001Open session. The time is >> 7:05 p.m. >> 7:05. I'll make a motion for that. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Dr. Wall. Second. And all in favor? >> I. Can you please stand and recite me the pledge to the flag? >> Aliance 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. >> Okay, really quick, we go to item six, which is our student board member remarks. So, Nal, I turn it over to you if you have any remarks this evening. >> Good evening, everyone. I would just like to say that we did have a meeting to pick out the new student representative that will be taking my position and I'm I'm excited to
002hopefully introduce them soon to the board once we officially choose them. That's it. Thank you. [applause] >> Thank you very much. So, we go to item seven on the agenda, which is our presentations. And tonight we have our scholar athlete awards. So, I welcome Mr. John Baluchcci, our athletic director, up to the podium. [applause] Okay. Uh before I start, I just want to explain I think everybody who's here knows, but there might be some who don't. Uh the three sports scholar athlete award is given to all the kids who've maintained a 90 and above average all three semesters for the fall, winter, and spring. We don't include the fourth semester cuz we'd have to come back here in August. So um 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders who have done that. They played
003a fall sport, maintained the 90 and above. New York State um honors the scholar athletes as well. Uh we've done this locally. Uh we make a special distinction because they've done it all three semesters. New York State does it each each uh season. And uh their requirement is it has to be a 90 and above because the question does come to me if your child has an 89.9. New York State says no it has to be the 90 and above average. So, I just want to clear that up. That's uh commendable. All these kids have done that. Sometimes practicing two or three hours a day by the time they're uh on the field and off. Um so, I don't want to understate how difficult that could be three seasons in a row. And credit to
004everybody who showed up and some of those who could not show up but earned the award and they'll get a pin uh scholar athlete pin. [snorts] So, congratulations. and the four seniors tonight who get this um and again it gets harder and harder as you're taking AP classes playing a higher level uh sport and and four of them did that they're now called scholar athletes of distinction because they did it their senior year. So that's um a little challenged all the seventh, 8th, 9th and uh 10th and 11th graders and any younger kids who aren't even playing sports yet. So, without further ado, I'll uh start with the middle school group. And first up here, and I'd like maybe if we can I know it gets pretty busy, but we'll keep all the middle school
005kids up here. So, when you come up, uh we'll you'll stay up here. We'll take one nice group photo. Alexa Amuro. [applause] Congratulations, [applause] Alexa. And Mrs. Ken, the high school principal, will be giving out the pins tonight. Okay, Alexa. Oops. Alexa, sorry. Your hand didn't give you the award. Kaden at [applause] Julian Bergd Doll. >> [applause] >> Anatoli Shri, [applause] Giana Kovll, [applause] [applause] Gana Dennady, >> [applause] [applause] >> Dykeman [applause] Grant >> [applause] >> Matthew Greco, [applause] >> Allison Gordon, [applause] >> Gabriella Maine. Eli, Matthew [snorts] Masi, [applause] Morphe >> [applause] [applause] >> William Oxer V 6. [applause] >> [applause] >> Spisano Jr. [applause] Greta Tucci, Brendan Walsh. [applause] >> [applause] >> Hey, that's the middle school group. [applause] Sorry. Sorry. >> Every time I see somebody else like, you know. Okay. >>
006Good job. [applause] Yes. Okay. And there were uh a total of 14 eighth graders, 15 uh seventh graders and uh so in two grades 29 in the high school. In fourth grades, there were 33. So, it does get difficult as you get older and take some uh challenging courses. But congratulations to all 29 recipients in the middle school. And now for the high school, Katherine Anderson, [applause] Griffin Arnold, [applause] >> [applause] >> Campbell, [applause] Caroline Clark, [applause] Grace Kazaka >> [applause] >> Jeremy Kazaka [applause] Odorp. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> Anna >> [applause] >> Kevin Greco, [applause] alien driven [applause] LeBron >> [applause] >> CC Lopez, [applause] >> Jana Martin, [applause] >> Caleb Pendalfo. [applause] Smith, hidden Taylor, [applause] Danielle Trent, Ethan Villa, >> [applause] >> Lucas Walsh >> [applause] >> and Katie Whis. All
007right. And again, there were 33. I know a lot of kids are so busy with all the things going on. >> I like to think that they're feverishly studying for the algebra that is in the morning. That's what I like going to say that >> one who loves math. I agree. Okay. >> All right. And congratulations once again. [applause] >> [applause] [applause] >> And for those um maybe listening or will hear later, uh if they couldn't make it tonight, they can pick up the certificate in the pin from either my office um or the main office in the high school or for the middle school kids in the middle school office. Okay. So just uh before everybody leaves because you know I know as uh as Ken said there's a regions tomorrow but on behalf
008of myself being here as the interim superintendent this year and watching many of you play throughout the course of the year you all embody what a true student athlete is and that's what the celebration is tonight being a student athlete. And to the parents, congratulations to you for all your dedication and hard work because part of what we saw tonight is about who you are as parents and how important both student and the academic piece as well as the athletic piece. But I leave you with this. I've been around a long time. the student athletes here, their sportsmanship, who they are, what they do is an example of how proud we should all be uh in Pauling because you go out and you work as hard as you can both inside and outside the classroom.
