001Are we ready? Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Oyster Bay East Norwich School District Board of Education meeting. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. I'd like to now turn it over to Dr. Yiani for the superintendence report. Thank you, Miss Gaser Javanni. And good evening, everyone. Uh, this winter is uh really something. I want to I got yelled at last board meeting by my wife because she said that I said something about the Sunday storm and then the Sunday storm came. So, I will not say anything about any storm in the future ever again. So, um, it was not fun to get yelled at when I got home, but I will not
002do that anymore. So, uh, custodial crew and the ground crew are doing an amazing job. They very, uh, they keep everything clean, uh, all the parking lots and, uh, moving the snow and accommodating, um, especially at Theodore Roosevelt with the parking lot. Um, I've been outside every morning to make sure that, uh, the arrival is going smoothly and I think is going smoothly. Um, so I'm very proud of the work that they are doing. Um, Gerard, um, we have Alex, uh, we have Frank, they're doing a a really, really good job. I'm really proud of them. All the hat custodians at every school, Mike, Mike, and Wayne, and all the custodial staff, uh, doing really a superb job. So, I want to give them a round of applause. [applause] Um, in terms of the calendar,
003we have used one snow day. Uh, so so far we will be open on May 26 and as we get closer to to the Memorial Day weekend, I will um update the community on the days that we used and what we didn't use. And at this point is my favorite part of the meeting to pass it to Javana for the student report. >> Good evening everyone. As I'm sure you all know, the Oyster Bay East Norwich School District held a snow day last Monday. We hope that everyone enjoyed the time off and stayed safe and warm. The week of our snow day, the high school held a very successful winter concert. Congratulations to our wind ensemble, chamber singers, and jazz band for such a phenomenal performance. At the end of the week, our varsity cheer
004team went to Orlando for UCA finals and made it to the semifinals. A huge congratulations to the cheer team for doing such a fantastic job. Meanwhile, back at the high school, the Nassau County Boys and Girls Fencing Tournament was hosted. At the tournament, Gabriella Sherlock, a skilled OB fencer, won second place in the women's foil for Nassau County. Congratulations to Gabriella for this huge accomplishment. Furthermore, our science olympiad team competed recently and placed in the hovercraft, electric vehicle, circuit lab, and pingpong parachute competitions. Finally, our robotics team competed in the Locust Valley qualifier and qualified for the LI championships, coming fourth out of 20 teams. I am proud to see all of the many accomplishments our talented students here at OB have been able to achieve. And this is all the news I have to
005share with you this evening. Thank you so much. >> Great job, Joavana. Uh, this week is National School Counseling Week, which is our time to celebrate the unique work of our school counselors and the work that they do day in and day out. I could not be more proud and grateful to have the outstanding group of women who work so hard to empower all students to achieve excellence. So, please join me this week in sharing heart heartfelt gratitude for the work that all the counselors do to support our students. I'd like to thank uh Dr. Diana, our leader in the department, uh Lisa Law, which is she's a Vernon, uh Danna Ki, she's at the high school, Kayla Pollins, Daniela Ortiel, and Rebecca Liber. And thank you for all the work that you do. [applause]
006On January 21st, uh, students participated in STEM night, an engaging and educational evening focused on hands-on learning. Students explored a variety of interactive stations hosted by the Long Island Children's Museum and Mad Science. Throughout the evening, students were actively engaged and the parents and collaborated with all family members. And it was so nice to see all them grouped around the curiosity of science and mathematics. So it was a really wonderful event. If you didn't join, please join us next year. We will have it again. So thank you for all the work done. The junior college information night is also an important night because the work that we do over here uh will not be uh any productive if is not moving to the next step. So on Wednesday, January 28th, the counseling center hosted the
007annual junior college information night geared towards the 11th grade students and families to continue the postsecary planning and process. 25 students and families join us for the evening to discuss what the right fit, right college would be for um for the next level and the general admission requirements. uh Navian the testing and much more. So I want to thank again Dr. Dianca for organizing and supervising and and make sure that everything was coordinated for the trip. Thank you Joanne. [applause] Uh tonight you'll see on the agenda uh a resolution for the approval of the 2026 2027 school calendar. I want to assure you that setting up a school calendar calendar is a meticulous process that we take it very seriously. Our team beginning the process during the summer and involves multiple steps to ensure that
008the best possible calendar for student staff and community is put together. It is important to to know that when we put a school calendar together is a coordination of not just so bay but all the other districts because we have parents working in other districts, staff coming from other districts. So it's it's a it's almost a puzzle to coordinate everything. What's new about the 26 27 school calendar is that uh the school will start before Labor Day. Uh Labor Day comes in uh September uh 7th I believe. So we start and then we take a weekend off a little couple days off. As usually we build in the calendar we build uh two snow days that if we don't use we will use a longer uh March Easter break and the Memorial Day weekend. Uh
009once the calendar is approved tonight it will be posted on the website. Um I have prepared the letter to go home and um that that short version of the calendar will be posted so families can plan the vacation for the upcoming school year and then during the summer from now until the summer we'll prepare the the regular calendar that would be mailed to home. The um I would like to give the board and the community a couple of followup from last meeting. The first one is the UPK. Um I am very very happy that um we will not we will have a four uh full sections of UPK. There will not there will not be a lottery because we have four full um sections. So letters will be going will be going out tomorrow uh
010to confirm acceptance. So very very pleased about the work that uh Theodor Roosevelt, Miss Deborah Small, the principal and all the teachers have been doing. Very excited about the four sections. Uh students will have uh tremendous benefits like we saw last year with the two sections. So very excited about that and I'm glad that the community really appreciates this uh this important um having four sections of UPK and I thank you the commun the board for supporting uh that initiative. The second question that I want to follow up was about the nursing um question that came up at last meeting. So while the district is managing uh temporary staffing challenges due to res recent resination, I want to assure the community that at no point this school um and during the school year as any
