Board of Education Meeting of January 14, 2026

001All right. Good evening. I'd like to call to order the Wednesday, January 14th, 2026 Board of Education regular meeting. Uh please rise and join us for the pledge of allegiance led by Roger Ventara. I pledge alce 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. Um item 1.3 on our agenda is our superintendent's update. So I'm going to turn things over to Mary Fox Alter. Okay. So um happy new year and welcome back everyone. Um we came back to school in full swing. Uh multiple committees, multiple meetings, multiple work on um professional development. And I want to thank our staff, our administrators, and our teachers for all the hard work and for our

002wonderful students for a really um robust and um important and work-related opening of schools back from our holiday break. Uh tonight um I'm going to allow Owen to speak about some really exciting highlights. It was an excellent report. Um so mine is brief this evening. We do have two interesting reports and I think the community will find them quite informative. We have our demographic report done by uh one of our Boseies if for our listening audience our Boseies are the board of occupational cooperative educational services. They are located throughout the state of New York and they provide services in a shared environment through most of our schools. And tonight's report will be done um by Dr. Christina uh Venegas coming from Western Suffach Bo Bosei. So she will be joining us virtually. And then we

003have um an overview of our uh world languages are um multilanguage programs. We have our director Nancy Dela Cruz Aoyo uh presenting this evening. So we have a lot to talk about tonight. So take it away Owen. >> Good evening everyone. Uh despite like uh Miss Mary Fox Alter said, being on holiday break, it has been an eventful couple of weeks for everyone in the district, especially in athletics, uh the winter sports are in full uh swing. This past Saturday, boys basketball beat Spring Valley for their first win of the season, and they are celebrate celebrated senior night tonight. It's why my voice may sound a little a little horsearo, but they they did beat uh Ram Code just just a couple minutes ago. Uh, boys wrestler Colin Leberts earned his 150th win over the

004break. And last night, boys wrestling celebrated their senior night. Indoor track has had a couple of busy weeks. Uh, Jakis Ramirez set an OS indoor shotput record. Frank Murphy set an OS weight throw record, beating it by five feet. Ellie Sodto is ranked 31 in the country for the indoor racewalk. And >> Say that again. >> She's ranked 31 in the country for the indoor racewalk. >> It's great. Yeah. Uh both the girls and the boys indoor track team finished second place in the league meets finishing two and one and a half points behind the first place team and uh they earned many first, second and third places in uh the girls basketball team continues to do well with a record of seven and two. Um also I would like to congratulate Natalie Partridge and

005Somerville Beckford on being named top 300 in the country in the Regeneron Science Talent Search. uh semi-finalists. This is the country's most prestigious science research competition and the top 40 finalists will be named uh next week. But regardless, it is a huge accomplishment and um it keeps the the Austining tradition alive of getting at least one semi-finalist per year. We I think we're up to 103 as a as a school now. So, >> it's phenomenal. >> Really great. >> Uh this past Saturday, the robotics team kicked off their building season. Um, this starts their extensive planning and building sessions in preparation for competitions later this year and we're looking forward to see all their hard work in their building pay off in competitions. Shout out to Dr. Nicholas and the Sunni ASL class for producing

006a very impressive sign language OS news segment. And I want to shout out Dr. Sar for being recognized by the Westchester Alliance of Black School Educators. Definitely welld deserved and and definitely congratulations to him. I want to thank Miss Mononttoya for organizing an excellent information session with the College of Westchester for our avid 9th through 11th grade teachers and counselors. And before the break, the um the OS uh human rights club collected over 200 toys and 60 plus books for Austining families during the holiday season as part of their annual toy drive. And this number shattered their records of previous um collections and was really great. Last Wednesday, myself, Mr. Pri Ro, and 10 OS science research students facilitated a lesson with the Roosevelt STEM club to kick off the expansion of the high school

007program in some form. Um, we talked about our projects and then explored the fifth grade's uh students interests. Uh, the session then finished with a fun activity for students. They were tasked with building the tallest spaghetti marshmallow tower. And uh, there were two pretty tall towers built, but one fell as the timer was running out. So, we we had one winner. But overall it was a really fun activity for both the OHS students and the Roosevelt students and we plan to do it monthly. >> Um and I also want to congratulate um both Selia Magalace and Mercy Cabera. Uh just this afternoon um myself, Miss Prior Groch, our science research co-director and Dr. Barbach um and Mr. Shikapashi appointed them for the science research liaison position next year. So, they're going to be working to

008coordinate um the science research growth um and the growth of research inquiry throughout the district for next year and um and how we can expand the program. >> News. >> Uh yeah, definitely. And then on Thursday, February 12th from 5:30 to 7, Claremont is hosting a math night and OS math club students will be volunteering and helping running some sessions. So, that continues our our our work there. So I love the fact the legacy of students supporting other students peing interest at very young in their careers and uh the inclusive community and the progression of skills. It's wonderful. Thanks for your leadership and and the other Austin High School students who are also involved in this. It's super important. >> It's it's it's not just me. It's a lot of us. It's a lot of

009us volunteering our time. So it's it's really nice. >> Right. Thank you. Maybe we'll have um Nicole write an article for a newsletter upcoming highlighting all of that. That could be wonderful. >> Yeah. Yeah, that'd be good. Yeah. >> I on our agenda tonight too um um folks will see we have three um employees who are not from the pedagogical staff, not teachers um but they are a vital component of our school district and these are individuals who gave their professional careers service of the Austining schools. On the agenda tonight, um there will be the resignation for purposes of retirement of Claudet Burgess who's a clerk in the student records office, Tony Anne Hirs, who's a registered professional nurse, and Joyce Capeda who is a Brookside TA. So, we want to thank everybody for their

010service, and we wish them well in the next chapter of their careers. Great. So, great. I have great news. So, thank you for sharing. Um, item two on our agenda this evening is our work session item and our equity item. We're going to be hearing from our demographer and uh getting a curricular update on the dual language program. So, I'll turn it over to Mary Fox to introduce who's coming up next for us. Okay. So, um I'd like to introduce um formally um Dr. Christina Venegas from Western Suffach Bosey's Office of Planning and Research and she will be giving the long range demographers report. The report she uh is giving this evening is a culmination of um a lot of work taking a look at data from the beginning of the year, relooking at it

011again midyear. Um a draft of the report to our office. It was reviewed by um staff in the district office who um this is part of our professional responsibilities. Um and again I welcome Christina to our meeting this evening and um take it away Christina. >> Good evening. Thank you so much for having me. Can you hear me? Okay, >> we can. >> Okay, perfect. At the request of the Asning Union Free School District, the Western SuffK BOSIE's Office of School Planning and Research conducted this study to assess recent demographic factors and enrollment trends to prepare projections to through the 2035 2036 school year. Since 1985, we have completed more than 1400 studies for districts throughout New York State. We help districts plan for the future by preparing comprehensive long- range planning studies. These reports

012research, review, and analyze demographic trends and historical enrollment patterns to develop student enrollment projections for the district. Studies have been completed for districts in Duchess, Nassau, Orange, Putham, Suffach, Rockland, Westchester, and other New York State counties. Here we see the key components typically involved in a study. It is divided into two main sections. We have the demographic section which focuses on various factors including birth rates, housing data, population statistics, enrollment figures for non-public and charter schools. These elements are essential in understanding the broader context and background of the population being studied. The enrollment section focuses on the trends observed over the past 10 years, the patterns of student migration from one grade to the next, and an analysis of birth persistence. These aspects are crucial in tracking and predicting the changes in student enrollment over

013time. By analyzing both components, we're then able to calculated projected enrollment over the next 10 years by district, school, and even grade. in order to ensure we are using the most accurate and up-to-date data. These are just some of the many research sources that we use >> and I think Christina just to highlight that because it's a conversation we have a lot when you put together your study um we identify in in demographics housing and in the list of resources um you identify the New York State Office of Real Property Services and we look at real estate the one thing you can't you don't have a crystal of all uh you can't identify trends in rental housing from year to year. >> Right. Right. >> So in a community like Austining that we do have

014a significant amount of rental housing, it's one of the data points that uh we can expect our colleagues who do demographic studies to forecast. Right. >> Yes. And we've discussed that before. Yeah. Exactly. Um [clears throat] so this chart shows the accuracy of the 2024 2025 Western SUFFK Bosey's enrollment projections for this current school year. The projected K through2 enrollment was 4,79 students while the actual enrollment was students resulting in a difference of 124 students and an accuracy rate of 2.7%. I have to say we do have a 4% accuracy rate that we're very proud of. And now we're going to look at the demographics. This graph shows that there were 12,45 births in Westchester County in 2004, followed by a decline of 22.3% to a 20-year low of 9,634 births in 2020. Although there

015was a 4.4% 4% increase in bursts following the CO 19 pandemic. Burst then declined by 2.6% to 9,794 in 2024, which is the most recent data we have. This chart illustrates the number of births in the district from 2010 to 2023 as reported by the New York State Department of Health. Over this period, the number of births ranged from 400 to from 2010 to 2017. However, district births have been below 45 of the last 6 years while the exception being in 2021 when births rebounded from the from the COVID pandemic with 401 births. The latest available data shows 377 births in the district in 2023. District resident population shows a 3.6% increase from 300 uh from 33,047 residents in 2000 to 34,230 residents in 2010 followed by additional 8% increase to 36,973 residents in 2020.

