Board of Education Meeting October 9, 2024

001good evening I'd like to call uh the Wednesday October 9th Board of Education special meetings uh to order and I will be leading Us in the Pledge of Allegiance this evening I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America repu for which it stands one nation under God indivisible withy and justice for all all right um I'll turn it over now to our superintendent Miss Mary Fox alter all right okay Happy fall everybody Welcome to the month of October so um October is National principl month so we're going to make sure uh we're spending time and I'd like everybody to join me in thanking our PR principles for all that they do they are the captains of our schools of and they performed such important Connections in terms of teaching and learning

002and with our students and staff so we look forward to celebrating and recognizing their work this month the ausing school district in partnership with Westchester County has rolled out a new safety measures to protect students and ensure traffic laws are enforced our board president Christine mamelli Knows very well this was an issue near and dear to her heart as it was for the entire board as part of this initiative the district's Fleet of buses are now equipped with 13 traffic cameras both inside and out and we will be having a news event coming up very shortly um more info to follow with the county executive and channel 12 news so we will be they asked to come and okay so we're going to look forward to doing that last night we had an enl parent

003light and thank you all who joined us it was well attended we have a new newly formed modified girls cheering Squad so that's a wonderful I'd love to see middle school students get involved and I um having activities the extra and co-curricular are so important to their school experience our varsity football team won against the ankers brave this past weekend and our cross country um teams competed this weekend and our girls team took home the Rivertown team cup which is terrific our Roosevelt student council leaders have been working and planning on their PBIS initiatives I think we'll make them a student presenters coming up at a an additional board meeting um our sixth grade uh students made pinatas for uh Hispanic Heritage Month and I want to thank um our amazing High School teachers for

004and our band students for for an outstanding concert they were able to raise just in the concert alone not the live auction just for the concert $ 6,254 just in the concert alone that is outstanding and then the live auction raised over $7,000 now there were some really good things in that live auction and I kept on getting out bid I think I did win one but I want to thank everyone who contrib uted to that live auction so it's great $113,000 for our students fantastic all right now um I just want to and I want to thank everyone who participate this weekend in our heritage World Cup soccer game on Monday and everyone had great weather which was terrific and a wonderful turnout so um last um last week I think it was last

005weekend I had the pleasure of attending for a couple of hours the district Equity committee meeting it was a full day event at Bethany and um while I was there now as part of my superintendent update and just introduce themselves who they are and give a little update about their Equity work they were so eloquent I just it just gave me such great hope for the future they were wonderful all right I just have to make sure that this works okay the mic is working okay good evening my name is m Scot domar and I'm a junior at ausing high school and I'm also the proud founder of voy Nor thesias today we're here to discuss mainly what we as students took away from attending the first district Equity Retreat of the school year and

006as someone who's attended these committees for approximately three years now I can say this meeting had a distinct feeling to it and it wasn't just because of the current sociopolitical climate this time around I was not only older and far more knowledgeable than the first time that I ever came to these meetings but I was also far more aware of our mission we had recently redefined what it means to call educational equity and even though I know for some they think it's a buzzword this is truly the why behind anyone who involves themselves in education decides to come to work every day it's why teachers in poor states have second jobs and don't just transfer to a bigger city with a prettier budget it's why administrators stay despite constant turnover and it's why students and

007their parents don't just go to a charter school and it's why in our library we keep a shelf of banned books and why I came to Claremont School Equity club and opened textbooks and found just How Deeply rooted hatred and bigotry was in the original American way of life educational Equity means each student has what they need to Define and experience their own success EXP expence joy in learning every day and to see themselves reflected in the context of their learning as well as the Educators who serve them it provides a climate in school that attends to race ethnicity language culture gender identity and expression sexual orientation religion disability and socioeconomic status and while some may not choose to use these exact words it's our mission it's our mission not only to give education but

008to give education justly equitably which now more than ever is one of the strongest forces we have and at a time of unrest that we are in now we found it very important for us to be able to discuss things in our meeting we called this courageous conversations but some of you probably already know this by the awkward Thanksgiving dinner conversations that you have with family members that make you dread coming next time but in what we called courageous conversations we identified our own Compass as we called it where our ideas and our self or when we were discussing things we could be see we could be speaking from an intellectual standpoint we could be speaking from a a knowledgeable standpoint we could be well those two were synonyms from a moral standpoint from an

009emotional standpoint and and additionally important a social standpoint what do we actually actually do besides just talking what do our actions say there were times during these conversations that the people around me could identify things that I can tell they were scared to say out loud because they knew that in this moment they were being perceived and they couldn't necessarily control how other people perceived them but with this compass and through orally admitting where exactly our mind was allowed we could better better not necessarily change our perspectives and our perceptions but to give them more reality as for myself I could identify that from my experiences as growing up as the eldest daughter of Venezuelan immigrants and in a family of refugees discussing some of these current events in this world lean me heavily into

010my moral and emotional cordate these are things that are embedded deeply in me that I say with pride but also knowing that I am to be perceived differently by others and not even NE necessarily in a negative way or in a discriminative light but pity and sorrow and these are things that are heavy for me to carry but because of the structure of these conversations emotions kind of went a two-way street I'd say we didn't just vent but we also were able to fully discuss and admit and to break down and understand and something that we remember in these conversations is that we won't necessarily leave with a sense of closure after all these things that during our conversations that affect us are often far greater than our own power can reach but this one

011conversation and the many more that I know are to come are at least one more step in direction of action that we must take in order to continue our mission our mission to allow them the students to again Define and experience their own success experience joy in learning every day and to see themselves reflected in the content of their learning as well as the Educators who serve them thank you evening um I will raise this a little bit um my name is kimry Wells I am one of four Wells children currently going through the ausing public school system I a senior at austing High School and who I don't who shares the same beliefs that I do and who doesn't who sees me for who I am and who doesn't from a young age our

012youth have been using deep analytical skills to understand the core fundamental topics of what makes our society human we also address the importance of this year's curriculum focus criticality in our education system I want to start off with a quote from muhamad who we also talked about during our e Equity meeting and he says criticality is a capacity to read write and to think in ways of understanding power privilege social justice and oppression particularly for population St who have been historically marginalized in the world when youth have criticality they are able to see name and interrogate the world not only in a to make sense of Injustice but to also work towards social transformation close quote is unparalleled what youth go through today and what they may face in the future but as we continue

013to use critical thinking skills and see our communities for all what they are we are Paving the way for our students to embrace their individual ways of thinking thank you good evening it's just good right all right good evening my name is Kil Cadet I am MBK fellow for ausing uh what else ausing 4122 mechanical department head and what black diamonds officer for a PE skill chapter and then attending this uh board Equity meeting was really eye openening to me because we talk and with that using these skills in the fut like using these skills could really help us in the future and creating an environment where more kids and students can feel more open to talking about different political social economical views that they may have without having to feel critiqued or any hatred

014against them and more people being more willing and open-minded which would better help our nation and that's really all I have to say thank you right well stated thank you Kalo perfectly stated actually right um and Bor any questions for our students um I don't have any questions I do just want to start off by thanking you for coming and and um thank and sharing sharing your experience with us because it's so important for us to see your your experiences and especially as you reflect back I know Mia mentioned um Claremont you know uh our students don't wake up as like 17 year olds let's say one day and say you know what now I'm today I'm really interested in social justice um and so it's nice to see that some of the seeds we

015plant at these younger grades can blossom into what you've shown for us today so um you are here representing yourselves you're here representing your organizations but you're here as part of a larger community that I hope you feel has Has Lifted you up and supported you in in your ability to to share your voice so freely in this way so I I just really appreciate your you're taking the time to come speak with us and and acknowledge that I when you speak I hear that that this is not something you just woke up and decided to feel today right that this is something that you have grown into so I just want to say thank you for that and I want to open it up to anybody else in the board if you have anything

016else to add you can I'm just going to say thank you so much for coming I mean honestly it takes a lot of Courage passion and I definitely feel the passion coming through you guys and I know this wasn't born overnight that this was this is kind of like you know cumulative of all of your experiences and and embellishing in the your well relishing in the experiencing experiences of the other folks that uh you've come across so I will say to you guys take your passion move it forward continue to do great things that you guys are doing I think you guys going to make some pretty big impact in this world and hopefully as you guys go into I know you're going into your um you'll be a thank you for coming on a

017school night too um thank you yes and you don't have to fill any pressure to stay and observe the rest of the meeting you're welcome to as is the public but um but you can make a graceful exit right now if you so choose Thank you do you have anything else in your update okay um the next thing on our agenda is a public comment um before we open this up I do want to make one caveat that if you have a public comment that pertains to our districtwide safety plan that the um public hearing portion of that meeting will also include a comment period for comments that relate specifically to that um is there anybody here in person who wishes to speak Illy do we see anybody online all right then uh let's move

