001good evening this is a regular scheduled board of education meeting the board of education was in executive session in accordance with open meeting law 105f specific personnel matters settlement teacher aid student matters special education student placement community athletic team field issue and agenda review dr cook for the pledge stand for the pledge of allegiance followed by the star spangled banner performed by gavin wallen and justin d rosalia our long island scholar artist 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 what's so we held at the twilight last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the paris fight or the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rocket's red glare
002the bombs bursting in air they've proved through the night that our flag was still there that was beautiful thank you both very much wonderful job come on in we have some caution tape set up for you sit in this front row please Hello everyone and welcome. This is a very exciting time of year. Every October we get the pleasure of honoring our Board of Education for Board of Education Month. So this is celebrating the board. Now in some places we just might give them a little trinket and move on with our lives but our board is special to us. So what we like to do is we like to honor the board by showing them what they have done for us. And every year we pick a new theme. Sometimes the theme is wellness, sometimes
003it's creative problem solving, that was last year. Technology, social emotional learning. This year we are talking about portraits. The portrait of a graduate. It's a new New York State initiative which is going to start in 2029. But I'm excited about it because we're basically there already because of your leadership and vision. We are good to go. And the things that you do for us as a school district we're so appreciative of because if we didn't have your support we wouldn't be able to do the kinds of things that we do. The portrait of a graduate has got six elements in it. It's academic. It's academically prepared. Creative innovator. Critical thinker. Effective communicator. Global citizen. Reflective and future focused. Okay. Are you with me so far? So we like to have a lot of departments get
004involved in honoring our board of ed. So we're very excited about that. So I'm going to start with the art department here. And in the art department the students painted these frames. Now the frames, now I want you to think about the theme. Portrait of a graduate. Decorative frames of graduation for red and blue because middle country is red and blue. Okay. I went to a workshop at the botanical gardens and I've seen it also in our art classes where we take a frame and we look at different things because it changes our perspective as we look to see what's going on. So what we're doing is with the six elements, those elements can be anything. Like you might say, well, you're the music and art director so you're just creative. Uh-uh. We're a lot
005of things in music and art. We cover all six of these. And every department would tell you that. But when you look through your lens, it's what you're seeing as you're doing it. So it's pretty cool. So the art department decided to make you each a lens. All right. So I'm going to start. Now they're all different. So I'm going to let you look through and take. But I'm also going to mention that we have two new students on the board this year. And when you get older students, hand painted items are very cool to you. But as students. Bags of candy celebrating you are better. Okay. And you guys do the frames. Pick whichever one you like. You don't have to go. They're all different. They're all hand painted. Go down here. You can
006take them. Now, one of the reasons this is cool is because I am a portrait of the graduate. All right. I would like to ask our world studies students, the world language honor society, students that are here tonight to come on up now. Because one of the. We like to be interactive with students. But we're going to take it. We're going to go global tonight. We offer three languages. We have French, Italian, and Spanish. Either one of you take this. Leave my notes. Oh, and I needed to. I would be remiss if I didn't tell you it's so sparkly due to the work of Emma Burdick and Joanne Bellini from Unity Drive and kindergarten and math literacy teachers. So we appreciate their work on the I am a portrait of a graduate glitter. And I'm
007going to take this. I'm going to take this. I'm going to take this. I'm going to take this. I'm going to take this. I'm going to take this. I'm going to take this. I'm going to take this. I'm going to take this. I'm going to take this, you can never go wrong with glitter right. Don't quote me. The art department would hate that I say that. OK. But, I like glitter. So anyway, so we have these students here because they're going to teach the board, and the audience, this is all interactive, how to do a greeting in their language, a how to say I am a portrait of a graduate. Got it? So first we're gonna do introductions. I'm Ava Matlock. My name is Emmy Contreras. Hi I'm Bella Muccio. Rebecca Orlik. I'm Helen Vasquez.
008Devonnie Gann. They stand united up here but they are actually from both high schools and they are great with it. So they're like yay we're here together. Oh I should have mentioned the Star-Spangled Banner also. Center Ridge High School sang, Newfield High School on piano. We are one district and we're very proud of that fact. Alright so we have World Language Honor Society. Who wants to go first? We didn't just talk about that did we? Salut comment ça va? Je m'appelle Devonnie. So hello in French can be said in multiple ways. One way is salut. Repetit à tous. To say how are you is comment ça va? To say I am called or my name is je m'appelle. 100% ten stars to everybody. In Italian I mean the most common way to say hello would
009be ciao. And I would like to say welcome to everyone so benvenuti. I would like to say good evening to all of you guys. So one way to say this is a buona sera. In Spanish the easiest way to say hello is hola. And to say how are you you're gonna say como estas. And another greeting is mucho gusto which means nice to meet you. And another way to greet somebody is by saying it's a pleasure which is es una placer. Okay one more time. Es una placer. There you go. So to introduce yourself once again you would say je m'appelle and your name. So je m'appelle. And to say good evening and how are you in a formal way you would say bonsoir. Comment allez-vous? So another way to say how are you you
010would say comment vas-tu? So here's a question who knows how to say where's the bathroom in your language? Jove el baño. Now let's do portrait of a graduate. How do you say I am a portrait of a graduate? Who's going first? Okay in Spanish I'll go piece by piece. So first you're gonna say I am. Soy. Then you're gonna say the portrait, el retrato, of a graduate. De un graduado. Okay now all together soy un retrato de un graduado. One more time. Soy un retrato de un graduado. One more time. Soy un retrato de un graduado. One more time. Soy un retrato de un graduado. One more time. Ready? Soy el retrato de un graduado. Good. Okay I'll do it piece by piece as well. So I am is sono. El retrato de una laureata.