016The age structure of the resident population in the Austining school district has shifted from from 2000 to 2020. The proportion of the population age 65 plus years increased from 12.8% to 17.4%. While the proportion of residents aed 20 to 39 decreased from 32.1% to 25.9%. The percentage of persons aged 19 years and under remained relatively stable. The median age in the district increased from 39.5 years in 2010 to 41 years in 2020. This is similar to Westchester County's median age of 41.1 years. This chart illustrates the number of English language learners and total enrollment for the 10-year period. The graph shows that the number of English language learners increased in Austining school district during the historical period from 499 students or 10.8% to 1,096 students or 23.2% in the latest school year 2024 2025. That's

017the latest data that's available. This chart illustrates a number of students with disabilities and total enrollment for the 10-year period. The graph shows that the number of students with disabilities has increased slightly in the district during the historical period from 55 58 students which is 12.1% to 698 students which is 14.8% during the 202425 school year. This chart illustrates a number of economically disadvantaged students for the 10-year period. The graph shows that the economically disadvantage disadvantaged students have encountered a majority of the student population for each year of the historical period ranging from a low of 2555 students which is 55.4% to a peak of 2,919 students which is 60.6% in 2017 2018. However, the Austining School District began providing free breakfast and lunch to all students through C beginning in the 2324 school year

018and therefore was mandated to cease collecting the applications for free or reduced price meals the following year. As such, the reported number for economically disadvantaged students beginning with the 2425 school year and later are likely subject to data quality issues and may represent an undercount. As we see an all-time low of 2,249 students in the 2020425 school year. Housing turnover in the district was the lowest during the historical peak in 2014 when 227 sales were recorded. Since then, housing activity increased to a period peak of 382 sales in 2021. Subsequently, sales decreased to 286 unit in 2024. There was also a change in the median home sales price in the school district. Home sale prices were at a low in 2014 with a median price of $388,900. There has been a significant increase since then,

019most notably in the past 6 years. In 2024, the median home sale price reached a high of $629,713. This is an increase of 9.5% when compared to the prior year and an increase of 61.9% when compared to the period low in 2014. Now, let's look at the enrollment data. This slide illustrates the trend in student enrollment in Westchester County school districts over a 10-year period. The graph showed that enrollment was relatively stable from 2014 to 2017, ranging from 146,298 students to 145,230 students per year and then declined to 136,848 students in 2021. Since then, enrollment has remained relatively stable with 136,186 students in 2024. This represents a total decline of 6.9% over the 10-year period. This chart depicts the historical and projected K through2 enrollment for 2015 to 2035 for the district. The data shows

020that from 2015 to 2025, the historical enrollment was at a peak of 4,833 students in 2018. In 2025, there was a total of 4585 students showing a decrease of 144 students over the 10-year period. Declines are expected in six of the next 10 years. The forecasted enrollment in 2035 of 4,390 students represents a decrease of 195 students or 4.3% when compared to the current enrollment of this year. This show this chart shows the historical and projected enrollment for grades K through 5 from 2015 to 2035. Between 2015 and 2025, the historical enrollment data indicates an overall decrease of 203 students. Declines are projected in eight of the next 10 years with a projected enrollment of 1,924 students in 2035. This represents an overall decrease of 101 students when compared to the current enrollment data. This

021chart shows the enrollment trends for days 9 through 12 from 2015 to 2035. The historical enrollment data from 2015 to 2025 shows gains in five of the 10 years resulting in overall gain of 137 students over the decade. The projected enrollment from 2026 to 2035 shows increases in two of the next four years leading to the projection period peak of 1,538 students in 2029 followed by declines in four of the following six years. The forecasted 2035 enrollment of 1,479 students represents an overall decrease of 50 students when compared to the current enrollment. Uh, next slide, please. This summary highlights the key enrollment changes over time. First, overall district enrollment peaked in 2018. Since then, the district experienced gradual declines in five of the last seven years, bringing us to a current enrollment of 4585 students

022in 2025. Kindergarten enrollment exceeded 30 350 students in five of the last 10 years. Currently, there are 316 students enrolled in kindergarten. Projections indicate that the number of kindergarten students expected in 2026 will be the highest of the projected period due to the low number of births in 2020 followed by the estimate for 2027 which is 340 students. It is anticipated that kindergarten enrollment will remain below 330 students ranging from 313 to 329 students for all of the other years through 2035. When we compare incoming kindergarten classes to exiting 12th grade classes, we consistently see fewer students entering than leaving. The incoming kindergarten class was smaller than the exiting 12th grade class of the previous year and nine of the last 10 years with negative displacement ranging from 31 to 105 students 158 students per

023year. This trend is expected to continue with negative displacement ranging from 57 to 132 students forecasted in each of the next 10 years. This negative displacement has been a steady pattern and is expected to continue over the next decade. Finally, the migration data shows normal year-to-year movement across grades. While the district generally retains students transitioning to middle school and high school, we do see average declines in grades 3 through six. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Um I'm hoping you'll stay on with us so that we can ask you some questions as a board and I'll start with those who are here in person if anybody um who's here would like to start off with a question if you have one. >> Of course. >> Yeah. >> Oh, do you have one? I I

024do, but I want others to ask. >> Okay. Wolf, nobody nobody else at the table. >> Okay. >> Seems one. >> All right. Just a a quick one for me just to make sure I'm clear. Could you go to um I think it's slide 19 and 20. Um on there. Um if you just start with slide 19, I guess I'm assuming in there. I'm just trying to reconcile this a little bit. I'm trying to reconcile that bump that's on slide 20 in um I think that's 2027 I think the 178 to what's on the slide before that. um now because you're you're seeing a decrease in the K through five which makes I I get that but I guess it's probably because there what you're seeing in the bump is it because it's more transitory

025from K5 into 6 through eight is that what's causing that bump or I'm just trying to understand what what the nature of that bump is before it starts to decline again in uh on slide 20. So this in the sixth through 8th grade. >> Yes. >> Um we're seeing that there's just higher um displacement from year to year in those grades. So the K through five correlates with the births. So we can see the pattern if you look at the other slide with the births and the kindergarten classes. And then in these grades we saw that there was a higher um displacement going into sixth and seventh grade during those first years. And then eventually the year 2027 we see an increase in that year. So just following the trends. So eventually the number of

026of students that are leaving the district or the it really correlates with the sixth grade that's coming in is smaller than the the 12th grade that's leaving or the eighth grade that's leaving. So we're seeing a lot of >> Yeah. We're seeing a lot of shift with the entering class is getting smaller than the graduating class or the class that's leaving that building. And so in 2027, it happens that the grade was higher coming in, but eventually it it ends up as you see leveling out and we're losing students. >> Okay. So, thank you for that. I appreciate that. One other um one other thing too. So if I'm understanding correctly that we using as a community um based upon what you're suggesting here will continue to grow right comparatively to where Westchester is in

027in the total analysis but the birth rates it's still itself will still remain to be lower only because the population is just aging. Is that a fair statement? Exactly. So if you go to um the previous slide with the birth data, you can see the projected births are decreasing which is eventually causing the lower grades that are coming in. Um I think it's even further beginning of the slideshow. Sorry right here. So you could see we were at an all-time high in the historical period and since then it has decreased. We had a slight increase in 2021 following the pandemic, but we're seeing it again slowly decreasing. >> Okay. Thank you so much. This I I always love these presentations. It's just so informative and um incredibly helpful. So um really appreciate this. So thank

028you so much for all of this and all the work put into this. >> Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Anybody else here at the table have one? >> Yeah, Frank. >> What? >> Sorry. >> Okay. Go ahead, Frank. >> Um, thank you for all the details. Um, great presentation. >> If I look at the high school in particular, I just want to make sure I'm seeing this correctly. So the high school really from today until 2035 I'd say changes the projections are roughly 50 students a reduction of 50 students correct >> so >> yes >> when we look at these charts kind of in context you know it's there's a decline but it's really a leveling like if we went back 10 years before we called this the plateau where basically the district

029enrollment went up and then basically it kind of stayed level for a long time so I I'm just confirming that those are the numbers, right? I'm seeing the 1529 and the 1479. Correct. >> Right. So the historical So on the left you'll see the historical data. So you see starting in 2015 um yes this >> you could see that was actually lowest in the 2015 during this period. So it's not completely going you know we're not going backwards. It's not at the lowest it's ever been. So I guess to your point, yes, it's kind of plateauing. >> Yeah. I mean, if we I've been around a bit, so if we went back prior to 2015, you would see, you know, you'd see the plateau effect of the high school where we kind of have leveled

030off here. So net result is we're down 50 students from where we are today. The capacity issues we have today are still very much in play. And I just I'm saying this out loud for my own recollection and as we're looking at this because it affects programming affects so much and even though there's an overall decline the issues of the high school, I'm grateful we got the bond pass that we got passed because it's it deals with issues that are important. >> Right. Um, the second question I have, which maybe is less for the demographer, but more for our aid projections, and I'm not really looking for an answer tonight, but the drop in the free and reduced lunch categorizations or the demographic at the end of the day because of an under reporting, how

031does that potentially impact our formulas for education aid at the end of the day? So we um went to um became CPE school district um and as a result of that we can no longer collect free and reduced price lunch applications. So knowing that was happening um the state aid formula changed um and the economically disadvantaged rate um got multiplied. They added a multiplier so it did not negatively impact our number of students that were educationally disadvantaged. >> Okay. So they I think I forget what the multiplier was, but they basically um accounted for the fact that we couldn't collect free and reduced price lunch. So our economically disadvantaged numbers did not go down. >> Okay. So I mean that's good to know and I'll just I guess be watching it closely to make sure

032because relative to the state, our poverty levels really haven't changed, right? We're under reporting. So, as you look at foundation aid, if there's a a negative swing there, we may have to look at whatever formula that multipliers they have in order to make sure that we're >> accurately representing. There was so many years where this was frozen and we were, you know, not accurately represented. So, I'm just I'm sensitive to this one, right? I appreciate the details. >> Yeah, we definitely look at looked at that and was prepared to um advocate for that, but when the aid came out, they used a multiplier. >> Okay. That's very very recent because this was a topic of in-depth conversation that Alita and I and others in the region. Well well stated Frank like correct. Yeah. >> Right.

