001I'd like to call the Wednesday, September 17th, 2025 board of education uh public hearing regular meeting to order. We have our uh new student exeicio board member, Owen, here to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. So, go ahead, Owen. >> We're inviting Owen to the podium. >> Yes. [Laughter] I pledge 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. >> Thanks, Owen. You can hang out up there because we're going to turn it over to Miss Mary Fox Alter for her superintendent's update which will include more information about Owen. >> Tonight is a very special night. Um I invite Owen's parents to come up and join us here at the podium. uh New York state
002law um got passed and it requires all school districts to include student voice uh by appointing and selecting a student member to be part of the board of education in an exopicio process. Oing was way ahead of the curve. Austin always had uh a policy regarding student voice and student agency. So this is a um after a process through um at the high school, Owen um met with Miss Langley, the team in the guidance department, and then when I met Owen, I knew 100% why the high school uh selected him to be our exeicio student officer. So Owen, on behalf of the administrative team, and I'll let the board president welcome you. On behalf of the board, welcome. We are going to have a great year. We're excited to have you. I will say as
003a former high school teacher, your studies come first. Okay. But um we're just thrilled to have you here with us and I just want to welcome your parents to the meeting tonight. And um yes, thank you and welcome. And this is a good photo opportunity if we want to take a picture. >> Yep, we do. >> Before we move on, [Applause] Then if I can have uh Owen stand under the pride flag with your family and the other members of the board of education And the is that the admin? >> And the admin too. Yes. >> Turn sideways. You know the drill. I'll give you a signal. All right. Just uh to continue with my update, I have a couple of short announcements to share. First of all, I want to give a huge shout
004out to the Austining High School cross country team who represented us proudly at Smer's Big Red meet this weekend. Uh if you've been on the high school campus, you will notice that Austining High School spirit week is in full swing. We got Comfy Day, twin day, pink day. I wore black to the high school today and noticed the second I stepped in the building that I was not dressed correctly. So, I apologize to all my high school students for that. Uh there's plenty of school pride. The grand finale will be homecoming this Saturday, uh September 20th, and we have a prep rally also. So, we're very excited about that. Um, I'm also I don't know if any of you noticed it in Low Hud, but um our very own Paige Penna is up to be
005the Low Hud's player of the week. So, I'll encourage everybody to cast your votes for our student Paige Penna. Um, I want to thank Dr. Dey who's here particularly and Dr. for Dellia because we're launching an attendance matters campaign uh making sure that everyone knows every day counts. We are putting out a whole series of public service announcements. I want to thank Shane for his work on that too. And um we hope that this campaign will make sure that everyone realizes how important is we want our students in school. We want you here and we have launched a new campaign around that. Uh we have a PBIS celebration with the Claremont students. This is Hispanic Heritage Month. Join us in celebrating the rich culture and history and uh contributions of our Hispanic community throughout this
006month. I want to um congratulate another Austining athlete, Gabe Robinson, for being named to the low HUD elite 11. So Austining has been in the news this week and our schools have been hosting lots of back to school nights. So I want to thank the teachers, the staff, the administrators of just welcoming our families back to school. And uh we also welcomed our youngest and newest learners, our three-year-olds to our first steps program last week. Um mark your calendars, please everybody, for the Brookside Bash. It's Friday, September 26th from 5 until 6:30. And we also have a really popular workshop back again, navigating parents in the digital world workshop. It's Thursday, October 16th at 6:30 p.m. in the library. Uh we'll make sure we blast that out, but mark your calendars. That's my update for
007>> All right. Um, is this the opportunity that should we take advantage of this opportunity to kind of discuss with Owen where we see how he >> Sure. He has a I think he has an update he'd love to share. >> Sure. So, take it away Owen. >> Thank you. >> So, good evening everyone. It is great to be here and such an exciting opportunity to offer a student perspective to the board on a regular basis. Uh, in the past, Superintendent Fox Alter and Miss Langley have invited to student board meetings once a month to uh, highlight successes and approve events at the high school, but this role is a little different. Instead of representing just the high school, I'm serving as a district-wide representative. Um, and my reports will therefore look a little bit
008different from that what they have been in the past. So, I will continue to shout out events and successes at the high school, but in addition to that, I will have themed reports. So, these themes will cover subjects that encompass the entire district and not just the high school. Sometimes they will be shorter and sometimes they'll be longer um and may include research or presentations as a supplement. Uh but overall, I will do my best to entire cover the entire district and all perspectives. I've already reached out to uh Dr. Novver at AMD. Um and I plan on meeting with the eighth grade student council to get their input and perspectives unique to the AMD. Additionally, I plan on communicating with all elementary school principles um to get their perspective and this is obviously a
009new role with new responsibilities. So, there will be some growing pains, but the student perspective from all levels will be accurately represented. >> Uh which brings me to the first item of my report. >> Just take your finger off. >> So, uh this week, uh at the high school is homecoming week. Uh the athletic department has worked extremely hard to make sure every team is highlighted and we encourage the community to come out and support. Uh games started Monday and will wrap up uh on Saturday with five games throughout the day at OS and AMD. Uh the schedule can be found on all district social media and was included in the OBS as well. Also this week is spirit week at OHS brought to you by the student council. Uh Monday was Comfy Day, Tuesday
010was twin day, today was pink day. Uh tomorrow is culture day and Friday is OS day followed by a pep rally. We have seen some great school spirit in the building and are definitely looking for that to continue both tomorrow and Friday. Um and while we're on the topic, I wanted to touch on uh school spirit and athletics and I would like to address our new mascot and logo. Uh although I've not formally surveyed the the student body on their feelings toward the new Lat mascot and the logo um which I plan on doing in the future um the overall morale towards the logo has been positive. Uh students are happy that we have moved away from the mascot less logo that we had and uh are expressing positive feelings toward the lion. I know
011that is something that the district spent a lot of time on. So I plan on referencing that down the road uh once a proper survey and has been performed and we've accumulated to the change. Uh finally at the high school uh the house meetings were conducted um for all students. Uh students were introduced to their assistant principles, counselors and social workers as well as psychologists and they were familiarized with daily expectations and building rules. Uh this helps students know the staff is available to help them and every goal everybody's goal is student success. Um with that that concludes my highlights. Um, which brings me into my theme discussion for the evening, our district's summer programs. Uh, I thought it would be a fitting to talk about summer programs based on our proximity to summer, as
012well as how much our district invests in those programs and how many programs we do have. So we offered a wide range of programs for the elementary and middle school level including but not limited to uh elementary summer academy, OS TVA, TV and media camp, sports clinics and camps, MBK summer program uh and more. And these programs are highly effective in supporting our students growth. Not only is the district continuing education over the summer, which is essential for primary and middle education, but they're introducing students to niche fields at a young age. And this is something that allows students to expand their knowledge and know what they do and don't like. And overall, these programs are extremely beneficial. At the high school, it was a similar story. Uh programs included the OHS summer arts academy,
013the OHS freshman academy, the credit recovery program, and the uh New York Gear Up program for sophomores. Uh these programs similar to the ones at the elementary and middle school level offer a opportunities for high school students which is great because the importance for summer um for secondary students cannot be emphasized enough in their future. Uh where I would like to focus this part of my report is is the programs for upper classmen. Um the counseling department does a tremendous job attempting to ease concern about the future for juniors and seniors. H still these years are extremely stressful because the future is uncertain and the anxiety is warranted and the district offers great programs such as the OHS college essay writing workshop um and uh the outside the district the library offers great programs as
014well uh such as the SAT prep and reading and writing workshops. However, when speaking with uh students many are unaware of these programs and oftentimes the attendance these opportunities are a little bit bare. Um but now this is for a multitude of reasons and one thing we cannot control is that for older high school students they are extremely busy. Uh students are working jobs, taking care of siblings and enjoying a well-needed period of rest and relaxation over the summer. Um however the benefits and importance of these programs cannot be overstated just like the pro the benefits for primary and middle education students. Um, so in response to that, I've started to touch base with some of the main parties involved to come up with solutions uh to boost enrollment for these programs and to better
015enhance student experience with these programs. I met with uh Mr. Nicole Ree this morning uh to discuss commun communication strategies we can use and the role communications committee uh plays in supporting our summer programs. And I briefly met with uh Mr. Jeremy Ducos and Miss Kimberly Saxton earlier this week to discuss some first steps in supporting our programs. Uh, one initial idea that was prominent was eliminating scheduling conflicts that may arise between camps. For example, uh, many of our student athletes volunteer at the sports clinics. So, making sure that does not fall at the same time period as an OHS college essay writing workshop or another upper classman event is um, definitely important. and I plan on meeting with both of them for an extended period of time in the coming weeks. I also have
016a meeting scheduled with Miss Kate Matthew Miss Kate Matthews for later this week. Um overall, I will be uh receiving a well-rounded perspective from all the departments involved. And after I meet with everyone, I am hopeful we'll be able to create a comprehensive plan and some solutions to boost our um already tremendous summer programs. And uh once these solutions are established, I will report back with some steps to implement them and what we can do. I will also refer back to this report and any solutions we create when we are in our budget sessions. The uh district has worked uh hard on developing these initiatives uh which are impactful and stood out as exemplary this summer and I think it's important that we build on this success and I hope we can even expand some
017of these programs as well. Uh the final topic I wanted to touch on is the uh district's newly implemented statemandated internet enabled device span. Um although the student body uh similarly to the mascot has yet to be surveyed, there are mixed feelings circulating. Um obviously, but as we enter the third week of school, there is definitely some adjustment happening with all the student body. Um I plan on surveying students for their attitude to the ban um in the in the coming week. Additionally, in our next meeting report, um there will be a thorough presentation on the ban that I will give. Um and I hope to include the survey itself, uh its preliminary effect on our attendance, uh some ways to mitigate frustration for students and other perspectives from administrators, teachers, staff, and students. Um
018with that, that concludes my report for the evening. And thank you, >> Owen. Talk about doing your homework, right, Owen? Thank you very much for your detailed and very clearly wellressearched report and promises of more to come. Um before we move on, um Mary had sent out in an update recently um some resources for us as trustees to read to best understand kind of best practices as far as how to incorporate Owen who clearly has a voice and um contributions to share. Um and one of those practices is uh including him in our board discussions uh for as late as he can stay because I know that he has school and school comes first tomorrow right so um to the extent that he's able to participate in for example um discussions about presentations I think
019it would be beneficial and I I spoke to Owen and he's prepared to contribute to those conversations if we would like him to as a board. So, I guess I'll just take a quick like thumbs up, thumbs down if we would like that kind of involvement from Owen as far as his voice. Now, he uh doesn't get to vote when when it comes time to vote on things and he's not going to be included in executive sessions or retreats, but um as far as discussion at the board table, um we can include him uh if we would like to. So, I guess can I get like a thumbs up or a thumbs down from around the table of our elected trustees for >> That's good. >> Frank says yes. Annie's giving me a thumbs up.
