001all right good evening I'd like to call to order the Wednesday February 26 2025 Board of Education regular meeting um let's stand and I'll rise let's rise and I will lead us in the pledge I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America for stands Nation indivisible withy and justice for all all right um the first thing we need to do as a point uh as a clerical point is I need to take a motion to move up item 6.6 second any discussion all in favor I opposed extensions now I'll take a motion on item 6.6 um which is I want to read it out loud a resolution to appoint a deputy district clerk second thank you any discussion I'll in favor I I opposed extensions excellent all right welcome everyone um
002we're going to kick things off with item 2.1 on our agenda Equity a celebration of Black History Month and uh I'm going to turn it over to miss Fox alter who will turn it over to everyone else to do this lovely presentation this evening all right so um we as you can tell by our crowd this evening we have an incredibly important celebration and we are honoring four important individuals for a very prestigious award and I have to tell you last year when I attended this event I was just blown away by the thoughtfulness by the intentionality behind it by the um be by the resumés and the careers of people that contributed to making ausing this incredible uh community that it is and what a wonderful Equity celebration during black history month so um
003I would like to turn it over to our board trustees who are part of the uh committee the Hester baitman um uh Spencer Hines distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award committee um who are um the MC's for tonight's event so Melissa Frank and Catherine welcome everybody thank you for joining us this evening as we uh honor the recipients of this year's uh Hester baitman Spencer Hines award Ward just briefly um for those who may not know Hester baitman Spencer Hines uh we created this award in her honor um as the first black educator hired in the aing school district having um taught all grade levels and eventually Rising um to the position of assistant superintendent so her remarkable contributions uh to the school district over her tenure here uh and just the impact that she made is
004the inspiration for this in order to be able to honor individuals much like her who have given countless hours and dedication to our district just a picture of her and some of her accomplishments over her years and just briefly noting some of the past trustees that we have had serving um uh at on at the aing school district being kadosa worthy from 71 to 74 Marilyn thoron trible from 88 to 94 Thomas knight from 96 to 2005 sha D speller from 98 to 2004 Charles Cooks from 2008 to 2011 Diana lemon from 20 2017 to 2021 and currently [Laughter] myself and just briefly I want to note some of the past recip recipients we've had Francine Vernon being our inaugural recipient of the award was very honored to be able to honor her we also
005poisly honored um Jee Lorraine acrian Boswell uh affection known as Miss Boswell we also ously honored cza worthy we honored alic Watson Carolyn black and miss Helen tench Williams who um for those of you don't know recently passed away so I was um you know very thankful that we were able to give her that award while she was still here that her family was able to join her and be honored at that time so she was very uh appreciative uh so was our family and it was great to be able to show people how much that they've impacted while they're still here also miss uh Emily shck was honored uh Kenneth lore and those are our past recipients now tonight for 2025 we have four people that we're going to honor I'll start us off
006with our first recipient of the evening that being Dr Kendall [Applause] McFarland so as a recipient of the 2025 Hester bitman Spencer Hines award I just want to briefly mention what's on the slide here so Dr Dr Kendall McFarland was hired by the aing Union Free School District as a guidance counselor on September 1st 2005 and continues to serve our students in that capacity she's an advocate for students actively involved in clubs at aing high school and she's earned her master's degree at Mercy Mercy University Mercy University and also her PhD at manhattanville College recently so that what an honor um that is thank you for your contribution ions I just want to say a few words um and so an honor it's an honor Dr McFarland to present you with the H Hester beatman
007Spencer hindes award your contributions to the aing schools mentoring supporting and nurturing young hearts and Minds in this district is immeasurable the impact you have made with your work which can't be Quantified on a slide or even in mere words will be felt seen and heard for generations to come one of the many gifts you've brought to the district as many may know is through PLP or prestigious ladies of power which has provided opportunities for self-expression knowledge mentorship support and Sisterhood you created safe spaces for our youth um well before um anyone probably thought of those but you always saw the need and you always saw where it was and you took the initiative and you had the drive you had the love in your heart the knowledge in your head and just the the
008tenacity to see it through still to this day um I've seen firsthand myself the impact you've had on the Youth of our community especially the young black women in our community and it's an honor to be able to present you with an award tonight [Applause] pH we have also Liz Feldman from the town of oening to present some proclamations to Dr McFarland is always oh you can't hear me well we want recording ah okay thank you um well this one's from the town of aing and you know it's always good when people stay around and really take care of the Next Generation and make such a difference and you know I'm glad to have you as a partner in in making our community the best it can be and you know you were there in
009school with me and you know it's it's I'm just reading about all the differences that you've made and it's amazing um the town of atiny would like to recognize Dr Kendall McFarland in recognition of an exemplary member of the austinan community um we'd like to thank Dr Kendall McFarland for her many years of distinguished service to the Aus community and in particular her support of our students as a guidance counselor in the atiny school district since 2005 and and unfortunately the village of oening Mayor could not be here because they have their board meeting at the same time um and they have a whole bunch of lovely sentiments as well which are written small and you don't want so you will enjoy reading these um and the mayor and the um village board and their
010regrets that they weren't able to be here but they thank you just as well [Applause] um Kendall if I may add just uh first of all you can open that up and show everybody because it's absolutely gorgeous that gift but while Kendall is doing that before I knew ausing and I was welcomed into this community I knew Dr McFarland one of my jobs after retiring from Pleasantville was to write dissertation abstracts after a positive defense of a person's dissertation and did this for manhattanville college now manhattanville University and after Kendall's defense I remember saying to her I said you need to write an article on that you need to publish that and I actually spoke to Dr Ken Mitchell who said she needs to be part of a number of conferences and presentations because her
011research was on the role of mentors on young black women and how it can impact their lives and it was a phenomenal dissertation a phenomenal defense and Kendall I can't believe that I ended up here that I get to work with you and just see it in action an outstanding dissertation and I'm just so touched by the work you continue to do whenever I see her right Latoya she's like in the zone doing what she's doing exactly personifying everything that this award tonight is meant to say so it thrilled and then at that same graduation I got to uh stand there and applaud Dr Mara and Dr McFarland at the same graduation from manhattanville so congratulations [Applause] good evening everyone good evening I just have a few things I'd like to say and I actually
012made a few notes so that um I wouldn't cry I want to say it's gracious to be here tonight tonight it's Grace and honor honest that Elohim would allow me to stand here in 2025 Black History Month as the recipient of such a phenomenal Trailblazer incredible woman I'm in honor her voice is still echoing even today by way of opening up the paths for so many women men boys and girls but I want to pause to say I'm a product of Austin I won't forget my roots I was born and raised here in Austin a few decades [Laughter] ago well I'm not ashamed of my age that's not the important important part when you invest and have a role model before you of positivity it changes a life and I was fortunate enough to have
013positive role models in my life number one was my mother and her twin sister Mary and then I was blessed to have other role models in my life so I knew the importance of having a positive role model in your life so I want to thank you superintendent of schools Mary Fox alter for investing in the work that you do but for allowing us to do what we do great in the various schools to make lives to those who don't have mentors who don't have role models and it's so important that my life is invested for I have the village here tonight so will the village of Kendall the tribe please stand and be recognized and and and this is this is how we made it through so when I speak of we I have
014a strength inside of me that gave me the force to continue and I recognize Adonai Elohim in my life who was the provider for this I can't close this night out what are saying the ancestors it's a cloud of witnesses tonight that are in the presence of this room and I acknowledge you and I salute you as I salute Miss Spencer baitman um last but not least I would love for PLP the product of my dissertation to please come forward each of these beautiful intelligent creative women are the future and what makes them even brighter and better is having a positive role model before them and each of us or Role Models I just happen to be chosen to be the role model more distinctly in their lives so I would like for us to
015give them a salute tonight and last but not least I I thank my sisters my brothers all of you who are here my community at large PLP is in the house all of my friends all those who are online watching my link sisters I'd like to salute to those who also be award tonight and that's Gwen and Norris and Brenda congratulations unto you and thank you austing Board of Trustees each and every one of you for allowing this to be so tonight I'm in awe I'm in awe and I'm in gratitude I don't take this lightly and I want to thank Miss Spencer baitman for the path that she's made for us to stand here today thank you so much God bless you and I must must thank the two jewels that keep the beat
