're they're in connect to the community wherever they can. And then lastly, they

092help run and operate OP prime. Um, which is at times seamless and at times also gets a little hectic and crazy, but they are wonderful at, you know, coming in and saying, "All right, what's the task for this week and what do we need to get done?" And we somehow always get it done. Um, additionally, you know, they are one of the first faces often that our families see when they enter here, which is wonderful. And they help, you know, after they see Denise in registration, Denise calls our team and says, "I'm sending someone down to you." They're going to need your support. Um and you know they welcome them whether it's with a book bag or uh just sharing resources of how to navigate you know our educational system just connecting them to our

093website parent portal like all the things that they need to really feel equipped. Um I believe in having this role that we've seen an increase in participation in stronger relationships between our families and our schools. They've helped us create welcome, accessible entry points for our family and ensuring engagement is ongoing. They often will connect with a family in September and then reconnect with them in the in the winter months and then again in the spring to see how they're doing and what how else we can support them. I think it's really the the relationship building is critical for the students success honestly to have the the parents or guardian engage really helps. to date our family. >> Can I just I just like to add just for a second how important it is to make

094sure we remind our principles while I do it that they're not their staff. Like if I were a building principal, I could easily oop I got another person to help out. So, uh, and that's okay. That's wonderful. However, in this situation, there's a unique balance here that we need to make sure that like this year alone, I know of a unique situation at the high school where it was the family engagement specialist. You know, we're thinking about you had the strategic plan about increasing attendance and all the explicit work this and it was a situation regarding child care that the family engagement specialist was able to connect with the family and say, "No, you can you can approach it this way. You can do this." and it had an immediate impact. So, so again, and

095Miss Langley was thrilled for that. So, it's it's about the unique role to make sure that everyone stays focused on the task at hand and and but the the principles highly value value the work that's taking place. But I could easily see how that can happen. >> And that's interesting that you mentioned that. I do remember when we were, you know, identifying this role, that was the one thing that, you know, we really wanted to make sure and again that was, you know, under the leadership of Rey and Kim and we need to make sure we identify that what they are here for because we don't want them to get pulled. and we we go back to that and and I think it it changes it shifts but um they're always welcome for that opportunity

096to change and shift and one one of the things I think is also unique about our family engagement specialists is how they are community members so they know so much and can say oh this is an attendance issue but we have you know did you know that Park School has a before school program or this community re, you know, this there's peas and carrots over here, you know, and and is able to like come up with an answer because of the toolbox that they have being that they've lived here, you know, and know all the access to resources. >> And Megan, if I may add, um the expansion of our family engagement specialists up to the high school, um New York Gear Up gave us that opportunity. So through New York Year Up and and

097the requirement of the grant and the importance of having our family engagement specialists at the high school, um I just wanted to express that and Megan, thank you very much for including the portrait of a learner and the portrait of a graduate which is great work that we've done here together. So thank you so much for including that. Of >> course. Um so to date, um our family engagement specialists have connected individually. I would say this is like the one-on-one making the personal phone call. Not this does not include the events where they have those sidebar conversations or hey you should come you know learn about us but to date they've connected with 525 families so far and this is you know the school year has not ended yet. So, I'm going to now lead

098into the work that we do as a team. Again, this is all of us together. This is us moving, you know, in different places and directions. So, I'm going to start off with our back to school event. This is a strong example of our work in action. We've had this year four over 400 participate participants that attended. We had um 17 community partners that were there offering resources to help families understand, you know, all we have to offer. Um, and it's providing access again to our resources. It helps us build relationships and I think helps really create that sense of community and belonging. Next up, um, this is our Halloween popup shop. This has shifted based on again hearing from our community. We used to have our Halloween costumes at our Saturday Explore and Learn

099and then some families came to us and said it wasn't really the best way. There were lines. There were families arguing over who was first because they really wanted to get to that costume. So again, we reflected as a team. We had one of our community elves, who I like to call, um come in and just have this open conversation dialogue about this. And what we came up with was now we um host our popup shops at our elementary schools and then have costumes available at our second secondary level if they would like. Um this is again now the students get to choose what you know they would like to be um which I love and they you know we set it up very nicely. It looks different at each school and it you know

100it just again it it's dignified. We help remove barriers for the students and so that they can you know participate in school and community experiences. Oh, sorry. The bags of hope was something again that because of this beautiful community when we've heard about the staff benefits that were being removed, my phone was ringing or my email thread was full. And again, I went to Mary and said, "We need to do something because we have a community that wants to help." So, having a conversation with my team and community members, we came up with our bags of hope. Our office, as you see here, was filled with so many donations, whether it came from our staff members, um, our community. It was, you know, all over, I'm sure you remember. And we were able to fill

101210 bags. Um, and when I say fill, they were full. We had hygiene bags, we had food bags, we had uh, baby bags that were filled with diapers, wipes, um, soaps. Um, so all different types of bags that could support our families through this time period. Something that's exciting is our um OP prime closets. I hope you saw it when you walked in. Actually, today I noticed when you if you didn't when you walk out, you could see at here at AMD, it's right on the left. Um and this w is made possible due to our Bell Equity Fund who is one of our consistent funding resources for OPRIME and all of the the events and essentials that we have in our space. So this was very exciting because now we have OP prime in

