001Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Can somebody approve action 1.02 to approve the agenda? Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. In the event of an emergency this evening and we need to evacuate the building, we do have two points of exit from our room. Please pick the door closest to those exits and move as far away from the building as possible. Will you please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of 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 do the administration of oath of office for our newest board member, Mr. Crandall. Welcome
002back. Thank you. I am going to bring this on to you. Do you hereby pledge and declare that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of New York State and will you faithfully discharge the duties of the position of the Fulton City School District Board of Education member according to the best of your ability? I will. All right. I'll have you sign away. Thank you. Thank you very much and we appreciate you coming back to us. Congratulations. Oh, that's me, right? Yep. That's for you. Thank you. You're welcome. We will start with our public forum. I just want to remind our communities that when you come up to the podium to speak to us, you have three minutes that you can tell us your concerns. And also, we are not
003at this time able to discuss anything that has to do with any specific staff or students in our district. So just kind of make sure that you don't bring up any personal information when you come and speak to us this evening. I'm going to start with Jim. Is it Fafalia? Yep. Hi, Jim. Hello. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having us here today. So I'm from the Fulton Garden Club. There's a few other Garden Club members here. And we're here to talk about the program Synergy. And probably I don't want to waste my three minutes explaining. Is everybody familiar with what the Synergy program is? So the Garden Club was created four years ago with two real goals in mind. One was improving our community, which, you know. garden landscaping you know helping the city look
004nicer but also creating community building community one of the things that's really been great is people from all different walks of life and forth have come together to volunteer their time for in the gardening area so we're building community and a really good example of how we've been able to reach out to the community is the synergy program we started with them in the first year this is their third year doing this program and It's been a great combined effort between the Garden Club, the school district, the city Parks and Rec department, and just volunteers from the community. And we have been really pleased with what we have been able to do. The students have adopted now three parks. Those three parks have been attended to this year and at the last park which was
005Veterans Park in the Camino lot It came to my attention that the program may be in jeopardy in the future because of I believe financial concerns from the community So I just wanted to come with the other Garden Club members to just say if there's any way that you can help this program sustain itself as it exists We would really appreciate that. We've seen lots of great opportunities for the students to become passionate about their community. passionate about the parks that they're adopting the parks as their own if you will and you know the concept of eighth graders adopt a park and then they carry down until their senior year so we're seeing that happen we're seeing the connections made between most of us as you can watch and see everybody we're mostly senior citizens
006and so just Bridge that age gap between youth and students were making good collaboration. They're working together so And you may be aware that synergies also already received statewide recognition and a recent superintendents Conference so we're open is getting recognized through that so Basically we want to ask you to try to We maintain the program as it is anything we can do to help as community members. We would be glad to do that Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you and Casey My name is Casey. I'm a part of Garden Club. I'm also a retired teacher from the school district I wasn't sure if I would be of the opportunity to speak so I wrote something and I can share this with you As a retired teacher, I'm thrilled to death with the Synergy
007Project. It's the kind of thing that I'd love to see happen. I think that not only does it provide a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for the students to build pride in themselves and what they're able to do, pride in their city, and also pride in the sense that they now want to help take care of the city, plus vandalism occurs when you have a situation like this. So I'm really excited about the Synergy Program. I think it's fantastic. I hope it will continue. I also see, and this reflects back to what I did when I was teaching. In the 1990s, I was an officer in the Fulton Teachers Association, and I worked with Mike Egan and Bill Lynch when the district first was, when all the small cities were first allowed to vote on the school
008budgets. And we prepared a committee, and we worked very hard to do public relations to encourage that, you know, that people would vote yes for the budget. And I see Synergy as a beautiful piece of that for you. As you'll see in my letter, I'm a senior citizen and have been for quite a while. And I don't get to see kids very often. I don't get to see what you do in the schools. And I think it's wonderful to be part of this. The kids were enthusiastic. I saw no, twice I've done this, I've seen no student refuse to do anything or be, drag their feet about it. They were excited. They were happy to do it. I think that alone is worth all the effort and time that goes into it. I'm sure they
009were very well prepared by their teachers because they were gung-ho and ready to go. So please consider keeping it up. And again, I see so many benefits from it for the kids and also for the district and for the community. Thank you. Action 1.07 to approve the minutes from May 12th, regular meeting minutes. Could somebody approve it? Move it. Second. Nick, Lori, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Abstain. Passes 5-0-1. Action minutes 1.08 to approve the May 20th, 26th special meeting. Nick, Jeffs, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passed a 6-0-0. Alright, we're hitting the home stretch here for the end of the year. I can't believe that we're in June already. There have been some pretty interesting things happening with your academic awards and with your sports banquet coming up. What we've
010been seeing on the field and on the track with our kids out there. It's been great. The weather is finally warm. It finally feels like summer. So hopefully our kids can hold out until the end of testing season. On June 10th, which is tomorrow, the Athletic Award Banquet is at 5.30 at the Polish Home. There's also a concert for the 5th and 6th grade Granby and Fairgrave students. It will be at 6 o'clock at Fairgrave School. June 11th is the Jazz Jamboree at 7 p.m. at G. Ray Bodley. And then on June 12th, G. Ray Bodley has their Bodley Bash at 2.30 p.m. June 15th, there's a UPK kindergarten transition night, 5.30 p.m. at Fairgrave. And June 16th will be a pretty exciting day for our seniors. They're going to do their graduation walk from
0119.30 to 12. They start at GRB. They get to go to their elementary schools, and then they end up at the junior high. And I know the kids, the younger kids, absolutely love seeing their seniors walk through. Just a great event for our district in general. So let's honor our graduates this week. June 18th, oh, back to the 16th, there is, I'm sorry, Mark, there will be a health and safety meeting. I don't want to take away your thunder, but we will meet virtually at that. And then on the 18th, we will be doing graduation for our high school graduates at 6.30 p.m. down to the complex at GRB, weather permitting. If it does not look nice, superintendent will let us know, and we'll move our rain date to June 19th. Same place, same time.