016to my heart my two daughters where are they Jalisa and Kyla please stand I love you very much thank you okay well that's a really tough act to follow um but here we are um good evening everyone it is wonderful to see so many of you here congratulations Dr McFarland um thank you to your tribe for showing up your village it's amazing the girls were wonderful um I remember when the prestigious lady of power came and were recognized or presented to the board um how inspiring that was and I didn't sort of put two and two together that this was your brainchild and your project and it's so impactful one of the things that they say um for women in careers and advancement and how they can overcome the gender gap is the number one
017most meaningful thing is professional mentorship and professional sponsorship and it is especially important for women of color and I hope that as these young ladies go out and graduate and become part of this wonderful society and part of the village whether it's the village of oening or the broader Village that they remember how impactful you were in their lives and then they share that with the village that they will come into contact with professionally and personally so thank you for starting and planting that seed now um so on to our next recipient this evening we do have four I have the distinct honor and pleasure of recognizing Mr Jerry Norris [Applause] um Mr Norris earned his Bachelor of administration in economics from the city University of New York and his master's degree in Psychology from
018Long Island University he um joined us from his first stop of the New York City Board of Education where he was a special educator for over 12 years he began with us in ausing September 1st 1999 and he taught hundreds of students during his 20 plus years of service here before he left us too soon and retired from ausing on July 1st 2020 um Mr Norris you are an advocate for all students but more than an advocate um I fielded a couple of phone calls from some folks who said who are you going to be honoring at this meeting this evening and I mentioned that I was going to be presenting your award tonight and the audible gasp and the oh I just love Jerry quickly followed by the oh the students love Jerry every
019single person the students love Jerry and if that I mean what that's why we're here right that's why we're all involved in this sphere of education so that we can be somewhat impactful and when students look back on some of the hard times some of the difficult times and some of the magical times they can remember that person who brought them that magic and Mr Norris you bring the magic and you brought the magic and so we want to give a little bit of that back to you this evening so we'd like to invite you to come on up and we'll present you with your plaque and your clock and the proclamations and we're just so honored that you are here to spend this evening with us come on up w so I'm going honor
020the village fa there for all right jry from the Board of Trustees of the village of Asing the board of uh Village of oening and recognition of Jerry Norris whereas The Village the Board of Trustees of the village of oening recognizes individuals who shown exemplary commitment and dedication to the community and we wish to acknowledge the outstanding service that contributes to the quality of life in aing and Beyond and whereas Mr Norris has earned his Bachelor of administration in economics at the City University of New York Herbert lemman Herbert Leman College Mr Norris earned his master's degree in Psychology at from Long Island University University CW post campus and he worked for the New York City Board of Education as a special educator for 12 years prior to his employment as a special education teacher
021for the Austin Union preschool district beginning on September 1st 1999 Mr Norris taught hundreds of students during his 20 plus years of dedicated service to our students and families before retiring on July 1 2020 Mr Norris is known as an advocate for all of his students and tonight we thank the J Jerry Norris as he is honored by the oening Union Free School District for receiving the Hester baitman H award and now therefore be it resolved that ran the mayor of ausing and behalf of the Board of Trustees recognizes Terry Norris for being a recipient of the Union Free School District Hester bitman award and of course the town of aing also um wants to recognizing you is an exemplary member of the austinan community and we're going to really thank you for your many
022years of distinguished service to our community and in especially in particular the support of our students as a special education teacher those of us who really need that touch the most um since 1999 so thank you so much for your cont [Applause] good even good evening everyone this is a total surprise for me literally first of all I like to thank anyone and everyone who had anything to do with my being presented you know being presented with this award I am really nervous right now I haven't done this in five years um but it's nice to know that you're being acknowledged for something that not only that you love but it's your conviction I came in education with the intent on serving my community and coming to oening I was able to complete that uh
023in a way where I didn't didn't anticipate it working with the colleagues I work with the students I encountered staff Administration parents it was the best experience one could have asked for educators for me are the most important people in our society everyone comes through a educator everyone doesn't see a lawyer everyone May not see a doctor in their times everybody comes to teach you our responsibility is to our students help them develop to be who they are comfortable being in their own skin and confident to perform any task placed before them that was my objective and I know to this day I was able to achieve that with many of my students in addition to that I like to thank my colleague Azie because he and I were to launch a after school program
024called watu hente where we serve young men of every background to this day college graduates are still in touch with us to me that was my sh that was my shining Glory because I was able to access kids I did not teach in the classroom I was able to affect them in such a way where talking about a positive role model that's exactly what we were positive role models and I know that will live on in their lives forever uh once again thank everyone parents I miss my students but I enjoy retirement so thank you AR woo um Mr Norris congratulations again um you just said you missed your students well I have um a little something for you because one of your students heard that you were being honored tonight and has just now
025sent me a message to tell you okay to this day when kids talk about AMD as grown men they speak about Mr Norris's influence on their lives in and out of school what he and Mr Willis did with the boys was never for accolades but because of who they are and what they wanted for kids he held us accountable he showed us What mattered he was there for our success and guided us through failure his impact will long outlive him not only for kids but for his colleagues I know he is someone that I found to be strong and honest Who provided support and we think about things that we learn from him it wasn't just what he told us but it's who he showed us we could be he took us seriously when sometimes
026no one else did we miss him terribly but we wish him well in his retirement congratulations again [Applause] okay so I know not all of our um recipients could be here tonight and Brenda Hunter you're not in the house correct or are you here no I don't believe so okay so I'm happy to to um to basically share with you tonight uh Brenda Hunter is a recipient of the Hester baitman Hines distinguished lifetime award Miss Hunter was hired in the Austin univ preschool district on September 1st in 1973 as a spe special education leader uh educator and she taught our children for almost 39 years retiring June of 2022 um Miss Hunter touched on the lives of hundreds of students in her tenure at the aing high school it's thousands of students because I I
027was there and I know um and she really was an advocate for all students and I I'd say growing up I remember seeing miss hunter in the halls and always having a smiling face and always really welcoming all students at the end of the day and um and really it was really nice to get to know her and as a board member in the capacity where you got to work and really understand at a different level what the contributions were and how she really was such a strong advocate for students so just really appreciate that length of time and service to our community is really is is second to none Miss Miss Hunter also served as the co-chair of the superintendent advisory Council on the achievement Gap and contributed to that work that resulted in
028the final superintendent report and recommendations presented to the board in education in the community of June 20 2002 which is a really kind of watershed moment for the district and Brenda was right there at really really important moment so I'd like to uh ask you all to join me and thanking Brenda for her tremendous impact you contribution to the district now I'll invite supervisor Liz Feldman up to say a few words okay sorry that she couldn't join us here today um I guess she's had enough of coming no after that many years um you know it's I I do love to see the teachers and the people that are making such a difference in the community in the lives of the children who grew up to be the community members who support other it's it's
029good to see them and meet them or see them again in a lot of cases um but so the town has a certificate of recognition which we will get to Miss Brenda Hunter and her recognition of an Exemplar member exemplary member of the austinan community and we would like to thank her for her many years of distinguished service to the austinan community in particular her support for our students as a special education in the atiny school district uni preschool district since 1973 which is all the way back when I was there so um I can't even imagine how many students Liv she touched and and and made better including mine so thank you for all that you've done and we will make sure that you get your recognitions and again from the village of Asing
030uh let's see the Board of Trustees of the village of oening recognizes individuals who shown exemplary commitment and dedication to the community and we wish to acknowledge the outstanding service that contributes to the quality of life in ausing and Beyond Brenda Hunter was hired by the ausing Union Free School District District in September 1st 1973 as a special education teacher Hunter taught our children for 30 almost 39 years and retired June and sorry touched the lives of hundreds of students probably thousands as saying during her tenure served as a co-chair of the superintendent's advisory Cal Council on the achievement Gap and contributed to the work that resulted in the final superintend report and recommendations presented to the board of education and to the community in June 2002 and tonight we thank Brenda Hunter as she