018ahead with the uh public hearing I have to make a statement here pursuant to educ education law section 2801a and 8 ncrr New York codes rules and regulations Section 15517 a public hearing is required prior to adoption of the districtwide school safety plan the plan is required to be reviewed annually and updated if necessary the plan is posted on our website and made available for the for public comment for at least 30 days prior to adoption the public hearing provides for participation of school Personnel parents students and the community and any other interested parties to comment and ask questions uh this segment of the Board of Education meeting has been designated for the public hearing and the revised districtwide school safety and Emergency Management plan um I'm going to turn the meeting over to miss

019box alter who will introduce our speaker so in our wonderful work here today we um we are very proud to be partnering with alteras so this evening we have Paul and we have Michelle if you could just do a overview of in your presentation of the plan thank you Angela should I click through it or can you you can do it from up here Paul sure right okay it'd be easier to click from here make sorry thank you so some of the new pieces um well first of all a little background the reason we have to do another 30-day public comment period and then another approval process for the district plan a little bit different this year than most years um we met the requirements we submitted to public comment on time we approved it

020on time and then the state gave us some last minute additional amendments and changes which then required another 30-day public comment period And I could go through all these but I think you guys are pretty well versed in it the sort of short of it is they clarified some language there were updates about how we do drills they added language about drill notification 1 to seven days for parents just before the drills for staff and students and so on they also explained if we're going to do a certain type of drill what the requirements are the parental consent the opt out forms and that's for a specific kind of drill they put a lot of language in here about that a specific kind of drill that most districts don't do but that is incorporated into

021the plan it's a large sort of all-inclusive drill including law enforcement fire Services ambulance and so on but for the most part districts don't do that but the language had to be included it was a state mandate um some of the things regarding our standard drills our 12 emergency drills we have to make notifications there's clarification about how we conduct them when we conduct them meaning it can't be on the same day we can only do one drill on each day we can't do drills on the same date and time all the time it always can't be Tuesday at 9:30 it's got to be different days of the week different times of the day and so on so that sort of is the biggest change that the language change that was added to this new

022districtwide safety plan there was a little bit of language in there about Maps um we had to have some requirements in terms of what goes into our plan and that had to be referenced as well facilities is taken care of that it's being taken care of at the building level but it needed to be referenced in the district plan as well so those really are the big changes um and I'm pretty sure everyone here on the board is well aware if you have any questions I can certainly clarify them if there were any public questions that needed clarification we can certainly address that as well all right are there any questions from the board um yeah thanks for this so what we're proposing meets the standards do districts sometimes do more drills do they but

023you have you have to do a minimum right and do them in a certain way I'm just like are we is a recommendation to do more than what's in here or that's up to individual buildings and and District administrators the state mandates 12 emergency drills eight evacuation slf fire drills and four lockdown drills with additional of one early dismissal which really isn't a drill it's more of a procedural thing but we have to do those the recommendation and what we push out in terms of suggestions to the building administrators is you can always do more if you did a lockdown drill and you weren't satisfied with or you want to make some changes you can certainly do more the 12 is a bare minimum and to be perfectly honest most districts do 12 and that's

024it they sort of Chase it hurry up we got our drills done but absolutely you can do as many as you think is valuable shelter in place drill like with regards to weather lockout drills regarding animals or law enforcement activity or something those aren't mandatory but we do suggest you do that so they certainly can do more but the 12 is what's mandated and Mary so you we give the flex ability as as you just indicated if something didn't look like it was perfect buildings and administrators can do them over whatever they need the one thing I will say that is a great addition that ausing doeses above and beyond a lot of other places is that there's there is always a meet afterwards and to debrief which is so critical as a matter of

025fact Paul and Michelle run those so professionally like clockwork with the building teams and it could it doesn't even have to be one of the drills it could be just an incident that happened they are here for us they also run the meetings at the district level so that um that's been a huge change and ausing embraced that by bringing on Al tce in order to do that and look at it that way so it's a really important addition thanks thanks I'll go around Roger do you have any questions I'm good at this time Annie um I have one question and something that I'm hoping you can speak to um and I don't know if this is knew or if I've just not noticed it before but I wanted to highlight that um what I

026read As I understood a one drill of any sort I think must happen during lunch or an assembly or other time where stud gather Mass MK gathered is that a new requirement it is okay it is and that's normally geared towards our evacuation drills like here at AMD they did one recently they did lunch was full and we did a blocked exit and you know all of those things that are now a requirement at a mass Gathering time and that's the idea behind it what the state their intent and I completely agree is to try to make drills more practical for years most districts have done 9 o' on Tuesday everybody knows it's going to happen you're in class you're prepared you got your key in your hand and we've sort of plateaued with training

027value that way so now the state also recognized that and said let's do it at more practical times change overtime in the hallway arrival dismissal lunch Auditorium uh incidents and so on so that makes perfect sense the challenge for those and we still agree it's a great idea is that they're messy you know it's it's hard to do the one that happened here was messy and then there was a debrief afterwards and a redo right afterwards which is excellent training methodology we love that all right so go back to um I guess go back to the point of like that was an example of we redid the drill right I mean like like so just because of the debrief afterwards the team had questions okay you know what we're going to do it again there

028was the drill was done and it was chaotic and there were you know hey did you consider this did you consider going here why wouldn't we do it and then golf terminology they got a mulligan they get to do it over again and say okay now that we've addressed those issues and we've offered some solutions let's do it again and it was much better um not that I'm suggesting that we would just do it once but would both of those drills count towards the 12 drills when you redo it yes and no the state one of their changes this year like last year they would have this year one of their amendments is that you can only do one drill per day in terms of counting towards your 12 you can do two like if

029we did one and we debriefed and did it again today you can totally do that to to your point you can do more but you're only going to get credit for one on that particular day and do would uh like passing time between the bells that would that would count as a mass Gathering and I think the the probably more correct language is non-standard classroom time okay so whether it's outside activities arrival dismissal change over lunch something other than we're in the class prepped and ready great thank you that was my only question sure which is really just something to highlight um are there any at this time I'll open it up to um questions from those present is there any Ilie is there anyone online who wishes to speak all right all right anybody

030else before I close it out last call okay there being no further discussion I declare the public hearing to be closed um I'd like to take a motion to move up item 5.1 so moved resolution 5.1 resolution to adopt the revised districtwide safety and Emergency Management plan any further oh I just have to take a a motion to move it up right all right um any discussion all in favor I I opposed extensions now I'll take a motion on the resolution itself second all right resolution to adopt the revised districtwide safety and Emergency Management plan any further discussion all in favor I I opposed exension all right I'd like to also thank the board for um we've increased the time we have without terce this year by another day so again it's another safety enhancement

031to the district so again thank you both and thank you to Paul Michelle for coming out you're dismissed too thanks guys have a good night good night all right um our next item is uh for .1 in our work session uh Equity goals for the 2024 2025 school year um I'll turn it over to Mary first maybe you just want to talk about what you've written here is there any updates in what we have in front of us since the last time we've received this um yeah a few so um basically again I I just want to reiterate how wonderful I think it is that the board will be um considering adopting District goals um from from a creating a fr frame through which the those of us who work in the schools will be

032looking at our work um you have a wonderful um long range plan with that fantastic portrait of a of a learner which looks like the state adopted a similar plan for a portrait of a graduate so I would like that work uh you know highlighted that when it was first created the board did put a period of years on it so my request to the board is that you know officially to make it part of a district goal because also it's the lens through which the presentations from the buildings will be presented to the board and to the community so it provides that wonderful frame it becomes this internal compass in addition to being the lens and then with those in place what are specific goals that you would have to to address that work

033and in many places I I you I took a look at 33 different school districts I knew it from a previous School District these are some typical goals out there um a student goal you can have a curriculum an instruction goal you could just have a curriculum goal a facilities goal a community goal or sometimes people call that a communication goal and Community separate them and then an equity goal um they're they're offered here with no particular order but I I'd like the board to reflect on you try to make them we're a little bit late starting typically you do this at the end of the last school year and then that becomes the lens through which the summer Retreat work takes place you're going to be hearing some specific smal from the schools at

034the next board meeting and then the following board meeting and you'll also get a data report in November so you'll get hard numbers behind this and you will hear it in we are data informed obviously not data driven and um you'll be hearing more about that but in this case there are some really significant things that the board has done in the budget process this year and particularly in light of the wonderful approval from our community for the $210 million Bond you've got a fantastic project with the AC for AMD we've got a wonderful new driveway coming up and these are things and you you have um a board Equity policy you heard from some students today they're working on the work of that policy and it was revised and adopted by the board last