011And then all together sono el retrato de una laureata. I'll just follow the pattern and also go piece by piece. So I am, je suis, the portrait, le portrait d'un diplômé. Je suis le portrait d'un diplômé. Okay. Okay. Last time. Je suis le portrait d'un diplômé. Je suis le portrait d'un diplômé. Very much. And that is why they are the portrait of the graduate. And I am glad that I have already graduated from high school. So thank you all very much. Hang out just for a moment please. Actually you know what? Have a seat for the video and then come back here after the video. Okay? So thank, let's give them a round. But don't go too far. You can take the caution seats. Take the caution seats. You're good with that. Okay. So next
012we put together a video from all of the departments and schools to show the portrait of a graduate and how we're meeting it. I'm going to talk through the first minute or so of it and then it's going to go through the rest of the session. So I'm going to go through the first minute or so of it and then it's going to go through the rest of the session. So I'm going to go through the rest of the session. So I'm going to go through the rest of the session. So I'm going to go through the rest of the session. So I'm going to go through the rest of the session. So I'm going to go into the rest of the session. So I'm going to go into music with a reel of pictures.
013So this way we've been reintroduced to what we're saying. All right. Here we go. This place. All right. School Board Member Recognition Month. We thank you this time of year for everything you do, dear Board of Education. We really appreciate you. I want to keep the focus on that because we wouldn't be here without you. Starting the year 2029, the freshman class begin New York State's portrait of a graduate. My feeling? We're already there. Your vision, your leadership, we're light years ahead. Totally light years ahead. With initiatives such as the seal of civic readiness, CTE music and art, 4 plus 1 pathways to graduation, AP capstone, seal of biliteracy, the exploration of regionalization projects, we have had capstone for 12 years. And we have college credits that kids can have a whole year of college
014done before they graduate. I've already reviewed the six things of the portrait of a graduate. Academically prepared, creative innovator, they continue to go around, critical thinker, effective communicator, global citizen. That is the symbol. But there's something very familiar about all of this. Does it sound familiar to you? Skills and attitudes necessary to be creative problem solvers. We're going to change the world. That was our mission statement. It said in Washington, D.C. Now think about our mission statement. I'm going to break it down for you a little bit and compare it to New York State. Empower and inspire all students to apply the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary. New York says be academically prepared. Check. Be creative problem solvers. New York says creative innovators. Check. To achieve personal success. New York says critical thinker. Check. To
015contribute responsibly. Effective communicator. Check. In a diverse global citizens, we heard them tonight. Check. In a dynamic world, which New York says reflective and future focused. Boom. We got this. Mic drop. Which I will not drop the mic. I'm going to do it again. That's not what you like. I'm a music person. Board of Ed, you rock so much. You boulder. So what does the portrait of a graduate look like in middle country? Chis acknowledged singing. Chisρού singing. Thank you. Thank you, Board of Ed. We really just love your support so much. The PTA also gets involved every year with the Board of Ed. I would not have bought this. First things of Ed presentation so what we did this year is we have a digital photo frame for the boardroom so that you can
016watch this presentation I actually received so many photos from the departments and schools this cut it down to be within a reasonable time limit so you can watch this presentation if you hit the word video and you can see all the photos from everyone if you hit the word photo and just let it scroll so you got one of these on behalf of the PTA council Vicki Alighieri president so I'm gonna leave that with Dawn and I'd like to bring the kids back up for a second Honor Society from language persuasions we have a lot of Honor Society's anybody could have came up at this point but I want these ones back we'd like to end today with presenting the board always presents us with certificates and we wanted to present you with certificates today
017for all your hard work and and just most people don't realize that we're not the only ones who are going to be presenting the board today we do have some certificates and they're being presented to all of you as well and the papers we're giving out to all of our Bachman university students and they're for all their hard work and they're also being presented to all of our students so I want to say thank you in advance that you are all of your support is a great help to all of us as a community as well as all of the community and you are all of our staff our facilities your students you are all of our staff are in the best shape and treatments and we thank you all for Chirac vice president Robert
018Feeney trustee Arlene Barisi trustee John D Benedetto right there trustee Doreen Feldman right there Doreen Feldman trustee Denise Haggerty trustee Robert Halleck trustee Deborah Mann Rodriguez trustee Laura Telamo we have to work on that with me student board member Dylan Blake student board member Rose Miller all right let's hear it for all of our board members let's hear it for our student helpers tonight can we ask the Board of Ed to take a picture with our student helpers please come on up here Melba's got the pictures come on up and then afterwards you can head back up Melbs you want to take a picture with us with the certificates or no no okay oh you want this in it put it in the center and we hold this at our feet please okay we're good
