Board of Education Meeting 11-4-25 7:00 PM

001Okay, we'll reconvene to open session. So, resolve that the board of education reconvene to open session. The time is >> 659. >> Thought I timed it perfectly. >> I tried so hard to time that perfectly. >> All right. 65958. All right. Uh, I'll make a motion for that. Can I have a second? >> Second, Mr. Maid. And all in favor? >> I That's unanimous. Can you please stand and recite with me the pledge to the flag >> of the United States of America >> to the republic for which it stands one nation with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you very much. So, our first item on the agenda tonight is going to be our student board member um remarks. So, I pass it over to Bailey. >> I've recently heard about Mr. Belaluchcci

002talking about word of having a swim team maybe come to Pauling and I thought this might be discussed tonight at some point and I think that's very exciting. Yes. So I can I can speak to that. Um like everything else here in um in polling and and I have to say um the opportunities that are given to students whether it is from a curriculum point of view or from an athletic point of view um for a small district are absolutely incredible. So what happened is Mr. Beluchcci had uh gotten a request from one of the students at the high school um if that individual could swim under his own banner, right, and be a part of a swim program. And Mr. Belaluchcci did indeed reach out to one of our Duchess County school districts to

003see if that was something that was viable. And that district uh was more than happy to allow this student to come swim under the banner of himself and be a part of practices and meets. So yeah, we're excited about it. It's a step in the right direction. Um so those students who may be out there who are swimmers want to swim in a competitive manner, you know, can reach out and have a conversation along the way. And and that's what happens, right? So when we're talking about surrounding school districts and working together, there are times, same thing happens now, it's happening with tennis, right? Girls tennis that we are, you know, we have a program linked with Brewster that we're able to do that. So, um, it's a great opportunity and Bailey, thank you, uh,

004for bringing it up. Appreciate it very much. So, thank you. >> Thank you very much. So, we'll go into our next item on the agenda, which are presentations. And our first one is, uh, student recognition. We have Eevee and Justin. We're getting the Dunlop art awards. >> Thank you. going to the podium, our high school principal, Miss Ken, and our incredible art teacher, Miss Penelli, who are going to come up and talk a little bit about student recipients and their honors and what they did and show everybody a little bit about the work behind the scenes. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. D. Carlo, and thank you, Board of Education, for welcoming our students who won at the great swamp competition. I am pleased and happy to present our art teacher, Carrie Penelli, who

005can actually tell you the process that she goes through to get students ready, how it fits into her curriculum. And I also want to mention for those of you who may not realize that Miss Penelli is not only our high school art teacher, she is also the longstanding advisor for our peer leadership program. So she is intimately involved in the life of our school both artistically and then outside as the liaison between our students and the community. So she fulfills vital roles. So I'm happy to be able to mention that as well because she's the person behind the scenes who sometimes doesn't get the recognition. So without further ado, I'd like to present art teacher extraordinaire Miss Penelli. And I always think as I go along the hallways, if only I had had an art

006teacher as creative and as patient as Miss Penelli, my illustrations might look a little bit better. This is Callen for the kind words. Um, I'll speak to my students that are here tonight. uh the project that they had worked on was one that ends up being work that can be displayed at a local art exhibition and we do look for our students to be involved in our community. So we have been participating in this exhibition for many years. I can't even count the amount of years um that we've done it. I've been here 26 years and we've been doing it longer than I've been here. Um and it does tie into our board goals of having a rich locally based community um and having our kids involved in things that are there. um in our

007surrounding area. So to start this project, what we normally do is we do take a trip to the Great Swamp. So typically we go to the Appalachian Trail Boardwalk, which is right down here on Route 22 um by Native Landscapes and the students get to go out for a plain air art experience where we do some drawing, we do some photography, and we look for inspiration um from the Great Swamp. Every year the frogs, friends of the great swamp, um they put out what they want their theme to be. Sometimes it's like what inspires you by the beauty of the swamp. Sometimes it's like focusing on the animals, the the landscape, the flora. Um they give something out there that they like for the students to use as their inspiration. Um and this year it

008was just focusing on anything that the swamp inspires you by. So we took our trip down there. The students brought their sketchbooks. They looked at things up close. They did some sketching. They did some planning. They took a lot of pictures. And then they needed to share with me the photos that they took for us to be able to print them and then work back in our high school art studio to develop what their compositions were going to be. Um, when we started choosing for the compositions, we talked about that they could work very realistically. They could literally take the photo that they took at the Great Swamp and work directly from that, work in a very realistic manner. Um or they could take many photos and synthesize their own composition um of what their

009inspiration was from the swamp, what it means to them, how they felt um any emotional engagement with it. Um so they had a very large choice and lots of decisions to make as they went through this project. Um they they were able to choose whatever media they would like to work with. And these students, Justin and Eevee, Justin I've had for four years now in my classroom. Evie, this is my first with her, but she is a skilled artist on her own from outside of the classroom. They were able to choose what media choices they thought were going to be best for what they were trying to portray in their work. Um, we worked for only about a week and a half on this. So, this was a very quick turnaround due to the time

010of the year that it was at. We had just come back to school to get the trip to go together and then to have it done in time for it to go up to Christ Church on Quaker Hill, which is where they hold this art show. Um the students had to work really hard to get this done. Um we Pauling High School had 27 works that were finished that were matted, mounted, framed, and brought up there for display. And then the juniors and seniors, their work is put into um the Dunlap art competition that the Frogs Association, I guess they're an association, um that they sponsor, and their work is chosen. Um they're looked at um and they're selected by not only the technical skill of what the students showed, but also by what seemed

011there to be their emotional engagement, which often was by some of their writings or what they wrote, what they were doing um about their artist statement and their work. Um, so Eevee had a second place out of there. Come up here. Come on over. >> She is en um in my AP art class and she is creating a design portfolio this year. And Justin, Justin has an honorable mention. He is also class and um he is doing a drawing portfolio this year. >> Yeah. Go ahead. Hold him high. >> We go. Thank you. >> Thank you both. Congratulations and we wish you all the best. Thank you. >> Thank you guys so much and congratulations to you both. The artwork is incredible and I'm always so jealous of what people can do in art and

012I can't I can barely draw like a circle and uh I need an art teacher like that. So, uh congratulations again guys. That's awesome. So, on to our second presentation. We have our social studies curriculum update uh K through 12. Um so, I'll ask Good evening. I'm Debbie Van Doran and it is my pleasure to speak to you studies from K25 very sooners from all three buildings had the pleasure of working with Putinham Northwesteri's consultant Donna Merlo. She's a really amazing woman. She shared many ideas for hands-on activities um especially ones that promote geographical reason. Uh she also shared resources that we can uh use for in further unit and lesson planning such as clickable layered maps and um it was really an awesome opportunity for us to work together all three uh buildings teachers

013from all three buildings. Um we're excited because there's a chance that we'll get to work with her again in the spring. She was very wellreceived. Um then we had some other pro professional development that I'd like to highlight. Um grades four and five teachers participated in another workshop through Putnham Putna uh Putnham Northwest Boseies with consultants Donna Merllo again and Nancy Maguire. Um, in this PD, it was called a deeper dive, and we got to look more deeply at the the curriculum that integrates ELA and social studies for fourth and fifth grades, um, respectively, which was really nice. Um, there are also two teachers, myself and Miss Magnesio, have both attended a summer conference at the Library of Congress where we learned how to integrate uh, primary sources into our teaching. Um it was really