035year so I think that and you've got some other big initiatives I know the board wanted to have a curriculum and evaluation model so I put these forth for your consideration you can edit delete change add um but also this is a report then at the end of the year that the board reports out on where what did we do what did we accomplish what did we find we needed more of and that informs your goals for the next year and this becomes part of our record this becomes part of the website this becomes part of your work so I love the idea I think it's great this is my offering to help start the conversation for the board and looking forward to a really good discussion okay um and just to I think we

036received this shortly before our last meetings uh a version of this yes right and so we've had some time to Stew on it right I think last last meeting it was a little bit too soon to to really be prepared to speak on it um does anybody want to start things off or have anything they'd like to edit change add I I guess just a quick question so I I know that you know we think in terms of the equity goal but I mean do we have and maybe it's somewhere baked in here some some assemblance of what we want our achievement Gap closing the achievement Gap like what that goal might be around that and I'm just asking this question because I'm thinking in terms of and we have all these wonderful goals of

037everything that we're going to do and each of them kind of work very harmoniously with each other to ultimately deliver a broader goal I mean I'm just thinking here like by way of the equity goal or even the students goal um what might we need to do um that's going to help from a goals perspective to help close achievement Gap does that fit into this in any which particular space and or is there am I just kind of like this is much higher and maybe there's like a drill down beyond that that we probably kind of work it ladders up to one of these goals so they will feel and I if you don't mind Roger I I would also add that not just an achievement Gap right but a growth Gap because in the

038development of those early discreet literacy and math goals it's about the growth of it all later on in the secondary level it becomes about achievement right so there's a there's a slight difference and the state actually talks about that in their testing report so I think if you look at the student goal here uh you know support an educational environment that is warm welcoming safe positive and inclusive uh for all students one where opportunities are Equitable and how do you know that they're not by looking at data address the academic and seal needs of of students make sure they're nurtured and developed into that is this that you want to Foster academic achievement and growth for all students you can certainly add that terminology there and you will hear from the principles because they worked

039on that I know Maria can speak to it a little bit more but they worked on that this summer in there they looked at what that what does that mean at Park what does that mean at Brookside what does that mean at Claremont yeah I mean I think that's very fair because I now we've got a lot of data that we haven't had in Prior years in terms of where different things are from from the um you know the reading and the math and you know I know you know at one point in time I think this before you Mary I talked about um you know even looking at like you know writing composition and being able to write and articulate clearly there but um you know I I think about this in terms of

040if we have certain data and maybe this is like some we can have this as a further discussion if need be but we know we're at a certain level right now in the high school or let's just say even in the elementary school say it's like Claremont what have you if you have a certain amount where you've got X perent that's reading at a certain level do we have such a thing where we look at well that x% next year we're targeting that to be a little higher and these are the things we're going to do to support that do we have something like that that sure that's exactly what the principles are working on right now and they're very happy to have more robust sets of data to look at but if you and

041actually Roger your question is well stated because that's actually what the state does yeah and the state actually went like like if I take a look at a level one two three or four we we all know what those mean and so the state actually will take a look at a student who maybe um last year or um a group of students where the score last year was a low two this year it's a high two maybe very close to a three but as you know two still is developing sure so the state believes that that level of growth is important to measure and highlight so while the achievement levels might be a three or four because people inaccurately look at those numbers as passing which isn't true but but so we want to look

042at growth within that and then encourage that so it's a growth towards a target for so not all kids start at the same spot sure sure sure no and absolutely and that's why you know we look at like where they are in the cuts and slices of each of those to kind of say okay if this is kind of where where you are in terms of the band or this or however um it's classified we want to move that from X to Y and what the X to Y movement and all the pillar all of the things that support that growth behind that and I'm I'm saying all this not to say that I want to kind of blow this out to be like a million pieces underneath it I'm just thinking in terms of

043the framework that that and I um um Maria can highlight a little bit of as well but working with Kathy last year and Maria um through a through her grand from the state doubled her time with us she brought a really strong I've worked with Kathy for years and I'm we're actually thinking of having her to present from the to the board she was a director of the r she was an assistant superintendent she's a math and computer science person so she has a deep back background in this level of work but she highlighted for us that you know if you were using a TC I'm going to do a broad stroke so Kim jump in if I messed this up but if we we were using a before Arc a TC based model however

044growth on a state test is informational text we weren't doing as much informational text so when she looked at all the data that was her Point she said if you want to experience great growth for students you focus in on informational text so you have this switch now and and and that's what Arc does a lot of informational text now you'll hear some push back from some teachers about I love my literature pieces I love my poetry pieces but in order to move the data on on comprehension and literacy but we want kids to love love you know non we love fiction and non-fiction so you want to have a balanced literacy approach but you really should be very targeted in your instruction of reading with that mind so last year she did a lot

045of work with her principles and they love working with the summer so she could unpack those scores and then of course with our our Consultants they are working heavily to do that as well okay all right that that's helpful it's just that that helps me frame this up because I look at the facilities goal we know very specifically we're going to be providing oversight of a $210 million project to kind of build this we have a plan to do all of that right and and so I'm just trying to figure out where where are areas that we need we could could tighten potentially a little bit more and I you know I'll throw in a suggestion or two but but I I just wanted to get your perspective because I could be out of you're

046right on and I think our principles absolutely will be working on our you they were due to Maria last week finalizing look at data to make sure that each of the buildings have individual smarkle that align more closely to what you're saying it has that level of specificity yeah and each one of them started with where their Baseline is and then uh set smart goals to achieve a specific um goal yeah I appreciate that because I think to me I I just look at it in terms of you know we want to go point a what's point B what's Point C because we aren't a trajectory towards something and at least if anything we have a North star what's you these are these here are all goals what hit but do we have any kind

047of empirical measure by which we're it is um I can tell you from an instructional perspective as someone who you know boots on the ground in buildings all day having a a district goal adopted by a board of education that you want to see growth and academic work and achievement and equity and work it's a really important piece it's a very important piece yeah it's a go ahead Maria for us that's our North Star so we ensure again starting with our Baseline where our children are and then knowing where we need to be and then we set specific action steps that'll lead us there great that then we me able relevant and time bound I think most of these hit that smart piece what I would love to assuming other board members and administration sort

048of consensus building on this I like us to and with a crawl walk run approach so I'm not suggesting we go each of these got to have a metric we're year one however a couple of the big ones I would challenge us to try to put in there so let's so here's specifically about arc when we got Arc I remember the Ray Sanchez question I think I asked it from that side of the room was what's your goal with implementing art because Teachers College for whatever reason didn't work right that's why we changed it there was a whole big push spend know Jessica you know involved in that spent a lot of time and money on it and I remember him saying the goal at the end of the four years right because it's a

049four-year implementation was 80% across the district that all student 80% of students across the district will be reading on grade level then and then I think there was some further discussion well maybe 70 but I would challenge us that all buildings if that's still accurate that should be the um the measurable piece of that goal so I would suggest a conversation around for our Educators to align with the district goal of is it 80% is it 70% by the end of four years because that you know that then we're all pulling up towards that because that's what we publicly stated now things could change maybe Park schools only at 60 at the end of four years and the high school could be 90 that's fine it's not going to be punitive but I do think

050for that one where the community you know we talked about it publicly they were spending a lot of money a lot of time or teachers are spending a lot of time on that I would challenge us to put a number on that if that 70 to 80% is is across District I think that's a fair thing so that's one part and another part may be around the community goal as well same thing so we talk about engaging and and building those partnership what does that look like is there a districtwide number that shows engagement so is it based on survey results is it based on you know um open rates on newsletters I think those two are right for putting a district measurable number on but especially the arc piece because we've been on record

051saying that this is what we're pulling towards so that would be sort of my first comment assuming others agree with that but that would be my comment on that all right I have mixed feelings on that achievable and reasonable to expect a percentage of growth increase instead of putting the Finish Line out does if that if that makes sense well I wasn't saying 80% this year but we were this board was on record three two and a half years ago saying we're buying this thing this Arc thing and the goal of this at the end of four years is to get across the district 80% of our students on gr level we we this board is this is prior to me being on here but this board has stated that so I'm not saying that

052should be this year but why would we back off that now like if if if we're only at and I don't know what the number know what the number is just to be clear I just throw a madeup number that was not a number that I I'm just saying that this that was the whole point of buying one of the key points of buying Arc we we know the district like hey kids aren't at the literacy rate we're going to buy this thing and we were you know our our research showed discussion with Arc we're going to hit 80% if we're not going to hit 80% okay fine but that that was a publicly stated goal so I don't I don't know why on that one there would be a hesitancy not to tie to

053when it was public if I may contribute to the conversation a little bit here I I'm going to go jump back up on the balcony that one of the reasons that we switched to Arc was because TC had did not have Fidelity of implementation it lacked a science of reading component to it and um there was um a different approach towards its implementation throughout the district so and that was showed up in the state assessments and in then whatever other local assessments that were psychometrically balanced was it nwe and others so and ausing wasn't alone in that many districts did the same thing as we all know what happened to Lucy ckins and TC's model of reading so to try to find a a reading program that was core holistic and included a component for

