Ossining Board of Education Meeting of October 25, 2023

001[Music] all right good evening everyone I'd like to call to order the Board of Education regular meeting of October 25th 2023 I would like to ask principal Langley to lead us on the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right thank you um welcome everyone uh dear members of the Austin Community superintendent uh Fox alter cabinet and my colleagues tonight before we begin our Reg regular business of the board I want to acknowledge that recently a swastic ass symbol was discovered unfortunately in multiple places within our school district this symbol with his historical associations and connotations has deeply hurt and offended many members of our community investigations are ongoing and

002those responsible will face consequences consistent with our code of conduct at this juncture there's no reason to believe that there is a threat to the safety of our students or staff but I do want to make it unequivocally clear that we reject all forms of racism bigotry and discrimination any slur any hate symbol or any hate speech against any group of people goes against everything that we stand for in this District as a school board as a district we have worked very hard to commit to a safe and inclusive learning environment for all of our students we have engaged a variety of Consultants formed committees to tackle these types of issues and met with leaders and advocacy groups to brainstorm strategies and approaches recently staff held build building wide assemblies reinforcing with our students that

003hate speech and hate symbols are unacceptable but the problem of hate will not be solved by schools alone it is a broader Community issue as well we urge parents and Guardians to engage in conversations with their children about the importance of respect of Tolerance and embrace embracing diversity and this is especially important now in light of tragic events across the world thank you all right I'm going to invite our superintendent now for a superintendent's update all right so I have a very special superintendent update to deliver this evening so from the governor's office from the state of New York Proclamation whereas New York state has one of the best public education systems in the nation which is comprised of 731 school districts overseen by more than 700 School Board whose members are educational leaders in

004their communities determining policies that govern the operation of their local public school systems and provide governance and guidance for a Statewide school system that serves nearly 2.7 million New York State children and whereas our state's Public Schools consistently maintain High standards and every aspect of a student's learning experience so as to be best the meet the needs of all students and to empower them to become informed productive contributors to society and an Ever Changing world and whereas we recognize the role of school boards in partnering with school administrators and Educators to provide students with a safe and healthy learning environment and ensure Optimum opportunities for intellectual and personal growth and whereas members of the local school boards are committed to serving the children and schools of our communities and devote many hours to Elementary and

005public Ed public education as they continually strive for improvement excellence and progress in education recognizing that all children can be successful Learners and whereas those dedicated individuals are strong advocates for public education and are responsible for communicating the needs of the public school district to the public and the Public's expectations to the district by working closely with parents educational professionals and other community members and whereas during school board recognition week special activities and programs will be held in communities across New York State and it is fitting to join in and acknowledging the commitment and contribution and members of local school boards who help strengthen our public schools and ensure the best educational experiences for our children therefore now I Kathy hokel governor of the state of New York do hereby Proclaim October 16 through the

00620th as school board recognition week in New York state so I kick off a wonderful short celebration of the service this member these communities you spend hours under beautiful lighting um you encounter um people in supermarkets on on playing fields on Ball Fields out in the community uh all for one purpose dedication to the needs of the children here in asy and we are so proud I I am just impressed by the level of service and professionalism the seven board members my seven bosses Pro provide to this community so with that I'm going to kick off our um celebration this night in recognition first of all I want to thank the team and everybody you all have goodies at your desk um at your seats um there are wonderful tokens that show our recognition of

007your work and I'm going to ask Kate Matthew to lead a very special recognition in the Arts hello everyone thank you so much I am here with two seventh grade students from Anna and DNA Middle School we have Alex Tapia and we have Haley knp and they are seventh grade students who participate in our art program we really want to thank our Board of Trustees on behalf of the cultural arts but on behalf of all the students in aing for supporting um our work and we thought this year since we have a brand new elective in in um AMD art that we would um ask our art teachers teachers and our art students to share a little something with you as a token of our appreciation so um Alex and and Haley are just going

008to introduce what they're going to share with you on behalf of Mr Kroger and Mr sto's art classes as well as for all the students of ausing we would like to thank you for all your hard work and dedication to the ausing students we made handmade cards as well as a thank you poster for you guys to look at w so the poster is representing our new digital arts program here at the middle school and the cards are done by seventh graders and students in our rise class um each is handmade and completely individualized using collage or print making and again it's a small token but we really want to say a big thank you and um thank you so much I'm going to we have a larger size that I'll leave with Miss Fox

009alter and she can display it when you have meetings thank you k it's wonderful I love it thank you thank you so much that was so thoughtful very very sweet we really really truly appreciate it and they're absolutely beautiful and thank you for being here tonight as well thank you for your kind words also so true thank you um I don't I I guess that's it for the meeting I don't know what we got else here um all right I think we're going to go ahead now with our executive um sorry with our independent audit correct is that where we're at correct y all right so we will invite our uh Mr Alan Casey from the auditing firm of pkf okand Davies LLP who's going to give us an overview of the uh external independent

010audit thrilling stuff here folks we are excited to see him again Mr Casey it's always lovely to see him every year so as we're U putting up the audit report I do think it's very fitting that on school board recognition night and the role of governance of a board the oversight um that boards have in terms of public money and then the use of an external auditor adds another layer of oversight to that so in many ways it's a a great reflection of the role of governance and the role of the board I know we have three board members correct me if I'm wrong and leita that serve on the audit committee itself right correct so there is a great deal of attention paid to um public money as it should be comp so while

011our technology folks are bringing up the um water report I do want to share I just want to for those of you who might have been around we had an explore and learn here on Sat day so I want to thank Megan and um our Community Partners for that and there was a wonderful um uh volleyball tournament I I have my t-shirt here and um let me just put it out so everyone can see it let would you want to say a word about the volleyball tournament to and support of cancer research I know that each year the um oening volleyball team supports the cancer research in this year again we wanted to make sure that we supported by um having giving out the shirts and making sure we sold that just in honor of

012cancer awareness okay so those it's I love know I need on many levels and this one say together stronger than cancer stronger together so again I want to thank the um girls volleyball team for a wonderful fundraising effort for a very important cause thank you okay so well we're still finding that report for ch let's see what else can I share um I okay I can share okay so I I just want to um mention that um this month uh ohos it continues to celebrate College and Career month tomorrow we have a fabulous um opening activity for gear up New York again um that we were able to get this wonderful 7-year Grant and I can't wait to be there tomorrow with principal langy and and Sue and and and Latoya and I and the

013whole team will be there um kicking off at a special ceremony our eighth graders for this fabulous opportunity um AMD celebrated Unity day I am thrilled to share maybe some of you caught it on TV CBS News visited Miss Ward's class at AMD how many saw that right that was pretty amazing um for a very special feature on National bullying pre prevention month and um I just thought it was just so precious so I want to thank um Sue and the team and our wonderful assistant principls at AMD and the staff for the work they're doing in that area um I I want to celebrate by the way ausing football who made it to the first round of the playoffs so big cheer for that and they played this Friday um um versus Arlington so

014and the boys soccer team is in the semifinal finals so let's go oh all right Roosevelt School has our helping kids helping pause program under the leadership of Dr Brandon Beck is back in Action right and everyone loves peaches who gets involved in that as well all right and at ohos our obots team has been named the winner of the inclusion ward in the 2023 Optimum innovators award a distinguishing accolade recognizing their outstanding commitment to inclusivity community outreach within the realm of stem science technology engineering in mathematics so that is terrific um in recognition of their special accompt the obots received a $2,000 Grant a banner and a jumbo check presented by George ler Westchester County Executive and Frank Ela representing um Optimum government Affairs so a very exciting time in a and with that

015I hand it over to our Auditors thank you very good good evening everyone um as we said I'm going to give you a brief overview of the audit for the year ended June 30th 2023 okay this is the calendar of events that took place the week of June 20th we did some preliminary fieldwork which is a test of the controls we had a audit planning meeting with the audit committee on July 20th which is required by New York State the actual fieldwork for the audit took place the week of August 28th and then on September 28th I met with the audit committee again to go over a draft of the financial statements and tonight I'm here to present those results okay contained within this report is the summary of communications the management letter also known

016as the communication of internal intern control matters identified in the audit to those charged with governance and management that would be you the general fund schedule of revenues expenditures changes in fund balance budget and actual and the general fund balance sheet fund balance some other comments okay included in the summary of communications of the auditor's responsibility under auditing standards generally accepted in the United States one of them is to issue an opinion on the financial statements which we did based on the results of the audit we issued an unmodified opinion which is also known as a clean opinion it's the best opinion you can receive required to conduct the audit in accordance with auditing standards as I mentioned obtain reasonable rather than absolute assurance that the financial statements are free of material misstatement which they

017are there were no material errors fraudulent financial reporting or misappropriation of assets noted and there were no instances suspicion or allegations of fraud in addition the internal accounting controls there were no material weaknesses noted the accounting policies of the district were deemed to be appropriate Management's judgments and accounting estimates also deemed to be adequate there were no unresolved issues and no disagreements with management uh continuing there were no unres difficulties encountered during the audit no consultation by management with other accountants and pkf oer Davies is independent with respect to The District in accordance with relevant Professional Standards and there were no irregularities or illegal acts noted contained within the management letter which I mentioned earlier the letter charg to those with governance there were a few comments none of these were material deficiency or significant

018deficiencies they're known as control deficiencies and for the most part it's information for the board to consider one of them was one of the reserves the tax sari Reserve was considered to be in excess of what it should have been within the special Aid fund there's a project Lane schedule that basically tracks each one of the grants that the district receives and there was some adjustments required because the original schedule did not agree with the general ledger and the expenditures for Grants were not tracked in the proper year there were some expenditures that should have been recorded in the current year that were in next year and so forth um right the special purpose fund there were some inactive trusts and in the extra classroom activities fund um six of the high school clubs had

019no activity and two two of the 10 deposits tested were not deposited timely New York State generally requires that all deposits are deposited within 72 hours of receipt um I do want to point out that these last two comments are probably in every school district in New York state um most school districts have several trust accounts and special purpose funds and it's very difficult to appropriate the monies every year for each um activity so that's a common activity and the extra classroom activities as well there are several clubs and in order for them to expend the money they have to get together and decide what they're going to spend it on and usually over the course of time that that does take place okay this is the general fund schedule of revenues expenditures and changes

020in fund balance going across left to right you have the original budget the final budget then the actual results results if you look in the actual column you'll see that the revenues came in at 149 million which was 5.1 million greater than the budget it's a positive variance and that number was up about 16 million from the prior year the expenditures came in at 136 million again generating a positive budgetary variance of almost 4.1 million and those expenditures were up about 19 million so the excess of the revenues over the expenditures was 13.6 million and you combine the two positive variants it's 9.2 million there were other financing uses of 15 million and most of that was $12 million was taken out of the one of the capital reserves and transferred to the capital project

021that was $5 million and there was $4.5 million transferred to The Debt Service fund to pay down the debt so the net change in fund balance is a bracketed 2,1 152,000 and if you add that to the fund balance at the beginning of the year of 63 M83 4,000 you ended the year with a total fund balance of 61 mil 68172 you can't see that on the why it didn't come out uh this sheet has your general fund balance sheet your total assets was 74 mil 634 which is comparable to the total assets in 2022 the total liabilities were slightly higher 12,952 versus 10.5 million then you have your fund balance the nonspendable consists of prepaid expenditures that's monies that were expended at the end of June 2023 for expenditures that will occur in the

02223 24 year you have your restricted fund balance made up of all your reserves which I'll get to in a minute of 47 million your assigned fund balance of 5,716 and that includes almost $5 million which you took out of the unassigned fund balance and you appropriated it to the 2324 budget to balance the budget and then you had your unassigned fund balance of 6,680 th000 which is equal to 4% of the 2324 budget and New York State requires that 4% is the statutory limit that school districts can have in their unassigned fund balance which you do on the right hand side of the page you have the Reserves or the restricted fund bounds you have your tax a Shari which I mentioned was a little bit in excess of what it should be your

023employee benefit AC crude liability of 1.7 million that's for employees vacation and sick time the Employee Retirement System contributions almost 7.1 million the teachers retirement system a reserve of 3.9 million you eliminated the unemployment Reserve this year and that was transferred to one of the other reserves um you have your liability claims of 166,000 and your future capital projects of 25.3 million that's made up of two um capital projects that the voters voted on one is for 2017 projects and one is for 2022 projects again we issued an unmodified clean opinion there were no material weaknesses noted the appropriated fund balance it's wrong it's 4.7 million but you did also appropriate 5,580 th000 out of the 2017 Capital project would we which will be transferred to the capital projects fund next year um your total

024debt service at the end for next year is approximately 3.2% of the 232 24% uh 2324 budget which is considered generally very good which means you're managing your debt um the school district implemented gby the government Accounting Standards Board there's a new statement Number 96 subscription based Information Technology arrangments it turns out that the amount of money that you had in the subscription based or these subas was not Material so was not recorded on the financial statements and that's basically the overview of the financial statements if there are any questions I'd be happy to answer them all right great thank you so much um I I'll kick us off with a question um is there a recommendation for the taxer that was a little bit High well I know that you're bringing you're trying to

