001All right, so I think we're going to get started here. Welcome to our November 20th Board of Education meeting here at COMEC. Please join me in the pledge. To the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We're going to conduct our roll call starting down here on our left. Good evening, Scott Asheron, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources. Dana Schultz, Board Trustee. Bill Hender, Board Trustee. Dr. Cox, Superintendent of Comac Schools. Gus Huber, Board of Education President. Sue Harmer, Board of Education Vice President. Nicole Goldstein, Board Trustee. Tim Russo, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. Debbie Verga, District Clerk. At this point, I'm going to introduce Dr. Cox for our administrative report. Are we ready, Dr. Cox? Just a
002little bit. Playground voice? Playground voice. Say the elementary people, the playground voice, Dr. Cox, yes. I can project my voice, that's for sure. Thank you, Ms. Pulliam. So good evening, and welcome to our November 20th Board of Education meeting. really excited about about tonight's meeting we have Kyla who will hopefully be joining us shortly to present our student ex officio board member report and then we also have our state of the district elementary innovation and technology update we have spent and the team has spent I have to thank our administrative staff in our buildings who are with us here this evening they have spent an inordinate amount of time transforming what some of the things are going on in our elementary school. We have spent a lot of time transforming our secondary schools and tonight
003we will be presenting to the board some of those changes in our elementary program. You know, when we talk about our elementary students, our students come in with curiosity, learning through exploration. And our staff have done an amazing job transforming some of the spaces in our elementary schools to just continue with that type of curiosity and that creativity because we want to keep that alive. We have noticed that over the years, many of our students have become entrepreneurs, starting businesses before they even leave high school. And so that curiosity piece, that learning through discovery, is something pretty amazing. And you'll see board... on the table this evening are a couple little robots that we're going to be demonstrating for you. Before we get to Ms. Pulliam, Kyla, welcome. Let's hear it for Kyla, our student
004board member. Kyla and I have been taking a tour around the district, hanging out with students in many of our primary buildings and... We were most recently at Rolling Hills, so next month, Kyla's going to get a chance to present to the board some of the happenings going on in the district, and most specifically, some of those great conversations that we have with our Rolling Hills students. We did get to spend some time, and we got sort of the white glove treatment when we went to Northridge, so thank you, Ms. Blady. That was such a great time. And so I know Kyla's going to speak a little bit about some of the happenings in school right now, and maybe a little bit about our experience at Northridge. How's that sound? All right. You're welcome. Totally
005up to you. Whatever you feel most comfortable. Okay, so this month or October was a really great month for all of the schools in our district. At the primary schools, all the kids participated in Halloween parades and the students dressed up in their costumes and they walked around their buildings with all their friends and their families went to watch them and it was a great experience for all of them. They also attended the fall festival, and they got to celebrate seasonal activities with their friends as well. And all of the buildings had their COMAC champion award ceremonies, which are going really well, and it's really great to see. And all the students are being recognized for demonstrating the highlighted traits of the month. At the intermediate schools, they also had a great October. Sawmill had
006their sports spectacular for the fourth and fifth graders and they participated in activities with their friends. Some of the favorite ones that they did was rotation basketball and line soccer. And then they're also really excited about their free little bookstore which is basically donated books and students can take them home and read them for free which is pretty cool. At Burr They had the mini marathon in honor of Sheena Kay and it supported the Sheena Kay Memorial Foundation. And they also had their, they also raised about a thousand dollars for the Ronald McDonald House which was pretty great. And they also had Burstock Unity Day which was a concert outside with the Comac High School Band. Come back middle school had their PBIS kickoff and that's a day where they participate in activities to focus
007on respect responsibility and building relationships through activities They also have many PLTW advancements and two of them are medical detectives and app creators Which is really cool because all the schools including the middle school are starting to include more modern classes in their building and the students are getting to really experiment and try new things. And the eighth graders attended David Flood assemblies and he talked about things like inclusion and important things like empathy that the students got to really learn and it was pretty good for them. Comac high school had a lot of exciting events this month um We had Comac Halloween happenings, which is when the high school students basically set up booths and They have candy and activities for all the kids in the community to come to um The little kids