009Your sportsmanship and the way you conduct yourselves on the field is incredible. And also, this is a celebration of our staff, our teachers at all levels, right? because even though you're middle schools and high schoolers, that preparation starts at at the elementary school and also to our coaches for their dedication and what they do each and every day. So again, congratulations to you all seniors, I wish you the best. I am sure getting to know many of you, you're going to do great things. To the underassmen as you become rising seniors, juniors, and sophomores, and those of you who are eighth grade freshmen, I wish you all the best. and those of you returning that'll be playing in seventh graders, eighth graders next year. Um, all the best and all the best of luck to
010all of you. Congratulations. [applause] >> We'll give we'll give a minute for everybody to >> Yeah. Thank you, sir. [laughter] That's right. Okay, [laughter] congratulations. Okay. So, we're going to continue on a little bit with the sports theme tonight. Um, as you're aware, and I've spoken about this during the course of the year, the board had asked myself and our athletic director, Mr. Belaluchcci, to um, kind of do a little bit of a study on section one. um versus section 9. There were some conversations actually at this time last year that took place and the board had asked John and I to kind of uh you know meet with some stakeholder groups, talk a little bit about you know um where we're at and where we possibly could go. And um John and myself over
011the last number of months basically you know winter into the spring met with stakeholder groups. We met with our our um coaches. We met with our student athletes and we also met with our families. Um, and John's going to take you through a little bit about what that looked like in each one of these sessions and how we went about introducing, you know, what section one is about, what section 9 is about, and some things that went on. Um, and then we'll talk about a little of um, where we're at and then what next steps will be. Um, and then we'll open it up for conversations from the board. So, I'm going to ask now at this point if John you would come up give a little bit of an overview to the public and
012the board of how these sessions were were handled, what you did and and we'll follow from there. >> Okay. Well, I I know uh going back to last year, the the the reason for bringing this forward um goes back a long time and it's because I am often asked the questions that I, you know, I guess over time you just think are common knowledge and it's not and I feel like I'm holding on to knowledge and a decision that people don't even know we have um because of the questions that have come up many times over the uh some of which have been I think spurred on by you know Arlington trying uh considering going years ago about a decade or more ago uh they didn't do it. Uh some of the other schools have
013done that. Do was in section one they went to section 9. Um, so I've often gotten questions, why don't we get back into that league with Dover and Milbrook or Weeatuck? And I've had so many one-on-one conversations over many years. I feel like I'm holding not hiding, just holding on to information that people don't realize. And I I felt like over over the course of the full year, Kim and I had talked about it a few times. And then just because I guess we all get busy, it never really came up. Um, and I, you know, I brought it up last year because I constantly get questions about why aren't we playing do in every sport. There are there are rivals. That is such a good rival rivalry. When I grew up, why aren't we
014doing that? And to explain that, I felt like maybe it's just good to have the information out there. The reason we have a choice, as you all know, is we're on the border. So this is kind of um a background of why you know and what I spoke to the kids about. We first spoke to the coaches. The coaches are much more aware of the details. They know leagues have to come from the section and our section is section one. We're the northernmost school and again we have a choice because we're on the border. Um section 9 has a choice to not take us. And so I've explained that to the co the coaches know that. The kids now know that. Parents had the opportunity to know that as well. So I feel like at
015least the information's out there and now I feel like I'm not hiding anything. If anybody wants to listen to this podcast, they'll learn more about that's the reason because we have a choice. We don't have to, you know, take the board doesn't have to decide on doing that. But it's good for people to know things and not to just have the information personally and not talk about it. So with that, I spoke to the coaches and at length about what it would mean for different teams and it would mean quite different things for different teams. The hockey team would be I'll say the good part first. They would be section champions in division 2 every single year because they would be the only team. So they would not be in a league. They would never
016be a league champion, but they'd always be a section champion. And I spoke, you know, to the coaches about that. We would still get a schedule like we do in football, simil similarly, not the same. Uh in football, we're in section 9. That's an anomaly. We can't really do that with any other sport. The reason we're allowed to do that in section 9 with football is because it was a brand new sport, eight-man football, and they invited us in. that that's an anomaly. They didn't have to and now that we're in, we're happy to be there with football. So, that's that's going to stay the same no matter what, unless someday we move back to 11 man and go to section one. Um, but going back to hockey, we would get 20 20 games in
017section one. I'm confident that they would um accommodate us if we only got 14 or 15. We've also played Connecticut schools by choice. So we would pick up 20 games, but we wouldn't be in a league. So that's that's I would say, you know, an outlier because that sport is pretty unique to small schools and it's very unique in section 9. The only other school that has hockey is Monroe Woodbury and they're a division one team. We could play them. We probably would, but when it comes down to the sectionals, we'd be the only one standing. team sports. We would probably be in a league, I'm pretty confident in saying this, with most team sports with Weebituck, Dover, Milbrook, Pauling, Pine Plains, uh maybe Reinbeck, and then possibly across the river. That would be a
018league, but we'd certainly have to travel as far as Eldrid, Sullivan West, Ellenville for different games, fall, winter, spring. So the the downside is those are sometimes close to two hours away. I think they limit that. Doesn't mean they don't do it, but they limit it because of that. You don't want to be traveling 2 hours on a weekday. So for football on a Friday or Saturday, it's one thing. For a weekday game, that's really not um not a good thing. So I think they do limit that. they try to keep you within an hour, hour and a half. The hour and a half to to Antiora or to Ellenville um will probably be some common trips. So, those are the downsides. But the hour and a half to Bronxville, which is many miles closer,
019but still an hour and a half by bus, um it's a choice. What would you rather be doing? Traveling across the Hudson? And you know, there's so many little details there. That's what I talked to to the coaches about. Uh some coaches preferred the schedule up north because of I would say the less schools. There's 40 plus schools in section 9. Um not weaker necessarily but less. And there's over 70 in section one. So just by numbers, that's one of the reasons that maybe it would be a positive. The distance mileage wise and in different seasons, the dark, you know, darkness in the fall, um the winter time, the negatives going across the river, you know, on a week night, those are all serious considerations that, you know, I know parents have, me included, sending
020buses over there. But by and large, like I said, I think our our leagues would be uh depending on the sport. um back in I don't don't think I mentioned um our lady of uh Lords uh Pikipsy is going to section 9 at the at the excuse me let me get public speaking is not my um comfort comfort zone unless it's kids um so with that said um you know the distance traveled I think, you know, would be limited to those schools in Duchess County and it maybe a few across the river in general, but not specifically and and only. So, you know, there's a lot a lot of considerations and get back getting back to the team sports versus individual sports for uh cross country, probably not huge changes, but for indoor and outdoor
