001Welcome everyone. Um, thank you for attending our our board of education meeting tonight. If everyone could please rise for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. I would now like to turn it over to Dr. Yanni for our superintendence report. >> Thank you, Miss Kra Javanni, and good evening everybody. Um, I hope everybody had a wonderful uh Thanksgiving break. I'd like to have uh Joanna Lisa give a student report. Joanna, good evening everyone. Um, I hope you guys all had an amazing restful break and a wonderful Thanksgiving. Just before the break, Oyster Bay High School held parent teacher conferences. Thank you to those who volunteered and to all the parents who came. Additionally, the high school shelter in place and early dismissal drill, which was a success. As for more recent events, just yesterday, the high
002school began to wear holiday pajamas on Mondays throughout December in order to express school spirit and get excited for the holidays. We also began our toy drive yesterday where students will be able to bring in new unwrapped toys to be donated for the holiday season. Tonight, our boys basketball team is playing in the Tom Robinson basketball tournament. And tomorrow, our girls basketball team will be playing in that same tournament. We wish them all the best tonight and tomorrow. After a fantastic play in November, followed by an amazing musical performance by Vernon. The high school is preparing for its next spring musical production, Once Upon a Mattress, which tells the story of The Princess and the Pee, through a unique perspective. Auditions are currently underway for any students who are interested. Finally, next Saturday on December
00313th, Oyster Bay will be holding its tree lighting and holiday stroll. The high school course will be performing there, so be sure to visit, enjoy some holiday festivities, and support our students. This That's all the news I have for tonight. Have a wonderful evening everyone. >> Great job, John, as always. Um, from uh November 17th uh through the November 19th, 64 students, uh, 10th grader 10th graders embarked on a three-day, twoight adventure. The itinerary was robust carrying them through five uh diverse colleges and universities. So they went to the college of New Jersey, Lyola University of uh Maryland, Georgetown University, University of Maryland and University of Delaware. This trip went far behind the mission statistics or standard campus tours. It was profound opportunity for these students to step into their futures. You know, Oyster Bay
004is one of the only few districts that has this kind of opportunity for our students. By visiting this university along with their friends, uh the student had a chance to really look in the future with friends and um our mentors, our colleagues and guidance counselors. So, I want to thank uh Dr. Diana, the Danka that is here, uh Miss Corbo, and the entire staff for making this effort possible. Thank you so much. This year uh this year marked our 10th annual musical production of Vernon featuring an incredible cast and crew of over 164 Vernon students uh that performed. Um it was incredible. We had almost 1,200 uh members of the community and parents attending which was wonderful. So I want to say great job to the entire department. They uh they are amazing and and
005every time uh they do even better all the time. Thank you. Just want to provide the community with an update from uh last board meeting and some of the information that um that we have been receiving. The first one is the banners uh survey that were posted in that were in the gym. Um the one thing I want to make it clear to the community is that the banners that were hanging previously uh they are not being destroyed. They are in a safe place. They're not going anywhere. Uh we are asking the community to fill out a survey and uh the link has been posted has been mailed at home. Um and the questions that the question that we asking is uh what they would like to do with the old banners. So one of
006the thing that I want to make it crystal clear is that we're not destroying it and they they are there to whatever the community will decide. So hopefully that will uh clear some of the misunderstanding that is out there. The second thing is I want to give an update on uh foil which is freedom of information. um documents they are requested under the New York uh freedom of information law which is called foil fo I l members of the public have the right to request access to district records with certain exceptions all foil requests for the district are coordinated through the district record access officer Zach Nyberg the district must acknowledge the receipt of the request within five business days of the request. Then we provide the record within 20 business days from the date
007of the acknowledgement letter. It is important to know that when a request is voluminous or complex in nature, the district may request a reasonable extension, typically 10 to 20 business days, to allow adequate time to locate, review, redact, and prepare the records. that will be released. Over the past year, the district that res has received 101 foil requests involving nearly 15,000 pages of records. One individual in particular has requested 78 of the 101 request involving just over 2,600 pages. We've been responding to all the requests in the order they are received. U another piece of information that I want to follow up since last meeting was um a board uh community member um asked was raised a question about where the $2.9 million in payments came from and whether the district needed another vote. When
008the community approved the bond in 2021, that vote also approved the taxes needed to pay back the borrowing over many years. Those payments were made from the district's regular debt service budget line. Beginning in 2023 24, all the depth came off the books and the district used the same voter approved debt service line to make the 2.9 million in bands uh principal payments over the three years. And there were approximately $1.5 million the first year, 800,000 the second year and 600,000 the following year. This approach was aligned in the November 18th uh presentation and that presentation I believe is posted on the website. So I I appreciate the chance to clarify this and at this point I would like to invite to the podium Dr. Aragan um for a presentation on the curriculum update to
009the board. Thank you. Uh good evening everyone and and thank you for the opportunity to share the work uh taking place under the umbrella of curriculum instruction uh and the support for all of our initiatives. I thank the the board of education particularly the members of the academic committee who so some of this will be a repeat uh for you of course thank you to our instructional leader Dr. Yani, Miss Rener to our student member. And probably that people don't thank the district clerk enough, but since she works for me during the day, I'll thank our district clerk for being here this evening. Um, and and before I begin, I want to recognize our two curriculum associates, Jennifer Componia, Kimberly Corbo, Jennifer Works at the elementary school level, Kimberly at the middle high school level,
010and every piece of what gets done in curriculum instruction. They they play a large part in that. uh as well as all of our uh district administrators, lead teachers, and uh other teachers who take part throughout the year. So today's presentation, we're going to break down into four areas. The first area is an overview of the 2024 220,25 state assessments, which will include three through eight testing in mathematics and English language arts, regent examinations, as well as advanced placement exams. Um second part will be a review of our summer curriculum writing highlights. Uh over the summer teachers and administrators comes together. It gives us an opportunity to reflect on what's working in our schools and what needs refinement. We're going to zero in for a little bit on just this past November's super superintendence conference
011day. It's where kind of positions change a little bit and the teachers become the learners. Uh we'll talk about uh our goals for that day and and what we hope we achieved last month. And then lastly, we'll talk about some general curriculum updates that have taken place already this year as we progress towards the board of education goals for 2526. So in in thinking about state assessments, um they're important much like when you think of a report card for a student, um you know, their their test grades tell one piece of the story and then there's other parts about the whole child. Uh similarly, if we if we think of a school district and think about uh how kids do on state assessments, uh it's an important snapshot. It gives us insight into student learning,