008love it because they get to deck like dress up in their costumes and go with their friends and today at the school A lot of high school students shared that it's their favorite event that our school has, which was interesting because there was maybe six of ten kids said Halloween happening is their favorite thing we have. As for varsity sports in the fall, we had a really exciting fall. Boys and girls soccer won state championships, and that's the first time that's ever happened. And aside from that, the first time girls has ever won states, which is really great. And then boys also won the Long Island champions, Suffolk County champions, and league champions. And then in addition to soccer, Aiden Peracci is a conference individual champion and state qualifier for cross country. And then Comac
009High School, we had our play, A Midnight Summer's Dream, and it showcased the talent of all of our performing arts students, and it was a success. So this month as we said before I visited Northridge and first the kids were so adorable. It was the cutest thing ever. They were so excited to see me and get to talk to me and see Dr. Cox. They thought it was the coolest thing and they were so excited to talk to me about their school and show us around and it was so cute. When I asked them about what they loved about school, they shared how they loved spending time with their friends. They all really liked art, which was great, and they were excited to show me their projects. And then they have their town meetings, which
010they really love, and they sang me their Northridge song, and it was really cute, and yeah. They also showed me their discovery den, which they also showed me at Rolling Hills, and it's really cool because they're getting to work on, like how with the PLTW at the middle school, like technology and modern stuff, and it's... Really great to see little kids like kindergartners know how to work an iPad and a robot, which is like, I definitely did not know how to do that. And then when I asked what they've learned so far this year, they proudly talked about things they're learning in math and reading and how they want to learn more skills and like learn new vocabulary and read harder books. And this was like kindergarten and first graders. So that was cute. And
011then one of the students said, it's okay to miss your old teachers, which is cute because it shows how strong the relationships our kids have with their teachers, even from kindergarten and first grade. And that's all. Thank you so much. Let's hear it for Kyla. Another great report. And it is certainly the highlight of the day when you go down to the little ones and they just randomly give you hugs. They make you feel like a million bucks. It's so much fun. And to hear them talk about what they want more of and they say math and reading, well, to our staff, you must be doing something right because to want more math and reading is something special. Of course, they want to extend. many of their specials and the list goes on and on.
012But they were, as Kyla said, they were adorable and they loved Mrs. Blady showing off Northridge. So thank you so much for that opportunity. And we love that we look forward to sharing with you our experiences at Rolling Hills next month. So thank you again, Kyla. Great job. So at this point, I think we're going to transition to the next part of our admin report. Kyla, I know you're very busy. When we left, not to put Kyla on the spot, but when we left Rolling Hills, I said, what are your plans? I don't know if we had one. You're like, I'm going to go to the library for the next eight hours. I have some studying to do. She has two tests. So she has two tests. So we don't want to hold you up.
013I know you have a lot of studying ahead of you. But thank you so much for the wonderful report. Thank you, Kyle. Thank you, Kyle. So this is, as I stated before, a very, very exciting time in our elementary schools. And really, Ms. Pulliam has done a phenomenal job with her team taking what... you know used to look like computer labs and transforming them into what we refer to now as discovery dens just as a reminder to the board last year we piloted a discovery den in northridge to see how it would go it was such a huge hit that we expanded them in all of our primary schools we do have some staff today they are absolute rock stars i've been in those rooms i've seen what they do with the students and again
014to keep that curiosity alive is is something that the students look forward to coming to these spaces. They love talking about them. It was one of the places that they wanted to show us in Northridge. So I'm really excited for the board to hear a little bit about some of the work that we've been doing over the last few years to really transform our elementary schools. So Ms. Pulliam, the floor is yours. Great. Thank you so much to the Board of Education and everyone for having me in tonight to speak about this. Again, you know, none of this is possible without your support. So I am very excited to show you all about what is happening in our primary schools in the area of innovation and technology. Hi, Elise. Hi, Digit. What are you doing
015up so late tonight? Hope your meeting is going great. I mean, I haven't even started yet, Digit, but what do you think we should tell everyone about? I think it's time to show everyone what Digit is all about. So Digit is our learning companion. He was generated through AI, which is an exciting part to talk about AI literacy for our students. But he is the companion that takes our students through all of their learning in the area of innovation and technology starting in the K-2 grade band. What is a discovery den? And we've talked about this a little bit already, but they are basically reimagined learning spaces in the primary schools. So I want you to envision what you remember from a computer lab from, you know, when we were in school. And I want