014awesome to explore the library's vast collection and also they um utilized these thinking routines from Harvard's project zero that were really really um cool to work with and gave a lot of inspiration for the classroom. Um it is difficult in the elementary school as I understand it to manage to fit social studies into the day with the emphasis on ELA and math. But somehow our amazing ELA teachers are doing it. Uh we have pumpkin glo pumpkin globes from Miss Arnold's third grade class. We have a fourth grade state project. We have uh Mrs. Mina's class singing songs about traveling to cities around the USA. And um we also have a new fifth grade geography class that uh focuses on the fifth the five themes geography in fifth grade to sort of buttress the students geographical

015reasoning. Um I wanted to highlight a couple new fifth grade field trips that were pretty uh fun last year. Um, we went to the Museum of the American Indian, which ended up being a much longer trip than I was hoping. I thought that we could take the FDR or the Westside Highway, but we had to go right down First Avenue all the way to Battery Park, and it was it might not be repeated, but it was wonderful. It's just longer than we were expecting. Um, the museum is amazing. It really uh addresses a lot of the standards that we um that we teach in fifth grade. Um there are wonderful hands-on exhibits of the Maya, the Aztec, the Inca, and also different Native American culture groups in the United States. Um a closer trip that

016we did that was new was the Sharp Reservation trip. Uh the students loved it. They got to construct debris huts, which are basically like they had to just pick up sticks and whatever they could find in the woods and make a shelter on the fly. Um, they also got to learn uh about pollution in the Hudson River and there's a planetarium there and uh they actually told stories about um Native American constellation folklore, which was really neat. So, there were lots of science and social studies tie-ins, which was great. And lastly, I'd like to I've never shared this and I think it's kind of cool. Our amazing Americas project. Uh it's a culminating project for fifth grade. Um students pick uh country in the Western Hemisphere to research and we integrate uh well it's social

017studies but we also integrate math by looking at different demographics of the population, different charts. Um, we integrate science by looking at innovative uh ways that different countries have addressed issues with environmental concerns and um there's art. We look at the culture and um students prevent to present to an authentic audience. Their families come in. It's really a celebration. They share their um their clothing, the artifacts, the food, and it's a really great event. Thank you. I'm deaf. >> Good evening. My name is Chip Akan. I will be covering the sixth through eight portion of our presentation. Uh starting with sixth grade. Uh currently we are working on our geographic reasoning skills looking at the correlation of ancient cultures and their environment. Um how people came from point A to point B and what are

018the resources that they're using. Um, so we went through strategraphy um for the when we first started the kids are like, "What?" And by the time we got done, they they were pretty solid on it. Um, right now we're currently working on looking at primary source documents to go along with what Miss Van Doran said and how those connections can relate to how we best learned through our history. Mr. Schoberg has stepped off in the AI realm. um and he is currently working on uh an AI project that um supports local history and he the big focus is trying to get the kids to understand that um AI is great but there are limits to it. uh when you're doing your research, uh you have to basically go back and check to make sure that

019what it's spitting out is information that you want and those handydandy URLs that they like to send you. Are they real and do they take you to great spots? Mr. Banger um worked with that really tough to see. uh worked with these students on again primary sources um gearing them ready for the eighth grade trip last year um which was a resounding success and I'll share some pictures. Yeah, thank you. Share some pictures um in DC. Uh I was fortunate enough to be on the trip. Students had a wonderful time. I have to tell you, having been on the trip a great many times, it was a phenomenal ride without phones. Uh so thank you very much. Um, one thing that we did learn is how many times you can actually tell a student what

020time it is because with no phone, uh, I literally in a day probably five or 6 thousand times. Um, and but they they had a wonderful time. Uh, weather held out except for the last day which really didn't impact us too much because we were on the bus ride back. I I believe the students got a lot even with some of the limitations of some of the exhibits being downed for renovations and other things like that. Um, but I'd say if we can keep that going, please do. And I'll hand it over to my high school counterparts. >> Good evening. I'm Mrs. Shook. I am representing my esteemed colleagues at the high school. Um, thank you so much for this opportunity to share the incredible work that's been happening up there. Just wanted to highlight

021that um throughout the presentation I focus mainly on our first two board goals. I've highlighted our two new course offerings for this year. Our 12th grade students at the high school are truly spoiled for choice. They must take uh government and economics class, but they now have three different choices. So, um, Miss Pritchard has partnered with the Dutches Community College to offer two new courses this year, the American National Experience and Economic Issues. And um, I finally um, got it together enough to write my Irish history and culture elective. Some of you may not know I am originally from Ireland and I had been threatening to uh write this course for many years and it's been really wonderful to finally bring it to fruition and I'm hopeful that more students will sign up for it

022next year in 9th grade classes and social studies. My global classes have been working on their map skills building on the work that our colleagues in the elementary and middle school do with geography. I use the hands-on mapping activities as a way to have the students conceptualize where uh in the world our civilizations that we are studying uh are the relationships to each other and in AP world uh one which is done over two years we have already participated in multiple Socratic seminars recent topics include debating the argument put forward by Jared Diamond in his the worst mistake in the history of the human case um argument where they take a position on whether or not the Neolithic Revolution was positive or negative. Um and we also use excerpts from a book called A History

023of the World in six classes and that's a common trade book that a lot of AP world teachers use and the students really uh enjoy. My 10th grade students recently created a or a concert tour t-shirt as part of our maritime empires project. They had some fun using their creativity to design t-shirts that showcase um the main themes of uh European exploration in the early modern era. They used um some image generating programs such as Canva AI um and we had a lot of conversations about the need to label any AI generated images um just in terms of being good digital citizens and they were really really open to those conversations. Um AP humanities this year is its biggest ever. It has 40 students enrolled. So, um, Miss Horn, Miss Lisa Horn, and Miss Casey

024Stacker have their work cut out for them with the 40 students, but it's been a real success. Um, they participate in project-based learning, including Socratic seminars, gallery walks, uh, where they exchange feedback on each other's one-pages. I just included some samples because I just thought the student artwork was so beautiful, I had to bring it to you. um the creativity that our students have. I mean, you saw with Eevee and Justin, it just never ceases to amaze me as somebody who does not have an artistic bone. My body, it's really just so beautiful and also historically very accurate. Um, so other 11th grade students both in AP humanities as well as our US history regions classes took advantage of the beautiful weather that we had in the beginning of the year to make human timelines.

025Um, this interactive activity allowed them to explore the historical thinking skills of chronology and causation while also building community and curiosity. So, some exciting things happening in 12th grade as I said um those new course electives and um students were able to visit the um Duchess County Courthouse. They even got some time with polling resident um Judge McGlaughlin who kindly made time to discuss the workings of the court as well as other um court officers, senographers um and the feedback from the students has been really positive. I also had a visit earlier in the year from the Duchess County Commissioner of Jurors. So, we're really um making sure that our students have these authentic experiences. They're making these real world connections. they're going out into the world and we're bringing community members um into the

026building as well. As I said, we're excited to expand our new course offerings in collaboration with DCC. Um, additionally, students in the government course are going to visit the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library to complete a project tied to the special exhibit, Signature Moments. They're going to work with their education specialist uh Jeff Urban to analyze letters from the famous, the infamous, and everyday people composing their responses on refurbished typewriters. Uh thanks, I think mainly to Mrs. Ken. Right. Yeah. Uh so they're going to get an idea of how historically a lot of people uh communicated. I'm pretty excited to see how they they uh deal with that. Um, I wanted to share one of the best moments that we've had so far in the new Irish history and culture elective. As part of our Irish

