001I'd like to call the Lancaster Central School District Board of Education meeting to order. In the unlikely event of an emergency, please note all of the exits. At this time, I'd like for everyone to silence their cell phones and please stand for the Pledge to the Flag. And then please remain standing for a moment of silent reflection. Thank you. All right. Thank you, everybody, for coming tonight. We will move on to 4.0. We did have a budget work session today at 6 o'clock, and that was our make-up budget work session from earlier this month when we had a snow day. All right. 5.0 presentations. 5.1, the power of partnership. We have Erie 1 BOCES District Superintendent here today, Michael Capuana. Okay, good evening. I just want to start by saying thank you to the Lancaster
002Central School District and to the Board of Education for having us out this evening to present on our partnership with Lancaster Central Schools. My name is Mike Capuana, and I have the privilege to serve as the District Superintendent of Erie Womboses. This is my colleague, Jesse Karchas, who serves as our Director of Internal Talent and Leadership Development. So our goal this evening is to provide you with updates on education our partnership with your school district, talk about the different areas of the organization, some regional and state-level priorities that we are supporting our component districts across Erie County with, and also just reforms from the state level and then talk about some unique components within Erie Womboses. So our organization is an extension of our 19 component school districts. We are in the position of serving
003and supporting everything from student programming at the K-12 level, workforce development programming, administrative and operation functions within school systems, and also from an infrastructure technology standpoint with our Winnie-Rick services, the Regional Information Center. But all of that is built on... being an extension of our school districts and partnering. Our organization has just over 1,100 employees organized into three different branches of the operation. And we function to be able to provide those resources and also ensure that districts can maximize the BOCES aid formula in order to provide those resources and programs to students. As a BOCES, we also have a board of education similar to our component districts. We have seven board members on the BOCES board. They're a wonderful group of leaders to work with, help us design and move the organization forward, ensure that
004we're aligned to the core values of our organization, and they represent different component districts from within Erie 1. My role as the district superintendent is a little bit different from being in a component district. So it's really sort of three different areas. First and foremost is the day-to-day operation of the BOCES itself. And then from there, I also serve as the Commissioner of Education's representative to the field here in Western New York. So on a monthly basis, I have the privilege to go to Albany and meet with the commissioner and the department. work through all different kinds of reforms, and really serve as a voice of the field in both directions. So as you move your work forward here on behalf of the students of Lancaster, ensuring that we are partnering in that, and if
005there are areas where you want to make sure that we're giving that feedback back to the Board of Regents and to the department, that's part of our role as a BOCES. In addition to that, just supporting the statewide region, our 19 component districts, and Buffalo Public Schools. So for Lancaster specifically, your BOCES aid rate is just right around 62%. During the 25-26 school year, the district is estimated to see just over $3 million in BOCES aid for services across all different aspects of our COSRS, our cooperative services. That aid rate is driven by what we refer to as ARWADA, which is the Resident Weighted Average Daily Attendance. That is a snapshot of student enrollment that's taken in the spring and factored in with a variety of other socioeconomic factors from the district, including property values
006that drive that aid rate. That aid rate does change on an annual basis as those factors come together. The organization itself has three primary branches. First and foremost is administrative services, the RIC and technology services, and then finally our instructional programs. So for administrative services, this is all of the oftentimes back office functions that support school systems. Everything from the central business office to policy services, coordinating substitute teachers across our component districts and supporting that. In addition to that, sports coordination, so Section 6 is part of the organization as we work to provide those athletic opportunities for kids. Labor relations services, which is assisting the school districts, sometimes with student discipline matters, human resources supports, and then communications, which is our connections with your own public media public communication folks in addition to that the
007print shop and photography and other supports for communication network across the school systems from there the Winnie Rick which a Rick is a regional information center we're very fortunate at Erie one to have one of the twelve Rick's in New York State and through that function we provide all kinds of connectivity technology support resources professional learning Purchasing, procurement of hardware, software, internet connectivity all comes through the WinnieRick. Those services include also the data warehouse, which we host for the state education department. And in addition to that, cybersecurity and networking supports for our school districts. And then finally, instructional services. So we have our K-12 programs, most often known for our exceptional education, special education, alternative education programs. In addition to that, our CTE programs, right now CTE, we're serving just over 2,500 students, high schoolers
008from across western New York. We have four campuses that we're supporting CTE. And workforce development, we train just around 1,800 adults annually in a variety of high needs, high demand fields in order to short-term, long-term prepare folks to get into the world of work. For career and technical education, just to share some background on Lancaster's enrollment and participation, you'll see the enrollment trend there. Right around 12% of Lancaster's juniors and seniors participate in CTE programming. That is right around the average for the region. We have 234 students participating in CTE. Those programs, as you know, have developed and evolved over the years. Everything from sort of the core CTE programs where we look at cosmetology and collision repair and auto tech, but now we actually have up to 30 different programs, all leading to both
