001Good evening, Board of Education members and guests. Welcome to Mend Madness in the evening. I am Miss Sudas and I'm Leila Fay. Thank you for joining us. Our mission at Mend is to work collaboratively to inspire and prepare our students to be their best, do their best, and make a difference in the lives of others. We hear this often throughout the school year during presentations and announcements to name a few places. One way we continue to make our Mend community stronger is to ensure that student voice is a priority. Our administrators and teachers want to hear from us in large and small ways. For example, I sit on the instructional leadership team with two other students. There are students on every committee the school has like the social emotional committee and health and safety committee.
002Our voices are heard in a way that impacts the direction Mendine is going in the future. In addition, we continue to work on improving our physical safety, social emotional safety, and instructional practices. When we think about physical safety, we can tie that directly to our capital project. For example, the next phase of our capital project will ensure that our science rooms will be modernized. Our social emotional safety is a top priority and the school works hard to provide opportunities through student voice to ensure we have support. This year we brought back the sources of strength training that help students find the resources to get help through difficult times. Finally, with instructional strategies, our teachers are always providing authentic opportunities that allow us to push ourselves academically. At this point, we will send it off to
003Miss Julian and Miss Lynch to hear a little more. Good evening and thank you for allowing us the opportunity to highlight Mend High School this evening. As noted by Massud, student voice is extremely important in our learning community. This is why we chose to highlight and present to you this evening via men and madness which is our morning show. We have had a morning show for a number of years that was pre-recorded but only ran on Fridays. This meant that for the rest of the week we had the announcements over the loudspeaker. During that time, our students shared that they would like to have the morning show every morning. When Mr. Bell joined us a few years ago, we talked about the possibility of having a show that ran every day and was live based
004on what the students were asking for. With hard work on behalf of the kids and Mr. Bell, we made it happen four days a week because, well, we win on Wednesdays and there are no announcements. The morning show is directed and produced, written, performed, and created by students. They choose the content, when it airs, and what topics we feature. Tonight, we want to share with you some of the student created content that helps provide the backbone for not only information, but for stories that matter to our students and staff. Enjoy. Who took longer to get ready? >> Um, I did. >> Definitely. Rose. >> Is there any song you're hoping that'll play? Um, you know, I'm 17, so I have to go with Dancing Queen. >> Is there a song you're hoping that'll play? >>
005Flashing Lights by Kanye West. >> Any Justin Bieber song? >> Ninja by Young Thug. That's the thing I want. >> Okay. So, how was planning the dance? It was good. It was It was a lot of work, but every We knew a lot of people wanted it and we wanted it, too. So, we did as much as we could to like make it happen. Okay. So, were high school dances like this when you were in high school? >> Pretty much. I mean, with the homecoming dances, they were far more casual. This is very dressed up. And I love the enthusiasm. >> Why aren't you dressed? I didn't think it would be like this. >> Okay. So, who do you think took the longest to get ready? >> Definitely Marty. >> Yeah. Motty. Uh me. Any
006reason? >> Uh no. No. >> Hey, Menon. I'm Sarah Iiker and I'm Sophiano Crado. We are the peer leaders in the sources of strength club and we're here to highlight the themes of generosity and spirituality. Sources of Strength is a positive culture program that spreads messages of hope, help, and strength across existing social networks. At the heart of this national program is the sources of strength wheel, which is a simple yet powerful tool that helps people identify and develop their greatest strengths. The sources wheel has eight parts in this month. We're going to highlight two of them. Generosity and spirituality. Generosity is the strength comes from the joy you feel when you do good things for others. and spirituality is the strength uh that comes from fostering faith, getting connected and practicing gratitude. With all
007of that in mind, we are encouraging you to tell us about the things you do to show the strengths of generosity and spirituality. On the bulletin board in the comments, we have a kindness tree surrounded by lots of leaves. Feel free to write about your strengths and generosity and kindness on one of these leaves. So, let's show our strengths, mend, and fill up the tree together. What's up? >> What's up, men? Welcome back to Men Sports News. >> My name is James >> and mine is Casey. >> And we have some big news this morning. This Saturday, the football team takes on Penfield in the sectional finals at Sunni Brockport at 7:00 p.m. This game is absolutely mandatory for everyone to attend. We need a huge turnout. This is the eighth time that the Panthers
008have made the finals, and they've never brought home the brick. Make sure to come watch history being made and get rowdy. Be sure to turn in your permission slips for the fan bus as soon as possible. The bus will depart from the teachers lot at Mend at 5:30, so get here around 5:15. >> To board the bus, you must have proof of a ticket, so buy your tickets before the bus leaves. The link of the tickets are in the Menon Madness Instagram bio and on the story of the account. You can also get your tickets at goofan.com. The game starts at 700 p.m. So, we will arrive back to Menon at 10:15. The theme will be Navy out. Remember to come in the theme and be as loud as possible. >> This has been Menon
009Sports News. Back to the studio. >> Who's a teacher you're grateful for? Um, honestly, I'm grateful for all my teachers. Um, they're all really great, really nice. I don't have any bad experiences with the teacher. >> Who are you grateful for? >> Uh, I'm grateful for our department head, Tom Kennel. He puts an amazing amount of time and effort into making our science department as awesome as it is. >> Who is somebody at Mending you're grateful for? >> Um, it's got to be Dennis. Seeing him just first thing in the morning smiling, fist bumping everyone, just it's a great start to the day. She's so sweet. Who are you grateful for? >> I am grateful for Mrs. Coons, my all-time teacher bestie. Obviously, the whole English department, but she's my girl. Who's someone you're grateful
010for? >> Oh, Mrs. Grenell. >> Certainly. She's the glue. >> Yeah, we have glue people in the building and glue people hold things together. So, Mrs. Grenell. >> Who's a teacher you're grateful for? >> Mr. Dewolf. >> He's a great teacher and very accepting. >> I love his retakes. >> Who is somebody at Mendon you're grateful for? Uh I am grateful for we have two new counselors who have come to Mend High School this year. They are awesome. They bring a tremendous amount of really good experience. Uh Mr. Danjo and Mrs. Ramo. They are just awesome. >> Who is someone you're grateful for? >> I am grateful for Mr. Ventura, head custodian. No one works harder in the building. True. >> We're all very grateful for all the staff at Menon and we truly appreciate
011everything you've done. Thank you. Such a good question. I'm so smart. I'm such a genius if I ask that question. >> Going the liver on. Sometimes I say the stupidest stuff is great. >> Yeah. >> Oh, the really fashionable ones. >> Yes. I love their outfits so much. They're so good. >> They're trying to get me to dress differently. >> Yes, you should. I'm not saying things that >> trying to add some stuff. >> Yes. More color. >> More color. That's my color. Um, sorry. I forgot what I'm asking. We can cut. This is awkward now. Leaving. >> I'm going. That was too much sincerity for one day. I can't be this type. Okay. Thank you. Are you taking the I'm leaving. We hope you have enjoyed getting to see a little bit about what
012makes men such a special place. Thank you for watching Morning Madness. >> Have a great day. >> So, that's a typical show. It's a little longer than normal. Um, normally they're about five minutes. who saw the star of the show who repeated several guest appearances and Miss who's part of our ILT when we took our team to our ILT about what do we want to showcase to the board of education because that's where we um often have voice of student staff and faculty and want to make sure that we're highlighting what's the best things to show about men and madness show came up as number one as the top priority because of as you can see this is our culture all of those different segments so you saw our homecoming dance that the kids put
013a lot of work and energy into you saw the sports news that the kids rally around at different points. You saw the um the sources of strength which we brought back this year um and are doing more work as you can see aligning our committee with our ILTs and whatnot. And then you saw the end one was just around our gratitude which is directly aligned again with the committee and what we're um showcasing for this year. So four clips, four different pieces of our community and our background. Um, and we thought they really resonated with who we are as a learning community and what we're about. So, thank you for the time. We really appreciate it. If you have questions, here to answer them. >> Melissa, that was great. Thank you to everyone involved. That
014looks like a lot of work putting that together, but it was very fun, entertaining. Does anyone have any questions for Melissa? >> Thank you very much. Yeah, I would just like to do a special shout out to Sam Bell who did help us put that all together and then Andrea Lynch and Stephanie Bar and Stephanie's not with us tonight. Um, but this year has been seamless because of their their work as um administrative team together. Stephanie coming over to join us has been a nice um it's been great. She's been a great addition to our building. She helps us see things in new new ways. Having someone from an elementary background come in and be like, "Why do we do this?" And we're like, "Yeah, we good question. Let's figure that out together." Right. Um,
015so she's been a great addition and I couldn't do anything, we couldn't do anything without our administrative team, um, of Andrea and Stephanie. And then we have glue people like Eric said and Sam Bell is one of the glue. So, thank you all very much for coming. We appreciate your time. Thank you very much. >> All right. Up next, I'd like to invite uh Kristen Keller and Griffin Deron to share with us about the career internship program. Yes. All right. Good evening, members of the board, faculty, and community members. My name is Kristen Keller, and I am the internship coordinator for the district. I am joined this evening with just >> uh hi, I'm gripping around. >> All right. And we wanted to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about our career internship