054English language Learners was critical so again um and the buildings are in different places in terms of that level of implement mentation starting this third year so I think at the end of the day what the overall goal should be you have to include the building principles the people who are in the trenches working on it to figure out where we are today and try to to find a measure of growth in this everybody wants to improve literacy scores there isn't a principal or teacher or anyone who doesn't want to take on that work but I would really caution I wasn't there for that conversation nor do I but I I wouldn't have approached anybody at the table tonight here was maybe Roger was but um and and frankly like the state averages less than

05550% I think to to state that we're going to you know almost double the rate of the average rate in New York state it's not it's not going to happen next year right like it's very unlikely there's no magic bullet if there was one that worked perfectly the literacy scores would be better across the the average across the state would be better better you know we we we're going to have Ela students or elll students we're we're going to have special education students that is always going to impact our average scores and I think it's we have to acknowledge that so so it's a growth mindset as opposed to an achievement that because by 70% literacy sounds like an achievement goal as opposed to an individual growth score for kids and the State weighs them

056a little differently I am curious um and are you talking into the mic I can't there we go okay um so I don't know if this is getting too into being prescriptive of what teachers are expected to do and that shouldn't third grade I I I you know I think Kim and um Maria you can add to the conversation but there there's a real comprehensive different approach once you hit third grade about certain levels what are certain skills and so how do you come up with a Target that's understandable for every way without unpacking it for those reasons because the landscape does change the state actually calls you got um primary education and then you've got Elementary education they actually Define it that way elementary education starts in third grade yeah I wouldn't even necessarily

057say that they need to be on GR grade level but just like able to read somewhat you know well yes that's what we want yeah I know yes of course of course that's what we so I think I think with i i without sitting down and unpacking exactly what the board is asking for and sitting with our team together with teachers to come up with a growth metric that would be understandable and I think that's a great conversation when the elementary principles come you know they're prepared to talk about it I I would agree yeah so if that's if it's not to set 70 and not 80 and we're not comfortable with that and that might have been said previously by Prem Administration that's fine but but I do think this one should have some

058quantifiable because is is a 2% and I'm not talking I didn't you know specifically didn't say test scores I'm specifically referring to I assume when Arc comes knocking on the door after year four if we want to keep this we will ask them okay we went up x% if we stay with you another four years Fidelity of implementation everyone's comfortable what should we see I assume they're not going to be they're going to say to us oh you'll see an increase I mean we would push on them they were saying right here like what what are we going to see because you want to evaluate whether another four years five years and spending a lot of money is that so I do think I agree like it doesn't have to be done tonight it shouldn't

059just be the people around this table we have Educators but I do think before finalize this one we should try to get some measurable whatever we're comfortable with and if it needs to go by building fine if it's grade level F but this this really feels like we need a number to make sure we're on track for a a you know a measurable a material increase in this one because this is a big this is a big one you could at a district level what districts sometimes do will add a statement to a district goal from a board level to experience a a you know I'm spitballing here but something to the effect of a percentage of growth specific to the students in that building and then allow then the administrators to demonstrate what that

060means you're not setting it you're you're expecting a level of growth right specific to the individual needs of each school and building right and I think um I think what makes it a little bit challenging is because um the Princeton model we are constantly moving our students um so if you were to look at like a k through building it's slightly different because one building keeps a group of students over a period of time so one of the things we could possibly look at um is yearly growth which would allow a building to take a group of students that they currently have to see so I'll use Claremont for example that's just coming to my mind they have the group of students for third grade and fourth grade so they would be able to see

061that incremental growth over the two years that they have that group of students because then you're looking at holistically the same group of students that moved from third to fourth grade um when you're referring to Ark and going back four years ago um one of the things that we could potentially look at and through multiple discussions this isn't a solution but obviously a discussion point we could potentially look at the students that entered the arc program four years ago and the percentage rate of um their reading level um or proficiency level and then looking at four years later the same group of students so there's a couple different ways that I think um we could measure growth the one thing that we do have to caution ourselves around is a holistic um a holistic percentage

062and the reason why I say that is because your subgroups of students are at different levels and different percentages so if we say 80% growth we're saying of a subgroup that proficient um to increase to 50% or to have an increase of 50% to bring it to 80 and I know uh you didn't necessarily say it has to be 80% but just for that example it makes it a challenge to do a wholeistic for every single subgroup for a school each year so that's another way of looking at the information and we can go back to our team and see if that is available for the board to take a look at too so for example we might want to say hey the kids who started in first grade with arc when we implemented it

063are in third grade now right we want to see what their scores are at the end of fourth grade proficient or their proficiency rates their proficiency rate right yeah or and I I I do I I'm in really interested in a growth percentage rather than a a a specific percentage at the end I want to see a growth rates I I don't think that we should be the ones to suggest a number I don't think that that's um I I I appropriate yeah I I I hear you on that one I'm I guess that in terms of the not suggesting number I think what it is is to say we know what's been working and what's how it's been working because of all the things that we put in that's been put in place so

064far and I love your cohort analysis that you're you're contemplating because that itself is revealing in in ways that we probably haven't seen before and to take that and say we move from here to here and whatever that here is you know it it it tells us something really clicked and that's that moment of that epiphany of something clicked and that could actually be valuable back to each of the buildings saying if stay with us on this journey assuming this is true right stay with us on this journey because we've seen this go if you we apply this consistently throughout all the way through we should start to see that go from whatever where it was at starting point to something much greater as it gets to its end point right and that's kind of

065where I think it would make sense from having a cohort analysis and I don't know how easy or difficult that is to do but I think that's a good idea and I like that so we'll we'll follow up on that the other thing I'd like to add although the results are still embargoed um you know I I can say globally I can say this the math results this is what year of math and focus now got started in Co we are in our fourth year of implementation for Math and focus math Focus right so um there was growth as identified by the state in all grades based on last year's state test so you know you'll you'll hear that as soon as they tell me I can talk about it in public but just as

066a statement of that you know so so it's very hard to put a even just from that perspective because the state does use cohort models too in their analysis to be able to talk about a Target based on last year's tests and I can't give a Target because I can't mention the result yet is little tricky so they are doing it in their schools though we're allowed to share that data confidentially amongst the our staff so that's the data they've been working with right um I have a question for you the grading policy had come up in terms of equity would that just roll into student goal or Equity goal or would it need to be specifically broken out you know it it can be that it can be an action step based on that

067go like you know like you would turn like the way many times this has worked you know we would take these goals back to the the the administrators the team and say okay what do you see what procedures policies and practices do you see that can um that are that's not working to help support our Equity goal and so we've been using that that's how I found out about the policy so by formally adopting the you know I know the board adopted the Equity policy but framing it that way that's been a conversation we've had with uh with our administrators I want you to think about the things that are going taking place and what Pro procedures policies and practices do you find that inhibit your work towards that and could have an unintended consequence

068you know like the the policy around the region exams we're discovering an unintended consequence around that right I've got something else but yeah I know you want to go around the table so that's that's cool I think I actually interrupted you so oh it's a discussion this is a a workshop so we don't have to go around in a circle over and over again we're having a discussion if you um I would say a next step on that item it might be having Mary speak in partnership with the building principal to see kind of where they and and Maria perhaps to see kind of where their heads are at as far as what they're trying to do maybe we can formalize that and and kind of take what they were doing and insert that into

069what we're what we want here um kind of backwards yeah I also think just sorry not to keep Haring this but I think you've got you hit on a really good point in terms of creating a reason to believe in terms of a cohort analysis right that that itself even you bring that back to the building principles they'll have a reason to believe because without having that you don't know what you've done right you you don't know when you get to the high school you're already kind of Taken on what's been done for the years before that exactly right so you know it's just the impact years are really kind of those reading years right so getting and having that sense of what's happened from first grade to fourth or fifth whatever that year is

070I think that that I mean that's what kind of gets is like a leading indicator that could perhaps use or lagging indicator that could be used for relaying them back to the school principls and saying here yeah here's something and you know Maria maybe that's something well let's let's talk to Kathy about that our consultant who does this data work right yeah okay so we do one thing that we do is looking at our previous years uh previous year children and then looking at them now and following that so it's an immediate it's a one-year cohort but looking at it at a more vast yeah and seeing where the impact is yeah I I I really think that this is you can't be you're not going to I just use a limited set of dat

071and I agree with you you're right I mean this having that longer length of time because then that becomes the the more taale effect of what's Happening as you start to kind of M make the impacts in in that first year the second year and then the third year it starts to stick hopefully fourth year it starts to become much more steady and that's kind of the the the tail effect that we'll see through the data and the analysis and I think that's that'll be so telling for everybody I think absolutely all right um anything else on on that specific issue regarding Arc and curriculum instruction goal rob you had something you wanted to add perhaps about some other part yeah yeah so just something else to throw out there and I know operations are