025bring it down every year it's very I mean most some of the this particular Reserve is an estimate you have all these claims that the district receives and it's very difficult to determine what amount will be paid out and settled and which year they'll be paid out they go over several years um usually the payout based on history is about 25 35% of the actual claim and our recommendation is that the reserve should be within that range 35% of the total claims and this is a little bit an excess of that okay do we know what percentage approximately this is uh I don't I don't know that right now I'm sure a leader could give it to you Bas on the total claims all right I'd be interested in hearing about that but we don't

026need it to tonight okay um do we have any other questions I just want to get clarification of what that Reserve actually is so that's that is if for hypothetically someone Grieves their taxes wins and therefore the school tax portion comes down therefore we may be what have to refund that can you just clarify what this Reserve exactly that's what it is when people own homes and they think their house is assessed higher value than is they file a claim and sometimes they'll do it for multiple years um sometimes it will go to a judge which has to sign off on all the settlements but usually the attorneys get together and they come to some agreement and they settle so there is a refund and there is a line in your general fund expenditures refund

027of real property taxes um I have the report there and I can tell you what that number is I don't have it right here but I could let you know um and that's what it is it's a refund of property taxes already paid okay like co-ops and condos you know well they have they usually have cson condos have a New York state they have a different tax break so you probably the overall condominium or the association May file a claim right but usually not the individual homeowner right the association I I've had those before right right unless they the condos or tow houses are fee simple but then that's another conversation too exactly usually it's private home owners the majority of the claims and Rob you'll see them we vote we vote on them in

028the resolutions um so from time to time you'll see a few pop up um comment just uh thank you Alan for your work again I know you've been doing the work for the district for a long time time appreciate the thoroughness of it not really a question for tonight but a question and you know I'm thinking on the lines of Morant and north ockland and sort of some of these big properties when there's a big change and how that can impact the tax ciari so I just think as we're looking across the board for the district that's something we should factor in and I don't know if there's any guidance that you provide or the state provides for when you could potentially be facing a situation like that well I was the auditor for the

029county of Rockland when that actually took place and that was somewhat of a unique situation it was not your normal taxer Shari he was very involved and I think the comp it was a French owned company and the legalities that went out back and forth they did end up settling for a fairly large amount but it's Unique and I don't think that there's anything industry or within aing or neighboring that would have the a similar effect par me there's a potential sale of GE which is one of the 10 largest taxpayers in the district so when we talk about the tax Reserve um there's a couple of things and I mentioned this to you before um we have been bringing that tax Reserve down significantly but now that we know that there may be a

030possibility that one of the top t 10 taxpayers may we don't know what's happening with that property um but we just need to be um circumspect in determining how we're going to bring that down and if you look at over the past five years that tax Reserve has come down significantly thank you Alita yeah that that's my [Applause] concern nothing anything else all right Alan thank you so much for being here it's always a pleasure to see you appreciate the presentation all right where are we now one right to plan yes I think I think our expert panel is um about to present to us um about the long rage plan overview so I will welcome our principals um this Lang our interim principal for AMD Miss offski and your assoc um assistant principles who

031are here tonight and we look forward to hearing from you okay so um just as an overview again I want to thank the community here in ausing in the board in particular for adopting uh your long range plan um it's built on four important pillars which become the goals and strategies for our work and with four focused areas each year um this year uh each school has developed action plans along each of those four um areas of focus underneath the pillars they're all joined together in our um roles tonight we will be speaking about the particular work giving highlights of each school's action plan and how they are operationalizing their goals for this school year we will be welcoming this panel back in the spring when they speak about the results of their work how

032did it turn out um and how did the evidence were they able to gather what they started to do so again I want to give a huge shout out of credit to the ausing board of education and everyone that worked on the long range plan it is a wonderful document it speaks about your values as a community our mission and vision for this year and it gets operationalized through each school's action plan for this year and the work that they're committed to so if I could ask each of the principles to introduce the assistant principal to the community before we kick off that actually is a part of oh so I will you'll roll it in okay so with that I'll hand it over to uh AMD okay just get it to the first SL

033okay good evening everyone I susky interal principal at AMD I'm so excited to be here this evening and share the Journey of AMD starting on July 6th of this year with principal nover leading the way we knew AMD was a Hidden Gem that went through some challenges lots of paint hard work and a belief that this school could rise up is why we are here this evening collectively we were determined to create an environment where students faculty and staff parents and Guardians felt safe connected and confident that good things would take place in this school Community daily amd's Focus ties directly with the district's Focus on data literacy small group instruction equity and family and Community Partnerships in order for us to describe what we see as a portrait of a Learner in the middle

034school we knew that through relationships and systems and structures we had to create a learning environment that is safe joyful and on a good day fun and happy and we have done so with determination hard work collaboration communication kindness humor and a proactive apprach approach our middle school students are diverse in their learning styles their backgrounds their experiences and their dreams what we do know is that they want to be successful they want to be challenged they want to be in an environment that believes they are capable and can learn and they want patience from the adults who work with them daily to understand that being an adolescent is complex and challenging tonight our amazing assist consistent principles will present what we are doing have planned and will begin in the near future they are

035our instructional leaders along with our teacher leaders building capacity to ensure the longevity of a viable and standards based curriculum and outstanding instructional practices each assistant principal will int introduce themselves and share AMD to all of you we will begin with Miss jaggernath BOS good evening I am Roa Jeth B assistant principal of sixth grade overseeing literacy I'm here to discuss an imperative aspect of a plan that is pivotal to a commitment to Excellence data literacy additionally I will delve into how we use data in our educational processes particularly in our house structure mtss meetings and our ongoing professional development initiatives data literacy is the ability to understand interpret and effective effectively utilize data to guide decision making and drive improvements in our educational environment in today's data Rich world it is indispensable in shaping

036our educational practices and ensuring that we're not just meeting but exceeding the needs of our students in each of our houses we've structured our mtss multi-tiered system of supports meetings using the Rises protocol these meetings are at the heart of our educational approach and they underpin by data the data we collect and analyze informs us about the diverse needs of our students allowing us to tailor interventions and supports that are unique as each child in these meetings we rely on data from various sources including branching Minds Infinite Campus and we assessments attendance records New York State education department data the Panorama seal survey and the youth survey this comprehensive data collection equips us with the necessary insights to make informed decisions decisions and create strategies that work for our students success to ensure that data

037is not just collected but understood and put into action we've initiated professional learning opportunities for all faculty these opportunities focus on teaching our Educators how to dive into Data analyze it and derive actionable insights this will be facilitated by an instructional coach content coordinators and our admin team this approach empowers our Educators to become data savvy enabling them to make strategic decisions in our classrooms beginning in the winter cycle we're set to introduce professional development that utilizes datadriven protocols these sessions will Empower Educators to align their teaching strategies with the specific needs of each student once our teachers have a robust understanding of data Trends and focal points we will then delve into creating action plans for small group instruction this tailored approach recognizes that not that one size does not fit at all and

038we must cater to the unique needs of each Student Art professional learning sessions are held twice a month and teachers have the opportunity to engage in ongoing professional development and learning these sessions are designed to support Educators with the primary goal being to promote continuous Learning and Development among Educators for example we've tailored the schedule to allow for grade level and onetoone sessions where teachers sign up with the coach to get individualized support our commitment to data literacy and data driven decision- making extends to our committees that uphold teacher student and family voice these include committees dedicated to equity fostering culture of care and promoting social and emotional learning through these committees we ensure that data is used to create an inclusive supportive and nurturing educational environment for all data literacy is a lynchpin of

039our educational approach by understanding and embracing the power of data we not just improving educational outcomes but also promoting train transparency accountability and a strong sense of community together we can ensure that every child receives the tailored education that they deserve Now assistant principal Pagan will talk about small group instruction at AMD good evening I am narus Pagan the seventh grade assistant principal overseeing science math World Language and the El program here is an overview of our commitment to equity and our strategic focus on small group instruction at AMD our dedication to equity and small group instruction is demonstrated in our literacy programs teachers will use the era anneal toolkit lessons to provide targeted support to students at their specific reading levels using these specific skills and reading abilities aligned to their current and Next

040Level teacher will teachers will create small groups of students for explicit small group instruction to differentiate report assess and accelerate reading growth the use of data informed instruction is a Cornerstone in ensuring that every child receives the targeted explicit support they require to excel in literacy in mathematics we've taken proactive steps through a partnership with the math coordinator director of stem and the assistant principal overseeing math to provide professional development to all of our teachers in datadriven instruction the math coordinator will guide our teachers to conduct a thorough review of key data points such as the nwaa New York state math Envision summative and formative assessments to pinpoint specific standards clusters and mathematical domains where students may need additional support teachers will plan for explicit instruction in small groups to Target misconceptions Concepts procedural fluency

041and application a equipping our Educators with these tools will result in more strategic and effective math instruction in small groups in the field of science the open science education curriculum in alignment with New York State science standards encourages inquiry based learning and Hands-On experiences as part of our professional development efforts on formative and summative assessments teachers will identify areas in science and engineering practices disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concept Concepts where small group instruction can make the most significant impact in partnership with the data leadership team the science coordinator will facilitate department meetings where teachers will plan for small group instruction using formative and summative data to guide and Advance learning during our learning walks we will pay particular attention to the learning environment which plays a vital role in the success of small group

042instruction we will support teachers to provide provide the key elements for an environment that Fosters strategic small groups research-based strategies and evidence-based engagement our commitment to equity and small group instruction is authentic strategic and aligned to professional development for all we understand that every student is unique and by focusing on small group instruction we can tailor our approach to their specific needs Now assistant principal charet will speak about Equity at AMD good evening everyone I'm Louis shve e8th grade assistant principal who oversees scheduling teaching assistance monitors Testing Center Technology after school activities in ninth grade transition to OHS a working partnership with Miss bash in regards to safety with Mr Haw in supporting our students with our after school activities and wom Miss Pagan is promoting seal and culture of care I will now share

043the exceptional efforts taking place at AMD efforts that are directed towards creating an equitable and culturally responsive environment for all of our students at AMD we are committed to nurturing a learning space where every student feels value included an Empower in order to achieve this we have implemented a range of initiatives and Partnerships that promote Equity cultural understanding and a sense of belonging one of the ways we're ensuring Equity is by offering extended day opportunities including after school programs these programs provide students with additional learning learning experiences closing the opportunity Gap and helping those who may need extra support or enrichment diversity is one of our greatest strengths to honor and celebrate the cultural richness within our school Community we have different annual celebrations such as Hispanic Heritage Month these events help our students gain

044a deeper understanding of the diverse backgrounds and experience experiences that make up our District's tapestry the equity team plays a pivotal role in shaping our school's culture our dedicated faculty members lead presentations to help awaken a deeper understanding of equity we emphasize Concepts like critical humility encouraging all members of our school Community to approach discussions about Equity with an open mind humility and a willingness to learn from each other our star clubs concentrate on extracurricular activities providing a platform for students to explore their interests and talents outside of the regular curriculum this clubs are designed to be inclusive ensuring that every student has access to a wider rate of opportunities our Partnerships extend to local organizations like the aing youth Bureau Girls Inc and the Boys and Girls Club of neuro shell which enhances our

045students access to resources and support the Lunch Bunch and New Commerce lunch are two new initiatives that go further further than that allowing students to meet with peers outside their typical peer groups while the new Commerce launch Fosters a sense of inclusivity and acceptance finally we are actively exploring restorative practices for both students and faculty this practi is concentrate on building relationships and resolving conflicts in a way that respects each individual's dignity and perspective this approach Fosters a more compassionate and inclusive School Community our commitment to equity in a culturally responsive environment is at the core of our mission at AMD we believe that every student should have the opportunity to thrive to be part of their Heritage and to feel value as a member of a school Community these initiatives are in Partnerships are

046a testament to our dedication to creating a more Equitable and inclusive learning environment for all at this time I would like to introduce assistant principal Jared Haw who will speak about family and Community Partnerships good evening everybody uh I'm Jared Hawk building wide assistant principal overseeing social studies Avid physical education art music special education and building wide testing I'm delighted to share with you our work with family and Community Partnerships at AMD we recognize the pivotal role that families and the wider Community play in our students growth and success bless therefore we have implemented a comprehensive strategy to strengthen these Partnerships focusing on clear communication and and responsive support effective communication is the Cornerstone of any successful partnership we're committed to ensuring that our families are well informed about their children's education to achieve this

047we employ various channels including traditional and digital methods our schoolwide communication via oblast a powerful tool that allows us to reach every family ensures that Vital Information is shared promptly and efficiently however a strong School Family Partnership goes beyond just information sharing to foster a sense of belonging and involvement we host events like back to school night these gatherings provide parents with the opportunity to meet their CH and understand the curriculum and classroom expectations our principal coffee and parent listening hours offer an informal setting for open discussions and feedback we also offered the opportunity for parents and Guardians to meet with their child's team at parent teacher conferences we also plan evening meetings to delve into specific programs such as math night in fact last week we had over 90 families in attendance we also