012Speaking of June 19th, actually, it is a holiday, so all of our facilities will be closed unless there is a rain date for the graduation. June 21st, Happy Father's Day. So this is your month. Last month I made a big deal about all the moms in the district. So this month will be about all the dads. And on the 22nd, there is a DCC meeting at 5 o'clock at G. Ray Bodley. On the 23rd, we have another board meeting here at 6 o'clock. And then the last day of school for students is June 25th. How exciting. And they will also be having their 8th grade moving up ceremony at 12 o'clock and 1.15. There's two at Fulton Junior High School. We will be doing our board self-evaluations tonight, so I hope that you guys can
013all stick around for that as well. I'm just going to throw this one out there. This is an upcoming, but this is something that happened this past weekend. We had our lovely boosters club down at, we had our booster burn down at the field. It was a beautiful day to run. We had a lot of students, which maybe Mr. Ells can touch base on some of your amazing talents for runners out there. I just got to throw this one. I don't even know the young man's name, but there was a five-year-old who ran it in 31 minutes. was very impressed. Our kids are doing great down there. We had some of our sports teams down there. Get his name. But it was nice for the support that the community could bring to our boosters who
014support us so much and our students. They have their award ceremonies and different things that they bring forward to us. So next year, hopefully, we can have a lot more of our, maybe we could push our coaches, bring more of their team members in. Maybe some of our admin can kind of come down. You don't have to run. Our board members, you guys can come too. You can walk if you want to. a fun, wonderful day that supports what our booster clubs do. It was wonderful and I saw Mr. Owls there, so thank you for helping them with that as well. And with that, we're going to turn it over to the superintendent for his superintendent report. Very timely. We do have Mr. Owls here tonight with us to share with us our spring athletics
015update. I know our spring sports season was very active right up until... a week or so ago and you know we've had a lot of success this spring so our teams have done an outstanding job so mr ross so uh thank you for inviting me tonight um and as president albert said um we are getting towards the end of this end of the school year and um i think some of our our students our student athletes especially um they felt that summer's already started and so you're stuck with only me tonight i couldn't wrangle any of our student athletes in the comments so Just waiting for Chris over there. So while he gets that up over there, as we're talking about, we did have 150, I think 159 people showed up to our booster burn
016this past weekend. We had some walkers, we had some runners. So we do three different activities. We do a kids fun run, which is just once we're on the track. Those are really for the... The little ones, except for the five-year-old who wanted to do a full 5K. Then we did the athlete mile, where they, obviously, it's just four laps around the track. And then we do the full 5K. You can walk it, run it, have fun with it. So that was a good day for overall. Perfect, absolutely perfect weather. Temperature wasn't too hot. No rain. The following day, we had our fifth and sixth grade track meet. We have moved it to the daytime to try to accommodate all of our schools so we don't have to worry about after-school transportation. which was never
017really available for us for our 5th and 6th grade. So we had well over 200 athletes, not athletes, 200 5th and 6th graders. They were athletes for the day, so they were down there. They had a wonderful time. All the smiles that were coming out of there. So we had a really great day with our 5th and 6th graders down there. All of our elementary phys ed staff were down there running the activities. And that's really a culmination of their last unit where they teach track and field. They teach the high jump, the shot put, the discus, the runs, the hurdles, and then the kids get to choose what activities they want to do. And it's a great activity for them, and it's one of our culminating events that we have for our office of
018program. And Chris, I'm really running out of things to talk about. Sorry. All right, we're good. Good, thank you. So our spring athletic update. So again, thank you for inviting me tonight to go over each one of our spring sports seasons. And I always like to start off with our spring sports scholar-athlete teams. These are the teams that average 90 or above. Softball, girls track and field, girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse, baseball, and boys tennis. They all meet at the criteria for scholar-athlete team. So softball, they were section three semi-finalists, again, for the second year in a row. They also won the league title. We had all-league honors of Myla Dempsey for the second team, Emma Spaulding, Claire Dempsey, Bailey Frost were all first team. And we also had player of the year, Riley Trude, for