011building that was without a nurse coverage. Although there were only limited number of days when one nurse provided coverage between Vernon and the high school, established building safety uh teams were in place to support students uh and emergency response. On the days when the nurse was not when we had only one nurse between Vernon and the high school, the nurse that was covering was stationed at Vernon. Uh theodor Roosevelt has a nurse and that uh nurse Matt has been in place um all the time. Uh Roosevelt has never been uh split. Um you know as you know and reading you know that nursing uh is to find a nurse is an issue. Um we have been interviewing uh there is a shortage and obviously the the difference in salaries between school pay and and hospitals
012and is completely uh different. So we have been trying our best to make sure that there is full coverage but in order here's how we ensure that health and safety of our students is put in place. the current coverage. We are currently utilizing a perdm substitute nurse at Vernon and the high school. Uh tonight you'll see the appointment of a nurse at the Vernon field trips. All the field trips that we had had a nurse on it and we were in full compliance and we are recruiting literally the minute we get the resume we interview. we move on at the speed of light and and I want to thank thank Shannon Mcante for all the work that she has been doing, our athletic director. Um the minute we see a resume that has nurse on
013top, we jump on it. We interview even on a Sunday if we have to. So if um so hopefully in the next couple days, we will secure a nurse at the high school and then we'll be fully covered. In terms of safety protocols, our building level safety teams include trained educators, coaches, and security guards with law enforcement backgrounds, and they are prepared to assist with any emergency. I'm also proud of the work that our safety team have done, specifically this year when we recognize several staff members who saved the life of a student at TR. So, the district, I want you to know that the district remains in full compliance with New York State health requirements and is committed to maintain a dedicated nurse in every school building. We will continue to keep informed and
014hopefully at the next meeting we'll have a nurse at the high school. There were some uh budget questions I'd like to address. I'd like to share that um some important updates regard regarding our financial planning specifically regarding uh some of the questions that were asked the last meeting the budget and fund balance. We are currently analyzing our financial data for the 2526 school year. We anticipating sharing the projected fund balance with the community in April to help offset property tax for the 2627 uh budget. We plan to designate approximately 1.5 million in appropriated fund balance maintaining a level consistent with the current year. In terms of the capital reserve planning, our current capital reserve fund is set to expire on June 30th, 2026. To ensure we can continue addressing essential facil facility and infrastructure needs,
015the district recommended the establishing of a new capital reserve. What the reserve is is based on on legal and auditors guidance. and new reserve allow us will allow us to clearly define the purpose, scope, funding limits, and duration of the reserve that reflect our current priorities. The current status as of June 30th, 2025, that's when they closed the books. The existing reserve balance was 3 million 826 and 405. We intended to fund the reserve at the level that support a proposed capital project which will be presented during the budget budget process. The what would be the impact of votal approval if a new reserve is not approved? the district's ability to fund um major facility repair and upgrades in the future would be limited as as this cost cannot be covered by regular operating budget.
016These topics will be discussed at the upcoming budget presentation which I believe that Miss Reor will do one in the next meeting and we remain committed to financial transparency to support our students and our taxpayers. Uh and at this point I'd like to pass the microphone to Miss Reor for the district safety team update. >> Thank you Dr. Yani. Uh just a quick update on our district-wide safety team. We meant to conduct a review of the safety practices and required compliance items. Uh the districtwide team reviewed the mandated training completed by all staff. We discussed some recent safety updates, some new state requirements that were put in place by this year for this year. Uh and received reports from each building on their emergency preparedness planning. Um, as I've discussed in the past, although building
017level safety plans are confidential by law, the discussion was focused really on consistent procedures, making sure there was clear communication and coordination amongst all schools. So, I really would like to take this opportunity to thank our three principles, our three head custodians who work very closely with our security director Lou to make sure that all of these um not only trainings, but actual events that we've encount encountered this year really go off without a hitch and make sure that we get everything we need done. Uh at this meeting the team also reviewed some updates from our health and safety leaison from NASA busies who were very fortunate to be a part of that consortium. They reviewed a new mandate this year that went into place this past January called Desha's law. This requires that the
018cardiac emergency response has to be formally documented within our safety plan and formally trained. So I'm very pleased to report that we have very strong numbers in our district. Um each of our elementary schools each have between 10 and 12 staff members that are trained in AED use and first aid. And at the high school we have approximately 20 members that are trained currently. Um although through what we've been discussing and as Dr. said before, I'd like to thank Shannon Mcinty who's done a tremendous amount of work with our nurses um making sure that we have enough AEDs who the locations are known to all of our staff members and is going to help us continue to train more staff members as we go forward to the spring. And that's all we have. The next
019meeting will be later in the spring in which we will discuss the plan which we will be presenting at a public um hearing in July. >> Thank you, Miss Raino. I don't know if the board has any questions. Okay. Every month um I will provide the board I've been providing the board and the community with an update on the progress of goals uh of the board of education goals. This week we will have an opportunity to hear from our outstanding principles. We have uh from Theodor Roosevelt, Demo Small and from Vernon we have Anastasia Smith. Please welcome. [applause] Good evening everyone. Thank you Dr. Ayani and Miss Rayor and the rest of the central administration for always answering our calls and your tireless efforts in helping us. We'd also like to extend a special thank