019all right thank you everybody let's get a round of applause thank you thank you thank you and you can head back to your seats I just want to thank you dr. cook for always making sure that you put on something wonderful for us to show how appreciative we can be as many of you as possible thank you so much for this wonderful for us to show how appreciative we can be as many as possible appreciated we are and you always seem to know exactly what is needed in the moment so on behalf of The board we thank you and we thank everyone who is involved and helped contribute to it. It was very nice. So, thank you and now for Certificate of appreciation. Dr. Cook if you could come to the podium, please. Oh, no,
020I'm sorry. I'm reading what you just gave to us those were the certificate of appreciation for us Sorry and now for certificates of recognition if I could have dr. Andambera and Dr. Siegel to the podium, please Bonjour, como se va? Je m'appelle mademoiselle Siegel and I can't wait for my next lesson That's right, madam doctor Good evening And thank you for this opportunity to recognize our middle country central school district students who have earned the college boards nationally recognized AP capstone certificate and AP capstone diploma to earn the AP capstone certificate Students were required to achieve an AP score of at least three out of five points in two challenging AP courses AP seminar and AP research this means that these students successfully passed an on-demand writing assessment and Utilize their strong reading writing research
021and public speaking skills to complete rigorous college level research reports and presentations I guess on the theme of foreign languages. I'm do melon bahay to keep video. I refill a key to me Let's all go eat. That's um, that's wanna from a southern African country, Botswana. I Told you that I greeted the elders and I told you my name and it's very happy to be here So AP research is the second course in the AP capstone experience This one is run through the science department where students will take a deep dive into A topic of interest for the full year This course builds on the skills that they acquired through AP seminar and it culminates in an academic paper and a presentation with an oral defense The AP capstone diploma is awarded to students who
022are in a three or higher in both AP seminar and AP research as well As a three or higher on four additional AP exams Honoring the students is particularly exciting every year because we're seeming these diploma And certificate numbers rise. This is our largest group yet It takes a lot of bravery to embark on something like this So if you get an opportunity to see these presentations, we encourage you to come to the schools And you'll hear the names of their projects when we call them out So you should know that they do all this work and submit their work to College Board, but they leave for the summer not knowing How they did so they kind of live in this limbo where it's like Schrodinger's AP capstone? Because they at the same time have
023earned the designation and not earned the designation so we find out what happened in the summer when we pull their reports and We have found this summer that they have all earned the designations Yeah, we're really really proud of you all and instrumental to the student success and AP seminar are the amazing AP seminar Teachers who are with us this evening these teachers have really supported and guided these students Along the way so with us is Patricia Duryea from Center Reach High School And Victoria Sarabian from Newfield High School From the science department. We have Eric Zalewski from Center Reach High School and Jim Nelson from Newfield High School So the collaboration between ELA and science emphasizes the transfer of skills across content areas We thank the district and the Board of Ed for investing
024in this program All right So now we'd like to first recognize and celebrate the middle country students who have earned the College Board AP capstone certificate So to call the names and I'm gonna read the name the title of the culminating research project that they did in AP research Dylan Blake whose project was art and activism how black lives matter displays the central values of black led movements Brianna Brennan how the United whose report was whose project was how the United States battles domestic abuse? rates I don't know where Devin Chester whose research was the likelihood of AI job displacement to affect the upcoming generation of graduating students Isabella DeVito polished performance which gel brand holds up best Aliana Florio from sleep to sought to the sidelines analyzing the relationship between sleep quality and sport
025dream frequency in varsity athletes Tiffany Gao the incredible water repellent ability of coal Colacasia Escalante esculenta Christopher Gonzalez driven by culture how media community and economics fuel the value of classic JDM cars Deanna Karki parasocial relationships in marketing Lindsey Marin left versus right the role of handedness in an intuitive thought process is Alexia Miller Ramirez turtle power exploring adolescence the development through TMNT culture teenage mutant Ninja Turtle Anisha Nur how does the intersection of price fairness gender targeted marketing and socioeconomic factors influence high school students between the ages of 14 and 18 Are you impressed yet? Angelica Parada reframing stereotypes Legally blonde and its influence on social perception Bella Rosano Tracing trauma the influence of Bojack horseman's childhood trauma has on his adult relationships and finally, Caitlin tockets the euphoria effect examining unhealthy adolescent behaviors
026and their connections to romance Okay. Now I'll present the certificates to the students who are in the College Board's AP capstone diploma. So Giovanni Borelli amplified influence the popularity of the guitar in the 21st century? Lily Collins, the extent in which Instagram's features affects parasocial relationships among female teenagers? Jessica Desendorf, how does screen time affect high schoolers' academic achievement? Christian Jankorovic, he was not here, but I did practice his name, so I feel like I had to. Investigating the influence of distance from the galactic center on the star forming efficacy of dust-based nebula. Ava Matlock, the role of African-American vernacular English in shaping online and offline identities. Isabella Muchio, spotted lanternfly economically impacting Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. Sofia Munoz, leveraging true crime media, evaluating sensationalism in Monsters, the Lyle and Eric Menendez story.