048have NY gear up which is an eighth grade opportunity to prepare and plan for life after ohos which is going to be happening tomorrow afternoon these events align with the home and school to enhance student learning these events create not only an educational bridge but also a sense of community where parents are actively involved in their children's education our commitment extends to providing consistent and efficient responses to all parent inquiries about their child we recognize the importance of addressing parents concerns properly this includes helping students transition back to school if they have been absent for a significant amount of time ensuring that they receive the support that they need additionally we are acutely sensitive to the stressors that students may have experienced in the previous school year we are working collaboratively with parents to address

049these concerns creating a safe responsive supportive learning environment we're proactive in our efforts to support any student we work in concert with our clinical team to collaborate with families when a student is struggling this collaboration includes identifying strategies and creating interventions our partnership is focused on what both the home and school can do to best support the students growth and wellbeing the efforts of our school in building strong and family Community Partnerships are integral to our mission of providing an exceptional educational experience for every student we firmly believe that by working hand inand with our families we can ensure that our students Thrive both both academically emotionally and personally we're grateful for the unwavering support of our community I look forward to further strengthening these invaluable relationships thank you for your time time and your

050commitment to the success of our students and our school so I will say you know before we hear from the high school just as an overview so you heard the what and the how it's happening this is the what we're looking at data literacy we're looking at small we're looking at Community Family engagement and Equity these are the how we're looking through it and then in the spring when they come back they will outline these activities and provide evidence you know how many meetings what happened who participated what were the Panorama surveys saying what were the achievement scores on many of the different instruments that we're using so again beginning of the year this is the commitment to the what and why and at the end of the year we talk about the impact of

051that work so thank you good evening it is great to start our school year it has been a great start to our school year at OS my name is Miss Langley the princip principal at OS I'm excited for the road that lies ahead with the many changes our school has experienced we started the school year with the theme together is better our Focus has been to support each other and build collaborative relationships in which our students faculty and families feel seen validated and supported we know that everything starts with relationships and this is essential as we look to advance a shared Vision in which our students can thrive and prepare for the world that lies ahead we are thankful for the direction we have received from our superintendent and her cabinet in outlining the district

052pillars and priorities while I've had an opportunity to present to each of you tonight I'm excited for you all to hear from the amazing administrative team at OS because with over 1,600 students and 200 staff members they are truly the backbone of our building first I'm just going to take an opportunity to introduce them first you will hear from Miss Reyes who supervised IES the math and social studies Department along with project th Thrive and the C program she will present our action plan related to data literacy next Miss Mingo who supervises the English and reading Department along with our clinicians and the support staff will present on small group instruction Miss Kos who supervises enl in World Language she will present this evening on our Equity priorities and lastly you'll hear from Mr shik

053kashia who supervises the English engineer Ing and business departments this evening he will share our plan related to family and Community Partnerships throughout our presentation we hope you will notice how we have continued to support the district pillars of the long range plan by building on the work of our elementary and secondary colleagues with a focus always on the essential question how are we using our data to inform our practice and instruction and now I will pass it over to miss Reyes good evening everyone um I apologize if my voice gives out so um so in regards to data literacy our Focus this year is um as Miss Langley said how are we using the data to inform our practice and instruction we're uh going to present of some highlights of our data um and

054explain how the use of our data is essential in determining where our students currently are performing and how we can help them succeed I'll highlight some of the practices that we have implemented in order to best support our students we have a variety of data sources that we pull from and protocols for analyzing that data to help uh make informed decisions on a schoolwide level we use a plethora of different data sources we have nwaa we have our nied data from the state with regards to Regions and graduation data uh we have the Panorama survey attendance uh Behavior behavior and this data is helpful in helping us identify uh those tier one supports those strategies and interventions that we need to start implementing and how we can both help our students as well as our

055staff members our Educators so in through the use of professional learning opportunities for our faculty um we begin to dive into the data using the Rises protocol through our department meetings through our professional um development uh fac meetings as well as our professional uh periods uh throughout the months the teachers after having an understanding of these Trends they then take that data explore it do a deep dive in their department meetings uh in order to inform and plan their instruction we'll touch upon these uh initiatives and the various departments uh what they are working on later on in the presentation the uh first uh initiative that we'll talk about tonight is our house model our house teams and how that the data informs our interventions in our house model so this is our second year

056uh running the houses at offing high school we have four of them each house uh composed of an administrator two school counselors a social worker a school psychologist and an attendance officer in order to ensure support for the whole child so we're not just looking at grades we're not just looking at attendance Behavior we're looking at the entire a child what do they like how can we get them engaged um and we hold weekly meetings to review the attendance and behavioral data using a modified Rises protocol um in order to help identify interventions for these students and part of that data also includes us using branching mindes pulling from Infinite Campus um our Panorama survey um in addition to Street data and uh qualitative data what we hear from teachers we often get emails hey

057I'm struggling with this student is there anything any ideas that you have so to provide for that collaboration uh with our uh faculty so with this um we are still working with our faculty given that it is year two on the awareness of the mtss structure and reviewing um having them better understand and internalize the roles and responsibilities of the house teams and um while sometimes scheduling can be a barrier at the High School uh we have a lot of Staff a lot of students um we are trying to involve our teachers a little bit more into our house meetings to get a more complete uh view of our students and in addition to our house meetings um developing an implementing a process of sharing building wide data with our Educators uh to help inform

058tiered responses and interventions uh what we've done in the past and what we look uh to do Contin to continue to do in the future is to make use of our professional periods to review in smaller groups not as a whole faculty with 150 individuals in the auditorium but in small uh class settings to review important data last year we did this when you know teachers had questions about uh Behavior referrals what to do what's going on in the building and so we wanted to have those conversations and settings where people felt comfortable and we can dive in and um follow a protocol um in addition to the faculty and department meetings um we also create opportunities to engage our students outside of the normal school day um or try to create uh creative approaches

059to help our students so a big part of our house meetings involve um delving into attendance and something that we've implemented this year is our links program which is focused on our uh school or class avoidance students who you know maybe have some barriers anxiety and for them the traditional 1 through n um schedule is a barrier and so we have a small setting where we have a school psychologist a teacher on hand a small quiet comfortable welcoming space where they can get that support so so at least they're coming to school they're keeping up with their work and they're not falling behind and so our next Point um to highlight uh is our Algebra 1 program and how we utilize the data to inform that programming this year as it has changed so this

060year we've implemented a 1.5 period model where students on a day have one period of Algebra 1 and then on b day a double period And it flips back and forth and this model was implemented in order to address the needs of students um utilizing small group instruction which we'll talk about a little bit later um we utilize teacher developed as well as online assessments to progress monitor student understanding um throughout the lab period right in addition to what they're performing in the class part of the reason um behind this and the data that we did use last year to address this need for our students is in the 8th grade data for nwea at AMD in the spring um 79% of the students who took the spring nwea in math performed below the 61st

061per child level prior to this year our algebra lab model for uh intervention for supports only allowed space for about 100 incoming n9th grade students if we kept that model that means about 176 students would have been excluded from that support So this 1.5 was utilized in order to try to help as many students as possible in both scaffolding um and filling in those academic gaps as uh along with enriching our students and pushing them forward for the more advanced um accelerated courses such as foundations of calculus and uh an additional point for our English which um English Department which Miss mingle will talk about a little bit more is our Arc program for our reading teachers and she'll speak about that in more detail in the next slide good evening everyone so to Echo

062a lot of what Miss Reyes has already shared OS is really working this year to in uh inform to use data to inform and enhance our small group instruction specifically in the areas of ela in literacy math science and social studies educators are continuing to use various different methods to implement and enhance the small group instruction that is existing in the classrooms in doing so a lot of the work is supporting with the Department Department APS our district supervisors and our curriculum coordinators in which we will ensure the progress of this work throughout you know the upcoming year in regards to ELA and literacy teachers are using nwaa data in grades 9 through 11 as well as the eara data in our English n reading pushing classes to group students inform instruction and monitor progress

063currently for this year students are scheduled for reading support based on the following data so students who are scheduled for Standalone reading support scored in the zero to 10th percentile on their spring n WEA and emergency on their eara so they were placed and will be placed in an read reading Standalone course pushing reading support really was geared towards our students who scored in the 11 to 25th per and on the spring nwaa and we emergency and at risk on their ear so this really is enhancing the small group instruction for struggling readers and providing that individualized support in these spaces in addition to that in ela and literacy professional development to analyze regions data to support students and to provide appropriate support so really looking back at our June regions data and thinking about

064how that can inform instruction going forward as well as grouping in regards to math department meetings will continue to focus on the use of nwaa and Delta math data to inform and differentiate instruction address gaps in skills and provide enrichment using small groups in addition to the NWA data teachers are also creating online assessments and their own common assessments to create small groups for remediation as well as enrichment in regards to science professional learning around how science teachers can also use this data in regards to the nwaa and math data to drive curriculum decisions as it relates to small groups specifically in living environment as well as Earth Science and lastly in social studies reviewing regions data and classroom assessments with a focus on small group instru instuction specifically on writing um so really teachers

065are working this year across all Department areas to use data specifically NWA Arc and Common Assessment data to really inform small group practices so I am going to pass it off to miss Kos who will now present on the equity pillar good evening everyone so to to support a culture of care ohos is working on disrupting and dismantling inequity at our high school and beyond in order to do this we have established enrichment opportunities Equity groups to boost staff and student voice and professional learning opportunities to our for our school community in terms of our enrichment opportunities and activities OS has over 45 after school programs and clubs including the Puerto Rican Hispanic youth leadership Institute pry UniFi unified Social Club partnership with the ausing youth Bureau youth to Youth and schoolwide cultural celebrations at

066ohos um oh we also have an after school enl Success Center that offers homework help tutoring and Regents exam prep as well as a safe space for our else to socialize after school at OS our staff Equity team leads faculty presentations in order to develop an understanding of critical humility and critical love surrounding equity in order to increase empathy cultural respon responsibity and a sense of belonging our student Equity committee will participate in learning opportunities to deepen their awareness and to support students and faculty with learning about issues related to equity diversity and inclusion with regard to professional learning our crsc fellows curriculum coordinators and directors will participate and TurnKey cultivating genius framework training with a focus on centered student identity when planning we will continue our TalkBack series to facilitate the community's processing of

067current and local events and we will develop programming to address understanding and combat anti-Semitism as well as has all forms of bias now we will hear from Mr shaasia with regard to family and Community [Applause] Partnerships good evening I think we have a lot of stakeholders that uh invest in the community here invest in the High School uh invest in the the school district of Austin and uh one of the um most one of the important things to do is to communicate that well so uh we do communicate uh at OS uh our communication is uh we try to try to create an open and consistent communication with parents and Community Partners uh through oblast which goes out to The Community uh internally we do have weekly memos that goes to the faculty so there's

068some internal communication as well as external communication uh we also have uh updates through our OS websites uh as well as through social media such as Twitter Facebook and and Instagram uh as far as part family uh family uh engagement is concerned uh grade level parent night meetings uh PTSA meetings uh as well as the OS parent University we utilize all these in order to uh bring the community into uh our high school and see what we are doing uh for the community and how we're serving the community and their students um in addition to that we have Community Partnerships with uh organizations within uh within ausing uh feeding Westchester uh the ausing youth Bureau as well as community and Care uh within uh Al excuse me that support our um high school thank you

069okay thank you um I do want to say did was there a day of the girl was there a slide there in one of them which was great so I think that's important you want to give a little highlight on what that was about because there's a a dear friend of mine in that slide picture Dr deia Harris Madden who we go back a long way so um so this image is from October 13th uh Westchester County oops here we go so Westchester County held um the International Day of the girl conference um Dr deal uh was essential in coordinating this we took about 30 young ladies um from La Sisterhood from uh prestigious L ladies of power PLP as well as a few other students to try to engage them in school who may

070not have always been the traditional picks for trip for trips um and so they got to explore different workshops about financial literacy um you know uh there was one on understanding uh trauma understanding anxiety um and so it was just a really powerful uh day for the young ladies to engage with many other districts from the county that were there um they also had a wonderful uh panel um who where one of our young ladies is trying to get to speak at OS so I'm working with her on bringing her in um and it was just an over overall wonderful experience so thank you for that and I also want to give a shout out when I was speaking with um Dr deia Harris Madden she also pointed out she was very happy to share

071that ausing school district Roosevelt School also won a grand for anti-smoking anti- vaping the Tar Wars campaign so again um she was thrilled to share that so I love it's just another perfect example of Community Partnerships and Outreach and the different levels of Grants to do and I I love the ability to work with my friend and colleague Dr Harris Madden again so again um thank you for everybody thank you Dr Dey I love the day of the girl it's such a great event it's a great and a shout out to the school counselors who also supervised those programs so miss meline cudy as well as uh Dr Kendall McFarland it's about expanding opportunities in many levels and ways and partnering with people to help it takes a village to raise a child great thank

072you all right wonderful thanks everyone very much I'm going to um open the floor up to see if there's any questions or comments um as we get into that um I did have a question for you Mary um I know that we're discussing tenative budget priorities next and so I was sort of I was going to basically a you know if we're having our data represented to us at the end of the year uh I was going to ask you and I think it's really going to be answered in the next presentation how do we know what to focus on during budget season if we're sort of like in between the two book ends right um so I'm sure you'll you'll tell us that um are there any comments or or questions from from trustees