016you to envision now a completely transformed space, as you saw many of you when you were touring the buildings. There is a green screen technology, robots. There is a handful of PCs, as clearly our students do need to learn those digital skills using a mouse and all of those spaces. but really it's a dynamic hands-on learning space that's designed to ignite natural curiosity from our youngest learners. So I talk a lot about healthy relationships with technology and I think that is a promise that I've made to the Comac community that part of my charge here along with all of the administrative team and all of the people that are you know really the boots on the ground with the kids is that we are helping model and develop healthy relationships with technology in an effort
017to create in innovative, creative learners in our students. And when I go into any of these buildings, I had the privilege the other day, Dr. Cox had called me and I had to step out of one of the classrooms in the primary building. They know, they are so engaged when they are in there. They see me coming, they know what I bring, and it really is such an amazing, exciting time because they really have such a love for learning more about. technology and it's not just about being on the technology. They are learning collaboratively in groups oftentimes off of the technology. There are both plugged and unplugged activities in these spaces. So a discovery den again is really just the idea of digit is the class and the discovery den is the place right. So
018where it happens is in the discovery den and digit is really the curriculum. So just for the record, for those of you who know, we are the Comet Cougars. So I just have to give credit to Ms. Pulliam's team. They basically created a baby cougar and named it Digit. We did a presentation earlier, and Ms. Pulliam does this presentation in Canva, and they said, does Canva only come in black and gold? Because the branding, you'll notice, because I just have to point out, the branding that occurs in these presentations and the time that goes into it, when you see some of the branding, I don't know if at this point there's going to be a pop-up of the logo for Comac Technology. This team has completely transformed what elementary technology looks like with the help
019of our teaching staff. And so again, I have trouble containing my excitement. Totally fine. I have trouble containing my excitement as well. And I think the branding piece that Dr. Cox mentions is really a lot of the ownership that kids feel over their learning, right? They feel like they're a part of something bigger. It's not just about did we renovate a space beautifully? Thank you, you know, Frank Pelopoli. Yes, we renovated a space beautifully. Speaks volumes of what we're doing here, but what I think Comac does differently is that we connect the dots in different ways right and part of that is by saying it's not just that we renovated the spaces and that we have new curriculum it's that we went to the point of having You'll see you go into classrooms and the
020teachers have even have pictures of this digit Cougar Cub in their classrooms because when they talk about digital skills in the classrooms when they're using their Chromebooks they they point to digit and say you know what would did you do it really is it really is amazing So what does DIGIT stand for? It stands for Digital Innovation Group Instruction Time. It used to be called Computer Time, right? And I had, I'll never forget it, I had a meeting when we were starting with this project with the primary principals, and I said, you know, what can we call this? And this was not born, you know, from me whatsoever. This was, you know, and I'm very thankful to have the four of them here tonight because, you know, as we... brainstormed and collaborated on this we
021came up with something that truly is Comac original right and it's not just about computers and teaching one skill or another skill it is about digital innovation group instruction right so they are working together they are collaborating they are using the technology in new and different ways that show them that developing healthy relationships with technology can be taken in so many different ways throughout their lives and you know we we see a lot and we talk a lot about what's happening at Comac High School which is amazing but the roots start here right this is where the roots start and and it was a really you know when I came here this was a goal of mine and to see it come to fruition has really been a beautiful a beautiful thing especially because as
022you're going to see some of these videos in this in this footage, it's really only been three months. And we all know what the start of the school year is like, everyone, right? It's very quick, there's all these days off, but in three short months, we have students that are already really involved and married to using this curriculum. So this is some of the things that the kids are doing during this time. You will see that they're using... Stand-alone robots that are hand-coded. They have nothing to do with an iPad or a Chromebook. That's a B-Bot. You'll see that they are using virtual reality in Nearpod to search and find things. So they're categorizing and they're grouping things together. And they're doing all of these non-technology skills and incorporating the technology. And they're also using
023technology skills while not being on the technology. So it really is a beautiful marriage of all different types of skills. So the digit curriculum. We spent a lot of time this summer. I'm very thankful for all of the curriculum writers that worked this summer on this project, but it's really moving the K-2 learners from tech consumers to tech creators. You know, they say that 62% of the future workforce is jobs that we've not even yet heard of, right? Never did I think I'd see the day. where being like a TikTok content creator would be giving people actual, you know, like reputable income. But this is what marketing has turned into for companies now, right? Is we talk to kids about how they want to, they get toys and they want to do an unboxing of