012curriculum effectiveness, and our overall school performance. Um and and it is important to to share that information with the community at large. Uh the community should understand student achievement and growth. Uh how we look to evaluate our instructional programs, the guide we use for our strategic planning. you'll see some alignment to assessments, to curriculum writing and curriculum uh initiatives. It should all come together. And it's also important to communicate accountability and transparency. So, the the first block of assessments are the the New York State assessments, ELA and math, grades three through eight. Um and and the goal and purpose of three through eight assessments is to be an early indication of how students are doing. the the idea was not to wait until kids were getting close to high school and potentially struggling graduate, struggling
013being college and career ready. So these exams were designed uh early on to see which kids maybe needed advanced work, which kids were right on target where they should be and and which kids need needed a little help push to to progress. Uh through the years they've taken on some different purposes linked to teacher evaluation and some things where I feel like they were sidetracked and now we're kind of bringing them back to their original purpose which is to see how students are doing. Um and you know an important piece that we look at too is how many kids participated in the exams. Um, so we're we're proud to say we have a a higher participation rate across the board than than Nassau County, but we we do still want to engage with parents um
014and make sure kids are participating. It's it's good for the students. We we've seen that kids who participate in the exam, it correlates with higher regence exams. It's good for us as a school district because it gives us a better data set. Uh we were really excited and proud last year. Our third graders at Vernon had a 95% participation rate. Uh I think our sixth grade as well was 91%. So we're we're starting to see an upswing. And I I think it's important for community to know that no longer are these tests used specifically for teacher evaluations. Um they really are important. We've worked the state has worked hard to get the assessments to us sooner and now we've worked harder to get them to parents. uh all state assessments are now available through eSchool
015through a platform called Ed Vista. So those are already already up and available to students at the start of the school year. So teachers can see it, but but also parents have the opportunity to check in on on how their students are doing. And again, it's just a snapshot. Some kids perform better on tests than day-to-day. Some kids perform better dayto-day. It's just one piece of information whether you're looking at it as as teacher or parent. So, our three through eight assessments, um, I look across grades three through eight. And what I really try to do is is look at each band of assessments in in three ways. I look to see how the kids did compared to how they did the prior grade, right? So, how did our fourth graders do compared to how
016they did as third graders? How did our seventh graders do compared to how they did as sixth graders? And there we're looking to see if their growth is there growth as as a cohort of students. I also look at uh the same grade level year-toear. You know, are we seeing uh repeated excellence in grade four, which which we are we we see really good results in grade four. How are we doing? What are our trends at a particular grade level? Uh you know, in with that particular assessment and and the types of questions that are asked, right? The third graders aren't asked the same to do the same things as eighth graders. And we also as a control, we look at a regional comparison. You know, h how did our students do compared to the
017region? And I think as most people know, Nassau is a very competitive region. We have very good schools in Nassau County. Kids do really well. So, so when we look at these charts, the Oyster Bay kids are our blue column. Uh, and you can see that grades four, five, six, and seven outperforming each metric and that grade eight showed a significant growth and a posit positive regional comparison of of 18 points. Um, so a lot of excellent work happening in ELA. Um, and this this correlates with a lot of the work that that we're doing uh with our curriculum um with more to come because we haven't really seen the benefit of full day prek, new science of reading based uh literacy in grades K to two. So I I anticipate stronger trends going forward
018in ELA grades three to three through eight. Uh in math three through seven again Obay would be the the blue column very strong growth comparisons to prior grade levels. Um we see grades four and six as well as significant positive positive regional comparison in grades four, six and seven. Um so we look really closely at all of these not just at at a how did a grade level do or how did a student do but how did we do on a particular question. I know Miss Capony, one of her favorite things to do is sit with elementary school teachers and look at the wrong answer analysis and say, "Where did our kids struggle?" Um, and you get it does get that granular. So, the more kids who take the tests, the more robust our data
019sets, the better we can do to inform our instruction. Moving forward to regent exams, uh, you know, we're making that jump then from uh, did I skip a slide? Yeah, skip the slide. Um, we also look at the results like I said to to differentiate and and to scaffold for kids. Um, so these assessments you for parents in elementary school and and Mill you probably heard of I Ready. It's it's an assessment that kids take three times a year uh in starting in grade kindergarten in the fall, winter, and spring. Uh we've completed all all of those assessments at diagnostic. We we give our kindergarteners a little bit of time. we don't hit them right at at the start of the school year, but but even they have had their their first assessment. Um, and
020what it does is it really provides information. Uh, kids could be in the red or the yellow or the green. Uh, at the start of the year, most kids are are at yellow. Uh, which is a little strange, but the idea is where are they heading? Um, so so we I always look at the analogy like what do you do when you see a yellow light? So early on in the year when you're in no rush and you see a yellow light, it really doesn't bother you much. You slow down, you take your time. As the year goes on, if we're running out of time on that grade level and we're still in yellow, we we speed up a little bit. We we push a little more. We provide a little more information for the
021kids. We want them we want to know where where they're meeting success um where they're not and be able to push them forward. And the goal in one vantage point is to prepare them for for regent exams. Now for many years, regent exams have been really critical for uh graduation. Kids for for many years now have had what they call a four plus one. They have to pass four regent exams and then another or or another pathway in order to graduate. Um there's a lot of conversation in the news that this is changing in in upcoming years starting with the cohort entering high school in the fall of 2027. Uh but but for now, regent exams play an important part for kids. You know, this isn't an early warning system. The these are the tests
022they need to pass to go to to graduate. These are tests that go on their transcript. So definitely uh more important than than the three through eights in in terms of being high stakes. So if we look at all of our assessments that that kids took last year, we saw that the overall passing rate for 220 2025 was 84%. Uh so that 84% was an increase of uh of 3% was 81% in 2024 and our mastery rate has remained constant at around 34%. For mastery kids need to achieve an 85 or better. Um and again we look very closely at the data. Um there's als we also look at changes and trends and what's happening with with the exams. So so this year heading into to June we know that earth and space science and