073Rob thanks uh thank you that was that was great um so I don't know if this question is for the panel or for you Mary or anyone else here but with anything that can be measured whether it's the literacy the club participation anything that you could put a number to are have you or will you be establishing baselines and then when you come back in the spring say okay we expected X and we got y or we hit the X uh and then obviously benchmarking beyond that I I don't know if that's maybe that's for right so so at the next board meeting thank you for that segue to give me PR for promoting the November 8th board meeting where we're doing a report on you know data and numbers and many of the data

074points that the panel here and last week's last uh board meeting the elementary panel the data points that they're speaking about so again yes we're going to be talking about numers numbers of participation in sports and in our clubs and and in many different ways as well as performance and achievement data and I also think that in many ways benchmarks of those sometimes when you're dealing with students if even if you get two or three and you make a significant difference in their lives um that's really important and special as well so but yes we the staff everybody together together together to move forward um it's about how do we make a meaningful impact and improve lives for kids so in the spirit of your question which is I think is what you asked that's

075how I will respond and anyone here can add to that okay go ahead friend um I want to thank you for an outstanding presentation it really was great to see all of you here tonight and it's just you know it's it's been great to hear the Synergy across the district between the Middle School and the high school we heard some from the elementaries and just really want you to know those efforts are like truly appreciated how you kind of look across the whole Spectrum to catch our students at an early age and guide them through all the way and so I just really want to give you credit for the um for the real holistic approach that you're taking to try and really make good informed decisions at the end of the day which is

076kind of always what we've stried to do and do and I think it's great when there's more tools to help us gain insights that we might not have had but combine those with the anecdotes so I just appreciate those house meetings the regular the attendance meetings on a regular basis like those things are really really important and you know as we do talk about resources and budget there's a lot of questions that align to that but the thing that I've seen in my service on the board is like our student proficiency seems to M mirror our student engagement numbers so if you have a third of the students that are engaged usually your third proficient now it's probably not one for one and there's always overlaps in group groups but the question's always been is

077okay what about the other 2/3 and and what is it that we are doing and so when you're looking at the extended day whether it's in the middle school or it's in the high school with the Learning Centers the questions I have not for tonight but I'd like you to look at and you know and hopefully bring back to us before budget season is what's our perceived need how many students are participating in the program and how many can't we reach and I think you know as Reyes I think you alluded to it tonight with math and the hundred students yet 176 that we not serving so to me that's that's that's really the work of this district is how do we address those kind of core issues um and it comes down to I

078think with when you're talking about small group instruction and you're talking about I totally get what it looks like in a classroom and how you break that up the question I have is are there enough push in resources what's the availability what's what's the need what's the availability what's what do we have for extended day opportunities and space we're looking at a facility Bond and I think space you know I imagine if there was more space that we'd find a way to get those 176 students at the high school that are struggling with math with extra supports and if that requires more people or resources just I think these are really really big picture things but they're the day-to-day you're living in and so I just I'd like it's a lot I'm throwing a lot

079out and I'm not looking for any answers tonight but I think over the course of this year drawing from last year this year we're in a position to really have a good conversation around that so I think I hit all of my questions on this one at the end of the day let me just take a quick look it really was an outstanding presentation yeah I I think especially with the EXP extended day opportunities I'm very curious for us to have a handle of how much the need is how much are happening and I know not all students are going to Avail themselves of it but are there obstacles are we historically I'll say we have served a very small number of the students that we really would have wanted to serve and so anything

080we can do to move that forward and the the school trips for students that traditionally wouldn't be taken on school trips is just really really meaningful work right that's what we need to really try tie into so appreciate the presentation thank you and look forward to continuing the conversation but great work tonight I was so glad that Miss Reyes did bring up that math class because Frank did the analysis and creating I give you know um Latoya and Stephen actually a lot of credit last year and Chris deadia who worked all summer to create a really comprehensive curriculum for that they worked all summer they worked with Jessica and Maria on that but at the end of the day those were classrooms that we had to find staff that the board provided resources to make

081that happen because it was very critical in the spring of looking at that math data that algebra is a must have course for success for the rest of their High School career so there's a huge chunk of time now set aside in terms of resources rooms teachers materials curriculum writing that took place all summer just to point out how important that was for that number of kids based on that data point yeah and I was so glad to hear about that because I think you know one of the biggest predictors in the research of graduating from college is your ability to to take the abstract Concepts you learn in mathematics and apply it and when you don't see a lot of students getting ped even algebra into tra and being able to do that you

082know where that road goes so we to shift that you know those resources are huge and uh and I just want to commend you for the Le link program that was the last thing I had I just think that is really really phenomenal more ways that we can do those things and really keep us you know informed on how that's working and I'll look forward to in the spring to sort of hear the successes and the needs and the challenges so thank you I think that's another C where we would say that there is definitely more need than we have spaces right now but there definitely been a lot of referrals and so far it's been amazing to have that as a part of our program as far as the school avoidance program and the

083students that have been engaged so far it started out as a sixe program what we what what we've learned is that there are some students that would need to be involved in even more than a sixe program and just understanding what that transition would look like for them in the building so it's been definitely a wonderful asset to our building but again just knowing that there is more of a need to grow that even more even more to meet the needs of our school well thank you for that Miss Lang I really appreciate your leadership in this area thank you I just wanted to go back also for the question around Baseline data just to highlight like for our nwaa data because it's given three times a year there is a baseline data that we

084would have just that we're Gathering right now in the fall looking back at our Panorama data there is Baseline data around that looking back at our regions data and some of the other assessments that are given throughout the year so there is Baseline data that we have now looking at it in the fall and then we'll be able to compare to what those numbers are in the spring any I thank you so much for the presentation it's a lot of great information especially for someone like me who has a first grader and a prek kid um and my question kind of goes along with that just because I am more part of my school career with my kids um with small group instruction how are teachers manaing all the small groups like do they have

085time to get to every group what are the other kids doing while they're waiting I'm just kind of curious how it works Sor so in regards to small group instruction and I can speak with two two different models first I think about our reading pushing model um in which we have a gened English teacher in the room as well as a reading pushing teacher and one thing I could just applaud us for is that we went from having one reading teacher to now having three right so really utilizing both teachers in that space to work with you know to to to be intentional with the groups but then also to work specifically with the groups who may need enrichment those who can work individually as well as the students who may need that additional support

086in the classes that maybe perhaps just have one teacher really that teacher would set up the class on a specific task or activity and then begin their conferencing um and that could take perhaps 12 minutes per group that could take 5 minutes per group so really just being intentional with what the lesson is at hand I'd like to also add to that um in an elementary school you own 23 24 25 children so throughout the day you have many opportunities to pull small group instruction when you come to the middle school now it's more departmentalized and teachers have to figure out how do they manage their 41 minute period it's not easy because if I'm working with a small group instruction on a specific goal very explicit and now I have to make sure the

087other children are doing what they're supposed to be doing lifting the ones who need to be lifted then I still have my cuspy kids I worry about my cusy kids because we pay attention to the top top we pay attention to the low low what happens to the middle and that's something that we've been talking about more how do we lift them because if we lifted a lot of our cuspy middle kids everything would rise up um what we had to talk about this year AMD was in a different place we had a struggling year last year so we had to build from the bottom up to regain Trust to have teachers feel confident that they were going to be supported and for students to be available to learn so we had to get that

088in place first and now with the my instructional leaders here they are focusing on how do we model for teachers how to do that Arc with their coaches have been trying to model how does that look what does that look like when we're in the classroom and we have been observing classes some teachers are Adept at that this is natural for them they've been using data all along and it makes sense for them and for others it's hard it's uncomfortable and so that's what my instructional leaders here do along with our instructional coach and our coordinators and it's giving them time to explore whether we have to model whether we have to discuss but we're in the planning stages for some teachers some teachers are here some teachers are here we just have to help

089everybody lift great thank you for your leadership in that space Christine yes um thank you first I want to say thank you so much for the presentation um if when I look at the table I see so many faces that are new to the table or maybe not new to the table but people who are wearing different hats and um I know that that can inherently mean a rocky start and I just want to pay compliments to everybody sitting at the table here that it hasn't felt Rocky from where we sit and and and that is due to all of your your efforts and and excellent leadership so I just want to acknowledge that because I'm really impressed by it and um the presentation was wonderful and one of the things that jumped out to

090me was how structurally similar it was um and even in the details to what we heard from our elementary school students so it's really nice to see that consistency in our efforts from prek through uh grade 12 because the longer we are consistent with those things and you know we're using our n data we're using our Arc data etc etc then we can have a longer uh a more in-depth look at our own students by the time they're at the high school you know if we've been having collecting this NWA data as they move through the system so I I'm really impressed by that and I know that's not just that's our district level leaders too um so I want to acknowledge that because I was really impressed by that um I also wanted to

091say uh particularly around the middle school but middle middle school and high school too our students um in adolescence are famously not communicative with their own parents right so it creates it's this kind of like black hole I I like it it it's almost like when you send your kid to prek and you used to hear you know updates from their teachers about every little snack they ate and every time they went to the bathroom and all of a sudden you don't know that anymore and it feels like you're kind of sending kids into a black hole and I feel like it's kind of the same thing um on a different level because you ask your son or daughter how is their day and it's like grunts it maybe you know maybe you'll get a

092good fine whatever so that that um you know particularly that consistent and efficient responses to when parents Reach Out is so reassuring I think it's really impactful so I'm glad to see that it was prioritized here um I had questions about how Ark is doing and and reading particularly at the middle school when it's kind of a transitional time between how we run Ark um in elementary versus how it is implemented at the high school and I feel like that's kind of a cusp spot and I know that one of the challenges there is that you you know we have to reckon with the fact that our students we have a lot of students who don't have fundamental reading skills by the time they're at the middle school and uh many teachers who are certified

093in ela you know that is not a reading certification right so they may feel not prepared to really teach the fundamentals of reading when that's what's necessary I know that we've budgeted for and I think I heard Miss Bingo just mentioned you know we're bringing more reading teachers in and I know we have more reading teachers at the middle school this year too but the challenge to scaffold um and to really differentiate your instruction when the range is so great within Arc um you know within our reading program I guess I'm just curious like are we doing enough there what is the challenge there I know for math we have like an accelerated math would some sort of a parallel program for ELA make sense or would it not make sense or where are our

094needs there um I gu this is just like I'm blurting this out at the entire Middle School team but anybody feel free to to answer that's my kind of overall concern there because I know it's been a rough adjustment for everybody like parents students faculty alike a switch to a new uh curriculum is not always easy sing right so that I I'm just throwing it out there but that's my my question general questions about Arc and its implementation particularly at the middle school so I will ask Jessica if you don't mind Jessica yeah so thank you for the question and wonderful job up there you guys I get the microphone phone so I get to say great job um so I think it historically it's important to remember that when we shifted from the to

095the middle school for full Arc implementation the previous year we didn't have a 0.5 period in seventh and eth grade right so the conversation was we were switching to nine periods in the middle school and originally those nine periods were slotted for teachers for um extracurriculars and looking at our data and because we are were a building that was identified at the time uh we decided to make the shift in talking with the English teachers right so the English teachers had an opportunity to give feedback on what they thought was going to be most useful knowing that Ark was coming in K5 um what did they want to do uh there was an opportunity to just do the 100 book challenge in the 30 minutes and stay with our current curriculum or switch to full

096art core and in asking the teachers what they felt they needed they said they needed time right at elementary they had more time for conferencing in small group and in the middle school they only had one period so even the the even though the period was a little bit longer than it currently is now we took that feedback back and I have to give Kate Matthews a little shout out cu she was the administrator at the time we quickly shifted to those new hires being being ELA teachers and we modified the uh schedule at the middle school to a05 so we've listen to the teacher feedback and trying to provide them space and support and how to take that shift and how we roll that out and now we're monitoring the the progress so last

097year we only have one coaching day in the Middle School even though there's less teachers who are really engaging in the work than our elementary Partners who also have two coaching days we provided two coaching days so that we could have and then through roa's leadership she has taken the opportunity to provide teachers with the individual support right and looking at how to just um explore different ways to use that time that we have and so in using the data this year we'll be closely monitoring and asking teachers how does it feel now what are some shifts we might need to make as we move forward and as there other opportunities that we need to lean into so it's this it's School Improvement and in the spirit of Ark it's looking at what's going well

098and then what are some opportunities for the you've heard me say it the power moves that we see happening and what are some potential moves that we could adjust to move forward in the continuous School improvement process thank you it's nice to hear what I like about that answer is that there's that built-in reflection on how the how are we doing how is it going just even not although the data is of course important that that qualitative data of what is it feel like for the teachers in the classroom and you know because it it I know it was a big shift and it continues to be a big shift and you know some level of discomfort is expected and that's okay but how much you know to to be able to support them so

099that they don't feel in over their heads about it I'm glad to hear that um do we feel or what would be the challenges or to um having some sort of accelerated program for the kids who maybe don't need that level of instruction or if you know when we talked about at the elementary school those kids get who already know how to read are being pulled less frequently for small groups right because that's the Equitable model of doing it um but when you're only you know seeing larger class sizes broader you know by the time you get to the middle school there's the older the kids get the broader the range right of um levels that they could be at does it make sense to do an accelerated class does it not make sense to