020you to the whole board of education for your support in everything we do. And lastly, before we start our presentation this evening, we want to shout out to Miss Caponia, our elementary curriculum associate, and Mr. Marorrow, the assistant principal at Vernon, was a collaborative effort in highlighting all the wonderful things we do at our school. [applause] We work continually to ensure that our instruction is aligned with the research into best instructional practices. Yep. As part of that work, um I we've highlighted for you some of the work that we've been doing in literacy. So the last time I was here, we spoke about some of the work that we're doing because reading requires students to be proficient in both word recognition and in language comprehension. So I highlighted in the past some of the work
021we've done in word recognition with our Heggerty program of phenemic awareness and our foundation's program in phonics. Today we're going to highlight some of the work we're doing in building language comprehension. So we've been pairing with an organization called uh literacy matters in order to design curriculum units that build our children's background knowledge that build their vocabulary so that they can en encounter and understand a wide variety of text. Uh in addition, our units are building in uh solid instruction in grammar and mechanics in order to ensure that students understand the writing of others and then also can write so that their ideas are understood. Here we have highlighted uh some of the units that we're doing. We are doing a gradual implementation process. So we started last year with the first two units for
022KN1. There will be four units per grade level. We did the we finished out uh K and one this year and started grades two and grade three and we'll continue moving forward. As you can see, our units combine all those best literacy practices with social studies and science content. So, they are reading and writing about those content areas. We've also made an effort in every unit to integrate project-based learning. In keeping with the board of education's goal to support inquirybased learning, our students uh conduct research into the topics that they are studying and then present it with projects. Uh a recent fund this past week, I want to highlight some of second grade's work. They did uh culminated a unit on communities. They had a choice on what type of project that that would do.
023uh and they did some absolutely fantastic work with that working with not just their classroom teachers but also all of our special area teachers. Uh these shots are from as they were preparing it. You see on the far right a child uh doing some research. You see on the left a child who is uh preparing his poster and practicing it with his class. You see in the middle a vocabulary uh wall from one of the rooms. And if you check out our Instagram post and also an upcoming uh feature uh that Syntax is doing for us, you can see when we got to the end of uh the program, what I've submitted this a couple weeks ago, but uh you could see our recent uh presentation and what it looked like. It was fabulous. The
024kids had a whole hallway with a uh walkway down it like a street and you could travel down that through an urban community with models and posters and then a suburban community and then a rural community where the kids had posters that explained all the different features of each kind of community. In addition, uh our gym was set up so that kids could go around it in scooters and explore the Oyster Bay Norwich community and do stops at the various uh types of businesses that they have there. And then we had some children who chose for their project to write their own song lyrics and perform them to a song about different types of communities. So that was just project-based learning culminating our unit. Lots and lots of fun. So we're doing all these great
025things, but the question is always, well, how are they having the impact that we want? So it's very important to uh look at the data and see how our students are responding. So on our uh in the spring of 2025, our I Ready assessment showed that 69% of our students were performing at or above grade level in math and 82% at or above grade level in English language arts. Another thing that was interesting in exploring the data was with our new units and our emphasis on uh building vocabulary and background knowledge, we'd hoped to see a significant growth informational text. And the two grades that started this work last year kindergarten and first definitely showed uh that growth last year from September to June. Um with during the year from their scores in September to
026their scores in June, 34% more students in kindergarten grew to be at or above grade level and 47% more children made that leap in first grade. So we're very proud of our children's growth. [applause] So both schools are committed to ensuring that every child reaches a level of achievement in reading and math. And to further support this work, we have implemented data review days and teams in both buildings. At the Roosevelt, staff meets three times a year as part of their multi-tered system of supports to review student data and plan targeted interventions. At Verdon Vernon, data review teams meet bionimonthly to analyze benchmark data, classroom observations, and other indicators to guide academic intervention services and support classroom instructions. AIS is provided in grades K through six for reading and one through six for math. We
027also have enhanced our reading intervention efforts with the certification of five new Wilson reading teachers with additional staff currently completing training at the Wilson in the Wilson reading system which focuses on phonological awareness, syllable patterns and spelling. So our new grade three literacy units are officially underway. Students recently completed their first unit on weather which aligns closely with the third grade science standards and our next unit on countries is nearing completion. To launch that unit, our third graders just visited the Tillis Center to experience an African dance performance reinforcing interdisciplinary learning through the arts. As we complete the grade three units, we move on to developing grade four literacy units with a continued focus on integrating science and social studies into literacy instruction. This year at Vernon, we have also introduced stellar literacy to support
028small groupoup instruction. This targeted program allows teachers to focus on specific comprehension skills during empower and small group learning. And finally, we're excited to share the launch of our new special reading block for our 12-toone classes. This block is skill-based rather than grade-based, allowing students to work in flexible groups tailored to their individual needs using a variety of instructional resources such as Friends on the Block, Spire, and other teacher resources. Here is an example of the non-fiction writing unit that concluded the first unit on weather. Some classes chose to use Microsoft Slides book creator to create non-fiction pieces. This is a story by Nalia on hurricanes. You can see she used Google Slides, not Microsoft Slides, Google Slides. And then this is an example of another class who used good oldfashioned pen and paper to