016program. Our career internship program is designed for juniors and seniors that are interested in gaining realworld experience. It's an opportunity for them to connect real world content with I'm sorry, real world experience with classroom content. Our program is an independent study course open to juniors and seniors, which I think I just said, I'm sorry. Um, open to juniors and seniors that are looking for that real world experience. Once students are interested in doing an internship, they meet with me and they work on an interest statement and a resume and we work together to find a mentor that will be a good placement for them. Once they have their mentor, they must do a minimum of 40 hours of career exposure. It is much more than a shadow experience. It is in fact a structured hands-on
017learning experience. Additionally, students must do coursework in order to earn the credit. You will see in the booklets that I actually handed over to you, they all have a final report that they do. And any student that is off to college, that project goes as part of their application process, their packet that they send, they also get a letter of recommendation from me um on behalf of the program. So it is kind of that little extra thing that some of the kids do because it is an independent study course. All right. So, for a frame of reference, we had 78 students that participated in our career internship program this past summer. You can see the breakdown here. There's 33 from Mend and we had 45 from Southerntherland. We get about a handful of students that
018do their internships during the school year, but for the most part, our students do it during the summer just because that's when they have the flexibility in their schedule, as well as a lot of our mentors have more flexibility in their schedule as well. Um, we are proud to partner with local organizations, nonforprofits, and government agencies, and we're always looking for more. So if anyone is sitting in here and wants to be a mentor or know someone who might be a mentor, please feel free to reach out to me at any time. But just so you know, our last cycle, we worked with 42 different mentors at 20 different organizations. And through those mentorships, we had a huge variety of students looking at different career fields. You can see here we had things like zoology
019and real estate and sports and construction and legal. Um we even had someone this year who wanted to be an interpreter. So um it really is an alakart program. I work really hard with the students to find exactly what they're looking for and reaching out to mentors that are going to be a really good fit for them. So um one such mentor that we do have is campus construction. And so I do want to personally thank them for their support of our program. Our partnerships with our local businesses are really a key part to this program. Um and we really couldn't do it without those people. So I do want to say thank you. And Griffin is going to speak about his internship opportunity um in a moment. Um but before I do that, just
020overall the feedback that we get from our program is overwhelmingly positive. Whether it's from the mentors, whether it's from the parents or the students themselves. I meet with students at the end of their um internship, which for the most part is typically in September when they've kind of wrapped up their uh internship and they come back and they tell me all the different things that they've done. Some of them do things that I don't even know what they're talking about because they're in the medical field or they're in engineering or whatever and they they've learned new skills, they have new passions. They talk about how that really reiterated this is exactly what I want to do with my career and some come back and say eh it's not really for me and I tell them
021like that's okay right that's a really good learning experience and let's be honest how many of us did have a linear career path so um many students are asked to come on as part-time employees some are asked to stay on and do additional hours I had one student who did over 300 hours for internship so it's a gamut of things that you see from that. But I just wanted to again before on my final note, I wanted to say thank you for your support. You know, this is a really great program that helps our students be prepared for when they leave Pittsburgh schools. And now, >> all right. Uh, hi. I'm excited to be here tonight and I'm going to share the top 10 things I learned in my summer internship. So, Yeah. Oh, sorry.
022You have the space on. >> Perfect. Uh, I'm Griffin. I'm a senior at Sutherland. Uh, this is my mentor, Kelly Bunk, and I intern campus construction management, which is based in Pittsburgh. And here's what I learned. Number 10, I learned that internships really do exist. Juniors and seniors can participate in Pittsver career Pittsford's career internship program. The idea is to give students a chance to work sideby side with the professionals. Internships are offered in fields like law, medicine, engineering, and many more. Perfect. The ninth thing I learned is the adults really know what they're doing. In class, my engineering teacher, Mr. Benz, mentioned the possibility of an internship and he encouraged me to apply. Then I was connected to Mrs. Keller. She told me all about the process and coordinated a mentor for me. The
023next adult in the process was my mentor, Kelly Funk. Once we connected, Kelly and I set up a schedule. Then she got me involved in tasking activities like problem solving and site visits. Number eight, I learned that campus construction makes an impact. The company I intern with specializes in construction management services. They work to support every phase of the project. They coordinate the project, control the cost, and plan the project from beginning to end. Number seven, I learned that school actually connects the real world. While interning and visiting sites, I was glad that I had taken engineering and architecture courses at my school. I was able to use what I learned in class and see how it applied to real construction projects. Number six, wearing a hard hat isn't just about looking cool. I received
024a hard hat on the first day of my internship. When we visited sites, safety was important. Every day, we're part of the projects all around Pittsford School District. It was especially interesting to see Barker Road's cafeteria project. We visited one week and there was a full-size swimming pool in the middle of the project. One week later, all I saw was concrete. Number five, construction management is more than dirt and deadlines. The point of the internship was to learn more about this career. Throughout my time at campus construction, I learned so much about the work that they do. It's a combination of planning, budgeting, communication, leadership, and problem solving. The fourth thing I learned is that donuts bring people together. Everyone at Campus Construction was so welcoming and encouraging. One thing I was really impressed by
025was how happy their employees were. where the donuts reference comes from is on my last day interning with campus. I thought it'd be nice to grab a dozen donuts to share with the crew. When I arrived, two dozen donuts were already sitting on the table. We all had the same same idea. We spent the rest of the day going sight to sight handing out donuts to anyone we could because we couldn't let it go to waste. Number three, mentors make all the difference. My mentor, Kelly Funk, was a critical part of my internship. She welcomed me, answered all my questions, and provided me with a variety of experiences. Also on the team were Glenn and Scotty. They were a huge help, always there to explain new topics. Glenn had so much experience in the field
026that he loved to share with me. And Scotty would walk me through his daily tasks as a project manager. They've been great supports to me even after the internship ended. For example, Kelly wrote me a letter of recommendation for my college application. And she went to one of my soccer games to see me play. I learned how important real professional relationships are. Number two, 40 hours can change your life. I learned so much while interning on the job. Those 40 hours helped me learn more about construction management. Also, the work for the internship course, the daily logs, company and mentor research, and the final paper helped me process everything I was learning throughout the summer. And finally, number one, I learned that the hard hat fits. This internship was extremely positive for me. I was
027able to learn so much through hands-on experiences. I worked with an amazing mentor and team. And now, thanks to this internship, I know exactly what I want to do in my future. I plan to pursue a degree and career in construction management. So many people have worked to make this experience possible for me and I'm so thankful to all of them. To the Pittsford Central School District for offering this program. To Mrs. Keller for organizing my internship. Mr. Benz for sparking the interest of an internship in the first place. Kelly, Scotty, and Glenn at Campus Construction for sharing your time and knowledge with me. and campus construction management group for being a model of what a great company and work environment feels like. Thanks to everyone for putting in the work to make this internship
028possible. Does anyone have any questions for either one of us? >> Thank you so much. I just wanted to say thank you for coming in tonight and presenting to us. It's really impressive both your presentations and the experience that you gained Griffin um throughout the whole process. So >> um and I'm very excited to see that you're going to pursue a career in this area. So good luck to you and um you know you have a bright future ahead. >> Thank you for your time this evening. And moving on to our 2026 capital project presentations from our friends at FBI. >> We're going to Well, thank you, Superintendent, Board of Education, faculty, staff, visitors for having us to talk about the next upcoming project in the long-term planning process for Pittsburgh schools. As mentioned, I'm
029Kurt Vader with SEI Design Group along with Brian Solinsky from SEI Design Group architects working with the district on your last couple project capital projects. Today we're going to be talking about uh the review and planning process leading up to the uh vote uh in March 5th for the next capital project, proposed scope, the next step as far as the secret process and determination at the next uh board meeting, financial considerations, and then next steps and proposed schedule. The re the planning process started uh shortly after uh the $2200 million project. Uh 10 years after that project, which is a relatively long time in between doing capital work on a district, the district elected to get move into a 2012 capital improvement project. This included the track, the new tracks at Menon High School, Southern
030High School, the infrastructures uh at the Menon High School and that completes uh HVAC renovations, roof replacements, roof coatings, Hen Creek upgrades, elementary school upgrades. Um with that momentum and uh the success of that project, the district started um looking ahead to long-term planning uh and started investing into the uh next steps of maintaining the building, the district's buildings. So in 2019, there was a capital project to do roof replacements and coatings. In 2021, $6 million project for generator replacements, LED light replacements, ventilation upgrades. in 2023, which is the project you're in the middle of now, is the Caukins Road Middle School renovations, the um Menon High School uh renovations and additions along with infrastructure uh upgrades. Uh as you can see, there's kind of a theme going with there is a academic infrastructure or
