001All right. Good evening. Thank you everybody for joining us. There's a lot of positive energy in the air. So with that, we'd like to resolve that the board of education reconvene to open session. The time is 6:37 p.m. 6:37 p.m. Do I have a motion? Motion, Mr. Maine. Do I have a second? Second, Mr. Grantic. All in favor? I. Great. Please join me to the pledge of allegiance. the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, we'd like to invite Mrs. Scallan to the podium to recognize our top 10 graduates. Good evening. It gives me great pleasure to announce to you the top 10% of the class of 2025. I'm going to be calling them in alphabetical order
002and I would ask when I do that they come up and remain standing. Yes, Dr. Fontana will hand out certificates but when your name is called up please remain standing. Thank you. Okay. Again, the top 10% of the class of 2025. Claraara Jazinski attending University of Notre Dame in the fall. [Applause] Dominic Jerzinski attending Renelier Polytech Institute. [Applause] Charlotte Janice attending the University of Vermont. Jake Harris attending University at Buffalo. [Applause] Elizabeth Keel attending Northeastern University. Emily Masia attending University of Tennessee. [Applause] Marlene Ruez, who will be attending Williams College, is also not a available this evening to be with us, but let's give her a round of applause. [Applause] And finally, Autumn Tomkins attending Auburn University in the fall. And now I know it's been in our newsletter, I think, but I'd like to
003officially also announce and please take a step forward, our saludiatoran for the class of 2025, Emily Masia. And the validictorian for the class of 2025, Clara Jazinski. [Applause] all our students, but most especially our top 10%. Thank you all. [Applause] So, there's lots of photo ops here. Do whatever you need to do to get great pictures of incredibly handsome and talented young people. [Applause] And we do have a reception coming up. So, just a couple more things to do before we get a chance to enjoy each other and greet one another. We'll recess the meeting for that. Okay. May I continue, Mr. Orie, with the retirees? By all means, please. Thank you very much. Okay. So, um, these are Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, now, why did I make that mistake? I can't imagine. Um, all
004right. Let's move along to tenure. All right. So the group of teachers that are being um that have earned tenure this year is a special group that I mean it's always a special group and incredibly talented educators who have demonstrated their commitment to the Pauling schools and to their students and already raised the caliber of the programs that they are teaching in and we're so grateful to them. So we'll have them come up. We have certificates for them. I think Dr. Kirkus will hand those out. and we'd ask you to do as the students did and just remain standing so we can recognize you all together if you don't mind. So we're going to begin with Al Cusilia who's earning tenure in science. [Applause] Thank you. Missilia was not able to be with us tonight
005but I I might forget to say this later so I'll let you know that u it's become a tradition in Pauling that when we recognize uh tenure we ask the teacher to uh contribute a title of a favorite book to some place in our Pauling collection. So as you circulate during the reception I hope you'll notice the uh books that the tenure recipients have chosen including Miss Silas. Uh the next tenure recipient is Jeffrey Easter in music. Mr. Easter [Applause] recipient is Lisa Farand in world language. [Applause] Our next tenure recipient is Elise Malone in elementary. The next tenure recipient is Jennifer Rae in special education. [Applause] And our last tenure recipient for this year is Natasha Venger in English as to speakers of other languages. [Applause] Congratulations to all of you and I'm so
006excited to think about all the contributions you're going to make to our students. Thank you very very much. Don't go away. We don't. We I just want to make sure we have all the pictures. Mrs. Fisheen, do we have all the pictures we need? Okay. All right. Thank you again. Oh, we don't. One more. Oh, sorry. Okay. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Now they're so afraid I'm going to mess this up. They've taken all the certificates away from me. Okay. Can I start though? Okay. So this group of retirees is pretty impressive and uh just kind of amazing. Um I will tell you that there are 192 years of service to the falling schools just represented in this group of retirees and many of them have contributed to public education in New York in addition
007to those years. So, it's an extraordinary amount of expertise and I don't like to think of it as leaving because I think it's within us and I know that I've learned myself so much from so many of these people and I see so many folks in the room and elsewhere nodding. So, uh retirees who were kind enough to join us. I'm going to say everybody's name, but uh if you'd come up and hang out a little bit, I'll really appreciate it. And of course, Caroline Bennett is first. [Applause] Caroline has been the occupational therapist for the entire school district for over 14 years. Thank you very much, Caroline. Don't go away. All right. This is I'm taking over now. You do. The next person we would like. This is Mrs. Bennett's 40th year. You're completing
00840 years of occupational therapy. Wow. I really did. And I really did try I really did try to talk her into a few more, but she's ready. So, I am honored to um announce our next retiree with very mixed feelings. We are we're thrilled to have had her for the number of years as our superintendent, but we truly do want to wish her some peace and enjoying in her next chapter. So, our next retiree is our superintendent, Dr. Kim Fontana. [Applause] All right. Um well, our next retiree is um pretty amazing, too. This is uh this is quite a loss, I have to say. Peggy Generoso has been our clerk for 19 years in this school district. Peggy, please come on up. [Applause] And I don't think uh even Mrs. Fasheen is really sure how
009we are going to figure this one out without Peggy, but I I understand she's going to be available. So that's going to be good. Um Laura Joffrey is unable to attend, but Laura Laura served our special education department for um over 10 years. So, please congratulate Laura. Patricia Mayhew is not with us tonight, but Patricia served as a teaching assistant for 16 years, I think, in all three buildings in uh the Pauling School District. So, congratulate Patricia, please. [Applause] Our next retiree is Donna McGrael. Donna is retiring after 11 years of teaching mathematics to a more than a generation of students at the falling schools. Congratulations, Donna. [Applause] Um, our next retiree is Judy Murray. Judy is not with us tonight, but Judy served here in the middle school teaching English for nearly 10 years.