020I see Melissa nodding over there. >> Yes. And it would be like the same type of discussion we have like this presentation and then >> Yes. And I spoke to Owen um because there's kind of some conflicting advice about how to incorporate. Do you let your student go first? and and yes, we want to hear our student voice, but I also don't want to put him on the spot to be the first person to comment every time. So, um what I spoke with Owen about is, you know, we already have this practice of kind of going around the table. Um so, I don't have to necessarily start with Owen, but I can pick him up in my in my rotation around the table. Um I also explain to him our our kind of new norms
021about trying to limit our comments and questions when we go around the table in an effort to uh keep our meetings as concise as possible and focused as possible. So, um, if that sounds good with everybody, I think that that's a a good way to incorporate the, um, contributions that Owen clearly has to offer for us. So, all right. Um, thank you again, Owen. >> I I would just like to add for one moment a technical piece. Um and maybe Illy we could do uh when we put out the announcements the local live again sound is not working but um Shane has the Zoom feature working and it's live and you can hear sound and everything. So uh we're going to make sure that that's the link that everyone uses from now on. We are
022still having problems with local live. >> Okay. >> Right. Great. All right. Um before we move on to our public hearing, we have some guests in the audience. So I'd like to take a motion to move up item 8.1. >> So move second. >> Uh 8.1 resol. Oh no, I'm just moving up. Sorry. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed abstensions. And now I'll take a motion on 8.1. >> So moved. >> Second. Uh 8.1 resolution regarding professional staff tenure appointments. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I I >> opposed abstensions. All right. And I believe we have uh Dr. Novver who would like to come up and say a few words about our tenure recipient. Good evening everyone. Superintendent Fox Alter, members of the board of education, esteemed colleagues and members of
023the Austining community. Tonight it is my honor to recognize and celebrate the tenure of Marie Angela Fiorenza, the newly minted Mrs. De Leo. Marie Angela, or mayor as many of us know her, is an educator whose passion and professionalism are evident every single day. She brings energy, care, and high expectations into her classroom, and she has a remarkable ability to connect with students while pushing them to think deeply and grow. Beyond her own classroom, she has been a leader in the ELA community, always ready to share ideas, collaborate with colleagues, and advocate for what is best for students. I want to share a few words from some of her colleagues who know her best. One says, "I still remember my very first day at AMD and how genuinely welcomed I felt by her. From that
024moment on, she has been a supportive colleague whose dedication, talent, and care shine through in everything she does in the classroom. She is also a strong voice within the ELA community, always advocating for the for curricula that truly meets the needs of our students. Congratulations on this well-deserved milestone. Mayor, another shares, "Mayor loves what she does and it's easy to see and feel the passion whenever you are around her. She's all about the details and nothing slips by her. But somehow it all ends up looking effortless, even though we know how much work she puts in." As a friend, she appreciates when we have to tell her, "Okay, mayor, let it go." but always looks for the critique. That mix of heart and drive make her one of a kind, and she without a doubt
025deserves this recognition. Another shared, "Since becoming a mom, Mayor has somehow managed to balance it all with an adorable little one." On top of making it look easy, earning tenure, getting married, completing her admin program, and still being the amazing teacher her students know and love. To say she's had a year is a total understatement. She juggles it all with passion and perfection. Go, sis. And of course, her students capture it best. One wrote, "Happy tenure. I'm happy to have you as my teacher because I heard so many things about you, good things about you, and they're all true. You're kind, you make learning fun, and you really care about us. Mayor, it's clear that your colleagues admire you, your students respect you, and our community values you. You embody the best of Austining, a
026deep commitment to students, a collaborative spirit, and an unwavering drive to grow both personally and professionally. And on a personal note, it has been incredible to watch you grow over the past nearly three decades. Congratulations on this well-deserved milestone. We are so proud to celebrate you tonight. [Applause] There's a certificate. Yeah, >> I was going to say there's something up there. Thank you. Thank you guys. >> Thank you, Miss Fenza, for your dedication to our students and congratulations. All right. Now I have a little statement to make as uh as we move on to item two in our agenda. Pursuant to education law section 2801-8 NYCRR New York codes and rules and regulations section 155.17. A public hearing is required prior to adoption of the district district's code of conduct. The document is required to
027be reviewed annually and updated if necessary. The document is posted on our website and made available for public comment for at least 30 days prior to adoption. The public hearing provides for participation of school personnel, parents, students, the community, and any other interested parties to comment and ask questions. This segment of the uh board of education meeting has been designated for the public hearing on the district code of conduct. So at this time I'm going to turn things over to our uh very own analy to present on that for us. So good evening. I'm so honored to have the opportunity to review the work of the code of conduct committee. Um, again, good evening to our superintendent, Fox Alder, the cabinet, our board of education trustees. On behalf of our committee, I'd like to highlight
028our how our work has resulted in the proposed revisions tonight based on review of education law and state guidance, but as importantly, in response to our district ideals that recognize that all members of our district community should experience dignity, fairness, and a culture of care. So over the next three slides I'll review the laws and guidance that informed our work. In fact as you can see the code of com commit code of conduct committee itself is required by education law and it is to include the broad constituency of members who you'll see on the left. Um this this diversity of stakeholders is required as you'll see on the right to consider the effectiveness, the fairness, the consistency, and the response to our code of conduct. In addition to the education law that requires us to
029convene and review the code of conduct, ESSA or the federal elementary and secondary schools act required states to review safety and disciplinary procedures. In response, New York State formed the Safe Schools Task Force. After significant study, the task force provided six recommendations to New York schools to reduce disparities and reform school discipline. In summary, they are to minimize school re school removals especially in lower grades and you'll see that reflected in our work to adjust address disproportionality in behavioral data to use data to re reduce these disparities to focus on representative hiring to shift punitive practices to proactive behavioral approaches and to provide purposeful professional development to support proactive approaches including SEAL, social emotional learning, PBIS, positive behavior intervention and supports and restorative practices that Dr. Lopez will expand upon during her presentation. These recommendations
030were synthesized into two main focus areas in the 2023 guidance from New York State Attorney General James and New York State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa. I'm actually, while I'll review them shortly, I'm going to actually also feature one of our um MBK fellows, Aiden Menddees, who in a brief expert excerpt from his TED talk, I think um illustrated the need to look at um disagregated data and disproportionately very eloquently. Um so one of four recommendations made in this 2023 guidance uh again one of the four um was to look at um behavioral approaches. Um it mandated districts to implement discipline policies and practices to design and imp and be implemented in a non-discriminatory way to ensure that all students have an equal educational opportunity. And this is based on student discipline data um from
031the US Department of Education that saw um this dis disproportionality involves or reflects um elevated levels along among students of color particularly black students and students with learning differences likely attributable attributable to implicit and systematic biases. Um secondly, the second guidance was schools should expand efforts to train personnel on developmentally appropriate restorative alternatives and again I will expand on some of that and um Dr. Lopez's will will as well. So now it is my privilege to share with you um some of the most important professional development we had from our own. You see so many of the different types of statistics that we look at today that represent black and brown students, adults of many different kinds of relationships and households. We can look at higher incarceration rates. We can look at higher dropout rates.
032We look at higher poverty rates. All the things that define our people for what? To be labeled as failures. One of the things that severely perpetuates this this level of uh of failure in the school system for students of color is the zero tolerance policy which essentially leaves students such as students of color, lowincome students, students with disabilities and LGBT students and the margin of people where as soon as something happens, as soon as you make the most minuscule of mistakes, there is no room left to grow from it. Especially when it's any kind of physical violence, there is no room left to learn. It is only punishment and failure. We can see that without the zero tolerance policy standard, black students are already double as likely to be suspended for whatever mistakes that they
033may be doing. But along with the zero tolerance policy, it only perpetuates the statistic. There is no benefit to this. So, I want to just give it up for Aiden um again in his very first TED talk really beautifully um articulating um the school to prison pipeline looking at and again I'll illustrate that that's national data um but as we'll look at also we we see um some similar not um quite as elevated but similar trends in our in our own district data. So, make sure As we move to the next slide, these two main categories that are outlined in the 2023 guidance from um Attorney General James and Commissioner Rosa really frames, I'm sorry, really framed the two categories um of our focus areas to as we looked um as we informed our work
034over the course of the year. and they were again um for districts to implement non-discrimin non-discriminatory discipline policies and practices in response to the US Department of Education research and number two um to expand our efforts to train school staff and restorative practices. And as you'll see in the coming slides, these two recommendations become the two overarching categories that focused our work in order to respond to focus area one that asked us to ensure our discipline policies are non-discriminatory in design and implementation. And here you can see that that is our um our focus. We reviewed at every meeting um disagregated behavioral data and again looking at the national trends we looked at with specific attention to our male, black and um students with learning and behavioral differences. We engaged in professional development and looking
035at our behavioral looking at our um our data, we engaged in corresponding prof professional development. Um based on the trends that we in uncovered in looking at our own data that included the rights of classified students and the increase um and exploring the increase in behavioral referrals for black females again in our own data. Most importantly, however, after reflecting on our disag disagregated behavioral data, we explored alternatives to suspension to reverse the trends um among disagregated group um disproportionately affected groups. Um after exploring data that set a shared understanding of disproportionality, we turned our attention to focus area two, restorative alternatives to pun punitive punishment to address this disproportionality. So as you can see here, the real work is where the rubber hits the road is we finalized the minor form um that is used
036to document level one or in other words classroom managed behaviors or the first um level of behav behavior. The minor form encourages teachers to identify the time and the location to re reveal patterns of behavior. It also provides an opportunity for educators to identify strategies they use to deescalate behavior before, during, and after an incident. Um, secondly, as you can see, um, we also continue to evolve the progressive behavior intervention and support rubric that clearly clearly identifies levels of behavior as well as corresponding supports. What are strategies we're putting into place? What is communication? Consistent communication we're putting into place in addition to any disciplinary responses that may follow. And this is again to support consistency and the fair implementation of the code of conduct as well as to set a restorative approach. Thirdly and
037finally um we refined the implementation of the rubric. So I did presentations either either I or um representatives from our committee um did at least two two presentations last year. We did one um kind of uh understanding setting. We um where we introduced it and then throughout the year we also looked at school specific case studies to calibrate our use of the um calibrate our use of the rubric. We also use that opportunity to gather feedback from um from educators to refine both the rubric and the minor form. An example of our adjustments is we actually divided the minor forms into an early elementary and upper elementary form um because educators found that it was too cumbersome to use with behaviors listed that weren't relevant um to their students. Um after reflecting on the recommendations
038of the safe school task force and the corresponding 2023 state guidance, our data review work on the minor form and rubric. We um we also reflected it would be critical to review the language of the code of conduct. Additionally, we've reflected on the essential question posed by our superintendent challenging us to review if our policies and procedures are are impeding the equity seek we seek. In our sub subcommittee, we reflected that while policies can impede equity, we seek that conversely, we could advance restorative and equitable practices through shifting the language of the PO policy accordingly from the language moving from the language of zero tolerance to the spirit of restorative practices that seeks to keep our community whole by proactively teaching necessary skills and repairing the community when skills are forgotten are not demonstrated. So
039while the proposed revisions have been available to the public for 30 days, mainly the revisions fall under about five major themes or categories. Um really a purposeful alignment with district vision and beliefs. Um, number two, integration and definition of restorative practices. Number three, alignment of language and procedures with the progressive behavior intervention and support rubric as really the driver of our our um restorative practices. Number four, revising gendered language and practices. And number five, revising um criminalizing language shifting away. And we'll cover that more later. But instead of talking about students as disruptive, um, we get more descriptive of behavior that interferes with teaching and learning. And while we'll look to briefly, we'll look briefly at examples of shifts in language in each category. It's also to important to highlight the revisions based on careful
040review. Um, Stephanie Robach and I from Keenan Bean went um through every word of the code of conduct. um and she made um some important recommendations as a result. Um importantly, we linked the acceptable use and remote learning policy to make it clear that the code of conduct applies um during remote learning and vice versa. We also included the surge in general advice about technology for students under 13. Um we linked student use of the internet internet enabled device um policy that was just passed um that Owen referred to earlier. And importantly um we define that demographic demographic data must be collected in regard to the enforcement of um the internet enabled device policy and that no suspensions can be um employed as a result of of not following the policy. um including um uh
041again being specific in the inclusion um of of language based on recent case law and SED guidance as illustrated in the last four points about inclusions of specific weapons, updating the language in about detention procedures for inschool suspension um and again um identifying that only school employees can provide behavioral um consequences. Returning to our revisions based on the categories that we we identified, our main focus was to infuse the code of conduct with our district vision and commitment to restorative practices by including for example the district mission statement and the value and definition of restorative practices. As we transition to the next slide that looks at how alignment between this philosophy um and alignment and the actual alignment to practice, I'd like to read the introduction to the rubric drafted by the code of conduct
042committee. We recognize the effectiveness of restorative approaches and other progressive disciplinary measures that build positive relationships. These interventions are a shift away from harsh and punitive disciplinary responses. Instead, they educate students about the harm caused by their actions while rece while seeking to reunite them with the school community. And I think that's so important um because again this was drafted by representatives of every school that included educators and ad administrators alike. Um, so in order to realize this introductory statement of the rubric, we also align the code of conduct with the language and procedures of the rubric. Specifically, we included guidance and descriptions of the levels of progressive behavior, interventions, and support rubric. Um, we changed expectations for student behavior to align with the levels and the descriptions of each level. and we referenced um
043the rubric as the system for all procedures with corresponding detail throughout um the code. Um additional to revisions to the code of conduct we develop was to address discrimination and gendered language language or practices as you'll see in the next slide. Um some some examples were again changing language that was gendered as far as him or herselves to themselves. Um we also identified that our dress code was not um was um was gendered. Um we also realized it that there was a need to provide some linking to um DASA practices and definition. Um so that's included in this category as well. Um similarly to responded to learning that criminalizing language and practices feed the school to prison pipeline. We were dedicated to address and revise criminalizing language and practices. For example, as I think I
044mentioned earlier, we shifted everywhere where students were descri described as disruptive to describing the behavior that was being um displayed. For example, substantially interfering with teaching and learning. Um we also were very specific in changing language um that is criminalizing for example by um violation aggressor um or I'm sorry perpetrator. Um we also just changed many um titles throughout um to include more restorative language. And essentially, I believe that the board received an executive summary um that gave a more detailed um view of the changes to the code of conduct and that the changes the proposed edits have been available to the public for 30 days. But essentially um my my copy of the slide is not up there but I would just like to recognize um in addition to the whole committee Latoya Langley
045who really spearheaded this work and when she began it or when I I at the at the beginning of our work together I remember her showing the definition of the word discipline and it being a derivative of the um of Latin word deier which means the foundation Um and again um is the root for discipline discipline uh with instruction, teaching, learning or knowledge or also meaning a pupil, student or follower. And that the essence of our code of conduct and the proposed revisions are really to ensure um that we're driving learning and um social emotional learning for our students and that again um we're seeking restorative practices that make our community whole um and whole together as learners. Okay. Any questions or >> All right. Yes, I'm sure there'll be questions um from the board.