031academic project uh followed by an infrastructure project followed by an academic project followed by an infrastructure project. Um kind of your buildings are similar to your houses. uh they need your houses need maintenance, your these buildings need maintenance just on similar routine bases and you utilizing the state aid from New York State and your uh local shares that are banked away allows the buildings to be consistently upgraded uh and renovated. So from 2002 to 2023 is that are those running of projects. From 23 moving forward there's a planning process for the 2026 project which we're going to be talking about tonight which is again into that infrastructure heavy roof replacements uh systems upgrades mechanical systems lighting systems and generators. um between the two you'll notice that there are um many more smaller dots between the
03220 2002 and 2023 versus the 23 moving forward. Those smaller dots are what they call we call state calls capital um outlay projects. This is where the state um you can allows uh and actually prefers that districts do up to $100,000 worth of work each year. Uh typically a capital project you're will be maximizing your maximum cost allowance which is the amount that is each building has a value associated with um once that money is spent that regenerates every 5 years. So you're in that fiveyear planning process. The $100,000 projects are a mechanism to allow districts to do maintain a small project every year. So we're capitalizing on that. Uh, and we're on our second the district's on their second one right now and planning for the third one. In this long-term planning process, the
033district has already reviewed and looked at their finances and scope using the building condition survey, which is a survey of every single building that has to occur every 5 years. The licensed architects, engineers have to come out uh and review every nook and cranny, if you will, of the each building. uh they assess the life expectancy of those items including just classrooms in general all the way through systems and roofs and then assign a value to what that replacement cost would be. That number is that report is given to the state so that they have an idea of what kind of uh aidability and funding projects that are going to be coming down the pipeline as far as they start putting their budgets together. And then the districts and the architects and engineers use that
034report to generate next levels of projects kind of crept into that cycle. So in that project cycle um there are two rings. The outside ring is the current capital project and planning process that we are in right now. So in the top right hand corner is when we started with the building condition survey in 2021. Uh then we start work we're using that information put together the capital project for 2023. There was a community vote in 2023 started design 2324. As we come around the bottom left hand side we're into um design and submission to SED for permitting and then in 2024 2027 is construction. The inside circle is that next step as you're in the middle or working through your construction project. Each project takes each capital projects roughly about five years worth of
035time frame which is how they get their five-year VCS. Got a year of preref of pre pre-esign, a vote upon a successful vote, a year of design, up to six months of permitting, and then up to three years of construction. When you're into that construction period is when you want to start having that discussion about that next project, which is where we are now. So in that top right hand corner where we are in that red hatch, that green dot is where we are now. We are in the middle of construction and we want to talk about that next level of uh that next layer of construction and that next project coming down the pipeline. Some of the scope for this project is going to be we're touching each building. So at Allen Creek there
036will be roof coating, there's playground equipment replacement, some air conditioning at the main office and the nurse uh an emergency generator installation. at Jefferson Road Elementary School. The roof coating is going to occur there. Uh boiler steam plment and grease trap replacements at Mend Center Elementary School. The PA system replacement similar to what is was installed at Jefferson Road. That plan is to bring that PA system uh to each building through uh the next couple projects. Uh and then water backflow prevention system replacement is going to occur as well. At Park Road Elementary, we'll continue working through uh baiting the floor uh corridor floors and replacing with a vinyl composition tile and also doing a public address system uh replacement. And at Thornell, continuing the public address system replacement there at Parker Road Middle School.
037Work will continue with air conditioning at the gymnasium associated with and associated electrical upgrades. uh provide an additional chiller for the gymnasium and multi-purpose room. So, air conditioning those spaces and a water back flow prevention replacement systems. And at Caukins Road Middle School, even though it's the new building, uh it was built, it's creeping up on their extended life for the roof. Uh there are some that is time for certain areas to be replaced and some there is a financial deficiency to coding. So there we've been exploring coding systems that have been exist that have been very successful over the last 15 years since their inception and we'll be implementing those on that system onto some of the uh roof systems as well at the high school. men in high school, air conditioning, the large
038group construction or uh yeah the large gymnasium and electrical upgrades, art room ventilations, chiller replacements, uh again air conditioning at the main office, water backflow prevention and water line replacement uh outside the main entry at Sland High School. Air conditioning at the gym and multi-purpose room. If you see a theme, the air conditioning mandates by uh SED. We're working through helping the district start to implement air conditioning in large group instruction areas, gymnasiums, auditoriums, uh multi-purpose rooms, uh for the cooling for large spaces for large uh classes that are working right through the building and then working our way through into classrooms as the next uh cl as the next projects progress. Could we just jump back a couple slides to the um slide four that shows the 2026 >> just to highlight here as
039you were saying um getting towards looking at that 10year lookout um you'll see air conditioning in those spaces so that we'll have the ability with the new heat mitigation litigation to be able to move students into larger spaces in those warmer months. And um something else that that you mentioned that's just important um for the board to keep in mind is that max aid allocation for each building. So um you'll see in the 2028 we've had a lot of conversation over the years about the pool at men and high school and upgrading that um so because we're right up on that max aid allocation for men and high school given the project they have right now. Um we aren't able to tackle that in the 2026 project. So looking ahead um to be able to
040focus on that in 2028. >> Appreciate you bringing that up. That's an excellent point. And because we are maxing out the cost allowances at Mendon High School, which is that will get reset during the um 2028. Hence that we be that that next level. I appreciate that bring up 2032. As you can see uh on the slide, the air conditioning will be is addressed. working our way to well we did a um preliminary estimate for just air conditioning buildings holistically and that is just very very very expensive. It is much more efficient to do those in pieces. You start with the larger group instruction rooms and then work your way through into the small into the classrooms and offices. Um and that is also as you can see also going to bleed into 2034 based
041on the estimates and the construction periods as we go through. So there is a long-term plan for these items. They've already been mapped out. There is flexibility. Now, this looks relatively like it's a hard line. It's the scope is identified permanently. That's not the case. There is always fluidity in these projects. There are always things that come up that are unforeseen or there are things that maybe the life expectancy accelerates faster than we had anticipated. Um there's absolutely room for navigation some of this and most of the scope that's being produced. Um, so there's always this conversation to get to this point to get to this slide for 2026 has been about 13 months of conversations with the district engineers and architects. So the next steps next step in the process during those 13 months
042of talking with the district architects and engineers and teachers, faculty and staff, we've come up with a project that project um is going to be brought to the attention of the board of the voters on March 5th. Working backwards uh that step a legal step that has to happen is the seeker the state environmental quality review act. This is an opportunity where this process is assessed for the impact uh this project may have on the environment and there are three levels of review for that. There is a type one which is a action likely to have significant and adverse impact on the environment. This is something that usually is additions uh lot of site work. Um the phase that is currently being constructed now went through this process. Um there is a well there all
043those boxes at the bottom are all the steps for that type one. Uh we are actually going to be a type two which is an action not requiring further review. Everything that is occurring is that is being proposed as part of this project is internal or is a building envelope. So does not affect the area around outside. Uh so that is more of a streamlined process. So each of the building renovations have interior uh interior improvements to rooms. It is a component that are standard to educational usage. Therefore, the project would be determined as as a type two. The um board would resolve at we'll hit that in the upcoming steps, but the next step would be at the next board meeting, the board would resolve that secret process. Oh, I got my colors. Financial
044considerations. The uh referendum amount for this project, the total total project construction would be 48,700,000 is uh the capital reserve. So this is local share. This is money that the district has put aside over the years to apply to this to balance out the aid uh that is coming to from the U state. So the total bond amount that would be um issued would be 42,200,000. Now this is a result of prudent and sound financial planning on the district side working with their financial adviserss as well because there's a understanding of the maximum cost allowance for each building what the district has been able to put aside and then working with our estimates can come up to a project that would be uh very minimal if any impact no no impact limited impact to a