021track, we wouldn't be going to the Armory. we would be going to either West Point or other venues. So, that changes and for those kids that, you know, go down go down to uh run in the armory, um it would be, you know, that would be a big a big deal there. Um, wrestling. I was a little surprised. The coach a few years ago was not in favor of it of moving to section 9, but after thinking of the possibility of competing with less schools in division 2 and section 9, I think just numbers wise, not always the case. You know, year to year, you have some very good wrestlers in small schools because it's an individual sport. But by the numbers, um, we'd probably send up to the states as representatives a few more
022kids that maybe get second, thirds, and fourths might be able to win when there's less schools. It's not always the case. So, there's nothing I'm saying tonight that really um lasts forever, but 40 plus schools versus 70, you know, that's just the first consideration. the types of programs in Westchester uh and the numbers of programs for travel teams and individual um training opportunities is another reason for it being more competitive. So that's good and bad. Uh some kids voice their concern that they want to compete with the best and that's valid. I I equated it to your favorite color. Would you rather, you know, go to section N or section one? It's your choice. It's your preference depending on what variable you think is the most important. And you know, if you if you want
023to get to the semi-finals or the finals in a team sport just by the numbers, I think our field hockey team or a girls lacrosse team probably would have made it to the finals. I'm not sure they'd win it because every team that wins, you know, they're good. They're all good, but you have less to get there. Less less uh competitions to get there. So, with with that said, um it really is my opinion. It's an opinion. Um there are definitely different variables. Travel is one of them. Competition is another. The way they run the sections is different. I think section nine is a little um you know I don't want to disparage them but there less schools further out there more rural than they are suburban. We're more suburban and you know we have
024cities in section 9 uh section one that section 9 doesn't have. So they are run a little more casual. I'll use that phrase. Um that's good and bad. You know there's two sides to that. That's not all good. That's not all bad. They're run more casually. Section one, I think, is and and I hope section 9 is not listening to this, but because I'm not saying that's a bad thing. They do things um I I I think that they're allowed to do in section 9 because they have their own charter. Section one has their charter. It has to follow New York State. Both have to follow New York State. But within New York State, Section One doesn't let kids play two sports. Section 9 does. You can play two sports in a season. You have
025to declare which one is your primary sport. So if a a player on a soccer team wants to kick field goals on a Saturday or a Friday night, they're able to do that. If you're a baseball player, but you're really fast and you want to run the 100 yard dash for the track team, you can do those things in section 9. The bad side of that is because this almost happened to us. Uh it didn't almost happen. a parent was not happy that I wouldn't let their child play two sports when they could have excelled in both. And I said, "Well, what happens?" Cuz guess what? On Saturday, November, whatever it was, both teams are in a championship. Would you rather let down the cross country team or the field hockey team by not showing
026up? That's that's a choice the kid has to make. They're on the same day sometimes. And [snorts] so with that, I'd hate to be that parent or that child. So that's not again like anything else, pros and cons. Um, so I'm kind of getting in the weeds, but I wanted to say these are the things I talk to about the with the kids, the coaches, and the parents, the pros and cons, the variables that are more important to you personally, and you make a choice. And if you tease the kids, if your favorite color is blue, I'm not going to tell you you're wrong. It better be green or yellow or red. What's your what's your most important variable? That's probably what you're going to lean towards. And you're going to have a good argument
027for that because that's more important to you. Personally, I will say I'm comfortable with section one. I grew up in section one. I know section one way better than I know section 9. Um, but when my kids went through Pauling, I was asked that question 20 years ago. and for the last 20 years, why don't we move up there if it's easier? Because that's just one variable. So, I don't, you know, I'm not coming across like that's the only variable. That's true. I believe it is a little less competitive because of the the numbers alone. That's just a math thing. Um, but in any given sport, section 9 might have a champion that section one can't beat. That's that's been the case many times. Volleyball or baseball, you name it. So, I tried to give
028uh, you know, enough pros and cons for the kids to think about it, the coaches to think about it, the parents to ask questions, and at the end of the day, I feel like at least now I feel like, all right, not hiding anything from anybody and never have. That's that's public knowledge that we're on the border. Other schools moved because their communities wanted to, and other schools, some schools like Arlington did not because of their community did not want to. And so that's where I leave it up to the, you know, the board, the community, and your variables. >> Thank you, John. Uh, I'm just going to, uh, go over a couple of things because, you know, John did a really good job explaining it, but I wanted to give you a little bit
029of my take being an an outsider for this year as the interim superintendent. And and I don't, you know, I'm not going to go over a lot of what John said, but, you know, when you're talking about section one, he's right. It's far more competitive than section 9. I think one of the things that has to be um looked into and thought about is the following. And I and I've mentioned this before, the students, and we you just saw it tonight. Um the student athletes here and students in general for a small little district have a lot of opportunities, which is incredible. But sometimes with having those opportunities, right, there's so much that's there. And some of the um in some of the sports in the section, it's difficult to compete on an year in
030and year out basis because a lot of these schools we compete about don't have all these opportunities. They don't have all the sports that we have. They don't have some of the extracurriculars. So at times it's difficult. And there are some sports that um it's more difficult than others to compete with and and and and be competitive. One of the things that is important for the public to understand and the board is a decision you make has to be a decision you're looking at over time, right? because you can make a decision based on a snapshot because you know over the over you know this period you know we have stronger you know players and student athletes but then when you look at it over 10 years you got to look at a decision overall
031and here's the ultimate conversation you know um case in point this year with girls um lacrosse going to stop the season for almost a week because we have four girls who are in the play which is awesome please do not I'm I'm I'm It's giving that point, right? Um, and that's wonderful and that's great, but that ultimately sometimes has an impact. Um, and because we offer so many different sports, um, we just have to be I think you have to be cognizant of what that may look like. Um, and the decision is this. If that's the if that's the feeling that it's not about winning or losing, it's just about the kids being in a sporting program playing, that's fine. But then on the flip side of it, John won't mention it, but I will.