072baked into all of these but just throwing out for consideration like an operations type goal and so here's one example and just forgive me I am going to come off the balcony and come to the stage a little bit more closely Christine because the operations also would also probably allow get some of the possible agenda items that I throw out there that are operations related maybe on the agenda but here's something that I've been literally been thinking about in the we hours of the morning so one of the things we've talked about again our lunch and recess and we've seen some Community questions about that and I know there's a lot going on here about scheduling and other things things that we have throughout the day and contracts but like so if we were to

073do like an Ops goal U Mary if you like this idea one of the ones that was in my head was around this lunch and recess thing so I was like well if we wanted to try to make sure because there's a you know there's a policy right we have board policy about lunch and recess times but my imagine the spirit of that is 20 minutes 25 of recess is not does not really want to you don't want to really take into account the waiting on a lunch line right 20 minutes probably means you want a kid to be able to sit and eat lunch for 20 minutes versus 15 on the line and five to eat so I was like well what if we you know I don't know does witson have an app

074where like you can put in just like every other you know restaurant chain you could put in your order for the night before by six o'clock and we put out a table and boom your order is there in the morning so the kids can come in there's no server anymore you go there's your name you get it and now you're sitting so that is much more balcony point is though is that or could there be an obstacle to try to solve for some of these things whether it's a lunch and recess or something else this year because we know a lot of this is also space related and we're not going to be able to wave a wand till the bond stuff comes online so I'm proposing to throw out their an operations type thing

075the lunch and recess was one idea that was much more balcony is but just think about that for consideration that we could try to work on on some of the ongoing things that have come up around operations that can't be tied to space per se because we can't just make space so so I would reframe that Rob from this is just the way I look at life about to what with the question to what extent do structures procedures policies or contracts inhibit the way we approach lunch I wouldn't approach it from why don't we try this this I I I I I mean that in the most respectful way but I I I spend most of my life in in asking the question first and then try to figure out some solutions around that so

076right away when you me I could turn to Alita like we have a contract with witson part of their contract is based upon how they do lunch how they perceive lunch how they order lunch how they go about it like there's a whole variable of that to it we did a survey in another life of mine that the majority of school districts at the time in the elementary setting were able to do lunch recess for 45 minute blocks that tended to be the regular time we were able when I was in Pleasantville to increase it to a half hour but I had a longer school day I had a longer school day by 45 minutes and I had a brand new in 2003 Elementary School with a servery that was exactly the way we wanted

077it to be so there were features and then we had contracts over what could be done and and the age of the kids too sometimes some little ones take a long time to even just like go up and get the food and maybe that's all part of a learning process too as well so so I guess all of those things are variables that if I was asked the question because that's what I'm hearing you're asking the question that I'm asking to what extent um do we have and then you list all the things that make that decision why it's that and then when you look at those pieces are there alternatives to that yeah and I was just throwing that one as an example but forgive me I'm I'm a more and and I get

078it this is different you know it's a public entity you've got contracts and things that you can't just change per se but I'm more of a ask for forgiveness than permission type of per person that's how done but but that was just an example but it's more broadly is there something operationally man because I know you you know you know I've talked about like you you know you like being in the Weeds on operations things is there something that we could add could be a lunch and recess to explore it could be something else that we could as a add a as a goal as part of this exercise that's something that you like you know what there's some other things operationally I love to look into for next year or the years be that's

079some of those very specific ones are ones that we would give to Administration to do because we do operations so you could say can you look into this I mean I remember last year Alita I have to give a shout out to Alita one of the concepts that came out of the board discussion last year had to do around our our health insurance plan she's already been having conversations looking at that I wouldn't want to make that a goal because you told us to do like like that's more of operations we heard that to be prepared for this year's budget conversation so maybe you know in a in a summer that would fall under a broader goal of more efficient and effective system investigate other ways for example health insurance like we could add that

080to that whether or not we're going to be able to achieve that is a whole other but that would be a way I would take your conversation from last year what came up Alita actually we talked about over the summer that's what she's doing and you could add that into your fiscal goal for this year if that's operations enough but yet it kind of it falls right in a spot that you know I was curious about the lunch and recess thing and why it is so rigid and I read an article that was talking about how it didn't used to be that way but then um No Child Left Behind was passed and now every student succeeds act yes and I have to be honest with you any this a topic I can go on

081for about an hour because I had a huge argument with the commissioner of education at the time Mary Ellen aiyah over this and the Deputy Commissioner um Jonah Hearn at the time and she basically I argued that it should be part of the instructional day they went to accounting of hours I'm required to fulfill 900 hours in the elementary setting and 990 so they got so Rey in their conversations that they said well you can't you can't count passing time so in front of a lot of people I said well then fine I'll just do away with bells because I was arguing that when students are going from classroom to classroom they're doing PBIS they're navigating things that that that downtime where they get to stand and walk as opposed to sitting to another room

082has value why are you dismissing it from how I can count an instructional day I lost the argument on that they agreed that I could cancel bells and just have a bell and it would be the late bill so I would get three minutes a day because now what we do here because they changed that is that we spent we count every minute of the day to hit this 900 minutes that we 900 hours that we have to do I even have those conv ation with someone can we do an early dismissable for the PSAT I said count the hours count the hours count the hours they were very clear very clear that lunch and recess should not be part of the elementary school day I was able to in some places create a recess

083plan that was ran by a PE teacher so you could count it as PE time but that's complicated to me I would much prefer we went back to advocating for the state to change that because right off the that if you're going to do an hour for lunch and recess that's one hour of an elementary day you can't count to meet that law yeah so it was not to um dismiss your concerns because I think all of us would love more lunch and recess but it was one of the things I found because I was just curious why it was so rigid and it seems like it's more of a legislative issue than anything anyone School District yes the the uh the regulation that needs to be changed is 175. that's very specific that's exactly

084the one that needs to be changed I'd be more than happy to go to Albany again I mean Mary they were so specific at some point it was like 90 minutes of ela consecutive so you couldn't even and they were having first graders do 90 consecutive minutes of ela and I remember at the time when that was implemented I mean it's just not really sound to ask a six-year-old to do anything consecutively for 90 minutes right so and they use the term major or minor something then the de never forget we're standing in the board of region room she says Mary they when they let them out for recess they let them she said they do this I said well I think doing that is a good thing she yeah so I yeah right and

085I'm not in any way a like I get involved with Albany and Mary you know that a lot better but that's why I was offering like Annie like okay we we can't change we can't have more time is there an operations goal and yes I was using the lunch recess as an example like okay without waving a w and getting more space and more hours in the school day what can is there a way to try and solve that prior to five six years from now when space comes online so that's what I was proposing an operations goal with the lunch and recet as one idea you can plug a lot of the other maybe things into that that's that's one right and I think that's what Mary was talking about when she mentioned insurance

086for example right insurance would be an example I'm not against going to Albany yes so I W to I want to take the temp if I had to pick one it's to explore a lunch and recess to with a primary subg goal of can't extend day can't add more time how do we get kids 20 minutes of lunch and 25 recess and through operations um that that would so it's a little does anybody I mean I have something to contribute to the conversation but I don't want to make sure other people have the opportunity to speak on this um I was just thinking that maybe it wouldn't be a bad legislative committee goal to kind of try to you know put out letters to Albany and do what we can in that direction too I

087know you're talking about something more in the short term but well that we can do both I mean yeah exactly we can do both um I'm I'm seeking I think that that's a good idea but but I want to focus us on the district goals right now um and take our temperature on adding an operational goal that would be to I don't know examine our lunch and recess times which uh like I said I want before I I don't know operate operational goals can be like a broader topic than just just a lunch and recess type of thing but you know I guess the question here is like you know not are do we have um examples of operational goals that have been done other districts that um we might look at and if not

088are we creating one here if so what are the things we that that fall underneath there and it's just a it's a broader question so I I don't think that it's like an easy yes or no answer I do think that there's just a little bit more further to be explored but um I know um our trustee um bant is here so want to give her some air time I I I will say to help of support the point the operations goal that I've SE this curriculum um policy would be an example of one it's broad enough but yet specific enough um the the equity goal has a a real broad reach that you'll get a lot of good information from it's still in the qu the questioning What policies do exist around that right

089Melissa from where everyone's leaving off I'm just kind of soaping all in I think we've talked about um the district goals and how they align with you know the Strategic plan and just kind of fortifying that and it sounds like the discussion is around just um being more specific with some of those with some with what some of those goals will achieve um so not too much to add right now at this point can I add just because it we're brainstorming here um that might fall under a wellness goal you know a broader Wellness goal you could add a student wellness goal I have to add is that the schedules have already been set right so in order to test something like that it would have to be towards January if they reset their schedules