024that toy where we have students that are afraid to raise their hand to answer perhaps a math or an ELA question, but have absolutely no problem getting in front of a green screen with, you know, library media specialist, Christine Dennison, pulling out all of these, you know, because that's where it started last year, doing a tour. Thanksgiving dinner unboxing, showed this amazing idea where we're just gonna put all these things that you could use for Thanksgiving in a box and have them tell us what they would use it for and the the results were astounding right. Students that were afraid to talk and get involved were now couldn't wait to see what they could develop in these on these green screens and it really is wonderful. So what have we done here? We have some
025strategic pillars that we've used right so we have scaffolding of digital citizenship. I like to really call it digital leadership more than anything else because I want to provide an environment for these students where they are digital leaders, not just citizens, they're not just abiding by what they should do digitally, they are leaders in this arena, right? Coding is core literacy, you know, coding is the way of the future, right? So it's showing them at such a young age the importance of these things. It's not just gamification, right? The coding program that we have really is teaching them actual skills more than just gamification. Intentional digital fluid. So it's not just like a chore here where we have to do typing and here's a typing program. It's how are they using these digital fluencies? How
026are they applying them and using different different mediums like Book Creator or Nearpod or whatever it might be to actually demonstrate what they're learning in the area of digital fluency. And finally, it's the innovation lab. Like, what are they telling us that they want to do in that discovery den? We have tons of activities, right? They're seasonal. They go by the month. They're connected to what the teachers are doing in the classroom. But I can't wait for the day where the kids are telling us, you know what we need to do next month, Mrs. Pulliam? I want to see us do X, Y, or Z because they're really leading the charge on telling us, you know, what. their learning is. And innovation really does start here. So before we move on to the other piece,
027how I'm measuring this, because there's a really amazing way that we are going to be measuring this, I really want you to engage. Because innovation starts here. So I did ask a few members of the team to come up and help you. I have one. technology little robot there. His name is Marty and we're gonna have everybody learn to make him dance real quick and then we are gonna have you come to life in the Quiver app. So I'm just gonna have the three of them come up and just help you interact with these bots here for a second. So while you're doing that I will answer that. Yes, you are pressing the button. Once we saw Marty, we knew we had to have him. But you are seeing it in its most basic form
028right now. But as this grows into even the three through five, the students will learn how to code this robot themselves to make him dance. So it's exciting. And the kids love Marty. They love to watch him move around. There are a few versions of Marty. This is the disco Marty. That's so cool. Students learn all different types of coding skills through this sequencing and all different types of skills, block coding, sequencing, et cetera. And next, one of the things that we use in the Discovery Den is the Quiver app. And as we know, all kids in K-2 love to color. So Quiver is something that our students can color. And then once they color it, they're able to scan on the iPad. And it actually brings their drawing to life. You can only imagine
029what the primary school students would react to these robots. It's very loud. And when I was with Kyla in Rolling Hills, I think I can see one of the pictures that they call it in, and it's on social media. They turned me into a turkey. They took a picture, and then, so what the students do, right, Ms. Pulliam, is they scan the QR code after they color in the picture. Yes, and then they hold the iPad over it, and then they're able to, it makes their drawing pop out and come to life. And then it comes to life. So imagine a six-year-old doing this. Clearly, you know they love it. And there's lots of conversations that happen about how does this come to life and what goes on behind the scenes to make something like
030this happen. Say ah, Bill. Ah. How was your board meeting? Well, we all dressed as turkeys. So part of the key outcomes or measurable growth here is just the idea that we're turning students from consumers to creators, right? I don't want them to just learn about technology by hearing somebody talk about it or by clicking a mouse or doing it. I want them to be able to create. And these are some of the ways in which we're doing that. I could have spent... hours here with you guys tonight. I picked two of our favorites, clearly the Marty and the Quiver are two of our favorites, but there's so much more that we're doing with them. So I hope that you enjoyed those two examples. Thank you. Good. Thank you. All right. So how are we,