046Uh, would anyone like to start? >> I can start. >> Okay, thanks Annie. >> Um, this was great. I remember at the admin retreat there was conversation about um black students being highlighted most in behavioral incidents and there was um further conversation about teaching teachers about you know internal biases and kind of how to shift that. I did look into the disagregated data that you provided with that link and it was kind of amazing that like 8% of our population has such a high percentage of the students being disciplined in that way. Um so I was wondering what steps have been taken there if any. So again, I think the focus of the the rubric is to ensure consistent and objective application of both supports, interventions, any kind of disciplinary response, but also communication. Um
047I would be remiss if I didn't also say that we also offer um building equity professional development that the sole intent is to examine is selfwork to examine bias and how do we how do we look at ourselves um and view um we actually call it critical humility. How does our view of the world not necessarily reflect our students or our colleagues? And how can we reflect on that um and create some kind of change in the way we interact and the way the impact of our actions um and comments and discussion with them. >> Yeah, I'm really glad to see see us just really attacking that aspect. Um, other than that, just a comment that I saw a lot of alignment with the verbiage and the multitudes of parenting material I read. You don't
048label the child. You call the behavior what it is. You don't say that the child is the behavior. And it's nice that that extends to school. >> That's all. Thank you. Um, Frank or Melissa, do either of you want to have anything or I'll continue around? Might as well go. Thank you, Dr. Dilly for that presentation. Um, you commented on um, Latoya Langley having started a lot of this work. I remember um you know joining the committee at that time and and just kind of witnessing how extensive the review process was. Right? So even though the code of conduct is updated yearly, how we got to where we are was a long process of really careful evaluation by all committee members um both both internally and from the community. I really appreciate um you know
049a topic that I had brought up um both in the committee and at the board table for a while was how we can start to shift the narrative around the language we use right because we can do a whole lot of other things but if we're still using language that is subconsciously um possibly a driver for some of the outcomes we see then you know what are we um you know we're kind of it's kind of an uphill battle and I know that was pretty tricky if you will because a lot of that language is universally used throughout the state um you know as far as when you see um different regulations and things. So I appreciate our ability to be at the forefront of shifting that narrative. I also um am glad to see
050us shift the narrative around some of the vague language that produced the environments that can you know support these outcomes unfortunately. Um, so I think those two particular key points were a long work in progress and I'm really um, you know, pleased to see how far we've come in that process and that we are currently self-evaluating or nelecting to see how we can get things right because unfortunately for far too long um the numbers have been disproportionate right and not just foring it's unfortunately a trend but I think we definitely took it seriously and um figured out what we can do for our students and make it a health and safe and welcoming environment for everyone. So, thank you to yourself and the committee, everyone who's contributed. It's been, you know, the uh the code
051of conduct committees are very extensive as are, you know, some of our other committees. So, there's a lot of brain power that goes into this and intention around it. So, I appreciate all the work. Thank you. Thank you. And I do want to thank you um Trusty Vanta um Trusty Schnecker and also uh Trusty Melstein for often remotely providing some feedback. >> All right, we'll uh continue around in this way. Rob, >> uh I've got >> Okay, >> Owen, >> thank you for your presentation. Um, one thing that really stood out to me was the uh limiting uh suspensions definitely at the at the lower school level. I think that's something that's definitely a step in the right direction because you can't have the learning if the students are out of the classroom. And um
052another thing is you mentioned the language was such a big part of your revisions. Um I've seen it from the student perspective at the high school. um language has been changed with teachers and administrators and they they've been doing a good job at at progressing in that way. So I think that this code of conduct just reinforces that and um I think it's a it's obviously a step in the right direction. >> Frank, >> sure. You know, there's a lot of committees that the board has and this is one that I have to say probably is one of the most dedicated and ardent ones. I mean it's this is a full day and you know board members clearly can't do the full day but the part that I really respected was really the work that
053was being done in those committees and the the fidelity the different vantages and the viewpoints coming together talking about things we aspire to and the practicalities that exist and then the law and all of this being mixed together at the end of the day but that pursuit of making change in Austining to shift the numbers right because this is, you know, from my time on the board and long before this is this is an issue that's been there and so just really appreciate the thought that went in from our administrators, from our teachers, from our community members that were part of that to really just make it and Dr. De trying to pull all that together and get it all in like this this is a huge process and uh getting a legal review and
054all of that through. So just I just want to make clear this is an enormous amount of work. This is not the kind of work you do each year. You tweak it. But this was such a a prominent year at the end of the day. So I want to thank all for their efforts and you know was glad to be part of it as the board to really just oversee the great work that was being done and to just witness it. I mean witness it is the better way to say it. Witness the great work being done because it was just really really remarkable. So thank you for the presentation. Thank you for the efforts and thank the committee. >> All right. I'm just going to give a moment for technical I want to open
055it up to our um we have two trustees attending virtually right now. Um if either of them had any questions. >> I just wanted to thank the committee and our admin and our >> on the screen. Catherine's talking. I can't hear her yet. So >> there's a really big echo. So I'll just be quick. I just wanted to thank everybody for their hard work. Great. I I think I'll go next. And I hear the echo a little bit here. Um just really quickly, uh two questions. The first question is around the I think I saw a slide that said that we're um looking at having the bus drivers write up the the report uh the incident report. Um, and the question I have here is if it's you have we have bus monitors on I
056think nearly all if not most of the buses. Um, and you know, would there be an opportunity for us to have the bus monitors right up considering that the bus drivers are actually technically supposed to be paying attention to the road, not really seeing anything >> and that could be an opportunity um to look at that. I don't know if that's one uh something to be considered. Um but then I'll also ask with a second question too and that's those would be my only questions for here. But um I know there's also been there's probably been um this is addressed in the actual um code of conduct at some point, but and around um uh vaping um because I know that still is um something that's still an issue, right? and what the what we're
057um looking at by way of consequences on that. Um because there's the vaping, there's the gummies and everything else that comes um you know in some sort of a format like that. But just I don't I just wanted to see like where that is and those are my two questions. That's it. >> I I can't hear the response. >> Drivers and monitors alike are not district employees. Um so while they can write referrals they can't actually provide any behavioral for example they can't um remove a child from the bus they can only um inform the school administration and then the school administration provides any restorative um approach or any any disciplinary response um that arises as a result. But again, um neither the bus driver or the bus monitor can provide a direct consequence. Um
058secondly, I could go into the rubric, but um vaping is um listed as one of the behaviors. And again, while there's a specific um there's a specific response, support, and intervention as well as communication with families. Again, we're kind of looking at um restorative approaches by making sure that students have support, the supports that they need as well as um any consequences for using vaping in school because again has a it has an impact on the whole school community. >> And I think Dr. Ideally too, I know Delli and German Jeremy can chime in here, but we're lucky to be working with student assistant services from the county because um you know the abuse of um vape, nicotine, um alcohol, etc. We want to make sure that we focus on student wellness and we do
059have student assistance. We don't call them counselors, we call >> student assistant services counselors. Yes. >> Yeah. Right. who can help and support our students with a focus on wellness and health. >> I have one more question. >> Yeah, just really quick. Thank you for this. Um, so now that we have the new code of conduct, we're going to implement it. Will you we will will we be tracking the results of this? And if so, how? And then will like the board see like hey this is a new code code of conduct so the suspensions are up the suspensions are down this discipline is up this is now etc etc like will we are you going to be doing that and then when will we see I guess the implementation of to see if it's
060getting the desired results >> so we routinely collect um behavioral incident data and we disagregate it and we look at it um both when we review school and district data and um and during our code of conduct committee meetings as well and um on whatever interval you'd like me to provide it to the board, I'd be happy to as well. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I can just add that we have seen a decrease in both in school and out of school suspension in the last three years as well. So, but we can provide some more information >> and also just in addition to what Dr. Lopez um provides in the disagregated data slides. Um there's all our behavioral data for the last trend data for the last three years that's dis disagregated. All right.
061Um I have one quick I don't know opportunity for you to clarify. I think sometimes I feel like when people hear, well, we're not doing zero tolerance, what they hear is we have some tolerance, right? And I know that progressive discipline means something else. So, can you talk about what happens if maybe there's a student who hasn't had a big history of um unacceptable behavior but then engages in some activity that um would present a serious or immediate threat? Uh how do we handle those situations? And if we don't have zero tolerance, what does that mean? To be clear, however, if their behaviors and again a student's behavior that creates, again, we're trying to keep a a whole and safe community. And if that student is going to harm themselves or there's risk of harm
062to the whole community, we're providing supports, interventions, possible consequences, and communication, family communication, and perhaps to other services. Um, so it's not just that there's um zero tolerance and there's, you know, they're expelled from school. It's also under understanding um a risk assessment, what's going on, and how do we address it? How do we help? But how do we also keep everybody safe? >> All right. Thank you. >> And there again are some of those behaviors that are put a student at risk for harm to themselves or the community. And those would be considered either a level three or level four behavior and probably would result in some time out of school um either determined by school administration or by district administration. Thank you. And I just want to um again complement the the work
063that's gone into this. Um we were presented with this um progressive supports intervention and disciplinary response to behavior rubric I think in draft form. uh still last year and I was impressed with the work then I continue to be impressed particularly with that document which is if you're watching at home please go to board docs so that you can access this um slideshow where this is posted and it's linked throughout because it really is um impressive the thought that's gone into it for example like well while while uh Roger was asking about vaping I said let me look it up you know and you can see that there's a difference in the way students are treated if they're simply using the um elicit substances versus if they're selling or distributing those substances. And so there's
064clearly a lot of of nuance that has >> and importantly now that they're also reflected in the the code of conduct mainly we we want to use the the rubric while it is gives some clarity for everyone. It's really um an instructional and reference tool for educators but now we're the code of conduct also reflects the same levels of behavior. It's also clear clear in the >> clear. Yeah. Thank you so much. >> All right. Um >> can I also just I probably want to just put a plug in that are our two big goals for the coming year. Um, we know that while there's restorative language now, it's still sort of arduous and and format and it is sort of our um Nicole Reese and I um our plan is now that it is
065um finalized, how do we put it in a more um approachable format, right? And secondly, um not just we also have a plan for our restorative practices implementation and our whole committee that includes teachers and administrators um from from each school will be participating in uh restorative practices implementation leadership implementation training um that's being facilitated by the state court courts association and it's free of cost to the district. Um, so we have many representatives across the district that are being trained. >> All right. Well, as this is a public hearing, I would like to open it up this time to members of the public if there is anybody here who wishes to speak. No. Okay. Um, no pressure. Um, anybody online? All right. Well, there being no further discussion, I declare the public hearing to
066be closed. At this time, I'd like to take a motion to move up item 5.1 from our agenda, which is the resolution to adopt the revised code of conduct. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Um, any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. And now I'll take a vote on 5.1. Uh or I'll take a motion on 5.1. >> So vote. >> Second. >> Right. 5.1. Resolution to adopt the revised code of conduct. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Absentence. All right. Moving on to our work session. We have a presentation on our career and college readiness and culture of care. So, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Fox Alter who can turn it over to our presenters. >> Okay. So, um just to give our board of
067education, our community an outline of some really important um programs and we have two directors here this evening. We're going to start with Dr. um Delia Lopez who is responsible for our culture of care that um helps us do supportive action works directly with um our counseling department with our principles and of course with Dr. Dilly. So Dr. Lopez it over to you. I think uh Mr. Ducos is going to click. He's going to be the human clicker. Okay. Thank you. >> And then we'll switch. Teamwork. Teamwork. Um so thank you everyone. Good evening. My name is Dr. Dalia Lopez. I am the director of mental and behavioral health. Um, and as we know, we cannot do this work alone. So, we are better together is the theme of the year. This is a theme
068that our our district teams came up with. Um, and moving along to um our presentation, we know that schoolwide social emotional learning encompasses all the systems and structures that we put in place in support of the child. This includes the child at the center of this work from having supportive discipline practices as mentioned by Dr. Dilly to evidence-based curriculum including family student and community voice in all our programming. As we know this is what we've seen previously. This is our culture of care work through the lens of MTSS or multi-ter systems of support. If we remember at tier one, we started some time ago with the implementation of our second step curriculum in our elementary buildings. Moving on to mental health as the focus in our secondary um buildings. We know that our PBIS um
069celebrations, positive behavior intervention supports are um live in our elementary buildings as well. and we use our DESA screeners and our panorama screeners to support our students at tier 2 and tier 3. So, we'll be talking a little bit more about what this looks like. In general, this slide is a snapshot of our efforts in each bucket during the 2122 school year. This was our opportunity to build the foundation, creating the district team, implementing and adopting the core secondstep curriculum, creating our parent and community advisory board, and at the same time, we were ordering auditing our PBIS and restorative justice systems while also advancing our mental health programming at the secondary level. During the 22 23 school year, we focus on building capacity from within um by training our clinicians in dialectical behavior therapy, which
070focuses on helping our students develop skills to calm their nervous system um skills such as mindfulness and how to manage and survive distressing situations. We were also able to increase programming through the addition of clinicians who were able to deliver two additional curriculums that of bullying prevention and child safety. I would like to just point out that we went from a ratio of one staff member to 300 and something students to about one to 119 students. all because of the support of the board um and our district leaders uh as well as grant funds. We will now look at our district data and speak about how much how such data is driving programming decisions and looking at a snapshot of our district behavior data. For example, through the lens of our sixth grade cohort of
07122 23, these students increased their behaviors as seventh and eighth graders. If you see the green lines there, however, the number of incidences were much lower than the previous year's seventh graders suggest suggesting that overall better emotional management by students and better structures and systems being developed at the middle school through these years. Um schoolwide we see that our district-wide behavior trends by year we have actually improved um in the area of referrals for behavior in the bathrooms and hallways which which suggest basically how our PBIS structures and systems are supporting that work with reteing in those areas. Our focus this year is to support and decrease the amount of referrals coming from the classroom. And for example, we took the opportunity this summer through our um culture of care teams to align our SEAL
072work with our PBIS matrix, meaning that those um competencies that we're learning in um second step are being reinforced by the PBIS. We also looked at self-reflection tools developmentally appropriately um that were developmentally appropriate for students. Um we discussed how we're going to support teachers and making sure they understand and are clear about the definitions of the preventative strategies that are in the code of conduct and are able to implement those strategies. We are also working very closely with our behaviorists to develop teacher friendly classroom management tips to share. So these are just some of the examples of how we're using the data to drive the work. Overall, while while our tier one core is intact, we continue to coordinate efforts in alignment with the culture of care pillar. And in doing so, in the