009college and careers. We have an aviation program in partnership with what was prior aviation, Executive Air, over near the Harkness Center. Believe it or not, there are high schoolers getting flight time above us in the region. We have high-interest technology programming, web tech and game design, cybersecurity and networking, and the traditional trades are also growing. So our electrical systems programs, our welding programs, our carpentry and Those types of programs continue to be steady. So regionalization is the other area. In talking with Dr. Kufu, we wanted to make sure the board had some awareness around. And going back to October of 2024, the State Education Department has asked that all 37 BOCES across the state bring together our partner school districts to look at regional priorities that we can collaborate around as a team. The BOCES
010have been asked to organize that for the component school districts in their region. So back in October, we hosted a meeting with all Erie County schools incorporating Erie 1 and Erie 2 BOCES. That included the board president and the superintendent to come to an initial conversation. That was preceded by each school district completing a strength and needs assessment. which was shared with the State Education Department and also with us as a BOCES to prepare for that conversation. From there, we convened again in January with teams from each of the component districts to talk about those priorities and really trying to make that a common sense. What are things that school systems across the region are struggling with, could partner more directly around, and we can support from an organizing and infrastructure. The primary focus of
011this is to be around access for students, equitable access, and efficiencies across systems. And then finally, this past October, we had to turn our final plan in. So after several convening conversations, we moved forward with the plan to the State Education Department. That plan is on a 10-year cycle of review and really just is meant to be a conversation starter for our partner school districts. I'm very proud to share that all 19 of our school districts and Buffalo Public Schools as a partner Big Five district signed on to participate in this conversation. And I think that speaks to the power of the partnership that we have regionally. Hi, my name is Jessie. I'm really excited to help put together the regionalization plan and bring all the districts together to talk about the different areas of
012focus. Based on the survey and the conversations that we had, we came up with five areas of focus. The graduation measures and New York State inspires was top of mind for everyone as things shift and change. We want to be able to come together regionally to provide supports to Lancaster and all the Western New York school districts and then be able to have conversations about what best practice is. We also want to tackle chronic absenteeism and social-emotional learning. We've already convened professional learning groups around the graduation measures in New York State Inspires and around chronic absenteeism. We hosted several sessions from the state to talk about how to tackle chronic absenteeism and how to have an eye on improving social-emotional learning as we move forward. We also want to tackle making the most of out-of-school
013time and community partnerships. 80% of a student's time is spent out of school, after school, and in the summer. So having our first regional conversations around what can we do as a region to support students in looking for after-school and summer opportunities. We are looking to tackle conversations around transportation, and we know that's going to be one of our biggest conversations, so we're looking forward to this June convening together all of the districts to talk about how to be more efficient through transportation together. And then finally, access to course offerings and barriers to equity. As a BOCES, we're looking to offer a COSR that helps support... college and career ready and help support individual districts as they look at course offerings. So our first asks, because this is just beginning, related to advocacy and moving
014forward. We're looking for districts to participate in regional convenings and professional development, and that's already happening with Lancaster and with other school districts in the area to talk about what's happening as far as graduation requirements, as far as New York State inspires. best practices we're looking to champion joint initiatives and that's already starting to happen too as a region especially when it comes to mental health is a good example Lancaster and other schools in the area participate in the supporting mental health and advocating for resources together so that's a good example of a collaborative where folks are coming together to share resources and share opportunities And then finally, to drive collaborative planning for transportation and course equity. We see those as two of the bigger areas that we plan to tackle as a group. And
015then as part of those, and kind of in alignment, we're advocating for regional transportation innovation. We know it can't be just a conversation. Out of those conversations, we're looking to have advocacy with New York State about what we need. around supporting family support centers, teacher certification, and then evaluating extracurricular and community support opportunities for students. So we're hoping to be able to advocate on behalf of our area based on those conversations. So in transitioning to an additional reform that we're supporting the school system around, New York inspires in the portrait of a graduate. And so we have built that in based on the guidance of our component partner districts into the regionalization plan because it's work that needs to move forward regardless. I will say that with respect to this, you've probably seen the different
016areas of prioritization for what our students will, as they exit our high schools, be prepared to do and the skills that they will have. So the listing of the six different criteria there. But in addition to that, it becomes being prepared for those changes and the graduation and the credit and the seat time and all of the instructional shifts that might be necessary. So we have started conversations through the regionalization work with our districts. I will say that a lot of what I've heard from this initiative is already happening in the region. There are good, strong instructional programs across Western New York. Our teachers and our leaders do a wonderful job. Things like project-based learning and project-based assessments have been happening across our school systems for many years. But in addition to that, there are