027sports unit, my students research one of the five traditional Irish games. And then I was able to make a really wonderful community connection through our Duchess County Gaelic Athletic Association who jumped at the chance to collaborate. They could not have been more enthusiastic. um two of their coaches came out and volunteered their time and taught not only my students but we also had Mrs. Mallaloyy's PE class um join in and we ran even so they did some Gaelic football drills. Gaelic football if you're not familiar it's kind of a mix between soccer, rugby, volleyball. Um so they did some drills initially and they were even able to run a modified game and they also brought hurlings. So, um, if you are interested in sport, if you like lacrosse, um, I definitely recommend you look up

028Harley. It is the fastest game you will ever see using these, um, kind of modified hockey sticks. So, luckily, a couple of my students are lacrosse players, so they really took to it very well. They even had me do it. Uh, and I managed to not injure or embarrass myself, which was kind of all I was hoping to get away with. So, it really was a success. I'm so glad to have met those connect made those connections with the GAA because they're hopeful that maybe they can come back um to visit more of the PE classes and maybe even they can do a unit on like football or hurling maybe not this year maybe going forward but ends up being a really fruitful relationship but I'm hopeful we'll be able to continue it wanted to

029highlight some of our professional development offerings that um we have been doing. We're definitely concerned about the use of AI. So, I am um participating in the Hudson Valley writing project. Uh anytime there's a Hudson Valley writing project, professional development, I'm always eager to sign up. Um so, I know Casey Stacker from the ELA department and Carolyn Herman also from the ELA department. We're all part of this study group. It's only met once. that meets again this week on Thursday. So, I'm optimistic that we'll get some good actionable guidance on how to utilize writing responsibly, you know, and and integrate it into our classes and what are some best practices. Um, there are a lot of teachers at Polling High School right now, um, working on the OLA language schools, including DAB. Um, so we're

030really working to improve our Spanish skills. Um, some more successfully than others. I'm doing my best. Um, but it's it's been a really really wonderful experience and it's it's so fun to see so many um folks from polling from different um departments uh working to improve their language. It's also being uh not just a language instruction, but uh last last night they did a whole section on um being culturally sensitive to our Hispanic students and we came away with some really helpful um yeah so you know the rest you can can review yourself. I know that time is of the essence and I just wanted to point out that once again uh Miss Horn is serving as a mentor teacher to a student from Man St. Mary's College who has um ingratiated himself so well

031with our students that at the beginning of the year when the boys soccer team nominated uh staff members that have had a positive impact on them uh he was one of the staff members nominated which was was very meaningful. quick update on the seal of civic readiness. Um, and Miss Horn, who runs it, wanted me to let you know that if you have any questions to feel free to reach out to her, but I wanted to highlight the pretty astounding statistic that we are so proud that 76% of the class of 2025 earned the New York State Seal of Civic Readiness, and that's up from 54% in 2024. So, Miss Horn continues to inspire our students to um put forth the work to earn that additional qualification. Okay, your time. >> Thank you guys so

032much. I'll open it up to uh any board comments or questions. Thank you guys for your presentation. I just kind of wanted to follow up on what you were saying about AI. I have two seventh graders, so I did see the project um seventh graders did, but I was curious what you're seeing as the challenges with AI, what you're seeing as the positives, and then moving forward, do you as a department feel there's things we need that we don't have? Are there resources we need? But just kind of how you're feeling and where you see things going. Um yes so we have purchased I believe the district has purchased turn it in which is kind of the gold standard in AI plagiarism detection. Miss Herman took a course on it and she ran one you

033know quite quick um overview training. We have definitely asked for more time. It seems like a fairly um intuitive software, but it's something that you know I as someone who's fairly techn technological savvy, but I would I would like some more instruction. And we we talked about that already having a little bit more instruction because my understanding of it is the students complete the work on in turn it in so that um you can be sure of the authenticity believe. Yeah. So, I also did a workshop this summer on AI. Um, and there's a time and a place for AI in education. We all know that. That's where we're going. But trying to find where the limits are. Um, some of the uh feedback that we've were given was um in your rubrics define how

034AI can be used within an assignment. So, that you know it's when they do turn it in. Uh the nice thing is Google Classroom has modified their their algorithm on there. So it will pick up on AI and plagiarism as well and it'll tell you exactly where it is. Um so that's a big help. But understanding that it's a tool, not an endgame, that's that's kind of unfortunately we're we're kind of at the beginning stages of where we're going to go. Um but just trying to define what are we doing in the classrooms with it and when is it allowed, when is it not? And having that on the rubric is going to define it. Okay, it's fair game now. Or no, it's not >> reverted to paper and pencil. >> I'm really frustrated by

035it and I think kids don't I mean like Chip was saying it's very difficult to kids don't understand. They will look at you I didn't plagiarize. they really don't think that they're plagiarizing. So, a lot of times I'm just finding it easier to go back to pen and pencil just to make sure that understand and are I I I think there aren't shortcuts in good writing. I wanted to dig a little deeper on I'm sorry the AI usage because I think often we you know we we think about AI or talk about AI you know with regard to sort of plagiarism right and students using it to generate you know their homework or what have you and certainly that's one aspect and I'm glad that we are you know aware of that and monitoring that

036Um but there is a great opportunity for a lot of um learning to happen the usage of AI um particularly as it refers to critical thinking right how to use the tool I think Mr. Acriman um you know spoke briefly about that um and less from my perspective less concerned about when is the appropriate time because I don't know thatbody here really knows I would argue any time could be an appropriate time depends what you're trying to get out of it right or what you're trying to do with it. So, um, I would love in the future to hear a little bit more about sort of how we're exploiting AI for for learning rather than sort of identifying what they, you know, people shouldn't be doing, but what they could be doing or ought to

037be doing. >> Perfect. Perfect. Thank you. I just observed in Miss Pritchard's DCC government class and she attended and in our post conference we were talking about the course because of course it's the first one and she explained to me that at curriculum camp that's run by Dr. Kirkus Steve Malone ran an AI workshop. She took there is okay there is a tool where you use AI it's a questioning tool and she is have so her students for the second part of Duchess community college they have to do a research paper she made a decision to use that and you know to try it right to use that AI questioning protocol because students have to come up with a question and they're not going to be right, you know. So, she's not talking about writing

038or plagiarism, but it's using that AI tool to help them crystallize, to help them keep critically thinking about the question that they eventually want to research. And that's just today, I found out, and again, just like I'm I'm in its infancy, too, but that's how she's going to use it. and it came out of our curriculum camp. the uh seventh grade project that I referred to did a nice job of kind of guiding students through, you know, a very intro use of AI, telling them kind of what prompts you would use and then constantly revising the prompts and talking back to AI, telling it, you know, be more specific. Actually, those sources are wrong. Actually, I asked you to do this. Actually, I said no Wikipedia. Um, it was a good, I think, first, you

039know, first take for my students at least who hadn't seen it. Um, you know, they had to put a lot of time in and um, it was good for them to see what AI could do and how they could use AI to help them. >> I was just curious what AI tools uh, Mr. Schoberg's using. Do you know? >> Yeah, that's fine. >> Check GBT. >> Is he? >> Yeah. >> Just just come up to the podium. Thank you. >> So, we can hear you out in >> virtual. >> Everybody, I'm Jessica Garcia. I'm an ENL teacher, but I'm the ENL teacher for seventh grade. So, um I loved it because it leveled the playing ground for my English language learners using the AI t um tool. We use chat GPT. And the best thing

040about the project was really the kids can answer and and speak to it in any language. So, um and their answers can be in any language. And they also had to change the coloring of the font so you can see what the kids were asking AI and what AI was responding. And then the final piece was after they um had their two paragraph project on which local history project or which um place they wanted to research, they had to handw write it, which I think the purpose of that was for him to really for the students to really make sure they're reading it and they understand what they what they were, you know, handing in. and then they had to record themselves actually, you know, reading the the report. So, I it was really well