010[Applause] Um the next retiree is uh Diane O'Brien. And um Diane has served this district both in the middle school and in the elementary school for over 33 years. a little plug for uh the last Tiger Talk of the year. You want to listen and uh you'll get to hear some words of wisdom from Mrs. O'Brien. So, she was nice enough to do that for us, too. Um and uh we have another student here when we get to finish this. Okay. Oh, you do? Okay. All right. Great. All right. Good. Um so our next retiree has served the school district for 28 years um in the elementary school and I think mostly in kindergarten. Right, Christine? Okay. All right. Sometimes I just don't know everything. Christine Panzer, please congratulate her for 28 years of service.
011[Applause] I guess I couldn't help asking because somehow I think that kindergarten is, you know, each year is more than a year. At least it would be for me. Um so our um our next retiree is also unable to attend and that is Scott Rice who completed 10 years of service to the Pauling schools. Please congratulate Mr. Rice. And our last retiree this evening is also a longtime kindergarten teacher and Nancy Walsh has served 30 years in the Pauling schools. Please congratulate Nancy Walsh. [Applause] And so Nancy also gets her 30-year pin tonight. Congratulations to the retirees from 2025. [Applause] Please, please remain standing because we're going to break to honor everybody. Oh, one more. Thank you. Thank you. My apologies. I would I would like to invite up one of our top 10% who
012was unavoidably delayed but deserves her moment in the sun. And to everybody else, I know Miss Fisheen will want a picture of all of you together, but we'll do that over there afterwards. So, I would like to also recognize Marlene Ruez, who will be attending Williams College in the fall. Congratulations, Marleene. [Applause] Okay. So now um resolve that the board of education recess this meeting for the purpose of the reception to honor the top 10 students, retiring staff and staff tenure until 7 p.m. The time is 6:56 p.m. So let's do this quickly. So, we'll do we'll we'll change this to 7:30. Let's do that. Uh, do I have a motion? Motion, Mr. M. Do I have a second? Dr. Walsh. All in favor? I. Okay. Enjoy everybody. Um, that was nice. So, thanks everyone
013for joining in. Resolve that the board of education reconvene to open session. The time is 7:32 p.m. 7:32 p.m. A motion. Motion. Mr. Mine, do I have a second? Second, Mr. Graic. All in favor? I I. It's unanimous. Peggy. All right. Moving right along to administrative reports. We don't have any. They're attached. They're attached and so everybody can read them at their leisure. Thank agenda order. Woo. Are we reading this whole thing? Resolve to approve um the following additions, deletions, changes, and order uh of the agenda as presented. Okay, that's what they Okay. Do we do I have a motion? Um Dr. Walsh, do I have a second? You know, all in favor No, no, no. We have um a resignation of an elementary teacher. Um an appointment of an elementary teacher uh uh two
014elementary teachers actually um appointment of a guidance aid um as well as a certified occupational therapy assistant. um summer school staff, um an occupational therapy supervisor, a special education teacher, and we also have two financials. One is the approval of the um of an MOA um oh for the uh polling administrators association and also um the acknowledgement of a claims auditor report. And that's it. Anybody have any questions on the addendum or wishes to remove any of the items presented also for the whole agenda? Now all in favor I I Okay, that's everyone. Now to visitors comments. Okay, no visitor comments this evenings. Thanks. So on to board remarks. Would you make any remarks this evening? Mr. Garbarino. Uh thank you. Uh as tonight is my last uh board meeting at the end of my
015term, I would like to just thank my fellow board members, the community, uh the administrative team, including Dr. Fontana, Dr. Kirkus, and Miss Hin, and all the staff I've uh worked with as well as my family for the opportunity to serve on the board. It's been a very uh rewarding experience, and I appreciate it. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Mr. Garberino. Um, anyone else? Um, I didn't prepare any remarks, but u thanks again to you, Guido. Congratulations. Uh, be be well. Wish you the best. Uh, same to Peggy um and Kim. Thank you both so much for your service to the school district and and again, congratulations to you both. Um and the only thing I wanted to share was just regarding um the the PCT MOA. That was uh really was it was an
016honor uh and quite an experience. Um very um it was a really solid learning experience for me. Uh being involved with the negotiation process with the PCT. I very much enjoyed working with everybody at the negotiation table and I'm really uh I'm proud of what we accomplished and I look forward to uh to the to the um to the coming years. So thank you. Yes, kudos and congratulations to the entire team on a job well done. Um, anybody else? Uh, board comments, Mr. Graic. Um, I always love meetings like tonight. Just positive energy and all that and congratulations to all the retirees. Mr. Garino was our policy chair and everything you've done the last three years. I I've learned a ton from you and and serving with you has been a real honor. It's just
017uh sad to see you go, but happy to have the time to to serve with you in this role and uh yeah, just had to say something in that regard. So, thank you for all your time and efforts and the best luck down the road and with your kids and everything that you now have a little more time to do, but uh you're definitely going to be missed here, man. Definitely uh by me and and everybody. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gratchic. Anyone else board remarks? No. Okay, so moving along to vice president comments. Good evening everyone. I also want to offer my thanks to Guido Garberino for his three years of service. Guido always brought a calm, thoughtful perspective and he will definitely be missed. Um, congratulations to Dr. Fontana on her retirement.