100is that something that it anybody feels would be helpful or necessary or what would the challenges be can I hear about that maybe not today if you're not prepared today for that I'm just putting that out there I I I from I my I've been a middle school principal in another district and so um that comes up and what we really looked at is when you have a 43 minute period and you're trying to reach all the different groupings what can you do for the accelerated um literature readers literacy people what can you do for them and the teachers found that it was easier to differentiate for them because they could take the common concept and lift it and do a quick introduction with a small group and let them go off it was the

101cusy students and the students that were really struggling that they had to spend more time with so it is looping back to check that they're doing it they didn't my school at that time did not feel that if we started to differentiate and start doing an honors English honors this Honors that we're starting to lose the feel of the team that you need in the um Middle School you know we're building so much with their social emotional part and so when we start laring they they're going to get plenty opportunities in the high school plenty a plethora of all these opportunities I think in AMD and I was very pleasantly surp surprised when I came here the number of electives that they offered to our students here I didn't have that in my former District

102there's a lot of electives here so a lot of opportunities so you build the Middle School child differently in that way you support them differently so to just keep having high high classes doesn't necessarily meet the needs of the total child the Middle School child so I'm coming from that perspective thank you oh yeah I just want to add something a little something um one beautiful thing that Arc does it allows you to look at students based on their data and their reading level but one thing that we're having conversations is about and we presented all so in our presentation is that you can see the next level you have all the levels before you you can see the reading abilities and the reading skills of the next level and one thing that we are

103focusing on is building that the core instruction of AMD where every lesson has differential appi instruction and many times we're always focusing on students that are below level or on level but there are so many questions that we're having about enrichment and ensuring that every class lesson when we have differentiation has a focus on enrichment and that it's built in actual lessons we've had discussions chrisa Mia and myself and also with the math department about pushing that enrichment in every lesson and when we're having small group instruction not just considering small group INR instruction as oh I'm going to hit the struggling learners but let's push more progress let's push children to the highest academic level and let that be the standard in a regular classroom setting so when we consider that we want to

104push our core instruction and we want to ensure that we're giving children every day opportunities for enrichment um and focusing that on looking at the different levels of our Learners and using data to create those opportunities I'm just going to add one more thing um so for examp example uh in ela art we're able to determine students reading levels and so one of the things I've been uh talking to teachers about those students that are above grade level and Beyond what are we doing for them and something that's come up uh they don't need to meet with a teacher as often as the ones who are struggling and so one thing we've been talking about is uh book clubs that's where um you they can meet they can meet on their own give them the

105independence to run a book club and then you check in with them maybe a every few weeks or so they don't need that you know checkin every week as opposed to the kids that are not on grade level so that's one of the things we've been chatting with uh and talking about uh book clubs as an enrichment thank you so much I you can go ahead and we can tie that to after school right so we can tie that regular um um school activities to after school project lit uh women fly so that be a great opportunity for them to continue to explore their independence book club thank you so much I really appreciate the thoroughness of the answer because I know that that was a big question and um it was addressed very wonderfully

106so thank you and again I the presentation is wonderful coming from a I'm asking these questions from a place of support um I I like Ark um but I want I you know these are questions that come up that we hear about from community members so it's nice to say this is why we're doing things the way that we are doing them so thank you for that oh sorry Mel go ahead Melissa all right so thank you all for those great um presentations that you gave and thank you for the hard work that you're doing um I just have a couple of questions one of them I think is kind of for both teams in a way that um I know we'll be diving deeper into data and the numbers but my question question would

107be generally speaking around Equity right I I love what the comment you made about data is not just collected is it should be understood right so I'm curious if I I see the equity slides they have after school clubs and presentations to staff and there's teams and committees is there any intersection between the data and the meetings like the house meetings that happen and the equity team and the efforts they're doing to not just have like these cont of peripheral type of equity approaches but ones that kind of help shift and change the cultures of school the schools the experience of the students to kind of overall lift all these other areas that we're talking about tonight I think one of the excellent examples of that at AMD was our math night um we recently

108had a math night with all of our parents and it was to address the opportunities for all of our students to access our honors program we did look at data we looked at enrollment and we looked at uh our population of students that were accessing these honors programs um we combined the efforts of both our math coordinator and Christa Madia to analyze our students we looked at NWA data we looked at State data we did a deep dive within our department and then we looked at the students that were enrolling and then we took some reflective practice to look at the criteria what was the criteria for entering math honors and was this providing access to all of our students and we had an honest conversation not only with the math department and the outside

109rco but also with parents and did they feel that there was equal access for all students and then we shifted our actual criteria to enter the math department honors programs at one point in AMD it was just based on a percentage uh 95% or above above now there's an actual criteria where there's student work different levels that you can demonstrate your understanding only on a daily basis using projects and so on so that we can access all different types of learning styles and have a more open access to this program so yes when we think about Equity we're not just thinking about our Equity committee but we're thinking about how do we remove any barriers to allow students to have all the access to all the programs at AMD and to ensure that we give

110every child the opportunity to hit that highest level of learning and it was an honest um approach in the MTH Department did it take a lot of work wow it took a lot of work because it meant that we had to take all the partners the teachers the administration the students their feedback the parents but now there is open access and just this past week we were able to increase our numbers in the math audit Department based on the new criteria that we have so Equity I think that at AMD we're still in the planning stages we're we've been at um AMD since July 6 but that is one of our main goals we want equal access to all opportunities for all of our Learners I'd like to also add about what we see in

111the classrooms I look when I go into a classroom I look at how teachers speak to every child I look how they engage in questioning are they lifting the questioning for every child not searching kids and I look at how other kids treat each other in the classroom and from that observation yes it's not research based I don't have um a computer to give me a list of numbers and this that this but if I see that every child is seen and heard in that class and they are they are so engaged with their peers and the teacher and they walk out lifting High then I know that that teacher is taking his or her Equity lens and opening it up to having to to not come in with their own preconceived ideas of what

112success is and that's a difference that's subtle that's um the human connections that to me is equally as important as it is with all the data that we're using um even for that math night to see the diverse families coming into that meeting and asking questions in their native language equally invested in their child's learning it showed us that every parent in this community wants their child to be successful regardless of how their their um life might be different than someone else's life and their struggles might be different they all want their child to be successful so we take all these parts and we just keep lifting and and again our team just started in July but it's so important to us so we really do take the time to have those reflective conversations thank

113you so to Echo a lot of what AMD said we are doing also a lot of those moves as well um something that I want to highlight in terms of equity for our house teams we actually had branching Minds training and in that branching Minds training it actually gives us the academic data and it also lets us set up seal groups and in those seal groups we might be tackling um chronic absenteeism and why that is we might be tackling uh School avoidance and and why that is or class avoidance as well um or just kids that come up right we kind of have an open dialogue we get emails as was mentioned before we get referrals and we have that open dialogue with teachers that have actually led to kid talks um in some

114of my house meetings which is actually led by one of our social studies teachers um it's basically a student coming in having their team of teachers with them and we actually have an open dialogue of what's going on what's Happening and the student kind of tells us like what's going on in their life that's kind of causing that barrier and then the teachers explain what they see on their end and then we come to an agreement um on some goals for that student so that's something that we're doing and also I want to Echo um through observations as well we do witness moments where we can like have a quick chat with the teacher or just highlight some students that we see um throughout the day thank you for that that's really um inspiring to

115hear how you all oh you want I just want to say that one of the things one of the things in the high school that we've done I know Justus in being there in my role as assistant principal is always looking at the data by way of um the courses that we have whether noted science research whether or not it's AP whether or not it's Sunni just making sure that there is diversity in each of those classes and it's something that we continue to build on Year bye um the same thing with looking at our after school programming and who gets involved and who's not not cuz we know that one of the big things is around student connectedness and student belonging and so we're constantly looking at that data to see to make sure

116that our students that are in that building are feeling connected based on the programs that we're offered based on the classes that we offered making sure that they're represented throughout all of those classes so it's constantly we're always analyzing that data and seeing where we need to get better and and and really trying to get to the root of what is happening at the high school there is still so much change that needs to happen but again it's looking at the data making sure that it's in each of our hands and that we're constantly looking to see what else we can be do doing differently thank you for that it's good to hear um to the to the point you made around um you know continually assessing the data and seeing what that's you know

117showing you what would you I know you all talked about how the house model this is the second year what would you say in year two that you have um is the most I guess positive outcome of switching to that model as far as being able to you know really meet those goals and benchmarks that you're setting for yourselves um so as someone who's this is my third year in ausing so uh experiencing the shift from just being a grade level uh AP to a house AP um and coming into year 2 I was very um wonderfully surprised with some of the students who came searching me out at the start of the second school year with them right in this second year with the houses um some students are you know they're still getting

118it together right they're not there yet right we're working with them um but the fact that they seek me out that they want to come and talk to me that they have identified people adults that they feel safe with to open up with one of those students is one of the ones that I took on that trip to the international day of the girl conference right um to try to expose her to a few new things um and so I think for me personally it's been wonderful to have those connections and to be able to have those students come out of their shell a little bit more and be more willing and more vulnerable with what they are dealing with because they deal with a lot a lot more than I think a lot of

119us in this room could ever handle I agree thank you I just sorry I just wanted to say you know when when we were presenting the house model to The Faculty students and even parents one day Mr Watson one of our attendance workers he said he didn't call it the house system he called it the village and I thought that that was a very good way of like honoring the work that we're doing there and that it's the way that we can take uh such a large building bringing system but turning it into a village where the village is supporting each there again at this point time the the counselor is who their APS are who the clinicians are that are going to support families know okay my child is in this house this is

120who I need to contact it's not like you're trying to call everyone at the high school you know this this is the team that's going to support your child at the school so I think that's been very helpful in addition to in these house meetings Village meetings you have everyone at the table having the conversation there's been so many times it's been hard for us to find that common planning time or that common meeting time but in house meetings you have that hour that's set aside each week where we're going to kid talk where we're going to talk about what the successes are of those students what the interventions are that we've tried and what we need to do differently or how we celebrate it with the students so a really great way of having

121the conversation around students and knowing who's going to be a part of that team who's going to support making sure that the village comes together to support that child and to that point of a village um our school's going to start I did this in my previous school and it was really successful we did find your five every student in the middle school should be able to identify five people that they can go to doesn't matter who they are in the school but five people and that data gives us information when someone can't list anyone that's a red flag the counselor's clinicians we swoop in we try to figure out who they can connect to and that list changes we we used to do it twice a year because as they get to know different

122staff members they change their list um you know five is hard for some kids if they can get two we do the happy dance we try to increase it but every time we have any you know we all do a lot of um Team talk with the clinicians and when we have a student who is struggling and often times I get invited and AP gets invited with the clinical team and before we always leave we always ask the student so who are your go-to people here because it gives us a lot of information sometimes to Rattle off people that you wouldn't expect and we didn't even know they had a connection to that person and when we do find our five and we're starting on it m Mr Hawk is working on it because we

123need to put pictures up for kids because sometimes they don't know your name but they know your face and then we do it on Google form and then when we get that information we give it to all the staff members so they know who selected them and that is also an empowering moment where oh my God I didn't know John even knew who I was well now it's an extra eye when I see John I say my extra hello because he identified as someone he was connected with so those are the things we really want to focus on because it's all about Connections if students are connected in school they will be successful I mean hands down we feel it at the basic level you're connected as if the adults are connected in the community

124we will do well for our kids yeah I love that I love that F year five I love that um I think it's important to highight right because we're talking about house um the house model or Village model from AMD through OHS so when they get ready to go to OHS they know what to expect it's not going to be something new to them okay so I know they're going to have a house meetings right I'm have to name five adults or more than five so they're going to be ready to um just adapt to the high school that's great I'm glad to hear all those efforts that are going through and and making sure that students are connected um to somebody in the school right and and helping that relationship flourish so their experience

125can flourish I look forward to seeing you all again and hearing the updates and how you grow and and how the board can further support these efforts for all of our students so thank you for your time tonight all right great um thank you very much it was a wonderful presentation um thank you to all of you and my colleagues around the board table for a great dialogue back and forth um I just had a a a quick something that popped into my mind as you all were speaking and um trying to figure out out how to phrase it so that it makes sense so bear with me if it doesn't um but there seems to be sort of like as we get more and more academic proficiency there seems to be this correlation with

126independent work and I guess what I was wondering is um to me in the ability to do independent work doesn't always correlate with academic proficiency right it requires these soft skills of like time management and controlling your distractability and um self- motivation and self-drive um how do we factor in those particular executive functioning skills in this kind of a situation when you're scaffolding students so in my dream world of the Middle School um I would love every student to so and I'm talking dream so it's just dream okay season in so we're here time we're here well Nicole's coming back in a month so I have to be careful I'll make sure she has to support what I'm saying um I I would love to see every student starting in sixth grade going through a

127quarter or a semester of executive functioning skills so we can Shore that up and that can continue so that when they get to that independent place they do have the skill set to attack the opportunities for independent work and even when students have independent opportunities to grow and Thrive they still need guidance they still need to have that um higher level thinking um critical thinking Push by the teacher because sometimes they don't know how to navigate that and that has to be modeled as well and and it it has to be modeled they have to practice we have to check in to see if they're doing it and we just keep in that cycle but um executive functioning skills has a lot to do with maturity as well and so at every different level the