019the second year in a row as well. And she's only a sophomore, so good things come from there. Baseball, so we had Chase Shepard. He batted for a psycho, which is a single, a double, a triple in a home run on one game. That was for our last regular season game against Phoenix. He batted 430, and that's an average, so 43% of the time he got a hit. He had 96 career strikeouts throughout his four years as a pitcher. He will be going on to play Division II in Maryland next year. Tanner Denton, he batted 322. Again, that's a percentage. So 32%. Anything over 300 is really well. So on both those ways. Unfortunately, they still have not done the All-League or All-CNY awards. So I don't have the first team for those yet. And
020that is overall as a league. They're still waiting to complete the state finals for that. But if you get those, can you send them to Mr. Lawrence so he can move that to us? Thank you. Boys tennis, we were sectional qualifiers. That is really one of the only sports left that we have to qualify for. All league honors, we had first team, second singles, Cuba. First team, fourth doubles was Roland Cowden and Michael Best. Second team, first singles was Alan Craig. Second team, third singles, Zeke Hotchkiss. And honorable mention in second doubles, Matt Becker and Mitchell Jacobs. So here's a picture of our track and field team, our boys and girls. Next slide. So all-league honors. Olivia, first team, all-division, in 100 hurdles, long jump, 200. She was also second team, all-division, in 100-meter sprint,
021in section three champion, in 100, 200, and long jump. At the Section 3 Championship, she was running her hurdles. Unfortunately, that's a stepping event. If you get really, really good like Olivia is, you plan on your steps. On the third to last hurdle, she clipped the tip of the last hurdle, or the eighth hurdle. Ninth hurdle, she hit pretty good. And her steps were way off, and she took a huge tumble on the tenth hurdle. She was on her back with the turtle, popped back up. She still took second place. So that's how far ahead she was. Really super unfortunate that she ended her. She really wanted the four first places at the sectional competition. She will be competing this weekend at the state meet. In Webster, she's actually going to be running the pentathlon,
022which is five different events. At the state qualifiers, she won four of the five events, which is unheard of. She dominated everybody, and it was some good things to see for this coming weekend. Dreena Horton, she was first team all-division in the 400 hurdles and second team all-division in the 100 hurdles. She will also be competing this weekend in Webster at the state meet. She is seated second right now in the 400 hurdles. So hopefully she gets a good placing and qualifies for the federation which is run the following day. Second team all division in the 3200 meter run. That's two mile for anybody that's wondering. That's a two mile run. It's eight laps around the track. He was section three champion in the 3200. He dominated that race. He lapped four or five kids
023in the sectional championship, meaning that he was finished and they had a whole nother 400 meters to go. So he completely dominated that race. Do you remember what his time was? His time at the sectionals was 9.43, 9.44 right around there. And he actually competed again as state qualifier. He will be running this weekend at the state meet. And then Aiden Spaulding, he was second team all division and also placed in sectionals with workplace. School records, we had a great season this year with school records. Olivia broke records in the 100, 200, 100 hurdles, long jump, and triplet. And Audrina broke records in the 400 hurdles and triple jump. Kalen, as I just said, he broke the 3,200 meter record. And Aiden Spaulding broke the long jump record. So yeah, we are redoing our whole
024entire record board since all those records have been broken. Well, that's a good thing. It is. That is a great thing to be working on. Next. Boys lacrosse, we had all-league awards in first team all-league, Aiden Halliday, first team all-league with Xavier Doty, and in second team all-league, Logan Summers. Aiden Halliday set a new school record for single season assist. Next. Girls Cross, All League Honors. First team was Allison Mainville, Gianna Thurlow, Vida Galini, and Emma Hutchinson. Second team was Claire Murray, Jordan Devendorf, and Nevaeh Nicholas. She's our goalie. milestones was Trinity Nicholas had a hundred plus career saves Gianna Thurlow was a hundred plus career points and Allison main belt 200 career points and draw controls she's actually really really close to that 300 mark probably another game she would have gotten that so