023biology will be new assessments. Um so new assessments are always a challenge. You know teachers are now teaching something a standard is different but they're also not used to the the flow of a particular assessment that they're preparing the kids for. So that's always takes more time. uh and following right on the heels of earth science and uh biology will be chemistry and physics. So we're paying close attention to our our science results. And I'm going to talk a little bit later about how in some instances it doesn't feel like our regent results and uh AP results correlate really well. We're you know our teachers some of our teachers are challenged with teaching to two uh commencement assessments at the same time. both regent exams and and AP exams and and we can talk about
024that data. It kind of gives us a closer look to how kids are doing overall again. So when we we look at all of our regent exams very similar we we look how a particular assessment has done over a few years. Um it doesn't correlate exact as easily as like a three through eight ELA in math because the courses are different. Earth science is different than bio. Bio is different than chemistry. World language versus US history. Even the mathematics most are algebra based but geometry is not. So so it's not as uh telling to look from one year to the next. Uh but we look at trends. So so for example when we look here uh our global history exam has consistently maintained high passing rates in in the 90% uh without much fluctuation. Again
025US history also our our kids have done extremely well in both of those exams. Um, on the mastery side, we we see a little a little more fluctuation, a little bit lower percentage. Um, you know, and we're you see we're we're in the purple there. You know, in my experience, this has become less and less uh reliable with with changes to cut scores and there's been a little bit more volatility in um in where kids are receiving mastery. So, so just just to highlight that in US history, our mastery rate was less than 30%. and the same in the same courses in AP US history 100% of the students achieved three or higher which is a 27 you know 27 percentage points higher than the nation so I think whenever we look at one assessment
026as a snapshot let's look at other assessment with the same group of kids same content area and see see what other assessments are showing us as well so in a a definitely look at some of our some of Our particular highlights um earth science performance uh has remained stable and passing rate was in a 90% last year. Uh living environment uh source showed some fluctuation down to 81% and back to 87% in 2025. Uh chemistry as well had a a bit of a an anomaly dip in 2024 and and came back up in 2025. Algebra 2 passing rates also we had a dip and then recovered in 2025. Uh, ironically, these are all assessments that are going to change either this year or next year. Uh, so definitely keep we'll keep a close eye on
027on how kids are doing with those. Um and and one of the things I'll I'll just point out in terms of uh regent exams in particular, you know, Miss Miss Corbo at at the high school, we today we had uh I got to witness a faculty meeting and the work she was doing with teachers using artificial intelligence as as a tool to examine results. And you know the the basis and if I get this wrong Miss Corbo I I did my best to to take notes but um data analysis looking at uh you know a high school teacher might have a hundred students and maybe you know 60 students for a particular class looking at all of their results comparing it to standards comparing it to a gap analysis of how our kids did compared
028to kids in uh you know other school districts. Um, and then combining that together for then what should the next lesson look like? To do that using artificial intelligence is is saving a great deal of time with a great deal of support from from someone who's leading them instructionally and the work they're doing together with the lead teachers uh to take a really close look at at all this data. So it's not you know regent is done in June everything gets put on a shelf and then we see how we did next June using that data as a piece to inform the quarterlys which inform the midterms and preparation for our our teachers. There's a lot of work behind the scenes going on kind of taking it to to our next level to advanced placement
029courses for those who may not have experienced that yet or maybe your kids didn't get to the high school. Advanced placement exams are assessments that are connected to college level courses that students take in high school. Uh they give the kids an opportunity for for rigor, for challenge to exp, you know, uh higher level critical thinking and problem solving. Uh in some instances, they they can uh save parents a couple bucks with with some advanced placement credits that that become uh college course credit when the kids get off. And you you hear a lot of times kids will enter college and they'll be in their second semester or by their second semester they'll be sophomores. And sometimes that can help kids graduate early or or just help them to not have as much stress and
030much classes on them in high school. And they're really excellent ways to prepare kids for academic success. And in fact, we have some kids who take a lot of advanced placements exams. Um, but the biggest bump that you see for for advanced placement for college readiness is between zero and one. So, so it's really important for for kids to have that one experience whether it's an advanced placement class or dual enrollment to to leave high school with an experience doing college level work sets them on a trajectory for success in college. Uh, you could see a little bit of how we did is kind of an overview. uh students scoring three or higher was 84% which I just realized is the same percent as our region passing. So my father-in-law would say play that number.
031So 84 is a good number for us tonight. Um we are see if you look at some of the data in terms of number of kids testing we're seeing a slight decline. uh we've kind of looked at that data. We think it's due in part to our class sizes are are a little bit smaller and we also see a lot of kids parents kind of between them taking the choice to do dual enrollment courses. So on on top of our AP courses for example 51 students took a college level English course tied tied to university or another 12 took a college calculus course. So, so some kids are are taking that pathway to prepare themselves for college and we want to provide a wide range and options for both for kids. Um, it's always nice
032in in these charts to see an upward trend. Uh so you see an increase where we're we're heading from 2001 of 62% to 2005 84% and these are level 3es uh for on the AP exam which shows us that that more and more higher percentage of our kids are better prepared for college level work. Uh it shows that the instruction and the programs that our teachers are putting forward are effective. Um and it should translate to more college readiness for our kids as they reach to the next level. Um over the next two slides, I'll go back and forth quick. Uh the first thing that jumps out to me and for for a smaller high school, the wide range of offerings is terrific. You know, it's really great to have so many options to give
033kids the chance to challenge their skills. Um you might have one kid who really would excel in the humanities and want to take AP seminar and AP research and another kid who technology is an AP computer science. Um, so having that wide range of offerings is really important. I I think that helps us get more and more kids to participate, more and more kids college ready. Uh, and then there are some kids who will just take everything we throw at them. I think we have some of them sitting over here here today. We'll hear from them in a bit. But, you know, having those different opportunities. And again, this is data that we look at carefully. Some of these courses represent only a few kids taking the assessments and and some of the courses we
034have we have a lot of kids and and there's some where it's our goal to start thinking about what we're doing as early as third grade to to put them on a path so more kids choose some of the AP classes. We'll talk a little bit more about them, you know, as we go. Uh just of note in some of our AP exams, um kids can start taking AP exams like AP Seminar and AP Human Geography in 9th or 10th grade. Um this is another big indicator for for kids. It's a great way for them to build strong study habits as as they work through then the rest of their coursework. Um it gradually prepares them. the college boards, AP assessments, many of those that are are work for ninth and tth grade uh are