031is honored by the Union Free School District and for her receiving the Hester baitman award now therefore be it resolved that R lens the mayor of the village of oening and the Board of Trustees do hereby recognize Brenda Hunter being a recipient of the aing Union School Union Free School District Hester baitman award and thank her for her contributions thank [Applause] you okay and I do believe that our next recipient is in the house tonight miss wendelin Lyman I'm thrilled tonight to honor gwendel and Lyman who's the recipient of the Hester baitman Spencer Hines distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award in February of 2025 tonight Ms Lyman was hired by the Austin School District on September 1st of 1993 as a social worker and she retired after almost 30 years of service on January 2nd 2023 Miss
032Lyman counseled thousands of children students during her tenure and not only touched their lives of many students but also their families you know Gwen was someone that I got to know through a board you know board members have limited interactions with with you know with staff and Community but when we would get into committees you know Gwen was a voice really when we talked about some of the wonderful things of the district and some of the big challenges of the district and the and the problems in the district we were trying to solve when was this great voice that brought so much to the conversation and led us in so many ways and I just always appreciated that about Gwen and and her impact on influencing not just the students but also the adults it
033was a really really um great experience um Miss Lyman earned her Masters uh in social work from New York University so please join me tonight in honoring Gwen Lyman for her 30 years of me again all right certificate of recognition the certificate is awarded to miss gwendel and Lyman and recognition as an exemplary member of the oan community we would like to thank Miss glendalin Lyman for her for many years of distinguished service to the Asing community in particular your support for our students and their families as a social worker for the a Union Free School District since 1993 are welcome all right okay and whereas the board of the trustees of Village of atiny recognizes individuals who've shown exemplary commitment and dedication to the community and we wish to acknowledge outstanding service that contributes
034to the quality of life in aing and Beyond and when and whereas gwendelyn Lyman was hired for the off Union Free School District on September 1st 1993 as a social worker Miss Lyman retired after almost 30 years of service on January 2nd 2023 we went through the pandemic huh all right Miss lemman has counseled hundreds if not thousands of students during her tene and not not only touch the lives of the students but also their families Miss Lyman earned her master's degree in social work from New York state univers New York University and tonight we thank the GW we thank gwendelyn Lyman as she is honored by the ausing Union Free School District and in receiving the Hester baitman award and now therefore uh be it resolved r l from r l the V with
035javing on behalf of the trustees as well to hereby recognize glendalin for being a recip the a school district Hester beatman award and thank you for every [Applause] trusty paper here because I'm so not a speaker uh and I wrote a lot of words but um thank you Miss Fox alter and the aing board of education for this sought for award however let me start off by saying that I I have no idea how or why I'm receiving this award when I got the letter and saw the ausing school district address the first thought that crossed my mind was that it might be something about health insurance something negative about my health insurance given the current climate and health insurance is golden for us retirees so I was bracing myself but when I finally opened
036the envelope and read the letter letter to say that I was shocked is an understatement shocked but also deeply touched that I was thought of or considered for such an honor despite my heartfelt appreciation my initial response was to say that um I need to call the district and say thank you and to respectfully decline not because I wasn't extremely honored to be acknowledged but because I'm not the one for spotlight or Fanfare with things like this I'm definitely not keen on public speaking hence me reading directly from this paper literally I have always been the one to quietly go about doing whatever work that was needed to be done for my kids and families the sanction work and sometimes the unsanctioned work if I thought it was something that would help the kids that
037were entrusted to me that work included everything from advocacy and providing and helping students locate resources to making sure that they had a listening ear a ear and a shoulder to lean on I always wanted to make sure that all kids but especially minority and lowincome kids who often had few to no Advocates had a chair at the proverbial table the accolades for me was that the students felt safe and heard and that they got all they needed to to succeed that was always enough for me nevertheless I am humble to receive this award slf flower while I'm living as my my elders would say in trying to determine how this award came for me for me how this award for me came to be I did some research on just who Miss Hester baitman
038Spencer Hines was since she had long ago retired by the time I arrived in ausing I discovered that she was the first black teacher hired in ausing in 1949 but in addition to that I discovered that she was also an amazing and dynamic woman who was bound to civic duty and had an omnipresent presence in the community I can only wish one day that you half the community served educator that it appears she was I pay H much to her for Paving the way for myself and other black Educators who followed her footsteps into the ausing district um it is not lost on me that in 1992 actually I came into the district in '92 as a leave replacement and I think the 93 is coming about because because that might have been my first
039real year but um in 43 years after Miss Miss Spencer hin became the first black educator there was still some firsts happening for black people in the district because I was the first black social worker hire I I appreciate the longstanding strides that have been made in aing in regards to diversity equity and and inclusion and I hope it continues given the current state of affairs I recognize that I stand on the shoulders of many aing black Educators and community members who helped pave the way in this district one Community member was who's been honored at this event was Miss Francine Vernon who is always a fierce Advocate and Voice who encouraged the district to do more in hiring and retaining black and minority Educators as a result when I was newly hired in 1992
040I was privileged to work with and learn from other dedicated black Educators like Carolyn Carson Ernestine Bryant Kenny Lor lri Boi Diane Wright Christine ree just to name a [Applause] few and I cannot leave out John gr who recruited me as soon as I was hired to be his co-advisor for the african-amer American Club we enjoyed many years together as advisers putting on Quanza programs and talent shows and fundraising fundraising to take students on college tours into black HBCU homecoming games games in an effort to give oening students exposure to Black colleges and expand options so I also say thank you to all of the district's black Educators who came before me I appreciate the foundation that was laid for me and others it is an honor to acknowledge them particularly during this Black History
041Month of 2025 again many many thanks to the superintendent and board of education for this wonderful recognition it is IM immensely immensely appreciate it thank you to my family friends former colleagues for your support also now and over the years and lastly congratulations to the other award recipients well deserved thank you out so as we close out the evening I just want to congrat ulate on all of our honor close out this part of the evening I want to congratulate again all of our honores um this evening um I think we tried to put into words how much you mean to the district but I hope you felt um felt it nonetheless I want to also thank um the family of Dr I mean of uh H um Hester baitman Spencer Hines who um allowed
042us to um uh erect this uh award in her honor um just to Orient everyone in case you're um not familiar of the origin of the story uh when I first started out as a trustee on the district I I I'm just someone who's very passionate about um the impact that Educators and people in the district have on uh children especially my own experiences and how much mentors and people who didn't know that they were mentors uh meant to me I was very surprised when I found out that almost no one knew about Hester baon Spencer hides and all the co the contributions that she made to the district um not just being the first black educator but the immense immense contributions even being one of the people who laid the foundation for us to
043have uh the pre- program we have now in ausen school district um at the time it was probably a month or so um before the world changed in 2020 with the pandemic that I presented her to the board along with a couple of other people um that I felt were hidden figures it was a film many of you may know at the time which um talked about the contributions of um a group of very dedicated and um knowledgeable black women to the NASA space program but I thought we have our own hidden figures right here in aing as well and Hester baitman Spencer Hines was one that I could not believe was one and so I'm glad that the board at the time and the board since then has supported um this award being given
044out every year I'm glad her family was very pleased for it to happen and I'm also glad the recipients get a chance to be honored even though they're very humble and their humility just keeps them at it regardless of if they get the accolades I hope that they know their scene I think giving them a clock is very poignant because um their contributions will be timeless actually and I'm glad we're able to honor them so I thank you all and I thank you all for coming tonight and sharing in their contributions and yes please if you all would the recipients wouldn't mind coming up just for a large group photo at the end of the night thank you and the board sorry the board please come up there e I don't know how I you
045need a good not [Music] congratulations go over [Music] you look great too looking you complain about her not [Music] want clean all right um continuing on with our meeting tonight first I just want to say how lovely it is and how much I appreciate taking this space to celebrate the contributions of our black uh community members to our education system and um just a special thank you also to our committee members who do really the heavy lifting of uh finding our recipients um moving ahead um I need to take a mo to move up item 7.1 so moved second uh any discussion all in favor I I opposed extensions all right uh 7.1 resolution regarding professional tenure professional staff tenure appointments uh can I take a motion on 7.1 now so move second uh any
