001Okay, good evening everyone. Welcome to our November Board of Education meeting. And before we begin the meeting, can everyone please stand for the pledge? 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. Thank you. Please take a seat. And as you can see, we have our Syosset Chamber Orchestra here with us tonight, and they are going to do some performance for us. And so I am going to introduce Dr. Hale to say a few words about our orchestra. Thank you, Ms. Chang, Dr. Rogers, and the Board of Education for this opportunity. A little over a year ago, Ms. Martin came to my office and asked if we could submit a tape for a
002convention. It's called ASTA, and it's the American String Teacher Association. They have an annual convention that is a professional development for teachers, but... More notably, it's really an invitational for orchestras around the country to come and compete. You have to submit a tape in order to even get invited to be there, and she did. And of course, we were invited, and it was the first time our orchestra had ever attended this prestigious of an event. It's really, it's the best programs from around the country. And so... We were very proud to be accepted. We were very proud to be there. And so our expectations were tempered. We were like, this is really the big leagues. So as, wouldn't you know it, a few months later, they went to Atlanta. They had a great trip. And
003I could tell before they left, when they were playing in the student lobby, that something very special was happening. And we were very proud that last spring, the Syosset High School Chamber Orchestra was... awarded as national grand champions for the ASTA conference, which we are incredibly proud of. So coming off that success this fall, I had the pleasure of observing the chamber orchestra and watching Miss Stephanie Merton work with them. And as I was sitting there listening, I was just thinking, you know, we have to share this. with the Board of Education and to bring it into this space. And really because this group, it's the epitome of scholarship, it's the epitome of musicianship, and it's really just at the heart of what it means to be a music student in Syosset. And it's just,
004it's something that makes me incredibly proud. And so we're delighted with the opportunity to share it with you tonight. So with that. i will introduce our sasa high school chamber orchestra under the direction of miss stephanie merton they'll be performing concerto grosso for string orchestra and piano abogado by ernest block thanks again for their performance they sounded absolutely amazing and very very talented musicians and we wish them best of luck thank you thank you miss merton that was incredible Thank you. Okay, all right, so we are going to move to the dais to begin tonight's meeting, and then if you would like to stay for the meeting, please welcome, otherwise this is your perfect chance to make your graceful exit. Thank you. Okay, so we are going to begin our tonight's meeting and the first
005item on the agenda is to have the district-wide school safety plan and the The same audience to public for the district school plan. So we are going to have mr Adam clinician our assistant superintendent for human resources to give us an update to the district-wide safety plan Good evening If you recall on July 1st of this year I presented on the district-wide emergency response plan. The plan was posted for a 30-day public comment period, and the Board of Education adopted this plan at its meeting on August 25th. As a reminder, the safety plan is designed to protect students, families, and staff by addressing emergency prevention, response, and recovery. Recently... An amendment was made to the state education law that requires school districts to formalize emergency response procedures related to cardiac arrest. This new regulation referred
006to as Dasha's Law will become effective on January 20th, 2026. It is important to emphasize that the district has existing plans and procedures in place to respond to sudden cardiac arrests that predate this new regulation. So as I had mentioned, the district has current practices and protocols with respect to this matter. So we have 63 automated external defibrillator AED devices. AEDs are routinely tested. Batteries are maintained and strategically placed in our buildings. Coaches, athletic trainers carry AEDs and medical kits to every practice and match and game. All of our faculty and staff receive annual first aid training, and we ensure that the district provides staff with multiple opportunities each year to earn AED or CPR certification through the American Heart Association. We also collaborate with our local agencies to assess and improve our safety measures.