025great milestones for our girls cross outfits next oh and then so this From the Dragon Den to the College Arena, these are all student athletes that will be competing next year in college athletics. On Thursday, 3.30, we're going to be recognizing our students that we didn't recognize for Division I signings. We're going to bring them into the gym and being able to recognize all of them with a recognition ceremony, signing ceremony for the sports that they're going to be going to. And here's all the colleges that they have. I'm not going to take the time to read through all those, but as you can see, there's 17 of them. And then we have the three Division I athletes, Kelly Shaw for Wagner College, and Allison Mainville, lacrosse, for the University of Connecticut, and Olivia Henderson,
026track and field at LeBron College. I believe that's it, Chris. I think that's it. I don't think there's any more. Good. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. All right, next up. I'd like to do a quick recognition of Corporal Carlton W. Barrett Day. This is something that is typically done on the 6th, I believe, but because it fell on the weekend, it's something that we'll do tonight and acknowledge that actually it was the day of acknowledgement was June 8th. So I'll read this aloud. It's a resolution. claiming June 8th as Carlton W. Barrett Day. At a meeting of the Fulton City School District Board of Education held on the 9th day of June 2026, we would like to acknowledge that June 8th was Carlton W. Barrett Day. Whereas native Fultonian Carlton W. Barrett, while serving
027in the U.S. Army during World War II, distinguished himself during D-Day, which is one of the most important military battles of the 20th century. And whereas while serving his country for a total of 23 years, Private Barrett saved many lives assisting drowning men to shore and evacuating wounded men to an evacuation boat. He also helped with giving medical treatment to the men that were in need. Whereas on June 6th, 1944, Private Barrett was one of four individuals awarded the Medal of Honor for acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty, being the only one to survive to have the medal placed around his neck. And now, therefore, be it resolved that, in consideration of the aforementioned facts and events, the Fulton City School District does hereby proclaim every June 6th or the following
028Monday, if not on a weekend, to be forever recognized as carlton w barrett day recognized and celebrated through events deemed appropriate by the superintendent of schools and the board of education so last week one of our Volney teachers, Mr. Cahill, he did a really nice job putting together a celebration in the city Brenda was able to Attend for a bit. I had the opportunity to speak at that event. I think what was most impressive though was that Mr. Cahill really gets his students involved in not only just learning about Carlton W Barrett, but then also writing about what they've learned and they did have a concert the same night so there was a little bit of a conflict but one of the students he was able to give he got the pass to get out
029of his concert and come and speak at the event instead and did a really nice job talking about what he's learned about Carlton W. Barrett and how much he looks up to him and the things that he did and the influence that's had on him as a student. So it was just really nice, really nice events to be a part of. something that we're talking about trying to figure out ways to get more of not only our students involved but the community involved in as well and and there were adults that were able to read some of the other student essays so there were more than one voice out there for our students which That's always wonderful. Mr. Cahill works with his kids that way, so I appreciate that day. Yeah, it was very nice
030of them. We were at a lot of them here last year. Yes, I know a group came in last year. Again, they weren't able to coordinate it for us tonight, but again, we're trying to look at different ways where we might be able to get more people not only at the event in the city, but then also maybe out in the public a little bit more as well as far as how our students are engaged in this. he absolutely did a great job putting that together and then the third item on my part of the agenda is really to have a discussion about the student Board of Education membership process Glad to have going here with us tonight, and we had her join us over here at the table For part of this discussion I
031kind of gave her the heads up that this would be on the agenda so she's a good person if anyone has any questions, but I know we've had some discussions Just about our process how many students we may want to have involved moving forward and this would be a great opportunity for us to have that discussion and Kind of set things moving forward So I don't know if anyone wants to start. Well, I know that when we first started with our voice from our student rep, it was not a mandate from the state yet. So Fulton has been doing this for quite some time. And come this time of year, we quite often lose our students because they're getting ready for their senior, because we always have a senior that sits here at the table.