041done and the kids enjoyed it. And I found the best thing for me, I found that all of the kids were able to do it. So, just to kind of jump in, but it was chat GPT. >> Now, does anybody else have any questions or comments or question about the electives? Do they are they teacher generate like your Irish history class sounds awesome. Is that something that comes from both teachers and students or and then the other thing just to piggyback on that is the dcc courses as well. How do we choose which ones we do and how how we go about what that process looks like. >> Sure. So um I I can speak to my experience coming up with that elective. So, it's something that had been on my mind for a number

042of years, just having an interest in Irish history and thinking that, you know, as somebody who's taught uh 9th, 10th, and 11th grade, the only thing that's really on the New York State curriculum about Ireland is the potato famine. Um, and I think it has a lot more to offer than just that one, um, horrific event. So, um, I came to Mrs. Kalen maybe two years ago and and started talking about it. Um I collaborated with our wonderful guidance office and just pulled the students you know saying is this a class you think would like um and I got some pretty positive feedback. So I was able to apply for curriculum writing hours over the summer to um put my units on Atlas and then we had uh a lot of students sign up. things

043change with um their timets and it's a pretty small class, but I've had a lot of students tell me that they're hoping that they can take it if it runs next year. So, that was my experience with uh that elective. I think it's very much the same with I've had teachers come to me saying, you know, I'm interested in offering this dcc course. What's a little different with that is that if you in a dual enrollment course with Duchess Community College, the the instructors have to go through a process. So, I collaborate with the college connections at DCC. If a teacher is interested in teaching a course, I have to send their resume, their transcripts. The head of the particular department then calls, they review them, they determine whether or not they will actually interview

044them and then they interview them and they make a determination on whether or not they actually become an adjunct professor at dcc. So it's a little bit more of a a process. So sometimes it can go either way. The only other and of course that would be counselors and myself. So with the DCC government class, the counselors recognize that many of our students go to state schools. And so just like the English classes that we have that those schools will accept or have accepted, it changes every year uh those credits. And so it gives our students an opportunity to already have English and social studies credits. And so in that case, I think that probably was last year too, Miss Shook. I'll go to the social studies department meeting and say, "Listen, we're interested in

045this. This is what we'd like to offer." And then is anybody interested in doing that? And Miss Pritchard said she was willing to give it a go. And that's how it happens. And so it sometimes is because we recognize what might be good for students and then sometimes it comes from what students would like. I know in the past our English department when they were trying to come up with electives, they would do surveys and say, "Well, what are you interested in?" As I think I've sat here before and as somebody who loves Shakespeare, I think many of them would love that. But unfortunately, our students are not as enamored of a Shakespeare elective. But we keep trying. Is that answer? >> Can I ask one thing along those same lines? And you might not

046have the answer to this. Um I think I agree with what you said about you know the the Sunni schools and the cutuny schools often take the dcc credits easily and um I think in general often those credits transfer more than AP credits. But I was curious in terms of when students are applying to colleges um are we seeing that you know very competitive colleges are still wanting to see AP classes? Are they viewing the the DCC classes as the same? I was just curious and you might not know the answer. >> I will. Well, I actually do. We discuss this all the time. Well, I can never say that I know it exactly. So, if my counselors were standing here right next to me, they would say that it depends every year and even

047among the colleges it depends. So, for example, I can tell you just off the top of my head, a student I can think of who took a number of AP courses, went to the univers, uh, Syracuse University, and ended up going in as a sophomore because they took every single AP. However, that's about four or five years ago. What we've noticed is that they don't necessarily I think what's happening now. I don't know. All right. What we're conjecturing is what's happening now that colleges are saying, well, wait a minute. If we give all these credits, somebody can get out in three years. And we're I I I'm not going to say that it's because they're not getting the tuition money, but that's what we're noticing. Now, what I will tell you is sometimes it also

048depends on the major. So, for example, if you take AP biology and you score very well, but you're going to go into a competitive a selective university and you're going to major in biology, they generally want you to take their own. What students have told us though is that having taken the AP class in high school, they are better prepared and they find it easier when they go there. So there's so there are positives, but we're finding that it really depends. Recently, my counselors will say, Hudson Valley, we had a number of students last summer. Hudson Valley Community College all of a sudden offered free courses over the summer. We had a number of kids who decided to take advantage of that. Now, we don't know whether they're going to accept them or not, but

049you can take it for free. And then instead of paying the tuition, we also had another student again in my mind who I can tell you took AP courses all the way through, fours and fives on all of them, social studies all the way through and the went to a very selective college who would only accept one social studies because they don't now and so it certainly wasn't the the score, but they're only taking one. So, we're sort of we're beginning in the you know, we've seen a change in the last few years about that. >> Thank you. >> Else have any I got one quick thing to say. So, we had you guys in about a year ago and talked about the DC trip a little bit, talked about Irish history, and just to

050see the pictures of both things in here is just it's great in that amount of time to see um you know those things that were discussed and and see them grow and see them happen with success. So, everybody that was part of the DC trip, thank you so much for making that a reality for our students. Again, Irish history course, I think there's nothing more appalling than that. Um, you know, I I don't know how many school districts would run a class the first year with X number of kids without it being certain number, but that's that's appalling right there. That's um trying to get it off the ground like Mrs. Ken said last year and having that flexibility kind of to Mr. Tucci's question um and giving teachers the ability to start classes like

051this. I just think it's great. So, thank you guys so much for your time tonight and uh for the great presentation. So, thank you. >> All that said, um we can welcome Nala. And Nala, if you have any uh remarks to make this evening, I'll turn it over to you. Um I would just like to say thank you to all the teachers who are representing the social studies district. As a high school student, it is evident that the social studies teachers are making are working really hard to make the social studies courses very interesting and engaging for the students. And last year, I really did enjoy Miss Shook's AP History class and she's an amazing teacher. Um, and I'm currently enjoying AP Humanities as well, and it's very engaging for the students. Thank you. >>

052Thank you. Okay. So, next on our agenda, we have uh again, this is if you look at the agenda online, we have administrative reports. As always, I'll just make a comment. If you can take a look at those, we have our admin put some time into those, you can really learn about what's going on in the schools and different departments. Um, so definitely take a look at that on the agenda for anybody watching at home. And next up, we're on to our agenda order. So, turn it over to our district clerk, uh, Miss Fasheen. >> Yes. Thank you. We only have uh we have three addendum items this week. Um just a few um edits to appointments. One is um rescending the appointment of a um Dungeons and Dragons Club advisor. Um amending the high

053school student council advisor appointment and then the appointment of a debate team adviser at the high school. >> Cool. And I'll read that the items with an asterct are items that the superintendent recommends for the consent agenda. Um I'll read that after this. Sorry. So, uh, resolve to approve the following additions, deletions, changes, and order the agenda as presented. I'll make a motion for that. Anybody second? >> Second, >> Michael. And all in favor? I. And four there. So, 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 it so at this time. One vote. All asterct items. All right, we're good there. So, now we're on to number 10, visitor comments. That's all right. I

054assume there was none. Right. And there are none. So, now we'll go to item 11 on the agenda, which is board remarks. Would any board member like to make a any remarks this evening? >> We'll go to number 12, but yeah, of course. Go ahead. The national um honor society was held last week and it was just it was just a beautiful event. Um I had never attended before. Happy to say that I was there as a parent but just as a community member. Um the speech was from um Nathan Pendalfo was quite moving. Um, I thought there would be a little bit more of a turnout from like I I just thought it'd be a little maybe some more parents or some more community members, but it was it was amazing. The students were