007Desch's law Effective on January 20th, school districts must update our safety plans and must include these existing protocols that we have in place to address and respond to sudden cardiac arrest. We need to ensure that we have procedures outlined to ensure that our AEDs are marked, accessible, and maintained. We will continue to provide our ongoing staff training on cardiac emergency response procedures and continue our partnership with local emergency response services. So from November 18th through December 18th, the district's amended safety plan, which will include these procedures, will be available for review and public comment for 30 days on the district website. In January, the board will be presented with the revised plan for formal adoption. The public can send any of its comments on the safety plan to this email address, security at siassaschools.org. And
008I appreciate your time and attention to this important matter. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kourinichi, for your presentation. There is no audience to the public for this portion, so we are going to move on to the next agenda on the list, and that is going to be the approval of the minutes. 6A and 6B can be taken together, and they're the approval of the minutes of the October 14, 2025 monthly meeting and October 17, 2025 special meeting. Can I have a motion, please? Ms. Kosia, seconded by Ms. Falco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? Thank you. And the next item is Dr. Ruval, can we have the Treasurer's Report? As shown on the Treasurer's Report, the cash on hand for the month end September 2025 was $88,207,601.23. It shows that bank
009balances for all cash accounts were reconciled to the book balances and were collateralized in accordance with the district's banking agreements and investment policy. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Dr. Rufo. And 7A is the approval of the treasurer's report. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Dr. Park. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? And 7B, the finance committee met, and then we are going to have Mr. Ginsberg to provide an update. Thank you. So we had another riveting Citizens Finance Committee meeting on October 15th with Dr. Ruffo. It was about a month ago, so just forgive me for looking down at my notes here just to let you guys know what happened. We reviewed the results of the district's annual audit, and everything was routine, nothing abnormal. There was
010a required accounting change that we had to have, and that... didn't change any of the underlying numbers but some of the numbers do look a little different but nothing had changed on that uh we also spent some time looking over the district's capital plan and the the financing of it we talked about the different options available and the pros and cons of each and how timing the market is it plays a key role in it and determining the most cost-effective path forward. And lastly, we discussed the liability insurance and how it affects all different school districts overall. It affected ours as well, and how we had budgeted for it and what our actual costs were and how the district handles it. And that's about it. And our next meeting is tomorrow night. So we're looking
011forward to that one also. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ginsburg. And Mr. Greco? Mr. Ginsburg, I think you may have lost an opportunity to... Gives some good news that I learned for the first time at this meeting. And it relates to the premium that came in for NICER. If I remember correctly, Dr. Rufo, I can't see. Oh, she's here. I think it came in under budget, if I believe. And we had talked about that briefly at the meeting. So those are some of the nice tidbits. I guess they're not necessarily riveting, but they're still... somewhat enjoyable to hear those things and report back to the board. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Greco. Okay. And we are going to have moving on to superintendent's report. Dr. Rogers, please. Thanks. I'll do. Well, Dr. Balsamo, Mr.
012Steinberg, and Dr. Wojcik are getting set up. I'll just introduce this presentation by talking a little bit about my journey with world languages here in Syosset. When I arrived 11 and a half years ago, the board was engaged in a conversation about some possible changes to the world language program. And as part of the board's exploration of that, I got to learn a lot about the program and about some really kind of eye-boggling statistics. What the board concluded after that conversation was that we had a really strong world language program and that what we wanted to do was continue to build on that strength and that's what we've done over the course of the next 11 years since that conversation occurred. What we'll talk about now is building on a conversation we had with the
013board about a year and a half ago where some changes were made to the elementary world language program. We've made some changes to the sequences, that is the world languages that start in the middle schools. And we're also being attentive to... where our students' interests lie. So we serve the needs where we can. We make sure that once a student starts a program that there's a program for them to go through completely. And we're trying to be attentive to the board's new goals and really situate our future work in our World Language program in the goals that the board adopted last spring. So with all of those things as backdrop and in mind, I'll turn it over to... Mr. Steinberg to get us started and to walk us through the start of the presentation. Okay,
014thank you. better great okay good evening miss chang dr rogers the board of education once again thank you for this opportunity to be here tonight to share with you an overview of our wonderful world language program k-12 certainly a point of pride for us in the district and as with every bit of work we do and dr rogers alluded to it we like to frame everything with our board of education goals obviously these goals become our compasses become our our give us direction into how the work is going to happen And what you will see tonight is that our presentation will demonstrate how the alignment between our robust world language program and the updated BOE goals align here. And you can see this in this chart where on the left-hand side you'll see the goals,