033The the the other thing I'd like to add if you don't mind to what Frank had just mentioned too going back to the high school um if you take a look at this um chart we see an increase of almost let's say 2% with u our classification rate of students with disabilities. And um we also see that the state has increased the requirement to educate students until they're at the high school level until they're 22. So um the high school alone was at 100% and a times 108% room utilization rate. So even a drop of 50 students or two, I'm not going to get to the ideal number of let's say 80% which gives you the swing space you need to do match needs against facilities. So again um your point is well taken about

034the impact of this enrollment report on what we need to do in terms of our facilities. I mean and I think in the detailed report from our from Christina it basically states that this does not translate that you know you on on rooms and facilities because of change in program for kids or even just a change in focus the board of education can make in terms of what we're doing about CTE the performing arts and making great opportunities for our students. So, um, yes, agreed, great point. And also not included in this report are our UPK numbers. We have funding for 270 UPK students. We typically have a wait list once we reach that. We don't have enough room to house them all. We partner with the Austining Children's Center again. So, um, that's another

035point to keep in mind when we look at these numbers. Thank you. Um Rob, if you have anything, uh you can unmute yourself. All right. Thanks, Rob. Um yeah, I just um myself wanted to highlight >> we have received projections in the past that have come within a very um impressive margin of error, right? like their um predictions have been spoton, but to the degree that they're off within that margin of error have been favorable to us as far as you know we haven't lost as many students as projected. That's been a going pattern but I see this year that we are within that um margin of error where we have enrolled fewer students than projected just by a little bit. So, um, this is a slight change that I have, uh, noticed at least

036for the past couple of years. So, that is a a little bit notable to me, but to Mary and Frank's point, I don't see that as reflective on a, um, as far as space concerns go, especially in in incorporating our the expansion of the number of students we educate regard in regards to age. >> Correct. Correct. [laughter] Yeah. 100%. I'm looking at um Prism Shamzy who's in the audience now and two of her classrooms at uh Claremont have four classes each in them which means I I I I I'm educating I need eight classrooms but I don't have the space so I have to put them into two classrooms and put up room dividers. So again, the numbers here do not reflect um a a need any it actually continues to move forward with what

037we need to do for our students and our staff and our programs. >> Great. Um I want to respect Christina's time here and thank you again for um presenting this always fascinating report on our community and on our enrollment numbers. So, thank you so much. And you do not have to stay on the Zoom call all evening unless you find local schoolboard meetings to be of particular entertainment value. Um, we appreciate you. Thank you. >> Thank you for having me. And if you have any other questions, feel free to reach out. >> Thank you. >> All right. And as part of our work session as well, we'll be um having our dual language update. Right. >> So um invite Nancy to the podium. So good evening everyone and thank you um for the opportunity this

038evening to present an update on our department of multilingual learners um which includes our K to2 ENL program, our world languages program and our dual language program. So you've heard some enrollment numbers this um evening and I'm going to share just a few more. Um so to start we'll have a little bit of a data snapshot on our multilingual learners. Um Austining continues to be a very diverse district with 20 22% of our students born outside the US and um coming from 37 different countries of origin um far and wide. Many of our country our students are coming from Ecuador. 60 almost 62% of our foreignb born students continue to come from Ecuador followed by several other countries as you can see in the graph. Um many of the students uh who are foreignb born

039are English learners not all but many and currently our enrollment of English learners is slightly over a thousand. We have seen a decrease in the number of newcomers I would say in the past year and a half and um currently the number of transfer students is exceeding the number of newcomers from outside the country. So I can even share the numbers we've had so far this year 58 transfer students and 45 newcomers from outside the country. And so our transfer students are arriving from um other districts in the region. We do have students who leave Austining and then re-enter and we also have students coming in from New York City and from neighboring states in the region. Um we have also had movement out of the community. Many of our English learner families have moved

040out for multiple reasons. Um and unfortunately some of our families have left the community through deportation. So we continue to have some movement in and some movement out. not great numbers of new arrivals the way we had had post pandemic. In terms of where our students are placed at the elementary uh grades from K to6, 71% of our students are placed in dual language which is in alignment with CR part 154 which requires that we offer a bilingual education option for um families of English learners. Uh we also have um about 17% of students who are not in the dual language program but are in ENL clusters. And then we have a percentage of students who are in a special education setting. Those are our duly identified our English learners who are also classified as

041students with disabilities. We also do have students classified as students with disabilities within our dual language program. But that 11.9% are students who are uh in ICT settings or standalone um special education settings. So this is the breakdown of where our students are placed and a lot of conversation goes into the ideal placement for students based on their language proficiency for some of our transfer students. We're also looking whether they came from bilingual programs in the schools where they were prior to arriving in Austin. This is the current enrollment of our dual language program. We have expanded um in the past few years. Just this year, we added a seventh section of prek dual language because we knew there was a need for um English learners in the community, but also there's great in there's

042sustained great interest within the community for students to learn Spanish as their second language. So, we've had some increases in enrollment as you can see and we're currently at over,00 students in the dual language uh program and I I can't even tell you the number of sections. I think it's 52 in preK to 12. So, that's a really significant um number of students in our district who are enrolled in dual language. And this includes um our one-way classes and our two-way classes. Our two-way classes integrate English learners and Spanish learners and our one-way classes are solely English learners and that those are the classes that typically capture our new arrivals because we want to create welcoming environment and we want to support their language development before they transition to the 50/50 classes. We currently have

043one-way classes in prek first, second, and third. Annually our students take the NISLAT which is the New York State Assessment of um language proficiency and uh it measures um students progress across four modalities listening, speaking, reading and writing and then identifies their proficiency level which are aligned with researchbased um levels of language development. So they can score between entering, emerging, transitioning, expanding and then finally to commanding. You may know that this is the last year in which we will uh administer the NISA slot. I have a little celebration going on because I don't I'm not a fan of the NISA flat which we've had for a thousand years. New York State has uh become a WEDA state. Um so WEDA assessments, the WEDA suite of assessment is used in I believe over 42 states nationwide.

044So New York has adopted the WEDA assessments and the WEDA will be implemented for the first time in the spring of 2027 and we will also be using the WEDA for uh intake screening for new students in lie of the niceel minimal information from New York state at this point except that we've embraced WEDA and we believe in March we will begin to have training so that we will train our administrators and our staff in the assessment. It is computer-based. The nice flat has been paper based. WEDA will be uh computer-based with the exception of kindergarten and um WEDA also has an assessment for L's with disabilities. There are also students with disabilities which was not the case with the NICA slot and I believe that is one of the reasons that New York State

045selected the WEDA suite of assessment. So some changes coming in that regard. These are um just a a glimpse of the nicest slot uh results and outcomes. Even as our English learner enrollment has grown, the number of students who have exited ENL ENL services has grown. So we went from about 87 students two years ago to 158 this past June. And this is just a little bit of detail as to how students exit. There are multiple pathways, actually three pathways. Students can exit ENL services by scoring commanding on the NISA slot. Or if they are in grades three to eight and they score expanding and achieve a three or four on the ELA assessment in the same year, they can also exit. Or if they score expanding and pass the ELA regions, they can also

046exit. So you can see the breakdown, but far and wide, most of our students exit through the nicest slot. So about 158 this year. This is a snapshot directly from level one which shows the proficiency level uh K to2 of students English learners in our district. So if we were to put this side by side with this same uh graph from I would say four years ago you would see that the majority of students would have been clustered in the entering and emerging level. And now we're look we're we're looking at students who are in transitioning and expanding which speaks to a few things. Number one, we have less newcomers arriving in the district. And number two, students who are here are moving along the language development continuum and moving towards English proficiency. So, this

047this represents a little bit of an opportunity for us to continue to push our our students to proficiency, but also some challenges because we have multiple uh language proficiency levels within uh our classrooms. And we'll speak a little bit about how we're supporting our teachers um to support our students. I believe the board has seen this um slide before, which is the graduation rate for our English learners. Um, obviously we're not where we would like to be, but we are on an upward trajectory. Um, and this slide always, I think, gives me pause because when we look at the five-year cohort and the six-year cohort, it does speak to our English learners needing additional time to complete graduation requirements because it's so dependent on what age they did they arrive, what grade did they arrive,

048did they have a longer runway, a shorter runway, um, did they bring enough credits? um have they had enough time to acrue additional credits? So um this year I actually looked at if you can uh the next slide shows our former L's graduation rate which is significantly higher and I think also shows the correlation between moving our students to proficiency goes handinhand with their being able to complete the requirements for graduation. may take them four may take them five or six years but we are moving them towards graduation. So this is our our former English learner um data in terms of um teaching and learning these outcomes for our students in for inform our priorities for teaching and learning. So um my department's instructional work this year has centered on differentiated instruction as a way

049to intentionally build students language and literacy across multiple modalities aligned with the district goal. We are focusing on oracy as well but in a way that has always been ENL work right our teachers are very steeped in um developing students receptive language developing their oral language as foundational skills to reading and writing. Um, so we're really working on designing instruction that meets students where they are linguistically while maintaining high expectations with an equity focus. We want equitable access to the grade level curriculum for our English learners even as they're acquiring the language. So through our professional learning, we're we're um supporting data informed practices in um it was August and the second superintendent conference day. We had the Arburn which is the regional bilingual education resource network meet with our two our teachers. They had