055great. Um, Miss Ken, it was really wonderful event. So, just wanted to make the comment. Any adviserss? >> Thank you so much, Liz. Anybody else would like to make some board remarks this evening? All right. So, we'll turn it over to Dr. Walsh for board vice president comments. >> Good evening. I hope everybody's having a great week. Fall sports are wrapping up. Two weeks ago, we had our varsity football senior night. They had their salute to service game, and they had a very exciting double overtime win against Antiora. They also had a big win uh last week against Tri Valley, which was on Halloween, and they will now play at Sullivan West on Friday for the section 9 semi-final. Um, our varsity boys soccer team had a really tough, heartbreaking loss to Valhalla in their

056home sectional game. Many of those boys have been playing together since they were four years old on the Lakeside soccer fields. After the game, I spoke to a lot of different players and parents. The theme that I really heard was sadness that it was over, not sadness that they lost. Um, the underassman talked about their time with the seniors being over. They all talked about how important it was for them to have been together. So, I just thought that was a really um you know, very polling, you know, about our community, what it says about us. So, I I thought that was really lovely to see. Um the girls varsity field hockey team dominated in their first sectional game against Hastings. I was able to watch it on the huddle live stream and I hope

057people are aware that that does exist and that we have more opportunities to post that when games are offered that way for people to see. Um they did then move forward and lose against Ry on Friday. They had a great season and again I heard so many positive things from the players and their parents about what a great community it was to be a part of. Um, cross country had a big day of PRs when they competed at the Northern County meet with multiple students meddling and they will advance to the state qualifiers this Saturday. The winter sports signups are well underway with varsity and JV sports starting on Monday, November 17th, and modified sports start November 19th. Thank you to the PTA for another wonderful trunk or treat. It was really impressive. It was

058wellrun. It was organized. It was a very fun night. They changed kind of the setup of um where the cars were, but it was it was really lovely. Thank you to the many families and community organizations who provide trunks. People are incredibly creative. We saw many of our students participate. Uh the peer leadership was there. Our elementary fall dance is coming up on November 21st. The PTSA is currently hosting a t-shirt design contest. So, we hope middle school and high school students will participate. And the annual fall clothing drive is this Sunday from 10:00 to 4:00 in the high school loop. Thank you to the Tiger Club for all their work on the snack shack this fall season. I think it was a really wonderful addition to our stadium and they did a really nice

059job of helping teams fund raise and find ways to support each other. They continue to provide snack bags for one away game for each team. And they also contribute a little bit of money for each team's uh senior night, which I can personally tell you is very welcome. Um, you can mark your calendars now. For May 4th, it's going to be the 2026 Tiger Golf outing, which is a fundraiser for all three of our community groups. Uh, Miss Shook mentioned the field trip to the Duchess County Courthouse last week. I can again personally attest it was a really wonderful field trip. My son said it was the most important field trip he's had in his whole high school career and that he really felt it was impactful. Um, I can second Miss Miss Kazaka said

060the National Honor Society induction was lovely. Nathan Pal uh alumni Nathan Pandalfo spoke about the pillars of the National Honor Society and tied them to his interest in the medical field. It was very creative and really engaging. Uh the middle school also had a successful Halloween dance and they had a really fun fall field day last Friday. If you haven't already seen the buzz, November 14th and 15th is their fall musical production, Willy Wonka. You haven't seen our middle schoolers perform yet, you really should make sure it's on your calendar that we have so much talent in that building. It promises to be a great show and I'm anticipating a lot of leadup to it, but mark your calendars now for the 14th and 15th. Signups opened yesterday for parent teacher conferences in all three

061of our buildings. All the signups are now done online. Middle schoolers and high schoolers are asked to join their parents for a family conference as they talk about their progress. Lastly, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge Mr. Nick Robert Shaw. Nick recently uh announced his resignation from our audit committee. Nick has been on our committee for almost six years. he was at the end of his second term and he is resigning um to move into retirement. He has really been a steady presence since I've been on the committee. He was always calm, professional, insightful, he asked good questions and everything he did was clear uh that it was in uh in the best interest of the district. So, we want to wish him well and thank him for all of his service.

062And with that, I hope everybody has a great rest of their week. >> Thank you, Dr. Walsh. And that brings us to item 13 on the agenda, which is our superintendent's comments. So, I turn over to Mr. D. Carlo. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Um, I just want to echo some of the sentiments and I I mentioned this last week at the N National Honor Society induction ceremony. I've been doing this for a long time and I have to tell you, it's all about those nights. Last week was just absolutely incredible. From the speech that we mentioned about Nathan being a graduate here and his speech was unbelievable and this community should be so very proud of him. from our president, vice president who did an outstanding job doing a little narration of each

063one of the inductees to the inductees. I think it was one of the largest classes of inductees we've had in a while, which is a great testament to this entire district, right? Because as I echo this all the time, although a lot of these great accolades happen in the high school, it's a K12 discussion, right? So, it's a it's a it's a tribute to not only the staff here, but parents, right? And it's a celebration of parents too and all their dedication and time behind the success of uh of these students. So I congratulate all the honores. Um I also want to congratulate the seniors this year who participated in our our sports programs. I was able to make it to the senior nights and you know seeing smiles on their faces and the time

064and dedication that they've started since some of them have started in 8th grade being on a a high school program. the time and energy not only by themselves but their parents running them back and forth to practices and games and their coaches really having some beautiful things to say. Innesota. Congratulations to all those full senior athletes. Uh to the juniors, I know some of what um Vice President Wall says, it's it's heartbreaking, but you are a junior. So, you get to come back and you know what that feeling is like and you know what it's going to take um to work twice as hard to get back where you are, right? Because once people realize you're good, then everybody's aiming for you. So, um I I I I think you're going to see some great

065things next year um in all sports. Um, and as was mentioned, just a quick reminder that um, next week on the 10th, we have a superintendent's conference day. You heard about the great things and the professional development that's going on. Those are that's a day in which we do a lot of that work behind the scenes that we can get to. And then, of course, on next Tuesday is uh, Veterans Day, and we'll be celebrating and thanking all of our our veterans that serve this country so so well and meaningful um, to make us be able to do what we're doing here today. So, uh, again, on behalf of myself, I I I thank everybody for all the work and what they've done. The first quarter is over, right? And so, it it's amazing how

066quickly things go by and, uh, we have a great threequarters of the year left with a lot of great things happening and coming up. So, I thank you, Mr. President. I turn it back to you. >> Thank you so much. And that'll bring us to item number 14 on our agenda, which is the consent agenda. It reads, "Resolve that the board of educ board of education approves all asterct items as the consent agenda. I'll make a motion. May I have a second?" Liz and all in favor? >> I. And that's everybody. Now we're on to 15, which is the minutes. Reads. Resolve that the board of education approve the minutes of the following meeting. It is the October 21st, 2025 meeting. I'll make a motion for that. May I have a second? >> That one

067say Sandro. And all in favor of the minutes. >> I That's unanimous. So that'll bring us all the way to flip flip flip. That brings us to 20. Um, so this is unfinished business. So start with our superintendent search update. So I wrote something out. Again, as always, if anybody would like to add anything or uh please feel free to do so. So as I shared last time, our application process opened in October on October 17th. In a couple weeks since then, we have had a healthy amount of applicants and as according to the st uh search firm, they've been steadily coming in. According to the search firm as well, things are progressing well in the process and they continue to advertise and recruit applicants on their end. We have a community forum that's set