032You do have some coaches that are under a lot of pressure because at times parents feel like, why aren't we winning sectional championships? Why aren't we going on to the states? You know, what does that look like? And of course, it's different from a a team sport opposed to um an individual sport. But I think those are important things that we have to look at. And John mentioned about rivalries. Yeah, we have certain rivalries in section one. Now, if we went to section 9, we'd have to re reccalibrate some of what those ri rival rivalries are, excuse me, and and and and what we're doing in regards to that. Um because that's an important piece to the puzzle. Interesting. The coaches [clears throat] um because they're coaches, you know, of course, talk about competition. And
033it's interesting because the coaches saw things a certain way different than the kids saw things different than the parents saw things, right? And what priorities were in each sport. I mean, let's be honest, coaches want to want to be competitive, right? Uh they they want to be out there and being as competitive as possible. Um and there are some sports that Pauling has done a really pretty good job with in being competitive and other sports, no. So, I guess the question at at hand is if you were to offer to continue to offer what you're offering, which I think is incredible, is it more competitive to stay in one, right, knowing what we know, or are we going to be could you be more competitive having all these opportunities for kids and go to nine?
034Right? I think that's one of the questions that you have to take a look at it. Um, you know, some of the parents told us this, you know, Mr. to call. It's really not important to us about wins or losses. We work in Westchester and it's easier for us coming up from Westchester to watch our kids play. John mentioned transportation and he's right in regards to sometimes we may have to go over for crossover games over the the Hudson River. However, from a monetary point of view, it's a wash. We spoke to we spoke to our director of transportation, Miss Saraphini. It's a wash. There is no cost savings by either staying in one and not going to nine or going to nine and going away from one. As far as transportation and mileage goes,
035it's it's pretty much a wash when it comes to that. Um so, you know, ultimately at the end of the day, you know, decision, you know, has to be made by you, the board, probably come the fall, revisit it, and remember it's not a guarantee. just because you go in and ask if you do want to go to section 9 that they're going to say yes. But if you do make that commitment and they do say yes, you got to make that commitment for a number of years. You cannot keep going back and forth because section one will say, "Yeah, well, you know, now all of a sudden you want to come back to us after two years cuz you don't like what's happening in nine." It's just something to be aware of and to
036be cognizant of um with regards to that. And you know, as John mentioned with some of these crossover schools, you know, depending on the sport, you know, John could look to, you know, do that game on a Friday night or on a on a Saturday, depending where that crossover game may be. Um, so there's there's ways to look at it. Interesting enough, the students also said the following, but Mr. D. Carlo, we have a lot of friends we play travel ball with and they're on the section one teams and we don't want to give that up. So that was an interesting that question that came up or a comment that came up um from some of the student athletes with regards to it. Um it's not an easy solution. Um we did talk and we
037had a conversation along the way that you know the decision that's made needs to be the decision and it's got to be that you know um we all agree lock step with that. What do I mean by that? Um, you know, John didn't tell you a little bit about the issue that happened in um, Arlington a number of years ago and this is where politics gets involved and that's where it can go off the rails. Um there was a there was a program a sports program that was not happy with it and they decided to rally their parents and those parents from that sport came to that meeting that night and the board wind up being split four to four and as I mentioned a four to four is a no wasn't the majority it
038was what that vocal parents that night came up that shouldn't happen it's got to be all or none because if we start playing politics with this and what sports do don't want to go and do want to go and then start to come up in lobby. That's when it goes sideways. So, the decision really needs to be made in what your long-term thoughts of should we stay in one or should we go to nine. I mean, that's that's really at the end of the day, but it's got to be something where everybody can agree to agree um and be able to move on from there. So, that's an important piece to it. So, it's not an easy decision. I'm not sitting up here telling you that it is an easy decision. It's not. Um, but
039and I think there's a lot of factors that go into it. I mean, the reality of the matter is we had a really, really good sports season this year, okay? Really, really good sports season. I'm proud again of the student athletes, the coaches, and what happened. Um, but at the end of the day, if you look at the last two decades, you know, Pauling has not won a lot of sectional championships there. The reality of the matter is there are certain sports and certain schools that you're just, you know, you can have a great season and maybe get to this the semifinals. Um, and that's great, but there are some sports that it's just very, as John mentioned, very difficult to compete with some of these section one programs. Um, and so, you know, that's
040a that's another issue to look about. And a lot of times it's not about wins and losses, but then we have to be cognizant about the fact of um you know that's important, but then again you can't keep putting the pressure sometimes that some of these sports programs are having by parents who feel that we should be winning league and sectional championships every day. Um so it's just a you know an observation on my part. Questions for me, thoughts, ideas? I'm only here for two weeks so you get your bite at the apple now. So, please feel free um along the way and and you know and I and I I congratulate the board for, you know, wanting to have this conversation. This is like the third rail when you talk about sports in school
041districts. It's not easy to have that conversation. Whether we like it or not, we're in the lower Hudson Valley and sports is a big deal. Whether we like it or not, it drives a lot of conversation. It drives good times. It sometimes drives bad times. it sometimes leads to great, you know, I have to tell you the experience this year and and and being here and and going to these games and this past, you know, uh couple of weeks being at the um you know, the uh class C uh championships, being at the girls quarterfinal, um Log Force game, being at the boys uh game and seeing the amount of um you know, fans coming out and not just parents, people in the community rooting putting on the teams is just a, you know, it's
042a tribute to what goes on. And you're right, it's a great feeling to be in the semifinals. It's a great feeling to be in the finals. You know, it it brings community and and people together. So, you know, >> I open it up. >> I have a question, Mr. Carlo. Um, I was going to ask about cost. So, you you answered that. >> Um, so would this if we were to move to the it would it would be >> right. You would have to go in at this year. So this year's junior class, it would not affect. You would still be in section one next year as seniors. It would be the following year. You have to petition. Uh John would have to if it were to go that way, right? Would have to then
043petition section 9. He goes before a meeting. He's got to fill out paperwork and then they have to vote on it. So you would know probably by the end of the fall, early winter whether or not it would go through or not. And it would take place for the following year. And my other question was any other feedback from parents that you had in in your formal. So I'm not going to tell you that we had you know 50 100 parents there. I I I think if the board wants to further pursue this in the fall I would set up another meeting right with parents once again to kind of you know try to get a little bit more input. I would do a survey. I would send out a survey to parents um with
044regards to their feeling on it so you as a board can get as much input as possible. Um and I think we know the way the coaches feel about it. Again, I'm not going to tell you it was 9010, but you know, I I I think in our conversation, again, I'm saying majority. I'm not saying 9010, but I think the majority of the coaches um felt that it may be something to entertain and look into. the student athletes were were really it depended on the sport. I have to be honest with you, it depended on the sport. Um and and their perception, like I said, interesting enough, was one way. And the coaches of that same sport said, "Well, they don't realize we have more of an opportunity in nine to get more kids to
045go to the States in nine, depending on the sport, than we may with section one." Right? Like John mentioned, I got to be honest with you, he talked about hockey. Listen, and I'm saying it, you can hit me with a wet noodle. We are not beating Palum and we are not beating Ryan in hockey in section one. We're not. And we were good team this year, right? And so the ultimate question is he just told you, well, you go to the sectionals. Well, guess what? Win the sectionals, go to the states. Somebody could knock off section one in the regionals and we're not playing them. And now we're going to the states and you may have a a shot at a a state championship. Again, I'm just playing devil's advocate. You know, there are certain
046sports where we're very competitive and others where and the data shows it. Like over the last 20 years, you know, we we've won a couple of of of sexuals, but not anywhere near. I think sometimes people think based on our talent that we can. And John mentioned it. You know, you're in Westchester County, very very wealthy county. These kids are all playing travel. they're getting, you know, a lot of more exposure and they're not playing all the sports. Like, and I go back to what I said, it's great that we offer this, but what happens is because you're doing this, right, and you're offering so many, you're not doing something maybe as well as you could if more athletes had to play that sport because you don't have all those opportunities. Does that make sense?