015you'll see what the program offers, and some of the key outcomes that are adjusted there. And I will... bear you me reading all of that, but it's there for you to see and for the community to see. You will see in the table and the rest of the discussion that we'll be talking about tonight how the skills developed through the World Language Program support some of the key BOE objectives. Specifically, if we look at how it builds cultural competency, critical thinking, and communication skills, all areas that you see throughout the goals here. We know that the program is more than just about acquiring the vocabulary. but it's about preparing our students to be globally minded, articulate, and well-rounded students ready for both college and career. We also hear how we use data to inform these
016decisions to ensure that we're being responsive to student needs. So we'll hear that, talk a little bit about that, and how that supports the goal of transparent and efficient operations. So we will walk you through the specifics of this alignment. We'll detail the opportunities at each grade level, from elementary exposure through the advanced course. work at the high school. And at this time, I'll introduce Dr. Jeanette Wojcik to begin the conversation at the elementary level. Thank you. All right, thank you, Mr. Steinberg. Good evening, Dr. Rogers, Dr. Curry, Board of Education. This evening, we have the privilege and opportunity to share with you, as Mr. Steinberg said, the alignment that takes place in our world language program. So as we know, SIACET has a legacy of high-quality language instruction rooted in two fundamental goals. So
017those two goals are effective communicators in a world language and intercultural. skills really converging together to build global citizenship so as we know languages exist in both the social and cultural context so understanding the products the practices and perspectives of the target cultures in relationship to our own culture is a key part of global citizenship and what we aim to teach our students so we look at these four different critical components. We look at perspective taking, so thinking about how we get the ability to see situations, look at ideas from other standpoints, other cultures, other perspectives. We think about ethical and critical thinking, so how are we analyzing global issues? How are we providing sustainable, equitable, and peaceful? international complexities with our global citizens. How are we respecting diversity? How are we understanding those who
018are sitting next to us in their culture? And one of the ways in which we do that is by honoring the rich diversity of our students. So by ensuring that our classrooms value, reflect, and build upon the linguistic culture of those who present in front of us. So we have 22 different home languages of students that sit in our classrooms each and every day so at the elementary level as we shared in april of 2024 we um Provided an update to our flex program at the elementary level which is foreign language experience program So you'll see here in this chart we illustrate exactly how our K through five students move through our world language program and they do this in the k1 the primary realm by Experiencing our sign language our American Sign Language program
019which combines with our early literacy skills and as they move through the grade levels We know that in second and third grade and in fourth and fifth grade grade we focus on languages and cultures in second and third it's asian languages and cultures and in fourth and fifth we move on to the european language and cultures so at this point i'm going to welcome up dr david balsamo who's going to talk through the revised summer curriculum writing projects that took place with regard to our flex program thanks in my last board presentation in april 2024 i spoke about planned revisions to our elementary flex program For grades two through five, we shifted the program to explore the topics listed here in the context of Asian and European languages and cultures. Our teachers have done a
020tremendous job bringing this challenge to fruition, and our topic approach has been a great way for students to connect personally by sharing their own cultural experiences while comparing them with others around the world. We would like to show the kinds of learning that are the result of our revised curriculum. in a few slides, in the next few slides, which will walk through a sample unit about the topic of food, which is taught at both the Asian and European contexts. So food is a universal part of our existence, but each culture has its unique foods and customs around meal-taking. Unit 3, Foods Around the World, introduces learners to the profound connection between global cuisine and cultural identity. The unit's educational value lies in demonstrating that food choices are not arbitrary. They are deeply influenced by societal
021norms, history, and nutritional considerations. The curriculum covers three key areas, cultural foods, a deep dive into the origins and significance of what people eat in the target cultures, decision making, analyzing the how and why behind regional food productions, and consumption habits. We also introduce practical applications, teaching essential social skills, specifically focusing on appropriate etiquette, learning what one does and does not do in a restaurant and dining environment. This slide outlines the big ideas for the unit. These are the core transferable concepts we want students to retain long after they've forgotten specific vocabulary. First, the foundational understanding food is an important aspect of cultural identity. We are moving students beyond simply what people eat to why they eat. They will analyze how food is intrinsically linked to heritage, celebration, family structure, and national pride. This is
022the core academic anchor of the unit. Second, we move from the why to the how in a practical real-world setting. Going to a restaurant is a different experience for each world culture. This understanding focuses on applied cultural literacy. Students will learn that the rules of service, tipping, ordering, and even sharing food are not universal. Finally, we ensure we are teaching nuance. Cuisine varies among the target language countries. This is Kida dismantling stereotypes. Our students will learn to avoid a monolithic view. For instance, they will learn that Spanish-speaking cuisine is not one thing. The food of Spain is as different from Mexico as it is from Argentina. So the next part of our curriculum writing focused on developing essential questions for students. And when we look at essential questions, these are really the inquiry that drive