032So they're getting busier this time of year. They're preparing for whatever they need for the end of the year. Some of them are working. We seem to start losing them. And now that it's a mandate for us to have our student voice representative, we've got to decide how do we want this to look. So I'm so thankful, Julian, that you decided to sit with us at the table tonight. I know we've talked about that, Mr. Lawrence, and I've talked about it the last couple of months bringing you up. So do we want... both representatives sitting at the table with us all the time do we want you know how do we want it to look when we vote them in is it still going to be a student voice or they're going to be maybe
033the board's looking for one of our members i know mr lawrence has some um ideas from his other district that he was in so and then i would love to hear what jolene has to say as well um like how she heard about it, maybe how she voted on it in the past. There's just things that you think you would like to see in your student voice. for futures after you're moving on next year. You're going to be with us next year. Oh, yeah, definitely. I think it's a really good idea to have two students. I just think it's easier for ideas to bounce off each other. I think it's a great learning experience. I feel like it was kind of harder, you know, me not sitting here just to kind of learn how everything
034works and really teach you. the junior in waiting almost how everything works so that when they get up they know how it goes they know you know what the routine is so I am NOT I'm not against having to students sit at the table I think voting process wise I believe It was voted by students. I also wouldn't be against having like an almost like an interview kind of a thing that might show students kind of like a experience on you know how interviews actually work stuff like that so when they go into the real world you know how that all goes so I wouldn't be against that either. I thought it was also good for the students to also vote because you know. They're in the school too and they should have a say
035in who they want representing them. I think it's a great idea. And I do have to say that there are times that you've sat in the audience, you have been present, and on the days that you haven't, you have watched us virtually. So you are aware and you have been able to take information back. You meet with Mr. Lawrence every week. Do you want to kind of describe, because maybe some people who are thinking about joining this next year, like what does it look like for you? Like when you talk with the superintendent, how do you feel prepared when you come to the meetings? Yeah, so. I kind of have a little bit of an advantage. I've been watching all the board meetings for a very long time since I was freshman year. But I
036know some students don't do that. So definitely watching, coming to the board meetings and seeing how it goes. I know students kind of have a lesser kind of role. Just because you guys are admin students aren't admin so but understanding how the meetings go and Kind of how the agenda looks stuff like that was helpful for me. I have meetings with Mr.. Lawrence and Gwen for agenda meetings, he just goes through the agenda, says what we're going to be talking about, gives updates if we have any questions, we always ask. So, yeah. I do have a question because I know what you guys do when you come to the table. And how are you bringing information back or how does that look for your peers to get the information that you guys have here at
037the table? And how would you maybe change that? That's a good question. Not to put you on the spot. No, I'm just curious. I'm just very curious. I think there could always be improvement in trying to get it to peers. I think sometimes there's a lot of things that it's not. I don't want to spread any rumors because I don't know if it's actually true or not. So I try to keep it kind of on the down low a little bit so I don't say too much. But I guess if there was more of like a... guideline like this is what's happening this is what you can tell people stuff like that I feel like if there was that it would make it a lot easier for me to give out information I was also
038thinking about we do have GRB news at the GRB and I was thinking of maybe doing like a student representative like little segment and saying what's going on to get it out to GRB students. I guess still brainstorming how to get it out to maybe like elementary schools, stuff like that. I mean, I know they're younger, but if anything came up for, you know, trying to do stuff for their schools as well, trying to get it up to them too. Is there a partnership between the high school and elementary school? I know you... Kids that are actually in elementary school. They're in part of leadership for their grades. I Don't know if there's ever any cross that was Something we had talked about trying to make that connection a little bit better this year. We
039weren't able to But that is something that with when we've had conversations about trying to figure out a way to get the board representatives to those elementaries and to the junior high as well leadership groups Because I would say your voice is the most important at the table. Because you're the student and the school is for you. We're just making sure that everything happens correctly. But yeah, I think that's a big undertaking too if there's only just one person connecting with all the elementary schools as well. be stronger to be able to pull in that junior and leading earlier. Yeah. In my previous district, we did have two students at the table, and it was helpful, especially because we were branching out to our other buildings and getting them involved in that way, and it
040helped quite a bit. But it also just brought two different voices and perspectives to the table, too. Which is good. Yeah. You can agree. Sometimes it's good. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think having two students, especially with the junior in waiting, also sitting up here, I think that's just a great idea. Also, I believe Mr. Lawrence said this at our last agenda meeting, say something came up with me, I couldn't be here, they kind of know how it goes, they can take over for me, and as we're talking about things that we want to say or whatever, they know and they can just voice it. I think it's a good idea. I'd like to see a process for choosing those students. As you said, you've been following our meetings since freshman year. Not every student does
041that. But I think they need to know the importance of their position here if they want to run. And just so that they know it's a big commitment. And we understand that there are things that come up. But maybe that'll be easier with two students at the table. If one's not there, later on they can collaborate and get the word out. But I do think that that might be not with Gwen, not with you, but with student representatives in the past. just not being here. And I think it's important that they understand that commitment and what they're getting themselves into if they want to run. Now how does that look with them running? I don't know. Maybe we need, as the admin, need to put something together in a video. to play at the high