046discussion all in favor I opposed abstentions all right we just uh granted granted tenure so um I'll turn it over to miss Fox alter to um move things along for us so the um uh tonight we have a very special recognition to uh that the board just moved on voted on to award tenure to uh Claremont teacher Alexandra Ramirez who is here this evening with her family so I know I will ask our um fearless leader of Claremont School frine Shamy to come up and say a few words but for our audience's sake and just to remind everybody the earning of tenure is a it's quite a professional milestone in an Educator's career it takes four years to go through that process there are many observations drop-ins meetings conversations there's a mentorship approach there's work
047with coordinators assistant principles and then the Board of Education every year and this is important for the ausing community to be aware of this spends two full nights reviewing candidates who are on probation and then candidates who are up for tenure so the award tonight went through quite a rigorous process so you need to let out a breath of congratulations that you crossed this Milestone and we just couldn't be happier this evening so with that frine if you would come up to the podium thank [Applause] you let me put my GL good evening board trustees superintendent Fox alter esteemed administrators first of all I just want to say what an amazing evening to be giving tenure to Alexander Ramirez I feel like this was the night of power we had so much magic in the
048room and I so inspired I feel like I want to leave here and I want to go do something amazing for for like every community that I that I have in touch because I I just feel so inspired by these amazing um recipients tonight so I think it's really fitting that tonight is also Alexandra's uh tenure night so it's a truly honor truly an honor to stand before you today as we celebrate the tenure of an exceptional educator a dedicated colleague and an invaluable member of our Claremont family Alexandra Ramirez Miss Ramirez is not just a math AIS teacher she's a steadfast advocate for students who need her the most we have students that are with her that have some foundational math gaps who run to math AIS on a daily basis through her unwavering
049commitment and expertise she has transformed the way our students engage with mathematics and she's the first math AIS teacher we've had at Claremont School whether she's using the do the math program or implementing a new Orton based math multi-sensory intervention Alexander approaches every lesson with purpose ensuring each child build holds both confidence and competence in their skills her classroom which is shared with two colleagues is more than just a space it's a hub of collaboration support and learning but Alexandra's impact does not stop there she extends her knowledge and passion Beyond her own students supporting teachers throughout the building with strategies to strengthen math instruction for all she also plays a critical role in our transitional due language classroom providing targeted math support to our growing bilingual Learners whether pushing into that space or welcoming
050students into her own beautifully organized classroom she creates an environment where every student feels seen supported and empowered to grow one of the most remarkable qualities about Miss Ramirez is her ability to make learning joyful in a 30 minute lesson you will see her seamlessly transition from using a place value chart with pom poms to whiteboards that bridge the concrete to the abstract and just when you think the lesson couldn't be more engaging she'll introduce a math game reinforcing new skills in a way that makes students eager to learn Beyond her teaching Alexander brings something uniquely special to our community her warmth her patience and ability to uplift everyone around her whether working with students supporting her colleagues or creating the most stunning balloon art arches for all of our Claremont celebrations she is someone
051I wish I could replicate her dedication reflection and drive to continuously grow as an educator make her truly one of the kind it is with immense pride and gratitude that we celebrate this well earned Milestone Alexandra ausing and Claremont School are incredibly fortunate to have you and we look forward to the many years of impact you will continue to have congratulations on your 10e thank you and we're happy that your family are here with you and kids just to see what a wonderful job Mom is doing right now for the students here in a so it's great thank you forine beautiful work congratulations good yay thank you congratulations um I want to encourage the family to start going celebrating yes yes you do not have to stay for the rest of the meeting maybe a
052little ice cream all right um the next item on our agenda is 2.2 the superintendent update and to start us off there I'm going to um hand things over to our student representative Aaliyah Jordan hello Aaliyah hello take it away February is Black History Month and our students and faculty participated in an outstanding black history celebration honoring the achievements contributions and history of Black Americans the event featured musical performances and a powerful presentation led by students and staff providing a meaningful opportunity for our school Community to reflect on the significance of Black History Month a special thank you to Dr SAR Alexis Nicholas and Dr McFarland for organizing this outstanding assembly this month also featured a few more exciting celebrations and events this month we celebrated National schools counselors week and recognize our school counselors
053for their unwavering commitment to our school Community we also want to acknowledge Dr McFarland on receiving her award tonight we hosted our course Fair for 9th to 11th grade students showcasing available courses for the upcoming year allowing students to explore different classes meet teachers and find the best fit for their academic Journey on February 7th we invited faculty to wear purple to support PS I Love You day raising awareness about mental health and suicide prevention February marked the conclusion of our winter sports season and here are a few highlights we had six teams recognized by New York State Public High School Athletic Association as scholar athlete teams which is a cumulative team GPA of 90 or above the teams recognized were our girls basketball boys bowling girls bowling boys swimming girls and boys indoor track
054congratulations to s deso for winning first place in the 190 PB division at sectionals congratulations to our varsity and JV cheerleading teams for earning first and second place at the Arlington cheerleading competition the Rivertown Legends hockey team remains undefeated with an incredible 16 to zero record they advaned to the section one semifinal shout out to siia Bell Claire schnecker Sophia torer Tasia Carver and jamra Thomas for earning all League honors in all we had 23 students receive a all League award in the following Sports gymnastics indoor track wrestling bowling and girls basketball Austin and boys 4x200 meter relay team secured third place at the AA track and field Championship Austin and girls track team played seventh at the New York state track qualifier meet shout out to miss Castro and the athletic department for hosting
055a protect your game event to highlight the importance of substance-free Athletics senior winter athletes participated in Jersey day recognizing Educators who have made a meaningful impact on their educational experience congratulations to all our senior winter athletes who were recognized during their team senior nights a huge shout out to our girls and boys basketball team for making it to the first round of playoffs though both teams lost in the first round they had an outstanding season and we are incredibly proud of their dedication and resilience this season a big shout out again to miss Castro and the leadership in athletics class for hosting 15 local high schools at ausing high school today for the annual inclusive youth Leadership Summit congratulations to Anthony Jen and Haley yunga for being recognized at the regeneron science research Talent search
056reception a huge thank you to the National Honor Society and their advisers Nick cook and Donna love for hosting the season excuse me the senior citizens Valentine's Day breakfast a special shout out to our talented students along with Mr Evans Miss shano and Mr dorenzo for providing wonderful entertainment at the Valentine's Day breakfast congratulations to Cole cunan and Kayla cavalero who placed eighth in the regional Science Olympiad competition at Byron Hills High School shout out to our OS accounting team who participated in the VA program with the support of Educators miss jacobe and miss pavic they have completed over 50 tax returns this month for Austin residents isn't that incredible isn't that incredible phenomenal students from mpk PLP and black and the Black Culture Club had an amazing experience attending the New York State youth
057leadership Forum in Albany they also they were also trained as dosen and guided visitor tours Through The Eyes Wide Open black Heritage and culture exhibit at Bethany Art Center lastly we want to highlight our achievements in the Arts congratulations to our Scholastic art Awards winners and their dedicated teachers Mr Whitehead miss Lynn and Miss engineeri 12 talented high school students earned top honors in the 2025 Scholastic art and writing Awards one of the nation's most prestigious competitions For Young Artists and writers their achievements include seven gold keys one silver key and several honorable mentions we are incredibly proud of their creativity and talent as well as their dedication to the Arts that concludes my report and thank you for listening Aaliyah that was quite a comprehensive report so thank you for putting it together thank
058you for sharing all the great news and um Miss Langley I'm just so proud of this young woman here so that's it's super great for those of you who might Leah included it in her report about um s deso of aing the section one Championship but you always love it I I know Frank knows what it feels like when the picture actually shows up in the actual paper itself so it's a great shot on the front page of the sports section of The Journal News of S standing there with the atic T-shirt so we'll make sure this goes out in the mail to him tomorrow so great report Ayah thank you thank you thank you [Applause] all right goodah bye yeah school night yeah okay um do you have anything else to add just just