090I don't see that happening at the elementary schools they're like tight tight tight tight tight um we did explore the that type of system where they can order um their food mainly at the high school um and that was before c and um the challenge that we had was having access parents having a access to those systems so there are systems that allow for this order process um but the access is the issue um not every parent have a a a choice in what they the students have a choice in what they want to eat um but as far as trying to test um reducing uh lines it would be very hard um to do that while we're in session you'd have to think about that while you're planning going forward because that would upset

091the apple cart dramatically especially at the elementary level and then the other thing is the easiest way to reduce lines is to have more stations um and that's a conversation with witson um if we were to do something like that they would probably push back um because that affects their profit line um we've been very profitable in the program um but certainly if we just started first of all we don't have the space here um we do you typically have a kiosk over here um for snacks um but you literally the way you reduce the um waiting time time is you have to add more staff and if it causes them to lose their profitability they're going to push back well yeah I mean if we I love the framing of as a wellness goal

092I love I think that's great not looking to necessarily say change M make by the end of the year make sure every kid has 20 minutes to eat and get rid of the lines not suggesting that but I am proposing we explore it so is it sery has the app stuff changed what does that look like I don't know I don't know this not my expertise but the the idea was to do like some research time the lines like ver validate what I'm saying I can tell you anecdotally I'm hearing like here there's two lines if you're not in the beginning of the line by the time lunch starts here at 10:30 for sixth graders you're not getting food until 15 minutes in and then you have a choice now between recess and that so

093I think that's anecdotally but I'm just saying a report explore for it and then if there's what Solutions great and if that's a multi-year thing to look at but that's that was The Proposal not solve it this year that would be wonderful but not solve it just just take a look and then look towards a plan to solve around this Wellness so if you did a wellness gold around what procedures policies and structures do we have that um or we could bring forth that would increase more opportunity for students to have better lunch and recess experience I mean like is Broad enough to to Encompass you know it can encompass Wellness goal would allow us to you know think you I mean because we talk about but there's also the wellness goal of physical wellness

094as well as mental health health Wellness right mental health right you could put that underneath there I mean it may nle it may not even need to be broken out we may be talking about adding a sub category to our student goal um would which would be okay with me I don't think I want to be as specific as as lunch and recess because I feel like I'm having a little bit of deja vu in that you had brought up these concerns last year and then Alita came back with all of the explanations for why things are the way they are and why we are in the situation we're in and how much is immovable and I don't expect to hear that a lot will have changed between last year in this year so I

095feel like we've been there done that very recently and that's part of why we went out so hard for this Bond right like we know that the biggest limitations are the space and we have other forces outside of us we have contracts not only with our food providers but with our teachers and support staff um that don't all turn over at the same time right um so we can you know talk when we talk about contract negotiations we can talk about you know how how that's like operationally how that works I don't know I I mean the board can ask the principles when they're here talk about the challenges you have with lunch and reset certainly would feel free I actually told them you'll probably get that question I know at AMD there were four

096lunch periods to address that but it but it brought up other problems so they went back to three lunch periods for each grade level to address so it's like looking at the situation which you did four that that brought up its own it might have decreased the level of so it's a good question to ask when the principles do present right and that's kind of where I feel like that's where the level of that's where it belongs like to use your you know crawl walk run verbiage like this is our first set of goals and I'm worried about it too much um and so I'm not I don't want to dismiss your concerns because I do share them um and I do think more recess would be better for our students in particular um you

097know that side of the of the equation and but I also understand the challenges and I don't I don't think that we're going to be able to solve that this year anyway because of so many outside for and just pieces that aren't going I know that they're not going to fit together at the end of the year and I I still that doesn't mean just because it's not in this goal doesn't mean we never hear about it right um in the same way that we submit questions and then get the answers back we can ask Mary when we're talking about setting the agenda and what we want to see in presentations to talk to us about those challenges so we can maybe better understand them if we don't feel like we understand them um and

098so what I'm feeling like is that that and is maybe too specific or too off the balcony to put it's not broad enough in my in my mind um to put it specifically in this I'm not I'm just I'm not sure that this document is where that I want that to live that that's fine so I just just so we can move on to get the point does the board Administration feel like we can explore how to try to solve prior to buildings being built and more space being available the lunch and recess thing we know the challenges it's scheduling it's contracts it's serveries I'm trying to get to how do we try to solve it prior to the next five to seven years because we're kids we we should try to solve it and

099and if it means when the contract comes up that we mean we put an app in there that's it if it's I don't know I'm not I'm staying on way up in the balcony on that but if we don't explore it and we don't check the times and we don't we we know what the challenges are we won't solve it and we're just you know respectfully we'll be waiting for the buildings to solve it the new buildings so that's what I'm trying to drive towards we know the challenges how do we figure out how to try to fix this particular we have other things we want you know we have General space we could put in you know a space goal I know Mary you look at that all the time are there other buildings

100other uh the the movables the trailers just trying to get to S try to move forward on that one that particular one because that's yes near and dear to me uh and I assume others as well because I hear it from the community we saw you know someone wrote in about that qu I I didn't put that person up there it they wrote it separately about this how do we try to solve it that that's what I'm GNA ask so if it's not a goal in here you don't want to articulate that's fine but it would be nice to move on that this year in the next six to seven months to try to get some information and then try to solve it in the next X amount of time that's each of the principles

101I will say they would love nothing more than giving kids more recess time I don't think and and they have they you can ask each of the elementary principles different ways they tried scheduling different approaches towards it trying to work with the lead on Food Service how do we try kios like we did here I mean it's a question because they would love to do that there isn't a that would want to do that so I'm not saying it's not but it it would be fascinating you could ask them what challenges they have when they're trying to schedule for lunch and recessing or I I can compile it and get give you a report on it either way is fine I can do that right just I just want to add also we have been

102uh putting a lot of Staff um and charging it's a c fund so we are when principales ask for more support in um the cafeteria we've been giving them that we went to a couple of $100,000 of CF fund um uh charges to almost a millon I think over a million in the 2223 school year so right they they come to me they come to Don and they ask if they can get some more support and we're able to do that because we do have funds available in the cafeteria fund Lita thank you for bringing that up because that's it was part of our budget conversation so what that did though it might not have increased the time but it's C or maybe a minute or two because you've added more monitors you've added more

103staff to help move kids and you're looking at increasing the quality of the time so you're not spending you don't have one or two people lining kids up helping them move youve got multiple bodies to do that so we've added significant staff to that to help support kids in a very safe environment when they're out I mean like there are there are things we'd love to do we'd love to put more fencing around of some of the playground areas and you'll hear that probably in this year's budget conversations as a capital goal so yeah looking I'm I'm looking around for any more contributions I I feel like I'm okay with um like let's get an update from Mary let's explaining the challenges and uh welcoming any ideas for potential Solutions um from our building principles

104and marry but I don't like I said I don't know if I want to I mean if we want to put that as the goal I'm okay with with that um you know to that we will Ex you know learn more Explore More and Nestle that within the student goal which can be broadened to to incorporate Wellness um but it needs to be more than Rob and I in this conversation um in order to to build a consensus somewhere I yeah I'm I'm I'm fine with that with with what yeah in terms of I mean I I think in terms of what we're going to be moving forward here because I think the question was like around pretty much are we ready to move this forward the way that we right well I ready before

105this meeting started to move this forward as is but yeah but I'm I'm I mean I I think honestly there's these goals are written in a way that I think you know it's we've talked about the things that we need to talk about right and and I think you know from the perspective of we talked about Wellness if we need to incorporate that in some degree in here health and wellness we we can incorporate that but I'm just thinking does that can that be part of the thinking as we plan forward or does that have to be crystallized in here specifically that's a question I don't I mean that's that is the question I'm asking you no no no I'm I'm I'm no I I know I'm throwing that I'm throwing that back because so

106so again we are behind the you know a behind this and we'll end up in November before for the year it'll be mid year so either way I mean we can have a very broad goal about adding under student a bullet for a wellness go goal that addresses how do we support social emotional learning for students and and also in terms of increasing opportunities for lunch and recess that's very broad that's very there and that's yeah if we're the description of the student goal includes all of that so are you wouldn't it be more of a bullet point understood student goals to be more specific as opposed to a whole new goal that's what I'm suggesting that's what we're saying is that we could put that as a sub Bullet versus it being its own

107separate goal so the bolt on to that I like a sub bullet most of the things that I can think of are encompassed because they are so Broad and and I worry about getting to into the weeds as board members and I would encourage the board to look at I mean I can certainly gather them and give it to your update what a lot of districts do in terms of goals this is similar in many ways um you know except for big initiatives or you know something again like what I mentioned what Elite is doing about the health insurance that came from all of you that was her operational goal this year and she's been working on that based on the board's conversations last year on health insurance which I would argue falls under our