018I wish you uh relaxation and fun with your family and grandchildren and we look forward to seeing what you do next in education world as I'm sure this is not your last stop. Um, congratulations also to Peggy on her retirement. Uh, when you run for the board, Peggy's the first person that you meet and you know, kind of she kind of guides you through the process and is still guiding us today. So, she uh has spent a tremendous amount of her time supporting our school district and our board and she will truly be missed as well. Just a few updates. The audit committee met um earlier this month. We had time to talk with our auditor and our audit will begin this summer and there will be updates on that in the fall. I want
019to congratulate um our senior Akenhal scholarship winners who were um all here tonight being part of the top 10% of their class. Mr. Tucci, Dr. Fantana and I had the honor of attending their awards evening. We all should be really proud of all that they accomplished academically and also really all that they all gave back to our community. They all spoke about things they had done or spoken about things they had done to support our community. Um, our middle school students presented their learning celebrations project earlier this month and showcased their accomplishments to their families and friends. I was happy to attend the spring uh sports awards. I think that was two weeks ago. I can't keep up. Um, we have a lot of talented athletes and we had many who were honored with all
020league, all section, and all county awards. Our fourth graders had a beautiful day last Friday for the moving up ceremony and the middle school and high school graduations will be celebrated this week. I know the PTA is hosting an end of the year movie night on Friday. So, we thank them for that. And just another reminder that the PTA, the PTSA, and the Tiger Club are all volunteer organations organizations and they run on fundraising and your support. So, I really encourage everybody as they start to move into the summer to keep it in the back of your mind. Think about volunteering. Make sure you join those organizations in the fall and show them your support because they do so much for our staff and students. And with that, I wish you all a great summer.
021Thank you, Dr. Walsh. And now on to superintendent comments. Thank you, Mr. Oay. Um, I want to begin by thanking Mr. Garberino for his service to the board. Uh, the Garbino family overall has contributed a lot to our schools and to um to my personal story in Pauling. Mrs. Garino was on the board while Mr. Garino was home taking care of the children uh when I started in Pauling. So, it's um it's very much appreciated all that you've uh all that you've given to the to the board and to the community. So, thank you very much. Uh, the agenda includes a create a position uh create and appoint a teacher for an additional special education teacher assigned to co-e in grade one providing additional support so that students in kindergarten and grade one each have
022a dedicated teacher um to support them in special education. So, I want to thank Dr. Sweeney and the team for advocacy and also the board for supporting this additional position. The agenda includes the recommendation for our student liaison for the coming year. Bailey Olirri and Nala Muno. Bailey will be the senior liaison and Nala the junior liaison. And I want to thank my student advisory group SAS for their work in developing a comprehensive policy. I want to thank the policy committee for the time it took in reviewing the students recommendations and the high school students and staff um for their diligence in fulfilling the policy and providing a recommendation to Mrs. Ken. I'm sorry not to sit alongside these students, but I'm excited to see their contributions. On the agenda, as Mr. remain indicated is
023the memorandum of agreement between the falling teachers union and the district for a 4-year successor agreement. Um instead of further editorializing, I'm going to read from the joint statement that um Mrs. Schweiser and I shared um to sort of give you a little bit of the spirit of uh the work that we did together. The negotiation teams have worked thoughtfully, collaboratively, realistically, and resourcefully. And together, they worked to balance the need of Pauling's outstanding teachers and teaching assistants with the district's goals for our students and the community's capacity to support a highquality education. Throughout the negotiations, all parties came to the table prepared, engaged, and committed to reaching meaningful compromises in the best interests of everyone involved. And um I am very pleased. I know that's true of the district team and I was very
024pleased at the reception of this MOA from our dedicated teaching staff. So I'm very pleased to recommend it to the board tonight. Um and I guess I can add uh that PCT did ratify this agreement uh with uh overwhelming support. So I'm I'm very grateful to our teaching colleagues for that and thanks to Mrs. Schweiser for her leadership. And there's a little more. Okay. Um, the rest of my remarks are are really thank yous. Um, first, in general, it's been an honor and a privilege to serve the Pauling Schools for the past 11 years. I'm grateful to that first hiring committee all the way to the board of education that extended my contract for the next four years. I don't take lightly the confidence placed in me, and I thank everyone for it. But the
025thanks for the achievement of the past 11 years go to the team of teachers leaders including board of education members and all our staff. They are the people who made the following few just really wonderful enhancements to the Pauling schools a reality. I'm just going to mention a few. Um they made a K12 pre-engineering program a reality. An award-winning science research program. Actually Mr. Garbarino had a tremendous amount to do with our award-winning science research program at its inception. So, we're grateful to him for that, too, as well as our outstanding staff. Local curriculum development with student coaches and teacher leadership, a rich and robust vision of powerful literacy built by teachers, a culture of innovation and risk-taking that continues to attract high quality and diverse staff, a first district in Duchess County to make