023the unit. So these are the questions we hope children will learn and grapple with as they engage with the content across these different lessons. So the first one being, how is what I eat similar or different from target cultures? So looking at that, this is the way we draw students in. We ask them to reflect on their own personal relevance of what they eat and then to connect to students around them and then to the global world that they're learning about. The second question really focuses on how does where someone live in their country affect their diet? This is an analytical question. This allows students to move beyond that simple understanding of stereotypes and connect to tangible factors like geography, climate, and economics. They'll analyze why coastal regions in Spain have a different diet than
024mountainous regions of Peru. The third question here says, how do I communicate what I want to eat in different cultural contexts? So this is practical. This is the skill-based opportunity that students will directly link to their cultural knowledge. And it's really the core mission of language classes, functional communication. And so this question assesses their ability to not just know the information, but to use it effectively. Finally, what are some staple foods of the target language or country? This question provides a foundational or factual knowledge for students. They answer more complex questions. They have to know together that they can work on looking at how students go from a personal reflection to factual knowledge. So the next slide talks about cross-cutting. So we talk a lot about how we integrate different disciplines into our learning and
025we do this in our world language program as well. So we gave a little example of a second grade unit and how we bring in other subjects. So for example in our grade two social studies we might be looking at the concepts of geography and then rural, urban, and suburban communities which is a social studies concept. and we relate it to world language and thinking about how the target cultures or countries are either rural, urban, or suburban. We think about how we integrate science or environmental education by looking at how geography, humans, and environments affect what they eat or where they live. We look at incorporating economics into what they're learning. How do people meet their needs and their wants based on where they live? So thinking about trade, food security, things like that, essential
026roles that agriculture might take in that learning. So by explicitly drawing these connections... We ensure that our curriculum is cohesive. We bring in cross-cutting concepts and multiple disciplines so that students are able to look at these globally and tackle complex real-world problems. This point we are building on the great work. This is a K to five program And it's been completed and fully implemented as our curriculum writing had been taking place over the past two summers And so this really strengthens the exposure for students as they move into the secondary languages So at this point, dr. Balsamo will come back up and move on into our secondary lens of world language Our program transitions its focus to language proficiency at the secondary level. We view effective communication as going far beyond grammar and vocabulary. An
027effective communicator in world language must be able to understand and analyze spoken and written authentic texts from various sources such as media, literature, everyday conversation. Negotiate meaning with others in spontaneous real-time interactions demonstrating both comprehension and responsiveness, and convey information, concepts, and ideas clearly and persuasively to an audience through speaking or writing. When students transition from elementary to middle school, they make the important choice of deciding which language to study. Teachers in our elementary program engage them in a series of lessons focused on how to make this decision. Some make a selection based on practical reasons, like choosing a language that will be helpful in a future career. Some choose a language based on their family background. Everyone has their own personal reason for selecting a language and we encourage students to let motivation be
028their guide because there is a strong correlation between motivation and achievement, especially when it comes to language learning. Our responsibility is to then make key programmatic decisions based on the choices students make. We take steps to continually monitor the language choices we offer to be responsive to student interests and needs. Our process includes reviewing enrollment statistical data to identify trends, discussions with building administrators, and sometimes feedback from families through surveys and focus groups. When enrollment does not reach a threshold required to teach a course, it does not run. This process led us to add Korean as a grade 6 through 12 language in 2022 and to discontinue level 1 Japanese and Latin at the high school in 2024. Learners who already began either language were allowed to complete the sequence. We know that proficiency in
029a language builds with continued study over many years. So when students transition from middle to high school, most continue the sequence working through Checkpoint B, which is the intermediate range of proficiency. Additional courses at Syosset High School afford learners the opportunity to study multiple languages. This year, 27 students take advantage of this and are enrolled in two world languages at the high school. At the end of Level 3, which typically is... June of 10th grade, students take the Checkpoint B exam, which is a pathway to achieving the Advanced Designation Diploma. About 75% of the 11th and 12th graders at Syosset High School take a world language, reaching checkpoint C, which is truly a remarkable statistic. Very few schools see such a large proportion of upperclassmen continue a world language sequence that far, where many reach