108fiscal goals right yes you could add explore different options for health that's the context in which that conversation came up right um explore different Options For Recess lunch you know that can be there it's just the explore it's not increase explore different options you can very broad very general but yeah so we can pen these in and then say move it forward or what do we have to do um I what I would I would suggest that Mary pen this in and then send it out we don't even have everyone here tonight um I don't feel comfortable okay um greenlighting it without them but then um just to confirm Melissa you feel like you're okay with a like kind of sub bullet regarding exploring the challenges to provide students with adequate lunch in recess and

109support of their seal I'm trying to figure out the question you're asking me because all I'm saying is that that student goal encompasses needs and I would think feeding children children equitably and appropriately part of addressing their one of the most basical needs right um but are we saying that we want to make sure that we put a bullet there to not lose focus of that particular seal need yes that's I ask okay how are you feeling how am I feeling how you feeling about that what do you want to do I mean it's you know if we feel the need if we feel it needs a bullet so to not lose track of it um not opposed to that um I just want to make sure by pulling a putting that bullet there that

110doesn't mean that that that goal is going to supersede all other seal related goals that might fall under that right or right you know like dra you know like you know that like our attent it's going to be like a highlighted point at that point when there's probably a multitude ofcl needs to address and kind of drill down in so I'm saying which you know I'm just weighing it I'm not opposed to it but I'm weighing like what is that saying right by specifying lunch as a primary Sal need to address I'm not saying it's not at the top but right to Melissa's point I guess that's why adding specificity here is a tricky thing because what are you saying about the other pieces but yet you want a board goal so that's why Big

111Ticket items like your $210 million Bond the the 8 million we're spending on health insurance like those are bigger things but the board of course is entitled to get every in piece of information they want so this idea about how can we Explore More recess time more lunchtime that can be certainly a report we can generate for you you can ask the principles coming up all of the above is fine with me but that tricky piece that Melissa just nailed in her point is sometimes what I've seen board struggle on how much do you add in terms of specificity and what does it say about the other things because the the goals are meant to capture those things and each building will interpret that differently does that make sense and I think that's where I

112was going back to is like you know if you if you kind of put in just in the basics of health and wellness and that becomes like that as the bullet right a health and wellness goal pursuing a health and wellness goal there's nothing I think that's broad enough that that can be used in used to kind of look at that across the district but if we say and I completely get your point because if you say lunch and recess then everybody else is going to say but what about all these other things that fell in that should have gone in there right what about and and I get that so keeping them broad I I'm I support that you know with with the understanding that you know there'll probably be some asks about this

113at a at a a later reporting time so you know broad Strokes yes perhaps over specific point well taken um that's where I I mean that's how I was trying to articulate my feelings is that I don't disagree with the concern and I don't think that we should ignore it but I'm not sure if this is where it lives um spelled out um well then that that's a goal an agenda item I guess as long putting it out there if there's consensus that that is something we want to look at by the time we get to August I'm hoping that we will have some of those data points it's true that kids only have five minutes to eat they're only getting eight minutes of recess so here's what we found and here's then we can

114work on some recommendations maybe to take a second look at some of those that's all it doesn't have to be articulated there if it's going to get be able to be get done in some other again agenda item non-agenda a report a weekend update whatever it is okay that's okay given that if you're okay with that we might not need to change this yeah we're fine with that yeah I mean I mean that would be my opinion because it does sayal in there and that's health and wellness is a is a foundational Point ofal needs so I think by you know I don't know that's just I'm just giving my feedback um as as as a as a way to make sure we're not making it too cumbersome and overthinking um like the structures I

115think the presentations that we've gotten and the information we've gotten um to date around seal would um would I guess you know it would say to me at least that those are things that are considered health and wellness are factors of that and what we're saying as a board it sounds like is that we want to make sure um in the back of our mind we're um asking for information around seal needs that that's something that we're going to explore to now is is what does lunch look like what does recess look like and and that would be what Melissa is saying each of the principles will reflect that differently you know briefly like those are gigantic grants would they would the board like those highlighted here in their board goals like you can add

116the ptech grant to it how much is that worth Maria just remind everyone um million 1.5 1.8 million million dollar so so like those are huge things that this board that we're doing that occupy a lot of time a lot of people so you know that's a grant I would the mental health gr put a like a a star next to those like um you know a board goal around New York gear up like that that's a that's a huge amount of money only 11 in New York state got that Grant so that's the level of balcony stuff that I think you know and the report back on those so so the the mental health Grant um really is super important particularly because of the unique needs of adolescents as they pre-teens it has a

117different approach towards it so so so Works totally works so what just not to get off truck because I know we're trying to probably State the time but so then what would then be the mechanism that if it's not going because like these thing right the Counterpoint to that is we're supposed to be specific which obviously right there is specific specificity in here because we have the ex officio one we have the equity and then other bullet points but it's fine can let it go but just then what would be the mechanism then to do this lunch and recess thing in terms of that like what what what I think we're experiencing it right now Rob I think that coming out of this I'm going to leave it to Mary for how she would feel

118that would be best delivered either through presentations that we're already receiving like she can ask our our principles to incorporate that if or she can do an update through like whatever we can leave that to Mary ever she feels it would be appropriate to relay kind of the um challenges and potential suggestions towards eing the burden of of a l we we'll talk to Jared because it involves custodial time if we had another L there's a lot of variables with that happy to do that right and then I mean that doesn't have to be like a this week thing right with the I think bringing it up during District goals I think the understanding is here is that this might take a while to process exactly right all right right um so just to recap

119uh we might want to add kind of a bullet for curriculum instructional goals in consult in consultation with the principles for something that they feel would be a reasonable way to measure their progress for this year um and then no other substantive changes um and I will ask Mary to send that out at some point when you completed and then we can green light it hopefully at our next meeting does that sound copasetic okay let's move on um I just wanted to say with the growth stuff I did send out an email I don't know if you guys already saw it but it was um growth with Arc across different districts and different states cool thank you I have not seen seen it yet but I will did you just send it I'll look I'll

120look thank you okay um moving on to our consent agenda we have already handled item 5.1 does anybody have anything they wish to break out between 5.2 and 5.5 um I do I guess technically 5.3 only because I have a question okay um I'll take a resolution for 5.2 5.4 and 5.5 second uh 5.2 resolution authorizing a capital construction project and authorizing the insurance issuance of Serial bonds 5.4 resolution tion to appoint consultants for the 2024 2025 school year 5.5 resolution to approve the amended scope of work with open door family medical center any discussion all in favor I I opposed extensions I'll take a motion for 5.3 so moved second 5.3 resolution to approve the appointment of the officials who served at the bond vote held on September 24th 2024 any discussion yes so

121just to clarify we're retroactively approving these individuals who served at the bond vote okay nly says yes okay all right thank you any further discussion all in favor I I I opposed extensions um on to consent agenda Personnel matters uh looking at six point I I'll take a motion for 6.1 through or I should say does anybody have anything they wish to break out between 6.1 and 6.17 I'll take a motion for 6.1 through 6.17 move second 6.1 resolution regarding resending professional staff appointments 6.2 resolution regarding support staff resend of leave of absences 6.3 resolution regarding professional staff resignations 6.4 resolution regarding support staff resignation ations 6.5 resolution regarding administrative staff appointments 6.6 resolution regarding professional staff appointments 6.7 resolution regarding Civil Service staff appointments 6.8 resolution regarding support staff appointments 6.9 resolution regarding bus

122attendant appointments 6.10 resolution regarding professional staff appointments before after school programs 6.11 resolution regarding Civil Service staff appointments before after school programs 6.12 resolution regarding regarding support staff appointments before after school programs 6.13 resolution regarding APR annual professional performance review accountability 6.14 resolution regarding perdm substitute removals 6.15 resolution regarding perdm substitute appointments 6.7 uh 16 resolution regarding approval of school volunteers 6.17 resolution regarding support staff requests for a leave of absence any discussion all in favor I opposed extensions does anything they uh does anybody have anything they wish to break out between 7.1 and 7.4 I'll take a motion for 7.1 through 7.4 so moved second 7.1 resolution to accept donation from Northshore Animal League Roosevelt mutre program 7.2 resolution regarding disposal of gymnastics equipment 7.3 resolution regarding appointment of consultant Eugene Lyn district office

1237.4 resolution regarding interfund transfers any discussion all in favor I opposed exensions uh we've come to our second public comment period is there anybody in person here who wishes to speak all right me State I think this public comment period is limited to 15 minutes uh we're about to begin our second third I guess technically public comment period of our meeting not to exceed uh 15 minutes I'm going to read some excerpts from our public comment period guidelines the public comment period is not designed to be a discussion under uh state and federal privacy laws we are unable to entertain any comments or questions about school Personnel or individual student matters um on these matters we ask you go through the appropriate administrative Channel each individual speaker is allotted up to 3 minutes uh you