045tax base that maximum cost allowance ability of the project is considered when putting this together and we're utilizing the year capital reserve of the six uh 6,500,000. The idea the big the big picture here is that those projects that you saw those blue circles leading up you took a bond out on that is you want to keep that levy the same. If in order to keep that the same, which is this is the the numbers that Scott Cole provided. In order to keep that the same, you want to get into that five-year cycle of projects maintaining that levy. Next steps. So in November, we reviewed the scope of the board of education. In December, today we are introducing the secret process and giving a financial update to the board. In January, the board will resolve
046uh do a board resolution to determine seeker and also do a voter referendum language for the project including scope. In January also there will be a c uh capital public presentation at Caukins Road Middle School happy hour where we will be doing a similar um uh presentation uh introduce scope to those and answer questions. And then there is a consistent or a constant capital campaign um being produced with mailers, postcards, leaflets that has started uh started actually starts tomorrow uh and will be in mailboxes and continues on the 17th 22nd all the way leading up to the week before uh the vote and then the proposed vote is March or the proposed the vote will be in March 5th. Well, the proposed vote because you're going to resolve that next week, next meeting and then
047the fun really starts because this project will most likely be broken up into phases. We are currently in the um seeker resolution phase. We'll vote in beginning of 20 or beginning of 26. We'll have a roughly 10-month design. So, a first submission to SED will happen in the end of 26 and we'll potentially start bidding in 27 uh with construction moving on through to potentially 2029 where Griffin was talking with about campus construction. that is when um they've been they're part of this process through this entire portion. Um and then they will kick off right when uh as we start working through the bid process, scheduling and then beginning in the construction. >> So just to be clear, January 27th is power hour, not happy hour. Happy hour you have to go to after the
048power hour. >> Potato potato. >> I don't want to start a new room. >> Sorry about that. >> Thank you so much, Kurt. Um just as um as uh Kurt was sharing, SEI has been working with us on our last several capital projects. So um part of that is being a part of those building condition surveys and having constant communication with the district. So truly knowing every nook and cranny is very advantageous to us. So, um, they're really having an eye on, um, where we are over time and helping us with that long-term plan. So, thank you for all the work. >> Appreciate it's been a pleasure. >> Does anyone have any other questions for Kurt or Brian before we >> Thank you again. >> Thank you very much. Can I please have a motion
049to approve the minutes from our November 4th, 2025 meeting? Thank you, Emily. Thank you, Renee. Any edits? All in favor? Motion carries. Thank you. Moving into our board of education reports. You have the list in front of you of our upcoming meeting dates. Does anyone have any reports to share at this point? >> So I participated in the um info exchange on November 12th. Uh it was all about lockdown journals. It was really interesting. Um um just a lot of information. It was a really heavy discussion, but I thought it was a really worthwhile um presentation. uh interesting to me was the the the presenter had basically approached lockdown drills from a scientific approach trying to gain evidence so that we could have an evidence-based approach to how the schools do lockdown drills. 98% of
050the US school districts do the drills. We should have some research. So she um conducted training and drills over with one district over many years to compare pre-training, post-training, performance, reactions. Um it was really interesting. Um I we'll share the presentation when I don't think it's available yet. Um but it's really worth taking a look, but overwhelming the conclusions were in favor of lockown bills and the benefits to districts. So um I look forward to sharing that. It was really great. Yeah, if I could just add, Jackie, uh, our presenter was somebody that I had seen at the NITSA convention last year and was just very impressed by everything that she had to share. She has a very unique perspective to um, school tragedies and and lockdown drills. So, um, I thought she was great.
051I'm glad that we got to uh, hear her experience at the county level as well. >> Thanks, Sam. I also appreciated um that a lot of it was about how safe students and adults would feel after the very specific sort of way that she implemented these lockdown drills went and it actually made the kids and adults feel safer than they did before the lockdown drills which I think is something a lot of us sort of worry about. >> That's really great too. Thank you for sharing that. I just have a really quick um update from the legislative committee if I could. Uh last month NCSBA met with New York State budget director Blake Washington. We were very lucky to have Mike Besby join us for that call. He actually led the discussion for us. We
052offered our suggestions on how state aid could be adjusted to benefit our Monro County area schools more effectively. And uh one of my biggest takeaways from from the conversation was hearing from Mr. Washington that healthc care is the primary focus of the upcoming state budget for for reasons which I'm sure um you can all understand. Um, but that's also why we want to make sure that we're doing everything that we can from an advocacy standpoint to keep public public education at the forefront. So, um, it was nice to hear that and and we can kind of look to see where ways that we can boost our own advocacy efforts to make sure that public education is getting our fair share in the next budget. Um, moving on from that, we we do hope to meet
053with a member of Blake's team, if not Blake himself when we go to Albany in February, March time frame with Lunar County School Board. So, we do have that opportunity now as we look to keep that partnership going with him. Um, we will call upon them again at that time. Uh, also last week we met with Congresswoman Tenny's office and our message to Tenny's representative was simply that we want to ensure that nothing is lost as things shift around from the federal education department and and things are moved into different departments. It's really important that we maintain all of the program services and funding that we currently have. And um just trying to stress that that point that we want to make sure that that is the case. Um, and then yesterday we held our
054annual legislative Zoom day. We had all 12 of our state legislators represented between our two sessions and we gave an overview of our legislative priorities for this year in preparation for our legislative breakfast on February 7th. So that was a very successful day. It's the second year that we've had this new format and it seems to be going over pretty well. So um, excited about that and any other reports from our school board association? All right, then we will turn it over to our students for our student board of ed reports, please. >> Hi everyone. Um, at Southerntherland, everyone is gearing up for the Rainbow Classic, which is next week. Um, spirit week is also next week, which is exciting. And our student council has organized a pickle ball tournament for all of the classes
055for this, all the grade levels for this week, which people are looking forward to. and everyone's choosing their partners and their teams and it's really exciting. Um, there's also a senior bingo night coming up after break, which was a huge success last year, so everyone's excited for that. Um, seniors are also anticipating college decisions/acceptances, so everyone's stressed, but also excited. Um, also a new update to everyday activity at Southerntherland is the addition of puzzles in the cafeteria which was which just kind of popped up like randomly and I saw a lot of people solving it during lunch and then I saw it all on the floor in between periods. But yeah, everyone's doing that and it's nice to see people um doing things that pass a time that doesn't involve phones or Yeah. uh over
056at Mend uh I want to touch on three points but uh concerning sports winter sports have started up and we're also getting ready for the Rainbow Classic and everyone's super excited. Uh also something that a lot of people mentioned for me to share was there was one day when uh there was a lot of snow on the roads and in the morning as a lot of the students were driving to school uh it was a little bit dangerous I will say um I don't know a lot of people wanted me to mention that like the traffic that day was also really really bad. Uh I don't know that's like an update. Uh and then with uh classes uh class load has been definitely increasing as we get into the point where we have breaks and
057then school and then another break and like in between breaks we're you know getting back into the rhythm of things but then also there's a lot of tests and kind of a stressful environment but it's going pretty well. Students are handling it quite well. So yeah that's it. >> Any questions for our student members? Can you talk a little bit more about how the no device policy has been going? Love to know like it's less so. >> Yeah, I'd say with phones is probably like the least of everyone's worries now. It's just really like dealing with laptops and how old they are. Especially cuz seniors, we've had ours for like four years, so they're like the oldest of the bunch. So, it's just kind of dealing with that. Like everyone's are dying and no one
058brings chargers and it's a mess. But the library but the library is always really helpful. And I know Mr. from was talking about getting like charging stations for different classes that there's like multiple chargers available for people. But yeah, >> uh for for us with the device policy, I'd agree. I don't think I've seen issues really being a phone and I think people are really settling into it. Um it's a lot more lively like during the school school day and between classes. Uh with computers, I mean, they're slow. Internet's kind of hard to connect to sometimes, but I feel like we're working around it and we're working with them pretty well. >> Thank you for the feedback. And those are all things we can work with. So, I like it. It sounds very positive as
059far as cell phones go. So, excited about that. And we will certainly pay attention to the weather. That's a concern for us as well. So, that's we'll keep an eye on that. I I think it's going to be a busy winter weatherwise. So, >> I know that our new superintendent here is excited to call her first snow day. Thank you both. Appreciate you. Uh, our dates to remember, December 22nd through January 2nd, schools are closed for winter recess. January 8th, we'll have our board visit and tour at Southern High School. And then January 13th will be our next regularly scheduled board meeting. Moving on to our financial report. Mr. >> Good evening. Uh my stuff's not nearly as exciting as all that. Sorry, a lot of items tonight. Um uh first for your consideration tonight.