030the highest levels of proficiency and qualify to graduate with the New York State Seal of Biliteracy. We view our students' continuation in world language courses through senior year as a strong indicator of the program's strength. We continually adapt our program based on the choices students make. For example, when learners of Korean reached the high school, we added a series of honors courses to meet the needs of more advanced learners. This year, our process for reviewing sixth grade language options indicated an ongoing trend. Enrollment in Chinese and Spanish maintained numbers well above the threshold needed for a healthy and sustainable program, with Chinese showing an upward trend in enrollment. We are closely monitoring declining enrollment in French and Italian and low enrollment in Korean. Our secondary curriculum council actively monitors these trends so we can make
031the best programmatic changes moving forward. We're not proposing any changes in world language offerings at this point. The culmination of our program is the joy of seeing nearly a quarter of our seniors graduate with the New York State Seal of Biliteracy, a graduation credential that indicates biliterate skills in English and another language to employers and colleges. Earning the seal honors seniors who excel at meeting the goals I outlined at the beginning of the presentation. Their culminating projects explore a problem in a specific cultural context. 116 seniors earned the seal last year, with some earning the seal in multiple languages. This is a remarkable achievement that again is found in very few other high schools. Most of our seal earners come through our World Language Program, but English language learners also earn the designation, as well
032as students who can speak, read, and write a heritage language. The process for earning the seal is rigorous. Candidates must demonstrate their proficiency through standardized tests, panel interviews, and coursework. As we look forward... As we look forward, we will continue to monitor shifts in enrollment in the languages we offer. We've seen great interest and increasing enrollment in American Sign Language at the high school. Another area for growth we see are opportunities for more students to earn the New York State Seal of Biliteracy, especially for ENL students and those who communicate in a heritage or home language. Granting the Seal of Biliteracy has become a way to recognize and acknowledge students' expertise in a language we do not offer in our program expanding our reach even further thank you for your ongoing support for our work
033okay thank you so much for the presentation very informative and a lot of information as well and at this point I'd like to see if anyone on the board will have a question for for the team okay so dr. Park and then I miss Falco Thank you for the presentation. Really exciting. I have two questions. One is I truly appreciated your focus on intercultural skills, globally minded, global citizenship. This is like the word that's just celebrating everything we are doing here. I was wondering if we could continue that cross-cutting learning beyond elementary school to middle school and high school. Sure. Yeah, so we take a topic approach to the entire curriculum. So as we're exploring each of these topics, whether it's something like shopping or we try to do everything in that way, in a
034cross-cutting way that's going to involve other disciplines. So it could be using scientific documents when we're talking about environmental change, for example, in different countries. There are all kinds of examples throughout the curriculum where we... we take advantage of those opportunities, those synergies, when there's an opportunity to cross-cut, absolutely. Yes, I've seen that happening in an AP Spanish class, I think, and that was amazing. But going a little bit further and providing perhaps literature credit. taking classes. I was wondering if that is possible because in high school a lot of our students they want to take more classes but they're just shortened up they just don't have enough periods during the day to add on another thing if we can satisfy two requirements I was wondering how that could help our students to take more
035languages and enjoy different languages you can learn. and whether now that the diploma, New York State diploma, the requirement is changing, how that will allow that to happen, whether that will. that will allow our school to offer that kind of classes. Sure, I'll let Mr. Steinberg speak about that. But as far as the literature question and that opportunity to study literature at those advanced levels, and even not, I mean, we try to incorporate literature in terms of songs, poems, at every level. That's one of my things that I try to champion is to say that literature doesn't have to just be novel it could be a song it could be a poem it could be so we look for those opportunities all the time and we do those kinds of things even in the middle
036school program my school program but also for those students who want to take AP literature because there's their AP literature courses in the languages we do that through independent study so we do have a number of students who meet with a teacher on a weekly basis and take the independent study in in AP Spanish for example and take the AP test in Spanish in literature so we do those because things also thank you for the question so I love the question because the creativity of a question and aligning that with the changes in the graduation measures and how do we think more creatively about how we provide credit for our students and and can we can we provide credit in different areas it's a it's an outstanding question in a way that we don't have
037enough direction yet for how the state's going to redefine credits for the graduation measures. So the state's saying they're going to redefine the credits, but we're not sure how they're going to do that yet. And so a lot of the work and why we're looking at programs like this is to begin to really understand deeply where the needs are. So when we get a little bit more information, we have to make those shifts. We use those as opportunities to create unique and different and new programs. And we often say that. We're Syosset. We do things and we create things that are different, unique. And, you know, we're having an early conversation about how Syosset is, you know, is not a typical public school. So when you tell. people who don't know science that you go