059a couple um just a couple that I'd like to add to Aaliyah's report um I want to um Thank The Journal News um for joining our Claremont students I hope you caught it uh as they toured the black history exhibit at the Bethany Arts uh Community Center c um if you visit lohud and you visit our social media sites you'll see the full article photos and video a huge shout out to our be Bethany Art Center colleagues and to our Joyce Cole our local Town historian extraordinaire it was just an absolutely wonderful visit and I want to thank Nicole Ree and others for putting together an opportunity to share these wonderful the richness of the oening community another real important thing if you're um from our kindergarten um parents teatown has a free I'm going
060to underlined free Nature and Science after school program for our Park kindergartens with hikes games crafts free busing and more starting soon it's in our o blast I know Joe who's here in the OR sorry Joe I just gave you a shout out you're communicating it as well but this is a wonderful opportunity for our youngest Scholars and we want to take advantage of that again I know Liz is was here but she also joined us at the uh senior um citizens Valentine's Day PR breakfast so again what a what it was packed it was absolutely packed right Christine it full and um the little ones of course from Park bring the house down when they walk in but it was just a wonderful wonderful event um our PTA through I didn't get a chance
061to go but the pictures and the conversations this sweetheart dance was filled with laughter dancing and a full house for our Park students so thank you to our parents for and Joe and your team for organizing that and what a wonderful event um very importantly because we are about literacy AMD celebrated word read aloud a day we had over 35 different authors who joined us virtually throughout the day that is a fantastic also event we celebrate reading and literacy so again just a couple of other shoutouts that I wanted to add to Aaliyah's comprehensive report we've got a lot going on thank you um moving on to item 2.3 we have the superintendent's budget overview okay so um good evening it's uh it's that time of year again the annual development process where the district
062administrators engage our Board of Education so tonight our assistant super attendent Alita McCoy and I will take just a few minutes to share important preliminary budget information just to set the stage to give the community an overview of what this work looks like and the role of the board uh it's a it's an important time of year to remind everybody that a School District budget is an educational plan it's an educational plan because it provides the resources for programs to meet the needs of all kids uh here in ausing it's done through our four pillars and it which are outlined in our long range plan we want to maintain appropriate class size support systems that allow for continuous professional learning a address various facility needs and critically it must be a fiscally responsible budget during
063my time working with this ausing board of education it is clear that the board understands the importance of the annual budget process and you guys take it very very very seriously the process is first and foremost one that we get to work together through the entire month of March to that end I want to thank the board for including an additional meeting on March 19th as well as our Saturday budget workshop on March 15th and our regularly scheduled meeting of March 12th and our Saturday Workshop we met again today as an administrative team will follow the outline and approach that the board identified as previous meeting so I want to thank the board for that clarification um the administration just as an outline we don't arrive at this moment without spending at least three months
064ahead of time so the work starts in late November it continues through December and January and the month of February is spent going over fine points and attention to the process um I have to thank my administrative team we had our administrators who had vacation days time off people who were out of the region and who jumped on a couple of comprehensive meetings last week to make sure to review to go through the directives from the board to make sure that um we were in a great place to talk about that um last year and you know and again this is a framing conversation right so a School District budget is similar to our own budgets it's about expenditures and then revenues but a school budget needs to be done with elements that for cast
065out 14 to 18 month with certain builtin assumptions some people might call those philosophies if you will um and meaning the work that we're doing now needs to address expenses and revenues from July of 20125 all the way to June of 2026 Staffing is our biggest expense as it should be because we're all about teaching and kids um yet in that forecast we need to anticipate an expense of a lever replacement situation or an annual review for csse so we have to build in certain assumptions and conversations along that end on the revenue side we look at four big buckets four big buckets first and foremost it's your local tax levy uh which in New York state is capped by the maximum allowable tax levy formula New York State a that's why March is important
066it's finalized in the budget by March 31st third aspect of Revenue is the use of reserves and that can be tricky as we talked about last year because reserves are not recurring Revenue so you need about strateg be strategic when using them and in philosophy they should be offset with a decrease in the budget somewhere the following year and used when you really do need them and we have other revenues interest income sales tax additional New York state aid at an earlier board meeting this year our external auditing firm gave a report where we had additional fund balance based upon unexpected additional Revenue often folks use a more conservative approach regarding additional revenues obvious point you don't want to be caught short but sometimes you need to be a little bit more aggressive in your
067approach towards them so last year and this is where I need to give a big shout out to our Board of Education and our assistant superintendent Alita McCoy because last year we included a strategic approach of multiple reserves a more aggressive approach regarding our forecasting for additional revenues and the maximum of maximizing Revenue under the maximum allowable tax levy our community supported this approach as the budget received solid approval I want to thank the board and thank the community for that but as the board might recall I mentioned that the budget development isn't a a one and done process it's a it's a multi-year process where you build a foundation for the next year and it involves again looking at your maximum allowable tax levy for a higher base for next year and when you
068do that and you're strategic with your reserves and a little lucky um you might bring in a much lower tax levy than next year well this evening as M McCoy will be happy to share you um I'm happy to share that this last year's approach has put us in a good position for this year we used reserves and forecast it that we they would be one time based upon the assumption that the anticipated rates for TRS and ERS would be okay and that was an accurate assumption we also forecasted a lower health insurance impact that was also an accurate assumption and uh we also moved forward with our facility demands using our reserves and budget line in a way that first and foremost addressed and respected the instructional needs of our students and staff and
069worked within the maximum allowable tax levy process I thank the board again for your leadership of fiscal responsibility coupled with a strong academic Focus so tonight Alita will give off a big picture items that will set the stage for our work this March including our full day um Saturday workshop and I love the new guidance for that workshop and uh Alita you want to just give some highlights as we engage in the work thank you Mary that was wonderful um really it really was um um thank you everyone I I just want to say thank you to um Anthony Clark for being our our district clerk for tonight he jumped right in I actually asked him at like 1:30 2:00 and he's like okay so I appreciate you um so one of our uh biggest
070expense drivers is again our health insurance and you'll recall last year or this school uh year the 2425 budget that our health insurance expenses were significantly higher than anticipated um I'm pleased to announce that the night ship rates have gone down in some instances uh you should know that there are different tiers there are five different tiers for night ship which stands for the New York State health insurance program it's the second largest health insurance in the country um so uh for individual um there's a 2.27 in% increase um and these are the monthly premiums uh the family is a slight increase of 2% and you see how big that premium is so that slight increase is not significant um the individual Medicare is going down the family one Medicare is going up by uh
0719% and then Family 2 Medicare is going down U going up by less than %. so the most important thing here is that family coverage that second line so that slight increase results in significant savings for us um what we have to do with N Ship is we have to project not only the 2025 rates but also the 2026 rates so um the 2025 rates that we projected um for the 2425 school year is actually going to cause a um a surplus in this school Year's budget because the 25 rates are lower the SEC the one of the uh other uh expense drivers is TRS which is for the teachers retirement system um we have heard from the uh controller's office uh that the TRS is going to be going down so what that means
072is the employer contribution rate so the district is required to pay um 10% of every dollar for each teacher or certificated administrator um pay it um towards the their retirement so we're instead of paying 10.11% every dollar for every dollar uh we anticipate paying 10% the ERS system is for a non-certificated St staff it's for our um our um clerical staff our uh our CSEA staff our again our non-certificated staff and that rate is going up from 15.24 to 16.5 the biggest um even though that's an increase it's not a significant as much of a significant uh dollar amount because obviously as a school district we have more certificated staff and that's where our biggest Bill comes from so these expenses are are modest in um increases in some instances um but you'll see in
073a budget when it's um um done and you'll have it in your hands next week that these represent modest increases in dollar amounts um and in some instances flat or slight reductions so that's very good news obviously what's missing here which is the biggest uh not cost driver but the biggest expense is salaries um so obviously those are contractual um a budget we roll them over um based on our contracts and that's not represented here that's just a given as um superintendent Fox alter spoke about our budget um anticipated revenues are compris of really few uh uh uh large sources so I'm going to start from the bottom um the lowest to the highest so sales tax is very hard to protect we get um from Westchester County a check on a quarterly basis um