029write a unit of excuse me, a story on floods. So we're showing you um different examples in each class how they use student choice whether they wanted to use technology or pen and paper and gather information using the non-fiction unit in the non-fiction unit in social studies. This is an exciting year because uh we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States. Uh so over the summer uh teachers at all the schools designed uh units with the children that will focus on that in the spring and we are also uh planning a fun celebration for our community. With that uh as I said social studies integrated into the unit uh we work with community groups such as the the Roosevelt Association. Uh Miss Caponia has arranged for someone from them to come and read
030to our students coming up. Uh this week we had a author visit also arranged by Miss Caponia. uh for the uh lunar new year which was wonderful for our children and we participate in uh the districtwide international night organized by the high school. So very similar to what Miss Small just said, we are also prepping for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the dec declaration of independence. Um over the summer our staff developed developed grade level curriculum and we'll be sharing and turnkeying that to all staff at our next faculty me faculty meeting. And in addition, we are also planning a schoolwide project in collaboration with Miss Miley in the art room and Mr. Harrison and Mr. Agustinini in the technology lab, creating an interdisciplinary experience for our students, so stay tuned. Um, other
031special events include our sixth graders visiting the high school to hear a Holocaust speaker, which unfortunately was rescheduled due to the snow day, but we are looking forward to coming in March. Vernon will also host a Lunar New Year dance performance by Leelu through Bosey's Arts on March 2nd. And in addition, we are also looking forward to celebrating international night at the high school once again on March 26th. In mathematics, uh we used the best instructional practice of starting with our concrete operational learners by having them do hands-on work with real manipulatives to start with a concept, build to pictures, and then build to the abstract algorithms. Uh working with just numbers and symbols. Uh, as you saw, we integrate science into some of our new literacy units and we do have for our students
032science technology education uh where once a week and an additional time in a series of rotations, our students work with Miss Dorio uh our science technology teacher and I invite everyone to check out news day on February 8th because she is the featured teacher. In addition to you'll be clapping again in a second because uh working at both our schools our technology uh coach Brian Agustinini is a featured presenter at the asset New York Tech Conference. [applause] We have new robots that the children are having fun programming. The PTA has been kind enough uh they are arranging for us to have virtual reality headsets at both schools. Our students uh participate in the science fair that we highlight on budget day. And we are very proud that both schools have been designated common sense schools
033by the common sense media organization. And the way we've earned that is the teaching of digital citizenship to children so that they uh know how to be safe and responsible in their internet use. So, we have many exciting STEM events planned at Vernon, which we spoke about already, including the much anticipate anticipated multiplication Super Bowl in which our third graders participate every year. This engaging event helps build fact fluency among our youngest learners at Vernon. We also have introduced MAGMA and Extra Math this year, which are skill and standardsbased programs that support targeted instruction and enhance small groupoup learning. At Vernon, we continue to expand interdisciplinary learning. across grade levels. Third and fourth grade are embedding crosscurricular projects into their literary literacy units. And fourth graders recently presented their explorers project integrating engineering, technology, and
034theater. In fifth grade, the market day project, which we'll see in the spring, gives students the opportunity to design, create, and market original products, showcasing creativity, and real world problem solving. And our sixth grade team continues to refine the ancient civilization civilization project which is now completed in school and includes multiple components that promote collaboration, critical thinking, and deeper learning across content areas. We recently hosted a very successful STEM night in partnership with the Long Island Children's Museum and Mad Science. Students rotated through hands-on stations such as building bird perches and exploring fire and ice demonstration demonstrations highlighting creativity and scientific thinking. This spring, our sixth graders are looking forward to a visit from the high school robotics club, and we are hoping that some of our fifth graders will also have the opportunity to
035experience their impressive work. Students will also participate along with TR in the elementary science fair this spring. We had more than 60 participants last year, and we're excited to see even greater involvement this year. given our common sense school recognition further uh that will further support the meaningful integration of technology into studenting experiments and we can't wait to see what they come up with this year. And finally, we are proud of our participation in the PSEG safety sleuth program. Miss Gentiel and the fourth grade teachers selected approximately 20 student finalists. Miss Capone and myself also got input this year, which was great. and uh we they um created posters on electrical safety and they were submitted to review. The selected winners will have their posters on display at the Long Island Children's Museum in the
036spring. So stay tuned. The program concludes with a presentation in the in the spring from PSENG highlighting both student and learning community partnerships. I must say they had the presentation last year. It's depending on weather and it was a very interesting presentation from PSENG. Who knew they did so much? Okay. Uh we're very excited and I want to do a shout out to Shannon as well because we now have uh created this summer by Shannon and the physical education teachers a comprehensive health education curriculum that is being car carried out uh as part of the children's time in physical education class. You can see [snorts] the range of different units that our children participate in. Here's September through January for each grade and here is uh February through June. So very important learning for our
037children. Of course, I managed to turn this off. Give me one second. I told you tech is always my fault. [laughter] >> Okay, good. All right, there we go. All right, [snorts] forward. There you go. Okay, just like TR, we also have a new health education at Vernon. Our topics are broken up by units rather than month and they follow um a curriculum created by both our PE teachers. Once a month in lie of their PE classes for the day, students go into the classroom and complete a health lesson from one of their units. Our Atlantis program at Vernon is getting a very exciting makeover. We have many new things to look forward to this year. Based on parent feedback, Miss Lauren will soon Lauren will soon pilot a mock trial unit. The team is