017going to be some changes to the particulars of graduation requirements in terms of the regents exams and preparing for that. So we are working directly with the schools, the instructional leaders, professional development communities to drive those changes. And this is just the proposed graduation measures timeline. We know that... It can change over time. But as of right now for 25-26, we're looking at what is happening in our PLC. We're looking at preparing and looking at standards, looking at student agency and increasing student voice and opportunities and systems that are already working well. There's been a lot of opportunities for Lancaster and other schools to highlight what's going well in their schools so schools around the region can learn from each other. As it moves forward next year, just to give you a preview, we'll be
018looking at prioritizing the reformatting of those standards, and then hopefully the release of the Portrait of a Graduate rubrics and guidance. By March of this year, there's an expectation that they'll release more information on financial literacy and how that will play out beyond. So be looking for that as it comes. This is the diploma requirements by cohort. We're moving toward one diploma. And so your cohort that is coming in in the fall of 2027 will be the first that will move toward that one diploma. And then we're moving toward decoupling the regents' exams from graduation requirements. So this gives you a little bit more detail and information about where those cohorts stand, but school districts right now can really begin to start to look at assessments and how assessments work. There'll be a lot around
019student agency and local decision as it moves forward coming from the state, so it gives you an opportunity to assess what you have going well right now as you move forward. I would just say that as part of our conversation around that work is recognizing that if school systems do not have the capacity to deliver on these multiple pathways and choices, that in and of itself becomes an equity issue across the region. So we're trying to link that to the regionalization priorities to make sure that those courses can be accessed, that there are the teachers accessible with certification, be able to provide that coursework. All of that builds into this larger system as we think about it. And then just to share for Erie Wimbose specifically, our expansion project for our new campus. So over
020the course of the last... Just about four years we have been working with the school systems on some challenges in terms of access to placements for our students with disabilities. We know that the BOCES programs are the next sort of stop on the continuum once the program within the district is not able to serve that student. And so we are trying to deal with what have been pretty substantial wait lists in programs and also making sure that all of the differing needs of our kids are being able to be met across that unique program and classroom. So we've worked with our school systems, all 19 districts over the last four years to develop programs process and go out to a full build out of a campus not too far from here in Lancaster so on
021the the corner of Dick and Walden in Depew we are partnering with Buffalo construction consultants Benderson development and cadenae architects to build this new campus right now we currently serve just around 350 students in special education at Erie one This new campus is going to allow us to bring the students from three different buildings into one location with all of our staff and opens up an additional roughly 180 seats in the K-12 programs for additional placements for our partner districts. So really working to address the need in the region and do that in a way that is thoughtful and designed for the students that come to programs. Here's a couple of renderings. So the school will open in September of 27. We anticipate taking delivery on the building in late spring of 27 and then
022preparing for the opening of school. This is going to be a really unique space. There will be 70 classrooms on the campus. We'll have just over 300 staff in place. And all of the design is really meant for the students that we serve. So a lot of the sensory needs that we know our kids have, you're going to see that taken into account in the design. The cafeteria space, for example, on the bottom has some smaller breakout cafeterias in addition to a large cafeteria. We're going to have a town square in the middle where students will be able to gather and some unique programming there. A market space for kids to be able to and staff come to. There's going to be a boutique for clothing and sort of that, you know, as kids are
023making great progress, access to opportunities there. And again, an event center at the bottom and the library space. six individual courtyard cutouts within the campus on the interior of the campus, all with unique outdoor spaces for recreation for the kids. And we are also working with our partners at Kadeni and the architecture side of things to make sure that those designs are done up front and really intentional. I won't share because I think just for time purposes. There's a video there, but if the board has a chance to take a look at it, it talks a little bit more about the campus. And I just want to make sure you understand how much we appreciate your support as a school system for this opportunity to come together, because if it was not for all 19
024districts coming together, this would not be possible, and it's going to serve a regional need for many years to come. And with that, any questions or comments from board members? Okay. Thank you. I'll turn it over to Mr. Tallarico, but Dr. Capuana, this is Karchas. Thank you guys for your partnership, your leadership, your vision, and bringing all of the component districts together to help serve our students, but all the students regionally. We really appreciate it, and I will share the video with the board because the video is a fantastic illustration of what's to come for some of our students and the regional students on Walden and Dick. Thank you guys so much for coming. Obviously, we do really appreciate BOCES. We try and maximize everything we can out of using BOCES and all the services.
025So thank you so much for coming, and we appreciate the presentation because so many people in the community who might be watching at home don't know exactly what BOCES does for Lancaster, and it's a lot. So thank you so much. Next up, we have another presentation, 5.2, Court Street, Steps to New York Inspires. So we have Andrew Kraseman, Kira Marchioli, and Andrea Parker. Good evening. My name is Andrea Parker. I am the proud principal of Court Street Elementary School. So I just want to thank the Board of Education and the community for joining us here tonight on our campus. So we're here to tell you a little bit about the programming here at Court Street and how it's aligning directly with what Dr. Capirano just spoke about, Portrait of a Graduate and New York Inspires.