050their rosters. We had the nice slat scores hot off the presses because they don't come in until late August. and teachers were looking at their students scores across the four modalities on the NISA slot. Where were they in speaking, listening, reading, and writing? Sometimes we see that a student is expanding, but when you dig deeper, you may see that for example in writing, they're emerging, which means that's the area that we need to support. So, we're working on supporting students according to that data. And so that um that has been a way to make purpose purposeful instructional decisions for our English learners. We've also been fortunate to continue to work this year with uh Dr. Andrew Hanikfeld who's really a internationally known educator. She uh published a book called Nine Dimensions of Scaffolding in August

051and she was with us in October to unpack the book and really look at a framework for designing intentional instructional support for our students. Um, as an example, you know, how do we if if if students are reading a very challenging text, could we present them with a modified text in advance of reading that text so that they can then learn some of the strategies, some of the skills before they transition to the more complex text. The teachers participating in the work with Dr. Hanikfeld are our ENL teachers together with um their ELA co-teers. So and this is K to 12 and this is the second year. Last year our uh focus was on co-planning and now we've got co-planning but what are we doing with that co-planning? Are we looking at the linguistic demands

052of a lesson and then what are the linguistic challenges and then planning accordingly. Um we've also uh integrating the science of reading for multilingual learners. New York State issued uh five I think it's five briefs maybe six um that are really focused on what does the science of reading mean for multilingual learners? What does it mean when you are learning through two or more languages? So it it it pays particular attention to language development. We also continue to um embed data literacy. So, I meet with the ENL department uh departments because there's the elementary and then there's the uh secondary and we're looking at data. We're looking at student data. How are we supporting students based on their needs in tier one? And one of the things we're doing is creating individualized or small group

053support plans for the students. um implementing them for 6 weeks and then coming back and sharing what the outcomes were, what was the data, what what are some patterns that we're seeing. Um and it's been very interesting because it's almost teachers have to go public with their practice in these sessions. They have to share what they've done. They have to share what they what has worked and what perhaps hasn't worked. And it's been a very interesting collaborative experience, right? to look at the profile of students and be able to say this is something that I'm going to try. I have a list of tier one strategies. We're going to implement this whether it's reading, writing, speaking, or listening. And then we're going to discuss what um what the outcomes are. So, as part of our

054equity focus this year, we continue to foster and I want to say celebrate bilingual and biiteracy in Austining because amazingly we're in year 23 of our dual language program and that's an incredible achievement. um dual language in Austining. Uh it this is one of the oldest and largest programs in the region and it really a testament to the um community's um commitment to fostering bilingualism and biiteracy and cross-cultural competence. So as part of our dual language efforts this year, we're providing professional development for our teachers. We're continuing with our trans languaging work um with a partnership through Bank Street College. Um and trans languaging is really how do we make explicit connections between our two languages, English to Spanish, Spanish to English, but that doesn't come naturally, right? That has to be explicit, explicitly taught,

055explicitly bridged. So, we continue to build our teachers capacity to make those connections. We've done a lot of work with trans languaging and literacy. This year we're shifting our our focus to content. We're going to focus on science. So taking a science unit and what are those opportunities for trans languaging so that students can see the connection between their languages. We've been refining our uh MTSS guidance. Um Miss um Mson is here and we've been working together on really looking at what are the characteristics of students who may need additional tiered support. um and really ensuring that we're making equitable language informed decisions for our bilingual learners because our bilingual learners don't have two separate brains, right? They are one person with one brain learning two languages and we really have to look at them

056holistically both in their first and their second language. Um this year we celebrate that we have three Spanish AIS teachers and very grateful for the board's support. Um, we have AIS teacher, an AIS teacher at Park, one at Brookside, and one at Claremont. And I want to shout them out. Mr. Reyes, and um, Miss Himenez and Miss Bonville. I mean, they're pioneers. They are the first Spanish AIS teachers in Austin, and they're doing amazing work. They're working with our our English learners, our Spanish learners, and they have uh currently served in the first cycle 108 students and have exited many of those students. And myself and Miss Mson and the principles are meeting quarterly with that team to ensure that the model is tight and that we really are providing the supports to our dual

057language learners in the language that they need. Um, so as we look at um at our dual language learners, we really try to triangulate data and use a bilingual profile. And the bilingual profile again is looking at our students and how they learn in both of their languages. Um, we look at growth using multiple measures to understand their progress as bilingual learners. So we use the ARC ERA, the ENAL, NWA, we use the NISLAT, we use the ELA exams, um classroom assessments, writing products, even their oral language in the classroom. So I think it's critical that we look at multiple data points when we're looking at the bilingual learner. And we and and I have to say often some of the assessments that are out there and even some of the assessments that we use

058may not be entirely designed for the bilingual learner. That's a that's a struggle. I think things are better, but it's a struggle that we continue to have and that many districts continue to have. It's not, you know, the assessment is in English, ala, Spanish or in Spanish ala English. It may not entirely be suitable. So, we always have to kind of look and dig deep into the data to see what story it's telling us. Um, so the uh dual language program aims for long-term bilingualism and biiteracy. This is when I our parents sign up for dual language. There's a little line at the bottom where they have to say they're in this for the long run because language development takes a long time. The research shows that it takes 5 to seven years um for

059you to acquire advanced proficiency in a second language. And those of us who try to learn a second or a third language know that it's not that easy. Social language comes, kids can master that easily, but that academic fluency takes time. So it's not uncommon to see students who are on grade level in their home language but are not yet there in their second language. Right? And our consultant from Bank Street always says if you're on grade level in your home language, you are on grade level. We are supporting you to lift up the level of your second language. So um and kids typically have a dominant language. we just want to lift up their second language and we want to ensure that there's that transfer between languages but that transfer takes time and um

060we need to remember that we need to look at our bilingual learn uh learners through a language acquisition lens which is not a deficit lens right it's just they're learning and progressing and developing in their second language I do recognize and I think we all recognize in dual language that for our students who are native native English speakers who are um learning Spanish as their second language, the trajectory may be different. And part of that is because they have far more exposure to English in the in the community, in the media. Um they may be speaking Spanish in class but don't necessarily have opportunities to read, write, and produce extended academic responses outside of school. So even though for our English learners, English is everywhere, for our Spanish learners, Spanish is not necessarily everywhere. And

061so we tell parents, please try to find opportunities in the community to expose them to more Spanish. I work closely with the children's librarian at the Austining Public Library, Miss Lopez, to ensure that they are offering programs that support our English learners and our Spanish learners to provide additional exposure. Um that said, we do monitor students closely because if a student is struggling across modalities um or if some of the struggle persists over time, then we need to look at that closely and see what that means in terms of the students bilingual development. I'm going to share some um some NWA and ERA and Anneal data. And then this has been I believe you saw some of this when Miss Mayer presented but here you will see it disagregated by the subgroups. So you have

062your not English learner or your not L's who have never been English learners. You have your English learners and then you have your former English learners. So students who have exited the program exited ENL services and and ENL ELLL status but are but are still in the dual language program. So MAP uh NWA MAP reading fluency is a test of English prof is not a test of English proficiency but of reading development. Um so you can see that students scoring uh at the well there's a correlation between NWA and the potential of students scoring um concurrently on the um on the New York State assessment. So if students are at the low level, they're not on track to earn proficient on the ELA assessment. So if we look at this data, the distribution of nonL's,

063which is the orange, is pretty much um across all levels. But if we look at the L's, there's a disproportionate representation um in low and low average, right? This is not their their um native language. Um, and fluency is not automatic for for students, right? So, while they're being tested, they may still be reading slowly. They may be reading cautiously, which may lower their fluency score. They may pause to process to make meaning because this is not their first language. So, this is data that we continue to review and look at and look at the implications for programming. Um, this is the Spanish data for NWA. Again, we see a large representation in low and low average. Um, again, speaks to um, challenges perhaps with Spanish decoding and vocabulary and syntax. Also brings up a

064lot of wonderings when I look at this data with the principles. Is this is the assessment aligned to our our curriculum? Is this an appropriate assessment for our Spanish and our English learners? Those are sometimes wonderings. So, we're looking at individual students within the data, but we're also looking at what are some potential implications for the program. For example, do we need to increase the level of Spanish in some way? We recognize that we create daily schedules that are supposed to be 50% uh Spanish and 50% English. that sometimes is not a reality when your, for example, your specials are all in English. We've tried to find bilingual staff who can do the specials in Spanish to increase the level of Spanish. um not going to share this evening a potential plan for the middle

065school model, but the intention there, which I'm hoping we can share at some future date, is to increase the level of Spanish at the middle school level so that it's very similar to elementary and that we can continue to support students bilingual development. And the increase in in Spanish would be through the content areas. So that they're not solely receiving in grade seven and eight their Spanish instruction through world language, but it's more authentic through content areas the way that they've had it at the elementary level. This is the um ARC ERA which is the English assessment for our dual language students and this is by performance level and this is a comparison from 2425 from fall to spring. So you can see the growth um for students who have been in a dual language

066program. So, um, if I just choose, for example, grade 2, um, 84% of non-English learners were proficient in the fall and that increased to 96% in the spring. And for English learners, they started at 7% and that increased to 36% proficient in the spring. And for our AR for our former English learners, they went from 44% proficiency to 100% proficiency. And that's a little bit of a pattern that our former English learners are really making tremendous growth in the data. This is similar um breakdown but this is the anal which is a Spanish assessment. Again if we select grade 2 uh our non-L's went from 51 to 79%. Our L's went from 69% to 91% proficient and our former L's went from 94 to 100% proficient. So again this is diagnostic data that informs daily

067instruction and small group instruction in the classrooms. Another data point and as I said we need to triangulate all our um data points. So again, this is the data that we review on an ongoing basis with the administrative team, with our principles to make decisions about pro programs, individual students, um, and if any shifts need to be made in language allocation for the program because we could we need to continue to pivot and refine the program to be responsive to the students who are in front of us. Um, I just want to share an anecdote because yesterday was a really good day. I was at the high school for an ENL demo and I was early. So I stepped into our uh Sunni ed prep program which is for students who are considering careers in