068for December 1st, the evening of Monday, December 1st. This forum is going to occur in a hybrid setting. So, it's going to be both in person and virtual, and there's going to be search firm members uh running both. So, somebody in person and then somebody working with everyone who can only sign in online. Uh, any way that you can be a part of that, that would be great. Again, the more participation um the better with this whole process so we can collect as much good data in terms of what the community wants uh and and we can act accordingly. In addition to that, we have a community survey. So, a big thank you to Trustee Kazaku spent a lot of time on that working with everybody's feedback and that should be finalized here in the

069next couple of days. And once that's finalized, we'll be sure to advertise that through all of our diff different board and uh district channels to make sure again that we can get as much broad feedback as possible to ensure that everybody's voice is heard in this really important process. Um again, just so everybody knows, we've made mention this a couple times at um with the surveys are not by name. We only see the information by demographic. So if you're a parent of an elementary student or a staff member, a teacher, so on so forth. Um, and again, that's that's something that we find really important so people can be as honest and forthcoming as possible. So again, we can have the best data to make the best decision. Um, again, we want honest and thorough

070feedback that helps us serve the community in this important task in our important role. Another thing we're looking at, and maybe if Mr. Carlo wants to jump in or or anybody, um, is student voice. So, I know we're going to be looking at how students can play a role in providing feedback and what this looks like. So, if you don't mind. >> Yeah. So, um, couple of weeks ago, I had a first student circle meeting actually, um, at the high school in the library with all of the class officers, freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior class. Principal Ken was there, the advisers were there, and we really had a, I think, a really good conversation about the importance of student voice, how their thoughts and ideas are really important because as adults, sometimes we make decisions

071for them and they need to make decisions for themselves. So, it was a really really I think in-depth conversation. We had a great conversation. Um, we actually have a meeting coming up on the 24th and I am happy to say that um some of what we talked about is their communication with their classes, right? So, if I'm an elected official, an elected official, that's a fraudian. Well, although they are elected and they are an official um but anyway, um how do they get information to their class? So, if I'm the senior class president, things are happening. How do I let my classmates know? What they said to us is that, yeah, you know, there's the monitors, but do the kids really look at it, right? There's flyers, but are they looking at that? But yet,

072they, you know, once school is out, they get on their phone, they're looking at it. So, we're looking at a way and we're working and Mr. Kenyonius is not here, but we are going to be rolling out to them that they actually can do that. that as a class officer, you can be in contact with your class, getting information to them quickly, uh talking about questions or things that they may want to see and they be able to get responses back to you. So, um we're really trying to empower them to understand that their role is so vitally important in what we do um both sometimes academically as we talked about choices and of course when it comes to school spirit and other things that are going on. So, it was a great conversation. and

073I think it's the beginning of a really a great dialogue as we move forward not only this year but for years to come and thank you for allowing me to share. >> Thank you so much. U and again just to finish up so um this process now is kind of into the stakeholder engagement and and every single one of us up here um really thought it to be very important that this piece of this puzzle this piece of this process was something that was going to really enable us and empower us to make the best decision. So, as these surveys and the forums take place, um we are going to try our best to advertise and to get that information out and to make it as uh as easy as possible for people to be

074able to participate from staff members, community members, old, young, everywhere in between. Um because we really want to know what the community is looking for and and we can make that decision and we can go through this process that's uh tasked with us um to serve the community. That's that's our job, right? So, um, so we're excited about this stakeholder engagement piece and knowing that this is starting and again, Laura, thank you so much for all your time and setting up all these meetings and stuff. I know that's it's not easy to say the least. So, that is all appreciated by us as well. Um, but that's my update with the superintendent search. And again, if anybody would like to add anything, please uh thank you again for your input, Mr. Carl, but please feel

075free to do so. All right. So, the next thing I'm going to turn it over to Keith and Michelle. Um, we're going to continue discussing the curriculum committee. So, if one of you would like to start talking about your meeting uh last week. >> Yeah, we had a great meeting with uh Dr. Kirkus and Mr. D. Carlo, Michelle and I. It went really well. We just opened up lines of communications. Uh, I was able to attend the elementary school pilot program meeting. I think there's another one tomorrow that I'll be going to. And I think it was great just to hear where everyone's at that we're getting stakeholders together. I hope the message was sent that the board's just here to support, you know, the whole process, the teachers, just getting more information, hearing from

076all different stakeholders is really important. Um, we talked a lot about whatever program we chose, how important it is to have fidelity in that program so that teachers have enough PD time. I know Mr. D. Carlo, we had a conversation, I think it was yesterday, about looking at the schedule for next year, see if we can open up more time for teachers to really jump into the program so that well, there are some teachers that are piling different programs, the ones that whichever program we choose, they should have time with their grade levels to just introduce the program, go through the pros and cons. Obviously, not every program's perfect, so that things are going to have to be adjusted. Um, so we're hoping to have more time for them next year to do that. Uh,

077I'm just going through my list. Oh, they did do some visits. I don't know if you want do you want to speak to that because that the information you gave me was great. I don't know if it'd be great to hear from you on that. >> Right. So, our literacy um coach Jenny Svaji had arranged she and I had kind of coordinated and arranged for two school visits uh for the two schools in the area that were piloting both programs. Um and I attended both of them. Um one was Spack and Kill and one was Catskill uh school district. Um the most recent one was Catskill. I think that was the day after our our meeting the meeting at the elementary school. Um they were just wonderful hosts to us. We spent pretty much the

078whole morning. We visited I think it was five different classrooms or four different classrooms. We had time to uh talk to the principal. uh after after our visit there was time to debrief with the teachers about the program. Um you know it's this way we don't have to reinvent the wheel. We can kind of go through it use their expertise and their experiences if that's the and we had similar experience at Spack and Kill for the other program. So we found these to be so valuable. We talked everything from the scheduling to materials to small group the professional development the needs. So it was really really time well spent and I think the whole literacy committee was there. I think it was pretty much everyone from the committee was able to make both of these

079school visits. So I I feel like we're really we're getting closer um to you know the fa the more favored program. Um the upcoming conference day the entire elementary school uh classroom teacher teaching staff will have the opportunity to dive into the materials to hear from both of the um consultants from both uh companies. Uh time to talk to their colleagues look at materials um ask questions. So, we really want to pretty much uh turn over all all stones to make sure that we're we're doing this right. And I appreciate uh you you attending our meeting. I think >> I just wanted to thank you too with no at the at the meeting was uh just your approach to really hear from the staff to say what h how is this going to how can

080we efficiently and effectively use our time, go through the programs, turnkey it to other staff members. I think it was great and uh know your approach is just open and willing to listen to all stakeholders and I think it was great. It was really uh an excellent meeting. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow too to see people and I think it's great that we guys are working with us and giving us time to get into the schools and really uh because we want to be hands-on and support you as well and just make sure we're hearing from everyone. I think it's great that we have the opportunity to go to the schools and talk to the staff and hopefully get to see some of the kids as they're walking out. But, uh, it's been a

081great process. We're really looking forward to it. And then the other thing we talked about was just making sure and I think at the last board meeting, Mr. D. Carly, you talked about the the three to five year process that parents need to understand that this isn't going to be a, you know, one year and everything's going we we teachers need time to work through the process. Parents need to be informed of what that process is going to be. And it's going to take some time to work out the kinks, but we're hoping three to five years if we put the time in and use the fidelity and have everything set that we're going to see some great things. We're excited about it. So, appreciate both of you uh allowing us the time. And Michelle,