042school. We're always looking for student board members, and this is what it looks like. So I don't know what your process is for choosing. Did you say that the students all vote on who comes? Yeah, so there was like a Google form almost, and it was sent out to all the students at the high school. And they all voted. There was a couple other students that were also on there and they just voted who they thought would be a good candidate for it and then they chose. But I totally agree. the future maybe having like a better information sent out about what it actually is. I did a lot of deep diving myself to see what I was getting myself into but like just me watching the videos like not all the students are going
043to do that so having more information on what your role is, what you're going to do, dates, stuff like that. I think that'll help. And then if some students are like, eh, I thought I liked this, maybe I don't because it's a little too out of my range, then they find somebody else. So I think that's probably better. And I know we've talked about getting those dates out to our students in advance so that they can decide if it's something they can fit into their commitment schedule. So that's definitely. Now, how do you get on the ballot, so to speak? Do you just say you want to be part of it? And then is there an interview process you go through? I don't believe I had an interview process. It was mostly just like I
044went to Mr. Murray, who's the principal, and I just said, hey, I'm interested in this. Could I be on the Google Forum? And then he put me on there. I'm sure he probably made a list of students that were interested. If anything came up, he just kind of crossed the kids that didn't want to do it anymore out. But that's how that went. That's something we could definitely add is more of an information session ahead of time. Yeah. To provide students who are interested with more information and before they go on the ballot because they may decide, oh no, this isn't for me. Because I personally know a couple of kids that were like, oh, that sounds really cool. And then I told them kind of what it was about and they were like, oh,
045I don't think I want to do that anymore. And I was like, okay, that's fine. But yeah, definitely that could be an improvement. How do we get those kids? Maybe continuing to be involved in a different way though because I love to get more voices of what kids actually want to see in school. You know, even right down to we're making decisions on classes that you can take in the future or how your diploma is going to look and what classes you can take for that. And I'd love to get some. Feedback. Yeah. On what kids want. So I know one student in particular, she was supposed to be the junior in waiting and she realized that this just wasn't for her. She didn't, it was just too much. And Mr. Murray suggested maybe going
046into leadership, which is kind of just a lower role than being student representative. So she's still involved in, you know. the leadership at GRB and not the entire district and not the board level. So I know that he did do that for a couple of the students that were just more interested in it anymore and he said, hey, maybe try this. It's a little less and you can still give your input, but just on a lower level. Is there a reason we restrict it to junior and senior? So now, technically, we don't have to. They have to at least be a high school student for a year. I think that's the way the ultimate rule was written before it was restricted to just seniors. So I think that's why the old model of having a
047junior in waiting and they had to sit in the audience, why that existed. And then this gives us the opportunity to now just open that up to junior slash senior. Obviously, we could. go earlier than that if that's something that the board wanted as well. And I guess the other question would be would it be worthwhile if we did take on some sort of amount of where it could be sophomore, junior, or senior? Is it better to have someone in the position, you know, stay in the position so they have a better understanding and build up to where they can contribute more? Or an annual kind of, you know, voted into your position each year if we had different representation from different students? I don't know what would be more beneficial, but it was just
048another thought to that just because there is no specific mandate. I personally like the idea of a two-year term, essentially, because then they are the more seasoned veteran by the time they're a senior, and they can assist that junior because they come on as a board member as well. But then if we're putting the junior also at the table, we still have the two voices. I mean, they worked together or should have been working together behind the scenes anyways, but here, like Jolena was saying, they kind of will already be able to feed off of each other. If one can't make it, they'll be able to fill in the other person's thoughts and agenda. Yeah, and just working with the chair specifically, because I know you said at times for seniors it can get a
049bit tough on the schedule. That's why I was asking specifically. Anything else anybody wants to add or ask? We've just got to figure out what we want the process to look like next year. And that usually starts... We would start that at the beginning of September. I mean, in the future, we could maybe throw it out at the end of June, but for next year, we have to start early. Yeah, it would typically be their first class meeting, I think, is when information kind of goes out at the beginning of the year. If you're interested, sign up. I think it was at like an assembly or something, like a beginning of the year assembly. Yeah, but that's something I think in the future, obviously a little too late this year, but when we hit end
050of May. early June, we could probably put out to students in the junior class or sophomore class going in to be juniors. If you're interested, let us know. And myself, building principal, we could put together, if a board member wanted to join, kind of a little information meeting. Make sure the students, to your point, Nick, know what they're signing up for ahead of time and can answer any questions. And then that could help get them onto that ballot. And I remember we kind of did the, like, when we were eighth going into ninth before the year started for, like, AP classes where they kind of got everyone together with the parents and just said, oh, you know, so even like a question night for those people, like you said, in May or June that are