068education. And I spoke to two students. One um arrived in this country from Peru when he was in fourth grade. He was in dual language. Within a few years he exited services. He has just been accepted to multiple colleges, but he was accepted to a very selective program in the school of education at Syracuse University. So that was amazing. And then the second student was a Spanish learner. She's a native English speaker. She was engaging with me in Spanish and she is a language buddy or a tutor for a second grade student at Brookside. Uh helping her with her Spanish. Right. So when I say we have to be in there for the long run, these were two kids who just yesterday out of the blue are and they want to be future educators. Like

069I can't get better than that. I told them I'm going to see you in a few years back in Austining as bilingual educators. So that was um just just stories and there are multiple stories about the impact of our dual language program. Um, in terms of family and community engagement, because we can't do our work without partnership with parents, we continue to have ENL um, parent nights to inform parents of their rights, to provide information about services to their students, and also how they can support learning at home. We have dual language information sessions for incoming, preK, and kindergarten families. Those are coming up soon. But I also have phone calls and meetings with parents throughout the year who have questions about dual language. With the help of our office of technology, we were able

070to um place the nicest like parent reports. So these are the score reports that the Rick our our rating center mails to parents, but we now also have them on the parent portal. So parents can see them, our our teachers can see them, and our amazing ENL team in November during that parent teacher first parent teacher conference reviews the report with families so they have a clear understanding of where their children are in terms of their language development and their movement toward proficiency. Um, one of the ENL teachers at Brookside had a great uh idea to recognize students in grades one and two who exited ENL services through the NASA slat because Park and Brookside win the prize. They are the two buildings that exit the highest number of English learners. So, it was just

071a way to recognize that and bring in their families and that was a lovely, lovely event. And we continue to have building and classroom celebrations with our dual language families and our ENL families. Those writing celebrations are very popular and it really helps parents to understand what their children are learning but also see their writing products. And in our dual language classrooms, those are usually bilingual writing products. So it's very impressive. And through our title three funding, we continue to pro um support prians to nurture um leadership and mentorship within our community for our families. And just some additional highlights. Um we engaged in a world language uh internal review of the checkpoint exams that we've been utilizing um in order to ensure they're consistent and there's rigor across our world language um assessments and

072to recommend any revisions or replacements of the exams. So that work is ongoing through our title 3 L funding. We did not receive title 3 immigrant funding this year, but we did receive title 3 ELLL funding. We are offering additional regions review sessions at Austining High School on Saturdays for students. Um, we are providing newcomer support within STAR at AMD for some students who need support with foundational skills, social language, but even just being welcoming to the welcome to the community and engaging with caring and supportive adults in the school. Um letters for the dual language morning program are going out tomorrow and that is um morning program for dual language students. If they need support in English, they will get it in English. If they need support in Spanish, they will get it in

073Spanish. Um and the program will run January through the end of March. Our goal is to enroll 90 to 100 in student 90 to 100 students in the three buildings. Um, concurrently with that program, we're going to offer one section at Brookside and one section at Claremont to support transitioning through expanding L's because that nice to slat data is showing that that that writing is the area where we need to support kids to move them and to really ace that exam, right, and to um really exit services. So, one section each um we anticipate about 30 students in that program. We continue our work with the CELO biliteracy and this year we will have a visit from the state education department from the office of bilingual and world languages. They are going to sit in

074on the students panels presentations. They're doing that with districts who have had the seal for multiple years and have have had increasing number of students receive the seal. So they'll be sitting in on the panels and they'll be giving us feedback which we welcome as we continue to strengthen that program. And then something I'm very personally excited about is a partnership um through the budget process that we hope will come to fruition with Sienna University. Um the ENL program requires standalone classes and um there's not a lot of guidelines from the state on what that should look like except that it's to support language development. So Sienna University has been working with other districts in terms of developing curriculum for standalone through a humanities lens. So really social studies using social studies using content to

075support students to develop language and the and we visited another district and we saw consistency across um classrooms and they say they're having really good results. So um we're hoping I've reached out to them. They've written written amazing articles and they've done work and we're hopeful that this can be curriculum work that we begin this summer and throughout next year and I think it really will strengthen our program. We're focusing on K to 12. Um secondary would be the focus. So um and that's it. Thank you very much. All right. Thank you. Um and I want you to stick with us for questions. Does anybody at the board want to begin? Just right on that last thought, I just um did you say we're focusing on K to 12 or secondary will be the focus?

076>> I'm sorry. 6 through 12. >> 6 through 12. Okay. Thank you. >> My bad. >> Maybe I'm sorry. >> 6 to 12. >> Yeah. Anybody want to start? >> Thanks. Thank you for the presentation. It's very interesting every year. My mic on. >> Um so I have a couple of questions just out of curiosity for that first slide where um you show the children born outside the US. There's that chunk of 20.5% others. Is that not broken out because it's too many countries with too many students? >> It's too many countries. It may be one student from this country, one student from another. >> Okay. >> I mean, we have it on a spreadsheet, but to represent it in this way. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um, and then for dual language, do you have

077or is there data on students with disabilities within the program and kind of like how they do, >> which I don't need right now. I'm just curious if it exists. >> Yeah. So we can we can get that to you. We do have the number of students who are in dual language um who are also classified who have 504 IEPs and we can definitely get you that number. I mean we we encourage families to apply. I think sometimes there's a misconception in the community that if your child receives um special education services they cannot be in dual language. That's on a case by case. I think even particularly within the Latino community, there is this um this storyline that if your child, let's say, receives um speech services, they can't be in dual language. So,

078that's something that we try to dismantle with conversations with parents, but we can get that data for you. >> Thank you. I remember having that conversation when my oldest was entering kindergarten just asking if it was possible or you know not really something that a child with speech services should be doing and I remember you saying no everybody can apply. >> Yep. >> Um and then for you said you mentioned the temporary lags and the language development stages. Do those result in lower scores for kids and does that hurt them in terms of like report card? >> Well, it can result in lower scores on the report card. I think what what we need to focus on is the child progressing? Is the child moving? And I think those are the questions that parents can

079ask of teachers. Um is, you know, is my child in the third year and they're still on the same level or is my child moving? I think those are the questions, right? Because language development is highly variable, right? I have had parents who say, you know, my firstborn did really well in dual language and my second born just this isn't for them, right? It is highly variable. I think we need to look at gradual progression, but the we should anticipate that they're growing. I mean, the grow the the the goal is for them to be simultaneously bilingual. That takes a while, right? But that is the goal. And I always encourage parents, have a conversation with the teacher, have them keep you informed as to how they're progressing in their second language if you're concerned

080about that. But we also know that we have to give it time. >> I really liked how you explained that it's not just about the testing scores or the grades that they get, but it is about that language development. I was just curious how that worked within, you know, their GPA, but it seemed like there's more of a holistic picture that's looked at with the kids. Yes, we do have to score them on the report card, but again, I think also we need to understand what that means. >> Thank you so much. Those are all my questions. >> You're welcome. >> Frank or Melissa, do either of you have any questions? >> Okay. >> Yeah, I have a couple and then just for the sake of brevity, if I have others, I can email them.

081Um, I was wondering if you have data on, um, I know that there are families that enter into the program and then decide it's not for them. Do you have any data on the dropout rates of um, I mean, I guess I I don't know, both ENL students and then native English students and I'd be interested in looking at trends of that over a few years to get a better understanding of what that looks like. Um, and then I was wondering in terms of the, you know, nice to slot percentages and the percent exiting ELLL status and the English proficiency levels and the graduation rates. Um I'm wondering how this compares to other districts in the region who have um dual language programs just to kind of get like a benchmark or sense of >>

082really sort of I don't have any frame of reference. >> Okay. >> So I would be just interested in understanding that a little bit more. Um, and then Annie asked a question that I had. Um, in terms of the Spanish AIS, which is great to hear. Can you help us understand what the qualifications are for students who are meeting with the AIS teachers? >> Okay. Um, so I think there were a couple of questions in here. The data on attrition, we periodically run that report and we can get that for you including the reasons. The numbers are not huge. Um and we typically know the reasons why because the principles say you have to speak to Miss Dela Cruz Royo. It's a conversation, right? We we need to understand it's almost like an ex exit

083interview. So we can get that number for you. In terms of comparison to other districts, we can pull that as well. I don't know that that's disagregated by dual language program because the graduation rate is basically looking at a snapshot of English learners in the district, not necessarily those that are in dual language. but we can see if there's anything out there that we can provide. Um, and then your last question was about AIS. Again, we I have that I don't have that accessible to me right now. Um, but we can provide for you the AIS criteria for uh tiered supports. >> Okay, great. >> And that includes both English and and Spanish. And then the other notation I had here was on slide nine. We had a special education of English learners placement and

084the special education uh percentage was 11.9 but I think we heard from our demographer tonight that the overall district rate is 14.9. So I was just wondering if there is if anyone has taken a look at the discrepancy and like what sort of accounts for >> this is English learners who are students with disabilities, >> right? So this is this is the subgroup of L's who are duly identified, >> right? I I understand. So what I'm wondering is so overall as a district worth 14.9, this subgroup is a little bit less than that. Is that statistically significant in any way? Is it a matter of maybe they'll be maybe more will be classified later? Maybe it's more difficult to assess because they're still acquiring. >> I'm just curious. Okay. All right. Um, I see I