102schools all the time. We don't need, you know, teachers, students, they don't need to reach out to us. We have items available here in their schools and with the help of our family engagement specialists, they are seasonally updated and changed. So this I believe was photos from either September um or andor from the winter. So you can see that items, clothing items reflect based on seasonal needs. This year we switched up our turkey giveaway, which I know you remember. Um, and we decided to host it at district office because we had the 210 bags of hope and we said, how what's the best way to do this? So we paired our bags of hope with our uh turkey and chicken distribution. our families had the choice to choose between a turkey and a chicken and

103then we provided them again with a bag of hope. I see this as an area of growth again for us because when we started this drive and collection, it used to come from our staff members and I used to send out emails, we're looking for turkeys, we need them for our families. Now we have for it's been year three received a donation the these donations from Meals on Main Street in Portchester which again allows us to now think how else and what else can we do to support these efforts. The popup holiday shop is definitely one of the most meaningful I think examples of our direct family support and action. Um, this was designed to ensure that all students and families had access to gifts during the holiday times and removing that financial barrier um

104and preserving dignity and choice. One of our local partners, we were talking about this idea and she said, "Hey, my shop is avail my place is available. You can come and take over." And since then at down at theater O which we are so grateful every December we pick about three to four days um in the month of December and we invite our families to come and shop and as you see here it's a very welcoming environment. Um it's a it's supposed to make it feel joyful and giving rather than simply receiving items. Um, and again, this all is made possible from our partnerships, from the donations of our community and hearing about it. And it just reflects, I think, our mobility to, you know, our ability, sorry, to mobilize our resources and quickly respond

105however we can, but with compassion and again being equitable. And I think most importantly, it also just shows the trust that we have um with our families and how they enter this space and you know, welcome shop. I hope you've noticed also throughout the presentation that in the corner you're seeing like I've been keeping track of numbers and participation. So that's in the top. At this event you we've had 129 which was not our best um you know participation. I think it has a lot to do with things that are going on in our community. Um so we worked on with our social workers to see how we can also support others that maybe did not come and you know packed packages and and sent them out. But um it's something that we continue to

106think about to how we can better this and and welcome more. Our most recent event was our um popup prom shop that's take took place um about a couple weeks ago at the high school. We again moved our location this time um and it was at in the um gymnasium. It's another space that you know we are again hoping to support our students and you know lift that barrier for them or remove that barrier for them. So far we've had 90 students and because of my team and who they are, they were not happy with that response. So we're push we're going back to the high school to say we left everything there and said we want to do this again because we think that there's more students that can benefit from this opportunity. So

107we're looking to see if we can um set up somewhere else again um this coming month and to be able to you know provide these resources to students. I have to tell you though, being in that space and watching the students, I mean, I I had Alisia on the floor, she was like hemming um the the pants for students to say like, "Look, this is going to fit." And you know, the girls like showing the dresses. I mean, it it we make it upbeat and fun. And then what we've also included throughout the times that we've had whatever additional items that we feel could benefit. So, for example, this year we had additional shoes. We had um makeup that was donated, jewelry, and so you know, handbags. So all available for the students again to

108shop freely and kind of take what they want. So maybe they didn't leave with a dress, but maybe they left with a bag and some makeup to, you know, to support. Ah, sorry the click is um Okay, so uh I brought again um the mobile food pantry is another one of our shifts and changes this year. While it's definitely another resource that we've had for a very long time, we've shifted the way and adapted the way we um are running the pantry this year and moved it into the cafeteria at Park School. So, we can know that our families are feeling safe and they're not waiting outside and they're inside. And because again of our connection with our Bell Equity leaders who basically are always saying, "How else can we support and what else can

109we do?" I talked about wanting to change, you know, the way we do our mobile food pantry. And they said, "Well, what do you need?" And I said, "I just need some, you know, community volunteers." And they said, "We got this." And twice a month, sometimes once a month, they show up. They do all of the um coordinating with volunteers. We meet at Park School and my team and myself are there with them and we've created again this open welcoming environment for families to be able to shop. You can sort of see it in that photo. And we set the tables up. We have signs um and again to make it feel more of like a marketplace is kind of the feel and vibe that we're going for um so that again families can feel

110like this is a nice space, welcoming and be able to shop freely for whatever they need. on an average um so this is the average for this year we've had about 252 um students or adults so that's who we've fed so when the families sign in they have to say who lives in their household and who they're feeding so that's the average of who we're feeding on a by monthly I mean bi-weekly or once a month basis as you know um for OP prime specifically we fully run on donations Um, and we receive a lot of different items as you can see in these photos. Um, I will say that Walmart this year has really been one of our main providers. Um, and I guess I always say yes. So, they often call us and

111say, "Oh, we have another um, you know, palette or two available. Do you want it?" And I just say yes because you never know what you're going >> though. And that palette's a thousand. Um, but then again, you know, one of the things that we've gotten better at, um, as a team is how do we get these items out into the community because I don't want them to sit in the space downstairs. I want them, you know, the purpose of these items are to get them in and then to get them out. So, we were having a hard time with having a lot of spring and Easter items, but this year we, you know, again, we're like sales people. It felt like we took photos. We identified everything that we had available and sent it

112out to all of our staff and the response was amazing. Staff members wanted the items to be able to do things in schools that they may have not done otherwise. And some of the feedback was please do more of this. We love this. This is really cool. Um, you know, you've inspired us to think about other things to do or you've supported us in ways that we projects that we couldn't have done. So, and I also think too it it also maybe supports a family in Austining, one of our staff members who may need, you know, some extra help and this also was a way of supporting them. So, I think it it works in twofold. Um, the other thing that is pretty incredible is that we often have community drives, which you've probably seen