073next slide, we are leveraging our success with instruction and our strong building PBIS teams um to create a more intentional focus on attendance. And as mentioned, we have the public service announcements uh surrounding attendance. We're also leveraging our family engagement specialists to make sure that they are at every building supporting attendance as well. And specifically at the high school this year, we adopted uh a new platform called Talking Points, which um would encourage more direct communication with parents. At the secondary level, we continue to build upon our data literacy goal in reviewing our SEO related data with a keen focus on student voice. Um, while more than 84% of our students actually noted if having a positive relationship in or outside of school, our data on students perception of school climate highlights an important opportunity
074for growth and improvement. And actually during our new teacher orientation this year, we were able to um talk to teachers and and um have some professional development around how do you welcome um students into your classroom? How do you build relationships? We know that through strengthening our safety, inclusivity, and relationship building, we can deepen students sense of belonging leading to um more greater engagement, stronger connection, and improve mental health. All the numbers that you see on this slide here suggest that our competencies at the secondary level are actually on track or relatively on average compared to similar students that have taken the same survey nationwide. So this is promising results for us right now. We are also aware of the developmentally appropriate challenges that occur in middle school. So this this slide um delves a
075little deeper into the panorama data by grade level. Um and basically what it's telling us that 68% for example of sixth grade students noted possessing positive SEO competencies or tools to support their emotional regulation and self-management skills versus 65% of seventh graders or 64% of eighth graders. And the green actually denotes that they are um on on par or very similar to other students who have taken the survey while the orange is suggesting some um need for potential intervention or concern in that area. I would like to quickly mention that in spite of these struggles in eighth grade we have increased students taking algebra in eighth grade which will further be elaborated by Mr. Ducose and overall these scores also denotes both the need of programming at the middle school and also the growth actually
076that students um make in terms of the skills from middle school to high school. Um suggesting some developmentally appropriate behaviors where you kind of come into your own identity into your own own self and know how to manage your emotions a little bit better. Um but because of the need that we see in the middle school, we also um have infused some growth wellness services um that is an organization that came in to do some trauma-informed um practices with many many students and groups and they did that at the U middle school as well as in Claremont and you I don't know how many of you had the opportunity to see some artifacts that were um seen here and um conducted by the students. In the next slides, um, you are going to see really
077a compilation of examples of some of the programming again from the alignment of the PBIS matrix with competencies to teams reinforcing attendance at the building and school level, professional development on behavior and classroom management supported by TAS supported um for PETA TAs and monitors um as well. And these progress and these efforts cannot be done alone. They really um encompasses a lot of um coordination and a lot of trust in people doing the work. In the next slide, you'll see um our three-year trend data demonstrating the impact or the positive results through the MTSS lens. Here you'll see if you remember um we want to see 80 at least 80% of our students being responsive to a tier one. We have surpassed that goal. If you recall the DESIM mini is a screener completed by
078classroom teachers on each student. It provides early insight into students social emotional learning their strengths and needs and it also guides our PBIS andCL implementation. So our next step is to focus on these tier 2 students through the guidance of our MTSS processes. And at the secondary level um we continue to focus on mental health programming and supports. Um there was some discussion around vaping that actually has reduced throughout the years. We have a prevention survey that is coming up this year as well to quantify that notion. We has um student assistance services at the high school. We embedding more programming um with um continuously building capacity with dialectical behavior therapy. We have trained 70% of our clinicians in that evidence-based practice. Um we also this year are having uh we're working with a new
079community partner actually called um break the hold. They will be training two health teachers here at the um middle school to deliver DBT steps A at tier one which is very exciting. Um and we will continue with growth wellness services along with Andress um who will return as partners at the high school level. We are working with um Miss Langley to create a new wellness center which we are very excited about for our students. Um we have a new mental health club called Bridges to Wellness. Um and we are working on the possibility of developing check-ins through the PA panorama surveys with our clinicians. Um and we continue obviously with our programming around mental health and substance abuse prevention among other things. In terms of family engagement, we have restructured the support of the family
080engagement specialists as I mentioned earlier in order to continuously bridge the homeschool connection and attendance and we'll align with equity with an advisory board that focuses on c the culture of care pillar and other equity initiatives. and we'll continue um with our quarterly newsletter for families alongside our ongoing connection with parent centered community groups um supported by the whole ch school programming and community partnerships. These efforts create a responsive ecosystem that fosters resilience, reduces disruptions and promotes wellness across oral learning spaces. And that's what I have for you today. Thank you. That's all. It's a lot. >> She's a busy woman. Dr. Lopez, >> questions. >> Uh, does anybody want to kick us off? >> Go ahead, Frank. >> Clearly a very comprehensive approach and you know, it just, you know, you mentioned the ratio
081of students to resources, right? And you know, I think you know, one of the ways the community advocated for a number of years when we didn't have these type of resources were through foundation aid. And some of that along with grants and others has really allowed us to bring this to a level that I don't think we've probably ever seen within the district. >> And so I love to see the trends of the improvements. I'd like you know like all things even with my own family like there's just times where things shock you and surprise you and go off in a different direction. But just really appreciate the the attention to watching the trends and attempts to adjust and it'll be interesting to see what you come back with with the middle school. I think
082that is such a you know you see the rates are similar in the lower grades and then they drop down and they go back to the high school and like and you know I've seen that even within my own family there's those shifts that go through. It's kind of some of it's natural but what can we do to kind of really try to make those years a little bit better. So, just really appreciate that and look forward to hearing more about the middle school efforts this year. >> Thank you. Um Annie, you want to next? >> Sure. If you have anything. >> Um I was happy to hear about the like middle school vaping being reduced. Um I noticed that in Dr. D's data as well and it was it was like a significant decline
083and that's great. Whatever you're doing is working. Um I just have one question uh because this comes up a lot in terms of you know students with disabilities or students with needs. Um if a student does not have an academic need and does not qualify for services via PT or OT but they have um they often engage in disruptive behavior. how is support provided to that student? Um, and this is kind of tying into the whole discipline approach like not punishing a student just because they don't have the support they need. And this does not need to be answered right now. It's a general question. >> Sure, I can answer. So, um, as as we said in the code of conduct, disruptive behavior is a very broad broad term. So, it really depends on the
084student and depends on the age because we want to be also developmentally appropriate. Um so but typically we we do have whether the student is a regular ed student or receive services through special education we do have systems in place where we have a team of people who would look at the behaviors where they're where they're occurring the frequency of their occurrence and develop a plan for that student. That plan could be a building plan. So it depends on the student. So if it's if it's a student who if you're defining disruptive behavior by running out of the classroom every time a demand is placed which I've seen those students um that may require a building safety plan first to make sure that the the safety of the students within the walls um of the
085um school obviously is um adhered to. If you're talking about disruptive behavior in the classroom, meaning um ripping up a paper and uh throwing over a desk, but not necessarily hitting anybody, that student may be managing trying to manage his or her emotions. We have um social workers in every building and response to those type of behaviors where there they may receive counseling support or strategies for the teacher in terms of how to give them more appropriate um academic um tools that are maybe they're frustrated for example because the what they they're presented is too advanced for them. So we also work with the teacher to give them things that may be academically more um more apt for them to complete for example. So it really depends on the behavior but then we have different
086mechanisms to address the behavior depending on what it is. >> Thank you. >> Did you have anything? >> Okay. So, I love all the presentations and all the subjects that we cover here through the district, but just has to be one of my favorites. So, I want to keep it short and sweet. Some of the things that I looked at um that you shared, Dr. um Lopez, so I do appreciate the book end of the presentation coming with the code of conduct, right? Because I think a lot of the work that you've done um is intentional by itself, but also complements that well. Um I think SEAL um sometimes you know not here of course can be underrated and how you know the frequency that it operates with really really influences like the current that's
087you know driving our school. Um so I appreciate the attention to detail there. Um one question I had was what do I have here? I was really, you know, I do see that we did the team mental health first aid kind of trying that out and I'm wondering if you could speak more to how that went. I think you might have touched on it before um but just how you see that impacting or you know playing a role and you know some of the outcomes we see especially at the high school with some of the you know great improvements we've seen there. >> Sure. So in terms of um mental health, one of the things that we're trying to one of our aims is to dstigmatize mental health and mental wellness, right? Just like physical
088health, we need to have mental health. And so team mental health first aid is basically a curriculum. It's a um at least a six session curriculum that teaches students how to support each other and how to pass the baton if they need it. So they identifies what um mental illness is, how does it um manifest, what kinds of things they might see and how to be supportive to a friend so that it you know a lot of times many times students who students share more than they share with the adults, right? And so that program has um historically been embedded in our um in a leadership class through um in gym class, so through athletics. Um and so we're hoping that that continues this year. We had funding um that also supported that in the
089past and um through the Westchester Jewish Community um center services, they were the ones who have the catchment of that funding too. Um we're not sure if that will continue given also that our grant funds are also running out at the end of December 20. >> Thank you. I do appreciate that because you know I as many of us may know as adults right and no matter how well we connect to students they are always each other's confidants a lot of the times first. So building those structures for them to feel safe to communicate with each other but also in a safe way where they know who they can go to with some serious concerns that they might share with each other. >> If I may just add to that too that I mentioned is
090that we will have bridges to wellness which is a a club specifically on mental health and is being guided by um clinical staff actually a social worker and a school psych. And we're hoping that using their voice too in the programming at the high school that we will also elevate that work organically. So that's the hope as well. We're there are um aligning with a new agency called Erica's Lighthouse. Um and right now knowing September suicide awareness month um they are already I saw um Mr. Ducos had it on his door. um he's a beacon of hope for many students. So, we're encouraging adults in the building to have um use those resources and be the beacon of hope and students will be identifying who their beacon of hope is in the um in the
091high school and other spaces. Um we also have partnered with the Institute of Behavioral Health to do some programming. You have some magnets in front of you that is part of the programming. um they are new consultants that will be working also with the youth youth to youth to um do that work. So we're also obviously incorporating youth voice in the programming which is also important. >> Okay. And then lastly because I just in interest of time want to just point out some other highlights. I appreciate it where a focus on educator wellness, right? So just kind of having that complete circle of um supports through the school and also the preventative strategies, right? But also being prepared for interventions if needed u or when needed. Um, and I'm just, you don't have to answer
092this tonight, but I'm curious, uh, what role, if any, the SCCL, um, you know, lens of our district would be supporting or monitoring, uh, just maybe potential impacts that the new, you know, electronics bands might have. I don't know if we're capturing that in some of the surveys, panoramas, or anything like that in terms of connectedness or just overall effects that that might be having. Not trying to throw more on your plate. Just curious if that was ever a conversation that was >> Yeah. Just curious if that was ever thought about as far as, you know, just intersections. >> Sure. >> Uh Rob, anything? >> Uh yes, thank you. So I'll try to keep because I know we're trying to keep right around two minutes. So I don't know. My question won't be two minutes
093long, but the answer might be. So maybe in in terms of a further update. So my understanding is okay on the elementary side the tier one tocl there is pretty good. We're at 90% and 88 to 91. So that's pretty high I think if my understanding correct. Then we go to secondary where on slide um 24 we say 70% of the students are on track there. Um, one thing again maybe to be thinking about if the board's interested and could come in an update mid year or later year is to look at like any year-over-year data there. So 70% is a snapshot. What was it the year before like we did for the elementary or couple years before just to see if that 70% is, you know, again trending in the direction you want Dr.
094Lopez. Um and then though from there we go to on slide 23 we have that positive to flat tread line. In spring of 2022 students perception 6 to 12 were 45% now they're 35. So um trying to understand why that's flat to decreasing. And the last part of this sort of data roundup is on the panorama survey we only had 50 families fill out. From what I remember last year, it was probably about the same if and you could correct me. I guess the question is how do we get more families engaged because I would say from a data standpoint you really need more to 50 to get a sense of whether you know families feel supported or not. I don't know if it's the survey itself there's a lot of questions the I don't
095know the multiple choice when no one like that that's beyond my scope right at board balcony. But so there's just a couple of data points here to get the trend lines, maybe come back later in the year or not, whether we're a reporter or otherwise to see where we're moving and why is the 6th to 12th grade kind of been flat 45% down to 35%. Any thoughts on that? >> Sure. So um the students take two different surveys, right? So the first one with the with the green were um competencies. So how I perceive my own skills, right? The second one where you're referring to in terms of the flatline had to do with their perception on c school culture and climate and maybe this is one of the ones that maybe the cell phone
096might might change the perception of school culture and climate. Right? So it's some of the questions are for example um how positive or negative is the mood at our school? again the student perception of that um how fair are the rules at this school the student perception of that so I think that um while it's something to look into we also need to to think about what that means for that student and we'll delve a little bit more um these these results also are always shared with um our our school leaders so that they and also embed that into their action plan as well. And just uh so just understanding that if 35 to 45% is considered I guess the broader question what's considered good if that's considered good because yeah 45% of kids don't
097like the rules okay but if if you want to see that at 80 or 100 I think it may be helpful just to understand is that a good line or is that like no you want to see that higher and if so I mean look we're not going to give you know we're not going to reverse the the phone thing and we're not going to give away free gummy bears at lunch but like What would get that perception of the school to where you want it if that's not where you want it right now? >> Sure. Maybe to clarify what I mean 35 to 45% positive is that this the Panorama survey is a strength-based measure. So it's saying that 35 to 45% of the students are noting positive school culture and climate. So half
098of them basically are, half of them are not. That makes any sense? Oh, sorry. Oh, before let me just uh put out to Katherine and uh Roger if they want to comment to shoot me a text so I can give our sound guy a heads up before Owen has a comment. Go ahead, Owen. >> Yeah. So the first thing I wanted to touch on was uh you obviously mentioned the lower rates in the middle school and then you were talking about um studentto student connection and how that can how that seems to benefit um those rates. What do you think if um different levels of student connection like high school to middle school would that would that help our middle school students and would that be beneficial? >> You mean like a mentoring program? That
099would be wonderful. Yeah. >> Um that would be wonderful. And I think mentoring actually is something that we've we've thrown around a couple of times in in different reiteration, Mr. Ducas and I. Um it's it's the intent the intention and also the um we can say mentoring, but to do mentoring well takes also a lot of manpower and a lot of strategy and a lot of work. Not that we're not willing to do it, but we it's something that has always been on our minds. Um we have had um students from the from the high school go into the younger grades to kind of visit. We did have um for example some transition work that we had from our school counselors um from school to school from 5th to 6th and from 6th to 7th.