074giving us a certain amount and we can never predict how much that's going to be it's it's dependent on the economy um you would think that when the economy is not doing so well that we receive um smaller checks and that has not necessarily been the case so we did as um uh uh superintendent Fox alter said um adjusted because we've been seeing an increase in the sales tax so so we have been a little bit more aggressive with our revenue forecast so you'll see in our projections for our revenue and our income for the 2526 budget that we will um increase that projection going forward as um the Auditors pointed out uh we we got additional Revenue which causes fund balance um as a result of not anticipating that increase in the sales tax
075the other area was interest income we've been doing very very well over the past two years with our investments um we are averaging in the neighborhood of 5% and so we have been a little bit more aggressive in our projections there um but you have to realize these are very um dependent on the economy and um the political climate so we don't want to be too aggressive but um we think we can um raise that up a little bit uh the UN unallocated fund balance last year or for the 2425 budget I think we estimated that we would need $5 million we're bumping that up a little bit uh for 2526 to 6. uh6 million we do believe and our Treasurer here is going to help improve that uh he is our Treasurer um and
076helps me forecast fund balance for the year um we like I said due to the health insurance projections we do believe we will have a surplus so we can allocate 6.6 of unallocated fund balance towards the 2526 budget we we will not be using any reserves um at this time last year we were uh utilizing and rightly so uh reserves for ERS Hefty reserves for TRS um and also Capital obviously with um uh the pension um bills remaining flat and in some instan it's decreasing there's no need and no justification to use reserves for that purpose with regard to Capital I think you'll be very pleased to see uh the scope of the capital work and I won't take away uh Jared Thunder um when he presents um at the next meeting on a Saturday
077but you'll be pleased with the scope of work that is anticipated to be completed um in this budget in the 2526 budget I just want to say that it does include air conditioning um so wo and um and upgrading camera something that we talked about um last year um but I I'll stop there and um we will be able to support that with just the budget and not using any Capital reserves so we will not be uh exhausting all of our Capital reserves we still will have a balance even if after we apply the uh 12 million from um the bond um towards the bond New York state aid we did very well with New York state aid this year um we got our runs um on January 21st the overall State a increase when
078uh comparing it to um the enacted budget which was in um April of uh and comparing it to the governor's budget for 2526 we notice a $4.1 million increase in state a in a variety of categories but obviously the biggest category um was um uh Foundation Aid so uh we will know the finan the final state aid allocations um on April 1st the biggest uh part of revenue or the biggest chunk of our Revenue comes from uh the tax levy last year our tax levy limit was 3.23% and I'm pleased to announce um that we estimate that this year's tax levy limit will be um at least no more than 2% so as long as we keep our Capital exclusion um the way it is um scoped right now um because you know that the
079capital exclusion and the cap to work impacts what that tax levy limit will be then we can anticipate a levy limit of no more than 2% or less than 2% yeah and that that would be not using any reserves and our building Aid remaining where it is because all of those factors impact the levy limit so so as you um get your budget books at uh um next week um we'll be able to um you'll be a able to see with specificity a lot of these uh um details behind this bringing in the budget under 2% I know it's an important goal for everyone uh the budget will be a little lower because of capital expenses but again working with a Anthony taking a look at our fund balance um we felt it was appropriate
080and the additional income that you heard from our Auditors to give the money back to the taxpayers by just estimating a little bit more of the our fund balance that we can give back to the taxpayers to keep the levy under um 2% so more to be continued but that's a a positive way to start our March work is anybody from the board with the understanding that we will be rece this is just the beginning and we'll be receiving much more information shortly um does anybody have any questions go ahead thanks Alita Mary so I just I know again preliminary but I know there are a lot of things I'm looking at the tax cap formula right it's a there's a lot there so just for my benefit and anyone in the community and other
081board members benefit I want to make sure understand terminology and what means what so the allowable tax levy growth factor what the state the controller says was 2% again for this year right people sometimes think oh property tax cap that's not accurate that 2% goes into the formula right so that's 2% then when we come back here and we see item six tax levy limit estimated to be less than 2% without the exclusions when you add the exclusions in that gives you your final final number is my understanding so when we say we're estimating less than the 2% last year we asked the community for that 3.23 and the community graciously granted that wish through the boote are we saying that for this year as of right now we would be asking the community for
082less than the 2% or or is there another preliminary number we would ask the community for no so this again that's why I wrote that um it includes the capital exclusion the capital exclusion is the biggest impact um on that calculation so if we keep the scope of work that I haven't in in described in its entirety but is included in its calculation it will result in less than 2% I actually have to report um the tax levy uh formula into the controller's office on Friday um because it's due by March 1st the data is already in there I just have to press the submit button so I know that the resulting uh number last year was 3.23 when you put all those numbers in this for 2526 that that bottom line number is going
083to be less than 2% okay which would be the limit okay so that's where as you said last year was 3.23 is what we voted on community voted on you're saying this year as of today without doing any of the looking at the budget or anything that number hypothetically would be less than 2% that that that based on a formula okay and also building Aid plays a major factor okay and our building aid went up significantly um this this school for the next school year and that that's another reason why the tax levy limit goes down because you're making a a deduction with building Aid and that's without using reserves yes but potentially to use the UN unallocated fund balance of 6.6 okay um the only other follow-up question I have on the N Ship
084am I correct in Remembering we were exploring other options for health insurance did we do that and if so that this end up still being the best option in terms of coverage and cost so yes we did start um down a pathway of having them explore our data uh so I don't ever I don't think that we would be in a position to do any changes for the 25 26 budget however um we are working on getting that information it we are grateful that the number turned out the way it did but we have not uh forgotten about looking at um an alternative Justus in case but it's it's a lot of like we have to work with our unions um as you heard one great retiree said she gets worried when she sees a
085envelope um and I felt what she said about health insurance um so we wouldn't take something like that you know lightly so we will we haven't forgotten about it we did send them a check they're working on it and um we'll let the board know what the outcome is so we are and to lead his point we actually had a meeting right before the break with our attorney on this topic in terms of contracts right okay thank you so it's an option for the board to have as we move forward any other questions from the board at this time you can go ahead I guess this is probably a very complicated question but what are the business officials are talking about as far as federal funds and would the increase in state aid potentially be
086offset by a decrease in federal funds or we where are we at for this year with Federal funding I guess is the question I I haven't had any major conversation with school business officials about that yet um I did provide the board with a uh table of the federal funds and where the um actually I'm giving you shout outs you should be happy you're here tonight um Anthony helped me to develop a um table with board a couple of I I'll put it back in a weekend update but we can see where the um the title one expenses are where um all the titles were in different um different um grants so we have that information um we did not I don't know anyone that uh as far as school business officials go are like
087planning for that immediately in a 25 26 budget um but it's something that needs to be considered but I I did present a board with a table um that shows all the the grants and where the funds are coming from from salaries to contractual to benefits but no we have not and I I don't know anyone who's taken that into consideration with the budget yet I it's a very important question Frank I think others have been asking it too and many of us have read articles and nisbar and or nisus reports but um our attorneys are under the um under the guidance that this is old money that we're using now for next year this time next year it could be a different conversation that we're having yeah that's the issue that's really what I'm
088talking about I mean I I agree I think for this year it's not likely but I think as we're looking at a three and fiveyear plan we might want to look at less advantageous Federal funding and seeing when you get an increase where you use it using that to allocate maybe instead of adding you're trying to maintain some of the things you might do a federal plan today so it's a it's a great point because it involves right as we talked about earlier another pH philosophy and other strategy do do we find ourselves this time next year being far more conservative because of what we're hearing about cuts to those federal grants right I would add to Helen mantel does a great presentation every fall we're always all invited in the fall I'm um a