113for the prom shop. We have our back to school. And, you know, we're so lucky um that our community members who have helped support specifically maybe the back to school drive. They come back every year and contact me and say, "We're back. We want to help." Um, so we often I mean we are very prepared for the back to school for this year which feels really good. I think last year and this year are the first two years where I felt that way. I like going into the backpack drive. I used to be nervous but now I feel like we're in a very good place. And like Mary's mentioned, yes, we get shoes now from 914 Cares. have a partnership with shoes that fit and they often receive many additional shoes that they don't know

114what to do with so they call us and of course I say yes. So we have lots of shoes and again we send them out um or make them available to our clinicians and send them to schools and families who we feel are you know who who are can use them. Lastly, I want to say that our high school students that on the RISE program in Miss Clifford's class join us actually two times a week and help us with all of these donations because it does become overwhelming. Um, and they they come in, they help us sort through everything. And again, they are another set of hands that, you know, they're so reliable. They're they know what to do and uh they get the the task complete. So, we appreciate them so much. So, those

115are just some highlights of things that we've done. Um, you have probably seen them, but I just felt like, you know, many of the ones that I just discussed tonight were things that again supports the well-being of our families, but also ensures that our students are better prepared to come to school and ready to learn. Um the key the essential key components of this work though is really about also the people that surround us. Um so again we could not do this work without the support of the board of education and the superintendent and then you know as you see here just everyone involved this work is about us collaborating us communicating and really working together to see what are the needs um what are we doing that's working not working I mean I've had

116some difficult conversations in Kim's office you know saying I don't know about this Megan are you sure you know and but which is great because we've only evolved and grown to to better our systems and I appreciate that we could also not do this work without our buildings and grounds team and I feel really bad for them because I don't think they signed up for the work that happens at OP prime right um when they signed up to work in our school school district they thought that they were doing a role that they knew that they were doing ours is a little extra but they always do it with a smile they are wondering what's in the boxes too that come delivered. Um, and they often sometimes stick around for the events that they help

117support and I see them, you know, um, with us and and engage with our family. So, it's really beautiful and I support I mean I appreciate Jared's support. I remember when um, I met Jared, he was walking out of Ray's office and Rey said, "Jared, don't give her your phone number." And so Jared reminds me of that often and said I should have probably took his advice because when I call him it's like oh god what does she have in her mind now and where are we headed or what are we doing? So he never knows but he mostly says yes all the time as well which I appreciate. >> Um again this work does not happen without our partnerships. They are really a core piece you know with our you know all of them.

118Um, and I've listed them here. And we continue again to evolve and that's in our partnerships as well. I just received an email from a farm that wants to work with us this summer. Um, you know, I'm I've been talking to Tatown and to see what we can do to revisit our partnership, think about things that we used to do, maybe bring them back. Things think about things that are currently happening. How do we shift them to to help better opportunities again and pathways for students? So, um they are amazing and always so supportive. And I also think that it just allows us to be able to um do things that are different, right? And with their support, they allow us to have partner, you know, different opportunities for our students and our and our

119families. So, it's pretty amazing. I can honestly call them pretty often, any one of our partners, and say, "Hey, I was talking to Mary and she's looking to do this." And the answer is usually, "Sure, yes, let's let's sit down and talk about what that could look like." So, we are very fortunate here. I also just want to highlight again our Bell Equity Fund, which is our community members. you've met them before, but they have continuously supported our efforts in, you know, again, um, being able to have funding for us and they plan to revisit that this year and launch a new campaign to support, you know, OPIR moving forward and I'm really thankful for for them. I meet with them often um just to talk about again what's happening, how else can they support.

120So, um, they are pretty amazing and we appreciate them. And also uh the work at OPRIME would not exist again without our volunteers. We couldn't do the work without them. Um again and they're always also willing to speak to us, reflect with us, plan with us, you know, and and openly have dialogue to to better our work. And again, also our district staff at um 400, they are also always so supportive. I can call on I don't have an assistant but I can call on any of the ones that are upstairs and they are always willing to stop and help no matter what it is. And I appreciate I know Nicole is very busy but she always has time to stop and help and you know again help with the Saturday flyers whether you know

121she checked out you know Christine pointer she always rereads my emails or checks out you know my presentations and says you're missing this you should do this or whatever it is they're they're even downstairs just helping organizing sorting Nicole is like what is all this stuff how do we get this out you know and pushing us a little to say, "Let's get moving." So, I appreciate them so much. So, what's next? Um, again, I I mentioned um we're going to go back to the high school and hopefully have the prom shop and then also in June, we're get gearing up for our college shop, which is exciting. In July, I plan to again reflect on this year because we did make some shifts on the work of our family engagement specialists. So, I want to

122talk to our principles, our APS, our district leaders, um, and see what worked, what didn't work, what do we need to think about more of, and how do we, you know, support schools better in whether it's attendance, you know, whether it's making, you know, connections in the beginning of the school year or ongoing, whatever that may be. But I want to hear from them. So I plan to do that and then make a plan for next year. Our Saturday explore lords will continue next year. Um we will have six of them and I plan to start now talking about them because as you know we have surrounding districts that are also starting with their Saturdays and what we're finding is that they're on similar days. So, I I think that if we get a head