031how is there accountability for this? How do we know what the students are learning? And we're ensuring that every child is future ready. And part of the way that we're doing this is, you know, I had to credit Brett for this he he created so sorry Dr. Inforna can you just grab that mouse because the keyboard isn't enough for me So this is the digital passport book for K through 2 The they basically are getting digital badges as you see in here. There are little badges for each of these I'm just gonna grab the mouse. Sorry trimesters and then they get a super badge at the end right so if you go through the book creator book each of these students will have a book they get a welcome from digit they get to do
032an about me and each trimester they get a badge issued to them and they have to have an artifact whether it's a video recording saying what they did that trimester or whether it is you know a sample of something that they drew or created but each trimester there is an article there I did it again Technology director can't click a mouse. Okay, so here we go. We have all of these that I just want to show you by the time they get to the end. So this year's kindergarteners, by the time they get to second grade, we'll have a full book. But each of these badges, they are animated. They do move. So each of these connects to skills in the digital. The computer science and digital literacy standards and digital fluency standards each of
033these badges Connects to those standards and at the end and I know the kids are gonna absolutely love this They're gonna get a super badge at the end of each year and it's a cling for the Chromebook not a sticker There's a very big difference because this my technology team would probably have a fit if they put stickers on everything but they are clings that they come right off right and By the end of you know as we go up and we bring this program up into fifth grade by the time they get done with They'll get a sticker for each year to prove that they are digital leaders in this area. So there is a lot of work that went into this to ensure that each of these badges were meaningful, to make sure
034that as our students give artifacts for what they've learned, it's really talking about how they've applied it. You know, what videos have you created? What have you done? So if they did, you know, a green screen video that had something to do with exploring the digital world or whatever it is, the technology TA and the library media. specialist would be able to take that video and assist the child in putting it in. Clearly there's a growth progression here. So in kindergarten, the teachers and TAs are really helping them and putting those things, artifacts in there for them. But by second grade, these students are creating this book and by the time they get to the end, they have this book, this passport book that is demonstrating those skills. So if I could just pause for
035a second, folks. digital badges that you see up here. You might not be able to see them at home, but we're going to post this presentation to our website. If you look at the detail in becoming a digital leader or building digital foundations or exploring the digital world, and you saw that each of these comes to life, this was all created by our team in-house. This product looks like something that many districts would pay for. and it's not just the badges, it's the curriculum, it's the spaces, it's the experiences. And I just have to point out that the amount of time and effort that has went into this, and you can see Brett with his smile over here in the corner, is very creative. And, you know, the team put a lot of time and
036effort into this. And I just want to give them credit because when they presented this to me, I was absolutely blown away. and thoroughly excited and found opportunities for them to do more work for some other things, some other ideas that I have in terms of badging. But, you know, kudos to Ms. Pulliam and your team because this is extraordinary. Thank you. And really the whole goal here is that we're ensuring every child is a future-ready innovator, right? Like we want them to feel ownership over their learning, and this is one way that we've been able to actually measure that they're able to do that. Go back to the mouse. Okay, part of this was one of the things that I can honestly say I'm very thankful. It also came out of the Technology Steering
037Committee last year was the need for a coding program in K-5. We did a lot of work in order to vet this. We piloted three separate programs last year. We landed on Codable. There was administrators, teachers, the tech TAs, everybody took a piece of this. The kids absolutely love this program. It's not just gamification. lessons pre-created lessons that are standards aligned Joanne Fennessey did an amazing job working with some of the teachers this summer as well so I have to credit her in in really the alignment and creation of this curriculum as you can see there on the left hand side there's a little round fuzzes the kids get to code and create their own fuzz the more that they go through these programs and the more that they earn they get to earn like
038Glasses for their fuzz or a hat for their fuzz and now in three to three to five they actually have what's called a floof Which is a square one so now they're really excited because they graduate from fuzzes to floofs and really the report that came from the intermediate TAs was like the kids are loving the floofs. So you know that that has been good. So this is another program that's in its infant stages, but I'm very excited to see where this goes as well because again while I love that kids love games. I'm all about everything with a purpose, right? So this is a program that's not just gamification. There are real lessons that go along with it, and it's great that everybody loves the games, but there's a real purpose behind everything that