026So I've only been at Court Street for about five weeks now. It feels like a lot longer, but five weeks. And I've already learned that there is a great focus on educating the whole child here at Court Street and in Lancaster. We host a variety of activities at the school, which truly do develop the social-emotional needs, the academic needs of our child, like pumpkin runs. We have our book swaps. We pilot programs for the district. And we have a lot of And if you haven't heard, coming up in just a few short weeks is our amazing variety show where students get to take the stage and practice their public speaking skills and demonstrate their talents to the community. And as we've noticed, these programs are directly aligning with the New York Inspires as well as
027the Portrait of a Graduate. These are things that New York State has adopted, and it's the largest educational overhaul in 150 years. So we're really exciting that some of the programming that we already have in place is aligning with what this vision is to come. What we're most excited about with Portrait of a Graduate and New York Inspires is that it allows us to create these personalized learning pathways for our students, which really have a focus on those high standards, but also connecting them with that heavy application of real world skills so that they can practice what it means to be a human out in our world. So we are really excited to talk about how we know this is a graduation measure, But this work starts here with our literalist learners, our little legends
028at Court Street. So Dr. Krasman, sorry, Mr. Krasman is going to speak a little bit more about portrait of a graduate, those six attributes. And then we're going to tell you a little bit about how Court Street's already working towards those. Awesome. Thank you, Andrea. I appreciate the honorary doctoral degree. So I do want to touch point on a couple of things that Dr. Capuana had talked about earlier in the presentation. This is the largest statewide initiative that New York State has pushed towards graduation over the course of the last 100 years. And the goal here is to strengthen student readiness upon graduation. As we're talking about graduation and what Portrait of a Graduate is, we're not just talking about what is taking place on 1 Fortin Drive. That work starts right here in this
029building and the other K-3 buildings as early as kindergarten. As students are learning literacy, as students are learning math, social skills, all of those things start developing when these kids first come to us at the age of five. So that's really where the Portrait of a Graduate really starts, is when they first start walking into our doors and they start learning those valuable skills. So there's a couple of key components when talking about portrait of a graduate. This is the why. This is the focus. This is the driving factor that we are working towards when we're talking about portrait of a graduate. It's based on those six competencies that you heard Dr. Kappa want to talk a little bit about. And it all starts, again, in those early formative years. Literacy, math, social skills, all
030of those different pieces are what makes global citizens. Those are what makes effective communicators, communicators. creative innovators, it's the development of those different skill sets. So in thinking about one diploma, currently the way it exists right now is that you have the opportunity for a regents diploma, you have the opportunity for advanced distinction, distinction with honors, and all of these different opportunities and designations for students. Essentially now what the thought is now that New York State is moving towards is it's just one diploma, that's it. And it's a high school diploma but with different seals and endorsements that are going to exist that students can take on. Biliteracy, civic readiness, career and technical education. Good news is we have a lot of programming in place already in these areas that students are already earning seals
031on, and we can continue to move forward with that and then expand to take a look at other opportunities. Last piece, redefining credit. Essentially, right now, as we're defining credit for students, it's determined by seat time. How much time are students sitting in classrooms receiving instructions from teachers? Very important. But now when we start taking a look at what credit is, how are we assessing student knowledge? What is the coursework that we are putting in front of them to make them more global citizens, thinkers, innovators, making sure that they're academically prepared? So we can measure this through capstone projects. We measure this through service learning opportunities. We measure this through project-based learning opportunities as we start to shift away from this whole idea of the traditional paper and pencil assessment of Regents exams. There we
032go. So the six traits that were up here before, or the six traits that are up here in front of you now, these are the six traits that as we start looking at Future summer curriculum projects. As we start thinking about future coursework that we're going to be looking at or coursework that we may have to alter as we move forward, these six traits are going to be a key driver in evaluating that coursework to make sure that the instruction, the project work, the assessments that we're going to be doing with our students is going to be aligned and geared towards making sure that our students have these six attributes at their disposal. Last piece here for me is this is a shift. You think about the traditional model that we've worked in over the
033course of the past hundred years with... students coming into class, sitting for instruction, meeting those seat time requirements, and then sitting down and then taking a regents examination at the end. That pathway, as far as we know, is still going to be an option. It's still going to exist. But as we move forward, that's not going to be the only pathway for students to graduate from high school. As Dr. Capuano and Mrs. Karch has said in the presentation before, sometime in March, Hopefully we receive some more guidance in regards to what can some of these other pathways potentially look like that we can start putting students on as we're working through middle school, getting into high school. We can start putting kids on pathways to... Make sure that they're hitting these six attributes, but then