123start that hopefully we'll we'll get our partners to uh commit to us maybe beforehand >> with uh Nicole. We'll make sure it gets well publicized and friendly competition. >> We're working on it now. We're working on it now. >> Yes. So, those are pretty much set. Um, so that will go out actually after this Saturday that we have coming up. And if you're available and like Mary said, we have our Saturday next Saturday. And it's actually one of my favorite Saturdays where we have our community partners um who come and share resources for what's coming up this summer. Um, Miss Dr. Lopez is also joining us to talk about mental health awareness. and we've kind of merged the two to say like how do we think about our summer and and share um you know

124healthy ideas of what we can be doing together. And then we also have our town um our town uh coming in and they're going to have our trucks available for our families to explore which is a lot of fun. We will have a staff DJ as well. So that's exciting. >> And then also AMD will have their uh tours for the incoming sixth graders. So, it's a very happening Saturday. >> We're hoping very busy. >> Hopefully, it doesn't rain. Last year, it started raining like towards the end of our our session and but hopefully that won't happen. >> Um the last thing I plan to do is meet with our community partners um in July and a you know July and August sort of in collaboration with as I'm hearing from the principles. I've already

125actually had some really good conversations with um Valencia, you know, um Valencia, one of our um SRO's to say like how do we plan proactively? Like what education do we need to share with our families and and our students to prepare them for this year? What did you hear that was happening at, you know, the high school, at the middle school? How do we get ahead instead of let's be proactive, you know, this year and get those um you know on like on our um calendar now to say this is what we're going to educate you on and and share the big ideas with our family engagement specialists so they're prepared so they could be talking to parents about about what's happening. So that is the the plan. Um again, one something that I'm always

126trying to do is improve our systems for tracking impact and identifying needs. Um, you know, I one of our PTA members visited OP Prime and she said, "Oh, I think I can create a data system here." So, that's something that I'm always looking into and hopefully can get together with her and see what that could look like. Um, cuz I think that's we don't do a the best job. We do have data Fridays and we collect, but I I I wonder how to to share it, you know, more widely and what that could look like. And Megan, I think the organization when Roger won his award for volunteer of the year at Regeneron, we saw Roger and I were sitting there and saw Austining and that's where I heard that they're going to help with

127that database. It >> was great. It was great in front of everybody. >> Uh something else that I'm looking forward to also in terms of reflecting is that our partnership with Vassor College. As you know, we've been working with them. This is our third year. This year they did a case study and they met with four of our families who have participated in our community school initiative whether it's access resources you know throughout the district and then also um connected to OP prime so I'm really looking forward to see the outcome of that and in addition to that we surveyed our administrators so I think that will also help us guide the conversation um you know over the summer and then help us in closing this work is really more more than just the programs.

128It's really about relationships, relationships, relationships. Um when we support the whole child and we create the conditions for stronger um academic outcomes and long-term con we we create conditions for a stronger academic outcomes and long-term success for our students. Community school really allows us to bring together the resources, our people, the systems that we need to support our students and families. Again, I appreciate um your continued support and look forward forward to deepening and expanding the impact of this work across the district. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Um questions from the board. >> Anyone want to start? >> Steank. >> Annie, you want to go? >> Sure. Um thank you. This was so great. I have a few questions. >> Sure. Um, well actually first I'll start with comments. I love the drive

129up donation and that you've moved indoors not only for safety but because you know some people don't mind but others don't really want everybody knowing their business and there's an element of dignity to that and I really appreciate that. Um, my question was about what was it about? Oh the holidays you the holiday giveaway. I was wondering if um you have thought about expanding that to maybe lesser known holidays or holidays that aren't celebrated by as many students like as popular as Christmas and that would be a big undertaking for just you. So maybe if there were some community partners that you could you know coordinate with who would be able to kind of carry most of that lift. >> Um just u just wondering if that has been considered. >> Yes. So actually we

130have um you know in partnership with some of our community partners they have brought up you know other holidays um during the holiday time and for example um you know there's been baskets for Kwanza that were made um and they have been delivered to our families and they have reached out to us to say hey how can you help can you add anything to this and we have um but I welcome you know other ideas uh you know and also this holiday shop isn't just for Christmas. It's also for other holidays that are celebrated. And I think, you know, we don't make it known just for Christmas. It's just the month of December. >> Yeah. Of course. I mean, it's a it December is a big month. Even if you don't celebrate nothing, it's very

131festive. >> Yes. So, we don't necessarily say that it's just for that time. And, you know, we try also just, you know, to to make it available for whoever wants to come and for whoever's celebrating. But, I welcome, you know, additional ideas if you have any. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> Um, and I loved the explore and learn last year. I brought my youngest and he had a great time even though it rained on us. >> Uh, I do remember he climbed into a fire truck and the >> fire volunteer was like, "Oh, it's fine. He can't do anything." And then all of a sudden he set off alarms and he was like, "I don't know how to turn this." >> But they'll be back. The fire department will be back. Looking >> forward to

132it again. Thank you so much for everything you do. >> Yeah. Thank you. Frank, do you want? >> Sure. Um, very comprehensive presentation. I think this there was a lot covered here. There's a ton of work. You know, just for the board certification sort of experience with this, you know, in 2014 roughly thereabouts, we had this all day summer retreat out at General Electric and we drew out, we were really trying to identify what the obstacles were for student access success, you know, learning and and a and a and a positive joyful youth experience. and we drew out on the board a community school model and we had a few partners and things along those ways and that was sort of the idea how we get to looking at that drawing then and then thinking

133about what you're presenting to us tonight it's really remarkable at the end of the day where this idea came where the idea started to come from administration board our principles and the power behind it none of this happens without the efforts but you know when I think one of the things when you're going through Austin in the morning and you see all the kids walking into the high school. It's kind of, you know, traffic slows down. It's crazy, but it gives you this unique opportunity to watch the kids talking to their friends as they're coming towards the building and you really see a lot of joyful kids walking towards Austin High School. At the end of the day, the prom is one example of how we get rid of obstacles that really denied students opportunities