027Devani Gham, stepping into my Doc Martens, check out my heels. Jack Rosso, investigating the extent to which political rhetoric promoted on TikTok influences the implicit cognition of upcoming voters. Tristan Schulbaum, Wasteland Marketing, analyzing monetization methods present in Fallout 76. Aisha Siddiqui, judging a book by its cover through a fantasy lens. Jamal Tashton, the role of a man in a movie. John, effectiveness of homemade liquid-based banana and plantain peel fertilizer in carrot and broccoli germination. Jonathan Towns, statutory qualifications and examination of the cabinet. And Lucas Wolpiak, expanding one-seat rides on the Port Jefferson branch, a cost-benefit analysis. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations to you all. And now for certificates of prize. Hi, Dr. Cook. Hi. Okay. We're back. My table is here, so I brought the mic over. I want to congratulate. You heard them perform today. We
028have our Long Island Scholar artists. We have Justin D. Rosalia and Gavin Wallen. Let's hear it for them. And I also want to give a shout out. I see Mr. Lowe is here. He's Justin's private teacher, but he's retired middle country, one of our family. So I just wanted to mention him. Let's go one at a time here. Okay. This is the Long Island Scholar Artist Program. We have five parts of arts. So you have music, art, media, dance, and theater. Okay. So those are your five. There's only two kids in Suffolk County and two kids in Nassau County that get Long Island Scholar Artists. And then there's two more kids that get Merit Scholar Artists on Suffolk and Nassau. So the top eight kids on Long Island. See, I'm from Long Island. I say
029on Long Island. So the top eight on Long Island. And we got two musicians here. We have Newfield High School Merit Scholar and Center Ridge High School Scholar Artists. So let's hear it for them. It really is very impressive. Really very impressive. And you heard them tonight. So, oh, by the way, they only rehearsed that right before they got here tonight. So I told them come at 630, run it once and let's do it. So they're quite the musicians, but it's called Scholar Artists because it is scholar and artists. So I just want to be clear about that. So Newfield Senior, Justin D. Rosalia, Long Island Merit Scholar Artist. He's a talented piano and saxophone player. I like to tell you what they do as their scholar part because it blows me away every time.
030He's taking AP Computer Science, AP Literature and Composition, AP Chemistry, College Economics, Advanced AP Calculus, BC, WL World Language, AP Spanish, College Spanish II, College Intro to Criminal Justice, AP Calculus, AP English Language, AP English. All right. So he's in the school of language and composition, AP physics, mechanics, AP United States History, AP seminar, AP World History, astronomy and is in the Newfield Wind Ensemble. He's got an average very close to 100 and then after school he's in the jazz ensemble. He's president, drum club president, musical pit. He's in the pit orchestra, Triumph Thespian Honor Societies. He's also varsity soccer and travel soccer. He's in the National Honor Society and the National Spanish Honor Society. Did you want to say something in Spanish? This is the theme tonight. They covered it? All right, I won't
031put you on the spot. Oh, I meant to say, Buongiorno, mi piace cioccolato Rolos. Five years of Italian to be able to say that. Okay, so Justin, when he graduates, they are both seniors, when he graduates he wants to be a mechanical engineering major and he's got many colleges fighting over him right now. I asked Mr. Austin to share a quote and he says, Justin yearns not only to experience excellence in academics, performance, and leadership, but strives to pass on his knowledge and passion of music to future generations. He is mature, responsible, and committed to what he does every day. Justin has stamped his achievement in our music department and the community, all while creating a perpetual imprint in the hearts of all music teachers at Music Nation at Newfield High School. So let's hear
032it for Justin. Then we have Gavin. By the way, Gavin is an All-State alternate right now and we have one week left. I'm waiting to see if you get in. I have been like keeping fingers and toes crossed so that you can come up to Rochester, but that means that he qualified because he had the beautiful voice that he does. So, all right. The Centered Senior Gavin, he is a talented vocalist and trumpet player Long Island Scholar artist in music all-state alternate, college music theory, college precalculus, college economics, college intro to criminal justice, college English. He's in the Centered Wind Ensemble and select vocal ensemble, as well as the theater class, and C++ programming. He is a very high average, and he's in the after-school men's choir. He's actually the student director. He's been the
033lead the last two years in the musical, and I'm sure we'll be looking forward to that this year, but I can't jinx his audition. So for two years, he's been the lead, one of the leads, and he performed taps this year at the Center Ridge Firehouse for the 9-11 ceremony, and he sang the Star Spangled Banner at the Nesconce Gazebo for the summer music series. He, after school, is in Triumph Honor Society, Thespian Honor Society, the Jazz Ensemble. He is a black belt in Taekwondo, and he hopes to be a music education major at Potsdam. They'd be fools not to take you, and in a couple of years, when he finishes, he wants to come back and take Mr. Huff's job. Mr. Huff shares, Gavin is a true leader among his peers. He is an
034amazing musician and an even better person. I am so happy. I am so happy that he is being acknowledged for all of his hard work and dedication tonight. So let's hear it for them. Yeah, Gavin, this one's for you. Now, we're going to take a picture, and then I want you to do one other thing, but let's do the picture first. Do you want me in or out? In. Okay. Before we leave, I made a little remembrance of the boys so that you each have it, and I attached it to last year's program that came out so late but is so beautiful that I'd like you guys to go up on stage and hand one to everyone that's up there. Okay? It's a little take-home gift to them. Yeah, split it up. See, they're smart.