034showing that they do have those portrait of a graduate skills attributes, and they're participating in project-based learning. They're participating in work-based learning opportunities, internships. A lot of the things that you see in our academy programs at the high school can start to become potentially more commonplace in other areas outside of the academy programs. So, good news. A lot of this stuff is taking place already. And there's a lot of great stuff that's taking place right here specifically at Court Street. So what I'm going to ask now is Dr. Mark Yoli to come on up here to highlight some of the cool stuff that's happening around New York Inspires that aligns with the work here in Court Street. So, doctor? She's a real doctor. I'm just a fake one. Thanks, Mr. Crazeman. I'm excited to be
035here tonight to highlight the great work that's been going on with the teachers here and how it benefits our students. Some of the examples that you're going to see really exemplify what great instruction is and how it connects to Portrait of a Graduate. So... We're going to start with this first slide. And as I talk about each of these slides, you're going to see either the project or the experience that the students did. And then you're going to see a New York State Inspires connection. And you're going to see the portrait attribute. I'm not going to read that to you. I am going to talk a little bit about what each of these projects or experiences were like for our students. So as part of the social studies standards, students in second grade need to
036learn what builds communities. They need to learn what municipalities are like. And they also need to learn about businesses and how they create jobs and the basics of what economy looks like. And in ELA, they start to use facts to back up their opinions. And they're doing conversations around their writings. Those are all part of both the social studies and the ELA standards. And in this project, the students melded the two. They researched a place in Lancaster, and they interviewed people who worked there. And then they created posters to persuade others that their business was the best one in Lancaster. And you can see an example here of one of our students with a local business right here in town. The students had to form an opinion. They had to back it up. But they
037also had to interact with not only other students, but adults outside of their teachers and their parents. And then they had to apply it by creating a visually appealing poster. This is an excellent example of how we can take what was traditionally taught in isolated skills and create real-world experiences for students that let them show their skills, but also let them gain job readiness and the soft skills that go along with being successful once you leave school. So this next one is an excellent example of a work experience project. In this project, the students, with the help of their teachers, are running a thriving business. The project is supported with fundamental math skills. The students have to practice their math skills by checking the inventory, what do they need to buy, what do they have
038enough of. And they still can practice their math with paper and pencil tasks, but right there on the spot, as they're working with their customers, they need to be able to add and subtract and make change. Here again, students are gaining those skills that will carry them as they enter the workforce. They're learning those hard skills of running a business, but they're also learning how to interact with their customers and communicate about their services. The last one... that we're going to highlight tonight wasn't a project but more of an experience. And not everything that's connected to New York State inspires a portrait of a graduate has to be a project. There are experiential things that go along with it. These students got the opportunity to see the ultimate goal of life after Lancaster. Students are
039actually going to leave Lancaster at some point and go out into the world. And so here we had students who had the opportunity to travel around the world. If you look at them in that picture, those are not the storage bins that you have in your basement. That is an airplane. And those students are on an airplane and they are traveling around the world and they landed in several different spots around the world and learned different traditions and songs and information about the culture of those different places. They were immersed in stories and music and crafts from all of those different communities around the world. This helps them to have a greater understanding that there is a larger world and helps us to build bridges between different communities. So those are just three great examples
040of what's going on here at Court Street and exemplifies the work that we're doing around the districts in the K-3s and how we are preparing students for Portrait of a Graduate and New York State Inspires with the work we're doing with our youngest kids. So I am going to pass it back to Ms. Parker. All right. So thank you again for joining us here at Court Street tonight. As the new principal here, I am super proud of the work that's being done here. And I know that myself and the teachers, we're going to continue to work alongside the district to make sure that we're giving the students those experiences, along with some of that explicit instruction that we know our students need. It's experiences like these that we know are going to help prepare our
041students, like Dr. Marchioli said, for when they step outside of our Lancaster bubble that we have built so nicely for them. We've always provided students with rich curriculum, and our hope is to continue that so that we can provide them those interpersonal and intellectual skills that we know they're going to need so that they can be equipped for the ever-evolving world that they are about to step into. So thank you, and if you have any questions, we are here to answer them. Thank you so much for that presentation. As we've been doing this roadshow and kind of going from school to school, I've said this at pretty much every one when we've seen these presentations, just how important it is to instill leadership at such a young age. So once the kids get out of
042the elementary schools and move on to William Street and into middle school and high school, the teachers at each one of those respective buildings can continue to build upon. the leadership skills that they get at such a young age. So you wind up with kids who are ready to face the outside world once they get out there. So thank you very much. Really appreciate you showing us all of the stuff you guys are working on. 6.0 correspondence, 6.1 and 6.2. We have an email from Valerie Palumbo received on February 4th, 2026, and an email from Holly Tarin received on February 5th, 2026. 7.0, we have approval of minutes. 7.1, can I have a motion to accept the regular session from January 12th, 2026? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries.