134to do things. Some of this work in Austin came out of Dr. George Hill, who was the was the precursor to the Open Door, who basically was getting physicals for students of color that couldn't get into summer camps without a physical. So, it's really a way we rally around all kids and just it's phenomenal work. I'm kind of aed by the scope of where you've taken it and just really committed to and great to hear the ideas of where you want to go because it's making a difference and uh and keep doing it. So, thank you. >> Thank you. I I have to say, Frank, I was nervous when I didn't see you here. So, I'm glad that you're here and thank you for that. I know you're one of my biggest cheerleaders. >> I'll

135keep I'll keep going this way. Rob, do you have anything? >> Um, no, the presentation is very strong. Thank you. I guess the only question I have is around um data like and I don't know um who can answer this and certainly not necessarily tonight but do wonder like is there a way to track against those who participate in this in the community and see how students like you know it helps them with outcomes and things. Is that a possibility? I know it's a little hard because this is more qualitative but I wonder if there's any way to see that. I'm sure anecdotally we have great stories or and even if we don't have the quantitative like how do we surface those stories >> more because there's a lot we could talk about here I

136think. >> So it's interesting that you say that that's one of the reasons why we asked Bassor to do this case study. Um so I'm hoping to see that we get something out of right >> that and then if we do maybe more of those right um but that I I have to tell you when I first started in this position I had this data sheet that would have, you know, all of our community partners, all of our events, and we started tracking, you know, a family and and or not tracking, we started, you know, taking attendance for everything. Um, I would love to have a day with Tim and maybe go back to that to say, should we is this something that we should look into, right? And and see who's participating and then

137go back to them and and ask those questions and, you know, get more of. But I I think we're headed in that direction with Basser College hopefully and and we'll see that because we chose families that have been accessing our resources for a while or maybe just this year so we have a little you know a scope >> a different sense. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um can I go? >> Yeah. I I appreciate all h just how much thought goes into the way that this program is run to make people feel um very validated and comfortable accessing what's being offered here. and I've been here since this first started and it I don't think we envisioned that it it would be this big and it's great. It's been really an honor to witness that

138journey. Um and I know that you were you did you had some worries about whether you know the board under new leadership would continue to support you and I hope that you know that we do and you feel supported. Um I did have um just a silly question mostly because it just piqued my curiosity, but when we are getting these donations in um bigger ones like from Walmart and then little ones like do do we have to approve those or do we approve those as a board? I am totally just curious how that works. >> So that's an interesting question. Alita, do you want to help me with this one? I mean, >> if you don't if you want to answer it later, you can do that. I am It only made me very clear.

139>> So, I I will what I will say is that I keep track of the ones from Walmart. I mean, we have this ongoing system with them that we have to once we receive them from them, we have to identify how we've um given them out into the community. So, I do have records of what that looks like. you know, we used to um in the beginning, but I think because as as it was mo as we were moving and things were coming in so frequently and so often, I don't know if we've ever like re discussed what, you know, that should look like. >> So, um let's schedule a meeting. >> I guess you know something it's actually been on the back of my mind. I know that I I had a feeling that

140this might be something that was asked like it's it's been on like we keep track of it. We we I mean I'm always saying let's count how many did we get or what did we get today. Um, so we keep track of it, but we >> The reason I was asking is I know like for example, we've approved like a I don't know a donation of an accordion or or something and like some of the the tiniest things and so I was just wondering well maybe if somebody had an accordion to donate, we wrote root them to you. But I mean maybe if we should be doing >> usually they do get crossed >> as well. It's just >> something to think about. >> Good question. >> Yeah. and Megan will meet. >> Yep. >>

141Melissa first. >> I'm going around. >> Okay. Okay. Um I I just want to say thank and thank you for all of what you've been doing here. Honestly, I don't know if we've ever looked at this and said, "Are we unique in terms of what we do as relative to all the school districts in Westchester County?" My gut tells me yes, but I don't have facts to back that up because I know that there are other counterparts of ours who I speak to and they I they don't have anything like this. This is unique in a way that we're just a we're really welcoming and trying to do a lot of outreach. But what I think is just really great is the fact that you went from a location to being a mobile location in

142multiple locations just to say, "Look, we're trying to reach you where you are." And I think that's really great. Um, and I think you're, you know, while you'd like to get your numbers up, you're you're really doing what you can aside from saying, "Here, I'm going to put this in your face." Right? It's because it's there. So, um, I think that's really fabulous in what you're doing. I do think that the community engagement is important and what you're doing. It is it speaks highly of us as a district because the fact is we are embracing our community and what we're doing versus, you know, we're just a check the box. We do so much more than that, right? From food delivery, clothing, the support, everything else that's there. So, I think it's great. Uh Mary

143mentioned about the um the use of I don't know if it's 914 CARES. Is that the one the entity you're using or is it is it the the >> tap creating that it's a dashboard a database linking things? Yeah, that's what it is. >> So, so you know obviously um you know from a resource perspective um there's always that that particular area where you can utilize people's talent, skills, what have you to help support what's needed. But it's a tremendous endeavor in what you're doing. So, um, you know, I'm really happy to see that this is, um, serving its needs, but moreover, I'm, you know, when you need the help, obviously, we're here listening to what you need. >> Thank you, >> Melissa. Do you have anything? >> Oh, yes. >> Hi, Melissa. >> Thank