089regular customer and she uh does a great presentation about all of our um Federal title grants um and that exactly where that money is spent and how much it is and I believe it's available on it's on our on the website legally it has to be and I want to thank uh Kim and Maria particularly they spent a lot of time in the Consolidated grants land and World um going around Annie Melissa Catherine anybody else all right thank you so much Alita thank thank you it's nice to hear good news all right the next item on our agenda is 3.1 uh public comment uh this first public comment period is uh not to exceed 10 minutes and um I believe meant to be for agenda related topics anybody in the audience wish to make a
090comment no um can you see if there's anybody on Zo Zoom raising their hand Tony or no okay thank you I usually throw that question to to Illy but maybe it's Angela I should be directing it too okay then we'll move ahead does anybody have anything from 4.1 through 4.6 in our consent agenda business of the board that they wish to break out uh yes or point1 4.1 okay so we'll take that one separate break out five too okay sure so um right now I'll take a motion for 4.1 second uh 4.1 resolution to appoint additional consultants for the 2024 2025 school year any discussion all in favor I opposed abstentions all right um I'll take a motion for 4.2 through 4.4 and 4.6 second uh 4.2 resolution to approve an affiliation agreement with Pace
091University 4.3 resolution to approve a memorandum of agreement with northwell Community Scholars Program 4.4 resol resolution to approve an amendment to the employment agreement with the perdm consultant for literacy and transition 4.6 resolution regarding an installment purchase agreement IPA with Southern Westchester bosies uh any discussion yeah all I just for purpose of clarity for the community we just get a little bit more um color around the northwell Scholars Program for Scholars anybody have any information on that that help maybe in an update we could get an update on yeah yeah we'll put it a little bit more detail there's a um a global point behind it is that they do have this push in program that can help and they ask for kids throughout I know in fille we did a little bit along those
092lines too but we'll give you more information okay that would be great just so because I think it sounds like a very intriguing sort of thing but I don't want to like let that be glazed over by if it's an opportunity it's a great opportunity good any further discussion all right we'll take a vote then all in favor I I I opposed extensions I'll take a motion for 4.5 so moved second 4.5 resolution to nominate a candidate to the putam norn Westchester Bose Board of directors any discussion I nominate Frank yes I can see now why Frank needs this uh wanted this broken out right um any anybody no okay um then let's take a vote all in favor I I opposed abstentions all right done with item four all right what would you have
093done if it was a TI vote then you wouldn't be able to would you no I guess I rolled the dice on that one good luck good luck Frank we for the nomination just to be clear there is a vote this is just to get on the dock yeah thank you just to I'm sorry because I was reading at the time of 4.1 but just for clarity for the clerk I'm uh abstain for 4.1 for professional reasons okay trying not to go too fast for Tony um moving on to five agenda curriculum and instruction I'll take a motion for item 5.1 so moved second 5.1 resolution to approve recommended placements any discussion all in favor I opposed extensions okay moving on to consent agenda 6 uh business office matters I'll take a motion for 6.13
094through 6.5 and 6.7 because we already did 6.6 and I believe it's a little bit off on the printed um agenda if you're reading that so um I'm sorry I'll take a motion second all right uh any discussion all in favor I I opposed abstentions I forgot to read them I'll read them now 6.1 resolution to approve the treasurers report for December 202 4 6.2 resolution to approve the budget report and revenue report for December 2024 6.3 resolution regarding the disposal of outdated textbooks 6.4 resolution to accept funds for the driver education program spring 2024 2025 6.5 resolution regarding acceptance of amendment to the Jacob stutsman Memorial Scholarship 6.7 resolution regarding interfund transfers um and we already voted on that I just forgot to read it so I wanted to go back and catch it
095all right does anybody have anything they wish to break out from 7.2 through 7.21 all right I'll take a motion for 7.2 through 7.21 noral all right here we go 7.2 resolution regarding resending professional staff appointments 7.3 resolution regarding res resending support staff appointments 7.4 resolution regarding professional staff resignations 7.5 resolution regarding confidential staff resignations 7.6 resolution regarding Civil Service staff resignations 7.7 resolution regarding support staff resignations 7.8 resolution regarding bus attendant resignations 7.9 resolution regarding support staff requests for leave of absence 7.10 resolution regarding professional staff appointments 7.11 resolution regarding Civil Service staff appointments 7.12 resolution regarding support staff appointments 7.13 resolution regarding bus attendant appointments 7.14 resolution regarding professional staff appointments before after school programs 7.15 resolution regarding Civil Service staff appointments before after school programs 7.16 resolution regarding support staff appointments before
096after school programs 7.17 resolution regarding per DM substitute removals 7.18 resolution regarding pdem substitute appointments 7.19 resolution regarding approval of School volunteers 7.20 resolution regarding administrative staff requests for leave of ABS oh that was for information only um and 7.21 resolution regarding administrative staff appointments any discussion all in favor I I opposed extensions all right uh moving on to our second public comment period I'm presuming our audience still does not have anything they wish to say okay we'll check online again all right so we'll move past that hold on I got to flip the page here all right moving on to board reports and dialogue does anybody have any maybe from committees that they wish to share it's been a while since we've met well the Hester baitman Spencer H's committee that and I would
097just like to thank the committee for their great work and being ready tonight and putting together something great really nice powerful powerful and I did want to thank I was a nervous Nelly and the committee so I wanted to thank um Melissa in particular for her leadership on the committee um she held my hand and helped show me the world so thank you you're welcome very much appreciated um from everyone on the committee and it went went swimmingly I think it went really nicely um thanks to your organizational efforts on that um the communications committee is meeting this weekend we've been receiving feedback on the mascots and we're incorporating that feedback and we'll be kind of discussing next steps so you'll hear about that next time from the communications committee can I ask a question
098about that sure so there were just for my clarification there was one set of drawings that I saw I think that was attached in a link in in an update Weekend Update and there was another one I think that was just recently sent out but they're they're all different is one supposed to be a take on another or they supposed to be two separate drawings so um the one in the the maroon the more recent ones in the update are the ones that we're working with right now okay so that's the latest and greatest right um it was um brought some well there were people on the board who wanted to see the old original because remember we went with joy riot at first yeah and then we got those by the way pass the
099the joy Riot ones and there was another one that I think that it had two a two B two c that's one there another one that Miss uh miss Lynn worked on right which were like I think there was like five or six of them these were not these were the very these are the professional looking ones that I then there was a second set that just second set is second set that just came out is what we're working with right now but if you have feedback about the first set versus the second set yeah then like please you can write to me you can write or call me you can write to Nicole and we'll incorporate that please if you have it in do it before Friday just so you understand what happened is
100there were sort of like six kind of very different things yes and the committee felt very strongly that we were all drawn to two so then we said to miss Lynn glow up two and show us sort of variations of two but we didn't ask her to glow up for lack of a better term any of the other five okay and so that's how you then got two a b c and d gotcha okay that I was just trying to understand the transition from one to the other because I was a little confused when I was looking at that as to what one was versus the other and how we got how do we bridge that so the first presentation she made to us she kind of like left an open space where she was
101like tell me what you think about what you see here and then I'll do something else based on that feedback and so what we what we ended up with was that second set of slides based on that initial meeting okay and then you and then I guess we kind of give our two cents on which one in that last iteration yes or or feedback specific as if something you see or don't if there's something you want to see that isn't there or something that you see that you don't like um you can let me know or you can let Nicole know and if you um are able to provide that feedback before Friday because we're meeting next on Friday when feedback come into into we will be discussing that at the next well we're hoping
102we're hoping to be on a track where we're doing this in May so soon but we sorry the launch in May yeah okay um that's what we're hoping for um but in order to get there to the port where we need Student feedback we need to get our our board feedback in order first that needs to happen like ASAP yeah yeah and just so you know the idea behind all of these is when you're looking at the I'm going to call them the two glow ups like the number two glow ups which is really a b c and d the idea is each one of those is supposed to have an outline of like a more traditionally female face and then an outline of a more inclusive man and like they're sort of to be
103intertwined in a way around the O's so look at it through that lens and then one in particular you go back and look has like double arches and a little Sing Sing Hill pathway kind of Incorporated kind of felt like it was a village so just take a look with those things in mind there was a real distinct effort to try to capture some of the history make it as inclusive as possible um so that's sort of the backstory yeah I mean I I that's fine I'll send you my feedback we need to discuss my feedback here but we'll talk I'll send it to you copy I'll copy the board on it the ones that we should be honed in could you just clarify that again there're the ones that say 2 a 2 b