038also collaborating with the new Atlantis 7 at the high school on an interdisciplinary unit focusing on artificial intelligence which will include field trips to the high school to explore new spaces and preview opportunities for next year. I'm really excited to see what they come up with. We recently celebrated our first symposium in the new athletic center, a wonderful space to showcase students research projects. And they also just completed the AMC math AMC8 math competition for the second year in a row, scoring higher overall than they did last year, highlighting growth and achievement with the new program. I'd also like to highlight some exciting enhancements that we've had to our flex program at Vernon. We currently expanded Flex into fifth grade where students will learn French in addition to Mandarin. We are fortunate this year to
039have a full-time dualcertified f French and Spanish teacher who has been doing amazing work with our students. She recently finished her work with the sixth graders and is now teaching fifth grade and they are very excited to be learning French. They're already greeting me in the morning. I have to learn more French though now because I only know three words and croissant doesn't count. Sorry. Miss Wong is also a great asset at Vernon supporting both fifth and sixth grade this year helping to strengthen our world language program at Vernon. And to conclude our student achievement section, I'd like to highlight some data, some important points from last year's spring state exams. Participation on the ELA exam increased across the board with sixth grade up 5% and third grade seeing a significant jump of 10%. Taking
040these state exams helps prepare our students for future academic success and giving them valuable experience and confidence for exam they'll encounter later at the high school and beyond, such as regents and AP exams. This is a look at our math participation from last year. Nearly all grades improved by 2% or more with sixth grade showing an impressive increase at 14%. In the area of finance and operations, uh we worked on the operations end through our safety. Um, we want you to know that our students and staff undergo training in various drills and emergency scenarios and what to do in those situations. We were also very excited this year and I thank uh Moren and Patrick and everyone for helping us to bring in a choking workshop for the lunch monitors and aids uh from both
041schools at our fall superintendence conference day and before the start of school so that we are prepared for all emergencies. Um, as mentioned earlier, we are doing um CP getting more and more people CPR and AED trained. So, we thought we'd try something new this year to help show all the completed spaces at Vernon now that everything is done. So, special thank you to Mr. Agustinini who really loved the project we decided to do and kind of took on a kind of took on a life of its own. We have very special guest students from both schools. So, um, let's see our version of OEN cribs. >> Oben cribs. Hi, I'm Mrs. Small, the principal. Welcome to our house the Roosevelt Elementary School. I'm excited to show you some of the new upgrades that are
042helping our kids [music] to learn and grow. Come on in. You know what? Let me turn it over to the real experts, our students. Take it away, kids. >> All right, now we're heading to another part of the school that's got a huge upgrade. >> The stage has been cleaned up. Now we can finally use it the way it's supposed to be. The stage is ready for readers theaters assembly events. It gives students a place to practice teamwork public speaking and confidence. This is where stories don't just get read, they get performed. Our cafeteria has new skylights and new air conditioning. Mom, why are we talking about air conditioning when it's the winter? >> You'll appreciate it when it's June and it's really hot out. >> Welcome to PK. It's all brand new. Come see
043our brand new classroom. This is really funny. >> Well, that wraps up our tour. I'm excited about these changes for our school and most of all what it means for our students education. Well, thank you for dropping by the Roosevelt School and come back anytime. Hi, my name is Ava, the principal of Vernon. Welcome. >> Hey, Ava. What are you doing out here? You're supposed to be in class. I'm the principal, but why don't we have Ava here show us around some of our new spaces. >> Let's go. >> Come on in. >> Check out the new athletic center. Students can be seen enjoying the gym here, having recess when it's raining, and even having a presentation. What do you think about the new athletic center? >> I feel that the natural light coming in
044through these huge windows makes the athletic center so inviting. These floors, they're almost smooth as my slide. We cannot forget about the new basketball hoop. It's so much fun. We're going to brave the ice. We love the new hoop. Let's take a walk down to the brand new ENL and AIS. This is AIS. Check out the new ENL learning lounge. You're going to love this room. >> Look at how massive this room is. Now all ENL students can at Vernon can enjoy this beautiful room. >> Thank you for joining us to our Vernon cribs. Ava showed you all the best spots we have in the school, but now we have very important things to take care of. You don't have to go home. Can't save you. [laughter] [applause] >> Mr. Agustinini really helped us a
045lot with that and the students at at Ver I know it's a little bit different at the Ruse, but the students at Vernon came up with the script on their own. [laughter] Um, we work to build a culture of inclusion and kindness. Our children give back to the community through several special activities pairing with or community organizations and that's a fabulous experience for the children and the community. >> In addition, >> next sorry. >> Okay. In addition uh we work within our uh buildings to uh develop a culture of kindness. We have the ruler curriculum that for social emotional learning in both schools. We have special events such as world kindness day and unity day. And we also have a peer buddy program that pairs uh children in our self-contained special education classes uh with
046uh their general education peers. As a result of our programs that develop uh kindness and inclusion for our school, Roosevelt was recognized as a distinguished kindness school by the random acts of kindness organization this year. Okay. We help our f we also like to keep our community involved. We really want our parents to understand what the children are learning and we do so through a combination of parent workshops and curriculum nights that give them insights in with with with their child as they join them uh in what their child is learning in school. So we had several author visits at Vernon this year. We started off the year with David Soman and Soman and Jackie Davis, author and illustrator of the Elvis and Romeo series. We've also had several a virtual author visits arranged by
047Miss Duban and Dr. Zambelli. Something interesting to know that we is that we don't only get visits from authors but illustrators as well. And they often go through the entire creative process including writing and sketching that they have to go to to complete a book. It really is very interesting and some of the um illustrators even did a sketch session with the kids and they really enjoyed that. Um, as mentioned previously, we've also had several presentations that we invite families into school for, including our explorers presentation, which we just had this past week. We also have the wax museum to look forward to, market day, and the ancient civilizations project for the remainder of the year. Now, I'm going to show you some more of the fun stuff. We have our student council sponsored spirit