051alerted and then have something where you bring all those people in because, again, you know, parents can be heavily involved determining on, you know, transportation and such needs. Right. So I just think that that might be worthwhile just because then. Then you kind of know who's more serious coming into September and you've had those talks previously. So I think I'm hearing, though, we're okay with two. And then putting together a process for that junior and waiting to, I guess, just how we're going about getting that information to them and putting together. Like a welcome back assembly in September? Normally, yeah. Yeah, that's when they receive the information last year, or this year. What I was thinking was, when I said maybe put a video or something together for them to watch, that might be a
052good place for kids to see the first day or whatever day of the school year it is, this is what it's all about. Talk to... Jolene, if you want more information. But I think it's just informing them. I think that's what it is. And then they can decide whether or not they can commit to it. You probably think also, Nick, like you said, if there's a video, then they know Jolene's the rep. So say there is something they have a concern with or they want to be brought up at the board meeting, then they know who the rep is in the school. Does that make sense to you, Jolene? Yes. Does the student council... You know your class president that they have meetings or you would you meet with them as the board record? Are
053they taking are they listening to the voice of the student? Yeah, I I'm assuming they have meetings I'm not really sure but I could also do that as well meet with them. I actually didn't even think about that, but that's a great idea. And it's also somebody else that students can go to with their issue, what they think is going well, what they want it to go be like. And yeah, I think that... the class president, vice president, whoever it is that just gives you those fingers and then you may meet with them because they may be more comfortable, students may be more comfortable going to them than the board rep. And I want to reiterate what Jess said. Your voice is probably the most important. I don't want you to think that you're any
054less important. We vote, but your voice is as important as ours. Or more. Okay? And Ms. True just mentioned that if you're willing to meet, or whoever's on is willing to meet with our class presidents at the high school level, could they do the Congress at the elementary levels maybe just a couple times a year? You have the two students, maybe they could meet with them? elementary congress potentially yeah i mean kind of the model that i picture in my head is kind of like when the board members are we have our dcc where those meetings you know those people meet with you know your people and then that's that cross group yeah one that's more specific more broad for the district level and then you're getting those ideas brought to the main level and
055so that's kind of how i see it when i envision all these different wheels yeah so that you know it's not every time but that a couple times a year you're collaborating from I think we do that with a lot of our systems anyway but just taking this and incorporating it into the system. Could we kind of do it at like one of the Title IX meetings? Title I? Title I, right? I almost wanted to say I want to say no. Would that kind of overlap because it has to do with what families and students are looking for out of the school? That one maybe not as much. I do think what Tim was saying though with DCC, just as you were saying that, I was thinking that is another area where we could probably
056get the student board rep involved. I don't think that's happened in the past. So I think, yeah, it does open things up for us. as far as other groups out here. Yeah. And we can't all be there to listen. Honestly, it probably would be the most attentive meeting we'll fight over who gets to go. All right, good. So we'll meet and figure out a plan moving forward here. And thank you for your input. It really does help us. Yes. That's it for my report. All right. And I mean, do you have anything else you want to add on your end for your student report? You kind of just filled us all in for that. Is there anything else you want to bring to our attention? I don't believe so. Okay. All right. Then we will
057move on to action 5.01 to accept financials. Somebody move it. Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Action 5.02, accept the donation from Fulton Savings Bank. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Thank you very much to Fulton Savings Bank for that donation. We greatly appreciate it. And for everything they do. A lot of the groups in Fulton, I know we consistently see their names come up for donations. So it's just really great to see all the community support. So we really do thank everyone who contributes. Action 5.03, approve disposal of surplus property. Move that. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Action 5.04, to approve the food and cafeteria supplies bid for 2026-2027 school year. Move that. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining?
058Passes 6-0-0. Action 5.05 to approve the cooperative purchasing for the 26-27 school year. Move that. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Action 5.06 to approve specialty bid for the 26-27 school year. Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Action 5.07, approve transfer of property for Erie Street. Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Nick, you got it in before you left. Action 6.01 to approve the Committee on Special Education. Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Action 6.02 to approve the Superintendent Contract. Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Action 6.03 to approve OCMBOSI's contract. Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Action 6.04 to approve
059the impartial hearing officer. Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Can I interest my colleagues in batching? Action 7.01 to 7.32 for personnel. Are we allowed to batch those? Or do we have to do each of the 10-year individuals? No, we've batched them in the past. Okay, I just wanted to double check. Then I'll move it. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining. Passes 6-0-0. All right. We're going to move into our board forum. And let's start with Mr. Crandall. Welcome back. Thank you. Well, your vacation was well worth it. I pretty much kept up on everything. If I missed something, somebody would call me and ask me, and I'd find out. I'm pretty much on top of things, and I stopped by and saw Doug last week and had
060a few questions and got those answered, and I see Nick and Lori all the time, so I guess somewhat goes on. So I'm almost on top of things. Good. All right. We don't reveal any secrets. No. I have the room bugged anyway. Mr. DeJalarm. Yeah, I just want to congratulate all the student athletes, and especially those scholar athletes. It always impresses me. I don't know what other school districts you're going to, but it always seems like we have a lot. And I'm really impressed. Ms. St. Phillips, welcome. Thank you for the input. And I look forward to having you on board. Thank you. Ms. Proulx. Okay, well, I would like to thank the Garden Club and all the hard work that they do, and I hope we can still move forward with that. Ms. St.