144you for your presentation. Um, I like to see how things are evolving. um to really just be more creative in how you present you know these opportunity and resources to the community. I really like the bags of hope with the aspect of the list and the hygiene products which is always an underestimated need um for people. So I really like that's being addressed. Um, I also was going to ask a question around like the data, how we measuring equity, right? Because it is one of the biggest goals of some of an initiative like this. And I I'm glad to see that we're going to have some support hopefully to really start to unpack that so that we can continue to evolve and response to the community's needs. So, that's great. Um I don't it sounds

145like that you know I know you were talking about like the feel of like when it first started the buzz of community. I know it's really um valuable to have some of those bigger um organizations or entities in terms of the resources that they can provide as far as community partners. Um, I'm wondering as far as like and you don't have to really answer it, but just like a curiosity around like what's the mixture of like the bigger when we say community, are we talking Westchester or how many are local community to kind of tie it back um more to kind of that community feel that you were talking about. Um, so I was just curious about that, but it's not like something you really have to know the numbers on. Um, I did have

146two particular questions though. So one, how many uh family engagement specialists are there? >> So there's four. >> Okay. >> Um and they are all at they are seen all at our elementary schools and then half they spend half their day at elementary school and half the day at our middle school or high school. And they're they they split >> their time. And I can share that if that's something that you're interested of like how they use their time. I have a nice little document that I could send your way. >> Thank you. Um, and then I know First Steps is also an initiative that we have and I'm wondering are there any supports that you provide to some of those >> early learners that are not yet in our community? Like even the donations

147like do you >> get stuff for the you know babies and stuff, clothes, things like that? Do you particularly point out to people that we also support like the prechool if you will learners or before they enter school learners and >> yes so absolutely um first steps is one of the um they're included in everything that we do. So whenever I'm sending out emails I'm connecting with them. For example, the last I feel like four years, we've provided every first step family with a book bag and then with the supplies that they need to start the school year, so they don't even have to have their own book bags. Um and then I'm actually going to be meeting with the new I think it's Katherine is her name. She's the new um coordinator, right, Don?

148Is that her name? Yeah. Um I'm meeting with her to talk about what we do to educate her and then how we can work collaboratively together. It's a it's a wonderful space where also actually in the beginning of the year we also go and set up a table to share the resources. But I also think that it's a great place again where we should continue to think about how we educate the the members that are there. I feel like first steps was like the original community school piece, right? Um thinking about how we would have students at school and then parents there and then how we can engage them. So I think that that they were they were one of the first pieces of this work. Um and I think that's how helped us evolve

149and and think about um you know how to expand that. But so yes, we are very connected. We have also one of their family engagement leaison who comes to us um and you know shops whenever she's in um in Austin and brings back items. And interestingly enough, when we had the pop-up shop, we received a lot of manipulatives, tangible things that I felt were very firststep friendly. So instead of actually bringing them to the shop, we packed them up and and sent them right directly to First Steps to say, "How can you use these in your classrooms or andor if you cannot, you know, send them home with families?" >> Okay. Lastly, I just because I really like that you're also starting to when you talk envision equity, you're bringing in aspects of um you

150know, making sure that we're acknowledging our differently aabled students as well. So I'm wondering do you have you started to tailor what your what the needs might be or how do you know or start to grow your understanding of how you can also provide resources >> through open I was a special educator at start when I first started here so they're always on my mind and how to get them involved and support them. Um I think the vision for me was always oh this is a place of work for like that like we can help them but what I always say to the teachers who are work what who I'm working with can you make sure that these are the skills that they need to do like I don't want them to just be coming

151and just to be doing right I want them to make sure it's aligned with their skills I I think about our um you know elementary students before when we had the backpack program that used to get sent, the bags used to get sent. They used to help us, you know. So, I think about what they could do, like maybe we think about how they support us with our closets. Um, in terms of their needs, um, all of the special education teachers are welcome to our spaces. Oftentimes, even providers come and receive items that we have like sensory um, you know, items that we receive, they take. So, everyone is pretty much welcome to access our space. >> I also want to mention too, um I didn't bring this up, but I think it's important to

152know that our community partners also welcome any of our students and um we work with them in the beginning of the year to outline um community service opportunities for our high school students and then now our middle school as well. So, that's also something that they help us provide. Something that I didn't include here, but I could share with you guys is a list of our community partners. So, you can see, and if you want me to break it down into who's local and who's Westchester, I I'd be happy to do that if that's something that you're interested in. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, for example, just so you know, on Saturday the 16th, uh, we have the Westchester Children's Center coming, the Children's Museum coming here, um, to help provide an opportunity for

153our students and what they could do over the summer. So, we've even reached some Westchester based >> spaces and they actually >> came to us to say, "Oh, I I heard that you do this. Um, we have this grant opportunity. Do you see us, you know, aligning with what you do?" And so, we work them into our Saturdays. I know that Claremont had an evening, I think you guys remember, with them as well. So, you know, we're always thinking about how do we align it with what's happening in our schools and then also with what we do at OPRIM. >> Great work. Thank you. And thank you to all the volunteers that make this all possible. >> They're amazing. >> Um, thank you so much for the work. It feels like when I see this