048week next week, which concludes collaboration with the ambassadors club in celebrating PS I love you day. Students are encouraged to wear purple and shower their classmates and teachers with kindness throughout the day. And we also have our fun and friendly staff verse sixth grade volleyball game. And I'm especially looking forward to this game this year as I think we finally have some competition. Our ambassadors club, a new club at Vernon last year, helps give students a voice in the building by helping with events and raising money for causes they believe in. Last year they even facilitated a game booth at the Nassau games for the physically challenged. I was fortunate enough to take a visit last year and it was really great seeing our student athletes and also our other students watching, cheering on and
049help facilitating a game. And lastly, we will be starting our Clash of the Colors very soon. It's our version of the color wars in which students get a color that represents their grade and then they can earn points throughout the spring for showing kindness and respectful behavior, attending school on time, and the infamous rock paper scissor showdown. Just some fun facts and stats to go over is that our fifth grade, our current fifth grade has one every year thus far. So, I'm really curious to see if they can make it a three repeat. Stay tuned. And as far as homeschool connections, as highlighted in the presentation, we're always inviting parents into the classroom. With Vernon being a very unique building, three schools built into one, we are going to be hosting several assemblies and transition
050meetings for all of our grades. New this year is we're going to have a fourth grade transition assembly for the fourth graders going into fifth grade explaining the partial departmentalization of the grade. Our fifth graders going into sixth grade will also have a buddy day similar to the ones our sixth graders currently do with the seventh grade where they travel to the high school. But during this day, our fifth graders will get to take a look at some of the lockers, experience using a lock for the first time, which is very challenging. It is an old school lock that not many people are used to anymore, including myself. They will meet the sixth grade teaching team and be exposed to a schedule where they switch every period. We are also working on incorporating more field
051trips into the school year for our students. We have some new ones coming up this year, including a trip to the planetarium. We also have some parent workshops. We have one with Joe Salamone from Lyab next uh next week. He will also be meeting with the students during respect for all respect for all week showing discussing boundaries using uh being respectful and how to deal with conflict in a mature way. We're also going to be inviting parents to a Zoom workshop to help educate and support children and families and schools with bullying related issues. And here are just some final pictures. Nope, there we go. Of some other events we had in the school this year. Uh we had our fourth grade winners for our community contest for the birds where their posters and signs
052are displayed along beaches on Long Island. We have a south visit from the high school that came right before winter break and two assemblies. We had the Harlem Magic Masters, always a positive experience for the students. And this year we have a little library outside of our school where you can swap books. Um that was implemented by Miss Duban. That's all we got. Any questions? [applause] >> I just want to thank you for that presentation. I was just so engaged by it. I think we should definitely share this presentation beyond just to the board of education. This is a perfect example of our school's excellence and I think everyone should have the opportunity to hear this presentation. Thank you both. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you as well
053for highlighting the opportunities for the students and highlighting their successes as well. I especially look forward to seeing that fifth grade market day project presentation and um just glad that we continue to uh bridge a connection between Vernon and the middle school high school with the robotics program with the Atlanta 7 and which transition in general. Thank you >> and thank you both. As said, it was an incredible presentation, really very representative of what's going on at our elementary level and um the video was incredible. It shows also the creativity of our students. Thank you. And um it also helps them gain their confidence, right, in public speaking. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> And thank you, Alex. Oh, yes. So, sorry. I'm sorry. [cheering] [applause] Thank you, Dr. Thank you. We're
054now going to move on to the approval of minutes. Do I have a motion to approve the board approve the meeting minutes as listed and attached below? Do I have a motion? Do I have a second? All in favor? I. All opposed? Motion carries. We're now going to move on to public participation of agenda items. In keeping with its philosophy of open communication and informed decision making, the board of education welcomes input from the community. However, it's important to note that while the board of education meets in public, it is not a meeting of the public. Respectful input and behavior by each member of the community is appropriate and expected at all times and should observe the following rules at board of education meetings. Board of Education comments from the public. Debate between members of
055the audience and or the board members will not be permitted. Board will not address personnel or individual student matters in public. No person shall present orally or discuss at any board of education meeting charges or complaints against individual employees directly or indirectly. The speaker shall identify themselves to confirm their residency in the district on the signin sheet. One person has signed in. Among questions 14% possible. participate. So in terms No, I do have so in terms of the that 14% um I can look at the presentation again but that 14% was the the number of of stu the percentage of students that did not take the exam. >> Yes, >> that's not it. >> Okay, let me I can just look at the presentation but I know. So yeah. So just to give you a
056a rough u a rough answer the in terms of the participation in the 3 to8 ELA right um the percentage of students taking the exam just focusing on the ELA we went from in spring 2021 we were at 76% of the students took the ELA right we last Um, last spring, spring 25, 84% of the students took the ELA. In mathematics, in the spring of 2021, 74% took the exam. And last spring, the spring of 2025, 84% took the exam. >> And that's across three to eight. So yes and consistently it's 80% against >> has been from it went from the time I arrived over here was at 74% for mathematics it went all the way to 84 last year and ELA went from 76 to 84 so I hope to bring it to 100%.