047And and so I think that's depending on the sport. We see that, you know, we see some districts that don't have, you know, indoor track and field, you know, don't have, you know, boys lacrosse, don't have, you know, or girls don't have girls lacrosse and whatever, right? And so, or field hockey. So, that's part of that dynamic. Good question. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time. And John, thank you. All right. Yeah. Thank you, Anthony. Thank you, Mr. Bluchi, uh, for all that information. Um, all right. So, just to make a shout out like usual on item number eight on the agenda is administrative reports. So, district admin, building admin, um, and all of our different departments spent a lot of time writing up those reports, putting a
048lot of good information. If you access the agenda online, you could see PDFs that are attached um again in athletics, in in uh PPS, in transportation, in the buildings, technology, and so on so forth. That's under item uh eight there. Um all right, item number nine is the agenda order. So, I turn it over to our district clerk, Mrs. Stephanie Gerardo. >> Thank you. Um we actually have two addendums that were added. Uh one is uh summer transportation uh summer work for drivers. Uh and the next one is a new effective date for an FMLA appointment for special education teacher. >> Great. So as a reminder, the items with an asterct are items the superintendent recommends for the consent agenda. If any board member wishes to remove an item from the consent agenda, please do
049so at this time. A consent agenda is one vote which approves all asterct items which have not previously been removed. So seeing none, I'll read the resolution. It says be resolved to approve the filing additions, deletions/changes, and order of the agenda as presented. I'll make a motion. May I please have a second? Liz second. And all in favor? I and that's everybody. Okay. On to item number 10 which is our visitors comments on agenda items only. So we'll go to item 11 which is our board remarks. Would any board member like to make any remarks this evening? I just want to make a remark about the student athletes and thank you Miss Ken and Mr. Baluchcci. I just, you know, we've been a couple of us have been at this table a lot, you know,
050like seeing our students and our our own kids, but what a remarkable year this year. There were so many kids doing such great work. It was just really remarkable. So, I just wanted to bravo to the students, the coaches, the bus drivers that take everybody, the parents. Really, it's a great celebration. Thank you, Liz. All right, on to item 12, which is board vice president comments. So, I turned over to Dr. Walsh. >> Good evening, everyone. It has been over a month since we had a full in-person meeting, and if I talked about all that has happened in that month, we would in fact be here all night. Um, first off, I'd like to congratulate Jennifer Johnson on her election to the school board. While this was an uncontested election, you don't know that when
051you choose to run. It's hard to put yourself out there, and we are happy that she did, and we look forward to working with her. In school news, our middle school and high school bands and choruses traveled to Six Flags to compete in music in the parks. All the bands and the middle school chorus earned first place, and the high school chorus earned second place and improved from last year. Thank you to the chaperons and bus drivers who gave up many, many hours on a Saturday to support our students. Even though the middle school trip was rainy, the re the reviews were strong. The fifth grade had a great visit to the natural history museum. I heard that from both um students and chaperones. And the seventh grade had a um awesome time visiting New
052York City and seeing Hamilton. Concert season wraps up tomorrow with the fourth grade concert at the elementary school. I saw great performances by all of our ensembles at the seventh and eighth grade concert, the high school concert, and the third grade concert last night. Somehow Miss Chaznoff gets um all those eight and nine year olds to sing together and they have their art that Miss Peyton helps them with. So, it's a really great night. The high school chorus even welcomed some staff members along for their last song. Our French and national uh French and Spanish honor societies held lovely inductions at uh Pleasant Ridge and Las Mananas. Our scholars were honored at the annual high school awards ceremony on Friday, May 29th, where students are recognized for both effort and achievement. Many national prestigious junior
053scholarships and awards were also presented to many deserving students. The seniors have wrapped up their classes and they have many fun fun events coming up in the next two weeks which will culminate with their graduation on Friday, June 26th. Thank you to the PTA, the PTSA and the Tiger Club for another successful color run which coincided with Lakeside Parks Community Day. Events like that take a full year to plan and are put on solely by all of our volunteers. The PTSA also hosted the annual honor roll lunchon for the high school where I am told we may have had more students than ever before as well as the pre-promos at Lakeside last Friday which is truly a labor of love that brings our community together. Our elementary students have been sporting their grade level color
054t-shirts that were sponsored by the PTA. They've been worn on field trips. They will be used at field day on Friday which is another beloved school tradition as uh has been the discussion tonight starting with the fall. This really has been a very impressive sports year all around. As the spring season wraps up, we have a lot to be proud of and impressed by. Our modified teams had strong showings. The modified boys baseball team went undefeated. If you haven't seen it, check out the social media post about our modified track team. We had a record- setting boys 4x100 team. Lots of improvement and lots to look forward to with many current seventh graders coming back. The modified boys lacrosse team was small but mighty, and they also have a lot of returning players. So, they
055look to do well next year. The girls lacrosse team had many new players who had never tried before and they also had a great season. And at the varsity level, wow, we had a brand new tennis team that had lots of wins and many happy players at the end of the season. Our golf team continues to do well. And in speaking to the athletes, the stories you hear are of leadership, dedication, and commitment. The girls lacrosse team made it to the sectional semi-finals with a tough loss against Bronxville. With only two graduating seniors, this was a young team and in what we have heard is a very tough section. So again, lots to look forward to. Our boys baseball team had a record setting year making it the class making it to the class B