100But in terms of a strategic mentoring program, I think it's an excellent idea. >> Yeah. even if it's not like a full-fledged mentoring program, I think just that transition period is is really important and I think some input from older kids could always be used. And the other thing I wanted to talk about was um the the new internet enabled device ban, like how that's affecting it. Um I I know I've spoken with uh Mr. Ducos and uh with Miss Langley on how that's how the preliminary results are in our in the high school and and what those effects we're seeing are right now. Um we obviously haven't done anything too in depth but I think it would be interesting to um incorporate uh mental health into that and how we can how that translates
101with our internet enabled device man as well. >> Great. Um, I don't have any comments. I just want to say thank you. And I I guess I do have one, not a question, just a comment. Within this presentation, when you got to the panorama survey results, there's a link to another slideshow with even more panorama results. I really appreciate that. I have been always so curious about kind of >> it's still quite an overview, you know, like it's not like an every question or whatever. This is like the level of >> curios. this satisfies the level of curiosity I had about the Panorama survey and I think um the students definitely don't recognize how valuable that survey is to us and how seriously we take the >> answers that they give us. Um but I
102just I I appreciate I appreciate that. So among all the other work in here which was a lot you really went through it. >> All right. I I would like to add though just one point that um Delia mentioned that the grant that does support that ends this December 31st. Um it's a significant amount of money and as you can tell there's a lot taking place because of it. So um I do appreciate the board's comments and positions. I do appreciate Alita's hard work and trying to identify the use of whatever funds we have to continue the great work because that abrupt ending of it this year at December 31st, it's over $100,000. Um, as you can tell, there's great work taking place and kids are in the middle will be in the middle of
103using an awful lot of these resources as will staff. We have staff who are part of this as well. So, I do appreciate the the board's um feedback on this topic last year. It really does matter. And the other piece I'd like to add this little anecdote about the middle school because Deli and I talked about this along with Dr. Novver and I I just want to highlight a um and this is comes fully back to thank you to the board of education for the brilliant plan about the schools and what to do the construction plan. I interviewed a sixth grader last year um and asked him how his year was at the middle school and what was his favorite thing. The student said to me, "My favorite thing is my schedule." And I was
104like, "I'm a secondary school schedule person." I was like, "Your schedule?" But you like your schedule? Like I expected lunch, I expected recess, I expected art, but his schedule. And he and I was like, "Well, why?" And this um young student said to me, "Well, uh when I have to go to math, it's just next door and I don't have to go down that hallway and I don't have to go down that staircase." So, if you think about the se like here's a and and and you look at body sizes when you're in the middle school a sixth grader and an eighth grader and the congestion in the hallway and this was he went on for about five minutes how much it meant to him to be able to in his case travel with his
105friends and stay with sixth graders and not to be frightened by the big seventh and eighth graders and other sections of this. And then on another level is Jeremy knows because it's one of the first questions I asked when I saw that to see teachers at the high school. We all know about social emotional learning. As a former high school teacher, I would always stand at my door, greet my students, have parting comments. We have 53% of the teachers at the high school who are backpack teachers who can't do that. It affects it trying to find which teacher which room go to communicate. I Owen and I Owen knows this too. So I think part of what we're seeing in the middle school is is and that's the question I asked does that relate to
106this survey and I know Dr. Novver said and she's done a lot of work trying to schedule core subjects together trying to look at the building even though it's overcrowded to take that from students. So it's a challenge we're facing. All right, more to come. >> Um, got to go from the >> Yeah. [Laughter] >> So, it's like controlling the sound for here and the sound for TV and the sound for the recording. Hello. Oh, just talk. Can you hear me now? >> Can you hear me now? I feel like Verizon now. >> So, the green light isn't on mine. >> I can faintly hear Jeremy. Sorry. >> Sorry. Huge shoes to fill. Good evening, uh, Superintendent Mary Fox Alter, members of the board, colleagues, distinguished student guest, well, Owen. Um, I hope in this
107evening's presentation you can kind of see the pathway of the work that has gone into a comprehensive counseling program that kind of gears towards transition, right? not folks working in silos, not folks working at their buildings, but how are we passing along our students in support of their college and career readiness and it all starts at the um elementary level. So I can highlight that at Claremont school uh we have hired a counselor and just last year she started but already took the first step in providing our students with a career assessment. Now this career assessment aligns with John Holland's realic theory. Essentially what we're looking at for our students is is trying to identify what are their strengths in terms of careers as well as academic strengths. So it's a age appropriate, grade appropriate
108assessment that is given to students in a fun way, but yet we're collecting data that supports that if a student is interested in the arts, if they're investigative, if they're scientific, right, and exploring that with the student at that age level, right? And then that information is then passed on to Britney Walsh at the Roosevelt School who is already conducting resume building, right? developing students objectives, their goals, what do they've done, are they, you know, taking care of younger students and incorporating that into uh action verb language to develop their resumes. Now, with that said, one thing that Britney has also done and um has, this is, I believe, her second year in doing so is taking students on a college tour. And it's not just a group of students. She's taking every single student
109at Roosevelt School to Mercy College to explore the college. So they've seen academic programs, they've met with professors, they've seen athletic facilities, they've walked around campus, and oftentimes our students favorite part of the tour is the cafeteria. So they get to see the cool food and the cool like I would say the things that come with being a college student, but also they see the programs available through these courses. And for some of these students, right, we're talking about firstgen students. And one of my goals I had mentioned when I'm actually a senior two senior it's my fourth year uh here Owen but one of my goals I had mentioned early on the onset was ensuring that our students are getting exposure to multiple opportunities that they're stepping foot on a college campus and I
110talked about my own experience. I hadn't stepped onto a college campus that I started doing tours when I was a junior in high school as I was being recruited and it was very overwhelming at that point in time. Nobody could truly help me. I didn't know who would answer my questions. Um and at that point in time like again I was a firstg student myself. So these students are now having com uh again conversations with their school counselors at at a young age. We're talking about third, fourth, and fifth grade discussing college and career opportunities. And then our students transition to AMD where we've established and again the cornerstone of our New York Gear Up program as well as our PEK program. Our PEK program is in its second cohort overseen by Dr. Melanie E
111uh Roman. and our NY gear up which again continues to grow and our students continue to become aware of is in its third uh full year. So I will say that I participated in a leadership retreat to Wells College with seven amazing students and what that did for our students right it's not only exposure to college but leadership traits as well as how to engage in difficult conversations for young students. Now every year that's the focal point of Gear Up students want to go on that trip. So throughout the year we hold workshops, we hold um career exposures and in part of with our partnership with the department of labor bringing these experiences virtually. So having virtual reality headsets that can really put our students at the forefront of the work whether it's working on
112a highway on a highwire line or working in a medical um hospital as a nurse, they get to see hands-on what that experience looks like. So in addition to that we had a number of students participate in programs um in this past year. Oh and you mentioned mentorship. So New York Gear Up along with the New York mentorship program provided mentorship for 45 students. Now how did we identify these students? These were students that were potentially at risk of attendance and failing courses. These 45 students came to program with Miss Renee Francis, our attendance teacher, every week to experience workshops and also be mentored by upper grade students on some of the challenges they may face throughout high school. So that's one of the mentorship opportunities we got through NY gear up. In addition, I
113would say 300 plus students were exposed to CTE experiences last year and every single student in the 10th grade cohort currently has visited a college campus. In addition to that, with our PEK cohort, again, we're seeing more focal points in um paramedics, cyber security, health information technologies, and computer information systems where our students are participating in summer program exploring these career fields where they'll have six years to not only obtain an associates degree and a high school diploma, but a potential certification in the job, right? And it's the student's choice at that point to either further their degree with a bachelor's or to go into the workforce. So, right now, we have two cohorts. And another beauty about this um particular um I would say um opportunity is 60 68% of our students in the
114first cohort are firstgen students and 60% of our current cohort the second cohort are also first generation students making significant impact for those young folks. So now when we talk about college and career, um two years ago I had the opportunity to work with uh a teacher that was coordinating an AVID program here and she invited me into her classroom to conduct a Naviance career assessment, self- assessment and career cluster surveys. Now essentially these surveys are about 15 to 20 minutes and at the end of it similar to what our students are doing at the third and fourth grade level, John Holland's realic theory they get like an outlook and they get to identify careers. Now, the cool thing about Naviance is it automatically starts to identify the career fields in their Naviance portal. So,
115students, the 44 students that took part in this process as a pilot program early on were able to see that if they were artistic, the multiple fields that they could go into with their art arts um with their arts experience, right? If they were scientific, the multiple engineering fields or architecture fields if they were, you know, into um investigative work, right? So we looked across the multiple career paths, clicked on the career fields and they started to heart. Our students love hearting. It's a social media way of them liking things. So they can also do that on aviance. And in doing so, they created a career profile for themselves. So with those 44, myself and the counseling team here, I just met with them actually this Monday to distinguish how do we now push this
116out grade six through eight, right? Like it it had such a significant impact on those 44 students that we want to do it across all grade levels here at AMD. So, in meeting with Antonio Godinho and the folks here, we're going to push into AVID classes. We're going to start in small pockets with groups, but then we're going to expand it to the entire sections of the AVID courses so that students are conducting personal interest profiles, career profiles, career cluster profiles, and then aligning possible careers all with the goal to succeed in the classroom. Right? So, that's the goal is and with the next slide, we can see the importance of identifying careers. Studies show that if I have a goal and if I set a goal as a young teenager and I have this
117goal set on my mind, I can potentially I work harder in the classroom. Right? So, we want our students to take more rigorous coursework and to challenge themselves, right? We don't want them to just to get to their junior year of high school and say, "Oh, you know, I'm going to opt for the um the quote unquote easier math course, right? We want them to take computer science." We want them to take statistics. We want them to take lifechanging uh courses. And it all starts honestly at AMD. And one thing I looked at was the pathway to success for our students when they do take algebra here at AMD. And how Dr. Novver, myself, the school counseling team, and the math department here looked at multiple ways to include a variety of students in this
118pathwork. Now, it started off again, it's not just saying, okay, we're going to open up every single section of algebra, right? That is a culture shock for a student. What we did was just small trans trans um transitions. So again, starting with 49 students and then slowly getting up to the point where this year we have 114 total students in the algebra course. Right now, what does that do at the high school level? I'm going to show you in a few minutes, but I want to kind of highlight the importance of the courses here because 100% of our students have not only passed the class, but they've passed the regions to earn a credit towards their high school diploma. Now, how does that impact growth at the high school? We all know that algebra can
119be a cornerstone of foundational math towards other again even if it's just in the STEM base but also in other areas when you talk about critical thinking math is important and I tell that to students all the time. So what we've done is we've seen the opportunity of our students taking algebra and the exposure to college level and secondary courses by 10th grade right whether it's AP world or whether it's Sunni college algebra advance our students are taking these courses earlier on further exploring them on their junior year to take elective courses courses in super forensics courses in Sunni race like again the opportunity to potentially leave high school with 30 plus credits is saving our students significant amount of money, but at the same time, we've opened a lot of sections. So much so
120that since 22 23 to now, we have 30 331 additional seats in our upper level courses. And when you look at those courses, we actually have two courses that are designated for ICT students. Okay? So, when we look specifically at science, we've added 52 seats, math, we've added 63 seats, ELA 40, social studies 99, and world language 79. Now the importance of social studies and world languages. You might have seen an uptick in our seal of civic readiness and our seal of biiteracy. We can now attribute that to our students taking higher level courses and having access to that. When Mr. Prince reaches out to me who's the uh curriculum coordinator and says hey I have all these students in AP US history that are eligible now for seal of civic readiness. That's an opportunity
121for our students to get a seal that again supports them. And in a later slide you'll see in the future the portrait of a graduate how significant that will be for our students. Now when I also came here, I took a a huge note into the equity of our classes and who's taking them, who's sitting in them. And I think I had mentioned in a early board meeting that this is something I wanted to kind of further look at. And we did look at it. We looked at prerequisites. We looked at alternative ways for students to be referred to a program. Working with the math department to ensure that they develop a Excel sheet to provide to counselors and saying like, I ensure that the student will exceed at this course. So all of the
122work that went into ensuring that our student and our upper level courses also reflect our community. And what I can say to that is is what we're seeing is though that our community is 8% black or um 60% I mean 70% Hispanic right to that notion we're seeing growth in both areas and significant growth. I can also say for our science research program that was also a need and inquiry for some of our families is like hey like is there opportunity for my student to get into this program and we've seen demographical growth in that area as well. Now what does it all come down to? Now every year I am ch I am challenged as the director of school counseling to develop a school profile of our previous senior class that I have to
123then get to naviance that all colleges have access to. Um so in fact of the 16 college and careers that have visited us um the past I would say 13 days at the high school a majority of them had already come up to me and said hey you know uh is the career profile is the the class profile up there yet for last year? I said not just yet because we're still waiting for some students to enroll into some two-year courses and I want to get it as accurate as possible. But nonetheless we've seen growth. So in the class profile of 2022 we had 75% of our students going to college. In the class profile of 2023, we saw 76% and as recent and New York State um so the reason why there's a a
124differentiation between the class profile and then you have this beautiful graph is nice finally provides a report card for postsecary data. So you can actually visit the NICE site to get a breakdown of you know our post-secary data. So for 2324 we saw 81% of our students going to four and two-year colleges. Okay. Now with that said there's a lot that goes into this work. our college and career fair which has 70 plus colleges visit. What we've also expanded in the small gym is we've kind of taken our Sunni colleges and placed them in the large gym to have a college fair there and then a massive career fair in the small gym where we've included Boseies where we've included the police department, fire department, HVAC as well as our partners with the department of
125labor. So again, the virtual reality piece, our students were engaging in that learning last year in the big gym. Now they're going to have a a whole section of the small gym with more VR headsets to explore those endless possibilities. We have the military. So within the past 13 days as well, we've had 16 colleges and careers from the UN University Universal Technical Institute to Brown and the military visit our students right in room 110. So all of those exposures help when making this executive decision around post-secondary enrollment. The next slide highlights our um what I would consider a very strong relationship with Boseies. Uh we we have developed multiple multiple programs to inform our community about the Boseis tech programs that exist. Um we have about a 100 plus students in the spring participate
126in Bosei tech tours. They go to BOSI awareness nights. We have a Boseis night now that started last year um where we inform our families of what Bosei is and how to how the application process is and we do one in Spanish and in English for our families. So in 2024 we had 159 students attend. 2025 143 students attend and currently 107 I believe. I think I did hear a student come off the wait list today but I'll get that information tomorrow. Now, I know that the numbers look as though they're trickling down, but to be quite frank, Boseies is doing everything in their nature to provide our students with the support. What's happening at Boseies, unfortunately, is they're experiencing the impact of teacher shortage, and they're also confined with their space as well. There's
127growing need of the program at multiple different districts. So, they're trying to do their best in servicing all districts in, you know, Putinham Valley and Northern Westchester. Um, so that's it's not that our students aren't getting in or applying. It's a space issue similar to what we're facing here at Austin. Now with that said, when we think about pathways, I want to highlight. So there's the four plus one. You need a math, a science, an English, a social studies assessment at the high school, which are still labeled as the regents, and the plus one. Now what Boseis does for those 106 students is it provides an opportunity as a plus one through their work-based learning hours as well as um their career readiness profiles. And then again they have uh an employability profile that they
128fill out that that then kind of substitutes and adds on for the plus one for those students. So if they successfully pass algebra, earth science, global, right, and English, they can utilize that CEO profile as a plus one. Now I will say over 80 plus% of our students earn their plus one either through US history or living environment. We have seen success of our students using the CEOs credential and Mary can attest to that because she has to sign off on the mo uh often to provide a student opportunity to earn a local or regions diploma. Okay. So that was that's been something that we've utilized for our students as well. Now talking about how this transitions to the future. Now I know that the state is coming out with the graduate of uh uh