026the seal of biiteracy available to students. A remarkable participation rate for the Seal of Civic Readiness, a new integrated pre kindergarten program and brand new string orchestra program, equitable access to all school programs, including those that are co-curricular such as wind and string ensembles and all field trips so that public schools really are for the public. An embedded mental health clinic serving students and families right here in our schools. And a vibrant student advisory group that I just mentioned. We are often thanked for the service we provide to the community during COVID and it's common to acknowledge that we had the earliest return to in person and the highest percentage of students in our buildings every day of any school district in the Hudson Valley. I was at a party this weekend and while that
027was mentioned, it was also mentioned that our staff also gave families the choice of remote instruction and this too meant a lot to the community and took particular vision and effort from the staff to accomplish this. Together with the community, we've built two comprehensive visions for the polling schools, one of which garnered the support of the community for a 47.8 8 million project greatly supporting athletics and many school programs. But it's always the people who matter the most. And I think the lasting legacy of the past dozen years will be the leadership. I've been honored to recommend the hiring or the promotion or both of every administrator in this district save one. And that's only because I know I couldn't talk Mrs. Ken into a promotion if I tried. Those are the people who continue
028to work with all of our exceptional teachers and staff to continue to serve the students and the community and I remain very grateful to have worked alongside of them. Those are my remarks. Thank you, Dr. Fontana. Down to um consent agenda. Resolve that the board of education approve all asteris items as a consent agenda. Do I have a motion? Motion. Do I have a second? Mr. Tui. All in favor? I I unanimous. Uh on to minutes. Resolve that the board of education approve the minutes of the Tuesday, June 10th business meeting. Anybody need to abstain? Uh, do I have a motion? Motion. Mr. May, do I have a second? Mr. Tui, all in favor? I I now are down to the first reading under board of education. We have the first reading of uh policy
0295695, students and personal electronic devices. uh and a distraction-free environment. Turn it over to Absolutely. Uh so this policy is in response to a recently passed component of the state budget which mandates that schools adopt um policies and procedures in order to maintain a distraction-free environment from personal internet enabled devices. So um the in in order to comply with this, the district uh the policy committee um draft in consultation with stakeholders uh from from the bargain from the schools um drafted uh a policy that you have before you tonight to consider. So uh if you look through the policy uh it defines the types of personal electronic devices that supplies and essentially it's any um internet capable devices that's bring might bring to school with them um you know especially cell phones and smartwatches um
030and uh ear your uh wireless earbuds. And so it lays out some stipulations that these devices can be used for educational purposes at the teacher's discretion and with administrative approval uh in the classroom. And it talks about how um you know it lays out some of the conditions for that that they have to be a positive means for contributing to the instruction that's uh you know taking place. Um but it then uh gets into what will be done to ensure that uh these devices do not provide distractions during the school day and um first of all it prohibits their use during instructional time again unless specifically prohibited by a teacher with administrative approval for a specific educational purpose and stipulates that they must be turned off and stored out of sight during instructional time uh
031specifically in lockers in the middle school and in schoolisssued pouches at the high school. uh with elementary students expected to leave these devices at home. Uh the policy also lays out that misuse of electronic devices can result in confiscation until the end of the school day and this is outlined in the code of conduct and that some uses of personal electronic devices can constitute a violation of school district code of conduct and in some instances perhaps the law and that school district intends to cooperate with law enforcement officials as appropriate. Uh district will not be responsible for stolen, lost or damaged personal electronic devices. Um high school students who lose or damage their schoolisssued pouches will be financially responsible for their replacements. Uh staff members are expected to model behavior expected from students and have
032any personal electronic devices off and away from site except as necessary to perform required tasks appropriate to their roles. Um, and students with IEPs or section 504 accommodations that allow for the use of personal electronic devices will be allowed to use them for such purposes within the parameters of those plans. Um, as guardian reach students by calling the school's main offices or by using the attendance email and uh students may be able to reach their parents by the same method and by email on their district issued Chromebooks. Um, and parents will be notified of these protocols at the beginning of each school year. uh and all staff will contribute to promoting and ensuring a distraction-free environment and administrators will impose appropriate penalties for infractions guided by the code of conduct and principles of progressive discipline.