057Thank you. >> Well, now we now move on to the approval of instructional personnel items resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of school board of education of the Oyster Bay East Norwich Central School District hereby approves the instructional personnel items as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? Is there any discussion? All in favor? I. All opposed. Motion carries. We'll now move on to the approval of noninstructional personnel items. Resolved upon recommendation of the superintendent of schools. The board of education of the Oyster Bay East Norwich Central School District hereby approves the noninstructional personal items as in their entire do I have a motion? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? I. All opposed. Motion carries. Now move on to the approval of special services
058resolutions. upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools and the board of education of Oyster Bay East Norwich Central School District hereby approves special services resolutions as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? Do I have a second? Any discussion? All in favor? I. All opposed? Motion carries. Now move on to the approval of new business resolutions resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Board of Education of Oyster Bay East Norwich Central School District hereby approves the new business resolutions as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? Do I have a second? Any discussion? >> I just had a quick question um for 9.05 the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island. Is that a continuation of the current programming that's in place now at the high school. [snorts]
059>> Miss Rando, you >> Yes. This resolution will allow us to continue our partnership. Uh this program was piloted by Dr. Zanka last year for the first time. Um seven bigs for little kids last year. It's a school-based mentoring opportunity where students as considered bigs and 10 through 12 get to partner with 7 through nine. This year we have um recognized at a co-curricular club. Um Caleb Pollins is our adviser. This year we have six 17 uh excuse me 16 bigs as they call them between 10 and 12th grade and 11 and seven nth grade. >> Thank you. I heard that um the program does a great job of uh creating a supportive community where students feel a part of the bigger group. So thank you. >> And I would like to just thank the
060PTA for their support of field trips. I think field trips are so important. I'm so happy to see we're implementing field trips also at the uh middle school levels. >> Also just like a question 9.06. Can you explain the uh food service consultant? >> Sure. HMBB is a consultant we use for our food services. Um they are very well informed of child nutrition. Um, and they come in and help support us with all the state and federal carbons, making sure we're fiscally sound for our food program. Um, as we know, we use Witson as an outside organization. Um, so this is an independent um, consultant that comes in to make sure our food service is as strong as possible. >> Is that a requirement by New York State? >> No, it's something the district chooses
061to do funded by the cafeteria. >> But I saw something in there assist with some sort of reporting. >> They help us with the compliance reporting. Correct. Okay. And that is >> required required. Yes. There's a lot of um not only state but also federal um requirements for both reporting and reporting of the finances and reporting of the program. So they keep us on compliant with that. >> Very specialized knowledge. >> Any other questions or discussion? So back to So do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? All opposed. Motion carries. And as Miss said, thank you to the PTA for donation. We will now move on to uh opportunity for the public to be heard on non-aggenda items. Miss Amry Longa, >> thank you Dr.
062Aani for answering some of my questions from last board meeting, but still got questions. So, um I'll send this in an email to you tomorrow. So, that as well. So, um you stated that we will not you will not be presenting to the public on the un unassigned fund balance from this year until April. Won't you approve the budget in April, the current next year's budget? So, I find it kind of odd that that doesn't happen till April. Um, and how do we know that you're giving $1.5 million in an anticipated fund balance if you don't know what your unassigned fund balance is? That's a question. Um, you also stated that there's $3.826 million in the capital fund. So, my question is we haven't funded the capital fund in two years from what I can
063see. At the end of 24, it was 4.8 million so to speak and that was capital and technology. So, I'm kind of at a loss how we could be at 3.8. And is that just capital or is that capital and technology? Since we a voters approved $990,000 in capital, $480,000 in technology. So, I I'd like an accounting on that. And then another question is again, I know that the Capital Reserve has a time limit. So you are not going to ask the voters to extend the current capital reserve. So I think the community should understand what is changing in the capital reserve. Why do you have to create a new one and not expanding the current one as it sits? Uh what happens if you create a new one to the 3.8 so million dollars
064in that fund? Where does that go since it can't be spent unless the voters approve it? What happens if the voter doesn't approve a new fund? What happens to that money? So, and um the technology fund, how much is in the technology fund? And I'm assuming that the technology fund is not out of time, but the capital reserve is out of time. So, I again I don't understand that um where we are. When are we going to go over the line by line budget and the increase year-over-year? And what is our t what is the state tax cap? And do you have your um special ed your numbers from the state? How much money we're getting from the state? So I I'll I'll send it in an email, but I I guess I just like
065to know is the community going to be seeing all these numbers and so that you guys can discuss in public where all the reserves are going and so on. I'm I'm assuming we are, but um you time is running out and April seems kind of late. Miss Lango, I will um go through the questions and um and I'll make sure that uh your answers or your questions will be answered. We uh will incorporate also into the um the next presentation which is some of the the questions that you bring up about the reserve and everything. >> Thank you so much. Um the next person sign in Miss Dina Finley. >> So my question is what safeguards does the district have in place to ensure that decisions uh are aligned with district policy 7310 and that
066they are applied consistently across incidents. I also have a question, excuse me. Does the district use a standardized rubric or disciplinary matrix to ensure that similar actions by different students result in similar consequences? And also, do you audit do you have an audit process or blind record review that the district performed to verify that language is not escalated and that the outcomes are equitable across all student groups? >> Thank you. >> Would you like to respond? >> The last question I couldn't hear the last part of your question. I I I heard the first two, not this the last one. Sorry. I said that the district have an audit process or blind record review that performs to verify that language is not escalated and that the outcomes are equitable across all student groups. >> Sure.