128middle school students you know on a good day the this way and another day the this way and you're just trying to figure figure out which day you got what child in your classroom but um a lot of it is too just when they walk in your room you know they're in a mood so you have to approach things differently so we we know we have that emotional roller coaster with our students but if we have a solid foundation of the executive functioning skills that has been built and it's consistently taught and supported and it continues up I I truly believe that when we get to those places of independent work students will be more well equipped for that um at the high school level one of the things that I I really really want

129to say that we have not given hope up on advisory um which is exactly what we were looking for starting for when advisory comes in we were hoping to lift it in our ninth grade knowing that that's the transitional year that our students need the most support and really being able to build those soft skills and prepare them for the higher grades what we learned is that in 10 11 12 that um maturity starts to kick in and they're more willing to get things done on their own but they need that extra support and as the phase in that's what we were hoping to be able to do starting with our nth grade starting with an advisory period where we' be able to work on some of those skills in a more structured environment and

130so that is our hope that we will continue the planning continue the curriculum planning for advisory for this year hoping that it would be able to be implemented going into next year okay great now is there still AVID for all sixth graders is that's still that's that is happening and that's what a lot of this is what Avid is designed to address and Tackle in various forms is that yeah in theory and like we're working on making sure that all of our teachers and support get the support they need in order to implement Avid we're working with uh again Green World budget season like making it more of like yeah you we're working closely with Miss Meyer on Avid and um we're having a meeting next week of ideas of how to strengthen Avid because

131Avid does do a lot of executive functioning it helps kids with Cornell notes with um costes of thinking um questioning um with interactive notebooks these are really good practices for our students to get um really um with depth of understanding of how to use that and if everyone's doing it and teaching it then you're building these skill sets and when they go to the high school they will have a stronger um background of how to be more independent in certain things um you know we we're looking at the AVID program right now and are scheduling to ensure that um we're doing it with integrity and with Fidelity so that's what we're working on but we do have a meeting with Miss Meyer next week to talk about AVID for next year and um teacher feedback

132in the data from evid right which ISS be individual determination I like to like that because I like that that's first one person that I learned when I started here um a it and uh we also bring those that those numbers to our house meetings right so how can we best support students via either via Avid or um through some some sort of other support such as um maybe the guidance counselor can help with those those executive functioning skills or maybe another staff member that the student has connection with and at the high school we've had Avid in place since 2016 um so we've gone through several cohorts um and our teachers travel with their group so they begin with them in ninth grade and they stick with them through 12th grade um we have

133just about over 100 students uh involved in the program with two sections in each grade um and you know it's very much focused on forcing the student to think and act for themselves um one strategy in t in Avid is tuty so it's a form of peer tutoring but instead of you walking someone through a problem right or um a task that they have to complete it's really more I would compare it to like a critical Friends Model where you're asking questions and you're helping them get to a place where they can think for themselves and ultimately they come up with the answer on their own it's very difficult it's not easy to implement it's a very high level metacognitive skill to uh Implement so we're starting with our nth graders and we build it

134up each year and we would love to expand the program great thank you very comprehensive answer appreciate it um all right well that was excellent um I don't know I feel like we should do like a round of applause or a little jig or something I will have to say it's been a complete pleasure actually a wonderful Joy because every time I engage in a conversation with the leadership team at the high school uh LaToy and I are probably twice a day talkers um and at AMD and with our district office team um the questions are always come back back they center around what's in best needs of kids they're about individuals who are excited about their jobs and what they want to do and then when I was um at our last uh PLC

135it went all day in different areas I just was so excited like just I'm seeing them here and like who presented and who shared and who they showed their professionalism in ways that were just quite remarkable so I do appreciate the shared learning and the energy and enthusiasm and dedication you all bring to your job so it's a pleasure working with you all great job tonight thank [Applause] you we are onative budget priorities all right safe home good night good night good night thank you I got to stand up for a little bit Mary that's okay yeah yeah of course of course of course okay all right so as we um you know the next session is just a a little brief overview about um budgeting priorities for the year and there's a a sense

136of um um thought that goes into this given the fact that um it's an iterative conversation my thought behind how these presentations would be laid out this fall would be to give the board a level of background understanding depth of knowledge so it should come as no surprise that at the next meeting you're going to go through the um data based upon information and numbers about you know numbers of kids that are going to college numbers of kids that are involved in sports engagement numbers assessment numbers performance numbers and um based upon that then the me meeting after that there will be a um lengthy presentation um with a level of specificity granularity about the funding cliff and grant money so there's a sense of building um knowledge within the board within the community to

137prepare for that conversation so um as going over the budgeting um priorities for this year I will start off by just saying the global F but first of all I want to thank Alita for um your leadership and the the preliminary work that's already been taking place um there's a lot of prep work we have a a whole slew of new administrators and Alita has set up training in windcap and how to go about it and how we identify things and um HR sent out a a significant report upon Staffing those numbers are critical so in terms of our budgeting right now we are going through all of those pieces in place um Alita and I have um in addition to the aforementioned real great granular but very important information the following areas we have

138identified for analysis and implementation and again we're preliminary but it's important that's identified many of you know you've done this before you understand at this moment health insurance P pension cost we won't know right we won't know until mid year um and also because those are going to be your cost drivers Staffing increases you make it a certain assumption when you do um um when you have um position control you you you project the ability of growth and also we are seeing and again it leads up to next board presentation and increase in enrollment you we saw a spike over the summer so you're going to see that that impacts staffing needs that's going to impact budgeting needs and the last area and the most important area is to understand in terms of of Revenue

139we are fully funded for foundation Aid you know we're not going to be seeing that the only correct me if I'm wrong Alita but the only growth we will see is if we see a growth in enrollment we will see a slight increase in Foundation aid but we will also be experiencing a grant Cliff a funding Cliff as the last of the federal grants end and tonight and and at the last presentation you heard the administrative team speak about whether or not and I I and whether or not it's an extra Reading Coach or whether or not it's funding to do after school program so our job is to go through that and you the board will get it before that presentation you will see the line by line piece which one each relates to

140but key to that conversation is something you know and I I'm going to pull from Melissa what you said in one of your questions concept around e Equity like at what point did we discover between last year and this year and what does our data say that that money is so important to support equity and opportunities for all kids during the school day is it that Reading Coach that's paid for by the federal grants because at the end of the day the decision to roll that position into the general fund into the regular budget is going to be an important conversation we have so again without you know making that statement without loading for the board and the community all of these conversations about what the work looks like now which parts are integral to

141the work we do during the day then because the board is going to have to make a decision do we roll those all now into the general fund itself so Elite and I could pretty much just produce a list of all of that but without a background and understanding and hearing from the Professionals in the field about the work and why it's important um it I you need to have context for that conversation so um those are going to be the big challenges did I leave at any Alita that we're facing that's it that's that's it it's the funding Cliff no additional Revenue um you have an increase in enrollment and you know at the end of the day we you could probably pretty much figure out the District budget like in five minutes when

142you take a look at your expenditures assume a level of growth you take a look at your Revenue that's coming in do the math on the tax cap Levy and you're pretty much there but this unique situation and you've all been reading the papers you he Yonkers is going to experience a tremendous decrease program because of the loss of this um the federal stimulus money so again um um there has been really you know sound budgeting here so we we don't anticipate I don't want to promise but a preliminary look of it are there ways we can roll in some of those into the general fund and still stay below the tax cap Levy with a levy increase that's an important conversation we have to have so again that's I'm just giving like you know

143um an ear early forecast to that and and Enlighten I loved every single one of your questions tonight because they lead in directly to that conversation itself that we're going to have so I'm just giving an overview that it's going to be a tougher budget season than before for the following reasons that I mentioned however um having you have all a really great understanding of the work that's taking place is really important to that and so next board meeting again you will hear our presentation by the number um I I really did I'm going to circle back to the decision made here in the spring and I want to to the to Doc to the central Office Team and to Dr Sanchez creating that additional Math course was really important at the high school based

144upon data it was necessary the second conversation is what are we doing at AMD right now in terms of our coaches and support staff to make sure the math curriculum here is at the place that we want it so we provide equity for all kids during the day for key math instruction so resources that are going towards that are important super important keep on so again by the Numbers presentation next time and then you will have a very detailed you'll get the date ahead of time all the programs line by line of what's funded through the federal grants how they impact and um we have we're going to have a great presentation that night all before we get to December one so a lot of work a lot of information will be shared with the

145board and then the community thank you any comments from trustees before we continue on appreciate that sort of precursor for things to come but again kind of framing the conversation for the board and the community right okay um let me take a look at where we are in this it's it's um slightly different format so visually I am struggling a little bit oh thank you all right so we are at our first public comment section of the night this is public comments on anything uh related to the presentations that we've um heard or any line item on the agenda um there's no one in person in the audience who is um able to comment I'm unclear as to if we have virtual ability to have virtual comments this evening okay not tonight all right we're

146next next meeting okay we're working on it all right um then I will continue on with the consent agenda business of the board um hang on one second do one of these we have to break out no it's already broken out okay is there anything from 4.1 through 4.4 that um folks wish for me to bring out break out okay I'll take a motion for 4.1 through 4.4 so moved second 4.1 resolution to appoint an impartial hearing officer 4.2 resolution to appoint consultants for the 2023 2024 school year 4.3 resolution to approve the minutes of the special meeting of September 12th 23 4.4 resolution to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of September 27th 2023 any discussion all in favor I I opposed exstension I will take a motion for 5.1 second 5.1 resolution

147to approve recommended placements any discussion all in favor I opposed uh resol I'm sorry 6.1 through 6.3 anything anyone wants me to take out take a motion for 6.1 through 6.3 so moved second 6.1 resolution regarding acceptance of funds for ausing staff development center 6.2 resolution regarding acceptance of the external audit report for the year ending June 2023 6.3 resolution regarding interfund transfers any discussion all in favor I I opposed extension okay uh anything 7.1 through 7.13 that folks want me to break out I'll take a motion for 7.1 through 7.13 so move second 7.1 resolution regarding professional staff 10e appointment and we are actually awarding someone 10 year tonight they're just not not here in the audience this evening so congratulations to that person we are about to vote on it 7.2 resolution regarding

148Civil Service staff resignations 7.3 resolution regarding support staff resignations 7.4 resolution regarding professional staff appointments 7.5 resolution regarding support staff appointments 7.6 resolution regarding bus attendant appointments 7.7 resolution regarding professional staff appointments before and after school program 7.8 resolution regarding Civil Service staff appointments before and after school program 7.9 resolution regarding support staff appointments before and after school programs 7.10 resolution regarding perdum substitute removal 7.11 resolution regarding perdum substitute appointment 7.12 resolution regarding approval of school volunteers 7.13 resolution regarding support staff request for releve of absence any discussion all in favor I I oppose sension and I would like to thank our school volunteers but I would also like to thank um our tenur staff member do you have the certificate over on your side of things Mary you happen to have it okay in

149case she is watching at home or happens to look up the meeting later very um congratulations to Maria Flo on your 10e appointment in the ausing school district um we are thrilled to have you so thank [Applause] you all right um our next audience recognition section section nine of the agenda we don't have anyone here in person so I will move ahead to board dialogue and information um our superintendent has proposed an additional board meeting on November 15th um dedicated to talking further about the bond is there a consensus from the board to schedule that meeting okay can you just clarify what specifically we might discuss at that me traffic stud so I certainly see it as a um an opportunity for the board to have a you know a work session a town hall

150we will be including all of our Architects the uh traffic study will be there we will have answers to uh some questions we have been receiving so I think it's a great opportunity to focus on a night just special in a town hall type fashion where we have a panel discussion you'll have all your Consultants here here being able to present information and we can uh present answers to q&as that we're developing and we'd love to invite as many people as possible uh to attend that night it's green light from me yeah Green Light any any yellows or Reds I'm not seeing it okay all right we'll go ahead and um schedule that um I just wanted to um acknowledge that I believe we have Lisa Banta who is going to travel shortly to the

151New York State School Board Association which is in buffalo buffalo right I'll luck if I get some sleep I hope you do too thank you so much for attending that um we look forward to hearing all about it um if you get to go into Canada and see the Falls take some pictures pictures I bet it's perfect weekend for it up there um and Christine and I represented ausing at the annual business meeting um feels like a lifetime ago but I don't think it was that long ago it was eight hours um and 35 resolutions were adopted for advocacy by um the School Board Association um there is an invitation to um an ausing micro fund panel um everyone should have received the email do we have any trustees who might be interested in attending

152you don't have to let me know this evening I'm putting it on your radar I am most likely going to attend I just have to make sure I have child care um we also have an invitation to um a bell Equity Fund that um we received an invitation from Megan Master Joo and then um the organization followed up with with us and that is tomorrow evening um it would be nice to have a trustee attend I'll you'll be going okay um anyone else available we're honored to have you represent the district and the board Mary thank you for attending um I think that is that is what I had on my list do we have any committees any other items facili facilities I thought so no well I guess we're we're I think I'm like