035a little bit more accessible to kids and and kids who take those usually take many more. Um we we're heading towards a new offering next year which again would would be uh AP pre-calculus to to give another option for kids. Uh, and that's where one for some kids that might be their terminal math class, the last math class they take getting AP credit and for others it'll be on their pathway to uh AP Calc AB or AP Calc BC. Uh, so we're really excited about that new offering next year. Um, so some highlights and I kind of just broke into two areas, you know, STEM, science, technology, engineering, mathematics type courses, uh, and then the humanities. Um, in STEM, something that really jumped out for us, uh, was physics. Our our physics one, 83% scored
036three or higher. It's a 17 point advantage over the nation. Um, so we really saw that and not a single student in AP physics scored a one. Everyone scored a two or higher. And like I said, most were three, four, or five. Um, we're seeing excellent results in uh, computer science. Um, but what we want to do is get more kids involved and engaged in taking the AP computer science courses. Our kids who are taking them are really succeeding at high levels. We want to get more kids involved, more more kids interested. So, we've been talking about how we feed that that pipeline. Um, in in the humanities, I had mentioned earlier our uh AP US history, how successful our kids were. uh but also AP Seminar, AP Research. Uh all of our students in
037AP Seminar, AP Research, AP Lit, AP US History, and Spanish scored had scoring rates of four and five, far above the national average. Um again, AP language, some of AP Lit, some of those tests. We want to see more kids. We know some kids, families are are doing the dual enrollment college piece, which which is good also, but we want kids who more kids succeeding in these rigorous courses. So we'll provide those opportunities. All of this comes together in terms of AP honor role. Uh so usually by now someone gets to stand up here and report on how how our AP honor roll but the college board pushed it back to to the winter sometime in January. Um so so last year we we received gold standing uh at Oyster Bay High School which is
038a credit to all the work everyone's done to our our fine high school principal. Um, and if you look at the breakdown of the subcommittees, in most areas, two of the three, the school district was platinum, uh, which is the highest level you can be. So, um, another thing that I'm sure the community uh, may have already know and and should be proud of is that Oyster Bay High School was given the AP access award for its work, including students from underrepresented populations, which just means we're working hard to to get all kids to have these advanced opportunities. So, a credit to our high school administration to to our counseling office to make sure kids have the right opportunities. Moving ahead from from assessments into some summer curriculum. So, one of the things that that
039takes place over the summer is curriculum writing uh where where teachers come together with administrators to plan for for the upcoming year. And this isn't, you know, detailed lesson plans for every single lesson for the year, but it does set a scope and sequencing course for for courses going forward. Um, I would like to thank the the board of education for uh the funding for this. Um, you know, I I've said before that the school district budget is a statement of your priorities and by putting forth the these funds, uh, it sets a good tone for for the teachers that they're prepared and, uh, expect them to do the work as they come forward, uh, to start the school year. So, this is just a sample of of work that was done this past summer,
040and you could see it ranges from preK through advanced placement courses. Uh it's covering everything from elementary health to cutting edge datadriven training programs for students with disabilities. Uh several of the projects address new assessments, both regent exams and advance advanced placements. Um and and one of the really motivating ones that a few of us worked on helped to plan for our national celebration of our independence. It's the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the New York State Standards only has that particular topic in three maybe four grade levels across K through 12. Uh so we had teachers from the Roosevelt, from Vernon and from the middle high school setting up units of many units of study that will cover everyone will touch that topic this year during the 2526 school year. Um
041so so one of the first um areas of curriculum writing was also a new course. So we we have started this year and I actually spent some time there last week in Atlanta 7. Uh it's a humanities/science research course for seventh graders. Uh this is the first time we we've extended the Atlantis program uh from Vernon up up to the middle school. At least is at least maybe the first time that I'm aware. I know this building's been here a long time, but in in recent years, uh, there was a science eight research and there and Vern and had it going at sixth. So, we jump filled that gap between seventh and eighth grade. Um, and you know, and we're looking to to do more of that at the middle level. One of the things
042we did last year for the first time is the AMC math exam for the eighth grade, sixth through eighth graders took that competitive math exam. Uh, so we're trying to uh increase the rigor in in middle school. So we're we're seeing great results. Um and you know Dr. Yanni took a particular interest in this one and and facilitate a meeting with our uh consultant who does our you know science research at the highest level to working with the teacher and providing him guidance as part of the the curriculum writing to see if we want kids to get here by their junior year what should they be doing as as seventh graders. So that kind of uh backwards design beginning with an end in mind where where are they going and providing that that connection to
043then the curriculum writing which took place for seventh grade. Uh we're seeing some terrific work already taking place in our Atlanta 7 course. Um, as I had mentioned earlier, our 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, starting with kindergarten and with things like how was the USA created, working our way through Vernon and and talking about a celebration of freedoms with a a unique uh model built off off a newspaper and then all the way up to our our social studies teacher, Mr. Sally, did a terrific job weaving American history through social studies courses that weren't in American history. And what are similars? what are parallels, what other documents exist around the world that that relate to the de declaration of independence that this can be a part of of the work that they do
044in all of those courses. Um so that was uh really exciting to have um kindergarten, sixth grade and and high school teachers working together and talking about what they were doing for for this topic. uh we attended uh seminars together uh from professors from from Harvard talking about this work for school age and really uh came together with some some really engaging mini lessons for this year and I think again it's also a model for any special instances where we say how often do we plan vertically right how how often is someone from the high school uh talking to a kindergarten teacher about how are we going to discuss this subject so uh excellent work there looking forward to seeing that take place. Um, on the STEM side, again, one of the great advantages we
045now have with 72 full-time preK students is to not only give them the basics, but to go beyond. Um, so now our UPK students actually have the science embedded into into their program. Um, and we had no curriculum for it. We we had a willing teacher. We had 72 kids. We just needed to to come together with some some projects for the year. So, we did work in preK. We are continuing to work on our math uh go math. This is year two of not a new textbook series but a new version of the textbook series where everything was broken down a little differently. Um so we did some work there. Our teachers algebra 2, earth and space science and biology all did work towards new regent exams and uh AP exam in in art.