082I don't know if you wanted to add something. >> It I second that. It was a really great meeting. Um, met for quite a while and discussed a lot of things. Um, we are not 100% what exactly this curriculum committee looks like. Um, but we took a lot of steps into figuring out, you know, what comes next and what it might look like. Um, with all the work being done in the elementary school, we've decided that that's where we're going to focus this year. Um, and it was really nice to be able to work together and, you know, throw ideas around. Um, I think you pretty much covered everything um that we really spoke about. We going to look at the calendar like Keith said and um get creative with some of the days. It

083might not be something that everybody is super excited about. if that means that we might have to have some half days thrown in so that the teachers can get the professional development that they need. Um it's kind of just something we're going to stick behind the teachers, stick behind the administration and um what we need so that the literacy proficiency and all that can can be improved. So it'll be a team effort. very much. I'd >> like to just ask a couple clarifying questions about this committee. Um, so is so you guys met and you met to discuss the goal of the committee like what the purpose of the committee is going to be because I I heard that it was a good meeting that you attended. So, I'm just trying to wrap my head

084around like it sounds like you're I don't know, maybe giving direction to to people. >> We're just we're just gathering information. I think our goal is is the pilot program right now in the literacy at the elementary school. That's our primary goal. So, we're just okay. >> We're going to gather information so that we know we're involved in the process so we know how things are being >> uh >> so with the goal to bring that information back to the full board so that then we can all discuss it. >> Because because eventually we're going to have to vote on a curriculum and there's an expense to that. So, we felt like if we were more involved and we could bring that information >> and I think that that's good. I just wanted to try

085to understand sort of where we like where you guys were in that process because I wasn't fully sure right I you know but it's important because it's a lot it's a it's a lot of work that's happening and you guys spending your time obviously to attend the meetings and um you know and hear directly from stakeholders. Great that you'd be able to bring that information back you know and give us you know give the full board you know uh an opportunity to hear directly. That's that's good. So that's what I wanted to try to understand because then you also had a separate meeting just with uh Superintendent D Carlo and Dr. Kirkus. >> Oh, sorry. Sorry. I want to just make sure you I I I attended the pilot program meetings at the elementary school,

086>> right? So when they presented, they invited us to come to the meeting. So I went to one. Tomorrow is another one. And so those meetings >> we the four of us had a meeting just on the curriculum meeting. >> Those are the pilot meetings that were mentioned at the last board meeting that we were all invited to. Okay. >> Okay. I was going to say one other thing for uh oh I think the I think the the other goal too and we talked about this at the meeting is that when everybody's on the same page whether it's board district office administrator teachers uh elementary administ if if everybody's on the same page and they're feeling supported and they're feeling heard and everybody has the same goal I think that really encourages the fidelity of

087the program that everybody understands that we're ining investing time, energy, money into this program so that when it when it is in place, everybody should be all in, comfortable with it, ready to go. Shouldn't be any questions. And if there are, if we need more time or support, whatever we need to do to make sure that it's running smoothly and and everybody's on the same page, I think there's a lot to be said for that. So, I think >> there's going to always be a lot of questions, right? I mean, um that's that's for sure. But I just wanted to understand how it was all going to flow. That's, you know, that was unclear to me. So, thank you for that. I mean, I'm glad I'm glad that you guys are spending the time to

088do that. That's, you know, that's great. So, um, if the flow then is to come back here so that we're all informed, you know, that, you know, that makes me feel much more at ease. Thank you. >> Do you want to add anything, Mr. Darlin? >> I I No, I I I think it was it was well stated. uh you know I said from the beginning on this this is a major investment this district is going to be putting forth for the next 3 to 5 years. I have been actively involved in the discussions. I actually attended today um a meeting um with regards to a a PLC which was a fourth grade PLC and and seeing Jenny working with the fourth grade teachers to talk about the you know kind of how you you

089know kind of roll over between the work we're doing now with TC and then how that looks and the units of study that are going to be you know piloted or are being piloted and what that looks like. Great conversation. So yeah, it's important and the board should know and I think this Sandra's point to the the point of the two of you of us meeting with Dr. Girkus because she is the assistant superintendent for instruction. It's important and it needs to everybody to be on that same page and be moving forward together is is really an important piece to it. And I think sharing this with the community so the community understands that it is something that is valued, something that we know, you know, down the road we want to be able to

090have our third graders be at grade level in reading so that we can really take off and do some of the great things as they then go up to middle school and to high school. And I think that's a really important piece that the community understands that. And so when I come to you and interesting enough, trustee Tucci, yesterday I was starting to take a glance at next year's calendar. And so when it comes to presenting to the board, you know, usually in February the calendar for next year, you will hear discussion on my part about why you'll see some differences in it because of the need of professional development along the way so that parents can plan ahead of time and it's not just done on a spur of the moment like we're doing

091this and here's the reason why because remember we started this conversation back on November 4th about what it looks like. So that's the piece to it. Can I ask one additional thing? you know, as you mentioned parents. Um, is the committee also like is a goal of the committee also to develop like a a parent comp like a a parent guide or you know because we we have spoken about and Keith I think in your very first meeting you talked about the importance of working with parents and helping the parents um you know have some guidance in the home you know so that they can collaborate um with the school and help their children. So is this going to be a part of what the committee also works on? >> So we actually did discuss

092some of that during our meeting. Um we talked about you know how um students can bring work home and we talked about how you know this isn't just for the students who need to be proficient but the students who are proficient or above proficiency how we can make them go even further and add more rigor to the you know to the curriculum. Um, so we did discuss all those things and I think as our meetings go on, we'll definitely be bringing back to you guys and letting you know um the different ways. That's great. That's really good. >> I think it's also going to be determined once the program is decided. >> Is that what you were going to say? >> But we're also doing I don't want you to because you man last time

093this came up at a board meeting. So I just want to reflect back on it. Um, we have begun the process at a meeting last week. We have another one coming up about that workshop. And so we're going to be pre we're doing it in January and we'll be previewing what that's going to look like, right? Because it's twofold. Not only is it the new program that we're looking at, but we also want to start to and I know that the um elementary school has really begun to roll out to teachers about MTSS. Then that's got to be that component with parents, right? So that's some of the work that we're going to start to be doing um and previewing some of what needs to be done. So it's a great point. the comment. I

094know when we started, you know, to discuss about setting up this committee, you know, when when you think about it, sometimes with some of these committees that you're you're trying to put together, it's it's tough to write down exactly what you think you're going to be doing on the committee. I mean, you set up some goals and you try to figure out exactly what you want to cover on the committees, but from what you both just shared in terms of what kind of happened at those committees, I mean, are the admin line, uh, all the administrative reports, the curriculum reports that we just got tonight, there's there's a there's so much information that we get here at the board meetings. Um, and at this particular stage, I think that what you both shared, what's going

095on at these committee meetings is just very very important to sort of increase those sort of communication checkpoints in between board meetings to really understand. I know we we talk about fidelity and I know I've said it before, you can't uh manage what you can't measure. So, I look at like these committee meetings as as sort of, you know, measurements, you know, along the way. And I think it I think it's really important. It's very beneficial. Um, and so, thank you for that update. That's exactly what I kind of wanted to hear out of those committee meetings. So that was that was really good. >> Anything else on curriculum committee before we move on? >> All right. So we have one last thing on our unfinished business and this is regarding our policy procedure that

096was spoken about a couple of meetings ago. Um and just the quick thing with this if if everyone was up for it. Um the idea kind of putting the teacher hat on for a second was that perhaps uh so everybody can get a really good feel and an idea of what this looks like. um to model it at our next board meeting to go through it one time and see what it looks like in terms of talking about an old policy, deciding what we want to do with that. Is it good as it is? Do we want to refer it to the policy committee? Everyone offer a little bit of perspective on it so the policy committee has something to work with. Kind of all that discussion we spoke about about being proactive and everybody