035They know to split the pile and each go to a side. Let's hear it for the boys here. Congrats, guys. Congratulations to you both. And now for Athletes of the Month, if I could please have Mr. Mercado to the podium. Good evening. I'd like to start by introducing our September Athletes of the Month, and I'd like to start with the new field male athlete of the month, and that's Sean Wanamaker. Coach Gallo couldn't be here this evening, but he's going to be here tonight. He's going to be here this evening, but he did send along these words. Sean came out for the Middle Country Golf Team last fall. After making the team, he remained towards the back end of the roster all season, waiting for his time to compete. Unfortunately, that didn't happen for him
036last year. With a chip on his shoulder, he came out again this fall with a different approach. Sean worked his way into the lineup as a senior and remained in the number five spot all season. Not only did Sean compete all season long, but won his first varsity match this year as well. He won twice, in fact. Narrowly coming up short in three other matches. Sean's thirst for winning rubbed off on his teammates, creating a very competitive atmosphere at practice day to day. So much so that he was named captain for the 2025 season. Congratulations to Sean Wanamaker for being named Athlete of the Month. We're just going to kind of go a little bit out of order here. So next, I'd like to introduce our Center Reach Female Athlete of the Month, and that'll
037be Ava Collar. And she'll be introduced by her head coach, Mr. Joe Toto. Good evening, everybody. Good evening. I would like to introduce to you Ava Collar. She's a sophomore at Center Reach High School. Ava is the captain of the varsity girls cross country team. Ava is a two-time all-league and two-time all-division runner. After two seasons on varsity, her freshman and sophomore year, she was both years, she was all-league and all-division. Ava finished first in every dual meet she raced this year. She's currently ranked number one in League One, and she's ranked number seven in Division One. Ava competed at the Hoka Manhattanville College Championships at Van Cortlandt Park on October 10th and finished ninth place in a field of 142 runners. This past Tuesday, Ava ran the 21.56 in the 5K Division Championships, qualifying
038her to race at the Suffolk County Championships on November 6th at Suncamato State Park, where she'll try to be all-county this year. Ava is also a member of the varsity girls winter track team and the spring track team. She competes in numerous events, the 400, the 800, she does relays, and the 1500 as well. Outside of athletics, Ava is an active member of the Girl Scouts for the past eight years. In addition to that, she volunteers her time with East End Youth Track and Field, coaching younger kids in track and field various events. Ava spends her summers working with the IT department at Suwanaka High School District. She balances events. She's a professional. She has a very busy schedule, maintaining a GPA of 94.2 in all her classes. Ava is a positive role model every
039day in practice for all of her teammates. She's a fierce competitor when it's time to race, and her teammates look up to her and want to be just like her. She's a great leader. She sets a great example for the younger girls on the team. It's a pleasure to have her on the team, and I appreciate the hard work and dedication that she brings to practice every day and demonstrates for the younger kids. I'm thrilled to have her on the team, and she's only a sophomore. We look forward to having her the rest of her career in the next two years. Congratulations, Ava. Next, I'd like to call up our Center Reach Male Athlete of the Month, and that is Jake Mikoczek, and he'll be introduced by his head coach, Mr. Adam Barrett. Good evening,
040everyone. I'm proud to be here to recognize Jake Mikoczek as the Center Reach Athlete of the Month. In the month of September, Jake led the team in almost every statistical category. Offensively, he was first on the team in carries, rushing yards, and total touchdowns. On defense, he led the team in tackles, sacks, and tackles for a loss. Jake is also a captain and has been part of the program since he was in seventh grade. Congratulations, Jake. I promise at the Center Reach Awards I'll finally get Mikoczek corrected when I allow it. Next up, I'd like to introduce our Newfield Female Athlete of the Month, and she'll be introduced by her head coach, Ms. Paige Kovas, and that's Lacey Turner. Good evening. It is my pleasure to introduce Newfield's Female Athlete of the Month, Lacey Turner.