046We had some art teachers work. So so a lot of different work in uh STEM and steam. Um, one of the things that's that's sometimes tricky to teach in my experience at the elementary level is health. Uh, common branch teachers, they they do a lot of other work in ELA and math, social studies, and science. And then health sometimes can get lost in the sauce. Um, so we came up with a model and and we were thrilled to find out when uh we started thinking that all of our elementary fizzed teachers are also certified health teachers. Um, so we looked at the scheduling and we we looked at their content area and did some curriculum writing. So now every uh every student grade K to six will receive uh nine or 10 depending on the
047grade level kind of mini unit lessons um from a certified health teacher as as a push into that program. We were able to fit it into their existing schedule. So, is it no no additional cost, but now having that health expertise, working and and teaching at the earliest level of of our health curriculum. And I know Shannon's upstairs watching basketball, but Miss Mcate did a terrific job working with our uh elementary teachers and coordinating and had a really had a vision right off the start of how this could work and how we could improve health instruction for at the elementary level. um at the high school kind of right around the corner, we we've created a what's called a PAS lab. Um and and Pays Lab is something most folks probably aren't aren't familiar with,
048but it's designed to help uh students with disabilities in their workforce readiness. Um it starts with simple tasks and builds as as students go. Um and it provides data. So, so just as we look at data for how our kids might be doing on a calculus course, we're going to look at data for how our kids are doing in their vocational training. So, we're really excited about having the PAS lab um up and running and you know few students this year. We're figure more and more students will take part. So, it was a good after the training took place in the spring, construction of the space and then some curriculum writing this summer. So that that one was uh unique to our special education but a terrific program. Superintendent Conference Day which was I guess
049about almost almost a month ago um was on November 4th. Um and in my role it's one of the things that I coordinated and and I really want it to be a signature experience right for for our staff is one of the there's really two days a year where we have everyone in a captive audience. Um, one is the first day everyone's back from the summer and that's a really tough time to be a captive audience. There's a lot of anxiety. There's a lot of work to be done. There's a lot of people who haven't seen their friends in 10 weeks. November is a little different. It's a little bit better uh pace of a day. So, we want to create good opportunities in learning for our teachers so that they can turn around and
050do the same thing for our students. Um so really there were two main focuses this year and um at the middle high school level most of our uh faculty took part in a program called youth mental health first aid um at uh Vernon and and Roosevelt was kind of a mix of of professional development and grade level meetings. our our special education TAs had had specialized training and some of our teachers in in unique courses in the arts and ASL and computer science went to uh different uh programs outside of of the district that day. But like I said, probably 90% of our uh teachers at middle school and high school took part in youth mental health first aid. Um if you're not familiar with the program, it's not to make your uh common area
051teachers mental health professionals. We we have those folks. Um but just like our coaches take first aid because they're out there to support our kids as needed on the field, our our teachers should should be armed with youth mental health first aid. Uh so that they are better prepared for kids. Um the CDC stats on kids and mental health in our country right now aren't very good. um slightly better this year than some years. But we also find across the country a lot of kids with unmet mental health challenges just in 2023 just some data 40% of high school students reported sadness or hopelessness, 20% seriously considered suicide. 16% made a suicide plan and 9% attempted. Uh 60% of children ages six to 17 show all three of certain flourishing indicators. Right. This is the
052opposite that idea of curiosity about learning, staying calm when faced with challenges. So we partnered with the association for mental health and wellness which is a nonforprofit out in Suffach County. They provided the training under a grant from Mahaneis the mental health association of New York State. So the training was free. Um but they they have certain requirements. So they were able to send us uh two staff to do 30 of our teachers. Then they got two more to do 30. And then we we asked if they could do even more. So then they found two staff from upstate New York who did a virtual training for our teachers so that we could get that that critical mass all in one day. Um and and it's really about awareness. It's about our staff being able
053to recognize a sign that a kid might be struggling. You know, make that approach to them and then encourage them to get the the support they need. Um so we're really excited that we now have u almost all of our middle high school teachers trained in that regard. Um also on the social and emotional learning uh for many years the district has used the ruler program through through Yale. We uh kind of renewed that again this year and our uh principles, assistant principles, our elementary curriculum associate did training on on ruler at our two elementary schools to help our younger students. And Dan Gatau, our behavior uh specialist, did training with our TAs on crisis prevention intervention uh for kids who need additional types of support. Uh, also all of our counselors, school psychologists, social
054workers sat in on the training with the teachers even though it's training they obviously have already had. Um, but it's important for them to hear what the teachers are hearing so that we can combine to support our kids. Uh, other big areas where we're in STEM. Um, so few things that are happening. We instituted a magic school AI this year. Uh, so we've had some training there. our uh again that vertical partnership. We have our one of our teachers on special assignment at the middle high school partnering with our teacher on special assignment for tech at at the elementary schools and performing. There's no better way to say it. They literally were performing as characters from from Harry Potter and and engaging student uh teachers in this new technology to support their their students. So,
055Magic School AI is uh is an artificial intelligence uh tool for teachers, but also for students and has a curriculum built in so kids can learn uh to use it safely. Another big thing in in the mathematics area is a program called Magma Math. Uh and it's a program many school districts are are utilizing to help kids show what they know and and student teachers to collect data instantly. Um, so we we had a a a plan going forward to bring on MAGMA in 2026 27 uh and we were lucky to negotiate a a free year to introduce start to train h have teachers uh work with them. So, we had training for our elementary schools uh in November and I think we have training soon next week I think at for our secondary math
056teachers in in the program. We had a check-in meeting last week and we already have uh some teachers who've really taken to it. So, everyone's been trained and we're seeing a lot of support and working hard to get more training so that come next year we we hit the ground running again. Magic School AI. We've had some good things. We're working on uh personalized learning using it for teachers. It it's a very new technology. Uh Magic School is is the leading uh school platform in in the country. So uh a lot of different folks working with that. Um and like I had mentioned when we talked about regent exams, earth and space biology, uh our earth and space teachers and biology took took a deep dive that day. we kind of exclude excuse them from
057other things to really work towards that goal that that new assessment. Um and and there's probably some science folks in the room who know this better than me, but the there you you used to be able to do really well on the Earth Science Exam just looking at uh you know the guidance document that came with and looking at the tables and it was assessment that you could really practice and get kids prepared for. Um and the way it now it's really different. it's you know it's clusters of questions for a particular topic could be nine to 11 questions. Um so there it's just a different way of thinking and and we you know you're looking at more in some ways like teaching it as reading in the content area. So spending a lot of
058time and giving those teachers they they knew right from the start this is different than what they've been doing. So giving the time over the summer giving days like this uh sets them up for our best success. some general curriculum updates. Um, you know, just some some thoughts that I've been thinking about and and sharing with our administrative team is is looking how can we embed future ready skills into everything that we're doing. Um, you know, categories being cognitive, interpersonal, self leadership and and digital. They correlate really well with anything that you look at the college where kids will do well in college and and certainly much further in terms of the world of work. What are the types of skills? what are employers saying young adults need to be able to do? So, we