153remembering back or forward I don't remember but when we're meeting every week now it's starting to [Laughter] blur okay policy committee you guys seem to meet all the time we didn't meet business we well you know October was pretty loaded for the board so it was we had one meeting but we reported reported out on that we had our last meting back at uh early November okay are there other items um for board dialogue I got a couple of things goe thank you um and so all of this is in the spirit and the context of I hope fellow board members trustees will consider some of these things um and for further discussion and or implementation but um open to ideas uh so just regarding the uh think uh principal Langley a few weeks ago

154when she ran through the PBIS um presentation indicated you know there's collecting the data there and I think currently the board gets a visibility into anything that is Dasa related uh or other official actions are taken just considering that this is a high priority for the district PBIS and Associated behaviors as well you know it's not a secret that there were some concerns around this certainly at AMD last year in the high school just wanted to consider if the board would be um interested in getting um a look into that data on kind of like we do with levers right we have something that get sent around we can click we can go review so if there is a dashboard being created around um the presentation that had the PB and the behaviors and what

155level they are could we get a look into that on a you know sort of real time basis uh so this would be an expansion of what we see with the Dasa and the other current um one uh uh incident report thank you incident reports so I just thought that might be something for the board to get a look at so we can track in real time how things are going uh because again this seem to be a priority for the board but also the district that's one thing I don't know if we want to have dialogue around that yeah I mean I want to um try to clarify your ask um so in some presentations we've gotten a breakout of for example like here are disciplinary or code of conduct violations everything from inappropriate

156language insubordination all the way up to like we weapons possession and I guess are you asking for a month by Monon sort of breakout of I guess what we're seeing in in each categories like that yeah that's correct yeah okay yeah um do does any do any of other trustees have thoughts are we looking for Beyond what's already in the vatter data that's publicly available I mean that's a question right because vatter data is publicly available for the state right and it's your you know your your incidence and your quantities and your buildings and all that and you can see that for every District in the state so I guess before we ask the administration have people looked at that and is that something that basically may meet the need of what you're trying to

157get to I mean I think you're going to get into depends on what you're looking to get at and how detailed you're trying to get you know are you looking at things in aggregate are you trying to get inant reports because there's a delicate balance there around that and the incident reports are kind of the more detailed but your Ved data is supposed to be your trends well I think we get the incident reports right I think the board sees those if they rise to leval so not necessarily looking to create additional work but if we're tracking level one level two level three level four like to get a look at that yes potentially on a month-by-month basis so I don't know I'm sorry I'm not familiar with that database if that database only goes

158tracks for instance level four then the answer to your question is no also looking for three2 and one as well I just don't know what level that database has um like you know some level ones I believe for instance was insubordination um can we get a look into that again if it's being tracked I me if it's it's going to create a report every month maybe there's a compromise but I do think again considering it was important for the district it was one of the first things we presented out and again that there's there certainly some history around this over the previous years it probably would be good to see oh okay we're tracking and presumably moving in a in a very solid Direction so that's that's the context of the ask maybe the threshold

159question might be asking our superintendent to take a look at how it is Consolidated within the district and let us know is this a matter of information that we already have and it would be very easy to share out oh we had three level fours we had two level one you know whatever it is in October or is this requiring setting up of like a brand new system in some way I also will say it's like I guess it's all about the ask the question like you know if I would what do you see in the data if I asked a principal do you see you know um positive behavior of intervention strategies working and if you do do you see that in a terms of like x y and z i gu if it's

160if it's just raw data without any interpretation understanding people can jump to a conclusion that may or may not be accurate without the Nuance conversation of the individuals who are involved in a day and day out in the buildings so that's my that's my balance on that I'd have to spend more time unpacking that and kind of understanding you know what that means and in some way shape or form I have a sense is that you're trying to figure out whether or not the um the whether or not it's the house model or working with different counselors or that do you see a change in student Behavior I think that's the global question correct yeah and I think you know we saw the the I think this is one in particular that we would want

161to see more than that twice a year right we saw this and saw this I think this is one that we would kind of want to see again not necess in real time but potentially on a monthly basis again especially if the lift is no this is all going into a system we've got the raw and then yes then provide that context that you just added say if you looked at the data and then I'll let the central office team weigh in let's say if you took it month by month in September I will tell you you will see certainly more incident reports of kids that were perhaps late to class because the high school is big and they're new and they can't find it and you'll see you'll see that you know so again

162getting data without context to try to understand it depending upon the time of year too like that's my point like sometimes people do this in terms of quarters like in terms of a a marking period because a month has its own Nuance so either you do it you know trimesters or you do it through marking periods if there are four of them sometimes that's how people measure that um I mean I before we would sort of agree on getting anything like this I guess I would I would be interested in hearing your take on it or your opinion maybe at like a different yeah I would have to ask the obviously the administrative team as well right yeah I was just going to share um the chart that you're referring to that Miss Lanley shared

163which showed the level um is the first time first exposure to that type of uh framework and it's beautifully done we don't track level one two three or four incidents in our system right now we actually track the the name of the incident so whether it's a cutting incident or whether it's a physical aggression we actually track that not the level so it would require setting up a whole new system if we wanted to track by level but we do have data that's relevant and pertinent and it's all it's in branching mindes and to Frank's question too the point that has to be reported to Vadar which is your violent and disruptive New York State incident report which is available for every single Public School District we'll make sure the board everyone gets the link

164to that that data because it's required under bullying it's required under many many statutes and state bre bregs that data has to be spiked out the state isn't interested in whether or not you know a kid cut class second period or not or third or just you know that's that doesn't rise to a level that would go into a state Vadar report how often is that updated I'm unaware of this so like a little primer in it and State you have to um you have to upload every year into it they look for the um yeah they look for that and if it's not on time they let you know but yeah yeah but I mean this is for you I think Mary to look at and come back with a recommendation but that data

165is going to get tracked by the district through the course of the year and reported once a year yes so on the surface that doesn't sound like a huge lift and it would help to identify trends that are happening and then it would give the opportunity to have a conversation about what are we doing about the trends and are we going to do that and I think that's where we're trying I think if I get the spirit of the question is is okay during the pandemic it probably would have been great in more real time to see kinds of things to address needs and you know and that's how I think that's sort of a known mechanism that to your point Miss Turner is like is like there's categories defined by the state there's state

166law you have to follow to do that this is public information and if we stay in that framework is that not a very heavy easy that's easier to do it sounds on the surface like it's easier but I think the question is is if we asked for it t every other month could you keep up with that pace and what would that mean and I think you that's you come back to us with something on that we'll do sure okay I'm I'm okay with that yeah thanks for cl um well yeah just to that point I know there's been we've been discussing as a board data and how effectively utilize data um for quite some time and so just to chime in here I think yes we need to make sure that it's there's a

167cycle where it's not going to overburden you know people's responsibilities but also it's also going to give context to the work that's being done around the data as well and I think one thing I've always um kind of advocated for and we're move I see with the presentations we're shifting to that model is not just and it was even said here tonight not just collecting data but actually understanding the data and making sure we're not just seeing what's going on with PBIS but what are the interventions that we're seeing what are the outcomes that we're seeing regarding those interventions and how was that in influencing what we're seeing in the trends in any other area so I've always been in support of data but I also want it to be in a in a in

168a cyclical kind of um pattern where it's actually going to have context to it and it's actually going to have supports kind of mirroring whatever the data is showing us um and so I think we've talked about this for quite some time is trying to find what that what does that look like as far as like on a board level a platform or whatever that's appropriate for us to be receiving that data in a way that also shows us how that data intersects with all the other data that's being reviewed at a bu building level and and the interventions that are being um you know rolled out as a result of that so longwinded answer to say yes I support that and historically have and I just want to make sure specifically that I'm advocating

169for knowing the intersections of what that data is showing us not just the data I will say one of the important points that you know as I'm listening to the presentation was um one of the high school assistant principles can't remember which one basically mentioned you know School phobia or even class phobia well that wouldn't be a a disciplinary if you understand that is a critical piece of data that your intervention teams would be looking at that's a really important piece and I was so happy to hear that that's what they're looking at and that's what they track you know because that that reveals a lot right um I was thinking also in terms of facilities as we are hopefully Don on wood going to be having the opportunity to work with design designers if

170we knew for example you know at this age range vaping is consistently a problem and here's where we're seeing it in specific locations in our buildings there are designs that can be implemented for bathrooms for example to minimize bullying in bathrooms and minimize um substance use in bathrooms um excellent points and also to to right now if you think about students who might have free period you don't have physical space we don't have physical space I can't create it in the high school to create more study holes for kids so again you know the facilities do layer into one of the reasons why you might see a spike in certain types of student behaviors that could be solved through a facilities um you know conversation or issue or even if you had like a Kim

171and I often an intermediate like day treatment program place or sent Center that could help kids who are transitioning from different places so again while you might see a behavior spiked out and a certain level but understanding the context or the conversation around that is important bathrooms in key areas how many kids can get to them in time and and so that they're not late for class adding another minute to passing time the state doesn't count passing time in terms of minutes so you might see kids you know rushing U or particularly freshman and they might get you know a little bit of ding in the system for being late to class so there there's a whole conversation around to the question that's where my brain was going Rob when you asked the question so

172many conversations around those and just trying to gain understanding for it but yes I love the point of um bringing in the facilities into this as well okay great um so I think there's consensus to have you come back to us with a recommendation of to how to how to package all of this yeah um did you have more yes go ahead Rob sorry so uh really quick uh and Melissa um this one might be this is sort of your discussion around additional education for board and training this sort of sparked something else in my head so I personally don't fully understand the relationship between school districts and bosis I know we have shared services I know we're part of Bose's co-ops and we don't need to necess discuss the details now but I would

173love to understand like I know we use them for certain things and there's relationships we' got lyric we've got um we've got uh you know that we use them uh for PR Services we have career right so if we can I don't know if it needs to be a presentation or you can direct me to something on the site but maybe some other board members like to understand too I love to understand where we intersect with both even in the spirit of Education and Training on that so that was that was that I don't know if anyone wants to chime in on that one I'm pretty sure Frank is your go-to person for this one well I mean I think the first is to recognize a lot of our students are served in bosis a

174lot of our staff or using professional development services through that they would love nothing more to talk to Mary and have a time to present some of that to a board so I think that might be an an ask I don't know looking at the agenda down the road if there's something we could you know put on to that for then or maybe in the summertime something along those lines but I think a good place to start would be their school Services catalog that'll kind of help you get a sense of sort of all the offerings that go out and maybe we could ask Illy to just distribute that to all the board members and ask bosies to give it to you they'll be more than happy to tell you about the services that go

175through there and it's a wide range is what you said so it comes with the spirit um Frank's 100% right of the state believes that if you work together as a Cooperative you can deliver more services and at a cheaper price and you would actually create a shared knowledge tank with everyone who's participating on a very specific area that's really easy to understand like a gazillion years ago not really but it feels like high schools had shop and they had automotive and they had garages of things like that so the state and there's an awful lot of safety regulations associated with those things and really very precise programs so bosis pools together on one campus programs for that so you can send a student they would be here in their junior or senior year you

176could have them go to school for a certain core content in the morning but in the afternoon go to a two-year program for automotive hbhc um food culinary schools so again and they would go to a place that is certified safe has a lot there and they would meet kids from all over many different different school districts who choose to do that pathway but it it's all based on what if you think whether it's a pen or your network or your laptop if you can do it through bosis you can share you can buy in bulk and the same thing goes for professional development you can get a great professional developer who might cost a fortune independently but do it through bosis and you get the state gives you Aid back if you use a

177shared service through they incentivize it it's a great question Rob yeah I mean I think there's a lot they could put there I think traditionally we all have an understanding is since I'm intimately involved I can tell you there's a lot more in terms of like we have students doing surgery at Hudson out in in Hudson Valley Hospital we have New Visions engineering program so there are lots of different tiers of services across the board but I think to be really get it and an understanding of it I can't do it justice I don't even know Mary you could probably do a piece of it right but I think having them come in and they'd love to have the time to present certainly have materials to share so we should try to find some time

178on the agenda at some point and even if like we could always also do a learning session with them uh even if it wasn't like a formal board meeting uh we can right we could do something like that do a work session you could yeah absolutely okay it might be it might be good I for the public to hear it too I think there's a there's a good balance there but I'm open to idea um I'm just taking notes and I just have one other quick one sure go ahead okay favorite public comment so it's great to hear that starting next week we might have two-way commentary ability again from remote uh and so I know I know there was some email traffic Mary around policy 2350 which uh actually it's interesting because if you

179read it it feels like there's some official wiggle room whereas in theory if next week if the board had consensus with the uh uh you know led by the board President we could in theory according to my interpretation of that policy start by moving that public comment period earlier three comments starting NE you know even as I guess next week um it wasn't fully clear because it said you have to have consensus you know this is this is the agenda but you can kind of change it with consensus and then the point I'm trying to make and I apologize I was cheering at a soccer game on it's still Sunday so that's why the voice is like that point is is that I understand we might need a broader policy rewrite of that but that