129learner and I think we are already aligned with our portrait of a learner work that we've done and instilled in this district for years now. The one thing I say and will be a benefit for our students is the work that they do outside of just the core content areas. Now what does that mean? We have courses like skip, we have our Sunni classes and most importantly our Bosei students that leave campus for four periods a day and oftentimes when they come back they have to take the part in government economics. they have to take a gym. Now they can kind of look at utilizing that Boseis experience and kind of alternating that and counting that as a math, counting that as a science so that they can open up their uh schedules to take
130college level courses or elective courses of their interest. So that's what the GRA uh portrait of a graduate will possibly uh well I shouldn't say possibly will afford our students is the opportunities right outside of the classroom that will support them >> and that is it. So thank you for your time. >> Thank you. All right. Who would like to start? Anybody? No. If you if you have nothing to say that's fine. Um, I can go. Christine, >> I will open it up. >> Okay. >> Another fantastic presentation. I just it's another area where there's been such intentionality and such focus in the work and making the world of opportunities available to our students and just really really appreciate that work across the spectrum. You can't underscore what we do here in Austining with students
131and their ability to get college credits and what that really does, how that saves families, how that gets them into a place at the end of the day. I mean, I've got one ch one student, one child that graduated in three years and one in two years from college at the end of the day, which everybody has a different experience, but that is a significant amount and can give you other opportunities to basically graduate school or go right into career and all those kinds of things. So there just really is opportunities here that when I would go to my Westchester Putinham School Boards Association meetings and talk about, it doesn't exist in a lot of districts in the county. So I just think that it's something here that we've really been intentional and focused on
132and really grown well. And I hope the community recognizes how much of a resource this is at the end of the day. And this presentation really shows how much of it and the focus that goes in from third and fourth grade into trying to line students up and the opportunities with Navvian to kind of find where they fit and all of that just is it's so it's so important for our student base. So just thank you for the work. Appreciate the insights and the trends and where things are going. Bless you. And um and just you know and where we're missing we adjust and where you know like like all things we learn as we go. So just really appreciate this presentation and the work that's being done by you and the team. So thank
133you chairman. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. Um I'll go around like clockwise this time. Owen, do you have anything? >> So I definitely want to highlight um some of the programs you mentioned like uh skip and science research. I could speak from personal experience with science research. it it doesn't feel like a class, you know, and it really gives you these um professional opportunities that allow you to expand beyond the classroom. And I think that's that's that's something that a lot of districts don't offer and and we really excel at. So, I I I I really appreciate the the effort um you guys put into those programs. Um, and also, um, I'm curious how our new attendance program and our campaign will relate to some of the data you presented and, um, some of the
134stuff you mentioned because, um, I know administrators at the high school especially have worked very hard on promoting attendance and making sure everybody's at class and not where they're from when they're supposed to be. So, something to touch base on definitely. >> Thanks, Rob. Do you have anything? >> Sure. Uh thank you for this. Um couple of things. So it's great to see there's traditionally underrepresented students going into the algebra going into um the AP and Sunni classes. So it looks like we've set up an equity of access. What are we doing to ex um to make sure any students but particularly those new ones into these programs will have equity of success? How are we going to track that? Do are we going to look at the test scores? Are we gonna making sure
135they have the supports on that? So, that's my kind of first quick question on that. So, absolutely. Um, one thing to to kind of reference or look at is the work that's done at AMD with the algebra course, right? Was the slow and steady appeal to it. Um, we've opened up one to two sections in certain areas, right? And we've also created I would say um heterogeneous kind of populations in those sections and Owen you can attest to this right where there is this growth of knowledge and the numbers haven't changed. So for example in English for example AP um lit language and literature which is 11th grade course we've still seen the same success on the English regions um that we've seen in years past and we've added additional sections to that right so
136tracking things like that to ensure like student success. So we are working with so this year I'll be working with Dr. far back to ensure that in those STEM courses we're going to review what are those three and fours looks like what are the opportunities of our students getting those credits for colleges right to identify okay we've opened up the seats now how do we develop the supports for these students to succeed because as Frank said the most important thing is is taking those courses to earn college credit >> got it and I guess similarly right as we look towards this data driven plan Mary like so maybe we come back again the end of the year or in a board update and say okay here's where we were, here's where we are. Now, obviously
137things like region scores don't come in right until after school year ended, but it'll be good to look at to make sure that's all correlating. The last quick one I've got here is just remind me on the Boseis piece. I know we've discussed a little bit at the board table um the possible idea of introducing trades and other things traditionally younger than just the like the high school Boseies night. Are we still kind of looking to try that? Are we doing that? Is there a thought to do that? Even bring it all the way down to the elementary school if if appropriate as well, but certainly maybe in the middle school. >> I think absolutely. So I think with the Navvian and our partnership with the Department of Labor, it kind of like alludes to
138those fields that exist at Bosei. So, if a student is working on a HVAC system through a virtual reality headset or they've identified kind of as a hands-on learner, right, a realistic learner or investigative learner, they may want to look at an HVAC or construction field, right? So, that will populate and then counselors at the middle school can then identify, hey, these are these amazing programs that take place at PNW Boseis. >> Okay, >> great. Okay, thank you. But I will say we're limited in the sense of both like our Bosei store for example, it's in partnership and we like again they they restrict that to like 10th grade students. We try to sneak some nth grades on there. Um but they try to get as many 10th grade students to go because those are
139the students that would be applying for that program. >> So it feels like it might be a large, you know, beyond us discussion because to me for the trades like if a student expressed interest even as early as elementary school, great. Especially with the new setup with the state saying you have to have all these other requirements projectbased to meet identify that early as possible gives that student an opportunity to do something that you may not have been able to identify formally now because you can't go on the tour as you said until 10th grade. >> Probably a larger discussion beyond Austin but hopefully you know be thinking of that statewide as they go forward with the new implementation over the next few years. All right. U Melissa, do you have anything, Annie? >> Yes.
140>> Um, thank you for that presentation and for just how extensive just kind of matching up the opportunity and resources that we have with the actual student body that we support as well. Um I was curious about you had mentioned a student mentoring um program around like attendance or school avoidance. Could you speak a little more about that and especially how >> um students get connected to that? >> Correct. So that was through our New York New York Gear Up program and essentially we use measurement data from eighth grade, >> right? So based on their eighth grade attendance, based on their eighth grade um success in certain classes, specifically math and science, there were students that were identified and then we we already had an existing mentorship program. Dr. Daly uh and I were trying
141to establish a mentorship program. So we did was we kind of just took those mentors and identified them for the incoming ninth graders at the time. So there were 46 students that were identified that worked with the new and then again we worked with New York um mentorship that they basically provided access and curriculum of what the mentorship program should look like over the course of however many weeks. >> Got it. >> And trainings as Yeah. And trainings as well for the mentor the coordinator I should say and the mentors. >> Okay. Great. >> Thank you for that. Um, I don't have any more specific questions, but I do appreciate just, you know, how robust and just how you continue to, even at the high school age, make sure you connect to families, which isn't
142always the easiest thing to do just because we're trying to balance, you know, fostering independence, but still making sure they have the supports they need because those brains and decisions are still forming. Uh, so we want to support them as much as we can. So I do appreciate the kind of balance you find with making sure that families still feel connected and being able to support their um their students at a high school level. So thank you >> Annie. Um I don't have any questions but just a comment as a firstgen student as well. I really appreciate all the outreach that's done in helping kids see all the different ways that they can make their interests become careers. Mh. >> Um, just knowing a lot of how some immigrant families can think. It's like, you
143know, you go to school and then you become a doctor, you go into math or, you know, something that is that feels very concrete and like success, but now they know like, you know, if you love art, you can be a graphic designer and that's a great career and it's, you know, you can be successful in all these different kinds of things. So it doesn't it doesn't make their interest seem as frivolous as they could to a different generation. >> Mhm. >> Um instead of choosing to speak, Roger texted me and said, "Tell Jeremy, I said, "Thank you for a very thoughtful presentation." So I suppose that's his comment. Um Catherine did text me that she had some thoughts. So we're going to put Katherine on. >> I hope I'm able to speak without um
144a crazy echo. Is Is it coming through? Okay. It's it's it's it's >> Oh, it was coming through. Okay, it's I'm gonna turn off my video. >> I I don't know why, but I think the video is really affecting it. Is that okay now? >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. >> I just heard you say yes about 20 times. So, I'll I'll try to be as quick as I can. Um, I recently and sort of anecdotally, I was helping a family member of mine who's in their 40s obtain a new job and it and they don't have a college degree. And it was fascinating to me how many job descriptions that don't seem to wouldn't you wouldn't think would require a college degree have that in the description. And they're now using AI to
145filter out applicants. And so gone are the days of being able to write a well-worded cover letter and give your experience. You either have it or you don't. And I just am curious to what extent are we educating our students about AI screening and um the importance of either trying to pursue a college degree or having a concrete alternative plan because that was really clear to me in going through this search with that family member that there there was a need to have a well-defined pathway towards a career, whatever that pathway might be. >> No, you're absolutely right. So, I love working with um Miss Langley at the high school. Um there's going to be a new vision and approach and that approach is college, career, and life ready because we do understand some of
146the challenges that come. Our students may go on to college at the age of 18, but studies show like even by sophomore year, there's over 86% of sophomores changing their majors, right? So sometimes our students are going in with this mindset that I want to be a biomedical engineer. They get exposed to college and now they feel stuck, right? It's like how are we preparing our students with life skills that taking those transitional skills that you have and applying them to a potential new major. Um there are a lot of adult learner programs, right? Southern New Hampshire is one of them. Borico College has a HOP program for adult learners. They're seeing significant increase in their applications from adult learners because of um some folks having to go back to earn degrees, right, to pursue
147their uh careers. So these conversations are also taking place actually with AI. Owen and I had a a brief conversation. We'll talk more next Thursday of how AI is actually impacting right the college process whether it's through essays whether it's through um again college admissions counselor's review process like those are the things that are going to kind of be implemented in the coming years that counselors are already participating in Boseis P&W PDS on what does that look like for our students. So, it's a very valid question and it's one I'll even say this like we've even opened our doors at the high school for students that come back. I saw a student uh getting tutored by Mr. K the other day because guess what? They're going to take their ASV fap and they want to
148go into the military. So, that's a career change in itself. So, you're not wrong, but it's it's work that again um is happening when we talk about transitional skills and then again sending our students out there with the abilities to apply themselves to multiple majors. Thank you. And then my >> answer your question, Kathleen. >> I appreciate it. Um and my other inquiry along similar but different uh lines is you know I really feel strongly that every student regardless of socioeconomic status, regardless of background um should know what the requirements are to be competitive and considered by the most challenging and competitive uh higher education institutions in the country and in the world. So there are unwritten rules. For example, you must have three foreign language classes in the same language in high school. Um,
149junior high does not count that the most competitive tier of colleges require. So they won't even consider you as an applicant. And I want to make sure that there's a process in place that we're informing all of our students of what I call these sort of unwritten door opening requirements that really don't have anything to do with graduation from high school. They don't have anything to do with getting a regent's diploma, but they have everything to do with being able to put yourself in a position to be a considered candidate for some of these schools. Correct. So I do think that our counselors do have because again you're you're highlighting some of the IVIV plus schools which do require some of those three years of languages and there is work to be done in inform
150you're right if I would say um informing all students of uh that notion because you do have some students that do want take two years of language um but I think also the CLA biiteracy and pursuing those things and and and having our students continue with their dual enrollment programs will help with some of that application process. as well. And then lastly, if you'll indulge me, do we do anything using um College Board where you can kids can actually go online and they can virtually tour colleges like you know drone looks around campuses, explore majors at various they can generate their own list of you know colleges that they might be interested in and then they can get some of those soft requirements through that process. College Board does offer that functionality, but I would
151I would inquire or like our counselors oftent times in small group settings will explore Navviance, right? So, Navvian does have the College tour setting on it. Again, students can highlight those colleges and keep them on their college list so that when they do the application process, it's there um as well as the uh admissions counselor's contact information so that they can conduct further resource or schedule a uh campus visit in person. Thank you. I appreciate it. If you can't tell, I'm I'm living this right now, so I appreciate all the information. All right. Well, thank you. I know as a board, we ask for unvarnished data. Like, we want to know if there's a problem, we want to know because we can't address it if we can't see it, right? Um, and I feel like
152this is kind of like the flip side of that coin. I'm so impressed by the work that has gone on and I mean I know it's not just you. It's you but it's not just you, right? Absolutely. And um >> a whole team of people implementing the work that we're able to fund through these grants >> um >> to see that concrete effect of having you know not only increased enrollment in um our most rigorous coursework but that that enrollment is >> uh the benefit of that is being seen equitably in in our district. um you know just these 25% 20% 17% increases is really impressive. So um just thank you for the work that made this these nice bar graphs possible. You know what I mean? Because I know it's not as easy as
153just slapping it on a bar graph. There's a lot that goes into it before we can report on this um great data. So um thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. I just want to make one correction to something I said earlier to highlight that um Alita sent me a text. It's a half a million dollar a year. The mental health grant the 100,000 plus is the New York gear up but that's about $150,000 a year. We received notice that that's ending too. >> So it's $500,000 for half a year, >> right? So the remainder from January 1st to June 30th is an additional 5000 overall is a million a million. >> But thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> You're officially dismissed. >> Thank you. I was going to say
154it's almost 10:00 and our um the wonderful people have to be back in school early tomorrow morning with our students. So, thank you Ann Delia and Jeremy for very informative presentations. >> Yes, thank you. Um, moving right along, we have our uh audience recognition for agenda items that we for now are uh is not to exceed 10 minutes. Do we have anybody in person? No, we don't. Who wishes to speak? No, nobody online. Okay, then we'll go ahead. Looking ahead at our consent agenda, um I I see no that we will have to break out 5.2 because that's going to require some discussion. Um does anybody have anything else they wish to break out? >> 5.3. Okay. Um I think I need to break something out in the eights. So let me know when we're
155there. >> No. Do you want me to grab you a hard copy? >> Um, no, I think I'm good. >> Okay. Okay. Oh, there we go. There we go. There we go. All right. Um, I'll just >> I would like to break out uh 5 three. >> All right. Well, two requests to break out 5.3. >> Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that was the one I was >> That's the one. Okay. Um All right. Um, we have to talk about appointing a delegate for the New York State School Boards Association annual meeting. Uh, I have the date. I It's October I want to say 16th in my head. Hold on, let me pull it up. Uh, 16th at 4 p.m., which is a Thursday. Um, it's been, as we've discussed before, I think
156kind of a marathon meeting. It goes on for many hours. Um, >> you remember >> The business meeting. Yeah. Um, so we've in the past uh nominated like a one person and kind of like a backup person. Does anybody really want to go? Anybody dying to see how this >> Are you doing that virtual again? >> It's virtually. It's It's been virtual. So, >> um I I can if nobody else would like to. >> I can't. That's it. >> Okay. >> I can't either. Okay. >> Which day is it again? uh Thursday, October 16th, and it begins at 400 p.m., which is later than I feel like. It's usually starts at like 1:00 p.m. So, I don't know how late it's going to go. >> Around that time before, cuz I remember it was like
157after dinner time, other time. Well, well, after dinner time. >> Um, so I would You want to be my backup? Vice versa. >> All right. I'll be the person and you can be my backup. Okay. >> All right. All right. So, I guess um in that case, I'll take a resol uh take a motion uh for 5.2, a resolution to point a delegate from the New York State School Boards Association with myself as the delegate and Melissa as the alternate. So moved. Second. >> Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. All right. Uh, next I'll take a resolution or I'll take a motion. Sorry, I'm reading the word resolution already. I'll take a motion on 5.3. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh, 5.3. Resolution to appoint additional consultants for the
1582025 2026 school year. Any discussion? I am hoping uh that it doesn't have to be in um you know influencing the vote tonight, but I'm hoping to gather more information on the first two um the first two consultants that we'll be supporting just where as a board we can understand more information about how Those two entities will be supporting the district. >> All right, we got that. Mary, >> yes. I don't I don't have I left my paperwork and I didn't bring the electronic, but I >> Melissa said it's not going to impact her vote, right? You just want more information. >> I'd like to, you know, be able to understand more about more detail about how they'll be supported. >> We'll do. >> Okay. >> Any further discussion? All right. Um all in favor