041Lacey is a junior high school student. She's a junior high school student. She's a junior and has been our starting sweeper and fly-on corners for Newfield Field Hockey the past two years. As a sweeper, Lacey does not have the stats or get the recognition that she truly deserves as the backbone for the defense. Lacey's strong communication skills, stick handling, and work ethic make her a standout on the field. She is a role model to her teammates on and off the field. She shows up to practice and games with a positive attitude that is contagious. She is consistently always doing the right thing, whether it's helping set up her practice, leading by example, or giving it her all in practices and games. Lacey is respected and looked up to by her teammates, specifically one who just
042loves her dearly. As a coach and coaching staff, we had decided to make Lacey our fourth captain as a junior for her dedication and leadership to this program. Not only is Lacey an excellent field hockey player, she's an excellent student and a standout in her school community. Lacey is involved in countless clubs, honor societies, and activities. She's a great leader in the field. She's a great leader in sports, honor societies, and activities. I won't name them all. But while holding positions such as President of the Class of 27, Secretary for the Varsity Leaders Club, President of the National Junior Honor Society, and has an unweighted GPA of 93, she also works a part-time job while being involved in all that she does. Trust me, I visited her at work. Lacey has taken, took a huge
043role in taking our senior day, senior night celebration, and putting it in a different context. I also helped organize the program and helped set up and organize it. Lacey embodies what a student athlete should be and is a true asset to Newfield and Middle Country. We cannot wait to see what Lacey does in her senior season next year. Congratulations. Lacey, most importantly, what costume did you wear on costume practice day? You were a troll. Next, we have our highest vote recipient, and that is our Middle Country Male Athlete of the Month, and that is Jason Kroll. Unfortunately, Coach Santiago could not be here this morning. Okay. could not be here this morning, but he did send along these words. Newfield senior Jason Kroll is a four-year varsity player and three-year starter for the Newfield soccer
044program. Jason is a remarkable young man. He is a dedicated, honest, and hardworking individual, and that showed as he was captain this last season. Jason is a happy, respected, and well-rounded individual both on the field and in the classroom. He excels in the classroom with a 97 GPA and is ranked fifth in his senior class. He is vice president of the GO and a member of the National Honor Society. Jason is a pure leader, and given the opportunity, will thrive in any situation he is put in. On the field this season, Jason finished with five goals and five assists while playing defensive midfield and dominated his position throughout the season. He finished high in the all-conference rankings this season and will represent Newfield in the Suffolk County senior all-star game this season played on November
04519th at the Sousa Complex in Central Islet. I will have the pleasure to coach him one last time that night. It has been my pleasure to introduce the middle class of the Newfield soccer team and the middle class of the Newfield soccer team. The middle class of the Newfield soccer team is the national country athlete of the month, Jason Kroll. Our female athlete of the month is Maya Cosmo. She's not here this evening, as she's just finishing up her county semifinal championship game, and she'll be presented at the November 12th board meeting. Congratulations to her. And finally, it's my pleasure to announce for the sixth straight year that both Newfield and Center Reach were schools of excellence to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. What that means is that 75% of the
046school and 75% of all athletic teams were New York State Scholar athlete teams, and we were presented plaques for each high school at the last athletic director's meeting. It is my pleasure, I will be presenting these two plaques to Mr. Singer, our superintendent of curriculum, so that he can present them to the building principals at his next meeting. Thank you. Thank you, and congratulations to all of our athletes. And now for the first of our two special presentations, if I could please have the floor. We have Ms. Batiglia to the podium from R.S. Abrams and Company. Can you hear me? All right, well, I will be presenting the audit report in English, sorry. It's been a long time since I graduated. But I did meet with the audit committee to discuss in full detail the
047financial statements as well as the communication letters. Basically, I like to say there's two sets of financial statements. We have the modified accrual, which is short-term in nature, so that's your operating budget, and then we convert that into accrual basis, which means we put on all your long-term assets and liabilities. School districts are governed by GASB, which is Government Accounting Standards Board, and they issue statements each year, which this year they implemented compensated absences, GASB 101. What it did was it just added another calculation to the long-term liability on the district-wide financial statements. We spent a lot of time discussing the fund balance and the reserves. I'm happy to report that. I'm happy to report that. I'm happy to report that. I'm happy to report that. I'm happy to report that. I'm happy to report
048that. I'm happy to report that. I'm happy to report that. I'm happy to report that. I'm happy to report that. The district is budgeting for the reserves, and they're able to replenish some of it, but overall they're still not at the maximum, and we're hoping that they're going to increase as they can over the years. So I know it's a plan in place because some of the, none of them are even at the maximum level. The fund balance did increase a little bit. So you're at 3.11 from compared to 2.99. The maximum by law is 4%. So we did discuss in detail like trying to get back to the 4% and increasing the reserves as well. Overall, a healthy balance sheet. We did issue an unmodified opinion, which in auditor's language is a clean opinion,
049which is the best opinion that you can have. So we had no issues opining on the financial statements themselves. I'm happy to report that there are no material weaknesses in the district's internal controls, and we have no improvements at this time to improve the district's internal controls. I think the business office, I know they had some turnover, but we have a great team, right? Now, and I actually just wanted to thank Beth, Nicole, Adrian, and the entire business office for helping us complete this audit in a timely fashion. And if there's any questions from the board, I'd be happy to take them. I think we're good. Thank you so much, and thank you for all your work. And again, Beth, extend to your office, thank you for not only keeping everything in order on track,
050but we always get a good report that you all are very easy to work with and provide everything needed. So please thank them for us, and thank you. Okay, thank you. Have a good evening. Thanks. You too. And now for our technology presentation, smart devices, Mr. Singer. Good evening, everyone. We're happy to have an opportunity tonight to provide an overview on the history, development, and implementation of policy 5695, students and personal electronic devices. In late January 2025, Governor Hochul first announced a plan to eliminate distractions associated with student use of smart devices. This work culminated at the state level on May 9th, when Section 2803, banning student use of smart devices from bell to bell, became law as part of the 2026 state budget. The district responded by forming a stakeholders committee, including students, parents'