056section championship. And again, in our small school where it can be hard to field the JV team simply due to numbers, it really is an impressive feat. Our varsity track team held the class C championships a few weeks ago. We had over 20 schools here and I cannot tell you how many compliments I received on our beautiful field, our awesome coaches, and the efficiency and organization of our meet. Congratulations to Sebie Joerger. He's the class C pentathlon champ. He also had many second and third place finishes at the state qualls last week in Suffren and at Hen Hud. We also had many strong performances with second place in the boys 3200, second and third place in the boys steeple, first place in the girls 3000, second place in the pentathlon, and second place in the
057boys discus girls shotput, and a school record by Sam Rodney and the hammer. Before we know it, the teams will be back on the field in August. Parents of incoming 7th to 12th graders, please watch your email your parents square for information on fall sports registration, physicals, and preseason skills and drills that will come in July. There are still many events to come in the next few weeks. As I mentioned, the fourth grade concert's tomorrow. They have their moving up ceremony next week. The eighth grade moving ceremony moving up ceremony will be followed by the high school graduation. So, check the calendar on social media. And have a great rest of your week. >> Thanks, Dr. Walsh. And there there was a bear that made an appearance at the Classic Championships, but if we were
058in section 9, that's a normal Tuesday. But section one, they loved it. They thought it was like the coolest thing. So, uh, yeah, that's right. It's correct. So, it's all the variables, but thank you so much, Dr. Walsh. So, uh, on to item 13, which is on to our superintendent's comments. I turn over to Mr. Anthony D. Carlo. Well, all I have to say is ditto. Thank you, Vice President Walsh. She did a great job, a comprehensive job, but there's a couple of updates. I know for the last couple of months, there's been a lot of frustration um by some of our parents with regards to what's happening with UPK. um this district uh you know has worked really hard um the board um the team uh we heard you in the uh the fall
059but like everything else you know we have to make sure that we have enough monies to be able to do some of the things uh moving forward and we spent a lot of time u myself um assistant superintendent for business he um our facilities director uh Mr. green going down to the elementary school looking to see if there was available space and room to do it. Um, and we were ready to make an announcement, but what stopped us was the state budget because if the state decided to pull back some of these monies for UPK, that would have been problematic. So, I am happy to report to the community and to the board that we are adding an additional UPK um classroom down at the elementary school, which then will allow us to service 54
060students during the next school year. We're excited about that. Renovations are going to be taking place um over the um the course of the summer. What's interesting as we uh began to look at it, we're actually making some room changes. Um not just accommodating UPK, but making some other changes that are actually going to help the flow of what happens down at the elementary school and grade levels being more together. So, we took it, you know, an opportunity to even make it uh more of a of a structured setting down at the elementary school. And I know that Miss Revas sent out notifications so parents can be better informed. And I believe over the next couple of weeks uh weeks some UPK testing will will take place uh moving forward. Um also just to echo
061um what was said before you know we have a number of celebrations still happening and coming up over the next couple of weeks. Um I want to thank the uh the the PTSA. I went down um to Lakeside on Friday for prom. um you know the the manner in which it's set up and there are photo booths for kids to take snaps and pictures and they had a beautiful day to see everybody you know dressed up um to the nines was uh really an incredible experience and I wanted to thank the PTA PTSA and all the parents who were involved in helping to organize that. Um, I also want to let the the parents know um that um I have been actively involved with transition meetings with um Mr. Speedaphino who will be down at
062our elementary school. We've had a number of meetings with him this year and getting him prepared and ready to to join the district on July 1st. Also, I have met a number of times with um Dr. Kennedy who will be taking over as a superintendent. She has been involved in discussions. she's also been involved in some of the the the hiring that we're doing um over the course of the next couple of weeks. So, um you know, they're going to hopefully be up in and running on July 1st. And one other note, we're going to do the same thing we did last year. You'll get a letter from Dr. Kennedy. Um we're going to do a portal day in August. That's a day when the whole portals will be open so parents can see the
063student schedules, the teachers, and the like. there'll be a we started that this year and it seemed to go over very well. Um it'll be you know more towards the end of August and everybody knows to get on that day and check all the information pertinent to your to your child. So um again thank you very much and I look forward to the next couple of weeks of great things happening in all our buildings. So thank you u Mr. President. >> Thank you Mr. D. Carlo. Um, okay. So, on to item 14 of the agenda, which is our consent agenda. Uh, resolve the board of education approves all asterct items as the consent agenda. I'll make a motion for that. May I please have a second? Dr. Wall, second. And all in favor of the
064consent agenda. I And that's everybody. On to number 15, which is the minutes. This is for the Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 board of education meeting. Reads, be resolved that the board of education approve the minutes of the following meeting. Again, this is Tuesday, May 19th, 2026. I will make a motion for that. May I have a second? Liz second. Uh, all in favor of that. I Any abstensions? One extension. Okay. And now we flip All right. Uh should be on item 19, which is the board of education. Want to talk about the schedule now? Turn over Dr. Walsh. >> Um thank you to all of our board members, Dr. Kennedy and our new board member, Jen Johnson, for getting back to us with your summer availability. We just wanted to get some dates on the
065calendar for the retreat knowing how busy everybody is. Um, so if I am correct, I went through everyone's schedule and I believe um, our reorg meeting is July 14th. Everyone is available July 15th and then everyone is available um, Monday, August 10th through Tuesday, August 18th, except for Thursday the 13th and the evening of the 11th. So, I don't know if we just want to get uh t Wednesday, July 15th, and then it looked like Monday, August 10th through Tuesday, August 18th, except for the evening of the 11th and the 13th. Anybody think I missed anything? Does that sound right to Could you just repeat the reorg again? is re I just didn't know if we wanted to set some dates now. If we want to get any um presenters on the schedule, we would