180of course takes time right it's got to be 60 days etc etc so point is is that if we're going to bring back that commentary um ability it would be great to be able to fly in if not next week at the next board me and say guess what we've got two-way and and we're going to move it up for you or whatever the board consensus is on that as well actually I think you can do a point of order I think you can make a motion to advance agenda item whatever it is you done it up okay you can do that in every meeting I think the thing you want to avoid getting yourself into is an area where you're not consistent and you start in one thing and do it and change it

181for the next meeting you can in theory do that but then you got to be careful with the public around it and and I think with the two-way commentary I think it's a good move but I do think the people speaking need to be visible to not just us but the video that's recording in the room so I think the technology piece of that is a very important piece and so while I I think as an as an access thing it's a great thing but it needs to be done in a way where it's not just a little screen being projected into the room that nobody can see who's asking the question because the spirit of this is everybody's supposed to see everybody and so I don't know what the technology hurdles are there but

182I think we need to iron those out before we would move forward AB absolutely the technology that that last part that Frank mentioned is the technology hurdle that we would need to overcome and again I I going back to the spirit of having a policy it's about your rules of governance and consistency and you don't want to ever appear arbitrary or capricious when you approach something so putting it through its Paces having it changed in the policy is actually in the in everyone's best interest but you can and you have sometimes you want to move up recognition of a you know a 10e teacher if the family's here that tends to be something that has happened before right so I wonder if there's a way like if we when we flip it on and when

183Frank to your point when the technology is you know consensus wise is works for everyone just wonder like if there's a way to pre-screen that okay we've the five people on anyone going to want to speak and then we maybe at least again make the point the Roberts rules point but at the same time parallel path you know keep it consistent to do that but parallel path the full policy change because again otherwise we may not get to the this idea until you know you know right spring depending what policy committee you are you have other things you're working on as well so that was just two cents on that yeah I mean I'll Echo just you're have people in the audience you're going to have people at home if you don't have a methodology

184of who you're going to allow to speak at the beginning of the meeting and do that consistently and fair you are going to get yourself into trouble and so there is a balance of I think the spring is too far off I I don't know that to we the next two meetings is realistic and looking at putting a framework in around this I think you probably would want at least a first read in before you try before you would make a change in the meeting to basically say okay for this meeting is there a consensus that we're going to go with this approach so I think there's a a blend of what you're asking I think what you're asking is tough and certainly I would have a hard time being supportive of that now the

185board consensus can be the board's consensus but I would really caution us to do something that we don't have some at least some well established rules that council's looked at that we can basically stand behind because it'll be the person in the audience that's Furious that you just went to three video people and didn't ask them to comment they didn't understand the methodology of how they needed to do that um I did actually mean to bring this up in dialogue but um I had a question for you Mary on this um I had heard somewhere maybe it's not true um I I don't know if it was at at a training um but that Pleasantville at one point had a policy where they allowed people to email the board in advance and essentially sign up

186to give a a public comment at the very beginning of the meeting is that true I don't remember that but I do remember just you know public comment at the like basically taken what what is at the end here which was our old way at the end of this meeting a general comment as opposed to items on the agenda and just moving it up um earlier in the meeting earlier in the meeting and was that limited to a certain number maybe that's not that I remember I know I remember but if we did want to that we could our policy committee come back could come back and make a recommendation and say hey if we're going to perpetually move general public comment up to first part of the meeting our policy is going to ask

187that it's limited to the first five speakers or something like that I think you need to run this past Council right anything would be run poun before it would even come to the board table yeah no but I I think which you're trying to balance letting people talk earlier in the meeting but if you have 40 people lined up you won't get your meeting done right and so what's the time you know what District done with the time bounds around it because it'll be could be a facilities Bond where you open up comments and you're going out for and a lot of people show up and want to give commentary and then right so or I wonder if it could be limited by number of minutes like we'll have public comment for the first 15

188minutes of the meeting I think there yeah I think there are a variety of options that and different boards have different strategies on that is it first come first serve do you have people spit ahead of time how do people get in the queue that's the kind of thing where how are you giving equal access to it right because if we have people here and we say you got to go sign up and we're going to go through the name you know and then we have people online they can't sign up for anything you know what order do are those people brought in yeah and you want to make sure that everybody gets it's not somebody shows up here at 5 o' for a 7:30 meeting and they're doing it I'm not sure that's not

189going to happen but sometimes you do get these types of weird things and you want to just at least have a consistent way of dealing with giving people equal access I think I'd be in favor of addressing this through the policy committee I'm less comfortable doing something in an sort of an ad hoc way um but I'm okay with kind of bumping it to up on our priority list um I don't know how other people feel that's my general feeling what you think yeah I think we can find a way to infuse this it's the seems like it's the consensus of the board for us to address that so we can you know work with Lita and and figure out how we fit that into the to the template that we've already created for the

190year but it's doable and then and it is true I mean there is nothing there is nothing stopping anyone if you see a lot of people here to make a motion to move up public comment and we will have to have a consensus on how we're going to want that that is always an option um but it seems like so there are two issues here one how do we move up public general education public comment earlier in the meeting in a way that still allows us to have our meeting space and be efficient and as functional as possible and then two um how do we and then there's the virtual component of it how do we manage public comment in person and virtually and and figure out that space um along the virtual lines I

191I do feel that I want virtual public participation here on November 15th when we are having essentially Town Hall night on the bond uh it sounds to me like the tech is not going to be perfected by then I are our sound tech is saying is confirming it is not going to be perfected by then um I guess is there a consensus to ideally have that person who's speaking virtually eventually up on the screen appreciate that we can't get it done in time for November 15th but still move forward with the virtual I don't know on all Bond discussions are like is there what are what are our thoughts here what is the question exact so are you no no serious it was H is it asking do we want is there consensus around moving

192forward regardless of the technology not being perfected is that yes okay yes um my thought process being I find I am concerned about the level of community engagement over our bond and anything my opinion that we can do to improve access and Community engagement the be the better I I don't want to have I know it's going to happen but I am envisioning once people are really paying attention to the bond and really starting to study it there are questions that are going to come in like rapid fire and I would like to have more of them in November less of them in February and March November and December right no December because I think Nicole I mapped out a pretty busy schedule I mean the end of the day you could I mean you

193could go all virtual and then it's fairly easy to do it it's trying to create the hybrid situation that presents that layer of Technology associated with it the one thing I will say though if there is I want to go back to you know your your policies matter when not in regular meetings but they really do matter when you're challenged when there's a big hit there's a big topic is issue or whatever is going on but um and I obviously knew that when I was in East Ramapo as well as in Pleasantville so sometimes when you place the general Q&A it really should be after either an opening comment from the superintendent or an opening comment because you you lose the opportunity to make a public statement about um maybe a statement about why everyone

194is there because you could probably be able to answer or address that and I I I I we had to use that in East Ramapo actually a lot so I just would put that to everyone's thought process that I wouldn't move it up to the be open the meeting and then you do that there should be something said by the board president or the superintendent a joint whatever statement and then afterward you can do that that that's where um you've seen that in many cases and it it does work out better in many ways because you know you're addressing probably and being upfront about whatever it is that you have a sense why people are here okay I mean two two question s say you done sorry yeah sorry that was just sorry the um

195two questions so is it a board meeting we're having or a town hall on the 15th because I mean a town hall I think to the community is different is it a board meeting is it you know so I think that's a great question because if you want a little bit more flexibility would you want a town hall or would you want a work session of the Board of Education or do you want a board meeting yeah I mean is this is this you know they used to have you know we've done this a few different ways around facilities things and so there's been more of sessions that aren't board meetings but for the town too but that's going to rely then the district's really going to have to have its presentation and ready and

196all of those things which I think there's a lot in place but I don't know what else there might need to be right so but it's really about out here's what's on the table what are your thoughts what are your ideas and that's a more engaging Forum but you probably want to have some controls around just how you're going to structure that night um or is this a board meeting where you're inviting people in and then giving them public comment in the three minutes and you know I don't know what the thought is there with that but um I think we need to decide what that's going to be on the 15th um but I do think there does need to be those type of what we used to call World cafes at one point

197different things there needs to be that for this Bond and we need to kind of get that schedule out um so I think that that's that's an important piece the second point I guess is from the technology standpoint we have a few weeks is it really a big hurdle to get a consultant and try and get this squ away I would imagine money could solve many things but we will we'll get back to you on that so if it's a money thing and it's just a money thing I think we should just get it done and I can accept there might be some bumps in the road the first meeting but the people people in the audience need to see who's speaking and that's an important piece of this and that's the part that's been

198we struggled with in the past with this that we should get past so I would like to see it for the 15th I'd like to see us do what it takes to get there if it's possible and um I'm sorry I just need to jump in um the purpose of the meeting on the 15th is for us to be on the same page um and make a decision as to whether or not we're moving forward um and I don't think that that can happen at a town hall meeting I think it has to be an official um approval of us moving forward with the the date of the bond um because right now it's still uh murky about you know where we're going uh the amount of Education that's out there we can't really do

199anything until the board is um in agreement that we're moving forward and the only thing that we've been given a green light for is hiring the Consultants but we're getting into November um and we we all are aware of what we have to do with the road show but we can't do anything unless the board is saying that we can move forward so that meeting is to kind of give us a green light so I wouldn't recommend it being um anything but a a board meeting I I personally don't feel prepared for a town hall yet um I'm looking forward to the work session and getting some of the the answers back um I'm more was asking for the ability to have virtual commentary for the community members to say I have this question too

200I'm not expecting an answer tonight but I'm I'm throwing it out there to you um I agree and I you know Frank has brought it up before about that um you know to be able to see the face of the person who's speaking is in the spirit of of a of a public meeting and I think it's important just for me to be able to connect a you know voiceless or a faceless voice to a a person when we're you know building relationships with a community but I don't want Perfection to be the enemy of the good if it can't happen for whatever reason by the next meeting I'm okay with just the disembodied voice if that's what we if that's what we have to do in order to make that happen by that meeting

201with a goal you know if because I don't know what the barriers will be if it is just Financial or if there is some more deeply technological problem um or how much money you know you know the the global stroke of it will be you will need a different type of video you would need someone controlling sound so you don't get feedback and the we've all been through that with zoom the mics that are here the mics for the camera um the people who are speaking where there so you're going to need multiple bodies here to kind of manage that control all of that and then different devices that will project so again we can hire a consultant who could bring in all that equipment and do all of that um but outside of trying

202to you know create that in a more fiscally responsible way on our end to do that but this is a special meeting and it's a very important topic so trying to get all of that included so th those are the little pieces that we would need multiple people to be able to manage right I mean I was addressing Catherine's Yeah question like can we can we do this even if it's not perfected yeah and for me I I think having any comment virtually is better than having none in the moment I was going to say the same thing to answer Katherine's question like Frank's ideal scenario but I don't need Perfection to increase accessibility um okay so I'm going to put in my notes that we're in agreement with virtual we have our ideal and

203and we want something in place on the 15th with the hope that it will be the ideal and you'll just come back to us if it won't be okay I think we should look at the financials of this not just because we're if we're going to go into a bond we're going to need this kind of Engagement and possibility throughout the whole process so we may need to do more this year than what we typically would do um but I think we should hopefully through that process find those efficiencies where we don't have to maintain it long term but I think if we're trying to get access we should really give access at the end of the day so I would hope we would support that okay um oh I wanted to ask this um

204is there and I thought maybe there was but then I couldn't find it in my notes from when we were last together last week but is there a consensus to have additional information available to the public when they view the agenda from the public section of board docs I thought that there was I thought that there was I'm just making sure that that that's true so I can put it in my notes yes yeah with that unless the administration with something I would support it all the whole whole heart of okay all right so I'll put that in there and then I think that's all on my list for board dialogue I guess I'll just leave us off if no one else has anything to say um we uh Annie Rob and myself went to

205the Westchester puam School Board Association round tables that they hosted on October 12th um there were several districts from around um Westchester and the topics were student Mental Health Board committees diversity equity inclusion curriculum Board of Ed teamwork fin fiscal oversight Community engagement and school safety now the model was we each only had two different topics of a table so it wasn't like we all sat at all those tables but just a synopsis I don't know feel free to chime in if you want colleagues um it was a you know I think it's all personally it's always a a a great perspective to just learn and seek out what other boards are talking about and how they're tackling the issues that we kind of all similarly um you know find ourselves having to uh resolve

206in some way or another so it was um it was enlightening in um a few different ways I appreciated that I went and I personally was at the student mental health and curriculum table um and those were some pretty interesting discussions about how people around the district are um you know evolving those two those two particular areas within their districts so just a quick update on that thank you thank you to the three of you for attending all right I will take a motion to enter into executive session so second any discussion all in favor I opposed extension sorry do I have to redo the whole motion okay God where am I now this is what happens when we get too late hang on hang on hang on hang on sorry guys I'm going to

207take a motion to enter into executive session to discuss the employment history of a particular person or Corporation or matters leading to the appointment employment promotion discipline suspension dismissal or removal of a particular person or Corporation no formal action will be taken yes formal action will be um no but we're going to come out to take formal action right right you have to come the board will we come back to yes we will reconvene this meeting after executive session to take formal action yes great that's it okay wait somebody has to Second any discussion all in favor I oppose AB