039is in Codable. So I'm very happy with this program, and I'm very excited to see where this brings us, because I believe the amount of creativity that's allotted to the kids in this coding program is really deeply rooted. And finally, what is the ultimate goal here? It's to inspire curious minds. It's to foster curiosity and collaboration. And it's creating healthy technology habits. I myself am a parent of a five and a seven-year-old. And I take a lot of pride and a lot of time that I put in to ensuring that. The kids in Comac are getting what I would want for my own children. And that's a culture of digital wellness. And that can't be just happening at home. That has to be a partnership with a school. And I'm very proud of the team
040that is, you know, with the kids every day doing this because we are all in, all of us. We all believe in these core values. And I think that that is what has taken this program and really brought it, you know, to another level. So finally, I don't know if anybody else has you know is around young kids in the way that I am but the kpop demon hunters are all the rage of a movie and the music I hear it on repeat so you're gonna get a nice little treat here as the way we did the pick this song based on you know the the selection of the kids but what are the results of everything that I'm here talking about so in just three short months this is what you see coming out
041of our primary classrooms. We went to a green screen and we used computers to make a candy basket. We did quiver with the iPads. I went inside the pumpkin under the candle. I did green screen and bebots. Today we went to the green screen and we like took photos. My favorite activity was the green screen. It had a cool background. We got to record and we get to send the video to our parents and all the teachers. And cross the middle and then it just goes to food. It looks like he's dancing. To the Discovery Den. So I think here, like I said, it's just been three short months. And if this is what we can do in three short months, I mean, it's going to be golden, right? Like that's the most I could
042say. That song really sums it up for me. And in my laundry list of people that I have to thank, I have to say this work does not happen in a silo. It is certainly, I am proud, very proud to be able to come here and speak on it tonight. However, you know, I really have to thank Frank Palopoli, who is more than just a director of facilities. He is really, he, takes pride in making the space like ready for education right he's not just there to paint and call it a day right he really hears what we want to do in the space and makes it mirror that the primary principles I mean I could not do it without them they are wonderful supporting this every day the technology TAs the library media specialists
043who have jumped into this partnership and have impressed me from start to finish. The entire curriculum team, Dr. Inforna, Dr. Santorello, Lisa DiRienzo, Sabrina Riddle, they have all, you know, Tim Russo, everybody. Everybody's been present. Everybody's been, you know, in the buildings seeing this come to fruition. The curriculum writers from the summer, I look forward to bringing more of this. You know, the coding program is already in the intermediate schools. We already have certain spaces like this in those places, but to bring the badging and more of the curriculum up. into that starting next year. I look forward to all of that. And, you know, the entire team has been all hands on deck with this, and it has been wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Pulliam. I guess we'll open it up to any
044questions from the board. Comments? So this is my wheelhouse, right? This is amazing. But I think the part that's missed is that Kids really excel in these spaces more than the classroom sometimes. So thank you for creating that space. You're very welcome. I just want to echo some of the comments made already. The brain trust behind all of this, the fact that it's all in-house and that you guys can collaborate and then share that with kids and engage them, it's fascinating. I didn't have computers in school, so I don't even know my old computer lab. There was no computer lab. So this is absolutely spectacular and just... There's a lot of joy in it, I could see, with the kids and a lot of interest in problem solving and relating to each other. And they're
045not passive, which I love. I love the fact that they're engaged and there's this interactive problem solving component to it. So thank you to the administrators, the teachers who put this together. It's pretty spectacular. So thank you. Thank you. I'm also going to add that my kids are going to be really upset that they're going to leave Burr and get this because they left Northridge. So you're going to leave Burr and go to the middle school and they're going to miss this. But they have the floofs now. Now they have floofs. I know. They get to code the floofs. Yes. They do. They're very cool. I only have one question. When is this product going to be for sale so that I can purchase it? It's amazing. Amazing work. You know, you mentioned everyone as
046part of the team and the collaboration that goes into it, and it's just outstanding. So I congratulate everyone on a job well done, and, you know, we're just doing amazing things here in Comac and very proud of it. So thank you. I do have one more. Thank you. I almost can't even believe it, but it's the technology team, Comac Technology Friends. I mean, they're making the magic happen behind the scenes. How could I even have forgotten them? I mean, I have one girl on my team who is literally, we call her the robot queen. She's transporting these robots around. She's setting them up. She tags them. She's got everything going on. So they really are behind the scenes. I end up in the front, and they're behind the scenes, but they make the magic happen