085I see we have a few more questions at the table. I see Rob's hands up on the screen. So, I'll get the questions from uh the rest of us in person and then I'll I'll get to Rob. Um, >> Frank, you were still waiting. >> No, I'm gonna do the table first and then Rob. >> Okay, got it. >> Okay. Um, all right. So, a couple of things. I I just think in terms of student achievement, right? And one of the things we can do, we have um you know, at at the end when you are in high school, you're you've already gone through the K through 8 um dual language program. Um and one of the things that sticks in my mind over the several board meetings is the number of students that actually

086participate in sea of bi literacy relative to the number of students who've actually gone through dual language um from K through eight. That number of the number of students who actually have received their seal of biiteracy was about 60. uh and that's a very tiny fraction of a number relative to the larger um larger population of those who are in dual language. So I I I wonder like based upon you know that and then I also think about in terms of other things that we've talked about in the past especially when you come back prior presentations around the structure of writing around um sentence structure reading vocabulary um having that um colloquial understanding of of some of the ways some of the expressions uh the vernacular having the right level of understanding or conjugation um

087how how is all of that coming to play as we look at what will build student success for dual language learners? What's what's your how do how do we do that? And I'd love to get your thoughts on. >> So um regarding the seal by literacy, our number this year is uh 75 little higher than 75 small but it's increasing. Um just couple of points there. We continue to try to um encourage students to pursue the SEAL. We're starting earlier. We're starting when they transition from the middle school to the high school. We're working on digital portfolios. We want them to get their materials ready because what happens in the senior year is some many students become overwhelmed and they just don't follow through. So, we're working with um Mr. Cook and Miss Sosa who

088are the bi literacy adviserss to start earlier. Many students already this year have completed all the requirements. I do want to say from the English learner perspective um there are barriers and not just here in Austining but statewide and even nationwide for um districts who have seal of bi literacy. There's a real challenge for our English learners in getting that 85 in 11th grade and 12th grade ELA to qualify for the seal. There are real challenges in getting an A in the English regions if you're an English learner. So I think the numbers will continue to grow. I'm hopeful that in the shift to New York inspires which is really going to focus on these seals um that perhaps won't have an English regent as a barrier and they can demonstrate their learning in other

089ways that um we will have more students. So I think it's it's complex but for our English learners it's that English regions it's very very difficult. Um, your second question in terms of how do we continue to build, you know, grammar and structure and syntax, this is all embedded in what our teachers do on a daily basis. And I'm I'm actually seeing more and more evidence of it, I need to say, as our teachers have become more confident with using the ARC resources, right? Because they were so they were so attentive to doing everything that was in the manual, but now they know good teaching is good teaching. And when we see that there are structures and needs that our students have in in uh even sentence level writing, right, we're giving that more attention

090and really supporting our teachers to support our students. So that's really embedded in a lot of what they do, not just in literacy, but also through content. So we've seen growth in that. and the principles and I take learning walks in dual language for example and we're looking we sometimes recently we took a walk miss and I just to look at the learning environment to see how we're bridging and how we're supporting students in those particular areas even in kindergarten and we're seeing more and more evidence of that. Um I do think that again as we strengthen the dual language model in middle school and potentially through high school we are going to see more immersion. We made a choice 23 years ago. We did not want a foreign language program or a flesh program.

091We wanted an immersion program. So, how do we continue to immerse our kids? And I think having more time in Spanish, particularly in the content areas and even in the middle school is going to increase our number of CIA bio literacy recipients. That's my hope and my dream. Do you mind briefly, because I get asked this question a lot and I know the answer right now, but do you mind briefly for anybody who's watching explaining as it exists right now, what's the end of the dual language program look like? And then what does the rest of junior high look like for those students typically? So, our students from uh prek to middle school, not high school. >> Okay. Pre prek to five, they receive literacy instruction in both languages on a daily basis and they

092receive content area instruction in both languages. it alternates, right? So, um it may be science, you know, one unit in Spanish and one unit in English, but it's a 50/50 over time. So, they're exposed to Spanish and English in both literacy and content. When we get to grade six, up until last year, they were only receiving literacy instruction in both languages. This year, we were able to add social studies and it's been a game changer. Even the kids are saying that Miss Wanka is a teacher and they said, "Oh my god, this makes so much more sense because they're supported in content, but it's literacy through content." So, right now, grade six has um two periods of literacy, English and Spanish, and then they have social studies. Um our goal for the following year would

093be continue to build that over the next three years so that in grade seven currently they receive world language Spanish. And that's only one component of a bilingual program. So we want to ensure that we can support and continue to add to that. So right now in grade seven and grade eight, it's Spanish 2A and Spanish 2B. It's a world language course, >> which counts for one credit of world language acquisition for the regions, right? >> Two credits, Mary, because they get credit for the checkpoint A in um grade six, >> right? But you need three years of world language. So if you do grades seven and eight, you get credit for one high school year. >> Yes. >> So they exit. >> They exit with that and then they get two years at the

094high school. >> But that has a that's a world language component. And so um it almost feels like we take our kids to grade six and then just kind of drop it off. So we want to continue to lift the level of bilingual and it also would mean mandates for part 154 for our English learners. >> Thank you. You're welcome, >> Greg. >> So, thank you. I've got lots of questions, but I'm going to stick with two hopefully quick. Um, the nine dimensions of scaffolding and the work with Dr. Horn. So, can you give maybe just a couple of highlights of kind of things that we've taken at the district from that work? >> That's there's a lot in that. It's it's an amazing book, but it's really a framework for looking at what are

095the cognitive demands and how can we scaffold for some cognitive demands of instruction. Um, how can we look at linguistic demands? How can we look at some of the effective needs of our English learners? So, it's nine different dimensions. And then she lays out a framework and some recommendations for what you can do in planning your learning environment, in planning your instruction to address those nine dimensions, right? And honestly, this isn't just for multilingual learners. It's for all learners. So, it's just good teaching and good approaches. It's very similar to what we believe in in the SCP model that it's good instruction. So again, it's we're looking at a lesson. What are the linguistic demands? And you're my co-teer. What are the linguistic demands? And then what are the linguistic challenges? How can we anticipate

096what kids might have difficulty with so that we can provide additional resources? Perhaps it's a glossery, perhaps it's a word wall, perhaps it's a modified text, perhaps it's a translation, right, of something so that they can have access to the content while they continue to learn the language. So it's and and the book is chalk full of different strategies that I I know our teachers are implementing. Next step is she's coming back in February and we're going to do intervisitation. So some of our teachers have volunteered to deliver lessons and they're going to be observed by their peers and then she has a protocol for sitting around kind of like in a fishbowl and you bombard the teacher pair with compliments and then you have wonderings right so again teachers are supporting each other in

097this practice and we have some brave teachers who say I'll do it because it's going to help me in in growing my capacity and it's going to help my colleagues Great. Thank Thank you. Um, very interesting. I look forward to learning more about it. Um, >> I'll send you the book. >> The um the regent review at the high school, not necessarily for tonight, but I guess if you have it, that'd be great, but if not, what are the numbers served? What's the need? How often are they meeting? Like clearly, you know, with students exiting, you know, the English language learners, we see that success so high. Some of that is is you know what can we do in the high school to help people get over that hump? >> We can um I can

098ask Miss Langley. Um we we have regent review sessions. I think the title three funding allows us to to provide additional sessions sections in times that may be more um comfortable for our students. And that's why we chose Saturday mornings. But she was still enrolling students and teachers were recommending students. But we can definitely get you a number. be great. Just I think as a as a budget aspect, it'd be helpful to know how many we think the need is, how many can we serve, what are the obstacles and that was something Miss Langley mentioned during hers. You're absolutely right, Frank. I think Nancy made a good point, an excellent point in describing the seal of biiteracy. It's like it's an 80 on that ELA New York State regions exam. And then Nancy, correct me,

099it's an overall 85 your last two years as a class average in ELA. Yes, correct. >> So again, you're seeing multiple reasons as to the why behind your question, right? >> Thank you. >> Owen, you have a question? >> Yeah, I just have one question. At the uh at the high school level, you mentioned that there are um co-english teachers um with the with the um >> ENL teacher. >> Yeah. Yeah. Um does that go with different subjects as well? like is there is there um bilingual uh social studies, science, like how is that um kind of integrated throughout the subject? >> So, good question. We um New York State requires that we provide what we call integrated co-integrated classes to support English learners. So, that means that you have to have a certain number

100of minutes in a class with an ENL teacher, right? And then if you're entering or emerging level, then you have a separate class with that ENL teacher. Um, currently our model is that we meet those mandated minutes within an ELA class and really it's the capacity that we have with our staffing. We do right now have some support I think for American history. So, so for some of the regions courses, if we can have the staff then that's above and beyond the mandate, but we recognize that because sometimes there's a lot of um language demands in those classes, we want to be able to support them. Regarding the bilingual um sections, we have Spanish-sp speakaking sections, but we can't call them bilingual sections. Teachers support students with English and Spanish. And the reason we can't

101call them bilingual sections is because it's very difficult to staff the classes with teachers who have certification in the content area, but are also bilingually certified. So, because you have to have both in order for us to say that it's a bilingual class. And so we try and we try and we try we try to recruit teachers. We compete with all the districts in the region, but we are trying to increase the number of bilingually certified content area teachers at the secondary level. We have grants. We're paying for teachers to get their bilingual certification. Somehow we can't get the the content area teachers to get the bilingual certification. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thanks for your patience, Rob. Um you're free to ask your question. >> Great. Thank you. Um so appreciate the presentation,

102Nancy. Just my um just also first wanted to echo the requests from Annie and Katherine. I would agree that those data requests at some point would be fantastic. Uh my big question which is sort of made up of my one question for the day which is sort of made up of a bunch of little ones is just referring back yes to slide number nine. um just understanding like the model that we've got in place 71% of L's in dual language 17% in the uh ENL cluster I guess um I would like to know and maybe other board members as well based on their questioning would like to understand like I think that the deck is strong in putting like how dual language students are per performing but I'd be curious to see the outcomes between