033And finally, no student will be suspended solely for accessing an internet enabled electronic device in violation of this policy. Um then the policy goes through uh parameters for uses for electronic devices for testing such as AP test or state tests and uh lays out their proper use for those uh situations. So the finally at the end of the policy it lays out um language that's going to be displayed on the school website um outlining some of the important uh stipulations of the policy um in ter including um when the students can possess their devices uh in terms of dates and times uh in the event of emergency when required by law for uh district medical or disability related reasons if authorized by a teacher your principal or a school district for specific educational purposes, for
034translation purposes with requests made to the appropriate administrator. Um, and for students who are routinely responsible for care and well-being of family member on a case-by case basis upon review and determination by a school psychologist, school social worker or school counselor and that all considered on a case-byase basis and at the sole discretion of the school district. So that is the policy that we drafted for you to consider. Thank you, Mr. Garberina. Um, what's discussion? I was just going to add one little thing to it. So, thank you, Mr. Garina, for reading that all out. Um, one thing I think that we really tried to do on the policy committee, we work really close with council on this. Uh, I think our main goal was to get compliant in order with the the mandate with
035the law, and I think we very much are with this. Um, I also think this is something that perhaps in a certain amount of time as we embark on this that we might have to massage language somewhere or all that. So, I don't want people to read this and think this is exactly the language for the next 10 years. There's definitely um going to be some I think learning related to this and some maybe massaging the language, but I think the way it is and the language and the council advice and all that, I think it gets us compliant and for where we need to be at this moment of time, I I think it reads very well. I just want to comment that thank you to the to the committee because I think this
036is a really big undertaking and so thank you for all your work with this because um it's going to be a real adjustment for everybody. So thank you for being so thorough and I I also think you know this policy is going to touch all three buildings. So, I would encourage the parents that are uh listening uh to to go on assembly, pull up the agenda, have a look at the policy. Um and as always, you can you can come to board meetings, you can ask questions, you can um you can submit questions electronically um and they will be answered. Um but this is going to affect everybody. Um and and feedback from the community is something that this board continues to value. So um you know h have a have a look at the
037policy and um that's it that you know have a look at the policy but also have a look at the law right because this is you know in direct response to um and to make us compliant with you know with law and so please don't look at it in isolation try to gain greater context and as uh Mr. main has pointed out um you know we remain you know faithful to listening to feedback. Please do feel free to you know to come and and ask questions or email questions. Um but um all of the information is out there for you know for everybody to to review. Anybody I'm sorry go ahead. I'd just like to um put the new policy in context. Um and of of course our use of electronic devices and our requests
038for teachers to model and all staff to model um good distraction-free practices will certainly affect the entire community. But this is an update to an existing policy informed of course by as Mr. Garbrino indicated at the outset uh the uh new law. Um the practice in the Pauling schools um and the policy is unchanged for the elementary school and the middle school. So certainly there are effects on all of us and we are a whole community. Um but the policy required us to make changes in our practice at the high school and allowed us to maintain our practices at the elementary school and the middle school. So um I certainly support um what Mr. Mine said in terms of we're all in this together. Uh but luckily we were already fully compliant in those two
039buildings. Um and so we'll be expecting um sort of the greatest adjustment to be uh among our high school students. So we will certainly be working through it together. Okay. So if there are no specific comments on this, I guess we can take um you know time and revisit it for a second reading or does everybody feel comfortable moving it to second? There is sorry I I wouldn't mind taking some time to just look it over. put it, you know, for a second reading at the next meeting. Thank you. Thank you. So any feedback, any thoughts could be emailed, have that incorporated into the next draft at the next meeting. Depending Well, it would depend on what we got. Ordinarily, it will be on consent. I mean, if there was if somebody sees a somebody
040sees a spelling error, it's going to appear on consent at the next meeting. But if there's something if we get something substantial, um, we'd probably bring it back to the board off consent for discussion. I think if you don't mind, the the one thing that, um, and again, I appreciate all the work that's been put into it. My only concern is that at the high school level when it talks about teachers giving consent especially for a cell phone they for an academic reason in a classroom just thinking about that day if a particular teacher's sixth period and now that student has their phone with them for sixth period how do they go about putting it back in their pouch so it's not a distraction for the rest of the day that's just something that that