059try to embed that in the work we do. Um, you know, just five updates in terms of our individual arts pathway, next generation graphing calculators, uh, the use of of new technologies, uh, Wilson reading and the science research program, which I guarantee will be the best part of my presentation because I've got special guests, uh, who will come up and and hope to bring it alive for for the board and for the community. Um but first one is our uh individual arts assessment pathway and this is just simply a new graduation pathway where kids take the same four assessments they did and now prioritize in the arts. It's a multi-year program that's portfolio-based. So kids really get started in ninth grade and and then work their way through. Uh so big thanks to Erica Jiglio
060Pac who worked we got it we got it approved already. So we're we're set to go with the state approval. I know she did a training for myself and for for our counseling staff and now leading that out to kids, you know, for for the years to come. Um, different than the CTE pathway which we already had for the broadcasting studio. This will really be uh visual arts and and music. Um, we don't think it's going to change the way students will graduate, but we do think it opens them up to their passion. We do think it rewards the work that they can have that designation as well as their uh other achievements. Um, next generation graphing calculators is another thing we're working towards. I know it's a passion of Mr. Copax as a as
061a math educator himself. Um, and we we thought again this is another thing we would thought we maybe were a year out seeing how we could get some things in place uh in terms of how kids will work with different technologies in in mathematics. Uh Rob Lcastro, our assistant principal here at the high school, also works really closely with our math department. uh met with them, talked with them, did a survey, looked at different types of calculators. He's been communicating with with New York State for us in terms of getting that approval. Uh so we're well on our way to moving in that direction with these next generation graphing calculators. Um and just the just the what kids will be able to now visualize conceptually in mathematics that they couldn't do on uh regular graphing
062calculators. uh collaboration and discussion. Again, very similar to like a magma math where things are displayed, kids see what they're doing, they share their work, they see what others are doing, teachers are able to see what misconceptions are, connecting to the real world. So, uh well on our way to to moving forward with with Desmos and again like I said, thank thank you to Mr. Liccastro. you know as I had mentioned earlier uh and and we saw today utilizing artificial intelligence for for teachers for data analysis and for instructional planning um it's all very new uh it's changed drastically just in the past few months or maybe the past few weeks and I haven't checked anything since this afternoon so there might be something new out there um but you know teachers are working hard
063at that and trying to leverage uh what's available to support our Um, you know, one of the things that, uh, I've always been a big fan of, and I know something we're we're building towards, is more teachers, uh, certified in specialized reading interventions. Um, we want these interventions to be available to kids uh, pre uh, special education if if we can uh, do that, but also available to kids who with special education, with special needs, who who require a special class reading program. Um, so to become Wilson certified is is really a a long um and detailed process and we were lucky to get five teachers who wanted to to go on that journey this year and they're well on their way. Um, so we've have uh three general education teachers, two special education teachers
064who've who were trained last spring, came together over the summer and have been working uh really hard towards having this this particular certification. And and these are kids who are re to support kids who are really struggling in reading have this specialized to and we have some teachers already but to to add five more to our team to be able to provide this support. Uh they're already working with students but but by next year it gives us even more flexibility. Uh so they're well on their way. I I think they're trying to set a record and we say to be the fastest to ever complete the certification. U when they get together they call themselves the Wilsonetses. uh which again to me they when I saw them together and they shared that you know it
065was a moment where we we got a chuckle just like you did. But if you think about some of the most uh effective measures in in education probably one of the top things a kid can have is a teacher who believes that they can make a difference uh for that kid. And and the only thing that's stronger than a teacher who thinks they can make a difference for a kid is a group of teachers who can think they make a difference for even more kids. So So that sort of camaraderie, that coming together, that cohort model, we're going to do this together and support kids is going to be really powerful for for years to come. So I'm I'm really excited about that opportunity. Um and and another big piece we we've been looking at
066is our our science research. Um and you know Dr. Yanni this is I just I know it's such a passion of his. He works with Dr. Mala from my research and try to restructure this and and how can we provide kids you know worldclass opportunities. Uh we've got a new teacher in science research this year Mr. Moy who's teaching kids from middle school all the way up to our our advanced research classes. We're tying that to uh Atlanta 7 and now we're looking to tie it back even down into the other other Atlantis doing some collaborative work between Atlantis and and Atlanta 7 and and try to have this this pipeline of opportunity. Um and and tonight it's it's my pleasure to introduce two students who who have been on that journey. uh they're far
067from done because with with all their amazing accomplishments, they're they're still just a sophomore and and a junior. So, they've got a lot more education and research to come. Um so, this fall, our sophomore, Ella Copax, and and junior Christa Thomas already advanced as semi- finalists in the Association of Chinese American Physicians back in the fall. Uh it's a nationwide research and scientific program. Uh they were both semi-finalists. They were both invited to present in in Flushing. I think October 19th they went out uh and both were recognized as honorable mention. So at this point it gives me great honor uh to introduce Ella and Christa. They're going to talk a little bit about their research journey and the projects uh that they've been working towards and and probably are continuing to head into the
068the science research season for the springtime. So Ella and Christa, why don't you come on up? Good evening everybody. My name is Christa Thomas and I conducted research this year focused on elucidating the influence of gene expression pathways on breast cancer nuclear morphology. So according to the American Cancer Society, one out of every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. And out of those women, black women tend to have higher mortality rates than their non-black counterparts, which fueled my passion for breast cancer research and just diversifying the horizon of it. So breast cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease with diverse molecular subtypes and the tumor micro environment contributing to its complexity. And central to this heterogeneity is signaling pathways which regulate key cellular functions such as survival and proliferation. And disregulated
069pathways in breast cancer not only drive rapid cell division but could also alter nuclear architecture. And in breast cancer specifically, enlarged nuclei is a sign of increased tumor aggressiveness as well as worsen prognosis, making it a key morphological marker of disease progression. However, there's not many studies that clarify pathways that are actually causing this nuclear enlargement in breast cancer. So my research focused on identifying those pathways that are governing this nuclear nuclear enlargement in breast cancer to provide targets and biomarkers for breast cancer therapeutic development. So with the help of Dr. Mala, my research coach and my mentor, I was able to do a lot of literature review and create five objectives um for now for my research which include um uncovering the transcriptional heterogeneity of breast cancer as well as identifying co-expressed gene sets
070that differ in breast cancer compared to non- breast cancer cases. and then from those gene sets identifying genes that are significantly associated with nuclei size and then using those genes to find pathways that they enrich and then uncovering more of those pathways by doing microRNA inferred activity analysis. So I'm not going to go through all my results right now, but really um with the help of my mentor a lot, I was able to learn um two different types of coding languages, R programming and Python um which I used for all of my analyses um given that it was bioinformatic research. So I used open source databases which gives me um the genetic um information needed and I also used something called H& images which I could use um for my nuclei um related component to