154that this is one way that we're kind of living our values, right? When we say we support families, when we say we want to engage with families, what does that look like? It's very nice as a board member or community member to be able to say it looks like OP prime. And um I've gone to um you know, professional development conventions, etc. And I remember the last time I went, I sat through a community school's presentation and as I'm sitting there, I'm thinking, Austin could be giving this presentation. We do this and I think we do more than this, you know. So um this is really a feather in our our cap and I I just really appreciate all the work that goes into this and building those relationships um kind of on both ends,

155right? With like donors and then building the relationships with the families who ultimately receive those donations. It's very nice to be able to have a hub for that. So, um, that when you have comm, you know, community members or other community organizations that say, "Hey, I want to donate to the school." Other schools might not know where to put that. And we can say, "Talk to Megan, Mr. Jakamo. She'll have somebody who can help you." Um, and I have only one question. I'm looking at your last slide. to and I just want to make sure I if so if I for example have not done my spring cleaning and I find some Halloween costumes in the back of the closet in the next couple weeks you'll take those right now even though >> yes >>

156it is May >> that is something that I think that we've again evolved with I I we don't feel like it has to be right before Halloween if it if they're if you're cleaning and you found your Halloween costumes them over >> like holiday gifts that my children received and then I hid because they got too many gifts and then they forgot forgot about those gifts and now they don't even remember that they have them and they're just sitting in my basement. You'll take those. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Okay. >> I mean, I don't know if we love the space situation that we have going on, but we figure it out. >> Okay. >> Um, you know, do I see us having like a warehouse hopefully one day or a large space? That would be

157the dream, right? Um, so we could take anything and everything. Um but yes, so >> maybe someday down the road when we see this timeline in the future, there'll be an expansion of space or something like that down the road, right? >> Alita and I walk Roosevelt and we kind of mapped that all out where where they would be. The storage remains a you know um a challenge. >> So the way we came up with this is bas this this reflects you know pop-up shops and things that we know that we're going to do and what we do really well. Um, so yes, send them over anytime. >> But this is an an evolution of their your structure, right? So this is, you know, how we keep it growing. And I also want to acknowledge

158like the Saturday explore and learn events are amazing. Um, but they do gear towards younger kids usually, right? So then it's like, well, how do we um engage those older families as kids, you know, get older? And I and I see that before us, right? like what I think we acknowledge that at some point now we have the the prom shop, the college dorm shop. Like that's how we, you know, reach those older kids who have different needs. So, I just think it's I just want to acknowledge that. I see that evolution of reflection and then kind of that cycle where you go back and you say, "Okay, where where are we missing kids? What more can we do?" When you kind of go back and start all over and say, you know, how do

159we improve this? Like I that's visible. So, I just really appreciate that. >> I just want to add something about our Saturday explore and learn. I I know I didn't highlight that here, but I was kind of I could probably be here all night. I did miss a bunch of things. Um what I love about our Saturday explore and learn for um yes, it's geared towards maybe our elementary families, but our high school students can volunteer their time there. And what ended up happening when we had that consistent space of like you know here we would show up to set up and the high school kids already had it going >> because they were here they were consistent and they just took it upon themselves and I remember walking into the space and saying oh

160this is community like this is it like we're we're here like we we've done really good work here because now and I' I remember back in the day Janice Chuzu saying to me like you want your kids to eventually take on your work and and I and I saw it right right here happening. Um so I think that that you know was a you know monumental moment for me personally to just see the kids taking it on even though it's might not be something that worthwhile for them to be engaging in whatever our theme is but they're there participating and supporting. We did also try this year um at the high school to to do one of our Saturdays there. the tenants was low but maybe something to work on and to think about but

161it was around big topics um you know that they were experiencing back in I think it was novemberish time um but again it was it was a low turnout but maybe something that we can evolve or shift as time goes on >> you never know until you got to see what sticks sometimes >> yes >> just on the storage space it may be worth having a conversations with PNW Boseies because there's a They acquired uh rented a large warehouse facility in Mount Kiscoco that it's used for science 21 kits but has a lot of space and maybe if there was a few pallets of seasonal things that they could hold on to at least in the short term I would imagine they might be able to fit some space. So I would check out who

162knows. >> Really good idea because Jared sometimes says get your stuff out. >> They have to they have to they have to do a lot with the science 21 and so they've got a pretty sophisticated system. So worth talking to them. Great. >> All right. >> Thank you guys. Thank you again. >> And you can email me if anything comes up that you have on your mind. >> And stop by any any programs or visit me at down Prime if you're ever at district office. You're welcome. >> Thank you, Megan. >> Thank you. Thank you. and thank you for coming and supporting and doing all the work, but also staying here until nearly 10 p.m. tonight. >> Just because if I don't say something tonight, my name is Carol Delonte and I'm one of the

163parent engagement specialists. >> Um, what I wanted to say is that the key of us connecting with the families is because we are bilingual and that's so important in this town to be able to speak the same language. um their families are in need. They want to be uh hear what they say. I'm sorry I'm a little nervous. I never spoken. Megan knows that I don't like to speak in public, but the work that we do is is is goes beyond and I particular this year for me um connecting I support Roosevelt and I support also AMD. We have been part of a lot of working with the social workers >> in um in terms of helping a student with immigration issues, domestic violence, um students that have been abused. So our work goes beyond

164everything that you see in those slides. It's remarkable what we do and I'm very proud to be a part of the team and I I thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. We're proud of you, too. >> All right. Now, you you're This is a part my regular You're welcome to stay, but you're also welcome to go. >> I know it's uh I know it's late. All right. On to our consent agenda. Uh business of the board. Does anybody have anything from 5.1 through 5.3 that they wish to rake out? Seeing none, I'll take a motion for 5.1 through 5.3. So moved. >> Second. >> 5.1 resolution to elect members to the Westchester Putinham School Boards Association WPSBA board of directors and nominating committee and to approve the 2026 2027 budget. 5.2 Resolution to approve