041came to my mind do That's the reason that we um our former policy always allowed cell phones in classrooms with teacher approval. That was what the policy was for educational purposes. So in this case, for some of the reasons that you're raising, we added that it also required administrative approval. So in other words, those logistics would have to be managed by Mr. Titus or Mrs. Kalen. So, so that it would not um become you know effectively um a management problem to to have an educational use in a given period for exactly the reasons you cite. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, it'll be on for second reading at the next meeting. Sorry to interrupt Peggy. I think there may have been something I needed to take off the agenda and I didn't. I apologize, but I
042think there was something I should have abstained on for a vote. The number 10, the volunteer. I'm sorry. I just realized. I apologize. Board meetings are blurring together. I thought that last meeting somehow I missed it. I apologize. So we have to go back and pull. Okay. 10. Sorry. Resolve to remove Item 10 which is sorry volunteer just a volunteer. Okay. Um off of agenda. Do I have a motion? Off of consent. Sorry. Off of consent. Do I have a motion? Motion. Have a second. Mr. Garbarino. All in favor? I. Okay. So now we are going to resolve to approve. Resolve to approve item 10, volunteer um on the agenda item. Do I have a motion? Motion. Scratch. Do I have a second? Mr. Tui. All in favor? I I sorry everybody. Any abstensions? Thank
043you. Dr. W. Thank you. So I think the next thing would be unfinished business and one thing that I think we need to add to this uh Miss Fashine for next is maybe to talk about the workshop related to the policy that we just discussed. I think that there is a interest among the board to develop a workshop or some form of communication or interaction with the community members. this particular policy that we that we discussed tonight. Okay. So, if you could add that for, you know, to the unfinished business for next time, that would be great. Is there any other conversation or thoughts around that workshop that you would like to share or anybody else would like to share? Yeah, we were thinking um I think the cell phone issue just being an educator
044is has been a struggle uh just in general. I think in school with social media and kids in particular. So our thought was to just try to see if we can reach out to some experts um and bring some experts in and talk about kind of the damaging effects of especially children getting smartphones at too early in of an age um and how that negatively can impact them through their academic career. So I'd love to explore that. I can take the lead on that if you want. Uh reach out to people obviously. Ken, we could uh speak to you about how we could go about um and what we want to do is really start at the younger ages, maybe kindergarten, first, second grade parents, and really speak to them about these negative impacts that
045we're seeing as the kids go through their academic career. So, it's just a thought something that I think would be uh really important to and then continue to work through to older grades as well and talk about how we can manage cell phone usage, how we can protect our kids from things on the internet, so on and so forth. So, take any input from that. Uh well, I followed up with the conversation last at the last board meeting by sending the resource that one of the resources you referenced uh which I uh researched a little bit and discussed with another colleague uh the wait till 8 organization and I sent that to uh the PTA president, the PTSA president and the chair of the health and wellness committee uh who was Lauren Kica. So um
046you know those are those are key um stakeholders and partners were um were you to be interested in in doing something you'd want to have the support of those organizations. So um they're already aware that there is some interest on the board and um so they're ready presumably to talk about it if they have interest. I should say that um we certainly don't see any evidence of very young children having cell phones. I mean it is occasionally but it's certainly something that we see we're more aware of at Upper elementary and in middle school. So it's um you know and of course we don't allow cell phones in the elementary school. Thank you for uh taking the lead on that. I appreciate I think the I think the goal is to get ahead of that
047so that we're speaking to parents before they get to those ages of third fourth grade so they they're aware and educated on what could occur and the damaging effects of it. So I think that was the our point starting at the younger ages before the kids have them so that parents can then make an educated decision on when we think it's appropriate to have them and going forward. So but I appreciate you reaching out to them. That's great. Could you just tell me again? You said you you spoke to the PTA. I sent the resource to the PTSA president who is Melanie Middlebrook. I sent the resource to the PTA president who is Nicole Maine. And I sent the resource to the health and wellness chair, the district health and wellness committee who is Lauren
048Kica. Thank you. When we say uh workshop, would this be having like a guest speaker from an organization coming to a schoolboard meeting and addressing the community and the organization? What do what do we mean when we say that? So, I don't I don't think that it has any preconceived, you know, shape we have to talk about, right? I think that, you know, the conversation is starting. Thank you, uh, Dr. Fontana for sharing those resources with our, um, key allies here. But I think that you know over the next couple of weeks or conversations that we have, we can sort of think of what is going to be an impactful meaning um venue or event to be able to engage with the intended audiences to deliver this important information and really seek their partnership, right?