103dual language and the other L placements. So we could understand like does that model mix 71% how's that doing? So I think to get to that I guess a formal request would be if assuming others agree that do we have the disagregated data for how L's are doing in dual language versus the clusters versus special education you know how long it takes each to exit and overall scoring and then the other part of this is how do academic outcomes look for native English-sp speakaking students I I think Katherine you were asking around this as well um in in dual language right because right the dual language program is like a biiteracy model right we have this and we have that so we want to make sure it's serving the needs of our um L's but

104also those students who are in the program as native speakers. So that's like a couple of small questions rolled up to um can we get some more data to be able to effectively compare the model mix that we've got in place between dual language for L's and L's in the ENL cluster that percentage and how native English speakers in dual language are doing as well academically and otherwise. >> We can we can do that. We've looked at some of that data. We haven't compiled a report. I mean the research shows that students native English speakers in dual language program tend to out outperform native English speakers in in non-dual language programs right because there's something about learning about language and through languages and that whole um metal linguistic but we can definitely pull that data

105and it would be interesting to see the outcomes for our different groups in the different models. >> Thank you all. Are you keeping track of the requests? [laughter] >> Um, I do want to echo Rob's s curiosity, I guess, about the effectiveness of for an ELLL student of being sorry, I can't make eye contact. You were in a weird place. Um, of being in an ENL cluster versus being in a dual language placement for ELLL kids. like how quickly are they moving, you know, progressing on the nicest slide, for example. >> We would have to I before we even run that, do I have to say we we would have to look perhaps at comparing entering level of proficiency, >> right? >> Um so that it would be right because sometimes um if we have

106a student who's coming from another district who's at the expanding level who's never had instruction in Spanish, we're not placing them into a language. we're putting them in a cluster, but they're already at the expanding level, right? So, we'd have to think about how we do that. Like, would we take a group of just kids who entered at the lowest level of proficiency in ENL in the ENL cluster and in dual language and see how they perform? So, we have to think that through. Yes. Um, I have two questions. >> In slides 21 through 24, these are all the data slides. Mhm. Um I might need some clarity cuz when I look at slide 24, it shows ENL dual language students by performance level. Right? So this is the AR ARC reading >> assessment given

107in Spanish. And what I see, wow, it looks really great. So many kids are proficient or above. Even in some cases 100% efficient. Um like if you look at for example second grade former ELLL is 100% proficient on their ENL uh ENL in dual language but then when I look at NWA with the understanding that these are different assessments that may measure different things. >> Yeah. >> I see like 55% of the kids low average and low. >> Yeah. >> So how do you how do you square that or am I misinterpreting this? >> I'm I'm still trying to square it. Like I I even today did some research as to what each measures, right? One is a formative assessment, one is a standardized assessment. Um I think one is a diagnostic assessment. They're two

108very different assessments meas measuring two different things. So I I can't give you an answer right now because I'm still trying to kind of reconcile. One is the one that's very user friendly. It's in the classroom. It's it's targeting daily instruction. The other one is really looking at uh students growth. Um I think based on the norm. I did hear recently that um NWA had revised their norms for the English assessment for not for the Spanish assessment to account for COVID loss. There's also some um discrepancy in terms of the norms because the sample for Spanish is much smaller. So that's something that I'm still trying to dig in and process because data brings up some wonderings for us in terms of performance for both for all three language groups, not L's, L's, and former

109L's. >> Well, we'll both wonder about it then because I was thinking maybe could I be reading this wrong? So we we'll wonder about it. Um my last question is about slide 12 and I guess 13 is where it's listed out that we have an increasing number of students exiting ELLL status. Mhm. >> And that numbers it looks to be, you know, steadily but slowly increasing. >> What do you I guess my question is what do you attribute that to and what is a a good target for that? You know, obviously there's always going to be kids entering so >> it could be very volatile. It could be a fluke or not. >> I don't know that we could have a target, right? Because every year you have different levels of proficiency within your cohorts.

110I would attribute it to two things. Number one, we don't have as many newcomer students. Students have been here for a while and they're moving along the language development um continuum. But number two, I would also say that our very intentional and targeted professional development to build teacher capacity to build their data literacy has supported them really looking at differentiating instruction and really we've had even teachers who've piloted things. We had a teacher at Claremont ENL teacher who says I'm going to do journal writing every Monday just to get them into the practice of journal writing just to get them into that habit of writing and her students did incredibly well on the nicest lot right so we're trying different things to engage students and to support them and meet them where they are so

111I think that also I think could attribute to this >> thank you um if anybody on the board thinks of more questions I know Frank mentioned he may have had more questions. You can send them to me. I'll make a list and send it to Mary and um >> she'll she'll send it off. >> All right. >> Um because there is a lot to uh chew on here. >> So, thank you so much. I appreciate >> you. Have a good evening. >> Appreciate how much is in here. [laughter] >> It's a lot. >> All right. Moving ahead, we find ourselves at our first period of audience recognition uh intended for agenda items only. Uh is there anybody here in public who wishes to speak? No. Okay. Uh is there anybody online? It's nice. I kind

112of see people raising their hand now because I can see the screen over there. That's kind of nice. All right. Uh we'll move through uh uh we come to our consent agenda item four. Uh I'll take a motion for 4.1 and 4.2. >> So moved. >> Second. >> 4.1 resolution to appoint an additional consultant for the 2025 2026 school year. 4.2 resolution to approve a facilities use agreement with Pace University. I'll take a vote uh of those in present first. All in favor? I >> opposed abstensions. Now I'll take a vote for those attending virtually. Um you can raise your digital hand or you can raise your actual hand. Okay. All in favor? >> Thanks. Oh, he's got his mic on. Fabulous. All right. We'll let the record show that Trusty Melstein voted in favor.

113Moving on to uh item five. Does anybody have And I apologize. I forgot to ask if anybody needed to break either of those last items out. Um, does anybody have uh anything in five that they wish to break out? In that case, I'll take a motion for 5.1 through 5.4. >> So move. >> Second. >> 5.1 Resolution to pay 2025 2026 school tax collected for property located at 19 Siri Lane to the Chapla School District. 5.2 Resolution regarding certiary refund payment terraces on the Hudson. 5.3 Resolution to accept funds collected for the sale of disposed assets scrap metal. 5.4 resolution regarding interfund transfers. Any discussion? Um I'll take a vote for of all those in present first. All in favor? >> I >> opposed abstensions. Now I'll take a vote for those attending virtually. All

114those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Uh we'll let the record show that trustee Melstein voted in favor uh for um our consent agenda in item six personnel matters. Does anybody have anything they wish to break out? All right, seeing none uh before we uh take a motion on this. I just want to highlight again, I think Mary mentioned it at the beginning of the meeting, we have some um staff resignations for the purposes of retirement and I want to thank those uh staff members on behalf of the board of education for their dedication to the Austining school district and the Austining community. I'm sure they'll get their their flowers as the school year progresses and comes to a close later in the year. Um I'll take a motion for 6.1 through 6.13. So

115moved. 6.1 Resolution regarding professional staff resignations. 6.2 Resolution regarding confidential staff resignations. 6.3 Resolution regarding bus attendant termination. 6.4 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments. 6.5 Resolution regarding confidential staff appointments. 6.6 Resolution regarding civil service staff appointments. 6.7 Resolution regarding professional staff appointments before after school programs. 6.8 8 Resolution regarding support staff appointments before after school programs. 6.9 Resolution regarding APR annual professional performance review accountability. 6.10 Resolution regarding PDM substitute removals. 6.11 Resolution regarding PDM substitute appointments. 6.12 Resolution regarding approval of school volunteers. 6.13 Resolution regarding support staff requests for a leave of absence. I'll take a vote for the members who are here in person first. All in favor? I >> opposed. Abstensions. Now I'll take a vote for those attending virtually in all those in favor. I >> thanks. Uh please let the record

116show the trustee Meline voted in favor. All right. Next is we have a first reading for our board policies. This is a resolution to adopt revised policy number 1120 school district records as a first reading. Um, I can speak on this as a policy committee member, although Mary may have some better things to say than me. I believe that this is um updated based on law reviewed by our attorney to comply with foil requests. Am I correct on that? I'm trying to remember, >> yes. >> Yeah. Do we want any further discussion on it? All right. In that case, I'll take a motion on 7.1. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I'll read it again. 7.1 resolution to adopt revised policy number 1120, school district records as a first reading. Any further discussion? I'll take

117a vote first for those in person. All in favor? >> I opposed. Abstensions. Now I'll take a vote for those attending virtually. Uh those in favor >> I >> thanks. Uh we'll let the record show that Trusty Nelstein voted in favor. We come now to our second audience recognition period for any school business. Um seeing no one here to speak in public in person, is there anybody online who wishes to speak? I'm seeing none, right? I think I can see from here. Okay, we'll move ahead now on to board reports and dialogue joining. Um, we'll take first updates from committees. If somebody I know curriculum committee met today, but if somebody wants to listen to somebody else's voice instead of mine, give that update, that would be great. Okay. >> Um, sure. So, we had

118our second curriculum review committee meeting which was um was very great. There's a lot of feedback. Um there were some items of potential curriculum review that were thrown out which I think Mary you were going to put is someone putting that together in a report and then >> Maria okay and then that'll be circulated to the rest of the board so that you can get up to speed on what was discussed. I think that um there was a lot of really great dialogue and I think the plan is to sit with it for a little bit before um we come to make any kind of recommendation of what I guess would be initially reviewed first and then but everything that was discussed will probably eventually go on a list of candidates to go into a