071my research. Um, and with that I was able to use different coding workflows um, and different processes to um, yield my results. And I was able to conclude so far with a specific gene um specific pathways um that that gene is involved in um and a microRNA that are all significantly associated with nuclei size in breast cancer and thus causing this increased aggressiveness in breast cancer as well as worsened prognosis and more deaths worldwide. So with this research um like mentioned previously Ella and I were able to go to the Association of Chinese American Physicians compos competition which was very nice and recently we just registered for the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair and soon we'll be registering for the New York Science and Engineering Fair and if we are successful then we'll be
072able to participate in the International Science and Engineering Fair. So with this research, it just provides so many opportunities for us to not only connect with physicians like we did at the AAP fair, but also connect with other students that are like-minded and that are as passionate for research as us. And also for me specifically, it's just brought my love for research. Um, this is my first time really doing research like this and I never knew that I would like it as much as I do now. And um, honestly, it does seem like something that I would love to um, continue to pursue in college. and I am um wanting to be a doctor when I grow up. So, it would definitely be good. Um it's definitely good to have this like uh information and
073knowledge already before going into med school, for example, cuz just having all all of this research background, it creates a good resume for you. So, I think that this research has provided me so much opportunity. And I thank everyone that has helped me um with applying to these competitions and also just participating in the I research institute over the summer and the academy right now. And I think it's great and I'll pass it over to Ella and she'll explain a little bit about her research too. >> All right. Good evening everyone. My name is Ella Copaz and my project focused on targeting hotspot breast and ovarian cancer mutations via drug repurposing. So new drug discovery requires millions of dollars and takes years to perfect. However, patients with metastatic breast and ovarian cancer don't have that
074kind of time to wait. With breast cancer affecting approximately one in eight women in the United States and ovarian cancer being the most lethal gynecological malignancy worldwide, a vast majority of the population are affected by these diseases. Despite current advancements in diagnosis and prognosis rates, breast and ovarian cancer still face a lack of personalized treatment. Further, the involvement in cancer hallmarks and overlapping pathways enriched in both cancers is underststudied, followed by the absence of a drug that can accurately suppress all tumors. Additionally, hotspot mutations are not commonly targeted in drug repurposing studies due to their specificity in cancer and vary drug responses as a result of the molecular heterogeneity of the patient. So to address these limitations, my study aimed to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms facilitating ovarian and breast cancer through transcripttonomic analyses and
075drug repurposing techniques. So key objectives of my study included following the differential gene expression analysis to identify overlapping pathways in key cancer hallmarks evident in overlapping upregulated differentially expressed genes. Validate their use in terms of survival probability and identify highly mutable genes. Uncover hotspot mutations present in hub genes in breast and ovarian cancer and their influence on these key regulatory processes. and lastly highlight the effectiveness of previously manufactured drugs on hotspot mutations through a more cost and time effective approach that being drug repurposing. So some of my key findings included simulating the binding affinities between each candidate drug compound and hotspot mutation which was done via molecular docking and I was able to recognize key hydrogen bonds in the binding site core along with residues in the surrounding pocket which reinforces this idea of targeting
076the mutation present in the hub gene rather than just the wild type form of the uh protein itself. So, uh, overall, one-sizefits-all therapies are not the most efficient approach when treating patients with diverse tumor profiles and therefore a variety of hotspot mutations. So, my study aimed to construct a drug library that can accurately provide patients with personalized treatment options when dealing with a variety of hotspot mutations. So, as Christa mentioned before, we are looking to continue this research and I know we already actually today submitted to the Long Island Science and Engineering Fair and we'll be participating in state level, regional, and if we make it to that level, international science and engineering fairs, which would be great opportunities. And I'm just so thankful that we were given this passion and we were given the
077opportunity to follow our passion through science research with the amazing resources here thanks to Mr. Moy, everyone um my mentor Dr. McCulla and everyone who has guided me through this journey. Uh I would also like to pursue a career in medicine down the line. So this just really prepares me not only for coming in contact with other people who have similar passions, but also just to immerse myself in this type of world. And it's a little snippet of what I'll be doing later down the line. So thank you. There'll be a brief quiz in a moment to see how so so I'm not sure if if any of us or most of us captured everything that was there but but I bet there there was something you you did really think of and when we're
078planning for this type of work or or even our youngest learners in terms of research and and passion and whether it's project based learning or place-based learning, whatever you want to call the the acronym. Um, to me it's it's human human- centered design. Um, so if we start with a problem, um, and we can build in kids, uh, empathy for that problem and and it was obvious they they both led with it. They both led for not this is a scientific problem and I'm really interested in research and I I want to win a tournament. They led with this is important to to me. This is important to me as a woman. This is important to me as African-American. this is important uh to me as a citizen as a as a person and starting
079with that program building towards the work which which they didn't share was tremendous. They spent the better part of their summers doing schooling. Uh you glossed over lit review um but you spent a really large portion of your summer working really hard and and and really learning um and then bouncing ideas off working with teachers, working with mentors. Um and then once you have your findings, one of the big things that kids get from this is presenting. Um and you could see how well how they did to come up here and and to be able to present about uh important topics. Um but so but we try to build this into our education. You know, not not long ago, a group of seventh graders here were looking at problems in the ocean, whether it's oil
080spills or plastics or or killer shrimp. and and they had to go through the say they had to pick the one that they felt passionate about. They did work. They had to be credible and and provide things and um so so getting that sort of effort out out of kids um with that human- centered design is is is critically important. That's the piece that they will will really uh remember from their time here. Um so having been showed up by our our two research students, I don't want to talk too too much longer. Um but but but to again thank thank the board of education for this opportunity. Thank thank Dr. Yanni uh our curriculum association but but also uh our three principles at at Roosevelt Vernon and and at our middle high school. Um
081you know when I talk to them they they definitely take on that role not just as building leaders but also see themselves as as instructional leaders and and they want to know what's getting involved going on in the classroom. uh they're they're keenly involved in in the planning and and discussions for the type of work that's being done. So a big thank you to our three principles as well. So thanks so much. Uh and if there are any questions, I'd love to answer them. Just want to say thank you for that um indepth expansive presentation. Um, great job to our two student presenters today. Um, I think it's really important that the community get to see all the great work that is done um, often behind the scenes that the public doesn't get to see
082the areas where students are improving and the new programs and opportunities um, where where everyone is looking to do better and the successes that we've already accomplished. So, thank you. >> I'd also like to thank you presentation. Um, I echo what Mr. Cop says, you know, to see all the work that our administration, our teachers, our principles are are putting forth to help our students. Um, so thank you very much. And to Ella and Christa, I have no doubt that you will one day we'll all be reading about on news that you'll come through some breakthrough in breast cancer research. So, I look forward to that and you make our district extremely proud. So now we're going to move on to the approval of minutes. Do I have a motion to approve our minute meeting