060Um is the treasures report for October 31st, 2025. Um things to note uh real property taxes in the amount of approximately 67 million were received. Uh that is 59% of the levy collected so far as of that day and that amount has been invested efficiently by our treasurer Rachel Smith. >> Can I have a motion to accept the treasures report from 31st 2025? Thank you, Dave. And a second. Thank you, Kim. Any questions? All in favor? >> Motion carries. >> Uh second for tonight for your consideration is a resolution approving capital construction change orders uh in between board meetings for less than 35. Can I have a motion to accept the resolution approving capital construction project change orders, please? >> Thank you, Robin. A second. Second. >> Thanks, Renee. Any questions? All in favor? Motion
061carries. >> Um, third for uh tonight is for your consideration is a change order for Menon High School for the sanitary line relocation. Can I have a motion to accept the resolution approving the CIP phase 2 change order for Miden High School? >> Thank you, Kim. Second, any questions? All in favor? Motion carries. Next for your consideration is the intermusible geographic information system agreement between the town of Pittsburgh, the village of Pittsburgh, the fire district, and ourselves. >> I have a motion to accept the intermunicipal geographic information system cooperative agreement. >> Thank you, Emily. Second. >> Thank you, Robin. Any questions? All in favor? Thank you. Motion carries. Um next we have a taxiary case uh settlement with uh Chase Bank. This has been going on for approximately about 5 years. Uh we approved the
062same resolution last year and we'd like to approve the same resolution this year. Can >> I get a motion to accept the taxiary settlement for JP Morgan Chase? >> Thank you Dave. a second. Thanks, Emily. Any questions? All in favor? Next for your consideration is the award for architectural services to SEI Design Group, which just presented for us tonight. Can I get a motion to accept the award contract for architectural services, SEI? Thank you, Kim. A second. >> Thank you, Dave. Any questions? All in favor? >> Carries. Uh, next for your consideration is the award uh for the construction management services for campus construction. Um, moving forward for campus project management. Can I get a motion to accept the award contract for construction management services? Thanks, Rene. Second. Thank you, Robin. >> Any questions? Okay.
063All in favor? Motion carries. >> Uh, next consideration is the declaration of scrap equipment uh in the food service. It's a reachin refrigerator uh to dispose of. It's used of its useful life >> as they do. Thank you. >> Can I get a motion to accept the declaration of scrap equipment for food services, please? >> Thanks, Ken. And Renee, any questions? All in >> favor? Next for your consideration is the declaration of uh scrap equipment for three trucks to go along with our vehicle replacement plan. >> Can I get a motion to accept the declaration of scrap equipment for a second? Dave, any questions? All in favor? Thank you. Motion carries. Next for your consideration is the approval of the uh pilot program purchase of GPS equipment for buses. It's 10 units and this approval
064is so we can then sub subsequently uh submit to state act for transportation transportation. Can I get a motion to accept the approval of purchase of GPS equipment for buses? So move. >> Thank you, Robin. And a second. Thanks, Kim. Any questions? >> Sorry. So you said this was aided. >> So all right. So we spend >> We'll get back into the in subsequent year. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> All in favor? Motion carries. >> Uh next for your consideration. Uh as um Kurt mentioned earlier about the capital outlay project, uh we put out bids for this year's project and they all came back higher than the $100,000 uh threshold. And so this is a resolution to all of those bids and to rescope it. I have a motion to
065approve the capital outlay project bid. >> Thanks, Emily. A second. Kim, any questions? All in favor? Motion carries. I ask for your consideration, the longest one. uh the intermunicipal agreement between Monroe County and Pittsburgh Central School District for intermunicipal grant funding agreement resolution for food waste diversion pilot program. Um just one thing real quick. This is uh a resolution to approve a change in scope. We were originally going to um before we joined the national food program, our our focus was the food waste after the students uh coming from the students after they had eaten and we're going to change that scope to uh the kitchen area. So um we we don't it's not we're not quite ready for the students after we've had such an increase in participation. that. >> Thank you, Terry. Can
066I get a motion to accept the intermunicipal agreement between Monro County and PCSD for inner municipal grant funding agreement resolution food waste diversion pilot program? >> Thank you, Robin. And a second. Thanks, Renee. Any questions? We've talked about that quite a bit. All in favor? Motion carries. Thank you so much, Terry. And moving on to our human resource report. Mr. Clark, >> thank you very much. First for your consideration is the professional staff report. We have one administrator start date revision, two administrator substitute appointments, one SRP appointment. We have a pay adjustment for our internal claims auditor. Um this should have been done during the July first pre meeting but was um it's just an oversight. So we can adjust that. Uh we have one SRP resignation for retirement, two SRP resignations. We have substitute
067PDM appointments and revised winter coaching salaries. >> Is that all? >> Can I get a motion to accept the professional staff report, please? >> Thank you, Renee. A second. >> Thank you, Dave. Any questions for Sean? All in favor? Motion carries. >> Thank you. Next for your consideration is the support staff report. We have two clerical appointments, two clerical resignations, three transportation appointments, one transportation resignation, four custodial maintenance appointments, three food service appointments, one food service resignation, and one food service termination. >> Can I get a motion to accept the support staff report? Thank you again. Thanks Emily. Any questions? All in favor? Motion carries. >> Thank you. Um we have uh memorandums of agreement on the consent agenda and then we also have uh tenure first readings for two certificates. >> Thank you. Your
068office has been very busy. >> Moving on to our special education report. Miss is not here tonight. the recommendations for CSSE and CPSC on the consent agenda. >> Thank you so much. >> And next we have our superintendent reports. Mrs. Tataya, >> thank you. I'm excited and honored to be able to be giving my first report as superintendent. Um there's not a need for an executive session tonight. Um I just I I will be just giving a little bit of a report to the board. I know you've received my goals. I just wanted to extend a little into my entry plan to see if there's any areas for further feedback um or for me to consider um for additional focus. Uh but before I do that, I just wanted to sincerely thank the board for
069the amount of time and the thoughtful transition that has helped me step into this role. Um having time throughout the summer um and early on this year to help not only transition Dr. Ali into student services, but to work with Superintendent Piro and to have dozens of transition meetings and to get through the firsts and seconds and thirds of a lot of things um has allowed me to be able to just step in um in my first couple weeks here and really hit the ground running. So, not everybody gets the amount of time and thought put into their transition as I've had. So, thank you for working so hard to support me in that. So, with that, I'm going to walk over to the podium and then I'll have um a couple more uh updates
070as well. Thanks, R. So, you do have um my my goals, but I wanted to just in phases just kind of share out my thinking around what that would look like for this um midyear transition into the superintendency. So, you'll see the priorities broken down in each phase into um my key priorities which are visibility, strategic planning uh moving into the future and our budgetary planning. So this first phase I know we've talked a lot about um and again you've given me the opportunity to really get a head start on this um but that's really listening, learning, establishing presence, being able to build relationships and um have individual one-on-one conversations. So in terms of visibility, I've been able to be in our schools um hosting some meet and greet opportunities. Um, I've had uh a