0438.0, items from staff organizations. Is there anybody here from the Lancaster Administrative and Supervisory Association? Thank you. Anyone from the Lancaster Central Teachers Association? All right, good evening. Can you hear me back there? First, we'd like to formally welcome Andrea Parker. We haven't had a chance to do that, so welcome. We'd also like to thank the Court Street teachers who are in attendance tonight for their role in helping to create tonight's presentation. The programs and activities on display clearly reflect a strong commitment to helping their students grow and succeed. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Farrar. Anybody from the Lancaster Association of Service Personnel? Thank you very much. Anybody from the Lancaster Association of Substitute Teachers? All right, 9.0 board reports. Anybody have anything to report? Go ahead, Mr. Van Notewijk. Yeah, I just want to
044say over the weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Lancaster Middle School musical. They produced Frozen. My daughter had the privilege of being in it. and just wanted to point out, I'm sure a lot of you saw it. It was one of the most incredible middle school musicals I've ever seen. I know they did The Little Mermaid last year. I didn't think they could top that, but I thought that they did. It was just incredible. I just want to credit Mary Beth Conlin and all of the numerous, numerous community members that volunteered to help support the musical, and just a great example of how she empowers the kids to go above and beyond and out of their comfort zone, not just the kids on stage, but The kids in the pit band, the kids
045that are running sound, stage crew, lighting. It was just an incredible performance, an incredible example of what we can push kids to do. And just really a great entertaining event for our district. So great job to all involved and it was just really nice to see. So I'll just echo what Mr. Van Norwick said. I also went to the musical over the weekend, and it was absolutely incredible. So huge shout-out to the cast and crew, to Mary Beth Conlon for doing an amazing job. I've never seen anything like it, and I just kept having to remind myself that these are 12- and 13-year-olds, and they absolutely blew it out of the water. It was incredible to watch. The talent on display was amazing. So I couldn't believe it. So it was great. I can't wait
046for next year. Just quickly, since we're here at Court Street, my kids went through Court Street. I see a lot of the teachers that are still here from when my kids, now adults, went to Court Street. So Court Street always has a special place in my heart. So it's great to see all of you and all of the new teachers as well. All right, I'm going to kind of echo the Frozen statement as well. So I actually had the privilege of knowing Elsa, who was one of the leads there since she was three. So my wife ugly cried in the audience as I maybe shed a couple tears myself. So it was amazing. The work they put in, I mean, every time we wanted to see her, she was out practicing and rehearsing and all
047that stuff. So it was just amazing. Second thing is I had the... My son's in second grade. I finally got to go to the carnival. My daughter was actually not sick this year, so we got to go, and we had my uncle volunteer to do a karaoke thing in the back, and it was awesome. The amount of kids that got up there and staying in front of all the adults and all the kids and all their peers was absolutely awesome, and it was a great job, and my daughter really enjoyed her snow cones. So I appreciate it. There's awesome stuff going on. Anybody have anything else to report? I just have a couple of things. The first one, I also kind of want to piggyback off what everyone else said and give a big congratulations
048to the whole Frozen cast. I've heard a lot of amazing feedback of the show, and I think it's really amazing what we're doing with our musical program. The high school is also almost finished the process of their musical Annie. The William Street School students are going to be coming to the high school on Wednesday to see the first run-through of that performance. And then the rest of the shows will begin on Thursday and will conclude on Saturday, February 14th. I've heard a lot of amazing things about the behind the scenes of that show as well. And everyone in that cast is very excited for it to come to life. Another thing too, the Lancaster High School students are starting to work on their process of the Spring Spirit Week, which will be taking place before
049Easter break. But it's going to be really focused on physical, emotional, and mental health. So there's a lot of different events going on during that week that are in the process of being planned, like a health and wellness fair, a blood drive through Connect Life, and a Bald for Bucks fundraiser. And then there's also various different activities revolved around mental health going on during that week as well, such as visits from therapy dogs. And then the other thing that I kind of just wanted to highlight as well is that Como Park recently had a fundraiser for the Punt Foundation Against Cancer, and they raised over $1,000, and I thought that was really important to note as well. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Michaela. 10.0, Superintendent's Administrative Report. I will turn it
050over to Dr. Kufel. Thank you, Mr. Tallarico. I think some of my updates have been already mentioned, so I will maybe skip over those or lessen those. I will say I added this one during the last presentation, the passport to the world. At about 5 o'clock, running home real quick, found out my second child has a basketball game at Holland Boys Club. My six-year-old... has been doing some of the passport to the world stuff. So between going home and coming back here, he found out that he's going to his brother's game in Holland. He was a little disappointed to find out it's just on the other side of East Aurora before Machias, not the Holland that he visited in first grade. So I thought that was funny as you guys were putting that up there.