124can introduce yourself State your address and begin your comment sure I'm Joe or mik wow um my address is 20 o Drive West I am the President of the OAC PTA so I speak mostly for prek through 2 um I did want to say that uh one of the goals that we would love to see is an after school or before school program going to say it again just to um we've been looking at some grants there are some grants called leaps from the state that offer like $500,000 to $600,000 a year I don't know if you guys have looked into that it is um the registration or the you have to have it submitted by early spring so it's like April so we're already done for this year so that's something we can look

125into next year I think that would be great um I love the idea you guys are talking about about standing EXT um expanding the recess time and lunchtime it is half of what our PTA meetings are about um I've talked to both principles they're exhausted trying to find ways to make it work so if that is something that can happen I mean they're just they're just like we know and they just they kind of thr their hands want to so they do um and then the last thing that we've gotten a lot of feedback from our members is teachers and administrators or anybody posting photos of pictures of kids on Twitter X or whatever we're calling it um I don't know what the policy is we'd love some feedback for that but it seems to

126be they're just allowing it I know there's a photo opt out and some of our our members are like we opted out but I just saw my kid on X and is that something that we want to look at in a greater perspective uh for the people that are concerned about Ai and we see what Happ is happening with AI how people do not want their kids on social media for all of the reasons of you know spoofing their kids that sort of thing so those kind of three things uh our members care a lot about we had about 50 people at our last uh General PTA meeting which was great to see all those people in person and online but um they're really those were the three key things that they were focused on

127so I want to just leave that to you guys and express that for our community thank you I will say anybody who wants to be added to the Do Not photograph list can email Nicole ree she's the contact person for that um and I will say U just personally on a personal note um because my own children are on it sometimes they still end up on um social media in error and that I find that I I have it takes an email to Nicole reason it's gone so um yeah and sometimes people do it and then repost other things sometimes that Happ but Nicole is right on it immediately as soon as she finds out right and she reminds people of the policy very strongly and I remind the principles of it too um so

128certainly I would direct direct anybody with any questions about that policy to Nicole race because she's our person point person for that um seeing no other audience members uh is there anybody online who wishes to speak okay uh so we will move on to board reports and dialogue I wrote a reminder to myself at this point to also remind us to speak into the microphone um have any committees met that would like to report out oh yeah I remember meeting here take it a way the governance um self-governance committee met and um we sent out a letter for the student um ex aicio board member to everyone yes in response to that I would like to send that out I was hoping to send it out maybe yesterday but our our um student rep is

129not here anyway so it's like okay we can as long as we get it out before next time but uh if there's no objection to the letter as it was written I'll send it out from my email address sounds good yeah all right I'm G to pass it off to you my computer died so I don't have my notes yes so we we um established a draft of the letter for the board to to look at to send out to welcome the new student member and we also kind of shored up some additional goals of the committee um following the original uh or expanding on the timeline that we established when we first established the committee last at the end of the last school year so um a lot of that is just going to

130be around making sure that we as a committee kind of like quarterly meetings but also kind of just keep in touch if something is just comes up that would you know allow us or need us to kind of step in and help um so a lot of this stuff we're just building on a lot of the goals that were already set already last time um and I just wanted to pull up just to make sure but our agenda was pretty pretty tighten to the point we really didn't add much more except around welcoming the new student member and kind of being more you know making that a part of our our goals as well as a committee um we talked about a couple of other things but after we flushed them out decided it wasn't

131really a governance committee type of thing and you did send a nice reminder email to me about some to-dos to put on my list so and that's the purpose right like that's what we're doing so I appreciate that a productive a productive subcommittee or productive committee it was it was we gotta really got a there um got to the point and that template that we created last at the end of last year really helped us kind of go in there and get right to down to Brass TX so did um did you already cover the things that Katherine wanted to bring up during boor dialogue I didn't let me pull up the note do you remember off F what those were no I wish my computer hadn't died my I didn't see I I knew

132you said you were going to bring it up so I didn't I didn't um I can if someone else has something to discuss I can Circle back pull it up um I do uh I you may have seen or maybe you didn't uh because it was just tucked right into uh Mary's update we're trying to establish a um exec session on a Saturday uh to discuss contracts issues uh on November 2nd or 9th Katherine had emailed that she was away on the 9th either date works for me um has anybody looked at their calendar for this I prefer the second I can do the second C can you can someone clarify not so much why we need the session but why on a Saturday versus just doing it at the end of one I think

133um we need to be fresh for it and it's an I mean we can talk more executively do do you do we have an anticipation of how long because that affects my answer of the availability of either day is this like an all day thing is this I don't think so an hour or two hours what do you think Mary well it depends right you know if you set a target of like like a couple of hours and we should be focused and able to do that I wouldn't want I wouldn't want to do more than a few hours as long as people did their homework ahead of time you know make for a very efficient conversation okay I mean I've got things on the second and the ninth in the morning I don't know

134if we were thinking you know just like normal personal life stuff so I don't know if we're thinking a certain time or we we're really just floating the days right now if you have a specific time that works better for you right are we flexible on time fible I'm flexible in time I it sounds like I'm hearing more people are available on the second if we can't get everybody we can't get everybody it's a Saturday and it's November and it's un person I it's un person right yes um location TBD um it sounds like we'll we'll pick the second because I'm that's what I'm hearing okay Melissa do you have any are is there like a heart out for you for either one of these dates no okay and we'll see I found the things

135that you want to talk about yeah P it up to take it away um where are we with student involvement at Boe meetings I feel like we have covered that yeah um where we would Norm are they finalized and published oh that's I have that on my list as well too District goals we talked about today and then where are we with the Boe handbook um those are also on my list and I don't know if I put them on there or if Katherine put told me like can we discuss the support dialogue and I put it on my list so I don't remember how it got there um but it's on the list but it's on the list so let's talk um I'm feeling good about our handbook and Norms cuz I feel like

136we really were within like five minutes of being finished the last time that we um talked about either of those things how do others feel like are we okay to publish once provided I think there was some like document clean up like making sure page numbers matched and a table of contents like that kind of um just editing but barring that were people okay with where we were in order to kind of move forward with them I I I am an individual yeah I feel like we were very thorough with the handbook right and and I want to be respectful of everybody's time I don't want to have another meeting talk about the Norms um the Norms or the everything everything okay do you no I'm just trying to think back because I know there

137was an intersection between the handbook in the policy committee having to do a couple of just tweaks to certain areas we were before the manual rolled out if I recall we were going to change the policies to match the handbook because we had all agreed on what those what the handbook should read right so what my question was did we want to the timelines to match where that was updated before we disseminated the manual right um I it was just a like like I think that's what we left off as like you know do we put the cart before the horse or what happens or does it matter or what like we all agreed to what needs to change we just need to do it um so but is that a problem though because it's

138not yet changed and we're putting out that manual noted I think that's an excellent point so I think that kind of answers the timeline of maybe that the first order of business of our first um policy committee meeting just get that out the way so we can get the the handbook out same wavelength let's do that but in the me I think our Norms should be good though I believe so I I don't know about anybody else but that was my recollection okay I'm going to make a note to myself here and I'm just going to leave this handbook kind of hanging here that's all I have on my board dialogue list are so just to if anybody has no objection we'll wait on the handbook until the policy is updated and then we'll be

139able to just Greenlight the handbook and the Norms are good to go I'm good with that okay sounds good um any other yeah just a reminder tomorrow is the uh is business meeting uh virtual business meeting so I'll be starts at 4:00 virtually um so I'll be going and you know representing the discussions that we had around the resolutions all right and you got the link already lent and uh Roger you're our alternate for that if I recall do you have the link to you you you might need to forward the actual link to vote to they they don't Comm he gets a separate link that's just to view it so I would read your email and check and then you guys mine was just a link so you might need to forward your email

140to him if you want to be able to tag out just in case um I'm not 100% on that but that might be the safest bet just in case you never know you know those meetings are so long you don't want it to something to happen and that's when you realize that the link is at the right link right or you don't have the right link yeah just remind me again because I'm looking for this right now um what was the time on that four o' it starts there were no questions on our resolutions during the Q&A which I'm taking as a good sign yes um Annie and I were both able to listen into part of that I listened in the way home and I think the idea of that I don't think they've

141done it before I think the idea of that was to reduce the length of this meeting coming up so if people have their questions they could get it out of the way and they had a really hard time honestly like moderating it so that people weren't discussing the actual merits of the propositions and instead just asking clarifying questions it was a little bit of a it was an interesting meeting to listen to I'll say that all right anything else thank you for reminding me about that Annie um meeting all right so I'm going to take a motion to enter into executive session 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

142operation so moved second uh any discussion all in favor I opposed extensions