159>> I >> opposed abstensions >> abstain to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. >> Sure. >> All right. I'll take a resolution now for 5.4 through 5.6. >> Del second. >> 5.4 resolution to approve merger for girls ice hockey revised. 5.5 Resolution to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of July 30th, 2025. 5.6 Resolution to approve the appointment of alternate officials for the special district meeting. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. All right. Looking at six, consent agenda, uh, business office matters. Does anybody have anything from 6.1 through 6.11 they wish to break out? All right, I I'll take a motion for 6.1 through 6.11. >> So move >> second. >> Uh 6.1 resolution regarding acceptance of grant funds from Sexhau Foundation. First steps 6.2 resolution to accept
160funds from Ohio Pile Royalty Print Program OS. 6.3 resolution regarding acceptance of funds Uline Corporation. 6.4 Resolution regarding certiary refund payment URST biddies. 6.5 Resolution regarding acceptance of donation to OS class of 1971 scholarship. 6.6 Resolution to accept funds for driver education program fall 2025 2026. 6.7 Resolution regarding establishment of club at OS indoor track club. 6.8 resolution regarding establishment of club at AMD AMD music club. 6.9 Resolution regarding health services other districts. 6.10 Resolution regarding 202526 custodial reimbursement rate for building use. 6.11 11 Resolution regarding interfund transfers. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstensions. I'll take a motion on uh 7.1. >> So moved. >> Second. >> 7.1 resolution to approve recommended placements. Any discussion? All in favor? >> I I >> abstensions. Now Katherine had texted me. Uh Katherine texted
161me that she needs to break out 8.7. Okay. So, uh I'll take a motion right now for 8.2 through 8.6 and 8.8 through 8.14. Does anybody have anything else they wish to break out? I should have asked. No. Okay. So, I'll take a motion on those items already stated. >> So, moved. >> Second. Thanks, Frank. 8.2, Resolution regarding rescending professional staff appointments. 8.3 Resolution regarding professional staff resignations. 8.4 Resolution regarding confidential staff resignations. 8.5 Resolution regarding civil service staff resignations. 8.6 Resolution regarding support staff resignations. 8.8 Resolution regarding support staff appointments. 8.9 Resolution regarding bus attendant appointments. 8.10 10 resolution regarding professional staff appointments before after school programs. 8.11 resolution regarding civil service staff appointments before/chool programs. 8.12 Resolution regarding support staff appointments before after school programs. 8.13 Resolution regarding PDM substitute removals. 8.14 Resolution
162regarding PDM substitute appointments. Any discussion? >> All in favor? I >> I >> opposed >> abstensions. All right. >> I'll take a motion on 8.7. >> So moved. >> December second. Thanks. Uh 8.7 resolution regarding professional staff appointments. >> Any discussion? Um I just want to note that some of the professional staff appointments include um two co-directors for destination imagination and aing which is exciting and has been advocated for by the community for a long time. I do have connections to the international organization as well as the local boosters club in support. So, I'm planning to abstain. Um, but it's not a reflection on any of the other appointments on uh of these or any of the other appointment appointees on the list. >> All right. Right. Right. Uh, >> all in favor? >> I
163>> opposed. Abstensions. abstain due to perceived um conflict >> how our colleagues >> or the appearance of conflict >> on all these resolutions or how are we getting that? >> I don't know. I'm assuming that they're speaking but I don't >> All right. I think we got to work the technology out for that. We'll have to work it out. I agree. >> Or yet that's something that really we should know in the moment and should be able to see. >> Yeah. >> It doesn't feel that important on the consent agenda, but it certainly you never know. >> You can have where it becomes. Yeah, >> sorry I I there was interference. I couldn't hear. >> We have arrived at our next audience recognition. So, it's time for public comment on any school related topic. I
164see still no one here in person. What's up? None online. All right. Now, it's time for board discussion and information. Have any committees met? I don't think we're still getting them off the ground. >> It's the school beginning of the school year. I don't think everything's really ramped up yet. >> Yeah. Um >> more important things to deal with. >> Um I know that we had received some emails from trustees stating that they had things that they had wanted to discuss. So um the only thing on my list was that NISBA business meeting which we addressed in the course of our meeting. Um is there anything anybody here needs to bring up for board dialogue? >> Christine, can you hear me? >> There may be and I'm I'm looking over here. There may be somebody
165online. one of our >> I'm trying to >> Can someone hear me? >> Yeah. Sorry. >> Can anyone hear me? >> I'm not sure. Let me I'm going to just send him a text and say >> Oh, I'm I can hear I'm getting a text from somebody who's Katherine is texting me telling me she's speaking and you can't hear. self. >> Can anybody hear me? >> There we go. There we go. Yes, >> I hear you, Katherine. >> All right. Thanks. Yeah, guys, I'm not sure what's going on with the audio and video this evening. It's really clunky. Um, so hopefully we can try to get it worked out. Um, I did want to bring up I I had emailed I brought this up over email that I was going to bring it up tonight.
166We have a huge lift with implementing a curriculum review policy, which is something in our board goals as well as our district goals. And I don't actually see it uh check-ins on it on the agenda. So, I was thinking it probably makes sense for us to put it on the agenda so that we can all make sure that we are moving along in our process to reach those goals. That sounds reasonable to me. Does I'll just take the temperature of the people here in the room. >> What What does that Katherine I guess if you can hear me? What what do what do we I mean from a tactical standpoint is it like you know started meeting going to implement implemented like what are you kind of looking for with that? Um, I mean, I
167would I would imagine and I'm going to leave plenty of room for our superintendent's input, but I would imagine at least putting something early on on the agenda where our superintendent could report back, okay, here's the plan and the timeline for this and next steps and do we have green light or not? and then then a check-in along the way and then a you know where do we where do we want to go with this next I sort of envision needing like at least three check-ins like that but again open to feedback um absolutely I agree 100% so um I can certainly have them included in as part of my superintendence update and I could be deliberate with that in the draft board agenda. Um I know uh right now Maria and I are working
168on uh the outreach to staff for the first meeting. So I will include in my update some thoughts about three to four check-ins. I imagine there would be a comprehensive report at the end of the year anyway with more work. So I will include that in my update and share with the board uh some dates with on the draft agenda. Sounds good to me. >> All right. I know we that >> about something that sorry that he um had intended he said I think in his email that he intended to bring it up. So >> sorry to do that. >> This is for me. There he is. >> Can you guys hear me? Okay. >> Hello. >> I cannot tell if you can hear me or not. Okay. It looks like there's a thumbs up.
169Okay. If um it here's what I I know I sent an email to the board. Um there's the policy 4730 which talks about homework. Um, and one of the things I wanted to really try to look at here, and I'm I'm asking the board to um, and and perhaps see even go back to policy committee to have a review of this around the homework assignments that are given during extended holiday breaks, which um, oftentimes are um, pretty laborious and almost um, you know, they're they're it's there there's something that needs to really be revisited on this one here and perhaps warrants further discussion. So, what I'm thinking here, again, this is just my thoughts. Again, this is not for me to kind of dictate or or or say what policy should or should not be
170at this point, but I do think there should be a review of homework and being used as much more of that tool that helps to reinforce material that's taught in class versus being told, here, go do do all of this without any kind of instruction happening at home. um you know particularly when when it actually does does disrupt the continuity and it diminishes the intended learning benefit um and that they're being asked students are being asked to practice skills uh without having that real-time guidance needed. Um the other issue that that I um raised in my email is around the fact that it's there is a lot of research that supports the fact that uh home having that um break is important for cognitive recovery for for our learners. And it shows that having that
171consistency in rest periods and enhancing that long-term memory helps to reduce the burnout, improved focus because when students are allowed to disconnect, it allows them to have much more refreshed um you know thinking and adjustment on this one which I sent some research on this one as well. The other piece of this too is because we do have that need to have or think about equity in this perspective as well as that social emotional learning connection having that um you know that there is when you do have that break that not everybody has access to all those resources and doing the things that need to be done um you know or having those quiet study spaces or the technology or whatever it might be. And when you have the homework that goes over these periods,
172it does really amplify some of the inequities that are happening and putting some of those students who actually do have um those tools and resources at an advantage while those students who don't at a disadvantage which I think it's a bit of a challenge something needs to be considered as part of this. And then the other piece of this is obviously you know you are in a in a place where there there are family traditions that happen you know whether you happen to be from the you know various you know ethnic backgrounds and communities that really need to have that ability to to spend that time and and respect in that. But the idea here is not necessarily we're saying no, you know, it's to get rid of the rigor, right? It's meant to be
173about ensuring that homework assignments still continue to remain purposeful. It's aligned with instruction and given as a supplement to instruction versus here, go do it on your own all summer long, all holiday break long and and do it on your own. There isn't anybody that's actually there but to help support you through this and then you come back with it and you're subject to a grade that you know there was nobody there to kind of help coach you through this. So that's just again something I'm just asking that we consider this as part of a policy review. Um what this ends up looking like as part in terms of the conversation. We can have this as further conversation if needed. But that was my ask to the board to really think about um this and
174um have send this to policy committee for review. >> Okay. Thank you, Roger. We were mostly able to hear you, I think. Right. Um I don't know if Mary, you want to um speak a little about kind of where our current policy, what our current policy is and >> don't have it in front of me. I think at this point it's a matter of process. So it's um and and then whether or not it would be something the board overall would I would make a recommendation that any consideration on a change like this um you involve input from stakeholders from principles from others and from Maria's department to help the board make a more informed I'm curious to provide with the board. I'll ask what the current practice is what's going on what the current
175guidelines are and what has been taking place. So what's what's happening now >> versus I do know there's often a huge challenge uh for uh AP students in New York. We're a month behind uh the rest of the nation. So uh sometimes um people try to help catch up with that level there. But I think it's um obviously it's a board policy that's in place right now. You can certainly have it looked at at the policy committee and like you do with many other things, you invite um members of the administration and others uh to provide feedback. >> Well, before we go down that path, I think we need to kind of discuss amongst ourselves what our feelings are about that kind of proposition. So, I'm looking at Melissa. Melissa looks like she might have
176something to say. Do you have something to say, Melissa? generally speaking, not necessarily to the specific points that were made up brought up tonight around policy um from our two trustees joining us remotely. I'm more curious about process as far as how it relates to the policy committee and how we usually kind of unpack or review and that is part of any process usually that we have for policies. So, I'm just curious, we don't have to unpack that tonight. Um, if if at all, are we evaluating whether or not we're kind of breaking out of a norm of how we go through a implementation or review process for policies and what that looks like? Um maybe I'm looking too deeply into it, but I think >> right I would think that it would necessitate really
177a look at the whole policy in whole if we wanted to >> um you know if a board member says I think we need to look at X policy and the rest of us all agree yes this policy is something we need to look into then yeah we go through the policy committee um we would get a direction from the board on on what we would want to do if that's the direction we decide to go and And I don't think that there's a way to really do that without looking at the policy holistically. Um, I will say I took it upon myself to look into the homework policies that, you know, obviously our own homework policy and then the policies that other districts have. And I found that many districts have no policy uh
178when it comes to homework and that the school districts that do have policies generally have very old policies from maybe even the 80s, 90s, early 2000s that have really um broad statements that might be just sentence or two that says the board recognizes the importance of homework in a child's education. And that might be like the whole policy. Um there's not there was only Scarsdale tales was al also as prescriptive as ours already is. Um when I was looking at that so I just wanted to uh put that out there. I didn't do a thorough search. I probably looked up about 15 school districts in Westchester just cuz I was curious when I was looking at our own policy. Well, what are our neighbors doing? So, um it would seem to me that generally in
179Westchester at least that the board is kind of leaving those decisions to uh school administrators. So, um I'm not saying we can't look into this, but I I can see already that it would be a very comprehensive lift and it didn't come up during our board goals. And I'm also, you know, I'm not experiencing this personally. I don't know how often this happens, uh, or to what extent it happens. So, some of you have kids who've graduated or are experiencing this in high school already. If if this is if kids are expected to do tons of homework over the summer, >> it is a lot. >> Do tons of homework over winter. I I don't I don't even have that firsthand knowledge even anecdotally for myself. So um for me any change would require I
180think what would be a heavy lift in terms of data um in order to even know which way when to understand the current landscape I should say. So um that's kind of where my feelings are at right now. Anybody else? >> Christine, can you hear me? Can I give my thoughts? >> Yeah. I mean I don't know that I have enough information to really kind of weigh in on this at all. You know, I I think the questions are like if we asked our building administrators, how many how many parents have contacted you with a concern, does this rise to the level of it's happening for us everywhere? It's a small niche and you know, and and maybe there's a rationale behind some of these at the end of the day, as Mary said, timing
181of things at different times can be inconvenient, right? So I I would be very averse to the board coming up with a policy that is disconnected and not really in collaboration or at least we've pursued with the administrators. But I I just don't know the extent of this. So I would think from my perspective this is premature for the policy committee. It's really a question we would ask of the building administrators and try to seek how much that is. And I think it's a delicate balance because we don't want to create a huge work initiative for them at the end of the day. But is this something that's broadly across the board? Is this something that there's, you know, some programs, some particular classes maybe have? I just don't think I have enough to even
182kind of at this point to to to take it to a policy because just very premature. You know, I >> I I am going to vehemently disagree with you. >> I I I don't know if you can hear me, but I I actually I mean, I'm similar to you. I I have younger kids. They don't really get that kind of homework. Um, I mean, personally, I do think kids should have breaks as breaks, but it does seem like it's more complex than that. So, I am interested in hearing more from people who know more. >> Yeah, I I agree with that. I think it needs some a little bit more research. it might have been a good thing uh or to bring up with Dr. Lopez. It ties into properly in some capacity. So I
183would um wouldn't necess Roger uh if you're still listening I think it's a noble idea to look into get feedback from administrators your admin what are other districts doing and then come back with a recommendation and then I guess then it could become a policy or not based on recommendation what the board thinks from that point. So, I I'm a green light to do a little research on it and the pros and cons and how it impacts her students and families. >> Um, Katherine texted me that she has thoughts. >> All right. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Okay. All right. So, um, just briefly to address um, Melissa's point. So on the curriculum what I I don't remember the exact verbiage but the curriculum review policy that's already policy right and the goal that
184was set by the district and the goal that was set by the board was this year we're going to focus on implementation of phase one. So my ask in agenda setting is just that we've got check-ins on the status of implementation of of phase one. Um the homework policy to me I I so I anecdotally agree with Roger procedurally I agree with Frank. I don't you know did I have a bit of a miserable summer with a child taking a number of AP courses that impacted our family vacation and required a lot of um parental guidance and monitoring. Yes. Do I understand why that was needed for these specific AP courses? Because my cousins down south are starting those courses on August 1st and so we basically have to in advance do a whole month
185worth of work. I get it. Um I don't think that I have enough information to at this point advocate for changing a policy. I think that to Frank's point, the first step is trying to find data to figure out whether or not this is a district-wide uh issue of concern. um is like the threshold issue and I think we as a board need to decide with all of the other things that we have asked our admin to look into and work with us on this year. Is this another thing that we want to take on this year or is this something that we want to maybe push to look at next year or in future years? So I guess an an important piece of data that we need is just kind of what kind of
186lift would it be to even get us the data because we have been working on our board goals. This was not one of them. Um and so whereas for example the curriculum review thing, no question we put that on there. We agreed to that already. It's not too late to do that. I mean, we could choose to change directions, but I'm definitely not comfortable moving forward anywhere without an understanding of what the ask even entails. Like, as Katherine mentioned, we're asking a lot of our administrators already. Um, bond work continues. Of course, um, we know we're having our budget season is going to be very intense. We have our grants are instable, right? Um does this rise to a level that should take time away from that important work? Well, I need to know how
187much time that work would take, right? If this is a, oh, let me just pull up everybody's here you go. Here's a little report. This is how much work everybody is doing. Then yeah, I would support that. But if this is going to be a big lift as far as data goes and take many hours of work, I would be uh less likely to support even going there right now with the idea that like I think Katherine mentioned we could we could make it a goal next year. Um Frank, you look like you've got thoughts. I mean before we even get there, >> yeah, >> how many people have gone through the channel to go to their teacher and go to the principal and collect the basic information? >> If it's something that really isn't
188getting reported in and not, then that's maybe what people need to do, right, in terms of it. But I I think I wouldn't go looking for a lot of information, but I I would guess that the principles could tell you I've got X number of calls. If it's if it's not a a big number, it's tough to put resource and energy into this, >> you know, until we end have an understanding of what's the nature of the concerns and I don't want to say complaints, but I want to say the the concerns of parents that are advocating for their students at the end of the day. >> So, I think it would be it's incredibly reasonable for a board of education to ask what is the current status of homework, particularly at the secondary level.