071lot of uh individual meetings throughout the summer and the fall with community members, with all of our district leaders, our collective bargaining agreement leaders, um teacher leaders, and um and our legislative leaders as well. And we've even been able to have them come in for a tour um to get to know our schools a little bit better. And of course, being able to host a power hour early this year to be able to get just more voice. And really those conversations have been around what are the things that are sacred that we do here in Pittsburgh that we don't want to lose. What are the short-term things that um from people's perspectives need to be addressed in the short term and then what are the longer term things that we should be um keeping an
072eye on. In terms of strategic planning, um really we're in the place right now of just reviewing where we are with our strategic plan. um we've been able to work as a central office team um to be able to gather some data. We're starting to work with um a group that's going to help us gather some of that data. We'll be hearing a lot more about that um in the coming months. Um but really having someone neutral who can come in um take all the data that we have qualitative and quantitative um publicly available information and the things that we house internally and be able to look at what are the strengths, what are the weaknesses, what are the gap areas that we really want to focus on when we look toward a new strategic
073plan. And then of course we've had a lot of conversations about um the budget. We're coming into budget season here. Um, I can't thank um, Terry Hassler enough and Scott Kovville who have answered lots of my uh, rookie questions and have sat down with me on multiple occasions and making sure that I am up to date. U, being at the OAC meetings with SEI and campus and seeing what's really happening day-to-day with our capital projects has been really invaluable for me. Um and then just being able to review some of um the different uh themes that we've had over time in terms of our budget gaps um and things that we know that we need to prepare for um moving forward into budget season. So the next phase really is going to be about looking
074at what those short-term goals are and making sure that our communication is really aligned in terms of our leadership teams. Um so continuing to be in schools regularly. Um, I've been able to, uh, schedule monthly meetings with all of our building principles, which has helped me immensely to be able to just sit down, understand what everybody's, um, current challenges are, be able to walk the buildings, and, um, just being more and more present. Um, and then, uh, continuing to work with the student superintendent advisory committee. That group has been wonderful. I've had a couple meetings with them already. The last one we actually talked about, um, what types of things would they like to see in a strategic plan. So um in 5 to seven years when they are no longer in the district when
075they come back what would they want it to look like and we kind of backwards planned a little bit. So what are the types of questions we would want to ask our students now to get at um moving forward um with with moving towards uh their vision. And then again in terms of um strategic planning um our next steps would be looking at some review sessions of the data that we're collecting. Um some of the things that you'll hear coming up, there is a uh survey actually being created right now for students, staff, and families that will help us um once it's released in the month of January to give us some more qualitative data around where our community sees the district um where um everything from connectedness from our building culture, academic achievement um
076so that that can help us and we can have lots of community voice. uh as we ultimately create a team, we'll have um a large representative team, a steering committee we'll call it, this spring um including board members to be able to look through that data and help really summarize for the community and be really transparent about what have we learned throughout these four or five months and then how can we use that to help with our planning moving forward. And then again, we'll be starting our zerobased budget planning reviews coming up for our budget session. And so we'll be working on those very soon in our central office team meetings. And um we've already started working specifically with our district planning team and our building leaders around what are some reallocation measures, what are
077some reductions that may need to be made. As you know, we're in a place where we have about one and a half to$2 million in reductions that need to be made this year and likely next year. And so how can we do that in a way that values the support that needs to happen in our buildings and um does not result in job loss um but also may help us bring in different supports that maybe meet our buildings better where we are right now. And then lastly, it's really pulling it all together. So how can we be really transparent with our community? some of the uh information that I received from our community members when I was having one-on-one conversations is sometimes we give feedback, we answer surveys um or we have meetings and we
078don't ever get that closed loop of what happened with the feedback that we gave. So, um part of that visibility will be then closing the loop on that. How can we be transparent with what we've learned from pulling all of this data and from what our community members have told us and from what our student achievement data, our financial data, um our human resources data. when we pull all that together, what have we learned? Can we be really clear about what our gaps are? Um what we'd like to focus on and um and make sure that our community is a part of that. Part of what we'll also see with this data um dive, I would call it um during the second half of the year are focus groups. So, we'll be looking at some
079opportunities for staff, both certificated and non-certificated students, um our community members, our community members without children. Um how can we bring people together to um give us more information about how they're viewing the district and what their experiences are? And then we're hoping by the end of this year to really be able to tee up a new strategic plan and really spending our time this summer in our leadership retreat to look at what we've what we found and be able to work together to bring a large representative group to start to plan for where do we want to be in 5 to seven years. What are the specific targets that we have and goals that we want to set? And then what are the metrics we want to use to determine um our progress toward
080meeting those goals. And then that will be the time that we will start looking toward the future for next year's budget. So, um having those conversations and being really thoughtful strategically about where we'd like to be instructionally, social, emotionally, behaviorally in terms of our students. Um but then what will the impact be on our budget and how can we be thoughtful um moving forward to make decisions that represent where our community sees that um we'd like to be. And that's what I have. Happy to take any questions, any additional feedback. So, I'm just curious as to what your building walkthroughs look like. How are they similar or maybe different from what we do once a month when we go into the buildings? I'm just kind of curious as to what you're looking for, what you're
081doing there. How are things going? So, there's different walkthroughs. There's just my building time where I'm in buildings. Um, it's only been seven days, but when I'm in the buildings, I'm really just looking for students and, um, trying to be in the commons area or in the lunchroom, um, popping into classrooms, um, different areas and offices to visit just to be visible. Um, when I'm in my meetings with the principles, that's really their time, um, to have with me. So that's their time to be able to say, "I'm really struggling with this right now or um do we have an update on this?" Or, "Hey, let's just go take a walk. I want you to see something great that's happening in the classroom." Um so I've been clear with them that that's that's their time.