051In preparation for this board meeting and talking to people recently, many people talked about this space that we're in and the newly renovated Court Street and how beautiful it is and many people talking about it. It got me to thinking a little bit about the last time that I was here when it was full of people. So that was right before winter break. And in those two weeks leading up to winter break. there was a celebration organized by the faculty, staff, families, the students participated for Mrs. Jackie Kleinert, who recently retired right before break. And during those two weeks, that celebration included, I think, spirit-themed days. I feel like I remember something about a sloth. There was a calendar and a photo shoot that some of us at DO got to participate in and be
052part of the calendar, which was amazing. There was a third grade concert. I think I saw Mr. Shamrock. I came over here for the choral concert. And Mr. Shamrock, like all of our music teachers, Michaela mentioned it in the musical, a wonderful job. And to see where... Our youngest students begin, and then where they go, whether it's in Frozen or Annie, is just remarkable. And those opportunities that you get, whether it's the talent show here that my kids participated in at Hillview or other opportunities, that gets them comfortable and acclimated to performing for people and on stage, fantastic. And that day, I think, culminated with... I know it culminated with a song and a tribute to Mrs. Kleinert. I believe, I don't know who put it together. I'm going to assume it was Mr. Shamrock,
053but I'm sure there was others involved. I think it was the Jingle Bells. And the entire auditorium here participated in that. I got roped in to participate and just tried not to ruin the performance. But it was heartfelt. It was thoughtful. It was emotional. And it was... illustrative of what Court Street's about, how much they care for the Court Street community, our students, our faculty, our staff, each other in times of celebration, in times of need. and in times of every day. And that's what you guys are about. And I think Court Street is a microcosm of the greater Lancaster School District. So when we were coming here and we were in this space, it really got me thinking about what we're about as a school district and what Court Street's about. So I just
054wanted to share that because that was, I think, a really special moment. And it was a great celebration of Mrs. Kleinert, but exemplified what Court Street's about. And then you guys welcoming Mrs. Parker with open arms. And that transition being so smooth is a testament to this building and those who work here. So thank you for that. I will say, speaking of kindness a little bit, this is the Week of Kindness. This is a tradition in Lancaster that started probably about 15 years ago, give or take. Dr. Marie Perini, then Assistant Superintendent, who's also from Holland. Neither here nor there, just a weird coincidence. And the Bullyproof Partnership, the Culture, Climate, and Inclusivity Committee started that tradition. It's full of spirit-themed days, kindness challenges going out through each of our buildings, and then community service
055projects that happen and occur where our youngest and our oldest participate in ways to make our communities just a little bit better. So thank you to all involved, and it's another wonderful tradition in Lancaster. Mr. Crazeman talked a little bit about academies. We have seven career-themed academies, as many of you know. Those academies started years and years ago to really help prepare students for life after Lancaster schools and also to create a school-within-a-school feeling because you guys know that the high school in this district is quite large. So it provides some ability in some areas for our students to connect around, to help prepare them for whatever pathway they choose. whether that's college, career, right in the workforce, or even the military. So I've gone to the academy night. I think it was about two
056weeks ago, late January. Multiple times over the years as a professional. My daughter's in ninth grade, so I had the opportunity to go also as a parent. And I will tell you, I often talk here in my superintendent's report about excellence in education. And there's a plethora of ways to do that. Community service in the culture, student empowerment and student leadership. I think our academies exemplifies all of those things. And it was on full display at Academy Night, seeing the faculty members, the advisors, the students who were empowered to talk about how proud they were of the academies that they were in. was really heartfelt and I think the toughest thing was trying to figure out and facilitate which academy my daughter wants to apply to, but it gave me a newfound perspective as a
057parent going through that as opposed to a professional. Special education, parent information night. Last week, we've had a longstanding partnership with Dr. Greg Fabiano. He's an expert in the area of ADHD. That partnership, that relationship has taken many forms. It's been participating in research. It's been coming to some of our buildings to work with teachers or programs. It's been participating in our legendary day of learning to work with all of our faculty and staff. And it's been a longstanding relationship that we're certainly very proud of. I think Dr. Fabiano has a captivating way of marrying the research and the theory along with I guess the practicality of working with students with ADHD and whether you have students with ADHD in your classroom, in home, I think it was a great way for our special education
058department to support all of our learners and all of our families. Como Park recently hosted a cohort of educators from Chile along with members of the Education Department from Buff State. Part of the exchange program, so I don't know if anybody's here from Como Park, but I know that that day consisted of panel discussions, classroom visits, going over how at the youngest levels we utilize Kagan cooperative learning structures, implementation of UFLY and Hagerty, focusing on lesson design, the difference between special education and general education in the states, and supporting students from a social-emotional standpoint. I just want to thank all of those who were involved and opened our doors to that opportunity. I think Mrs. Marcinelli in one of the upcoming breaks, along with many educators from Buff State, is going to South America. So