038to the size of public school they think oh it's a run-of-the-mill public school but we're not and we and we do things above and beyond and this is a this is a great question but that opens that up to say okay when we understand how the state might redefine credits we might be able to look at things like literature credits or English credits or language credits and how are those things earned in a way that can provide more choice and opportunity for our students as they're going through high school Thank you so much for the presentation. Our language program is really top notch and the kids come out really truly proficient and totally able to communicate and speak and it's amazing. I just had a question actually for the elementary school. I was just curious
039how you pick the languages and the countries that you choose to focus on in the elementary school and if it changes from year to year or if it stays consistent. you know from year to year sure so great question so what we um decided to do in our curriculum writing i i'm going to go back to that slide for a second we decided to look at the curriculum through the focus of these topics rather than specific languages. We do look at Asian languages in grades two and three, and European languages in four and five. And we try to cover the languages in the elementary program that are in the secondary program so that we can have kids kind of make an informed decision when they get to middle school of a language choice. And so
040those are the big ones. But again, the program is more focused on these topics and kind of a cultural experience than a proficiency-oriented experience. That really starts in sixth grade. But we try to, again, we do try to cover the languages that are taught in the secondary program to give that kind of preview. I mean, I assume there's a correlation between what you teach in elementary school and the languages that the kids want to take later on just because, you know, they're familiar with it. So if they learn it earlier on, they might have an interest. in taking, because they're making that choice pretty quickly afterwards. When you do the languages, so if you focus on the languages that are offered later on, do you have an opportunity to touch on other countries and other
041languages, or are most of these just focused on the ones that we teach later on? Sorry, thank you. No, that's a great question. Our guide is what student selections will have as they move into the secondary level. But as we had shared on the slide, we have 22 different home languages. And students have an opportunity to bring their own perspective and culture into the classroom to share about their home language, their home traditions, things of that nature. And so that also the students who are seated in our classroom also guide how we teach the units with an understanding that we do on the topics that they will have to select as far as language. So I love that they have an opportunity to learn about all the different cultures and languages. So I would love...
042I think it's such a good opportunity to expose children. I think it's wonderful that they can bring their own experiences to the class. That's always meaningful. I also think that there's something to be said for the kids to have an opportunity to learn other cultures and religions and countries and languages that they wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to experience. And it may be a good area to do that. Thank you very much for the presentation. So what is the process for if students want to choose a language that they want to study? If it's not one of the ones that are offered, what's the process? Is it just hearing that a lot of kids want to take a certain language and, oh, maybe we should look into offering it? What if parents say, oh, my
043kid might want this? Is there a process that they could go ahead and, I guess, try to talk to you about? Sure. So I could use Korean as an example, because that's the last language that we added. And that came about first through a culture club at the high school. We had a Korean culture club. It started with that. There seemed to be a lot of interest in Korean. And it moved from there. The students kind of went through the process. They came to me. They asked about having a Korean class, because they had a culture club. So that's kind of how it happens organically, I would say, either from students who come forward. we have to reach that critical mass, right? One or two kids who want something, that's great, but unfortunately that's not
044a language program. That's like, you know, we can't really do that. But when we have a large enough student interest in something, then we can respond to it like we did in Korean and made it happen. So that's pretty much it. The genesis is kind of organic, like how it comes from the community of students that we have in our school district. And just if I could just add one piece of that so we do have formal structures in place where students can communicate What they're interested in so whether that's through student cabinets at the building level or at the district level there's talks now at the high school about putting together a Student curriculum committee at the high school through their student representatives So there are formal mechanisms for the students to bring these
045interests forward. So we do hear it Okay, you know in the Koreans a great example, but there are those formal structures as well I would just also add that when Korean was added at the middle school, we did a parent survey because part of what we do when we're offering a new language is we have to hire someone. who has the skills in the target language, and that's a long-term commitment. So if we're going to make a long-term commitment to an employee, we want to know that there's going to be a long-term opportunity for them to remain here. So a part of adding Korean in at the middle school was doing a survey of parents that we put together in conjunction with the PTA's Cultural Unity Committee, and that survey signaled to us that there