082Um and that's a way for me to learn more of what's happening in the buildings and really be a support to our building leaders. >> Great question. Anyone else have a question for Sarah? >> Well, thank you so much. We appreciate having this and having the time ahead to review it with you and we look forward to next steps. So, a couple more announcements or parts of my update. Um, a plug again. Our student board members did an excellent job with this. Um, plugging the Rainbow Classic which is coming up. Um, digital tickets are available this year. There was a letter that went out from my office on Monday with a link to that, but it's also on the homepage of our website. So, we're really excited. This is the 25th anniversary and um, Rainbow
083Classic is a great way for our students to be able to um, show a lot of school spirit, but it's really a lot more than that. We've raised over $700,000 um for the Galisano Children's Hospital since its inception and so it's it's just a great community engagement event. So we encourage everyone to go. You can also donate if you can't make it. So go ahead and visit that link. Um and we want to give a sincere thank you to PTSA who has given $10,000 to support Sources of Strength. 8,000 was from a contribution through their cultural arts fund. An additional 2,000 to support that program which we heard so nicely about in our amended high school presentation tonight. Um and one last um just update for the board. I wanted to follow up from our
084November board meeting. So we had several folks speak about the Shin Shanim program. It's part of our um our relationship with the Jewish Federation. So, um, wanted to update you on where we've been from that meeting until today. Um, to give you a little bit of background, we've had a partnership with the Jewish Federation since, I think about 2017, right? I think I saw Monica here somewhere. Yes. And, um, there's three parts to that program. So, we have the teacher bridge program. So, we have teachers who travel from Modí, Israel over um, to our schools. And the idea is that we then have teachers who could travel over to Modí and we have a sister um school program there and we have crosscurricular connections and abilities to be able to to work together. There's also
085a student exchange program. You may have seen a letter come out recently looking for host families. So if anybody is interested, we have a group of students coming over from Israel um I believe late February, early March. And um that is really about the students having cultural experiences here in Rochester. They visit um our school, Brighton schools. They have um just some experiences at places like Niagara Falls and um Strong Museum and um we have uh some great teachers who are helping to organize that exchange that takes place um it takes it's about a week 7 to 10 days that exchange and then there's the Shinshen program. So there are delegates um that come from Israel. They uh defer their military experience to do community service. Um and we are partnering to be able to
086have the Shin Shenim come into our schools. They work with our teachers to um find lessons that would be appropriate given what the curricular pieces are. Um and that's been going on for several years as well. Right now we have that program at Thornell Road and at Barker Road. Um so that program is already underway. Um, part of what we wanted to do first was invite those folks who spoke at our board meeting last month to be able to just come in and have a further conversation to understand their concerns about um the Shinshenim program in particular. Um, but we also were able to meet with our partners at the Jewish Federation and talk about all of the programs and just our, you know, our our commitment to help during a time when um although
087we don't want to be political, there's a lot of political things going on that are um potentially causing harm for different folks within our community. And so I think we're all on the same page that we want to um help our programs continue to grow and have a positive impact. And so that might mean that we just are flexible with each other and continuing to meet and talk through how do we do that in a way that isn't causing or exacerbating any harm that members of our community um particularly those that are Palestinian may be feeling. And um so we had um a great meeting with the Jewish Federation just last week. um we are committed to continuing to work together and uh make sure that we're communicating back and forth um and um uh
088being able to see what's happening within the programs more so we have our administrators that are going to be kind of cycling through the Shinshen presentation so we can see what's happening we can be a support to the Shinshen presenters as well as our teachers um and uh we'll continue to um throughout this year just um support those who are in the buildings. And then just today, we ended up having that meeting with the folks that um spoke at the board meeting last week. Um our student board members came and were great representatives. Um our district social worker was there as well. Um we've also reached out to the Islamic Center of Rochester to see um if there were any different supports or information they could provide. Um, so we're really just doing a lot
089of listening and making sure that we're providing a safe space for our students to share any concerns, for families to share any concerns. Um, I know we have community members today who will speak and share um about some of the positive impact that these programs have had on their students. So um, you know, we're in in the middle of a situation that we don't want to see tear apart um, people in our community or relationships in our community. And so I think right now just just listening and um supporting our students and keeping our students at the center is um really been our focus. So if there's any questions about about appreciate the update. Thank you J. Thank you. That concludes my report. Thank you so much. >> We have five items on our consent
090agenda here. Can I please have a motion to accept the consent agenda? >> Thank you, Rene. And a second. >> Thank you, Robin. Any questions? All in favor? Motion carries. Any old business? New business. All right, that brings us to public comment. We do have a number of public comments that we have received tonight. We are going to ask you to call come up to the podium in the order that we received the comments. Um we do have a time here. Just a a reminder that we have three minutes allocated to each person to speak. And um with that, I'm going to call up our first um speaker tonight. That is Ariel Stelner. Hi, >> good evening. I'm Ari Selner, a 2006 Southerntherland grad. Growing up here, I was always aware that I was one
091of the only Jewish students in my class. When my family moved back in 2020, I was relieved to hear how much Pittsford had grown more diverse, more inclusive. But recent conversations about cancelling the Israeli cultural exchange make it clear we're at risk of moving backward. And that's why I'm speaking tonight. Because now raising my own children here, I see how quickly their environment shapes their sense of belonging. Jewish children in Pittsburgh are watching closely. They're trying to understand what is welcomed, what is questioned, whether they truly fit. My oldest is in second grade at Jeff Road. She notices when the bus runs on Rashashana and she doesn't get on. She asked her librarian for a book on Hebrew. There wasn't one. When she learned her classmate was Jewish, it was the very first thing she
092told me when she jumped off the bus. That moment of belonging stood out because it is still rare enough to feel extraordinary. and I still question whether her wearing a Hanukkah skirt to school is worth the risk. She is also aware of realities most children never have to consider. The security guard at her siblings Jewish preschool, the large boulders outside her synagogue that aren't decorative, the barriers meant to stop a car. I don't share this for sympathy. I share it because it's true. For Jewish families, safety, security, and belonging are daily considerations. And our children absorb that long before we ever want them to. And while Jewish children are watching closely, they're not the only ones. Every single child in this district is learning from what they see, learning what difference looks like, and who
093is embraced. Every single child benefits from exposure to cultures beyond their own. That is how empathy is built. That is how communities grow stronger. That is how we prepare our students for the world they're inheriting. Cancelling the Israeli cultural exchange doesn't protect students. It limits them. It tells them that discomfort outweighs learning, that avoiding stereotypes is easier than challenging them, and that closing doors is safer than opening minds. To be clear, we need more cultural exchange programs, not fewer. Whether Israeli, Muslim, French, or from any community that helps our students see the world more fully and thoughtfully. Lastly, eliminating the Israeli program sends a damaging message to Jewish kids and to all kids. It suggests that Jewish identity is unwelcome, unsafe, and not worth learning from. That is not who Pittsford is. That is not
094who we should become. This is a defining moment for district leadership, a moment to choose education over fear, connection over division, and clarity over silence. Our children are watching closely, and what they see now will shape how they view the world. Thank you. Next, I'd like to ask Katie Palumbo to come to the podium, please. >> Hello, my name is Katie Palumbo and my children attend Thornell Road Elementary School. I am here to share my strong support for the continuation of the cultural exchange program that partners with Israeli students and educators. My daughter was in fourth grade and participated um in this program last year through Mrs. Stevens Oliver's class and it quickly became one of her most meaningful parts of her school experience. Sorry, I don't like public speaking. The lessons introduced every two
095weeks brought genuine curiosity, thoughtful discussion, and a window into a culture my daughter would not otherwise have had the chance to learn about. As a family from a different faith tradition, we were deeply appreciative of the generous gift of time and commitment that our Jewish neighbors devoted to make this program possible. Their willingness to share their culture and perspective with our children was not only kind, it was a profound contribution to the type of education that shapes compassionate, open-minded young people. This early exposure to different cultures helped my daughter understand that the world is made up of many ways of life, each with each with its own history and values. Learning this at a young age builds tolerance, acceptance, and empathy. Scarlet came home excited to talk about what she learned, and was clear these
096lessons encouraged her to think more broadly, ask questions, and appreciate experiences different from her own. I know that concerns have recently been raised about this program. While every voice in our communities deserves to be heard, I want to make sure the board also hears from families who found this program to be respectful, enriching, and educational. What my daughter experienced was a thoughtful and age appropriate curriculum delivered by passionate educators and community members who care deeply about our children. Eliminating this program would take away a rare and valuable learning opportunity. It would also signal a step back from the district's commitment to preparing students for a diverse and interconnected world. Our children benefit immensely when they are taught to see beyond their own experiences and approach differences with understanding rather than fear. I respectfully urge the
097board to allow this program to continue. It is an investment in the kind of community we want to raise our children in. One rooted in respect, curiosity, and empathy. And I would welcome other programs too. I think it was wonderful. So, thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you, Katie. Ari Goldstein. Good evening board of education members and superintendent Kataya. My name is Ari Goldstein. I graduated from Pittsford Menon High School in 2024 and I'm currently a student at the University of Buffalo. I wanted to speak tonight because the Shinshen program played a meaningful and lasting role in my experience growing up in this district. The Shinshanim are young adults from Israel who spend a year volunteering in our schools and becoming a part of our community. For many, that meant conversations in
098the hallway, joining friends to watch Bill's games on Sundays, and building real friendships that extend far beyond school walls. Their presence here had a real impact on us all. One moment that has stayed with me happened when I was downhill skiing at Hunta. I saw a group of Thornell road students run up to Shellg or Shinshenim that year like she was a local celebrity. They knew her because she had been in their classrooms reading with them, teaching them songs and connecting with them on a very real level. That moment showed me exactly what this program creates. Authentic relationships that truly stay with students. Since 2022, my family has hosted three shiny in our home. I did not just get to see the program from the outside. I experienced it every day. We shared meals, told
099stories, and learned about each other's lives. They became like older siblings to me, and those relationships had a profound impact on how I see the world. I also had the opportunity to introduce them to my friends, many of whom had never met anyone from Israel before. Watching genuine friendships form and stereotypes simply fade away through conversation showed me just how powerful this program can be. As a Jewish student in Pittsburgh, the presence of young Israelis in our schools had a particularly meaningful impact on me. Their involvement helped me feel more connected to my own identity and enriched our school community. They proved they provided my classmates with a positive and personal introduction to Israeli culture, fostering understanding and reducing misconceptions. Their contributions strengthened our environment and promoted a greater sense of inclusivity throughout the district.