047every day. So I'm very proud of them as well. Well, thank you, Ms. Pulliam. Thank you. You know, we've had a number of different workshops. I attended the workshop at Columbia, and it was a leadership workshop. And one of the texts that they shared was a book called The Blue Ocean Strategy. and it was a book that I have shared with our administrators, and just sort of a quick synopsis of it is it's geared more towards private industry, but a lot of times I like to read this literature and see how we can apply it to a school system. But it talks about companies across the world that operate in one of two oceans, either a red ocean or a blue ocean. And a red ocean is a company, if we were creating the same
048exact product, but I decided to charge a few cents less than the... same exact product that you're producing, that's operating in a red ocean, competing with your competition. So I have shared that there are companies across the world that have ventured out into a blue ocean, that have created a project or a product that has made everything else insignificant. And it's really about innovation. It's about thinking outside the box. And one of the things, you know, it's one thing to have a vision. You know, we've spent a lot of time talking about how we're reimagining what a high school, what a public education looks like. And to see that start to trickle down into middle school and now our elementary schools to become such an innovative space where the staff are now like, I have
049a blue ocean strategy. I have a blue ocean strategy. And to think outside of the box and see that. you know, the product, that this is a product after three months. And Dr. Hender, I thought the same thing when I first saw this. I said, So what's the cost? That's usually what I'm waiting for, and there isn't. It's the time and effort that the team has put into creating this, and I can only imagine that if this is three months, what is this going to look like three more months or six months down the road? So kudos to the team. It's going to be golden. What's that? It's going to be golden. It's going to be golden. So thank you again. And thank you to the board for your support of these programs and allowing
050us to be as innovative as we are here in Comac. So that brings us to the end of our administrative report. And now we can move to board business. Digits, a tough act to follow. I'm sorry. We're going to have the first public participation. Good evening and welcome. We're so glad you're here with us tonight. Your voice matters and we truly appreciate your involvement and interest in our schools. There are two opportunities for public comment during this meeting. The first is for comments related to items listed on tonight's agenda. The second, which takes place at the end of the meeting, is for comments on any general school district matters. If you'd like to speak on an agenda item, please take a white card. If you'd like to speak during general public participation, please take a
051green card. The district clerk will call speakers by number. When it's your turn, please come to the microphone, say your name, and let us know if you are a resident of the district. Each speaker has up to three minutes to speak and will kindly notify you when your time is up. Please direct your comments to the board only. These public comment times are for listening and gathering feedback back. We won't be responding in real time, but if a question is raised that requires follow-up, we'll be sure to get back to you afterward. To maintain a respectful and welcoming environment, please avoid discussing individual students or making personal remarks, positive or negative, about specific staff members. Speakers should remain respectful and avoid being repetitive or disruptive. And lastly, we want to make sure everyone feels heard.
052So we ask that comments remain respectful, focused, and not repetitive or disruptive. Thank you again for being here tonight and for your ongoing support of our students and schools. Okay, so we'll start with a white card if anyone has a white card. I'd like to come up and speak on agenda items. Moving on. So I'm going to acknowledge the correspondence as listed. We are going to accept some donations tonight. A motion to accept the following donations. We have a donation from Sawmill Intermediate School PTA. It's $2,000, and that is for Sawmill. we have another donation from Joanne Schein this donation is for a memorial bench to be placed at the Hubs administration center in honor of her mother Louise Sansone who worked for the special education department here for 25 years and that's valued at
053$1,569 and the other donation is a k-12 licensing it's a donation of $207.65 to the Comac High School for licensing royalties. And that really is about different merchandises that are being sold out there with our logos on it. So we get some proceeds from that. So can I get a motion to accept these donations? And a second. All those in favor? Aye. All right. Motion to approve the minutes from the October 9th Board of Education meeting. Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. All those in favor? Aye. All right. motion to accept the to approve the personnel agenda can I get a motion and a second second all those in favor aye mr. ocean So tonight our associate superintendent for business and operations Mrs. Laura Newman couldn't be here due to family obligations however she