046would be sustained interest over time. So we did have a group of energetic young people who put this on our radar screen, but then it was making sure with parents that, there was enough support that we could sustain the program. Ms. Falcoff. Sorry, last question, I swear. Is there... So the kids come in with different levels of proficiency because some of them it's a language that's spoken at home and some of them it isn't a language spoken at home. So some of the kids are learning it for the first time and some of the kids already have practice in using the language. So does that present a problem in the class when you're evaluating the kids? It's a good question. So that's where differentiation comes in. And I'll give you an example. I saw a
047Chinese lesson earlier this week, last week, where the teacher had a text the students were reading. And in Chinese, you can read things in the Chinese characters, obviously, but also there's a transliteration called pinyin, which is kind of like, again, a transliteration of the... the actual characters. So to differentiate for students, to allow for those who say have a background in reading Chinese, they got the version that has the actual characters without pinyin. Those who have more proficiency got a version that didn't have the pinyin, so they had to actually interpret the character. So we find ways like that to differentiate instruction. to meet the needs of different levels. Because there are, especially happens to be in Chinese, we have a lot of heritage learners of Chinese. So to kind of make it a good
048experience for everybody, we differentiate. Okay. Thank you again, Dr. Balsama, Mr. Steinberg, and Dr. Wojcik for the presentation. Thank you. Okay, all right, so this concludes the superintendent's report and we have no legislative items and we are going to do our discussion items and in October a few of us went to the annual on the spa conference in the city as well as the nice bath Pre-convention law conference and we are going to have mr Rotolo to report to us on the the virtual business meeting and also the annual convention Thank You mr. Let me start off with the annual resolution dinner. I'll just give a little background. So what happens is that it's a pretty long process. New York State School Board Association comes up with proposed bylaws and amendments that they recommend. And
049then what ends up happening for us for our local district? We have the Nassau Suffolk School Board Association So what they'll do is they'll have a resolution committee that then discusses all of the resolutions and what they'll do is then they'll propose some which are more geared towards the interests of the walk of obviously of Nassau and Suffolk then all of the Nassau and Suffolk school districts have a dinner where delegates like i was chosen as the delegates each delegate from all the school districts will then go to the dinner and they will discuss these resolutions and then finally after all that we have a new york state zoom that includes every school district delegates that then again we discuss and vote on on these resolutions and bylaws. So it's a long process. This year
050went from like four o'clock to 1030 and I was told that it was pretty quick. So you can imagine, but you're getting input from everybody in the state. So for us, we had varied a little bit from the New York, from the Nassau County School Board Association. So we had bylaw one and bylaw two, which really related to quicker updates to the members we wanted to recommend that but overall both of those were non-recommended so they did not pass we also had a resolution number 11 which was that the new york state school board association supports the safe use and incorporation of AI into the curriculum. We actually recommended that and it ended up passing throughout the whole state. So we were a little different than the state and Nassau Suffolk School Boards Association. Then
05114 had shall advocate for amendments of New York State Department regulations to allow set amount of daily resource up the recess up to 30 minutes a day to count towards instructional time our board recommended and that also passed the final vote the next one that our board had brought up was the New York State School Board Association should oppose any policy regulatory changes to curriculums or standards that does not promote academic excellence high expectations merit based opportunity we said recommend that New York State what voted not recommend and the last one yeah The last one was number 32, resolution, was New York State School Board Association shall advocate for the removal of all GMOs, ingredients, heavy metals, but not limited to chemicals. We also recommended this one, but unfortunately this one did not get recommended
052by the state. So those are the results after all of our voting. Yes, so let me go to the convention so we went to the New York State annual school board convention The overarching theme was empathy innovation inclusion leading for tomorrow schools the presentations emphasized important empathy in school board decision-making ethical integration of artificial intelligence strategies for building an inclusive school One of most of the presentations and keynote speakers were were perfect timing and revolved around these issues but one in particular that I found which was applicable to us and I really felt strongly about it was the empathy index which promised the framework for fostering a more supportive and inclusive school environment. While the official convention material focused on the dignity index as a keynote tool addressing polarization, the empathy index was discussed in
053sessions and workshops as complementary or parallel initiative aimed at measuring and promoting empathy among students, staff, and family. So what is the Empathy Index? It is a structure of tools designed to access and enhance levels of empathy within the school community. It typically involves surveys and assessments for students, staff, and parents to gauge their ability to understand and share feelings of others. Training modules. were activities to build empathy-related skills such as active listening, perspective taking, and conflict resolution. Why implementation of the empathy index in schools? Benefits for students, improved peer relations, empathy training helps students develop a positive social skill, reducing bullying and fostering a sense of belonging. Enhanced conflict resolution, students learn to resolve disagreements constructively, learning a safer and more respectful school climate. The benefits to the staff, stronger classroom management, teachers who