189I can reach out to get an overview >> of things. That's that's not unusual. Um, and just give the board information. I I will say though because Roger did mention if there are certain religious observations and other things, there absolutely should be exception for that. Um but again I will look into that and just get a better overview and hear from some of the principles and just give you preliminary information so you can have more information to have a deeper conversation around. >> Um >> yeah I mean my experience has been there's been a lot of flexibility when those types of things have come but if there's a bunch of people that aren't having that and that's what's raising to the level of a principle then maybe it's something to look at. >> Exactly. And
190sometimes I will say just you know having been a former high school teacher sometimes um but even it's a it's a world I lived in in a previous district I know Dr. as even as a middle school principal particularly with eighth graders who are taking some sometimes there are projects that are due and sometimes students want you know a little bit more time to complete them as opposed to so again we'll we'll just gather some preliminary information right off the bat I can do that easily just to give the board more so you can look into it >> um Roger texted me that he would like to speak again >> can you all hear me okay Perfect. So, I I just want to reference back to the AP and Sunni enrollment for um what we
191saw from Jeremy Ducos, okay? And I want us to really think hard and long about that. Okay? and really start to think about what we can do to help support that enrollment and as well as continue to see more enrollment and not because we've created an experience that it becomes a deterrence for for kids who want to potentially think about enrolling as we go forward into growing that AP and Sunni class uh list that we've got there. And this is not by any means self- serving in any which way. I'm telling you cuz I have anecdotally heard from the community and I know we do need data, but I do think that if we want to really be talking about equity and kind of we can't be pushing back on thinking about how this could
192possibly come about to help us to grow those numbers and really start to make it much more inclusive in those AP and Sunni classes whereby those students who were shown in that in those graphs need the supports where they may or may not have the supports to help them succeed are that it's there. But if you're giving them homework over a a a summer period and it's a lot of a lot of classes and they're being asked to enroll in AP and Sunni and then we're saying, well, you know what, maybe we don't really need to look at this as a policy. That's that's a challenge and I think that's that's really what is you have to look at that data to kind of say what can we do to better support that. I mean,
193homework itself, I get that there are projects, but homework itself needs to have be a reinforcement of what's been learned. And if you go through an entire summer or during a religious holiday and without guidance or instruction and you're left struggling there, you're going to see a higher dropout within these AP and Sunni classes. And that is a big concern of mine. >> Yeah, it's a 30 seconds at the end when you're if you're speaking out, but Uh, no. Katherine also said that she asked she asked she texted me and said she has more. So, >> take it away, Catherine. >> Um, I just, you know, I think this is a noble thing to look at and I just know from my own personal experience how much um, family support was required to get through
194the summer work, which was significant, and not everybody has the resources to do that. So the result of this might be just like we have two weeks leading up to the beginning of school, we do regent review in preparation for regent exam retakes. maybe you know where we would land in this is let's support a summer homework you know couple week session like that which I think is why it's important to gather data so that we can know best how as a board to tackle this so that students are successful and it may not be a matter of rewriting a policy it may be a matter of putting better front-loaded supports in place because the last thing I would want to do is write a policy that made our students less competitive to take AP
195exams than half the country because they're starting too late. So again, I think that's why it's important to explore this not only in the sense of what do families feel about homework, but does homework play a role in a lack of access to AP courses and does it play a role in dropout rates from AP courses so that we can really tackle this from a multiaceted approach. Just quickly, so my my last comment here is broadly as we look at what if if it's a homework thing, if it's busting, whatever it is, I would say I'm certainly never a person in a fan of a solution in search of a problem, not problem solutions. But I will say from a data standpoint, yes, we want to take into account whether parents and others have anecdotally
196spoken with us or brought back to the principles. But I would say I would also I would look at that as a a data point not the data point on whether to go forward or not. You know we we want to lead on some things too. So we have got very experienced admin and administration and teachers. So if there's something that we may not have heard on the ground but we think well better to in this case help with AP class enrollment and sticking with it we should try to lead on that take all the data into account and the administration's experience as well. So, um, you know, make sure we're looking at a lot of data points before we we decide move forward, not just limit it to, you know, a thing or not.
197That's it from my end. >> So, um, Mary has offered to put together kind of a broad a very broad overview. Uh, do we want her to do that? That's what I need. We would if we want to go there. I know. Um, >> I'm a green light. >> You've already given your green light on that. Roger. I would have to imagine is in support of that. Um the rest of the table, how do we feel? Do we want to begin? >> I mean, from a resource perspective, you want to work in with the other priorities. If it's not a big lift, or if we don't have an expectation that this is a next week thing, but this is in the over the next, you know, couple of months, I think it makes sense. >>
198Yeah. as long as it's not a big lift. >> Melissa, >> so similarly, I would agree. Yes, as long as it's not a big lift. I just want to point out when we talk about our desires to streamline our data and enhance our capability to have comprehensive data. I would assume that there are certain data points that exist where we can kind of glean those big pictures from maybe perhaps around this. So um hoping that's the case so it's not um an impediment to any current structures. I do think it is a thoughtful discussion and point of interest to want to have an informed discussion about and I'm hoping that we can utilize our because we have a lot of data on a lot of different data points already and I think there are ways
199to evaluate through some of those existing structures um if there's any impact negative impact specifically that we or positive as well to balance the scale that we could review. Um, I would be in support of something broad and not what necessarily with the deadline of next meeting or next week, right? Like I want to be clear that like this should not be at the very top of your list, right? Um with that understanding um Katherine >> yeah I just my my position is I don't think we should narrowly limit this to the viewpoint of like a a homework policy perspective I think we should broaden it to the question of really a multi-step question of is the homework and the summer work that's required and the um vacation work that's required impacting your appetite or
200your ability to enroll in these courses and could we alleviate that or make an avenue for that to be easier for you? You know, what supports could we put in place? I wanted to include that piece rather than just the narrow homework piece cuz I really want us to analyze the root cause of this not um sort of have a myobic approach to it. >> All right. It sounds like a green light for more information. >> We will talk. We will talk amongst ourselves and I will put something together. Right. Okay. Um, does anybody have anything else for board dialogue? >> Just very briefly, I think we need to amp up our advocacy for the New York Gear Up and the mental health grants that are going away with the state. So, I think that's
201something that we should really put on our advocacy agenda for this fall before the state comes out with its budget in January. So, like I think you're on a fast track for that right now because if we're losing the federal funds halfway through the year, we're in a tough spot. is that we didn't account for that in our budget last year. >> Um we we had no we didn't because this time last year it was a different environment. I mean, this was a letter that I think I shared with the board about the mental health grant, which is a significant amount of money, and I received the response to my response because with working with our attorney, I um wrote back to them, and I'll let you you can see it a pretty strong reason
202saying it no longer aligns with the current administration's priorities. So, >> so we we saw all the great stories tonight. We see the way it's connecting to our students. This is something we should fight for and we should really go to. You're not I think at this point you're going to the state to really make up for the shortfall in this one or you're going to see students get hurt by the loss of these programs. >> And I think sadly um Frank is right. I would love to. I I don't see given where they're put because they get a lot of money from the federal government and Medicaid is a big topic. Um Medicaid and education are the two big drivers. They're going to have to absorb or cut. We're ending into a period what
203I call constriction. Tremendous constriction. >> So, >> but for not squeaky oils. >> No, you have to oil. >> You have to you have to put it out there. You have to try. You have to make sure that you're told um with all those grants I did send to every elected official on my uh my disappointment and that that it was I was filing an appeal. Um so I will follow up with everybody on that so at least the record is out there that we need this. >> Yeah. So, our legislative advoc advocacy committee this year consists of Frank, Melissa, and Annie. It's right there with uh Catherine as an alternate. Um I don't know what the step would be. A letter perhaps. You guys can get together and make a recommendation maybe for steps
204that we want to take. I don't know if there's room for this. if we want to propose anything for uh the annual business meeting if there's something I mean we're not gonna be the only district related to that so we can at least maybe throw something there like I you I will leave it to the legislative advocacy >> ship sailed for that meeting that meeting's all set yeah >> you know I think this is the kind of thing you have to talk about you know within your groups you let you make sure your legislators know it right you make sure they know the story behind it and I think it's really two-pronged probably us getting to legislators and basically within the region of which you'll probably have a mix of support, some districts impacted, some
205not. >> Right. Right. And I certainly think districts will be looking at foundation aid and enrollment numbers and that's going to come out there and I think everyone will be uh looking out for their own in the sense of things. So, it's going to be a very challenging year, but clearly I will follow up with our elected officials. I look forward to, you know, working with the action committee thinking about different ways of highlighting. >> Do we want um is it worth it to kind of research who else the other, you know, schools in New York State that were awarded the same grant to combine our voices? Is that something worth doing or Mary you're >> Yeah. No, we know I mean we know what the other districts are and we can certainly do that.
206Yes. >> Yeah. >> So I I you know I I um of course supportive of it. The only question I would have is if there's other stuff that's coming that could be cut for other things. If we go all in on these two and then other things happen, do we kind of lose kind of the the weight if you will on advocating for other stuff that could be cut? So, I guess just making sure like we're doing holistically because if we say these are the two things we really want to push on and oh no, we lose 20% of foundation aid which has to lead to staff cuts, we've advocated for this. We won't may not be able to advocate for that. Like I know you don't have a crystal ball, but that's what I
207was looking at. But I certainly think the unique loss of a half a million dollars should be on someone's radar so that when they're thinking about other cuts, people will go that would be a double hit for a like that's the point. Just making them aware of that that um yeah, they have to be aware that this will have a significant impact. >> No. And Governor Hokll increased mental health spending because it was cut in the previous administrations. And so for them to see a district like ours and others losing half a million dollars for mental health supports for the student population we serve, that's got to hit them, you know. And so reality, how much of that can we get done? All I know is if you don't try, you get nothing, >> right?
208>> All right. So, it sounds like maybe the committee will send some emails to each other and try to meet and >> Right. >> We'll reach out to Mary and try to coordinate. Okay. >> All right. Anything else? At this time, I'd like to take a motion to enter into executive session. Oh, I have to say why. Sorry. uh to discuss the 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 a particular person or corporation. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh any discussion? All in favor? I opposed. Absent.