083minutes, sorry, as listed and attached below? Do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I. >> All oppose. Motion carries. I'll now move on to participation agenda items. Opportunity for the public to be heard on agenda items. In keeping with the philosophy of open communication and informed decision making, the board of education welcomes input from the community. However, it is important to note that while the board of education meets in public, it 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 will listen to comments and input from the public. Debate between members of the audience andor
084the board members will not be permitted. The board will not address personnel or individual student matters in public. No person shall present orally or discuss Board of Education meeting charges or complaints against individual employees directly or indirectly. The speaker shall identify themselves confirm their residency in the district on this on the signing sheet. On the agenda items, so we'll move on now to instructional personnel items. Resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the 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? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. All opposed. >> Motion carries. Thank you. We'll now move on to noninstructional personnel items. Resolved upon the recommendation
085of the superintendent of schools, the board of education of the Oyster Bay East Norwich Central School District hereby approves the noninstructional personnel items as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion carries. I'll now it. As resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education of Oyster Bay East Norwich Central School District hereby approves the business items as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? >> So move. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I. All opposed. >> Motion carries. Let's move on to special services. Upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, the board of education of the Oyster Bay East Norwich Central
086School District hereby approve the special services resolutions as listed in their entirety. Do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. All opposed? Motion carries. We'll now move on to the approval of new business resolutions. Resolved upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools, Board of Education of the 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? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. All opposed? Motion carries. And we thank the Association of Chinese American Physicians for their I'll now move on to public participation for nonaggenda items. The first person that signed in is Miss Emry. >> Dr. Yanni, could you just go over
087the um bond anticipation notes and the payment of the $2.9 million for the field? Um, you did a presentation last board meeting, but it didn't show the numbers you you had mentioned tonight. Could you just go over that a little slower? Just the numbers you mentioned earlier today. >> Yeah. You had mentioned that you agreed that you would go over today at the meeting. So, the $2.9 million payments. Um, the last meeting you asked and you emailed and I provide you with an email detailing everything in terms of the $2.9 million. So, the $2.9 million came from the debt service line. Um and so we made principal payments over the period of three years. >> The first year was 1.5 million, the second year was 800,000 and the next year was 600,000 for a total
088of $2.9 million. That allowed us to reduce the amount of money that we were bonding uh that we bonded this past June. So just not not to debate and and if you could possibly maybe send that to me, what I don't understand is on the 900 line, it's an average of $2.4 million for each year that we paid interest and principal on the bands and and the debt service which we average to one to four to keep our our our budget equal. I don't see where the five, the eight, and the six came from if it was not on the 900 line. So, if we could >> not that question. >> Yeah, if you could just email me. >> Okay. We provided um an email that I forwarded to the board where we listed the
0891.5 million, the 800 and the 600 were part of the numbers that Miss Longo is mentioning. So, I sent the email, but Miss Miss Longo, I'll be more than happy to go over with you um and sit down with you or have a Zoom call or phone call and explain where those numbers came from. >> Right. Okay. >> So, I'll wait for your call. Um, Jennifer Fernandez. >> Good evening everybody. Um, to the board, to staff and community members. Um um so as many of you know as I've been sitting here for a lot of meetings I'm a parent in the school district and both my kids are in the high school. Um it's been exciting seeing the capital expenditure projects turn into reality in all three schools. Um especially now the Vernon space is
090being transformed as most recently. Um there's one group in particular that has been really looking forward to that new space um and to see an updated new expanded gym and that's the fencing team. I'm not sure if you were aware, but the fencing team had always previously um practiced in the Butler building and they entered this season uh just a couple of weeks ago and they are now no longer allowed or um practicing in the Butler building and they are quite disappointed. Are you even all aware of that? That the Butler building is not being used for one of the sports that have been practicing in it. So, I'm here to bring that to your attention. Um, and uh, yeah. So, instead, where are they practicing? Um, you will also be interested to know that
091they're not even practicing in a gymnasium anymore. They are practicing in the cafeteria, the new Vernick cafeteria. Um, so I'll skip over the obvious issues as to why they are not, you know, like they should be in a gymnasium and not a cafeteria. But other issues that that creates is um, Vernon does have some afterchool clubs. Um, they've already encountered a conflict where the club was still there when they needed to get in to start suiting up and practicing. So that caused their practice time to be shorter. Um, and now this week the intramurals start. Intram murals is where the middle level seventh and eighth grade get to start fencing. Um, varsity starts their practice later, but the intram murals use that 250 shuttle bus. So, they get there around 3:00 and again they're going
092to have a conflict or possibly I don't know when all the clubs meet, but they meet sooner. So, they also might have that time conflict. And again, practicing a sport in a cafeteria instead of the gym. Wanted to bring to your attention. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Fernandas, for your question. I I just want to point out a couple things and um the the the most important thing is that one I am fully aware of what you mentioned and number two that since not even since the the uh new athletic center was in construction I've been in conversation with the athletic director and with the coach uh the fencing coach. >> Okay. Um I've spent uh even over the weekends during the construction on on a Saturday we went to the but to the former
093Butler building and so he was fully the coach has been fully aware of what's going on and the coach was part of the decision- making. Uh there were a lot of conversation that that took place in terms of scheduling. Um, so I want to be clear on one thing. I have no problem. We have no problems with the fencers being in the uh new athletic center which was beautifully renovated, the cheerleading being in the in the athletic center but and the gymnasium at Vernon being used. They just have to coordinate amongst each other and some of the decisions they are made in terms of where they want to be. All the coaches were part of it and all the coaches decided where they where they want to be or what was best for them. So
094we have no problem going back and and figure out if if if that comes from the coaches or from the students. I'll have my athletic director go back to the drawing board and um come up with a with a different plan. So, I would definitely go back to the coach, the fencing coach. Uh we will have a conversation uh my athletic director and I will have a conversation again with the fencing coach and involve him in the process. But I I just you know I heard some rumors that the fencing couldn't be in the in the new athletic center. That is not true, not correct. They could be there. They could um enjoy that space. They can enjoy the gym, but we have the space that we have. So, um they would have to work
095on the schedule that that is available. So, I hope I answer your question. >> Yes. Uh it's very different than the viewpoint I received. So, I guess we'll all go to the drawing board and see where the >> I'll go back to the fencing coach. Hopefully, he's listening tonight. And I will reiterate the fact that even on a Saturday during the summer, we went to the plays and there are some places that were picked. So if you receive different information or if that is changed, I'm working I'm willing to work with anybody as long as the students are happy and they are training in a safe place. >> Okay? >> Because maybe now even in practice it's not really as theoretically as it might sound. >> Thank you. So now I'd like to A motion
096to adjourn the meeting. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Do I have a second? Thank you everyone for attending and have a good evening.