054modeled and encouraged empathy created a more engaging and cooperative classroom, reducing burnout for the teachers. An empathy school culture supports teachers' well-being and job satisfaction. And then for the parents, a better school-home communication. Empathy-based approach to encouraging understanding between families, educators, which increased trust and collaboration. Inclusive decision-making. Parents feel like they are valued and they're heard, which can increase their involvement in school activities and governance. Thank you, Mr. Rotolo, for the both updates. And I just wanted to add that I would be remiss not to mention that our very own Syosset High School Adolets proudly represented our school community at the NISPAC Convention opening ceremony. And they were showcasing their remarkable talent and bringing well-deserved recognition to our school community. And that was absolutely amazing, really amazing. Okay, thank you. And Dr. Park, would you
055like to talk about the pre-convention law conference? Okay, so the pre-convention school law conference was intriguing. There were many topics discussed from state and federal cases to recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, as well as the SED's perspective on the state of education in New York and also the special education laws, especially as IDEA marks its 50th anniversary. and the new challenges in today's evolving landscapes. The conference concluded with a mock school board meeting filled with lively and hot topics and giving us a renewed appreciation for our own meetings. Thank you, Dr. Park. I was at the law conference along with Dr. Rogers and also Mr. Tolo, and it was very, very informative. Okay, thank you so much for your report. And we have no unfinished business. We're just going to move on to a new
056business. And the 12A is the approval of staff changes. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 12B is the approval of stipends and hourly rates 2025-2026. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Ginsberg, seconded by Ms. Koshia. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 12C is the approval of online staff employment agreement 2025-2026. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Dr. Park. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 12D is the ratification of memorandum of agreement, Syosset Principles Association. Can I have a motion, please? Ms. Falco, seconded by Ms. Koschia. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? Okay. 13.8 is the first reading of the new and revised
057policies, and that's going to be policy 1900, parent and family engagement. Policy 4321, programs for students with disabilities under the IDEA and New York education law, article 89. Policy 8330, authorized use of school-owned materials and equipment. Policy 8336, use of surveillance cameras on school district property. Policy 8410, student transportation services. Policy 8421, use of district-owned vehicles. And the second reading of state policies will be during the December 8th, 2025 board meeting. And the policy is available for inspection on the district website. 13B is the approval of 2627 school district calendar. Can I have a motion, please? Dr. Parr, seconded by Ms. Mr. Greco, are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 13C and 13D can be taken together. They're the approval of Committee on Preschool Special Education and Committee on Special Education Recommendation.
058Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Ginsburg, seconded by Ms. Koscia, are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14A is the authorization of service contracts. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14B is the authorization for special education and or nursing contracts. Can I have a motion, please? Ms. Koscia, seconded by Ms. Falco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14C is the authorization for contracts for federal Part B funds. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Greco, seconded by Dr. Park. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14D is the authorization for piggybacking Hewitt-Woodmere Union Free School District, J.C. Barterick & Associates, Inc. Can I have a motion, please? Ms.
059Koshy, I second by Mr. Ginsberg. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14E is the authorization for piggybacking Hartford County HD Supply Facilities Maintenance Limited. I can have a motion, please. Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Dr. Park. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14F is the approval of intermunicipal agreement, Levittown School District High School Girls Wrestling Team. Can I have a motion, please? Ms. Kosha, seconded by Ms. Falcove. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14G is the approval of student club charters 2025-2026. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Ms. Abramson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14H is the approval of student group charters 2025-2026. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Ginsberg, seconded by Ms. Falcove.
060Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14I is the acceptance of donation. 2025 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Teaching Award. Can I have a motion, please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Ms. Abramson. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14J is the acceptance of donation. Winding boards with lace trims. Can I have a motion, please? Ms. Kosia, seconded by Mr. Ginsburg. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? 14K is the approval of disposal of broken surplus and or obsolete equipment, supplies and books. Can I have a motion please? Mr. Rotolo, seconded by Mr. Greco. Are there any questions? All in favor? Opposed? Any abstentions? Okay, and this concludes our meeting. We have no audience to the public and I can have a motion to adjourn the meeting. Ms.
061Kosha, seconded by Mr. Ginsburg. All in favor? Okay, meeting adjourned. Thank you so much and I'll see you at the next meeting which is Monday, December 8th and wishing everyone a healthy and happy Thanksgiving.