049Um so that in the home, you know, we are also making an impact. um so that the work that happens here you know can benefit from the collaboration from the families at home. I have a question because I am not sure what you want under unfinished business. you want you want to establish some type of a workshop where you're going to have the public come at a separate meeting or you're I mean I'm not sure this discussion to to you know to continue with the discussion to create an event to talk about you know um cell phone usage or devices you know it's not really you're not really having a workshop you want to have a discussion at as unfinished business you want to have a discussion on how to present this data to the
050public, right? How to bring this information to the public in some way, shape or form. And we haven't necessarily decided what that will look like, you know, when it will happen. But I think that there's interest, you know, amongst board members to to do something with in with in this respect. I would suggest we don't we don't do it at a board meeting that it's a separate entity in and of itself. But I mean, we can get into the details later. I also would suggest if it's okay with my fellow board members that we maybe do this in September that we don't try to cuz it's the end of the school year. I think it'd be much more beneficial if we plan this out, do something mid to late September once schools started in the
051initial um but I'd take suggestions. I'm just I'm just that was my thought. Thank you. No, absolutely. Um, and so I think we add that to unfinished business. We continue to, you know, give it some shape, maybe do some research, bring it back here so that we can discuss it and then figure out what it is that, you know, that we would like to at time then work with the interim superintendent to, you know, bring to fruition. Okay. Is there any Well, we didn't have that in unfinished business, but we talked about it last time, so we want to make sure we add it so we can continue to talk about it. Is there any new business that anybody would like to bring? Andrew, excuse me. Did we confirm our retreat days and times? I
052don't Is this this my is this okay to bring? Um, yeah. No, absolutely. Um, I spoke with Mr. D. Carlo this morning. Um so our reorg meeting is July 9th. We do have set um time on the 10th and 11th for retreat. Um and he is working on a tenative agenda based on the document that we all contributed to. Um we certainly will not get to everything in those two days. So we do have some August time um set aside as well that the August date has not been confirmed. Um but it will be that week of August 18th when everybody um had availability. Um I I think we can be open on that. Um and does daytime work? Do we want to go a little bit later? Love afternoon. Afternoon. Late afternoon. Okay. I
053think NISSPA thinks it's at 9 um on Friday and I think uh the attorneys think it's 9:30 on Thursday. Well, the attorneys are correct in the sense that we have the two days and we want to be able to start on Thursday morning with something. Mr. D Carlo is not available. He he is available. He is available Thursday morning. Yeah. Okay. All right. Initially, he wasn't available on Thursday morning. Um and so we were thinking about starting, you know, with um with a legal update, you know, for that morning and then welcome Mr. D. Carlo in in the afternoon and but I guess he's going to be putting together the agenda for us for those two. Um and until we have that, maybe we table this. Those are those were times that I I think
054I have from him. Oh, so NISBA is confirmed for for Friday. 9 on Friday by with NISBA and Mr. D. Carlo. Those are that's and and I I don't know why 9:30 on Thursday, but that's maybe that's travel time for the attorneys. Yes, that was travel time. He r I spoke with Ritiated if we could start at 9:30 versus 9. Have a location. You want these? Um there is a location. It's the middle school library. Last year we used the um the middle school library convenient for for us to be here as opposed to travel, you know, 30 minutes away someplace. And so good. Can you make the daytime work? I know afternoon is better for you, Mr. Mine. for July for the July dates. Oh, that's that's done. I was talking about I was
055referring to the other dates. Okay. When those are flexible. So, and he said he would talk to us about them then. So, that's perfect. And if there is interest in having it somewhere locally offsite, if anybody is interested in that, let me know and I might be able to pull something together for us close by. Yeah. No, I think what I think folks appreciated last year was that it was easy to get to here. So, um yeah, it doesn't necessarily need to be here. I don't believe I will say that the catering here is very complicated. So, um and the middle school library was the only place we could find in the school district. Uh we're pretty tight. So, if there were an off-site location that wasn't far away, uh it could make things actually
056easier for Mr. D. Carlo since uh you know, we are having a little trouble with catering. We can have a discussion or two if everyone's interested in that. Sure. And it would be it would be nice like a little outside, a little inside. Sure. Mr. Mine, we could talk as I might have some suggestions, too. Sounds good. All right. I think that this July dates will be here, but then I think there will be followup, you know, dates in August, the week of August 18th at some point. That would be the this machine. We will have to have your cell phone number. You're set up on the comp. We'll we'll we'll make sure that we're we're including you in the correspondence. Welcome. I a little bit more new business. Just a little bit. Absolutely. uh
057probably won't be on news new business for the next agenda, but just a little question here on logistics. So, last year I didn't have the the luxury of being at a board meeting uh as a board member prior to the reorg meeting. Um but I do understand that there's going to be a rather uh hefty amount of material that will be included in the in the new reorg agenda. What do we have an understanding or or any sort of idea on when we're going to be able to start, you know, looking at some of this stuff in advance to the meeting or um cuz there's a lot. If you look at last year's reorg agenda, it would really give you an awful lot of information for this year's reorg agenda and it's it's already out
058there now. So, I don't think there'll be a lot of surprises from last year's it's true that it's long, but I mean, Mrs. Heslin, do you think that you think what I'm saying is accurate that last year's reorg agenda would provide, you know, in other words, if someone wanted to study what is going to be before them, um last year's reorg agenda will be pretty helpful because I don't see this year's reorg agenda getting to the board significantly before it ordinarily would, which would be the Friday before um and it before the meeting. I would agree with that. Um, I don't I don't think there's a whole lot of change. It's just long. So, if you look at it and you have questions about any of the items, um, any of us can answer them.