066want to give that to them. This way people can block their schedule. Certainly things can be added as we get closer, but we just thought maybe we' try to get those dates down now. Dr. Walsh, you said for the week of August, >> uh 10th to Tuesday the 18th. >> And you said the 13th and the 11th are not. >> The 11th [clears throat] could be during the day. I believe Keith, you said Thursday wasn't good, right? So that's the 13th. >> I could change it though if everybody. >> Thank you. >> I know last year we did some full days and some evenings. I don't know what people preferred. Morning, evening, half day, full day. >> We did a couple different things, didn't we? I don't remember. >> Did we do I think we
067did two days in a row, right? >> Yeah, we were at the >> the farm. Yes. >> Yeah. For full days, I would prefer not a Thursday, but if I have to rearrange, I will. It's just hard. >> Same here. Thursdays would less preferable for me as well. [laughter] >> I'm just throwing out August 10th and 11th, Monday and Tuesday back toback if that works for people. No, Michelle's not here either, so >> um her her conflicts were in July, so hopefully that works. >> Okay. >> Yeah, Monday, Tuesday would be great. I I like that idea. August 10th and 11th. >> We think that's enough time. Is there any benefit to adding more? Should we just stick with those two days? I mean, the only other one is we're going to be here for
068the reorg on the 14th. Do we want to do something the the 15th since we're everybody's got to be here for the reorg? So, >> is there a time of day the reorg has to be because I was going to say if people are available on the 14th, is it possible to >> do the 14th, 15th? So, people already committed to the 14th. >> The reorg's quick. So if we do the the reorg and then we do some retreat retreat stuff on the 14th and we do the next day the 15th, it kind of maybe gets as many birds with one stone if if that's >> I could do that >> like a late later in the day on the 14th. >> Yeah, that's August 10th is Ashley's birthday and she's watching right now and
069if I agree to August 10th in public, Keith, I'm in a lot of trouble. So I'm I'm standing firm. >> We can't do August 10th. >> Yes. Oh, August 10th. Absolutely not. Um but no, if if the 14th 15th um and maybe set aside a day, >> the 11th the 11th >> evening. It's her birthday week though. So [laughter] >> um the 11th wouldn't be the evening. But if we No. >> Yeah. So >> or the 12th I guess. Open. >> Yeah. We schedule the 14th and 15th. get as many birds with that stone, then maybe just set aside that August uh August 12th for the full day. And if we use it, you know, use half the day, use the full day just just to have it on everybody's calendar. >> Sounds good to
070me. >> So, we're going August 11, 12th, and July 14, 15th, >> July 14th, and 15th, and August 12th. >> But July 14th is going to be later in the day, right? Because I think that I mean, we wouldn't have our board meeting in the morning, would we? I don't. No, but he's saying you want to have the retreat on the 14th along with the >> along with the reorg meeting. >> Reorg since people have to be here for the reorg. I figure if people are here anyways if we can get that and it avoids the Thursday, right? Because it's 14th Tuesday, 15th of Wednesday. >> Can she be sworn in? Can Jen be sworn in before the reorg? Okay, then that's fine. Yeah. >> Well, then let's maybe we can do that. >> Yeah,
071that Yeah. Um, what do we map out? Like >> did I think we did like 9 to >> 9 to three. >> That's what I thought we blocked out, but um >> not for lunch and then had the afternoon sessions. >> Yeah, we did three hours session had a lunch and then the afternoon sessions. >> Kind of three and three, right? So July 14th and August July 14th and 15th and August 12th for now. Is there anything in particular anybody knows that they would want us to try to book? I think we based on some discussions we've had, we probably want to have some time with our legal team. So that's something that's easy for us to see if they're available. Does that include the special ed attorney? Remember we >> Yeah, sure. >> benefited
072from that or we've tried to and then we couldn't. >> Yeah, that was an issue. She had an issue and which was >> unforeseen. Yeah, >> we can certainly add to it. It's just if there's anybody we want to book, we should try to get them sooner than later. Will there be some discussion about what we're going to do with our vision process and are we going to want to do that at the retreat time? I don't might be too soon for Dr. Kennedy, but I I don't know if >> maybe that's later down the line and I think the other conversation we talked about was having Miss Fasheen >> communication. Yeah. We are we talking about I know we spoke about a strategic planning too. We should probably >> which connects to the vision,
073right? >> Yeah. That's like the next step. >> That's our next step. >> Yeah. >> Like >> yearly goals kind of in with that too. Usually the retreat we we'd start talking about like board and district goals for the year. Um, you know, this year with an interim was was a little different, but I think the vision, the board and district goals, the strategic plan, it all kind of >> together with the superintendent evaluation, >> right? >> I think you're I think that's exactly right. >> Right. There's a full day and I think a but a good like a you know it's a common thread like you said >> another full day could be like legal in the morning communications in like the afternoon and yeah no that's I think that's a really good start
074>> and the other one was obviously we should continue the conversations on MTSS curriculum program coming in I That's probably going to be a big >> principles. >> Yes. >> So some years when we've done goal setting, we had a like presenter. There certainly needs to be somebody sort of moderating it. I don't know how we want to do that. Someone if we want to do it, if we want to have Dr. Kennedy. >> Yeah, it's interesting because we've had people come in for the board and district goals. I think I mean in my opinion there's been a spectrum of success I think with having the people in. So >> uh would that be a NISMA per I mean are we going to have a >> Oh, we could have NISMA >> a NISSBA person
075come in to do the overview again and then tie that in maybe >> if they're if they're going to come too. There are so many things that speaking to them just as a new board member that we don't sometimes take advantage of. I don't know if I mean there's so many things I I I can't tell you exactly what we could talk about, but there are awards that are given to students. There are all these opportunities that maybe we should No one's fault. It's just there's so many things we can take advantage of. The other part that we talked about was the uh the legal aspect that they can help us with. They can help us with a lot of legal things that don't cost us anything because of because of our membership there. Um