051guardians, instructional staff, and administrators, to examine the requirements of the law and develop middle country specific recommendations for the policy committee. Important considerations for this group included how students will securely store their electronic devices, how we can facilitate necessary communications between parents, guardians, and students without access to these devices, and under what conditions exceptions to this ban are necessary. While the needs of all three levels were considered, much of our deliberations focused on the high schools where many of our students had become accustomed to accessing their smart devices throughout the school day. These recommendations were adopted in May and June of 2016. recommendations were then incorporated into a finalized language by the policy committee before formal adoption of policy 5695 in July. Anticipating that this policy was likely to generate questions from students, parents, and
052guardians, we prepared a comprehensive FAQ document posted to the district website and sent home a hard copy along with the full language of policy 5695 in the summer mailing. An automated phone call was also scheduled for the week before school began. In addition to the phone call and mailing, a news story was posted to the district website and a notice was added to the district calendar. Once the school year began, teachers received training on the new policy at opening day faculty meetings and students were advised by their teachers at the elementary level and by their administrators in grade level assemblies at the secondary buildings. The use of the FAQ document was also a key part of the policy. The use of a URL and QR code to access the FAQ page highlights that this is
053a living document that will be updated as new questions arise. Early reports from the buildings are that the transition to school days free from personal electronic devices has been fairly smooth. By some accounts, cafeterias and hallways are noisier than in recent years as more students are engaged in talking to each other during these less structured times of their day. Feedback from staff indicates that the transition to school days has been fairly smooth. The use of a new policy in the past year Sichter has indicated that the absence of devices from classrooms has reduced both distractions and management challenges, a sentiment echoed by some students who report fewer interruptions during class for teachers to address phone use. And one principal has observed easier hallway travel during passing time with fewer students looking down at phones while
054walking between classes. Principals are also investing a portion of their building budgets for purchasing games to engage students during lunch or study halls while also investing like UNO cards and the foosball table pictured here at Center Reach High School. Also coming soon will be an outdoor basketball hoop for student use at Newfield High School. Concerns raised by students by parents and guardians are being handled case by case but are at a lower level than some had anticipated, suggesting to us that there is broad community understanding for the need to limit student use of devices during the school day. While the transition may be easier than some had anticipated, unfortunately there are incidents of students using prohibited devices. When this happens disciplinary consequences are being signed. Fortunately principals have reported that so far there have been
055few repeat offenders. Numbers on this slide reflect infractions for the month of September. These will be updated each month and at the end of the year aggregate data on discipline associated with policy 5695 will be reported out as part of our ongoing evaluation. Thank you very much. Did any board members have any comments or questions? Thank You Mr. Singer. Board commentary, we will start with our student board members. Rose Miller. Hi everybody, the final football game for Center Reach is tomorrow at 6 o'clock and Center Reach is hosting our trick-or-treat Street. Admission is just a non-perishable food item and that begins at 4 p.m. It's a good experience for a lot of kids and if they feel unsafe trick-or-treating outside at night or even if they just want to have a safer more inclusive environment
056for their kids to go trick-or-treating, so thank you. Thank you. Dillon? Good evening everyone I hope you all are having a good evening. Similar to what Rose was saying, our last football game at Newfield is also tomorrow. It starts at 6 if you want to go support the Wolverines and we already had our trick-or-treat Street last Friday on the 24th, but it's a good. So I can't promote that, unfortunately, but it was a success, so that's good. Even though the fire alarm did go off, we still reconvened after that, and the night went pretty well. And as for other stuff that's going on right now, we have a blood drive soon on November 7th, that Friday. We're doing a school blood drive. And the powder puff game was also yesterday. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to
057attend that, but my friends told me that they had fun even though seniors got last place, which is a little embarrassing, but hopefully everyone had fun still. And there's also a food drive going on at Newfield soon, too. So keep a lookout for that if you want to donate. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Halleck? Yeah. Can you hear me? Is this on? Okay. Since it's Board Appreciation Month, I just want to say thank you to the other eight board members up here. Your work obviously doesn't go unnoticed, but you guys are some of the nicest people. I have the utmost respect for each and every one of you to be able to do this job, knowing what it is and how much time you guys give. Just thank you very much. And I would, of
058course, have to give a thank you also to Stephanie Larkin, the district clerk, for all that she does. She goes above and beyond as well and always helps us out with every little thing. So thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We do have a couple more questions but we do have a window. And we actually don't discuss the policy committee in one of our group's that we do. I just want to say thank you to everyone who is on the policy committee, for what we have done with the cell phone mandate and how many times we had to go
059back and revise it and work with it just mention that last week I think it was everything is blending together I had the pleasure of attending the Hispanic heritage celebration here at Center Beach High School it was absolutely amazing there were a couple of technical difficulties but it was amazing there was fun dancing food it was great amazing presentations and also I did attend the Newfield trick-or-treat Street my girls had such a great time I had a great time and also the one at North Coleman I just want to quickly mention that the best buddies basket raffle fundraiser is on Friday Friday November 14th here at Center Beach High School from 5 to 9 and all of the proceeds will benefit the best buddies clubs independent skills unified basketball and extended school year program initiatives
060so as soon as you go on the middle country website you'll see the website and the website will be the website of the best buddies basketball and extended school year program initiatives so as soon as you go on the middle country website the flyer will pop up you can scan the QR code and get all the information please come join us it's a great cause and it's a lot of fun thank you miss Haggerty keeping with the theme of gratitude I just thank you it's been a very busy month in the district with a lot of various happenings from the new playground at Jericho elementary school and the wonderful presentation that the principal mrs. Baldwin had put together for that event to the Newfield Center each football game I'm not going to say much more