067So in terms of um in terms of the safeguards that we have in place um we have you know obviously we have multiple steps that we follow but the administrative review where every disciplinary referral undergoes a review process by the building administration. Um and we want to make sure that the the documents reflect the uh the facts and the incidents in terms of the the the the most important part of the safeguards is the fact that we have a a robust um appeal process. This will serve as a a critical check and balance of what's going on in the building between the the um the administration level of the building and um district office and that that appeal process will continue all the way to uh the board of education. uh in terms of the
068um the similar uh infraction and similar disciplinary um decisions they are making. Uh the building uh maintains a sort of an accurate track of um you know infractions and consequences and they're proportionally um assigned and reviewed based on multiple factors such as age, prior history and all of that. In terms of the order process, we obviously uh review with the administrative team to make sure that um every infraction ultimately leads to a learning experience. Uh what what we are trying to do every day, what the administration is trying to do every day is try to um having a learning experience that goes far behind the disciplinary action. The disciplinary action is just the step for the learning uh process that we hope it it will it will take place. Um I hope I answer all
069your questions. Thank you. I'd like to open it up for a discussion for the board related to our trustee vacancy. So, this is a follow up to our discussion that we had at our January 20th meeting. I'd like to continue our discussion now regarding the trustee vacancy. Just to recap what we've discussed back on the 20th. As a board, we have three options. One, the board can appoint someone by resolution to the vacancy until the next election, which is May 19th, 2026. The board can elect by resolution to call a special election to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the vacant term. And third, the board can leave the position vacant until the election on May 19th, 2026. So it ask each of you if you have any thoughts comments on a board vacancy.
070>> Um I think after discussing the cost of a special election I think that that uh doesn't make a lot of sense. Um personally um I think that we should uh assign someone to the spot versus leaving it open through the end of the year. I think that it would be good for community outreach and um you know I think there are a lot of community members who have a lot of you know input and I think that a full board would be the best way to go. No, not to board to the administration. There there was one person that asked to pick up a packet but not related to the vacancy was related to the regular election. Correct. Okay. >> I don't think we should have a special election. We are couple months away
071from May. So that first option I I wouldn't support. But I am okay with [snorts] um running the board with one less person until May and then letting the community decide who who they elect and who they put forth and having three positions open for that May election. >> Uh not appoint anybody not have a special election. just have someone elect uh whoever wins in uh the June election or the May election. >> I have to say I I agree Mr. Ricard that the cost of the special election which based on timing would probably occur in April successive and then the cost of another election in May. Um so I'm in agreement that I think that is prohibitive. We wouldn't want to have that. I agree with Mr. Also I think that we have an
072express right now that board members sufficiently available. >> Yeah. Um, I originally thought that we should run a special election because I didn't like the idea of the vacancy. However, given the the notice requirements, we it the election would be within weeks of our annual election. So, that doesn't seem a good use of taxpayer dollars. Uh, I also think that it's really the community who should be deciding who board members, the board members who represent them. um I wouldn't feel comfortable making that decision on their behalf. So my pre preference would be to leave it vacant until um the community elected who they would like to represent them. It seems that the board you know is right now looking to continue with vacancy. Just a reminder what that will result in is that during our
073elections and our budget May 19th. Um there would then be three positions available. The two highest vote getters who get the two candidates get the highest votes fill fouryear terms and the third highest in terms of receiving votes would take office immediately but would just serve out the remainder of our vacant term which would be through June 30th of 2027. So they would be serving approximately the board to hear >> and if a community member is interested in uh fulfilling a board rule uh when would packets be available Miss Reena >> packets can be avail typically our packets are made available early in February I believe you've already had the attorneys look at them district court has already sent them to the attorney so we can release them as soon as the board makes their
074decision Thank you. >> It's on the district calendar. I believe it's April 20th. You're saying based on our discussion tonight, um the board will be keeping the position open and we will then during that election will responsible. >> So tomorrow we will make uh available three packets for board for members to pick up. >> Three available. >> One packet, three vacancies. >> Yeah. >> Three packets. >> No, one packet. Yeah. Many packets. >> Many packets. >> And it will be on the district calendar is on the April 20th at 5:00 p.m. is on the district calendar. need to be returned. >> They do on April 20th. >> And and could you let the community know when the deadline is to register the vote? >> All this information next week will be posted on the on
075the budget information page which I address at each of the budget meetings. So, the website will be updated this week with all of that those dates and the information. And then in my next budget presentation, I will remind everybody of those dates and where to find them on the website. >> Great. And and how do they register to vote? How do they register to vote? Do they have to do it? >> They can register with the county or we also have personal registration that they can see the district clerk and the administration building. >> I'll add that to the presentation. >> Perfect. Thank you. the current uh calendar that you we're going to be adopting is that both followed by Boseies and how many school district in Nassau County are following that or is this
076just have we conferred with what Nassor Boseies and is doing and does our school calendar align with NASA Boseis do you know So when we created the calendar, we kind of look at all the calendars around. So but the Bosey's calendar is sort of the main driving force. There are some holidays that do not match because we have some they have some >> but in terms of starting date >> time the start time >> starting time I I believe is um fairly consistent within a day or so. >> Okay, that's it. Thank you. I have a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> So move >> and a second. >> Second. >> Thank you everyone for attending the meeting tonight.