076but I can look into that if you want and send a list out of because we can't all of it obviously but >> and we can also um you know run all this by Dr. Kennedy and see if she has ideas or things she wants added. Um, we did we do have her availability in Jen, so they should be free at that time, too. Um, >> and even though Mr. D Carlo won't be here, we need to do an icebreaker. >> We'll miss your ice breakers. [laughter] >> Thank you for remembering. >> Don't do that cuz my tower is terrible. Our tower. >> All right. Um I think we have if we have the day of the planning goal setting strategic planning if we had what else do you have there the um >> legal
077uh strategic uh strategic planning vision communication MTSS NISB >> MTSS >> yeah we'll tie that with the goal setting. Yeah. >> I mean that's at least two days if not three right there I would say. So >> say it's easily three days. I guess we'll start with um if you can talk to NISBA, we can talk to legal miss and see their availability and then go from there. Does that work? >> Sounds good. >> Is there a particular day you want me to shoot for if I get a date down from them or see what their availability is and we'll just communicate? thinking what do you what do you think the legal probably be the most like arrow like least amount of days open or Yeah. Yeah. So, um yeah, we'll see. But yeah, see
078which of those three and we can call legal as soon just tomorrow just to hopefully get it on as quick as possible and then get the rest filled in. So, >> all right, sounds good. Thank you. All right. Um, on to item 20, unfinished business. Believe there's any unfinished business. Anymore? Uh, item 21, new business. Anybody have any new business tonight? On to item 22, which is our second visitor's comments pertain to the district. Um, so we have two people signed up. I think one person might have signed up in accident, so I'm going to start with the first person. So, um, so I welcome Christina. I can't read your second one here. Christina, I'm sorry, but Christina Gage up to the point. Christina, as you, uh, walk up to the podium very slowly and
079I'm going to read this public comment thing. So, you have plenty of time. You can walk on up there. I'll read I'll read it really quick. So, public comment at this time, we'll move into the portion of the meeting reserve for public comment. The board of education greatly values hearing from our community. We appreciate your willingness to share your thoughts on school related matters. Before we begin, before we begin, like always, like to review a few important guidelines. Please introduce yourself by saying your name and your address and please let us know if you're representing an organization. Each speaker will have up to three minutes and please note unused time cannot be transferred to another speaker. We respectfully ask that you direct your comments to the board president and obviously the board's role during this
080time is to listen. While we may not respond immediately this evening, follow-up may occur afterward if needed. There we go. All yours. >> Good evening. I hope you're all doing well as we get ready to end another school year. I'm here tonight to thank the board of education and the district for re-examining the possibility of opening a third UPA classroom in the elementary school. Ingenuity made this possible, enabling another 18 Just throw the microphone down a little bit. No problem. >> Okay. I know there was a limited space in the elementary school building and a tight budget. You truly took our district's mission, which is to empower student success through critical thinking, creativity, and respectful discourse, shaping a transformative world that values and evaluates their diverse insights and talents, ensuring that every student can thrive
081and put it into practice. You also show the community that you're listening to our needs. So, thank you again for all of your hard work in expanding the program within our building. I appreciate it. And thank you for your patience. Like I said, sometimes government doesn't want work as fast as we like it to work. So, thank you. Uh there's another name here. I'm just going to read just make sure. Montez, not here. Signed up. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. So, um, we're on to item 23, which is our board president comments. I'm just going to speak really quickly. Uh, Trusty Kazak mentioned it before, the scholar athlete is just an amazing accomplishment. I mean, taking the bus sometimes and seeing kids on the way back from a long baseball game, taking out
082their physics homework or taking out their stuff to study, it's it's remarkable how much time and effort uh especially being an athlete, being a competitive athlete and um you know, getting a 90 plus average. That's just that's that's really something. Um for any student to accomplish and especially with all the the responsibilities that that a student athlete has. Um that's great. Um, I just want to compliment and say, uh, all of us up here can just say ditto when you give all your amazing insight. Uh, I know the amount of time that you put into that and how you cover everything and the detail and the positivity and uh, so I'm just going to say ditto to Dr. Walsh's comments as well because that that's well done like always. Um, obviously with readings, exams, finals,
083everything coming up, best of luck to all of our students. Our high school students with their readings exams have to make the tough choices of A, B, C, or D. And our elementary students had to choose what flavor cone of ice they wanted today. So there's tough choices tough choices all the way around in the district. Um but obviously the end of year is is kind of bittersweet obviously. Um you know so much so many relationships that are grown this year. So much work has been done this year and as a teacher it's always difficult because you have these kids in front of you every single day for 180 something days and then all a sudden they're just not. And uh you you have these relationships not just as a teacher but as a staff
084member, as a bus driver, as anybody. And um you know you see them go on to bigger and better things. And um you know it ends very quickly but at the end of the year there's so many good things to celebrate, so many good things happening. Um again like Dr. Walsh mentioned and and Mr. Carlo mentioned, but I hope everybody on behalf of all of us just has a great rest of their uh school year and a great summer ahead. Still a lot of work to do in that meantime with regent exams and algebra 2 tomorrow. Algebra 2 tomorrow. Earth >> earth and space science next Thursday. Um algebra. Yeah. So, best of luck to those students taking readings exams and I hope everybody has a great end of the school year and a well-deserved,
085relaxing, restful, and productive summer. So, with that said, those are my comments and we go to item 20. Oh, yeah. Did you want to go back to exact for 10 minutes and >> Yeah. So, yeah. >> Um, so Stephanie, just help me out here to go back to exec for just a few minutes. Um, >> yeah, just make a motion. >> Cool. All right. So, 23 and a half here. I will uh make a motion to go back into executive session. May I have a second? Dr. Walsh. Second. And all in favor? >> I. All right. Thanks. You need the time for that again or >> 8:23. >> Sorry about that. Thank you.