1042 C it's it's like a chart it's a chart of many it's a chart of many different logos that when you look at it it's like what is this so it it's iterations of the same on there cool we can email it you w email it again let me put it on my to-do yeah hold on a second all right so just one more time sorry for this we we give our feedback and then from there the communications committee will also put feedback into it and then ones that actually kind of sort to the top however many they are three four whatever they are those go to a student vote uh we have to kind of decide on we haven't fully committed to that TBD but TBD that's kind of where our heads at right
105now but we have to kind of see where we land as a board for example if we all said you know there's really only one here that we like and all the rest we don't think are acceptable then why would we put it out to the students if we're not really truly going to give them a but if there's several designs that we all feel like are are per capture us reasonably then we want to turn that over to students yeah with so many iterations I I I am going to find it very um far-fetched that we would all agree on one well I'm just saying that's kind of our where we have to say that but the committe very the first time around so never know you never know so we wanted to okay
106wait and see the designs before we fully committed to that all right just the other thing on that for everyone's guidance there's the the lion or Lian but in this presentation there are words and font changes and I think we should be clear whether that's also like right here our fonts here like is that on the table are those interchangeable so probably the board should know look at those as well and weigh in on that because that is in the presentation and then so are going to make type face changes as well mix and match probably good to have your thoughts on that too yeah one other thing about fonts just not to throw a monkey wrench into this because that's not my intent it's just um as you're looking at the fonts just make
107sure the fonts are like they are um royalty and rights free because there is there are a couple a couple of um companies that are trolling websites and trolling um to get their fees on fonts and things like that and they're trolling anywhere and everywhere so I'm just telling you from very very recent experience I'll make a note yeah all right I feel like I'm looking the policy committee met um but we weren't we weren't able to make a lot of progress I'm looking I think we made some progress with just kind of like laying some of those early conversations down getting that flushed out well we were able to Stephanie uh was at the me at the meeting and so we were able to kind of lay out our concerns about um particularly nb's
108timeout policy the Corporal Pol uh corporal punishment policy student surveillance policies and uh she said she would need some time to look at them before she was able to make any recommendations um she did make some clarifications around um I think one of the questions that I had and I think maybe a couple of other board members around the policy we had with the um the notices that we have to make for there being you know cameras or surveillance whether extended to the bus and whether we have to notify um the community about there being you know and not the stock arm cameras the actual cameras on the bus and so she said yes that would extend to that as well as notifying the community that that there is um that surveillance happening on the
109buses as well yes that matches my notes does anybody have any non-committee things that they would like to discuss I have one thing but if somebody else has something else okay um we got an email I think also maybe an update from the committee um we also were able to talk with um Miss langy yeah Miss lingley and um Miss no Miss no thank you Dr No Dr no um and just kind of get some early discussions and they're going to you know get some more information on us about the impact of the um you know the no cell phone you know recommendations and things and what that looks like building to building and how realistic and practical a policy um would look to address that not just like a uniform policy that wouldn't make
110sense in one building to the other um in terms of logistics and stuff as we know the high school is just a total different environment when it comes to trying to implement something like that so just as an example like really you know just seeing the pros and cons around the policy itself and what it would look like for those buildings to navigate it um so just some points of a consideration as we move forward we're trying to even drafted like a first draft of a policy that would help us a lot that we have to have a policy um approved by the board by so we're going to work on that um schedule and then uh involve community members and different stakeholders right thank you for that I forgot about that um so one
111thing I wanted to talk about was nisba put out a call for presentations I got an email I had a couple emails but my most recent email about it was from two days ago um and Mary had suggested informally um that we might consider submitting a presentation about our budget process or not a budget bond process sorry I misspoke um and the deadline to do that would be March 24th which would obviously be coming up before we know it is this some I was excited by that when Mary suggested that um how does the board feel about that and what would that look like for us to put maybe an ad hoc committee together and what would we envision for such a presentation it's a good idea I mean I think you want to find
112out if somebody's people are going to be able to go right you don't want to you know I guess the question is if that's in October where is it this year is it it's in the city again the city this year you said that okay yeah it's it's in the email I'm reading it right from the email October 23rd through 25th in New York City it's an in person meeting right not a virtual meeting right if we wanted to present we would have to present in person it's a huge conference if anyone hasn't been in New York City you all get when you're at different events clearly I've been asked by others about how did the ausing board do that so um you have good information to share with other people I think that's the
113whole point and U people would like to hear I mean I I would even say suggest the wonderful award ceremony tonight is another great presentation that the ausing board could make for other communities I'm telling you there's some wonderful things here that you this is in New York City with all all school boards it's the nisba conference okay it's a big nisba conference okay so I I think it's a a good thing to share out there's a lot of great things that ausing is doing honestly and I think we need to toot our horn a lot more and I'm happy to be part of that I won't be able to do all three days I can probably do one maybe two they'll tell you the day what it is it's going to be an hour
114in a conference room you know you'll have maybe 20 people maybe 50 you know that's usually the kind of the scope of it at the end of the day but you you're likely to get a crowd because of the size of the of the bond that went up and just the scope of the work and so I think people will likely want to talk to you about it it's a good opportunity for the district that's assuming we submitted and they want us to do it right like there is the possibility that we submit this and they say no thank you right no no it'd be great because we do that and you add in a Sizzle video to some of the great things that we've accomplished as a school district that could be pretty cool
115I think I think it's a great opportunity you You' need to make sure you got a few people that say yes I can be there in October and but I think committee idea is great and I think you'll flush some of that out you'll find out who wants to do it so I would be in favor of creating an ad committee to do it I'm happy to create that tonight do we have to vote on that yeah I think so it's in your discretion but it's probably not a bad idea to vote okay are you want to be on the committee I want to be on the committee does anybody else want to be on the committee I'll join you I think everyone the three people have already thrown their head you well I don't
116have to be on the committee else I'm interested in it I brought it up I I will I will give up my seat to Melissa if she decid she wants to be on well let me just say just because like people are on the committee they don't have to be the ones necessarily presenting totally F the committe just flushing totally fine Melissa if you if you want to working committee to explore Melissa if you want to be on it I'm happy to step back I do think it it makes sense for people who've gone to the convention to be on the committee at least on the committee because they've gone to these things they know what's What's happen I think both of you guys I think all three of you guys have been to a
117convention so it makes sense so yeah all right you want in you know opening up to the rest of the board I wouldn't mind but you know Roger if you passionate I take no offense I'm more I'm more passionate about you being on there no I'm h i mean I thought it'll be good the committee will give us an update the board can give any anybody can give some feedback on it right and then we'll figure out how we deal with the day and if we're anything like our colleagues from Peak Skill who have all s seven board members go to the convention every year for they wore matching jackets when we saw them years ago they're very go team go they did they were they were like they were like wind Breakers yeah okay
118we're going we'll outo that and of course Alita and I will be happy to join Wherever You Are but we would expect to probably lead you lead to that I think we I think yeah ding ding ding like guess who's gonna be leading teach out maybe we could get Rob to dress up as the fwn so we can do um okay so we can I just want to make sure I understand we'll get a committee together we'll have at least one little meeting where we can read through um cuz I read through the like proposal outline and I wonder if it's appropriate if maybe we even I need like an Exemplar I I'm not totally confident in what the application is asking for um like what they think the difference between a synopsis or what
119actionable takeaways and learning objectives are to me those feel like the same thing so you could reach out to n but ask for someone else's from last year that's what I mean like I'd like to see an Exemplar they'll they'll give it to you yeah um so I can do that ahead of us meeting and then we'll have somewhere to go and all right so I will take a motion to create an ad hoc committee to explore our participation in the nisba Convention as a presenter so move so second any further discussion all in favor I I opposed exensions look at us go um anything else all right um we need to enter I'll take a motion to enter into executive session uh to consult with legal move second um sorry uh any discussion all
120in favor I opposed extensions all right