061it's either gonna bring booze or cheers and again to the Hispanic night that was held at Center each I know many of the other board members attended to but it takes a lot of effort on the part of the students and the staff to get these things put together so thank you to all involved thank you miss Burisi Oh miss Burisi and I was just telling my neighbors next to me I don't know Galvin and Justin like where do they get the time and what vitamins did they take my mother must have given me the wrong ones because it's amazing what our kids can do and seeing the video sitting here and volunteering our time makes it all very worthwhile I'm very proud of this district for what we do agreed thank you miss Talamo
062I just would like to say thank you so much for coming today and I hope we see you next year. say that in my short tenure so far at these meetings it is always so impressive to see the work that our students do and it couldn't happen without the work of our administrators and our teachers really help and support students to really do amazing things so thank you all very much thank you miss Feldman you know I've got a list if I repeat anything I'm sorry because we really cannot hear what everybody down there said but I just wanted to say yes I too went to the game on Saturday and what I took away from it is the kids in this district are incredible my dad had on his vet hat and every kid
063on of the football kids came by and thanked him for his service as they were going on the field to me I'm like oh my god we have amazing kids that's just one then October 29th that's today we had college fairs at both schools students only and then November 5th is going to be a district-wide health insurance enrollment night held at Newfield High School at 5 p.m. November 10th is the financial aid night at Center Reach High School 7 p.m. for both high schools parents and students the junior planning night was held on October 20th and it was well attended I went to PTA PTSA campus and I went to the high school and I went to the high school council meeting the other night and they shared a few things if I'm there and
064they share I'm going to share with you so Christopher Allen is gonna be the psychic medium will be at Newfield High School on November 14th it's the the PTA fundraiser and on oh boy the Harlem Wizards are coming to town and this is for new new lane it's November 5th and I believe it's new yeah November 5th is gonna be at Newfield High School and I just want to say that our kids are so amazing that being on the board and watching them is such an honor and I thank you that we get to do that thank you mr. Feeney I just want to take the moment I want to truly thank my fellow board trustees I truly appreciate each and every one of you and what you bring to your role here I couldn't
065do it without all of you and to miss Larkin you are my right hand left hand friendly reminder and I couldn't do it without you either but I think kind of one of someone set it up here or alluded to it is that if you notice from watching the video it's not just us it's this district as a whole and why yes we may support all that's happening here it's the people in the field so to speak that put it into play and we want to thank everybody because we are a team so I thank everybody here we now have minutes from our special board meeting on 916 negotiations minutes from our regular meeting 10-8 and minutes from our special meeting October 14th negotiations if there are no comments or edits we'll accept the minutes
066as they are thank you I need a motion to accept the consent agenda all those in favor opposed motion carries superintendent report make 25-10-sr-4 acceptance of annual audit reports 2024-2025 R.S Abramson company all those in favor motion carries 25-10-SR-5 overnight field trips all those in favor opposed motion carries 25-10-SR-6 section 11 Suffolk County volleyball championship waiver of fees policy 1500 use of facilities all those in favor opposed motion carries 25-10-SR-7 stipulation of of settlement all those in favor opposed motion carries 25-10-SR-8 memorandum of agreement middle country heads and chiefs unit all those in favor opposed motion carries and finally 25-10-SR-9 Long Island All-Star rs field hockey policy of 1500 use of facilities for 2025-2026 school year all those in favor opposed motion carried policy 25-10 eo-2 second reading of the following district policies 5500 student
067records 5695 students and personnel electronic devices 5710 school safety and educational climate ssec reporting 8630 computer resources and data management and 8635 information and data privacy security breach and notification all those in favor opposed motion carries weekly correspondence just make sure you're checking your emails your rsvp if anything changes let myself or miss larkin know so we can let the building know unfinished business new business board committee reports um i'll just give a brief we had our first legislative committee meeting um which was very nicely attended uh we had a good amount of people in the room including elected officials and or their aides um which was really nice and i do want to point out because the power in building relationships and advocacy we had senator murray there and he actually was asked for
068our help um that he wanted us to help advocate on issues in particular um so our committee is going to take up that charge we also are definitely planning our albany trip again for students and um dr siegel and miss pacifico already on board with that and i'm excited to get that we want to grow the student involvement within the committee as well so it was a really good meeting and we'll meet again um next month we have to set that schedule but i thank everyone for attending if anybody wants to come in we'll be there for you attending if anybody does want to join that committee you can reach out to miss larkin it's a very um active working committee we also had two other school districts that attended um sachem and three village
069they wanted to see how our committee is ran our processes and procedures and then in hopes in one day of uh joining our voices together for advocacy issues so um anybody else committee reports liaison committee reports our our committees are just starting so we are meeting i do promise follow-up board discussion okay public input we did have a speaker um the teachers union president at our last board meeting so the board would like to respond there is not one not one member of this board that does not respect appreciate or value our teachers or any staff member for that matter we have a responsibility to be fiscally responsible to the residents who have elected us it is a delicate balance because we are mindful of the value of all of our employees and we try
070our hardest to achieve the best outcome for all involved we have and will continue to be committed to negotiating in a positive and timely manner we spend countless hours in meaningful and at times spirited discussions because we take our task of negotiating seriously it isn't nor should it be personal at the end of the day we are all here for the same reason the students who have the most to lose should we not be able to work together miss larkin public input for this evening there is none this evening thank you i need a motion to adjourn all those in favor opposed motion carries thank you have a good evening