061Phillips, thank you. You're very well spoken, and you knew what you wanted to say, and you did a great job. Thanks to Fulton Savings Bank for their donation. Also, congratulations to Student Athlete. And I'd also like to mention... Earl Hall, the executive director of Syracuse Builders Exchange, when he came in to speak with students that didn't plan on going to college, planned on getting into construction, and he had, what, 28 kids or something like that, I believe? A little shy of that, but yes. Yeah. And he spoke with them, and he's told them how to get involved, what he can do, and he's more than willing to help. And you're looking more into more people doing things like that? coming in and I think that's great so thank you to your work on that and
062thank you Mr. Hall he's been a great ally for us and wants to work more with our district and helping students especially who are interested in going into the construction trades that's great one more avenue for our students that's wonderful Mr. Connors I think my board members have summed it up well. And I just keep thinking, you know, it's hard to believe by our next board meeting we'll have already had high school graduation. And so I'm just thanking all the events and everything and to all the seniors, but also all the other students, you know, going into the next grade. No matter what grade it is, it's always a big thing. And so I just say enjoy it. It's something that you'll never get back and you know, although things may not be perfect things
063might not always go as planned Enjoy what you have because all of these moments someday you're gonna look back and think well I guess that little thing wasn't so important But the big thing the people you spend time with those celebrations Even if you think it's a little thing those will matter the rest of your life. So everyone out there. Enjoy these weeks Thank you. Definitely. Yes, mr. O'Brien My colleagues have really all said it now. But Mr. Crandall, welcome back. Glad to have you. Ms. St. Phillips, I always love your smiling face. And the information that you bring to us is valuable, and I thank you for it. I hope everybody enjoys the next couple weeks in celebrating. celebrating about the possibilities of what the future holds. All right, thank you. Yes, we have
064a lot of great things going on. Mr. Riles, thank you so much. I'm sorry that your students left you all alone. I mean, you're not as exciting as them, but we do appreciate every time you bring such great news to us about how our athletes are doing. And like Mr. DeJong said, their academic success is wonderful. That's just great. Also, I know that the sports banquet is tomorrow, but I do want to say that you've had a lot of academic awards going on, and that's really why we're here. We're here for how our kids succeed when they're applying themselves to their goals and their classes. And you just had the award, or you had a ceremony for our summa and our magna cum laude students. It looks like we have quite a few. We do.
065to be proud of in our district and I can't wait to be able to see them on graduation night. It always makes my heart happy when you see all those students stand and just the happiness in their eyes that they really did reach for the stars and they have done so well. It was nice for them to all get their skulls the other night. ready to wear their gear at graduation. I've seen some proud parent moments. I've heard proud parent moments, whether it has to do with our academics, our kids with their end-of-the-year concerts, and all the sports that's been going on. Parents are proud of their kids. We are proud of what we see. And, I mean, your staff and our coaches, they got them here. So we appreciate what your staff and coaches
066are doing for our students as well. I wanted to say again, thank you, Mr. Fandel, for joining us again. Mr. Perro is here with us this evening. He'll be with us in just a short month. He'll be sitting up here with us, and that will be wonderful, too. But I want to also say, I know that we have one more meeting that we're supposed to have with Mr. DeJuarum, but if you are not here for the next meeting... I hear that there's some primary Republican stuff going on that you and Mr. Crandall may not be. Well, I saw that in the paper the other day, and, you know, there was a little birdie. But I can't let you go and leave us without saying thank you so much for everything that you have done for
067us here on the board, especially with our students. I mean, you have taken, like, our student reps under your wing. You have tried very hard to make sure you can get a good handbook in place. for them i know you've got some work that you've done um you're welcome to share that with miss uh prall she is uh taking over the whole handbook i can't work to continue to work on that so you can you you're definitely welcome to work to finish that out you do not have to hand over the reins on that because you have been doing this for many years so we we certainly appreciate you taking the kids under the wing and you You've offered a lot to our district. You've been our delegate for our NISPA conferences. You go to
068many trainings. You bring back information for us. And, you know, it's going to be sad not to have you. I'm supposed to be going with you. I don't know what happens. So if you want to stay, but we will always, you know, be able to use you anywhere in the community. If there's any other committees you want to join on, you know, feel free because you've been a beacon here. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And with that, I guess we're going to have to go ahead and move on because there isn't really much else to say for this evening. All right. We could go into a second public forum if anybody is interested in joining us and wants to say anything. Going once sold, gone, all right. Then we
069are going to go ahead and move into an executive session. It is resolved that Mr. Lawrence is asked to enter executive session to discuss a legal matter, contract negotiations, employment of a particular individual, and we also have our Board of Ed evaluations this evening. So I want to thank all of you who have joined us and who have come to join us this evening here. Have a great evening and enjoy that wonderful summer weather that's finally here. Thank you. What's going into executive session? And all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Welcome back. I'd like to move action 9.01 for adjournment. Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Abstaining? Passes 6-0-0. Thank you everyone and have a great evening. You too.