165the merger of gymnastics with the Pauling Central School District. 5.3 Resolution to appoint a consultant for the 2026 It says 2026 2026 school year. It >> should be 2020. >> Um I assume it's 2026. >> I think it's for this year. Maybe >> 2025 2026. >> Yeah, >> it's for the current it's inside the inside. It's just a typo on the >> Okay. I'm not going to take a new motion about it. >> Um any discussion? Um, just thank you for being willing to serve on the Westchester Putinham School Boards Association and being nominated. It's great for the district. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Frank. Um, not relevant to um, not going to change my vote, but I was just wondering if uh, at some point we could get like a blurb about the

166background of um, gymnastics and why in particular the Pauling Central School District as opposed to um, a school district that might be a little bit closer. I'm sure there's great reasons. So, just curious. >> All right. Any discuss or any further discussion? >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. Thanks for your vote, guys. I I appreciate it. I think it'll be good. Um, >> thanks for your work. >> They they missed Frank. They and I bet they they knew they couldn't get him back for me. All right. On to uh consent agenda business office matters. Does anybody have anything from 6.1 or 6.2 that they wish to break out? >> Seeing none, I'll take a motion for 6.1 and 6.2. >> So moved. >> Second. >> 6.1. Resolution regarding agreement with the Nassau

167Bosey's musical instruments 6.2 2 resolution regarding interfund transfers. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed abstensions. On to seven consent agenda personnel matters. Does anybody have anything from 7.1 through 7.14 that they wish to break out? Seeing none, I'll take a motion for 7.1 through 7.14. >> So moved. >> Second. >> 7.1. Resolution regarding civil service staff resignations. 7.2 Resolution regarding support staff resignations. 7.3 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments. 7.4 Resolution regarding civil service staff appointments. 7.5 Resolution regarding support staff appointments. 7.6 Resol Resolution regarding bus attendant appointments. 7.7 Resolution I have the giggles now from I >> ridiculous. 7.7 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments before after school programs. 7.8 8 Resolution regarding civil service staff appointments before after school programs. 7.9 Resolution regarding support staff appointments before after school programs. 7.10 Resolution

168regarding professional staff appointments summer school programs. 7.11 Resolution regarding civil service staff appointments summer school programs. 7.12 Resolution regarding support staff appointments summer school programs. 7.13 Resolution regarding PDM substitute appointments. 7.14 Resolution regarding approval of school volunteers. Any discussion? Yeah, you got to say that fast before the next table crashes. >> All in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. Uh we come now to our second audience recognition. Um seeing nobody here in the audience who may wish to speak. Is there anybody online? >> No. Okay, we'll move along then. Um on to board reports and dialogue. Um have any committees met that We need you. >> No. >> When's the next time that the policy meets? >> Um, >> I can look in the calendar. >> I'm trying to find it. >> Um, >>

169oh yeah, sorry. I said policy. I was thinking I I I don't know why got the wrong committee. I'm trying the um curriculum committee. Sorry, that was the one I was looking for. I >> we we had we were supposed to I think we were going to have one in in May, but then we ended up having to postpone that. We have a new schedule date. >> Yeah. Yeah. Actually, that that meeting in May wasn't official. It was just on a hold. >> In case we need it, but we do have a date in June. >> Yeah. Make sure. >> Is it the 14th? Is it like around that 14 time frame? >> Okay. Um, I've got a couple just things to bring up. Uh, West Front School Board Association's having their annual meeting and

170dinner on June 8th. We got an email about it on April 27th. Um, I'll be there. So, join me if you'd like. >> Awesome. Um, the other thing I wanted to bring up, we received an email from um, Hold on, let me make sure I get it right. uh Cheryl Brady uh on the 30th uh seeking a nomination to uh rerun for area 10 of uh NISBA NISBA rep and I responded to that email and let her know that we would discuss it in board dialogue. So um here we are. Would we like to write that letter? Yeah, typically I mean typically we would put a resolution I mean is there a time thing around this or come the next meeting >> she doesn't need it until July so there's no reason we can't ask

171Illy to put it on another >> there's a resolution on the agenda to do it I mean typically whoever asks we've done it because it's just nominating for them to be up for a candidate right yeah >> that's how I feel but I um you know wanted to discuss it as a board before we >> fine with me I'm fine with nominating >> any other thoughts all right sounds like a green light to put Cheryl on the agenda. Illy, did you catch it? >> All right. Um, that's all I have for board dialogue. Oh, >> go ahead. >> Mr. Bad Cherry, it's June 3rd. >> June 3rd. >> 30 or 3D? >> Third. >> Okay, hold on. Let me look. >> I'll be sending it in. >> Okay. Yes. And if anything else changes on

172the times because I'll block out the calendar because since we need >> it's already on the calendar. >> I already have a calendar by adding rallies. >> Okay. >> It's already in our calendar. So I'll just send a reminder email. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Anything else for board dialogue? >> All right. Well, we have no need for executive session this evening. So, um, I'm going to give Shane a chance to run over to the controls. Thanks, Shane. All right. I'll take a motion to adjourn the regular meeting of May 6, 2026. >> Second. >> Uh, any discussion? All in favor? I >> I opposed. Abstensions. Thank you so much for watching the board meeting and we'll see you next time.