100Now that I'm in college, I understand even more how rare and valuable this this experience was. The Shinshen program taught me to understand people as individuals rather than headlines and they showed me the importance of real human connection. I'm proud that Pittsburgh has supported this program and I truly believe it strengthens our entire school community. I hope you will continue to support it so that future students benefit from the same positive human humanizing experiences that meant so much to me. Thank you for your time. Thank you Ari. Hey Kate Goldstein. Good evening members of the board of education. My name is Kate Goldstein and I have four children in the Pittsford School District. Two of my children have graduated from Pittsford Mend High School. One is currently a junior at Mendon and our youngest is
101at Menon Center Elementary. I'm here tonight to share what the Shinshenim and education bridge programs have meant to my family personally and why I'm so grateful that Pittsford has chosen to bring opportunities like this into our schools. The Shinshenim are young Israelis, as you've heard, just out of high school, spending a year in Pittsburgh, volunteering in classrooms, sharing culture, and bringing global learning directly to the students. My family has had the privilege of welcoming three shiny into our home, forming relationships that have lasted well beyond a school day. At Barker Road School, the Shining helped teach water conservation lessons by comparing US and Israeli water use and introducing strategies like drip irrigation and desalinization. The students built model irrigation systems from plastic bottles and very quickly the topic became personable and relatable rather than just
102abstract. This is a perfect example of how the Shinshen program adds depth to curriculum by making learning tangible and memorable. Teachers later shared that students asked thoughtful questions and retained the lesson, showing how Shinjins turn information into a lived story and enriches classroom learning in a traditional in a way the traditional materials just cannot. My family has also participated in the education bridge student exchange program three times which connects Pitchwood students with peers and teachers in Modí, Israel. During their 10-day visit, the Israeli participants stayed in our home, experienced American high school life firsthand, and visited Pittz classrooms, where they shared what school is like in Israel. One evening, my daughter and her friends sat with the visiting teens, laughing as they compared routines from substitute teachers to lunches and campus freedom. The Israeli students
103were surprised by how structured our day is when while my daughter was fascinated by the independence teens seem to have in Israel. Moments like that show how students learn to see the world with curiosity rather than distance through relationships that make another culture seem familiar and real. The Shin Chanim and Education Bridge programs have deeply have been deeply meaningful for Jewish families like mine. But their value extends to students of every background. Connecting with someone from another country, hearing another language, and learning from someone with a different life experience builds cultural understanding, friendship, and real world learning across the district. These programs do not take away from academics. Rather, they enrich them by bringing global context and human connection into our schools. I am truly grateful that our district invests in opportunities that broaden students
104perspectives and deepen their curiosity. Programs like these help our children grow as learners and global citizens, and I hope Pittsburgh continues to support them for years to come. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. Thank you. Melanie Bob. >> Hello. My name is Melanie Bobrey. I am a Pittsford graduate, the daughter of a Pittsburgh graduate, and a parent of current Pittsford students. For three generations, this district has shaped my family. How we learn, how we connect, and how we understand the world. When I was in fifth grade at Allen Creek, my class participated in a pen pal exchange program with a school in Scotland. For two years, we wrote letters and then our pen pals came to Scotland and stayed here. and that our fifth grade class traveled there and stayed in
105their school and in their famil family's homes. That exchange was the first time I truly understood how big and varied the world is. I learned about different classrooms and traditions and ways of seeing life. But more importantly, I learned that real human connection can bridge any distance. Pitts has always valued these kinds of experiences. Our district has a long history of global engagement, including student travel opportunities to Spain or France through our language programs. These trips help students understand that language and culture are living, breathing parts of someone's identity. They're not just subjects in a textbook. The Shinchenim program continues that tradition in a remarkable way. Instead of our students having to go out into the world, the world can come to them. A young Israeli becomes part of our community, sharing culture, stories, celebrations,
106and everyday experiences that help our children understand people different from themselves. As an oncology nurse for 15 years, I know firsthand how essential understanding truly is. Every day, I have to make a choice to treat my patients with compassion and dignity. That's something you learn. That commitment has never wavered, even in some of the most difficult moments of my career. As a Jew, I will never forget putting an IV in the patient's arm next to his swastika tattoo. But I had a choice that day, and I had to care for this person. Part of that came from my education in Pittsver. Learning to care about others. The more we learn about others, the better we become at recognizing humanity. It becomes easier to respond with empathy rather than fear. and curiosity instead of judgment. That
107is what the Shinshen program cultivates in our students. It helps them listen and learn to ask questions and understand people with different backgrounds and beliefs and life experiences. At a time when the world feels increasingly divided, this program gives our children something incredibly powerful. That ability to build bridges with others. As someone whose life was shaped by an early cultural exchange, as a nurse who knows that compassion is a choice we have to choose to make every day, and as a parent who wants my children to grow up into empathetic and open-minded adults, I believe deeply in the value of this program. Supporting the Shinshen program means supporting Pittsburgh's long-standing commitment to global connection, understanding, and human dignity. Thank you. Thank you, Melanie. And we have one more speaker who signed up tonight. Um, the
108initials are DB. >> Thank you, Board of Ed, for inviting me to speak tonight. And I stand here before you tonight because I love this town. I grew up here and I had the most the warmest, most caring, nurturing teachers I could ever have asked for. Starting in Alen Creek Elementary School through junior high school through Southerntherland High School, those teachers nurtured my childhood dream of becoming a writer and I will never forget them. But my mother and my younger brother saw a different side of Pittsburgh. This was 50 to 70 years ago. In 1955, my family tried to build a home on Country Club Drive, but the builder stone loved my mother and then she was told the truth. Jews were not wanted on that street. My brother also was bullied. My younger brother
109was also harassed, bullied, shoved, pushed, and called all sorts of names throughout his schooling. In seventh grade, it was the worst. He remembers that the the boys used to call him names like his name is Julian, but they would call him Julian. And they did terrible things to him. And it culminated in a seventh grade class, and he had already told that seventh grade history teacher about the problems, but she didn't do anything. And one day, one of the ring leaders of that group of boys came and he saw the books on my brother's dress and he threw them onto the floor. And my brother was so angry at that point that he chased that boy down the hall. He out the door down the hall and they ended up in front of the principal's
110office where they scuffled. And the principal stepped in and he called them both into his office and he listened to the story. And when he heard that tale, he expelled that other student and the bullying stopped. I think in essence what the principal said was the anti-semitism stops here. I won't have it in my school. And I think about that incident back in when I hear that there was a push to stop the cultural exchange program with Israel because who are we talking about? We are talking about four 18-year-old Jewish kids from Israel. And that hurts because it makes me sad because it makes me feel like the the hatred that my family experienced in 1955, 1971 is back. And I hope that you will do the right thing and you will be like that
111principal of the old Mend Center Junior High School, which is now Mend Elementary, and you will stand up and you will say, "This isn't right. This is wrong and it must stop." And I thank you for listening. Just want to take a minute to thank everyone who came to speak tonight. We we really do appreciate it. We understand the sensitive nature of the topic being addressed here tonight. We hear your comments. We are listening and we remain committed to our core values which includes a supportive environment for all. So, thank you and thank you for speaking in a very respectful manner. It's greatly appreciated.