054does join the superintendent of schools, the administrative team, the Board of Education, the entire faculty and staff in welcoming her successor Kelly Nevin as the next assistant superintendent for business and operations. Kelly joins us from the Longwood School District and she is eager to hit the ground running in January. Please join me in welcoming Kelly Nevin to the Comac family. Congratulations. I'm gonna actually get a motion to approve the consent agenda items as presented or amended can I get a motion and a second be it resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent of schools is this another Kelly Nevin We have to do this separate okay so be it resolved that upon the recommendation of superintendent schools Kelly Nevin will receive a probationary appointment to the position of assistant superintendent for business and operations
055in a tenure area of assistant superintendent of business and operations for the term January 5th 2026 through June 30th 2026 unless terminated prior thereto subject to the requirements of the education law and the rules of the Board of Regents and it be further resolved that upon the recommendation of the superintendent schools the board approves the attached agreement between the district and Kelly-Nevin and authorizes the board president to sign same motion yes can I get a motion motion second all those in favor aye okay ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FROM BOND, SCHOENICK & KING FOR THE MONTH ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2025 IN THE AMOUNT OF $12,932.20 ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF COMMITTEE ON SPECIAL EDUCATION MINUTES AND ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SPECIAL EDUCATION PRESCHOOL MINUTES. Acknowledge receipt of the August and September 2025 financial reports
056listed as such. Acknowledge the claims audit report. uh the board of education at the comac union free school district shall hold its regular meeting on thursday december 18th 2025 at 6 p.m at the hubs administration center in east northport new york it's anticipated that the board will make a motion for the purpose of adjourning into executive session at this time and at 7 p.m the board will reconvene in public session for the purpose of holding its regular scheduled business meeting and at this point we're going to have our second public participation if there's anyone out there Okay, so that would be a green card if anyone has a green card like to come up and speak I'm a resident I have three kids in the district it was brought up at our last meeting and
057I said I would mention it today would the board ever consider having any sort of app tracking for the transportation it happens pretty often that the buses are late sometimes we don't get a text last week I know one of my kids buses broke down they didn't get home till over 20 minutes past I didn't get a text I was a little bit worried about it I am on the tail end of our route so if there's anything that's delayed with the kids before or if there's a lot of kids that aren't going to after school I know like my staff personally gets affected by it during the warmer months I don't really care because it's nice being outside but it's a little bit different in the winter normally like a 20 minute difference between
058the earliest time you'll get off the bus versus like the latest time the bus will get here I know other districts have done it and I know with all the technology stuff hopefully something could be worked out but Can I speak to that real quick? Sure. Yes, please. That's a great question, and thank you for bringing that up. We have looked into a number of different apps that do track the buses, but at this point, many of them have glitches, and they're not always very accurate. And the last thing that we want to do is be able to put inaccurate information out there for our families. The other thing is that sometimes buses are taken randomly out of service to be audited, and in that case... You know, parents could be tracking a bus that
059isn't even in service, and now the next bus doesn't have that on it, and it's hard to follow. I do apologize that if there was a bus that broke down and you didn't receive a notification, that's something that we can certainly follow up on. Mrs. Newman oversees our transportation department, so if you want to leave your number with Mrs. Verga. She can definitely share more detailed information. I just wanted to give you a couple of bullet points as to why we have been researching some of these. But it's kind of like, I hate to compare the stadium lights. Back in the day, stadium lights on the field would light up every single person's backyard when you turned them on. And the technology has come such a long way that now it just lights up the
060field and nothing else. So sometimes we wait for the technology to catch up with accurate GPS and findings. Our transportation department does have the ability to track the buses to see how fast they go, when they stop, when their doors open, when their doors close. So if there's any concerns just in terms of buses, we have a tremendous amount of information to take a look at each individual bus route. But as far as the app... They've been very glitchy. We have been researching them. We hope that the technology catches up with that a little bit sooner. I know that there's some other options that parents may have used, whether it's, you know, Life 360 on the phone or if it's AirTags, things of that nature. But I just want to let you know that we
061have been researching these apps for the last few years. So thank you. Anybody else like to speak? Nothing. All right, so at this point, I'm going to make a motion to adjourn the meeting. Can I get a motion? Oh, we're going to adjourn back into executive session. Yes. For the purpose of discussing negotiation and consult on legal matters. So that's it. I think we're done, right? We're over? All right. Motion. Thank you all for coming. Another motion? Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Oh, can I get a motion? Motion. Can I get a second? All those in favor? Aye. We're allowed to go. Yes.