059So, are you saying that looking at last year's agenda, looking at some of the documents that were provided publicly on last year's agenda, most of them will be the same this year? Is that what you're saying? Eventually. Okay. I mean, I I mean, that's what I'm saying off the top of my head. I didn't expect the question, but I think I guess I'd have a preference than just maybe understanding a little bit more by exception if that's the case. Uh that that was my only comment is that I know that there's a there's a volume there and I just want to make sure that you're referring to like the policies that will need to be readopted and things like that. Um the reorg meeting is basically the same every year. There are certain resolutions that
060go on a reorg meeting and they are pretty consistent throughout my whole time here. Sure. So, it's all consent. Um, and it's all it's all consent and what understood. I was just more referring to the items items by exception like things that are different or that are atypical thing on the reorg agenda that is not on every reorg agenda. They're pretty much standard because it's stuff that has to get the the ball rolling for the new year. There'll be um for example, your title nine and title six officers are going to be appointed. They won't be the same p people because Mr. Rice is retired, but there will be a title nine and title six officers. So, it's it's that sort of thing. There could be that type of change. Um I don't know if
061we get our contract with our medical director on there could be a um probably not yet, but um there could be a minor cost change, something like that, but you know, it will it won't be differences in kind. Okay. Thank you. And there are 74 items under consent. Some of that is you know readoption of uh some pol uh some policies and then appointments of you know um you know position but yeah I just pulled it up but there's 74. I think if you look at it and you identify the things that are of interest to you now there's time to ask and we may be able to shed some light on it. So I think I do think that's a good way to start. If that's a good way to start using last year's
062as a rubric that's fine. Thank you. And you do know that you have a business meeting after the reor because business doesn't go really on the reor. Um, are you do you have any more questions on that or are you good? Do not. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. On to second visitor comments. All right. Seeing as there are none, I guess I will close out. Um, tonight, uh, we gather to honor all those retiring from the Pauling Central School District. So I want to begin by expressing uh on behalf of the board of education our heartfelt gratitude um to each and every one of them. Um you've all given your time, your care and your talents in um in service of our students and falling is stronger because of you. Uh I'd also like
063to take a moment to recognize three individuals um whose impact has been especially significant to our board and boards before us. Um to Dr. Kim Fontana, your tireless dedication over the past 11 years has guided the district with vision um steadiness and deep care for every student. You've been a mentor, advocate, and a force for good. Your legacy will continue to shape Pauling for years to come. Thank you, Dr. Fontana, for your extraordinary service. [Applause] to Mr. Guido Garberina. Thank you for your three years of principal and thoughtful service on the board. You brought integrity, insight, and a steady voice. Um, always grounded in what's best for our schools and our students. We're grateful to you, your family, and your commitment to [Music] [Applause] finally to Peggy Generoso. 90 years, not quite 20, just 19.
064But you've been the heart and soul of this board. A firecracker, a rock, and the glue that kept us moving forward. Peggy, uh, your presence and spirit will be missed uh, more than word more than words can say. So, thank you for everything. [Applause] I guess we'd also like to take a brief moment to welcome Miss Fasheen, who's going to be our new district board uh clerk. So, we're excited to have you on board and look forward to developing an equally fruitful and long-lasting relationship with you uh over the next years. Excellent. So, welcome. Thank you. And finally and in closing to all our retirees, congratulations and thank you. Your contributions have helped shape the story of Pauling and we wish you all the best in your next chapters. And with that, I'd like to
065adjourn the meeting. Resolve that the board of education adjourn this meeting. The time is 8:20 p.m. 8:20 p.m. Do I have a motion? Motion, Mr. Garberino. Do I have a second? Miss Kazak Korea. All in favor? I. All right. Good night. Thank you. Oh. Oh, you're supposed to do this. We We have gifts. Probably better. Stay. This is going to be the after. Just be dirty. This is the web extras. Like this is the B-roll. [Laughter] Goodness. Yeah, please tell me. That was not a suggestion. I got suggested a tractor. It's an incline plane. So, we can do some like planks or something. You want us to open these? Yeah. Open it. Yeah. I told you the lemonella. Lemonello. Peggy, I could have done a little better with the shading on that plant in the
066front. If you done 20 years, he would have done that. But for 19. and you've taken an art class [Music] [Applause]