119cycle of review. >> Fair. >> Yeah. >> Okay. [laughter] Yeah. Um, any other committee updates? >> I have to say there were uh uh no bad suggestions made today. It was all I want to thank the three board trustees for bringing unique and different perspectives to it. to the um heads of our collective bargaining groups to the administrators that came. It was an excellent meeting and a lot of really great dialogue and and collaboration and understanding and questions which is what it's all about. So, >> and collaboration being bolded and underscored. That's what it was. >> Yes, it was. Right. Excellent. >> Um did you have an update? >> Calendar committee met. Mary and I were on there for about five minutes and efficient um for uh what is it? Communications committee met yesterday and

120I will be honest I have a headache and I can't remember much of what we talked about and Owen wasn't there because he had something else going on because he's very busy. [laughter] >> But we we did meet uh yet today. Yeah, today earlier this afternoon with uh Miss Langley um Nicole Reese uh another student and I met with Miss Langley to discuss student communication and strategies for that and we spoke about um really emphasizing um email communication for our students and um kind of approaching it as more as a of a lesson um and teaching our students the kind of life lesson of um checking their email and consistently checking their email. And then we also explored um sending out a student a weekly student newsletter um with updates for high school students. >>

121I will be impressed if you can move the needle on that. Very much so. [laughter] >> Coming out of it, we will have a um I know out of the um communications committee a newsletter on just on the facilities. Jared and I um looked at the draft of it today. Alita Jared and I will go over it right before our weekly facilities meeting uh Thursday which is tomorrow. Tomorrow right tomorrow. Okay. Um so anyway, a lot of really great progress and I just want to give a shout out to Nicole Reese for her work along that and to dovetail back to um Annie and the previous it was just a follow-up meeting to the first calendar committee meeting. uh not a lot of options or choices this year and the calendar the board will get

122it um in my update this week and everyone can take a look at it but it aligns 100% pretty much with PNW Boseies where we have over 200 students attending and a most districts actually I don't know any in the northern section that it might be a day or two that's a little different or something but um it tends to be for this year a pretty much a well aligned regional calendar. >> Um, one thing that I think was in the update that came up in the communications committee was that there are going to be reporters at Claremont and two of the third grade classrooms, Miss Anderson's class and Mr. Nash's class >> to see what it looks like to have low screen usage in the classroom. And I thought that was cool. Miss Anderson

123has also been doing the um I forgot what the name is, but she's been doing like the no phones, no social media presentations, right for parents. >> Can I just also ask I think that's actually a great topic is be curious to hear just how things are going in among students with the uh the the cell phone ban in school. >> Yeah. Um, so I haven't followed up with it yet, um, with the dean, but I think just from my perspective, looking around, it's gotten better. Students have adjusted to it. Um, if you go in like the common spaces like the library and the cafeteria, um, you you see a lot more conversations and you see um, people not on their phones. But I think the biggest difference has been in the classrooms. Um I

124I think you know last year we we had the rule that you're not supposed to have your your phones or and you had to put it in a cubby but it wasn't as enforced as it is this year obviously. So but I think with this more of an enforcement if you go into a classroom you'd see a lot more conversations and you'd see a lot more students engaged just because there is a stricter enforcement with the cell phones and the internet enabled devices. So, and I think overall honestly um kind of paper for me at least paper assignments are kind of coming back like um in my social studies class we have done a lot more work on paper than we have on the computers and um I think that's a good thing u because

125it's it's difficult to be on the computers the entire day. So yeah, >> we hear more about that another time perhaps. Um, I see Rob has his hand raised digitally. So, go ahead, Rob. >> Thanks, Sue. Uh, two really quick things. One, tied back to the curriculum committee. I think I was officially on it. And unfortunately, as much as I'd like to be on it, if the meetings are going to be sort of that midday going forward, it's just going to be hard for me to commit to it. So, I don't know if the board wants to reassign my role on that. Um, so that's one. And the other thing just as coming attractions if we're going to still be doing um ARC coming up in the next board meeting or so uh just heads

126up that and can do it via email just might submit a couple of questions for that as look at the presentation including just understanding um the budgetary spend that we have on ARC all in whether it's for the program itself the consultants the extra help consumables uh that's just common attractions that I might ask. So, just so um it's no surprises uh for for the next presentation, but I'll send those via email as well. But those are my two things. Thank you. >> Okay. Well, we'll look forward to the email. And in the meantime, um I'll leave it up to you. If you're sounds like you're stepping away from the committee, that's fine. Um, would you like to be the alternate or is should it are you would interested in kind of like kind of

127do you need to walk away from that? >> Um, >> yeah. I mean, and thank you for that offer. I mean, I would leave it up to others if there's someone else that wants to be the alternate. >> Okay. >> Sure. I I just if the time I understand the timing, I just won't be able to like necessarily commit to that. Some days it's possible I could jump on 10, 11, two during the day, some days not. And I just don't want to take that opportunity away from other board members uh for this very important committee. And obviously, you know, you're going to bring stuff back to the board table anyway, so I can still sort of be involved on on the on the outside. So >> and I think for you know all the

128reasons that we've been seeing for the past couple of committee meetings inerson um meetings for this particular um committee is pretty critical. So I mean I I don't I don't virtual would not have been able to function before this particular committee. So, >> um, yeah, that question did come up within the committee about when would be appropriate to meet and or and in what way would it be appropriate to meet and kind of the overwhelming consensus particularly from the staff was that they really appreciated the inperson meeting and found value in that after today especially I feel that's true. Um, so given that I know that Roger is a current alternate to me, it makes sense to promote him because he's expressed already an interest in joining that committee to promote him to a regular

129member. Um, is there anybody at the table who needs to make a passion passion argument against that or who would like to be an alternate? We don't need an alternate. We can always just if one of us is not going to be there, just send an email out to everybody and anybody can come. That's fine. Okay. So, um I can't make eye contact right now. I um in the past I asked I do we need to vote on that. She said in the in the past we have voted on that. So, we'll see something maybe at our next board meeting to make that uh official on our agenda. Um, I I wanted to highlight an email that we got a while ago from Lower Hudson Education Coalition that there is a public public education legislative

130ad uh public education legislative forum um where they are expecting New York State senators and assembly members to engage with local boards of education. that's on January 29th um from 7 to 900 PM via Zoom. So, I just wanted to highlight that um because I'm gonna try to make it, but um it seems like a good one to go to. So, I just wanted to I can re I can forward it to anybody who wants it. We got it because we got it like a month ago and I had wouldn't be mentioning it right now if I hadn't specifically made a note to myself to make sure I mentioned this. Um so, that I did want to mention that. Is there anything else for board dialogue? >> Just uh one more thing I think just

131as to >> before can we just on the finish out that education the LHC piece real quick. Um do we want to like are we going to are we planning on aligning on what we're advocating for there? Um because I would definitely want to advocate for the grants that we lost. So, I just wanted to make >> Yeah, that seems like a layup as far as I think we've already agreed to advocate for that in other venues. So, we could just be echoing the same kind of message that we already kind came to consensus on. I think for there were things that Frank and I forget what it was that Frank and Mary went to, but >> it was essentially an in-person meeting with all the legislators. Now, you're going to have an online one.

132So, Mary had all the the notes and high points, delivered it well to the room. So, >> I think I would continue those. >> Yeah. Okay. Got it. Just making sure. Thank you. Um >> I was I was giving a quick update on at um on January 31st um through the second. Um myself and Annie will be at the NISBA advocacy um institute meeting down in in um in Washington DC and um host that meeting. We expect to have um updates for the board on uh on some of the key um key points that were discussed and um and a quick summary of what um what happened down there. >> Thank you for doing that. >> Yeah. >> Great trip and uh try to get some federal funding. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Exactly. >> Good

133luck. >> Sorry, I just done that. Melissa, I know you want to talk. It's same topic. Um I had emailed the board with um NISBA's priorities and um had asked about scheduling meetings. Uh what I learned after the first meeting is that NISSBA does all the scheduling. So Roger and I are automatically pushed in with NISBA. So they're going to talk about every priority. >> Okay. Wow. >> Melissa, thank you for your patience. No, actually the intersection I was curious to follow up with what you know um that was going to look like because I knew that was coming up for them and I know Annie had reached out to us to see what if we wanted to chime in but you answered that question. So thank you all for making the trip. >> All

134right. Um a reminder that we have an executive session only next week and then the day after that on the 22nd we have our winter retreat. Just a reminder for everybody again, rent a retreat is back at the at the central office. Correct. >> Yes. And for anybody watching at home who thinks a retreat sounds like we go like put like eye masks on and kick our feet up with like fuzzy socks and warm drinks. That's not what it is. It's just a a meeting for us to discuss our own. >> Says it can't be [laughter] funny. >> But you know, I think people who don't know don't know. They think like, "Oh, what a nice time. They're going to be going on a nice retreat and it's really just a a meeting that doesn't

135have to take place in public because we discuss our own governance. >> We will get bottles of cucumber water along with along with some patches that go over the eyes for some >> Right. >> Just a reminder those the start times for those are uh 700 p.m. for both. >> Okay, that's what I thought. >> Um >> and exact sessions back again central office as well. Just a reminder for everybody. >> Okay. Um, at this time I'll take a motion to enter into executive session. >> Oh, sorry. I need to say uh to discuss a me medical, financial, credit, or employment history of a particular person or corporation or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal, or removal of particular person or corporation. >> So move. >> Second. >> Um any I'll

136take a vote for all those in present. Um, all in favor I >> I >> Oh, any discussion? Sorry. >> no discussion. There's no discussion. Uh, opposed abstensions. I'll take a vote for those attending virtually. All in favor? >> I >> uh let the record show that Trusty Melstein voted in favor. And now I think I need to take a M motion. No, that's it. We're good.