097having a say on the front end so the policy committee has all the perspective to work with and then can obviously hopefully do some some even better work than we've done with that. So the goal would be um and I think Mr. Darl will speak on this too in a second as to um what what he will be bringing to the next mean but the goal would be just to model it uh before we codify it or take steps to officially adopt the new practice. It would just be beneficial for everybody to see it what it would look like. So that's kind of the uh the thinking if if that was okay with everybody. >> Yeah. The only thing I would I would ask is I think you had three options for when things come

098up. >> I think it's two options. It either goes to, you know, committee or it doesn't, right? >> Yeah. And essentially no official and again as a because I know we spoke about this last time, there's no getting rid of first reading, second reading and anything like that. Still resolutions to get rid of policies and that wouldn't be on the agenda that evening. So if everybody said um you know that's an outdated policy after discussing with legal that you know it's something we don't need. It does not just go away. There need sorry there needs to be resolutions. Yeah. So essentially to to and I think this is a good reason to model it. Um essentially that is the only two options is policy committee or not. Um now granted you know that it doesn't

099read exactly as that but that is essentially kind of what is happening. Now any work that's being done you know votes and all that are not any sort of official resolution of votes. It's just a means of communication. >> Correct. communication tool to show the will of the majority because I think what we've seen in the past is you know three member policy committees have had uh you know a gatekeeping of sorts on what gets looked at or maybe doesn't. >> No, I I mean I agree. I agree because I think over the years we've sp we've spoken about the idea of you know socializing that a little bit better right as opposed to just sort of popping up you know policy and then show up at a meeting here and it's like okay this

100is the policy we're reviewing today and >> um so this this is a you know a definite in my view I guess your view is is an improvement um so in the language as I as I remember it from last time like there were three options and then I thought a little bit more about it. I was like, well, it either goes to policy or it doesn't. And and so that was the only thing that jumped out at me, but I love the idea of doing this. You know, I think we take it, like you said, for a, you know, for a trial run and and, you know, and see how it feels. >> Yeah, it sounds that sounds good. And and the one like um not going to policy, you know, we could kind

101of mark it as like let's say for example, we have a policy that's uh legally required. it's something we haven't looked at since 1997 and we say oh it doesn't need to go to policy committee then we can still you know say would everybody feel good about putting this on the next agenda as a readoption and you know just to kind of turn over our book so we make note that we did it but you're right essentially the two options are policy committee or not and um so thank you for that and yeah the language is definitely not finalized in any way again before we codify or or make it official it would definitely discussions would would most certainly happen so um so yeah I guess we can model it and if you want to

102speak about >> yeah so what would happen is that the Friday before the board meeting, similar to what we do with a presentation, I I'll send it out so that you can take a look at it. So then when it is, you know, brought up together that following Tuesday, you have a little bit of an understanding about, you know, what the policy is, you can read over it. Then if you have any questions along that night, we can have the discussion around it. >> That presentation that we would receive the Friday before the board meeting, that would include uh you know, hey, these are updates that we have to provide to it like that kind of information. >> One update. Yeah, we're not we're going to take one specific, you know, policy and take a

103look at it. But that's how it would work. Correct. >> Okay. So, we would we would understand if there were if there were things that were hey call it like a like a set of cliff notes or something like that. Okay. I understand because that's what we would do at a policy meeting. Okay. >> I like you said cliff notes too. Like this is in no way turning into public policy business that's going to be six hours long like you see in some board meetings. This is Mr. to Carlos sending it out on Friday gives everybody the idea, okay, this is a policy that know again the policy committee is either considering looking at or not and or an old policy that what do we want to do with it and it is preliminary just

104a little bit of context a little bit of front end and then we can go through the normal process. >> That sounds good. Thank you. >> One other is it one is it going to be one policy? >> First one was the first one was one. >> Yep. One. Exactly. Right. So >> because your original one was three, right? >> Two. Okay. >> Two and one I think would be a good way to start. And we can see I mean again this is a model we can see how it goes and and and again if anybody wants to bring one up and you know the whole thing we we kind of talked about but it it's starting with one and just kind of get an idea and we can you know make make a decision

105before codifying that actually has some some experience >> and we're going through based on age >> maybe may be based on something that you feel or we may have to put on the docket. Right. >> Yeah. So and Ryan and I are working through that. Yeah, I mean sometimes I mean this this time maybe you won't but I mean sometimes things come up and you have to address them sooner rather than later. So some you know it might be like hey next month is three and you know one of them is sort of under the the guise of what we're talking about and the others are cuz hey like changed by NISMA or something you know >> flexible going to be flexible with how we go about putting those policies on based on the importance

106of it or >> 100%. Yep. So this is never meant to bog down and say, you know, yeah, this is all meant to just like hopefully by the end of it, everyone here has a very good idea of what the policy committee will be looking at at the December meeting. So it's November 18th. Everyone here would have a relative idea what the policy committee is looking at in the December meeting. And in that time, you can just prepare for, you know, the first and second readings of those policies. So you're not just getting in a board meeting and or, you know, the couple days before and you're got to do all this work in a short period of time. Now it's getting a little more proactive on the front end. So yeah, it's it's definitely

107going to be flexible in that sense. So that's all I have for uh for that. So >> is the policy committee committee going to be meeting on the 17th? That was our >> uh that's the date in December, I believe. December 17th or November. Oh, November 17th. Our board meeting is November 18th. >> Are we tableabling that? So we have this first goaround with this on the 18th. >> I believe legal was not available on the 17th. That's I believe that. Yes, I think the 17th meeting was not going to work out yet. Um I think we still had to wait official word on that, but I believe the November 17th meeting is not going to uh um so then the 18th we go model this and then the um December meeting that I forget

108off time and I apologize. Um that would be >> Thank you all for that. >> Um so that brings us to item number 21 which is new business. Does anybody have any new business that they wish to this evening? So, now we're on to item 22, which is our second visitor's comments. This is pertain to the district. Three minutes per person, and we have none. So, thank you. And next up, we have our 23 board president comments. Um, I would like to say too, between Dr. Walsh's vice president comments and the administrative reports. I mean, there are really two amazing avenues to just keep current with what's going on. I mean, you always do a great job. Tonight, I thought was really good. >> The other ones are good. Tonight was really No, you did

109a great job. Yeah, that's right. The two page That's right. Um, no, I I just I I don't know if I've ever said thank you for that, but thank you for all the time and effort you put into that and and giving all those updates and um you know, from everything from the parent teacher conference signups and that new system to the scores and and all the events and and thanking the uh audit committee member. I just I thought that was great. And as I said at the beginning of the meeting, the administrative reports are a good way to keep up with district affairs. My board president comments tonight are going to be very very short and sweet. Um it is November um already and before you know it it's going to be budget season

110and we're going to be in the middle of the superintendent search scheduling all these things and it's going to get really really really busy. But I would like to share that it is a pleasure and an honor to serve with everybody sits up here and uh I'm looking forward to the craziness that is to come uh in the new year and and in our meetings coming forth. Uh this group has a lot of work ahead of us and I would not be rather serving with anyone else. I think this group not ready to tackle all those challenges and and I look forward to it. So I just want to say to everybody, thank you and it's an honor serving with you and those are my comments tonight and probably every night from now until the

111end of the year. >> So with that said, item 24 uh adjourn the meeting. Uh resolve that the board of education adjourn this meeting. The time is >> 8:25 p.m. >> 8:25. I'll make a motion and may I please have a second? >> Second. >> Michael and all in favor? >> I have a good evening everybody. Thank you.