059I just want to say kudos to everybody involved. And then lastly, I won't touch on Frozen. Unbelievable. 12- and 13-year-old kids. Astounded. You couldn't pay me to get on stage, and I definitely wouldn't sing in front of anybody, karaoke or otherwise. Annie's coming. Looking forward to that. Always fantastic shows and just so impressed. And last time at Como Park, Mr. Rupp talked about the wonderful student-athletes that we have, the accomplishments, the teams that we have, almost 80 teams. And it's just... The opportunities that our students have, I know that came with Dr. Capuana, the outside opportunities. The students in Lancaster are certainly fortunate to have a lot of outside opportunities in music, athletics, and the arts because of what our teachers do and the community members do. A few that I just want to highlight,
060some of the accomplishments. Varsity cheerleading won first place in Grand Champions at a recent competition. JVM Modified also took first place. Our Lancaster cadet, winter guard, and varsity winter guard both took first place in a recent competition at Archer Park. The girls bowling team took second at the Quaker tournament. And then unified bowling is in full swing right now. And that's an unbelievable experience. And then unified basketball is going to be starting up. And that kickoff, which I don't know if that's the right word for basketball, but that kickoff is taking place on March 6th. And it's a collaboration with our unified basketball team, along with the Lancaster Police Department, which... Mark your calendars. It's an absolute joy to be around and it's a great opportunity for all of our students. SRO Mowdy and Brian
061Wild were the ones who spearheaded that event. And if you haven't, please come check it out. And then really lastly, I go by William Street several times certainly. Every time I go by, there is more and more progress that's being made. So kudos to all involved in the flexibility of everybody and the hard work. That's going to be where our students are going to be. And then where the students currently are in the back of the building is where the district office is going to be. But that building now is almost fully enclosed and they're starting to make some real progress on the inside. So coming soon. Back to you, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Kufel. 11.0, old business. Does anybody have any old business to discuss? 12.0, new business. 12.1, personnel items.
06212.1.1, can I have a motion on the tenure recommendation? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. We will recognize that teacher at a later meeting. 12.2.1, can I get a motion on the personnel changes? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.2, education items. 12.2.1, can I have a motion on the committee for special education? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 12.2.2, can I have a motion on the committee for preschool special education? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 13.0, business and financial items. 13.1, can I have a motion on the financial reports? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 13.2 and 13.3 are policy adoptions. So 13.2
063is policy adoption 5413, procurement uniform grant guidance for federal awards. And 13.3 is policy adoption 5681, school safety plans. Can I have a motion on both of those? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 13.4 and 13.5 are both policy first readings. So 13.4 policy first reading 1620 annual reorganization meeting. And 13.5 is a policy first reading for 1640 absentee military and early mail ballots. Those are for information only. We will read those two more times and then vote to adopt those policies. 13.6, can I have a motion to adopt the 2026-2027 school calendar? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 13.7, can I have a motion to adopt the 2026-2027 classified staff holiday schedule? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against?
064Motion carries. 13.8, can I have a motion to accept the food service operating reports for December 2025? No. Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 13.9. This was the annual audit report. That was actually the audit committee met earlier today. Again, it was a reschedule of the audit meeting we were supposed to have back in January, but due to the snow day, we had to move it. During the audit report, there were no action items or anything to report, so I would recommend to the board that we adopt the annual audit report. So can I have a motion to accept the annual audit report? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 1310, can I have a motion to accept the club creation? Any comments or
065questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 1311, State Environmental Quality Review Seeker for Capital Outlay Project, can I have a motion to accept? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 1312, 1313, and 1314 are all contracts. So 1312 is a contract with Frontier Central School District. 1313 is contract for Fannin Musical Productions, LLC. That's music rental and custom composition writing. And 1314 is a contract with Fannin Musical Production, LLC for visual design. Can I have a motion to accept those three contracts? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Those motions carry. 1315, can I have a motion to accept the bid extension with Jostens? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 1316, can I have a motion to accept the
066AIA contract with CJ Brown Energy and Engineering PC? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 1317, can I have a motion to accept the contract extension with OcuStar Workplace Compliance LLC? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 1318, this is a tax certiorari settlement, and this is information only. 1319, can I have a motion to accept the BOCES call for nominations? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 1320, can I have a motion on the equipment auction results? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 1322, can I have a motion on the amended food service budget? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 1323, can I have a motion on
067the amended transportation contract? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. 14.0, we have our public hearing. We do not have anyone signed up to speak this evening. All right, we'll go back. Sorry. 1321, can I have a motion on the bus auction results? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. Okay, now 14.0 public hearing. We do not have anyone signed up to speak this evening. Before we get to the last couple things on the agenda tonight, our next budget work session will be March 9th, 2026. That will be at the William Street Multipurpose Room. The next regular session meeting is March 23rd, 2026. That is also at the William Street Multipurpose Room. 15.0 on the agenda, we have an executive session to discuss the employment
068of a particular individual. Can I have a motion to go into executive session? Any comments or questions? All those in favor? Anyone against? Motion carries. All right. That will effectively end this evening's meeting. Appreciate everybody coming out and for all the presentations. Thank you all so much for being here, and have a great night.